Disclaimer: BioWare owns Mass Effect. 20th Century Fox owns the Alien franchise.

LV 426, November 17, 2176

2nd Lieutenant Jane Shepard was launched into the opposite wall, colliding with the unforgiving iridium-reinforced steel as she smacked into it at an uncomfortably high rate of speed, knocking the breath out of her as she crashed into the floor below her, letting out a series of hacking coughs as she struggled to get oxygen back into her body, the temporary paralysis of her diaphragm making it difficult for her to do. The room grew a bit fuzzy for a moment, with interesting strobes of light as Shepard struggled to get up, her head swimming momentarily as she slowly got onto her knees and elbows, letting out another series of coughs.

She was then thrown into the room's ceiling, hard, smashing into a ceiling grate with a loud clatter. Then she was left to fall the rest of the distance on the floor seven feet and ten inches below. Shepard fought off the urge to cry out in pain, everything in her body hurting from the multiple impacts as she still struggled to regain her breath. She tried to pick herself up off the floor, her limbs painfully uncooperative as she got one hand onto the floor, and did half of a push-up to elevate herself slightly.

And in her swimming vision, she saw a pair of booted feet in front of her.

"Relieve this barbarian of its weapons." The voice ordered, Shepard's hearing a little unfocused, the collisions having made her ears ring slightly. She hadn't noticed it before from the pain in her body, but hearing the voice seem mute and distorted; she recognized the condition. It explained the slightly spinning room and the lack of balance she was feeling. A rude hand pried the M7 Lancer off her back, and one of the booted feet flipped her over onto her back, making her groan from the force as another pair of hands relieved her of her M9 Tempest and her M3 Predator. Shepard looked up to see three faces looking down at her on the floor, and she knew that she was in for a world of trouble and pain.

"Well…" Shepard coughed, her throat feeling thick from her hacking, "if it isn't the carpetmunchers from Thessia." She smiled at them, blinking her eyes as three bluish faces gazed down at her, their eyes hard and merciless. "How're things in dyke-world, cuntnibblers?"

Shepard got about half-a-second preparation before she impacted against another wall, slamming her against its surface hard, and left to fall on the floor. Again.

The latest fling into the wall had her coughing again, and Shepard spat out a wad of bloody phlegm onto the floor below her, trying to get back up onto her knees and elbows. She didn't make it far as a foot went down onto her back, shoving itself onto her armor, and causing her to be pressed against the steel floor of the room. The Onyx armor prevented her from being crushed or having a boot heel grounded into her flesh, but it didn't stop her from being pushed against the floor, her face rubbed into her own bloody spit.

"Pull this savage up." The voice spoke again, its feminine tones ugly and authoritative. Two pairs of hands grabbed at her from under her armpits, and Shepard felt herself being lifted up by muscles and the slight use of biotics; she felt a little stab of vertigo when they lightened her mass just to pick her up. She did nothing to make the process easier for them, letting herself hang there limply as they raised her vertically, physically pushing her against a wall as a means of support as Shepard found herself looking at the three faces again. Staring at her with eyes that didn't suggest that she was going to be living much longer.

"When I ordered the triple-sister stripper combo," she began, "that was into something kinky, I wasn't expecting some BDSM shit."

Shepard was introduced into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Her head found it first.

Stars exploded in her vision, and it took her a while to realize that she was on the floor again, looking up at the ceiling. The lights swayed and rocked while the world roared in her ears, and Shepard found herself cough again. Each cough brought pain to her ribs, and she clutched at them momentarily, rotating to her left side, which seemed to hurt a little less than the other side. It seemed that everything radiated hot pain. Thank the Gods she wore her armor to her TOC shift; if she had been in her borrowed civilian clothes, she'd likely be dead by now. Shepard slowly craned her head upward, and saw Newt standing in the back corner of the room, quaking with fear, terrified. Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and they were looking right at her.

Fucking blue whores… used a kid… as bait…

Of course she fell for it; what human wouldn't? Shepard rolled onto her front slowly, her body protesting as the agony of her body reminded her of its delicate state as she got back on her elbows and knees. Sitting up felt like her back was made of popcorn, the way it popped and cracked. Actually, some of the pain went away. That was nice.

