Chapter 3

Preparation

The mass relay of the Serpent nebula set ablaze with a radiant blue light as Lance Alcock piloted the Hougoumont towards it.

Ash stood behind him as she watched the light show she had seen so many times.

"3…2….1" Lance mumbled the countdown. He's not quite the showman Joker had been aboard the Normandy, Ash mused.

The frigate hit the relay and an instant later shot out into the Yangtze cluster.

"You know the plan. Tell the team to meet me in the briefing room." Ash ordered.

Lance nodded as he opened the intercom and issued the orders. Ashley was already walking back towards the elevator. Joliet was waiting by the doors as Ash approached.

Joliet saluted. He didn't much care for it; he was a couple of ranks above her. Anderson had given him orders to run the ship, something Ashley had little experience with.

Make sure she gets where she needs to go. He had been told. I know you are ranked above her, but I have entrusted her with this mission and I expect you to do what she asks of you. Still, she kept out of his way and let him run the ship his way, simply giving destinations and mission orders. He could deal with the situation, so long as it wasn't for too much longer.

The doors jerked open and the two officers boarded the car. Ash reached over and pressed down one floor.

"So we're still aboard this old piece of crap." Joliet muttered.

"Yeah, you'd think we'd get a nice new shiny ship for a dangerous mission, but the guys up top don't know a spaceship from a bath tub. I guess they don't think this mission is important enough, and of course, they know best." Ash replied with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"And what do you think? Are we wasting our time?"

"I don't know. I'm just glad to be busy."

Joliet didn't press the subject, he knew something was bothering her but he wasn't much of a people person. He knew war brought death; he had spent a lifetime avoiding developing close relationships in fear of losing friends, and was quite stuck in his ways.

The car creaked into place and the doors opened with their usual jerky motion. They turned right out into the corridor and straight ahead to the end where they found the six marines waiting around an empty table that stood in the middle of the room. They quickly stood to attention in the practiced manner that was expected of them.

"At ease."

Ash stood at the head of the table and Joliet fell in with the marines. She hadn't prepared a speech. What to say? Start with the facts.

"Two days ago a distress signal was received from a structure on Binthu, in this system. The structure is an old Cerberus base, one that Commander Shepard cleared out two years ago, I was on his team." Ash looked at the marines. Stories of the great Commander Shepard always impressed them.

"I don't know what we will find down there, hell, I bet it'll just be some old, malfunctioning piece of crap beacon. But if Cerberus has moved back in, we need to be ready."

"Ma'am?" Raul, one of the marines to her left, interrupted

"Yeah?"

"Might not be Cerberus, you know? Could just be slavers or some shit."

"Possible, we don't know what down there."

"I'm just itching for some action!" Another piped in.

"Quiet, Jake. Let the Chief talk." Pete snapped.

Ash hadn't known them long, but she already figured they were your typical marine stereotypes.

Jake Hart, the rookie. He lacked experience and was too excited to be placed in danger and it worried Ash. She had seen too many race carelessly to their deaths.

The veterans, Pete and Raul. Experienced, hardened and cynical from constant exposure to the realities of war. They both adhered to the old military saying "Never be first, never be last and don't volunteer for anything".

Then you had Craig Grimm, the joker of the bunch despite his name suggesting otherwise. He had a rival for that title in Ben Payne, though his crude sense of humor didn't go down to well with this particular group. Payne tended to view things with a gung-ho approach.

But Ash couldn't get a read on Léon. He was slim, with dark brown hair and blue eyes that always seemed to be gazing at something far away. He was very quiet, especially for a marine. Shy, perhaps? He was out of place, behind the marines who had taken up places by the table and was leaning on the wall to her right. She had a bed feeling about him.

"We don't know what is down there, could be anything" Ash continued, "but whatever it is, our orders are to investigate and search for the source of the signal and whoever activated it."

"Should be easy enough. We just lock on to the signal and follow the trail." Jake said confidently.

"Signals gone dead. The engineer from the merchant ship that forwarded the signal to us said it only lasted a few minutes." Ash replied.

"Someone switched it on by accident, maybe." Hart suggested.

"Or it was a prisoner or some shit, man, got caught trying to call for help!" Raul added.

"Oh that'd be sweet, get to play the heroic savior!" Hart was getting excited.

"If it's an accident I say we blow them up anyway for wasting our time!" Payne joined in.

"Shut it, Marines!"

"Sorry Chief." The three marines apologized in unison.

Ash shook her head. Hundreds of thousands of colonists are being abducted, and this is what I have to work with?

"This isn't day care. You're professionals, act like it. Anyway, like I said, it doesn't matter. We go in quiet, see what's up and go from there. We'll drop in a couple clicks south from the base and hike to high ground for observation, but we'll have to be careful, there's a good chance they'll see our ship on radar. Now go and gear up."

They started filing out the room, Raul and Hart continuing their discussion from moments ago, hoping for some action. Léon waited until the rest had left, and pushed off the wall and followed behind silently.

"What's his deal?" Ash asked Joliet, as the door shut behind the silent marine.

"Who, Léon? Nobody knows, he doesn't say much. People fast tracked into marines. Must have some well-connected family, I guess. His files well classified though. But he's good in a fight, and as smart as they come. He'll make a good general one day I'd wager."

Ash shrugged. That's what she needed after all, decent effective soldiers. She was here to complete an assignment; she didn't to fix everyone's personal problems. I hope this isn't a waste of time, she thought as made her way back to her room to get ready.

She still used the same armor from 2 years ago. Her white and white phoenix armor bore all the scraps and scratches from long hard battles. Shepard always did know how to find a battle.

She had upgraded the kinetic barriers and some other minor enhancements, but refused to upgrade to a new set. It had served her well, and besides, each scrape was a reminder to be more careful.

She quickly checked over her weaponry, made sure they were clean and oiled. She knew they were, they'd been check many times during the long flights. Something to keep her mind occupied when she felt lonely. She'd served on several ships since she had lost Shepard during the collector attack, but none of them made her feel as welcome as she had been on the Normandy. She had been keeping her distance and she knew she was afraid to get close to people; she didn't want to feel that pain again.

Now that she knew Shepard was alive? What was she supposed to do? She loved him but hated that she might one day lose him again, and she couldn't take the thought of losing him twice. Her thoughts were interrupted as the comms buzzed in and Alcock announced that they were approaching the target.

Enough feeling sorry for myself, she thought. She holstered her weapons and packed her ammo pouches full of thermo clips.

The adrenaline was starting to kick in and she felt the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach that she always got before a mission. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Relax. Time to go.

She made one more quick check to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything and headed up to the bridge.