"Years past since that fatal day on the B.S.L. Station.

Destroying a hidden project conducted by the Galactic Federation, and destroying SR-388. To stop the X Parasite, and to stop the Metroids from returning. I knew what I did wouldn't be easily dismissed.

My name is Samus Aran, I was born in 2152 on K-2L, one of the now deemed 'Successful' colonies. From what I recall, it was a beautiful world, one that humanity wanted as one of its own. I can't blame them. It was a lot like earth…

It was a mistake. A mistake we keep doing to this day. Too far away from safety, too close to the edge of the unknown. We were still relatively alone in the galaxy. We didn't know about the Space Pirates, or their violent ways.

But they showed us. They destroyed the colony, killed nearly everyone, took my home, my mother and father from me. The head of the attack, the one who ordered the raid, was a Dragenus called Ridley. A space dragon, in ways. A simple raid. I heard the screaming, the weapons being fired.

And I remember finding Ridley, and talking to him. Telling him it'll all be okay, his not scary, even through we look different, we can still be friends…tch, too stupid to even guess he was the reason behind all of the deaths around me. It only hit me after he killed my mother.

I was alone, even if it was for a small time, it felt like an eternity. That's when the Chozo came. They had been watching humanity closely, even came when the distress signal went out from the colony. A doomed race coming to aid a child of a doomed colony.

They wanted to keep out of human affairs, but Old Bird, one of their respected elders, didn't want to leave a child like myself alone in such ruins, it could take days or even weeks for a response force to arrive from a nearby colony or station. He chose to take me in, and at first, wanted to hand me over to the Galactic Federation, the force of the galaxy yet to be known to humanity.

It was because of the Chozo informing the Galactic Federation of the attack on the colony that the Turians, one of the races that held a seat on the council, the head of the Federation, eventually took notice of mankind and kept a stern watch on them, and eventually causing a war, the first contact war, when the Alliance, humanity's army, activated a dormant Mass Relay, something the Federation had a law against.

As for me, they refused to take me from the Chozo. I was left in their care. Eventually, to help me become more like their people, I was infused with their blood from my adopted father, Gray Voice, taught in their ways of reading, speech, combat and movement. A human bird, you could say. I didn't have the skin, the looks or feathers of their kind, but I could throw down with the best of them and eat and drink stuff that would probably kill a normal human.

By the time I reached the age of fourteen, The alliance had grown rapidly, the first contact war long passed. I left the Chozo to enlist, wanting to get back to what I was born as, a human being, joining the military. The Chozo gave me a parting gift, something that I held onto and used for many years…the Power Suit.

It was no more then a few months in I was thrown back in the Chozo's direction, Because of a rogue AI, Mother Brain, and Gray Voice. Something had happened on one of the Chozo's major planets, called Zebes, my adopted home, and they asked the Galactic Federation for aid, who turned them down. They turned to the Alliance, and I got dragged into it.

We lost Zebes, and we lost Gray Voice, the rogue AI managed to succeed and join with the Space Pirates. But I knew I would fight again someday, stop that AI Mother Brain, and it's alliance with the Pirates, with Ridley. Untill that day, I remained in the Alliance Military, following the orders of a man called Adam Malkovich.

He was tough around the edges, and wouldn't allow his personal feelings get in the way…we became close friends, along with his brother Ian, Adams, at the time soon-to-be-wife, Tamora Calhoun, one of his friends David Anderson, and a grunt like me, called Anthony Higgs. Sadly, Ian lost his life thanks to Adam, who had no choice but to allow his little brother to die during a rescue operation…something that has stayed with me since, that made me walk out from the Alliance, created a rift between me and Tamora, and made me become a bounty hunter, all when I was eighteen.

My career as a hunter was, eventful, to say the least. In the five years that followed, I crippled the Space Pirates, destroyed the rogue AI Mother Brain, killed Ridley on numerous occasions, brought the Metroid bio-weapon race to pretty much utter extinction, along with a few others that may have been on the planets Zebes, Phaaze and SR-388, wiped out almost all of the danger known as the X parasite, killed off the species known as The Ing, removed an element called Phazon from endangering the galaxy, destroyed, accidentally or otherwise, 5 space stations, 3 planets and 1 'dark world' on the planet known as Aether, and finally, saved the galaxy a few times over from all this.

