"Show it to me again."
Through their holographic connection, Alex Shepard watched the Illusive Man take another frustratingly long drag on his cigarette, exhaling the cloud of smoke as he played the recording again. If the repetition bothered him, he did not show it. Timmy never showed any real emotion besides smugness, to Shepard's endless frustration. She wished the Cerberus leader would just get to the damn point and not play these infuriating riddle games with her, but that seemed to be a common delight of all the people in her life.
"Of course, Shepard. I can't blame you."
The recording began again. It was the camera feed from a Blue Sun frigate in a small fleet making its way through a system that held one of their outposts. Largely uninhabited, and therefore mostly unimportant by most standards. The edge of it was draped in a dense nebula, the depths of which were utterly impenetrable. Or at least seemingly. Timmy saw fit to once more narrate the experience.
"This is the moment that the unknown vessel comes out of the nebula."
It came zipping right out of the dense clouds, clearly damaged. It was tiny, clearly a fighter. Which begged the question of where it's mother vessel came from, but that was something to be tackled another time.
"As I'm sure you picked up on, Shepard, that ship design is unlike that of any species encountered by the Council or the Terminus Systems; and there isn't a single trace of element zero in it. Not even a particle."
That was honestly the part that scared her the most. An unknown species that doesn't use element zero in their ships? Logically, that meant their home system was likely inside of that nebula and they hadn't discovered faster than light travel yet. She was just sorry that the Blue Suns were their first contact.
"It seems that the Blue Sun commander decided that instead of a peaceful contact, he would go for violence. He set his ships to attack the new vessel."
In the recording, Shepard could see just that. The Blue Sun ships were wheeling around to open fire on the fighter. What followed was one of the greatest displays of piloting Shepard had ever seen outside of Joker himself. The fighter bobbed and weaved through cannon fire shot by the Blue Suns, retaliating with energy cannons from itself. Shepard didn't see any new damage to the fighter, but she could definitely see plenty of damage done to the Blue Suns. Those energy cannons did a hell of a lot to those ships.
"It seems that at this point, the unknown vessel decides to crash land onto the nearest world. Breathable, but uninhabited. The Blue Suns followed it down."
The Illusive Man took another long drag of his cigarette as the recording stopped. Shepard didn't bother to ask how Cerberus got a hold of this feed. With the amount of humans in the Blue Suns, she had no doubt there were plenty of Cerberus agents and informants in their ranks. Something this important would have been reported immediately.
"And you want me to go and investigate."
Shepard's voice was mostly neutral, not allowing much feeling to creep into it or her face. She didn't like feeling that Timmy had one up on her, and she was definitely at the disadvantage here. Timmy knew that Shepard wouldn't allow these merc bastards to kill this innocent alien before they even had a chance to initiate first contact. And Shepard knew that Cerberus would want to get ahold of those energy weapons on the ship.
"I believe that finding this newcomer and perhaps gaining access to their technology would be very advantageous to your efforts against the Collectors, would it not? Go to the system. Investigate. Decide how this situation should be handled. As always, you have a blank check."
Timmy faded away, and Shepard was left alone in the comm room with her thoughts. She was a soldier, not a diplomat. Her first instinct was to focus on these damned dossiers and just pass this onto someone else, but she could practically feel Anderson smacking her upside the head for even thinking that. There was someone in trouble down there, and it looked like she was the only one that could respond. Well, that meant only one thing.
"EDI, give these coordinates to Joker. And forward me Alliance First Contact protocols. I need to brush up."
The shuttle ride down to the planet's surface was a bumpy one. The atmosphere was thick with clouds, and frequent turbulence was tossing the ground team around in their seats. Shepard had chosen Garrus and Zaeed for her ground team, to Miranda's protests. Miranda had wanted to be on the team, but Shepard just didn't trust her yet. Not when she was so upfront about being the Illusive Man's direct agent onboard her ship. Garrus was an old friend that was damn good in a fight, and Zaeed was a damn monster in a fight. Considering what she was afraid they would find, getting her best fighters together seemed like the best option.
The pilot swallowed dryly.
"Commander? I can see the crash site. Blue Suns are surrounding the position. Too hot to land you in close."
Shepard closed her eyes for a moment, fighting irritation. Of course it couldn't be that simple. It never was. There always had to be something getting in the way.
"Copy that, pilot. Just get us close. We'll handle the rest. I'll radio when we need pickup."
The Kodiak dropped Shepard and her ground team at the bottom of the hill that held the crash site, speeding away as soon as their boots hit dirt. The reason was quite obvious; there was a hail of gunfire assaulting their position immediately, forcing them into cover.
Garrus handled his sniper rifle close to his chest, peeking out of cover for a moment, only to have a round ping off of the rock he was crouching behind, forcing him back down. He shook his head disapprovingly, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling it.
"Why is it that every single mission, no matter what it is, ends up with us hunkered down behind cover?"
