NB: The boiler-plate disclaimer! ME universe, character, events etc. owned by Bioware and published by EA (first game formally Microsoft Studios) – this is a reworking of events that occur, I own nothing (though a few characters and events are my own creation).

NB 2: Some events of the games might be glossed over slightly, simply because by now anyone reading this will most likely have played the games to the end – if you haven't shame on you! ;) – this might change as I go along, we shall have to see, there's a lot of ground to cover from 3 huge game storylines! The events of briefly described below will be mentioned in flashbacks, dreams, nightmares and conversations. The opening few chapters will drag a bit; unfortunately necessary to get a small picture across of whom my Fem-Shep is.

Key notes about the Shepard in my "head-cannon".

Commander Elizabeth Ann Shepard: Born 11th April 2154 on Mindoir. Mindoir attacked by Batarian slavers, Shepard barely escapes with her life in 2170. Detected (officially) as a biotic in 2171 and fitted with L3 implants. April 11th 2172, Shepard enlists in the Alliance military and swiftly rises to Special Forces, due to her great biotic and combat potential. 2176 when on shore leave on Elysium, Shepard holds out practically single-handily in what becomes known as the Skyllian Blitz, receiving the Star of Terra for her efforts. The following year – near the start of 2177 – Shepard is given her first command; investigating the sudden silence of colonial pioneer teams on Akuze – severely wounded by thresher maw acid, she barely makes it off the planet and spends a long time recovering, plus adjusting to cybernetic implants. Near the end of 2178, Shepard returns to full active duty in a joint command mission with Major Kyle to attack Batarian pirates on Torfan. Learning during the mission that the Batarians were involved in the attack on Mindoir, Shepard goes into a rage and kills everyone in her way – executing nearly 30 surrendered Batarians. Avoiding a dishonourable discharge, Shepard takes on 3 years of "black-letter" operations, taking part in many nigh-on suicidal missions to keep her rank. 2183 the SSV Normandy is completed, with Captain Anderson in command with Commander Shepard as his XO. Shortly after, during the Normandy's "shakedown run" to Eden Prime, the events of the Mass Effect Trilogy start.

1 – The Trouble with Eden Prime

Commander Shepard looked at her marred face mirror, leaning on a sink; she was in the Normandy's washroom having just showered after running 200 laps of the cargo bay. She was tired, needed food and something to drink, but was lost in the past. Her right hand came up and traced the thick flame-like scars that run across her cheek.

'Thresher maw!'

A jolt from a terrible memory caused her to withdraw her hand swiftly. She swallowed hard, pushing the memories away, but never truly able to forget. Backing away from the sink, she resumed drying her long black hair, tossing the towel onto the sink; her hands pulled her hair back into the regulation pony-tail. She disliked having her hair up like this, it showed off her scars to the world, but she was military and would suffer through it. Picking up the towel again, she rubbed her equally scarred body down one last time, before grabbing her uniform and underwear off a rack to one side. Within a minute she was dressed and ready – outwardly at least – to face the crew.

Her past haunted her constantly, Mindoir; Elysium; Akuze; Torfan. All had left a mark on her body and in her soul. Some people called her cold; others remorseless. They didn't know her, what she had suffered. Shepard couldn't empathize with those that had lost sons, daughter; fathers and mothers. Not because she couldn't, because she didn't want to.

To most this would seem – and had been called – monstrous; but if she grieved for the lost she never would stop. Now she focussed on one thing only: the mission.

The mission, the Alliance, was all she had now. Family and friends had died on Mindoir. New friends died on The Blitz. Akuze cut her off from people; her scars made people wary – too wary at times. This isolation after such an event had hurt. It hardened her to only rely on herself; everyone else was just going to leave her.

Torfan had cemented this. The mission orders were clear: rescue the hostages – the slaves – at all costs. She had asked the people under her to do something. They had refused. So she had ordered them. So many people had died. The blame was cast on her by various media outlets and, full of venom, by the families of those lost. If they had acted when she asked… well, less would have died. The Intel from "up high" was more than bad: it was entirely wrong. Not that this helped the dead and their loved ones. But she had clung to it. It was her only lifeline. Mindoir had bent her out of shape – to say the least – Torfan had broken her.

The Butcher. That was what they called her. In reference to the soldiers her orders had kill and to the prisoners she had shot. Unarmed prisoners. All of them were slavers. Some involved with Mindoir. Rage was all she had felt since then. Even that priest a few years ago had only mellowed her. Now she only hated humans and Batarians.

Still, it was a start.

One day she might talk to someone; though she would probably die first.

Stepping out the washroom, the door slide back into place behind her; matching the curve of the ship. The crew deck was mostly empty, only a couple of engineers grabbing a quick bite to eat. Plus the Turian, Nihlus, who sat away from the two crewmembers; slowly drinking a glass of what looked like water. She almost shook her head, Nihlus was there practically every time she turned around, and it was almost as if he was stalking her. God, she hoped her hadn't developed a crush on her! Try explaining that to your girlfriend, she mused to herself. Moving to the food dispenser to grab a quick bite to eat and an energy drink herself.

Being a biotic, she ate more than most of the crew – with the possible exception of Lieutenant Alenko – and tucked to her oversized meal with gusto, hungry enough to ignore that fact that the ready meals tasted like crap. As she ate and took some slow sips of the energy drink, which was designed for biotics like her, it looked unappetising – a green gloop – but it helped perk her up a bit.

