A/N: For those that followed from Revenants, good to have you! For those that are new to the story go back, and read Revenants first, and then it's also good to have you. For those that are new but don't want to read the previous story... Why not? Don't be a jerk! Anyway it's good to be back at it with the next installment of the series so I hop everyone enjoys this somewhat altered take on the classic Mass Effect Trilogy!

-PROLOGUE-

*SKIES ABOVE ALCHERA*

Commander Kraven Matthew Shepard stood stoically staring off into the void through the view screen of the SSV Normandy Stealth Frigate. He crossed his arms before nonchalantly turning to head below decks for a bite to eat. Flight lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau reached up to intertwine his fingers before slowly bending them back with a satisfying series of muted cracks. He once again set his fingers to lightly dance across his ship's nav interface. As he did Navigator, and First Mate, Charles Pressly let out an irritated sigh behind him.

"Something on your mind Pressly?"

The balding man snorted in frustration. "Just wondering what the hell we're doing out here."

"Last I heard we were investigating Geth activity in the area." Joker replied somewhat sarcastically.

"I'd bet my retirement that there's not a single wind up soldier out here."

Joker shrugged. "A dozen ships went missing around here in the past few months. Something happened to em."

Pressly sneered and directed his attention to a wall mounted console. "My money's on slavers. The Terminus is crawling with em."

"Could be I guess. Still as far as victory cruises go this isn't so bad."

The Navigator ceased his calculations to pointedly eye the pilot's chair. "After what this crew did to save the Citadel from that Reaper ship, and bring down Saren I would have expected a little more fanfare."

"Can't argue with that. A couple weeks of shore leave before getting shipped out to hunt Geth isn't much a thank you is it? Maybe it's because Shepard snubbed Udina for the councilor's spot." Joker chuckled lightly at the politician's missed opportunity.

Pressly joined in. "That bastard got off easy if you ask me. I bet he'll think twice before he tries to ground the Commander again."

"Or talks back to Anderson." Joker added which elicited another laugh from the Navigator.

Their chat was cut short by a blinking alert on Joker's console. As he reached to bring the alert up on his screen his newly stationed sensor specialist called out over her shoulder.

"Ship signature off our stern. Port side. Sensors paint it's silhouette as a cruiser." She announced. "The ship is changing course. Now on intercept trajectory."

Pressly shook his head. "Can't be, the stealth system's engaged. No Geth ship could possibly…"

Cold realization gripped Joker's heart as ice water filled his stomach. Only one enemy had the potential capability to render the Normandy's stealth systems ineffective. "It's not the Geth… Brace for evasive maneuvers!"

His fingers stabbed into the controls which sent the frigate twisting away from it's original course, but too late. Brilliant golden beams lanced into the Normandy's hull to eat away at it's alloy flesh like terrifying acid. Circuits behind the console Pressly had been reading overloaded from a sudden burst of excess power to violently detonate in his face. An unintelligible shout escaped his lips before he crumpled to the deck. The young sensor specialist tried to rise from her chair to help her injured crew mate when another blast rocked the ship sending her tumbling across the deck as well.

Dozens of warning alerts flashed across Joker's screen. Each one clamoring for his attention. "Kinetic barriers are down, multiple hull breaches, weapons systems offline!" He shouted into the intercom before turning to see a blaze of orange growing behind him. "Somebody get that fire out!"

While Joker wrestled with the Normandy's controls a different scene was playing out below decks. Fires burned with growing intensity throughout the engine compartment, and cargo bay while a crack in the drive core's shielding flooded the entire deck with lethal radiation. Without needing to be told every hand had headed for escape pods as soon as the core became compromised. All except one.

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya had immediately sprinted for the access ladders leading to the crew deck above. She nearly lost her hold on the steel rungs as another blast from their unknown aggressor pummeled the ship. Flames burned on every deck filling the dying boat with acrid smoke which the overworked fire suppression system was completely unable to handle. More by luck than skill Tali pushed through the blinding fog to find what she was looking for while silently giving thanks for her sealed environment. Just as she was beginning to wonder if she'd become turned around a familiar silhouette appeared out of the gloom.

"Shepard?"

He deftly seated the seals on his helmet before turning from the console he had just sent a wide band distress call from. "Tali. What's our status?"

Her heart was beating a thousand times a minute, but his calm tone in the face of utter catastrophe was enough to ease her near panic. "The ship is going down!" She shouted grabbing a fire extinguisher from the wall.

"You were supposed to be on a life boat." He stated matter of factly.

"Well Joker's staying with the ship… I'm not leaving either!" She shot back hotly as another violent tremor thundered through the Normandy's hull.

