Ok, first of all, I do not own ME or bioware created characters, only my own OC.
Second, I hope that you enjoy this. Also special thanks to ReaperScion, for being my Mass Effect encyclopedia and stuff.
And just to make sure I have said it, if a chapter contains less than a thousand words, I shall not upload it, unless the next chapter will contain at least 3,000 words. Till next time and don't forget to leave a comment, it's always nice to know if anybody is actually reading this.

Greetings,

Joniedinofreak

PS: Italics are flashbacks, just saying because somebody said it got confusing apparantly.


Nepheron, Columbia system, Voyager Cluster, April 2183

"Ok, so let's go over the plan one more time. Ashley, Kaidan, you two stay behind and cover the exits. Not a single Cerberus goon escapes out of there."

"Aye aye, skipper."
"Got that, Shepard."

"Garrus, if there's enough space, you provide sniper support. Otherwise stick with me."

The Turian looked up from the cannon controls and nodded.

"Liara, you cover Garrus, don't let them get close."

"Of course Shepard."

"Tali, Wrex, I want you two by my side, we go in and deal with them close range."

"Of course, Shepard."
"Shepard." A confirming nod accompanied the single word.

"Good enough for me," thought Shepard.

"Any questions?", if there were then they were left unanswered, as nobody raised his or her voice.
"Alright, then let's avenge Kahoku." He moved to the driver's seat "Joker drop the Mako!"

"Sure thing, commander! Oh and please bring pictures this time if Wrex pisses himself again!"

"I swear I am going to kill that human," came Wrex' voice from the passenger compartement.

"You know you like him to much, Wrex"

"Shut it Turian, before I decide to avenge the Genophage."

"Can you two shut it back there? I can't drive this thing decently if you lot keep fighting back there."

"You can drop everything that comes after decently," a synthesized voice replied.

"Darn mutineers." Shepard activated the mako's comm, "Pressly, where is that darn base?"

"Scans show it to the southwest of your position, Commander."

"Alright, thanks. Garrus, Wrex, if you two are still fighting back there and not on your positions, then by God, I am going to beat you two up when we arrive back on the Normandy!"

A while driving, under the doubtful skill of a certain Commander and a certain human vomiting all over another certain human later, the base came in sight.

"Garrus, we're coming under fire here!" Shepard's face reddened as another round hit the base "Kill that infantry already!"

"I would love to, but 'someone' should keep the mako a bit steadier. I can't even aim at them!"

A round smacked into a Cerberus anti-tank troop.

"About time you hit something! You know what? I'm going to make it easy."

"I don't like the sound of that," came a female voice.

The Mako took a sharp turn and went straight to the Cerberus troops.

"Garrus, kill them before Shepard gets us all killed!"
"Get the heck out of that seat Turian, I want to live and you aren't helping with it!"
"LT, you're the second in rank here, relieve him of his command!"
"I want my mother!"
"Hey, don't touch my beautiful mandibles!"

A crack followed by multiple thuds silenced the crew.

"D-d-d-d-d-do we still live?"
Shepards head appeared from the opening to the cockpit of the Mako.
"Really? You bunch of whiners, it wasn't that bad! Tali agrees with me, she didn't make a sound the entire time!" A pause of silence, "Right Tali?"
Garrus waved his hand in front of the mask "Shepard, she fainted."
"F**k! Wake her up, I'll inspect the gate to the base."

"The encryption is to good, Shepard, we'll need Tali back up before we can get in," Alenko said.
"Speaking of the devil..."
"I'm here Shepard", the Quarian girl was obviously embarrassed by the Mako-incident.

"Can you hack the door?"
"I can do more than that. I can take out the power of the base, if you want that. Even divert part of their force to another location."
"Do the first two. Why would they divert part of their force?"
"My guess, Thorian Creepers or Rachni as in the other bases."
"Do it."

Ten minutes before engagement, inside the base

"My name is-"

A figure inside a tank stirred.

"Pleased to meet you, my name is Lisa Hannover and this is John Wilkinson."

Another stir.

"By the end of the training I expect you to be able to fight to your last breath. If I hear any sort of curse, that's a breath wasted. You will be sorry of it! So no f**k, fook, frell, frack or any of that stuff!"

He stirred again.

"He's such a motherdreller. What? Frell, Drell, see the connection, no?"

Another stir.

"You three will be deployed to Noveria, you need to take this person down. Leave no evidence."

Another stir.

"John, you meet up with that Asari and find out what she knows," the sound of footsteps going away sounded, "Now that he's out of the way, don't worry knowing him, he won't be back before dawn"

Another stir.

"Before you get any idea's, this is just a fling, a stress-reducing method. Nothing more!"

Another stir.

"You're still the worst gunner!", "And you're still the better bragger, John"

A fist clenched.

" Major Lisa Hannover, for your actions, excellent skill and long servitude to the Alliance, you are promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Captain John Wilkinson, in the light of your service record you are granted the rank of Major, so that leaves you Captain..."