Nihlus moved out of sight, but she heard him put his glass in the auto-washer and after saying her name in greeting passed by and headed up to the CIC. She had no problem with Turians, though she knew many humans did after the First Contact War, but Nihlus did freak her out a bit. It was probably because he's a Spectre. She smiled slightly, yeah, that was probably it. She preferred Asari anyway.

She finished her meal soon after, placing her tray, utensils and glass in the auto-washer, turned on her heel and followed in Nihlus's path up to the CIC.

Unsurprisingly the CIC was busy; they were just about to leave the solar system, to head to Eden Prime as test for the brand-spanking-new Normandy and her state of the art systems. Which she only partly understood, she knew the basics, but that was it. Something about catching heat emissions, boiling the crew if they didn't vent the excess heat. She slightly wished she had paid more attention when that phrase was spoken.

The CIC was bulbous at one end, with two staircases filtering down to the floor below, stretching off towards the cockpit. The centre of the bulbous area was raised up, displaying the galaxy map; around the edges people worked away at consoles. Down the stretched lane either side was lined with stations, each one was manned.

She effortlessly moved through the CIC, slipping between two bridge crew and dodging another on her way to the cockpit to see Joker work his magic. Several crew members practically jumped out of her way. Of course Nihlus was there, standing at the edge of the cockpit, observing. As always. Out of the viewport, the mass relay could be seen, a tiny glowing dot that was rapidly getting bigger. Without meaning to she slightly tensed, it wasn't that relay transit hurt or was uncomfortable, it just made her stomach moan at her now and then. She knew that that sensation was actually the motion dampers kicking in the relay discharged it energy and fired them many times faster than the speed of light across the universe. She partly wondered how the forces involved didn't rip apart anything that interacted with it. But she was no scientist, so she pushed the thought to one side; Joker pulling her out of her chain of thought.

"Hitting the relay in 3… 2… 1!" The floor seemed to stretch for second, then her brain caught up with her – it was an odd feeling. "Mark hit, drift just under 1500k."

"1500 is good, the captain will be pleased." Nihlus spoke up and before anyone could comment, he was turning and walking away briskly.

"I hate that guy." Joker grumbled.

"Nihlus just gave you a compliment, so you hate him?" Alenko laughed from the seat next to Joker.

"Remember to zip up your jumpsuit…" Shepard drifted away slightly from the conversation, looking out at the faint distant stars.

"What do you think about Nihlus commander?" She snapped back to conversation, unsure of what had been said, went for the diplomatic answer.

"No idea, haven't said much to him, but I think it odd that a Spectre was sent on a shakedown run."

"See I told you something was up – even the Commander sees it!" Joker exclaimed, one arm flailing about wildly. "Don't look at me like that LT, I'm not paranoid!"

"You're being paranoid Joker, the Council helped to fund the Normandy, they have every right to send some to watch over that investment." Alenko shook his head and laughed lightly.

"Joker, report." Captain Anderson's voice rang out in the cockpit.

"Linking in Alliance comms now Sir, everything in the green." Joker went professional again.

"Good, I status updates sent to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime." Anderson's disembodied voice continued. "Oh, and send Shepard to the comm. room for a briefing."

"Aye, aye sir." The link cut as rapidly as it started.

"Captain sounds nervous, that's not like him." Shepard commented.

"Probably just stress with having to deal with the brass, Council and Spectre on his ship." Alenko replied to her, looking around. "You should go meet with him," Shepard simply nodded.

"See you guys later." She waved as she turned to go meet Anderson, hearing Joker behind her.

"Damn, she's got a nice ass…" She couldn't help but smile to herself, poor old Joker; still at least he didn't avoid her like some of the crew.

The circular comm. room had simply Nihlus and eight chairs around the edge in it, standing watching a slide of images from a lush looking garden world – which she assumed was Eden Prime. The three-taloned hand swiping through to change the image to an tall structure she didn't know the purpose of. He heard her approach and turned to face her.

"Ah, Commander, I was hoping you would here first to give us a chance to talk." It more words than he had to her in trip so far.

"What about?"

"This world we're going to Eden Prime." Nihlus gestured to the slideshow. "It's something of paradise according you people's media."

"Wouldn't know if that was true, never been there myself." Shepard eyed him, sensing he was going somewhere.

"It's something of a symbol for you race thought, isn't it? A sign that not only can humans colonise distant worlds, but protect them, keep them safe."

"Is that a threat?" Shepard's eyes narrowed, voice becoming hard. Before Nihlus could respond, a voice called out behind her.

"Easy there Commander." It was Anderson. "I think it's time we told her what's really going on."

"I agree, she has been very patient, even when knowing that she is being kept in the dark." Nihlus gave her the Turian smile, widened mandibles.

"This isn't simply a shakedown run commander, as I'm sure you'd guessed." Anderson stood in front of her. "We're making a covert pickup from Eden Prime. Some workers found a beacon whilst expanding the colony."

"A beacon, sir?" Shepard was lost.

"A Prothean beacon Shepard." Nihlus added.

"Prothean? Like what we found on Mars?" Anderson nodded.

"We believe that the ruins on Mars only contained a same amount data compared to what this beacon might hold." Anderson put a hand on her shoulder. "You can see why this is important. A find like this jumped us ahead 200 years before; we cannot let it fall into the wrong hands."

"I can see why we brought the Council into this; last I heard they were still trying to decode the information on Mars." Shepard suddenly thought she had said too much, but Anderson smiled.

"Exactly, we need the Council races help on this, it's bigger than humanity alone." Was his reply.

"The beacon is not the only reason I'm here Shepard." Nihlus said, as Anderson removed his hand. "I'm here to evaluate you."

"Evaluate me? What the hell for?"

