Half-Life The Convergence

Chapter 1

New Discoveries and Recruiting

disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or Half Life, (if I did then Half Life 3 would have come out years ago and Mass Effect 3's ending wouldn't have been so damned unsatisfying)

also I won't really be able to update this fic as much at first since I'm focusing on two other stories at the moment and I'm focusing on college courses.

-Sol System-

In an isolated and remote system in one of the spiral arms in the Milky-Way galaxy there was a star system known to its inhabitants as the Solar system. There were eight (nine if you included Pluto) planets in this system but only the third planet away from the sun was capable of creating and sustaining life.

At the farthest edge of the Solar system a large thick spherical shaped block of ice and dust continued its orbit of the small dwarf planet known to the inhabitants of this particular star system as Pluto. The spherical piece of ice stayed in orbit as it had for millions, perhaps even billions of years.

However tremors spread across the ice sphere causing the small planetoid to shake violently as untold amounts of energy began to form underneath it. After a few moments the energy that was being released from underneath the planetoid reached the point where the ball of ice could no longer contain it. The energy built up soon caused the ice ball to explode outwards sending massive amounts of debris flying out into the void of space.

Eventually after a few days, most of the larger chunks of debris had finally finished clearing the area of explosion and they either crashed into or settled into an orbit around the small planetoid.

Underneath the ice and dust of the moon was an ancient alien transit device that was perhaps billions of years old. This device was known by a number of different species as a Mass Relay. Only a few moments later the long dormant Mass Relay had finally reactivated and a large number of small cylinder shaped objects each one was roughly the exact same size of an average adult human male were catapulted into the system from the other side of the galaxy.

Each of these objects were probes, each and every last one of them had been specifically designed to survey a star system to check for habitable worlds for further exploration. Over the course of the next several days the probes passed each and every planet taking numerous scans of the atmospheres to see if any were possibly habitable, and if any of the planets were habitable then there was a possibility that there was sentient life on the world.

Eventually one of the probes came upon the planet that was in the habitable zone of the star system, it wasn't too far away from sun and yet at the same time not too close. The probe had been programmed to keep a great distance away from the planet in order to avoid being caught in the planet's gravitational field and took several scans of the planet as well as the small debris belt of various satellites and other machines that surrounded it. The scans showed that the planet was indeed a garden world but that was all that it could confirm for a fact.

The reason for this was that the probe couldn't get anything other than very low resolution images and scans of the surface because every time it attempted to do so what appeared to be some form of strange electromagnetic interference that would after a few seconds, completely overcome the probe's optical sensors.

However before the jamming completely overcame the scanners of the probe it managed to get a handful of clean images of ruins of several cities as well as forests, deserts, jungles and oceans that were part of the planet's biome. Their programming requirements having been fulfilled the probes made their way back to the Mass Relay which sent them all back from whence they came.

-Archeological Dig Site, Korari jungle planet, one week later-

Korari was what most of the space faring species of the galaxy would call a steaming garden world. The reason for this, was for one single and obvious reason. Korari itself was in the habitable region of the system and aside from both the planet's oceans and the large number of settlements (read: vacation resorts) that dotted several areas on the planet which were mainly based along the coastline, Korari was completely overcome in a thick, seemingly endless jungle.

But thick jungles and numerous vacation spots weren't the only things that the planet had to offer the many species of the galaxy. Underneath the jungle canopy were numerous Prothean ruins that dotted most of the center of the planet's largest continent. This made the place very attractive to archeologists and other scientists who wished to study the vast numbers of Prothean ruins that dotted the area.

One such scientist, an Asari by the name of Liara T'Soni had recently joined a group of researchers that had arrived on the surface of the planet only a couple of weeks earlier in order to study and document some of the many ruins and artifacts.

Currently Liara was inside one of these ruins, a relatively small building that was once made out of a thick stone that was now almost completely covered in the jungle's foliage. The inside of the ruin had a second story but the staircase that led upwards into it was little more than a pile of rubble due to several thousand years' worth of neglect. The floor of the ruin was covered in a mixture of moss and dirt. However there was a small cylindrical object that was partially exposed in the dirt.

Liara wiped several beads of sweat that had formed off of her brow as she continued to scrape away at the dirt that covered most of the ruin with her hand tools while trying to gently dig the prothean artifact out of the dirt that it was currently stuck in. Despite being on the planet for over a week the young Asari scientist still wasn't really used to the almost boiling temperature of Korari's seemingly endless expanse of jungle.

