At the Citadel 3 days before the mission on Eden Prime:
Leaning over in his seat, rubbing his hands together, Alex King, waits nervously as the Alliance ship docks at the Citadel. He was alone, in his Alliance military casual wear, his hair up in his usual way. Sides cut short, top part combed into a soft relaxed version of a Mohawk cut short. His hair got him into several different problems. Sometimes it was too long, other times it wasn't cut cleanly enough, and other times the commanding officers just wanted to yell at him for being one of the top soldiers. They always compared him to Captain Anderson, and Lieutenant-Commander Shepard. It was a way of training him for perfection, which he knew he may never attain with other brave soldiers around him.
As the ship hissed it last breath, King stood, exhaling his nerves, and them hardened them. All doubt, hesitation, and worry left his facial expressions and body language. He walked out with a confident stride, saluting his higher ups, and thanking all the crew for their hard work.
"King I want you to leave your belongings here until the Commander gives you the orders. There's a chance…you're coming back home to Earth soldier" Commander Gerhardt placed a hand on King's shoulder as he stood in the airlock.
"Yes sir. Of course, sir" Alex saluted Commander Gerhardt and walked onto the Citadel for the first time in his twenty-three years of living. After leaving the ship he relaxed his shoulders a little bit and allowed himself to look around. He walked by and saw many different species, Turian, Human, Asari, all different sorts. But, the one that caught his eye was the female Quarian. She was in a full environmental suit, with a hood of dark purple, and light purple swirls.
It was odd, his palms started to get warm, and his heart was pounding, and suddenly she was gone. He blinked, wondering why his body reacted so oddly to the presence of one person. And someone he didn't even know. She seemed to be there one moment and then gone the next, never to be seen again.
It took Alex nearly thirty minutes just to find the C-Sec entrance that his commander was waiting for him at. Luckily for him he was already early, and sat on the bench overlooking the arms of the Citadel.
"Quite the view, huh? That's the reason I picked this place" Commander Douglas was standing behind King, his hands behind his back. He was in full military blues, his metals shinnying in the fake, artificial day light. Alex jumped to his feet, faced the Commander and saluted.
"Please excuse me sir. I did not hear you coming", Alex stood as stiff as a board and looked straight ahead, like he had been taught for many years.
"Please, relax. I want to talk to you before we go to the briefing. Here, sit, continue to enjoy the view" Douglas sat down and relaxed, letting out a content sigh. King had learned years before to allow himself to relax when the higher-ups allowed it. He sat on the bench, and relaxed, but still kept up his posture and his military bravado.
"You're going to Eden Prime. And it's not too hard of a mission. But…I want you to know…I don't have a good feeling about it. I get these from time to time, comes with age, and they're usually right. Watch your six out there, the N7 can't afford to lose you. You have great potential to become something special. Grab your gear and head to dock D45. There you will meet Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. You'll be with her on guard duty of the Prothean artifact. She'll fill you in on the minor details. She's expecting you in…now" he stood up and smiled at Alex. King stood swiftly, saluted, and ran off the dock D16 where his gear was.
Commanding officers did that often, telling you that you're late. It was to see if you would rush and get things done accurately. And to see that if you were late, what excuse you would or wouldn't come up with. But Alex wasn't going to need an excuse, he double timed it and got there with five minutes to spare, information he got from another soldier, and took that time to steady his breath. While dropping off his stuff he looked over his gear, finally realizing that he wasn't in Kansas anymore. He shook his head and arms then regain his military domineer.
"You're on time. That's new" Ashley didn't even look up from the mission brief as Alex walked in. He stood there and saluted her, she still didn't look up. "Not to be rude, but we don't have much time for that. While you're the only one on schedule, everyone else if behind schedule. Here, the map of the mission area" Ashley showed him the route in which they would be taking. It took only ten minutes for Ashley to go over the mission, the safety measures, and answer Alex's questions. "Good…good. It's nice to find someone who can ask strategically accurate questions. Well…that's all. If you need anything let me know, I'm basically your commanding officer until things get straightened out" she walked over to the door before Alex stopped her.
