A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a prodigal knight ventured to unexplored worlds.

Thirty years later, he found himself lost in a foreign world amongst dozens of galactic species. Little does he know that this undaunting universe was overshadowed by a dark past; Reapers, a sentient race of machines responsible for cleansing the galaxy of all Organic life every 50,000 years, are about to return. The leaders of this strange galaxy are paralyzed by indecision, unable to accept the legend of the Reapers as fact. But one soldier has seen the legend come to life.

And now, the fate of the galaxy depends on the meeting of the Prodigal Knight and the Shepard.

~…~

It was quiet.

It was dark.

All was still but the drifting husk of a once proud ship. The ship, what Anderson thought to be some sort of custom built fighter was gliding smoothly through a belt of debris, almost as if guided by an unseen angel. The debris, left over from a certain commander's adventures to a Batarian system, were being pushed away before they could come into contact with the drifter. There were no decals on the exterior of the drifter, thus deciding its affiliation was impossible. Anderson assumed they'd been scratched off, if there had been any to begin with.

"Admiral Anderson, we're picking up an incredibly faint distress signal coming from the drifter."

The Admiral turned to the much younger lieutenant Kespin who stood at attention.

"Impossible. That ship is hardly a few hundred yards away from us. Even if that distress signal was on our crowded frequencies, we'd have picked it up long before it drifted this close."

"That's the problem Admiral. It's not on any of our frequencies; it's broadcasting on a wave similar to the ones we found in the Prothean cache on Mars. But we only knew to check that frequency because of Lieutenant Price."

The Admiral pivoted and walked the length of the ship's catwalk, backtracking to the CIC.

"And Price figured this out how?"

"Well sir, this might sound crazy, but since you're so close to Commander Shepard, we thought you might understand; Price said when he first saw the ship, he was shown visions. He claimed to see that ship running from something giant, something menacing. Price thinks it's a Reaper sir."

"If a Reaper had come in contact with that single seat fighter, it'd be dust drifting through space."

"Price says it was some sort of Mass Effect field protecting the ship from the Reaper, but not a field like we've ever seen - probably an advanced Asari technique."

The Admiral and the Lieutenant used the elevator to reach the shuttle bay, where a team were reeling the cruiser in to be inspected. Three heavy set officers were operating a crane that guided the ship into the Normandy's hull. The ship crashed onto the shuttle bay floor hard enough to send lieutenant Kespin to the ground. Anderson was right, any sort of insignia was completely scratched out; only they were taken out methodically.

Purposefully.

"Can we crack open that glass?" Anderson gestured to one of the three officers.

The officer returned with a small tool that he lowered to the glass of the cruiser which dispensed a bright flare. Once the window of the cockpit was cracked and glowing red, the three of them worked together to split it open.

A robed figure sat inside the drifter.

He wore a mask.

~…~

Shepard touched the reinforced glass with a calloused hand and wiped her steamy breath from it. She looked to the ground and tightened her eye lips. How much time had she lost being in this cage? Six months? Shepard looked back up through the window to the gardens of Vancouver as kids jumping about and playing with model ships. Shepard took note of a particular child, one whom she'd noticed running around the station when she was meeting with Hackett not too long ago. He wore a white jacket and his hair was cut short. He was cute. As children so often do, they found something hidden to Shepard that peaked their interest, and they ran off. Shepard looked away and sighed.

As if on cue, the door to his room opened and in walked the epitome of human body building.

"Commander." James saluted Shepard as he did just about every day.

"You're not supposed to me that anymore James."

"I'm not supposed to salute you either." James had downplayed Shepard's warning as he handed her a datapad. "We got to go. The Defense Committee wants to see you."

"Sounds important."

Shepard threw the datapad onto her bed and followed James Vega. All throughout the building, people were bumping into each other and hurrying to catch elevators, Shepard realized. Something wasn't right, and she had noticed the lack of interest people took in her, a stark contrast than what she'd noted people doing while being grounded in Vancouver.

Shepard caught up to Vega, "What's going on?"

Vega replied with an indifferent face, "Couldn't say. Just told me they needed you… now."

Nothing else was said between the two as they reached a fork in the halls. Shepard slowed to a stop and Vega did too when he noticed.

"Something wrong?"

Shepard ignored the question and smiled at the approaching figure, one she'd hoped would have visited sooner.

"Anderson." She called out.

"Admiral." Vega saluted.

Anderson dropped his stern demeanor and returned Shepard's smile.

"You look good Shepard. Maybe a little soft around the edges." He patted Shepard's midsection to which Shepard gave the Admiral a raised eyebrow.

Anderson joined her as they marched through the halls of the Alliance Headquarters with Vega following behind.

"How are you holding up since being relieved of duty?"

"It's not so bad," she sighed, "once you get used to the hot food and soft beds."

"We'll get it sorted out." Anderson responded with his own dry humor.

"What's going on, why is everyone in such a hurry?"

"Admiral Hackett is mobilizing the fleets. I'm guessing word's made it to Alliance Command… something big is heading our way."

Shepard stopped as Admiral walked up the flight of steps. Once noticing Shepard wasn't following, he turned back to him.

"The Reapers?"

"We don't know. Not for certain."

"Well what else could it be?"

"If I knew that…"

"But you know we're not ready if it is them. Not by a long shot."

"Tell that to the defense committee."

Anderson and Shepard continued up the stairwell, Vega in tow as well.

