"He who does something at the head of one Regiment, will eclipse him who does nothing at the head of a hundred." -Abraham Lincoln, December 31, 1861 Letter to David Hunter

Captain Anderson looked over the galactic map of the Navy's newest and most advanced starship. The USS Normandy SR-1 was the culmination of a decade of research and experimentation, and it represented the first warship that was more advanced than anything the Citadel had. His posting as its Captain was also a result of decades of Its stealth system was proven to hide the vessel from any sensor in human, Terminus, or Citadel space.

"Captain, we are ready for launch." Anderson was taken out of his contemplation by his Executive Officer.

Anderson didn't turn to face him. "Take us out, Joker."

The ship's Flight Lieutenant responded with his usual snarky voice. "Aye aye Captain." Anderson could only barely feel the ship detach from its docking bay.

Navigator Pressly looked up to the Captain. "All clear sir, shakedown cruise is underway."

Anderson gave one last look to the galactic map. "Very good." He turned to his XO and began descending the steps. "Shepard, please follow me to the Coms room."

The two men walked silently off the bridge, before Shepard spoke. "I want to thank you again, David, for this opportunity. A lot of people were gunning for this posting."

Anderson smirked. "A lot more were gunning for mine." Shepard chuckled. "Besides, I need the best people on my ship, and who could be better than the N7 commander?"

Shepard smiled sadly as they entered the communications room, likely reminiscing his fallen comrades. "It's good to be with Kaidan again. It's been a long time since we have spoken. Longer than the us Captain, with him going back to the Marines."

Anderson nodded as he took his place at the far side of the room. "Like I said, I need the best people on my ship, and experience working together is always a positive. Anyway, what is your opinion on the crew, you've been able to mingle with them more than I have."

Shepard smiled sheepishly. "I will admit I have spent most of my time catching up with Kaidan, but I have noticed a few things. The crew is small, only 50 strong if I remember correctly."

Anderson interjected. "52."

Shepard rolled his eyes and gave a big grin. "Obviously I wasn't counting us." Shepard chuckled as Anderson's usually professional exterior broke momentarily with a scoff. "Joking aside, that's still small, even for a frigate. Especially the ground team, most of the Marines and our security detail are inexperienced."

Anderson sighed. "I am afraid we aren't running the usual Marine compliment for our space trials; it was more important to get the right naval crew and officers." Seeing Shepard's frown, he continued. "I don't like it either, but with you and Kaidan it should do fine before we can get a real compliment."

Shepard nodded, accepting his Captain's reasoning. "Our pilot is also an odd one, how'd we end up with him?"

Anderson laughed again. "Joker is certainly an odd one, and this doesn't leave the room, but he actually stole the ship when we were doing her test flight." Shepard's mouth hung agape. "Someone else was slated to do the trials, but he managed to sneak on board and take off before we realized what was happening. Captain Dillard wanted to disable the ship, but Joker evaded everything. Anyway, he proved himself and the Normandy, so we decided to make him the pilot."

Shepard nodded slowly. "I was actually referring to the fact he's a cripple, but if he managed to evade Dillard's men, he must be something special."

"'The best damn pilot in the Navy,' I believe he calls himself."

Shepard crossed his arms, leaning back on the rails. "Yeah, he told me that. Hopefully doesn't go to his head."

The intercom suddenly sprang to life. "Uhh, Captain, we just received an SOS message from Eden Prime. You better see this." Joker sounded perturbed.

Anderson and Shepard stood up straighter and Anderson responded. "Patch it through Joker." The two officers moved to see the projector as it sprang to life.

The communications room was filled with the sound of gunfire as a man in red armor and a white helmet appeared. "We are under attack, taking heavy casualties, I repeat taking heavy casualties!" A loud scream of pain was heard from someone in the background, causing the speaker to turn and wince at the source. "We can't" the recording shook and skipped a few seconds, "need evac!" Another skip. "-came out of nowhere! We need-" The man was suddenly thrust onto the ground, a nasty wound visible in his stomach. Suddenly there was a horrid screeching sound that overpowered the gunfire, the humans that were visible looked up in shock as another voice cried "What is that thing?" The camera turned upward towards what looked like a giant cuttlefish descending from the clouds, large red sparks flying off its tendrils as the camera started moving again, everything to blurry to make anything out before the feed was lost to static.

A dreadful second was filled with only static before Joker spoke over the intercom again. "Everything cuts out after that, no com traffic at all." Anderson put his hand to his chin, thinking to himself as Shepard continued to stare at the static screen. Joker continued. "I just checked and we're the only Alliance asset within a days travel of Eden Prime besides some local garrisons. What should we do, sir?"

Anderson turned to Shepard, who turned his head to face him. "Get ready to go groundside Commander." Anderson looked up to the intercom. "Joker, forward that message to headquarters and let them know we're going in. Set course to Eden Prime at once and tell Adams to prep the stealth drive."

