My first attempt at a Mass Effect Story. I loved the game and have become a self proclaimed expert. That doesn't mean throw any questions at me. I will say that I know a lot about Mass Effect. I know so much in fact that I can make a good story and not fill it up with bullshit. So I hope you enjoy this chapter, because I sure did. By the way, I realize that the Gray's are not an alien race in the Mass Effect universe and the destroyer class ship is not an actual Mass Effect ship class. Just work with me, for one I didn't want to just use a SSV Normandy copy as the main ship and also the Grays are a reported alien in many of the alien abduction stories that you will see on the television. They are an actual reported race of four foot tall gray people. I just made them a little more different so they could be bad ass.
Chapter 1:
The Grey Invasion
"What is this?" Asked a man in his office.
"It's a dossier, of a N7 officer, Commander Gire." Said another man wearing an Alliance officer uniform.
"Another one, we've already have Commander Shephard off fighting the Geth as the first human Spectre. Why the hell do we need another one, Anderson?" Asked the man jumping out of his chair and grabbing the dossier from Anderson's hand.
"Udina, listen to me! If we have more than one, then we'll have more of a chance to get a human on the council. We could also give Shephard more help against the Geth." Anderson trying to strengthen his case.
Anderson was a very tall black man, wearing a alliance navy captain's uniform. Udina was also a black man, just as tall as Anderson, with greying hair, he wore an ambassador's suit signifying that he was the human ambassador to the galactic government.
"I don't care! A Spectre who can't hold his own in battle will only destroy humanity's reputation with the other council races. If he doesn't stand up to the task then he is no good to us. Besides we've already got a second human spectre, you and I both know that. You're argument doesn't help you." Udina said continuing to read the file looking up with an irritated face for just a second.
"But, don't you think that more human Spectres are needed if we are to not only improve our relationship with the other council races, but also to improve our chances of having a say in the Citadel!? If we can get more human spectres in, then we should have no trouble getting a human councilman. Besides, he's being accepted into Edmonton's Blood Dragons. You know the elite force of the System's Alliance, if they're accepting him, then he must be doing something right." Anderson said still trying to strengthen his argument.
"Do you even know where he is, Anderson?" Udina asked looking up at Anderson.
"Yes, he was recently assigned to the dreadnought SSV Everest, which is bound for the Turian homeworld of Palaven." Anderson answered.
"Then have the Everest make a one-eighty and come right back to the Citadel. I'll put his name in for recommendation. But he must be reviewed by another Spectre during a mission.
"Captain David Anderson and Ambassador Donnel Udina, could you please keep your voices down? These walls aren't exactly sound proof." Said an asari walking through the door behind the two men.
"Of course, forgive us for the distraction." Udina said sitting down in his seat.
"I thank you for agreeing to this Udina." Anderson said beginning to walk out of the room.
"It doesn't mean anything if he doesn't live up to your hype." Udina said beginning to type on a hologram of a keyboard.
"Commander, we have a message for you. It's from Captain Anderson... I thought he was on the SSV Normandy right now." Said a man walking up to me.
"Thank you. By the way, Captain Anderson became Udina's right hand man recently, Commander Shephard took command of the Normandy when he became a Spectre." I said accepting the message on my omni-tool.
"That's right, thank you for reminding me sir." Said the man saluting me before walking away.
"I'm... becoming a Spectre. I wonder why they're recommending me." I said with a shocked face after reading the message.
"Well, you're being inducted into the Blood Dragon order and getting their special armor. Maybe they think you could pull a Shephard and get into the Spectres." Said a man at a console.
"I guess... I better go tell the captain that we need to turn around." I said walking to a nearby elevator.
"We speak the truth Captain Rivers. The research colony on Zeus was attacked by an unkown force. All we know is that it wasn't a Geth attack." Said a hologram of a human wearing a suit.
"It's not the Geth!?" Exclaimed Captain Rivers as I walked into the communications room.
"The council has already sent the Spectre that was supposed to oversee the Spectre inductee, that you're carrying on your ship. The council has requested that you head for the Zeus colony and drop off a team lead by the Spectre inductee. The investigation will be his mission." Said the man.
"That's good to know. But before we continue I would like to know the specifics of my mission, sir." I said standing at attention as Captain Rivers turned to see me.
