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Chapter 1
Eden Prime: Landing
My body feels contorted, in the sort of extremely uncomfortable way where you actually want to get up, regardless of the pain I feel in my head. I force myself to blink up at the relatively bright midday sky. I loll my head to the side to see the broken interior of a storefront, probably in Delroge, the capital of Eden Prime. It is where we were headed, after all.
When a gunshot fires, I stop trying to get up and play dead on instinct. The gunshots stop quickly, though, and I hazard a glance around at the surroundings. A single body moves into the storefront, leaping through the broken in window, gun in hand. I don't have the time to get back into possum position before the person swings his gun over towards me.
"You there," he says with a distinctive deep flanging tone to his voice that informs me that he's an alien. To be specific, he's a turian, the species that hails from the League of Equal Races and has, as a racial marker, a metallic epidermis, mandibles framing his face, and generally predatory reptilian features.
He steps towards me, sending me scrambling backwards to the wall. "Hey, hey, don't shoot, OK? I'm not like the GHA, OK? I don't care about your equality policy; you can go about with your philosophy all you want. Just don't shoot me."
"Oh. This?" he says, casually, holstering the gun, but keeping his fingers lingering near it. "I'm not going to shoot you, civilian. The name is Saren Arterius. You should count yourself lucky. I'm the one who dragged you in here."
I slowly get to my feet, well aware of the twinge of my skull as it protested the movement. "So? That's nice, but that won't get me out of here." I extend my hand. "Give me a gun. I can hold my own."
He laughs, actually laughs, at that suggestion. "Not that I don't trust your talent in attempting to help, but right now, stay here. I'll clear out the area and come back for you, if I can."
"If you can? That's not very comforting." I think I'm pouting. I really don't want to get on this heavily armed gentleman's bad side, so I retreat to the low wall he leaped over to get in to the store. It provides me decent cover from anybody trying to shoot inside.
"Good choice," he rumbles, and slides his gun right back out of its magnetic holster. It's back to normal, with its internal mechanisms now fully cooled and prepared to fire more bullets. He gives what I think is a turian smile at me, and then jogs out the door, gun swinging all around.
It takes me fifteen minutes before I begin to get bored. The gunshots have died down by now; hopefully, because Saren did his thing and not because the GHA got him. I've heard of the Alliance's policy to attempt to fortify all of their extrasolar colonies, but the military presence on Eden Prime seemed a little high. My mind goes back to the announcement I heard on the now destroyed HAV Anchorage. Something to do with a Prothean artifact, I think.
I peek my head up and out so I could glance at the now destroyed street. There were human bodies on the ground in a few places. Some, I imagine, were from the crash; others must have been Arterius' doing. I see somebody walk around the corner of a hovercar, gun drawn. I hope it's Saren, but in case it isn't I drop back down into cover.
Hoping it's at least a friendly, I call out. "Saren? Is that you?"
The gunman draws a line towards me and his lack of response tells me all I need to know: that's probably not Saren and I'm probably dead.
Sure enough, through the doorway comes the uniform of a GHA soldier, who looks quite tense. He points his gun directly at me, eyes unwavering.
"Civilian. Get up." He gestured in no uncertain way. I'm in actual danger of being shot here. But I've generally been able to talk my way out of a lot of problems.
"Soldier, I don't know what you're thinking I did, but it wasn't anything worth shooting me, I swear," I say, keeping my cool and standing up.
"Why did you call for Saren Arterius? He's officially a wanted criminal within Alliance space," he orders. Ah, now I see. Don't go allying yourself with aliens with weapons when the planet happens to be involved in a close combat battle in the streets of the capital.
"He saved my life. I had no idea he was a criminal. I take he was responsible for shooting down our ship too? It was the HAV Anchorage, by the way." I have my hands up, but my eyes are still darting around the room and outside. I think I see some movement out there, but it might be nothing. Besides, I have important things to deal with in front of me.
Without removing the gun from its position, the soldier reaches up to his comlink and activates it. "Sir, there's a civ here who claims to have nothing to do with the attack on Delroge. Problem is, I caught him calling for Arterius. What's the POA here?"
He's wondering about a plan of action, which is good for me because it guarantees I live longer. "Sir, if I could speak with your commanding officer for just a second, I'm sure that the commander will be willing to-"
"Shut up, civ. Say again, sir?" He gives a brief nod and deactivates his comlink. His posture tightens. "Orders are to terminate. You picked the wrong man to be saved by."
"Wait, there has to be another way here. You don't have to shoot me!" I plead.
"Orders are orders. I just follow them." And right before I meet my gruesome end, as his finger prepares to twitch into that trigger, a bipedal alien appears from behind him and grabs his shoulders.