"Aye aye Captain." Joker replied and the intercom was shut off.

Anderson looked back to Shepard who had a scowl on his face. "Let's hope our Marines are up to the task." Anderson could only nod.

Shepard did one last weapons check as the Normandy entered Eden Prime's atmosphere. His scowl had yet to leave his face, the Normandy was not prepared for this mission, with only a Marine Squad and another Naval Security Squad for soldiers; and the ship hadn't even been commissioned yet. Looking to his two squadmates he made sure they were prepared. He and Anderson decided to split the ground team in two, he would lead one initially and the other would be held in reserve. That left Shepard with Kaidan, his old friend from the N7 team, and Jenkins, a young and very, very green Corporal fresh out of bootcamp. Shepard looked to Kaidan, who held a similarly serious look on his face and gave a curt nod to tell the Commander he was ready. Being satisfied with Kaidan, Shepard approached Jenkins.

Jenkins had been watching and mimicking the Commander's preparations, and gingerly placed his pistol into its holster before grabbing his assault rifle. "You know, Commander, when I said I wanted to see action, I didn't mean on my home planet."

Shepard could see fear in the Corporal's face and hear it in his voice, he was pale and shaky. "There's a lot of things you said that you don't really mean, Jenkins. I did to, before my first deployment, and so did Kaidan."

Kaidan walked up to Shepard's side and nodded in confirmation. "Just stick close and stay in cover, and we'll all get out with our heads in place."

The young man nodded as Anderson entered the cargo bay with the rest of the Normandy's Marines. The doors opened and the air rushed in, Anderson shouted over it. "We're approaching the location of the distress call, Shepard. Get in and locate any survivors, we will provide overwatch."

Shepard nodded before putting on his helmet, his squad mirroring his actions. "Anything we've figured out yet? Who is attacking Eden Prime?"

Anderson still had to shout over the air rushing throughout the cargo bay. "It's the batarians, they have several cruisers and a handful of frigates in orbit. Completely annihilated the British and European defensive platforms. No batarian wreckages have been located."

The assembled Marines and Shepard scowled even harder, somehow proving that possible. "What about the black ship from the distress call? Anything on that?"

Anderson shook his head. "Not a thing, that ship is a complete unknown. Be careful, Shepard." Anderson motioned for the ground team to take position and left the room, making sure his officer's cap didn't fly off in the process.

The reserves arranged themselves on the side wall, where they could strap themselves onto seats. They gave them words of encouragement. "Go get those four eyes," "Show them who's boss," and "Hey Jenkins, leave some for the rest of us."

Shepard took his team toward the open door before putting his radio on for the whole Marine detachment. "Those bastards might think they can pull one over on our allies, they must have forgotten about us. Let's make them sorry they did!" The Marines responded with a resounding "Oorah!" They all knew Shepard had initially joined the military as a Marine and went through the same grueling boot camp as they did. "Stay sharp and stay ready boys, we might need you. Semper Fi!" The Marines responded with their own cry of Semper Fi.

With that Shepard returned his attention to the cargo bay door, his team holding on to the railing on the approach to steady themselves. A few minutes passed before the Normandy flattened its decent and slowed to a stop just above a cliff face using its mass effect drive. Anderson's voice boomed over the radio. "Condition green, Commander, get going!" Shepard and his team jumped out of the cargo bay, rolling as they hit the ground, the trio quickly rose and moved to check the area as the Normandy took off again.

Kaidan reported to Shepard. "All clear, Commander."

The team relaxed temporarily, checking their loadout again to make sure they didn't lose anything in the jump. Jenkins looked out over the cliff; the horizon filled with smoke. Shepard placed his hand on the soldier's shoulder. "You okay, Jenkins? That where you're from?" He motioned his head toward the smoke.

Jenkins shook his head. "No, that's Nieuw Katwijk, a Dutch settlement. I'm from the other hemisphere, still hurts to see it though, knew some folks who worked there. Good people." The last part was little more than a whisper.

Pulling the soldiers shoulder shook him from his mind. "Let's do what we can for them Jenkins. The distress call came from just to the North." Shepard waved his carbine in that direction. "Hopefully there will be survivors that can give us more intel on the situation."

Jenkins and Kaidan nodded, and the trio moved out.

Kaidan raised his hand, ordering a halt and the team took cover behind a large rock. "Something is ahead. I can't identify."

Jenkins peered over the rock and grinned. "Just gas bags, LT. They're harmless." He was about to get out of cover but was pulled back.

Kaidan held the younger man and gave him a stern look. "Not what I'm talking about, there's something behind them."

Jenkins opened his mouth, but whatever he was going to say was cut off from a gunshot and an exploding gas bag. Two batarians came out of the woods, shooting another gas bag as it fled. They laughed at the explosion as they unknowingly walked closer to the American soldiers.