The common folk take notice of what I do, but most of the time it's ignored or frowned upon by the Galactic Federation. Most of the Chozo tech I managed to find I had to sell off to survive. The amount those that were willing to pay before I sign up always seemed to change once the Federation got wind of whatever was going on or they felt the threat has passed and wasn't as worrying as before, thus the 'bounty' was lowered before I could retrieve it.

After the incident of the B.S.L. station, which was being actively watched over by the Galactic Federation, I finally got their attention fully. Using the station to destroy SR-388 seems to be quite a wake up call. I had to though, the threat of Metroids being brought back and the X parasite was too much. I was assisted by an AI, given to me by the Alliance, called Adam.

The Adam I knew before, my commander, had died in a previous mission, giving his life to stop the Metroids coming back, and gave me the chance to end the Mother Brain AI once and for all.

This AI that was with me reminded me of Adam before his death, so I chose to name it after him. It not only helped me destroy the space station, but it also confirmed the one thing I hoped wasn't true. The Galactic Federation had now twice, been trying to use Metroids themselves. As I departed the system that the now destroyed SR-388 resided, through the mass relay, I got a call from the citadel, the head station of the Federation, to come and speak to the council itself on it's 'worrying reports', where I was seen and reported to have entered the station prior to it's destruction.

I knew they wouldn't understand what I did to save them. Adam tried to reassure me that one of them would. 'one of them must.'. I remember standing before the council in the citadel, and was asked what the Alliance had asked me to do, and for what price.

I told them there was no price, as I felt I had to help the station that saved my life only a week before, when I was infected with the X parasite. My job was to simply find out what had happened to it.

They pretty much damned me for what happened. They recited my previous extreme actions, and decided to revoke my status as a bounty hunter, and brand me as a criminal, a world destroying criminal. They wanted me jailed and kept under lock and key for, at the very least, several years for all that I've done. If it weren't for Anderson, Adam's old friend, speaking on my behalf, and managing to convince the council that I had also saved them and their people on these incidents, I think I would still be in prison to this day.

What also saved me was at the cost of my AI companion, Adam. Once the council was noted about an AI onboard my ship, with no restraints on it, all hell nearly broke loose on me again. One thing the council hate more then world destroying criminals are free roaming AI. The hearing on me was briefly delayed, and when it was started again, Anderson, and the ambassador of the Alliance and humanity in general, Donnel Udina, both declared that it was the AI who had suggested it was on the Alliance's orders that I had to destroy the planet and the Space Station.

I was infuriated at what they just said. I wanted to yell at them, say it was on my own decisions and actions to take out the station, but Anderson glared at me, his way of saying keep quiet. I silently raged at what they did, and when the council decided that my ship was to be fully dismantled and the AI terminated, once the meeting ended, I punched Anderson across the face, yelled at him, and ran off to get to my ship, to save Adam.

I couldn't get to it. They blocked all access, and eventually, I had to be placed under arrest for assaulting at least seven of the C-sec police officers.

I never saw that ship, or Adam, again. I couldn't save him. I lost Adam, twice now.

I was let out by Anderson eventually, and given time to 'cool off'. he told me to go and rest at one of the human colonies, soak up some sun, don't think about being a hunter anymore. In exchange for agreeing, I had to allow the Alliance to remove my arm cannon and disable most of the power suit, including it's energy shielding, should I get any ideas on killing people whilst having a break.

I also had to go by a new surname, to avoid any possible mercs or rival bounty hunters that might be after my head. I was pretty much the only Aran known beyond earth, and I hadn't made a lot of friends over the years. I decided on Shepard. Samus Shepard.

I chose to go to Elysium. It was relaxing and had a decent day time span. A lot of people there knew who I was by my armor alone, despite it's distorted shape thanks to what happened on the B.S.L station, and I was treated as a hero of sorts by them, being offered free drinks on the house and the odd free meal in the restaurants…it's a shame it couldn't last before trouble found me. Space pirates, slavers and Batarian warlords had allied together to take down Elysium, to simply make the Alliance pay for it's pirate suppression operations. Me being present was an added bonus to them.

