Chapter 2

Cargo Bay - SSV Normandy

It was mere minutes before everyone was gathered into the cargo bay. Due to the nature of their original mission, as few crewmembers were put on the ship as possible. So unfortunately, the only aid she had on the ground was Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, who had been trading blows with Joker in the cockpit before, and a young corporal by the name of Richard Jenkins. When she had passed him on her way to the comm room, he had a buzz of excitement about him, mentioning something about waiting for some real action.

But as she stood across from him in the cargo bay, she could see that his energy had diminished. That was to be expected when the 'real action' you hoped for included your colony, and the lives of those you grew up with being in danger. Jenkins and Alenko stood together on one side, while Shepard herself stood with Nihlus and Anderson on the other.

As Joker confirmed the activation of the stealth systems, Anderson stared directly at Shepard with a hard look in his eyes. "Your team's going to be the muscle of the operation Shepard. Land heavy and go straight for the dig site without delay," he ordered.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at him from under her N7 helmet. "We're distractions?" she asked curiously. "I mean, it's not exactly my style..."

"I understand Commander, but Nihlus is going to be the stealth unit today. You are going to clear a path to the beacon while Nihlus sneaks ahead and makes sure it doesn't go anywhere. That way if your presence were to cause any kind of commotion…"

"Right. If someone were to try to take the beacon before we get there, he could stop them,." she said, nodding her understanding.

Still being able to hear across the cargo bay, Lieutenant Alenko stepped forward with a question. "Sir, what about survivors?"

The Captain sighed. "As bad as it sounds, survivors are a secondary objective. If you find them, bring them along as long as they don't slow you down. But that beacon is your top priority. Once it's secured, if there are any movers left on site, have them prepare it for transportation to the cargo docks and protect that cargo from anything that gets near it."

"Yes sir,." said Shepard said with a nod before turning to stand with her crew. Looking over at the pair, she saw that the lieutenant was as cool as a cucumber. She was glad to have someone with a level head on the team, because at the moment, Jenkins was practically rattling in his armor. "Jenkins, what's your middle name?"

Looking up at his commander with an incredulous stare, he took a relaxed, if awkward stance. "It's Leroy Commander, why do you ask?"

She smiled at him. "To get you to relax. Did it work?"

He thought about it for a moment, then smirked. "I suppose you knocked me out of my spiral of dismay. But it didn't stop me from worrying."

"Good. I'd be more concerned if you weren't," she said, giving his Alliance blue armor a pat on the shoulder. "You're from Eden Prime, right? What's it like?"

He nodded, shaking his limbs as if to try and loosen himself up. "That's right Commander. It's a farming colony, so it's real peaceful. Even in the inner city they've been really careful with development so that there's no city noise or pollution." His worried demeanor returned. "My parents lived on the outskirts of the colony, hopefully somewhere safe from whatever's going on."

"I'm sure they're safe," chimed in Alenko, who had a serious look.

"Thanks. You know, when I was growing up, I always thought Eden Prime was a little too calm and quiet for me. So I joined the Alliance, because even paradise can get boring after a while. But now…" he said, going silent for a moment.

"Well, once the beacon is off the planet, I'm sure it'll go back to the way it was," the lieutenant said reassuringly. But Shepard eyed the man, not sure if he should be making promises that may not come to fruition.

"I hope so," said the corporal solemnly.

"In the meantime, make sure to follow orders. I need you to hold yourself together out there, no matter what we see," Shepard said, getting a nod from both of them.

"Approaching drop point one!" called Joker through the intercom as the back of the bay opened. A wild wind rushed in, making the corporal stumble for a moment. Within seconds, Nihlus was out of the ship, groundside, and on the move. "Drop point two in ten seconds."

Anderson turned to Shepard again. "The mission is yours now Shepard! Make us proud!" he shouted over the wind, then stepped back as the ship lowered and all three Alliance soldiers hit the ground.

Ardez Quarry, Eden Prime

As the three landed, the Normandy almost flawlessly swooped into the sky away from view once more. Their smooth landing was no surprise given how gently the ship rode. After the mission was over, assuming she survived, she'd definitely miss the Normandy. But as she took her first step towards the quarry where the beacon was said to have been dug up, all thoughts of the ship vanished from her mind.