Then there was a hand at her throat, and it was pressing her against a wall.

Shepard grabbed the arm that was holding her as she felt her weight begin to lessen, biotics used to reduce her weight as the hand lifted her up the wall, a pair of cobalt blue eyes staring into her green ones, murderous intent apparent. Shepard struggled to free herself, trying to lift herself away from the hand by raising herself up by her hands on the forearm that she gripped. The heavy blue-and-white armor covering it wasn't one she immediately recognized, but then again, her vision was blurred and spinning; she was surprised to still be able to recognized that it was an Asari assaulting her. The fingers clutched at her throat, hard, cutting off her air, and Shepard struggled to breath, gulping at air with her windpipe constricted. Some was getting in, but not nearly enough as the stars came back and her vision began to darken and narrow.

She was dropped to the ground, and a series of coughs rattled her ribs. It felt like one of them were broken. Maybe all of them.

"Uncivilized swine." The Asari lamented, Shepard still cough up, blood dribbling past her lips and down her chin. "How your uncouth species discovered space-flight amazes me. I half-expected to find you creatures banging rocks together, hooting at each other and copulating in public."

"Naw, it's Tuesday." Shepard looked up, an idiotic grin on her face as she looked at the Asari, having trouble making out the difference between her sapphire-colored scaly skin and indigo face paint. "You should come by on Fridays. Wear a dress. Much easier to bend you over a couch and…"

Shepard's suggestion was interrupted by a good, hard punch to the jaw, snapping her head back. The ringing in her ears went up momentarily, as did the flashes of light and dizzying effect, and now there was a new source of pain; her entire head felt like the inside of a church bell ringing away. She sat back forward, groaning, trying to shake off the skull-ringing blow, and almost succeeded in throwing up from the action.

"Dumber than a Krogan. If at all possible." The Asari in heavy blue-and-white armor commented, sighing. "I tire of these games, imbecile! You are looking at your better! Have you not evolved enough to recognize that?" The Asari scoffed. "I live longer. I heal quicker. I have biotics. Yet you quip and you joke. What is it that makes you think you can rival me?"

"Bigger tits?" Shepard guessed, and she got another fist to her jaw, but on the other side. At least she was evened out, now. For some reason, despite the agonizing pain that she was in, she started to laugh. Not a small chuckle or a giggle, but a real laugh that made her throw her head back and let one out for all the room to hear. The three Asari looked at her as if she had gone made. "Can any of you explain why a race completely composed of women somehow possess the best dick-sucking lips of the galaxy?" The blow came so fast that Shepard didn't even have time to prepare for it, as she spat out some more blood right in front of her on the floor. Somehow, that didn't stop her. "I mean, it's not like I can literally fuck everything." The next punch was more directed at her temple, and her vision careened into the spectacular, the stars returning with brightly flashing friends. Shepard never would have guessed that the blue girls had some punching power. It took a good deal of time to right herself after that. Her head was really hurting. Badly.

"Unbelievable." The Asari sighed, pulling out what looked to be some kind of handkerchief and wiping the blood off her gloved knuckles. Shepard could feel how raw and tender her face felt. Thankfully, the woman hadn't punched her in the eye or the nose. That would have complicated things. "You Earth beasts are completely unbelievable! How you weren't wiped out by the Turians on the first day is beyond me! Perhaps they felt it was too unfair a fight, taking on… barbaric savages with chemical propulsion engines and explosive-propelled rounds."

"Mistress, perhaps we should just forcemeld with the primitive, rip the knowledge from her mind." One of the other Asari spoke, and the words had Shepard's blood run cold; forcemeld? "I recognize the armor, it is merely one of its planets' grunts. Probably too stupid to be allowed to do anything else but guard a door. But she does have eyes, Mistress, and she may have seen something."

