CHAPTER ONE
The shuttle roared over Thessia before landing on the docking port. It halted to a stop and the door opened, walking out a young human. Riley Summers had just become a spectre. After the reaper invasion the council decided it best to put in place more soldiers like the famous Commander Shepard. Riley was young with blond hair. He walked out of the shuttle and the ship flew away. He looked over the railing at the marvelous view that was Thessia. He still was trying to figure out how he even became a spectre, maybe his biotics gave him an edge of the other candidates. "Here I am." Riley proclaimed. "Thessia." He stepped off the railing and continued down the stairs into the streets. Thessia was beautiful, surely it looked even better before the reapers hit but they wasted no time making repairs. Riley still wasn't aware of his mission, he was to meet another spectre, a Turian, by the name of Orjus. This turian would brief him. Apparently they do this with all new spectres, assign them on missions with other spectres until they know they're ready. Riley walked down the street, taking in the sights, not really knowing where to go.
Eventually, he heard some noises coming from close by. If he didn't know any better, that sounded like a struggle. He ran towards the source of the noise and found himself in an alleyway. There was a human man and an Asari. The man pointed the gun at her. "You either come with me or you die, really it's a simple choice." Riley ran up close and shouted "Hey!". He drew his gun and pointed it at the back of the man's head. "Drop your weapon." The man slowly turned to face him. They talked for a few minutes and soon enough it became apparent he would not drop his gun. The man lifted his gun quickly and pointed it at Riley, but before he could shoot Riley shoot him in the head. He was dead. Riley dropped his weapon and ran over to the Asari woman. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yes I'm-I'm fine, thank you so much!" Riley looked down at the body. "What did he want with you?" he questioned. "I don't know. He wanted to take me somewhere, said he needed an Asari. Why he chose me I don't know." Before Riley could asked another question he heard yelling from behind him, he turned around and got tackled by a Turian with another Turian behind him. The turian started choking him. Riley tried reaching for his gun but the second Turian kicked it away. After a few seconds of struggling, came two bolts from the blue. One hit the Turian on Riley and killed him, the other missed and the second Turian ran away. Riley stood up quickly and looked to see his savior was another Turian.
"I'm Orjus." he stated. "I have reason to believe you're who I was expecting." Riley panted. "Yes, yes. Nice to meet you Orjus. Thanks for the save, I have no idea what's going on." Riley looked back over at the Asari. "Will you be okay from here?" he asked. "Yes, I'll be fine. Thanks again!" she ran off. Orjus studied Riley before speaking again. "Come on, hop in my shuttle." Riley followed him in and sat in the passenger seat. They took off in the air. While he was piloting, Riley studied Ojus as well. He was a tough looking guy but seemed as normal as a Turian could look. He wore orange and black Turian armor. Orjus noticed him looking. "Allow me to introduce you to our mission."
CHAPTER TWO
They arrived at the front gate of the largest Asari temple on Thessia, it was quite a sight to see. "Here we are, this is where our mission begins". Orjus stepped out of the shuttle with Riley following behind. "You still haven't told me what exactly we are investigating" Riley spoke plainly. Orjus spoke while walking into the temple. "Those Turians that jumped you and that human you killed, I'm willing to bet they are a part of it. A group of non-inhabitants have been partaking in random attacks all across Thessia, they have become progressively more aggressive. The council is concerned, but it's not military matter, so they sent for us to find out what is going on here." Riley took in the assignment, wondering how Orjus planned to solve this, but Orjus has been a spectre a long time, he trusted his instincts. "We're here to present ourselves before the council of Matriarchs, let them know of our business and, if possible, have them share anything they know." Orjus guided Riley through the halls, had he been here before?
They walked into a huge room, way bigger than what Riley deemed necessary. Orjus introduced the two of them and the council began to ask questions. Riley was listening attentively but still did not know what they were saying. He was to distracted by the echos of the room. "Do you know who leads these attacks against us?" he heard one of the matriarchs say. "No, but we plan to find out." The matriarchs consider their options. "We grant you permission to investigate where you see fit, just see that you put a stop to this." Orjus nodded "Of course, good day". Orjus bowed followed by Riley and they proceeded out of the council chambers. The doors close automatically behind them.