The Asari maiden had always enjoyed studying prothean ruins and the knowledge that they held within them. Ever since Liara was but a child the field of archeology was always a prevalent interest. Eventually Liara completely devoted herself to that field of research and after a number of years of hard work Liara acquired a degree from a very prestigious university back on Thessia. However despite some of her achievements, some of Liara's theories on why the Protheans had vanished usually fell on deaf ears mainly due to her pureblood status as well as her relatively young age.

Liara frowned at the mere thought of that vulgar term she had been forced to deal with for most of her life. Asari purebloods were the offspring from a union of two Asari rather than an Asari and a member of a different sentient species. Whenever an Asari mated with a member of another race more insight and knowledge to that race was gained but when an Asari mated with another Asari nothing was gained and was instead considered just a waste time and genetic material.

Because of this throughout most of her life Liara T'Soni had been treated very poorly by other members of her species because of her pureblood heritage. Although most other Asari wouldn't insult her openly primarily due to her mother's political status, the underlying tone was almost always there whenever she spoke to someone back home and that had always managed to upset her. Despite the poor treatment that Liara had received from others she still continued to press onwards with her life and was very much determined to make the most of it.

Liara did her best to remove those kinds of thoughts from her mind and instead just turned back to the artifact that she had been examining. It was a much more unique looking prothean artifact than what she had been used to.

The artifact itself was rather small, roughly the same size and shape as her forearm and looked almost like a cylindrical container and every square inch of it was covered in small prothean writing. Perhaps it was some sort of grave marker but she quickly discarded that possibility as there weren't any real indications that this area was at one point part of some sort of mausoleum.

The young archeologist picked up the artifact and put it onto a nearby table where the other artifacts were being stored until they could be moved to a more appropriate location for more detailed study through much better equipment than what they had been given. The young Asari scientist took a big gulp of water from her canteen and idly wondered as to what it was that her mother was doing back on Thessia.

Liara was broken out of her thoughts when one of her colleagues called out "Hey Liara!" from a few dozen meters away "What is it?" Liara asked getting up from examining the artifact that she had found and turned to go and face the one that had called out for her "There's someone back at the main research cabin who says that he needs to see you right away, the guy said that it was very important" the other asari researcher had called out.

Liara got up from where she was sitting and brushed off some of the dirt that had been clinging to her clothes and promptly walked back towards the primary research cabin. As she walked she passed some more archeologists that were still attempting to excavate the ruins that were in the area but since the ruins were a little on the fragile side, the process was slow going as they didn't want to damage any of the artifacts that may be buried there.

Once Liara had finally reached the main cabin the automated doors swung open and allowed her entry. Liara walked inside to find that there was a male salarian standing just a few feet front of her.

"Are you doctor T'Soni?" the salarian asked, and appeared to be rather hopeful about something. Liara nodded in confirmation "Yes I'm Liara T'Soni. May I ask what's going on here?"

"My name is Rylon, I'm with the Citadel Exploration and Research Department, as you well know we're the ones who have helped fund most of your expeditions, the heads of the CERD as well as some members of the Citadel government have requested your presence immediately" the Salarian explained. Liara looked a bit shocked at that, the heads of the CERD and members of the Citadel government wanted to see her she was just some archeologist not some important political figure like her mother.

What could they possibly want with someone as unimportant as her?

Before Liara would comply with what it was that the salarian was asking of her however, she had to know just what was going on first "Can you at least tell me as to why it is that I'm needed?" however the salarian just gave the young woman a shrug in response.

"All that I know is that the head of the CERD told me to bring you to the Citadel immediately and they definitely aren't going take no for an answer" the salarian explained.

Liara sighed, she really didn't want to abandon her work here seeing as how she had only arrived only two weeks ago but she had very little alternative seeing as the CERD were the main source of funds for much of the archeological digs that she undertook. This meant that she literally had no other options available to her than to do as the CERD asked of her.

"Very well, just let me go and collect my belongings" said Liara before heading back towards the living quarters to gather what few possessions that she had brought with her on the dig. After she was finished she went with the Salarian to the shuttle that would take her to the Citadel where she would hopefully get some hopefully get a damned decent answer as to what it was that she was being dragged back to the massive space station for.