"This is a quarry, so there should be plenty of cover lying around. Use it," she ordered as she started moving forward, her assault rifle drawn and primed to kill.

"Roger!" shouted Jenkins nervously. He stopped his movement forward when he accidentally bumped into the two officers, who both gave him stern looks. Shepard merely put a finger up to her lips, and he nodded. "Oh...right...I mean, roger," he said, much quieter than before. They began moving softly through the small entrance carved into the rock, then through a stream with nothing but silence around them.

The lack of gunfire made the scene even more eerie for the commander, because that meant there was nobody left to fight back. But she decided to go for optimism instead, and hoped they had bunkered down somewhere. As they stepped through a small stream that flowed through a particularly grassy part of the quarry, Alenko stopped dead in his tracks as a small floating creature drifted into their view. "What the hell is that?" he asked incredulously.

Jenkins looked over at the oddly balloon-like hovering anomaly before responding calmly. "Oh, that's just a gas bag. They're harmless. According to scientists, they do most of the pollinating in these areas, so watch out. You accidentally bump into one and you've got plant pollen all over you."

"My sinuses are going to love that," Shepard quipped, trying to calm their nerves slightly as they moved past the passive creature and deeper into the hewn rock quarry. As she predicted, cover littered the area in the form of protrusions jutting from the ground, carved shelves , and piles of loose debris. "Heads down," she ordered silently as she ducked behind one of the shelves. They followed in kind, and the three began moving from cover to cover as they gained ground across the small canyon.

When they reached a certain point however, the move to the next set of cover was very wide, leaving plenty of time to be fired upon. Without order, however, Jenkins began moving towards the goal before she could stop him. That was when time seemed to speed up. Within moments of his move, strange, automated drones flew out from deeper in the quarry and started unleashing fire on the corporal.

Shepard and Alenko both immediately jumped up and began firing on the drones with two Avenger-class rifles, throwing the aerial combatants' aim off only slightly. Jenkins took his seconds-long opening and dashed for the cover immediately, his shield pinging with fire, then collapsing just before he made it to cover. Right as one of the drones locked on however, both of the odd automatons were swallowed by an almost magical blue aura.

Jenkins slid into cover just as Alenko thrust his arm towards the ground, sending both of the machines smashing into the rocky surface like meteorites and causing them to explode in a shower of metal. Unfortunately, another swarm of three zoomed out of the woodwork and began firing on Alenko's position, making him duck back behind the rocks. "Got another of those in you?" asked Shepard over the gunfire.

"Gimme a minute." he responded, his breathing heavy from the strain.

Hitting her mic, she spoke through the radio to the third soldier. "Jenkins! You alright?"

"Affirmative Commander. I don't think these new ones saw me yet," he said in a hushed tone.

"Good, I want you to take aim at their backs and fire as soon as I give the word, okay?" she asked as she opened her omni-tool.

"You got it sir," he responded.

She hit one last button on her display, then waved her hand towards the enemy drones. "Now Jenkins!" They each let out a loud popping sound that was heavily covered by gunfire before receiving a round each in the back.

The corporal had a surprised look as his bullets seemed to pass right through their invisible shields, shattering their shells and sending them careening into the cliffside. In his excitement at having killed the swarming enemies, he jumped to his feet and cheered. "Yeah! Take that, you sonsabitches!" he shouted aggressively.

"Corporal! Keep behind cover!" Shepard shouted as she saw his excitement. But it was too late; a sniper shot echoed across the canyon and blasted through his armor, splattering his blood across the ground. The young man looked down at his hands, now soaked in his own blood and fell to his knees before finally slamming face first into the ground. "Goddammit!" she cursed loudly as she smashed her fist against the rocky cover she stood behind.

"That was a sniper?" Alenko asked, getting a nod from the squad leader. He let out a heavy sigh as he clenched his fist. "Commander, can you find him with your own?" he asked grimly.

"What the hell are you talking about Lieutenant?" she asked, trading her automatic rifle for the long range mantis she had on her back.

"I'm pretty sure my barrier can stand up to at least a single shot from any known sniper in the galaxy except for the Widow," he remarked as he began loosening up his legs. "I'm going to run for Jenkins, and when he fires, you find him and take him out."

