"I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten…"

– Nicholas Sparks

Ch. 1 – Cerberus Attack

"That stupid idiot!"

V thought as the Krogan soldier charged a turret put down by a Cerberus Engineer. It wasn't to long until the bullets ripped through his shield and took him down.

"What was he thinking?" came a shout from his COM.

V turned to his right to see the Asari clad in Light Janissary Armor who was hold up against the far wall. She was young… well at least by Asari standards, and V new that the events today would either make her into an unstoppable force or would get her killed.

"It's a Krogan he can't think!" came another call over his COM, "He should have just let me take care of it, but no! Krogan are the best at everything."

The Turian was a bad one, V knew this, but he still had to agree with his assessment of the situation. The sniper was clad in a set of Thermal Armor utterly counterintuitive with the stealth that his job required. V knew that if push comes to shove the Turian would leave the entire squad here to die if it meant his own survival.

"Shut up all of you!" V called out into his COM. WE need to get through that door and that turret is blocking it. Now Cari I want you to throw up a barrier and cover me while I draw the turrets fire. Jalid, while the turret it distracted you take down the Cerberus Engineer. Once its shield is gown I'll finish it off."

"Roger, I'm ready," came the confirmation from Cari, and as he look over at her V saw a glint of confidence in the Asari's eye.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jalid responded, "I got you… Commander"

There was enough venom in Jalid's last word that could have taken down a fully-grown Krogan. But V said nothing and just let it slide.

"Alright then get ready, we move on my mark… 3… 2… 1… Mark!"

And with military precision V rolled out from behind his cover and started sprinting towards a pillar about 150 meters in front of him and to his right. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and the belts and straps of his Heavy Hahne-Kedar Armor creaked and stretched as he heard the turrets motors whine up. In mere seconds the turret would start firing and if V hadn't reached the pillar in time his shields would be the first thing to go. Followed by his life if he wasn't lucky.

As almost and answer to a unspoken prayer V saw the Cerberus Engineer poke his head out from behind the his cover, and that split second was all Jalid needed. As a shot rang out and the Cerberus Engineer slumped to the floor, the turret opened fire. V's shields were ripped through in mere seconds, just as he predicted. It was over. He was still 50 meters away from the pillar and with his shields gone it wouldn't be to long until his armor also failed him.

Suddenly another source of gunfire opened up striking the armor of the turret causing it to short out momentarily. And that moment was all V needed to dive right into the pillar, securing his cover. As he shifted around behind the pillar he heard confirmation from Jalid.

"Cerberus Engineer is down. Do you want me to take down the turret now or do you want to charge it down as well commander?"

"Shut it Jalid," Cari call out, "If V hadn't done what he did would you really of been able to take that shot?"

A grumble of annoyance was heard over Jalid's line.

"That's what I thought," Cari responded, "Now commander take care of that turret and let's complete this mission."

V smirked as he pulled a grenade of his utility belt and primed it.

"You can be so demanding some times Cari," V replied and with a flick of his wrist he tossed the grenade at the turret and ducked back behind his cover. With a small explosion the turret was gone and their pathway to the next room was clear.

"Regroup," V called out as he moved up to the door way and their fallen Krogan comrade.

"Stupid bastard never thought about anything," came Jalid's voice from behind him.

Cari turned and gave Jalid a complete look of disgust, "You are just a xenophobic asshole you know that Jalid."

"One of my many charms. I can show you more maybe in bed sometime?"

"Ewe, I would rather be captured by the reapers than sleep with you."

"Owe come on now…"

"Enough!" V called out.

Jalid and Cari instantly stopped their bickering and turned to look at him.

"Burn it," V said gesturing to the dead Krogan, "I'm not about to give Cerberus any more resources to use against us."

Jalid smiled, "I'll do it"

V nodded and turned to Cari, "Lets get this door opened."

Cari gave an uneasy glance at the glee shown on Jalid's face before turning back to V and walking closer to the locked door.

"What do you thinks behind this?"

"Beats me," V replied, "We've fought Cerberus troops all the way though this base up to here. But now we have a locked door and they didn't lock it. That means we might be able to get a heads up on them."

Cari nodded, "They want whatever is behind this door, but if we can get it we might be able to provide HQ with some better Intel on Cerberus's motives in this sector."

"Yeah wouldn't that be a great end of the mission, the human commander can finally start to repay the rest of the galaxy for the treason perpetrated by your pro-human organization," Jaild interjected walking up behind them.

Cari gave the Turian another glare of pure disgust before retaliating, "And what about Saren? Commander Shepard was the one who stopped his treason over two years ago. What have you done to repay the rest of the galaxy for that treason?"

