09.03.2187, 12:46, Anhur

It rained.

Perfect mood for a funeral.

A few meters before her the coffins containing her parents were lowered into the earth.

What an irony. Surviving the Reaper War but dying a few months later by a fire because someone didn't watch out.

She never really shared a bond with her parents. Both were strictly religious and raised her and her brother like that. That was probably the reason why she wasn't really sad about the death of both their parents. Her childhood was terrible. A soon as possible she and her older brother left their parents. While her brother run away at the age of 16 and joined the marines – he faked his age he explained to her in a message he send to her – she endured it in her parental home until her 18th birthday. She then moved as far away as she could and became a scientist working for the Alliance as well. Many times she tried to find her brother via several contacts in the military but never get anything out of the research. Sometimes she wondered if her search was blocked by someone because officially her brother never joined the military she but never found any evidence for that. After some time she thought that her brother possibly joined the Special Forces. That would explain why she never found any trace of him. But with time she thought that her brother was dead. With her parents dead as well she now was the only one left in her family. There were not many people on the funeral, mainly some friends of her parents. She didn't care about them and come only to the funeral to get a proof that she was finally free from her parents in any way. Some meters behind the crowd gathered before the grave two people were standing she never saw before. One of them was male, the other female. Both of them were wearing black coats and gloves. This surprised her because the weather wasn't really warm but neither it was so cold that it was necessary to wear gloves. She knew none of them. They clearly had any connection to her parents because they were at the funeral but didn't want to join the others. She wasn't eager to find out who these two were. The only thing she wanted was to take a cab back to her hotel. She didn't live on Eden Prime so she had rent a room in a local hotel to stay for the night. Tomorrow she would book a seat in a ship getting her to her home.

Some time later

As she walked away from the others to call a cab she was greeted by one of the two strangers she saw earlier. "It seems like we didn't seen us quite some time." the male said. "Excuse me, but do I know you?", she asked the person. "Oh, I hope you haven't forgotten entirely about me, Becca. Or should I say little sister?", he said with a grin on his face. She was totally confused. "Jonny?" she asked wondering if this could be her older brother. Could it be him? Could it be the only person which really meaned something to her? She never really cared about her family except her brother who was two years older than her. In her childhood the only friends they had were each other. Sure, she had some friends from her work but never really considered them more as just partners. "Exactly little sis." "I thought you were dead!", she cried. "Look, my job involved a certain level of secrecy so I never really could send you a message or something like that." he said while hugging her. "But this has changed. A little bit at least. I am here and I live. But now let us please leave this place. I'm sure you hate this people buried there as much as I do. Now come on. "Okay." , she sniffled still overwhelmed by the return of her brother. "I'll call a cab to my hotel." She now said with a much more normal voice than before. "That isn't necessary. I'm sure the place there we stay is more suited to us." the women her brother was accompanied by said. "I'm Aliana by the way. His girlfriend." she said with a blink in her eye. "Rebecca.", she said while shaking Aliana's hand.

"And why is your place more suited to us again?" she asked her brother who was flying their cab to New Thebes, the capital of Eden Prime. "As I said, my, well, our job,", he pointed at Aliana, "involved a certain level of secrecy. So it wouldn't be the best to talk about that in a rather unsecure place like yours. You'll see soon enough. We didn't just come here for a little conversation – which we'll do nonetheless – but to offer you a new job." "A job? What kind of a job?" "I'm afraid that we can't talk about that until we're at our place. But we're nearly there so you don't have to wait long sis."