Now I, lacking any offensive ability that didn't need me getting close while they unleashed a barrage of energy rounds, decided to rally up a resistance, using my name and my deeds, to fight back against them. Not only did the people fight back under my name, but we drove off the ground forces and held out for Alliance reinforcements to wipe out the enemy fleet in space.

If I weren't a hero to all the people on this world, I was now. I was called a 'War Hero', given a medal, and even, with the help of Anderson and recommendation of Adams widow, a chance to return to the military. I didn't have to keep the new surname once I enlisted, but I soon decided to keep hold of it and make it permanent, when I suffered fits and constant vomiting.

On the B.S.L., after I had caught the X parasite inside of me, they gave me Metroid DNA, from samples that came from the baby one I rescued years ago, to help weaken down and subdue much of the parasite infection inside of me. What they didn't inform me that the parasites could easily grow when my power suit is off as it was constantly keeping the Metroid DNA active inside me, which I never realized. When they said to me the suit was now a part of me and my survival, I didn't expect them to be literal.

In 2177, They had to put me on the operation table when I finally turned paralyzed from the neck down by the infection, and with the guiding hand of Doctor Karin Chakwas and several surgeons, they removed my suit entirely, surgically carving out as much as possible. The scars weren't the most prettiest when I first woke up, but they did the best they could. They managed to integrate the Metroid DNA into my cells much better then those on the B.S.L. station, and even removed most of the X parasite infection.

So now I was pretty much a mutant. Human, Chozo, Metroid and X genes all slapped into a woman's body. My power suit was lost, beyond repair, my ship was gone, and my bounty hunter status ruined. I wanted to make a new career, A new page, so I kept to Samus Shepard, and worked for the Alliance, under the eyes of Anderson once I pretty much sailed through the N7 program to get myself in a better shape after the operation, taking daily doses of painkillers to ignore the odd wave of pain surging from my central nervous system thanks to the X parasite, and taken a liking to alcohol. It helps ease the pain more.

The scars have mostly healed over now. Some, of the worse ones are in areas that remain covered up, so no one sees them whilst I'm on active duty. My doses of painkillers have gone from four a day to two, and I'm now holding the rank of Commander.

Now it's 2183. Anderson had himself and me transferred over to a prototype vessel known as the SSV Normandy recently. It's a joint vessel, created by the Turians and Humans. And for it's shakedown run, we're to head off to the colony world of Eden Prime. Sounds rather simple. But a few things bother me…

Why is David being so tense?

Why is there a Galactic Federation spectre, called Nihlus, on board?"

Samus stood in the cockpit of the Normandy, it's computers humming quietly, the ship seemingly relaxed. She was looking out the front window to the stars beyond, listening to the pilot of the ship, Joker, and the co-pilot, Kaidan, talk about one of the questions lingering in Samus's mind.

Samus has become slightly paler after the operation to remove her suit, her hair now trimmed down to shoulder length, no longer being tied into a ponytail, and combed into a parting. Age was starting to faintly show on her face, now in her 30's, and was wearing black, built Alliance armor, with two white strips and one red one down the right arm of the gear, and with 'N7' being embedded into the chest area. She is carrying a M-8 Avenger assault rifle on her back, and an M-3 Pistol, a more or less alliance military standard pistol. Whereas most people kept to their normal uniforms whilst in the ship, Samus always wore her armor and kept her weapons with her, traits from the past which she refuses to let go of, should anything happen.

Just recently, the spectre known as Nihlus, a Turian, had been in the cockpit, and given Joker, what was pretty much a compliment about his piloting, saying the captain will be pleased, before leaving them.

"I hate that guy." Joker mumbled.

Kaidan looked over to him, raising his eyebrow a little. "Nihlus just gave you compliment, so…you hate him?"

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's "good". I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him onboard…Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment, don't you agree Commander?" Kaidan looked over to Samus for support, as she kept her focus on the empty space outside the ship.

Samus soon pulled her eyes away and look down at him. "His a Turian. Spectre or not, it's obvious his come to represent their people in this joint effort. Have you seen any other Turian on this ship?"

"No Commander."