Shepard motioned to close external communications. "Let them come closer, they might not be alone. When I give the signal, Alenko will lift them and overload their shields. Jenkins you have the right one I have the left." Getting two flashes of acknowledgment on his omni-tool Shepard lined up his shot. Waiting for the batarians to stop walking and seeing that they were alone, Shepard gave the signal through his omni-tool. Kaidan rose and launched his biotic lift attack, the batarians didn't have time to react as their shields were overloaded in his electronics attack. Shepard and Jenkins opened fire and cut down the shieldless batarians with ease. The engagement lasted less than five seconds. Shepard cautiously rose to his feet, and moved toward the bodies of the batarians, keeping his carbine pointed at the tree line.

Cautiously, Shepard kneeled next to the batarian bodies, quickly glancing down at the body and back to the trees. After he was certain there were no more batarians in the area, he waved Kaidan and Jenkins over and began looking over the body. The batarians wore maroon colored armor with an intricate set of rounded triangles and rectangles arranged to look like a four point star. "Batarian External Forces, this isn't a pirate group, it's the Hegemony itself."

Jenkins looked to Kaidan at Shepard's analysis. "The Hegemony attacked us directly? Are they insane? This is an act of war!"

Kaidan shook his head. "The batarians aren't known for their brilliance."

Shepard stood back up. "We need to keep moving, the distress call came from just over this hill, lets go."

Ashley slid into an irrigation ditch, breathing heavily as bullets streamed over her head. Her scarlet armor was covered in the blood of her comrades and despite also being red it was clearly noticeable. Breathing heavily, she tried to regain her composure. "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters." In her head, she could hear her deceased squad mates scoff at her overt display of faith. "He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." A bullet struck the dirt just centimeters from her leg and she quickly shifter her body further into cover.

The volume of fire reduced momentarily, the batarians were advancing on her. Hoisting her rifle above her head and over the ditch, she opened fire in three short bursts to not have it overheat so quickly. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." She had no idea if she was hitting anything or if she was just wasting cooling time, but she needed to try to stave them off, so she continued to fire bursts in different directions. Her rifle let out a dreaded beep as it overheated. Her brain had shut off as she continued whispering the prayer to herself. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." Switching to her pistol she prepared for batarians to leap into the ditch or shoot down on her.

Instead the firing stopped. Ashley stayed where she was, still expecting the batarians to finish her off.

"All clear, Commander. We caught them with their pants down, they were shooting at something over there."

"Good job, Jenkins, let's check it out." Those were human voices!

With some degree of difficulty and tenseness she stood up and looked toward the voices. Three humans approached her, two wore black armor with a red stripe on their helmet and another with a white outline on their right pauldron and arm with N7 written in red above their obscured nameplates. She recognized the armor of the third soldier, the three color camouflage of the American Marine Corps. They took notice of her immediately and after a pause to see what she was doing they hastened their pace towards her.

Ashley stood straight and saluted. "Thanks for the assist, Commander. I didn't think I was going to make it. Sergeant Ashley Williams, Royal Marines, sir."

The American in front waved his hand at her. "As you were soldier, what's the situation? Where's your unit."

As the adrenalin slowly left her veins, Ashley started to feel sore all over. "I… I think I'm the only one left." She paused, partly to catch her breath again, partly to reflect on her fallen comrades. "Oh man, we were patrolling the perimeter when the attack came. The batarians ambushed us, I barely got out myself."

The Commander looked straight into her eyes, into her soul if Ashley was being honest. "Don't blame yourself, Williams. No one knew this was coming. Are you hurt?"

Ashley shook her head. "Just some scratches, sir, nothing to be worried about."

The Commander must have seen something in her body posture, he frowned. "Alenko, check her anyway." The other American in black armor nodded and came over to inspect her. She would have protested but the Commander continued. "Any idea what the batarians are after, Williams?"

Ashley hesitated, the asset was need to know but if the batarians got a hold of it. She didn't want to think about it. "A few weeks ago, we unearthed a prothean beacon, my unit was deployed to protect it until we could excavate it and bring it back to Britain. If it's not that, then they just want slaves."

The Commander didn't show any reaction to the revelation. "I see. I don't have the slightest idea how the batarians could find out about this beacon, but the Hegemony doesn't send their External Forces after slaves. Finish checking her, Alenko. Jenkins, we should check out the batarians for any more information."

The camouflaged Marine followed the Commander to the sprawl of dead batarians as Ashley looked to Alenko. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but what are you Yanks doing here? Your settlement is on the other side of the planet."

The American checking her didn't pause his inspection as he responded. "We got a distress call from the area and Captain Anderson decided to help out."

Ashley felt a syringe enter through a gap in her armor and winced. "Captain Anderson? I think I've heard of him. Isn't he in the Navy?"

He nodded. "Yes, the Normandy is in orbit to provide support if we need it. Move your arm up."

Ashley complied. "In orbit? But the batarians wiped out the fleet. How'd you get by them?"

