The three black-armoured figures fell from a high height, seemingly to their deaths. Far from it, in fact. At the last moment, all three shifted to land on their feet with a dull thud.

Each person was different in their own way. One was of medium height and build, his armour plain and unadorned apart from a few circular orange lights on the softer parts of the suit. He held himself like a soldier should, straight and strong, though there was a wariness and nervousness about him.

The second man was taller than the first, his armour even plainer than the first man's. He was grinning inside the helmet he wore, and low chuckles escaped him every now and again.

The third figure, the leader, was smaller than all three, standing at maybe 5'8" if not less. The contours of the chest-plate made it obvious that the person was a woman, but she too held herself like a soldier. Her armour was a dull grey-black, but it had a large red stripe on the arms. The stripe was repeated on her helmet.

"Weapons ready," the woman told the other two, reaching to her left side and grabbing her sidearm.

Wordlessly, the two men copied the gesture, though the taller of the two reached behind him for a shotgun rather than for his sidearm.

"Smells like smoke and death," the shorter man commented, grimacing.

"I'm just glad this isn't a basic shakedown run," the other soldier smiled. "Finally, some action!"

"Calm down, Jenkins," the leader remarked, her voice all business. "This isn't just any job."

Jenkins' face fell. "Sorry, ma'am."

The trio walked on until they reached a small plain adorned with large stones. The leader and the shorter man stayed behind the stones, their faces set. Jenkins, meanwhile, stood out in plain sight, looking around.

There was a slight buzzing sound.

Jenkins blinked and spun on his heels, the shotgun held lazily in his hands. He heard the buzzing again, coming from the forest nearby. To his horror, he saw three purple drones with blue eyes zooming in. They had small guns trained on him. "Contact!" he shouted to the leader and his ally.

It was the last thing he ever said.

The drones fired on him, riddling him with bullets. Acting on reflex, the other two opened fire on them, taking down two of them. The man lowered his pistol and held out a hand. The hand became enveloped in a blue light, and he launched his hand forward, sending a bolt of the light at the third drone. It sputtered and squeaked before joining the other two machines on the ground, dead.

Holstering her pistol, the leader walked sadly over to Jenkins. Blood surrounded his still form, and his hard-suit was littered with bullet holes. She knelt beside him and pulled his helmet off, revealing his shocked face and short-cut brown hair. She ran her hand over his face, closing his eyes in the old gesture to put the departed at rest.

The man knelt beside her, his face sad but flat, a soldier's trained response to a comrade's death. "He was a good man."

"We can give him proper burial later, Kaidan," the leader muttered quietly, also saddened by Jenkins' demise. "For now, we need to move."

Kaidan nodded silently. "Aye, Commander."

The two soldiers walked on, into the forest the drones had come from. The Commander turned once to look back at the still form of Jenkins. Steeling her resolve, she turned back and followed Kaidan onwards.

After reaching another clearing beyond the forest, they found a somewhat familiar sight. A woman in white and pink armour was using a heavy pistol – a Carnifex hand-cannon, seemingly – fighting off what could only be called a monstrosity.

It was tall, taller than any human could ever be. It had cables and wires that looked like muscle and sinew all along its legs and arms. It had a white exoskeleton, and one optic that glowed a light blue, the same light that emanated from the drones that had killed Jenkins moments before.

The Commander couldn't believe her eyes. It was a Geth.

"Kaidan, Overload!" she shouted.

"On it!" the man responded, bringing up his left arm. A contraption made entirely of a dull orange light appeared on it. Kaidan typed in a code on the device before thrusting it at the Geth. The synthetic shuddered and growled angrily, marching towards Kaidan.

A massive hole appeared in its head.

Smirking, the Commander vented her sniper rifle and replaced it on her back as the gun condensed into a small package.

The white-armoured woman stood up and pulled off her helmet. She had tan skin, and her dark hair was tied into a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

"Are you alright?" the Commander asked.

"I'm fine, thanks to you," the soldier replied. "I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. "And you are…?"

"My name's…" the other woman started.

"Contact right!" Kaidan interrupted, grabbing his pistol.

The two women instantly pulled out their own sidearms, following the gaze of the man.

Four Geth were marching into the area, wielding shotguns and assault rifles. Quick shots from Ashley and Kaidan took one of the synthetics down, while the Commander fired multiple times on a second. The gun clicked empty and she growled. "Dammit! I've overheated!"

Kaidan and Ashley grimaced and shared a look, indicating that they had too. The Commander pulled out her assault rifle, knowing that her other two weapons – her sniper rifle and shotgun – would do nothing right now. Her shots seemed to bounce off the Geth, as a dull blue field came into view.

A small spherical device rolled from a nearby spot and stopped at the feet of one of the Geth. Almost curious, the synthetic bent down to look at the thing.

There was a rapid beeping.

"Grenade!" Ashley shouted, running behind a rock formation.

The Commander and Kaidan dived toward a similar set of stones.

The grenade exploded, sending the top half of one of the Geth flying, leaving the legs nearby. The second synthetic growled and looked around, searching for what had left the explosive device there.

A figure ran behind the thing and fired a single pistol shot into the back of its head. The explosion had clearly shattered the Geth's shields, as the shot went through the plating, white fluid – the Geth equivalent of blood – spraying everywhere. The synthetic fell with a thud.

