Normandy SR-1 February 28, 2183

Eden prime had been the mission she'd been dreading since she'd left the Citadel. It was obvious in the sense of grim deja vu that had followed her onto the Normandy. The unrest on the shore had been another clue.

The frigid coast had been invaded by a loud droning noise that had drowned out every sound, save for the ringing in her ears. The weight of it had forced her to her knees. She'd been helpless to do anything but watch the ship that followed it breach the clouds.

It looked like a tick, a shiny black metallic tick, descending through the thick cloud cover to latch onto the Earth like a parasite. It had screamed again when it landed, forcing itself into her mind.

I am Sovereign. Submit.

She could hear the Normandy's pilot clear his throat again at her side. "Uh, commander?"

"Hmm?"

"I was saying, the council wouldn't send a Spectre on a shakedown mission," the pilot repeated.

"It isn't one," Shepard shrugged. "It's just 'need to know'."

The lieutenant to her right choked on a breath. "What and you know?"

"The captain didn't tell me."

"Since when have you ever needed someone to tell you anything?" The pilot scoffed.

"I can't admit to treason, Joker. It's against the rules."

"Because committing treason isn't." Alenko added under his breath.

"It's against my deal with Anderson," She corrected.

Joker snorted. "Right, so, what's the real reason?"

"You mean the 'need to know' one or my trial run for the Spectres?"

"Wait, what?" Joker turned to look at her, his face twisted up in confusion.

"That would explain why Nihlus is here," Alenko noted.

"That's- Yeah, I guess. I still don't like the guy, but rewind a second. What's the 'need to know' mission?"

Shepard hummed, eyeing the window of the Normandy's cockpit. "Well, it's uh, 'need to know', Joker."

She shot him a mischievous grin, revelling in the exasperated sigh she'd earned from him. "Relax, you're hardly going to be in harm's way. You won't even break a sweat, knowing you."

Joker rolled his eyes, turning his gaze back to the Normandy's controls. "Right, tell that to our turian guest."

"You're still on about that?" Alenko sighed. "Let it go."

Shepard shook her head, excusing herself from the cockpit. The short walk to CIC was filled with the low buzz of activity, technicians at their workstations monitoring the ship's systems and communications, and their navigator's bickering about Nihlus.

The crew was divided in opinion on Nihlus. Older members hated him on principle, the first contact war ingrained in their minds. The younger members seemed more excited that he was a Spectre. There were a few that didn't really care, but they were the minority.

As for Shepard, she found him a little awkward. They'd only had time for the briefest of conversations since his arrival. There would be time for talking after the mission and during the brief.

Captain Anderson hadn't called her yet, but it was about time for her to come clean about how she'd already pilfered the reports. Anderson likely already knew.

She ducked into the communications room. Nihlus was already there.

The red-dressed turian frowned at her arrival. The tablet in his hands was quickly abandoned as he schooled his face into something more neutral.

"Commander Shepard. I had wanted to talk to you before your captain arrived."

"About the Spectre thing, right?" She moved past him, pausing in the middle of the room.

"I see captain Anderson has already told you."

She laughed. "I'm sure you've heard of my reputation for knowing things I'm not supposed to. Anderson didn't have to tell me anything. I… borrowed some of his files when I arrived."

"Ah," Nihlus twitched. "I might have heard something about that."

"He already knows. Or rather, he knows to expect it from me." She paced a few steps further into the communications room, pausing at the terminal on the far side. "Why me? There have to be at least a dozen humans qualified for Spectre-hood."

"Your actions during the Blitz-"

"Could be repeated by any N-6 soldier and a handful of the mercenaries we have on file," she cut him off. "Off the books, Nihlus. I promise to keep things to myself."

He crossed his arms, watching her for a moment as if searching for something. "You've already proven a dozen times over in your service history. Not to mention you have a history of working with the council races and of covert espionage."

"You mean the mile-long C-Sec file my dear friend Castis made for me? And the even longer file of things he couldn't prove." She laughed. "Most people don't know about my contract work for the Alliance. Looks like you did your homework, though, congrats."

"It was an interesting read. C-sec's work was surprisingly thorough."

"Castis was very good at his job," She agreed. "Oh, while you have me, about Eden Prime."

Nihlus narrowed his eyes. "What about it? I hear it's quite beautiful."