Before the man can react at all, the hands press down, move in and slide up. In one motion, the man's neck cracks in several places and he drops to the ground. It affords me a better look at my savior.
Whether fortunate or unfortunate, it's not Saren. It stands slightly taller than him or me, and has no discernable organic elements to it. Long and short of it, it's a robot, with thick metal plates covering its body in black and dark red tones. I would think it was simply some sort of combat mech, but I see its distinctive quarian traits. The legs bowed backwards, the three fingers, and of course, the optical input sensor, or flashlight head.
I realize quickly that this is a geth. A geth, in Alliance space. "Here, I thought you never left the Terminus," I say, in awe and shock. It just comes out of my mouth, despite the horrifically dead body before me.
The geth rotates its "eye" and stands stock still, gun still drawn for a few seconds. Then, in an explosion of electronic chatter too fast to understand, it turns and quickly moves out to the main street.
I can only watch in horror as a gunship descends from the sky and releases its payload onto the top of a long, flat building across the street A contingent of geth swarm out onto the roof, some taking sniper positions, some leaping off on to the street. I also spy a slightly more friendly face approaching me as the geth fan out.
"Hey there, glad to see you stayed alive, civilian. I'd be beside myself if you died," he says with what I hope is humor.
I stare at Saren balefully. "You nearly got me shot! You're a war criminal and you've just invaded a planet with geth. I'm not trusting anything you're saying."
Saren's face falls for a split-second, but he recovers. "Of course you'd think I'm a war criminal. What do you think GHA propaganda's for? My mission is far more important that a little fight on a colony planet." He glances around and sees we're almost alone on the street, save for the snipers.
"We've got to go. Here's that gun you wanted," he says, holding out a pistol of the same make he has. I want to grab the gun, but I really can't tell if any of this is a trap or violently illegal yet, so I hesitate.
"If you want to stay alive, you need to come with me." I know immediately that this is an ultimatum. Go with him, or die. I reluctantly grab his offered pistol.
"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" I say sardonically. He offers me that same expression that I think- and hope- is a smile and leads me out into the street.
-RE-
We're keeping a fast pace and we make it out of Delroge with minimal encounters. I'm glad for at least the fact that Saren is capable of stealth and combat; otherwise, we might be dead by now. He's been getting mysterious messages on the communicator he has in his omnitool, and keeps glancing at his wrist and leading us in a different direction.
We've now made it to a complex that must have been a mining operation at some point. It's located around some caves and the tunnels are well-constructed. I wonder if I should break the silence we've been having when Saren's omnitool does so for me.
"Saren-General", comes the highly synthesized voice that I know can only have come from a geth.
"Report, Legion." I'm shocked. I didn't know geth even had names.
"Artifact away and secure. Geth-Unit 312 is covering our retreat. Incoming data: Geth-Unit 312 has been destroyed. Request immediate assistance."
"You're heading to the dropship, right? We'll pick you up on the Sovereign. Head to the RP. Wait, who destroyed a geth unit?" So many questions are floating through my mind, the least of which is related to this Sovereign, but Legion continues.
"Processing inquires. Affirmative, en route to the transport. Negative, rendezvous point has been compromised. Suggestion: Geth-Unit 311 will land at alternate landing zone. The data has been sent. Identity of belligerent unknown. Presumed human soldier."
I break in at this point. "Saren, it's probably the SPECTRE, Shepard. If she was on-planet, she was probably near the relic. She wouldn't want it taken by anyone else; it was supposed to be the GHA's route to the Council seat."
"Right. I had hoped we wouldn't run into her. Legion, you still there?" he growls, as he keys in the new coordinates on his omnitool. He stops suddenly. We're in the field that we're supposed to be.
It's a perfect landing zone. Spacious, but with plenty of natural and artificial cover, with a giant hill precluding any fire from one side. Out of self-preservation, I run my fire line across the valley. No bogies, which I suppose is good, but Saren's aggravated.
"Legion, Sovereign's too large to land here," he grumbles, a fact that I noted as we entered.
"Affirmative. Sovereign-Vessel has been notified and is now approaching sub-orbit. The transport is two minutes out. Hold position." Legion's feed cuts out, leaving Saren and I to be alone for the next two minutes.
I take the time to grill him. "All right, Saren. I have some questions I need answered before I go anywhere with you." I point my gun at him forcefully. "And you're going to answer them."
He notices my gun and raises his hands in the air, though I have no doubts he could still manage to kill me. "Go for it."
"First off, why did that soldier call you a war criminal? And why are you working with the geth? And why do you want that artifact? Who are you?" I ask him, rapidfire, impatient for his answers.
