Old Blood, New Enemies

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING! Probably a good thing, too. Hellsing: Ultimate is already awesome, and Bioware pretty much pisses excellence.

AN: And welcome to Vampires in Space! Heh, sorry, another author on this sight that I trade ideas with got that stuck in my head. Anyway, I have been wanting to do a Mass Effect crossover for a while, but have had trouble finding a series that would work without time travel. Then I realized that I did not need a character to travel to the future, if they could just live until then. And who better than our bouncy, er, bubbly Draculina? Of course, as this takes place almost two centuries after the end of Hellsing, she isn't quite as high-spirited as she was at the beginning, but she will still have her moments of silliness.

Also, expect LOTS of dialogue in this story between action scenes. Mainly, because there is a lot of dialogue in Mass Effect to cover, even if I do skip a bit here and there to speed things along. Secondly, as many who read my stories likely know, my writing style is already dialogue heavy.

Finally, I would like to thank my friend kiddi for giving me the title for this story.

That said, Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A New Threat on the Horizon

"Well, what about Victoria? Earthborn… but no record of her family."

"Doesn't have one. She says her parents died when she was young, and she spent most of her life working for a paramilitary group in England."

"She saw her whole unit die on Akuze. Even though she came out unharmed thanks to her… condition, she could have some serious emotional scars.

"Every soldier has scars, and from what she's told me, this isn't the first time she's had to deal with loss like that. Seras is a survivor."

"Is that the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy?"

"That's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy."

"I'll make the call."

As Seras walked towards the front of the Normandy, she couldn't help but marvel at the technology around her, though she made sure to keep anything from showing on her face. She was the vessel's Executive Officer, she couldn't let herself look like some starry-eyed fresh recruit.

Still, to someone who had seen the passage of two centuries, all this technology was still new. She had seen similar technology many times since joining the Aliance Military over a decade ago, but it never failed to amaze her how far technology had come since she was human, and especially since the discovery of Prothean ruins half a century ago.

Seras arrived at the front of the ship just as Nihlus, a Turian Spetre, was leaving. She had to physically stop herself from licking her lips as he passed. It wasn't that she found him attractive, but rather that she had found out Turian blood was delicious. Then again, she preferred any alien blood when she could get it, as she found human blood rather bland in comparison after drinking it for a century straight, Turian was simply her favorite.

Seras shook her head with a wry grin. 'If only Master could hear me now, comparing blood like wine. He would be so proud. Which is all the more reason to stop, of course.'

Pulling herself back to the present, Seras caught the tail end of a conversation between Joker, the ship's pilot, and Kaidan Alenko who was functioning as temporary co-pilot for the test run of the experimental vessel.

"…Only an idiot believes the official story." Joker finished up.

Familiar with the pilot's slight paranoia regarding (as he put) 'anyone who's paycheck was bigger than his', Seras spoke up. "You always expect the worst in people, don't you?"

Without looking away from his console, Joker replied. "Well, bad feelings are an occupational hazard. We don't go anywhere unless there's a good reason, so what are we doing here?"

Suddenly the intercom came on, and the voice of their Commanding Officer, Captain Anderson, could be heard. "Joker! Status report."

Shifting to a more professional tone, Joker replied. "Just cleared the mass relay, captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid."

"Good." Captain Anderson's voice was heard once more. "Find a comm. Buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime."

This brought a smile to Seras' lips as she laughed silently. 'There has to be some kind of irony to a vampire going to a place called Eden.' She thought.

"Aye, aye, Captain." Joker replied, before switching back to his usual, more relaxed tone. "Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

"He's already here, Lieutenant." The Captain responded in a disapproving tone. "Tell Commander Victoria to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing." Anderson finished, before cutting the connection.

"You get that, Commander?" Joker asked over his shoulder.

Feeling slightly annoyed at the snarky pilot, Seras said, "Wonderful, you annoy the Captain, and now I have to deal with it."

"Pff. Don't blame me." Joker said as she turned to leave. "The captain's always in a bad mood."

Seras smile as she walked away, when she heard Kaiden say, "Only when he's talking to you, Joker."

On her way to the comm room, Seras saw Doctor Chakwas talking to a young corporal, Jenkins, if she remembered correctly. Thanks to her vampiric senses, she could tell they were talking about Nihlus and the mission, even over the other conversations going on and the sounds of the ship.

Seras couldn't help but smile at the sight of the elderly woman. In some ways, the doctor reminded her of Integra; beautiful, strong willed, and perfectly able to be circumspect or blunt as the situation required. Not to mention she was surprisingly understanding of Seras situation. On most of the previous occasions where Seras had revealed her true nature to a doctor to try and ease the acquisition of blood packs, they had either treated her like a monster, or tried to experiment on her. Needless to say, the latter attempts failed, and Seras ended up wiping their memories in both cases.

