Lauren's hands were automatically putting her armor on while her brain was busy processing everything that had happened in the last 20 minutes. Anderson and that turian Spectre Nihlus dropped two major bombs into her life and a third was sprung on them all. The first...a Prothean artifact was waiting to be picked up on Eden Prime. Lauren didn't know her history that well, but she did know that the last time something was found, it was on Mars. It was that artifact that alerted humans to the mass relays and how to use them, on eezo and how to harness its power for space travel...and, she guessed, probably how eezo can create biotics.

The second shock was that they were looking at her to be the first human Spectre? Lauren shook her head at the ludicrous idea. She was relieved that was quickly forgotten when the comm came in from Eden Prime. It looked like war zone there, but what was that ship that was landing? Who was it? Even Anderson and Nihlus were speechless. Lauren hoped there would be something and someone left to save.

She started pulling her boots and thought about how she was not looking forward to working with Nihlus on anything. She didn't really have anything against turians as a race, but Nihlus...he...Lauren's thoughts were distracted as she noticed what was in front of her eyes. Anderson had told her to take Kaidan and Jenkins as their ground team. The two men were gearing up as well. The Normandy, like all other Alliance ships, didn't have separate rooms for men and women soldiers. They all just changed together, showered together and that was it. Only using the actual head itself was there ever any privacy. It hadn't been an issue to Lauren since maybe the first week of boot camp, but she got over her reservations and did what she had to do.

She had never had to get ready around Kaidan Alenko before...she diverted her eyes quickly away from where they had stopped, watching the fine muscles of his back and shoulders move as he put on the thin underlayer of his own armor. Jenkins wasn't such a bad looking guy either, as her eyes moved to him instead. His face was friendly, he was pleasantly tall...Lauren was always a sucker for tall guys. With both of these nice-looking men, she began to question for the first time the wisdom of the integrated sexes on a ship. Had she just never paid attention before? Today wasn't the day to start, so Lauren pushed those straying thoughts down and slid on her helmet.

x-X-x

Kaidan watched Lauren walk by, and she looked vexed. He knew things were bad down on Eden Prime so he understood. Jenkins was nearly ready as well, and Kaidan found himself visually checking over Jenkins' armor to make sure it was all on properly and in good working order. Ever since he saw Jenkins at the New Year's party, Kaidan felt protective of him. His older brother, Robert, had become a close friend...one of the few he actually confided in. Robert was so genial and easy to get along with that Kaidan couldn't help but like him.

Ever since Robert, along with the majority of those he had served with, died on Akuze, Kaidan carried the guilt of surviving. It would come and go in waves as time passed, but Rich Jenkins made it come crashing down on him like a lead weight. He was so much like his older brother, so outgoing and ambitious. He was ready to face anything and anyone. Kaidan, however, felt like he needed to be his surrogate big brother. He knew the real reason he had requested to be on the Normandy was to protect Jenkins. Now that the guy's home planet was under attack, Kaidan felt an even greater burden for Jenkins.

Jenkins turned for the loading bay and Kaidan grabbed the younger man's shoulder. "Your shield circuitry isn't connected right," said Kaidan. With a quick click, the soldier's armor was set. "Oh, thanks," said Jenkins. "That could have been bad."

x-X-x

When they landed in the drop zone, Jenkins saw the indigenous gas bags floating about. He always liked them. He would play with them as a child. They were brainless, but they seemed to like attention of being bounced around by the colony kids. The place they dropped was a typical area where the kids and the gas bags would gather to play, but no one was there. It was odd. The air smelled funny. Alenko had said it was like "smoke and death." Jenkins really didn't know what death smelled like, but he sure didn't like this. He worried about his family. Their farm was about 10 klicks away.

As they moved their way toward where the beacon had been found, they came to a ridge. Something appeared on their navscreens...Shepard, Alenko and Jenkins crouched behind cover. Jenkins watched as Shepard made eye contact with him. He felt a little prickle of heat up his neck...just for a split second. She was probably the most beautiful woman he had ever met. He couldn't help but be struck by her. He watched her hand point for him to move ahead. He gave a slight nod and stood, his gun drawn and ready.

