DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect belongs to Bioware. I don't own any of the ideas or characters except for my twin Sheps. Some dialogue from the game is in the story so props to the ME writers.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is the result of an idea that randomly popped into my head one day. What if there were two Shepards? Twins? And since I can't seem to write a story without including some romance, and since I heart Kaidan bunches, there's a lot of Shenko (though boy Shep will get some lovin' too . . . eventually).

When Cade Shepard was told he had been handpicked for a special assignment, he had only only requested one thing: that his twin sister, Allegra, was also a part of the mission. It was a rare thing for Commander Shepard, beloved war hero of all humanity, to be refused a request. So it was no surprise to anyone when the other Commander Shepard was transferred to Cade's team.

The rest of the team, however, were not as thrilled about having Allegra Shepard around as they were Cade. Allegra was a good soldier, but she was ruthless. She'd gotten her whole team killed on Torfan and was a force to be reckoned with. That made the crew nervous; having a leader that might be their death sentence wasn't something they generally looked forward to.

When it came time for the Alliance's new warship, the Normandy, to disembark, there was a relative unease throughout the crew. Corporal Jenkins muttered to Lieutenant Alenko, "I don't know which Shepard I'm more nervous to meet. One has me in awe over his abilities, and the other scares the holy shit out of me."

"She's still a good soldier," Kaidan replied. He got why everyone was nervous to meet the legendary twin Shepards, but he didn't know why they were so frightened of Allegra. She wasn't going to randomly shoot one of them in the head. She wasn't crazy.

The crew gathered on the docking platform for the arrival of the two Commanders and Captain Anderson. The steady murmur of voices suddenly hushed when the three officers appeared on the platform. Captain Anderson led the small group, a very serious expression plastered on his face. Cade came next, wearing a slight grin, and Allegra followed, a deep frown marring her otherwise beautiful face.

Kaidan was always surprised by just how pretty Allegra Shepard was. Her reputation led people to believe she was a horrible monster, in looks and personality. He remembered the first time he had seen her on a news vid. He hadn't been able to get the image of her out of his head for weeks.

Looking at the two Shepards together, it was hard to tell that they were twins. Cade had dark brown hair and blue eyes, while Allegra had blonde hair and green eyes. Every feature was slightly different, even the way they held themselves. The only similarity between the two was their noses. They both had slender, slightly up-turned noses.

Kaidan watched the three officers board the Normandy. The crew filed in behind them, each person going straight to his or her station. Kaidan sat down in the empty seat next to Joker, who hadn't had to leave the ship for the officer's arrival.

"I'm surprised she doesn't have horns," Joker wise-cracked to Kaidan.

"You might not want to talk to her like that," Kaidan advised.

"Pfft," Joker laughed. "I'm sure she's heard worse."

Joker prepared the Normandy for take-off, Kaidan helping from the co-pilots chair. They successfully left Earth behind, flying up into space, eager to test the new ship out. They were scheduled to run a few different tests each day in various areas of space. For today they were simply flying, getting a feel for the ship and each other.

It was a few hours into flight that a sudden voice behind Kaidan and Joker made them both jump.

"I hear you're the best pilot in the Alliance, Lieutenant Moreau."

The boys spun in their chairs to see Allegra Shepard standing there, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Can I ask you a few questions?" she wondered.

"You did a background check on me, didn't you?" Joker groaned. Allegra's stony expression didn't change, but Joker continued. "Well, I'll tell you what I told the captain. You want me as your pilot. I'm the best damn helmsman in the Alliance fleet! I was top of my class in flight school and have tons of commendations. I earned everything. Nothing was given to me out of charity because of my disease."

Kaidan settled in for the discussion. Joker was pretty touchy when it came to his condition; the commander was going to get an earful.

"You're sick?" she questioned.

"You mean – you mean you don't know? Ah, crap," Joker muttered. "Okay . . . I've got Vrolik's Syndrome. Brittle bone disease. Basically the bones in my legs never developed correctly, they're pretty much hollow shells. If I put too much force on them they'll snap like little baby twigs. All very dramatic. I've been able to manage it, Commander. Put the Normandy in my hands and I'll make her dance for you. Just don't ask me to get up and dance. Unless, you know, you like the sound of snapping shin bones."

