Mass Effect/Aliens

Chapter 1

The Calm Before the Storm

Commander Shepard watched silently from the front of the ship as the Normandy rendezvoused with the Migrant Fleet. She smiled as she watched the small drop ship fly toward the Rayaa; Kal Reegar and the surviving quarian troops rested onboard and was gladly escorted by Tali. Their mission to Zorya nearly proved to be their last with mutated monsters acting under Reaper influence as well as crazed Blue Suns mercenaries. She only had to look down at her left leg and saw the bandages that covered her injury she received from Terralka.

"As well that ends well huh Shepard," Joker asked from his seat.

"I could have been a hell of a lot worse that's for sure," Shepard replied.

"Just like old times then," a familiar voice called out.

Shepard and Joker turned to see Garrus walking toward them on the near the cockpit.

"Good to see you up and about Garrus," Shepard said with a smile.

"Please, I think you took the worst of it," Garrus replied," Of course had I been there, things would have gone much smoother."

"My ass," Shepard remarked with a smile then added," I'd say I'm almost looking as bad as you are."

Garrus paused for a moment then said," Anyone who has never died please raise your hands."

Garrus immediately raised his hand upward and as he and Shepard looked around saw Joker had raised his arm as well.

"Traitor," Shepard joked.

"Well it is true," Joker said before returning his attention to the controls of the ship.

"As bad as things were down there, I'm sure Wrex would have loved it," Shepard said with a smile.

"No doubt about it, and I'm sure Liara would have loved the opportunity to study those creatures…as well as gather any useful intel for the Shadow Broker," Garrus added with a small chuckle.

Shepard smiled but that smile then faded as she thought about her other surviving teammate from the battle Sovereign and Saren, Kaidan Alenko. When they last met, it was on Horizon during a Collector attack, there was tension due to Shepard's involvement with Cerberus and although it did end rather peacefully, Kaidan made it clear his trust in the commander was deeply shaken.

"You ok Shepard," Garrus asked noticing the frown on her face.

"Just wondering what Kaidan is up too," Shepard said then smiled as she added," He missed a hell of a fight on the Collector Base and Zorya."

"That he did," Garrus said as he placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder then added," It will be quite a story when he hears about this."

Shepard smiled as she said," I doubt he'd believe any of it."

Elsewhere, an Alliance vessel moved at maximum speed toward the destination, the Asari colony of Cyone. A small military vessel carrying little more than a couple dozen marines, nowhere near large enough for an invasion but very effective in providing support for those in need. On board, Captain McCormick looked over the last of the mission details, the Asari High Command had spent a petition to Admiral Hackett, a team of scientists, comprised of human and asari, were working on a new discovery that had been uncovered when the local Eclipse mercs showed causing trouble demanding protection money.

As the other soldiers moved about the ship, either conversing with one another or checking their weapons, a lone marine sat by himself, slightly hunched over with his hands clasped together in front of him. His hair cut into a cut Mohawk, and bore a few scar across his face; there was a distant look in his eyes as he thought back to his past mission. Fehl Prime…the collector attack devastated his squad and the colony, but in the end they did get what they were looking for.

"Lieutenant Vega…you ok James," a fellow solider asked.

The newly promoted lieutenant suddenly snapped back to reality and looked up to see the lieutenant from the biotics dividion looking over him.

"You alright James," the soldier asked," You seemed to be spacing out there."

"I'm good man…I mean, I'm fine Lieutenant Alenko," James said with a light smile.

"Just Kaiden please, you and I are at the same rank," Kaiden said as he took a seat beside James," Fehl Prime right?"

James was silent for a moment then replied," Yeah."

Kaiden was silent for a moment then said," For the longest time I had a hard time getting past Eden Prime."

"Thanks for sharing Doc," James replied sarcastically.

"I'm not trying to play psychiatrist," Kaiden said," I'm only saying if you dwell too much on it, it will consume and destroy you."

"Thanks but no thanks, I'll handle this on my own," James spat as he stood walked toward his locker.

A young private suddenly rushed in shouting," Anderson stepped down!"

There was silence and confusion among the others soldiers when Kaiden asked," What do you mean "stepped down"?"

"He's stepped down as Councilor," the soldier replied," Udina has now taken his place, it's all over the extranet."

"That's crazy," one soldier replied.

"Why would he do that," another asked.

"This is loco," James said toward Kaiden," Anderson got that position just a couple years ago and now to give it up."

"He must have his reasons," Kaiden replied.

"There's more," the young private said," It's about Commander Shepard! She's destroyed the Collectors!"

"What's that," Kaiden and James asked.

"Sources on Omega say they saw the Normandy enter the Omega 4 relay and escape some time later! And Cerberus is pissed, she blew up the Collector base and basically told the Illusive Man to fuck off," the young private added with a smile," She's still one of us! She isn't with Cerberus like we thought."

There was a look of shock across everyone's face, James and Kaiden were the most affected by this revelation. It had been some time since he saw Shepard on Horizon with Garrus and an unknown krogan, and even then he was reluctant to believe that Shepard had returned or that she was not simply a puppet of Cerberus.

James was equally shocked, but only because everything he went through on Fehl Prime now seemed meaningless. An indoctrinated Cerberus agent spelled the doom for the rest of his squad, forcing them to take on an over whelming force that completely decimated them.

"Where the hell are you getting all this crap from," one of the soldiers asked as he crossed his arms.

