N7 SHIELD
Chapter One:
Commander Kyra Shepard looked at what she believed to be another Prothean beacon. She shined her omnitool flashlight on the beacon to strengthen her sight of the beacon. Her biotics hummed along with the pulsing beacon as she closed in on it. Years had passed since she last seen a working beacon. Stepping closer to the beacon, Garrus warned her to be careful. He placed an armored talon on her shoulder, their armor clinking against each other. She shrugged off his hand off her, taking another step forward. The beacon pulsed loudly; activating, drawing her in. Blue light twisted around her body, threading throughout her. Her fingers felt the static discharge as she reached out to Garrus for help. The beacon made her twist back to face it, blue energy pouring into her eyes. Shepard stopped resisting the beacon, she stood in front of it not moving. Only staring at the beacon expressionless. Garrus reached out to her, grabbing her around the waist in attempt to yank Shepard free. As he yanked, static energy discharged in his face sending him flying back into the entrance of the ruins.
A blue bubble formed around Shepard's body, illuminating the ruins. The bubble grew brighter, the bubble pulsed once, shrinking. The energy discharged sending out a large pulse. The ruins began to buckle around Garrus as he slowly got to his feet. He didn't want to leave Shepard but what choice did he have? Either he died staying there in hopes of nothing but for her to return, or he had to leave the ruins and report to the Normandy. Shaking his head, angry at himself he got up and ran to the Mako.
Shepard was shoved into a dark abyss, temporarily lit by the blue light that surrounded her. She laid face down in a pile of dirt, desert dirt like on Earth. She scrambled to her feet, checking her surroundings. The blue light slowly faded into her, darkening her small view. She looked up seeing beautiful glittering stars. Looking around she saw nothing, just darkness. She activated her omnitool flashlight to get a better look. Rock and hillside. A few trees came into view. Running up the closest hill, reaching the top she let out a sigh of relief. A compound; military, mercenary, alien. She didn't care. Her helmets HUD showed activity outside of the compound. She zoomed in with her helmets external cameras. They were definitely human. Some in suits, some in old military fatigues that she's seen in vids. Vehicles of all sorts were hurriedly leaving the site. She knelt down, watching them inquisitively. Troops loaded up packages onto crafts that took off into the air and onto land transports. They were evacuating. They had to be she told herself. She zoomed out to watch the vehicles from afar.
As she continued to watch, a large explosion came underneath the compound. Shepard scrambled to her feet, her curiosity dissolved as she saw people fall into the cracks of concrete. Her inner commander taking over, just like Akuze. Running down the hill to help, her suit notified her of a build up of an unknown energy beneath the compound. Shepard grunted in disapproval of her actions as she raced back up the hill for cover. Before she reached the top of the hill, the built up energy exploded. Sending large pieces of concrete her way as well as a few bodies from the compound. Shepard ran as fast as she could from the falling debris, knocking a few away with her biotics. She turned around to see if any other debris was heading her way when a body fell on top of her. Landing in a crunch, she pushed the body off her. Getting to her feet, she froze when she heard the gurgle of a breath. Shepard crawled her way over to his broken, burned body. She gently pulled him into her arms, making sure she didn't hurt him. He gurgled in a low breath, opening his one good eye to see Shepard.
"Lara?" He asked, "You're here?" Shepard looked away from him with a pained expression. Just like Akuze.
"I'm here," She said turned back to face him. Stroking his unburned side of his face. The man did his best to smile at her only to beginning to cough.
"Help me Lara." He begged. Shepard looked down at him, seeing him in agony. He was dying and Shepard knew it. There was little she could do for him. Only ease his pain. With her free arm, she activated her omnitool, gently pressing the interface to his unburned shoulder. Pain relievers began to work immediately, his expression changed to a peaceful state of sleep. Shepard had given him as much medigel painkillers as she could without overdosing him. Shepard gently laid him down in the grass, folding his good arm over his chest. Moving his burned arm to his side. She once again stroked the side of his unburned face.
Images flashed through her mind. Acid, burning friends. Acid melting her armor. Tombs being dragging into the pit. Shepard cried out, whipping his hands against her eyes in pain. The horror of the acid melting through her armor as though it had just happened.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" She yelled at the burned body in front of her. The sound of one of those air vehicles she saw earlier brought her out of her state. She wrenched her head upward, seeing the craft. She drummed her biotics, sending a throw at the hovering craft to get its attention. The throw hit it like a pocket of turbulence, the craft fall briefly only to have the pilot stabilize. Shepard activated her omnitool flashlight. Shining it above her head, signaling the craft. The craft saw the orange light of her omnitool, coming in for a landing. The odd looking shuttle landed with a heavy clunk on top of the hill where she spied on them. A single man hurriedly walked over to her. Shepard looked at the burned man behind her, hoping the new man wouldn't get the wrong idea. As he walked towards her, Shepard shined her light on him to get a better look. He was dark skinned just like Anderson. He wore an eye patch over his heavily scared face. He backed away from her surprised as she brought up the light to study him, even though her external cameras could give full detail of him in night vision. Shepard didn't like to use night vision. The last time she used night vision, she watched a lot of good friends die.
Shepard lowered her omnitool, shutting it down to show she wasn't a threat to him.
"What are you?" He asked, his voice cool but raspy. Shepard leaned her head back confused.
"I'm human if that's what you want to know." Shepard laughed, shrugging. The dark man didn't look convinced in the slightest.
"No you're not. We don't have technology like that." He pointed at Shepard's body armor. Shepard looked down at her armor. 'Oh yeah, that.' She thought. Mentally kicking herself in the ass.
"Now, what are you?" He asked again, this time more sternly. Shepard brought her hands to her face to remove her helmet. The dark man yanked out a small sidearm in alarm. Shepard put her hands up defensively, slowly she unhitched her helmet from her suit. Shepard slowly took off her helmet, her short blonde wavy hair bouncing out into the humid air. The dark man was taken aback by Shepard's beauty. Despite the scars across her left eye brow and lip, she could have been a model.
Her straight beautiful features and her small pink plump lips made the dark man gawk at her for a few seconds. He cleared his throat, straightening himself.
"You could be human. We don't know for sure. But the big question remains. Are you hostile?" He asked, his weapon aimed and ready. With her helmet in one hand, she held her hands out defensively again. She didn't know where she was. From the look of what she saw in the compound, these people needed help. Perhaps, she could lend a hand.
"I'm Lieutenant Commander Kyra Dawn Shepard and I am no threat to you." Shepard held out her hand to the dark man. He silently eyed her armored gloved hand; he lowered his sidearm, putting it back in its holster. Shepard let out a small sigh of relief. At least he didn't shoot her. That was a bonus in itself. He smiled taking her hand in his.
"Glad to hear that. But, I've got a giant burger on my plate I need to finish first before I can do anything about you. I just don't have the time nor resources even the patience." Shepard grinned as they walked towards the man's shuttle.
"By the way, I'm Director Nick Fury." He said as they climbed into the shuttle.