The American stayed silent as he finished his inspection. Packing back up the medical kit and standing up he looked back to her. "That's classified, Sergeant." He paused. "I'm Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, by the way. The others are Commander Shepard and Corporal Jenkins." He turned and began walking toward his comrades. "Come on, we need to keep moving."

Ashley stood still for a moment. A moment ago she was sure she was going to die in that ditch, now they might have a chance to save the colony. She quitely finished her prayer. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

Shepard turned to Kaidan with a frown on his face. "We can't find anything other than what we already know." He turned to Williams. "We should move to the beacon, know the way Sergeant?"

Williams nodded. "Yes sir, it's this way." She took point and lead the Americans toward the beacon.

The group of four slowly moved through the rocky terrain, making sure to keep in cover to not be ambushed. Williams was about to move up again when a hand held her in place.

Shepard held his other hand up, rifle still held in it, to stop the group. "Batarians ahead, I can hear them talking. Kaidan, can you hack their radio?"

Kaidan took a knee and began typing on his omni-tool. Suddenly the human's radios were filled with the course sound of a batarian talking. "-we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or are there really Gods watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night."

Silence fell over the group as the humans shared a look of bewilderment. Another batarian was heard over the radio. "What?! I mean why are we out here, on this human colony?"

The first batarian responded quickly, seemingly embarrassed. "Oh. Uh… yeah. I don't know, the boss wanted that thing he took from here."

There was another pause before the other batarian spoke again. "Right, I hate working with that turian asshole, did you see what he did to those humans? Gives me the creeps, waste of slaves too. And what was all that stuff about the Gods?"

"Uh...hm? Nothing."

The batarians' conversation devolved to a petty argument until another batarian shouted for them to shut up, which was audible to the humans outside of the radio.

Jenkins was the first to break the silence. "Oh kaaay. That was weird. What was that about a turian? Are those skull faces part of this?"

Kaidan shook his head. "Don't jump to conclusions, Jenkins. There are plenty of turian mercenaries that they could be talking about."

Shepard interrupted Jenkins's retort before it could start. "Enough, it sounds like the batarians moved the beacon. We should still check it out. Williams, do you know what the beacon looked like?"

The Marine nodded. "Yes sir."

Shepard pointed to the hill that the dig site was partially sunken into. "Good, circle around that hill and see if you can locate it."

Williams nodded to the Commander and began walking in a squat to stay in cover. As she began moving up the hill, some of the rocks she stepped on became dislodged. One of the batarians heard the noise and looked right at her. "Humans! We're under attack!" Gunfire exploded from the dig site as the batarians tried to take her down.

Williams dove into cover. "Sorry sir, I've been spotted." She peeked out of cover and sent a few rounds downhill toward the aliens before falling back to cover.

Shepard shook his head. "We can see that, Sergeant. Keep their eyes on you, they're exposing their flank to us again." He turned to Kaidan and Jenkins. "Okay, Kaidan I want you to hit them with a throw, wait for my signal before engaging." Kaidan nodded and Jenkins lined up a shot. Shepard watched as Williams threw a grenade right into a large concentration of batarians. The batarians panicked and fruitlessly tried to climb over each other and out of their foxhole. Shepard gave the signal to attack just as the grenade exploded, sending the entire batarian unit into disarray.

Kaidan's throw impacted a pair of batarians who fell to the ground in a daze. The batarians refocused to their side to fight the Americans, giving Williams an opportunity to add her own rifle to the battle. The batarians were cut down in short order by the human crossfire.

Shepard signaled to move up. "Get those two on the ground!"

Kaidan got to them first, pointing his pistol at the pair of batarians he had struck with the throw. "Don't move if you know what's good for you!" The batarians threw their hands into the air as Shepard and Jenkins came up to restrain them.

Williams jogged over to the Americans. "It's not here, Commander. They must have moved it."

Shepard hoisted the batarian he had restrained by the cuffs on his hands. "Alright batarian, you're going to answer our questions, do you understand?"

The batarian seemed to grow a spine when he was on his feet. "I'm not telling you anything, human." The last word was spat with venom in his voice.

Alenko walked forward and slammed the batarian in his exposed face with his pistol, eliciting a pained cry. "We don't have time for this, Commander. I say we put them in the ground."

Shepard mulled over the suggestion, much to the horror of the batarian that Jenkins had restrained and still had his knee in the alien's back. "No! Wait! We'll talk, just don't kill us!"

Shepard gave a predatory grin to the batarians. "Good, that's the right choice. Now tell me where the beacon is."

The batarian on the ground spoke again. "We don't know." Shepard's grin vanished and was replaced by a frown. "Honest! All we know is they took it to the spaceport down that road there." He pointed to the road opposite the way the humans had come.

Jenkins looked down on the batarian. "And what about the turian? You mentioned a turian."

