Chapter 5 - So It Begins

A/N - In response to several PMs and a review pointing out that Eldar are capable of holding a long conversation without words, I have decided to start adding markers to differentiate the various ways of communicating. Words in a language that the PoV character can't understand will either not be translated, or use the below notation.

"speech" | *mental speech/thoughts* | {untranslated speech} | (nonverbal communications)

Secondly, made some slight modifications to the larger geth platforms, to make them more distinctive than just 'one is red, one is white, and one is dark brown/grey/black/whatever.' Destroyers (dark brown/grey/black) are three meters and excel at close to medium ranges, Juggernauts (red) are three and a third meters tall and only excel at close ranges, and Primes (white) are a flat four meters and are lethal at any range.

Thirdly, (wow, longest A/N I have done yet, another record for this story), rather than pick one background and defining military career moment for the Shepards, I crammed as many as I reasonably could in.

Fourthly, while the story may have different viewpoints crop up, this is mostly a story about a single Eldar dropping into the ME verse. So most of the focus is going to be on him and his reactions to the… antics going on, and how he grows and changes as a superior sentient sapient. And FINALLY...

'FOR CHAOS!' - Third most common chaos battle cry. Or most, depends really.

Edit (26 Oct 2017): fixed some grammar mistakes and typos.

Lieutenant Commander Joannis Shepard headed towards the communications rooms, with her twin, lieutenant commander Jaclyn Shepard, right behind her. Joker had just jumped the ship through the relay, and as ordered, the twins were meeting the captain, hopefully to figure out what was really going on. Both were in their N7 gear, Joannis in her light armored version and carrying a heavy pistol and submachine gun, while Jaclyn was in the medium version, carrying both types of handguns as well as a shotgun.

Even if neither had a gun in their hands, however, both were biotics, and were arguably the most powerful human biotics ever recorded. Joannis could lift more with her mind than most asari matriarchs, and that was when she put in a basic, bottom of the line amp. Jaclyn could discharge novas so strong she had destroyed Mako tanks with a single, focused discharge. Both had shown their impossible biotic stamina at Elysium, during the Skyllian Blitz, when both had been on shore leave. Together, the twins had held back the invading slavers for hours, with some assistance from other off duty personnel, the local militia, and a small mercenary group that had been laying over between jobs.

Command had split the two up after Elysium, despite their protests and the known issues of separating the twins. The twins had participated in multiple different offensives against known pirates and slaver outposts, in preparation for the attack at Torfan. A couple of months before the offense began, Joannis had been temporarily assigned to a platoon of marines, investigating a distress call from Akuze. She had been assigned to provide N7 experience, and biotic support, but when the group found the empty settlement, and nothing else, they had relaxed and scattered to try and determine what had happened. Then the thresher maw attacked.

Despite her best attempts, Joannis was unable to save any of the marines, as the massive creature had shattered their morale and command structure, and every marine had panicked and bolted. She had limped back to the shuttles after single handedly driving it off with her biotics, and signalled for evac, before passing out from the thresher maw's acidic attacks. It took two weeks before she woke back up, and another month before she was fit for duty again. Her service had earned her the title of 'The Immortal Lioness of Elysium,' a title Joannis privately detested, though she never showed her disdain for the title in public.

Jaclyn had been informed of her twin's condition the day before the assault on Torfan, despite having known for weeks that something was wrong. Her temper had been frayed to the limit, and her commanding officer, Major Kyle, had shattered the remaining frayed strands. She had protested to her superiors for a week that Kyle hadn't been capable of leading the attack, and when he had snapped and ordered an all out assault on the facility, her temper erupted. Major Kyle's order had gotten most of the marine assault force killed, and she went on a one woman rampage through the base, butchering every last slaver, pirate, and mercenary in the base, even those trying to surrender.

Unfortunately the Major had suffered a nervous breakdown, and no one who survived had known exactly when he had snapped or who had issued the order to charge. Combined with her rampage, the investigation had eventually determined, or rather guessed, that she had issued the order to charge, taking the word of the babbling Major Kyle over hers. Out of the hundred marines to make that damn charge, only sixteen had survived the charge, let alone the base assault; the Major being one, her another, and the rest were too injured to question about what the flying hell had happened. Two had died getting medical treatment, another had lost his ability to talk, and another suffered significant, permanent amnesia of the event. The remaining survivors had been in the base, and hadn't heard the order directly, requiring it to be relayed to them.

She had raged about it to her superiors, but in the end, there had been no blowback, reprimands, or black marks for the event on her record, and Major Kyle had been medically discharged for his mental breakdown. Other than earning the title 'The Butchering Lynx of Torfan,' she had had little to officially complain about. She did complain to her sister and mother, after being released from questioning and put on mandatory leave to visit her injured twin, that she was, now and forever, 'that bitch that got her entire company wiped out.' At least command now knew that splitting the twins up was a Bad Idea, rather than just a bad idea.

They passed the crew, they nodded to navigator Pressly, paused to try and calm Corporal Jenkins down, though what a marine almost fresh out of basic was doing here, neither twin knew. The twins stepped into the communication room, and frowned at the same time. Only the turian was there, though his back was to them, examining a vista on the view screen. Nihlus might be a Spectre but neither twin really trusted him. They had no reason to distrust him either, though they did share a glance before stepping forward.

While others would only see the two glancing at each other, to the twins it was practically a strategy session and formal meeting. They could tell their twin more with the glare and a twitch than they could someone else in a three minute conversation. So if something had happened to the captain, the turian would be flying, flattened, pounded, flayed, flared, and warped before he could reach for his shotgun. The biggest problem for them would be keeping the communications and briefing room intact during it.

Nihlus turned as they approached, and spread his mandibles slightly before nodding to each twin. "Shepard, Shepard, I was hoping you two would arrive early. Give us a chance to… talk."

Joannis was in front, and sent a flare of dark energy down her back for her twin before nodding. "Fair enough, the captain said he would be here though."

Jaclyn stayed silent, and simply watched, silently reinforcing her twin. The turian titled his head slightly. "He stepped out for a moment. Tell me, commanders, what do you know about Eden Prime?"

Joannis frowned. "A paradise, or so we have been told. Corporal Jenkins is from there."

Jaclyn was not so sanguine about the questioning. "Is there a point to this?"

