I own neither Mass effect nor AvP.

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Presidium, the Citadel

"So, that's the story then," Tevos said as she put the data-reader down. "A cargo ship picks up a distress signal -or warning depending on interpretation- of unknown origin. Because they are many months travel time from anywhere, they investigate themselves, rather than calling for specialists. One of them is incapacitated, and they bring a creature onboard that wipes out most of the crew, with the final survivor destroying the ship to get rid of it. When the survivor is found, half a century later, she warned the other humans about the wrecked ship. The local colonists investigated, but they were wiped out as well. So was the military unit that was sent to investigate. The derelict ship and its cargo were destroyed in the process. Meanwhile, it seems that at least one, probably several of the human corporations made off with some of these creatures' eggs, leading to a series of local outbreaks. They also recovered at least some of the ship's technology, leading to the discovery of element zero, which revolutionized human technology."

"This explains much," Valern said. "Assuming they are telling the truth."

"That's a big assumption." Sparatus voice sounded sour. "According to this, they have lied to us from the beginning. If that's the case, what makes you think they are telling the truth this time?"

"Didn't lie. Just omitted. We made assumptions and they let us." Valern's voice was more staccato than normal, showing his agitation. "Our assumptions seemed valid. Now, not so much. This is much better explanation."

"But it raises many questions," Tevos interjected. "If what they say is true, there was another precursor species. Perhaps concurrent with the protheans, perhaps not, but either way, why have we never found a sign of them?"

"Large galaxy. Much of it unexplored." Valern blinked a few times. He seemed to calm down a little, then continued. "We think of the galaxy as explored because we have followed the relay network almost everywhere. But we ignore much of the space in-between. Think of the humans! They were exploring space for two centuries before we ran into them. There are billions of stars that we have never visited, or only passed by casually. If this unknown species was secretive, or for some reason did not build large structures, we may well have passed them by without ever realizing it. Then again, perhaps their works have simply gone. The protheans built to last, but that was a choice. Another species may have had different priorities, or used materials that were biodegradable. In any case, these are matters for scientists to ponder. How humans discovered element zero and its many uses is equally irrelevant. Two important issues: What to do about the creatures that the humans observed, and where and how did Saren acquire this ancient ship?"

"I think we can shelf the latter until we can ask him," Sparatus said. "Assuming that the humans are telling the truth -and I'm not yet willing to accept blindly that they are-, they found at least one such ship. Saren may have found another. As you just said, it is a big galaxy. Alternatively, the geth may have found it. We have no idea how much exploration they have done. In any case, as long as it is the only one of its kind and the species that built it is truly extinct, it is not that big a concern. A cruiser-sized ship, no matter its origins, does not constitute a significant threat."

"And this other species do?" Tevos asked. "What they describe matches the description that Captain Armali gave us. It's a horrifying creature, to be sure, but it's basically an animal. Dangerous to an individual, certainly, but on a larger scale..."

"Even animals can be dangerous in large numbers," Sparatus said. "And from the description, it's more than that. What the humans describe shows at least rudimentary intelligence. More based on instinct than reason perhaps, but capable of basic planning, adapting to circumstances, ambushes and flanking. Even a small number of such creatures in a city could make it effectively uninhabitable; and if the estimates for their gestation time are correct, their numbers would not stay small for long. Remember, for every person they take, they potentially gain one of their own. Udina's report said little about Eden Prime, but from the human reaction, it would appear they lost control of the situation within a short timespan. It's the only thing that makes sense. Again, assuming they are telling the truth."

"Apex-predator, and highly adaptable parasite," Valern mused. "Strange. Most species have only one specialization. This one has two. Armour and acid blood, plus claws and multiple sets of teeth. Pack hunter, yet still highly effective when alone. Too many characteristics that are too well developed. Evolution rarely works that way. " He thought for a moment. "There were salarians aboard the Light of Dawn. They observed these creatures first-hand and would have been debriefed. We can match their description to the human records. Also, STG may have followed up and found more information. I will ask."