"Turian? There is no-"

"Don't play coy four eyes. We hacked your communications. Who is the turian and where is he?" Jenkins looked to Shepard a smile on his face. That smile evaporated when he noticed Shepard's expression telling him to be quiet.

The batarian laughed nervously. "Oh yeah, that turian. I don't know who he is. But he took the beacon to the spaceport."

Shepard retook the role of interrogator. "If you don't know who he is, how do you know he took the beacon?"

The batarian kept talking. "I don't know who he is, but we saw him here to take the beacon."

Shepard stood straight. "Then congratulations you two, you're useful to us. That means we'll keep you around." Shepard turned to Ashley. "Make sure this one doesn't try anything." Ashley saluted and pointed her pistol to the back of the batarian.

Shepard put his hand to his head as he walked away from the group. "Captain, it's Shepard."

After a few seconds Anderson's voice came back through the radio. "Good to hear you're in one piece, Commander. Have you located the distress signal?"

"Yes sir, we found a survivor."

"Good, how many?"

Shepard hesitated for a second. "Just one, sir."

Shepard could almost hear Anderson shaking his head. "Damn, anything else to report?"

"Yes sir. The batarians are from their External Forces, it's the real deal."

"I figured; pirates wouldn't be able to do this."

"According to the survivor, the Brits unearthed a prothean beacon, but it's been moved."

Anderson's inflection shifted from dour to nearly excited but still serious. "A prothean beacon? That's big news Shepard. Find it, we can't let the batarians take it."

"Aye sir. We have prisoners. Requesting exfil."

"No can do, Shepard. That black dreadnought is nearby, and I don't want to take any chances."

For reasons that he couldn't fully explain, Shepard felt a twinge of fear. "That thing is still here? Shit, can you deploy the reserves? I can't hold on to them while securing the beacon."

"Not where you are right now. Presley, find a suitable location for a drop and send it to Shepard."

It seemed Presley had already done so, as his omni-tool beeped and showed a new destination. "I'll head there now. Don't worry Captain, we'll get the beacon back. Shepard out."

Shepard returned to his group. "Alright, slight detour. We need to keep these batarians out of harm's way so we're going to get reinforcements. We need to make it to the top of that hill." He pointed to a hill down the road. "There's a clearing there where they can land."

The humans nodded and pushed the batarians toward their destination. They encountered no resistance as they made their way up the hill. Ashley noticed several spikes at the top. "Commander, do you see those spikes? It looks like something is on top of them."

Shepard nodded grimly but didn't say anything. Jenkins looked and ran to them. "Shepard, those are people up there! What have they done to them?" Jenkins seemed to be on the verge of panic.

Shepard reached out to the soldier, but he was already out of reach. "Jenkins, no!"

Just as Jenkins approached the base of the spike, they retracted. The deformed husks of what used to be human fell onto its feet and charged at Jenkins. Jenkins started backpedaling in terror, pulling out his pistol. He fired two shots wildly before tripping and falling onto his back with a thud. The husk was on him in an instant, bringing the claw on what used to be its hand down onto the Marine. Jenkins screamed in pain as the claw cut through his armor. The husks were cut down by rifle fire in short order. Shepard and Kaidan ran toward their comrade as Ashley hauled the two batarians forward, who for their part were as terrified as she was.

Kaidan was kneeling next to Jenkins and closed his eyes with his hand. "Pierced right through his heart. Never had a chance." His voice was full of sadness.

Shepard took a knee and moved Jenkins's hands over his chest. "He's with God now."

The two Americans stayed with their fallen comrade for another moment, silent. Shepard rose and radioed the Normandy again. "Captain, we've reached the rendezvous, but Jenkins is KIA. The batarians have some kind of spike that turns our dead against us."

Anderson didn't respond for what felt to Shepard like an hour. "Can you repeat that, Commander?"

"The batarians put people on spikes that seams to have injected them with some kind of cybernetics. The… husks attacked us when we approached and killed Jenkins."

Anderson was silent again, taking in what Shepard had reported. "I will inform team two of what happened, I want those spikes quarantined. Focus on the beacon, Shepard, it's too important to allow the batarians to take it."

"Yes sir."

Silence fell upon the hill again momentarily. It was broken as the Normandy flew high above and dropped the Normandy's Marine Drop Capsule. The capsule deployed its retrorockets and mass effect fields as it approached the planet, slowing it to a survivable speed, still, the capsule slammed into the dirt with enough force to become partially embedded in it. Moments later, the door opened and the Marines inside approached Shepard and saluted. The Marine with Sergeant insignia spoke. "Reporting as ordered, sir."

Shepard returned the salute. "Very good, Sergeant. Take these prisoners and keep them safe, they have important information we need. And make sure Jenkins is taken care of."

Two Marines took the batarians, roughly pushing them toward the capsule at gunpoint. Another two lifted Jenkins and brought his body toward the capsule as well.

Taking a last look at the Marines as they began setting up defenses atop the hill, Shepard led Kaidan and Williams toward the spaceport.

