Face-Off

Kahn stood watching everything unfold from a video screen in front of him. The human ship had been spotted by a scout party roughly 10 standard galactic minutes before they breached into the facilities. He was unsure of what the humans intentions were, but when he saw that it was him who had landed on the planet, Kahn knew that he could use this to hid advantage. He intentionally staffed a lack of guards in each of the facilities just so he could monitor his prey and watch their movements, learning just exactly how they move. Although he did not know why they were here, he let them have almost a free pass around anywhere they wanted to go. Kahn had to sacrifice the occasional guard but the end justified the means in this situation.

What he did not plan for was the two person team of the Drell and Quarian that shut down the main security systems and the communications. It was no big deal, the deck was still stacked highly in his favor and he could not lose.

Curiosity struck him when he saw the party of three enter into one of the many holding areas that were used to keep the doctors in at night or when they were not needed. Surely he would not risk liberating a large number of individuals, not without more man power. Then he was confused when he watched as they rescued one Salarian in particular. The same one that Kahn had questioned just a few days before. He could tell because the Salarian had the scratches across his face from Kahn's claws.

As Kahn watched the scene developing from the safety of one of the many rooms in the mountains, the doors to his room opened and the five Grand Generals, led by General Odsa, entered the room. They walked with a purpose and stood around Kahn. He took comfort in knowing that he was bigger and stronger than they all were. He also had youth on his side, and the knowledge that he was almost untouchable by anyone other than Geng.

"Why is there a human ship here whelp?" Odsa said, trying to intimidate Kahn. It was not working. "Not only a human ship, but the ship that our people have been following for over two years now. Of all of us, you should understand how important this ship and the commander of it is to us. We have him in our clutches and you are simply letting him run around unchecked!" Kahn stood there silently, his eyes firmly locked on the vid screen.

"A superior official has demanded an answer from you young one!" Midor belted out. He put his hand forcefully on Kahn's shoulder. Kahn reached up and latched his enormous paw on Midor's wrist. In one motion he removed the older Anahaus's paw and snapped the bones in his wrist. Midor backed away howling in pain and clutching at his right arm.

"What the hell is your problem whelp?" Odsa said getting in Kahn's face. "You allow a human led team to infiltrate our facilities and then assault a superior officer! That alone is enough to be killed."

"Everything is going according to the way in which I planned it General Odsa," Kahn said calmly and coolly. "With all of your wisdom I would have thought that you would know when you are hunting a dangerous prey, you wait for the opportune moment to strike. Right now is not that time. I am watching and learning how he operates."

"Plan? You are telling me that you are allowing him to roam freely?" Darv said in shock.

"This is bold, even for you Kahn," Odsa said going back to check on Midor. Odsa grabbed Midor's arm. "You are not going to like what I am going to do." Midor nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. Odsa pulled and twisted on his arm, realigning the bones. An earsplitting howl filled the room as Midor favored his arm. Kahn turned back to the screen and watched as the human led the female human and the two Salarians out of the holding room and head back out the way they had came in. The larger group that was led by another dark skinned human had met up with the Quarian and Drell and were also beginning to exit the facilities.

"I am taking over this ridiculous operation," Odsa said to Kahn. He was trying to pull rank and Kahn wanted nothing of the sort to happen.

"No you senile bastard!" Kahn yelled spinning around quickly. Finally his anger and wrath were beginning to be unleashed. He had done well to quench his fury thus far but now Odsa was stepping over a line.

"A handful of our guards are already dead," Odsa began to explain. "You uncle will already be furious with that information, and with this human being here and you now wanting to capture him will only make it worse on you." The general's false sense of compassion made Kahn sick. His involvement was not to keep Kahn from feeling the wrath of his uncle, no, but to give Odsa all of the glory that would come with capturing him. That was not how Kahn foresaw any of this going. He had a well thought out plan that, if executed properly, would allow his race to take one giant step closer to domination.

"No General Odsa," Kahn said defiantly. "This is my operation. I have put this together and I will be a damned fool if I allow you to try and take this from me." Odsa grinned and took a step closer to Kahn, getting in his face, trying once more to intimidate him. Both of them stood there ground, neither wanting to budge or give up their ground. It took everything inside of Kahn to not simply reach out and snap the neck of the older general. But there was no formal challenge made to him. If Odsa had made some sort of challenge or test of strength then it would have been perfectly legal inside the confines of Anahaus law for Kahn to have killed him. Odsa must have been able to sense what Kahn wanted to do to him, so he toyed with him by not issuing the challenge.

"Kahn you have much to learn," Odsa said backing away and turning his back to him. "I will head to the human's ship and deal with this personally." Kahn began to protest but held his tounge. There was going to be no stopping a Grand General when he already had his mind set to do something. But this could also work further in Kahn's favor. Odsa would more than likely go by himself out there and face him. The only support would be his shields, gun and the standard blade he had on his gauntlet. The general's pride was going to be his downfall and Kahn wanted to make sure that he was able to witness it first hand.

"I concede to you General Odsa," Kahn said, bowing his head. "You can now be in charge and can take whatever measures you think are necessary."

"Do not worry Kahn, I plan on," Odsa said. He walked out of the room and towards the shuttles that would take him out to the human ship.

Kahn turned back around to the vid screen and smiled. It was not a smile from a job well done, it was a smile forged of hate and contempt for the general. A smile that outwardly described what he knew on the inside; the general, was foolishly giving away his life.

Joker

Joker sat in the cockpit of the Normandy. The seat had became somewhat of a throne for him and the cockpit was like his castle. The rest of the ship was of course Shepard's, but the cockpit was all that Joker needed. Everything that he needed to sustain himself was up here. Things ranging from vids, food, a comfy chair to sleep in, and even someone to talk to. Although she would get a little annoying with her constantly bugging and reminding him about what he did or did not do on his checklists, EDI had become an integral part of Joker's life. She had a great processing speed that allowed her to run searches and scans that it would normally take Joker a long while to run.