"I…uh...I'm a mechanical expert on almost any ship. If you need something fixed…I can do it Ma'am…" he gave her a small smile, seeming to like his new "commanding officer". She waved for him to follow and that he did, until she stopped in the com room.
"You're really not supposed to be in here, but uh…we really need to get these coms working. Can you get it done?" Alex crouched down, opened a panel into the wiring and came back out quickly giving her a thumbs up. Ashley smiled and walked out, "I'll make sure to give you clearance" she walked out of the room leaving Alex alone. He sat there and sighed, relaxing for the first time since he got onto the Alliance war ship, the SSV Concord.
After walking back to the crew deck to get his tools, Alex went to the com room and started working on the problem. It was an easy problem, but it would take him a few days. He was glad for that though, it allowed him to think about things, relax before the mission, and make himself useful on the ship. By the day of the mission Alex had gotten to know the team that came in and out of the com room, and told them how to keep the equipment working. They thanked him, and Alex found himself a good breakfast before he went to go work out.
He did this before every mission. Went to where ever he could be alone, or semi-alone, and would work out. It was his ritual of some sort, and helped him clear his mind. It started off with push-ups, followed by sit-ups, jump rope, defensive rolls, and finished with a cool down of stretches. After about an hour of short put powerful work outs, Alex had a thin layer of sweat on his body. He walked over to his locker and put on his standard military gear: Re-enforced leggings with magnetic boots for anti-gravity areas, N7 chest plate, N7 gauntlets, and an N7 full helmet, with an oxygen supply.
As he walked down to the launch area, where the team of six gathered Alex was joined by Ashley. He tried to salute but she caught his arm, "Not when it's just me and you. In front of others, yes, but not in the elevator. I'm Ashley Williams, I never got your name" she smiled at him. Unlike Alex, the bottom half of her mask was open so you could see her mouth.
Alex smiled at her and looked down at her suit, it was mainly white with pink down the seams. He blinked and looked at his own, a normal edition, navy blue and black coloring. "I never knew you could color your armor…" he crossed his arms and listened as Ash explained that it cost her an arm and a leg. Plus, it took two weeks work of filing paper work to get the paint job accepted.
Time seemed to fly for Alex as they got into the land rover, and drove out. They were split into two teams, Alpha, and Bravo. He was on Bravo with Ashley and someone else he didn't bother to remember the name of. It took them about an hour to get everyone situated and on their way. Ashley choose an assault rifle, and sniper as her primary guns, and a standard issue, every soldier had to have. Alex on the other hand took an assault rifle, and an SMG, he never did like pulling the trigger a lot.
"Alright, let's start the patrol, and when we get to the excavation site, we can stop and take a break. Maybe even look at this Prothean beacon they're digging up" Alex and the other soldier saluted and followed Ashley. It took nearly an hour to get to the dig site when they heard electronic sound.
"I thought…they would be taking a break by now…" Alex looked around and felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise. He looked around and saw a light peek out from the shadows. "Gunnery Chief…there's" before he could finish his sentence a mechanical sapient AI or VI came out of the shadows and opened fire on Alex and Ashley's squad mate. "HIT THE DECK" Alex jumped forward and pushed Ashley behind a shipping container. "What the hell are the geth doing here Ashley?" he hissed at her through his mask and she glared at him.
"This was not in the mission briefing was it? If not, then I don't know either! So don't get attitude with me. Now open fire!" she stood up from cover, shot off a few rounds and came back down. "We've got two dead ahead, two at about eleven, and then one at well one. You get eleven and I'll get the rest" she stood up and started to fire once more.
Alex rolled his eyes and stood easily taking out the two at eleven and even took out the one at one o'clock. "Yeah, no. I'm a better shot than you are" he chuckled lightly at the challenge and looked at her for the next set of orders.
"Alright, smart ass, let's go make sure the scientists aren't dead yet" she radioed into team Alpha and got nothing but static. "Dammit…come on" she took the lead and headed down the steady slope, her rifle at the ready as they went.