"He's regaining consciousness! Prepare the sedatives!" the voice came outside the tank.

"So, we say goodbye to our names and adapt numbers?"

Another fist clenched.

"Exactly, for example my favorite number is Thirty-eight, so I'll be using that number."

"Releasing sedatives."

"There is no I, for the Alliance we are only numbers, each and everyone of you will be assigned yours."

The figure began to calm.

"So, you're a biotic? I think we just found something in which you beat Seven."

"Danger has been evaded."

"I love her, but she doesn't want to know of me"

Power began to flow through his veins.

"Sixty-nine's unit just got annihilated, there's no trace of them left."

"His heart rate is going up again!"

"I said it was a fling, the answer to your question is no!"

A thud echoed through the room.

"We are being deployed to the Liwei system, Captain Kahoku will brief us there."

Alarms activated in the room.

"We only expect infantry and recon vehicles. In case of an emergency, bomber squadrons will deploy to assist."

"The base is under attack!"

"We're getting pounded over here, sir! (...) I need an airstrike on my position "

"Do these idiots really think they can break through the shield?"

"We found this one near Colony Shuttleworth, sir. He nearly died, but we managed to save him, do we return him to Alliance care?"

"Divert all non-essential power to the shield!"

"Thanks for pointing out the stupidest mistake I could possibly make in my last minutes alive, you motherdreller!"

"I want a platoon of combat personnel in this room to keep it secure! All others make sure these madmen do not get here!"

"Do you love somebody?"
"Of course."

"Sir, we just lost contact with the platoon outside!"

"No, operative, we keep him here, his medical reports show that he's a biotic and we lost contact with our facility at Pragia, he'll serve as a good replacement, nobody who'll miss him, military experience and a good bonus, he hates aliens."

The room went dark.

"You Humans need to learn their place, at the heel of the Hegemony!"

"Get the power back on! I'll make sure our project remains stable!"

"You lose Human!"

The scientist stood with his back to the tank. He didn't notice the biotics flaring up along the figure, nor did he see the glass cracking.

"Up the dosage! If he dies, we'll find another one!"

The glass cracking was the last thing the scientist ever heard.

"Well, seems like I'm done for."

The power surged on, alarms blared, shouts came from down the hall.

"Did I do good, sir?"

He sent a biotic blast into the hall.

"I should court-martial you two for gambling all the money away from the troops.", "Or you could play a game of Skyllian Five with us, sir."

Men turned into biotic dust.

"We will be watching over you!"

He saw a scientist run away. He sent out a biotic lash, grabbing the scientist by the leg.

"Only stop when he faints!"

He picked up a knife of a dead guard and closed in on the scientist
"Y-y-you're a monster," the scientist remarked, terror obvious on his face.
"Then that makes two of us," was the reply, a mad glance on the face, wickedness in his voice and he brought down the knife.

Screams echoed through the base.

Shepard's squad, after entry in the base.

The power surged back on.

"That was faster than expected," a synthesized voice came from next to him.

"Alert, all hands, this is code black. This is not a drill, I repeat this is not a drill. Hostile commandos are secondary priority. I repeat, commandos are a secondary priority."

"We're only a secondary priority? Heh, guess they don't realize you're here, Shepard."

"Good job Tali, this will make our job a lot easier."

" Shepard, I didn't insert that message."

"Then expect trouble. Stick to the plan people."

They entered the first room and sprinted to cover.

"Cerberus snipers! Far right, deal with them Garrus!"
"On it!"
"Wrex, move up to the next piece of cover and suppress the others!"
An affirmative grunt came.
"Tali, with me!"

They ran around the room, until they had clear shots at them.
"Snipers neutralized!"
"Smoke them."

A single order, but followed quickly. The troopers went down before they had a chance to react. The next 2 rooms were taken out just as easy. When they entered the fourth room, they were however greeted by a storm of bullets.

"HMG, middle of the room! Wrex activate your barriers and take the right piece of cover, Liara create a barrier around me!"

"Now!"
Wrex and Shepard ran to their respective pieces of cover and ducked behind it.
"My barriers are down! We can't risk sticking our heads back out again, Shepard!"
"Roger that, Wrex, stay in cover! Why is that HMG put up here anyway? You'd think they'd put it up closer to the entrance, keep people out!"

As Shepard said that the far doors opened, a scientist running through it.

"Help! Didn't you lot hear the alarm? He -ack!" He fell to the floor and got pulled behind the doors.
Shepard didn't like this one bit, what had Cerberus done this time?

Then the screams began. The fire began to become less focused, the troops unsettled.

"Wrex, let's lay some covering fire for the others. Ashley, Kaidan, do you read me?"
"Aye aye, skipper."
"Meet up with us asap, we'll need all the help we can get."

