Julius Shepard, Lieutenant-Commander of the Human Systems Alliance Navy and SPECTRE of the Citadel Council, departed the elevator of his vessel, the SSV Normandy and stepped into its CIC. The wide, elliptical room was brim with activity, as strategic analysts and technical officers constantly overlooked data received from the ship's communication hub. Officer Samantha Traynor was at her post besides the Galaxy Map, where Shepard handled the ship's many missions and reviewed strategic information.

"Commander," Traynor addressed him with a crisp salute, "Admiral Hackett's on the QEC. Priority Urgent, do you want to take it?"

"Of course, set it up."

Shepard left the CIC and took the back-left hallway. After enduring yet another scan at the security checkpoint, Julius entered the war room and entered the QEC alcove.

In less than two seconds, Admiral Steven Hackett stepped into view, his body rendered into being by bright blue particles quantum entangled with those on Admiral Hackett's flagship. The Admiral was tall, slight-shouldered and possessed a stern face with cool, thin eyes.

This time, Shepard saluted, "Commander Shepard, reporting for duty."

"At ease, Commander," Hackett replied, sounding tired from commanding nearly twenty-four hours a day, "This won't take long."

"How's the Crucible coming?" Shepard asked.

"Quickly, those ex-Cerberus scientists you helped evacuate on Arrae are proving to be quite useful. And the Crucible's instructions are not hard to understand once decoded. But that's not why I contacted you."

"Why did you?"

"I've got reports that Cerberus has assaulted a top-secret Alliance research station on the planet Ogasawara overseen by Dr. Ishiro Serizawa, a personal friend of mine."

"Ogasawara?" Shepard asked, "Wait, isn't that the planet where the Alliance moved all of Earth's monsters in 2166? Why does Cerberus have an interest in that?"

"Don't know Shepard, that's why I'm sending you to go in and find out. Right now I can't spare any N7 teams, we're hard-pressed to hold on to what territory we have left from the Reapers."

"I understand Admiral," Shepard nodded, "I'll get there as soon as I can."

"Good. I know I can count on you. Any questions before I take off?"

"How's Anderson?" Shepard asked, thinking of his old CO.

"Certainly not well, given the circumstances," Hackett replied, taking a pause to scratch the scruff growing on his chin, "But surviving, and still hopeful."

"Good. That's all I have, Admiral."

"Then I'll leave you to it, Hackett out."

Hackett disappeared, leaving Shepard cold.

Monster Planet, he thought to himself, why'd they have to be there?

Garrus Vakarian, General of the Turian Hierarchy and crewperson of the Normandy, traced his prong-like finger down the edge of a datapad, scanning through the contents with increasing amounts of disbelief. He had never known that Earth had had such a serious monster problem before and was reading up on the history of such creatures in preparation for his next mission.

They were already in the shuttle, him, Commander Shepard, and Liara T'soni, a blue-skinned Asari with a well-sculpted crest of tentacles adhered to the top of her cranium. She had soft doe-eyes and full purple lips, but despite her beautiful appearance she was quite deadly and extremely intelligent. She had once been a xenoarchaeologist, and now was the head of a vast, galaxy-wide network of spies and informants who knew her only as the Shadow Broker.

"You knew about this?" Garrus asked the Asari.

"About what, the monsters? Of course. The Alliance government has been keeping them there for research purposes and conservation for nearly two decades now. They were once a considerable threat in the past, but were kept under control through the use of sonic waves."

"Sonic waves?" Garrus raised the scale plate above his eye.

"Yes, the Alliance uses the sonic waves to keep the monsters from attacking the settlements, just as they used to do before Earth reached the space age."

"I take it you didn't have monsters on Palaven?" Shepard asked.

Garrus thumbed through the datapad until it stopped on a certain article. He handed it to Shepard and said, "In our ancient history, there are legends of something like that attacking our people."

