Hi readers, hope you enjoy. Remember R n R after reading if it's not too much trouble.

I do not own the Mass Effect universe; the entire Mass Effect universe belongs to the very talented people at Bioware.

I will be putting OC into this story but will make notes when I do.

Mass Effect: Prime Mover

Prologue: Christened By Fire

The abandoned office block she and her companion dog had been sleeping in had been targeted by an arsonist and Bear's barking had been the only thing that had woken the ten year old from her deep slumber. It took her sleep addled mind all of two seconds to register the smell of smoke, her ears to hear the roaring of fire a worryingly short distance away and her eyes to see its beautiful, but terrifying red and yellow hue glow around the area where she and Bear had been sleeping. Fear sent her survival instincts into overdrive as she grabbed for her ragged backpack, collected her bedding and set her ten year old legs running for the nearest exit. Bear was jogging beside her, both them panting from the heat and unable to get any clean air as the fire threw up black smoke and heated dust. She was choking, Bear was choking, but they knew that once they were out of the building they would breathe fresh air again; that was enough encouragement to keep their legs going.

The exit was blocked by a burning pile of rubbish; office equipment, tables and chairs collected from the nearby rooms, which was strange because Kaylei had made sure all of the nearby exits were clear. She had heard about the arsonist and that they targeted buildings where homeless people slept, they made sure that what exits they found were blocked so no one could get out. The authorities said that this psycho was targeting the homeless in an attempt to rid the world of poverty in a messed up dream to achieve the perfect world. Kaylei was the only person using this building so she had hoped to go unnoticed by the arsonist; obviously not.

She and Bear quickly doubled back along the hallway they had run down, she knew of a small room that was used by a cleaner when the building was in use, it had its own exit outside, that door could possibly have gone by unnoticed by the attacker as it was hard to find if you didn't explore hard. The young girl and her companion quickened their pace as the ceiling began to sag and creak, beginning to weaken from the fire which had spread up to the floors above them.

Reaching the Cleaner's Room Kaylei yanked open the door and saw that she had been right, it was clear and the door swung open showing the night blanketed street beyond, but before she could follow Teddy Bear outside a loud cracking noise above her was all the warning she got before Kaylei saw the ceiling falling onto her.

This was it. This was the end of her short, hard life. Ten years old and about to die; Bear with her, the huge, black, stupid mongrel never did know when to leave her alone.

A metal support beam in the ceiling came loose and Kaylei knew that she had no time to get out of the way as the strange beam of dark metal, something she had never seen before, almost a dark blackish purple, with lights running along its entire length, looking like robotic insides than a simple metal beam, fell towards her bringing burning ceiling tiles and other debris with it.

The fire became stronger.

The beam landed painfully on her, crushing the air from her lungs and bruising ribs, possibly breaking a couple; she cried out and a second later she felt Bear's rough tongue licking her face. Kaylei tried lifting the metal, which now looked like any normal beam; it's strange lights nowhere in sight, but it was burning hot and turning red from the heat of the fire in some places along its length. She only burnt her hands trying to lift it and fate was being cruel for she could still see the outside through the open exit from the Cleaner's Room, all the while the smoke was getting thicker and the fire getting closer, its heat making her sweat. Frightened tears were streaming down her face as realization dawned on her mind she could very well die right here, trapped under this beam, the outside so tantalizingly close she could feel the cool breeze on her face, but still, that stupid mongrel of a dog just barked and bit at her clothing, hard enough to make it painful on her shoulder as she tried again to lift the heavy beam. "Bear, stop it," Kaylei said, trying to push the huge dog and get back to getting free. The dog didn't listen and continued pulling her left shoulder painfully, his teeth now breaking her skin and drawing blood.

So desperate was he to get his young friend outside and away from danger.

"Bear stop! You're hurting me." Somewhere in her mind she laughed. 'Yeah, you're going to die and all you can think about is getting comfy.' Bear began pulling her; she heard the many layers of her shirts tearing and the canine teeth in her shoulder deepening. "Bear stop!" Somewhere close by she heard another part of the ceiling collapse.

As Bear tugged her, Kaylei felt her weight shifting, her stretched body became thinner and slowly Bear pulled her roughly from under the beam and out the open door, not letting her try her own legs until he had dragged her several feet away from the Cleaner's exit.

Finally Bear let go and Kaylei stood, tripping from the pain in her legs after being trapped under the beam and burning tiles before finding her feet and limping to the other side of the street. She collapsed to the concrete of the path, shivering from the trauma and the cold air that seeped into her torn clothes. Tears were still running down her face and she could feel the blood chilling from the bite mark to her shoulder, not helping her feel any warmer. Bear approached with his tail between his legs, not knowing what his young master would do being hurt, his pack instincts knowing injured pack mates could be unpredictable.

