Chapter Two

Utopia System

Exodus Cluster, Sometime Later

Space just beyond the orbit of Eden Prime's moon seemed to shiver for a moment before a small craft blinked into existence, the faint dissipating blue glow of dark energy around it indicating that it hadn't appeared from nowhere despite appearances. Instead it had merely dropped out of FTL speed after a long flight from a mass relay at the edge of the star cluster that held two of the largest, oldest and most successful colonies in the Systems Alliance.

Adjusting its flight path the small craft began to manoeuvre around the moon towards the garden world that was its ultimate destination. Its dart-like design and deep grey hull with its overlapping slabs of ablative alloy armour would have left no doubt in the minds of anyone who saw it as to who the shuttles builders were. The Turian built craft swept around the airless meteor cratered surface of the moon until it crested the horizon and Eden Prime in all its glory came into view. Immediately the craft broke its orbit of the moon and headed for the bustling shipping lanes that dominated Eden Prime's orbit.


Sitting in the cockpit of his personal shuttlecraft Spectre Saren Arterius carefully guided the craft onto an orbital insertion vector, a manoeuvre that sounded simple but in this case required careful planning along pre-determined vectors. The reason for this being the orbital space of Eden Prime was not only packed with traffic from all over the civilised galaxy but with satellites the served a variety of purposes including planetary and interstellar communications, weather tracking and shipping regulation to and from the planets busy spaceports.

Nestled among the civilian satellites however were a number of larger platforms, some serving as refuelling stations and core discharge sites for the many ships that frequented the planet but a few had a far more dangerous purpose. They were the automated battle stations that formed Eden Prime's planetary defence grid. After the Skyllian Blitz the Alliance had begun extensive deployment of the things over there major colonies determined to prevent such an assault happening again. The Council had protested about the Alliance's actions but not wanting to alienate the increasingly powerful Humans over such a relatively trivial issue the protest had been very half hearted and not followed up on. Saren grimaced as he passed one of the platforms on his holding orbit while he waited for planetary traffic control to contact him with a landing vector.

Each platform was a dangerous opponent bristling with weaponry including heavy mass accelerator cannons, missile tubes capable of launching both antimatter charges and Javelin disruptor missiles. All in all enough firepower to repel all but a full scale military assault with dreadnought backing and even then the attackers would get badly mauled and held up long enough for the powerful warships of the Alliance Navy to show up and really ruin there day. The platforms defences were as formidable as the offensive capabilities consisting of kinetic barriers powerful enough to withstand a direct hit from even a dreadnoughts main cannon and heavy batteries of GARDIAN lasers for downing enemy fighters and disruptor torpedoes.

The platforms were the reason why he was coming here in his personal craft. Sovereign was a just over an hour behind him carrying a full compliment of Geth mobile combat platforms and being escorted by two cruisers and three frigates of Geth design and manufacture. Sovereign had been weary of a protracted battle against the defence platforms so the Reaper had sent him on ahead with a Geth written computer virus. A virus that would allow him to temporarily shut down the colonies defence grid allowing the platforms to be easily destroyed prior to landing, the same virus would disrupt Eden Prime's interstellar communications making it very difficult for the colony to call for help once the attack began.

Thinking about the attack to come Saren couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the millions of innocents on the planet below. There sacrifice was necessary, he had to find the Conduit and in so doing prove the worth of organics to the Reapers, but at the same time it wasn't something he enjoyed having to do. In his entire career as a Spectre he had never truly enjoyed having to kill innocents, he wasn't a monster after all, but had always understood that sometimes it was a necessary evil.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a crackle from the radio. "Unidentified Turian shuttlecraft this is Eden Prime Ground Control, please identify yourself and the reason for your unscheduled arrival," the authoritative voice of a Human male traffic controller said.

A touch of a control opened the channel to the surface. "Ground Control I am Saren Arterius an agent for the Citadel Special Tactics and Reconnaissance. I am here on a mission of galactic importance and request permission to land immediately," Saren answered authoritatively.

For a moment there was a pause. "Understood Spectre, please transmit your identification code. Please be advised if your identity is not confirmed your vessel will be impounded upon landing."

"Transmitting now," Saren acknowledged sending his unique Spectre security code to the distant controller knowing it would immediately flash his ID up on the screen. Still he couldn't fault the controller for checking, it was his duty after all and if there was one thing he as a Turian understood it was duty.

"Authorisation confirmed Spectre Arterius, welcome to Eden Prime, transmitting a vector for the secondary spaceport now."

"Thank you," Saren replied as a secondary holographic screen blinked on and began to stream with data as the vectors for atmospheric entry and landing were received and transferred to the navigational computer. It was only open for a brief moment before blinking off as the data stream transmission stopped. "Data received control."

"Understood Spectre you may precede at your discretion. Once again welcome to Eden Prime, Ground Control out."