Allegra smiled. Kaidan could hardly believe it. Joker had managed to make her smile! Kaidan had never seen her smile before. Even Joker seemed impressed with himself.

"Why does everyone call you Joker?" Allegra asked.

"It's a lot shorter than saying Alliance Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. Plus, I love to make little children laugh."

Allegra snorted. "I was just thinking how much you remind me of Santa Claus."

"Look, I didn't pick the name," Joker replied. "One of the instructors in flight school used to bug me about never smiling. She started calling me Joker, and it stuck."

"Why didn't you ever smile?"

"Why don't you ever smile?" Joker countered.

"Touché," Allegra replied.

Joker sighed. "I worked my ass off in flight school, Commander. The world's not going to hand you anything if you go around grinning like an idiot."

"That's the truth," Allegra muttered.

"I was the best pilot in the Academy," Joker continued. "That includes the instructors. Everyone got their asses kicked by the kid with wobbly little legs. I was the happiest one at graduation."

Allegra gave him a half-grin. "You're not going to break a bone trying to fly the ship, are you?" she teased.

"Uh, I don't fly with my feet, Commander," Joker teased right back. "So I'm fine as long as I'm in this chair. I gotta be real careful when I get up to take a piss, though. I can do my job as well as anyone else on the ship. Better, actually, so don't worry about it."

Kaidan watched the pair of them amusedly. He never would have guessed that Joker and Allegra Shepard would have gotten on so well.

"You know, I'm starting to like you, Joker," Allegra said.

"Joy," Joker replied, deadpan.

"Lieutenant Alenko," Allegra said, turning her bright green eyes on Kaidan. "You're a biotic, aren't you?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

"And you know your abilities well? You're good to have in a fight?"

"I reckon so, ma'am."

"But you're not positive?"

"Uh," Kaidan stammered.

"I guess we'll just have to hope nothing goes wrong then," she commented before swiftly turning on her heel to go scare someone else.

"Why does she like you so much and seem to hate me?" Kaidan groaned.

"You've got to be more confident in your abilities," Joker laughed. "Try joking with her. She seems to like that. Besides, I don't see why you're so worried about it."

"She is one of our commanding officers. I don't want her to think that I don't deserve to be here."

"And her being a gorgeous woman has nothing to do with it?" Joker asked casually.

"What?" Kaidan gaped at him.

"You can't tell me you haven't noticed," Joker laughed. "She's hot."

"Just get back to flying the ship, Joker," Kaidan replied, tuning him out.

Allegra Shepard sat at the table in the mess, watching various crew members try to avoid her. She was a little surprised by how wary of her they were. Most people were a little scared of her after news of what had occurred on Torfan spread, but she had never had a crew so terrified of her that they couldn't even glance in her direction.

She blamed Cade. Compared to him, she was a horrible monster. He was the freaking hero of Elysium after risking his life to save so many others. Allegra had saved countless lives too. Just because the batarians had surrendered didn't mean they were going to give up their terrorizing. Only death would have stopped them from ever attacking more human colonies, so Allegra had killed them. It was a sensible decision. Unfortunately her actions had cause most of her unit to be killed as well. A regrettable mistake that she didn't enjoy having thrust back into her face all the time. If she could take it back, she would. But, as they say, hindsight is always 20/20.

Allegra glanced over as someone settled in the chair next to her. Cade. She should have figured. Her brother was the only one on this ship who would talk to her.

"I hear you've been terrorizing the crew," he greeted brightly.

"Terrorizing? I've been asking them questions about themselves. Getting to know them. Since when is that terrorizing?" Allegra asked.

"When you're the one asking the questions," he replied with a grin.

"They're all spineless," Allegra commented with a frown.

"I heard you talked to Joker. Did his sarcastic wit have you moist in your womanly parts?"

"Gross, don't say things like that to me. You're my brother and it's completely disgusting."

Cade laughed. "So you're quite taken with him then?"

"Yes, I'm planning our wedding," Allegra replied, rolling her eyes.

"Better keep the ceremony short. I would hate to see him break his legs on your wedding day."