"ksssssss….Ashley!...kss we're facing…ksss…ksssss….no one left…ksss…ksss…return to….kss…no! NO! Please no!" explosions and gun firing was head in both Ashley's and Alex's headset.
"Alpha team? Alpha team!" Ashley tried to reach them again, but no one answer, and the microphone went dead. "Dammit. It's just me and you…we should've stayed together. We…I…" she looked down, and Alex placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Ash…it's not your fault. You were only following orders. I'm still alive. You've got me still right? Let's go see about those scientists and work from there" she looked up, then at him, and nodded.
"Thanks…" she seemed to steady herself and keep going. When a wave of geth came up from behind, and opened fire. "Get down!" it was Ashley this time that pushed Alex behind cover and looked over the rock they were behind. "There are…twenty….more? No, we can't do this, we need to push forward and try and see if anyone is at the scientists!" they kept going, nearly getting shot in the back several times. They saw the dig site and foot prints leading away from it, and so far no dead bodies. "Ah!" Ashley cried as a bullet hit in the heel of her boot and stumbled.
"Ash!" he grabbed her arm and they dove behind cover once again and saw a group of three guys come up and shoot down the geth. Alex stood up and started to shoot the geth, Ashley at his side. It took them moments to mow down the geth.
"Thank God you're here" she looked around for their third squad mate. Then she noticed he was shot down and felt horrible, "I'm sorry for your loss" she looked at Alex and he nodded lowering his head for a moment.
"I'm Lieutenant-Commander John Shepard, and this is Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko" Kaidan nodded and waved a sad smile on his face. "And you two are?" he motioned at them and Alex let Ashley answer, she was in commander between the two of them.
Ashley saluted, followed suit by Alex and reported, "I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams" there was a pause and Alex took a second to realize that she was allowing himself to say his own name is rank.
"Pardon me sir. I am…uh…Alex King N7 graduate" Ashley looked at him with something of bewilderment.
"You don't know your own rank?" Ash glared at him and he got defensive.
"I was instated on the ship to the Citadel. I got an email, and Commander Douglas confirmed it. But they must've forgotten something in the email or he forgot something. D-" he was interrupted by his omni-tool glowing and he looked down at it. "Sorry for the misinformation. Alex King, due to your outstanding work on the battle field on Earth, you have been promoted to Lieutenant. Congratulations on your graduation from the N7 program." Alex sighed and shook his head. "See…let's try that again. I am Lieutenant Alex King" he saluted and Shepard chuckled along with Alenko.
Alex and Ashley joined them, it wasn't something really funny, but in a stressful moment, anything out of sorts would lighten the mood. "Lieutenant, you…now have a higher rank than Gunnery Chief Ashley so I guess I'll ask you for a status update. So…report soldier" Alex saluted and told Commander Shepard about their mission and how they were the only ones left. "So no word from the scientists yet…let's go back to that dig site. See what we can find, and go from there" they all nodded and started to head back, making it to the dig site easily.
As they made it back to the dig site with just a few more geth to take out, Shepard sighed, "Well it looks like they're not here. Probably ran, but the Prothean Beacon isn't anywhere to be found. Let's go ask around…see if anyone is still alive" Shepard took the lead and everyone else followed him, keeping their eyes peeled for the geth. By the time they got back to the little storage area for the equipment they saw tall spikes with human bodies on them.
"Oh god…it's the scientists…" Alex stepped back and watched as one of the spikes dropped down, and the body started to move. "She's…it's…alive" he pulled up his gun and fired at the creature before him. It screamed a hollow machine like scream, and turned his blood to ice. He watched as more came down, "I've heard of these…them…they were brought here by the geth" he looked at Ashley and she looked just as scared.
Suddenly the other spikes began to lower and other husks came from the buildings, "Open fire!" Shepard pulled up his pistol and started to fire, and they all did the same. There was an overwhelming amount, but they survived. "Wait…wait…hold on…I hear something" Shepard looked around and saw there was a storage unit that was locked.