As the signal closed down with a bleep Saren allowed himself to give a small Turian smile at the fact that the controller hadn't suspected anything or if he had wasn't able to do anything about it. Then he began carefully following the instructions he had been given, easing his craft onto a new vector to enter the planets thick atmosphere without risking burning up. In another couple of minutes he would land on the surface and begin the mission that the Council had no knowledge of and definitely would not have approved of it they had known. In time they will know about this and will have to concede I did the right thing, he thought even if it means the deaths of thousands or millions of individuals on this world it will save uncounted more across the whole of the galaxy. When the Reapers come they will see things my way.

After all they wouldn't have any other choice.


212 Base Camp

Eden Prime, That Same Time

The crisp coolness of the morning air, rich with the smell of damp earth from the overnight dew greeted Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams as she emerged from her tent ready to begin another day. After being sent out here over a week ago the 212 had set up there base camp on a high ridge overlooking the outskirts of the main settlement on one side and the excavation site on the other. It gave them an excellent view in all directions.

Right now that view greeted her in spectacular fashion. Far below the fields of crops surrounding the settlement were invisible, shrouded in the cool damp morning mists that were so common at this time of the year. Rising like silver and glass swords out of a sea of milk the gleaming kilometre-tall city towers of the settlement gleamed in the early morning sunshine, glowing in a dozen pastel shades of gold and pink as the sun rose slowly into the sky. The faint sounds of Eden Primes bird population – both the native ones and imported Earth species – greeting the dawn of a new day filled the air as much as the smell of damp earth did.

Ashley loved this view in the mornings. She had to admit that Eden Prime was a very peaceful, very beautiful world, one of the brightest jewels in humanities crown. Of all the surface garrison assignments she'd been given in here career she enjoyed Eden Prime the most. Not only did the planet strongly remind her of Amaterasu where she'd been born and grown up but the people here were relaxed and very friendly. Something that even extended to most of the garrisons troops who didn't hold her family name – and the actions her grandfather had been forced to take during the First Contact War – against her, it was such a pleasant change from other assignments where she'd been treated like dirt and almost lower than a Vorcha.

Mentally shaking herself Ash pulled her gaze away from the breathtaking view of another beautiful summer morning, shifted the towel she had slung over one shoulder into a slightly more comfortable position before heading for the portable shower block. As she walked a rumbling, roaring sound from overhead caught her attention and she glanced up…

…to see a shuttle sized spacecraft coming in to land at the smaller of the colonies two spaceports. Even from here she could tell that it wasn't of Human manufacture it wasn't angular enough for that. Instead its sleek avian form identified that it had been built in Turian space, though that didn't necessarily mean that there would be Turians on board. Like the Alliance the Hierarchy sold its shuttle designs all over the civilised galaxy. Still seeing an obviously alien made craft this far into Human space was somewhat unusual as most alien visitors tended to come on one of the many star liners or freighters that Humanity had ploughing the space lanes. I wonder who that belongs to, she thought for a moment before putting it out of her mind as she entered the shower block. She had a few minutes to grab a shower – which was all she needed – then go to the mess tent for breakfast before suiting up for morning patrol.

"Hopefully it will quiet and uneventful as always, and as always Nirali will talk about that restaurant she plans to open with her husband when her enlistment ends," she said softly to herself with a smile. She really did like Nirali Bhatia – the other woman had a wonderful sense of humour and was an extremely gifted cook, which made her popular on exercises as she could seemingly do miracles with even military provisions something Ash had believed impossible until she'd actually seen Nirali do it. Maybe when Nirali left the military next year and started that restaurant with her husband she'd drop in sometime – provided she could get leave to go to Earth of course.

"That would be nice," she said softly to herself before settling down to the tough business of getting herself completely clean and ready for the day with only a brief allotment of shower time.


Secondary Spaceport

Thirty Minutes Later

Saren expertly kept to the shadows as he slipped through the spaceport where he'd landed as he made his way towards where he knew there would be a secure data terminal and a transmitter. He was helped by the fact that even at this early hour the spaceport was bustling with activity with cargo pods moving in all directions on various conveyer and crane systems – there contents being routed either to landing platforms to be loaded onto spacecraft or for transport to the warehouses that served the main settlement.

With so much activity, with spaceport workers so busy, remaining undetected was relatively easy. So far the only thing he'd had to watch out for had been some security cameras and the odd party of LOKI and FENRIS security mechs which patrolled the back areas and perimeter of the port searching for anything out of the ordinary. While it was unlikely the mechs would be a real threat should they discover him it would attract very unwanted attention and put him in a very awkward position with local authorities that even his Spectre status would have difficulty resolving – especially as the authorities were likely to contact the Citadel to find out if he really did have an official mission here.

