The Legacy of Shepard – The Engineer

WARNING: THE AUTHOR'S NOTES DO CONTAIN SPOILERS! I DON'T RECOMMEND READING THEM UNLESS YOU HAVE PLAYED THE GAME!

All characters and plots are property of Bioware and their respective affiliates. I only have control over the direction the story takes and the fluff in-between. I am by no means trying to profit from this story in any way or infringe on their copyrights. My only wish is to improve the great story of the Mass Effect Trilogy with my own touches (eg: the minds behind the people). If someone from Bioware (or EA) wishes for me to take this down, I will do so (that also applies to a admins). If all else fails, this can be considered a walkthrough of the game.

Just some opening specs that are relevant at this time:

Name: Michael Shepard (probably won't use first name much)

Class: Engineer

Imported Save ME1 (Not starting this one at base stats)

Veteran Difficulty (just so I have a lower chance of dying and having to explain it)

The Legacy of Shepard

Book 1

By: Ana'Shepard nar Rannoch

The Beginnings of a Legend

Author's Note: I am the eldest child of Commander Shepard vas Normandy and Tali'Shepard vas Normandy nar Rayya (previously known as Tali'Zorah). As a gift to my people and the rest of the galaxy, I am compiling the history of my father leading up to and during the Reaper War. Over the past few years, I have been interviewing his crew and friends from the old Normandy and Normandy SR2, and going over his mission reports and personal logs (Hackett allowed only me access on the premise that I only give out information that he approves). With help from my mother, the vast information network of Dr. Liara T'Soni, and the occasional bouts with his other squad members, I have recorded my father's legacy into a story from his and their varying perspectives.

This was the first actual mission Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko had ever done with the Great Commander Shepard. The Commander had given them a brief rundown of the mission parameters before they were released planet-side by Captain Anderson. A Prothean beacon. The implications were immense.

Immense enough for a Council Spectre to be involved, he thought. A Turian none the less…on a Human planet…Well, I guess this does have potential to affect the whole galaxy.

The Normandy pulling away jarred him out of his thoughts; he glanced around the perimeter, "Ship perimeter clear, Commander."

Shepard nodded and pulled out his pistol, "Let's move out."

The Turian Spectre, Nihlus, contacted them via the squad's suit-to-suit comms. "This place got hit hard, Commander," he spoke, "hostiles everywhere…Keep your guard up."

Nothing on our end, Kaidan thought as they spread out over the clearing. There were strange organisms floating all over the area that he didn't recognize, "What the hell are those?"

"Gas bags," Corporal Jenkins, the other member of the squad responded. "Don't worry—they're harmless."

This was hardly the first mission that Kaidan had been on with the Corporal, he'd known him for much longer than the Commander, so he also knew that the Corporal had grown up on this planet, Eden Prime it was called. It was humanity's first attempt to establish a colony outside their solar-system. He had the strong urge to shoot one of the floating creatures just to see what they did, but they were on a mission and that would have been unprofessional. So he pushed the urge down and continued to follow the commander's lead.

They walked in silence, everyone was focused on watching for hostiles, but when they crested a hill, they saw something that froze the blood in everyone's veins…burnt bodies…a bad way to go.

"Oh, God. What happened here?" the Corporal said. Now that he thought about it, Kaidan realized that this was probably the first time the Corporal had seen this type of carnage. Neither he nor the Commander answered him, they knew from experience that this was only going to get worse.

OOO

"Oh, God. What happened here?"

Some things are better left unanswered, Shepard thought to himself. Both bodies were definitely civilian, although they were burnt; body armor had ceramic plating which tended to melt only at very high temperatures, temperatures much higher than a body could burn at. Even at those temperatures, though, there would still be something left over after it cooled.

He continued moving forward and dropped down on one knee near a large rock. Wide open areas, he thought, signaling his squad to stop. Ambush material. Let's take this carefully. He motioned forward towards a trio of well-placed rocks in the center of the clearing. Potential cover. Jenkins leapt to comply with his silent order, making his way around the edge. Shepard continued to scan around and ahead of the Corporal. His instincts were screaming at him, but what about fell just outside of his consciousness.

Jenkins took a chance and jogged into the clearing, speed consistent, and gun scanning in front of him. The very moment he was in the worst possible position, however, seemingly by chance, two floating mechanical drones popped around the far corner of the clearing and opened fire. The Corporal was down in an instant.