"You're not very funny," Allegra commented.

"Oh, that hurt."

"Good."

"What about the rest of the crew? How do you feel about them?" Cade asked.

Allegra leaned back in her chair and studied her fingernails. "Jenkins seems all right. Very eager to prove himself, though. Alenko needs to get some backbone. He really lacks on confidence."

"He seemed confident enough to me. Maybe you just scare him."

"Wouldn't be the first time."

Cade chuckled. "I'm sure he'll come around. In the meantime, how about you don't relentlessly attack him with questions that make him doubt himself? Be nice to him and he'll realize you're actually a very likeable person."

"Oh, words of wisdom from the almighty war hero?"

"I only give the best advice," Cade grinned. "Anyway, I came to tell you that we're taking the Mako planet-side later today so be prepared."

Allegra nodded and watched Cade walk away. She would be so glad when all this testing was over and they could get a real mission. She itched for some action.

About a week later, the crew learned they were traveling to Eden Prime. Excitement ran rampant throughout the ship. Eden Prime was a beautiful paradise and they all hoped they would have some time to lounge around on the planet.

Cade Shepard, however, was doubtful about why they were going to Eden Prime. The captain had said they needed to test the stealth systems, but why on Eden Prime? And why had they picked up a turian Spectre a few days ago? Cade knew the Alliance had built the Normandy with the turian's help, but he was surprised they wanted a turian Spectre on board for the testing. And then there was the fact that Nihlus seemed to be wherever Cade was. Always watching him. It creeped Cade out at the same time making him terribly excited. A Spectre would only be watching Cade so closely if the Council had plans to make Cade a Spectre.

The first human Spectre. That would be a title Cade could get used to. In his early years of being in the Alliance, Cade had often dreamt of one day being a Spectre, never thinking he might actually get a shot at it. Allegra would be so pissed if Cade was recruited by the Spectres and she wasn't.

Grinning to himself, Cade slowly made his way up to the front of the ship. Any minute now they would be arriving at the mass relay that would take them straight to Eden Prime. Cade had always loved traveling through the relays, and wanted to be at the very front of the ship as it made it first voyage through one. As he maneuvered his way through the crew, he listened to Joker's status announcements.

"The Arcturus Prime Relay is in range, initiating transmission sequence," Joker said. "We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination."

Cade finally made it to the cockpit. Allegra was already there, standing behind Lieutenant Alenko's chair. Cade took the empty spot behind Joker's chair.

"The relay is hot," Joker announced. "Acquiring approach vector. All stations secure for transit. The board is green. Approach run has begun. Hitting the relay in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . ."

The Normandy moved quickly through the relay. Cade smiled at the sudden dropped feeling in the pit of his stomach. He glanced at Allegra and noticed a similar expression on her face. Before long, they were safely on the other side of the relay.

"Thrusters . . . check. Navigation . . . check," Joker called, checking all the sensors. "Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift . . . just under 1500 K."

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased."

Cade looked over sharply. He hadn't even heard Nihlus approach, yet there he was, standing between Cade and Allegra. And just as quickly as he had arrived, he left.

"I hate that guy," Joker muttered as soon as Nihlus was out of earshot.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment . . . so you hate him?" Kaidan chuckled.

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good," Joker replied, hotly. "I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible. Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Yeah, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story."

"You always expect the worst," Cade told Joker.

"Well, bad feelings are part of my job. You know we don't go anywhere unless we have a damn good reason to, so what are we doing out here?" Joker asked.

"Joker, status report," Captain Anderson's voice rang out suddenly.

"Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid," Joker stated.

"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

"Aye, aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Lieutenant. Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."

"Which one?" Joker asked.

"Cade," came the short reply.

"You get that, Commander?" Joker asked Cade.

"I'm on my way," Cade announced, spinning on his heel.

"Pfft, is it me or does the captain always sound a little pissed off?" he heard Joker ask.

"Only when he's talking to you, Joker," Kaidan replied.

Cade smiled to himself as he headed for the comm room. He nodded a greeting as he passed Navigator Pressly, and stopped very briefly to say hello to Doctor Chakwas and Corporal Jenkins. Arriving in the comm room, he was surprised to see only Nihlus standing there.