"Good idea," Sparartus nodded. "Also, you should check up on that team on Virmire. They have been out of contact for too long."

-0-0-0-

Feros, beneath Zhu's Hope

I suppose we should be glad that at least the lighting works, Tali thought as they made their way back through the corridor. At the least, the humans managed to get that part right.
Working in the dark would have been nearly impossible and rigging lights along the way, even if they had enough of them, would have cost far too much time.

"Stop sightseeing. Just move, damn it!" Estanza snarled from behind her. His voice sounded angry, but with an undertone of fear that was audible even through the translation and Tali decided not to argue. Something had thrown the human Marine off balance, and she wasn't about to provoke him. Not in this place, which, if she were being honest, she liked no better than he did. We're almost at the stairs anyway and-

Quarian suits carried additional sensors beyond what their eyes could perceive. Not as many or as sophisticated as she would have liked, such equipment was simply too expensive, but she should have had advance warning. Instead, Tali only realized that they were not alone when a dark shadow dropped from the ceiling in front of her.

"Fuck!" She only half heard Estanza's curse as she tried to jump away from the thing. Fortunately, that took her out of his path as the Marine unleashed a long burst of automatic fire into the creature. It staggered, then collapsed. "Let's move!"

Tali could not have agreed more. Unfortunately, even as she turned back toward the stairs, she saw several more appear from the corridor behind them.

"They're behind us!"

From the corner of her eye, she saw Estanza turning back, rifle raised. Her own shotgun was in her hand, though she could not remember drawing it. She fired, hitting the first creature in the torso. Green-yellow blood bubbled up out of the wound. It shrieked and lashed out. Too close! Its arm was long, longer than she had expected and the claw was razor-sharp. Tali felt a burning pain in her side, even as she fired a second time. With warning lights flashing on her internal helmet display, she looked down to see her blood flowing over her suit. The last thing she knew was the sound of a human assault rifle as Estanza poured a stream of bullets into the remaining creatures.

-0-0-0-

Feros Exogeni site

"Alright, enough! I have a headache already!" Shepard's temper finally snapped. She was reasonably sure that she had not been talking to Administrator Jeong for more than ten minutes, but it felt more like ten hours. The situation seemed simple enough. The Exogeni team had been taken as much by surprise as anyone else. They had abandoned their headquarters to fall back on Zhu's Hope but were cut off by the geth. However, between a competent security team and a large number of autonomous weapon stations, they had been able to hold their own; tt least for long enough that they had managed to fall back in this one, easily-defensible location. The downside was that they had also locked themselves in. Their hide-out only had the one exit, and although the geth had not made a serious effort to overwhelm them, neither had they been able to break out. It was a stand-off that would inevitably end when they ran out of supplies. They had also been cut off from their own headquarters by the jamming, leaving them unable to communicate. Jeong insisted that their initial mayday signal had reached Exogeni and that help was on the way but had no evidence to back up his claim. They had also been unable to reach Zhu's Hope and had decided -or at least Administrator Jeong had decided- that the colony had been wiped out.
That was part of the problem. Administrator Jeong did a lot of deciding. In fact, deciding things seemed to be his favourite hobby. Unfortunately for him, there was very little to be decided when they were all holed up in a cellar with nowhere to go; and even fewer opportunities to implement his decisions. By now, he was thoroughly frustrated. Between that and his less than gregarious personality the man had become unbearable and the major surprise -at least as far as Shepard was concerned- was that nobody had put him out of his misery yet.

"Bottom-line: There is a geth ship attached to your headquarters building and as long as it's there, the jamming will prevent communications and we can expect follow-up attacks as soon as you try to leave." She looked around. "I doubt we can pack all of you in the Grizzly and even if we could, it would be a considerable risk. They only need to get lucky once. Better see what we can do about that ship."

"But what about my daughter? She may-" And there was headache number two.