"Don't even think about it Alenko! I'm not losing two of you to the same stupid mistake!" she shouted, but she knew he had made his decision when she saw a brilliant sheen cover his body, a sign that he had just donned his barrier beneath his shields. Opening her omni-tool again, she activated her cloak and rose from her position, her mind going back to the moment the corporal was shot. Given the direction of his blood spatter, it could only have come from further in the canyon.

Spinning out of cover, the lieutenant dashed for the fallen soldier's position and almost immediately a shot rang out, his shields appearing for a brief moment before vanishing. Then as he made it halfway, there was another that slammed into his barrier. The silvery sheen that covered him vanished as he was knocked backwards by the shot.

Shepard spotted slight movement after the second shot and aimed through her scope. Laying the crosshairs directly onto the odd, curved head of the creature, she sucked in her breath and squeezed the trigger. Her own shot echoed across the rocky walls as she saw the odd sniper's headlight blink out before it fell from its elevated position. Confident there were no other snipers present, she moved from her cover and towards the pair, where Alenko now crouched over Jenkins' fallen form.

"Dammit... he was just a kid," the lieutenant growled as he reached up and closed his comrade's eyes.

"We'll get him a burial right here on his home once we're finished. But right now I need you to focus LT," Shepard said, as she put a hand on his shoulder.

Kaidan stood up and nodded to her. "Right Commander, I'm ready when you are." He had a new fire in his voice.

The pair of them moved forward just as Nihlus' voice came over the comm. "I've got a lot of burned out buildings here Shepard. And a lot of bodies. I'm going to check it out before heading to the digsite. I'll meet you there."

"Roger," the commander said into the comm before continuing forward with Alenko close behind her. As they moved further into the canyon, there were more drones pelting their shields with rapidfire. But now that they were past the element of surprise, the task became much easier. Once the remaining security drones were dealt with, the pair climbed a small hill and were greeted with the sight of an Alliance soldier sprinting for cover behind a cargo crate at the bottom.

She was being attacked by another drone, but managed to blast it out of the air with return fire as the commander and the lieutenant swiftly made their way to her side. When they approached, she raised her weapon at the pair in her panic, but as Shepard held her hand up, the rifle was thankfully lowered. Luckily, she wasn't so battle fatigued that she couldn't distinguish between friend and foe.

Taking cover next to the soldier, Shepard activated her cloaking briefly, then ducked out and aimed with her rifle. The same type of strange creature that she had knocked off the top of the canyon wall earlier was now blasting at their cover with automatic fire. So she raised her rifle, took aim, and put a round directly through the glowing eye in the dead center of its head. Alenko trashed the other one with a biotic attack that warped and destroyed its armor, and presumably its insides as well, leaving it in a pile of annihilated remains on the ground.

As soon as the hostiles were gone, the newcomer turned to Shepard. "Thanks Commander. I didn't think I was gonna make it," she said through gasping breaths. When she finally seemed to collect herself, she stood at attention. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212 Peacekeeping Battalion. Are you the one in charge here, sir?"

"That's the way it's looking. Are you wounded Williams?" Shepard asked as she eyed the woman up and down. Her Alliance-colored armor didn't appear to have any damage, thankfully.

Letting out a loud sigh, the gunnery chief shook her head. "A few scrapes and burns, but nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky," she said, then reached up and grabbed her helmet in dismay. "Oh man...we were patrolling the outer perimeter when the attack hit. We sent a distress call, but they cut the communications off world. I've been fighting for my life ever since."

Suddenly, Shepard recognized the woman from the video they received aboard the Normandy. "We managed to receive a small snippet of the SOS when we arrived in the system," she said, getting a look of hope from the chief. "Where's the rest of your squad?"

"When the attack hit, most of us on the outer perimeter tried to close in on the beacon to protect it. But somehow, they knew exactly where it was. Their dropship flew directly above it and flooded the site with hostiles, ambushing most of the Alliance there." She shook her head grimly. "I don't think any of the others…" she started, but broke the sentence off. "I think I'm the only one left."