Three troopers ran to the door, certain to take out whatever was causing the screams. And they stopped, for a moment, only to be replaced by shouts of panic. And they too stopped.

"Lay suppressing fire on the MG nest, I'll throw a grenade! Go!"
A few moments later, it was done. The HMG nest taken out, all that was left was a few Cerberus troopers. It was that moment that Kaidan and Ashley arrived.

The troopers couldn't hold it out against the combined firepower of Shepard and his crew. After they were put down, they moved to the last door.
"Expect the worst, Kaidan, Ashley, stay close." He opened the door.

To his left someone vomited.
"Seriously Kaidan? Again? You really should eat a lot less."
"By the spirits, what did they do?"
Of Shepard's crew, the only one who seemed to be untouched was Wrex and even he looked a bit pale, if Krogan could look pale that is.
They were standing in a bloodied hall, surrounded by insides. The bodies of the Cerberus personnel were unrecognizable. At both ends of the hall there were doors. One door open, nothing to be seen in that room, a dead end was all.
The other door closed, the way to the armory and power generator. The answer lied in that room.
They moved to the door, trying to ignore the mess around them. They opened the door, guns at the ready.

Only to see a man, with their back to them, just finishing with putting a helmet on his head.

"Are you here to kill me?" The man asked with a tired voice.
"No, we're not," Shepard answered.
"Then you work with these men," he stated,a knife flashing in his hand, spinning around only to find his body in a stasis bubble.
"Good thinking Liara. No, I do not work for Cerberus," he spat the last word out. "I serve the Alliance and the council."

"You signed up to become Alliance marines! You signed up to become the navy's finest!"

"My teammate here is going to drop the stasis, if you want to listen like a civilized person, you are going to drop the knife."

"You see what kind of savages these Humans are!"

He dropped the knife.
"Did you turn off the power?"
Shepard stood there flabbergasted, he was supposed to ask the questions here!
"Yes, we did, now I answered some of your questions, now I expect you to do the same to my questions. So here's the first question, why does it matter?"

"You freed me," He stated.
"What do you know of Cerberus, the organization that kept you here?"
"Only that they are responsible for me and that they love torture."
"What did you do before they got you?"
"Unknown."
"What was their goal with you?"
"Unknown."
"Where could I get that information?" This thing – Shepard couldn't call it a person, not yet- was working on Shepard's nerves.
"That terminal," 'it' pointed towards the room behind Shepard, the room on the other side of the hallway. "Why are you here?"
"We came to avenge Rear Admiral Kahoku." Only after he said that, he realized his mistake. He had given away their intentions against a potential hostile. It did give a reaction.

"This is Captain Kahoku of the SSV Kennedy."

A fist clenched on the mention of the name. This thing knew the Rear Admiral.
"You knew the Rear Admiral?"
"I... don't know."

"What's your name?"
"I don't remember."
"Is there anything you do remember?"

"My favorite number is Nine, so I'll use that then, heh."

"Nine was my favorite number, call me Nine."
"Do you have a way off this planet?"
"No, I don't," he replied.
"I can get you off-planet, but you'll only get near a inhabited planet or star station when my mission commands it."

"What is your mission?"
"To stop Saren and the Geth from bringing back the Reapers," Shepard knew 'Nine' wouldn't know what he was talking about and he knew he should have expected the next question.
"Any other enemies?"
"Cerberus and whoever comes in my way."
"Can I join in? I have a score to settle."

Shepard motioned for his crew to turn off the audio outputs of their helmets and to switch to a private channel.
"What do you say?"
"You saw the damage he did, could be a valuable asset."
"With all due respect Commander, but he could actually be working for Cerberus."
"I'll have to agree with the LT on this one, Cerberus doesn't seem to care much for their own."
"Make him swear an oath or something, it should be enough."
"I agree with Garrus and Wrex here."
"His body language shows that it's quite obvious that he doesn't have a clue what's going on, whoever or whatever he was, it's gone. I'll agree with Wrex, Garrus and Tali."
"Fair enough."

Shepard turned to Nine again.
"You can join, if you prove that you won't stab us in the back."

He nodded, removed a gauntlet and picked up the knife.

"Asari have this special order, Justicars. They live by a code, not much more is known about them, you'll meet with one of these Justicars, learn as much as you can, but don't do anything stupid."

"As long as your quest lasts, I'll stand by you, I shall kill, die and ..." He cut his hand, causing blood to drip down, "bleed for you. If you order me to torture, I'll torture, if you order me to kill, I'll kill, if you order me to show mercy, I'll show mercy. I shall continue fighting until you are confirmed dead, I die or you betray me. Your order will be my law and I will listen to the law. This is my blood oath and may the gates of Walhalla close on me, if I forsake it." At that point the few sedatives that managed to reach his body, kicked in.

"Tali and I will get all intel we can from the terminal, all others return to the Mako. Wrex take him with you."

"Lucky bastard, he's out for his first trip with the Mako."