-Citadel, Zakera Ward, several hours later-

The Zakera Ward of the Citadel was one of the more crime ridden areas of the massive starfish shaped space station. Because of this there were a large number of C-Sec outposts. Citadel Security or C-Sec as it was more commonly called was the law enforcement agency of the Citadel and as such was charged with protecting those that lived on the Citadel from criminal activities.

In one of these outposts, a frustrated Turian detective by the name of Garrus Vakarian was sitting behind a desk typing things into a small data pad that he was looking over. Garrus sighed, if there was one thing that he hated more than criminals that got away with their crimes then it would have to be anything that even remotely resembled paper work.

Garrus had always felt that such trivialities took up way too much of his time when he could have been doing something more useful and important but Garrus stomached this annoying part of his duties as best he could. Right now he was writing a report trying to explain a bar brawl in Chora's Den that involved a trio of Batarians who were drunk and stupid enough to try and pick a fight with a Krogan mercenary who was later identified as Urdnott Wrex.

Although none of the six Batarians had been killed, they all had to be sent to the hospital to be treated for several broken bones, dislocated limbs and other severe injuries.

The instant that Garrus along with a four man squad had responded to the call had entered Chora's Den one of Garrus' fellow officers, another Turian by the name of Sidonis was instantly struck in the chest by a flying semiconscious Batarians patron who had been flung at the entrance to the bar by the rampaging Krogan.

The C-Sec officers attempted to restrain the Krogan first, seeing as how he probably represented the biggest threat and also because most of the other Batarians were so injured that they couldn't resist arrest even if they tried, spirits most of them weren't even conscious by that point.

In hindsight going after a Krogan by using traditional C-Sec methods was terrible a mistake on their part and the officers along with Garrus himself ended up being brought into the bar brawl as well. Garrus winced a little at the memory of when he was almost casually tossed aside by the Krogan mercenary's biotics and into where the bartender gave drinks to the bar's patrons.

The brawl itself eventually got so completely out of control that by the time that Garrus had managed to call in for some extra backup in order to restrain Wrex long enough to get some cuffs on him over half of the bar was completely in ruins. And now Garrus was stuck with the bureaucratic crap since he was the one that was put in charge of the team that went into that insanity.

Garrus was so focused on finishing up the paperwork and getting back to his real job that he failed to notice the person that had walked into the squad room and was now standing directly behind him "Garrus Vakarian?" the individual asked whose voice sounded just like a male Turian's voice.

Garrus sighed and wondered if he had even more paperwork to work on and turned around and much to his surprise didn't see any of the other high ranking C-Sec officers but was instead face to face with a Turian that was wearing pitch black combat armor that had a single.

It took Garrus a few moments to realize that the Turian that he was looking at was actually a member of the Citadel's Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit that was more commonly known as the Spectres judging by the armor and the weapons that the guy had on his holsters as well as the way that he carried himself.

"Yes that's me" said Garrus wondering to himself as to what in the name of the Spirits was going on. The Turian Spectre examined the C-Sec officer a little more closely "The same Garrus Vakarian that scored in the top five in his class at the military academy and that has a near perfect record as a C-Sec officer for the past three and a half years?"

"Yeah" the Turian C-Sec officer responded "Well then Garrus Vakarian I'm Nihlus Kryik and I'm going to have to ask you to come with me, now" the Spectre ordered. Garrus looked back at the data pad and the report that he still needed to fill out.

"But I still have to finish writing this report and-" he started but was instantly cut off by Nihlus.

"One of your fellow officers will be finishing the report up for you" he said with a tone that suggested that any further arguments with him would be a very unwise decision "Alright," Garrus said somewhat reluctantly as he got up off of his chair and gestured to the Spectre in front of him.

"Lead the way Spectre" he said feeling a little more than eager to be getting out and doing something interesting rather than being cooped up in a C-Sec outpost trying to complete a pile of nearly pointless paperwork. As Garrus walked out of the office he saw the Krogan from earlier being let out of the C-Sec holding cells by someone that looked like another Spectre only this one was an Asari that looked somewhat familiar to Garrus before he finally realized that the Spectre he was looking at was Tela Vasir.

