Chapter 1:

Nightmare

It's been four years since the Galaxy suffered one of the most monumental battles ever to be witnessed. Every race encountered great loss both within their military and on their home-worlds. Casualties in the millions and many more missing in action continued to rise. Past enemies helped new friends. Races thought to be inferior, were now looked upon for their abilities and resources. Home-worlds were slowly beginning to radiate with the brilliance that once showed their races pride. Yet in all of this, Earth still held the greatest loss.

Over two years in searching, they could not find the remnants of the one soldier that saved the lives of many. Some say he was obliterated in the explosion that followed the red pulse that destroyed, not just the Reapers, but the Mass Effect relays as well. Even with the limited resources that were to be found on Earth, the search was futile.

A small recon ship flies by Mars' moon Phobos; steadily scanning any debris that flew by.

"See anything?", said a man sitting in front of a computer screen.

"As per usual, nothing.", said the pilot.

The ship continued on around the moon and began passing the planet itself. Sighing, the man who had been staring at the brightly lit screen leaned back and stretched. His short black hair hanging back as he went as far as his chair would let him.

"Don't lean too far back Chris. You remember what your heavy self did last time.", laughed the pilot.

Chuckling at the comment, Chris straightened out and stood up. Being almost six feet tall with a muscular build, being in a small recon ship wasn't exactly comfortable. Walking over to the pilot, he sat down in the seat next to him.

"Yea, I definitely don't want the damages to come out of my paycheck again", said Chris.

"Your wife would kill you if you lost all that money.", joked the pilot.

"That is very true. I really wouldn't want to deal with that again. Even if what we still had was enough to get by at the time.", Chris said with a joking tone that went to a serious one.

The pilot hit the autopilot and reclined back. Taking off his helmet, his buzz cut orange hair was beaded with sweat. Stroking his hand over his head he sighed.

"We're all hitting hard times. This war did a huge number on us and everyone going to have make due. Even though I lost everyone I knew, including my wife and two children, I still press on hoping things get better."

A soft silence carried the two men through the stars as both reminisced about what life was like before the Reapers had attacked. The silence was broken when a ring resounded throughout the ship with a flash of yellow coming from the dashboard.

"A call from headquarters? You think they found something Dean?", questioned Chris.

Resting his finger on the button, Dean looked at his co-pilot, "Only one way to find out."

Answering the call, static was all they could here along with someone in the background.

"Com- in. Th- Alliance Comm-. Do you co- y?"

Trying to get the static to clear, the pilot did his best to listen.

"Hello? This is the Nautilus. Recon Ship 259. Do you copy?", said Dean continuing to fiddle with the reception.

"Nautilus. This is Alliance Command. Do you copy?", replied the caller clearly.

"Nice. We got it. We hear you loud and clear Command. Has someone found him?", said the pilot.

There was silence.

"Command?", Dean, worried he lost connection, looked at the dashboard confused.

"No. We have not found him. That's actually why we're calling. We are ceasing all attempts to look for Commander Shepard."

The beeps coming from the computers and the hum of the ship was all that could be heard. Surprise was shown on both the men's faces. They whispered to each other back and forth on how it couldn't be possible. Why would the Alliance just suddenly give up?

"The higher ups believe that our resources could be used elsewhere more effectively. That is why we're assigning a new mission to the Nautilus.", said Alliance, breaking the chatter between the two.

Chris spoke up, "But what if he's still alive out there? He's got to be somewhere." His fists starting to clench.

"Lieutenant Andrews, the Alliance is well aware of how important Shepherd was to the Galaxy. We've spent two years searching for him with no luck. We also know your ties to him. He saved your life and that should be the end of it.", replied the person on the other side nonchalantly.

Chris's teeth clenched; he held his tongue. He didn't just save my life...

The pilot quickly asked, "What's this assignment you called us for?"

"Though we may not have found Shepard, we found something equally as important."

"What do you think it could be?", whispered Chris.

The pilot shrugged his shoulders as they both listened for the answer.

"Alliance Command needs you to investigate the Acheron cluster in the Styx Theta system. Scanner have indicated a faint distress beacon coming from a planet uncharted there.", explained the man.

"A distress signal? Of what origin is it? Turian? Quarian?", asked Dean.

A sound of people conversing could be heard. "It seems to be of Alliance origin, but we're not completely sure."

"Well, there's not much we can do. Send us the coordinates and we'll check it out.", said Dean.

