Mass Effect: Rise of a Hero
Chapter 1 - Complicated
"Navigation, check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All thruster systems online. Drift, just under fifteen hundred K." Jeff 'Joker' Moreau sat at the helm of the SSV Normandy, pride of the alliance fleet, boastfully giving his latest status report. A Turian clad in black and red armour and white war paint stood behind him with his arms crossed.
"Fifteen hundred is good. Your Captain will be pleased." He stated with little emotion. He then left the cockpit to go about his duties. Joker turned to his friend Kaiden Alenko, who was sitting next to him monitoring the ship.
"I hate that guy," Joker muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Kaiden to hear.
"Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him?" Kaiden scornfully remarked.
"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's 'good'," Joker protested, " I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides, Spectres are always trouble. I don't like having him onboard. Call me paranoid."
"You're paranoid," Kaiden argued, "The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."
Joker bickered, "Yeah, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story."
"You always expect the worse Joker," teased the man standing behind Joker and Kaiden, where Nihlus had previously been.
"Well, bad feelings are an occupational hazard Commander. We don't go anywhere unless there's a good reason, so what the hell are we doing here?" Joker continued to squabble.
All three of them were interrupted by a deep voice blaring down the intercom.
"Joker, status report!" boomed the voice of Captain David Anderson.
"Err… just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid." Joker explained, fumbling at the controls.
"Good. Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime." Anderson stated.
"Aye aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."
"He's already here, Lieutenant. Shepard, meet me in the comm room for a debriefing."
"I'm on my way sir," Shepard told him with a serious tone, until Joker turned the intercom off. "Thanks Joker, you piss the Captain off and now I'm going to pay for it."
"Pfft. Don't blame me Shepard," Joker protested, "The Captain's always in a bad mood."
"Only when he's talking to you, Joker." Alenko joked.
As Shepard passed the CIC he overheard a conversation nearby,
"I grew up on Eden Prime, Doc. It's not the kind of place Spectres visit. There's something Nihlus isn't telling us about this mission," A young man of around twenty speculated.
"That's crazy!" The elderly woman next to him said, "The Captain's in charge here. He wouldn't take orders from a Spectre."Not his choice, Doc." The boy explained exitedly,
"Spectres don't answer to anyone. They can do whatever they want. Kill anyone who gets in their way.""Ha!" The woman joked, "You watch too many spy vids, Jenkins."
Jenkins called over to the captain, "What do you think, Commander? We won't be staying on Eden Prime too long, will we? I'm itching for some real action!
"The woman next to him sneered. "I sincerely hope you're kidding, Corporal. Your 'real action' usually ends with me patching up crew members in the infirmary."
Doctor Chakwas is right Corporal," Shepard calmly ordered. "You need to calm down a bit, a good soldier stays cool, even under fire."
Corporal Jenkins apologised "Sorry, Commander. But this waiting's killing me. I've never been on a mission like this before. Not one with a Spectre onboard!"
"You'll do fine," Shepard reassured him. "Just treat this like every other assignment you've had and everything will work out."
"That's easy for you to say Commander." Jenkins argued "You proved yourself on Akuze. Everybody knows what you can do. This is my big chance. I need to show the brass what I can do!"
"You're young, Corporal." Shepard informed him, "You have a long career ahead of you. Don't do something stupid to mess it up." His thoughts trailed back to Akuze. The horrors he'd seen. The things he'd had to do. "Besides, if I could do anything to not have the memory of Akuze stuck in my mind, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about it."
"Sorry, Commander. I-I didn't mean to offend you. I respect what you did there. We all do," Jenkins apologised once more, "Sometimes it's easy to get carried away when you have a Spectre onboard."
"Don't worry Corporal" Shepard reassured him, "It happens to all of us. Tell you what, you can come with me in my squad next time we go groundside."
"Really?" Jenkins asked, jaw wide open, "Thanks Commander, I won't let you down."
"I know you won't Corporal" Shepard motivated, "Anyway, I need to go and see the Captain now or my ass will be on the line. I'll talk to you two later."
Shepard entered the comm room, but found no sign of Captain Anderson, only Nihlus, looking at an image of the planet they were travelling to.