Kaylei pulled him close and cried into his shaggy black fur, not caring about the method he used to save her, even as the blood began soaking into her shirts attracting more cold. It was as the sirens of the fire engines began to fill the air that she pulled away from her lifelong friend and stroked his thick scruff of fur. "It looks like we have to find ourselves some new digs, eh?"

Bear, of course, said nothing and just panted in her face.

Shepard... Kaylei could have sworn she heard someone one shouting, even over the roaring fire engines' sirens. It was strange; she was sure the sirens of the fire services didn't sound off like that. Quick rhythmic beats; perhaps the government had changed them.

Shepard! That shouting again, why were they calling her Shepard? She didn't have a family name; you needed a family for a family name.

Then there was a sudden feeling in her chest, Bear was restless, he could tell something was wrong.

She felt... she wasn't sure what she felt, but she didn't like, she knew it shouldn't be happening to her. From her seated position on the concrete she fell backwards, her head hitting the cold floor beneath her.

Floor? She was on a London street, not a floor. And those sirens, what were those sirens; they weren't the normal long notes and then the loud horns. The new quick notes had become uneven and erratic. What was going on?

Bear was whimpering and barking, but not even his monstrously loud barks could drown the shouting in her ears.

"Shepard! Come on, open your eyes!" Maybe she had died in that fire, or more likely that beam had done more damage than just a few injured ribs. Maybe this was the last desperate attempt of a dying brain to keep itself alive.

Something in her chest stopped at that moment, she was certain, she could feel it. The fire engine sirens began to cry a long, ominous tone.

"Doctor! She's gone into cardiac arrest!"

"Kaylei, no! Keep fighting it you stubborn bitch!"

"That's enough Lieutenant! Prepare the De-Fib now!" Kaylei couldn't understand how was she back here at the burning warehouse at ten years old? Wasn't she fighting Saren... who was Saren? She felt her breathing stop and panic manifested in her mind. Bear was still barking as he stood over her and raised his massive front paws over her chest. "Clear!" Kaylei cried out as something exploded in her chest when Bear's paws came down. Movement was in her chest, but stopped again. Tears were still running down her face.

"We need you here Commander. There are still Reapers out there, you promised Ashley!" Ashley... Ashley Williams. Kaylei could only just remember. But remember what, she was only ten and had been stuck on Earth all her life. She was sure she had met no Ashley on Earth.

"Kaylei! You have to come back! Please!" Kaidan, she hadn't met him either, but she knew him. Confusion set in as the voices she heard became slowly clearer, but still ethereal, something she couldn't make sense of or comprehend. "You never back away from anything in your life! You always knew what to do! You always led us through, how will we stop the Reapers without that judgement!"

"Will someone please get Lieutenant Alenko strapped into a stretcher!?" Chakwas and Kaidan, why was it all so familiar. Kaylei had never heard of the names that were filtering through her mind... but she had, she knew she had. Chakwas, Kaidan, Tali, Wrex, Liara, Garrus, Joker and everyone else that served her on the Normandy.

But at this moment, in her dying mind, she was slowly forgetting, the memories slipping through her fingers like grains of fine sand. She briefly remembered the conversation with Garrus after Dr Heart shot himself; before it slipped from her mind and faded.

"No... No, I'll not forget! I don't want to forget!" Kaylei shouted out to the London street that surrounded her the red glow of the office fire bathing everything in red and yellow light. Bear was rearing up again...

"Clear." and her chest exploded again as he landed on her chest. The London street was slowly dissolving into a bright light that reached out to touch everything, seemed to emanate from everything before it was engulfed by it. The fire engine sirens once again blaring their strange call, now back in rhythm, faded from her ears. Finally it was just Bear and her, covered in white light, and her tears slowed as her old companion gave her a final lick on the bridge of her nose and then dissolved from her vision into the light.

Her body exploded in pain, every nerve ending screaming but her own vocal cords wouldn't obey her body to scream with it, she felt her eyes opening and outlines appeared, the light slowly receding behind outlines of figures looming above her. She was tired, she was in a world of pain, someone had their knee pressing down on her hand and she couldn't speak or move or do anything to get them off.

"Doctor Chakwas, she's back."

"Shepard? Stay with me Commander." It was Doctor Chakwas. The pain was numbing her head, and Kaylei couldn't stop her eyes rolling in their sockets, she couldn't get a focus onto anything. Realising what was happening Chakwas leaned further towards her, trying to keep her awake. "Kaylei, stay with me." Chakwas said firmly, gripping the Commander's shoulders.

'Sorry Doctor...' The light faded further behind the Doctor's dark silhouette and all Shepard could do was fall into blissful, unfeeling, unconsciousness.