Garrus recognized the Asari Spectre because she had been featured in an exclusive interview on the Citadel News Program which had captured the interest of many at the time. Unfortunately for many of the viewers who had been hoping for something very interesting to be revealed, most of the questions that the reporter on the news program had asked had almost always been answered with a "I'm sorry but that's classified information" it was still rather interesting to see a Spectre being put on a live news vid seeing as how most Spectres preferred to keep away from those kind of things.

However Garrus' thoughts soon turned to the Krogan mercenary that was trailing right behind her which caused Garrus to ask the Spectre "What in the name of the spirits is that Krogan doing out of lockup?" he asked. Tela who was leading the Krogan around responded to Garrus' questions in a well-rehearsed voice "He's just been hired by the CERD who have also generously paid for his bail."

Garrus was really surprised by that and for a moment he honestly didn't have a response for that, why in the hell would a well-known and well respected organization such as the Citadel Exploration and Research Department want to hire a Krogan mercenary, especially one that had just been arrested for participating in a bar fight that ended up hospitalizing a number of those that had been involved including a couple of C-Sec officers, that sort of action had nothing but bad PR written all over it.

However Garrus decided that it would probably be for the better to not voice any these opinions considering that there were a pair of Spectres nearby and quite frankly he wasn't really feeling like arguing with a pair of highly trained and heavily armed members of the Council's special forces unit so Garrus just followed them and did his best to keep his mouth shut.

Unfortunately for the C-Sec officer the Krogan merc from earlier marched right on over to him and he emitted what Garrus assumed to be a chuckle while having a smug grin that he had on his face "Well, it looks like those charges aren't going to stick after all," the Krogan said in a vain attempt to bait the Turian C-Sec officer. Garrus let out an annoyed sigh but other than that he simply kept his mouth shut. The Turian officer had a feeling that this was going to end up being a long day and he didn't want to get into another fight with a Krogan.

Seeing as how the Turian wasn't going to be any fun Wrex looked over at Tela Vasir and spoke up "Hey, Spectre lady, where in the hells are we going anyways?" Wrex demanded. The asari Spectre responded immediately "We're going to the headquarters of the Council Exploration and Research Department where everyone will be briefed when we arrive" she explained as they continued to the transport that would take them to their destination.

-Citadel, Zakera Ward-

Tali Zorah Nar Rayya was not having a good day. The young Quarian was only four and a half days into her pilgrimage and already things had started to go wrong. Upon leaving the Migrant Fleet in the ship that she had been given Tali headed for the Citadel, hoping to find a job that would allow her to get her enough credits that would allow her to buy something that would be of some use to the Migrant Fleet.

However once she docked she had to go through a lengthy talk with C-Sec customs who had thought of her as little more than just a beggar or thief. It took over three hours but eventually Tali managed to convince them that she wasn't there to cause any trouble for anybody.

After the long chat with C-Sec she was finally let out into the Wards where she was hard pressed to find any paying jobs that were available. Most of the jobs that had even been willing to consider her were very menial at best and on top of that barely paid a couple hundred credit's a week! That was lower than minimum wage!

Right now the young Quarian was standing right in front of a C-Sec officer as well as a Volus the latter of whom had continued to spew bigoted remarks about her people while he continued to demand that she be arrested for stealing his credit chit which of course did not happen seeing as how she wasn't anywhere near him when the Volus started calling for C-Sec and spouting accusations of stealing from him at her.

Now Tali was stuck with a Turian C-Sec officer who was still attempting to get both sides of the story from the Volus as well as Tali. Currently it was Tali's turn to tell the story.

"And just like I told that Volus, all I did was walk out of that used machinery store, not even noticing this guy until he started screaming at the top of his lungs about how he had been robbed and not two moments later accusing me as the who had stolen his damned credit chit" she explained with no small amount of annoyance. The Turian brought up his Omni-Tool and began to run a scan of Tali to see if she did indeed have the Volus' credit chit.

The Volus just made what Tali assumed to be a scoffing noise but it was difficult to be absolutely sure with the hiss like respiration noises that the Volus' suit made in-between almost every other word he said. "This *hiss* clanless thief stole my credit chit *hiss*, she had to have done it *hiss* she was the one that was closest to where I was standing when I found it to be missing! After all we all know how they're like," he rasped while he pointed an accusatory finger right at Tali.