The walk toward the spaceport was silent. No batarians or husks were encountered, nor any survivors. It was strange to Shepard; the attack was only hours old and yet seemed to be over. Were the batarians leaving? The area they were in had a low population, were the batarians focused on those areas? That fit the batarians MO, at least for pirates and raiders, the External Forces were more unknown to him.

Kaidan stopped as they approached the crest of a hill, his hands falling to his sides. "What is that thing?"

Williams followed his eyes, her rifle dropping. "Oh my God, it's massive."

Shepard looked as well. The black dreadnaught let out a horrible screech as it took off into the sky. Shepard felt a pang of nausea, the screech sounded like it came from inside his head. Taking a second to recollect himself, Shepard looked down the hill at the spaceport. "Come on, we might still be able to save the beacon."

Kaidan held his head in his hands and groaned. "Sorry sir, that scream flared up my implant. I need a minute."

Shepard nodded. "We can't just stand here, the batarians will see us eventually." The trio quickly moved behind a rock formation.

Kaidan reached into his pack and produced an energy bar, he quickly consumed it and took a swig of water from his canteen. He muttered to himself. "Whatever that thing was, its bad news."

After Kaidan gave his Commander a thumbs up, they slowly crept through the rock formations leading up to the spaceport. Just as they were about to move toward the landing platforms Kaidan's barrier shattered and he was thrown onto his back.

Shepard instinctively shouted. "Sniper! Get down!" Ignoring what he just said, he jumped out of cover and dragged Kaidan back to the cover. Just as he got back behind the rocks another sniper round cracked overhead.

Kaidan grimaced as he ran his hand over a gash in his pauldron. "Damn, bastard almost got me."

Shepard inspected the gash, it went deep into the armor, but no skin was exposed. "You okay, Kaidan?"

Kaidan sat up. "I'm fine, Shepard. Just need a moment to get my shield and barrier back up."

Meanwhile, Williams poked her head out above the rocks, earning another sniper round coming at her. It struck the rock just to the side of her head, causing shrapnel to fly into her face and draining her shields. Falling back down, after a deep breath she turned to Shepard, who was looking at her after hearing the sniper shoot again. "I saw the muzzle flash, sir. He's prone on top of the crane three down from us."

Shepard cursed internally. The sniper was probably not alone, or at least called in backup, his team was pinned, and he had seen all three of them. If Jenkins was still here, he might be able to pull something off himself, alas fate had dealt him a different hand. So instead he radioed the Normandy. "Captain, it's Shepard. We're pinned by a sniper at the spaceport and need assistance."

There was no hesitation from the Captain. "Understood Commander. We'll deploy a drone to give you air support. That black ship just jumped out of system so we're on our way to pick up team two. Hold tight Shepard; and mark the hostile on the targeting system."

"Yes sir." Shepard terminated the connection to the Normandy and opened the drone's targeting system on his omni-tool, highlighting the snipers last known position. Now all he could do was watch the drones visual scan and wait for it to do its job.

Shepard hated this kind of waiting. Adrenaline from getting shot at was still flowing through his veins but he couldn't move without getting shot. Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long as the drone was deployed from the Normandy and flew towards his position. It broke through the clouds and gave Shepard a good view of the whole situation. There was a ship at the far side of the landing pads, it didn't look civilian or like a batarian warship. That was strange, but what was more concerning was the massive area of charred earth and fire close by. The scope of it was massive and looked like hell upon the earth, nothing was left alive.

Williams was viewing the projection as well. "That must be where that ship was."

Shepard returned his focus to the sniper, zooming in on the drones feed, he could just make out a prone body exactly where Williams had said the sniper was. Authorizing the strike, a heavy machine gun roared to life, not that it was heard by anyone, the drone was too high in the sky for that just yet. Shepard watched as the rounds struck the crane and the hostile. Just as the sound of the machine gun reached them the end of the crane broke off from the rounds impacting it. If the sniper had survived the machine gun, then the fall certainly killed him. Shepard put the drone in standby mode. "Let's move."

The end of a firefight was always eerie, from the thunderous booms of explosives and gunfire to unnatural silence where not even animals made noise. If, by some strange occurrence, the sniper had not alerted his comrades then the drone must have. They had to move fast, so the team ran across the last open area and entered the spaceport. Kaidan had taken point as his biotics offered an additional layer of protection while Shepard and Williams swept their flanks. There was still nothing. No batarians, no traps, nothing at all. Add that to the silence and it made Shepard's skin crawl. Soon, they were climbing through the collapsed crane. "Let's check out the body, everything about this attack is off and we need info."

The team spread out, and after a few minutes of searching Williams spoke over the squad radio. "Sirs, I've found it. You definitely need to see this."

They weren't that spread out, to be so would be dangerous, but Shepard still had to climb through the warped metal trusses of the destroyed crane to reach her. Kaidan and Shepard reached the body at the same time, and both scowled beneath their helmets. The body had the unique head fringe of a turian.

