Flesh and Metal:

Book One:

The Saren Incident:

Chapter One

The rain was falling heavily on the city of Nos Astra and a thousand skycars rushed over ahead. The capital city of Illium thrummed with life above and within but by the end of the night there would be slightly less then there had been the night before.

Polymorph Manufacturing was a large complex which took up an entire single square mile with several large uniform buildings within the grounds, grey and stark Salarian uniformity looking somewhat out of place against the towering spires of Asari elegance the towered over the complex. Polymorph had been declared bankrupt and gone out of business close to six months before hand so the facility worth billions of credits had been left abandoned as dozens of companies squabbled over who would buy it.

But while the most powerful of Illium squabbled over who would truly own the complex, others had not decided to wait on the opportunity and Eclipse had made use of the facility for their own ends. Crates of Red Sand, Goddess's Kiss, Infinity's End and thousands of other drugs were being shipped across the Terminus Systems from right here.

Whoever did wind up buying the factory who have a hell of job trying to convince the mercenaries to clear out, there were at least two hundred mercs inside from what he had been able to see and they were stiffened by security mechs. So in that way Ethan Shepard supposed that he was doing whoever would buy it something of a favour.

He was perched high up on a rafter in the largest of the buildings, looking down on the factory floor below as the Mercs carried out their tasks. Securing packages, performing weapon checks and performing patrols. There were only thirty or so on the floor along with his target so that would make things easier than they would have been.

Or so he would have thought if one of those Mercs wasn't a Krogan. Big, tough and with a regeneration factor that made the safe option nuking from orbit. It was odd to see a Krogan in Eclipse of all places, most of them ended up in the Blood Pack and the few that didn't would either stay independent or go and work for the Blue Suns.

Regardless, he would need to deal with him quickly and indirectly. Ethan didn't consider himself a coward, he just know his own strengths and weaknesses and if he tried to fight a Krogan head on then it would only end with him being a smear on the walls, floor and celling.

But while the Krogan might have been the biggest threat of all of them down their, he was not the reason why Ethan was there. No, that honour belonged to Talia Dantius, leader of this specific band of Eclipse, one of Jona Sederis's favourites and younger sister of Nassana Dantius, an Asari who had fingers in almost every pie on Illium and one who saw her younger sister as a problem that she didn't want to suffer any longer.

She looked like she could be a problem as well, dressed in heavy purple armour with a heavy machine gun clasped tightly in her hands and her dark blue eyes scanned everything, looking closely at every shadow. He had to wonder if she knew what was coming or at the very least suspected it, he wouldn't be surprised if she did. Nassana did not tend to go for subtly.

He had done plenty of reading up on the target, she had been a Commando for nearly sixty years before retiring and coming to Illium and joining up with Eclipse, within ten years she had sized control of the band on Illium and had made them twice as effective, twice as dangerous and twice as fucking nuts. More people than just her sister would be glad of it once she was gone.

There was a soft ping that he only he could hear, followed by a voice speaking that belonged to no one that anyone could see. It was soft, sweet and synthetic. With just a hint of amusement in there as well. "All communications have been scrambled and I've sealed the doors of the factory, Commander. They will not be able to leave or radio for help."

Ethan made no acknowledgement that he had heard her, he didn't need too. Nova had known that he had heard her. "How much time do we have?" He whispered.

"According to my scans, forty-five minutes." Ah, well shit. He would have liked a little more time than that but sometimes you just had to deal with what you were given. Which, in his case, was quite a bit to be fair.

Alongside the thirty mercs there was also at least a dozen Loki Mechs, crouched and powered down. Two Ymir mechs, one with a machine gun arm and a rocket launcher arm and the other with two rocket launcher arms were at the back of the room, also deactivated with their heads bowed and their arms hanging limp at their sides. The mechs were cheap and readily avalible so they were often used to stiffen security forces.

Ethan moved across the rafter to get into a better position and then active his Omni-Tool, his fingers dancing across it as he spoke. "Nova, hack the Ymir's, activate them and disable the IFF. I'll do the same with the Loki mechs." The AI did not respond with words, only a single soft beep as the both of them set out to their work.

The Loki's activated first, the downside of being cheap also meant cheap security, and they jolted and rose up from their crouching position and drew the cheap machine pistols that they were shipped with. Moments later, the Ymir's started to stir as well. Now, they were online and their ability to distinguish between Friend and Foe was gone, but they wouldn't attack until shots were fired.

So, Ethan drew his rifle and stared down the scope at one of the Mercs who was pointing at the Loki's and pulled the trigger. The merc's head jerked roughly as the as the metal that had been accelerated to faster than light speed punched through armour plating, skin, flesh, bone and grey matter before coming out the over side in a spray of blood and bone fragments.

Chaos erupted below. Guns were aimed up at the rafters and the walkways and a storm of gunfire rained down on them, Ethan taking care to keep his head down and keep moving as well as making sure his barriers were still up. It only took a second of that hail of gunfire for the mechs to respond and more screams floated up towards him.