Dr. Chakwas had treated her vampirism like just a rare medical condition, asking questions and offering to help, but never forcing anything. Also, rather than reacting in fear, the doctor had later confessed that she was glad Seras had come to her for donated blood, rather than feeding off the crew. Seras could even remember Chakwas laughing at her emphatic denial over even considering such a thing.

As a result, they had grown close, and Dr. Chakwas was even responsible for helping explain away anything unusual about Seras as merely the 'a rare medical condition that would not impair combat effectiveness'. This both kept any higher-ups from getting suspicious, and ensured they were stationed together, so that Chakwas could 'monitor her condition'.

As she was about to pass, Jenkins addressed Seras with a salute. "What do you think, Commander? We won't be staying on Eden Prime too long, will we? I'm itching for some real action!"

"I sincerely hope you're kidding, Corporal." Dr. Chakwas said in a scolding tone. "Your 'real action' usually ends with me patching up crew members in the infirmary."

"Dr. Chakwas is right, Corporal. Human life is too precious to waste on fighting for the sake of a fight." Seras said, remembering all those she had lost in her long life, one French mercenary standing out among those memories.

"Sorry, Commander." Jenkins said in an apologetic tone. "But this waiting's killing me. I've never been on a mission like this before. Not one with a Spectre on board!"

Smiling at the youth's excitement, Seras responded. "You'll do fine. Just don't take any unnecessary risks and treat this like any other assignment. After all, you have to live in order to prove yourself."

"Easy for you to say. You proved yourself on Akuze." Jenkins said with a downcast tone. "Everyone knows what you can do."

Unfortunately, the young corporal had stepped on a landmine with the way he had phrased that. Temper flaring, Seras got right in his face, and practically growled out her next words. "That's right, but you can bloody well believe that I would gladly become a no-name private, if it meant getting back just ONE of the soldiers lost that day!"

Seeing Jenkins properly chastised, Chakwas decided to calm down her friend. "Seras, you're going Cockney again."

Seras blinked, as she realized she had indeed slipped back into her old cockney accent in her anger. She had no problem with the accent personally, but she couldn't afford to have a fellow soldier unable to understand her during combat. So, she had practiced long and hard to speak without an accent, but during moments of high emotion, she usually found herself slipping back into it.

"Er, Sorry." Seras said, slightly embarrassed by her outburst, but not regretting it if it kept Jenkins from getting himself or someone else killed in the name of 'glory'. "Anyway, I need to meet up with the Captain. Corporal, Doctor." Seras nodded to each before moving on to meet with Captain Anderson.

When Seras entered the comm room, she found that it was not the captain that was waiting for her, but rather the Spectre, Nihlus.

As Seras approached, he turned away from the screen he had been observing and addressed her. "Commander Victoria. I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk."

Wary about him wanting to talk with the captain absent, but curious all the same, Seras merely said, "Talk about what?"

Nihlus started to pace as he spoke. "I'm interested in this world we're going to – Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

Glad that the conversation was innocent enough, Seras gave a friendly smile as she responded with a shrug. "I'm afraid I haven't been there, so I wouldn't know."

"But you know of it." Nihlus said as he turned to face her once more. "It's become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? Proof that humanity cannot only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it, really?"

Seras' smile fell away at his last question. Trying to discover what the point of this was, she asked, "Why are you asking? Do you know something we don't?"

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

Before Seras could respond, Captain Anderson walked in and spoke. "I think it's about time we told the commander what's really going on."

Seras raised an eyebrow at that, as Nihlus stated grimly, "This is more than a simple shakedown run."

Seras couldn't help it, she rolled her eyes as she responded. "Well that was bloody obvious."

Anderson turned to her and elaborated. "We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."

"Why the secrecy?" Seras asked. "I suppose you have a reason for not telling your second-in-command."

"This comes down from the top, Commander." The captain said in all seriousness. "Information is on a strictly need-to-know basis. A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation. It was Prothean."

Seras gasped slightly at that. The Prothean's relics fascinated her to no end. While the technology itself was amazing, the fact that what remained was in such good condition after 50,000 years was simply mind-boggling. To most humans, time simply became a number after a certain point, but for Seras, the passage of centuries she had witnessed helped her better appreciate just how long fifty millennia would be. It was also sobering to think about how, unless she found a violent death, she would see even more time than that pass.

"What else can you tell me?" Seras asked the captain.

"This is big, Seras," Anderson said, excitement creeping into his usually serious voice. "The last time Humanity made a discovery like this is, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years."

Seras had to resist the urge to roll her eyes at that, as she thought, 'I know, I saw the original news reports when they first made the discovery, and you were still a child.' The part of her that had held on to her humanity as much as possible mentally frowned at that thought. It was far too much like her Master's arrogance for her taste.

Anderson's next comment snapped her back into focus. "But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study."

Nihlus picked up there. "Obviously, this goes beyond mere human interests, Commander." Seras couldn't help but crack a slight smile at that comment, considering her own nature. "This discovery could affect every species in Council space."