"I'm sure it is. It's just…" Shepard ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know. Call it what you will, but I don't think our mission will go smoothly. I've been looking into the colony since I acquired the mission. Eden Prime isn't as well defended as some of our other colonies. If things go bad, they'll go really bad. There's no way civilians won't be in the crossfire."

Nihlus frowned. "You expect things to go wrong?"

"Something always goes wrong. It's just a matter of how wrong things will go."

Nihlus frowned, eyeing her until the hiss of the door drew his attention elsewhere. He nodded a greeting to the newcomer. "Captain Anderson."

"Nihlus." He returned. "And Shepard. I presume you've read the mission brief already and learned about Nihlus's recommendation."

"I did my homework, don't worry. We'll be landing soon, right? We can't be too far from Eden Prime with Jokers flying."

Anderson nodded. "You'll be escorting the prothean beacon with Nihlus. There shouldn't be any problems, but-"

"Worst case scenario, my priority is protecting the civilians. I don't care if I have to destroy the beacon to make that happen."

"That's-" Nihlus started, only to be cut short by the ship's intercom.

Joker cleared his throat before he spoke. "Uh, captain. I hate to interrupt, but we just received a transmission from Eden prime. You should see this."

Anderson shot Shepard a look. "Patch it through."

The video blared static before it truly started; static and gunfire followed by the panic of unprepared soldiers and more than a dozen Geth units. The chaotic fight wasn't what caught her attention, though. It was the loud droning sound that made the footage stutter as the cameraman fell to his knees.

He choked on air as he struggled against the noise. The others didn't look much better, struggling to move into cover as the Geth continued their assault.

Shepard could hear the cameraman wheeze as the camera panned up to the sky from a familiar perspective. He was in the same position she'd been in, helpless to do anything but watch as black metal limbs pierced the clouds. It loomed in the distance latching onto Eden primes spaceport like a giant tick.

"What the hell is that?" The cameraman breathed.

"I don't know, but we have to go now." One of the surviving soldiers hissed as she pulled him to his feet, the camera feed dissolving into static.

Joker cleared his throat. "Everything cuts out after that. No comm traffic, it just goes dead. There's nothing."

Anderson said nothing for a moment watching the screen with a frown. He glanced at Nihlus, then back at the screen. "Reverse and hold at three point five."

"Sovereign," Shepard whispered, grimacing as the ship took up the screen again.

Anderson's gaze snapped to her. "You recognize the ship?"

"Its name is Sovereign." She shook her head, her fists clenched painfully tight at her sides. "I've seen it before. It- Joker, how long until we reach Eden Prime?"

"We're seventeen minutes out, Commander."

She cursed under her breath.

"This ship. What do you know about it, Shepard?" Anderson gripped her shoulder.

"Nothing. Just that its name is Sovereign, and that it brings death to every place it visits." Shepard tore her eyes away from the screen to meet his gaze. "We should hope that thing's not there when we drop. None of our colonies have the resources to oppose it. We'll be dropping into a slaughter."

She shrugged off Anderson's grip, leaving the communications room with quick steps. The slick black ship lingered behind her eyes, the painful sound it emitted echoing in her ears. The message had cut out before it sounded a second time, but she knew. She knew. She knew.

I am Sovereign. Submit.

Eden Prime February 28, 2183

"You still haven't said how you knew about Sovereign."

"Now's not really the time, Nihlus. Besides, I only discuss treason on Tuesdays."

"Why Tuesday…?" Shepard heard him mutter under his breath as she examined the corpse of the creature she'd just downed. Though, corpse was a strong word. The thing was still alive.

It had been human at some point, though it barely resembled one now. Its clothes hung off it in tatters, barely containing its peeling flesh. Its body twitched and convulsed as the insect-like machines within it attempted to reattach its mostly severed head. A husk, her memory provided.

"What about the Dragon's Teeth?" Nihlus spoke again.

"Shouldn't you know more than me?" She activated her omni blade, severing the head completely from the body. "They were used on Palaven after the first contact war to commit war crimes, courtesy of one Desolas Arterius. Only two people survived, one became a Spectre."

"You mean Saren. I-" Nihlus paused. "There's a spaceport up ahead, I'll wait for you there."

"I'll be there in five."