Ashley looked beyond her cover and gasped as she looked behind the figure. "Look out!"

The person clearly didn't need the warning, as he shot the threat – the now-legless Geth – through the blue optic.

Kaidan whistled. "Impressive."

Silently, the Commander agreed.

The trio stood up and walked over to the figure to see more.

It was a man in his late twenties or early thirties, though he looked a little older. He carried himself like a soldier, and he wore grey clothes that had a slightly militaristic look about them. His face was vaguely handsome, though the effect was soured by prominent scars on his brow and chin. His brown hair was short-cut and dishevelled, and his eyes were a light brown.

"Who the hell are you?" Ashley demanded of him. "And how did you learn to do that? More importantly, how the hell did you get grenades?"

The man looked at her; his gaze wasn't hostile, but it was a little unsettling. "That's a nice way to say 'thanks' to the man who saved your arses," he replied sarcastically. He spoke with an Australian accent.

Kaidan recognised the accent and his eyebrows furrowed. "You're from the Oceania Coalition, aren't you?"

The man grinned. "I was, a long time ago." He looked at the Commander. "Gotta say, though, you did well against those synthetic pieces of shit. Who are you?"

The woman pulled off her helmet to look at him. She had red hair that stopped at her shoulders, and her green eyes burned with compassion and determination at the same time. She had a small scar on her brow. She was definitely pretty, but she definitely carried herself like any other warrior would. "I'm Commander Talia Shepard of the SSV Normandy. Alliance military." She looked at Kaidan behind her. "This is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, a friend from the Normandy." Now she indicated Ashley. "And this is…"

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of Eden Prime, I know," the man interrupted. "I do live here, you know. Besides, not many people in the entire galaxy have white and pink armour, let alone here."

Ashley's eyebrow shot up. "Is that a shot or something?"

He laughed. "I'm just pointing out a fact." He looked at Shepard. "So, Commander Shepard, eh? Aren't you the one who earned the Star of Terra for what you did on Elysium?"

Shepard nodded. "I was just doing my job, though."

"That's what they all say, at first," he replied cynically. "Well, I should make introductions of my own." He holstered his pistol. "My names Damian Proctor, though they used to call me 'Huntsman'."

Kaidan's eyes widened as he pulled off his helmet. "You're Huntsman?"

"You don't have to sound so shocked," Damian smirked, before walking over to a nearby spire. It was massive, a silvery-white, and was surmounted by – gruesomely – an impaled human colonist. "Dragon's Teeth," he growled. "The Geth use these things for something, it changes the victims. I'm not exactly sure what it does, but I've heard it's horrible." He turned back to the trio, his face grim. "The odd thing is that this isn't Geth technology, and it sure as hell isn't Quarian. Nobody knows who invented these things. All we know is they were sick sons-of-bitches."

"Back up," Ashley muttered. "Can we go back to the fact that you're an Alliance war hero?"

Damian rolled his eyes. "Can we do this when the threat of imminent death isn't hanging over our heads?"

Shepard crossed her arms. "Do either of you two know why the Geth would come here? They hadn't been seen in two hundred years before now."

"Maybe it was the Beacon," Ashley suggested. "They seemed to be swarming the thing when…" She trailed off.

Damian looked at the woman with an odd expression. Was that…sympathy?

"The dig site's up ahead, right?" Kaidan asked, clearly trying to change the subject.

"No point in looking there," the Australian remarked. "Somebody moved the thing a while ago. Might have been the Geth, might have been scientists… I don't know."

"Well, we should still look at the dig site," Shepard told him. "Maybe we'll pick up a clue or two about what it really is." She looked at Damian and Ashley. "You two should come with us. I doubt we can leave you here with the Geth."

"Glad to hear it," Damian replied with a smile. "Dead synthetics aren't exactly good company."

Shepard smiled at that. "So let's move."

"Lead the way, Commander," Ashley replied.

The Commander stopped and looked at the new additions to her team. "I'm not much of a stickler for that sort of thing. Feel free to call me Talia."

Damian shrugged. "Suit yourself, Talia. Now can we please get moving before more Geth show up to turn us into the Swiss cheese of old?"

The alien in the dark black armour walked cautiously, holding his pistol in front of him. He was a Turian, with white clan markings on his face, and he had a somewhat relaxed posture, but he looked like he could spring into action at any time.

His name was Nihlus, and he was a Council Spectre. Originally he was sent here to keep an eye on Talia Shepard's progress, to make sure she was good enough to be humanity's first addition to the Spectres. The Geth attack changed that.

He heard footsteps and pointed his pistol at the source.

It was another Turian, though this one was much taller than Nihlus was. He bore no clan markings on his reptilian skin, and shards of metal seemed to be a part of him. One of his arms had been replaced by a metal version at one point. Nihlus relaxed. He was a Spectre as well…and a friend. "Saren. What are you doing here?"

"The Council heard about the situation here," his fellow Spectre replied in a voice that sounded as harsh as it did soothing. "They sent me to help."

"I'm glad for it," Nihlus replied, holstering his gun and turning around. "This whole place has gone to hell.

Saren had moved behind Nihlus, so the younger Spectre didn't see him pull his heavy pistol out and aim it at his head. "Don't worry. I have everything under control."

A gunshot rang out.