Seras relaxed a bit at finally knowing why the Spectre was here. "That makes sense. Good to know the Council isn't expecting humans to do all the work for them." She said in a joking tone.

Nihlus however, remained serious. "The beacon's not the only reason I'm here, Victoria."

Seras cocked her head slightly in confusion, but Anderson answered her unasked question. "Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander. He's here to evaluate you."

"What!?" Seras exclaimed, as she went stiff. "What's going on, Captain? If this is about my condition…" It would be bad. If someone started to look into her 'condition' too much, it would put not just her at risk, but Dr. Chakwas as well, for keeping her secret hidden. And Nihlus was a Spectre, so she couldn't just wipe his memories with extreme care. Not to mention she hadn't tried to use her hypnotic vampire abilities on non-humans yet…

"No, nothing like that." The captain responded reassuringly. "Dr. Chakwas has always said that it wouldn't affect your performance in the field, and your record reflects that. Not to mention, for someone who has been in the medical field as long as her, her word is as good as gold." Anderson said this last part with a smile, before turning serious once more. "No, 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. 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."

Nihlus spoke up once again. "Not many could have survived what you went through on Akuze. You showed a remarkable will to live – a particularly useful talent." Once more Seras felt a pang of guilt for the people who died that day, but she pushed it aside as Nihlus continued. "That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."

"Wait a moment," Seras said in confusion. "You aren't human, so why would you want a human in the Spectres?"

"Not all turians resent humanity." Nihlus said calmly. "Some of us see the potential of your species. We see what you have to offer to the rest of the galaxy… and to the Spectres. You are a prime example of this, Victoria, as all of your records show you as being at the peak of human ability, physically, and well above average in mental pursuits other than biotics. We are an elite group. It's rare to find an individual with the skills we seek. I don't care that you're human, Victoria. I only care that you can do the job."

Seras thought about this for a moment. To become a Spectre would be a great honor, but to be known as the 'first human Spectre' when she was only singled out due to her vampiric abilities? Her eyes drift to Captain Anderson.

Dr. Chakwas had known Anderson for years and had worked several assignments with him. She had urged Seras to tell him the truth, knowing that he would understand her situation. Prepared to wipe his memories if the doctor was wrong, Seras was pleasantly surprised when Anderson had thanked her for telling him, and compared her vampirism to early human biotics; a terrible power that was as much a curse as it was a blessing. In the end, he had agreed to keep her secret so long as she continued to only feed from blood packs.

Turning to the captain, she asked, "You support this, Captain? With my 'condition', would I really be the best choice as the first human Spectre?"

"Earth needs this, Seras." Anderson said, stressing the planet rather than the species. Vampire or not, there was no denying that Earth was her home. "We're counting on you."

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

Seras smiled at that. "In that case, call me Seras. It's easier to say than Victoria." Nihlus nodded at that, now understanding why the captain had referred to her by her first name.

Captain Anderson went on to explain the current mission in more detail, when the intercom came to life, and Joker's voice interrupted. "Captain! We've got a problem."

"What's wrong, Joker?" The captain asked, noticing the unusually serious tone to the pilot's voice.

"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!" There was no mistaking the worry in Joker's voice.

"Bring it up on screen." Captain Anderson said, as the three in the comm room moved to the main screen to watch.

What followed was a distress signal amongst a minute of chaos. As the screen went to static, Joker spoke again. "Everything cuts out after that. No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."

"Reverse and hold at 38.5." Anderson said, bringing up the image of a strange, monstrous ship landing on the planet.

There was little resemblance between the two, but for some reason, Seras could not help but compare the alien vessel to the main zeppelin of the Letzte Bataillon that she saw all those years ago. Both craft seem to emanate a bloodthirsty malevolence in her mind from the moment she saw them. Both signaled the arrival of an enemy. This was a new enemy, however, and she didn't care that she slid into her Cockney accent again as she voiced her thought.

"What the bloody hell is that?"

AN: And there you go! No action this time, but we'll be able to get straight into it next chapter. Plus, with combat, comes the Harkonnen, and in the immortal words of Takahata101, "Bitches Love Cannons." ^_^

…Ahem, anywho, Some of you might ask 'Why not use Alucard?' I have a very simple reason for that. Can ANYONE see Alucard actually working well in a military environment? I definitely can't. Plus, Alucard will be showing up later, anyway.

Right now I just plan to cover the main storyline missions and original content, but if anyone wants a specific side mission covered, let me know in a review, and I will try to work it in when I get there.

Finally, I HAVE NOT PLAYED MASS EFFECT 3! I HATE spoilers, and getting them is the number one thing that kills my motivation for stories, so please keep that in mind if anything in this story does not match up with something revealed in ME3. That said, I DO plan to plan it, so any plotholes should be filled when I do.

Want more? Want me to stop immediately? Let me know!
And in case I don't manage to post something on Christmas day like I have the past couple of years, here is an early Happy Holidays to all!