Soon, the communication channel to the cockpit triggered, and the voice of the captain of the vessel, David Anderson, was heard over it. "Joker, Tell commander Shepard to come down to the comm room as soon as she's able. I need to debrief her."

Joker nodded. "Got it. Commander, did you hear that?"

There was no reply. Kaidan looked and noticed that she had already walked off, heading down towards the center segment of the ship. "I think that might be a yes, Joker."

Joker moved himself a little to look behind and noticed as well, before slumping back in his chair. "Could've said thanks at least."

"Ah don't worry about it. She's probably still getting used to being on a new ship."

It did feel a little strange, after serving on a destroyer vessel for the last five years, to being on a smaller, sleeker designed ship…It's crew count being much less, the engine being almost deadly silent. She felt a little more at home here compared to the last five years.

What helped Samus's move from one ship to another was having not only Anderson be here, but so was the woman who had pretty much become her personal doctor, as she saw her speaking to a young man with a blue alliance beret on, a corporal, by the look of the pins on his chest.

As Samus walked over, Dr Karin Chakwas, a woman in her 50's, with black hair slowly turning grey, looked over, ignoring the corporal next to her, Richard Jenkins. "Commander. How do you feel today?"

Samus gave her a small smile. "Regular day today doc. Had that tingling feeling down my left side again when I woke up this morning."

"Did you do the recommended exercises to help with that?"

Samus nodded. "Still doesn't feel like it helps much." She soon looked at Jenkins, noticing that his eyes had grown a little wider. "Is there a problem, Corporal…?"

He eagerly replied, saluting Samus in the process. "Jenkins! Richard L. Jenkins! It's a pleasure to meet you face to face! You must be Commander Samus Aran! The great bounty…hunter…" his happy eager voice died out slowly due to the responding glare he earned off Samus, crossing her arms whilst doing so, the moment 'Aran' rolled off his tongue.

Dr Chakwas just sighed deeply, knowing where this was going. Most of the younger people always got this off Samus.

After a few moments, Samus walked right up to the corporal, making him back a step back, quite worried, before she spoke in a harsh tone. "My name, Jenkins, is Samus Shepard. 'Aran' died years ago. Is, that, understood?"

Jenkins quickly nodded, as Samus took a step back, and begun walking off, heading to the comm room, her mood now foul.

Chakwas gave Jenkins a little reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you're not the first to start on the bad side of her. Give it a few months, and she'll be okay with you."

Jenkins, now sweating slightly after that, looks a little baffled at the doc. "Doesn't she like her, old name or something ma'am?"

"Let's say it simply reminds her of a lot of bad memories that she would rather not think about. She likes to not have reminders."

Soon, Samus entered the communication room, which was circular, with several hard metal chairs around the room, and a holographic screen on the wall at the back of it, showing right now, pictures of the farmlands of Eden Prime, much like earths own.

The one looking at the pictures, was Nihlus, a dark skinned Turian, with white face paint on, green eyes, and a black and red suit of military armor on, with an assault shotgun equipped on his back. He slowly turned and saw Samus walk in. "Ah, Shepard, I'm glad it's you who's got here first, it gives us a little moment to chat. Anderson just needs to sort something out and then he'll be here."

"What about and why now?" She looked at him suspiciously. "You've had several chances before during this trip, heck, I keep bumping into you, especially on the lower decks, when I leave the hospital room, and even sometimes from my own quarters."

"Mere chances of us meeting. I just want to ask you about Eden Prime. I heard it's quite beautiful, is that true?"

Samus shrugged. "I've never been and only heard stories about it."

"A beautiful colony world…" Nihlus looked at the picture again. "You humans have had so many colony worlds, haven't you? Very far reaching ones as well. You've been doing this since you first got into space. Claiming that their protected, safe…how safe are they though?"

"Most likely very safe. We carry some heavy firepower."

"But are you anymore prepared for the risks then you were when you first started? Is humanity really ready, especially after colonies like K-2L got attacked all those years ago? The council doesn't have to protect these far reaching colonies should your 'protection' fail." He looked to her as he said this, and her face turned dark from hearing K-2L. That was a direct reference to her.

Samus wanted to have a go at him, insult him directly for saying about her old home, when she heard the footsteps of Anderson, as he walked in. "Samus, at ease. Nihlus, I think it's time we talked to Samus about why you're here and what's going on."