"Fine. Tear it from what ever it is that passes for a brain for this… space monkey in a suit." The Asari in the blue-and-white armor replied dismissively, turning her back and flipping her hand in Shepard's general direction. She tried to understand what was going on through the heavy haze of pain and the skull-ringing headache that seemed to be going from the left side of her head, to the right, and then back. Forcemeld and rip it from her mind stood out pretty well, and Shepard tried remembering what she did know about the Asari during her once class of Extrasolar Species back in OCS. It was hard to think through all the pain, but she ticked off the major points quickly. Blue. All women. All biotics. Lived for a millennia. Advanced nervous systems…

Advanced nervous systems capable of 'linking' with another's conscious, capable of sharing information, sensory inputs, memories…

Fuck, they were interrogating her! But for what? Why? She may have seen something… that was what the other blue bitch said. They think she knew something… about what? C'mon, Jane, think! Shepard wracked her rattled and abused brain, trying to come up with an answer, going over why three Asari would be on LV 426 in the first place. There was only one real answer, in her mind, one thing that tied everything together with a nice ribbon and bow.

The fucking experiments. Somebody must have caught on.

The one that had suggested to forcemeld walked up towards Shepard as she knelt there on her knees, her body mostly uncooperative due to the pain and the injuries. Trying to move only flared up her injuries, gritting her teeth so she would wouldn't give the fucking aliens the satisfaction of hearing her distress. She saw through the haze the approaching Asari's hand glow blue, and she began to feel lighter, the sensation of vertigo causing her stomach to to a lazy flip-flop, almost making her throw up. Shepard was alarmed when she felt herself being lifted upward without the means of anyone picking her up, the Asari floating her upwards with pure biotics. The sensation wasn't painful, but her body protested the unnatural event as she found herself hoisted like a duffel bag towards the Asari-in-question. Her face was on line with the slightly shorter alien, her feet dragging on the ground as she was brought almost nose-to-nose with the blue Thessian, her armor quite different from the first ones'. This one seemed to be in lighter armor, an almost leather-looking garb that was lightweight and durable, with impact-resistant plates on the abdomen, breasts, and thighs. There was a jacket of sorts covering the torso, with more plates on the arms, opened up to reveal an ergonomically-designed pistol of the likes in which she had never seen before. Shepard grew quite uncomfortable when she realized what the Asari was.

One of the vaulted Huntress Commandos.

"Human," the Commando spoke to her, putting as much disgust in the name of her species as the Asari could muster, "I am going to forcemeld with you. I hate the thought of having to enter that barely-evolved cerebellum of yours to get what we need, but it must be done. Since I hate it so, I am going to do it in the fastest, most complete way possible. It will not be gentle or pleasant for you, so for the sakes of whatever passes for your psyche and personality, I suggest you don't resist." Shepard's headache had lessen enough that she could see a little bit better as she got a better look at the Commando in front of her as her murky brown eyes began to rapidly grow dark, seemingly filling up with an inky color. Shepard had a pretty good idea what was about to happen next.

OhFuckOhFuckOhFuck…

"Embrace Eternity!

The dream came again.

2nd Lieutenant Jane Shepard found herself in the atmospheric processing station, specifically in Sub-Level 3. It took her a quick moment to orient herself to where she was, as well to do a quick check of her surroundings. She was in her Onyx armor, which seemed completely undamaged, and her weapons had returned. Pulling at her M7 Lancer, she armed herself as she did a slow spin around, orienting herself.

She stood right in the middle of the hive, right in the middle of her nightmares.

"Fucking blue-skinned whore." Shepard murmured, seeing the bodies of the colonists suspended on the pipes and supports of the processing station, the hardened resin that the bugs somehow secreted coating almost every surface, making the station a scene of macabre horror. The colonists, Shepard noted, weren't dead; all of their heads were up, their eyes cognitive, and every single one of them were looking at her, the accusations in their faces easy to tell. Each of them moaned in pain and agony as their voices raised in a hellish crescendo, blaming her for being left to die. Shepard looked again, and realized that this wasn't her nightmare, the terror from before not gripping as it had before. Was she conquering her fear, or was this a product of the Asari mindmeld? Either way, Shepard shouldered her Lancer and scanned her environment for some sign of what to expect.

Her eye caught the sight of something running in the background, something moving laterally.