It was then that Tali had all but completely lost her temper with that last sentence. The bigotry that she had been enduring over the last few days slowly started to eat at her patience and now her temper was on the verge of a major meltdown

"So because I'm a Quarian that automatically means that I stole your credit chit when you may very well have just dropped the damned thing by accident somewhere?!" Tali demanded. She was really starting to get fed up from all of the racism that she had received ever since she had left the Migrant Fleet.

Before the C-Sec officer or the Volus merchant could make any sort of a reply to that, the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them. The three individuals turned to see a salarian who was holding what appeared to be a credit chit in his right hand "Excuse me but I think that this may belong to you, you are Pitne-For right?" the salarian asked looking over the credit chit's ID unit.

The volus immediately nodded his head "Then I think that this belongs to you, you dropped it on your way out of one of the shops" the salarian explained before handing the Volus the credit chit. Upon receiving his credit chit Pitne-For marched away from an irritated Tali without even an apology for the mistake he made while the C-Sec officer did the same.

The salarian however didn't leave the area and instead spoke up, "My name is Milos I represent the Citadel Exploration and Research Department and I was wondering if I could offer you a job" the salarian introduced.

Tali gave the salarian male a look of skepticism behind her visor. This was the first person who had walked up to her and offered her a job, usually she had to go into the recruiting area of a business just to see if she could just get a job interview. And most of the time she was rarely even given the opportunity for something like that.

"So, what kind of job is it?" Tali asked. Milos hesitated for a moment or two before answering. He honestly didn't really understand much about the job either. When Milos had asked his boss about it, all they told him was that this was on a need to know basis and that if he continued to question his orders then his job would be on the line.

Eventually Milos just decided to give the blunt truth to what was going on or at least all that he knew about what was going on "To be perfectly honest I'm not really sure either, they just told me to find someone with good engineering skills for some kind of a project that they were working on and from what I've read about the Quarians and the Migrant Fleet I figured that you would probably be as good a choice as any" he said before he continued.

"And I've been asked to tell you that the amount of money you'd be making would be quite substantial, at least five hundred credits per day" he explained. Behind her environmental suit's face plate Tali had a look of genuine surprise and amazement. That was at least ten times the normal amount of credits that she'd get at a normal job. Of course that was if anyone would even consider accepting her period due to her being a "suit rat." This must have been something of great interest.

"You're serious?" Tali asked who was still a bit skeptical about the job offer "Why would I lie about something like this?" the salarian asked. Tali thought about it for a moment, she was down to her last few credits and she no longer had a ship that could take her anywhere therefore she had nothing to lose but much to gain if she accepted the Salarian's job offer. Not wasting any time Tali gave her answer to the recruiting agent "Alright then, I accept your offer"

The salarian practically grinned. For a brief moment there he had actually thought that Tali wouldn't accept the job offer "Please come with me then" the salarian insisted before he headed for what Tali assumed to be a nearby Citadel rapid transit station. Without any hesitation Tali followed the salarian.

-CERD Headquarters, Presidium-

Once Liara had arrived at the Citadel it was a good forty-five minute ride on the Citadel's rapid transit system from the docking bays to the CERD HQ located in the Citadel's presidium. Each of the Citadel's arms were each bustling metropolises seeing as how all of them had well over ten million inhabitants. And each arm of the citadel was nearly fifty miles in diameter.

Business headquarters, residences, and places where people could socialize with one another could all be found there as well as a multitude of races that called the Citadel their home. The central ring of the Citadel that held all of the Wards together was known as the Presidium. This central structure was the heart of the Citadel government. It housed dozens of embassies that belonged too many different races each of which were members of the Citadel.

Eventually the rapid transit system came close to its destination and Liara could see the CERD building slowly start to come into view through the window of the skycar. It was clear that the CERD didn't really spare much in monetary expenses when they developed to build their headquarters. The building was at least twenty stories in height with a statue of the founder of the CERD in the front courtyard, the asari Matriarch Serona.

Serona was one of the most brilliant minds of her time nearly two thousand years ago and was one of Liara's main inspirations for becoming an Archeologist. When she was just a child, Liara had always hoped that she'd be able to do something that would contribute just as much to galactic society.