The place there they went was impressive. In the center of New Thebes there were several skyscrapers and they were headed to the largest of them. They landed on a small landing platform in about 200 meters above ground which led to an apartment. "A beer?", Aliana asked as she walked to the fridge. "Yeah, thanks. I feel like I'm gonna need one. Nice place by the way. Must've been expensive." Rebecca said looking around in the apartment. "To be honest, we didn't pay a single credit for it. There are some advantages working for the government." Jonny grinned. "But, let's come to the part where I explain what I've been doing since the last time we saw each other. At least parts of that, I can't tell you everything, I'm sorry. But I think most of the important stuff I can tell you." "I hope so." "Please, take a place." he said while opening a beer. "As you already know, at the age of 16 I left our home and joined the military with faked documents. Obviously I was good at doing my job as marine so my officer recommended me for the N School. Some years and a lot of brutal training later I was N7. That was before the time the Batarians were raiding Elysium. We both fought their and nearly died. Just nearly because Cerberus found us and took care of us. After that we joined them. The Alliance was doing not enough against the bloody Batarians and Cerberus saved us. We had to repay them in some way." "You were with Cerberus? They are terrorists!" "Back in those days they weren't that bad. Believe me. 2185 they fought the Collectors while the Alliance wasn't doing anything. And you wouldn't call Shepard a terrorist, wouldn't you? He worked for them as well." "He left them right after he destroyed the Collectors and fought later against Cerberus. You're comparing yourself with Shepard?" Rebecca asked. "You haven't heard the whole story. As I said, they weren't that bad back then." "That's true." Aliana said. "They defended human Colonies against the Collectors later on and stood for a strong humanity. None of this we're-sticking-Reapertech-in-our-brains-Bullshit the Illusive Man did later. "So, Cerberus saved us from Elysium. Without them we would be dead. In exchange we worked for them. For a few years this worked well until the Illusive Man turned crazy and started working for the Reaper. At the time Earth was attacked we should go to the prothean archives on Mars to gather some data. Attacking the Alliance when they were attacked by the Reaper? That was Bullshit. We left Cerberus and stole on the way some important data which we sent to the Alliance. During the war against the Reaper we attacked Cerberus where we could. I bet the Illusive Man didn't like that. After the war was won we decided to try to get back to the Alliance. That was rather tricky because we both were Agents of Cerberus for quite a few years and the image of Cerberus isn't that good as you should know." "Not really." "Well, somehow it worked." "So you're with Alliance again?" Rebecca asked. "Yep. And this leads us to the other reason we've come to you." Aliana said. "You worked for the Alliance as a scientist for several years. You've done a good job. But some people think that you can do better. Way better. So we're supposed to convince you to become part of the Alliance and work on a secret project." "Another secrecy?" "This project is very important and could deal a lot of damage if it would get into the wrong hands." Jonny explained. "So you have to accept first until you'll learn more about it. Of course your new job will come alongside with better payment. If you accept, contact this man." He opened a file on his PDA and gave it to his sister. But enough talking about jobs and such serious stuff, we haven't seen us in years Becca! Let's have some fun until we both have to go!" "I warn you, his "fun" often comes along with some alcohol.", said Aliana grinning. "I can work with that.", Rebecca grinned back happy about the reunion with her brother.

10.03.2187, 02:34, SSV Avalanche

While their A.I. Argus controlled the ship both Jonny and Aliana caught up the sleep they missed during the last hours because they celebrated the reunion of Jonny and Rebecca. The ships' target was located somewhere in the Maroon Sea. They were ordered there by Admiral Hackett to meet other Specialists to form a team. The mission of this team was to operate against the remains of Cerberus and find out more about their plans especially in relation to their cooperation with the Krogans. They did not know exactly who these Specialists would be but they had a certain guess.

11.03.2187, 09:31, Alliance Shuttle headed to an unknown location

Not long after Rebecca contacted the man she should contact she got a message back. She should pack the stuff she needed and go to the spaceport of Anhur. A shuttle would wait for her there. She had no clue where the shuttle would be heading and was a little nervous about it. The lack of other information were a bit concerning. After she arrived at the spaceport which was still not rebuilt entirely she was greeted by two Alliance Marines who led her to a small Shuttle standing on a small landing platform guarded by three other marines. The Shuttle quickly took off after she entered. Apart from her there were four persons on board: The pilot and his copilot and the two marines that led her to the shuttle. When she asked one of them where the shuttle was heading the only answer she got was that she would find it out later. She tried to fell asleep soon after they started but couldn't. The noises from the machines were too loud and the presence of the two marines didn't make it easier.

After about three hours the shuttle jumped into a system where the SSV Amsterdam, an Alliance Cruiser was waiting. The Shuttle entered the hangar of the larger ship and Rebecca could step out of the shuttle. 30 seconds after she walked from the shuttle into the hangar of the Amsterdam the shuttle took off and left the hangar. Left alone in the Hangar with several engineers working on some fighters a woman in the blue Alliance uniform walked to her and greeted her: "Sae yoo're Rebecca Dunn ah guess?" Rebecca was quite surprised about the accent. Only very few people had such a strong accent in this time. The fact that she could barely understand her wasn't making Rebecca less nervous. "Um … Yeah." she answered. "Stoatin! I'll tak' ye tae yer cabin an' 'en yoo'll see th' other passengers!" she said to her while walking to a lift leading away from the hangar. "Mah nam is Alison Camdyn by th' way." "Nice to meet you. My name you already know." she said grinning. "Ah dae, aye." Actually Rebecca liked the directness of her. She still couldn't understand every word but most of them. After a few minutes they reached her cabin. It wasn't big but all that she needed was in there. A bed, a small desk and a chair. On the wall above the desk was hanging a small picture showing some green landscape with a few hills. A door led to a second room with a loo and a small shower. "These rooms ur normally reserved fur th' officers but fur thes trip th' scientists bide haur." She heard the Alliance soldier with the Scottish accent saying. "Noo please follaw me. I'll tak' ye tea th' other scientists. She put her bag on the bed and followed the soldier. They walked down a corridor and ended in a larger room with some people sitting there. Four of them were humans and five Quarians. Since the Quarians reconquered Rannoch from the Geth witch the help of Commander Shepard the two species were close allies. They both helped immensely each other in the rebuilt after the war. The new human Councilor requested a seat for the Quarians for their support and help against the Reaper after the war as well. While many Humans and some Aliens supported this request the majority of the Council was against it. The Turians and Asari said that only because they had their homeworld back they still would be beggars and thieves. The Salarians were keeping themselves out of the discussion. The denial of a seat in the Council for the Quarians only strengthened the Alliance between Humanity and the Quarians. Some citizens even demanded that Humanity should leave the Council and form a new Council with the Quarians and other races to oppose the Council. "Ah, there is the last one." said one of the Quarians, a male one. "So you're the other scientists?" Rebecca asked while sitting down on the last free chair. "Yes we are." answered a female Human with short blond hair. "And does one of you know why we are here?" "That is a question I can answer." she heard a voice saying. She turned around to see who the newcomer was and saw Admiral Hackett entering the room. Although none of the scientists were part of the military (some of them worked for the military, but not in the military) all of them straightened up in their seats when Hackett entered the room. "Ladies and Gentlemen, you are here because you are the smartest scientists of your races. You may think that war is over. You may think that we are in peace. But that isn't true. War is coming. And your job it is to win this war." "Excuse me, but from what war are you talking, Admiral?" asked one of the human scientists. "What I will tell you must not leave this room. It is very important that this project remains secret to the galaxy. If you tell someone else who isn't in this room about this project we'll know about it and the consequences for you will be harsh. Everybody got it?" he asked. All of them nodded, some of the more nervously than others. "Alright. You all surely think that the genophage has been cured. The reality is, it wasn't."