Crap! Shepard switched to his sniper rifle and took aim at one of the bots and fired. It exploded brilliantly, but he lost his shields in the process. Sniper rifle probably not good choice in instance, he thought. He brought up his omni-tool on his left hand and attempted to sabotage the next bot's weapons. His right hand grasped for his pistol. The sabotage worked like a charm, but it looked like another drone appeared. When his pistol finally clicked open, he opened fire and took out another drone. Kaidan took down the last with his assault rifle. The process took a little longer than he would have liked, but all of them were destroyed.

Kaidan ran up to the Corporal's body. Shepard made sure to keep his pistol ready for more drones if they appeared. The Lieutenant kneeled down and closed the Corporal's eyes. As he stood up he gave the Commander his assessment: "Ripped right through his shields. Never had a chance…"

I just sent a man to his death, Shepard thought. His shields should've held up longer…Dammit! Alliance personnel were expected to maintain their own armor, and if they didn't know how, they were expected to ask and learn…with poor maintenance, bad things happened. He pursed his lips, "We'll see that he receives a proper service once the mission is complete." He pointed at Kaidan, "But I need you to stay focused." That must not happen again. Assume nothing, he thought, silently demanding of himself.

Kaidan gave a sharp nod, "Aye, Aye, sir," and fell into place behind him again.

They both rounded the corner from which the machines came out from, two more drones, assault drones as they had fast-firing weapons, and a rocket drone zipped out from a patch of trees. They were promptly destroyed, but something was nagging at the Commander.

Why do these things look familiar? He knelt down next to a fallen drone and thought back to his studies of machine mechanics, from his initial lessons in combat engineering. The machine design is definitely not human…not Turian, not spiky enough…not Salarian...Quarian? Vaguely, but no. Then the pieces fell into place, No specifying markings, no sharp edges, very concise, vaguely quarian …Geth. Geth…machines created by the Quarians as a source of cheap labor long before he was born. They rebelled soon after they crossed the line to a collective artificial intelligence, and drove the quarians from their homeworld. The problem, however, was that none had ever been seen outside the Perseus Veil in centuries, the home nebula of the quarian species.

Nihlus's voice over the comm pulled him out of his thoughts, "I've got some burned out buildings here, Shepard…A lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out. I'll try to catch up with you at the dig site."

Shepard didn't answer, Nihlus could handle himself. Standing up, he spotted two more assault drones and another rocket drone. He and Lieutenant took them down in rapid succession with an ample dose of highly accelerated rounds. He continued on down the path, still somewhat lost in thought, but still very aware of his surroundings. Geth of all things…why? Why leave the Veil? They're machines, governed by logic. They want something. What could a machine want? Prothean stuff? He filed the thought away for a later time as he was on a mission. He saw another clearing ahead and, trusting Kaidan could get anything that was small and flying, he pulled out his sniper rifle once again.

OOO

She had been running for a while now and had the five drones that had been chasing her whittled down to two, her pistol was overheated, and she couldn't risk slowing down to take out her larger guns. She'd been hearing shooting in the distance, not exactly the precise fire of those damn machines, but the slower, heavy shots of an alliance gun. Survivors with guns could only be beneficial, so she modified her trajectory to the direction of the sound. She saw a small clearing ahead with spires of rock jutting out of the center. It was the best cover she could find from these things, besides trees. Just as she stepped foot in to the clearing, she simultaneously felt an impact get absorbed by her shields, and heard her pistol overheat alarm stop beeping. She pulled it out, slid onto her back, and took out the remaining two drones. Guess I didn't need the cover, she thought.

As they fell, however, her eye was immediately drawn to one of two humanoid machines holding a colonist over a tripod. Half a second later, a huge spike rose out of the tripod and impaled the colonist, thrusting him high into the air, Vlad the Impaler style. She had a half a hope that that was not the source of gunfire she'd heard. Yup, need the cover, she thought. Her senses screamed at her to get running, and she scrambled to comply.

Just as both machines turned their single flashlight heads in her direction, she made it behind the conveniently placed rock and switched to her assault rifle. Peeking around the corner, she saw the leftmost machine explode.

Her hopes rose again and she had the fleeting thought, explosive rounds…nice. A few seconds later, she watched the other one explode and let out a breath she had been holding. She then turned to face her rescuers.