"To join the Spectres Shepard." Nihlus said nothing else, watching her reactions.

"Why me, surely a Council race would be better." Shepard glanced at Anderson, who was keeping his face emotionless.

"I don't care that you're human Shepard, only that you can get the job done." Nihlus chuckled. "You have shown great resilience Shepard, many people couldn't survive what you have. Or achieve what you have – the Skyllian Blitz for example. You held off an enemy that was platoon in strength, was little more than handful of terrified civilians helping you out. It was your actions that saved Elysium; it wouldn't be standing today if not for you."

Shepard wondered why he didn't mention Torfan, or any of the other times she had failed. But said nothing for a long time, and then looked at Anderson.

"I assume that this is good for the Alliance?" She asked.

"If you get accepted Shepard, it would be a massive for us in gaining the trust of the galactic community." Anderson replied, she thought she saw a look or something – pain? – flash behind his eyes, but it was gone before could assess it. "It would show them how far we have come."

"Eden Prime will be the first on many missions together Shepard, I need to see you in action for myself." Nihlus took a step towards her. "I need to you to prove to me that you earned your scars."

Anger clearly flared in Shepard, she balled her fists, but she held her ground and said nothing. Tension rose in the room, though it was clear to her that Nihlus was testing her already and she wouldn't raise to it. Her jaw clenched as she fought her reaction that threatened to burst out of her.

"Very good Shepard, you have remarkable self-control." Nihlus finally said. "I'm sorry if I offended you, but you will get worse insults than that in the Spectres."

"Captain!" Joker's voice echoed through the room. "We have a big problem!"

"What is it Joker?" Anderson replied, slightly looking up even though he didn't need to.

"Distress call from Eden Prime sir, you're going to want to see this!"

"Put it through Joker, but say nothing to anyone yet." Anderson coolly replied.

All three of them turned to look at the holographic projection that shifted from pictures of Eden Prime to a blurry video.

A group of marines were firing in all directions, assault rifles blazing. One female marine, in white heavy armour turn to whoever was holding the camera.

'Get down!' She shouted, hand forcing the cameraperson down, half a second later her rifle opened fire again as she moved out of view. A male marine came into shot.

'Taking heavy casualties, we need help now!' The man was thrown sideways by a blast, along with the camera. 'Shit, need help now! Under heavy…' The man was cut off as a shot ripped through his helmet.

'Fuck!' Screamed someone; most likely the cameraperson.

The image then shifted as strange, deep noise sliced into the picture, it was utterly alien. The camera ended showing bizarre cuttlefish like shape in the distance. A red beam of some kind flashed from it and an explosion followed seconds later, blowing the camera into static.

"It all cuts out after that sir, no comm. traffic at all; we could have missed the signal completely if we weren't so close." Joker's voice rang out again.

"Take us in nice quiet Joker." Anderson replied, manually taking the video back to showing the odd cuttlefish shape.

"Aye, aye sir, 30 minutes out." Joker clicked off.

"This mission just got a whole lot more complicated." Anderson sighed.

"Agreed." Nihlus stated. "A small strike team would be best, send word to the Alliance, reinforcements can be here is hours."

"I will get Joker on it." Anderson agreed with the Turian. "Shepard, get Alenko and Jenkins to suit up and meet us in cargo bay in 15." Shepard saluted.

"Yes sir!" She nodded to Nihlus then turned and walked at fast pace out of the room.

"Looks like I will be seeing her in action sooner than planned." Nihlus remarked, starting towards the door. "I will gear up and meet you in the cargo bay as well."

Shepard moved rapidly out of the comm. room, Alenko was heading her way so she waved him over.

"Get Jenkins and suit up Lt." She said as the moved down the stairs. "I will meet you 5 and give a quick brief before the captain arrives."

"Yes, ma'am." Alenko gave a small salute and left her side to get Jenkins.

She boarded the elevator and wished for the hundredth time it was quicker than it was. When it opened onto the cargo bay, she saw her armour on a the weapons bench to the left, where she had left it for private Han to repair after it could banged up on her last mission. Thankfully it was gleaming as Han, a young man of Chinese descent, had repaired it and was putting away his tools.

"Afternoon commander, I have just finished sorting out the dents for you, it's as good as new." Han said, his accented English easy to understand.

"Thanks Han, good timing to, going to need it!" She smiled at him, she liked him, he was young and not long out of boot. Yet he had already made a huge impression, he was a wiz at repairing and maintaining weapons and armour. Plus he was one of the few people on the crew who never judged her before speaking to her.

"Really?" Han shot her a quizzical look.

"Sorry Han, cannot discuss it yet – the captain will along soon though, I'm sure you can listen in." Shepard patted his shoulder. "Thanks again, I owe you one."

Shepard didn't bother going somewhere to change into her under-armour, she just stripped down to her regulation underwear and hauled the skin-tight suit up her body, Han zipping her up without having to be asked. As she started to fasten then her light armour into place, she noticed Han had gathered up her uniform and stuffed in a bag. She thanked him again as he helped her within the rear clips on her armour.

The lift pinged and Alenko and Jenkins came out at high speed, their under-armour already in place and started suiting up. As Shepard fixed her gauntlets and gathered her helmet, Han was helping the others suit up. He was a damn good kid, she thought to herself, reaching into the weapons cabinet to get her weapons.

The lift pinged for a second time, Anderson and Nihlus filed out, deep in conversation. She could only pick up the odd word, something about whether the beacon or survivors was top of the agenda. She winced at that, she didn't like leaving civilians to their fates, it brought back memories of Akuze, memories she fought to keep away. Though she knew if ordered she would ignore the civvies and keep moving. Harsh but sometimes you couldn't save everyone.