A mandible twitched, before Nihlus nodded. "Yes, I want to know, are your people ready? For whatever this leads to and wherever it goes? Are your people truly ready for the galactic stage?"

Jaclyn glared at him, and Joannis' aura flared slightly, running down her spine again. "Is there something you are trying to say or imply, Spectre?"

The door slid open, and Captain Anderson strode in. Both women turned towards him, as he began speaking."I think it is time that we tell the commanders what is actually going on."

Nihlus starts to respond, but Jaclyn cut them off. "I know Eden Prime is famous for its farms, and prothean ruins. And since a 'mere' Spectre, especially one of the most successful and decorated, doesn't tag along for shake down runs or to visit farms-"

Joannis finished her twin's sentence. "-it was fairly obvious that we are making a covert pick up on Eden Prime. Stealth systems, handpicked elite crew on the roster, everything fits."

Jaclyn picked up the thread again. "Except for the hasty and early departure. So something else is going on, something as big if not bigger than a prothean beacon. Like a raid."

"Which means someone possibly got wind of whatever prothean tech that was found, supposing it is mobile, and are coming to grab it."

The twins looked at the two males, a slight smirk on their faces as they watch the men try to keep up with their rapid fire deductions and regular speaker swaps. Captain Anderson started chuckling after a moment, having seen the two in deductive mode before, but Nihlus just closed his mouth with a snap, before shaking his head. "Spirits, I have heard of human twins doing things like that, but actually seeing it…"

He shrugged slightly, as Anderson took control of the conversation again. "Mostly correct. We are on our way to pick up an actual functional prothean beacon. However, the local sensor stations picked up something entering the system. While most of it crashed onto Nirvana, it did deploy something toward Eden Prime. The station soon lost contact with it. We know nothing about the contact, or the one enroute to Eden Prime. Once-"

The pilot Joker cut into the conversation. "Sorry sir, but priority distress call from the planet. You need to see this."

The monitor behind the captain flashed and then showed whatever had excited the pilot. A figure in black armor stood front and center, his M7 Lancer discharging a near constant stream of fire and death. "Corporal Morkit, have that Mako pull back to that corner, it needs to be at least partially hull down. Sergeant Jenny, take your squad to the corner of 4th and Port streets, staff sergeant Gregory hasn't reported in, and was being hit hard. Private Kelo, is that distress channel up?"

"Yes sir."

The figure stepped around the corner he had been using for cover, letting another marine in slate grey Onyx armor take over at suppressing around the corner. "This is Captain Morgan of the 212th marine garrison on Eden Prime. I am declaring a state of emergency, and requesting immediate assistance from any friendlies hearing this. We been pressed hard, and am down at least a quarter my men-"

He is cut off as the marine that had been at the corner was blasted back with a death cry, causing the captain to glance over his shoulder to see what happened reflexively. The camera panned up, giving a visual of a massive black structure towering over the area, red flickers of energy pulsing up and down the structure before returning to the captain as he resume speaking. "Private Mary, on the corner, remember to duck. These fuckers are accurate! Say, again, being pressed hard. We have a priority package on site, but have lost control, say again, priority package not secure. Enemy is everywhere, dropping fire and troops right on top of our positions, secondary perimeter is barely holding-"

A mako, across the street that the marines were contesting suddenly exploded in fire, engulfing several marines that had been using it for cover, and something gleamed through the smoke, before a sudden flash of white from beyond the destroyed Mako caused the feed to cut to static. "Sorry sir, video cuts to static after that, nothing else on any of the comms. Anywhere in the system."

Anderson swore, and glared at the screen. "Take us in Joker. Fast and quiet. Any other ships in the area? Computer, rewind to marine death cry, play at one tenth speed, muted."

Joker took a moment to check his sensors, as the computer slowly played the video. It was slightly surreal, watching a man fall back, chest armor blown out by what looked like a dispersing carnage round, before the camera started panning up. "Twelve minutes out Captain, no other ships in the system. The patrol fleet the Admiral promised is still an hour and a half out, one of them reported issues with their engines."

The massive black structure came into view, the red streaks looking like lightning in the slowed playback. Anderson nodded to himself. "Pause video."

Everyone stared at the image, and all of them stayed motionless, only their eyes moving as they observed the… structure. Eden Prime had nothing like that, but it was far too large to be a ship. A few seconds later, the captain began issuing orders. "Commanders, get to the hangar, we need to secure the beacon. Tell Kaiden and the marines to suit up, they will be supporting for this."

Nihlus shook his head, shaking off whatever he had been thinking. "A small strike team would be able to move quickly and quietly. It might be enough to recover the beacon without getting into any major running gunfights. If they are good."

Anderson nodded after a second. "Fine, Alenko and… Jenkins. He has the best scores out of all the security detail. Get moving you two."

Both twins nod, and pause just long enough to stare at the still image, before turning as one, sharing a glance, and then heading for the hangar. Their glance said it all. So much for an easy pickup.

Arlas sat on a low ridge, completely concealed thanks to his cloak, and watched the mon-keigh lay into each other with all the subtlety of an ork fighting a chaos marine. It was all brute force here, brute force there, nothing like the elegant stratagems of his own people, or the soaring maneuvers of the tau, or even the suicidal but admittedly impressive, still stupid though, charges of the Imperium.

He snorted at the last thought, and looked through his rifle scope again, watching the machine troopers fighting humans.

Humans. Here.

They were like the insects from the warp, impossible to exterminate entirely, and everywhere. Almost as bad as orks like that. He had been surprised to find the humans here, but after a moment had admitted it was better than finding orks, necrons, or tyranids. Then the insectoid ships had swooped in not five minutes later, dropped their mechanical troops and large walkers, and he had had to refrain from cursing. This universe was clearly just as fond of toying with him as the last.

Still, while the humans fought hard, the machines were more elegant in their attack, though only barely. The elegance and surprise had given the machines an advantage, and in the fifteen minutes he had been watching, the humans were steadily losing. He idly fingered his long rifle's stock, contemplating intervening on the human's behalf-

His thoughts were cut off by another mind crushingly loud horn, the psychic energies laced in the noise making his head throb even through his helmet's noise and psy dampeners. He glared at the modestly sized ship, and wished he had thought to bring a brightlance. The ability to reach out and destroy armor, any armor, would be quite a wake up call to that thing, he knew. Of course, it would immediately retaliate and bombard his location, so maybe it was just as well he didn't have one.