She'd heard that the Alliance was sending people in, but she just assumed that it would be a few random squads to sweep things up…not somebody like Commander Shepard. "Thank you for your help, Commander. I didn't think I was going to make it."

The Commander reattached his sniper rifle to the electromagnetic strips on his back and pulled out his pistol. "No problem."

She was out of breath and forgot to salute, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, sir?" Somewhere in her mind she knew it was a dumb question, but one could never be sure.

"Are you wounded, Williams?" the Commander asked.

I guess that answers that, "A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious." She thought back to the people that were previously under her command, "The others weren't so lucky."

She walked to the side and pointed in the direction she came from, "Oh, man…We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit," She looked back at the Commander, "we tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications," she took a breath. "I've been fighting for my life ever since."

"I think we received that distress call. Where's the rest of your squad?"

She thought back, "We tried to double back to the beacon. But we walked into an ambush," she looked down and shook her head, "I don't think any of the others…" she looked at the Commander again, "I think I'm the only one left."

She saw him return her gaze with the hint of a wince. She didn't know what the look meant, but the tone of the response held a sadness of sorts. "This isn't your fault, Williams," he said. "You couldn't have done anything to save them."

He doesn't know, he wasn't there, she thought absently. Something about him, though, how he said it made her feel…made her want to believe him. "Y-Yes, sir. We held our position as long as we could…Until the geth overwhelmed us."

The soldier behind the commander spoke up, "Geth? The Geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years. Why are they here now?"

Ashley looked at him and shrugged, "They must have come for the beacon. The dig site is close," she pointed in its general direction, "just over the rise. It might still be there."

Shepard nodded, "Then we could use your help, Williams."

She returned his nod and pulled out her assault rifle, "Aye, aye, sir. It's time for payback."

"Then let's move out."

OOO

Sounds like she has some talent for gunfights, Shepard thought as he was digging through some crates in that area, I'll have to get the Alliance to send me her file...Hey! Shepard pulled an explosive round mod out of one of the crates and scanned it with his omni-tool, Oh…mark IX…omni-gel. He then pulled an incendiary grenade X mod, thought for a moment, then converted it too to omni-gel. He moved on to another crate, and finding nothing of value, continued to the next.

"The beacon's at the far end of this trench," Ashley commented.

The Commander stood up from another crate and pulled out his sniper rifle, "Got it."

The squad continued down the trench until they came to the dig site. There were a few geth there, and they were easily and precisely taken out from a distance.

Kaidan took a quick look around and reported, "Negative contacts Commander."

Shepard noticed that the Lieutenant looked a little distant, "What's up Lieutenant?"

Kaidan didn't respond immediately. "That man was still alive when they stuck him on the spike."

"Killing us isn't enough," Ashley replied. "The geth want us to suffer."

"Would geth care about something like that?" Shepard asked.

"Impaling victims instead of just shooting them,' Ashley responded, "there must be some reason behind it."

"Classic psychological warfare, I guess, they are using terror as a weapon," Kaidan spoke.

My statement still stands, Shepard thought, deep thinker, though, that one. He decided not to pursue the conversation in favor of investigating the dig site. In which case, something was immediately apparent…there was no beacon.

"This is the dig site," Ashley stated. "The beacon was right here. It must have been moved."

Kaidan looked at her, "By who? Our side? Or the Geth?"

"Hard to say. Maybe we'll know more after we check the research camp."

"You think anyone got out of here alive?" Shepard asked.

"If they were lucky," the Chief responded. "Maybe they're hiding up in the camp; it's just on the top of this ridge. Up the ramps."

Shepard gave a sharp nod, "Lead the way Williams."

At that moment Nihlus came in over the comm again. "Change of plans, Shepard. There's a small spaceport up ahead, I want to check it out. I'll wait for you there."

Ashley lead them up an earthen ramp that curved around the dig site, and up a path that eventually brought them to what must've been the researcher's camp. "Looks like they hit the camp hard," she observed."

That's an understatement, Shepard thought. There must have been three temporary shacks at one time, but only two remained. The damaged one was little more than twisted metal, and the other two held the tinge of soot from what was probably an explosion from the third. Three massive spikes like the ones from before were also in the area, each holding a body. Bodies of about ten Alliance marines lay strewn around the camp in various states of destruction.