Coming to another corner Saren flattened himself against the wall and looked around the corner cautiously and moved his mandibles in the Turian equivalent of a soft smile. Around the corner down a narrow corridor was an entrance to a reinforced concrete and steel structure. A sign above it revealed it to be a security station along with the presence of a pair of machine gun security drones floating in the air on either side. They would be easy to dispose of.

Pulling his head back Saren activated his omni-tool and primed a wide angle overload pulse, then rapidly rounding the bend he raised the tool and fired. A coruscating pulse of focused electromagnetic energy impacted the drone on the right hand side – some leaping over to the drone on the left. The first drone shook, sparked and dropped dead to the ground, smoke rising from its burning out electronics. The other drone was more fortunate as while it shook in the air, its kinetic barrier fizzling out and flight stabilisers taking damage it didn't fall to the ground.

Before the drone could recover, track and fire on him Saren concentrated and lit up blue before throwing a hand out unleashing a full force biotic throw at the staggering mechanical. The drone flew back against the wall hitting with enough force that metal and plastic crumpled and it fell to the ground, sparking fitfully as power died. Now that they're out of the way, he thought retrieving his pistol from its holster and carefully attaching a silencer before entering the building.

The building was surprisingly quiet with only a single officer on duty, sitting with his back to the wall, attention focused on the security monitors before his eyes which were cycling between different views of the spaceport. With casual ease Saren took aim at the Humans head and fired a single shot, the hypersonic projectile smashing through his victim's skull and exiting through his forehead. The Human slumped to the desk dead before he had even realised that he was under attack.

Sloppy there should have been more than one person here, Saren thought contemptuously as moved up to the controls. Pushing aside the corpse he slid into the chair and began hacking into the security grid and transmission controls. It took a few minutes to bypass the security systems and avoid the fiendishly hidden traps set for unwary hackers but soon enough he was in. Accessing his omni-tool again he uploaded the Geth virus to the system and watched as it began to spread, first through groundside security systems and then up to the orbital defence platforms. It took the virus nearly three minutes to penetrate the additional firewalls around the latter and access the systems.

"Excellent," Saren whispered to himself as he stood up and shut down the security terminal. Before firing another overload pulse at to prevent his work being undone should it be discovered by anyone. Now when Sovereign and the Geth arrived they would be able to shut down the colonies entire defence and security grids remotely allowing the mission to proceed without any real hiccups.

He glanced at the body of the dead Human and knew he had to hide it and quickly. If someone came along and found the body and the overloaded terminal they would immediately know something was seriously wrong. Which could potentially lead to his sabotage of the colonies defences being discovered, that would lead to the whole plan being placed in jeopardy as even Sovereign would take time to break through the orbital platforms if they were to come online and start firing antimatter charges at him. Fortunately a good disposal site was readily available as he spotted a door that from its sign led to a restroom.

Picking up the Human and grunting at the few hundred pounds of deadweight Saren carried his victim into the room and disposed of him in one of the stalls. He carefully arranged the Human so he would appear – from a distance at least – to be taking a dump then he shut the door and left the restroom. There was little he could do about the blood on the desk and floor but in the dim light it would hopefully go undetected.

Then he carefully left the security station, taking a few minutes as he did so to cover up as best he could the broken drones, before moving to hide. Sovereign would be here very soon and he had to be ready to play his part when the Reaper arrived.


SSV Normandy

Earth Orbit, Sol System, Sol Cluster

A Short Time Later

Captain David Anderson stood proudly on the commander's platform overlooking the star map in the Normandy's CIC. All around him the crew bustled with activity, checking and rechecking systems and monitoring various instruments as the Normandy made ready to break seal with the station and stretch her legs for the first time. All supplies had been loaded and stored, their M35 Mako infantry fighting vehicle was onboard and safely stowed in the cargo bay, fuel cells were full, and all onboard systems had passed final checks and were reading fully in the green. In short they were as ready to take the Normandy on her maiden flight/shakedown cruise as they would ever be and as such it was time to begin.

"Joker," Anderson said into the intercom. "Contact station control, request departure clearance and a vector to the Charon relay."

"Aye aye, sir," Joker responded immediately his tone surprisingly formal though Anderson didn't doubt that would soon change. "We have clearance captain, departure vector received. Station is opening bay doors all moorings are clear, we're floating free."

"Take us out, Joker."

Sitting at his station in the cockpit Jeff 'Joker' Moreau couldn't help but feel a bit like a kid on Christmas morning as his hands flew across the haptic interface. This was all he'd ever wanted to be in his life, a starship pilot, a career he almost hadn't got as the Alliance had come within a hairs breath of disallowing his application for training due to him having brittle bone disease. He was glad they hadn't as he was now sitting at the helm of the most advanced vessel in the entire Alliance Navy and he was itching to get her out into space.