He was thinking that perhaps he should start joining the fight. The machines would probably butcher him just for existing, while the humans could be… persuaded. He did need something to move from one star system to another, after all.

With a grim smirk he shifted to a prone position, and sighted through his rifle. The enemy he had chosen, nearly two kilometers away on the other side of the star port, was a large red machine, about half again as large as the smaller white, red and dark brown units that seemed to be everywhere. After a second of deliberation, he targeted the larger machine's weapon, as he didn't have a good angle on its chest or head, and no way to guess how thick its armor was. He knew from experience that shooting the head of a necron or machine was usually a wasted shot, it would only destroy its eyes, and could use the other machines to see while it rebuilt its own.

He gave a soft sigh and caressed of the trigger, the weapon spat an invisible laser and hit the gun right above its trigger, superheating the metals and plastics of the gun and causing it to explode as the machine pulled the trigger. Shooting a half melting gun was never wise. Arlas smirked, and aimed again, only to realize the machine was looking right at him, as was every other machine in the area. Remembering that machines could possibly see the shot, he snarled at himself, and targeted a different machine, this one with a longer rifle that was aiming at him, and fired as they did. He felt a projectile streak past his head, but the target's chest exploded in a shower of white fluids.

While puzzled at the result, he still rolled to the side, and sighed as nearly two dozen shots streaked through the area he had just been in. He was apparently popular. He simply picked another sniper, fired, and ducked to the side, avoiding another barrage from the attempted counter-snipers, including a couple that fired to the sides to try and pick him off if he dodged. So much for this being fun, he hated smart opponents.

"Coming up on drop point two!"

Anderson nodded to the twins. "Maintain radio silence for as long as possible. This is your mission now, commanders. Good luck."

The four Systems Alliance Marines jumped, trusting their suits to making the landing soft. A seven meter fall was no joke, but they landed with barely flexed knees thanks to the mass effect fields from the ship and their own armor. Joannis looked around, but could feel her twin's annoyance, directed at someone for... After a moment, she sighed. "Jenkins, you are supposed to be securing the perimeter, not ogling my chest."

"Sorry ma'am!"

Kaiden, thankfully, was far more professional. "Perimeter secure, commander."

As the humans took in the surrounding area, Nihlus came over the comms, having been dropped off on a small path a short distance away. "Place got hit hard, commander, watch you back. Hostiles everywhere."

Joannis sent back a single click, indicating she had heard before issuing orders. "Jenkins, you have point, Jaclyn, keep him alive. Kaiden, with me, we are artillery. And maintain fire-"

Kaiden's expression sudden morphed into panic, and his pistol came up and fired twice. "What is that?"

The panic in his voice had the rest of the squad turning around, but other than what looked like a deflated balloon on the ground, Joannis couldn't see anything. A second later, a small blimp with tiny tentacle-like feelers dangling idly from its lower portion slowly hovered into view. Jenkins spoke up, fighting to keep his humor from showing and not quite succeeding. "Gas bags. Harmless sir."

Joannis closed her eyes, sending positive thoughts to her twin, who was not verbally tearing into both men through sheer force of will. She continued issuing orders like she hadn't been interrupted, "Maintain fire discipline, and stick to cover. Move out. If you have them, activate helmet cams."

The two N7s were the only ones to have integrated cameras in their visors and masks, so the group quickly moved on. They moved through the small clearing, and then followed a cliff side path for a few minutes, before Jaclyn suddenly urged the group to halt. Joannis knew her twin had felt something was off about the path ahead, open except for a few boulders scattered about and half buried, but couldn't pinpoint what, exactly, was wrong. After a moment, she reluctantly waved Jenkins forward, pointing to a nearby boulder. As the corporal slowly stalked forward, they all discovered what had set off Jaclyn's sense of wrongness.

Four drones dropped out of the branches at the edge of the forest, and turned toward the group, immediately opening fire with their guns. Jenkins was the only target in the open, they all focused on him. Jenkins likely could have lunged or slid behind cover and made it without injuries if he had been storming forward. As it was, he got another step before his shields collapsed, and he realized he was under fire.

The two N7s reacted far faster than the green marine, and both had been on edge and ready. Jaclyn set herself and charged the drones, slamming into the one closest to the edge of the forest with enough force to utterly shatter it, and Joannis used throw on Jenkins, trying to get him into cover. Her throw hit the young marine just after his shield failed, and as he flew to the rock, he caught at least another three hits that she could see. A deep bwoomp, and a feeling of vicious satisfaction, from further up the hill indicated that Jaclyn had gotten the drones, likely by landing a nova directly on top of one of the drones and getting the others with the splash. Joannis, however, had eyes on the unmoving Jenkins. "Alenko, Jenkins, now!"

Alenko rushed out and slid to a stop, kneeling beside Jenkins as Alenko activated his omni-tool. Jaclyn made it back through the simple expediency of using another charge, this time skidding to a stop a few meters to the side of the rock that Jenkins had landed behind. Joannis gave her twin a nod, before stepping up behind Alenko, and waited for him to finish. When Alenko administered a second dose of medi-gel, she knew it was going to be bad. "Ma'am, he's alive, but…"

She simply gave Alenko's back a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. "His armor is reporting a shattered left shoulder, two fractures and a break on his left arm, one on the collarbone, three broken ribs, a skull fracture, and at least two cracked vertebrae, and took three shots to the torso. He definitely got hit in the lung, hence the second dose of medi-gel, and he has a concussion. Spinal cord is probably fine, but…"

She nodded, knowing what was next. "Moving him is less than ideal. Leaving him behind, however, is less than acceptable."

Unspoken was the fact that the throw had done as much, if not more, damage as the drones shots had to the marine. But everyone of them knew the alternative would have killed Jenkins. After a moment of consideration, Joannis swore, and opened a tight channel to the ship. "Shepard to Normandy. Need an evac, my location. Jenkins is hit hard."