Alex took charge and ran over to the door, "This lock is easy, give me a like two seconds" he said as the rest got closer. He opened the door and stepped in his pistol on his hip, so he was very vulnerable.
"Stay where you ar- Alliance? Oh thank God I thought everyone was dead. When the geth came we tried to hide here, then it went silent" the female scientist was shaking along with her companion. Alex saw there wasn't a whole lot of room, and he wasn't the commanding officer so he stepped out and looked around. It took him until just now to realize he was second highest rank in the squad, so that if something went wrong he would be in charge. That sent chills down his spine. King was trained and ready to lead, but that doesn't mean he wants to.
Shepard came back out with the Ashley, Alenko, and the scientists. "They're going to try and get off Eden Prime, and get back to the Citadel with their report. Good job watching our six" Shepard patted Alex on the shoulder. Little did Alex know that he was just complimented by the galaxy's savior.
"They said the beacon was taken by the geth. Now it's our turn to take it back!" Alenko smiled and looked battle ready. They headed out, going back the way Ashley and Alex came, but took the route Alpha team was supposed to take. Ashley and Alex saw their bodies, and had to harden their nerves, as to not crack under pressure.
The geth just seemed to keep coming, and from nowhere sometimes. They walked forward and saw the dead body of a Turian. "Nihlus!" Alenko gasped as he saw the body and Shepard ran forward.
"Head shot…he's dead…what happened here? He was a spectre…" Ashley had walked around while Shepard questioned the air.
"Please don't shoot!" a worked stood up from behind the crates with his hands held high.
Shepard had heard his movements and had a pistol aimed for his head, "I almost killed you. Don't jump out like that! Now tell me what happened here" Shepard's tone was harsh and stern. Alex could see that it scared the worker.
"Sir…I was uh…back here…hiding from the geth…when I saw your friend over there walk up. He was looking around when another Turian came by. They seemed to be friends, then the Turian…I think his name was Saren, just shot your friend! I thought he was going to kill me too. But then he went over to the lift…" he looked around and seemed to get even more scared by telling his story.
"What were you doing behind those crates?" Ashley asked her eyes narrowing at the man.
"I…well…I…was…napping. It's hard here. The boss works you to the bone, and I hardly get any sleep. So I come back here to get fifty winks…where no one can see me" he lowered his head in shame as he told the truth behind his actions.
"You lived because you were lazy? We should leave him here Commander! He's alive while everyone else died working" Ashley seemed to snarl the words, and the man shrank further and further into himself.
"He's alive. Not for the right reasons. But he's alive. I want you out of here, and I don't want to see you again. Understand?" the man nodded and ran off to what seemed like the living quarters.
"And no more sleeping on the job!" Ashley called after and Alex could help but shake his head. Shepard called into his commanding officer and told him about Nihlus, and they continued on, heading over to the lift the man had told them about. "Get ready…anything can happen" Shepard readied his assault rifle along with Ashley, Alenko with his pistol, and Alex with his SMG. As they got to the other side of Eden Prime's shipping structure they were assaulted by geth. With a few nicks and close calls they finally took out the last geth, and made their way to the beacon.
As Shepard reported into his higher up once again, Ashley looked at the beacon. "This is an actual Prothean beacon. It appears to be working…" she got too close and this green light started to reach out for her. She started to rise and looked at if she was paralyzed.
"Ashley!" Alex called out and Shepard ran forward, grabbed her, and threw her back to Alex. Catching Ashley, Alex tried to get Shepard, but Alenko stopped him, telling him it was too dangerous. The three sat there in horror as the commander was raised into the air, and seemed to be pelted with mental images. Finally the beacon exploded, and Shepard falls to the ground, unconscious.
"Normandy! This is Staff Lieutenant Alenko. Lieutenant-Commander Shepard has made contact with the Prothean beacon, and well…it exploded. We need to get him out of here now. The mission is a failure, but we have important news for when we get back" Alex helped Alenko pick up Shepard as the Normandy pulled up.