She nearly fell off balance, but Kraven's grip on her wrist kept her upright. He reached over to relieve her of the fire extinguisher. "I'll take care of Joker. You just make sure you get everyone off this ship so the cavalry has more than corpses to collect."

For a moment she considered disobeying, but given how famous his temper was she quickly decided against it. "Will the Alliance get here in time?"

"They'll be here." He responded as though it were an order that they'd better not disobey rather than a statement of fact. "It's time for you to go Tali… Now."

Every fiber of her being told her not to listen. To stay with him to go down with the ship, or at the very least confess the feelings she'd been adamantly trying to deny were growing over the past several months. All she managed instead was a feeble. "Aye aye." Before reluctantly turning on her heel, and bowling through the smoke toward the nearest escape pod.

As he watched her go a pang of worry stabbed at his heart. He knew better than to dwell on such things as he steeled himself for the trek ahead. He debated running back to his now burning quarters to retrieve his favorite weapon, but discarded the thought. He was a close combat specialist who wasn't afraid of anything that called solid ground home. Unfortunately space battles were entirely outside of his element. He was just a helpless passenger when all was said, and done. Even getting angry, which was always his go to for situations outside of his control, would do absolutely nothing to help in his current predicament. Not to mention no one was around to hear his clever idioms. Still he refused to just toddle off to a life pod while one of his crew was still on board. Even if that crew member was a total pain in the ass.

With one last fortifying breath he raised his arm to cover his helmet's face mask from flying debris, and surged off into the inky blackness. He vowed that should it somehow survive he would come back to the system with a search team to locate his sword. Then he would find whoever destroyed his beloved ship, and chop them into fish bait with it. His mood lightened ever so slightly at the prospect, but hit rock bottom once again as Joker's voice crackled over the barely functioning intercom pleading with the Normandy to hold together.

As if to accentuate his discomfort with space in general the door leading to the CIC hissed open releasing all the atmosphere from the crew deck into the darkness. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he gingerly picked his way through the wreck that had once been his Command Center praying his mag boots were up to the task of keeping him grounded. As he passed through the ruin he did the one thing he definitely should not. He looked up through the ragged sun roof the attacking cruiser had so graciously installed for him.

"Oh for crying out loud…" He growled as a wave of vertigo washed over his senses. He stubbornly continued onward with his eyes firmly fixed on the deck plates from that point forward, and promised he was going to get even once he got another ship.

After what felt like years he finally made it to the bridge. "Joker! You still alive?!" He shouted.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is SSV Normandy. We are under heavy attack, and require immediate assistance."

He got his answer. "Come on Joker. It's time to go."

The pilot shook his head. "I'm not leaving the Normandy. I can still save her!"

"The ship is dead! Throwing your life away isn't going to change that!"

For much longer than Shepard would have liked Joker pondered those words. He was worried he would have to forcibly pull the fragile pilot from his chair before Joker finally responded. "Yeah… Ok. Help me up."

Just as a relieved Commander reached down to help his crew member a blinding flash stabbed through the deck several yards behind them. Without further preamble, and wishing not to be vaporized Kraven roughly grabbed Joker to haul him out.

"Gah! Watch the arm!" The pilot loudly protested as they both stumbled toward the last remaining pod attached to the Normandy.

Just as the pair started to duck inside, the diabolical beam from the enemy ship carved through a power conduit sparking a huge detonation. Shepard was thrown back away from the pod's hatch while Joker was thrown deeper inside. Kraven frantically searched for some way to bypass the beam skewering his ship to reach the relative safety of the escape pod while Joker shouted his name.

As the scintillating death ray drew closer to his last remaining means of escape he did the only thing he could think to do. He stabbed out with his fist to punch the manual override built into the bulkhead beside him. With a bittersweet mixture of relief, and hopelessness he watched the hatch close on Joker before the pod jetted out of the disintegrating vessel. Just as it did another explosion tore through the ship sending him spiraling away into the wreckage strewn darkness. His heart broke as he watched the last recognizable pieces of the once proud Alliance frigate detonate in a shower of sparkling debris.

He floated transfixed by the macabre sight until a steady hissing sound at the back of his helmet caught his attention. Panic started to set in as realization dawned. He reached back with both hands in a vain attempt to stem the tide of life-giving air from outgassing into the cold void. His head started to throb and his vision started to tunnel as less and less oxygen reached his brain. The last thing Commander Kraven Matthew Shepard remembered was the searing ache in his lungs being matched by the indescribable pain of his skin burning while he fell through the skies over Alchera.