"What's our first lead?" Orjus proceeded to walk out of the temple. "There is a small town a few miles from here, recent attacks have been taking place in that area. You can investigate there." Riley paused "Just me?". "Yes, I have a separate matter to investigate, we'll cover more ground if we complete both tasks simultaneously. Just ask to speak to the town Patron and see what you can find out, we'll meet up soon. And oh, I'm taking the shuttle." Orjus hopped in his shuttle and took off to his destination, leaving Riley to walk. He let out a sigh and began down the trail.
CHAPTER THREE
After walking a few miles Riley had finally arrived at the small town. A small sign read "Tarakei". The town was so small he wouldn't even call it a town had it been up to him. There were no roads, only a stone trail. Riley wasn't aware the Asari still had towns like this. He was to find the town Patron, and if he were to guess, that person would be in the town's tallest building, which still wasn't that tall. People lived in two roomed homes, children played near a pond. He walked up to the building and was greeted by a guard. "Off worlder, what business do you have with our patron?" Spoke the guard. "I wish to ask some questions, I'm a spectre investigating the recent attacks. Have any occurred on your town yet?" The guard moved her head, signaling Riley to follow her into the building. "We've had three in the past couple weeks. Each attack gets closer and closer to our town. They're testing our strength."
They come to a stop in the center of an empty room other than some tables and monitors. "The patron will be out shortly." She said as she held out her hand. "I'm captain Lanni Tira, head of Tarakei defense." "Pleasure meeting you. I'm Captain Riley Summers." The Asari captain nodded. "Well Cpt. Summers, I hope you can sort all this out." Out stepped a young looking Asari, she wore a dress and jewelry. "Madam Ranna, I present to you a spectre who wishes to investigate our recent attacks." The patron scanned Riley up and down with an evaluating look. "So you do?" She questions. "What made the council decide to a send a spectre out to investigate this matter." "Apparently they think it's a big enough threat, my spectre comrade and I will do our best to find out who is behind this and why. All I need from you is any possible leads, perhaps a location?" Ranna nodded approvingly. "Ours scouts managed to find a camp not far from here in a cave. Look there if you wish." Riley smiled, "Thank you ma'am, I will return here when I am done, we will not forget your town." Riley wandered out the door and Captain Tira caught up. "I wanted to make sure what you were planning to do about that camp. I had scheduled a team to go out there and assault the base, if I'm going to redirect my team I hope you plan to attack as well. They don't deserve to live, too many have been killed." she stated with a cold stare. Riley nodded, not sure how to responded and continued off into the hills.
After guessing which paths to take he finds a cave. When he approaches the cave he hears noises coming from the inside. He pulls out his gun, the N7 Hurricane, and keeps it trained at the cave. In a matter of seconds, two men, and Turian and a Human, come out the cave guns blazing. Riley does some dodgework and shoots the two men dead. He sprints inside the cave and is greeted by three more enemy soldiers. He shoots one then performs a warp on one. While the enemy is being warped he launches a throw blast at him, causing him to fly into the third enemy. Riley continues down the cave, shooting down any who'd stop him, before stumbling upon a massive manbuilt door. He opens it and steps inside.
CHAPTER FOUR
He enters the room, and the room is filled with tech lying everywhere. It would seem they hadn't had this base setup for too long. Then from his left, he sees something move. He points his gun in the direction and is approached by a mech. "Greetings!" The mech can speak? "I am unit M3-RV, but you humans prefer to call me Merv." The mech scans him quickly. "It is a pleasure to meet you Captain Summers." Riley seems surprised. "How do you know my name?" The mech livens up. "I am an alliance unit, I came here with my commander but was taken by these savages." Riley studied the unit and noticed an alliance symbol on it's side, it was telling the truth. "Well I came here looking for any clues about this group's motives, would you know where anything like that may be?" "Most certainly sir!" It responded. "Follow me!" The mech leads him through the pile of tech and picks up a vid-record device. "This device was recording the activities in this room quite often, it may come of assistance." Riley took the device smiling. "Thank you very much...Merv. I'm headed back to a small town not far from here, would you like to come back with me?" Merv straightened up. "Of course sir! Thank you for the rescue! Don't worry, I am programmed with standard combat protocols so I won't be a liability to you." "Alright then, let's get you out of here."