A quick check of the forward scanners showed that the doors to the bay where the Normandy had been constructed and outfitted were now fully open – they were clear to leave the bay. Carefully he brought the main drives to life but kept them at low power as using proton-antiproton drives at anywhere full power while inside the station would not be a good idea. Under the gentle acceleration the advanced first generation frigate began to move slowly at first but with ever increasing speed.

Within moments the frigate was clear of the hanger bay and Joker expertly increased power to the main drives while using navigational thrusters and vector thrust on the main drives to bring the Normandy around onto the prescribed exit vector. Another command increased the strength of the dark energy field being generated by the ships mass effect core reducing the ships mass from thousands of tonnes down to just over a ton. With a surge of power that nearly caught him off guard the Normandy surged forwards along her outbound vector.

"Captain we are in clear space and proceeding on prescribed vector to the mass relay," he said into the intercom with a grin of delight on his face. This ship was everything he had thought she would be in terms of handling everything was as the simulators predicted and more.

"Understood, I'll be in my quarters. As soon as we transit through the mass relay I want you to engage our stealth systems."

"Aye aye, captain," Joker acknowledged. As the captain signed off he glanced over at Kaidan Alenko sitting at the co-pilots station. "Kaidan will you double check my calculations for the relay transit."

"No problem," Kaidan replied with a smile as he pulled up the data on his console. He or whoever was on co-pilot duty would have had to do it anyway, Alliance protocols for mass relay transit were quite stringent after all – but then they had to be as it was something the Council insisted on.

As the two of them worked Joker vaguely heard the sound of footsteps approaching behind and briefly glanced over his shoulder. To see that the Spectre had joined them in the cockpit and appeared to be observing there proceedings for some reason only the Turian knew. I wish I knew why Nihlus is really here, he thought sharing the view of many of the crew but especially Jenkins and Pressley that there really was something more going on than this being the shakedown run/maiden flight of a revolutionary new warship. Then he turned his attention back to his console and the job of preparing for mass relay transit while the automatic pilot guided them through the busy Sol shipping lanes towards the enormous ancient structure that would soon catapult them hundreds of light years instantly to the Exodus Cluster.


To say Aldrin Shepard was puzzled would be an understatement. He had been about to head up to CIC to observe Normandy's launch when Anderson had stopped him and instead told him to suit up. Though the older man had refused to explain why he had of course done so donning his N7 medium armour and gathered his weapons, now looking both formidable and somewhat out of place among the crew – all but three of whom were wearing normal Alliance ship fatigues – he began heading up to the cockpit.

As he ascended the steps he began to wonder again what else was really going on with this mission as there was no reason for Captain Anderson to have ordered him to suit up. The only thing he could think of to explain it was that he would be going groundside on Eden Prime the moment the Normandy arrived in orbit. But then the question became why? Eden Prime was by all accounts a paradise world, serene, tranquil and safe – protected by state-of-the-art defence platforms that made it more or less immune from the threat of pirate or slaver attack. The Alliance had learned the lessons of Mindoir and Elysium well even if there response, the construction of unmanned, heavily armed defence platforms didn't entirely meet with the enthusiastic support of the Council.

Anderson's behaviour so far and the presence of Nihlus on the Normandy had him worried. Something else had to be going on, something very, very big. Whatever it was he was being kept in the dark about it and that didn't sit well with him as his experience had taught him that the brass were only this secretive about something when it was very serious.

Arriving on the upper deck he acknowledged the salute of one of the two suited up marines assigned to guard CIC with a polite nod and just avoided colliding with Jenkins who he'd so far only seen once since coming onboard.

"Commander," Jenkins acknowledged with a nod. Shepard nodded back just as the intercom came to life.

"The Charon relay is in range, initiating transmission sequence," Jokers voice said following the protocol for relay transit, "we are connected, calculating transit mass and destination. Relay is hot acquiring approach vector."

Coming into the cockpit/bridge area from CIC Aldrin somehow wasn't surprised to find Nihlus standing behind the pilots consoles seemingly observing the approach. He moved up beside Nihlus and gazed out the windows at the front of the cockpit. While windows really weren't necessary on the Normandy – like all starships she was flown purely by instruments – humanity hadn't yet lost its old romantic images of space travel and having windows to see exactly where they were going. And truth be told he hoped they never did, not when it allowed them to see sights like what they were fast approaching a sight that took his breath away no matter how many times he saw it.

Looming out of the infinite darkness of space was a mass relay, the massive fifteen kilometre long, five kilometre tall structure resembled nothing so much as a tuning fork with a circular section at one end. A section that housed two rings rotating in opposite directions that contained the glowing blue-white mass of an active element zero reaction similar to the one that went on inside an active mass effect core just a few orders of magnitude greater. The sheer scale of a mass relay was staggering as was the fact that despite being well ancient the relays spread throughout the galaxy continued to work perfectly long after the Prothean builders had mysteriously gone the way of the dinosaurs.