"What's Eden Prime like Jenkins?" She asked to keep mind clear, seeing Dr. Chakwas moving into view, medical gear in hand.

"It was very peaceful when I lived there commander." Jenkins replied, gathering his own weapons. "They were really careful with development, so there was never any real problem with pollution and the like." Jenkins noticed Nihlus, who had enough firepower to take on a platoon. "Look like we're about to get some real action commander!"

"I sincerely hope not corporal, your idea of 'real action' will have me busy for days" Dr. Chakwas retorted with a laugh.

"I know Dr; I'm just so wound up. I cannot wait for the real action to start!" Jenkins was nearly bouncing with excitement.

"Calm down corporal, you will be fine as long as you don't take too many risks." Shepard tried to cool him down.

"Easy for you to say commander, everyone knows what you can do! Just think of Elysium!" Jenkins was beaming praise at her.

"Elysium was not easy corporal, lots of good people died that day!" She snapped back, a little angrier then she wanted. "I barely lived to be the so-called hero!" Jenkins saw he had hit a nerve.

"I-I'm sorry commander, I didn't mean to cause offense." Jenkins was surprised by her tone.

"I know you meant well corporal, but I don't have good memories of what happened there." She softened her tone. "Just keep a cool head and you'll be fine. Besides, you've got a long career ahead of you yet"

"Thanks commander." Jenkins smiled having been mollified; though he still seemed wary, which was understandable. The young marine never seemed to know whether to be afraid of her or in awe.

"Speaking of which, can I have a quick word commander?" Chakwas asked. Shepard nodded and they moved away to a corner.

"Something wrong doctor?" She asked when they stopped. Chakwas frowned at her.

"I hope not, but I see you forgot to pick up you pills today."

"Ah shit, I did?" Shepard looked towards Nihlus, who was still talking to Anderson. "Sorry doctor, I completely forgot, I've been a bit off today."

"I noticed which is why I brought you these." Chakwas discreetly handed her two pills. "Take them now and they should help, but come see me when you get back. I know you don't want the crew – other than Anderson – to know your taking medication, so I have arranged for a blood check to cover for you." Shepard dry swallowed the tablets quickly.

"Thank you doctor, I really appreciate what you doing." Shepard smiled at her. "I can always count on you to have my back if I start to slide." Karin was the one person she could really talk to.

"Someone has to catch you child, you have been through far too much." Chakwas patted Shepard's shoulder. "I will cover for you, but there's only so much I can do. We shall go over things when you get back, now be safe!"

"Thanks again doctor." Shepard moved away and saw Anderson gesturing at her. "Team line up!" She called as she headed towards him.

The brief was short and Shepard knew as much as Anderson, but saw Jenkins pale at the thought of his home under attack. Nihlus leaped out of the Normandy to go his own way.

"Can we trust him sir?" Alenko asked.

"He's a Spectre lieutenant, I'm sure you can." Anderson tried to smile, but then was interrupted by Joker announcing that drop point two was coming up in 30 seconds. "Hit them hard commander."

"Yes sir!" Shepard turned to her team. "Let's move out!" They followed her down the ramp and they easily made the jump from the Normandy to a small jutting out point along a cliff face. Shepard braced against the blast of air as the Normandy swung away, backing off to provide air support if needed. The area that they had arrived at sloped down to large clearing.

Shepard – Eden Prime Arrival

Eden Prime was indeed beautiful, rolling hills, green valleys, and earth-like trees. It reminded her what was left of rural Britain – outside the mega-city London had become – mixed in with a bit of plains of the old USA.

The first thing that struck Shepard as she led the way down from their starting position was the quiet. No animals were singing or whatever noise the native creatures made. It was oddly silent; the only sounds were their footfalls on the slightly rocky ground. She saw movement and snapped her rifle to it, the others followed suit. It was a strange bulbous, floating thing that she had seen, slowly floating towards them.

"What the hell are those?" Alenko asked as a few more came into view.

"We call the gasbags, don't worry their harmless." Jenkins replied moving forward to run his armoured palm along the creature's side, it just made an amusing fart like sound and drift away.

"Huh, well I can why you called them gasbags." Shepard said with a laugh. "Come on, let's get moving."

"Yes ma'am!" Jenkins and Alenko responded as one.

It didn't take long for them to encounter of violence. A short walk away, following their helmets heads-up display towards the dig site, Alenko swore.

"Commander, look." She followed his gesture and saw a small group of blackened lumps. It took her a moment to grasp what she was seeing.

"Shit, bodies. Fan out, watch the left side Jenkins!" Shepard gave orders swiftly. "Alenko watch our backs, I'm on point." She started forward, trusting that they would fall in behind her, but not too close. As she closed in the corpses, she saw that one of them was very small – a child – and swore loudly her reaction caused Jenkins to look over. He stared at the smaller body and didn't move. Shepard was about to scold him when saw two flashes behind him. So did Alenko.

"Jenkins, on your six!" He shouted, pistol coming up. But it was too late.

The shapes opened fire and Jenkins shields popped out, the shots then ripping through his torso.

Shepard reacted on instinct, she raised her barriers and she took aim and fired, one of the almost spherical shapes detonated. Three more arriving at the sound of gunfire. Alenko opened fire, but wasn't as accurate as Shepard, only hitting the mysterious drone twice and it didn't seem to do anything other drop it's shielding. Knowing she only moments to act, the new arrivals were already firing, as couple of shots hit her barrier, she threw her weight behind a warp-field catching two of the further away drones. They spun into each other as their armour twisted under her attack.