After a moment, she got a reply, static laced though it was. "*crackle*-stood Shep-*static*-two min-*hiss*-keep pressing. Ov-*crackle*"

Jaclyn and Alenko nodded, relief spreading through the squad. "Alenko, stay here with Jenkins, try to stay alive. We will leave our comms open. Follow it to our location after handing him over."

She gave him a chance to protest, but he simply nodded. "Understood ma'am. Leave a few for me?"

Jaclyn gave a dark chuckle, before the twins moved out, moving slowly and carefully. As they entered the forest, Nihlus came over the comms. "Careful, Shepards, got a few burnt out prefabs. Lot of bodies. See a few hostiles in the distance, will try to identify the enemy."

Arlas had done far more today than he had expected. He had wanted to just clear out a few of the machines, like their larger assault specialists, maybe even the commander unit if he could identify it, just enough to earn the goodwill of the local mon-keighs. He had not wanted to engage every sniper machine on the planet. He had abandoned his original position for an outcropping closer to the settlement, which also had a large cluster of boulders and rocks to act like a little bunker. It also had two paths up, but one was where he could watch it from the front, and the second didn't connect to the town. The only way to get to it was either to fly or walk through a forest, and he could see any units trying to do that. If enough opponents did try to flank him, he would abandon the position and leave a melta bomb as a parting gift.

He was currently watching something new. At first, he had thought it a tyranid, but a second look, while lining up a headshot admittedly, had changed his mind. The biggest indicator it wasn't a tyranid was the fact it carried a metal weapon and wore armor, similar to the ones the humans and machines were using, rather than some horrific bio-monstrosity with a grafted weapon. The second reason he hadn't blown open its head was because it was stalking a trio of machines as they searched the pathetic excuses for housing the local humans were using. He frowned, before deciding to destroy the machines, and see what the new alien did. Its armor did look thicker than most of the human's armors, and the black and red color scheme somewhat blended into the slowly growing twilight and flames. Though what the white patterns on its dark brown face meant, he had no idea.

He waited for the one searching houses to come out, before putting a shot dead center of mass, blowing its chest cavity open in a spray of white fluids and metal parts, before moving quickly to the other two. He killed the second as it finished turning toward him, and the third died as it moved to cover, trying to suppress him from six hundred meters away. He allowed himself to be amused, as he put down the last of the machines, and then turned to watch the new alien. He couldn't help but be excited, it was things like this that had enticed him to become a ranger, and stay a pathfinder. Finding interesting new places, meeting interesting new people, and then exploding and killing them.

Joannis finished detonating the last of her singularities, before joining her sister and the soldier they had saved. She looked her up and down, ignoring her twin's amusement at the bright pink and white color scheme the soldier was sporting. "You are alright now soldier. Take a minute, get your breath back, and then report."

She nodded, and a few seconds later straightened and nodded. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212th, reporting ma'am.

I am mostly fine, a couple scrapes and minor burns, nothing serious. We were patrolling the outer perimeter, in response to an unknown ship crashing on Nirvana, when something blew past my squad, overhead. I have a recording of it here."

The soldier brought up her multitool, and a few seconds of tapping brought up a recording. It was of modest quality, but decent enough to tell what was going on. The squad was looking up, when something blurred shot past overhead, with the squad tracking and firing as best they could. It looked like a reverse triangle with two concave indentations on the front, several protrusions sticking from the front, likely weapons, and what had to be engines jutting from the back point of the triangle. She saw no blue flashes to indicate hits so either the squad had completely missed, or the vessel lacked shields. Either way, it was clear from the rest of the recording that it had been heading toward the settlement. "After reporting the contact to the unit captain, we diverted to try and find the vessel. Then, about five or ten minutes later, these wasp like ships just swooped down around the settlement and started dropping troops and bombarding large groups of our people, before all the ships left. The only one to stay behind is a massive black ship shaped like a gauntlet."

Ashley brought up another video, showing the massive ship, slowly swaying as it landed on its 'fingers', before it simply swayed in place. Joannis was idly impressed, as it towered over the largest structure, the air traffic control tower, of the space port. All three women turned as someone came jogging up behind them, but Joannis and Jaclyn quickly turned back to Williams, as it was only Alenko. "Did your group ever find that unknown ship?"

She shook her head. "No ma'am, the attackers cut us off from the others, and when we tried to push through to regroup… I don't think the others made it, and I had to withdraw or get surrounded."

Jaclyn nodded, but let her more talkative twin continue. "You did the right thing, Chief Williams, staying alive to keep fighting. It's never easy but that intelligence might help save lives later. Now, I am Lieutenant Commander Joannis Shepard, this is Lieutenant Commander Jaclyn Shepard, my twin, and that is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."

She would have said more, but Williams mouth had dropped open, and she was gushing. "Wait, the 'Immortal Lioness of Elysium' and the 'Butchering Lynx of Torfan' Shepard twins?"

Jaclyn's temper nearly spontaneously exploded but soothing thoughts from her sister kept her from doing more than seething and putting out an impressive biotic aura, which had the benefit of silencing Williams as well. "My sister doesn't care for that title much. And yes, now, focus. We are here to retrieve the beacon. Are you willing and capable of assisting us in its retrieval? And can you tell me anything about our opponents?"

Joannis was rewarded with a positively evil grin, as the gunnery chief checked her rifle. "Yes ma'am. And I think they are geth. Machines, walkers, and drones mostly. Lots of tech attacks, no biotics."

Joannis nodded, cutting off Alenko before he could make a comment, and pointed forward. "Jaclyn, point, Williams, support her. Alenko, status?"

"Jenkins is on the Normandy and in medical, and I am fit to fight. Ready for orders ma'am."

Joannis nodded, and prepared her Locust submachine gun. "Orders are to kill everything between us and the beacon that isn't friendly. Move out."

Nihlus suddenly decided to update her on his status again. "Shepards, hostiles are geth. Checking something out, possible sniper, will meet you at the spaceport afterwards. Going dark."

Nihlus was not happy with how this mission was going. It had started off easy, monitor the twins, decide if they were Spectre material over several missions, and get the beacon to the Citadel. Then Captain Anderson had gotten a call from Systems Alliance Command, and had started carefully wording his answers. Then they received word of the colony under attack by unknowns and the beacon no longer being secure, meaning he couldn't take the time to confront the captain about not informing him of changes to the mission before it became relevant.

