Hello! Lilliwyn is here again, with another story that the plot bunnies won't leave her alone with. I know that I should probably be working on my KotOR fic, but the bunnies just won't leave! So I did the only thing that would make them do so by writing this story. :)

This is not going to be a happy fic, as I'm sure you can imagine if you're familiar with the Sole Survivor background. It's not going to be very long either. It'll probably just have three or four chapters, although that may be subject to change. We'll just have to see.

Also, since I have two Shepards in this story, Kera is Commander Shepard. I hope that eliminates any confusion. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect. This is merely a story that takes place in that universe.

Commander Kera Shepard peered out the window at the planet that they were preparing to land on. Akuze was a planet that was lush and green with vegetation. She could see lakes and rivers from her angle up from the ship. It seemed to be a lovely planet. She now understood a little better why the Alliance was so eager to colonize Akuze. The soil was probably perfect for farming.

A little over a day ago, contact with the pioneer team who was sent to start the colonization of the planet was suddenly lost. Shepard and a team of twenty marines had been sent to investigate the cause of the loss and to search for survivors if something had come to harm them. Shepard certainly hoped that nothing did.

Laughter erupted from some of the marines who sat at the other side of the ship. Kera's younger sister, Elena Shepard, was among them. Kera was glad to see them laughing. She was sure that it was helping their nerves. She didn't want them to get too nervous before their mission.

A minute later her sister bounded over and took the seat across from where Kera sat. Her eighteen-year-old sister had always been energetic and a bit of a social butterfly where Kera was a bit more reserved and calm. Despite their different personality traits, their circumstances had always pulled them close, especially since they were the only two people who had survived and not been captured on Mindoir by the Batarian slavers.

"So, are you nervous?" Elena asked.

Kera smiled. "Maybe. Are you?"

Elena scowled playfully for a moment. "Maybe," she answered back.

Kera imagined that she was. This was Elena's first mission and Kera knew that the butterfies in her stomach must have been fluttering very strongly.

"I'm sure that you'll do fine. Just remember your training during the mission."

"What, exactly, are we doing down there anyway?"

"We're supposed to be looking for signs of the lost pioneer team. We are going to be searching for clues to what happened to them and if they are still alive."

"Sounds like fun," Elena muttered sarcastically.

"Things shouldn't get too exciting down there. There's a number of things that could have just happened to their hardware to disrupt their signal."

"Or some big monsters could have gobbled them up and are waiting for us to land." Elena smiled.

Kera rolled her eyes at her sister's response. "That's very likely not to be the case."

"We'll have to see." Elena smiled.

"You have watched way too many horror vids, Elena." Kera shook her head. Her sister had quite an imagination.

The conversations that the marines were having on the ship ended abrubtly as the comm system blared on.

"We will be landing shortly," a sweet, robotic female voice spoke over the comm, "Please buckle your seat belts as we do so."

Elena waved good bye to her sister as she ran back to her original seat near Corporal Toombs and her other acquaintances. Kera followed the voice's instructions and buckled her seat belt. She never enjoyed landings.

Sorry that this chapter was so short, but I felt that this was needed before we continue to the more exciting stuff. Feel free to leave a review!