Well, I've decided to re-write the fourth chapter, mainly because it made NO sense to me when re-reading it. So, here it is: read it, review it and most importantly, ENJOY!


Normandy swept in low over the battered landscape of Eden Prime, the light of multiple fires glinting off her sliver hull, her engines an inaudible hum.

Graham sat in the cargo hold watching as the rest of his team, consisting of Kaiden and Private Laskey, suiting up, his Lancer assault rifle in hand, the stock against his knee. His helmet hid most of his face from the others, which meant they couldn't see the pale parlour of his skin, nor the wild look in his eyes through his visor.

This was common for him, a bout of pre-combat madness before his fine-tuned instincts kicking in. He heard the hiss of the rear doors opening, and turned to see Anderson, Mike, two other marines, including Jenkins, and Nihlus stroll in, the latter four clad in combat gear and body armour.

Mike saw Graham sitting on one of the ammo crates and waved, a cheesy grin plastered all over his face. Upon seeing the carefree and almost childish look on his brother's face, Graham couldn't help but burst out laughing, his low baritone voice rolling across the cargo hold like a bullet, but much less lethal.

Everyone aside from Anderson glanced at the pair, confused as to their sudden outburst. Nihlus just sighed and shrugged, thinking it was just another of their quirks.

"Approaching drop point one" Joker's voice said over the comm, his tone flat through the speakers. With a dull roar the cargo bay crawled open, fierce winds whipping through as the internal and external pressures equalized. Everyone turned to stare at Nihlus as he checked his weapons and, with shotgun in hand, headed for the ramp.

"Nihlus? You coming with us?" Jenkins asked, eying the turian curiously. He shook his head as he did a final check of his shotgun.

"I move faster on my own" he explained, before leaping into the void. The others stared after him, jaws agape as his sudden display of acrobatics.

Graham just shrugged and said "Well, now that piece of entertainment is out of the way, let's get on with the job at hand shall we?" and strolled back into the bowels of the ship.


Mike followed him, his jaw closing with an audible snap.

Graham unlocked his items locker, rummaged through the sparse compartment, and pulled out two compact-but-powerful Stiletto pistols, along with an Elkoss Combine's SMG, which he passed into Mike's waiting hand. He sealed the locker, stood up, and holstered his pistol and threw Mike the other just as Joker said "Approaching drop point two."

They glanced at each, an unspoken message transmitted in under a second: Keep your ass alive. They both nodded, the message received and understood, and proceeded to prepare their individual teams. As the ramp lowered, the two teams stood side-by-side, Graham and Mike at the head.

When the pressure light flashed green they took off running, flinging themselves into the void below. Graham laughed with joy, delighting in the sensation of free-fall, his arms spread wide. They landed with a slight thud, the shock-absorbers in their boots and greaves making the fall seem like a mere hop than a hundred foot drop. Graham's head snapped up with his rifle, his eyes scanning the terrain for any sign of movement. Behind him Mike did the same, his SMG held ready, his finger held lightly on the trigger.

"Area clear Commander" Kaiden's voice said over the comm, his tone completely deadpan.

Mike opened his omni-tool and called up a map of their surroundings. "Okay, here we are" he said, gesturing to the small collection of blue dots at the bottom of the screen "and here's our objective." A green arrow appeared in the top-right corner. He shut down the omni-tool and turned back to the others and said "Bear in mind that this is only a rough estimate of the beacon's actual location, so it could be anywhere in that area."

Graham nodded, his eyes burning beneath his helmet, and ordered "Move out" before jogging towards a nearby road towards the colony.

Suddenly Nihlus' voice crackled over the radio "I'm seeing serious action here Shepard" he whispered, his voice tingled with worry "a lot of bodies."

Graham glanced behind him and saw the pale faces of the others, whilst feeling the blood drain from his own.

"What kind of… monster butchers people like that?" The thought was on everyone's mind, but it was Jenkins that put it into words. Silence reigned over the group as they advanced. The hairs on the back of Graham's neck began to raise, a sign that his subconscious was tapping him on the shoulder as saying 'Something's not right.'

He stopped dead still and raised his fist, a signal to the others to stop. Everyone stopped, like robots with their power sources removed. Mike glanced at his brother, a questioning eyebrow raised. Graham mouthed 'trust me' and scanned the surrounding forest, stretching every sense to its limit. Mike sighed and raised his SMG to his shoulder, sapphire eyes meticulously going over every inch of terrain, ears straining to make out every noise around them. It was then that he picked up a faint hum, similar to that of the Normandy's engines, only in a much higher registry.

"Graham…" he warned, his voice betraying his fear, his eyes darting around them for the source. His brother snapped around to stare at him, his eyes wide, his face questioning.