"She's dead Juliana. I'm sorry, but you have to face reality." And of course, Jeong could not pass up the opportunity to hear himself talk and make the situation worse at the same time, which seemed to be his second big hobby. Shepard consciously kept her finger off the trigger. It would be so easy! Of course, there were the Exogeni guards, but she had the feeling they would not particularly mind if Jeong accidentally got shot a few dozen times.

"I said enough!" She turned toward the woman. "Yes, I'm aware of your daughter's situation. And if I find her, I'll make sure she reaches you. However, there are no guarantees." The daughter, Lizbeth, had been last seen in the headquarters buildings where she had remained to secure research data of some sort. That had been several days ago. By now, chances were the geth had killed her. Or perhaps not. They're AIs; they might simply ignore her as long as she's no threat. "Either way, I have to deal with the situation at your headquarters. I'll have the access keys, please."

"Commander, you have to understand that I simply cannot-" And there was Jeong again.

"Mr Jeong. Let me make it simple. You cannot get out safely as long as that geth ship is nearby. In order to get rid of the ship, I have to move around the building. In order to move around quickly, I need the keys. I can continue, but two plus two keep making four. Now, the keys!"

"I understand, Commander. But that is an Exogeni headquarters you are talking about. Our systems contain priceless research, as well as proprietary data. To let you, or anyone, access that would cost me my job. Exogeni could even file a lawsuit against me. I simply cannot risk-"

"To be sued, you need to be alive first. To have a job, you need to be alive." Apparently, he really needed her to spell it out. "All these things are contingent upon me being able to enter that building. Now, I don't care about Exogeni's research; I don't care about Exogeni's proprietary data; and I'm about to reach the point where I stop caring about your survival. So, what's it going to be?"

Still, Jeong hesitated but in the end, common sense won out.

"Here is my access key, Commander. Pleas return it once you are done. And keep in mind that I will hold you personally responsible for any unauthorized use. You are not to access any Exognei terminals, or remove objects from-"

Shepard tuned him out.

"Wrex, T'soni, let's go. We have work to do."

-0-0-0-

Feros, beneath Zhu's Hope

And that makes four. Estanza lowered his rifle and checked his surroundings. Nothing moved. Not that that was very reassuring. They hadn't spotted any motion earlier either. He hesitated, unsure what to do, and checked his comm-link. Still no contact with the others. On his own, he could get out easily enough, but that left...
He knelt down next to the quarian. How do you check life-signs on an alien? That was probably something they should have discussed in advance. Still... The blood flow seemed to have stopped, which might indicate the heart had stopped beating. Then again, the suit might have its own medical system. At least it seemed to be functional if the lights below the faceplate were any indication. In fact, there might be other indicators on the suit that could tell him what he needed to know. Unfortunately, he had absolutely no idea what they meant. Experimentally, he grabbed a wrist. he heard a slight sound but no sign of conscious movement. Not dead, just passed out, and wounded.

Estanza swore under his breath. The last thing he needed was to have to carry a load on his back while he made his way back to the colony. Just leave it. It was a tempting thought. If the stories about them and their suits were true, the quarian was probably going to die anyway, and even if she wasn't... The Commander would understand. Serving under the Butcher of Torfan had its advantages. Commander Shepard was the practical type. She might not like it if he just left the quarian where she lay, but she'd understand. Probably. Even so... No one gets left behind. They drilled that into you during boot camp. Not that the instructors had been talking about aliens, but still...

"Fuck."

It took a moment to pick up the shotgun, put it back on the mag-clamp, then hoist the alien over his shoulder. Fortunately, she didn't weigh all that much, even in the suit.

"You'd better survive. If I end up carrying a corps all the way back, I'm gonna be seriously pissed off."

-0-0-0-

Feros Exogeni site

"Well, so much for those access codes," Shepard said. "Looks like they won't be much use after all."