"Unless we're planning to talk the Reapers to death, the committee is a waste of time."

"They're just scared Shepard. None of them have seen what you've seen. You faced down a Reaper. Hell, you spoke to one and then blew the damned thing up. You've seen how they harvest us, what they plan to do to us. You know more about this enemy than anyone."

The trio passed a long window and Shepard looked for a moment, trying to find the boy in the white jacket again, but he didn't seem to be playing there anymore.

"That why they grounded me? Took away my ship?"

Anderson stopped and shoved a dark wrinkly finger in Shepard's assuming face.

"You know that's not true. When you blew up the Batarian Relay, hundreds of thousands of Batarian's died!"

"It was that or let the Reapers walk through our backdoors."

"I know that Shepard, and so does the Committee. If not for that, you'd have been court-martialed and left to rot in the brig."

"That and your good word?"

"Yea, I trust you Shepard, and so does the Committee."

"I'm just a soldier Anderson, I'm no politician."

Anderson resumed his march and Shepard fell in sync.

"I don't need you to be either." Anderson said as he cocked his head so Shepard could hear." I just need you to do whatever the hell it takes to help us stop the Reapers."

The three made it to a desk just outside the Committee's office and Lieutenant Kespin came forward, toting a datapad and some personal effects.

"They're expecting you two, Admiral."

Kespin gestured for the two to follow and they did accordingly. Vega grabbed Shepard by her shoulder and extended his hand. Shepard's much smaller hand fit into his like a Turian in Krogan armor, she thought.

"Good luck in there Commander." James said to her to which Shepard nodded.

A tall and toned, black haired woman stopped before them.

"Anderson." She said, "Shepard?"

Shepard looked back to her and squinted, as if trying to fix her eyes on a ghost.

"Ashley?"

"Lieutenant Commander. How did it go in there?" Anderson ignored their pleasantries.

"You know how it goes, I can never tell with them. Right now I'm just waiting for orders."

"Lieutenant Commander?" Shepard turned the words around in her mouth with her tongue, trying to twist it so it felt comfortable.

"You hadn't heard?" Anderson asked.

"No, I hadn't."

"Sorry Shepard." Ashley hung her head. "It's been… well…"

"It's alright. I'm just glad I got to bump into you."

"Likewise."

"Admiral." Kespin reminded them of the urgent meeting with the Committee.

"Alright. Let's go Shepard."

As they walked away, Vega approached Ash.

"You know the commander?"

"I used to."

~…~

A strong bunch of 8 individuals sat around a wide table, looking over data they'd been given about their current predicament when Lieutenant Kespin walked into the room and guided Anderson and Shepard to the middle.

"Admiral Anderson. Shepard." The Committee addressed them in their monotone and indifferent speech.

"What's the situation?" Shepard started the meeting off by playing the ball in her court.

"We were… hoping you could tell us."

An older woman on the opposite side of the table spoke up with the same voice as the one before.

"The reports coming are unlike anything we've seen before. Whole colonies have gone dark. We've lost contact with anything beyond the Sol Relay."

"Whatever is it, it's incomprehensibly powerful."

Shepard handed back the datapad given to her by Lieutenant Kespin and pointed an accusing finger at the council.

"You brought me here to confirm what you already know. The Reapers are here."

The many council members began to franticly whisper to each other about inquiries and solutions until the older woman spoke again, this time Shepard noted there was a bit of desperation in her tone.

"Then… how do we stop them?"

Shepard laughed condescendingly. "Stop them? This isn't about strategy or tactics. This is about survival. The Reapers are more advanced than we are, more powerful. More intelligent even. They don't fear and they certainly don't pity us."

"But there must be some way!" Another council member shouted.

Shepard eyed every single person in the room, from the council, to Anderson and Kespin before beginning her pace across the length of their desk.

"If we're going to have any chance at surviving this, we'll have to stick together."

"That's it? That's our plan?!"

Kespin gasped and turned to the Admiral.

"Anderson sir, we've lost contact with Luna Base!"

"The moon? They couldn't be that close already…"

"How… how did they get past our defenses?" the elderly woman was now tearing up.

"I'm receiving a visual from UK Headquarters."

Kespin patched UK through, and they turned to face the screen on the opposite wall of the council. The screen flickered to life and a man in what Shepard guessed to be his 30's tried to speak over roaring fires and deafening explosion. As soon as it started, it ended with a black screen and big white letters, 'Signal loss'.

The screen redirected to the Alliance News Network, where multiple feeds of cities and military bases being attacked by giant machines that seemed to just rain down from the sky were shown in a cruel montage.

"Why haven't we heard from Admiral Hackett?" Anderson asked Shepard.

"What do we do?" a desperate council member urged.

Shepard looked to the screen and back before making a beeline to the council members table.

"The only thing we can. We fight, or we die."

The council hung their heads in hopeless thought. Shepard felt Anderson's hand on her shoulder. "We should get to the Normandy."

Just as they began to walk to the door, they noticed a quick transition from sunny skies to clouds, and thundering bangs and booms coming from outside. Slowly, the council walked to the window to investigate. Shepard followed soon behind.

"Oh my god…" the council woman whispered.

Eight, maybe a dozen of the machines they had just witnessed attacking across the globe on the screen were dropping right outside their room, some even attacking before hitting the ground. A strong beam of light radiated from one of the closer machines mid-section and made its way to the council meeting room.

"Move! MOVE!" Shepard hollered as she ran to the door.

There was no time.