Bioware owns Mass Effect. The OC's are mine.
Chapter Prologue: Conversing With A Legend
"Staff Lieutenant Royce Mason, you have an incoming call on the QEC."
Royce looked up from what he was working on, cleaning and calibrating his many weapons, and sighed. The Chaos Legion had been on the Turian Frigate TSV Cherva Tern three days now, sitting in the Widow System of the Serpent Nebula, awaiting orders. The days off had been good recuperation time, but now he itched to get back into the fight, as did the rest of his squad. Royce has spent his time modifying his M320 Vulcan cannon, changing out the original heat sinks for ones made of high-grade frictionless material. Once top-of-the-line mod equipment, not to mention expensive, the ship's requisition officer had merely raised a plated eyebrow in confusion when the Australian-born man asked if he happened to have any lastgen weapon mods. Getting up from his work station in his personal quarters, having finished swapping the frictionless heat sinks in, the Human N6 Marine made his way from the crew deck to the bridge deck, where the communications bay was located. One slow elevator ride later, he was walking to the door that had two Turian soldiers guarding it, checking out his credentials before letting him pass to where the Quantum Entanglement Communicator was located. Stepping to the strange device, the Australian-born man pressed the acceptance button, and found himself looking upon a legend.
Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy.
"Good to see you, Commander." Royce saluted the holographic representation of the N7, saluting in return. "Heard you made it off of Earth and got back into the fight."
"Harbinger and his pals were partially responsible for springing me out of the brig." Shepard replied dryly, eliciting a chuckle from the Australian. "Saw that you just got done with a stint on Menae. I was just there myself securing the Primarch, so I read up on your report. This Enigma Signal… it's got Hackett smiling as much as I've ever seen on his face; never thought that be possible. If it's half as effective as your report suggests…" The Commander went silent for a moment, recalling something. "I knew Chorban, right before I became a SPECTRE. Wanted me to scan Keepers as part of some pet project of his. Needed credits at the time, since I was finding myself hunting down a rogue Specter, and needed as much high-end weaponry, so…"
"The fates can be as kind as then can be cruel." Royce returned when Shepard paused for a moment, the Commander nodding in agreement.
"It was obvious he was a shady little bastard, but that didn't stop me from saying no, did it?" The N7 let off a small chuckle. "Who would have thought that a moment of 'why-the-hell-not?' would have given us a trump card now, when we are in such desperate need of such?" Shepard went silent again, obviously mulling over something. The Marine could easily see the wear-and-tear of the war on the Commander's face, what weight must be pressing down on those shoulder? "How did Chorban die?"
"We jumped into a surrounded Command and Control Tower, thousands of Reaper ground forces surroundin' the Center where the Reaper Tower was." Royce supplied, determined to give a more intimate description than what was on his report. "We held them off where we landed, having Chorban and a Turian hack through the door as we were pressed on by about several hundred Husks, Cannibals, and Marauders. They still came, and we couldn't kill them fast enough. Sometime durin' the hack, Chorban got shot in the stomach. A Batarian by the name of Garm Jor'radah protected him from what we coined a 'Behemoth' while Chorban was doin' his best to input the modify code he had from your Keepers. It worked, and soon the Reapers were tearin' each other apart, but Garm had died defendin' Chorban, who himself had died from his wounds completin' his task."
"Amazing. I never would have pegged Chorban as such." Commander Shepard said finally, the words distant in thought. "He had hired some mercs to kill his business partner, some Volus I can't really remember much of; a deal gone sour. Talked the both of them out of it. Everything worked out. Chorban got his scans." Again, a moment of silence that Royce didn't interrupt. "So many already gone, and it's like there's a long list of friends I never knew I had, willing to fight on, even people I had met just once. Where would we be now if I had decided to turn him in? Or refused to cooperate? Makes me wonder that if the Reapers are the personification of evil, then who is on our side?"
"I'd hope God would take the lead role, but right now I'd settle for just about any miracle, no matter who it came from, or where." The N6 replied, the Commander of the Normandy slowly nodding in agreement. "Hierarchy Command is doin' its best to try and replicate the feat we accomplished, though it seems that we can only do it through a Reaper comms tower. Capture a few more of those, and perhaps we can permamently win back Menae. Maybe Palaven. Maybe even Earth."
"One can only hope." Shepard responded, not at all sounding like an agreement. "I'm on a mission on Tuchanka, Lieutenant, which is the real reason why I called. Reapers have arrived at the DMZ, though nowhere near in the strength I would think it would take them to decimate it. They're planning something, and I don't doubt that it's disastrous at best. I'm sending your team to a hotly contested spot, Mason; I have a feeling we're going to need as many Reaper-killers on ground there as we can afford. Your team is already in transit, and quite good at their jobs. Victus will get your Captain to drop you off, and I'll have Hackett bless off on the orders. We're going to need you there, Lieutenant. I don't doubt that I'm going to need you there with what I've got to do."
"That bad, eh?" Royce shook his head, thinking it out. Commander Shepard wanted their help? "We'll be there with bells on, Commander. After all, who's like us?" The Marine asked with a cocky grin and a salute.
"Damn few." Shepard replied with the same smile and salute. "And we're a quickly dying breed, Lieutenant. I should go. But… good luck and good hunting, Mason."
"You too, Shepard." Royce returned. "Go get some sleep, Commander. You look like shit."