Riley lead the unit out of the cave and back to town, they ran into no trouble. Riley once again entered the Patron building and inside was Orjus alongside the Patron and her captain. "Orjus, what are you doing here?" Riley asked surprisingly. "My lead was a dead end, but I see your's worked out pretty well. I was just getting updated by the Ranna and her captain." Riley walked up to him and handed him the device. "This mech here gave me this device, it's a recorder, might have picked up something interesting." Orjus studied the device carefully before setting it down on a table and shifting through the files. The captain walked up to Riley. "My scouts reported in saying you took down those fuckers, good job." she stepped away smiling.
"Ah here's something…" Orjus said pulling up a recording. The holo brightened up and played the recording. Two men appeared on the device, the human Riley had killed in the alley and a Turian. They spoke of their plans and Riley didn't understand a lot of it. "Bring back an Asari for the event, we need an example." the Turian said. Was it possible he was the leader? The human nodded and walked off. The recording ended. "No it can't be…" Orjus said to himself. "What is it?" Riley questioned looking concerned. "Don't worry about it, not until we have more info. Lets just say I know that Turian." Orjus looked angry. "The recording mentioned someplace called The Shrine." he said turning to Patron Ranna. "You know where that is?" "Of course, captain give them a map." The captain brought up the location info and gave it to them. "Thank you very much, we will return here when we are done. Come on Riley." he said leading him out the door. "Good luck, and thanks again sir!" yelled out Merv as Riley was leaving.
CHAPTER FIVE
Orjus and Riley hopped into the shuttle and launched into the sky. "You did well by yourself." Orjus said piloting the shuttle. "I don't believe you need to be babysat. The council assigned you to this case so someone could watch over you on your first assignment but clearly that's not necessary. We can make sure the babysitting stops after Thessia and you'll be free to do your own work." Riley smiled. "I appreciate your confidence in me." "Of course, not that many years ago I was like you. Then the reaper invasion hit and suddenly they promoted almost everyone still living afterwards." "I was only a teen when the reaper invasion hit." Stated Riley "I can hardly believe it's been five years already." Orjus seemed taken back by the mention of how quickly time has passed.
Soon enough they landed at their destination. They walked along a trail and came across the shrine. It was an enormous area, in ruins mostly, probably had yet to be repaired from the invasion. "We'll need to cover a lot of ground in order to search this place, you go right I'll go left?" Riley nodded and proceeded right. He went into a broken tunnel and ended up in a whole 'nother part of the shrine. He looked up into the distance and could vaguely see a figure. He snuck up over to it and it seemed to be a Turian. He pulled out his gun and called over to him. "Hey! What are you doing here?" The Turian slowly turned around. "You shouldn't be here…" the Turian muttered. Then in the blink of an eye he launched a biotic blast knocking down Riley. The Turian drew his gun and pointed, Riley thought this was most likely the end. Then from nowhere another biotic blast came from the distance and knocked the Turian into a wall. He was dead. Riley stood up and turned to see an Asari woman standing there. "I've been looking for you." she said.
CHAPTER SIX
Riley stood cautiously. "You have? Who are you?" then Orjus walked up behind her. "Well if it isn't Kewia. Riley, this is another spectre. What she is doing here, I don't know?" Orjus looks at her questioningly. "You hadn't reported in for any of your scheduled check-ins, they sent me here to investigate what happened." Orjus looked embarrassed. "Oh…we'd been so busy I forgot to do that. My apologies to make you fly all the way out here." "No worries, I was near the system anyway. Do you guys need any help?" Orjus considered her offer. "If you could continue searching this area for any more clues with Riley while I go check in somewhere else I'd appreciate it." Kewia smiled "Of course." Orjus nodded at Riley and he nodded back. "We'll meet up back at the town." Orjus ran back in the direction he came.
The two of them reintroduced themselves and began scouting out the area. After about five minutes of searching Kewia found a cave. "Over here" she shouted. Riley ran over to the cave and the two of them slowly walked in. They continued walking till they came across a computer. Kewia hopped on and began searching for any answers. "Riley come here, this important to you?" Riley walked up to the monitor and Kewia showed him the screen. The Turian leader who was in the holo-recording planned to go somewhere that night called "The Fountain of Athame." Riley smiled. "Yes, this is our biggest lead yet!" Kewia smiled as well, glad to help. "Thanks again, I'd better head back to the town. What's next for you?" He questioned. "I've been called the the citadel, there is a special mission a rookie has been assigned to and they want me to watch over her, just like how Orjus is with you." Riley grinned. "So long, and good luck." Kewia bowed her head and walked out of the cave.