"It's a good place for an ambush. Keep your guard up," Kaidan advised.

The sound of screeching metal-on-metal was heard as one of the spikes began to lower back into its.

"Oh, God! They're still alive!" Kaidan gasped.

After the spike was completely inside its tripod, the body pulled itself off and slowly started to shuffle towards the squad.

"What did the geth do to them?" Ashley spoke, shocked.

The other two spikes and bodies followed suit, and while it was a surprise for Shepard, one thing was evident: those things were no longer human.

"Take them down!" He ordered.

The creatures, later called husks after the bodies were recovered and examined by Alliance officials, took a lot of damage and let off a strange disrupting wave of energy before going down. The wave, Shepard was sure, would have fried their shields had they gotten close enough.

"Now we know what those spikes were for," Kaidan spoke, "turning our own dead against us."

"It must take a few hours for it to occur though," Ashley responded.

The damaged bodies of the creatures looked almost…mechanical. Like all the organic components of what was previously a human were replaced with tech and wiring. All hair was gone, the skin was torn and gray, revealing glowing mechanical components of what should have been muscle.

Somewhere deep inside, where logic meant nothing, Shepard felt scared. The concept of a body being hijacked and converted into something so different from what it was originally was…was horrifying. Although he was a long way from breaking down into a shivering lump of human, and would be more likely to study it and find out how it works, he still preferred not to dwell on it. He was busy with the larger mission and stuff.

So he went on to the shacks to look for survivors. The first one was empty save for a few items that he converted to omni-gel, but the second one—

"That door." Ashley said, "It's closed. Security lock's engaged"

Being an engineer, Shepard could have hacked the door easily, but decided to let Kaidan prove his tech expertise. It took about a minute, but the door opened, "You're no Engineer, but good job Lieutenant."

"Thanks Commander."

The trio entered the shack and found a male and female scientist sitting on a bed as far from the door as possible.

"Humans! Thank the maker," the female spoke rising from the bed.

"Hurry!" the male spoke. "Close the door…Before they come back."

"Don't worry," Shepard responded, holstering his weapon and putting up a hand. "We'll protect you."

The female spoke again, "Thank you. I think we'll be okay now. It looks like everyone's gone."

Ashley seemed to recognize the female doctor, "You're Dr. Warren, the one in charge of the excavation. Do you know what happened to the beacon?"

Dr. Warren was a middle aged woman with few distinguishing features other than her red hair, a true redhead was a rare site in that day and age without genetic engineering…and human opinion vbaried on that type of thing. "It was moved to the spaceport this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the camp…When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide." Dr. Warren bowed her head slightly, "They gave their lives to save us."

Shepard saw the classic signs of survivor's guilt in her face. Those men were heroes, he thought. It was their job to protect you…they succeeded.

The male, Dr. Manuel, was seemingly older than Dr. Warren due to both his dark hair's receding hairline and his worn face. He spoke like a man on the verge of a breakdown, "No one is saved. The age of humanity is ended. Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain."

"Is there anything else you can tell me about the attack?" the Commander asked.

Dr. Warren shook her head, "It all happened so fast. One second we were gathering up our equipment. The next we were hiding in the shed while geth swarmed over the camp."

Dr. Manuel spoke again, "Agents of the destroyers…Bringers of darkness…Heralds of our extinction."

"We could hear the battle outside: gunfire…screams," She rubbed a shaking hand across her forehead. "I thought it would never end. Then, everything went quiet. We just sat there, too afraid to move…Until you came along."

Better not to make them relive it more than needed, Shepard thought. "One more question…Did you notice a turian in the area?"

Dr. Manuel spoke up, "I saw him! The prophet. Leader of the enemy. He was here, before the attack."

'The prophet?' 'Before the attack?' what?

"That's impossible," Kaidan disputed. "Nihlus was with us on the Normandy before the attack. He couldn't have been here."

"My thoughts exactly," Shepard replied.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Warren apologized, "Manuel's still a bit…unsettled. We haven't seen your turian. We've been hiding here."

"What's wrong with your assistant?" Shepard asked. "Does he need help?"

Dr. Warren glanced back at Dr. Manuel, "Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he's always been a bit…unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin."

True, he thought.

"Is it madness to see the future?" Dr. Manuel asked, "To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand there is no escape? No hope? No, I am not mad. I'm the only sane one left."