Shepard knelt next to the body and took the helmet off the turian, confirming its identity. "Kaidan, download the omni-tools data." Shepard looked over the body further. The turian wore silver armor with black accents, which was not the armor of any military or mercenary group that Shepard knew.

Kaidan, meanwhile, was typing furiously at his omni-tool. He cursed. "Everything is wiped, Shepard. There's nothing we can get out of it."

Shepard's scowl grew. "Damn. We need to get to the beacon; we've wasted enough time."

As they began moving toward the other end of the platform, Williams spoke up. "Do you think that was the turian the batarians were talking about?"

Shepard kept alert, sweeping his flank for hostiles. "No, someone in charge wouldn't stay out alone. Doesn't matter right now." He could see the unknown ship now, just over some office buildings. "Kaidan, prepare to breach that building. Williams, we'll sweep and clear the room."

The three humans took their positions, Shepard and Williams on either side, readying their weapons, and Kaidan in front of the door preparing his shields and barrier. When everyone was ready, Shepard gave the signal. Kaidan kicked down the door, aided by his biotics, as Shepard and Williams swung around and in through the doorway.

The instant they saw the silver and black armor, the humans opened fire. Caught off guard, the aliens barely were able to return fire before being cut down. The humans fanned out, checking the bodies to make sure they were dead.

Williams called out. "All clear sir." She paused as she nudged one of the bodies with her boot. "Turian, asari, and salarian. The whole damn Citadel is here."

Shepard moved to the far side of the office lobby and looked out the window. "That's enough Sergeant. There are more hostiles outside, and they are moving." Shepard activated his omni-tool and started painting targets for the drone. He watched as the aliens stopped and took defensive positions behind cover. It wouldn't matter. "Prepare to move on my mark." He authorized the drone to launch a missile on the enemies left flank and go into overwatch mode. Shepard watched the missile countdown, when it reached three seconds, he smashed the window and opened fire on a turian that had his head out of cover. "Go! Go! Go!"

Just as Kaidan and Williams made it through the back door at the aliens the missile struck. The metal spaceport platform was made to provide a flat and sturdy place for cargo to be moved and distributed to its buyers and was capable of surviving minor accidents and even gunshots. It was not capable of dealing with a military grade high explosive missile, and to the turians, asari, and salarians that had taken cover behind the security wall that would be their undoing. The missile pierced the platform, going so fast that the salarian next to the impact zone didn't even have time to register the missile before the floor beneath him and his comrades was torn apart and went into the sky. The alien line broke as their center began sinking and sliding into the missile crater. The drone's machine gun rounds struck as the debris hit the ground.

Shepard had jumped out the window and ran toward the alien's right. Two grenades were hurled over the alien barrier, soon followed by Shepard and his carbine as they detonated. After gunning down a salarian, Shepard ducked and dropped his carbine as a turian thrust a knife at him. Shepard reached his arm around the turian's and pulled down. The turian tried to break the bind, but Shepard held firm while grabbing his own knife from his shoulder sheath and grabbing the turian's arm with his other hand. Shepard twisted quickly and drove his knife through a gap in the armor at the turian's neck. Pushing the turian who was drowning in his own blood, Shepard grabbed his carbine and gunned down another turian racing to aid his comrade. Shepard's shields took several hits from an asari firing her pistol from behind him. Just as it was about to break, the asari was thrown into the nearest wall by a biotic throw, snapping her neck.

Shepard turned to the marines. "If the beacon is here, its just around this building on the loading platform." The humans took off at a brisk pace. As they rounded the corner, they saw several aliens running up a closing ramp on the spaceship from the drone footage. The ship's engines roared to life and the ship began to take off.

Williams pointed to a strange dark grey object in the center of the platform. "Commander, that's the beacon! They left it behind."

Shepard grinned and turned on his radio even as the alien ship's engines nearly threw enough air to knock him over. "Captain! The beacon is secure, they didn't have time to take it with them!"

Shepard could almost hear the celebration in Anderson's voice. "Great work Shepard, we're on our way."

Shepard watched the alien ship take to the sky. "Sir, I'm painting the enemy ship that was trying to take it."

Anderson was quite for a moment as he viewed the targeting computer. "Shepard get to cover. It's time for a little payback. Anderson out."

Kaidan approached Shepard and smacked his back hard enough to cause him to lurch forward. "Another successful mission, eh Commander?" Shepard just laughed and took off his helmet. Kaidan followed suit. "I assume the Captain is going to bring that ship down?" Shepard nodded. "I assume he told you to take cover?" Another nod. "And I assume you are going to stand here and watch?"

Shepard laughed again. "You know me too well, Kaidan. Of course I am going to watch the first use of the Normandy's main gun."

Only a minute later the humans watched a streak appear across the sky followed by a large explosion. Williams hollered. "That never gets old, does it sirs?"