"Alliance is picking up a lot of back chatter that is being sent from Omega, to Illium to the Quarian Flotilla," private said," Shepard has been busy as hell."

The others soldiers began talking to one another as to all the news they had heard, Anderson leaving now Shepard destroying the Collectors and ending her partnership with Cerberus.

"Well shit," James said with a smirk," That Commander just won't sit still will she?"

"I've never known her to remain on the sidelines for anything," Kaiden added with a smile," I guess I owe her an apology if I get the chance to see her again."

"We first have to see this mission through," James added.

Suddenly over the intercoms, Captain's McCormick's voice boomed," All personnel report to the war room for briefing on the mission at hand."

The soldiers quickly moved to the war room, while James and Kaiden hung toward the back.

"So what do you think," James asked.

"I won't know until I see her again," Kaiden replied," What about you?"

"The Intel we gathered may now have been useless, but we did ensure that no further colonists were abducted and Shepard made all those bastards pay," James said with a smile.

Once assembled in the war room, Captain McCormick looked over his men then over towards Lieutenant Vega and Alenko. He had to admit he was surprised that Admiral Hackett personally chose requested that they accompany him on this mission.

"These men are among the very best, one having served personally with Shepard," McCormick remembered Hackett's words," They'll help you see this mission through old friend."

"I hope your right," McCormick thought with a smile then said," Alright listen up, as you may know were are en route toward the research colony of Cyone. The Asari high council has requested our assistance in dealing with Eclipse mercenaries led by Jona Sederis."

"The leader of the Eclipse is personally leading this attack," a female soldiers asked.

"Would make sense, Cyone is one of the planets in asari space," another replied.

"If it's an asari colony, why are we being sent there," the female soldier asked once again.

'It's a joint research facility," Kaiden calmly replied," There are humans scientist working with the asari researchers."

"That's correct," McCormick said then looked back over his information and added," Records also indicate that some salarian researchers have also been dispatched from Sur' Kesh."

"More than likely STG," James said.

"Whatever the case, their well being is our top priority," McCormick responded.

"What kind of research was going on here," Kaiden asked.

"All I know is there research dealt with biological matters," McCormick said," near the research facility, something was discovered and evidently the Eclipse think it's valuable enough to take for themselves."

"Are we to extract any survivors," James asked rather coldly.

"As far as the information goes we are to eliminate any and all hostiles but if things do get too hot, be ready to bug out," Captain McCormick replied," When we land we'll break up into small squads, Lieutenant Alenko will lead one squad and Lieutenant Vega will lead the other. Any questions?"

No one replied, they all understood their mission, but James was very tense upon hearing that he would be in charge of a unit once again. The faces of those he lost on Fehl Prime weighed heavily on him, the only other person to survive with him was last seen in a bar, attempting to drown the bad memories with alcohol or at the least kill himself.

"Dismissed," Captain McCormick said.

The Captain's words snapped James back to reality as he saw the soldiers disperse and returned to their previous duties.

"You alright," Kaiden asked.

"Yeah…fine, just…have a lot on my mind," James replied.

"We'll see this through, just have to take care of some mercs, and easy mission right," Kaiden replied.

"Right," James said with a light smile.

Elsewhere, The Illusive Man let exhaled a stream of smoke as he looked over the footage of the creatures that developed from his test subjects. Before the monitor, stood six strange creatures, their bodies covered in a black exoskeletal structure and the top of the head was almost like that of a banana, the back of the head heavy elongated. The creatures hissed as they looked all round them, but they had no eyes to visually see anything. Along the floor were several dead Cerberus troops, some showing signs that they had been impaled by the creature's spear-like tail while others had their head pierced.

A researcher who was monitoring the creatures sighed before replying," It's just like the last subjects sir. Despite using loyal Cerberus troops these creature are wild, only responding to each other."

"Find a way to get these creatures under control," The Illusive Man replied," At the very least, these creatures can be used a shock troops to be dispersed wherever we chose and wipe out any and all enemy resistance."

"Yes sir," the researcher replied then asked," Would you like me to go over what findings we have uncovered from our current studies?"

"What new information have you acquired," The Illusive Man asked.

"As seen with the eggs we recovered, the creatures within emerge and attach themselves to host creatures, during that process they implant an embryo within the host. After some time, the initial creature, which we have termed, face-hugger, will drop off seemingly dead after performing its task," the researcher replied.

"Correct, which would make it suitable for deployment," the Illusive Man said with a smile then thought, "Enemy troops would make the mistake of investigating and be infected in the process."

"The emerging of the xenomorph can vary depending on the overall condition of the host," The researcher said," The shortest being maybe two hours after infection and the longest being a day. Within a fee short hours the xenomorph will fully develop and become the adult we see before us. It is unknown at the time is infecting other species has different physical effects, but it is expected that they would still share the same physical defenses, jaws, claws and Tail as well as acidic blood ensure attacking at close range would prove fatal."

"Excellent," The Illusive Man replied then asked," What about our mole on Cyone?"

"Last communication with him stated they found the same creatures by the research facility," the Cerberus researcher replied," he also says the Eclipse mercenaries have been harassing them, but there has been no contact for several hours."

"I won't let those mercenaries take what would be far more valuable and useful in Cerberus hands away from me," the Illusive Man spat," Make sure the team in briefed on what they must do before arriving at the colony."

"Yes sir," the researcher said before ending the transmission.

To Be Continued