"All stations secure for relay transit," Joker announced as they got ever closer to the space megastructure, approaching it on a sweeping angle. "Hitting the relay in five seconds… four… three… two… one."

Shepard instinctively braced himself as a crackling arc of pure power reached out from the relay and grabbed the Normandy. Immediately through the weird sixth sense that all biotics had he sensed an incredibly powerful dark energy field surround the ship, registering on his awareness as a resonating tingle throughout his body. He ignored the sense much of the time, most biotics did but it was harder when you were transiting through a relay. The tingle pulsed and surged as through the view ports space momentarily became a twisting purple-blue corridor of energy down which the ship was travelling at incomprehensible speed.

Then with breathtaking suddenness the tingle of energy faded along with the tunnel as the ship sharply decelerated. Outside there was now another relay, but a relay that was now hundreds of light years from where they had been mere seconds earlier. No matter how many mass relay jumps I go through the speed of these things gets me every time, he thought with a smile before turning his attention to Joker as the pilot carefully checked there position and systems.

"Thrusters… check, navigation… check, internal emission sinks active… check. All systems online and functioning normally, drift just under fifteen hundred k," Joker said the last part coming out smug and self satisfied sounding.

"Fifteen hundred is very good helmsman," Nihlus said in the normal flanged sounding voice of his species. "Your captain will be very pleased." With that Nihlus turned and walked away heading off somewhere else in the ship.

"I hate that guy," Joker said when Nihlus was out of earshot.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment so you hate him?" Kaidan said looking over at his friend. "Joker has anyone ever told you that you have a weird way of accepting compliments?"

"You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom that's good," Joker shot back, "I just jumped us across a large faction of the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead so that's incredible. Beside Spectres are trouble, I don't like him being here. Call me paranoid."

"Your paranoid," Kaidan replied not missing a beat. "The Council helped fund the project that built this ship. Its only fair that they send someone along to keep an eye on there investment."

"Yeah well that's the official story but only an idiot believes that."

"I have to agree with him in this instance Alenko," Shepard said speaking up making both men jump as they hadn't realised he was there.

"Jeez commander, give me a warning before you do that," Joker moaned mock glaring at his superior who couldn't hide a grin. "Ring a bell or something as last thing you want is for me to have a heart attack when you surprise me and ram us full speed into an asteroid."

"I'll see what I can do," Aldrin deadpanned back. "But about Nihlus your right, there has to be a lot more to his presence here. You don't send a Spectre on a shakedown run nor do you give a ship a full crew and a full weapons compliment."

Joker glanced at Kaidan with a look of triumph on his face. "See I was right, there is a hell of a lot more going on here than we've been told," he said prompting a scowl from the older man who was just starting to open his mouth to give a retort when the intercom chirped to life.

"Joker status report," Anderson demanded.

"Just cleared the mass relay captain," Joker answered while guiding the ship onto a vector that would take them to the Utopia system and Eden Prime he'd jump them to FTL speeds in another few minutes, "everything looks good, stealth's engaged and we're running silent."

"Good find a comm. buoy and link us into the network. I want systems status reports relayed back to Alliance brass ASAP. As soon as you've done that jump us to FTL speeds."

"Aye aye, captain," Joker acknowledged, "better brace yourself sir I think Nihlus is heading your way."

"He's already here lieutenant," Anderson replied in a reproving tone that earned a wince from Joker and a small smirk from Kaidan. "Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm. room for a briefing."

"You get that commander," Joker asked as the comm. closed with a soft bleep.

"I heard. He doesn't sound happy something must be wrong with the mission," Shepard answered before turning and starting to walk back along the console corridor between the cockpit and CIC.

"Captain always sounds like that when he's talking to me," Joker said with a snort.

"Can't possibly imagine why," Kaidan deadpanned back.

Aldrin couldn't help but smile as he heard the banter between Joker and Alenko behind him. The other biotic had always been so standoffish with everyone, keeping them at arms distance. It was nice to see that he was making a friend in Joker. His smile soon turned however into a frown of mild concern as he walked. He got the distinct feeling that he would soon be told what was really going on with this mission and it was bound to be interesting. As he walked around the edge of CIC he faintly heard Pressley having a conversation with Chief Engineer Adams over the comm. the former being heavily critical of Nihlus and his mysterious purpose here.

Continuing towards the comm. room at the back of the command deck he spotted Doctor Carolyn Chakwas engaged in a discussion/argument with Jenkins. He quickly decided to intervene before Chakwas in a very quiet, dignified British fashion lost her patience with the wet-behind-the-ears marine. Stopping next to them he started to open his mouth to speak when Jenkins spotted him and spoke first.

"What do you think commander," Jenkins asked looking at the man before him with barely concealed awe. This was only his second assignment since completing basic and he couldn't believe he got to work under Shepard of all people, the man many people in the Alliance military called the next Jon Grissom. "We won't be staying on Eden Prime to long will we? I'm itching for some real action."