"Commander, I'm sure you recognize the President of the United North American States. We're going to ignore the orders we just got from Anderson. The Alliance colony of Zeus has just come under attack by an unknown force and we want you to lead a force on the planet's surface to figure out what happened." Captain Rivers said giving me the full debrief.
"Alright so when do we get there?" I asked.
"I believe we should be able to get there in no time. The Everest isn't a very fast ship, but a mass relay can take any ship and send it to another relay in no time. It shouldn't be that long." Captain Rivers answered.
"Alright, I'll get my gear ready." I said saluting before walking back into the elevator.
"Good, I expect great things from one of the Alliance's dreadnoughts." Said the President before Captain Rivers turned off the hologram.
"The colony appears to be devoid of life. The Spectre still hasn't been sighted, Commander." Reported an SSV Everest officer as the Everest landing shuttle landed in the docking area of a Zeus research station.
"Roger that, I'll report in if I need any assistance." I said as my team of three got out of the landing shuttle.
We began walking through the halls of the research station. We reached the dining area and flipped the light switch. The lights flickered back to life, showing us blood splatter on everything, from the walls to the smallest crumb of leftover food.
"What the hell happened here? So much blood splatter... but there are only a few plates, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of room for a large kitchen staff. Do you think they fought back?" Asked the man to my left.
"Kevin... look over here. I'm pretty sure that this was the leader of the research station." Said the woman soldier bending down to look at a dead man wearing a lab coat and I.D. badge.
"There are no other bodies here. Why leave him here?" I asked myself out loud as Kevin walked over to the female soldier.
"Probably as a warning, maybe this planet has some... primitive creatures walking around it." Said the soldier.
"No offense Julie... but I think they left enough of a warning on the walls." Kevin said looking at the blood splatter on the walls.
"According to the Alliance database... Zeus is a planet with a population of about 10 to 15,000. It got it's name from it's violent lightning storm, which these stations use to power themselves through the use of lightning rods. The planet is rocky with about five very small lakes near the equator. I highly doubt that there are any local creatures." I said closing my omni-tool.
"Well something must had to have caused this... if it wasn't the Geth... then who?" Julie asked as a Drell walked in behind us.
"It was the Greys." Said the Drell as we all turned around.
"The Greys?" I wondered with a questioning look on my face.
"They were the main enemies of the Citadel when they started studying on primitive races around the Earth's Cold War era, in the 1950's and 1960's CE of the Earth. They're favorite test subjects were the humans. They would test your kind for weaknesses in hopes that if you were to ever discover the mass relays and other Prothean artifacts, they would be able to defeat you in armed conflict. It sparked many controversies and conspiracy theories amongst your people." Said the Drell.
"So, why attack us now? They could've attacked us about forty years ago." Kevin said taking out his rifle.
"Calm down Kevin." I said grabbing his rifle.
"But, Commander!" Exclaimed Kevin.
"Don't do anything harsh." I said letting go of Kevin's rifle.
"Yes, sir... Commander." Kevin said with a frustrated face.
"I am a Spectre... I mean you no harm. Come... we should leave this place quickly." Said the Drell Spectre.
"Hold on... I'm not leaving this station until I'm certain that there are no other survivors." I said turning to walk down a hallway to my right.
"Trust me, there is no one left on this station. We should leave immediately." Said the Drell with a hint of urgency in his voice.
"What are you so afraid of?" Julie asked with suspicion in her voice.
"There's a weird alien running through that hallway." I said seeing, what looked like, a brown skinned alien with bright glowing yellow eyes.
The alien had brown skin, bright glowing yellow eyes, no mouth, a black metal cover where it's mouth should have been, two spikes came out of each side of the back of it's neck and came just close enough to the edge of the black cover, the alien looked humanoid in body structure.
"A Collector!?" Exclaimed the Drell in shock as the alien turned to fire an M-8 Avenger assault rifle at the Grey aliens rushing at him with a strange model of assault rifle.
The Grey aliens were the same size as an average human, their bodies were humanoid in construction, their teeth were showing as if they had no lips, their teeth were monstrous and sharp as if they were carnivorous man eaters, they had small human-like noses and squinted black eyes, unlike many council race's armor the grey alien's armor was not sleek or even made of the ablative ceramic plates and kinetic padding that the alliance military's armor was made out of.
