Mass Dragon Effect I: Shadows of the Past

Chapter 1: The Nominated SPECTRE

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age or Mass Effect, as they both belong to Bioware and they have the copyrights for them. In addition, on writing style, please look in Author Notes B for details.

Beta Reader: Albert

Last Update: 12/04/2018

Location: Undisclosed

Human Date: February 1, 2183

In a dimly lit room, a holographic conference call was taking place that spanned thousands of light years between the various participants that included four different species. The two initiating the call were Donnel Udina, and Nakmor Utag, a human and an alien species that is known as a krogan. Both of which serve as the primary ambassadors for their organization, the Confederation Alliance of Worlds (CAW). The human was an old, thin man with a small chin and wrinkled box-like face that made a perfect poker face that hides his the calculating, brownish grey eyes.

The krogan was like others of his kind, a massive, warm-blooded brown reptile with short, stubby tail, legs, and hands with three short digits, along with natural shell armor that continually grows along their back, chest, thighs, arms, and a distinct hump that stored enough nutrients to last them weeks. The krogan ambassador though stood out from other krogans by wearing clothing instead of body armor over his natural shell armor. He was also unique in that he had a red, three-point smooth shell with spots along the shell edge. He stood proud, as his green predator (vertically slit pupil) eyes, did not flinch, as he stood there, unafraid as their superiors stared him and his fellow ambassador down.

His superior and President of CAW was a female quarian, a purple skin species that looked remarkably human, especially since quarians have similar gender-based body structure and hair which she kept short and tied into a bun. She looked remarkably human if not for her three-digit fingers and, her limbs being able to bend in ways humans could not bend. Quarian legs resembled those found on Earth's dogs. Her eyes seemed to have no irises as both her pupils were a pale silver color dignified by the two slanted creases above her eyebrows.

Her airtight suit wrapped in a purple cloth gave warning lights as she let out an agitated sigh on her thin face that showed her age, "Ambassador Nakmor Utag, Ambassador Donnel Udina, what does the Citadel Council want with our government now? We already agreed to share and retrieve the Pro-classified device we found on the colony world of Eden Prime in the Exodus Cluster. What more do they want?"

The krogan, Ambassador Nakmor Utag stood tall as he stated, "President Shala'Raan, the Citadel Council has requested that we consider one of our own to become a member of the Council's elite black ops, the SPECTREs while allowing one of their current SPECTREs to act as a representative for joint operations."

The announcement sent a series of grumbling conservations to pass among the listeners, as a tall, dark-skinned human looked thoughtful in his black and white uniform. A uniform that had the insignia of Rear Admiral (three gold stripes with two silver stripes) on his shoulder pads and sleeves. "I can figure where this is going, he commented The Council wants us to consider one of its members for our elite special forces under my command. It would be the only reason you contacted me during another operation we are handling in the Exodus Cluster."

"Yes… the Council wants to extend their influence into the Confederation Alliance of Worlds by taking one of our elite soldiers to order around while dictating what they want through an operative assign to 'work' with the First Battalion," Ambassador Udina scolded at he voiced his own, angry thoughts.

"Or just to improve relationships, just a thought," Ambassador Utag joked to his fellow ambassador, who frowned in response.

"And while we're on the subject of the First Battalion. Mind telling me what operation Rear Admiral David Anderson was conducting in one of the most densely populated clusters in the Confederation's Space and one that holds some of my people's oldest colonies?" Udina asked with a growl.

Anderson stared at his superiors, Grand Admiral Steven Hackett, the commander of the Confederation military to ask if he should speak up. Never was a man more fit to wear the rank of Fleet Admiral (five gold stripes and four silver stripes), or looked the role better with his short white hair, cleanly cut beard, and firm body. Even his elected superior President Shala'Raan felt the power that seemed to radiate from his small, steely blue eyes as he spoke in a firm, scratchy voice that belongs to a man in his seventies.

He also respected the chain of command as he did not speak until after he received a nod from the president for permission to speak, "At three hundred hours, Confederation Standard Time, we received a distress call from Asteroid X57. An asteroid we planned to put in orbit around Terra Nova to mine and eventually turn it into a space station to defend the planet. However, batarian extremists had somehow captured three of our freighters to bypass the CRF (Confederate Recon Force) patrols along our borders to take over the asteroid and planned to crash it into Terra Nova. I just found out about it a couple of hours ago."

"Is Terra Nova in danger Grand Admiral Hackett? And should I prepare for the appropriate response?" Udina asked with a scowl at being kept in the dark.

"It never was," Hackett shook his head. "Our defense forces stationed at Terra Nova and the planetary defense grid would have destroyed the asteroid if it was a threat."

"Needless to say, the plan was never going to work, and we don't even need to destroy the asteroid as my teams on the surface have already taken control of the three Fusion Troches propelling the asteroid to prevent it from crashing into Terra Nova. It is why I am here now informing you of the threat instead of letting my communication expert handle this call," David Anderson explained to the ambassador before he turned to one of his comrades. "If we're lucky, we can snag a lot of them for the CID (Confederation Intelligence Division) to interrogate."

"Especially as the commander of the region is sending his forces around the cluster to capture any that tries to escape to hand them over to Chief Operative Legion's Shadow," Hackett explained to the same comrade that was not organic.

Legion's Shadow was a geth, a black robot that resembled their creators the quarians, but with a single glowing blue eye and as an extra addition to its model, a large antenna/mainframe shaped structure coming off the right side of its back. A unique Legion model that spoke in a mechanical voice that seemed to have clicks embedded in its voice. "This Unit thanks you Hackett-Grand-Admiral. The Confederation Collective needs to find out exactly how they found out that Asteroid designated X-57 was being moved to Terra Nova from its location in the Exodus's Asgard System." The machine looked annoyed as its eye twisted and its frame flexed. "While the information was not classified, it was not broadcast on civilian channels. So, either the batarians found a way to listen to our military communications, or someone with access told them."

This made the taller than average krogan (over 2m) snort as he stared with his amused red eyes. A strong character that had scars along the right side his face and along with his thick, red and purplish-black head plate shell that had two sets of seven points, which showed he had lived longer than his average krogan. Most krogans do not live past fifty due to their violent tendency. However, the few that do make it past that age are likely to make it to a thousand, and the Supreme Commander of the Krogan Clan Alliance was a very old and powerful krogan.

"Well besides hearing about conspiracies and how much the batarians have failed, why don't we get back to the fact the high and mighty Council wants one of their members on the First Battalion," the krogan pointed out before he asked what was on everyone's mind. "Who is the brains behind this suggestion?"

Udina scolded as he stated, "Several SPECTREs led by a turian who would evaluate the candidate, Nihlus Kryik, Supreme Commander Urdnot Wrex."

"A turian?" Wrex asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's a surprise considering the turians are not exactly the best of friends for any of us. After all, they did release the Salarian's Genophage on my own people, slowly killing us off by lowering our fertility rate, which would have done us in if the Human System Alliance of old hadn't developed the Genofertilization accidentally. Not to mention that many of their people, especially the more militant ones, are not too happy we built a separate military force from the Citadel Council."

"Are you saying that the turians are just making the offer to screw with us and make us look bad?" asked Ambassador Nakmor.