Nihlus nodded in agreement. "She deserves to know, of course."

Samus turned and looked at her commanding officer. "I already had my suspicions Captain. So what's the big secret?"

Anderson looked at her for a moment, seemingly in thought, before answering. "This isn't a shakedown like we want the rest of the crew to believe. This is a covert mission. I take it you noticed the Normandy was using it's stealth module?"

Samus nodded. "Easily, the ship is a lot more quiet. I checked the system layout the moment we left the Arcturus Station…to be honest, I was checking for any sabotage. New ships often get targeted. And since this was a joint effort between Turians and Humans, well, I overheard some of those humans on the station that disliked aliens, thought they would mess around with the systems or take something. Although now with you, Nihlus…" her focus turned to him, glaring slightly.

Nihlus spoke to her calmly. "I was merely pointing out that colony, as it is one of the most known to get hit when humanity first started. I meant no disrespect towards you, Shepard. In fact, I have a lot of respect for you on surviving that ordeal." He moved past her, standing now next to Anderson. "A lot of spectres, Turian or otherwise, hold high praise of you. When Ridley was alive, those colonies that were attacked by him and the Space Pirates didn't have any survivors. You did, and you became a bounty hunter who beat back the pirates and brought calm back to a large sector of the galaxy…You're the reason why I'm here."

"Excuse me?" Samus looked at him oddly, then turned her head to Anderson, wondering if he could explain what Nihlus meant by that.

Anderson gave her a little smile. "Commander, Nihlus is here to see your abilities, evaluate you… the Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time, We want a longer role in interstellar relations and policies. As you know, Spectres symbolise the council's power and authority. There isn't a human spectre there though…at least, not yet. This is where you come in."

Samus wasn't sure if he was bullshitting her or not. "The Alliance wants me, of all people, as a Spectre? After everything that happened with me? I'm not exactly on the best of terms with the Galactic Federation. Why not one of our top military generals? Why me?"

"You've proven yourself countless times Shepard. It's finally time the council gave you the real credit you deserve. They know you deserve this, especially after all the trials you've gone through. Humanity needs you to do this."

"Proven myself in my prime days. I'm not the same as I were before. I need medicine to help me through the days, and my system is crippled by my own gene mixture."

Nihlus decided to speak up. "Maybe that's what you believe, but despite that, you proved yourself on Elysium, and the N7 program was childs play to you. You came out top of the class. you're still the same hero as you were before, no matter how much time has passed. We spectres could do with somebody like you in our ranks, someone we could all look up to. I personally put your name forward when we were given a list of potential people."

Samus wasn't sure to feel honoured by this. Spectre's were seen as the sort who should be out saving the galaxy from trouble, like she did back in the days. But back then, she had a power suit, she was young, fit, and ready…

"Give it some thought at least Commander. You've got time whilst we complete our mission at Eden Prime." Anderson reassured her.

"What is our mission there then?" Samus asked.

"You know of the Protheans, don't you?"

She nodded. "The Chozo were devoted to finding their ruins. Old Bird told me stories about how their technology came from them."

"Not only their technology came from them, Shepard, but all of our technology. The mass relays, the citadel, all of it comes from the Protheans." Nihlus responded. "And now we've found a Prothean beacon on Eden Prime. We're to retrieve it and return it to the citadel for further study. Eden Prime lacks the research equipment to look this over."

"So it's just a pick up and go mission huh? Well that's good. Should be easy for you to evaluate my performance on watching people lift things, ordering them around and taking my pill in a few hours. That's what I mostly did back on the SSV Hastings." Samus's sarcasm was picked up on by both Anderson and Nihlus, with Anderson frowning at her.

Soon, Joker's voice was heard over the communication channel. "Uhh Captain? We got a situation on Eden Prime. Just got a transmission, You better see this."

The picture of Eden Prime was replaced by video footage, a recording from a troopers helmet by the looks of it, showing gunfire, and chaos, within a open green area of Eden Prime. The people of the planet seemed to be opening fire on an unknown army, several of the troopers fell, before the one who was recording this looked up to the sky, and before them, were four massive mechanical limbs, like tentacles, revealing themselves out of the dark, grey clouds, red electric currents flowing around, slowly coming down, before the recording ended with nothing more then static.