Shepard laughed again; the woman might be a little too into it. "No, it does not Williams. Now cover your ears and open your mouth, the sonic boom will be here shortly."

Just as the wreckage came down below the clouds the sonic boom from the Normandy's shot hit the spaceport, causing even more damage to the ruined structure. Not taking his eyes off the falling wreck, Shepard spoke to Williams. "I trust that your government won't be too upset over the damage to this port. Because that would be a lot of paperwork on my end."

The British woman's mood darkened. "I think paperwork over a spaceport is the least of our worries, Commander." Shepard said nothing, she might be right, but she didn't need to sour the mood.

Codex Entry:

The Systems Alliance

The Systems Alliance Treaty Organization, or simply the Systems Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 22 human nations, the Free State of Anhur, and the Third Quarian Conclave. The organization implements the Systems Alliance Treaty that was signed on February 19th, 2164. The Systems Alliance constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its independent member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. The Systems Alliance Headquarters are located in New Ghent, a European city on Mars, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is in Campus Martius, near the Prothean Archives on Mars.

Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 8 countries to 30 Members, Associates, and Observers. The most recent member state to be added to the Systems Alliance was North Scipio on February 29th, 2420. The Systems Alliance currently recognizes the Free State of New Congo and the Republic of New Java as aspiring Full Members and the Free City of Philadelphia as an aspiring Associate Member. The combined military strength of the Systems Alliance is debated but generally estimated to be the third, fourth, or fifth strongest militaries in the galaxy, unanimously behind the Turian Hierarchy and Asari Republics and sometimes behind the Salarian Union and Batarian Hegemony. These discrepancies are mostly due to non-human analysts giving more negative reviews and the more secretive nature of the Salarian Union and Batarian Hegemony's militaries.

The Systems Alliance is in many ways the successor to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as all the founding members were former members of NATO and much of the Systems Alliance Treaty is verbatim the same as the North Atlantic Treaty. There are several major differences, however. Most notably, the Systems Alliance Treaty has no territorial requirements or limits and has official tiers of Membership; Full Member States commit to the defense of all members' core territory, that is any territory that has a permanent population and a civil or military administration, to spend a minimum of two percent of their GDP on their militaries. Full Member States are given access to the Systems Alliance Technology and Research Organization (SATRO) and the Systems Alliance Free Trade Area (SAFTA). Associate Members are not required to meet the minimum of two percent GDP on military spending and still be defended by the Full Members but are not given full access to SATRO or SAFTA while being required to open their technology and economy to these organizations. This has led some critics of the Systems Alliance to call Associate Members client or puppet states of the Systems Alliance or the United States, but nations such as Panama have been Associate Members since the creation of the Systems Alliance without any major push to leave the organization. Finally, several nations have Observer State status with the Systems Alliance, these nations can participate in joint military exercises but are required to allow Systems Alliance military bases to be established in their countries. Nations may ascend to Associate or Full Member status with the unanimous consent of existing Full Member states. Full Member states may descend to Associate status or leave the Systems Alliance all together at any time but are required to go through a yearlong transition phase.

Membership status at the beginning of the Great War:

Full Member States (18):

United States of America, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Commonwealth of Australia, Republic of Ireland, Nordic League, European Union, State of Israel, Japan, United States of the Philippines, Republic of India, Federation of South Africa, Martian Independent State, Independent League of Terra Nova, Kobol Federation, Republic of Ilia, Third Quarian Conclave, Free Republic of Anhur, Republic of North Scipio

Associate Members (6):

Protectorate of Panama, Co-operative Republic of Guyana, Confederate States of the Pacific, Union of Tharsis, Confederation of Cervantes, National Union of Copernicus.

Observer States (6):

Kingdom of Morocco, Kingdom of Thailand, Federative Republic of Brazil, Republic of Argentina, Republic of Korea, Arab Republic of Egypt.

AN

And here we are, the start of the story proper. I actually had this chapter finished for about a week, but I wanted to get a couple of things checked by a friend of mine in regards to the prayer Ashley did and some other smaller things, and boy was it a major improvement.

Aside from some religious things, I also struggled with what Ashley's rank should be. In the game, she is called a "Gunnery Chief" which is not a real rank, but the wiki says is the middle of three NCO ranks in the Alliance. Ashley's squad was led by someone called Sergeant Donkey, even though Sergeant is not a rank in the Alliance military according to the wiki. Because of this, I was unsure of whether to make her a Corporal or a Sergeant but ultimately decided to make her a Sergeant so she would outrank Jenkins and because Corporal is actually a Junior NCO rank.

Anyway, I look forward to reading your reviews and may start answering some questions. Some questions will be answered in an Authors Note before the next chapter, some might be answered in a private message, and others may be answered in the future within the chapters themselves. Questions also might alert me to something that has been done wrongly, and I greatly appreciate those!