Alenko didn't have that sort of biotic power, so he kept firing at the closest drone; a couple more hits took it out. He also seemed to be concentrating on keeping his barriers up. The last drone also kept firing, hitting Shepard's barrier several times before she reached a rocky outcrop and took cover. Alenko followed suit, ducking out of sight for the moment. The drone's gun stopped firing, which was when Shepard acted. He watched open-mouthed as she shifted, rolling out of cover whilst firing her assault rifle. Her shots were all amazingly on target, the drone flashed out of existence.

He had heard tales of her in action, but to see her first hand was another thing. No sooner had she taken out the last drone then she was rushing to Jenkins side, rifle dropped as she got to him.

"Jenkins!" She called out. He moved closer, no answer. She pulled up her omni-tool to check his vitals. Nothing, he was dead. "Fuck!" She snarled, punching her leg. "Fuck!" She calmed moments later, reaching over to close his eyes, and then marked the location on her omni-tool. "We will see to his body later, we have to keep moving." Her voice went cold, all emotions suddenly bottled up.

Alenko nodded, swallowing back a reply at her tone. They moved up again, the ground rocky and sloping upwards. Around the natural rocky-corner, three more drones awaited them, however this time they seemed to get the drop on them; taking them out before they had a chance to line up shots.

Shepard found Alenko looking – no staring – at her as she moved. It seemed that she was so fluid, so alert that he was having trouble keeping up. The look in his eyes, she had to admit, was worrying her. It would appear that even with her scars, he found her attractive. She liked him, in a friendly manner; he was a good soldier and officer. He seemed to have no idea that she wouldn't feel the same way; it wasn't well known that she was gay though. As she kept to herself most of the time outside missions, it seemed reasonable that he thought he might have a chance; after this mission she better quash that idea.

"Movement ahead!" She called over to him, and then she started forward at a run. "Marine in trouble!"

Alenko crest the rise moments after Shepard, she was sliding down a fairly steep incline, her avenger assault rifle spitting shots. Based on the lack of cover fire, Alenko had hesitated at the sight before him; a young female marine was hiding behind tall rock jutting out the floor. Heading towards her were two synthetic figures, with what appeared to be flashlights as faces. She was firing at them, but the incline was putting her aim off slightly. Alenko started to follow Shepard, though he seemed to be trying to keep his balance more than aiming; his shots flying wide – damn it, she must have made it look easy!

Seconds later, she reached the bottom of the slope, rolled to break to fall, making herself a smaller target for the synthetics. Who realised that the new arrival was a bigger threat than the other cowering human; they both raised their weapons to fire. Shepard had nowhere to go, but couldn't let it faze her and resumed her attack. The one on the left jerked as her shots took out it shields, following a spurt of grey-white liquid as it toppled backwards. The second synthetic didn't hesitate and fired, shot striking Shepard's shields and barriers head on. The hiding marine came to her rescue and opened fire, making the flashlight look towards her. That was the break Alenko seemed to have needed; his biotics sparking to lift the machine up into the air. Shepard followed up with a warp that caused a large detonation of biotics, shredding the thing like paper.

Eden Prime Dig Site

The female marine they had rescued was Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. She was not really injured, minor scrapes and burns which were dealt with easily with some applications of medi-gel. After quick introductions and discussion about the unknown synthetics attacking – who Ashley believed to be Geth. They swiftly worked their way down towards where the beacon had been dug up. Encountering and defeating another group of – what were possibly – Geth. The area was empty. The beacon was gone. Things were going from bad to worse, Shepard thought to herself.

"Shit, where the fuck is it!" She snarled, not really expecting an answer, instantly regretting her tone; anger wasn't helpful at this point. It helped her during fights but between them could cloud judgement; adding to her reputation no doubt.

"I would predict that it was moved before the attack." Alenko replied, worry on his face at his outburst from his XO.

"Ma'am, they had plans to move it to the spaceport at some point." Ashley pointed up a slope.

"Right, chief on point – lead the way." Shepard gestured, her officer voice calling things to order again. "Alenko, watch our six."

"Yes ma'am!" They called out in unison.

They orderly shifted out, Shepard had a bad feeling about this entire mission now – things kept going wrong. The hill wasn't steep, but took a while to get up, due to discovering some traps had been laid. Neither Ashley – nor herself – had any real knowledge of tech; Alenko had to work double time to clear the way. At the crest of the hill a very grim sight greeted Shepard and the two marines. The large clearing that had been used as a camp, moved logs and small boulders around a fire-pit on right, which was enclosed by a rocky rise – no one was getting in that way. Some scientific equipment was scattered about around the area. Most of it looked hastily abandoned. Three white buildings; two of which had been wrecked. The closest looked to have been hit with a heavy weapon of some kind; a gaping hole exposed some shattered bodies contained within. The other had its door blown off and judging by the lean of the left wall, was unstable as well. The third seemed undamaged, but appearances could be deceiving. Around the camp was clear evidence of a fire-fight, small arms fire had left marks around the area.

The oddest – and most disturbing – thing was a trio of large spikes off to one side; each had a decaying body impaled on it.

"My god." Ashley groaned.

A screeching noise caught Shepard's attention before she could try to silence the younger soldier. The spikes were retracting! The bodies wrenched themselves off the spikes and gave a dry-throated roar at them.

"Holy shit." Alenko stepped back. Shepard herself wanted to run. Every instinct told her to flee. But she knew that she couldn't. She wouldn't be fucking weak ever again.