"Commander Shepard." The Turian said, still looking at the image, "I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk."
"Where's Captain Anderson?" Shepard asked with suspicion.
"He's on his way," Nihlus replied, "besides, this will give us a little time to talk."
"Talk?" Shepard questioned, "what about?" Nihlus finally turned from the image to face the Commander.
"I'm interested in this world we're going to, Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."
"Corporal Jenkins says it is a paradise." Shepard replied, not dropping the suspicion from is voice. He did not trust this Spectre, then again, he did not trust many people."
"Yes... a paradise. Serene. Tranquil. Safe." Nihlus interrogated, "Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people, hasn't it? A symbol of your people, a perfect little world on the edges of your territory. Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it really?"
"Is that a threat Spectre?" Shepard asked coldly.
"Your people are still newcomers, Shepard." Nihlus continued, as Captain Anderson entered the room, "the galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"
"That's enough Nihlus," Anderson interrupted, "I think it's about time we told the Commander what's really going on."
Nihlus nodded "This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run."
"That's obvious", smirked Shepard, "I'd figured that ages ago, you should really here some of the crazy conspiracies Joker's coming up with though."
"We're making a covert pickup on Eden Prime," Anderson continued. "That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."
"So what's with all the secrecy?" Shepard asked, "there must be a reason you didn't tell me about this, sir."
"This comes down from the top, Shepard." Anderson explained, information strictly on a need-to-know basis."
"So what exactly are we picking up?" Shepard enquired.
"A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation. It was Prothean." Anderson replied.
"Prothean?" Shepard asked, confused, "I thought the Protheans vanished fifty thousand years ago."
"Their legacy still remains though," Nihlus continued, "the mass relays, the Citadel, our ship drives, it's all based on Prothean is big, Shepard."
Anderson carried on, "The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward two hundred years. But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study."
Nihlus quickly cut in, "Obviously, this goes beyond mere human interests, Commander. This discovery could affect every species in Council space."
Anderson agreed, "Sharing that beacon will improve relations with the Council. Plus, we need their scientific expertise. They know more about the Protheans than we do."
"The beacon's not the only reason I'm here, Shepard." Nihlus said, changing the subject.
"Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander," Anderson clarified, "he's here to evaluate you."
"I should've known," Shepard realised, "guess that explains why I bump into him every time I turn around."
Anderson revealed, "The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council. The Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come.
"Nihlus nodded in agreement, "Not many could have survived what you went through on Akuze. You showed a remarkable will to live, a particularly useful talent, that's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres."
"You put my name forward?" Shepard questioned, "Why would a Turian want a human in the Spectres?"
"Not all Turians resent humanity," Nihlus explained, "Some of us see the potential of your species. We see what you have to offer to the rest of the galaxy, as well as the Spectres. We are an elite group. It's rare to find an individual with the skills we seek. I don't care that you're human, Shepard. I only care that you can do the job. I need to see your skills for myself first though, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together."
"You'll be in charge of the ground team Shepard," Anderson ordered, "secure the beacon and get it into the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission." He turned toward the image of the beautiful planet. "We should be getting close to Eden-"
"Captain!" Joker interrupted, "we've got a problem."
"What's wrong, Joker?" Anderson asked with concern.
"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!"
"Bring it up onscreen."
The image of Eden Prime was replace with a transmission from what appeared to be a completely different planet, bullets and smoke cloaking the area. A young woman in white armour rushed toward the camera.
"Get down!" She yelled.
She moved behind a rock and started shooting at an unknown enemy. Suddenly, out of nowhere came a loud defiling noise, unlike anything Shepard had heard before. Something resembling a giant hand started descending from the sky. Another soldier rushed to the camera.
"We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties. I repeat, heavy casualties! We can't- argh! - eed evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-"
"Everything cuts out after that, Joker said quietly, "no comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."
"Reverse and hold at thirty-eight point five. Status report." Anderson enquired. The image on the screen was now of the giant hand like object. All three stared at it for much longer than they should.
"Seventeen minutes out, Captain," Joker informed him, "no other Alliance ships in the area."
"Take us in, Joker. Fast and quiet. This mission just got a lot more complicated."