What? The genophage had not been cured? One of the greatest scientific successes of the last years was a lie?

The other scientists were equally surprised and were talking quietly to each other about the news. "This lie was necessary to win the Reaper War. If we had cured the genophage the Salarians never would have supported us. We sabotaged the cure so the Krogans believed it worked. In the end we got the support of the Krogans and Salarians." "Excuse me Sir, but why aren't the Salarians here? I mean, the war you spoke from will obviously be against the Salarians if the Krogans find out that the cure was faked. They have some of the most brilliant scientists of the galaxy. So why aren't they here? "Good question, Mister Krukanoff. They aren't here because this project has to remain secret. The Salarians have very tight bindings to the Council. The Quarians aren't even members of the Citadel races." Hackett answered. "Humanity has a seat in the Council." A female Quarian said. "That is true. But Humanity was never seen equal in the eyes of the rest of the Council. Besides if we hadn't found what we found this project wouldn't even exist." "So what is this project you're talking about all the time?" Rebecca asked. "Thank you for asking, Miss Dunn." Hackett answered. "A few days ago we found remains of an old species on Titan, the biggest moon of Saturn. We first believed they were prothean but they don't have any similarities to prothean ruins we found before. At the moment we're assuming we found the remains of a new species. A species that lived before the Protheans. Your job it is to find out more about their technology and how we can use it. This cruiser is flying to Titan. We'll arrive in approximately two days."

14.03.2187, 15:27, Titan, Carter Camp

She still couldn't believe it entirely. They found the remains of a species older than the Protheans. Even they were stuff of mystical legends and fairytales but a species even older than the Protheans? While she was excited about finding out more about this new old species she also hated it. All the things they would learn about this ancient species would be used in the first hand for one purpose: war. She understood it that it was necessary but still hated it.

Why has there always war to be? We survived the Reaper and even defeated them. The Reaper! But instead of having a period of piece we rather would go to war. What a sick galaxy.

After arriving at Carter Camp named after Howard Carte who discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun the Scientists were shown around at the camp. It contained several different chambers where they could examine that they found in the ruins. These chambers were all built that none harmful substance they might found could escape these chambers. The station was already inhabited by the three archaeologists who discovered the ruins. None of the eight human and quarian scientists were archaeologists. They should examine the technology they found and if was better than the technology they used try to reproduce it. Until now they had found nothing of interest but they only examined a small part of the ruins and scans showed that the ruins were even larger than assumed at the beginning. They had a huge amount of work to do but they all were sure it would be worth it later on.

16.03.2187, 22:54, unknown location

She wasn't really happy about the events on Bekenstein. The entire team got killed and there was a possibility that whoever attacked the team now knew about their plans. If they found out after what the team was searching they could easily think what their ultimate goal was. The only hope she had was that they probably would give this information to the council. The Asari and Turians would in their arrogance and ignorance never believe that it would come to war. They would dismiss the information. She should deploy agents in the near of the Council to find out what they would be doing she thought. She didn't believe that the Council would act different than she thought but she better thought about all possible ways the events could go. After informing three agents about their new assignment she turned around to her chessboard and moved a figure one place further. Like her father she loved playing chess.

So that was the second chapter. Hope you guys liked it. Sorry for the scottish accent but I hope you could were able to understand it ;)

Until next time