One of Shepard's eyebrows was slowly rising.

"I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack," Dr. Warren explained.

And I see they haven't kicked in yet…or have they?

Shepard looked at Ashley, "Williams, take us to the spaceport."

"You can't stop it. Nobody can stop it!" Dr. Manuel cried. "Night is falling…The darkness of eternity!"

We can still try.

"Hush, Manuel," Dr. Warren voiced. "Go lie down. You'll feel better once the medication kicks in."

That answers that, Shepard gave a sharp nod, "You two stay here, we'll send someone to pick you up."

"Thank you Commander," The woman replied as the door closed behind them.

"Ashley? Too the spaceport," Shepard ordered

The Gunnery Chief took point. "It's not far," she said. They were almost at the crest of a hill when they heard a single gunshot.

Single shot? Shepard thought. What did Nihlus find?

"What is that?" Kaidan asked, "Off in the distance."

"It's a ship." Ashley responded, "Look at the size of it!"

Shepard looked up to where she was pointing, then brought up his sniper rifle to watch the spacecraft through the scope as it flew out of the atmosphere. It's the same ship he saw on the vid during his briefing with Anderson and the Spectre before the mission. Oddly enough, the vid must've been her team's distress call as, now that he thought back, her face looked familiar from the vid. The ship itself looked vaguely like an Earth squid, with a bulky semi-cylindrical body that tapered off over the rear with five arms extending from its front end, and six jointed legs extending from its main body.

Good God, Shepard thought. "That is…Not good…We should go find Nihlus."

The noise they were making alerted a group of geth and some of their creations to their location. The squad took them out from a distance and were about to move on when Kaidan noticed something. "Commander!" he called. "There's another shack!"

Shepard looked over to see where he was referring. Sure enough, there was a shack nestled just at the edge of the tree-line next to the spaceport. "I see it Lieutenant…Let's check it out."

Kaidan was already decrypting the locking mechanism when Shepard arrived.

As the door slid open, a male voice called out, "Everybody stay calm out there. We're coming out. We're not armed,"

Two men and a woman walked out, one man had a hard face and a goatee, the other was clean-shaven with a receding hairline, and the woman simply wore a hat and dirty clothes; there was nothing really special about any of them. They were just farmers.

The woman spoke, "Is it safe? Are they gone?"

"We took care of them," Shepard replied

The man who called out spoke next, "Those things were crawling all around the shed. They would have found us for sure. We owe you our lives."

The woman spoke again, "I—I still can't believe it. When we saw that ship…I thought it was all over!"

"It showed up right before the attack. Knew it was trouble the second I saw it. So we made a break for the sheds."

"What do you remember about the attack?" Shepard asked.

"The three of us were working the crops when that ship showed up. We just saw it and ran. I don't know what happened to the rest of the crew."

The other male farmer spoke up, "They were by the garage. Over near the spaceport. Right where that ship came down. No way they survived."

"You don't know that!" the female interjected, "We survived. If they made it to the garage, they could've had a fighting chance!"

Shepard just passed his gaze between all of them. "What can you tell me about that ship?"

"I was too busy running to get a clear look at it. I think it landed over near the spaceport," the first male answered.

"Tell them about the noise, Cole. That awful noise," the female said.

The man named Cole glanced at her, then looked back at the Commander. "It was emitting some kind of signal as it descended. Sounded like the shriek of the damned. Only it was coming from inside your own head."

"It may have been trying to block communications," Shepard pointed out.

"Whatever it was, felt like it was tearing through my skull. Almost made it impossible to think."

An organic…jammer? ...Implications. Shepard looked back at his squad and then back at the farmers, "You guys stay here; we have to go."

"Hey, Cole," the other male farmer whispered, "We're just a bunch of farmers. These guys are soldiers. Maybe we should give them the stuff."

Cole looked back at the speaker, "Geeze, Blake. You gotta' learn when to shut up!"

That got Shepard's attention, "You have something to tell me, Cole?"

Cole put up a hand, "Some guys at the spaceport were running a small smuggling ring. Nothing major. In exchange for a cut of the profits, we let them store packages in our sheds."

"What kinds of packages?"

"I found a pistol. Figured it would come in handy if those things came back. But you'll probably get more use out of it than we will."

