Foreward and Disclaimer. I do not own the rights to any characters, locations, or other property of Bio Ware from the game Mass Effect, mentioned in this novel. Also, the information mentioned about galactic background is often taken from the Codex in Mass Effect which is also not owned by me.
Chapter 1
The wind brushed against the young man's face as he stared at the statue in the middle of the park. This was a park in the middle of the futuristic metropolis. Earth has developed rather fast since the discovery of the relays. The man was wearing the Alliance light armor suit, leaning forwards towards the statue. His eyes focused on the depiction of a man holding up his weapon at an enemy not present, but acknowledged.
"Nice isn't it," came a coarse voice from behind him, "you think I'll ever get one like that Martins?"
"Sir," Martins got up, saluting his Lieutenant, "you have to stop sneaking up on your soldiers, we might all die of heart attack soon."
"Dramatization," the Lieutenant said sitting down on the bench, "just enjoy the damn view soldier. Marvelous isn't it? The first human SPECTRE, Commander Sheppard of the Alliance. Saved the Universe you know," the Lieutenant was now speaking in a matter-or-fact manner, "retired, well figuratively speaking, SPECTER's rarely retire, they die on service, most of them anyways. But Sheppard is now part of the galactic Council. They evened it out again, well, you know the story. I'm just saying, you're looking at the hero of humanity, one of the best."
"Yeah?" Martins smiled, "sounds like a splendid fellow. To bad he got reduced to pushing paper work and looking over the political bullshit."
"Off the record Jeff," the Lieutenant said, "it will happen to most of us. The man still emits a presence that can inspire most of the troops and those around him. He has military charisma."
"Wouldn't know Mike," Jeff responded, but then retreated, "off the record. Never been to the Citadel, I don't even understand why we keep it if it is supposable some sort of a relay that would allow murderous machines back into our Universe."
"It's a pinnacle of Galactic civilizations," Mike looked at the statue, "signifies our progress. Besides, the scientists figured out how to keep it closed up and dormant, while we build a big enough fleet and be informed enough to take those Machines down. Oh, and don't worry, sooner or later you will end up in the Citadel, beautiful place, really marvelous."
"I bet," Jeff responded quietly, turning his attention back to the monument, the light glimmering off it.
"You boys read," came a female voice from behind them, "shouldn't we be heading out soon Lieutenant?"
"Yeah," Mike got up, brushing the dust off his armor, "it is about time for us to move, Alisa is right. Let's move on out, walk towards the space port."
"What is this mission about Lieutenant," Jeff asked, walking besides the captain, heading towards their ship.
"Wait for the briefing," Mike smiled, "you'll get to know everything you need in there. We might even need some of your 'special' biotic skills," the sarcastic emphasis was clearly placed on the word 'special.'
"Some research facility," Alisa butted in from behind, "something about a distress signal and now we have to go investigate. If you ask me, the scientists should never be allowed to remain on their own without any supervision. Useless as they are, always call for help for most miniature issues, probably one of their dogs is simply going berserk and they need us to calm the pup down."
"Enough Sergeant," Mike's voice got a little stricter, "both of you, wait for the brief."
Alisa turned to Jeff, grimacing a silly face, but didn't say another ward. Quietly the trio walked towards the port, making their way past Earth's citizens. Since the conflict with Saren and the Sovereign, humanity played a bigger role in developments of the traverse, as well as in the Council, after finally being allowed to present a member. Earth developed along with humanity, becoming one of the bigger space ports for trading and traverse travelers. Even though remaining dominantly human, the first human planet opened up it's doors to the rest of the Universe.
As they made their way past the elevators, Jeff couldn't help but wonder when they were going to go onto some serious missions. Alisa was right, they were usually given the most trivial tasks from the higher ups. Usual investigations of some malfunction in the security systems or something. It was getting old and tiring. As they made it towards the ship and stepped inside the contamination chamber, Jeff decided to focus on the assignment at hand.