"Open fire – take them down!" She shouted, voice hardening, her rifle opening fire seemingly by itself. Her shots were true, striking the nearest… zombie in the chest. It staggering but kept coming, her aim shifted to the face and it went down. The other two had got nearer, but Ashley and Alenko had gained their senses again and opened fire; the one nearest to Shepard staggered and fell. Shepard tried to use her rifle on the last one, but it only beeped at her to say it was overheating. She didn't step back, but lashed out with her biotics; a warp field threw the last one backwards into a rock around the edge of the clearing.

"Damn skipper – that was some power!" Ashley looked at Shepard with even more respect.

"You should have seen her earlier chief; she tore through a bunch of drones without breaking a sweat." Alenko replied with a smile. Shepard shook her head with a laugh that was almost as dry as the roar of the zombie-like things.

"I'm good chief, I've had some practice." She checked her rifle, it was malfunctioning. She went to remove the heat-sink, but the safeties had kicked in, so she would have to wait.

"Right, Elysium." Alenko said nodding.

"Wait, you're the Shepard?" Ashley gasped.

"Yes, I'm the Shepard – though I hate the attention." She compacted the now likely to be useless assault rifle, locked it place on her back and drew her sniper rifle. "I just did my job."

"Just doing your job?" Ashley laughed. "You held off a platoon on your own!"

"Chief, that's a common mistake – I wasn't alone." She signalled for them to head off. "There was a group of about 20 marines on shore leave that fought during the attack."

"R-really?" Ashley was stunned – none of the reports mentioned this Shepard knew.

"Yes, though… most of them died." Shepard looked down; her face wasn't showing any sorrow though. "We had only side-arms when they hit us – some of them didn't last very long." She didn't really want to be talking about this to anyone; let alone in the middle of battlefield.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I had no idea." Ashley shifted, realising that she might have hit a nerve with commander.

"It's alright; I don't talk about it often. People hailed me as a hero, but I have never felt like I deserved that honorific." Shepard was in point and held up her fist, they all crouched. "Movement, right building." She shifted right and braced her sniper rifle on her arm. "I'll cover, check it out, carefully."

"Aye, aye." Alenko went behind her and along the right edge, Ashley the left. They reached the building, Shepard moved up to and drew her pistol, rifle passed to her left hand. Her palm hit the door release. Nothing happened.

"Alenko, open this. Chief watch the side, I've got the rear." Shepard didn't bother holstering the pistol; she swapped hands and leaned the sniper rifle on the pistol. Not the safest position, but she hoped that they wouldn't hang around long.

"Got it ma'am." Alenko whispered about a minute later. "Shall we clear it?"

"Yes, Lt." Shepard replied, wishing he'd been faster. "We have movement to rear; I will hold here and watch your backs."

Shepard was unconventional, she knew it. But it seemed to her that the chief was in awe of her. The movement behind them appeared as they started to move – several gasbags floated into the camp. Shepard almost laughed at the farting noise they made – but Jenkins floated into her minds eye and she swallowed hard; distractions now could get you killed.

Chief Williams called out for attention; she was surprised to fine two scientist survivors in the building. One was incoherent, kept one about destroyers and the world ending. The other gave some answers, the beacon had been moved this morning, just before the attack, it should still be at the space-port. She also learnt that possibly another Turian had been around – the blabbering one mentioned him repeatedly. Alenko had asked if they meant Nihlus, but the she didn't know whether he just raving or not. She hoped so. They moved away, telling them to re-lock the door.

"Chief, on point; I'll take up the rear." She was feeling tired, which was not a good sign, she needed to get moving again; get the adrenaline flowing.

Just around the corner, a gunshot resounded around them. They all tensed as one. But nothing happened, no movement, no ambush. It was silent.

"No animals." Alenko muttered.

"I agree it's too quiet." Shepard responded. "Let's get moving, we need to get to the space-port. Just watch out for each other."

The group moved on, slower now, unsure where the shot had come from.

Ashley stopped ahead of her, when she rounded a bend, staring ahead, and mouth open.

"What is it?" Shepard asked, moving up.

"What the hell is that?" Ashley asked, gesturing with her weapon. Shepard looked and gulped. It was the same cuttlefish shaped vessel she had seen on the distress call.

"No idea, but it looks like a ship of some kind." She replied, looking down her scope.

"Damn, it's massive!" Ashley gasped.

"Hostiles below us!" Shepard shouted pushing her companions both backwards with a biotic push as gunfire flew at them. She nearly yelled at them for being so stupid, they were at the top of rise and very exposed; she didn't have the time to though.

However she wasn't so lucky. Her side flared as something struck her. "Shit, we need fire down on them!" She jumped flat and ignored the pain in her side. The view down the scope was a group of six of the Geth things and about the same number of the zombie-like things. She cursed to herself; she would have to think of a better name for them later. She fired and one of the former humans went down. The others had recovered and moved up, taking cover as she took down another. She caught Alenko looking her for moment as she looked away from her scope to get the full battlefield in view. The chief's rifle took down another husk – oh, that's a good name, she thought – but the Geth hadn't attacked. They had bunkered down – shit.

She returned to her scope and took down another husk. The husks seemed to be having trouble with the muddy slope, groping at the incline as they got closer. Which was a help to them, Alenko was able to push the back with his biotics, allowing the chief to rake them with bullets. Without breaking her stride, Shepard adjusted her aim and hit one Geth right on the flash-light. The odd liquid erupted backwards. The other Geth returned fire, but they were shooting up hill, most of the shots sailed by; the ones that did near them were deflected by the shielding of their armour. Shepard fired twice more, before the Geth charged forward. It was a stupid move, even for synthetics, out in the open they were cut down with ease. Their strong shielding was no help.