"I sincerely hope your kidding, Jenkins," Chakwas shot back in her normal calm voice. "You're 'real action' usually ends up with me patching up crew members in the infirmary or filling out death certificates."

"The doctor is right corporal, you need to calm down. A good soldier stays calm and in control even under fire," Shepard counselled.

"Sorry commander its just I've never been on a mission like this before, not where we have a Spectre onboard," Jenkins apologised.

"Its no different to any other mission Jenkins. Treat it as such."

"Yes sir."

"Your from Eden Prime aren't you Jenkins," Shepard questioned even as his sixth sense altered him to a surge in the ships mass effect field as they accelerated to translight speeds. "I've never been there before what's it like?"

"Very peaceful sir, they've been real careful with development, no city noise or pollution whatsoever," Jenkins replied some of his pride in his green, pleasant homeworld coming into his voice. "When I was a kid we lived on the outskirts of the main settlement, I used to climb the hill outside town and just lay there watching the stars. But as I got older I realised it was a bit to laid back and quiet for me. That's why I signed up even paradise gets boring after awhile."

"Any idea why it was chosen as our destination?"

"Not really sure. The colony is one of oldest and most stable, the defence platforms are as good as those protecting Earth or Arcturus Station maybe they want to try our stealth systems against there targeting scanners," Jenkins said with a frown. "But at the same time that doesn't make sense, why send a Spectre to observe the trials why not someone from C-Sec or the STG? That's why I'm so wound up, I can't wait for our real mission – whatever it is – to start."

"Be careful what you wish for, Jenkins," Shepard cautioned. "But I should be going, the captain is waiting for me in the comm. room."

"Goodbye commander," Chakwas acknowledged as Jenkins straightened up and offered his superior a salute which Shepard politely returned before stepping around his crewmates and heading into the comm. room and promptly got a surprise.

The comm. room was empty save for Nihlus who was standing facing the holographic monitor used for briefings. The monitor was currently active showing a view of the gleaming city towers standing amid green fields, rippling rivers and lakes of the colony world the Normandy was fast approaching. At the sound of his booted feet on the metal deck Nihlus turned and moved his mandibles in the way that was the subtle Turian equivalent of smile.

"Commander Shepard I was hoping you would be the first to get here," Nihlus said in greeting. "It will give us a chance to have a talk."

"About what," Shepard asked raising an eyebrow wondering what the Spectre wanted to talk to him about and wondering if it was another test. "I thought Captain Anderson was going to meet me here."

"He is on his way but I wanted a few moments for us to talk first."

"Okay what about?"

Nihlus turned away from him. "I'm curious about this world we're going to Eden Prime. I've heard that its quite beautiful," he said.

"They say it's a paradise," Shepard replied thinking back on what Jenkins had said about Eden Prime a few minutes ago.

"Yes a paradise. Serene, tranquil, safe," Nihlus said, "Eden Prime has become something of a symbol for your people hasn't it. Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy but also protect them. But how safe is Eden Prime really?"

"Probably not as safe as some would like to think but safer than some other worlds," Shepard replied blue eyes going dark with memory. Like everyone else on Mindoir he'd thought there world safe until that day thirteen years ago, the day the Batarians came and destroyed everything as he had known it. The day he'd lost his innocence along with his family and almost all his friends. Events that had cut a deep wound in his soul, a wound that had never truly healed and probably never would. The pain of that day was always there, though most times now he could ignore it.

"The galaxy can be a very dangerous place," Nihlus agreed, "you know this more than most of your people do. Your people are still newcomers on the galactic stage, are you truly ready for this?"

"Ready for what?" Shepard asked even as he heard the doors to the comm. room open.

"I think its time we told Shepard what's really going on here Nihlus," Anderson said coming to stand nearby.

"You're right," Nihlus admitted before looking at his soon to be student – at least in the ways of being a Spectre. "As you might have guessed this mission to Eden Prime is far more than a simple shakedown run."

"I guessed as much," Shepard admitted. "Given we've got a full crew, full weapons compliment and your presence here Nihlus I guessed there was something the brass weren't telling us."

"We're making a covert pickup on Eden Prime," Anderson confirmed as Nihlus gave Shepard an approving look. "That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."

"I see, why all the secrecy sir," Shepard asked. "At very least I should have been told."

"I wanted to, Shepard," Anderson admitted, "but this comes down straight from the top, information on a strictly need to know basis. Just over a week ago a archaeology team on Eden Prime unearthed somekind of beacon during an excavation." He kept his eyes on Shepard as he continued. "It was Prothean."

Shepard's eyes widened in surprise. "Prothean," he repeated in disbelief, "they vanished fifty thousand years ago. The beacon survived underground all this time?" Though he was no archaeologist he knew that for something to have survived buried in the ground for so long was miraculous to say the very least.