Wrex laughed as he smiled, "Depends on the turian."

"I know Nihlus; he's an honorable turian who respects the Confederation's independence, especially if the friendly rivalry increases the military strength on both sides," Anderson explained. "He also thinks our race will eventually return to the Council, with the other three races tagging along."

"So that is probably why he suggested it. As a way to build trust to get us all back under the Council's control," Shala'Raan stated with a nod.

"Enough of this talk about who is asking this favor!" Udina flared with his legendary temper. "The Council wants our answer by the end of the day, and if we agree to meet up with Nihlus for a joint operation to retrieve… the object on Eden Prime," Udina added with disdain at the fact the Confederation was sharing custody with the Council.

The others began to mutter what they thought until Hackett spoke up, "I believe we should consider the offer as it would improve our sometimes strained relationship with the Council. Especially since despite the buildup of our military and political power, we could still be overwhelmed by the Council if war was declared."

"This unit's predicts a ten percent chance of complete victory. Ten percent we surrender to the Council if war breaks out. Twenty percent chance we gain sizable territory. Twenty-five percent no one gains anything. And a thirty-five percent chance we lose territory, assuming nothing goes wrong on our side, or the Council follows traditional tactics," Legion's Shadow explained. "Also assuming that the various warlords of the Terminus Systems will remain neutral and do not attack the Council or more likely the unit's closes neighbor, the Confederation if war does happen."

"Well with that cheery thought aside, I, President Shala'Raan, have come to a decision. I agree to the Council's terms for a better alliance between our two governments." Shala'Raan sighed with a possible headache this would cause. "I'll inform the Senate of the decision while I leave you all to pick our candidate. Good luck, Shala'Raan out."

Shala'Raan's image disappeared while those remaining online looked over the list of candidates. There were dozens of them picked from all four founding races, which was unusual since the Council was highly xenophobia when it comes to AIs.

Eventually, Ambassador Nakmor finally pulled out one candidate to consider, "What about Commander Jane Shepard. She's a human spacer. She has lived aboard starships most of her life."

"Military service is in her family. Both her parents and her brother are in the Navy," Anderson nodded in agreement.

"And she knows how rough the galaxy can be when her old man was killed on Mindoir during a cowardly attack by Batarian backed slavers," Wrex stated with a snarl.

"She proved herself during the Skyllian Blitz. Able to rally the populous and hold off enemy forces until reinforcements arrive on the ground," Hackett stated with a smile.

Anderson nodded as he added, "She was one of two reasons that Elysium is still standing."

"And later she was able to kill a Thresher Maw when it ambushed her unit on Akuze," Ambassador Nakmor added.

Wrex laughed as he added, "Which is impressive as she killed the thing on foot. I can tell you from experience that it is a very difficult thing to pull off."

"Yet losing most of a unit's collective subordinates could have severed physiological effects on the organic unit," Legion's Shadow pointed out.

"Jane Shepard is a survivor, and from what I've seen, the attack made her stronger and care more for the life of her men and the civilians she was protecting," Anderson quickly added to defend one of his officers.

"I'm sure she is a good choice, but she is not the only Shepard to consider," Udina pointed out. "One Captain John Shepard, your current XO is another consideration. He was the brains behind Elysium's defense, and he led the victory on Torfan by destroying most of the Batarian backed pirates on the planet."

"It may be true he is a brilliant strategist. But he's also very ruthless and is less willing to work with the Council Races than Jane is," Anderson pointed out before he smiled. "Though he would make a good liaison for Jane and it is time for him to have his own command as Eliza and I did plan to transfer over to CSS Waterloo."

Udina looked unsure before adding, "I can't question your logic or Jane's courage."

"The Confederation Alliance of Worlds needs a hero, and Jane is the best we got," Anderson said with conviction.

Udina sighed while he looked at his fellow ambassador, "We'll make the call."

Hackett nodded as he typed in the coordinates, "Anderson, I want you to meet with the SPECTRE at these coordinates in a nearby cluster outside restricted Confederation space. You can get there without hitting a Mass Relay, and due to the secrecy of the mission, I request you do so."

"Yes Admiral, we'll take care of it," the Ambassadors and Anderson nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'll get everything ready on Eden Prime," Wrex smiled in amusement. "The sooner we get the artifact off-world, the sooner we can have the Unification Celebrations, Supreme Commander Urdnot Wrex out."

The others followed suit, leaving Anderson alone in the Quantum Entanglement Communication (QEC) room before he walked out into the war room. In the room stood a species known as qunari, a species that resembled a barrel-chested human, except that females had curly horns on their head and were a bit taller than the average human female with ashen skin that seemed to glow an ivory color. This female qunari, in particular, had purple eyes that were doing her job of observing the various communication channels in the system as she pulled back her long, died brown hair away from her face before she turned towards her superior officer.

"Operations Chief Sarah Sinclair, when the mission is done on Asteroid X57, I want you to call Jane and John back on the Normandy. Tell them to report back on this ship for their next assignment," Anderson stated.

"Yes sir," Sinclair immediately saluted as she went back to work as two holograms appeared in front of Anderson.

Both holograms resembled beautiful woman that looked real, yet at the same time synthetic. The one staring at him was a purple woman with short hair and glowing reddish/purple eyes. She also wore a 'skimpy' military uniform version of shorts and vested uniform with Lieutenant 2nd Class sigma of most communication and navigation officers (a stripe with a triple dash stripe, both silver).

She smiled as she asked, "Hay-ya Admiral. What do you need us lonely ladies to do?"

Anderson smiled as he typed in the coordinates before he looked at the AI, "Cortona, I need to give these coordinates to Joker and tell him to set a course. I want to be there once our people return home."

"Aye, aye, boss man!"

Cortona smiled before she bleeped into another section of the ship leaving her fellow hologram to shake her head, "All these years I have been observing and teaching that AI, and I still have no idea where she gets her disrespect from."

The green hologram was different than her companion. She seemed strict in her military uniform and hair tied in a military type bun. Her blue eyes stared steadily ahead as she said, "I've heard the conversation you had with the Council."

"I figured as much," Anderson chuckled with a small smile. "You were never very good at keeping your holographic nose out of private meetings, Eliza."

"Oh please; you wanted me to listen. Otherwise, you would have activated the internal and external firewalls that can keep even the Salarian STG (Special Tasks Group) out," Lieutenant (two silver stripes) Eliza shrugged before she got serious. "I assume we will move to the CSS Waterloo sooner than expected. You think John and Jane Shepard are ready?"

Anderson nodded as he spoke in a deep voice what he thought, "Yes, I think it's time to move on. John is ready to take command of his own ship, Jane is beginning to trust herself as a leader on the field, and both of them had learned everything they can from me. It's time for the next generation to take over."

"Damn, you make it sound like we are old, and I'm an AI that can live up to two centuries before I die due to software degeneration," Eliza mussed. "Though I see your point as I am sure Cortona feels the same way."

"That she does," Anderson smiled as he looked at the hologram. "Okay, now get me the ground teams' status reports. I want to know how much I missed while on the conference call."

"At once, Admiral," Eliza nodded before pulling up reports faster than any human could possibly match. Anderson was quickly brought up to speed while he watched video feeds of the ground team's progress.

Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Asteroid X-57 over Terra Nova/Outside Main Facility

Human Date: February 1, 2183

On the airless surface of the asteroid, a large six-wheeled black and white vehicle was moving across the rocky field. The aeronautically slick, highly maneuverable, V-shaped vehicle avoided ruble and explosions, as it moved closer to its targets. Its thick armor was not even dented by the direct hit from a missile as its blue kinetic barrier shields flashed for a second as its large main cannon moved to open fire on the defenses of the batarian slavers. The batarian's small automated turrets and mines did not last long under the vehicle's secondary cannons fire with the occasional main cannon firing shells that exploded on impact, taking out its targets and anything nearby.

The last mine was destroyed when the tank drove over it, causing a minor hiccup to the occupants within the vehicle as the driver, a tall female human laughed in excitement as she straightened the vehicle's course. She held on tightly with as much strength as her athletic body could muster behind her black, airtight armor. Her open white robes flapped over her armor that had the green mage class patches and stripes over her small chest and right arm.

The driver, Jane Shepard, laughed as she turned her head across a neck colored with the red N7 logo to state to her gunner, "Looks like you missed one Kaidan. Good thing we were in the Mako instead of the Hammerhead, or they would be picking us up in pieces."

The gunner, Lieutenant 1st Class Kaidan Alenko, a short human in black, dull airtight armor held onto his gun joystick as he snorted out a response, "I'll be faster on the trigger next time Commander."

"Good, and Lieutenant, call me Jane or just Shepard. Commander makes me feel old," Commander Jane Shepard had ordered the older man in almost black armor that had no color except the blue stripe along the right arm to signify the biotic class and the small marking to signify his rank (two stripes, blue).

She could hear his smirk as he answered, "You got it, Commander."

Jane grumbled as she slowed the tank down in front of the fortress, taking note of the larger, more powerful guns and defense systems. "Legion-VII, are Confederation's bases defenses still deactivated."

"Affirmative, Sheppard-Commander," answered a blue and silver geth with a white eye, and the markings of Lieutenant 2nd Class and a yellow stripe across its right arm for technician class. The geth spoke in clicks that were synthetic as it typed away at a computer, "The batarian units have not been able to crack the Confederation's encryptions, and thus the systems are offline."

"Good as I don't want to test the M-35B's legendary toughness at this time," grunted a broad, yet very strong krogan in black and reddish-orange armor with an intimidating helmet that had a white krogan handprint over the facemask and a red stripe across his arm to signify a soldier class.

"I thought you loved explosions Trex," Kaidan joked from the gunner's seat as Trex sat behind Kaidan in a chair across from Legion-VII.

"I like explosions when our enemies are the ones exploding," Trex grunted behind his helmet. "I can tell you from personal experience that it's not fun to be the one exploding. It's excruciating."

"Well, looks like no one is going to explode today gentlemen we are here," Jane Shepard stated as she drove up to the entrance. "Legion-VII, would you be so kind as to unlock the door."

"I've been trying to Shepard-Commander," Legion-VII stated as his console lit up, exclaiming the door was jammed. "The batarians have obstructed the doors from opening."

"In other words, they've jammed them," Jane Shepard sighed as she turned the M-35B Mako to its side. "Trex, would you mind opening the doors the old fashion way."

Trex laughed as he took over the secondary firing control from the side of the Mako. At each side were plasma laser cannons shaped like orbs. The orbs began to glow before they unleashed a reddish-blue Confederation colored plasma beam that cut through the gates like butter and left a half oval mark on the gates. It took a split second after the cut for the vacuum of space to force the metal to bend open like a door as a turret of air escaped, allowing the marines from within the Mako to enter.

"Alright everyone out," Jane stated as she got up before she grabbed one of her three folded weapons on her back and hip.

The weapon she picked up was her M-15 Vindicator assault rifle, a fast pace assault rifle with standard attachments that enhance the weapons main features, add ammunition and conventional melee weapons like bayonets or weapon stunners. Jane was the last to step out, locking the Mako down as her four-man squad headed into the facility.

Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Asteroid X-57 over Terra Nova/Main Facility

Human Date: February 1, 2183

Deep within the facility, the batarians barricaded themselves in an extensive arboretum. It was a large domed room with red cherry trees and four levels filled with scientific equipment and living agreements. All of which were patrolled by the batarians, a four-eyed alien with an arachnid-boney-like face without fangs but a mouth filled with teeth. Teeth the two guards flashed as they carried military-grade versions of standard weapons like the M-7 Lancers assault rifles and M-23 Katana shotguns. Weapons used to hold and guard against a dozen humans, two injured krogans and a single quarian locked behind a glass room.

"So, you hear the rumors that everyone outside is dead?" demanded one batarian in a deep-pitched batarian voice.

"It's just rumors started by the human upstarts to give hope to their pet brutes, suit rats, and their AIs," the batarian snarled at a defiant, female human with short brown hair. "Just because they have introduced their fancy new technology to the galaxy, they think they can rule us all by surrounding themselves with the outcasts of the galaxy."

"The only outcasts are you batarians," the woman with defiant blue eyes said back to the batarian. "And when your people die, no one will cry, but celebrate that the biggest blight, outside of the darkspawn, are gone."

"Shut up you bitch," the guard with the shotgun growled as he moved towards the door. "Maybe I should teach you to respect your superiors."

The batarian was about to force open the door when he was stopped by his fellow comrade, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Balak wants to deal with this woman personally."

The batarian growled as he stepped back. He noticed the grin on the woman as he snarled, "Don't count yourself, lucky woman. Once Balak gets a hold of you, I will take great pleasure in hearing your antagonizing scream as he…"

The batarian never finished as his armored kinetic barrier broke along with his entire head after the distinct sound of a magnetic field weapon fired. The batarian's cold, red blood and brain matter splattered across the glass window as his headless body slumped to the ground, causing the civilians and the batarian to panic. The batarian turned around to see a blue and silver geth with its long Javelin sniper rifle. He watched the geth unload one of its used thermal clips, a replaceable heat sink used to keep the weapon itself from overheating, from the geth-style, heavy sniper rifle before it took aim again at another batarian with its thermal scope for higher accuracy and heavy barrel for increase damage.

The batarian only had time to scream, "Geth Sniper!" before he was blown away like his comrade.

The alarm sounded as the batarians ran for cover or prepared to attack, while Legion-VII methodically killed its third target. It was about to move onto another target when a batarian engineer appeared to the legion's side with a glowing engineer drone/orb, intent on killing the geth. Only for the geth to flick on its omni-tool to use its sabotage hackability to cause the batarian weapon and drone to explode, taking a large chunk out of its shields as the geth put up its Javelin sniper rifle and replacing it with a Geth Pulse Assault Rifle programmed to fire cryo-rounds.

It then fired a large number of its frozen needle size bullets into the batarian to overwhelm what was left of its shields and armor before he fell to the ground dead as more batarians began to flood in. Legion-VII was forced to take cover as the batarians came into range and opened fire on the ledge it was sitting on. The batarians, determined to kill the geth failed to notice the inferno grenades thrown in their direction. The grenades went off in a flaming inferno of phosphorus and polonium gas that killed four of the batarians and created confusion among the rest, allowing Legion-VII to activate its cloak and disappear from the batarian's view.