He was currently stalking a fireteam of hostiles and had rounded a building to set off an ambush, only to find all three were dead. He had seen them less than a minute before, one entering a small building, and had moved to flank them. He had no idea what had killed all three of his targets. He hadn't heard anything but the sound of the machine's weapons, not whatever had destroyed them. Still, he could learn a bit by inspecting his opponents.

The first thing he did was stay in the alley, minimizing his exposure to possible fire. Then he level his omni-tool at the three dead troops, and let it tell him what there was. The omnitool took a minute, and then it spat out was that they had no organic components at all. He felt his mandibles spread in surprise at that, as their behavior had been too complex for a simple mech, before reading everything else it had picked up. Synthetic muscle fibers, conductive fluids, and alloys of titanium and ceramics. Fairly standard if unusually configured circuitry running throughout the entire form, it could have been a basic mech. He was also detecting a lot of activity from the antenna on the packs the three downed machines had integrated into their backs.

He was struck by what it could be after a moment of consideration, based on a confidential report he had seen from a joint turian-salarian sensor station that had been set up at the edge of the Perseus Veil. He looked down at the three troops, and shivered slightly before activating his communications to warn the human twins about their opponents being geth, and then froze.

He realized that while the geth were a problem, he had another one; what had killed them? The damage was not consistent with mass accelerator weapons, and since he hadn't heard it, it had to have been a sniper rifle. A mass accelerator sniper rifle would have punched a fist sized hole through the geth, since each looked to have been taken out in a single shot. But these ones looked more like they had taken a shot from some kind of tank round; the front of their chests were completely gone, but strangely the back plates were nearly intact.

Nihlus sighed, and rubbed his forehead plates, before looking around. Nothing near him would give the angle needed to kill all three without making the shooter move to get one of the targets or be horribly exposed. He quickly reviewed what he knew of his surroundings; this grouping of prefabs was near a small plateau, the circle of prefabs overlooked by a cliffside offering an impressive vista of fertile fields and the spaceport. All of which added up to mean that the shooter had to be ahead of him, and likely above him. And after a moment of thinking, he knew exactly where. A cluster of boulders, up on top of an outcropping.

He slunk back along the building with a smirk, getting around the corner to keep out of the sniper's sight, before radioing the Shepard twins. "Shepards, hostiles are geth. Checking something out, possible sniper, will meet you at the spaceport afterwards. Going dark."

He backtracked to a small path he had seen earlier, out of sight of the boulder cluster, and would get him to the cliffside above the outcropping. Time to see who this mystery sniper was.

Arlas was cheerfully picking off the last of the machines he could see from his position, consoling himself after the new alien had decided to run away. Regrettable, but the world didn't care about his amusement. Still, he had been in this position for the last ten minutes, and would need to move soon. One last shot and he stood up, sliding the long rifle onto his back, and jogged to one side of the outcropping he was on. He fired the grappling hook connected to his right arm into the ground, and then leapt over the edge, letting the unspooling wire slow his descent enough to prevent injury.

As he landed, he heard someone moving around the top of the cliff, though he had little doubt they thought they were quiet, and figured it was that alien he had spotted earlier. Getting out just in time to avoid contact.

He then disengaged the spikes on the grappling hook and releasing it from the cliff top, before spooling up the wire. The pathfinder started moving to the human town, drawing his fusion gun. He would be in closer quarters for a bit, and needed the heavier fire power. After all, there might be doors in his way.

Nihlus finally got to the edge of the cliff, and swore under his breath as he spotted the outcropping, but no one on it. A few seconds later, he spotted a… 'distortion' was the only word he could think of, except maybe heat mirage, moving toward the edge of the settlement. He was familiar with tactical cloaks, but this was something else. It soon arrived, and the distortion suddenly consolidated into a person, leaning against the wall of a building. They were clad in a cloak of shifting colors, which quickly matched the building, and only the uncovered black, grey, and red helm was visible. The rest had blended into the wall.

At the distance, he couldn't see much, but the figure had to be at least as tall as an average turian, judging from the height of their head. Worse, they could see him, as they turned and gave him what he assumed was a wave, before they dashed around the corner of the building. Nihlus rolled his eyes in annoyance, before sprinting down the path leading to the settlement, activating his comm. "Shepards, Nihlus, in pursuit of unknown contact, entering west side of town, heading to space port. Target wearing grey and red armor, and a color shifting cloak. Rendezvous at spaceport, quick as you can. Capture and detain if possible."

He heard the twins acknowledge his order but was focused on trying to catch up with the fleeing figure and only only had time for a single thought. Spirits, that being was fast.

Joannis sighed, before acknowledging Nihlus' order, not that there was much they could do about it. They were slogging through the south side of the settlement, blasting their way through geth and reanimated colonists and marines. The dig site had been empty, a couple terrified scientists and a badly wounded marine in a building the only survivors, despite Ashley's claim of at least fifty marines and several dozen scientists and diggers had been in the area. They had stabilized the marine, and were now fighting through a small collection of pre-fab houses and storage units. The geth had dug in, but the twins were made to break entrenched positions.

The geth were learning the reason why the twins were considered a 'heavy solution' among the Systems Alliance leadership, as unstable singularities, field pulls, heavy throws, wide novas and shockwaves ripped through their positions. At the end of the fight, there wasn't a single intact geth chassis, only a couple geth weapons that hadn't been outright shattered, and most of the pre-fab structures needed replacements, if they hadn't outright collapsed. It was mildly surprising to Joannis to see so many standing structures. Maybe her twin had been right, and learning both the wide and focused versions of the attacks had been smart.

She waved the group forward, they had to keep moving, but she did wait a moment to let the three biotics get their breath back. They crested a hill, and looked out over the spaceport, spotting a massive ship, the same one from the distress beacon. Williams pointed. "That is the mothership. Has to be at least a kilometer and a half tall, if not even larger."

All of them cringed as suddenly a foghorn like noise ripped through the air, right before the massive ship seemed to jump into the air from its 'fingers.' It wasn't until it was rising that the twins realized it wasn't shaped like a gauntlet, but a massive cuttlefish. Intimidating as anything the twins could think of, with its shape, jet black coloration, and the flickers of red lightning running up it as it boosted into the sky faster than anything short of the fastest fighters and the absolute best frigates.