"Apparently yes," Anderson replied. "I suppose I don't have to tell you what this means Shepard. The last time we made a discovery like this it jumped our technology forward centuries and gave us the stars. That was just a small data cache and some old short range ships. Who knows what we could learn from this beacon."

"Obviously this goes far beyond mere Human interest's commander this discovery could affect every species living in Council space," Nihlus added recalling how the Council had reacted when told of the discovery. Shocked and excited only began to describe it. He could well understand it, especially as the beacon seemed to be intact. All of the beacons they'd found in the past had been very badly damaged by the ravages of time and the elements, any data they contained corrupted or wiped completely.

"Eden Prime's university though well equipped doesn't have anywhere near the capability to handle something like this," Anderson broke in, "we need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study and for security purposes. You'll be in charge of the ground team when we arrive. Secure the beacon and get it onto this ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission."

"It never hurts to have a few extra hands on board but I get the impression that there is a lot more to this than simply recovering a very valuable historic artefact," Shepard commented recalling how Nihlus had tested him back on the station.

"Very observant, Shepard," Nihlus said approvingly. "I'm not just here to recover the beacon and oversee its safe delivery to the Citadel. I'm also here for you."

"Me," Shepard repeated in confusion. "Why are you here for me?"

"He's here to evaluate you. For along time now the Alliance has been pushing to get one of our own in with the Spectres. We want more say in shaping interstellar policy," Anderson explained, "the Spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a Human into there ranks, it will show how far the Alliance has come."

"You held off a pirate assault on Elysium single handed during the Skyllian Blitz," Nihlus said to an astonished looking Shepard. "You showed not only great courage but an incredible skill and tactical sense. Traits that will be extremely useful to the Spectres. That is why I put your name forward to join us when the Alliance broached the subject with the Council."

"Why would a Turian want a Human in the Spectres," Shepard asked honestly curious knowing there was still considerable political tension between Humans and Turians. A legacy of there disastrous first contact nearly thirty years ago.

"Not all Turians resent humanity," Nihlus explained not for the first time fed up of the lingering animosity between his people and humanity. It served no purpose to anyone but some bitter old men who couldn't let go the past and events that should not have happened. "There are many of my generation who see the potential of your species, we see what you can offer to both the galaxy and the Spectres. We're an elite group, its rare to encounter someone with the skills and abilities we seek. I don't care that your Human Shepard, I only care that you can do the job."

"Just tell me what you want me to do," Shepard said feeling more than a little humbled by what he was being considered for. He'd never thought his defence of Elysium as anything special. He had merely been doing his job as well as making sure the people of Elysium didn't have to endure the hell he'd endured on Mindoir.

"I need to see your skills for myself," Nihlus replied. "Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together. At the end of which I will make my final recommendation to the Council on inducting you into the Spectres or not. From what I have seen so far of you, you will not disappoint me."

"Captain we have a problem," Jokers voice abruptly said over the intercom.

"What is it Joker," Anderson asked.

"Emergency transmission from Eden Prime sir you better see this," Joker said his voice thick with concern and a subtle hint of anger.

Feeling a chill go down his spine Anderson spoke up. "Put it on screen here Joker," he ordered turning to look at the screen.

Immediately the hologram changed to show a scene of total chaos. Marines were standing about firing there weapons, the flashes of shields indicating where they were being hit by something in return. The camera played to the left showing blue tinged lasers impacting the ground all around sending up plumes of soil and burnt grass. A female marine in white and pink medium armour raced at the cameraman yelling to get down before firing at something off the screen.

The camera played around to look at a terrified looking lieutenant. "We are under attack, taking heavy casualties, repeat heavy casualties," the officer said yelling to be heard over the roaring of assault rifle fire and the sharp snap-hissing of lasers. "We can…" an explosion drowned out whatever the officer was say…" ..ed evac. They came out of nowhere we can't." A section of the officers chest armour suddenly exploded and the man slumped down dead, the legacy of a sniper shot that had ripped through his shields and armour with effortless ease.

The camera played again as all around the marines continued engaging whoever was attacking them. Then there came a noise, a deep rumbling noise completely unlike anything the three of them had ever heard before. The marines on screen slowly ceased firing and all seemed to look up, the camera following there gaze…

…an alien ship was descending through thick clouds of smoke and dust. It was huge and completely unlike anything anyone had ever seen before. Its design vaguely resembled a cuttlefish, a cuttlefish made of metal and wreathed in crackling arcs of red energy.

Abruptly the camera reeled again as fighting resumed. Multiple brilliant blue-white flashed erupted and the bodies of marines were sent tumbling, vague shapes could be seen coming into the edge of the cameras view. Until abruptly the screen broke up into static as the transmission vanished.

"Everything cuts out after that, there's no comm. traffic at all or anything else," Joker added his voice sombre.