Keeping her Phalanx pistol handy, Shepard popped up from behind cover, squeezing the trigger, watching a bullet explode through a Blue Suns helmet, blood spraying out behind him as the corpse dropped. The Commander ducked back behind the rock, allowing the resulting hail of gunfire to stream over her head. She grinned back at her old friend.
"Just another day at the office, Vakarian. Try and keep up, will you?"
Zaeed snorted, taking the initiative to lay down suppressing fire. The three of them worked well together. Shepard was an aggressive Vanguard, eager to get in close to the enemy. Her biotic charges were legendary for their ferocity and power, throwing enemies aside like ragdolls before her shotgun tore them to pieces. Zaeed and Garrus were happy to back them up with assault rifles and sniper fire, which satisfied her just fine.
The ground team went through the grueling task of fighting their way up the hill. They could clearly see the smoke of the crash site, making for a pretty decent marker of their objective. The Blue Suns were thick, and fighting hard. Almost like cornered animals. It made Shepard worry. If there was something at the top of this hill that was making the Suns scared enough to fight this hard, then no doubt the ground team was in for some hard trouble.
When they did make it to the top, they found the Blue Sun captain. They were always easy to spot. Their commanding voices, the extra shields, their better weapons. This one was a turian, and a large one at that, with a large gun. Shepard could see the wreck from here. Smoke was laying down a thick screen over the hill, obscuring everyone's vision.
The turian captain was shooting blindly into the smoke, glancing behind him at the ground team.
"Keep these bastards off me while I hunt the bitch! No one dares to resist Captain Ve-"
The commander was interrupted by two Blue Suns screaming as they were thrown violently from the smoke, smashing into the ground, broken. Shepard's first instinct was biotics, a Push to be exact. But didn't Timmy say that the fighter had shown no trace of Element Zero? So how did this alien have biotics?
The commander peered into the smoke, fingering his rifle. If turians could sweat, Shepard had no doubt he'd be drenched in it. He took the time to pop the thermal clip out of his rifle, and that was his downfall. Through the smoke, someone emerged. A long dark blue cloak obscured most of their form, except for their hand, which held what looked like a metal tube.
"You! I'll kill you for what you've done here, you bitch!"
The commander began to unload his rifle at the alien, and Shepard was sure the alien would die right there. Instead, they pressed a button on the tube, and a light blue beam of energy shot out of it, like the blade of a sword. The alien twirled their blade, deflecting the bullets away from them. They held out their hand, and the commander was thrown away like being hit by biotics. Except there was no flash of eezo. Nothing.
The commander screamed in rage, reaching for his pistol at his side, only for that blade to come down. It sliced through him like butter, severing the turian in half. Shepard had never seen anything like it. The cloaked alien turned to face them. She couldn't see their face, obscured by the hood, but she could see two bright blue eyes staring out at her.
Whatever conversation that could have taken place was interrupted by the appearance of a Blue Sun gunship. Memories of the confrontation at Garrus' hideout flashed through the Commander's mind, and she was not going to allow that to happen. She raised her voice to the alien.
"Get down! We're here to help!"
There was no time for hesitation as the gunship opened up on them, forcing the newfound allies into cover. Shepard found herself next to the alien, and jerked her head at her.
"Any chance you understand me?"
It was a hell of a longshot. What were the chances this alien that had never had contact with an eeze using civilization could have gotten their hands on translation softw-
"Yes, of course."
The absolutely last thing Shepard was expecting to come out of that hood was an English accent, but there it was. The alien lowered her hood, revealing their face. It was a woman. A woman with black hair, and green skin, her face bearing some geometric tattoos. It was like she was looking at a human in make-up.
"Keep me covered, and I will take care of the gunship."
Leaving her shocked allies in cover, the alien stood up, facing the gunship. She shut her eyes, hiding the bright blue orbs, and held her hand out. Nothing happened for a moment, and the gunship prepared to open fire again- until something took hold of it.
"What the fuck is happening to that ship, Shepard?"
Zaeed's question was met with silence as the gunship jerked back and forth, the alien keeping her hand held out. Her brow was furrowed in deep concentration, her other hand joining it. She fought to take control of the gunship, until she screamed in effort and rage, jerking her hands far apart. The gunship followed in two pieces, exploding in a shower of fire and shrapnel.
Shepard stood, waiting for any more signs of enemies. There were none. She sheathed her shotgun on her back, approaching the alien.
"That was a hell of a display."
The alien was wavering on her feet, her eyes fluttering.
"My ship is-my ship is damaged. I must-I must repair it. I-I-"
The alien began to collapse, and Shepard rushed forward to catch her. She held the alien, looking down at her. She had gone completely limp, apparently fainting.
"Joker! Get the shuttle down here on the double, alert engineering to get the hangar ready for another ship, and tell Chakwas to get medical ready. Now!"