Shepard had her Lancer out, aiming where she had seen the movement, something dark and sleek. At first, she thought it was a bug circling her position, but she realized that she was wrong. The movement didn't move quite as fast, and it certainly didn't run on all fours like an animal. She saw it again, off to her left, and her Assault Rifle went right towards the movement, but it had disappeared behind some thick support beams covered in resin.

The Commando was in here with her.

Shepard tried to remember everything she ever heard about the Asari Huntresses and Commandos, mostly from that same Extrasolar Species class back in Annapolis. Not only had they been taught about the biological differences in the species, their strengths and weaknesses, but also about their military tactics. Asari Huntresses and their Commandos were considered their elite soldiers, highly trained warriors that were efficient stalkers, setting up strikes, ambushes, and exploitation assaults. Lightly armored for faster movement and the ability to conceal themselves in an environment using some sort of Omnigel-created shell that patterned itself to its surrounding area. Weapons designed to harass and execute strikes from locations without exposing said warrior, usually strong enough to take out kinetic barriers quickly, and pierce through armor efficiently. And of course there were the biotics. While each Huntress and Commando had her strengths and weaknesses, Singularities and Barriers were almost always a given in their arsenal, with the possibility of Lift field, Throws, and Warp distortions a very likely scenario.

The Cadets had been told all this with an additional quote that had once come from a Krogan Battlemaster; that an Asari Huntress and Commando was the finest warrior in the galaxy, effective at both long and short ranges, and thankfully few in number. Nothing had been mentioned about a potential weakness.

I've got to fight like a Commando, Shepard realized, looking to her own environment. The pipes, the darkness, the resin…

…The bodies!

If this were a dream, and it were her dream, Shepard went to the only one of the colonists she had actually seen; the teenaged girl. She found her quickly, knowing her exact location, and put her hands on the substance that held the girl suspended after placing her Lancer on her chest. As she suspected, the substand was stiff and unyielding. Good. Shepard began to climb, using the spider web-like substance as foot holds as she climbed over the accusing woman with her pleading eyes. You're already dead, Shepard though to herself, I gave you mercy. Time to return the favor. As she had suspected, the woman hadn't been flush with the piping that the resin had been coated with, leaving a gap between the teenaged girl and the secretion. It was this gap that Shepard slid herself into, concealing herself in the environment. It was, unfortunately, a tight and uncomfortable fit, and being right next to the teenager's moaning, struggling body was not pleasant at all. Still, her Lancer was available on her chest, and her Predator was comfortable in her left hand.

She would have to think of herself as both prey and predator.

"Okay, you Thessian bitch." Shepard murmured, looking at everything in the atmospheric complex, recognizing its details from when she was in there before. Yet there was an element missing. Something that wasn't in there from before. "Welcome to my fucking nightmare, cunt." Shepard closed her eyes, and imagined her worst terror, going for an action the Commando wouldn't suspect.

She was going to level the playing field by adding that missing element.

A series of hisses came through the complex, the sounds of the xenomorphs as they sensed a danger to their colony, ready to defend it with their lives. Shepard smiled as hisses and shrieks echoed through the complex, the bugs announcing their intent to kill the intruders. She didn't know how the whole mindmeld thing worked, but she suspected that she wouldn't be allowed to leave unless the Asari ended it. All Shepard had to do was make her nightmare worse, to the point that the Commando was forced to end it. Resist, my ass, Shepard smiled as the hissing grew closer, seemingly coming from all directions. Bitch, you mindfucked the wrong Marine.

Movement came from her right.

Shepard stayed still, moving as little as possible as she saw a figure creeping out, staying low against the resin-covered flooring of the complex, almost blending in perfectly save for the movement that gave away the distortion of the Omnigel-created camouflage that concealed the figure of the Commando. It was a good system, and it took a moment for Shepard to realize that the Asari was wearing some sort of hood that would conceal her face as well. Shepard wondered how the bugs actually hunted; she never saw eyes, and their search patterns indicated that they were more reliant on smell and feel. Perhaps they hunted by odor, but things like metal and corridors didn't give any impression for them. The more Shepard thought about it, the more it made sense; the corridors had smelled of humans, giving them in idea where to go, but not any sense of where it led or what was at the end of the path. Yet here, in their colony, the bugs were in their domain; home field advantage.