"Yeah, well, I guess we'll have to ask the geth for theirs," Wrex grumbled. "But I don't think they'll be in a generous mood."

The drive to the building where Exogeni had set up shop had been uneventful. Apparently, the geth had decided not to try and stop the Grizzly as it rolled over the skyway. In a way it made sense. It was clear where they intended to go and the geth could just as easily engage them inside the building. As to actually getting inside, that would be a lot more difficult than expected. The main entrance had been sealed off with a mass effect field that showed no sign of budging, even when Shepard unloaded a few rounds into it.

"Commander, over here!" Shepard turned when she heard T'Soni's voice.

"I think they forgot to block this entrance." The asari was kneeling next to a hole in the floor, where part of the building had collapsed. The level below seemed to be partially covered in water.

"Not a very long drop," Shepard said. "Though we'll have trouble getting back up. Guess we'd better take down those fields once we're inside."

One by one, they dropped down to the lower level.

"Yes, this will be problematic," Shepard concluded. The ceiling was too high to jump to. Although it was theoretically possible to lift someone up sufficiently that they could grasp the floor of the level above, the last person below would be unable to get out.

"Yeah, well, we got bigger problems," Wrex answered.

Shepard turned and followed his gaze. There was movement in the shadows. For a moment, Shepard froze, then she relaxed slightly as she recognized the shapes.

"Varren, right?"

"Yep. Looks like we're about to have fresh meat for dinner."

"Only if you're carrying it. I'm not going to drag a bunch of corpses around behind me, all through this bloody building. Anyway, let's finish them off now." Shepard lifted her rifle and fired. One of the animals went end over end, dropped an lay still. There was a collective snarling and the big predators, dog-like but for their scaly hides and oversized fangs attacked. It was not the smartest move they could make. The first one ran straight into a biotic barrier that T'Soni threw up in front of them and recoiled. A second was turned into minced meat by Wrex's shotgun. The rest of the pack stopped, still snarling and tried to circle around, but that just made them easier targets. A few more shots, a ripple of blueish energy and the pack was gone.

"Much better," Shepard nodded to herself. "Alright, let's do a complete circle of the area before we move on. I don't want any of these things behind us when we move on. Or any geth for that matter. Or-"

There was a cracking noise and a bullet whined of her armour.

"Okay, What the fuck?!" Shepard dropped to one knee, turning around and lining up a shot in the same movement, when...

"Wait! Wait, please, don't shoot!"

Slowly, the commander lowered her rifle, as a distinctly human shape appeared from behind a fallen block of concrete.

"Like I said, what the fuck?

-0-0-0-

Feros, Zhu's Hope

"Xenomorphs! I repeat xenomorphs!"

Alenko froze as he heard the voice.

"Who..? Estanza? Where are you?

"Coming up the stairs, sir! We were ambushed. Fought them off, but there may be others."

There would be. If there was one thing that all the old stories had in common, it was that no matter how many of the bugs you killed, there would always be more. He checked his display. There were two beacons coming toward the colony, but there was something weird about the way they moved together.

"Is Zorah with you?"

"She's down, sir. Took a swipe from a claw. I'm carrying her but-"

''Keep moving. We're on our way." He looked around. "Chief Williams, with me. Vakarian, stay at the colony entrance. We may need covering fire and these colonists..." He didn't finish the sentence. There was no need. Nobody was going to rely on the people of Zhu's Hope for much of anything.

"Understood, Lieutenant," the turian nodded stiffly. "I'll hold this position."

"Good." Kayden checked his comlink again. "Commander? Commander Shepard?"

There was no answer. He had not really expected one. Until someone took down the geth jamming all long-range communications were blocked.

-0-0-0-

Feros Exogeni site

Shepard sighed. Civilians in a combat zone. Great! "Alright, first off, stop waving the pistol around. You're liable to hurt yourself. Second, what are you doing here, Dr Baynham?"

"I was hiding from the geth. They're all over the building above us, but they don't seem to care about- Wait, how do you know my name?"

