A/N: Soooo, this is my first attempt at writing. So I apologize in advance because it is probaly going to show. I would sincerely appreciate any criticism, as I plan to come back and edit/continue this story in the future (and it getting better would be an added bonus).

Anyways, this first chapter is purposely short and hopefully will act as an introduction, to the introduction, which will allow me to introduce my actual characters.

I guess I'ts a prelude then...

/endsramble


Francis Wight did not remember falling asleep, nor did he recall getting up to be so damn difficult.

That caf food has finally taken its toll, he thought glumly. Hopefully no one saw this... Oh please tell me no one saw this.

Although this wasn't the first time he had woken up on the ground, he was usually able to remember why.

This time however was different. Partly because of the white protrusion sticking out of his left leg.

Which strangely resembled a bone.


It was a while before Francis regained consciousness.

His thoughts drifted to his wife, they had had a falling out before he left for Horizons only orbital defence station. He'd be the first to admit he hadn't really listened, but he got the general gist of her argument before he left. Something along the lines of him being a hopelessly miserable person who never showed any real ambition... Or maybe he just remembered that from the letter she sent a few days back.

Regardless, he never really liked the Asari bitch. The last straw was when she went on and on about how she couldn't wait for him to die so she could move on. At that point, he just got up and left. So, being miserable and in no state of mind to make any good decisions, he did the only rational thing. He joined the army... well not really, he joined the next best thing. Planetary militia.

He had signed his own death warrant because some blue bitch pressed the wrong buttons.

The bitch..

Luckily enough though, his previous training and education actually made him overqualified for grunt work, so he ended up in the luxurious position of security chief on Horizon's only orbital defence station.

So at least he wouldn't be turned into some god awful monstrosity when the reapers inevitably invaded.

Nope, he planned on being an indistinguishable smear when this station went up in flames.

Glancing down at his leg again, he let out a sigh. He knew it should hurt, and he had a feeling that the current lack of pain was probably a bad sign.

At one point I'm going to have to get up. Might as well do it while there is still blood in my body.

Swearing with a vengeance he slowly got to his feet, and even slower he gathered his wits.

Putting all his weight on his good leg, he looked around the room. Immediately he noticed two rather unusual characteristics about his workplace.

The first was the flickering emergency lighting. The second was the security console flashing all sorts of colours.

The flashing colours won over his interest.

Luckily, he recalled his orientation with the previous security commander.

Green is good, amber is 'attention' and red means dead.

The remaining colour drained from his face "Oh... oh no."

Everything was red.

Keying in some commands, he activated the stations diagnostic program

"Alert. Virus detected" droned the stations VI.

"Life support – Offline..."

"Station Defences – Offline..."

"Kinetic Barriers – Offline..."

"Manoeuvring Thrusters – Offline..."

"Engines – Offline..."

"Aft docking bay barrier – Offline..."

"Port side docking bay barrier – Offline..."

"Lockdown in Progress..."

"Weapon discharges detected..."

"No signs of life detected from Engineer Rachel, Engineer Brian..."

What in the hell!

His mind was racing. Weapons discharge? Rachel? Dead? He had just seen her not thirty minutes ago in the cafeteria.

He always liked her smile...

That thought brought him back into the present where the roll call of the deceased continued.

"... Chief Weapons Officer Daniels, Capt-"

He turned to face the now silent announcement system. Propping himself against a cabinet he watched as the light indicating power abruptly shut off. That is about when everything stopped making sense.

Well, less sense.