Seeing the despair in the gunnery chief, Shepard took a step forward. "This isn't your fault Williams. You couldn't have done anything to save them," she said, reassuringly.

"Yes sir…" Williams responded, and Shepard could clearly see the doubt in her expression through the face shield of the helmet. "We held our position and tried to push to get to the beacon, but the geth were so entrenched that we were picked off like flies. It was like trying to get through a meat grinder."

"Wait...did you say geth?" interjected the lieutenant. When Williams nodded, he just stared at the ground for a moment before continuing. "The geth haven't been seen outside the Perseus Veil for nearly two hundred years. Why the hell are they here now?"

"They must have come for the beacon. The dig site is close, just over that rise. It might still be there if we hurry. But…" Williams said as she shuffled nervously. "Like I said, trying to get through might be suicide."

"That's why we're here Williams. Consider us the wrecking ball crew," Shepard said as she rolled her shoulders. "We could definitely use you Chief. Would you like to come with us?"

"Aye aye sir!" she said as she checked the heat sink on her weapon. "Time to get some payback."

"Then let's move out and get to that dig site," ordered Shepard, getting a confirming nod from both the chief and lieutenant.

Prothean Beacon Dig Site, Eden Prime

Ashley kicked one of the dead mechanical soldiers aside as the three entered the small, open-air enclosure. "There were a hell of a lot more of them last time I was here," she growled as she looked at the scrapped corpses of the geth that had just been caught off guard by sniper fire and biotic attacks.

"From the looks of it, they moved the beacon themselves. They probably took the majority of their fighting force with them," Shepard said as she looked at the small pedestal in which the beacon likely sat before it was removed.

"We don't know for sure that the geth have it. Some of our own could have got here and moved it to safety before the geth arrived," Alenko observed as he examined the area.

"We can't rule it out. But we won't know for sure until we get there," Williams added as she readied herself again.

Shepard turned away from the others and activated her comm. "Nihlus, there's been a change of plans. The dig site has been secured, but the beacon isn't here anymore. Someone has moved it."

"Understood. There's a small spaceport up ahead. If they were moving it for transport, there's where it'd go. I'll go ahead and make my way there. We can rendezvous there once you're finished," the turian spectre replied.

"Affirmative," the commander confirmed as doubt plagued her voice. "Spectre, I don't like this…"

"I doubt many outside the krogan would enjoy this Shepard. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come," he said, a small amount of concern in his voice at her statement.

"That's not what I mean. As soon as the beacon was found, the Council supposedly locked this place tighter than a Volus' exo-suit. If it's given a Class 5 security rating, then there are very few people who could have known about it given the Alliance shut down Eden Prime's comm buoys as soon as they sent the message to the Council. Which means…" she started, but after catching up on her thought process, the spectre finished for her.

"Only someone with the highest of clearances could have organized this attack…" he responded thoughtfully. "We can rule out anyone on the ship. They had dead comms since we left the Citadel, and weren't given any information until we got here."

"That means that the only people who could have given the signal for this are limited to Udina and Anderson among the humans. Udina would never forgo a chance to impress the Council by handing the beacon over to whoever did this, and I'm fairly certain Anderson would sooner drive a ship into a sun than betray the Alliance," she speculated as she waved to the others to begin moving up the hill towards the space port.

"Which leaves the Councilors," said the turian in a thoughtful tone.

"And you," Shepard added sharply as her group moved up the carved ramp.

There was a short pause before he responded. "You're not wrong. I suppose I look pretty suspicious."

"I don't know you Spectre, but if you had anything to do with this, I'll have no qualms about throwing my chances at being a Spectre to make you pay," she stated, hearing a chuckle over the comm. "If you had nothing to do with it, then be careful. Because we may be dealing with someone powerful enough to have access to Council information."

"Shepard, the more you talk, the more I like you. You're actually starting to sound more like a Spectre," he said, making her smirk slightly. "I'm approaching the tram station. I'll let you know if I find the beacon, and I'll keep everyone off it til you arrive to pack it up."

"Affirmative. Shepard out." The commander closed down the comm and continued to lead her team to the science camp that laid in ruins before her.