With Legion-VII running to safety, Trex continued to create confusion with an M-37 Falcon cannon like a rifle with a stability damper to steady his aim. He continued to fire off specialized, microfilament explosive rounds that detonated on contact with each batarian time after time. The explosions sent the batarians stumbling back or dying. His attack continued until he noticed movement coming up behind him. In response, Trex quickly puts up his M-37 Falcon, before he pulled out his revolving assault shotgun, the N7 Piranha that had an omni-blade instead of a bayonet. Which he used to stab a batarian vanguard in the stomach.

The blue, biotic field of the charge dissipated, along with his failed shield as Trex dug his large glowing blade in before pulling it out and discharged his shotgun three times onto the second batarian. The tightly knit, spread of shells destroyed the batarian's shields in the first two shots before shredding the armor by the third shot. Trex smiled behind his armor as he continued killing batarians as Kaidan appeared on the battlefield. His helmet's facemask and his whole armor covered in an omni-tool like armor known as tech-armor as he charged to battle.

Kaidan's prominent chin and small lips looked serious as he took aim with his Y shape, heavy N7 Valkyrie assault rifle. His brown eyes appearing behind his helmet visor were filled with fire, as he opened fire on the batarians. The gun acted like a mini machine-gun as he took out four batarians before he burned out his entire thermal clip, forcing Kaidan to plop out a thermal clip as continued to fight. Taking batarians out at a slower pace, firing in bursts to keep the thermal clip from overheating while his armor absorbed every shot thrown his way. He continued to fire until a heavily armed batarian appeared rushing him.

Rather than going for the massive N7 Crusader shotgun on his back, Kaidan used his omni-tool to overload the enemy's shield. With the batarian's barrier down, he then summoned a blue, biotic field to fire off a biotic warp right into the batarian, shredding the slaver's armor and internal organs, as he fell to the ground dead. It was the start of the human's offensive as he sent a biotic push to fling two lightly defended batarian soldiers into the wall. Their necks snapped from several kilo-Newtons of force. Kaidan continued the offensive as he was joined by Trex's explosions and Legion-VII's sabotage of weapons after it reappeared to flank the enemy.

Something the commanding batarian slaver was not too happy about, as he tried to reorganize his men into a counter attack. He felt he was pushed back into a wall as he cursed, "A geth infiltrator, a human biotic sentinel and a krogan demolitionist. All we need to face is a quarian engineer, a marksman, another biotic or a mage, and we will be screwed."

"At least there are only three of…" a second batarian started to declare until a fireball hit the alien and sent him aflame.

Several batarians looked up to see a redheaded human with powerful green eyes behind a blue, clear visor with a right-sided microphone on top of her shoulder-length, messy hair. A frown was frozen on her heart-shaped face with freckles as she stared at the scared batarians before her. A face that people recognized as she and her brother were used by the First Battalion and the Confederation Alliance of Worlds' Navy recruitment posters.

To the hostages, it was hope as some muttered the title she earned for saving the colony Elysium, "The Hero of the Skyllian Blitz."

While the batarians shook as they muttered a title she earned for killing a thresher maw on foot, "The Beast Queen of Akuze."

The leader knew her better as, "Commander Jane Shepard, psychic knight class mage."

That was all she needed before Jane took to the offensive as she jumped off the ledge and opened fire with her M-15 Vindicator assault rifle, taking out two batarians before she hit ground level. She hit the ground running as she summoned an ice spike and slammed it into the head of a batarian as she rushed towards the lead slaver. Another batarian tried to intercept her when Jane put up her assault rifle to pull out her short, light M-22 Eviscerator shotgun to hit the batarian at close range for maximum effect. She passed by the bloody batarian corpse as she put her shotgun up on her back.

Energy swirled around her hands as she headed for the batarian leader and his two guards. The batarians did not wait to open fire at the approaching mage as her golden. Harden shield that made it that her enhanced kinetic barriers had an easier time shrugging off enemy bullets. Her shields outlasted her opponents as she came up close to drench her opponents in water with her right hand before she followed up with a wave of lightning. Her opponents' kinetic barriers and two of the three batarians quickly fell while the slavers leader's heavy armor absorbed the electrical strike.

The surviving batarian growled as he summoned an omni-blade to attack the approaching mage as energy whirled around her. He was not prepared for Jane's wrist launcher as it sent out two tubes that folded out a monomolecular bladed tomahawk and short sword. With a quick strike, Jane's tomahawk caught the omni-blade and pushed it down to follow up with a sword strike across the batarian's face. The wound dug deep into the man, making him yell as he tried a jab strike in Jane's stomach.

Jane avoided the quick strike, parrying the move and was ready to kill him when she noticed movement at the corner of her eye. With rapid precession, Jane broke through the batarian's attack, stuck her axe and sword into the man, and channeled her particle energy into the batarian. The batarian began to swell up like a balloon before Jane flung the batarian into the approaching numbers behind her. The batarian exploded in blood, bones, and guts, taking down a mass number of its fellow troops that tried to attack from behind her. Jane stared with satisfaction before she was forced to evade the enemy's gunfire.

A sniper shot along with assault rifles' bullets that squashed/shattered on impact, caused Jane's kinetic barrier to fall. Commander Jane Shepard was forced to jump off a rail to a lower ledge for cover. She hid behind the railing waiting for the VI (virtual intelligence) to tell her shields had recharged as she waited behind safety. While waiting, Jane looked over to see over a dozen batarians behind a cargo container with a batarian engineer activating or creating several robotic drone turrets. She was about to make a call when she noticed three batarians had snuck up on her, weapons pointed at her.

Jane was prepared to take a pounding when a biotic push from Kaidan sent the attackers into a metal wall with a satisfying crunch. Two of them died on impact while the third was pulled in front of Kaidan armed with his N7 Crusader shotgun. The shotgun blasted the batarian's chest out while a set of explosions happened behind Jane. She looked up to see Trex fire eighteen small rockets from his ML-77 Rocket Launcher, taking out the batarians and their drones. Leaving only one batarian alive before he was incinerated alive by Legion-VII's plasma-based omni-tool attack.

Jane felt safe to move out of her hidden location as the VI finally read her shields and they were restored. Jane was back in charge as they approached the hostages when a growl stopped them in their tracks. The four turned to see the growl came from the varren, fish like dogs with sharp teeth and whiskers originally from krogan homeworld, Tuchanka before they were taken off world and spread throughout the galaxy. These varren were trained war dogs that belonged to the Batarian military. While the batarians themselves were equipped with military grade black armor and exotic weapons that belong to the Batarian Hegemony alone. Jane's group were now dealing with elite military personnel of the Batarian Hegemony.

Jane and her comrades pulled out their pistols/SMG (submachine gun) and took aim at the batarian leader stepped up. The leader was a batarian with a green faceplate and yellow ridges along the sides of his head. Jane kept her hand steady with her silver M-77 Palladian heavy pistol as she turned to Legion-VII to ask, "Who are we dealing with?"

