Mass Effect: Chronicles.

Prologue.

I- Introduction.

Alliance Military Standard Time: 0200 hours. Mindoir local time: 2:27am.

Year: 2170. Location: Mindoir, Attican Traverse, Star System: Antaeus.

14 years prior to present time.

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Cyrus "CJ" Jeromi, a young boy turned young adult not 2 days ago, worked hard at mining the thorium and cobalt deposits which he was assigned to extract by his boss, Mr. Ramos. He and the other miners had hit the jackpot the last couple of days, finding many of the deposits in the Irane region. The discovery came at the most opportune time, as the last of their previously discovered resources were running dry, which meant no income for all of them, and no income for the Mindoir goverment to expand and develop further. The local goverment was a bit hazy on letting the miners extract the stuff, but they really didn't have much options for credits. It was a young world, only in the last few years was it deemed habitable and was colonized. Not exactly the best naturally habitable planet, but it was good enough for the people here. Just a quiet, backwater planet in the Attican Traverse. However, there was still much to do.

If only it was ever given the opportunity.

Pushing aside his physical exhaustion, CJ continued to work hard. For an newly turned sixteen year old, Cyrus was above average in physical prowess and condition then the average teen. He had a hard and busy life as a child and a teen, working with his dad, mostly jobs to do with raw strength and muscle. Despite his physical advantages he actually enjoyed less physical suggesting activities much more, such as reading, socializing, and history. Even about the other alien races sharing the galatica with them, which was rare as most people didn't bother or care. He read all about the Krogans, the Rebellions and Genophage; The First Contact War with the Turians, The Asari and their beautiful culture, the Quarians and their exile from their homeplanet. He was just one of those guys who loved to do everything. His mother and father were of mixed multicultural heritage, as most humans these days were, but his African background showed above all. His skin was a nice dark brown and his hair naturally a messy fro, but he kept it shaved, and he had big brown eyes which were very hard to read. He stood at 5'8, the average for most humans. To another human or perhaps Asari, he was confident he was attractive to the opposite gender. And race.

Well, in a rough, manly, weird sort of way. Puberty was still working wonders.

It was well past midnight; Cyrus and his workmates and friends had been mining for hours, determined and encouraged, but exhausted. Of course, there was a catch for these new found mineral banks; they were well beyond the designated "safe zones". That is, the explored regions of Mindoir which the local goverment consider safe and appropriate to stay within. He didn't see what the whole fuss was about, as there were no readings or successful scans of other organic life before the humans colonized, but then again they couldn't be too careful. Ever since the humans expanded beyond their solar system in the Galactic, every alien species has give them some kind of crap, they wouldn't give them a break. The First Contact War with the Turians, the Batarian pirates and slavers attacking human ships all over the Traverse... what did they need to do to colonize peacefully just as the rest of the galaxies life did? It just didn't make sense to most. Especially to Cyrus.

For now, however, he brushed those thoughts aside for another time; he wanted to be focused on finishing the job here.

He wiped the heavy amounts of sweat off his brow and forehead. After a couple of more minutes he finally gave in to his bodies screaming protests to take a quick break. Taking a deep breath and exhaling, he clumsily sat and fell against the rocky wall behind him, taking a quick breather. He was exhausted. Around him the others followed suit too. No need to speak; they all needed a damn break.

"John... you mind passing over some water? Freakin' dehydrated here," Cyrus said with a raspy voice, pointing to the water crate next to his good friend.

John nodded and grabbed a canteen, throwing it to Cyrus, giving a laugh at his friends desperation for water. "Someones exhausted."

Cyrus had always been a social person; when he first came with his family to Mindoir with the 700 other colonists, he made sure to befriend or get to know nearly every single one of them. Especially his work mates. They were a colorful and interesting mix of personalities, but many just didn't have much history. Roger Vaughn and his brother Lee were two guys just trying to get away from the hustle and bustle of Earth; Roger was the tough, straightforward, intimidating guy while Lee was the loud-mouthed but more logical brother. Annabelle was the only girl of his mining group but she made sure she let everyone know she wouldn't take crap. She was just as tough, strong, violent and rough as any of them were, so the guys made sure not to mess with her. Ian was a orphan who was brought to Mindoir to be taken care of by his new foster parents.

There were many more, but the stories were the same. They were all either homeless, wanderers, explorers, or disgraced criminals determined to attone for their sins in the quiet life.