"What did you…" he started to say, but then the humming got louder and his rifle swung towards the source, somewhere behind a small clump of trees. "Jenkins, Laskey, Kaiden" Graham motioned with his rifle and the two marines leapt to obey, weapons held ready, faces blank and alert. They crouched on opposite sides of the clump, their backs pressed against the trunks of three nearby trees. When Graham nodded, they shouldered through the brush, smashing their way across the entire width of the five yard patch, leaving a definite trail in their wake.

Graham and Mike followed behind them, scanning every inch of shrub as they passed; now sure that something was out there. Suddenly there was a cry of "Contact!" and the sound of bullets flying…followed by a very familiar high-pitched hum. Both brothers' eyes widened in horror and they bolted towards the sounds of battle.

What they saw next would haunt them for the rest of their lives.

They saw Laskey and Kaiden leaning behind a large boulder, with Jenkins next to them, slumped on the ground and clutching a bleeding shoulder.

Their attackers were three drones of sorts, with what looked like a small machine guns slung underneath their chassis. They flitted around the battlefield like houseflies, and were almost as impossible to hit.

With a great roar Graham let loose a great burst from his assault rifle, filling the air with lead. The lethal cloud sped towards the drones and slammed into the first one with the force of a sledgehammer, shattering its silver casing and shredding the circuitry within. As it fell, the other two quickly swung round and opened fire on the twins, their guns blazing like candles. Mike yanked Graham behind the cover of a nearby boulder, barely missing a burst of fire from their opponents.

"Can't you do anything?" Gray wheezed; his breath erratic after being slammed into fifty tonnes of stone.

"Maybe" Mike muttered, eyeing the drones warily "give me a second." He quickly opened his omni-tool and typed furiously, his fingers flying across the keys, his eyes mere slits as he gazed intently at the display. Then, with a cry he swung round and, pointing his left hand at one of the drones, fired a great burst of binary, its passage marked the static shriek in the team's radios. The drone shuddered and wavered in the air, its systems slowly losing power, until it fell, lights dark, from the sky and ploughed a small trench into the ground.

The final drone buzzed around the trees and tried to fly up into the canopy, but not before Kaiden gave a great cry and flung his arm in a wrenching motion. His entire body flared blue and a huge biotic throw shot from his hand towards the drone. As it collided with the android, the throw forced it down, towards a nearby tree. It slammed into the trunk with the force of a missile, causing it to shatter into a thousand silver slivers and a cloud of shrapnel. An assembled sigh escaped the group as the last drone fell, and they all slumped to the ground. It was then that Jenkins gave himself the luxury of passing out.

"Normandy, need evac for wounded" Graham said over the radio whilst Kaiden and Mike stabilized Jenkins' condition; and Laskey and Rodriguez, the other marine in Mike's team, patrolled a hastily constructed perimeter, scanning for any sign of movement. "Rodger that Commander, ETA two minutes" came the reply. Satisfied, Graham closed the channel and walked over to the improvised cot on which Jenkins lay.

"How is he?" he asked, glancing down at the bloody remains of the marine's left shoulder.

"Not good, but stable" Kaiden replied, checking his vitals on his omni-tool. Graham nodded and knelt beside Jenkins as he stirred.

"Sorry about that Commander" he coughed; his face pale from the loss of blood "not one of my finer moments." Graham clasped the marine's hand, a silent show of comfort and support.

"No, I don't suppose it was" he said, his tone jovial but his gaze serious "just try not to repeat this too many times will you? I'd be kinda hard-pressed to find another marine as enthusiastic as you." That earned him a brief chuckle and a grin, which was what he was aiming for. He patted Jenkins on his good shoulder as Normandy roared overhead, its silver silhouette a welcome sight.

As the cargo bay door hissed open, six medics rushed down with a stretcher and hoisted Jenkins onto it as gently as they could.

Graham watched them leave, and his throat tightened as Jenkins waved to him as the ramp closed. Bravely, with a great force of will, he turned his back on the ascending frigate and walked stiffly to the front of the team, his rifle held tightly in his hands.

"Ok, we know our objective" he said, his voice tense and sharp "we know our enemy, and we're on a time limit, so no time for sight-seeing. So get in, secure the beacon, and get out. Move out."


For the next twenty the marines trekked across the plains of Eden Prime towards the main colony, completely silent save for their heavy breathing. Everyone strained their senses to the limit, determined not to be ambushed again.

Suddenly they heard the sound of running feet, followed by the hum of drones, and they dived into a nearby clump of trees. As they watched with baited breath, a female marine dashed past, pursued by two gun drones, their guns blazing. Graham recognised her as the marine from the video they saw on the Normandy earlier, and felt Mike stir next to him.