"It's the Grey's, you need to go, get back to the Everest!" Exclaimed the Drell pulling out his Carnifex Hand Cannon heavy pistol.
"Wait... we didn't tell you what ship we came from, and it's almost impossible to get any communications through because of the constant lightning storms." I said pulling out my M-8 Avenger assault rifle.
"Get away from him! I'm the Spectre!" Exclaimed the brown alien turning to shoot at the Drell.
"It's you!" Exclaimed the Drell jumping behind a nearby table just before the brown alien could fire.
"Team! Defend the brown alien!" I exclaimed pointing at the tables to give them cover.
"Yes sir!" Exclaimed Kevin and Julie as they rushed over to the tables I had pointed at and began firing at the Grey aliens.
"Theron! I'm coming for you!" Exclaimed the brown alien.
"Bring it, Garrison! I should have killed you after you accused me of betraying the council!" Theron exclaimed firing at the brown alien.
"You did betray the council!" Exclaimed the brown alien.
"They don't need to know that!" Exclaimed Theron as he went back behind cover as I began firing at him.
"What the hell is going on here?" I asked rushing over to the brown alien.
"Hi, I'm Ryker Garrison, the second human spectre." Said Ryker as he took his helmet to show a human head.
"That armor looks so much like skin." I said looking at his armor.
"You can check me out later, we need to kill Theron before he get's away. By the way, congratulations, trust me, you're going to need better armor than the standard issue N7 armor if you're going to be a spectre." Ryker said getting up and firing his rifle at Theron.
I got up and started firing my rifle until I got behind some cover closer to Theron. Over at the second door, Julie was shot in the heart and killed instantly.
"Julie! No!" Kevin exclaimed beginning to step out of cover, while firing his rifle.
Kevin was shot in his left arm and right leg. He crawled over to Julie's body and grabbed her right hand. Just before he begins to speak a grey alien walked up to him and began to step on his head with it's right leg. The grey alien used all of it's force in it's right leg and crushed his head.
"Where's your shuttle?" Ryker asked looking over at me.
"It's still in the docking bay past Theron, why?" I asked looking at him.
"Your two friends didn't make it and now we're going to have the Gray's up our asses here in a minute." Ryker said beginning to fire his assault rifle at the Gray's.
"Theron's making a break for it!" I exclaimed as Theron ran down the hallway.
"Oh well, let him go. We need to get out of here." Ryker said getting up as I began to get up.
Ryker and I ran through the hallways that led to the Everest's shuttle. We rushed into the shuttle and started to take off. The shuttle sped off to the Everest which prepared to leave the system.
"Commander, what did you find?" Asked Captain Rivers as we entered the main deck of the Everest.
"We found strange aliens, and another rogue Spectre. Kevin and Julie... they didn't make it." I said putting my helmet on a nearby table.
"That's too bad, Kevin was going to marry Julie. Now I guess they can at least enter the next world together." Said Captain Rivers.
"Yes sir." I said quietly.
"The Citadel needs to put a stronger leash on their Spectres. They all seem to be going rogue. But, hey, what can you do. We'll be at the Citadel in no time boys, just sit back and take a deep breath." Said Captain Rivers as he began walking to a large galaxy map.
"It's about time you got here. The council has been waiting for a long time boy. Come we need to get in there." Udina said rushing me into the council chambers.
Inside the chambers, a black Turian with white face paint showing his colony origin stood to the right of an asari, the purple skinned asari stood in the middle, and a hooded gray skinned Salarian stood to the left of the asari.
"We are now hearing about the consideration of a third human Spectre." Said the Asari.
"Please, the Spectres are an elite branch of the Citadel council, not a human college party." Said the Turian.
"I would like to remind you that we do not speak until all of the recommendations have been debated." Said the Asari.
"Yes, ma'am." Said the Turian.
"Let us see, Dakota Gire, Commander in the Systems Alliance Military. Born as a third class citizen on the North American continent on the planet Earth. You are now, not only being recommended for a Spectre position, but also a position in the Earth-born elite... what do you call them... the Blood Dragon Order. The elite of the human military." Said the Salarian reading my file.
"That is correct, sir." I said standing at attention.
"Don't call me sir, commander. I work for a living." Said the Salarian.