Constant Cargo Tram Station, Eden Prime

As he closed the comm, Nihlus felt himself end the call with a slightly higher view of his human trainee. Her paperwork said she'd had years of intelligence experience, and she was proving to already be an asset by alerting him to the potential of a traitor among the Council, or even the spectres.

At no point would any of the Councilors try to hoard the technology for themselves. Even if they tried, there was no possible way of them getting away with it. But even more unbelievable was working with the geth. The centuries-old mechanical army that went unchecked, like a hive of zavis waiting for their nest to be disturbed, would never work with organic beings like the Council. So even if one of the Councilors had tipped them off, the Councilor in question would get no benefit from it. Which left only one option.

Spectres, the shadowy arm of the Council. Despite the retrieval mission being given to him, it wouldn't take too much work for another spectre to get their hands on the files. That meant that the person guiding this invasion - and spearheading one of the biggest acts of treason in the history of the galaxy - was one of his own kind. He'd have to watch his back if that was the case.

Clearing his thoughts as he stepped up the stairs to the cargo bay of the tram station, he stopped dead in his tracks. As if the spirits willed it, a turian was pacing directly in front of him. Eden Prime was a strictly human colony. The only other reason for a turian being here was if they came in with the invasion. Raising his shotgun, he slipped in when their back was turned and moved silently towards the prey.

When his shotgun was within range to put a decent sized hole through the traitor, he spoke. "Spurs to the ground!" he ordered.

The turian froze, then turned his head and looked at his sneak attacker with piercing blue eyes. "Nihlus…" said the man, not moving, nor doing as he was ordered.

When the Spectre saw the face of his opponent, his mandibles nearly broke from the force with which they twitched in surprise. "Saren?" he asked, knowing the man was one of the top of his order. He began questioning whether Saren of all people would ever betray the Council. Clearing his doubts, he kept his gun trained on the high-ranking spectre. "This isn't your mission Saren. What are you doing here?"

With an unnervingly relaxed demeanor, his fellow spectre turned towards him. "The Council thought you could use some help on this one," he said calmly.

But Nihlus kept the weapon trained on him. "I wasn't expecting to find the geth here. Is that your doing?" asked the darker turian, his predatory eyes trained on Saren.

"Don't worry, I've got it under control," Saren assured him. Suddenly, the massive ship in the background let out another nearly skull-splitting klaxon, making Nihlus cringe slightly. Saren stepped backwards just enough and the movement caused the armed spectre to discharge his weapon. The shotgun blast deflected off the traitor's shields, a result of Saren stepping out of range. The towering spectre reached out with his taloned hands, gripping Nihlus around the throat with one hand and ripping the gun away with the other.

His grip was impossibly strong. Nihlus felt his airways constricting and stars started filling his vision as the traitor squeezed harder. Reacting defensively, the spectre grabbed Saren's arm and locked his legs around the strong limb, his armor's spur blades digging into Saren's flesh.

Yanking his arm back in surprise at the painful attack, Saren lunged forward with a kick aimed directly at the gasping turian's head. But Saren quickly raised a foot and slammed it down on his knee. The result was a shattered knee. Nihlus knew at that painful moment that he wasn't going to make it off Eden Prime alive.

Saren took Nihlus' own shotgun and aimed down at the spectre with a haunted look. "It was good working with you. But I can take it from here," he said, before blasting three times, destroying his shields and ending his life.

CODEX ENTRIES

Zavis | Zoology | Palaven
Looking like a large beetle, these Palaven native insects are the size of a common sparrow. Their role in Palaven's ecosystem is to deter the spread of a fungus that spreads rapidly if unchecked. They are also responsible for keeping away local predators that may cause Palaven ranchers any issues. Because a turians carapace is too thick for a zavis to penetrate, they are less feared than the hornets or bees of Earth, despite their quick to anger response with their stinger.

Spurs |Biology | Turian
On what would be known as the calf area of a turian's legs are a naturally occurring evolutionary advantage that develops during childhood. Once old enough, a turian's spur will puncture through the softer skin on the back of their leg. This bone-like spike is covered in a mild poison that attacks the nervous system of anyone it hits. Most turians only experience minor sedation when injected, but other species have experience anaphylactic shock as a result. Do to the placement of this deadly natural weapon, most turian fighting styles involve kicking.