As they looked on, three bullets slammed into her shields, forcing her to the ground. Graham quickly grabbed Mike by the arm to stop him from leaping to her rescue; poor sod always had a flare for the dramatic. Then, before anyone could react, she snatched her pistol from its holster and shot both drones out of the sky with two shots, each one fired less than a second apart and with extreme accuracy.

"Wow." Mike breathed, his eyes glued on the marine's slender figure "Girl's got style." That made Graham chuckle slightly; of all the places to develop a crush, Mike had to choose the middle of a potentially lethal battle-zone. Then, as the marine rose, they heard a strange clicking warble coming from nearby.

What they saw next made horrified them all.


They saw three robots, roughly humanoid in design except for their elongated necks and strange flashlight style heads, bending a colonist backwards over what appeared to be some sort of altar or medical device, carefully placing his chest over the centre of the device.

Then, quite suddenly, a twelve foot spike shot up, impaling the poor colonist through the chest, killing him instantly.

Everyone heard the gasp of horror that escaped the marine's lips as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. Unfortunately, so did the robots. They spun round, unnaturally fast, and raised their strange assault rifles.

The marine took one look at the weapons and started running towards a nearby outcrop of stone, drawing her own rifle from her back. Graham looked back at the marines behind him and drew a finger across his neck, the signal for slitting throats, or in this case severing power cables. They all raised their guns to their shoulders, eyes hardening as their targets came into view.

Just as the robots passed them, Graham let out an earth-shattering roar of "FIRE!" and suddenly the air was filled with gunfire and bullets. The robots, despite their superior reflexes, had no time to react or even move as bullets riddled their frames, reducing them to little more than piles of scrap metal.

Mike leapt out from behind the trees, SMG blazing, and positioned himself between the cowering marine and the robots, his eyes burning as he gazed down the sight. Once the robots had been well and truly shredded, the group stepped out of cover and Graham approached Mike, who was busy comforting the poor woman. She snapped to attention as Graham approached, and Mike stepped to stand by his brother's shoulder.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212" the marine said between laboured breaths, her escapade obviously having exhausting her "are you in charge in sir?" Graham and Mike exchanged an amused glance, and Graham stepped back to let Mike take charge of the situation.

"Are you wounded Williams?" he asked, his eyes scanning over her slim yet obviously muscular frame.

"Nothing major" she replied, her face flushed, from the exertion or from Mike's staring no one knew "Oh man, we were on patrol when the attack hit" she had turned away to stare towards the horizon, her face hidden by shadow "at first we heard nothing, then the geth swarmed us." Graham could plainly hear the grief in her voice, and it made his chest tighten in sympathy.

But then the implications of what she'd just said hit him. Geth? As in, the weird AI-robots-that-haven't-been-seen-in-three-hundred- years type Geth? He turned to look at Kaiden and the others, noting the same look of bafflement on their faces.


"The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil for three hundred years, why attack now?" Kaiden asked, voicing the question on everyone's minds.

Ashley just shrugged and said "They must've come for the beacon. The dig site's at the other end of this trench." She gestured with her rifle down the valley. Graham nodded, and motioned for the others to go on ahead. As Mike passed, Graham grabbed him by the arm and pulled him closer.

"Be careful brother" he whispered "just because you can doesn't mean you should." Mike nodded in understanding, the message about Ashley and himself clear as glass. They quickly glanced at the woman in question, watching as she walked down the trench, her hips swaying seductively under her armour.

Graham watched as a familiar dreamy expression washed over Mike's face, his eyes unfocused. "Good luck" he muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes. Mike quickly glanced at him.

"What?" he asked, bemused.

"Good luck on wooing her and not getting discharged." Graham explained "I think you're gonna need it." A sly grin spread over his face. "But, if you should succeed, I'll…" he leant over and whispered something in Mike's ear, and watched as his face turned beetroot red and his eyes widened in horror.

Laughing, Graham took off down the trench so Mike couldn't catch him…and ran head first into a hail of gunfire. He landed heavily on his side, grunting as he felt the plates in his shoulder pads crumple.

Keeping low to the ground, he propped his rifle on his left forearm and fired a short burst at the nearby geth trooper, hitting it straight on its 'head' if you could call it that.

He noticed all the other marines were also firing at the geth further up the gorge, and he could hear the sounds of return fire from farther off. He staggered to his feet just as Mike appeared behind him, wrapping a tree-trunk sized arm around his brother's waist to support him.

"Next time, keep your head down." Mike advised sagely, his SMG spitting death at the offending geth. Graham grunted and stumbled up the gorge until he came to the dig site, which was guarded by four troopers.

Foregoing subtly, he pulled a high-explosive grenade from his belt and lobbed it with a casual flick of his wrist, and watched as it blew all four geth to shrapnel, a grim smile on his face and his hand shaking violently.

It was only after all that that he noticed the blood pouring down his arm, and followed by cries of alarm from the others, he fell into darkness, letting it envelope him.