"Reverse image and hold at 38.5," Anderson ordered and the image reverse to show a view of the strange alien ship. "How far are we from Eden Prime Joker."

"Seventeen minutes out captain. No other Alliance ships in the area. The signal we picked up isn't transmitting outside the system."

"Battle stations. Send a message to Alliance Command at Arcturus, tell them what's happening, we need the fleet here ASAP. Then take us in fast and quiet."

"Aye aye, captain." Joker acknowledged before signing off.

"This mission has just gotten a lot more complicated," Anderson said softly as alarms began ringing throughout the ship, summoning the Normandy's crew to battle stations.

"A small strike team can move quickly," Nihlus said his eyes focused on the unknown alien ship, "its our best chance to secure the beacon without drawing to much attention from the invaders."

"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold," Anderson answered and watched as Nihlus turned and left. Then he looked at Shepard whose gaze was still focused on the screen yet not really seeing it. "Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up commander. You're going groundside as soon as we arrive."

"Aye, aye sir," Shepard acknowledged and took one last look at the alien ship. Whoever you are you have no idea what you've just started, he thought to its mysterious occupants. Whoever the invaders were they'd almost certainly just started a war as there was no way the Alliance or the Citadel would allow an attack on this scale to go unanswered. They certainly hadn't when the Blitz had occurred, tracking the surviving pirates, mercs and slavers back to the moon of Torfan and killing or capturing them all.

Turning away from the screen Shepard began walking back out into the CIC. The room was even busier now than it had been earlier with every station manned and ready as the frigates crew prepared to engage the enemy. Jenkins was still standing where he had been, being a full time member of the ground team he didn't have any real duties in space combat beyond being ready to act as a security trooper.

"Jenkins," he said prompting the younger marine to spin around.

"Commander," Jenkins acknowledge with a salute. "What's going on sir? Is it a battle drill?"

"I'm afraid not, corporal. Eden Prime is under attack," as he spoke he kept his eyes focused on the younger man and watched as Jenkins reeled back as though physically struck, features going pale in a combination of shock, horror and fear not for himself but for his home and everyone he knew there.

"Attack," Jenkins breathed shaking slightly as sudden pictures of his homeworld in flames, his family lying dead in the ruins of their home or worse flashing before his eyes, "but who, why?"

"I don't know the who but I have a good idea as to the why," Shepard replied knowing the attacking forces had likely come for the beacon. "Suit up and grab your gear. You, me Alenko and Nihlus are going groundside as soon as we arrive."

To his credit Jenkins immediately seemed to pull himself together. The shocked and horrified colonial boy giving way to the combat trained marine. "Aye aye sir I'll be ready," Jenkins replied his voice calm.

"Go get ready then meet me in the cargo hold. I'll be there as soon as I've got Alenko."

"Aye, aye sir," Jenkins acknowledge before turning and practically running out of the CIC to get his armour on and get his weapons. Shepard watched him go for a moment, he felt for the younger man he really did. He knew the kind of fear that he would be experiencing beneath his military discipline. Having experienced it himself when he was even younger than Jenkins – though he hadn't had anything other than basic biotic training to fall back on at the time – he knew it all to well. He made a mental note to speak to Jenkins after all this was over as the marine was going to need a friend, someone who would know exactly what he was going through.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly Shepard turned and started walking towards the cockpit only to see Alenko coming the other way. "Alenko suit up," he said stopping the other biotic in his tracks, "you, me and Jenkins are going groundside with Nihlus as soon as we arrive at Eden Prime."

"Aye aye sir," Kaidan acknowledged as Shepard turned around again and started heading to one of the entrances to the combat deck. He hurried to follow the other biotic. "Is Jenkins alright," he asked worried for the younger marine.

"No though he's hiding it behind discipline," Shepard replied as they walked down the steps. "We're going to have to keep a close eye on him groundside Kaidan and be there for him afterwards. If the attack is as bad as the distress call indicates this is going to rip him apart."

Kaidan nodded. "And what about you, Aldrin," he asked taking a chance and using Shepard's first name for the first time in a few years. "Are you okay with this?"

"I'll be okay Kaidan," Shepard replied. "The ghosts of Mindoir are just that. I came to terms with that long ago. Right now its Jenkins and the beacon I'm worried about."

"Beacon what beacon," Kaidan asked. Shepard sighed softly and quickly told him about the Prothean beacon uncovered on Eden Prime and there orders to pick it up and convey it to the Citadel.

"If I'm right this whole attack is due to someone wanting that beacon," he finished for the astonished other man. "Whoever or whatever they are we cannot let them get it. They can't get away with this attack of theirs Kaidan."

"No sir."


Authors Notes: I added the scene with the defence platforms to explain why Saren was on Eden Prime's surface even before the attack began. Now we're coming to the first major plot point of the first game and I will be adding a few twists in the next chapter as opposed to doing a straight novelisation of the games.