"Because I was informed that a Dr Lizbeth Baynham was last seen in this building. Unless there are two young women running around this place in lab coats..."

"Of course, I understand. Wait, does that mean my mother-"

"Is still alive, yes. They're sitting tight near the skyway. Good defensive position, but they cannot get out. At least, not as long as that geth ship is parked against this building. And that brings me back to my original question. What are you doing here? For that matter what do the geth want? What is so important about the research you're doing here that you're willing to risk your life and that the geth are searching this building for days."

"I-, I'm not sure about the geth." Dr Baynham hesitated. "I think they're after the same thing Exogeni was."

"And that is?"

"We were studying a species called the thorian. It's a plant, for lack of a better description. Large, very large, and it's living under Zhu's Hope."

"Under- Wait a second. Do the colonists know about it?"

The scientist shook her head. "Exogeni wanted to contain the information. That's why I had to go back and secure my data. Nobody was supposed to know."

"Except the geth knew. Must have known. I wonder how. What do you think, Wrex? The Shadow Broker? Could he have found out and told Saren, before they had their falling out?"

"Sure."The krogan seemed to actually shrug inside his armour. "If they were sending messages back and forth, you can bet the Shadow Broker found out. Still doesn't explain why anyone would care, though."

"True," Shepard nodded. "So, tell me, Doctor. Why does anyone care? Why does Exogeni care so much about some plant?"

"I don't know much," She hesitated. "I do know that it's old. Very old. Thousands of years, at least. And it has some strange properties they were researching. Exogeni was very enthusiastic. But it was all classified. Anyway," She grabbed the badge from her lab coat. "If you really want to go inside the building, you should probably have this. It'll give you access to the computers inside."

"Indeed," Shepard took the badge. "That is, eh, very helpful of you. make sure to stay in cover while we go deal with the geth. I look forward to continuing this conversation."

She took a final look around the room. At the far end, she could see a door that presumably led to the upper floors.

"Time to deal with the geth."

-0-0-0-

Feros, Zhu's Hope

"No sign of pursuit, sir," Estanza was panting as he came up the stairs, the quarian's body slung over one shoulder.

"Good, that means we have a little time to work with." Kayden glanced at the alien, but there was nothing he could do about that problem. Ïf she was still alive, it would be a job for the doctor. Assuming that she could do anything. Xeno-medicine was part of modern USM medical training, but that didn't mean they were particularly good at it. The fact that this was a quarian, rather than the more commonly encountered species would not help either. "We'll fashion a stretcher and take her back to Normandy. "Chief Williams, cover us, then keep an eye on the stairs. Whatever happens, we must make sure they don't get inside the colony and- He stopped as his commlink blinked.

"Vakarian?"

"Lieutenant, you need to come back, right now! It's the colonists. I think they've gone insane!

!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

A/N And, I made it in a reasonable time.

So, no, technically the story that Udina gave the Council is not complete. If you consider the movies AvP and AvP2 canon, which does work in this universe, there was earlier contact with the xenomorphs. However, that doesn't mean Udina, or anyone else, would know about it. Weyland-Yutani would bury that stuff as deep as they could. Bad enough that they had to come clean about the Nostromo, LV-426 etc. If they could hide the fact that they knew about the xenomorph a century before those events, they would. What is known, basically consists of the movie scripts for Alien, Aliens and Alien 3, as well as the content of the game Alien: Isolation and the older AvP games.

And, yes, how do you check if an alien is alive? With humans, the heartbeat can be detected at the side of the throat or the inside of the wrist, but even if an alien has a similar body structure, the places where an artery comes close to the surface may be completely different. Checking for breath would probably be better, but they may be able to go much longer without that matter, heartbeat and breathing may be separate from brain function, so a normally breathing alien with a beating heart can still be brain-dead. And that doesn't even address the problem of dealing with a quarian inside an environmental suit.