Legion-VII responded by lowering its short Geth Plasma SMG to use his omni-tool to run facial software and reported its results, "That unit is Captain Ka'hairal Balak, a batarian commando from the Special Intervention Black Ops of the Batarian Hegemony. Confederation Intelligence Division flags the man as an extremist and to approach with extreme caution. Standing orders are to shoot him and his unit on sight."

"Well I'm glad to hear that for I really want to shoot him," Trex stated as he aimed with his krogan made heavy pistol the Punisher. "I'll suggest we kill him now and be done with it."

"Agreed Commander," Kaidan nodded as pulled out his bulky, rapid-fire N7 Eagle heavy pistol.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Balak stated as he held up a detonator, causing the group to tense. Jane looked around to see three long cylinder devices with one near the hostages, while the other two were above and below them. Each close enough and packed with enough explosives to ensure that if one goes off, they all went off.

Balak smiled as he saw Jane's frown, "You humans are predictable. Now I'm leaving this asteroid. If you try to stop me, I'll detonate these charges. And your helper and all of her friends are all going to die."

"Why are you doing this?" Jane growled at Balak, who growled back an answer.

"Don't pretend you don't know, human! For it is retaliation against your kind and the galactic outcasts that follow your kind in taking what belongs to the batarians after you forced us into exile!" Jane's mouth was wide open while Balak continued his rant, "Your kind forced your way into the Attican Traverse, and we could do nothing, knowing that your kind alone was stronger than us and with the other rejects, you could obliterate us. You knew it, we knew it, the Council knew. So, my people did what had to be done.

"And what did that get us? We were forced into exile. Forced to survive on what we can scrounge up. It's been like that for decades. All the while the Confederation Alliance of Worlds gained power as my people are forced to suffer as you pushed my us into the background and deep depression."

"And now you're taking out your anger on these people," Kaidan exclaimed in a soft tone that carried across the room. "They've done nothing to you or the Batarian Hegemony. What could they have done to warrant such an attack?"

"Besides using resources that could have been ours and colonizing a planet that should have been ours," Balak accused as he glared at the group. "These people are far from innocent, and they will be used to make a statement."

"A statement that says you all were stupid," Jane snapped at the batarian. "I don't know what they teach to you batarians, but I will not stand you spewing lies to suit your version of history instead of the truth."

"How dare you," Balak stammered while Jane went on the attack.

"How dare you pretend your people are innocent when it's so far from the truth!" Jane huffed as she spoke, "The Batarian Hegemony used the Attican Traverse and, to a small extent, the independent Terminus Systems to run pirate and slaving rings for your economy for centuries. All the while claiming an interest but never colonizing or claiming those worlds so you would not be officially tied to the slaving and pirate attacks that your people funded.

"That was until the Confederation Alliance of Worlds came around and started to colonize free zones of the Attican Traverse for my people and the krogans, under the Council's approval, and you didn't care. You didn't care until we discovered that the Traverse was a rich area of space and you had no idea. Therefore, you bitched and moaned about losing such territory and tried to kick us out with funded pirate and slaver attacks. Only to fail as we fought back and began draining accounts set up to fund such operations. So, you went to the Council to try to regain control, and when that didn't work, you threw a fit and left the Council. You then threw everything you had, including your own military until you pushed your economy into ruin and drove yourself into exile."

Jane sighed as she added, "You have no one to blame but yourself for what happened."

"Not to mention if there is such a thing as a reject species, it's your kind for being known as the scum of the galaxy," Trex added with amusement as Kaidan looked at Balak, hoping that did not set him off.

"Bah-ah-ah-ah… you know nothing but lies, and I'm done listening to you!" Balak responded in cold anger. "Now I'll suggest you let us go or the hostages will die."

Jane stared before she lowered her gun followed by the others, with Trex being very reluctant. "I won't stop you, but I'll promise that your end will be soon."

"Perhaps, but it won't be you because those charges are on a timer," Balak stated before he and his men backed away. "I'll suggest you get to work," Balak added before he disappeared, leaving a tensed four-man squad.

Jane seeing the danger quickly barked out orders, "Legion-VII, Kaidan, disarm the demolition charge above the hostages while Trex and I handle the demolition charge below the hostages. Will both work our way up to the middle demolition charge to be disarmed. Everyone go!"

The two teams quickly rushed to the demolition charges with their weapons out. Trex was the first to reach the bomb, and he promptly got to work on disarming the bomb while the detonator was pulsing. Jane stood guard with her M-15 Vindicator as Legion-VII and Kaidan climbed up to the bomb on the top floor. As Trex worked to disarm the bomb, Legion-VII kept Jane informed through their omni-tool communicator.

"Shepard-Commander. We were able to hack the communication's wireless to determine that we have four minutes and thirty-five seconds to disarm the demolition charge or the hostages will die. I'm sending you a timer to your hub."

"Thanks, Legion-VII," Jane stated as a timer flashed through her visor. "Have you reached the bomb yet?"

"We've reached the bomb," Kaidan reported from their comms. "Legion-VII is working to disarm it while I stand guard."

Jane hummed in agreement, as she turned to Trex as he worked his omni-tool, "How close are you to disarming the bomb?"

"I'm overriding the computer's defenses, I will soon hack its circuits, and the bomb will no longer be a threat," Trex reported as he worked in crossing its circuits.

He almost lost his concentration when his shields flare from an attack of two drones rolling down to greet them. Jane responded with a lightning bolt into the two drones, destroying them in one shot. Jane grumbled, "Cheap batarian junk," before she turned to see that batarians left additional parting gifts. "Looks like they're not bringing their varren home," Jane mumbled as she watched two varrens come rushing towards her.

Jane responded with her telekinesis to slam the two varrens together with enough force to knock them down. The two fish dogs tried to shake it off, but Jane with her M-15 Vindicator opened fire, killing the two war beasts. Jane smiled at the fishy dogs went down when she noticed that while Trex destroyed most of the drones the batarians brought, there were still enough to be a threat when combined with the number of varren war dogs the batarians brought.

"How much longer Trex?" Jane asked as she opened fire on the approaching machines.

"Done," Trex grunted as the krogan pulled out his Executioner Pistol and fired, destroying a drone in one shot at the cost of the weapon's thermal clip.

Trex smiled as he switched with his M-37 Falcon and opened fire with limited success as the drones began to spread out. Jane realized their tactics when Kaidan reported through the radio, "Commander, we have disarmed the bomb but were being pinned down by enemy drones."

"They're trying to pin us down as well to prevent us from getting to all three bombs, well I'm not about to let Balak kill these people" Jane growled.

"We'll still have time once we deal with these pests," Trex stated as he fired mine onto the ground with his omni-tool.

The mine soon exploded, taking out two varren while Jane looked over, "But that would be cutting it close, and I don't like leaving it that close." Jane then puts up her assault rifle as air swirled around her. "I'm going to take a more direct approach. Trex, cover me, and all of you try to get to me as soon as you can," Jane ordered, and her men acknowledge her orders.

Trex was laying down cover fire as Jane summoned a storm of air in her fingertips just before she shot off the ground onto the balcony that held the hostages and the second demolition charge. With a quick tap of her omni-tool, Jane began to hack into the demolition charge, keeping an eye at the time, indicating she had over three minutes to work. As she worked to cross circuits, she heard movement to her right to see a varren had slip passed Trex. The dogfish began to rush Jane, intent on feasting on the human when Jane pulled out her M-77 Paladin and opened fire.