"That's it captain. All comm traffic just goes dead after that. Nothing." Joker adds. Nihlus, Samus and Anderson were all watching it. Anderson then ordered that the recording be reversed a little, pausing at the four limbs being shown.

His focus then went to Samus. "Seen anything like that before?"

Samus shook her head. The dark eerie blue appearance of them, the electric currents flowing around wasn't anything she's seen from her hunting days.

"Attack from an unknown enemy, an unknown vessel by the looks of it…We need to send a team in Anderson. We need to get the beacon." Nihlus didn't wait after that, turning and walking out of the comm room, but not before finishing with "Oh, and I'd say this is a perfect situation to evaluate you, Samus Shepard."

Samus found herself in the docking bay of the Normandy, standing before her, was Anderson, and with her, both in Alliance armor, minus the N7 logo she held, was Kaidan Alenko, and that young corporal, Richard Jenkins, both carrying assault rifles like her, and pistols.

Nihlus was close by, checking over his shotgun, as the Normandy entered the atmosphere of Eden Prime, heading towards where the Prothean beacon was suppose to be closest at.

Joker finally confirmed that they were reaching one of the two drop points planned. Anderson suggested Nihlus to scout ahead, and then for Samus and the two crewmen to essentially, back him up, meeting him at the Prothean dig site, where the beacon should be.

"Samus, keep your focus on this. We need that beacon. Finding survivors is not a priority. Is that understood?" Anderson reminded her, as Nihlus departed the Normandy, leaving Samus and the others to go to the second drop point.

"Right. If I see any people laying around on the floor dieing, I'll just ignore them." Samus answered flatly.

"You know what I mean. Don't go looking around! I need you to be at your very best! Is that clear, Commander?" Anderson spoke more loudly and clearer to make sure she got the hint that she needed to suck it up and be professional.

"…Understood, Captain."

"Wow, working with the actual Samus A-I mean Shepard…Wait till my friends hear all about this!" Jenkins said with almost squealing joy.

Kaidan smiled. "Well, if anyone can lead us through this and get that beacon, it's her. Ready Commander?"

Samus nodded, seeing the docking bay hatch opening again, showing the grasslands of Eden Prime, the red sky above, the faint sounds of gunfire, and as the Normandy landed close enough to the ground, she ran off it, along with Kaidan and Jenkins. All of them looked back, seeing Anderson give them a salute, as the hatch closed, and the Normandy took to the skies again.

Samus gave a sigh of annoyance, before looking at her rifle and sorting out it's energy thermal clip.

Jenkins was aiming his rifle here there and everywhere, checking if the coast was clear. Kaidan walked up to Samus, still smiling a little. "So...how's it feel to take the lead Samus?"

She looked at him, then at Jenkins, as he walked over, giving the thumbs up to confirm it was all clear for now. "Kaidan, Jenkins, let me lay something on you both before I finish loading my rifle. Elysium was a one off. I had no choice, I needed to rally support to survive. No weapons or Armor of my own. Most of the time people work with me, they don't come back. Watch your own six, I got armor, and I got a weapon."

Kaidans smile vanished, noticing the seriousness in her voice, as she finished checking her gun, and walked past them both, looking over to the distance, at a dig site, with a small train port nearby. "Okay, how about we just keep close behind you and not get in the way?"

Samus nodded to that. "Good enough. Alright you two. The mission starts now. Keep up or get left behind." she started to trek through the grassland, heading to the site, with Kaidan and Jenkins in tow, knowing that if they did lag behind, and got caught in some kind of ambush, she'd probably keep to her word.

A new mission, which was suppose to be simple…

Nothing was ever simple. Samus just wished something was for once.

Notes:

1. Just a little something I'm whipping up whilst my mind goes through the stages of getting round to Broken Universe and Lonesome Road. It's pretty much my head canon on Metroid and Mass Effect being the same universe, that Mass Effect is Samus's later years after Fusion.

2. It is a wise idea to know both series before going through this. If you know one and not the other, personally I'd say go play the other, but that's down to you.