The figure hiding in the darkness seemed to note that fact as well.

Shepard saw them, a swarm of xenomorphs, crawling on the pipes and walls of the processing complex, shrieking as they scurried over every surface. She recognized the tactic now; the search pattern of a well-coordinated team. It was hard to tell how many there were, but at least a hundred were coming out of every recess and shadow of the colony, the walls seemingly coming alive as bugs scurried over everything. The search pattern wasn't like the ones in the corridors of Hadley's Hope, where space was limited and only ten drones were sent. Here, it seemed to be that hundreds were searching in a confusing pattern until Shepard finally recognized it for what it was; a three-dimensional search grid. Bugs were starting at the top and working their way down, covering as little horizontal ground as possible. This struck her as odd; if this were her dream, shouldn't it follow in a fashion she would understand? She had never seen the xenomorphs search like this, so why were they doing so now? Was it a part of her fear?

Then it dawn on her; the Asari must know of the xenomorphs.

It made sense, once Shepard saw it, seeing the Asari Commando lying on the ground out in the open, nowhere near a pipe or a structural support. It was possible the bugs would miss the Huntress where she laid, unlike if she had been in the corridor of the colony complex. Shepard, on the other hand, could be in danger as she looked up to see a bug traveling down the pipe the teenaged girl was connected to, coming straight for her. Shepard took her right hand to the girl's hair and pulled her head back, covering herself up as best she could, her Predator pointing at the strange alien as it crawled to her as graceful as a cat. Shepard held her breath as the alien crawled closer, its claws clacking against the resin and pip as it went over the pod where the teenaged human girl was, right over the Marine. It somehow hadn't found her… yet the search pattern she had seen in the corridors seemed so much more efficient…

Shepard knew right then that this wasn't strictly her nightmare, but theirs. Fuck.

The aliens continued to search, as the Commando laid in wait, thankfully not facing in a direction that the Thessian could easily see Shepard in her hidden position. The fact that Shepard could see her was a miracle; just enough of a small gap between the resin, the holding slime, and the teenaged girl existed that gave enough of a slit to look through without it been too obtrusive. Or perhaps the Commando knew something she didn't; what would the bugs do if Shepard and the Commando decided to duke it out in a bug colony?

Shepard needed to turn the tables somehow.

Her right hand slid towards the grenades that were attached to her equipment belt, grateful that they were somehow included into the nightmare. Perhaps it was her perception of herself; Shepard appeared as she wanted to appear in a strange situation, armored and prepared for battle. Regardless, the M68 disk grenade that slipped into the palm of her right hand, filled with high-explosives and set with three different detonation choices, was a comfort as Shepard thumbed the options; proximity, impact, and timed. She chose the timed option, and set it for ten seconds. Pressing and holding the activation button to prevent a cook-off, Shepard was going to have to do her best to toss a grenade without exposing herself, without being discovered, or throwing the grenade too close to hurt herself. With a subtle snap of her wrist, she tossed the grenade near the Commando's position, the Asari too far away for her to do some damage, but it would give the bugs something to think about.

Ten seconds later, the grenade detonated.

The result was immediate, the bugs went from a search to that of a seek-and-destroy mission; their search patten now included the ground. Shepard only hoped that the bugs trusted that ground already cleared would stay cleared, meaning that she would be in the clear, while the Huntress would not be. Bugs began streaming on the ground, quickly going over every square foot that they encountered in a well-coordinated team in a number that boggled Shepard's mind; there were simply hundreds of them.

And they were getting closer to Shepard's prey.