"We're risking our lives to save this colony." Shepard pointed over his shoulder. "You sure there's nothing else in there that could help us out?"

Cole shrugged, "Yeah, there's one more thing. I was going to sell it after this was over. But you probably deserve it more than I do."

"Who's your contact at the spaceport, Cole?" Ashley cut in, "What's his name?"

Cole put up both of his hands, "He's not a bad guy. I don't want to get him into trouble. Besides, I'm not a snitch."

"He might have something to do with this whole attack, Cole," Shepard returned. "We need his name. It's important."

"Yeah, Okay, You're right. His name's Powell. He works the docks at the spaceport…If he's still alive."

Shepard looked through the small box one of the farmers brought out, at the pistol. His current weapons were far better, so he took the pistol and held it out to Cole, "Keep the pistol, there could be more around here that we've missed." He accepted the grenade though, if nothing else, to get it out of non-military hands. "Now we really have to go. We'll be sure to direct Alliance forces this way next time we get in contact with them."

OOO

The spaceport was nearly pristine. Geth had no real reason to trash the place, Kaidan supposed, other than for scare tactics. Seeing state of it though meant that they had a specific goal they were going for, probably the beacon, and any bodies they found were probably little more than humans that got in the way. This wasn't necessarily a purge, but a retrieval. There were a few boxes tipped over, but they could've very well have been tipped over by hiding humans. There was also a dead turian on the ground…a dead turian with black skin…and holstered weapons.

Kaidan knelt down next to the body. "Commander, it's Nihlus," he informed.

Shepard knelt down next to the body as well, "Evidently he did find something."

"And it shot him in back of the head," Kaidan agreed.

Upon closer inspection, the dark-skinned turian had been shot by a weaker weapon, most likely a pistol with no ammo mods as suggested by the fact that the majority of his head was still intact.

"Something's moving!" Ashley reported. "Over behind those crates!"

All three of them pulled out their pistols and pointed them at where the noise came from.

"Wait!" a male voice yelled, "Don't—Don't shoot! I'm one of you, I'm human."

A man with a scruffy beard and a hat walked out from behind some crates.

"Sneaking up on us like that nearly got you killed," Shepard told him.

"I," the man took a breath, "I'm sorry. I was hiding…From those creatures."

The squad holstered their weapons.

At that, the man seemed to calm down more, "My name's Powell. I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him."

"Another turian?"

"Yes…the other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him Saren. I think they knew each other."

Kaidan saw Shepard look back at them, "That could be the turian that the doctor was talking about."

"Your friend seemed to relax," Powell continued. "He let his guard down…and Saren killed him. Shot him right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates."

"Where did he go?"

"He jumped on the cargo train," Powell pointed in a general rightward direction, "and headed to the other platform. Probably going after the beacon." He leaned forward on a crate, "I knew that thing was trouble. Everything's gone to hell since we found it. First that damn mother ship showed up. Then the attack…They killed everyone. Everyone! If I hadn't been behind the crates, I'd be dead too."

Something occurred to Shepard, "Wait a minute, you're Cole's contact here on the docks…For the smuggling ring."

Powell took a step back in shock, "What? No! I mean…," he shook his head, "what does it matter now? So I'm a smuggler? Who cares? My supervisor's dead. The entire crew's dead. It doesn't matter now, does it?"

True, Kaidan thought.

"Anything hidden nearby that we could use against the geth?" Shepard asked.

"Well…" Powell said uncertainly. "A shipment of grenades came through last week. Nobody notices if a few small pieces go missing from the military orders."

Kaidan could practically see Ashley's anger. "You greedy son of a b****!" she shouted. "We're out here trying to protect your sorry a** and all you can think about is how you can rip us off?!"

Powell put up his hands, "I never thought you'd actually need those grenades! Who'd want to attack Eden Prime? We're just a bunch of farmers! How was I supposed to know?"

Those shouldn't be in Civilian hands, Kaidan thought.

"Forget about him, Williams," Shepard said. "He's not worth it."

She pointed at Powell "You're lucky the commander's here, Powell. Hand over those grenades."

After a little digging in one of the crates, Powell handed them to the Chief, "They're yours. Take them. My smuggling days are over. I swear."

Right, Kaidan thought. Everyone says that when they get caught.