The VI that drove the Loki's was basic, to say the very least. Others, slightly less charitably, had referred to them as completely brain dead. They could move forward and pull the trigger of whatever weapon they had in their hand and that was about the long and the short of it. The barrage of gunfire they unleashed did little more than hit against the shields of the mercs and draw their attention.

But then he hadn't expected them do more than that and the Ymir mechs did more than to make up for it. The software that ran them was not much more complicated than the Loki mechs but it made up for it with their armaments. The fire of a heavy machine gun broke through the ranks of mechs, alarms flaring as shields went down, screams echoing as rockets were sent flying, soon followed by various body parts.

And through all of it Ethan took shots from his rifle, one through the heart of an Asari who had been in the middle of calling on her biotics to defend herself, another through the head of a Salarian man who had brought up his Omni-tool and looked like he was in the middle of trying to restore the mechs IFF or to send out a message for help.

The Krogan was charging at one of the Ymir's, the same one whose rocket had taken off one of it's arms, with a blood rage the likes of which Ethan was certain that he hadn't seen before. The grey plated tank tossed aside his weapon and leapt on to the large mech and tore at it's head, roaring all the while as it forced it's hand through armour platting and pulled out wires like entrails.

A round from his rifle went through the back of the Krogan's head, causing it to fall and roll of the mech. Ethan quickly grabbed a high explosive grenade from off of his belt and tossed it towards the downed mech before jumping off of the rafter to take cover behind a large shipping crate.

The explosion that followed after was enough to shake the earth and he knew that it wasn't just the mercs he would have to worry about now, but half of Illium as well. Still, it was the safest way to deal with the Krogan, the shot to the back of the head might have stunned it but his regeneration would have kicked it as soon as the round had entered, but an explosion that Imparted enough damage should have killed him.

He had to be sure that Talia was dead before he leaved, he glanced around the corner of the shipping crate and frowned. There was naught left of the Ymir's mech or the krogan aside from some sparking parts of machinery and a large orange stain on the floor in the middle of a burn mark. Smoke and fire filled the air and caused his eyes to water.

Loki mechs who had survived the blast were crawling on the ground, voices garbling some mention of needing repairs. Bodies of dead mercs were scattered across the floor, cooked inside their armor or dead from gunfire.

"Nova, is there anyone other life sign in this room other than-" He didn't have the time to finish as the whole world went upside down, a singularity that had formed in the middle of the room was disrupting gravity and Ethan uttered a string of colourful curses which were interrupted as something that felt like a bolder slammed into his middle and sent him flying through the air, till the singularity faded away and he collapsed to the ground, holding his middle as he tried to catch his breath.

Talia Dantius marched toward him, a bloody wound marring half of her face and her biotic aura flaring white hot around her. "You came into my place, murder my men and then think you can just slip away. Oh, fuck that. I am going to do things to you that are so awful that it makes me feel sick to even think about them." She threw out her arm and a half formed warp field flew towards him.

Ethan didn't have time to think, he could only react. So, he threw out his hands and his biotics came to his aid and his own warp field collided with Talia's in mid air. Talia could only laugh as she leaned in with her own power, Ethan could feel his skull shaking in his head and he was certain his teeth with shivering as he tried push against the force.

"Oh, now this is adorable. Give it up Monkey, I've been a warrior since before you were born. And you think you can defeat me in a duel of biotics." Talia Dantius laughed and laughed and laughed.

Shepard, straining and sweating and barely able to stand could only smirk as he dropped one arm to active his Omni-Tool, thrusting it towards her and taking perhaps too much pleasure in watching as the green field of dampening tech surrounded her and reduced her aura to nothing. "Nope, so I think I am going to cheat instead."

The Asari roared and reached for her machine pistol on her hip but Shepard was faster, drawing his own supressed pistol and pulling the trigger twice, blasting two holes into the woman's skull, causing her to fall on to her face. Dead.

Shepard breathed and then cursed himself, for one trying to breath with bruised ribs hurt and trying to breath with bruised ribs inside a room that was partially on fire was more than likely not a good idea. Nova decided that was the time for her to chime in. "Commander, the remaining of the mercenary force are converging on your position and I have logged no fewer than thirty calls to the Nos Astra police department, also, three minutes remain."

"Shit, thanks Nova." Shepard glanced around and called on his biotics once again, wrapping himself in a lift field and gently floating himself up towards the rafters, grabbing hold of the rafter and pulling himself up on to it. Below, he could hear shouts from the mercs, calling out for their leader and to be let in. Shepard wasn't planning on obliging them.

It took him three minuites to arrive back at his skycar, tucked in a little ally close to the main gate of the complex, and then another minute to get it into the air. He laid the auto course in for home and leaned back in his chair, dosing himself with medi gel to combat the pain in his chest.

He was five minutes behind when he reached his apartment building, eight minutes when he finally arrived at his floor and got to his door. As soon as he opened the door, he was meet with a wail of unhappiness that caused Shepard to sigh heavily. He walked into the kitchen and retrieved a bottle full of milk from the fridge and walked over to the door where the crying was coming from.