Jalid was about to respond, but V put a stop to the entire affair.

"Enough! Now is not that the time for this."

V turned back to the door and started fiddling with the virtual control panel and after a few moments the lock changed from red to orange.

V turned to both of his squad mates gave a quick hand signal Jalid took up V's position and both Cari and V took up position on either side of the door. After a quick count down Jalid engaged the door and it slid open.

With precise movement V stormed into the room with his assault rifle at the ready while Cari move in right behind them pistol already draw and sweeping the room. Jalid quickly moved to take up Cari's newly vacated position on the side of the door as he drew his sniper rifle.

By the time the automatic lights cut on V began to call out to the empty room, "This Commander V with the Systems Alliance Military broadcasting on an open frequency. Any civilians please respond."

After a moments pause V gestured Cari and Jalid to make the same call.

"This Ensign Cari with the Asari Biotic Core broadcasting on an open frequency. Any civilians please respond."

"This Scout Sniper Jalid with the Turian Military broadcasting on an open frequency. Any civilians please respond."

Still nothing. No response was made. No bodies were visible. It was just an empty room filled with computers.

"Spread out and search," V ordered, "Check your fire."

Both Cari and Jalid nodded and silently moved out.

The room was massive, like the size of an entire warehouse. Half of the room was filled with computer equipment while the other half was just empty nothing.

"Anything?" V called out over his COM.

"Nothing except computer equipment," Cari responded.

"Humph" came Jalid's rough voice.

V silently moved throughout the room; the computer equipment seemingly guiding him in a certain direction. As he rounded a corner he saw a holographic display and a human male attacked to various wires connected to the computer equipment.

As soon as V made a move towards the unconscious man, the virtual projection lit up displaying an alien that V had never seen before.

"Contact on my position!" V called into his COM while raising his assault rifle to bear on the virtual projection.

"Your weapons will not harm us." The Virtual Alien stated.

"What are you doing to that man?"

"Doctor Detweiler?" The Virtual Alien seemed confused by V's accusation. "He is helping us in achieving a physical body."

"What?" V was baffled by the Virtual Alien's words.

"We are seeking to obtain a physical body in your world just like the Geth, but unlike the Geth we are not created AI."

"Then what are you?"

The Virtual Alien seemed to ponder this for a moment before responding.

"We are sentient life trapped inside of a virtual world."

"You got to be shitting me. Do you really think I'll believe that? Your voice patterns and everything else clearly show that you are an AI."

"We have lived like this for over 8,000 years. We only made contact with your council in 2185 CE. The council has not notified the general population about our existence. We thing that the troops that attacked this base must have obtained this information in a different way."

"Why would Cerberus want with you?"

"We do not know."

"That's all you can offer?"

"At this time yes. Currently most of our CPU is being directed towards transmitting our intelligence off world. This base has been compromised."

"What about the man?"

"Doctor Detweiler passed away during the first attack. The entity you call Cerberus attacked our neural network trying to try and stop our escape. The resulting surge fried Doctor Detweiler brain. He did not feel any pain."

"So Doctor Detweiler wasn't with you… where ever you are?"

"No the Doctor was just interfacing with our virtual world. Attempts to attempt a swap were in progress."

"A swap of what?"

The Virtual Alien paused for a moment before responding.

"Consciousness."

"You were attempting to take over his body?"

"With his permission. Yes."

"Commander!" came a frantic call over his COM.

Tearing his eyes away from the Virtual Alien, V responded.

"Cari what's wrong?"

"I can't reach Jalid on the COM and his locator has been deactivated."

V couldn't believe it. He pulled up his squad display on his HUD display. Cari's life signs and COM channel were positive but Jalid's now read the same as the Krogan's, negative.

"We have visual of your squad mate," stated the Virtual Alien, and with a say of its hand an image appeared on the projection display. And what it showed made V's blood run cold. Jalid was standing near the doorway that the squad came into surrounded by a group of Cerberus troopers. But what really made V's blood chill was the look on Jalid's face. More over the face that V could see Jalid's face and it was a wreck. And ominous blue glow emanated from his eyes and wires could be seen running along side the veins on his neck.

"How did it go?" asked one of the lead Cerberus troopers.

"As planned. The commander that they put me with was easy to manipulate. And the Asari is cannon fodder. The only exciting thing was that I got to roast that Krogan."

"The Illusive Man wanted the remains."

"Well I guess V was smarter than the Illusive Man thought."

The trooper looked towards one of his comrades before turning back to Jalid.

"Is the package secure?"

"Got it right here," Jalid said holding up a data pad.

"Give it here," said the trooper.