"OK. Lots of questions there. One, I'm not a war criminal. I'm a legal immigrant to the Free Terminus Systems from a voluntary abdication of position with in the League of Equal Races. I'm working with Legion's faction of geth because of my mission, which I'm not telling you about; that goes for why I want the artifact, too. And, who am I? A concerned citizen, who happens to want to help you get offworld before the GHA finds and kills you," he says, all as calm as the sky above us.
I lower my weapon slowly. "Oh. Wait, the Alliance wants to kill me? Why?"
He lowers his hands quickly, probably just in case I don't agree with him. "You were alive. The other passengers were dead. After the GHA shot down that transport ship, I found you shortly after I entered Delroge. I blew out that store window, dragged you in there, and managed to be seen by a GHA soldier. I shot him, but he must have told his CO that I had an accomplice I tried to save."
"So they converged on my position, trying to get to you...and you fended them off? Killed them?" My head is spinning. Why would this paramilitary alien terrorist save me and then try to protect me?
"Out of goodwill. And necessity; you came in handy with that gun a few times on our way here. Maybe...after we get out of here, I can show a little bit of what I'm doing. I'm sure there's no love lost for the GHA and you after they tried to kill you." He looks me over and then stares up at the sky. I imagine two minutes have passed by now, but with no appearance from that geth.
Out of seemingly nowhere, though, a flaming ship-sized missile hurtles towards us from the sky. I can see its thrusters attempting to compensate for a safe landing, but the ship is coming in pretty quickly. I look around for anywhere I can head to get away from the crash that's about to happen, but Saren looks calm.
Still, even once the flaming ship makes a decent landing and crushes neither of us, I'm a little wary. Legion and two other geth step out of the heavily damaged transport, scanning for enemies. One of the two geth, whose armor is dark green and black, remains at the edge of the ship, fiddling with what I'm guessing is the artifact; it appears to be a small totem that is kept in an enclosed energy field.
I overhear Legion's conversation with Saren. "Saren-General, I recommend immediate evacuation."
"I know, Legion; it's a good idea," he says moving towards the ship. With Legion preoccupied with Saren, one geth still at the ship, and another in a blind spot, it's me who sees the human lining up a shot from her rocket launcher. I don't need to know who it is to know that she's probably going to land it.
"Hit the deck!" I yell, hoping everyone hears me. The first rocket connects with the ground near the first geth, sending its body parts flying. Saren and Legion both pull out their assault rifles and begin peppering shots up the hill where the rocket came from. The green geth serenely packs up his tools and boards the ship, where I'm headed to as quickly as possible.
Just to be helpful, I pause to let out a few shots in the direction of the hill. Big mistake: the next missile collides to my right, sending me flying to my left and into the energy shield of the relic. The energy shield must be weak because my impact dissipates it and immediately, I can sense a tremendous flow of energy.
My body lifts off the ground and I see stars for a brief second. I can hear Saren express his concern as we lift off and Legion fires the last few shots needed to cover our escape.
We make it, but I don't know if I will. At least not for much longer. Of course, then, I see the light.
-RE-
On the hill, the woman with the rocket launcher clenches her fist in utter contempt. She throws down the weapon in disgust. Her squad, another woman with a hard set to her jaw in a pink and white GHA-issue uniform and a man with dead eyes in a jet black unifrom, regard her carefully.
"They got away?" the woman says, with an air of superiority.
"The intel wasn't the best now was it, LT?" she growls in response. She doesn't even wait for a reply, instead glaring at the sky, hoping to find any clue of where they went. Nothing comes forth.
She swears, at that moment, that she will find the traitor and the terrorist and kill them for the Grand Human Alliance. She also thinks of the images that flashed through her mind when she experimentally linked with the beacon.
She knows that the Protheans died violently, but with the right tools, the Alliance could do so much more.
A/N- READ THIS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON
So, this ends Chapter One, with the unnamed protagonist having interacted with the beacon, Saren Arterius and Legion helping him out, and a mysterious GHA soldier tracking them all. Who could they be? What could happen next? You'll have to read this story to find out! Dum-dum-duuuuuum!
Yes, also regarding chapter length, the prologue and certain establishing or character-driven chapters will be longer, but action-oriented chapters might only be half this length to preserve the flow of less dialogue and more description.
BTW, I highly suggest you give a read through of OrbitingTheSun's Reverse Effect. It's a lot of changes, and that might help out anyone who's a little confused.
For summary's sake, though:
The League of Equal Races is the analogue to the Turian Hierarchy. They value absolute equality- that is to say, they value everyone having the same rights and will protect everyone within their walls from doing anything that could subvert their "unity".
The geth did not win the war with the quarians, but fled to the Terminus Systems to live in peace. There are groups who want freedom for the less individualistic "dumb mechs" I mentioned in the prologue.
Again, it changed a lot, so I would suggest again that you read through the backstory given by OrbitingTheSun, but I'll try to fill you in before chapters about any universal changes that occur within.