The pistol, while weaker than the Trex's Executioner, was still more powerful per-bullet then her assault rifle. Therefore, one-shot destroyed the entire front of the varren's head as blood gushed out and spread across the floor as it fell to the ground. Jane ignored the dead varren in favor of putting up her gun to continue her work. She was so close she could feel it as she manipulated the circuitry until finally, she got the right combination, and the demolition charge was deactivated.

Jane breathed a sigh of relief until a varren appeared and jumped her. Her kinetic barrier flashed under a registered melee attack as the two fell to the ground. Jane began to fight the varren off when she saw a second at the corner of her eye, approaching like a pack of wolves working together to take down a stronger target. Jane was tensed as the varren moved on the attack when an electrically charged omni-blade went through the varren, killing it.

Jane never felt so happy when Legion-VII's cloak dispersed to reveal the cavalry had arrived. The varren on top of her found out the hard way when it was dispatched by Kaidan's biotic push as it flew right into Trex's axe. It was dead in the first strike as the krogan cleaved the beast in two. With the brutal animal dead, Jane pushed herself off the ground as she examined the field to see that the battle was officially over.

"That's it, we're done," Jane commented as Trex pressed a button to cause his helmet to unfold into his armor to show off his grin on his burnt face, along with a three-point, green skull.

Trex was glad to be rid of the helmet as he brown eyes looked for contacts with his comrades as he grinned, "Ah, and I was looking forward to evening more explosions. Oh well, there is always the next time."

"Glad you're looking at the upside Trex," Jane smiled before she turned to Kaidan to give out a few orders. "Kaidan, let's get the hostages out."

"You've got it, Commander," Kaidan acknowledge as his helmet unfolded off his slick, combed black hair and creased forehead.

With a tap of his omni-tool, the door unlocked within the building, and the dozen of hostages coming out, giving their thanks as Jane's team helped them out. All accept a brown-headed woman who had the nametag that read 'Kate Bowman.' Jane knew something was off as she approached in tears, "I can't believe you let Balak go, to save us. I had expected you to let us die. To sacrifice the few for the many, just as I had when…"

"When you wouldn't give us up for the man Balak held as a hostage," Jane stated.

"Yes…" Kate Bowman cried. "My brother was so stubborn. Always doing what was right, and now you let his killer go to save us."

"If I didn't do that, then I would be no better than the batarians," Jane told the young woman. "Besides, Balak is not going to get far. Knowing my brother, Balak is not going to leave this rock alive if he has anything to say about it."

Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Asteroid X-57 over Terra Nova/HMS Soulless

Time: February 1, 2183

Far away from the main facility, Balak and his surviving crew drove up to a triangle and oval shape ship, the HMS Soulless. A Batarian corvette that served as a long-range carrier that had snuck passed the CRF. Balak was smug as he walked down the halls while his men strapped into their seats. He was heading to the cockpit to tell the pilot to lift-off not noticing the small amount of blood on the floor as he entered the cockpit.

"Okay, it's time to get off of this ape infested…" Balak started as the pilot quickly turned to face him and stick a standard semi-automatic human riffle, the M-96 Mattock in his face.

A common riffle held by a not so ordinary human as it was a tall, muscular human in black, heavy armor with blue stripes along the chest and right arm. A human he recognized with his unshaven face, strong chin and cheekbones, and the broad forehead that made him tremble. Especially the human's eyes, his blue, cold, steely eyes behind the glowing orange visor. The last sight he ever saw as the human, John Shepard, opened fire at a close enough range to bypass his shields.

Balak fell to the ground, dead as all four of his eyes were pulverized from the powerful, semi-automatic rifle's polonium rounds. That was the only warning Balak's men had when vines shot out from their seats and wrapped around the batarians. They were frantic as an elf in green armor with a cape that had a mask made out of roots stood before them. They stared at the short, dirty blonde-haired person, whose hair was tied in a court style completed with a tattoo and green visor over her round, thin face now with a frown on it.

They were scared, as she did not have her bladed staff or the multi-shot, highly accurate N7 Valiant sniper rifle, but rather a bulky, rapid-fire N7 Eagle with the power amplifier that amplifies biotic and mage powers. However, they were not as afraid of the female elf that held them in place as they were of the male human who walked in, wielding N7 Eagle and M-12 Locust, a slick submachine gun that is an accurate and powerful weapon, both of which were equipped with a power amplifier.

A few mumbled, "The Shadow's Strategist," for his planning that saved the Elysium colony during the Skyllian.

The majority of batarians mumbled in fear, "The Butcher of Torfan," due to horror stories of the human that slaughtered everyone at Torfan.

John did not pay attention as he turned to face the female elf, "Good job, Lieutenant Commander Velanna O'Connell. Looks like we got some batarian soldiers to deliver to the CID, they'll be pleased."

"Thank you, sir," Velanna saluted as her superior turned to the captured batarians.

"Now then, I'm Captain John Shepard if you don't know. I doubt you wouldn't know my real name since I'm used by the Batarian Hegemony as a bogeyman to propitiate its propaganda of fear outside Batarian Space," John stated before he waved his dual weapons at the batarians. "Regardless, you should know I'm a ruthless renegade within the famous First Battalion. So you should consider telling me if there are anymore batarians on this rock before I turn you over to the authority, or I start shooting some of you at random and leaving the rest of you for the authorities."

The batarians, who were usually strong-willed, where not adequately trained to deal with emotionally draining spells in the entropy that Velanna deployed. It would not be long before the youngest of the batarian elite soldiers broke, "We're all that's left, and we would have died as well if Balak did not have hostages."

"My sister let you go?" John asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes…" the batarian nervously answered the Captain.

John responded with a sigh as he put up his guns, "Looks like I'm going to have a talk with Commander Jane Shepard. Not that will matter to you, as the authorities will be here soon, so, goodbye."

John then got up, ready to leave when a batarian called, "You've thought this is the end, but it is not. You may have stopped the will of the Batarian People, but there are others that will ensure you upstarts will get what you deserve."

"So you did have help," John stated with a curious expression.

"It was a very powerful individual with influence across the galaxy. An individual who agrees with us that your kind is becoming too powerful for their own good," the batarian smirked as John raised an eyebrow.

"I don't suppose you would tell me who?" John asked as silence was John's only answer as he shrugged his shoulders, "I guess it doesn't matter. I'm sure the CID will get it out of you soon. Velanna, I believe this is the time for them to sleep."

Velanna grinned as she worked her powers to force the batarians to sleep. Within moments, all of their heads slumped before she even uttered the word, "Sleep."

With the batarians down, Velanna moved to John's side as the boxy Kodak Type B shuttlecraft appeared outside of the vehicle, as its thruster lowering it down from the four at the bottom, two flexible armed thrusters in front and two in back. Velanna turned to see the holographic screen in front of her superior communicate with the pilot, a purple and white geth with a single large white eye and four smaller ones around it.

"We'll meet you outside and rendezvous with our sister Ensign Aviation-1971," John ordered, and the geth nodded in response.

"Acknowledge," the geth had responded as communication was cut while John put on his helmet.