Riley was prepared for the long walk to town but was surprised to see the shuttle sitting at the entrance. Orjus had left it for him, he must've walked. Riley sighed a sigh of relief and hopped in. He flew the shuttle into the air and headed back towards town. While flying he noticed a quiet beeping noise coming from the passenger seat. He looked over and noticed a holo-device, someone had left a message. Curious, he picked up the device and played the recording, it was Orjus. "Riley. I know we'll see each other soon but I figured it was time to tell you. That Turian, the leader, I know him. Barr Morgal. I've had many combat encounters with him, he has escaped every time. He is an extremist with no regard for the lives of others. If he's behind these attacks on Thessia he won't stop unless we force him. This is personal for me but I won't let that interfere, we will face him together when the time comes. Just wanted you to be up to speed before we spoke again. See you soon." Riley set down the device considering what kind of past Orjus and this Barr guy have. He continues towards Tarakei.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Riley lands the shuttle on the town shuttle pad and heads inside the Patron building. Expecting to find Orjus he instead finds the Patron. Before he can speak she blurts out. "Human, thank the goddess! We need help, they are attacking right now at the south side of town. Help our forces." Riley nodded and quickly charged outside weapon drawn. He sprinted through the town and felt the rumble of explosions get closer until eventually an explosion goes off on someone's home, half of the building gets destroyed. The townspeople started screaming and running towards the other side of the town, Riley is heading the opposite way, trying not to run into anybody. He reaches the southern border and sees Asari fighters falling one by one trying to defend their town. Riley joins up in their formation and fires with them. After a long and hard fought fight the enemies back off. Riley stands suspiciously, the enemy was winning the fight, they could have invaded the town right now if they wanted to. If they were testing the town once again, it would be the last time before they tried invading.
Riley walked back to the Patron building and stepped inside. "Thank you so much for helping us." the Patron praised. "Of course, I'm here to help ma'am. I was supposed to meet Orjus here, do you know where he is?" The Patron looked at him with a confused look. "Orjus was never here, we haven't seen him since he left with you?" Riley's heart sank. "If he's not here-where could he have gone?!" The Merv Mech stands in the corner of the room. "Merv, can you get a trace on Orjus, is he in the area?" "Area scan commencing sir!" Merv's headplate turns blue as it scans the area for Orjus. As Riley watches Merv, he feels a slight prick on his neck, as if something had stung him. He turned towards his neck and sees a sleep dart. He falls to the ground and Merv gives out a burst of energy and deactivates. "What are you doing!?" yells Patron Ranna.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Riley starts to regain consciousness but his vision is blurry. He can make out four figures standing in front of him, he is still in the same room. "We agreed we wouldn't hurt him." yells Patron Ranna. "Sorry Patron, Barr wants them both. We have to do this." says a familiar voice. The town Captain. "No, I am your boss Captain Tira. I command you to stop this." "Sorry Patron, you may be my boss, but when it comes to this town's safety, I'm in charge." Riley feels well enough to sit up, he looks to his left to see Merv disabled lying on the floor. "Captain, I fought to defend this town! I took out that cavern base for you!" The captain looked at him with little sign of remorse "I have no pleasure in this, but Barr ordered both of the spectres, one won't do." Riley sat in shock. "Captain stop this!" Patron Ranna stood in front of Tira and two of her soldiers. Tire grabbed the Patron and shoved her out of the way. She lept towards Riley. Riley pulls out his omni-tool and activates the blade, it pierces through the Captain. The Captain looked down at the blade going through her as blood dripped from the gash in her chest. Riley deactivated his blade and let the Captain fall to the ground, it didn't take long for her to bleed out. He stood up tall and faced the two soldiers. "I think you two better find somewhere else to be." The two soldiers ran, in disbelief they lost their captain. Riley could hear quiet sobs coming from the floor, they came from the Ranna.