"Damn Shepard, you're a great shot." Ashley said as they hustled down the slope. "Is there anything you cannot do?"

"Yeah, I'm a shit driver." Shepard replied with a smirk. 'Plus I'm mentally unsound and like killing' was added silently.

"If that's the only thing your not good at, can I marry you?" Ashley laughed a big smile on her face.

"Don't tempt me chief, I might take you up on that." The smirk got wider as Ashley's face dropped.

"Oh my chief, looks like she called you there!" Alenko couldn't help but laugh.

"Calm down guys, something's not right ahead." Shepard's voice dropping all humour, she signalled for Alenko to go out wide. Within moments, Shepard instincts were proven right.

"Oh hell Shepard; it's Nihlus." Shepard ran forward – the Turian corpse was clearly the Spectre, with a gunshot wound to back of the head.

"You know this Turian?" Ashley spat the word Turian; clearly not a fan of Turians she noted.

"Yeah, his name was Nihlus, a Spectre." Shepard replied, moving forward and bent down to check his pulse with the sensors in the tips of her armoured fingers. "Shit, I think he's been dead a while. Explain why he hadn't yelled in my ear for the past 15 minutes." She stood, after recovering the Turian version of dog-tags from around Nihlus' neck.

"What now commander?" Alenko asked.

"We have to keep going – get to the beacon." Shepard made a note on her omni-tool for someone to pick up the body. "Something tells me the Geth are after the beacon."

"Yes ma'am." Alenko was wondering how the commander could be so calm, it was clear on his expression.

"Ashley, I need your advice. What's the quickest way to the space-port?" Shepard pocketed the dog-tags and hefted her sniper rifle.

"Easy, take the train." She replied, pointing behind Shepard. "It should only take ten minutes from here tops. If we went on foot it could take forty-fifty minutes."

"Right, lead the way." Shepard switched from sniper to shotgun, seeing that the building was tight. "Watch for flash-lights."

Shepard followed Ashley, about five feet away, as she weaved into the building and past a bunch of large shipping crates. A group of Geth, including one larger type they hadn't seen before were camped on the train and the platform. With a few arm and hand signals, Shepard arranged for the ambush. Her in the middle, the others spread out to either side of the warehouse entrances. Shepard breathed in and then launched a singularity in the middle of the Geth. Some avoided it by being too far away – the larger one included – but the platform was cleared with the surprise attack. The Geth didn't even fire a shot at first, but they recovered faster than any organic group would and Shepard realised that she was out in the open. She dived to one side, her barriers taking damage, her already injured side flared again as it hit the wall. Her assault rifle beeped, saying that it was cooled down enough to use, fucking wonderful timing, she thought; as bullets tore at the wall she hid behind. The others were dealing with the smaller Geth, but the larger one had clearly identified her as the biggest threat.

Time for a crazy risk, she smiled to herself. She shored up her barriers, diverting as much strength as she could – hoping she didn't collapse from effort. Taking a deep breath, she charged out of cover, hearing Alenko shout at her to not be stupid but ignoring him. The larger Geth seemed surprised by the tactic and didn't adjust his aim, in fact it stopped firing. A smaller Geth stepped out into her way, gun raised – she fired, shotgun blasting it out of the way. The big Geth did open fire now, but its aim was off, some shots struck her barrier causing it to shimmer, but not break. The auto-pump on the gun worked and she fired again, hitting the big Geth in the right side, it twisted, but the aim never faltered. She could feel her barrier weakening. Her shotgun fired again, knocking the Geth backwards – its gun now firing into the air. She dropped her shotgun and rammed into it. Despite the fact it was over a foot taller then her, and probably weighed more than a ton, the discharge of her barrier was focused into it, which sent it crashing over the railing on the track – which was powered up and fried the Geth, before it slipped off the track and hit the floor ten feet below. She leaned on the bent railing panting; her biotic use had taken it out of her.

"Shepard! Are you okay?" Ashley ran up to her, worry on her face. "Oh man, you're bleeding!" Shepard looked down at herself, she had been hit a couple of times, but she still couldn't feel it – she knew she would as soon as the adrenaline wore off.

"Yeah, I'm fine, barrier took most of it." She replied. "Not used a barrier like that for a while." She wiped some sweat off her forehead. "I'm going to be sore as hell later to pay for it though."

"I'd say – that was crazy!" Ashley shook her head. "How the hell did you keep your barrier up under that level of fire?"

"Practice makes perfect chief." She looked at the bleeding injuries. "Well, almost." She retrieved her shotgun. "Let's get going." Ignoring the look of concern that Alenko gave her; there was no time for moping about talking comparing wounds.

"Yes ma'am." Was all he said.

Eden Prime Spaceport

True to Ashley's word, the train only took 10 minutes. However the space-port station was swarming with Geth, who fired at them as the arrived. Alenko looked amazed to see Shepard put up a barrier around all three of them.

"Get to cover; I can't keep this up long!" She yelled; strain clear in her voice and on her face. Alenko and Ashley followed her to cover firing back as they moved – both of Shepard's hands raised to generate the barrier coverage, so she couldn't have returned fire herself. They reached cover and Shepard dropped the barrier, sweating pouring down her face.

"Commander, you need to rest." Alenko said to her. She shook her head.

"No time – look!" She pointed to just behind them. There was a bomb behind them and it was a damn big one. "We need to sweep the area and disable any we find."

"Can you disarm bombs as well?" Ashley asked, serious this time.