Shepard looked at the device. On it was an image of a three headed dragon covered in golden scales. King Ghidorah, the space monster.

Shepard smiled, "Oh yes, one of my favorites as a kid. But we have him now, so no need to worry about him anymore."

Garrus scoffed, "Unless Cerberus gives us a reason to. Why can't they just leave us alone, or better yet why can't the Reapers take them out for us?"

Liara chimed in, "Its likely the Illusive Man has been indoctrinated by the Reapers through his meddling with Reaper technology. But as you say, the Reapers have some interest in these creatures, and already have a guess as to what."

"You're not serious?" Shepard said, "You think the Illusive Man wants to use Godzilla to fight the Reapers?"

"He is obsessed with control, especially with things that are dangerous. Would make sense. But I suppose we'll find out."

"We're about to land!" Steve Cortez, their pilot, called from the front.

Cortez brought them round to a landing spot at the south of the main research facility. In all directions, Shepard could see tall trees, and in the distance, he could see large, block-shaped mountains made of dark red and brown stone. The skies were a pale blue and the clouds were wispy trails of lavender vapor. Soaring through the air were winged, scaly creatures with large beaks and rudder-shaped tails, similar to the Pterodactyls of prehistoric Earth.

Garrus sniffed the air then brought up his omni-tool. "This world emits high radiation similar to that of Palaven. Better keep your helmet on when we're outside, Commander. You too, Liara."

Shepard nodded and Liara remarked, "Most of these creatures only eat food as a secondary source of nutrition. Most of them remain alive by radiation, which makes this planet a natural place to keep them."

The three of them moved off the platform and took a lift down to a lower level. As soon as they reached the closed walkway leading from the landing station to the facility, they were beset by Cerberus turrets. A hail of mass accelerator rounds poured on them, but luckily, Liara protected them with a wide Biotic barrier as Shepard and Garrus moved into cover.

Shepard pulled out a cluster grenade and threw it over his shoulder towards the turret. In a blast it was disintegrated, shattering the walkway's windows.

Garrus peeked over cover, "All clear, Commander."

"Copy that. Move in, team."

The three of them moved through the walkway and into a large entryway. A service desk lay abandoned to the right, while two rows of public seating were set between a display of ferns.

Garrus walked up to a public terminal and connected to the network with his omni-tool. "Looks like Cerberus shut the place's communications down everywhere. Should I put it back on, see if I can contact any survivors?"

"Do it," Shepard commanded. "Liara and I will search this room."

Garrus worked quickly, gaining access to the intercom. "Hello? Can anyone hear us on this frequency?"

Garrus stopped when he heard his voice loud and clear above. Shepard and Liara looked up and Shepard sighed, "Well, we probably got Cerberus' attention."

"Sorry commander, rookie mistake."

"That's alright, at least they'll be coming to us, and we won't have any surprises."

Soon enough, a group of Cerberus commandos waltzed into the room. The three of them got into cover, Liara and Shepard behind the ferns and Garrus behind a indent in the wall. The Cerberus goons went down easy, for none of them were shielded or heavily armored, and Liara made quick work of them with her biotics, tossing them up in the air for the other two to shoot down with their assault rifles.

Shepard ejected a thermal clip from his Phaeston assault rifle, "We need to find a map…"

"Hello!" a female voice, British-accented called to them from above, "Can you hear me? I heard your message and the shots fired. Are you here to help?"

Shepard walked over and pulled out his omni-tool, "Yes," he spoke, "this is Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. I'm looking for Ishiro Serizawa, is he still alive?"

"Commander Shepard! Oh my. Uh, I don't know. I saw them take him, but I don't know where. My name is Vivienne Graham. I was Dr. Serizawa's assistant. I don't want to say where I am, but you might be able to find him if you reach the security room."

"Where's that?"

"I don't know if I should say, Cerberus will know where you are going…"

"Don't worry, we can handle them."

"Alright, it's on the third floor, room A303. Good luck, Commander."