Nihlus turned as Cade entered, saying, "Commander Shepard, I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk."

"Where's the captain?" Cade asked.

"He's on his way," Nihlus assured. "Tell me about where we're going – Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

"They say it's a paradise," Cade answered, wondering what the turian was up to.

"Yes . . . a paradise. Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? It shows that you can protect the colonies you establish all across the galaxy. But is it really as safe as you think?"

Nihlus was acting sort of shifty. "Do you know something?" Cade asked, taking a step towards the Spectre.

"Your people are still newcomers, Shepard. The galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"

Before Cade could get a chance to reply, Captain Anderson strolled into the comm room. "I think it's about time we told the commander what's really going on," he greeted.

"This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run," Nihlus announced.

Hah! Cade knew it! "I figured there was something you weren't telling us."

"We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational," Captain Anderson explained. "A Prothean beacon was recently unearthed by a research team on Eden Prime."

Prothean? But they had died out 50,000 years ago. What was technology of theirs doing in a place like Eden Prime?

Nihlus reminded Cade that the mass relays and the Citadel were based on Prothean technology.

"This is big, Shepard," Anderson added. "The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years. But the beacon isn't safe on Eden Prime. We need to bring it back to the Citadel to keep it safe and so it can be studied properly."

"This discovery could affect every species in Council space," Nihlus said. "It's hugely important."

Well, it was good thing Nihlus was on board, Cade figured. He said as much to the turian.

"The beacon's not the only reason I'm here, Shepard," Nihlus replied.

"Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you," Anderson explained.

Evalute him? The Council really was thinking of making Cade a Spectre! That would be a huge advance for humanity. "Guess that explains why I bump into him every time I turn around," Cade joked to hide his sudden nervousness.

"The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council," Anderson said. "The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come."

"You held off an enemy assault during the Blitz single-handed," Nihlus interrupted. "You showed not only courage but also incredible skill. That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."

Cade blanched. A turian had put a human's name forward? Cade must have really impressed Nihlus.

"Earth needs this, Shepard," Anderson told him. "We're counting on you."

"I need to see your skills for myself, Commander," Nihlus continued. "Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together."

Cade was beginning to get very excited. He couldn't even imagine what Allegra would say to him when she found out Cade could very possibly become a Spectre! She was going to rip his throat out in a jealous rage!

"You'll be in charge of the ground team," Anderson was saying. "All you need to do is secure the beacon and get it back to the ship. Nihlus will join you to observe you in action."

"Just give the word, Captain," Cade replied.

"We should be getting close to Eden-"

"Captain! We've got a problem," Joker interrupted.

"What's wrong, Joker?"

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You'd better see this!"

"Bring it up on screen."

Anderson, Cade and Nihlus all turned to the screen on the far wall of the room. A few seconds later a video began playing of a group of soldiers fighting . . . something. A female soldier ran towards the person filming, yelling, "Get down!" Then she shot into the distance as the camera panned wildly. It finally stopped on another soldier who explained the situation. "We're under attack! Taking heavy casualties. I repeat, heavy casualties! We can't – argh! . . . need evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-" The soldier was shot and he slumped to the ground. The camera panned over to the sky, showing what looked like an enormous ship before the transmission suddenly cut out.

"Everything cuts out after that," Joker announced. "No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."

"Reverse and hold at 38.5," Anderson ordered.

Joker did so. The image of the mystery ship was frozen on the screen. Cade stared at it, wondering what the hell it was, and why it was attacking Eden Prime.

"Status report!" Anderson suddenly ordered.

"Seventeen minutes out, Captain," Joker hurried to say. "No other Alliance ships in the area."

After a moment's pause, Anderson said, "Take us in, Joker. Fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."

"A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It's our best chance to secure the beacon," Nihlus suggested.

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold," Anderson said. Nihlus quickly turned and walked out of the room. Anderson turned to Cade. "Tell Alenko, Jenkins, and Shepard to suit up, Commander. You're going in."

Cade took one last look at the image still frozen on the screen, nodded curtly, and hurriedly went to find his team.