"Come on, we've got a stupid sister to collect," John ordered as Velanna nodded her head.

"Yes sir," Velanna stated, though John did not seem to acknowledge as the two left the craft towards the shuttlecraft as a small fleet of Confederation personal and ships went to take the batarians into custody. The two would leave the batarians to their fate as John headed to confront his sister.

Location: Exodus Cluster/Asgard System/Asteroid X-57 over Terra Nova/Main Facility

Human Date: February 1, 2183

Within the Main Facility, Jane Shepard was giving Kate Bowman some good news about Balak she received through wireless transmissions. Kate Bowman cried in relief as justice for her, and her fellow colonist memories were realized. Jane was in good spirits when she felt a tap on the back of her armor. She turned to see it was John was right behind her.

"Ah, we were just talking about you being the hero of the day," Jane smiled before she turned to the woman sitting with her. "This is my brother I was talking about, the one that took care of Balak."

Kate Bowman got up to thank the man who killed her torturer, "Thank you, Captain, for making sure a monster like Balak will never harm anyone else."

"A pleasure I'm sure," John stated as he quickly brushed the woman aside to address his true target. "Commander Shepard, can you come with me. We have much to discuss."

Jane reluctantly nodded to follow her brother to a secluded place, already have a feeling what it is going to be about. John did not waste a second to tear his sister a new one, "What were you thinking, Commander Jane Shepard!? Letting Balak go! He could have escaped if I wasn't on his ship!"

"I knew you were looking for the batarians ships to make sure he wouldn't leave, so I let him go to save the hostages," Jane told him, as he looked less unhappy about the answer until Jane opened her mouth. "Though if you weren't here, I would still let him go."

"Why?" John bluntly asked his subordinate. "Why would you risk the chance of Balak escaping to cause more pain in the future?"

"Because it's like I told Kate Bowman. If I let those people die, I would be no better than the batarians," Jane smiled her small, innocent smile that made John shake his head.

John sighed as he stated, "You know I can't always be there to clean up your messes."

"Maybe so," Jane admitted, "but at least I'll sleep better knowing I did everything I could to save these people rather than allow them to die for what would be considered to be the easy path. Something Velanna and Sarah can relate to for if it weren't for our grandmother's sacrifice, they wouldn't be here."

"Yes, and it only cost a large portion of Alice McCoy's unit," John stated just before his omni-tool communication beep. "Let's see how long your naivety will last when you have your own command," John added before he activated his communication. "This is Captain John Shepard speaking."

"Captain, this is Specialist Sinclair relaying orders that you return to the ship immediately for our next assignment."

"So soon? What could it be?" Jane asked for her brother.

"We are going to rendezvous to a nearby cluster to pick up a Citadel Council's Citizen for a joint mission. Details will be done on a more secure channel," Sarah stated over the communicators.

"In other words, face to face," John had mumbled while Jane's hand wandered over his omni-tool.

"Okay Sarah, we'll be there. Jane signing out," Jane stated as she pressed a button that deactivated her brother's omni-tool. Alone, Jane turned to ask, "Well shall we go, big brother."

John nodded in agreement, "Yes, I think we shall," just as he left the room, followed by his little sister.

Location: Undisclosed

Human Date: February 3, 2183

Within a dark ship that resembled a squid mixed with a crawfish's shell and legs stood two batarians with a dark structure that seemed alive despite the fact it was a machine. The ship was a dark living presence that seemed to want to swallow them whole just for being there. As if the ship was not enough to set them on edge, the two stood in front of a man covered in shadows. Whose features were not human nor were they beast. But acted as one as the batarians shuddered as they approached the man to give their reports.

"As you may have heard, the attack on the human colony Terra Nova had failed," the batarian nervously swallowed. "The entire cluster is in a frenzy looking for all the ships involved, and we lost a large portion of our black ops in the area. I think that our joint operation has failed."

The figure chuckled in a commanding tone as he stated, "Oh the operation did not fail. In fact, it went exactly as planned."

"What?" one of the batarians asked as the figure continued to chuckle.

"Quite frankly, you batarians are failures at just about everything, and I knew you would fail," the figure answered with a raised talon. "In fact, I was counting on it to distract the entire defense force of the Exodus Cluster to look for your men to ensure the next step of the operation would go smoothly."

"You used loyal men and woman of the Batarian Hegemony as bait!" exclaimed both batarians at the thin figure.

"Yes and now that I think about it. Your services are no longer required," the figure whistled out into the shadows to summon a horde of hideous creatures in dark organic armor with organic looking weapons.

Creatures one batarian recognized as she stammered, "Darkspawn."

"Yes, the darkspawn, the very creatures that had invaded Earth through dilithium introduce rips that killed billions on the human's homeworld. They will be the perfect weapon for what is to come. Something you two would be contributing to the wave of destruction that will save the whole galaxy," the figure stated that sent chills down their spines not as much as the figure's next set of orders.

"Send those two to the broodmothers! We could always use more batarian darkspawn," the figure added as a forethought as the two batarians were dragged down to the lower chambers kicking and screaming.

They were soon out of sight as a single grunt darkspawn set up. The corrupted human looking darkspawn with fanged like lips spoke in grunts that the figure understood, "So the Confederation's Fleet is on rotation. Excellent, then move the fleets. Its time too attack now!"

The darkspawn nodded as they went to their posts to prepare for the attack that was to come as a large fleet of old ships covered in organic armor flew right behind the great squid to a giant Mass Relay. A relay with rings inside, an oval-shaped end began to rapidly spin as blue lightning shot out to the ships to fling them across its two prongs into Faster than Light travel (FTL). They were heading to their designation for their first in a long series of dangerous campaigns.

Location: Exodus Cluster/Utopia System/Over Eden Prime/CSS Kebel

Human Date: February 3, 2183

Over the lush, green world known as Eden Prime stood a heavily armed space station, defense satellites and a small fleet of eight ships, two Liberty class cruisers, one Genesis class heavy frigate, one Garden class heavy frigate, two Terra class frigates, and two Zen class frigates. Of the frigates classes, the Genesis and Terra class frigates were human-based delta shape starships with a long gun neck at the front, while the Garden and Zen class frigates were quarian base gunships with long bodies and a ring head. Both of which designs were added into the Liberty class cruisers, the bases of Confederation ships with its delta shape body with four engines at the round geth bulky ship body, and a long neck with a closed ring at the front.

Leading this small fleet was the CSS Kebel; a Liberty class cruiser commanded by a krogan named Captain Cruok, a massive krogan who was enjoying a stiff drink as his subordinate reported, "Sir nothing on scanners. It's very quiet as always."

"Of course it is, nothing ever exciting happens on this garden world for non-combatants," the Captain groaned. "I would love to go after the batarian scum that decided to attack us."

The bridge crew began to chuckle when a geth at communication started to pick up something wrong, "Cruok-Captain. Sensors at the relay report an active transmit coming from the relay."

"Well, who is it?" the Captain asked.

"Unknown," the geth reported in its clicking, mechanical voice. "All communications are down, and our units are now being jammed."

