I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, but I had a holiday. Sorry.

Alliance Dossier; Mission Designation: Operation Vengeful Hammerblow

Commander Jonathan Daniel Shepard

Soldier. Raised on Arcturus, to Eric and Hannah Shepard. Extremely moral. Often considered a 'goody two-shoes' by his siblings, his moral compass has nonetheless served him well on many missions. Titles: Lion of Elysium.

Lieutenant James Adam Shepard

Infiltrator. Raised on Earth in a gang known as the Reds. Cool, calm, collected, often referred to as the android. Avoids direct social contact or familiarity. Incapable of experiencing emotion thanks to a genetic defect, which also makes him incredibly intelligent and physically able. Well known for winning a bar fight against a Krogan. The Krogan had attacked and beaten up an Asari dancer. He was about to stamp down on the Asari's head when James grabbed his leg and upended him. Titles: Hero of Akuze.

Sergeant Michael Nathan Shepard

Vanguard. Raised on Mindoir, which was then brutally attacked by Batarian slavers. This traumatic event, combined with the fact that he was installed with an L2 biotic amp, has led to ruthless and occasionally bloodthirsty tendencies. Mildly xenophobic. Titles: Butcher of Torfan.

Second Lieutenant Jane Alice Shepard

Adept. Origin more or less unknown. Exposed through brutal experiments at birth to large concentrations of Element Zero. One of the few natural human biotics. Intensely focused. Her morality has led to several arguments over the years, and as such she is banned from Omega, Chora's den, and the fresh produce aisle of the Tesco on Noveria. (Reason unknown.) Titles: Scourge of Omega.

Corporal Ruby Melissa Shepard

Sentinel. Born on Earth, Manhattan. Strong-willed, skillful, perfect Commander material, but refused promotion because 'someone has to keep the grunts in line.' Strongly loyal to her siblings and those marines under her command. Very creative attitude towards Alliance regs. Titles: none.

Staff sergeant Maria Alyssa Shepard

Engineer. Born on Omega. Learned Karate, Judo, Tai Chi, Kung Fu, and Jujitsu at a young age. Owns a green combat drone called Graham. Strong, both physically and mentally, with a firm sense of justice but mischievous tendencies. E.g. once [classified] a [classified] with a [classified] on April fool's day. Titles: none.

Note: all the Shepards are trained N7 commandos. They were separated at birth, and were only reunited when DNA scans during the Luna outpost incident during N training revealed that they were siblings.

Anderson put down the Dossier, and looked up at Hackett. "So, what do you think? They're the closest unit we can get to Eden Prime. They're stationed on the SSV Normandy with Nihilus, a council SpecTRe who is evaluating each of them for SpecTRe status." Hackett frowned. "They appear to be a mismatched group. Some have tragic backgrounds, some have no morals, James Shepard has a medical condition that stops him feeling emotion. They were only reunited at the start of N training. Tensions still exist between them that could undermine their effectiveness. Are they really the sort of people we want protecting the galaxy?"

"They're the only people who can protect the galaxy."

"Send them in."

The SSV Normandy swooped through space as it left the Mass Effect relay. At the helm, Joker, the disabled pilot, checked his instruments. "Drift holding steady at two thousand. Jump successful." Behind him, Nihilus spoke abruptly.

"Two thousand is good. Your captain will be pleased." Then he left. Joker spoke to Kaidan.

"I hate that guy."

"Nihilus just paid you a compliment. So you hate him?"

"SpecTRes are trouble. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid." John said as he came onto the bridge. "This is a council ship as well as an Alliance one, and the council has a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."

"Maybe, but I know the council doesn't send SpecTRes on shakedown runs."

"You think there's something else to this mission?"

"Definitely. I can feel it in my gut. That, and I just hacked Nihilus' suit's audio recorder. I never knew that Eden Prime had found a Prothean beacon. Did you?" Just as John was about to ask how-and why-Joker had hacked Nihilus' suit, Maria ran onto the bridge.

"The Captain wants to see us."

The six Shepard siblings stood in front of Captain Anderson and Nihilus. Nihilus was speaking. "Eden Prime. Your most beautiful colony. Two days ago, it unearthed an article of Prothean tech. Three minutes ago, we received this transmission." The screen on the wall flickered into life. The picture was shaky, and indistinct, but they could see a large group of humanoid beings opening fire on the Alliance marines. A heavy cannon, possibly from a Mako, fired, making the feed white out. When it came back, the camera was shaking as the bearer ran. He was talking to himself. "Holy God. Holy God. Holy..." a shape came out of nowhere, and smashed into the camera. There was the sound of an omni-blade, and a film of blood coated the lens. It was held up again, and pointed towards the corpse of the soldier. It was then pointed towards the hill. There was an army there. At least twelve platoons of infantry, supported by two huge, hulking things that stomped along on four legs. James spoke in the background. "Those appear to be Geth. Recommend immediate landing."