"A lot of marines died here, Powell," Shepard said. "Those grenades could have come in handy." Powell lowered his gaze. "If I were you, I'd think of some way to make it up to them."

Powell looked back at Shepard, "Yeah. Okay. There is something else I was saving…Could be worth a fortune…Experimental Technology. Top of the line." He moved around a few crates, then started digging in one. A few moments later, he came over and handed Shepard a high explosive grenade mod, "Take it. I don't need it. I didn't want anyone to get hurt. Really… I'm sorry."

See? Case rested, Kaidan thought. And I don't think that's what the Commander meant by 'make it up to them.'

Shepard looked back at them, "We need to get to that beacon."

"Take the cargo train," Powell directed. "That's where the other turian went." He covered his face with his hands, "I…I can't stay here. I need to get away from all this." He walked away.

A geth drone appeared from below the shipping platform as the squad mad their way towards where the man directed. Shepard took it out quickly with his pistol, but it alerted a group of geth that came up the ramp from below to open fire on the small squad. All three of them dove behind some nearby crates and quickly returned fire. Kaidan saw Shepard attempt to sabotage a few of the geth's weapons, and while they were sabotaged, he and Ashley peppered them with gunfire. After the duo fell, the squad rushed and took out the remaining geth on the lower platform.

That platform connected to the long, flat cargo train. It was now free of hostiles, but the train, however, was not as they came under more fire by a few larger geth, later referred to as geth destroyers by Alliance command, and a few normal geth further down.

Kaidan saw Shepard quickly switch to his sniper rifle and attempt to no-scope the nearest destroyer. He missed, but the machine was focused on Ashley, so he had time to allow his rifle to cool down. The Lieutenant peppered it with his assault rifle, but the Commander got it on the second shot.

Ashley ducked down behind some cover to allow her shields to recharge.

Seeing this, Kaidan switched weapons and took down the destroyer with a few shots of his own sniper rifle, his shots caused less heat in his weapon, so he could shoot more before overheat. Shepard took down the next nearest geth, and when his shields disappeared, he jumped back behind some cover and took out the remaining geth from there.

Ashley was up again, so they all rushed down to the last car of the train, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings.

"I take it you have a plan for getting this thing going?" Ashley asked.

"That I do," the Commander replied. "Lemmie show you something I learned in N-School." He brought up his omni-tool and hacked the controls with a few clicks. The car started moving a moment later. "Wanna' see this thing do a backflip?"

OOO

Ashley was sore, the geth from before got her good. She never had chance to apply a dose of medi-gel before the Commander had them rushing off, and while she could have applied it during the train-ride over, Shepard kept them watching for more geth.

They had just arrived at the station when Kaidan shouted, "Demolition charges! The geth must have planted them!"

Decryption wasn't her area of expertise, so she resolved to let them do that part. "Hurry – we need to find them all and shut them down!"

Shepard quickly hacked and disabled the first one, then did a quick scan with his omni-tool. "There are three more radioactive signatures…Ash, do what you can to cover us."

She readjusted her grip on her assault rifle, "Understood, Commander. That was the plan."

Almost as soon as they started going up the ramp to the upper platform, they came under fire again. Ashley saw Shepard mostly ignore it and rely on his shields as he tried to close the distance with the shooting geth while firing back. She tried to help him as much as she could, but she felt the impact of rounds obliterate her own shield, then the impact of some rounds bite into her armor.

"Ashley, stay down!" Shepard ordered. He noticed the lack of shielding on her too.

She fell back behind some cover and thought, He must have just patched himself into my suit's biosensors...definitely an engineer.

She watched as Shepard simultaneously rushed across a bridge that was connecting both sides of the spaceport platform and shot a geth in the head with his pistol mid-stride. Kaidan finished it off with his assault rifle, close behind.

She chanced a few shots at another geth, but Shepard blew it away with his explosive rounds. She'd never seen someone switch weapons so fast. He knocked down the final geth to finish it off with a close range sniper shot. There wasn't much left after that. Then he and the Lieutenant split up to disable the remaining bombs. She did see Kaidan come under some fire from a few remaining geth, but he used the dark energy of his biotics to throw them onto the electrically charged track of the train.

"Clear!" Kaidan shouted.

Ashley rose from her cover and rejoined them. "Nice moves LT," she praised.

Kaidan looked at her, "Thanks. LT?"

"It's easier."