It was the Commando that cracked first, moving to engage the closest bug to her some four meters away, her weapon in motion. It had the look of a Krogan Striker Assault Rifle, normally illegal in Counsel Space, the weapon spitting out micro-explosives created by Omnigel and shot through the mass-accelerated chamber and barrel of the weapon. The first shot hit the creature dead center of its chest, and Shepard watch it explode, thrown back by the force, and noticed the acid spray of its blood was significantly lessened. Damn, she needed one of those guns! The Commando stood from her position in a smooth motion, engaging two separate targets while she did so. Two more bugs met their end as the rest shrieked at the threat of their colony. The Asari was smooth, firing as she moved backwards, each shot a kill. When her weapon's overheat alarm rang out after eight shots, the Huntress locked back the bolt, slapped the weapon on her chest, and pulled out a strange-looking shotgun that was sleek-looking, and put more fire down range, its strange firing sound making it sound more like a warp weapon than a mass-acceleration weapon. The shots were equally as lethal as the Striker were, each shot punching a hole right through a bug, the spray of acid completely thrown backwards. Four shots and the shotgun overheated as the Asari locked the pump back, and switched it out for an angled pistol that fired blue orbs that exploded on contact; the Striker evidently had a little brother. Four shots into that, the Asari locked the pistol's slide back and went for a weapon that Shepard did recognize as the A-33 Ardat Submachine Gun. Three round bursts shot out of the small weapon, each burst killing a xenomorph. Shepard watched as the Commando moved towards the back of the complex towards the junction she hand her Marines had entered once, as effective a warrior as she had ever seen. The rate in which she fired, the way she switched out her weapons, how she moved… she was Shepard's superior, by far. Shepard studied how the Asari did it, intent to learn as the bugs scrambled towards the Commando, their numbers being thinned by the Thessian. Yet despite her superior weapons and tactical experience, the distance between xenomorph and Asari closed.

The Asari glowed blue.

The first bug was hit with what was commonly known as a throw strike, flinging the creature back into some of its brethren, knocking some of them down as a Singularity came next, a hanging orb of negative gravity pulling at several xenomorphs like a miniature black hole. The Huntress then launched another spat of biotics right at the singularity, and Shepard got to watch a biotic detonation for her first time outside of video; a titanic explosion of blue ethereal energy that tossed about a dozen bugs about as if hit with high-grade explosives or a small bomb. A good many others were stumbling or shaken by the explosion, and Shepard even flet herself being pushed back by the wave of overpressure from the acceleration of air and volume from the detonation.

Now she was seeing why Asari Commandos were feared.

The Huntress was relentless, never staying still as she moved backwards, engaging xenomorphs at a speed and precision that the Marine could only dream at doing. Stryker Assault Rifle, Shotgun, Pistol, Ardat, Biotics, and back to the explosively-powerful Assault Rifle. There was a method to her abilities, undoubtedly honed by decades of practice and experience as the Asari danced out of striking range of the bugs, taking down their numbers single-handedly. Shepard remembered how she had gotten the highest kill-count of the platoon on the assault on the atmospheric station but only two, Drake and Vasquez having second and third due to their Marshal Smart Guns, yet she doubted that the three of them could kill as many as this lone Asari. The Commando was Death, Incarnate; a warrior in the true sense of the word. The bugs never stood a chance.

And if she didn't strike soon, neither would she.

Shepard extracted herself from her hiding position, it having served its purpose. Now that the Huntress was moving, their was no need for her to hide as she took out bug after bug with her available weapons. The xenomorphs weren't even paying attention to Shepard; she wasn't attacking them. Most of them were either in front of her or to where the Asari was going, deeper into the complex, currently taking up on a catwalk where it was almost impossible to flank her. Still, the bugs were trying, leaping from the walls in a feat of strength that impressed Shepard, trying to launch themselves as either a distraction, or hoping their acidic blood would do the trick. The Asari was making her stand from a superior position, her weapons too powerful, her tactics too well-versed, and her biotics the triumph card. The bugs were going to lose, the Commando using the environment to her advantage. Shepard fully extracted herself from the cocoon, taking a knee behind a pillar of resin and piping as she got a fixed bead on the Thessian, only 50 meters away.

Shepard lifted her Lancer and fired a good long burst at the Asari.

The alien had been caught unaware, focusing solely on the bugs, bringing them down as quickly as they could swarm on her. As strange as it seemed, Shepard aimed to help the bugs; the blue bitch was the reason she was here, and it was the blue bitch that was her enemy. Fifteen rounds from her Lancer burst forth right at the besieged Huntress, striking her kinetic barriers as the Asari was forced to defend herself from the new threat; Lieutenant Shepard herself. Her kinetic barriers died with a snap, having absorbed kiloJoules of impact from the Lancer's fire, several more making their way through, punching into the Asari's armor. The Thessian doubled over as about three round hit her torso, striking her impact-resistant plates designed to stop most small arms fire. One shot found a gap in her armor though as a spray of blue-purple blood splashed from her shoulder, and another on her upper left arm.

