John Shepard, SSV Normandy, Cargo Deck

"...And I move faster on my own," Nihlus replied back as he moved to the Normandy's open cargo door, dropping out of sight into the tree canopy below.

John leaned out watching the Turian drop out of sight and shook his head. "Okay. I'm with Joker on this one," John turned back to Anderson and his fire team. "I hate that guy."

Kaidan laughed clapping him on the shoulder. "Well, look at it this way, Commander. You won't have him looking over your shoulder the whole way."

"Yeah, well," John checked his rifle, probably for the fifth time while on the deck. "I wonder how long it takes him to put that paint on every morning."

Despite themselves, Anderson and Kaidan both laughed at the joke. Jenkins however looked at Shepard with wide eyes. "Really? That's paint? He has to do that every morning?!" he said incredulously.

That prompted a laugh out of all three of the officers. "No, Jenkins," John chuckled. "Well, it is paint. But it isn't so fragile as that. The color and pattern signify the colony he is from.

Jenkins nodded, his eyes still wide. "Ohhh...I get it," he was looking at John with hero eyes again. "You know a lot about Turians, Commander!"

The laugh died on Shepard's lips with a sigh as he turned to Captain Anderson. "Jenkins. It's in the standard species briefs we get in boot." he heard Kaidan explaining to the trooper, far more patiently than he could have.

"The mission is yours now Shepard, good luck!" Anderson told him, clapping John on the shoulder. "You got this, son."

John nodded his head and turned to his team. "Mount up. We drop in five!"


Ashley Williams, Eden Prime

Dodging behind a tree, Ashley took deep ragged breaths. She looked over to see Donkey take a shot in the back. The plasma bolts from the Geth drone cutting through the back of his armor, and bursting out his chest.

Closing her eyes Ashley took a deep breath and leaned out from her cover, firing her Avenger into one of the two drones that had been following the last members of the 212. It's shields flared and collapsed under the sustained fire, the drone crashing to the ground, spilling other drone fired on her, forcing her back into cover as it's plasma bolts burned into the tree she was behind.

Ashley wrinkled her nose at the acrid smell of ozone and charred wood. Pull it together Ash, she thought to herself. She checked her rifle and saw the heatsink had fully vented and was ready to go.

Leaning out, she fired a short burst at the drone as she sprinted to a small gully, half hopping, half sliding down its rocky slope. As she hit the bottom she glanced back. Feeling her stomach sink she saw another drone had joined the first as they crested the small ridge, firing at her.

A pair of shots plowed into her from behind, but her shields held. The impact from the plasma bolts knocking her off her feet, her rifle flipping away from her. As she slid to a stop, Ashley rolled to her back, her heavy pistol already unfolding in her hands. She fired several shots into one of the drones, and was satisfied by it exploding, taking the second drone with it.

Replacing her pistol on her hip she reached for her rifle as she saw a pair of humanoid Geth platforms farther down the gulley, placing what appeared to be a colonist over some sort of large piece of tech. She watched in horror as a metal spike shot out of the device, ripping through the colonist's midsection and jerked him close to ten feet in the air.

"No!" Ashley yelled, firing at the two Geth platforms. As her rifle overheated and began venting it's heat, she realized these Geth were not mere mindless drones. They both took cover behind two large rocks that littered the gully, firing back at her from the cover.

Dodging back, Ashley ducked behind a large rock, trying to will her rifle to vent faster. "C'mon, c'mon…" she growled, pulling back as burning rock chip scattered over her armor. "I'm not going to go out by giant walking flashlights…"

"Down!" she heard a male voice shout. Wasting no time, Ashley dropped to her knees, glancing up as she saw a blue packet of biotic energy shoot over her head.


John

It was his fault. He should have paid closer attention. He should have moved forward himself. Anything. Jenkins died because of his mistake. Leaning over he pulled one Alliance holotag from the man, no, he was just a boy. A boy who looked up to him. "We will come back later to retrieve the body," John said in a monotone. "We have to finish the mission."

As he and Kaidan pushed forward down the rock strewn path they heard the discharge of the plasma guns, like the ones on the drones. Intermittent with the staccato of rifle fire.

The men looked at each other for a moment before John nodded. "Let's move!" he growled as the two began running down the path. They came around a corner, finding themselves on a rise overlooking a small battle. John could see an Alliance soldier wearing the distinctive pink of the Phoenix style combat armor. He mentally paused to take in how ridiculous the armor was. He honestly had no idea who came up with a white on pink design. Or what idiot decided Marines should wear it into combat.

Shaking his head John looked farther up the gully, spotting a pair of Geth. Full on, humanoid, rifle firing Geth. "Fuck me," he muttered. He heard a short laugh from Alenko as he came up behind John.

"My scanners are jammed, but I can eyeball two of them," Kaidan said, peering over the small rock he was behind. "They look like they have rifle versions of the guns they drones had."

"They do indeed," John responded, looking over the scene himself. "Alright, I'm going to hit them with a biotic shot, you move down to the trooper and see if they are in one piece. Then cover me as I move to join you. Got it?"