He crouched next to her. "I'm so sorry, I thought I could control them. The truth is I'm new to this job, I have barely been a couple months. I'm the youngest Patron to ever take this position and I knew the town had trouble taking me seriously but now the Captain is dead because of my inability to take charge." Riley sat listening, not knowing what to think. "Why did you tell them not to take me?" Ranna looked up from the floor. "Because there is something special about you. You did more for this town then I ever could, more than you know. I know you're a good man." She lifted her hand and ran it down his face. Riley sat allowing it but then realized the extent of what she's done. He jerked up. "Do you expect me to be okay with this? You just gave away Orjus to the enemy and I'm supposed to forget about that?!" Ranna wept more, opening her mouth to speak. "You can stay here, live among us as our defender. We could use a man like you." Riley shook his head with a face of disbelief. "Are you insane? Do you know what you've done?! Orjus could be dead right now, I can't forgive you for that." Ranna looked back down to the floor. Riley paced around the room, and wiped his hand over his mouth. He jerked his head up and ran back over to Merv, trying to reactivate him. After 10 minutes of work Merv came back alive. "Sir! What happened! I was scanning like promised and everything cut out!" "Don't worry about that right now, did you find anything while you were scanning?" Merv retrieved the data. "I managed to pick up he entered the east side of the town, then was went back out in the north direction." Riley racked his brain, what was in the north?
He stood back up and looked at Ranna. "Ranna, do you know where a place called 'The Fountain of Athame' is?" Ranna nodded. "Take the map on my desk" she said still weeping quietly. He ran over to her desk and picked up the map. "Come on Merv, you're coming with me." Merv straightened up "Anything to repay my debt sir!" Riley ran for the door then stopped. He looked down at his feet and walked back into the room towards Ranna. He crouched back down and waited for her to look up. "I wish you the best of luck with your town, I just wish things had ended off on a better note." Ranna sniffled. "Yeah, me too…" Riley handed her a credit chit and nodded. "Spend it on your town, you'll need it." She smiled. He saluted and ran out the door, knowing he would most likely never return. He hopped in the shuttle with Merv and took off towards the fountain.
CHAPTER NINE
"Alright when we get there, I'll need your help to guide me. You can scan the area for hostiles as well" Merv seemed glad to help, as glad as a mech can seem. "Of course sir, as previously stated, I owe you for getting me out of that cave." Riley grinned. Before long they arrived at the best possible landing zone. The area was ruins as well but slightly more contained ruins. People had been here recently. He landed the shuttle and the two of them hopped out. He held the map in front of Merv to scan, "follow me" he proclaimed before leading Riley through the ruins. They walked for a good 15 minutes. Riley heard a noise from behind and turned to be greeted by an incoming fist. He lifted his arm and grabbed the fist, twisting it. He had learned that from watching Orjus. The attacker let out a roar of pain. "He's here, the human is her-" Riley shot the man in the face to keep him from giving away their location. He didn't want to, but he had no choice. They continued strolling.
Eventually they reached a hill and walked up the side. From the side of the hill they could see a huge man-made formation. Looks as fountain as any ruin piece could. Riley ran up the hill and saw an unexpected sight. Orjus kneeled over with two men holding him up by his arms, and standing over him was Barr. Orjus seemed barely clinging to life. "I've been waiting a long time for this Orjus" the Turian stated, raising a knife. "No!" Riley yelled charging up the hill. He pulled out his gun and shot the two men holding Orjus, causing him to collapse. Barr lowered his knife and grinned. "So, the protege arrives." Riley grinded to a halt in front of Orjus's seemingly lifeless body and Barr standing over it. "I think I'm past the 'new guy' stage, don't ya think?" Barr chuckled. "Perhaps". He stepped closer to Riley, stepping over Orjus, causing Riley to back up slowly, training his gun at his head. "Orjus had this coming, he's been chasing me down since before the reaper invasion, since before he was a spectre. The council deciding to add hundreds more spectres to find people like me didn't make my life any easier." Riley gave him a death stare. "You get what you deserve."