"No, but I can draw them away from Alenko and you; as you work on them." Shepard pulled her assault rifle from her back. "As long as this thing doesn't overheat on me again."

"Shepard, you cannot keep using your biotics; you'll burn out – you could kill yourself!" He warned her.

"I have used my biotics a lot more than this before lieutenant." She replied with a snarl to her voice, she knew her limits and didn't like being questioned. "I will be fine; just worry about the bombs." With that she bounded up the nearby set of steps and opened fire, quickly followed by a warp field thrown at another target.

"Chief, watch my back; I'll get the bombs." Alenko shouted behind her.

Ashley opened fire to cover Alenko as he moved to bomb. Luckily it was a simple trigger, a timer that was easy to hack and shut off, it only took thirty seconds. They could obviously hear her buying them time. The right side of the platform had plenty of cover, the supports arched down at an angle and shipping crates stacked along the wall. Her rifle blazed fire, taking down a handful of Geth. Thankfully it seemed that there wasn't anymore of those big ones about.

Ashley was shooting behind her as Alenko moved to next bomb; which meant he had to run across an open bridge over the tracks. Shepard knew that she and Ashley had to keep the Geth from firing at him. Neither of them could disable those bombs. She saw Alenko out of the corner of his eye, moving down the other platform towards a bomb and taking looking at her; rather than the task. Her aim and biotics were both great but staring at her like that was going to get him wounded or killed. She was certainly going to have to have a word with him when they were back on the Normandy.

Soon the action died down, no more were Geth left. Or bombs, Shepard had not found any on the other platform. Though a group of three bombs – at the end of the left-hand platform – suggested that they hadn't finished placing the bombs into position yet; which was lucky. She was waiting for them to finish up, sitting on a bench and applying some medi-gel to a series of wounds. She looked up as he and Ashley approached.

"Got all the bombs?" Her voice was still strained, she knew, but not from pain. Her biotics needed a rest.

"Yes ma'am." Ashley replied. "He's good, might had to knick him to unlock my apartment – the lock keeps going on the fritz." She laughed, but then saw the look Shepard gave her. "Shit, skipper you look like hell." Ashley's tone going all business; thankfully.

"Thanks chief, but I'll be fine; been through worse." Shepard finished with her medi-gel. "Come on, we still have to find the beacon." She grabbed her rifle off the bench and stood.

"Just go right to Chakwas when get back ma'am." Alenko could only follow in her wake though. She ignored him and moved on. They reached a ledge, with a ramp off to one side, below was clearly the beacon they had came for. Around it was a group of at least twenty zombies. No Geth though; finally, some luck.

"Bloody husks." She murmured mostly to herself. "Would rather fight more Geth."

Alenko seemed agree, if his face was any indication, but he didn't say anything as the husks – as she'd called them – charged at them; roaring in their dry-throated way as they approached. She opened fire, moments late Ashley – then Alenko – followed suit. She cursing loudly – her rifle was overheating again – saying someone was going to pay for screwing with her gun. But she simply dropped it and brought up her shotgun; throwing a strong warp into the nearest two husks as she did. Tearing them down with ease, the sheer power she still could summon, even when exhausted, scared to worry Alenko slightly; but the others were glad of it. The field the warp generated slowed the husks down – which the ramp did anyway – forcing them, because of its shape, into a narrow path and corner; were their gunfire couldn't really miss. Which was lucky, the numbers could have overwhelmed them otherwise.

Soon it was silent again; the only sound was their ragged breathing. Shepard moved first, scooping up her rifle and attaching it to her armour; then she moved – shotgun at the ready – down the ramp. She kicked every husk as she past it, making sure it was dead.

"All clear." She finally called, looking not around, but right at the beacon.

Alenko and Ashley could see why – it was glowing.

"It wasn't down anything like that when we went through for our patrol." Ashley said squinting at it.

"Something must have activated it." Alenko put forward as he moved to stand next to Ashley. Shepard was not listening to them, she was calling for an urgent quick up. Ashley looked at her, swallowed then moved towards her, calling at her as she moved.

"Roger that Shepard, Normandy ETA 5 minutes." Joker replied to her pick up call.

"Get Chakwas Joker, we need to be checked over." She said, looking at Ashley as she approached, wondering what she wanted.

Alenko hadn't followed – but it was suddenly clear: he couldn't. Something was stopping him. The beacon started to pulse with energy: it was pulling him in! Then her eyes widened as she saw Alenko struggling not to be pulled towards the beacon.

"Commander?" Ashley looked confused; Ashley could not see what was happening behind her. She ran forward without thinking, past Ashley and seized Alenko around the waist – only to be dragged along within him!

"Shit!" She yelled, drawing on her biotics she planted her feet and swung herself around; throwing Alenko away from her.

She kept spinning, her balance gone as the beacon pulled her in. She felt herself being drawn off the ground, her limbs not responding – the beacon was on control, she could do nothing.

Suddenly her head felt like was being split apart – the pain was close to Akuze – she screamed; hearing Ashley warning Alenko not to touch her. But it sounded so far away. Then something happened.

Visions; war; death; battle; slaughter – it was all unclear, flying by so fast; then pain peaked.

'We cannot stop them! It's too much! Retreat! Our fleet is gone!' Voices screamed in her head, most of it was unintelligible. 'Where are the avatars? The fleet is gone!'

Images flashed by, some of them very clear. Shapes like the ship they had seen. Odd shapes being torn to pieces. War on scale she had never imagined; let alone seen and heard.

The voices and screams reached a crescendo; she followed their example and screamed again; then it all went black.