The bugs howled at the smell of the blood, and descended upon her like sharks.

The Commando continued to fight back, but the tables had been turned; she was injured, and critically so. Her right arm was slower, and her fire was less accurate, as the bugs grew closer quickly. The first one was on her in the matter of seconds, five of hits kin having died before it pounced on her like a leopard, its claws connecting with her shoulders, tackling her to the catwalk's flooring. The Asari drew her pistol left handed, blasting the alien away with a pulse of biotic energy with her right as she put a round in its curved skull. But the damage was done. She was prone on the ground, and unable to keep up her assault.

Three more were on her in a flash.

Shepard crotched and watched as she saw claws and spade-like takes strike with viper-like quickness, tearing at the Asari as she screamed in agonizing pain, the xenomorphs obviously tearing her apart. Only a single gunshot was heard for the finale…

…And Shepard found herself opening her eyes to the colony room, where the Commando stood in front of her, her ebony eyes looking at her as her face went slack. The Asari shuddered once, and collapsed bonelessly in front of her and the other two Asari, hitting the ground with a thud, emitting not a sound. The Asari in the blue-and-white armor looked at the collapsed Huntress with surprised eyes. None of them needed to say it; the Commando was dead.

One down, two to go, Shepard thought to herself as she lumbered into action, using the distraction to rise to the attack, her hands going for the blue-and-white armored Asari's throat.

Pain. It was everywhere in her body. It felt like her bones were made of broken glass, and her muscles rivers of fire. Having been slammed into walls and ceilings multiple times, not to mention taking a few good fists to the face, her body was protesting any type of action that didn't consist of laying in a Med Bed and resting. Yet she wasn't alone; there were still two more enemies in front of her, enemies that wanted her dead, and a little girl that was counting on her.

2nd Lieutenant Jane Shepard would die before she would lose.

She lurched into action, catching the blue-and-white armored Asari off-guard as her hands went to the unarmored neck of the blue-skinned alien, colliding her forehead into the Asari's nose with enough force to make a Krogan take notice, Shepard's headache sharply intensifying with the strike as the Asari cried out in pain, blue-purple blood gushing from her nostrils. Shepard's hands went to the Asari's crest and smashed the Asari's face into her rising right knee, cracking the Thessian's face into her armored knee cap. The blue-and-white armored alien fell to the ground, her nose broken and eyes swollen, apparently knocked out.

Shepard felt herself be thrown into a wall by use of biotics.

No more of this magic bullshit, Shepard thought to herself as she bounced off the wall, having maintained herself on her feet as she rushed the last remaining Commando, smashing into her with a dropped shoulder, just like a force tackle in the EUCC. The Asari's breath went out with a whoosh as Shepard's shoulder went right where she hoped the Asari's diaphragm was, colliding the alien's body into a wall behind her. Stunned, the Huntress was powerless to stop Shepard as the Marine grabbed the Thessian's head with both hands, and smashed it into the steel wall with a yell. She smashed the Asari's skull against the iridium-reinforced steel again and again, blood beginning to splatter cumulatively against the surface until it was larger that the Asari's skull. Shepard checked the back of the Huntress's skull, and saw that the crest had been pounded into a concave curve, blood and ichor leaking from the large intention of the Commando's skull. Shepard let the Thessian drop to the floor, dead, as she turned back to the alien in blue-and-white armor.

"You… fucking… monkey!" The Asari cried out as she stood, pinching her nose as she manipulated it back into place with an audible crackle, her eyes watering when she set her nose as she stared at Shepard. "You killed two of my sisters!"