Captain Cruok knew what that meant as he pressed the intercom to yell, "We're under attack, all ships battle stations!" The Captain then turned off the comm so he could direct his forces. "Move our ships into battle positions and get the grid acti-"

"Cruok-Captain, ground team units report that there is a virus introduced into the systems, deactivating our space satellites and some of the ground emplacements. We've had limited planetary support," the geth reported to his commander. "The enemy must have hacked into the communication satellites at the relay to deliver the virus."

"Sir, several enemy units are going to be dropping out of FTL within a light second right about, now," one of Cruok's officers reported.

The Captain watched slack-jawed, as dozens of older ships appeared on his screen that sensors profiled as an old class of vessels, mostly fighters and frigates made from parts taken from a dozen races with a high amount of radiation seeping from the hull and with organic armor. However, the Captain was more concerned about the largest ship he had ever seen. A ship that was over two kilometers long and one their ship's sensors had no profile, it was the squid/crawfish like a ship with a long gun. A gun he had a right to fear, as he watched the approaching invasion force.

"My god," one of the bridge crewmembers muttered as the Captain quickly collected his thoughts.

The Captain was quick to yell out, "Launch fighters and all ships get into medium range and open…" until the squid enemy ship opened fire with its eight tentacles, all of which turned out to be guns.

The weapons fired long beams of hot molten streams of slag that generated enough heat to simulate plasma as it's lashed out at the small Confederation Alliance fleet. Within seconds, all frigates were destroyed, followed by the heavy frigates ten seconds later. Only the cruisers survived the twenty seconds long attack, though not without scars as a long gash mark along the ship's hull. The bridge looked like a war zone as the crew held onto their seats for dear life, even with the seat belts.

The Captain stared in shock as the crew read out the damage reports, "Shields are at sixty percent and hull breach along decks three through five. All gun placements on our dorsal side are damaged, except our PPC (Particle Plasma Cannons). Power is slightly fluctuating, and we have casualties reported."

"Sir, enemy ships are entering medium range," a bridge crewmember reported.

"Then open fire with mass effect and PPC weapons, as well as prepare for ramming speed!" the Captain ordered as he coughed out blood. "If we're going to die, well take as many of them with us as we can."

The two cruisers quickly complied with the krogans orders as they fired at once with mass effect bullets from their surviving broadside cannons while the main Thanix cannon fired off disruptor torpedoes every five seconds, killing frigates in their third or fourth shot. The projectile weapons were going a sixth the speed of light as they rammed into ships, causing damage by the widespread of fire. A prolog to their death as the ships fired their reddish blue colored, duo particle plasma beams killing two cruisers while the mass accelerated weapons continued to fire.

Watching the sixth enemy frigate explode, the Captain was about to order ramming speed when a bridge crewmember yells out, "Captain, the enemy dreadnaught is turning towards and charging its main cannon. Oh god… it's about to fire."

Captain Cruok, seeing the enemy facing his two cruisers stood up to say, "It's was an honor serving with you all, and it is a good day to die."

The last words the bridge crew would ever hear as a powerful, long stream of molten slag shot out of the main gun with more power than any ship had ever seen in the Galaxy. The blast went right through the two Liberty Class cruisers with such intensity that it melted the ship's Solaris armor within seconds. The beam went through the vessel just before the ship exploded into ribbons. The very air exploded, causing a chain reaction that went to every part exploding fuel, munitions and its elemental zero drive core. All that was left was rubble as the beam continued and hit the station. The station was saved by its thicker armor and kinetic barrier, but it was still knocked into a higher orbit, and the hull was breached in the upper level.

Nothing stopped the invasion as the fleet headed to the planet as the organic ship led the charge as it was followed by another organic vessel. Though with a long cylinder body with biological parts in front of its beam weapon and large engine in its back. Eden Prime was going to be the beginning of a long war.

Finally done with my longest chapter, I hope you enjoy and please review to give me your opinion. Also, hope you like the story has two different Shepards. With Jane being the fun-loving, naive woman that is able to rally troops and acts like a paragon of strength during battle, while John is a brilliant tactician that is a cold, calculating person that acts like a renegade.

Author's Note

A) Codex is in a separate story for enjoyment. Please read it if you like the Mass Effect Codex for story changes, and if you have already read it, please note I made a few edits and additions including a new class of mech, like the Atlas Mark II.

B) Style Notes:

Lowercase species name (asari): species

Uppercase Species Name (Asari): Species Specific Government

"Quotes": Communication Face to Face

"Bold Quotes": Dark Echoing Communication Face to Face

"Italic Quotes": Communication Done Through Non-Face to Face Transmission

"Bold Italic Quotes": Telepathic Communication

Characters Stats

Name and Rank: Rear Admiral David Anderson (N7)

Species: human

Class: Commando (soldier)

Special: pyro omni-tool attack

Melee Weapon: flaming omni-blade

Grenades: inferno grenades

Kinetic Weapons: M96 Mattock, M77-Paladin, N7 Valiant, & ML-77 Missile Launcher

Ammo: inferno rounds

Next

Name and Rank: Captain John Shepard (N7)

Species: human

Class: Sentinel (biotic)

Special: can make additional biotic slam attacks

Melee Weapon: dual omni-blades

Grenades: polonium grenades

Kinetic Weapons: M-96 Mattock (high-velocity barrel and thermal scope), N7 Eagle (power magnifier), & M-12 Locust (power magnifier)

Ammo: polonium rounds

Next

Name and Rank: Commander Jane Shepard (N7)

Species: human

Class: Balance Psychic Knight (mage)

Special: can do liquid (water) spells

Melee Weapon: monomolecular bladed short sword and tomahawk

Grenades: cryo grenades

Kinetic Weapons: M-15 Vindicator (stability damper), M-77 Paladin, & M-22 Eviscerator

Ammo: particle plasma rounds

Next

Name and Rank: Lieutenant Commander Velanna O'Connell (N7)

Species: elf

Class: Entropy Magician (mage)

Special: power derives from a desire demon and can do plant spells

Melee Weapon: monomolecular bladed staff

Grenades: vine grenades

Kinetic Weapons: N7 Eagle (power amplifier) & N7 Valliant

Ammo: energy leach rounds

Next

Name and Rank: Lieutenant 1st Class Kaidan Alenko (N6)

Species: human

Class: Sentinel (biotic)

Melee Weapon: dual omni-blade

Grenades: lift grenades

Kinetic Weapons: N7 Valkyrie, N7 Eagle, & N7 Crusader

Ammo: cryo rounds

Next

Name and Rank: Lieutenant 2nd Class Legion-VII (N5)

Species: geth

Class: Infiltrator (tech)

Melee Weapon: electrical omni-gauntlet

Grenades: arc grenades

Kinetic Weapons: Geth Pulse Rifle (stability), Javelin (heavy barrel & thermal scope), & Geth Plasma SMG (heat sink upgrade)

Ammo: cryo rounds

Next

Name and Rank: Lieutenant 2nd Class Raik, Trex (N5)

Species: krogan

Class: Demolitionist (soldier)

Melee Weapon: monomolecular bladed battle-axe

Grenades: inferno, polonium, & sticky grenade

Kinetic Weapons: M-37 Falcon (stability damper) Executioner Pistol (heavy barrel), N7 Piranha (Omni-blade), & ML-77 Missile Launcher

Ammo: explosive rounds