Kaidan shrugged and they both waited for the commander to dig through some crates. "Hey Ashley! Come here once," he called.

She quickly complied, "What do you need Commander?"

He stood up and looked at her, "Do you have a medical exoskeleton installed in that suit?" he was holding something in his hands.

"Uh…no…"

He gave her a slight smile, "Here," he handed her a medical exoskeleton suit enhancement, "install that…and I apologize for not authorizing the use of the medi-gel earlier. I couldn't hack that far into your suit."

She gave him an odd look as she accepted the enhancement.

"That sounded bad…"

"Yup," she agreed. "Here's my codes." She transmitted her suit's id to his omni-tool.

"I apologize for not asking sooner, I was in a rush and it slipped my mind."

Ashley gave out an amused "Ha."

"Ookay. Install that and let's go."

"On it commander."

The squad continued on and took out a small squad of geth and their husk creations to secure the beacon. Physically, the beacon was relatively insignificant, just a flat pillar with a circular angled base that a stopped about a quarter of the way up the main pillar. A strange light shot up from the base of the pillar, and into the sky. But inside, Ashley knew, there could be tech to advance the human species another century.

"This is amazing," Kaidan spoke. "Actual working Prothean Technology. Unbelievable!"

Ashley looked up at the beacon. It was captivating somehow…it drew her in. "It wasn't doing anything like that when they dug it up," she took a step closer. Vaguely, she noticed her voice getting quieter. "Something must've activated it."

She heard Shepard say, "Roger Normandy, Standing by." He'd just finished informing the ship that they completed the mission.

As she walked forward, her vision started to blur. The beacon was becoming brighter and brighter, she could actually feel the draw. The moment she realized it, however, an invisible force latched onto her and started pulling her towards it. She was only a few feet away when she felt another force pull her and throw her away. When she looked back from the ground, she saw Shepard suspended in the air, pain stretching his features.

"Shepard!" She called, but he did not answer.

She tried going back to pull him out, but Kaidan restrained her and said, "No! Don't touch him! It's too dangerous!"

After a few more seconds, the beacon exploded and Shepard was thrown back. Ashley quickly rushed up to him and checked the bio-readings of his suit, he was still alive, but out cold. As the Normandy landed, she and Kaidan quickly hoisted him onto their shoulders, onto the ship, and onto one of the beds in the med-bay, bypassing any cleaning procedures.

A debrief and a welcome later by the CO, she found herself setting the timer for a sleeper pod. Shepard was going to be fine, according to the doctor. The CO didn't have much of a reaction when she related her part of the story, but she herself knew that she probably just botched their whole mission…the best she could hope for was probably a court martial. Dammit…I messed up…bad. I never should have approached that beacon, I've cost the Commander his mission and nearly his life...And I lost my whole team to boot, the glass front of the pod opened and she stepped into it and laid back…Another strike for the Williams family.

If you are reading this, then thank you for finding this interesting enough to read to the end of the first chapter. I apologize for the length and the lack of the promised banter and dynamics, after the second chapter for sure things will be more interesting…hopefully…we'll see where my mind goes…I cannot promise, though, that my chapters will be any shorter than this…I write and play until I find a good place to stop…soo…yeah…

As you probably guessed, I'm formatting these like they are written by one of the offspring of Shepard and their romance (and no…that does not imply which ending they will take at the end of ME3…I'll explain later…much later…just bear with me…there may or may not be multiple endings for certain characters as well…still debating…and yes, there will be aftermath chapters when I get to them). Oh, and one more thing…I'm not big on swearing soo the words will still be there, but some will contain "*". I am also trying to make this as canon as possible with tweaks.

You'll note that there were also a few points that I glazed over due to the fact that they would have been redundant to the story, or Shepard (or his squad) were not there to witness them, namely Nihlus getting shot…

I used Mass Effect wiki to get the description of the reaper, though I tweaked it a little…I am not very good with explaining how things look (the beacon was difficult)

Please review (be gentle). If you find any memes, comics, or ideas you would like me to integrate into the story later on, post a link/comment (or PM me) though it should be relevant to the game I'm on (eg. no ME2 memes in ME1 and so on), and they should be lore friendly… If I like them, I will try to integrate (if you are going to post a link, try replacing the "." with spaces, I can fill it in).

Updated and optimized with a lot of stuff 7/26/15