"One more, and I get a free large fry." Shepard smiled as she threw herself into the Thessian, colliding with her as Asari glowed biotic blue, the Marine knowing that any distance from the Asari would easily have her losing. Shepard smashed into the blue-skinned alien, thrusting her back against a wall, and felt a fist hitting her jaw once more, almost making her black out from the force. Asari were physically smaller and weaker… how the hell was the bitch punching so hard? Shepard returned the strike with her own, rocking her elbow right into the Asari's temple with a crack. She then returned with a pimp slap, striking the Thessian across the face with the back of her hand, letting the armored knuckles of her Onyx's glove putting some extra damage into it, the blue-and-white armored alien crying out in indignation as she struck Shepard in her belly with her fist, only some of the force penetrating through the Marines' armor. Shepard returned with a one-two combo to the ribs, hitting the short ribs of the Asari right above where her waist tapered down into its hourglass curve. She had taken boxing in Annapolis, and knew that strikes to the ribs who impede the breathing process. She then followed up with a short uppercut to the Asari's chin, twisting her body to put more force with the extreme short range of their bodies, their armors practically grinding into one another's. The punch dazed the Asari, her eyes slamming shut as her head snapped back, disorienting her. Shepard took advantage of the situation by spinning the Asari around to where the alien was facing away from her, and slipped her armored forearm under the Thessian's chin, and started to strangle her.

"Just fucking die, you Godsdamned whore!" Shepard yelled out as she put both arms into the force of throttling the Asari to death, the blue-skinned alien's hands trying to pry the Marine's arm from around her neck. Shepard flexed her arm, tightening the vice-like grip against the soft tissues of the neck that covered the windpipe and vessels that led to the Asari's brain. The alien choked and struggled, her hands feeling and prying to relax the pressure on her throat as her feet kicked and flailed about in a desperate attempt to free herself. One of the Thessian's hands went for an attack, trying to punch Shepard in the face, succeeding in hitting the side of her head, but the Marine did her best to ignore the ringing strike, tightening her arm's grip even further, hearing the blue-skinned alien gurgle. "Choke on Death's cock, slut. Semper Fidelis, motherfucker!" Shepard seethed, using what was left of her strength to strangle the alien to death. Slowly, the feet began to kick out with less speed and force, barely twitching on the floor as the arms finally slid limply down to the Asari's side, the gargling, choking noises dying off. Shepard relaxed her arms, letting the alien fall to the floor, breathing heavily. Everything hurt so bad… yet she saw a decent metal desk light in the colonists' room, one with a hard, flat base. Shepard swiped the lamp, holding it by its stem, and proceeded to bash in the back of the Asari's head in three times, satisfied by the cracked skull that she wouldn't be waking up ever. Dropping the lamp, Shepard dropped to the floor from exhausting, feeling the room spin around her, the pain and exhaustion taking their toll.

"Lieutenant!" The sound of a little girl's voice had Shepard looking at Newt as she came to her, the only survivor of Hadley's Hope rushing to her side, apparently unharmed. "Lieutenant! You're hurt real bad!"

"Sure feels like it." Shepard admitted with a cough, the action causing everything to hurt intensely. "Do me a favor, honey? Go find somebody, and tell them to get Corpsman Dietrich and Gunny Apone for me? I think I'm going to… rest… for a… minute or two." Shepard could barely see Newt's face, something wrong with the lighting; had someone turned down the lights? Why was everything so dark? It was nice. Perhaps she would get some sleep, now…

A/N: I may not have actually said or implied this, but this Shepard is not exactly friendly with aliens. Not racist, per se, but Turian did kill her dad, and Batarians her mom. And she's in the military as a Marine. That's not going to leave you very endearing to ET's. Remember, this is still only nineteen years after the FCW.

And just who was the lead Asari in the heavy blue-and-white armor? Tune in next chapter.

For the forcemeld mind-trip, I likened it to Dragon Age's Fade, but more of a placescape of Shepard's psyche. Then I changed it to Freddie's little nightmare of horrors from Nightmare on Elm Street. Then a dollop of Inception. With a few rules from the Matrix.

The weapons that the Commando carries are the Stryker Assault Rifle, the Disciple Shotgun, the Acolyte Pistol, and my own creation, the A-33 Ardat Sub-machine gun.

EUCC - Earth's Urban Combat Competition, but I'm likening it to football. Probably an advanced version.

Shepard: 3 - Asari: 0