The group stared at the sky where the dreadnaught had vanished, before Joannis decided they had wasted enough time. "Enough gawking, move up."

Her twin was already moving, before she even spoke, a benefit of their rapport and bond, leaving the other two to jerk slightly and quickly catch up. As they approached the outer edge of the shipping yard, they spotted nearly a dozen more of those strange spikes, and a half dozen geth units patrolling near the spikes. The humans proceeded down the hill, as the spikes retracted, dumping their husk passengers onto the ground, and the geth all turned, leveling their weapons. But not at her group. Instead, the enemies all turned to the west side of the spaceport, the geth firing and covering the advancing husks as the geth moved to cover. The team couldn't see what was attacking them, but Joannis would have placed good money on it being Nihlus.

She would have lost that bet. A sudden blast of white light engulfed and washed past the husk horde, leaving nothing but gently hissing and glowing ground. A moment later, a distortion lunged into the cover of one of the abandoned containers near the perimeter, where it consolidated into a figure wearing a cloak that quickly matched the crate, wearing a dark grey and red helmet. They were too far to see much, but Joannis guessed it was the individual Nihlus had called about. She pointed to the geth, who were closing in on the target's position, two suppressing him while four went around the container, two to each side. "Save that target people."

Williams swapped to her sniper rifle, dropping to a knee and firing a shot at one of the suppressing geth, as Jaclyn charged the furthest of the two flanking geth groups. Alenko started moving forward, throwing out sabotage and overload programs, while keeping his barrier up and moving to cover. Joannis tossed a double throw at the pair of suppressing geth Williams wasn't firing upon, while activating her comms. "Nihlus, Joannis, target sighted, engaged multiple geth, moving to contact."

Nihlus dodged through a prefab that might have once been a shed, judging by the half melted boxes near the remaining walls, but was more concerned by the fact he was barely closer to the target now as he had been when the chase had started. He heard Shepard's message, and swore, putting on another speed burst as he sprinted. "Understood. Careful, target has powerful heat weapon. Short range, melt multiple metal walls. Advise extreme caution. Beacon status?"

Arlas had to admit that his situation was… unorthodox. He could see four humans on the path up the hill, and knew he had six geth scattered around him. During the last two minutes, he could feel a slowly building itch of dread in his mind, and knew it was coming from the ceremony he had performed before leaving his transport. From his experience and training, he knew he had about ten minutes of foresense, and foresight could see about ten seconds ahead if he actively concentrated, so the mounting dread meant he was running out of time.

He took a breath, concentrating while swapping his fusion gun for his pistol and witchblade, and heard one of the flanking machines suddenly utter a burst of static. The fire on his corner slackened a touch, so he leaned out, and saw a sparking blue field about the nearest machine as it shuddered, spasmed and twitched. With a mental shrug, he hosed it down with his twin pistol, watching in satisfaction as it was sliced to pieces by the two streams of monomolecular shuriken. He watched two glowing dark blue orbs sail into a pair of machines firing at something he couldn't see, and watched both suddenly careen through the air before slamming hard into the walls, while a streak of light whizzed by, likely at one of the other machines trying to suppress him.

Knowing he had to hurry, he activated his warp jump generator, holstered his pistol onto his left thigh, switch his sword to a two handed grip, designated the landing point of his jump, and then lunged through the immaterium to land between the two machines struggling to stand.

Joannis was an experienced N7 operative, one of the most powerful biotics in the known galaxy, had a twin that was equally powerful, and they had helped push humanity's understandings of biotics forward by at least five decades from what they had both learned to do to their own abilities, when they weren't making completely new ones up. She had fought in just about every theatre of war that existed, from urban hellholes to open fields, spaceships to tunnels, mountainsides to meandering valleys. She had killed more sentient beings than she cared to think about, and seen more strange things than anyone else she knew of, other than her twin.

Watching the stranger draw what looked like a double submachine, one under the other, and shred a geth, before drawing a sword and vanishing into a bubble of inky nothingness surrounded by lightning, easily put the unknown in the top twenty of her 'Weirdest Things Seen' list. Even stranger, they reappeared immediately, between the two geth she had tossed with only a quick flash of light hinting where the individual was dropping out. Two quick swipes of the sword cut both geth in half, before they vanished into another bubble. This time, they appeared behind one of the geth that had been trying to suppress Jaclyn, earning them an instant friendly status in her book as they effortlessly bisected the geth from crown to crotch.

Williams fired a second shot as Joannis and Alenko targeted the last standing geth, which seemed to hesitate between the stranger and Jaclyn, before picking the stranger, letting Jaclyn rip it apart with a warp. The geth, or what was left of it, fell to the ground, and for a moment, no one moved. She glanced at her sister as she began to slowly walk toward the stranger, before turning back as they began pulling their cloak off their shoulder, and touching something there. "Hello? Can you understand me?"

Arlas knew something was wrong as he landed the first jump, as his movements felt heavier than they should. Not much, but enough for him to notice. It wasn't until he made the second jump that he figured out what was wrong, and cursed himself before looking around. He made note of how all four humans were looking at him. While none were pointing weapons in his direction, they also were very definitely ready to correct that in a second. Which was fine. He needed to check something.

He pulled his cloak from his shoulder, and swore at himself as he realized that all of his armor runes had run out of power during the warp jump. He spent a second touching each one, feeding it some psychic energy. He finished, just as the human spoke. {Hello? Can you understand me?}

The pathfinder frowned, before realizing the problem. These people didn't know the Imperium's language, they had their own. However, with the dread building in his stomach, causing the knot of tension to harden ever tighter, he didn't have time to try and learn their language. He did, however, have another option, and beckoned with his hand, before running up the ramp to one side of the area they had been fighting. "Come on, there is something wrong ahead."

He made it to the top of the ramp before realizing the humans weren't following, before turning and glaring at them, though the helmet kept them from seeing it. "MOVE!"

Joannis was not surprised that the individual didn't understand them. His armor and weapons looked nothing like anything she had seen before. But then he made a surprisingly human gesture, to follow, and spoke. Though calling that speak was an misnomer and an insult to what he did. It was short, but the sheer beauty, complexity and the intertwining melodies of the utterance felt more like listening to a short piece from a renowned asari vocalist. And this individual had likely only been issuing a request for them to follow.