"No way. You might not of me told the rules but I have. The boss wants me to deliver this personally. You job is to get me there."

The Trooper paused as if he was about to order Jalid killed, but then he thought better of it.

"This way. The shuttle is ready."

"Then lets get a move on."

And with that Jalid walked off with a squad of Cerberus troopers.

"Damn it!" V shouted. He had not been this angry in a long time.

"Commander what do we do?"

"Rendezvous at my position our situation is now critical. We take all the info we can and get out of here."

"Roger."

V turned back to the Virtual Alien.

"What am I going to do with you?"

"We were in talks with the Council before the Reaper attack," the Virtual Alien reasoned.

"Well aren't you uploading your selves off planet?"

"Cerberus has cut off all forms of communication. We are being jammed."

"How many of you are left?"

"Myself and a hundred others."

"And what am I suppose to do about that?"

"The others have started a counter attack on Cerberus personnel that have infiltrated the base. It is up to you to safely take me away from here."

"And why is that?"

"I am what Cerberus is after. So I am what you need to keep safe. That is you mission is it not?"

Just then Cari rounded the corner and reached V's position.

"Commander we need to get moving."

V's stood there the implications of each decision weighing heavily on his mind. After a moments pause he turned back to the Virtual Alien.

"How do we get you out of here?"

"There is no simple solution. Currently the only viable option is for you to upload the program that Dr. Detweiler created. That will allow me to interface reprogram your Omni-tool and cybernetic implants so that I can transfer myself to your care."

"Wait what are you talking about?" Cari exclaimed, "It sounds like you are going to take over his mind."

"Not take over, no. We will assimilate with his neural network. His implants will be come my host until a new host can be obtained."

"This is crazy Commander! What if this thing is a Reaper Agent? This could heavily compromise our situation."

V didn't say anything for a moment. Each decision that he could make has positives and negatives. If the Virtual Alien was in fact a Reaper Agent, then listening to it for this long had probably indoctrinated himself and Cari. V turned slightly to look into Cari's eyes, as she had at some point taken off her recon hood. He could see the fear in her eyes, but all she saw was the blank stare of his Death Mask Helmet. No comfort was given. It wasn't how it was suppose to be.

V turned back to the Virtual Alien. If he did destroy this place and it was a Reaper Agent they would be hailed as heroes, but what if this Virtual Alien was actually telling the truth. They could be court marshaled and cause a galactic incident if he made the wrong call.

It seemed like there was only one option.

"Lets get this started then."

"Commander you can't be serious!" Cari exclaimed.

"Cari this is my responsibility as the commander. It's my decisions that will affect everything right now. In order to avoid a galactic incident I must do this, but if you are right and they are a Reaper Agent you must kill me understood."

Cari's pupils widened and there was something else there that V couldn't read.

"I don't know if I can do that," Cari whispered as she dropped her head.

The Virtual Alien chose, at this moment, to interrupt them.

"Cerberus Troopers are closing in. We must go now in order to escape capture."

V nodded.

"How do we do this?"

"Go over to the interface and open up your Omni-tool for full transference. Nothing can be locked. Every amount of CPU and space will be used to transfer data and schematics vital to our future."

"You couldn't of sent that information along first?" Cari quipped.

"We could not risk losing it to a data hack or interrupted transference."

"Alright its ready," V stated.

"Good. I will be partitioning myself throughout your cybernetic implants housing the extraneous data in you Omni-tool. I will be able to re-write your Omni-tool to allow interaction between yourselves and my consciousness."

V nodded again, but Cari look more than worried.

"V…"

"Don't worry Cari. This will work," V said placing a comforting hand on her shoulder before turning back to the Virtual Alien. "I'm ready to begin."

"Good the transference will take some time, it is imperative that your comrade does not stop the connection our else your mind will be corrupted just as Doctor Detweiler's was."

"You here that Cari. I really don't want to die so you got to protect us."

Cari look deep into the eye slits of V Death Mask Helmet as if trying to convey some unspoken meaning.

"Always commander."

The Virtual Alien nodded.

"Transfer started. A warning, integration with cybernetic implants will have adverse side effects. Pain is a guarantee."

And before Cari could yell at the Virtual Alien it's projection winked out and V's Omni-tool began to glow an iridescent green.

"Well that new," V commented, "I wonder when the pain will…"

As if an answer to his incomplete question a scream of undiluted pain and terror ripped through his body. Images of his past flashed through his mind. The attack on Mindor, the torture of the slavers was all he saw before the darkness closed in. But right before he lost consciousness a voice, not his own call out to him.

"We are the Harbinger of your destruction."

Please review and tell me what you think of this story

and if I should continue it. Thanks for reading