Chapter 1 - Noveria

In the time following the Alpha relay's destruction, Shepard was assigned a few clean up tasks from Cerberus. These assignments consisted mostly in removing Collectors and a few indoctrinated Geth survivors who though occupying Cerberus bases would be a good idea. It was during one of these missions that Shepard was captured.

The objective was easy: a group of forgotten Geth left over from Benezia successfully attacked and seized control of a Binary Helix research facility on Noveria; Shepard and his team had been tasked with regaining control of the facility or, in the worst case, prevent the enemy from getting away with the latest prototypes in biotic amplifiers and genome enhancements. Shepard and his team quickly regained control of a large section of the labs, but were pinpointed outside of the main computer core room. Incapacitated to continue, the team agreed that recovering the structure would prove impossible, and resorted to the second objective: containment.

A small, low yield nuke was detonated at the bottom of the facility, resulting in the whole structure collapsing on itself. But they underestimated the Geth. Upon returning to the Noveria docking bay, the team found the place to be dead. Or worse. Dead bodies were laying around everywhere and a few Dragon teeth had been deployed. Getting back to the Normandy would prove problematic. Getting to the docks would require walking through the Noveria main hall: a wide, open space with many hideouts and possible sniping positions, all in favour of their enemies.

Shepard, Miranda and Garrus drew out their weapons, ready to fight off the horde of husks that once manned this outpost. Exiting the cargo bay and entering the small room between the lifts and the hall, Shepard signalled Garrus to check out the area, who reported that only a few husks were roaming the place. "They're relics, they probably don't have the resources to build enough Dragon teeth for the all the personnel." - Shepard said – "Or at least they didn't. Either way, we must clear that room to get off of here!"

They all tightened their hold of their guns as they entered the main hall, quickly taking cover behind a wall.

They waited there a few seconds, exchanging silent thoughts, then came out of their hidings and shot at every husk they saw. All six of them were dead over a few seconds.

"That doesn't seem right, they are way too few. Even with limited resources, your previous encounters with the Geth showed that they were more than capable to create large quantities of husks over a very short time." Miranda noticed, "So what are the Geth doing?" They moved, covering half the hall before stopping again to check the area: nothing. No Geth, no husks, nothing. Shepard moved forward, leaving the hall's plaza behind him, when Garrus called him "hold on a second, I think I just saw something near administration. We should check it out". Shepard nodded, agreeing, and the group moved towards the administration. "Noveria security must love you, Shepard. First the incident with Kaira, Anoleis, Benezia, and no…" a large explosion, coming from the administration offices, covered the end of his phrase. "Explosives, take cover!" shouted Shepard, kneeing behind what was once the vase of a beautiful blue and white plant "at least we know where they are!"

"Where they were would be more likely Commander"

"Miranda?"

"Look Shepard, the Geth blown themselves up. Whatever they had here, it's gone"

They surveyed what was once Anoleis' office, now reduced to a smoking pot of burned smithereens and some bigger wreckage, and proceeded toward the docks.

"Commander, this is Joker, EDI has picked up traces of an Alliance cruiser closing in on the planet, it's probably best if we leave ASAP."

"Understood Joker, there's nothing more for us here. We're coming back to the ship, ready to launch as soon as we get on board."

"Aye aye Commander, Joker out"

Shepard glazed at Miranda, who was still randomly looking for any clue of what the Geth were trying to do there. "Let's go, it's better we don't keep Joker waiting. I heard him and Mass Sargent became good friends, and I don't want them pulling jokes on me. Especially the sergeant."

They had just passed the weapon scanners in the entrance when they heard a voice yell "on your left!": three Geth, two with a rocket launcher and a Prime, de cloaked in the lower entrance, right in front of the door, and started shooting at the three of them. They retreated into the corridor leading the hall.

"Aaaagh!" they turned toward the sound, only to see a young man wearing Elani Control armour being stabbed by another Prime. The three of them levelled their weapons and fired at the Prime's

"We need to get to the Normandy before the Alliance gets here, come on!" yelled Shepard, as he took his trusted assault rifle from his back, and sprayed a few rounds on the Geth's shields "any ideas on how to get passed those Geth? Miri? Garrus?"

"I think I saw a hammerhead on the garage at the other end of the building. It was pretty beaten up, but it looked like it still had a flight in it. If we could get to that, Joker can pick us up on the route to peak 15 and we'll disappear from the system" proposed Garrus.

"Miranda? What do you think?"

"Well, unless we want to fight our way through all the Geth in the entrance on our own, I suggest we go with Garrus' idea"

"All right. Hammerhead it is then. Back to the hall, now! We don't have much time"

they sprinted through the Plaza, and were just about to end the stairs when a Geth rocket went by only a few meters from them.

"Get in the elevator, I'm right behind you!" said Shepard offing one of the rocket launcher Geth with his Revenant "GO! And get the Hammerhead ready!"; he then signalled Joker, informing him on the new extraction plan, "and activate the stealth system"

"Way ahead of you Commander, we're completely invisible until they try to dock."

Shepard reloaded, then came out of his cover, spraying another burst toward the incoming Geth, while walking backwards toward the elevator where Miranda and Garrus were waiting for him, when another rocket hit the wall behind him, resulting in the collapse of the doorway to the elevator. "Damn it, this is not how I want to end" thought Shepard, as he covered behind a chest-high vase.

"Commander, we felt the floor trembling, what's going on?"

"It's the Geth, they blown up the doorway. I'm stuck down here Miri. I'm sorry!"

He came up a little from his cover, aiming the Revenant and shooting at another Geth that had the bad idea of getting too close.

"Garrus, Miranda, the Alliance will soon be here. You have to go!"

"But Commander! You're getting yourself killed. The Alliance will probably shoot at you as if you were a terrorist. And that's provided that you survive the Geth long enough for them to arrive!"

"Oh, don't worry about the Geth" said Shepard, throwing his Revenant on the floor, now empty "I've got them right where I wanted them" he added, smiling, and reached for the Cain on his back "I never get to play with this thing" he thought to himself, as he looked at squad of Geth on the other side of the hall

"Commander, Garrus and Miranda are on board" Joker's voice came out creaky from his helmet's speakers "good. Now get the hell out of here Joker, there's no need for you to be captured too." As he was saying this, he started the charge up sequence of the Cain. "Just, keep an eye out for me, ok?" as he finished talking he jumped up from his hideout, aimed toward the hallway were the Geth were standing, and fired.

Glass, Geth parts and rubble from the walls were flying everywhere in the room, as the old-looking mushroom explosion obliterated most of the Geth, shuttered the wall sized windows and burned the electric system in the room.

Shepard dropped the now expended Cain, there was no point carrying it around with no ammo, and switched to his Locust. He walked toward the once-bright entrance to the hall, finishing off the last surviving Geth. It was there, near what was once Opolod's store, that the last Geth managed to hit him, penetrating his suit. Shepard fell to his knees, and watched, as the Geth prepared to shoot at him again, just to see his light bulb's head explode into tiny pieces. He turned to look who took the shot, and saw a squad of Alliance soldiers standing in the rubble. He then gave in to the pain and passed out.