Kaidan nodded, charging up his own rifle. "Ready Commander!"

A tight blue corona erupted around John as a bundle of dark energy coalesced in his right hand. As he prepared to throw, John saw a Geth closing on the troopers position. Cursing, John yelled, "Down!" And launched the warp at the approaching geth, hoping the trooper would hear.

To his relief, the soldier dropped to its knees as the warp packet impacted in the Geth's chest, the violent gravitational energies ripping at the molecular structure of the platform. The Geth dropped its rifle, following it, as it fell face first into the dirt.

As the machine died, Kaidan was dropping behind the boulder, and checking on the trooper. He turned to gesture to Shepard that they were okay, as John dropped into the gully himself.

Pulling up short, John looked past the cover Kaidan and the marine stood behind, seeing three more Geth moving up. One of them tossed a small device on the ground, and a small hexagon of energy formed up from it, giving the Geth cover.

"Well," John said to himself. "That isn't fair."

As the Geth fired on him, John charged left, away from Kaidan and the trooper. As he had hoped, the Geth followed him with their fire, tracking his movement.

John keyed his comm to Kaidan, "Both of you hit them hard. I'm going over the barricade!"

"You are WHAT?!" he heard Kaidan sputter.

John grinned with a feral glint. He had been told it reminded people of something similar his mother would do. Generally right before she did something dangerous. And probably stupid.

As Kaidan and the marine opened fire on the Geth, driving them back to cover, John sharply changed his course, heading straight at the Geth energy shield. As he approached, he pulled a blue barrier of biotic energy around himself and hurled his body over the shield, plowing his shoulder into the Geth.

They both dropped to the ground, and John rolled hard away from it. He held his rifle tight against his side as he pointed it one handed at the Geth unit beginning to pull itself up. Its shields flared before collapsing, the rounds ripping through the metallic body.

From behind him, plasma bolts impacted into John's barrier, draining off a large portion of its energy.

Letting the impact push him, John dropped his overheated rifle and jerked the heavy pistol from his hip. As it unfolded in his grip John was already running at the last two Geth. A ball of biotic energy hit one of the two platforms, jerking it into the air, it's limbs flailed about as it spun slowly in place. Easy pickings as Kaidan and the marine shot it apart.

The other Geth swung it's rifle around to track John, firing bolts into his barrier, dropping it. The last two plasma bolts impacted into his armor as he twisted his body, most of their energy burning furrows into the black chest piece.

John swung a fist into the machine's glowing optic, shattering it, the light dying as it stumbled back effectively blind. John the grabbed the machine by its chest plate, pulling it forward as he jammed the barrel of his heavy pistol into the joint where the neck and body met and emptied the heat sink into it. As its body went limp John dropped it to the ground, breathing heavily.


Ashley

She stood with her mouth open in shock as the man in black N7 armor wrapped himself in a blue biotic glow and lept over the Geth energy screen and began firing into it. The he just rolled back to his feet, drawing a pistol. She saw a flash of blue as one of the Geth floated up from behind it's cover, its limbs flailing.

The other marine, in standard armor, had to nudge her as he began firing into the floating Geth. With a shake of her head Ashley began pumping rounds into the metallic body as well. As its body broke up, its pieces floated around for half a beat before it rained back to the ground.

Allowing herself a moment to smile at the sight, Ashley looked to the last Geth, but the N7 was already dropping its smoking ruin onto the ground, and turning around to face her.

"What the shit?" she breathed.


Kaidan Alenko, Eden Prime

Well, he's dead, Kaidan thought as Shepard ran off at an angle away from the cover he said he was going to. Glancing over the marine, he was pretty sure she was uninjured. Exhausted maybe, but not injured.

Kaidan's comm crackled to life, "Both of you hit them hard. I'm going over the barricade!"

As his eyes widened, Kaidan looked around the cover, pushing the other marine down as he did so. "You are WHAT?!" he sputtered.

Sure enough, Shepard was charging the strange energy hexagon. He had apparently pulled a biotic barrier around himself for protection.

Cursing to himself, Kaidan began firing, forcing the Geth down as Shepard dove over the barricade into the first Geth.

Shaking his head, he saw Shepard fling a second Geth into the air, exposing it. As he began firing into it, he nudged the other marine. "Eyes front soldier. This isn't time to smell flowers!"

The trooper shook herself and began dumping her own rounds into the floating machine. Between the two of them, they made short work of it.

As Shepard dropped the last Geth, Kaidan stepped out from around the boulder. "Seriously Commander?" he asked, flabbergasted. "Seriously?"

Shepard smirked at him and shrugged. "Worked didn't it?" he chuckled as her collapsed his pistol and clipped it back onto the maglock at his hip. As he picked up his rifle, Shepard motioned to the marine they had rescued. "They okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the woman said walking up next to Kaidan and saluting. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. Thanks for the save, you pulled my ass out of the fire!"