Liara T'Soni stepped out of the rapid transit unit that she was in and stretched her limbs, being cooped up in the uncomfortable seats of that skycar for almost a full hour had started to make her limbs become somewhat stiff. Sometimes she wondered why they made most skycars so cramped in the first place. It was a wonder that two people could fit in there let alone three if you included the driver. However the asari scientist pushed those idle thoughts aside for the moment as they weren't really all that important right now.

The same salarian who had earlier introduced himself as Milos also stepped out of the cab as well. Once they landed Milos felt that it would be best if he were to bring her to the CERD HQ since she had never really been to there before. True Liara had been to the Citadel numerous times before in her life this was her first time going to the Council Exploration and Research Department's main operational HQ. Normally she would just go to one of the branch offices on one of the other worlds they were on.

"If you would so kindly follow me" said Rylon before guiding Liara towards the front entrance of the building. The inside of the CERD was like most government buildings in that it just looked nice but that was only for the sake of appearances. There were a number of chairs that one could use to rest their legs if they found the need to do so. Paintings of various planets and places that were rich in Prothean artifacts decorated the walls inside the waiting room. The salarian then approached the front desk where an asari was sitting looking over something on a computer terminal.

"Excuse me my name is Rylon and this is Liara T'Soni, we're both here for the briefing" he said activating his omni-tool to show her his ID. The asari looked over at the ID and then ran it through the personnel files. Once the ID was finally cleared the asari gave them directions to the briefing room of the building.

The room itself looked more like a small theatre, there were numerous rows of chairs that were all lined up in in a half circular formation from a center stage. Most of the seats were already filled with other scientists and what looked like military personnel from various Citadel races and even a few non Citadel ones including a pair of Krogan and a Quarian were waiting for the briefing to begin.

After Liara and Rylon had taken a seat, an asari stepped onto the, for lack of better term, stage and brought up an image of a garden world with her omni tool. Liara was positive that she hadn't seen this one before and she had been to a great many planets since becoming an archeologist. Perhaps it was a newly discovered world, but she could just as easily have been wrong about that as most of her work took place in the Traverse and in certain parts of Council space.

"Greetings, my name is Seras I'm with the Citadel Exploration and Research Department. As you all well know the Council has recently removed the law regarding activating dormant Mass Relays but only those with the expressed permission of the Council have been authorized to explore these systems, while exploring through Relay 319 we found a planet in a system that we now call Saris that is capable of sustaining life" she said.

The asari then inputted a few commands on her omni tool and the images of the planet changed to partially blurred images of what appeared to be ruins that could be seen from orbit.

"These ruins were detected by one of the probes we sent in, which indicates that there was once a civilization on this planet that had managed to perform limited spaceflight capabilities when one considers the amount of debris from what we believe to be some kind of satellites" she explained before an orange skinned salarian spoke up.

"Excuse me. Have question. How do you know that they're ruins? Images aren't exactly high in quality. Therefore not enough evidence to conclude that whatever civilization that built structures is dead" he said. The asari looked over at the salarian "The probes weren't able to pick up any form of radio transmissions or any other electronic communications coming from the planet" she explained.

"Ah I see" the salarian responded before the asari continued "All of you have been gathered here because you represent perhaps the best qualifications that we require for conducting a thorough research of these ruins as well as whoever built them."

This was something that was quite unexpected for Liara, she had never once thought in her life that she'd be part of some research team to a newly discovered planet, especially with the ban on activating dormant Mass Relays. The young Asari scientist was both excited and nervous at the same time. She couldn't wait to see what they would find there and yet there was also the possibility of hostile life forms but there was most likely going to be something interesting down there.

"The Turian Hierarchy frigate Hammer of the Spirits will be leaving for the Saris system in one standard galactic day, I suggest that you gather whatever belongings you have and head for the frigate as soon as you're able" the asari explained.

As the briefing continued none of the assembled individuals in the room noticed a disturbingly pale individual in a business suit with haunting sunken in blue eyes and shortly cropped black hair that was carrying a briefcase in the shadows. 'Thisssss may prove to be very interessssting indeed' the being thought mainly focusing his sights on Liara T'Soni, Wrex, Mordin, Garrus and Tali as well as a few of the other researchers and soldiers that were in the room with an almost sinister smile.

-Earth, Resistance Base, Coast near City 17-

Along the coastline outside of the near confines of City 17 there was a large house that bordered on being a mansion. Perhaps before the Seven Hour War it had been some kind of a B&B at some point or maybe it was some rich family's personal winter or summer home. The house had over seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, a spare generator and even a garage where the rebels kept their vehicles.