Barr rose his voice. "You can't seriously believe that after what happened to the galaxy five years ago! Millions, maybe billions of 'good' people killed in the blink of an eye! The galaxy doesn't discriminate, it has no sense of morals, it's an angry child with a death grip on everyone. I lived through the invasion not because I was 'a good person' but because it simply happened that way. Bad people like me will be around as long as we can while good people like you and Orjus suffer." Riley kept his gun pointed at him with barely contained rage. Barr paused. "Might as well speed up the process." He reached down and stabbed Orjus in the chest, causing him to jolt awake. "NO!" Riley screamed, shooting franticly, missing every shot. Barr ran up and knocked the gun out of his hand, ramming him the the ground. He leapt on top of him and punched him in the face repeatedly. Barr felt a presence behind him, and turned around to see Merv. "Eat this dirtbag!" Merv let out a powerful shock on his eye and he screamed of pain. Riley threw a punch, knocking him over, allowing him to get on top of him. He began wailing punches, not holding back. He grew tired but continued striking him until his face became slightly deformed. He stopped. "Go on." Barr spat on the ground next to him. "Finish me, rid the galaxy of one less 'bad guy'" Riley stared him down and hit him one more time before standing up. "You can't make me kill you. I'm not like you, I don't kill because it feels good." He grabs his arm and pulls out rope, tying his hands together. "You're under arrest for relentless attacks on Thessia, obstruction of justice, running from the council for years, countless other crimes, and the murder of one spectre Orjus." Barr spat again, this time spitting blood. "I had to attack the Asari where it hurt! They sit on top the galaxy like superior people. They think themselves better, expect us to treat them like queens. I had to make an example of them." Riley stared at him again. "I think that's enough from you." Riley struck a blow to the back of his head, knocking him out.
Riley fell to the floor, breathing heavily, taking in everything that just occurred. A slight cough came from his right, he looked over his shoulder, Orjus tried sitting up. Riley leapt up, running to him and helping him up. "Orjus! Oh my god, I thought that fuck had killed you." Orjus smiled as well as he could. "Jeez man, I thought you'd been with me long enough to know a beatdown and a knife in the chest won't kill me." he coughed, struggling to laugh. Riley smiled. "I beat him sir, I have him tied up, he's unconscious. Wish you coulda seen it sir." Orjus looked over at Barr on the ground and gave a look like he had seen a decade long conflict come to an end. "I knew you didn't need me, you're tough as hell." Riley grinned "I couldn't had done this without you. Let's get you to the shuttle." Riley dragged Barr by the feet until he could lift him over his shoulder, holding Orjus up with his other arm. They hopped into the shuttle and took to the sky.
CHAPTER TEN
The shuttle arrived at the temple Orjus had brought Riley to when he first arrived. He carried him through the doors and called out for help. "Help! We need a medic, now!" Two medics came rushing over, set him on a bed, and rolled him into the infirmary. Riley followed. After doing lots of work on him, Orjus was finally stable and ready to speak. "Hey Riley, I miss anything?" Riley sat on the side of his bed. "Just me saving your ass by bringing you here." "Ah, good." Orjus said propping up his pillow. An asari came into the room, "you have a communication from the council, patching it through." The council? Riley hadn't seen them since his spectre status announcement. The woman setup up the QTC and left the room. It lit up showing the three figures of the council. "Orgus, Riley, we are pleased to hear your mission was a success. We are also glad to hear you will make a full recovery Orgus." Orjus nodded, "Thank you, madam councilor." The Salarian councilor spoke up. "Both of you will be receiving medals for your valiant service in this mission. We sent you into a case we had little knowledge about and you prevailed nonetheless." The two of them nodded, Riley smiling. The asari councilor spoke again. "The two of you will return to the citadel to find out what's next for you, Riley you no longer need to stay by Orjus's side as you are free to conduct business on your own. Good work again, the both of you, and we'll talk soon in our chambers. Farewell." Riley looked at Orjus and Orjus looked back. "Well, to the citadel I guess. It's been an honor serving with you on this mission sir." Riley shook Orjus's hand. "Anytime Captain, and anytime you need backup or any kind of help, I'll be available." Riley nodded and helped him out of his bed. They signed the papers to allow his leave and flew to the spaceport. Riley looked upon the view he once looked at when he first arrived. How far he had come in the past couple days. Spectre Riley Summers, could be interesting. Let's see where this goes.
THE END
(Thanks to all who read this far, let me know what you thought :D)