Her shock at that… interaction was matched only by the shock her twin felt, until the individual made it to the top of the ramp, and turned back to them. Its posture was unreadable, but this utterance was more of a sharp note rather than a short song, but when he repeated the gesture to follow, she realized that the individual was moving away. "Wake up, and follow them. Jaclyn, be dazed on your own time."

Her twin gave her a reassuringly vulgar gesture, as the four dashed up the ramp, following the alien. The alien was currently crouched on the end of a walkway, overlooking a tram station, and firing a large rifle into several geth platforms below them. Joannis shrugged, and pointed to the ramp down as she issued orders. "Jaclyn, Alenko, with me, I guess we are going to clear the tram station, apparently. Williams, you follow, but stay with the sniper rifle, I need friendly sniper support. Not just sniper support from our new friend."

As she glanced back at the alien, she watched them stand up and lean back, getting into cover as the geth shot up at them, and blinked as she watched a round bounce off the top of the stranger's helmet. They reached up and rubbed a hand over the spot that was hit, and she cursed, realizing the unknown didn't have shields. She turned and headed down the ramp, amending the squad's orders. "Everyone, our new friend is lacking shields, but his armor can deflect shots. Still, try and keep the pressure on us, rather than him. A corpse can't answer questions."

She pulled out her Locust submachine gun, planning on supporting at range with her gun and precision biotics. To avoid blowing holes in the trams, at least. As she picked her first target, and started putting rounds into it, she opened her comms. "Nihlus, where are you? We found that individual, and they joined our attack on the geth. They are trying to lead us through the tram station at the spaceport, south end, settlement side."

Nihlus responded quickly, though he seemed out of breath. "About half minute out. Don't lose."

Joannis allowed herself an amused smile, before clicking her mike once to acknowledge the order and closing the line. With Williams on sniper duty, and the alien providing elevated sniper support, the geth on the tram line didn't have much a chance. Even a geth destroyer barely slowed the group. Jaclyn muttered something about kill stealers as she jogged back to the squad, and Alenko patched a couple grazes he had caught from the geth sniper at the far end of the tram, despite his shields and barrier.

As the human's regrouped, the alien jumped down, apparently unconcerned of the five meter fall, and dashed to the end of the tram. They glanced back, and then turned back to the console, before tilting their head to one side, hand raised over the console. As Joannis moved down the tram, she heard someone pounding up and her radio crackled to life. "Shepard, where are you?"

"Nihlus, down in the tram, hurry, you'll have to jump."

She heard the turian swear, as the alien reached down and pushed a large green button on the console. As the turian lept over the railing, and landed in a rough roll, the tram started forward. Nihlus swore even louder in his native language, and leapt from the landing at the tram, where both Shepards hauled him over the tram railing like a sack of cargo, in spite of his curses. After he regained what little dignity he could, he looked around. "See you did well Shepard. Jenkins didn't make it? And who is this?"

He was looking at Williams. "Jenkins is back on the Normandy, in medical. This is Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212th marines, local garrison. Ashley, this is Nihlus Kryik, Council Spectre, here to oversee the transfer of the beacon. Our secondary objective is up by the tram console, and…"

Joannis was cut off by a snapping sound, the sound of a near miss from a projectile. Nihlus' head snapped up even as everyone ducked into nearby cover, but relaxed when he saw that the unknown was not firing in their direction. In fact, the alien had taken cover behind the tram console, and was firing at the approaching landing site. Ashley still had her sniper rifle out, and checked through the scope before swearing. "Ma'am, lots of contacts on the landing. I doubt our 'new friend' can clear them all out before we get there."

Joannis nodded. "Move up and support the unknown. Ashley, stay with the sniper rifle until we either move into close quarters, or you get an enemy too close for sniping. Alenko, with Jaclyn, provide tech support. Nihlus, I will assist your advance. Unless you have more than just that shotgun? Or perhaps a helmet?"

The turian just gave her a flat look, his right mandible twitching slightly, before another near miss from a geth sniper had everyone diving into cover. Ashley quickly start firing back, while the rest moved quickly forward, staying low and in cover, to where the tram allowed passengers on and off. Between the two snipers, all the longer ranged geth units were destroyed before the tram arrived, and the rest of the geth were forced to abandon the tram loading area.

It also quickly revealed something horrifying, a massive demolition charge, large enough to turn most of the settlement into a crater. All the humans and the turian stared at the sight, before Nihlus snapped an order. "Shepards, anyone have electronics or bomb defusing training?"

All three females turned to Alenko, who jumped across the gap between the tram and the landing, not waiting for the bridge, and ran over to the bomb. "Got a bit more than five minutes on the timer, but my scanner is showing two… no, three more similar signatures. Ma'am, leave Ashley with me, I need someone to cover me while I defuse these things."

Joannis nodded, and turned to Ashley, who had already switched to her assault rifle, and was taking cover behind a crate, where she had a good view of both of the ramps leading from the landing platforms to this particular loading zone. That left the Spectre, the two Shepards, and the unknown, to clear the rest of the geth so Alenko could get to the remaining three bombs. The unknown vanished in another inky sphere of nothingness, causing Nihlus to swear under his breath, but the unknown didn't reappear in the landing zone, so the other three moved up. A long hiss and a snap, followed by the scream of rapidly expanding metal on the other side of the tramway, gave a good indication of where the 'new friend' had gone.

What he had done, however, was a mystery until the group got to the top, and spotted a massive hole in the crates, containers and retaining wall of the spaceport. The ten meter thick wall was intended to keep space vessel crashes from blasting out wherever and destroying other buildings, ships, or shipments. Now, it had a several meter deep hole in it, and the unknown was crouched by a thick metal crate, exchanging fire with several geth platforms.

The geth didn't have an immediate line of sight on Joannis and company, so the three soldiers took a moment to examine the situation, putting together a plan of action. They were on a storage site for cargo unloaded from ships in the port, and the landing pads were on the other side of the tram lines, with a retaining wall between the storage area and the actual landing pads. Several crates and containers were scattered about the far side, where the unknown was busy blasting geth, but on their side, only a couple long crates, pressed up against the railing, were present. There was also a few bridges that led across the gap, but the one behind them, that would have led over the tram, was destroyed, while the one ahead was intact.