Two drones came flying out from behind a treed area. Although he had extensive training, his actual combat experience was limited and seeing two attack drones on his home planet...Jenkins froze.

x-X-x

What is he doing? Lauren thought as the first drone appeared and Jenkins' feet didn't move. She saw the energy waver from his shields being struck by the bullets and the man crumpled to the ground. She acted quickly using a couple perfectly-aimed shots to take out both drones. She saw Kaidan running to the place where Jenkins was now sprawled out on the trail.

"Jenkins!" Kaidan shouted, gently slapping the man's face.

The other soldier's eyes fluttered open. "Never been shot at before," he said, smiling weakly. Kaidan breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly glanced over his body. There were no suit breaches...Jenkins was probably just knocked out by the force of the bullets off his shields.

"You can't just stand there and let yourself get shot at either," said Lauren, her voice harsh. "You are goddamn lucky."

Kaidan helped Jenkins stand and the younger man looked a little shaken, but ok. "Yes, ma'am," said Jenkins. "It won't happen again." He looked back toward Kaidan as Lauren lead the team forward. "I owe you big...I could have been cut down right there if you hadn't have fixed my armor."

There were some more drones hiding out in the wooded area they walked through, but those were easily disposed. Coming into a little valley where the navpoint said the dig site wasn't terribly far off in the distance, a woman was running toward them. She was being chased by...geth? Lauren had never actually seen any geth before. They were told about them and shown diagrams in N-school, but their presence had never been an issue in any human colonies.

Lauren sent Kaidan and Jenkins to opposite sides to flank the synthetic enemies and she went up the middle, appreciative that Anderson had sent Kaidan with them. As he froze the geth with his overload capabilities, Lauren and Jenkins could easily finish them off with a shot or two.

"Man, am I glad to see someone human," the woman soldier said, coming out from her cover. "I was out of ammunition." She straightened as she saw Lauren's N7 insignia. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212, ma'am."

"Williams, I'm Commander Lauren Shepard of the Normandy. This is Lt. Alenko and Cpl. Jenkins. What the hell is going on here?"

"I'm not sure ma'am, but we were just out there in the clearing, running some basic maneuvers when this...this thing, came out of the sky. We ran toward the colony, but it was chaos. We were overrun before we even had a chance to fight back. I came back this way because I was being chased...I think...I think I'm the only one left, ma'am." Williams' head dropped at the realization.

Kaidan wanted to say something...he knew how this Williams was feeling. Shock, fear, guilt, anger even. His tongue, though, wouldn't cooperate.

"We're here to find this artifact...this beacon that was dug up," said Lauren.

"The dig site is at the end of this valley. Request permission to join you, ma'am," said Williams.

Lauren looked at the tall woman. She looked tough, though tired. She had seen rough things...just the kind of person they needed with them. Handing Williams her assault rifle, Lauren said, "Take us to the site, chief."

x-X-x

Nihlus was dead, the beacon wasn't at the dig site, and there are geth running amok. This is turning out to be one hell of a shitty day, thought Lauren. A frightened dockworker pointed them toward where the beacon had been moved so it could be loaded onto the Normandy easily...that is, until the geth attacked. Disarming some bombs proved easy enough, but the geth proved to be some heavy resistance to their arriving at the loading dock.

The beacon was tall, at least 5 meters high, and giving off a green, radiating light. Lauren hit her comm and told the Normandy they were ready for pick up, but to alert Anderson that Nihlus was dead and that his body would be needed to be transported.

"I told you Spectres were trouble," said Joker in the comm.

"Joker, this isn't time for comedy. Get your ass down here. Here's the navpoint," Lauren ordered.

"Yes, ma'am...ETA 5 minutes."

"Copy that, 5 min...oh SHIT!" Lauren yelled, and her comm went dead.

"Commander...Commander! Lauren!" Joker called back. Silence...after an excruciating minute or two another female voice came through the comm line.

"Normandy, this is Gunnery Chief Williams. Commander Shepard is down, I repeat, Commander Shepard is in need of immediate medical attention!"

A/N: Yeah...so I strayed far from canon on this...sort of :) I'm going to do my best not to just run missions, but rather write around them...or at least not just game content. We know the game, right? Thank you for the favorites, follows and as always, the reviews!