John

"...Thanks for the save, you pulled my ass out of the fire!" Chief Williams said, saluting.

John waved the salute away as he looked back toward the colony proper. "No ally left behind," he said quoting part of the N7 motto. "What's the situation, Chief?"

Williams pulled off her helmet, and wiped the sweat from her face, pushing back stray bits of her dark hair that had come loose from her tight bun. "I don't know about the colony itself, sir. The 212 and I have been playing Robot and Mouse for the last two days. I'm the last of my squad."

John could see the pain in her eyes. He knew where she was. He had been there. "Alright. Take five. Nihilus is probably already at the colony. We need to meet up with him and secure the Prothean artifact."

"Yes, sir," the two marines replied as they sat taking the moment to catch their breath.

Nodding, John walked over to one of the Geth and picked up it's rifle. As he looked at it he noticed that is had no trigger mechanism. A machine probably didn't need one. Unfortunately, it was not usable.

After giving the rifle a quick scan with his omnitool, he dropped it next to the Geth body and moved to the far more interesting piece of tech, the energy barricade. As John ran his omnitool's scanner over it, he saw a switch built into the side. As he hit it, the device powered down and folded in on itself, becoming a small bundle, about the size of an American football.

Shrugging, John clamped the device onto a lock on his back and turned back to Ashley and Kaidan. "Allright Marines. Let's move!"


John, Eden Prime, Transit Site

Plasma bolts bit into the plasticrete wall John had ducked behind, sending a shower of chips scattering over the battle scored N7 armor he wore. "Jesus. If it wasn't already black it would be by now, the way these Geth keep coming. Is there a damned factory here of something?" John asked looking over at Ashley.

"What?" she called back, sounding insulted. "I thought everybody knew that the new Geth and Death outlet store was being built. It was supposed to be a tourist draw. But when we found the Prothean thing it was abandoned."

John snickered as he fired down range taking a Geth in the head piece. "So you are saying this is a revolt because we broke the non-competition clause?"

Leaning out Ashley threw the last of her grenades, blowing a group of three Geth apart before ducking back. "Exactly. We just didn't expect these fuckers to be such poor losers!"

"Really guys?" Kaidan spoke over the comm. "I am trying to defuse a rather large bomb here, you think you can let me concentrate?"

Reaching out with his biotics, John pulled a Geth over the barrier he was behind, smashing it into another one of the machines that had been preparing to make a charge at the group.

"Think of this as a…" John started. Before Kaidan cut him off.

"Don't! Don't you fucking say it!"

John grinned at Ashley and gave her a wink. "...It's a trial by fire!"

"Ah, that's terrible," Ashley groaned, before adding, "Sir."

"Dammit Shepard, really?" Kaidan said, sounding sad. "That was really too corny."

John looked offended as Ashley's rifle blew the leg off one of the Geth, dropping it's body to the ground. "What do you mean? That was great!"

"Face it Shepard," Kaidan said. "You blew it."

"Ha!" Ashley laughed as John fired into the Geth she had dropped.

"Oh, come on! That wasn't any better!" John protested.

"Yes, it was. Because I am the one who just defused the last bomb," Kaidan said smugly. "Ready to wrap it up over there?"

"That's it Kaidan. No pudding for you with dinner tonight." John said as he charged around the wall and into the last Geth on the train platform. His shoulder caught it in what was the belly for most species, and carried it over the handrail to the secondary platform below. With a flare of his biotics, John landed on top of the Geth with the force of an elephant being dropped on it.

The Geth's body squawked, as if protesting the entire argument the human had, as it smashed nearly flat beneath John's body.

"And that is it, Lady and Kaidan," John said as he stood up, dusting his hands off. He looked at the beacon as the other two maries came down to the platform to meet him.

Stepping away from the two he brought his comm up to the Normandy. "This is Commander Shepard. We cleared the jammer and have secured the Prothean device. Come in for a pick up."

"On our way Commander," Captain Anderson's voice came back. "I am looking forward to your report. We can't raise Nihilus, have you seen him?"

Clearing his throat, John turned to look at Kaidan, who shrugged at him.

John's eyes widened as he saw Ashley, over Kaidan's shoulder. She was being pulled toward the Prothean device, as it radiated some kind of energy.

Pushing Kaidan aside, John ran to Ashley, wrapping his arms around her waist and heaving her to the side.

Suddenly, John felt himself jerked bodily off his feet and pulled into the air in front of the device, the...Beacon, he somehow knew.

Then pain erupted in his mind as memories and images forced themselves into his brain. Pain, blood and death. He saw it, felt it and could smell it. He saw giant shapes, cities falling to ruin as they burned. A horrible dull thrumming noise that, somehow, he knew brought devastation and death. He saw bodies torn apart, strange pieces of technology ripping through them. Then a plain field, the light of a red sun painting everything in a dull shade of red, like old blood. And four eyes, their pupils shaped like hourglasses. And a voice, imperialistic, demanding. Commanding. "Prepare!" it roared.

John's eyes snapped open.