Shepard walked into the room and walked over to the playpen, reaching down to pick up the little blue baby girl and pressed a kiss to the smooth skin of her forehead before offering her the rubber nipple of the bottle. The baby accepted it but looked up at him with judgemental indigo eyes that were still full of tears and Shepard could only sigh as he fed her. "I know baby, Daddy wasn't here when you woke up for your feed. That's cause Daddy is a bad person who kills people for a crazy lady so he can get close to her because a bunch of other crazy people told him too, see one thing you'll learn is that Daddy is kind of a fuck up. Yes, yes he is."

Ethan carried his tiny blue daughter into the living room and sat down on the sofa as she drank from the bottle, Ethan titled his head back and let out a heavy sigh as the ache of his ribs on top of every other ache lulled him into a relaxed state. All he wanted to do was sleep but he knew that would have to wait till later, once the baby was asleep.

As soon as he thought it, she started to get fussy and Ethan pulled the bottle away from her. Putting her up to his shoulder he proceeded to burp her and thanked god she didn't spit up this time. He was just about to carry her into the nursery when Nova pinged in again. "Ethan." That was a concern, Nova almost always called him either Commander or Shepard, almost never Ethan. "Operator Nasreen is here."

Shit. Shepard carried his daughter over to her high chair and placed her in it with a kiss to her forehead before he walked over to the door, he pulled it open and saw Nasreen standing there, her hand almost about to touch the call button. She stared at him with her dark eyes for a long few moments before she let out a sigh. "That never stops being creepy, you know."

"Hello Operator, would you like some coffee?" Shepard already knew how this was going to go, he turned and walked into the kitchen and turned on the machine as Nasreen closed the door before following him inside and into the kitchen. Cream but no sugar, if he remembered rightly. He turned around to see the operator standing in front of the high chair, her upper body bowed.

She stared at his daughter for a long moment, her face unreadable before she reached out with a longer finger and poked her on the nose. "Boop." That sent the baby into a fit of giggles and Ethan had to roll his eyes as he placed the coffee cup on the kitchen island. "Shooting up like a weed." Nasreen muttered as she picked up the cup but didn't take a sip. "Still set on the name."

"Considering it's the name she's had for the past couple of months, yes. Jin isn't that bad." Ethan crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at her firmly. "All right, pleasantries aside, what are you doing here? You could break my cover and I've put a lot of work into this job, has to be something important right? You wouldn't come yourself otherwise."

Nasreen placed the coffee cup down and activated her Omni-tool, Ethan's flashed into existence as it received a download. Shepard opened the download and watched as ship schematics and crew manifests flashed into front of his eyes. "SSV Normandy, top of the range frigate with a new experimental drive core. Partly designed by the Turians as a way to try and improve relations with the Hierarchy. I want you on it."

He was surprised that the Alliance was willing to try and make headway with the Turians, considering that their relationship with the Geth was so strong partly because they had stood united against them in First Contact war, or the Dusk War as the Geth liked to call it. Still, what the brass chose to do wasn't his business. "Fine, why do you want me on it?"

"The captain needs a commander, it's a new crew and I suggested you."

"I haven't served on a ship in years, forget about commanding soldiers."

"You'll do fine, more than fine I am certain."

"Whose the captain?"

"Anderson."

"Anderson. You're joking, right?" To say things had not ended well there would be like saying a swarm of angry killer hornets might sting a little. "Why would he want me on the same ship. When he finds out he is going to lose it.

"He won't, he asked for you." Something was wrong, none of this made any sense.

"There is something you're not telling me, you wouldn't come all this was just to tell me I am going back into the regular forces. What about Dantius? It's taken me years to get this close."

"Dantius can wait, in the grand scheme of things she isn't that important, we only thought that she was becoming a big player and it might benefit us to have someone on the inside. And yes, there is something I am not telling you but that's just the deal. I tell you to do something, and you do it. Do you remember that? You may not be a marine but you are still a solider. And if you disobey, well, you know what happened then."

"You don't have to remind me." Ethan growled the presence of Nova in his head was like a weight that pressed on his skull from the inside. He turned away from Nasreen and looked at Jin, her head was bowed. She had fallen asleep in her high chair like nothing was wrong at all. "I'll need a place to put her, a good place."

"I'll see to it, you have my word. You can send her vid messages every month."

Commander Ethan Shepard let out a sigh, it could be a lot worse. He turned to face his handler, his face a mask of stone as he nodded. "Give me twenty minutes to get packed, Operator."

End of Chapter One


I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, for those who are a little confused I don't want to go into too much here but basically:

Shepard entered the Navy and rose to the rank he has in canon, at some point he got enlisted into the Alliance Black Ops division, think Cerberus but on a tighter leash and has been working for them since. The AI in his head was placed there, partly to aid him in ops but also as a control measure, it will fry his mind if he defects. Nova itself is sentient but is also programed to be loyal to the Black Ops divison, like EDI she's a sentient AI but one that's limited by the blocks in her programming.The hows and the whys as to how Shepard got here...well, we'll get to those later.

Oh, and he has an Asari daughter as well.

Tons of love to everyone;

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Discordant Symphony