"Blood Dragons. I remember when I heard over the news that the 'Blood Dragon Order, has helped in the recapturing of the alien colony of Shanxi.' I couldn't believe that a bunch of lowly evolved monkeys could retake a Turian conquered world." Said the Turian.
"Racist remarks will not be allowed in the council chambers." Said the Asari quickly looking at the Turian.
"Forgive me, ma'am." Said the Turian.
"Continue with the outbursts and, even if you are on the council, I will have you thrown out." Said the Asari with a frustrated voice.
"Yes, ma'am." Replied the Turian.
"Now, with no more outbursts... we can now hear the reasons for the recommendation." Said the Salarian.
"We believe that he belongs in the Spectres because of his selfless service to the Systems Alliance. He has served on the alliance dreadnought SSV Everest, the cruiser SSV Madrid. He recently successfully fought an unknown race and fought off a rogue spectre on the human colony of Zeus." Said Udina.
"A rogue Spectre? Do you mean Saren?" Asked the Turian.
"No, it was the Drell... Theron." Said Ryker standing in the background.
"Theron... impossible. He has served the Spectres galliantly and without question." Said the Salarian.
"That is what we said about Saren." Replied the Asari.
"Another rogue Spectre. I'm starting to believe that we should just eliminate the Spectres before any more go rogue." Said the Turian.
"Enough, do you have any proof of Theron's betrayal?" Asked the Asari.
"Other than my two teammates lying dead on Zeus, which has been occupied by an alien race called the Greys." I answered.
"The Greys? Again?" Asked the Salarian looking at the other two council members.
"Do you know of these people?" Asked Udina.
"We do, they had almost taken all of the Milky Way galaxy back in the year 50 BCE. If it wasn't for the Turians... we probably wouldn't have been able to stop the grey's crusades for many years. They started testing on many primitive races during the 1950's and 1960's CE. Ever since we blockaded their territory in the outer edges of the Milky Way... we have had no contact with them... nor our fleets." Said the Asari.
"You mean... you knew of these people and you never informed any of us. Right now the Earth's position in the Milky Way is not far from the outer rim of the Milky Way. Our home could be in grave danger." Udina said with urgency in his voice.
"Be calm. The Earth System or 'Sol System' is on the move toward the center now. It should stay away from the Greys for now." Said the Salarian.
"Back to the matter at hand councilmen." Said the Turian.
"Of course. In order to debate over the Zeus colony... we will grant Commander Dakota Gire acceptance into the Spectres. But he must be supplied with his own ship by the Systems Alliance. He will also be placed on duty to investigate the Grey threat. We must see if they have any connection to these 'Reapers' if such a thing exists." Said the Asari.
"Thank you councilmen." Said Udina as we all bowed and walked out.
"So you did get in. That's good to hear. It's time we showed the council that humans can do much more than they realize." Said a hologram of Captain Rivers.
"I'll be heading to Earth immediately. I heard that the Alliance, the Turians, the Salarians, and the Asari have all come together and made a new type of ship for the Systems Alliance." I said talking to the hologram.
"Oh yeah, the new Destroyer class ship. I hear that it's a reliable piece of machinery. Very good choice, Commander." Said Captain Rivers.
"I better go, my shuttle will take off any minute now." I said saluting the Captain.
"Good luck to you, Commander." Said the Captain saluting just before I turned off the hologram.
"Listen. You're going to need more firepower than you've got now to stop the Grey's and the Reapers. I'm coming along with you." Said Ryker.
"Are you sure? We're not even sure that the Greys have even allied themselves with the Reapers." I said turning around to talk to Ryker.
"I've been tracking Theron down for a good two years now. He's already become just as much of a lunatic as Saren. They've both allied themselves with the Reapers. If Theron has allied with the Greys then that could only mean the Greys are with the Reapers too. If only to restart their crusades. I believe that you're going to need help. Even if you agree to take me along, we're going to need as much help as we can get to stop the Grays." Ryker said walking up to me and holding out his hand for a handshake.
"Alright you've got yourself a deal." I said shaking Ryker's hand.
"Okay, here we go." Ryker said as we turned to walk toward the shuttle gate.
The Shuttle took off and headed for the Citadel Mass Relay, This relay would send us straight for Earth, our target city being, Washington, D.C.