Whatever it was before the Seven Hour War it was now a home to a group of resistance fighters that were using it as base of operations for raids against convoys that the Combine used to transport supplies and prisoners to and from City 17 and some of the other outposts such as Nova Prospekt.

The leader of this group was a man known as Commander Adrian Shepard, a former US marine corporal in the HECU (Hazardous Environment Combat Unit). Shepard was one of the few survivors from the Black Mesa incident, out of an entire regiment of the HECU only around forty five men managed to survive Black Mesa, and only about twenty three survived the Seven Hours War.

Until just three years ago Shepard had been presumed dead along with most of his comrades at Black Mesa. If only they knew the truth of the matter. Up until three years ago Shepard had been floating in a black void for was only just a few seconds before the same person that had put him in there, the G-Man as Shepard had been calling him seeing as how he had no idea what his real name was, had finally pulled him out of the void.

After being pulled out the next thing that Shepard knew was that he was lying down right in front of the Black Mesa East resistance headquarters roughly twenty miles outside of City 17. Shepard was still clad in his HECU uniform just without the helmet or gasmask.

Upon entering Black Mesa East base he was interrogated for several hours by some resistance members who were concerned with him being some sort of a spy, and a bad one at that seeing as he claimed to not know anything about the Seven Hours war or the eighteen years of suffering that had followed for humanity. After a while an old member of the HECU a man by the name of Zaeed Massani confirmed Shepard's identity the marine corporal was and quickly informed on what had happened in the world since his disappearance.

For Shepard it was a hell of a lot to take in. The entire planet was under the control of an inter-dimensional empire known as the Combine after they had used the portal storms created during incident in Black Mesa to invade almost every square inch of the world, effectively cutting off every government and military from each other and leaving them all to fend for themselves. Due to the Combine's superior technology, strength, numbers and sheer ferocity, the war only lasted roughly seven hours before humanity was forced to unconditionally surrender to the Combine.

The human who had negotiated the surrender was none other than the one who used to be Black Mesa's head administrator, Doctor Wallace Breen, who was now in charge of City 17 as well as most of the Combine forces that had remained on the planet Earth. That sniveling little fucker is considered by almost everyone that was still loyal to the human race to be the worst traitor since Benedict Arnold.

Shepard was currently sitting outside of the large house that he and his buddies were using as a base of operations and was looking up at the stars, although such sights were common back when he was younger when he was still living with his parents back in a small town that was up in Maine, Shepard always loved the sight of so many stars in the night skies and often wondered when he was little as to what was up there and whether or not he would ever meet any of those that lived out there for himself.

However back then Shepard had no earthly idea that he'd end up getting that wish of his but in the worst way possible . All it took the deaths of over a thousand HECU marines as well most of the Black Mesa security guards and science team members for Adrian to see another planet and meet the inhabitants, but even then he really wished that he hadn't.

Xen was quite literally a hell hole that was filled with the same monsters that now populated most of Earth. Even Xen's landscape was deadly to humans because of the fact that it was more like an asteroid belt rather than another planet and if one wasn't careful they could fall off one of the 'islands' and into who knew where. Adrian sighed and broke himself out of those depressing memories. There was no changing the past now. All that Shepard could do was move forwards into the future as best he could.

After watching the stars for another five or ten minutes or so Shepard walked back inside the base. He was going to need to get some rest seeing as how both he and Kaiden Alenko were scouting out a Combine outpost early in the morning and he was probably going to need the rest.

As Shepard reentered the dwelling he watched his step as most of the floorboards liked to creak when stepped on so he slowed his pace to keep the creaking to a minimum and not wake up the rest of his men. Lord knew that would be one hell of a problem just waiting to happen. Eventually Adrian Shepard made it to his room and laid down on the small semi comfortable bed and soon fell to sleep knowing that tomorrow was more than likely going to end up being a very long day.

To be continued.

A/N: yes I know what you're going to say, "You misspelled Adrian Shephard's name," but it was intentional, in this the player Shepard from the original Mass Effect and Adrian Shephard are one and the same in case you haven't figured that out.

No Korari is not a planet in the Mass Effect Universe (that I know of) and is instead just something that I made up myself.