The geth had moved crates to provide cover for them while denying any attackers across the bridge cover, but the alien's ability to apparently teleport had put him in a perfect flanking position. With the geth distracted, the two N7s and the turian could easily get across the killzone, likely before the geth could turn to counter them. As they moved to the bridge, Alenko opened a comm. "First bomb down, the other three are across the gap. Wait, why am I only seeing two? Ma'am, did you or another of the group do something to one of the bombs? I only have two left, should have three."

Joannis glanced at the large hole, having a sudden, sneaking suspicion about what had happened to the missing bomb. "Alenko come up here, and point to where the missing bomb SHOULD be."

Alenko and Williams both climbed up the ramp to her position, Alenko focused on his omni-tool. After getting to the top, he turned and pointed. Straight at the hole. "Should be right… Oh. ... I think that should count as cheating, not as disabling the bomb."

As the watched, their 'new friend' drew a shotgun sized weapon from his back, leaned around the corner, and pulled the trigger. The metal crate he was using for cover lost its side nearest them, revealing the interior to be empty, and a large chunk of the door. The container in front of that one, however, lost its back half, and Alenko blinked at his display. "Correction, one bomb left ma'am, and that definitely counts as cheating."

That got a chuckle from the twins as they watch the unknown duck back into cover, as several geth started trying to rush him. Joannis got the group back on track. "Jaclyn, Williams, keep that one alive, then move to flush out the last of the geth. Nihlus, Alenko, with me, we are storming that bridge."

Nihlus had a bemused look on his face, if she was reading the turian's expression correctly, but Alenko just nodded, activating his barrier again and drawing his Kessler pistol. As they moved to the bridge, and prepared to cross, Nihlus just looked at her and nodded. "Regardless of how this turns out, I am glad I endorsed you and your twin for the Spectres."

Joannis was already giving the signal to begin, and heard both her twin open up with her usual biotic charge, and Ashley fire her Avenger sniper rifle. As they rounded the corner to hit the geth, she finally processed what Nihlus said, but dismissed it as Nihlus' shotgun boomed, shredding a geth trying to fire at Ashley. Caught between the two attacks on different fronts, the geth couldn't stand anywhere without being in the open to one side or the other, and quickly fell.

As the last geth fell, both twins looked around, and then nodded. "Clear. Alenko, get to the bomb. We should have a couple minutes left at least."

Nihlus headed toward a door, set building attached to the wall. "Looks like it should be in…"

Whatever else Nihlus was going to say was rudely interrupted as the wall into the building exploded. Nihlus was thrown back, his shields shredded and several pieces of plastic and metal sticking out of his armor, as a geth rocket trooper and a geth Juggernaut blew the wall out. Joannis wasted a second wondering how the massive juggernaut, three and a half meters tall, had somehow squeezed through a slightly more than two meter door meant for humans. She was still turning, and idly noted the rocket trooper turning to her, but before she could fire, the rocket launcher suddenly exploded. The explosion engulfed both geth, but only the juggernaut was still standing, making it easy to decide what to target.

A quick firefight later, and Joannis was glaring at the geth destroyer chassis. "Alenko, get that last bomb disarmed. Jaclyn, call the Normandy, find out if any hostiles are in the air, and if not, they can assist ground forces with their guardian lasers. Ashley, you are on overwatch, try to keep us from getting ambushed."

A sudden fear, that the unknown alien might have vanished, made her quickly look around, but she found him sitting on the edge of a large shipping container, idly watching them, his rifle, almost as long as he was tall if she had to guess, idly resting on his knees. That worry relieved, Joannis started over to Nihlus, but Ashley stopped her. "Ma'am, I am trained in first aid. Would you like me to help?"

Joannis sighed, and shook her head. "No, take over, I will stay on overwatch. Once Alenko is done with the last bomb, he will take over keeping Nihlus alive, and you keep him from being interrupted. Me and my twin will patrol the landing pads, ensure there aren't any hostiles there, and see if we can locate the beacon."

Her twin, naturally, took that moment to interrupt her. "Found the beacon."

Joannis' head whipped around so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash, and she glared at her twin through her visor. "Where?"

Jaclyn pointed through the opening to the landing pad, and then shrugged. As Joannis got around the corner, she glanced over, and rolled her eyes. There it was, right out in the open, gently pulsing and glowing. "Naturally. Come on, Jaclyn, I see spikes. Ashley, you okay there?"

Sure enough, there were a dozen spikes scattered throughout the landing pad, and at Ashley's nod, the twins headed for the ramp down. As they got on the ramp, the spikes slid down, the husks stood up, and then the husks went flying as the two biotic powerhouses slammed into them. It was gruesome, one sided, and hardly worth the effort. As they finished Alenko called them on the comms. "Commanders, a survivor in the shack, fading fast. You want to hear this."

Joannis jerked her head at her twin, letting her dash back to the shack with a pair of biotic charges. Not only was she faster, she also tended to be less distracting when she wasn't radiating pure fury. Joannis sighed and finished the last sweep of the area around the beacon, before she turned to head back herself. Only to see a husk lunging from between two crates. One of its arms was torn clean off, evidence that they had blasted it earlier, but the other was reaching for her face. She quickly corrected that its status by flinging a warp into its chest, but the husk's body still impacted her; the sudden impact knocking her back a couple steps.

Right into pulses of the prothean beacon.

Arlas watched the first human female in jet black armor get knocked backwards by the corpse, and jumped over the railing. He then concentrated, and let his body follow what he could see with his foresight, glad he had renewed the guidance ceremony. Renewing it was far easier than just starting it, and he found himself standing to one side of the beacon, looking at the side. The humming was frantic and loud, and he could hear someone screaming from the ramp, but he didn't turn. Instead, he returned to the trance of guidance, and let the humming and foresight guide his actions.

He could hear the obelisk adding soft screeches to the humming as he steadily walked around it, and then his body suddenly brought the long rifle up and fired, the shot connecting with the side of the obelisk, punching through the armor and hitting something inside. He opened his eyes, and nodded to himself as the human caught in the obelisk's field collapsed, the second one in black armor rushing to her side as the obelisk lost power. He put the rifle back on his back, collapsing the extended barrel and moved to sit on a crate. "So it begins."