He grunted a response, cutting his comms as Shepard stood. She turned to her ground team, lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and newly acquired gunnery chief Ashley Williams, before motioning for them to follow.

Williams had been the only survivor of Eden Prime's defences so far. She'd witnessed the first of the Geth assault units arrive, working with Sovereign to decimate Eden Prime's defences. She'd done her best to stop them, but they'd never stood a chance against an AI ground force and Sovereign, "You said this Nihlus guy was a Spectre, right?" Ashely cleared her throat. "And that you had different missions?"

"Different priorities," she corrected.

"Nihlus is going after the beacon while we take out the Geth," Kaidan supplied. "But if Nihlus wants to group up."

"It means he hit a choke point," Shepard paused on the hill leading down to the port. She squinted at the vacant view below, ushering Kaidan and Ashley into cover. "Something's wrong."

The port was in disarray. It showcased the worst of the attack, the main building was half-collapsed from when Sovereign latched onto it. Not to mention the dragon's teeth littered about, mechanical spears pointed to the sky. All of them displaying pulsing corpses, turning the colonists into foot soldiers, husks with no mind of their own. Between the ground was littered with destroyed geth — Nihlus's work, probably.

That he hadn't taken out the Dragon's teeth too, could only mean two things. He hadn't encountered the husks in haste to reach the beacon. Or something had happened to him.

Shepard adjusted her grip on her rifle, signalling her team to move. "Take out the teeth, I'm going to search for Nihlus."

Shepard moved into the port ahead of them. She avoided most of the teeth as she searched, only pausing to deal with the husks in her way. There weren't many. Sovereign's landing had buried most of the dock workers, leaving them out of reach of the Geth. They were the lucky ones, painting the rubble red.

Nihlus had taken time to find — a trail of blue spatter leading to him and the human that had pulled him behind a group of crates.

The human man shook, half cowering behind the injured turian. He watched Shepard with a face of uncertainty, his hands and clothes smeared with blue.

"Shepard," Nihlus wheezed, clutching his stomach. A thick trail of blood poured from his mouth.

"I- I- I didn't- the other turian shot him." The human stuttered.

Shepard ignored him, moving to Nihlus's side. "You shouldn't be talking. Let me-"

She pushed his hand out of the way to see the injury better. She cursed at the damage activating her comms to order Joker to their position. Joker's reply buzzed in her ear.

Nihlus looked bad. The hand over his stomach had done little more than hide it. His organs looked like soup. No amount of medi-gel in the galaxy could fix that. All it could do was numb the pain. It was likely the only reason he was still conscious at all.

Nihlus wheezed at the effort to move his arm, resting his hand on her wrist. "Go. Saren won't-"

"You're bleeding out, Nihlus."

"Shepard!" Nihlus rasped, cutting her off. "Finish the mission."

His omni-tool activated for a moment before he let go, his hand dropping to the ground. She vaguely registered her omni-tool pinging in response.

"Finish the mission." He repeated.

Shepard hesitated. She sucked a breath in through her teeth. "Don't die on me, Nihlus."

It wasn't hard to discern where her target was. This section of the port was reserved for unloading and storage. Eden Prime's docks were further to the west along a rail system. The docks were also the most likely place for the beacon to be, considering the Alliance had been meant to transport it. Like everything else on Eden Prime, it was crawling with geth and husks. Though there weren't as many as she was expecting. It made sense. Saren, from what she knew of him, wasn't the type to stick around. He also wasn't the type to leave loose ends. He'd left orders to blow the whole port to hell.

Come to think of it, it wasn't the first time he'd blown up something to cover his tracks. The mission he'd run with Anderson had a similar outcome — countless civilians dead in the explosion.

Shepard wasn't planning to let the same happen here. Saren had miscalculated. He hadn't anticipated her or the Normandy arriving, not this early.

Securing the beacon hadn't taken long. It had been hard-fought, but compared to the fights before it… They'd had time to catch their breath on the ride over.

Shepard watched the beacon at a distance. Her ground team oblivious to the droning buzz that it emitted. It was loud and uncomfortable and familiar in the exact way she hated. The type of familiarity that demanded she act.

She raised her hand to the flickering green light, wondering when she'd moved so close and why the static building across her skin didn't bother her. She didn't resist when it claimed her, the images it broadcast into her mind pulling her deep into nothing.