The Normandy swooped down, and landed. Nihilus was in the cargo bay, checking his shotgun. Michael spoke. "You coming with us? Or are y' jus' posin' fer th' camera?"

"I move faster on my own." And then, quick as a flash, he was gone. John spoke to the others.

"Ok, here's the plan. I will lead a team of me, Kaidan, and Jenkins to check for survivors who can give us more info. James, head for the station. If they want to move the beacon offworld, that's where it'll be. Stop them doing that. Maria, Jane, Ruby, go find Nihilus. The council doesn't like us if we let their dogs wander off. Michael?"

"'Sup?"

"Smash the flashlight heads. All the flashlight heads."

"Nice."

"Right! Move out!"

James snuck past the two Geth at the station. He could have killed them in two seconds flat, but the reinforcements would be more of a problem. There was a Geth Destroyer on the rooftop. This was just too good a chance to miss. He pulled out his heavily customized Punisher 7 sniper rifle, and put two shots in its back. He then moved, quickly, on to the platform. His twin Striker 4 pistols made short work of two Geth, and he moved forward. Had his condition not prevented him from feeling emotion, he would have gasped. There, on the ground, lay Nihilus. He had been shot. A quick inspection revealed that it had been a pistol shot. Close range, delivered to the base of the skull, carefully lined up. The weapon that had fired it had probably been a large pistol, customized. Not the Geth then. They never customized their gear. An ally of the Geth. The pistol was made by a human, probably a Stiletto. It had used radioactive rounds, as proven by the slight discoloration of the flesh around the impact zone, suggesting that the firer was someone who didn't want their target to survive even if they survived the first hit. That suggested a trained killer. Some newbies just went for a high-damage ammo upgrade, not paying attention to damage over time or damping. It had not been delivered during combat, it was too precise for that. Nihilus had let his guard down. There were no corpses nearby, which ruled out that he was captured, interrogated, and then executed. All evidence pointed to a betrayal. Nihilus wasn't one to trust easily, so it had been a close friend, or at least someone he trusted. Close friend, well trained, heavily customized weapon, maybe another SpecTRe. He raised his omni-tool. There were three messages on it. Two were from John. The first one read: Jenkins down. Have engaged enemy. The second read: found survivor. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, 212 marines. OMG so hot. The third was from Jane: No sign of Nihilus. Found batshit crazy doctor+Husks en masse. He sent a message to everyone. Nihilus dead, betrayed. Backup at station ASAP, no sign of beacon. He closed his tool, and, without turning, put a perfect pistol shot into a Geth Infiltrator that was sneaking up on him.

John ran up, Kaidan and a woman that James assumed to be the legendary Ashley Williams beside him. "You said Nihilus was...holy shit." James nodded.

"Holy shit indeed. One pistol shot, not an execution, betrayal. Possibly another SpecTRe." Michael appeared, having used Vanguard charge to get to the station fast. "Yup, all th' flashies are deader 'n dodos. Hey, is that Nihilus?"

Once Jane, Ruby and Maria arrived, they started moving forward up to the station. A few squads of Geth barred their way, but that ended with predictable results. At one point they did get pinned down trying to get on the train by a Geth sniper, but Michael solved the problem by charging the sniper and shooting it point blank with a cry of 'screw this.' They got to the platform, to see a Geth engineer setting a charge. They shot it dead, and disarmed the charge. They then split into groups to find and disarm the other charges. James went for the one on the roof of a large building, as he was the only one who could get up there quickly. Two shots later, he had killed the Geth up there and disabled the charge. He yelled out, "Charge disabled!" And quickly climbed back down. The Beacon was on the platform. Kaidan moved up to investigate. Suddenly, an invisible force grabbed him and lifted him up in the air. John turned, and ran forward to help, but it was too late. He would never reach him in time. Maria was closer, and sprinted forward, grabbing Kaidan around the waist and hurling him away. The Beacon exploded, and Maria was thrown back. She hit her head on the concrete, and passed out.

And done. Please review, and be the first one to tell me what you thought so far!