But John Shepard and his parents definitely were the most interesting, but at the same time mysterious. They didn't fit in with all the rest of the parents and families. They saw action. The Shepard's had a name in the galaxy. John's parents were Alliance soldiers whom had retired after the hard life; they both fought the Turians in the First Contact War and saved many civilians from the Shanxi bombardment and occupation. They were heroes. They must have met and fell in love soon after, because John was born on a spaceship not long afterwards, seeing the stars and planets as a child and travelling various systems before ending up on this quiet backwater planet 2 years ago. Cyrus would have loved to have the same, despite John saying they had it good on Mindoir. Cyrus was just some kid from Earth who went to Mindoir with his rather boring, but providing, parents.

Cyrus sloshed around the contents of the canteen before drinking more than half of water in one go.

"Well of course you would be, if you hadn't had a decent shower in three days... or a proper good nights sleep."

"I was kidding, CJ. We all look a mess."

"Not you. You aren't even breaking a sweat."

"Yeah I am."

"No, you're not... Anyways I say we just go back now. Ramos is overworking us, he won't mind if we have a break."

"We're close man, very close. We'll finish up in an hour, I promise. I'm sure we'll finish extracting this stuff by then, and report back to Mr. Ramos. Alright everybody? Then we'll get back to town, rest, and celebrate."

CJ sighed, and finished his water. "Sometimes I'm embarrassed on how little John, the twig stick, managed to outgrow and outstrong me."

John just grinned. "Whats that got to do with anything?"

"Nothin' man, nothin'." Cyrus slowly got up with the aid of Lee. Roger slowly got back up from his resting position as well with a grunt. "Well, its only an hour. Lets get this over and done with. Stop bitching CJ."

"I wasn't."

"Thats what you always say."

"Shut up."

Then they all started again. The hour seemed to go on forever to Cyrus, and his physique and energy was pushed to it's limits. But finally John called it a night, well, early morning, and they collected their stuff and left the site.

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3am on Minodir wasn't quite like on Earth, but it was close enough, however the hell the sun in this starsystem worked. The nightsky was full of all those distant and mysterious stars and planets. Cyrus always had the desire to maybe one day explore out there. Make a name for the Jeromi's or something. But that wouldn't be for a while, that was for sure.

He walked alongside Roger and Lee, whom bickered about the usual crap and how out here was just wasteland save for the minerals. John lead the group at the front, quiet as usual. They were the only people- the 17 of them- that were allowed out of the safe zone legally. Again, Cyrus was confident there was nothing dangerous out here with them, but he was sure some of his peers were much more paranoid. He couldn't blame them of course, but still.

"I just think Mr. Thomas should just be a bit more... less tight," Lee finally stated. "There ain't no dangers out here anyways. We need more hands to help up with the mining."

"He's just trying to make sure we're safe, y'know." John replied from the front.

"I know, I understand... just-"

"Just what?" Cyrus interrupted. "We hear you complain about the same stuff everyday Lee, I think we all know by now your damn point."

The topic quickly changed. Warren spoke up. "Anyone hear about the attack on Qwell?"

"Yeah. Heard the planet was crushed pretty bad last week. Chen told me the details when I was over at the Xion building. I mean, if a heavily fortified colony like that got wiped easy, what makes us so safe then?"

"Chen's full of crap," Ian said bluntly.

"Mindor is very far from the Attican Beta. We're fine. Stop worrying, bunch of idiots, I swear." Anabelle said, butting in, giving her usual straightforward opinion and insults.

"Let the Alliance worry about that shit man," Nick replied. "Lets just worry about getting home. They won't even bother coming down to nowhere anyways."

"Yeah," Roger grunted. "All we got of worth around here is the thorium and Anabelle's hot sister."

Most laughed save for John, who continued to walk ahead quietly. Anabelle went red.

"Oh shut the hell u-"

Anabelle didn't get to finish his sentence, however, as the next thing the group hears isn't the sound of her smacking Roger, but the sound of a ship fast approaching. Cyrus turned himself around. The night sky rippled as a ship broke through atmosphere and was heading straight their way. Fast. From what Cyrus could see as it flew over them hard, it was definitely not Alliance, as the outer design was rough, shaped weirdly... different design. John yelled over the noise for everyone to duck as it passed over, and the guys did so.

Cyrus looked through squinted eyes as the wind hit them to where the ship was headed- the town. Then another ship came from another direction, and followed in pursuit over the first. And another. Then...

Explosion.

It took a few seconds to register, but it finally hit him.

They were under attack.