As the pilot and the man from Alliance Command discussed the details of the mission, Chris looked out the front window towards the sight of the blue dot he called home. Seeming so far, he could hear his children laughing and see his beautiful wife and home as if he was standing there in person. Waving to her from a distance, he began to jog towards her. That was when his dream turned from a paradise into a nightmare. As he continued to run to his wife, who was standing on the porch of his home, a dark sphere rose from behind the house and covered it with solid shadow. Chris yelled for his wife but there was no answer. Suddenly, a blood curdling scream emanated from where the house once stood. Out shot a horrific entanglement of wire and ripped skin as the monster came hurdling towards the Lieutenant. It's mouth split in half down the chin, with what looked to be fangs at the ends. The absence of it's eyes, the complete disembowelment of it's torso, and the many blade like arms made this monster worse than anything ever seen. Grabbing for the pistol on his hip, Chris realized nothing was there. He threw his hands up as the monster came down upon him. Chris yelled in fear. Finding himself on his knees, all he could hear was his shaky, heavy breathing. Opening his eyes, he saw the monster had disappeared. All that was before him was darkness.

"Hello?", yelled Chris.

No answer.

"Janice! Where are you?", yelled Chris again.

A distant, soft voice came from behind him.

Christopher...

Quickly turning around, Chris looks to see who called him.

"Janice?", he called out.

Christopher...

The voice sounded closer.

"Who's there?!", he yelled with a shaky tone.

Christopher...

Closer.

"Get away from me!", he started looking into the darkness to see who was tormenting him.

"Christopher."

The voice came from behind him. Unsure as if to turn around, Chris slowly looked behind. As his eyes came to see what was behind him, he quickly took a step back. Standing there was his wife who's eyes were two black holes; blood trailing from the the sockets. Her mouth was split on the corners, all the way up to her ears. The dress she wore in the beginning was drenched with what he thought was her own blood. She took a step closer to him.

"Christopher...help me..."

His reply couldn't come. The fear of the thing in front of him was too much.

"Christopher...help me...make us whole..."

He couldn't look any more. Chris turned and ran away from the abomination that was standing before him. As he ran, he could still hear her.

"Christopher...make us whole..."

Running, running more into the darkness, Chris couldn't stop. He looked over his shoulder and the monster was right behind him. It wasn't running, it was just standing there. Was he the one not moving?

"Christopher...please..."

"Shut up! Get away from me!", yelled Chris.

As if a group of people were surrounding him, multiple voices began chant.

"Make us whole...make us whole...make us whole..."

Taking in a deep breath, Chris yelled out, "Shut up!"

Breaking through the darkness, two large blue spheres came at him screeching in what sounded like metal rubbing metal.

"MAKE...US...WHOLE!"

Chris was then jerked out of the dream, finding himself sitting in the seat of the recon ship. The Dean's hand on his shoulder. Flinching from the sight of the pilot, Chris looked around the ship, as if looking for any signs of what he just witnessed.

"Chris? You ok? I've been trying to snap out of the daze you were in. You were chanting something, but I couldn't figure out what you were saying.", said Dean.

Sweat covered his face; dripping from his nose and chin, Chris nodded his head.

"I'm fine. Yea, I'm fine. No worries.", he replied while wiping his face with his sleeve. "Are we heading out or no?"

Sitting back in his chair, the pilot shook his head while looking at his paled co-pilot, "Yea. Just got the coordinates from Command. You sure you're ok?"

Chris tried to block the mental image of the thing that was his wife but to no avail. Her voice continued to echo in his head.

Christopher...help me...

"Let's just get going. The sooner the better.", said Chris strapping himself in for the flight.

Buckling himself in, Dean shook his head as he entered the coordinates into the dashboard. The ship began to travel outside the reach of Mars as the engines began to power up for jump-space travel.

"I hope whoever we find is on our side.", commented Dean.

Chris, still petrified, "Yea. That certainly would be a blessing."

The ship shot out into space; traveling to the beginning of what would be the nightmare Chris never wanted.

Hello everyone. Unknown to me, I was not aware that there was a DLC that continued Dead Space's story. For that reason, I will still have Isaac and Carver, just in a different way of how they survived. I would still love to see reviews from anyone who reads my story. I love feedback and it will ensure that I give you all the best possible story to read. There will no romance in this story due to the fact I see no point in a romance when things are going to crap. I may have something of a reunion type deal but no new romances. Language may be here and there due to both games having and me wanting to keep with the feel of things. Enjoy!