Joker stretched back gently, not wanting to cause any unnecessary pain, and yawned. Shepard and the rest of the crew had been gone for over half an hour, longer than what they had said they wanted to be gone. They had been late returning from missions before so that did not cause any red flags to go up. He looked down at the long ranged scanner for the 4th time in about 30 minutes. Yet again there was nothing on the screen, just like the 3 other times before it.

Damn it he was bored and had run out of things to do. And by things to do he meant things that he could delegate to EDI or anyone else in the crew. He would have figured that by now people would have learned to stop doing things he asked them to do. Either they were doing it to be nice to him, or because they felt sorry for him and his condition. Either way, less is more. Less work that he had to do meant the more time he had to goof off.

He gingerly got out of his chair and stood in the cock pit. "EDI, I am gonna go outside for a minute. I need to stretch and get some fresh air. The ship is all yours."

"Very well Mr. Moreau," EDI said in reply. Joker hobbled from the cockpit and over to the airlock. He waved his hand over the door and it opened up, allowing him access to the outside world. A small ramp extended from the Normandy and stopped extending itself once it touched the ground below it. Joker slowly worked his way down the ramp, taking in many deep breaths of the oxygen rich air. It was nice to be getting in the real thing, unlike the artificial air that was supplied on places like the Citadel. The scenery was nice and real too.

He walked off of the ramp and over towards one of the many trees that were in the area surrounding the ship. He reached out and touched it. It was just like a tree on the Citadel, although he knew that this one was alive and real. The bark was a deep brown color and the leaves on it were a healthy green. Being cooped up in that ship for so long and being around all of the unnatural wonders that mankind and the other races had created had made him lose his appreciation for all of the beauty and grandeur there was in nature. This planet was proof that no matter how hard they try on the Citadel, they cannot recreate nature's beauty.

Joker left the tree and walked back towards the ship. Since he was out here he might as well inspect the hull of the ship. Everything seemed to be in order. The people at the Citadel made some nice repairs, including the hole the Oculus left when they were on their way to the Collector home world. The damn thing left a nice hole in the side of the Normandy, right before Shepard blew it straight to hell. Joker rounded the side of the ship opposite the airlock and kept doing his brief inspection of everything. Nothing was out of place or out of the ordinary. He smiled. The Normandy was his life, and everyone knew that.

In the distance Joker could hear the faint sound of what he thought was a small shuttle some ways off. He was not able to pinpoint where the sound was coming from but it was getting louder and closer. Joker was beginning to get a little nervous, he knew that Shepard and the rest of the crew went out on foot and left the shuttle here on the ship. Even Legion and Garrus were out there without any form of transportation. The sound of the shuttle kept getting louder and louder until he was finally able to see it. It came in high and fast, with only one occupant, the driver. Joker wasn't sure what the driver was, but it had on an orange armor, and its body looked to be completely covered in black fur.

"Joker its Garrus," Joker heard in his ear. "I see the shuttle but neither one of us and can get a good shot at him. We will keep on watching and see what he is going to try and do. Just stay calm ok?" Joker offered up no response and tried to hobble back to the ship. The shuttle landed and the driver got out, allowing Joker to finally be able to see just how big he was. He was easily a foot taller than Joker and out weighed him considerably. The gun on his hip and the blade on his wrist. He quickly identified it as an Anahaus and he instantly had a greater respect for the creatures.

The Anahaus moved towards him quickly, quicker than Joker would have ever imagined him to have moved. He made up the gap there was between the two of them quickly and before Joker knew what was going on, the beast knocked him back onto the ground. The Anahaus towered over him. Some of its drool dripped down and landed on Joker's uniform. His hot, stinky breath made Joker a little queasy, and he tried to crawl away from him.

Where the hell was Shepard at? And why hadn't Garrus or Legion tried shooting this monstrosity down?

It kept moving closer and reached out for Joker's shirt and latched onto it. Joker could feel his razor like claws barely scratch against his chest, drawing a little bit of blood from it. The Anahaus lifted him up off of the ground and brought Joker in close to him. He began to sniff him, trying to get a feel for Joker. Joker began to squirm around a bit in the monsters clutches, but the Anahaus growled angrily and loudly in Joker's face.

"Okay, okay I get it. I won't move!" Joker said out loud. The Anahaus cocked its head to the right in curiosity, as if he was trying to understand what Joker was saying. He gave off an inquisitive growl and lifted Joker higher into the air. Joker was amazed at the almost effortless ease that the Anahaus used to lift him up. He kept his eyes on the creatures gun and wrist blade, afraid that he may use either one of them at any time.

"Joker it is Garrus again," he said into Joker's ear piece. "Shepard is on his way to you now. I told him about your…predicament, and he is busting his ass to get there."

"That's…that's great guys thanks," Joker said in a tone that would not startle the Anahaus. "Why don't you take a shot and see what happens? Maybe we don't need Shepard right now."

"Not with you in his hands and being that close to the Normandy," Garrus said. "There are too many variable to consider. Right now just keep yourself calm and do not make any sudden movements. I would hate to see something like him pissed off."

"S-sure Garrus," Joker said. "You always know best…I guess." Joker swallowed the lump in his throat and kept letting the Anahaus examine him. Despite being scares shitless, Joker was amazed that the creature was just looking him over, and not trying to maul him to death or give him one quick bite to his jugular.

Everything was falling the way Garrus had wanted it to. Joker was being calm, the creature was not having any sort of reaction to anything he was doing, and Shepard was on his way back. But there was something that none of them had planned for. A variable that in all of his tactical genius Garrus Vakarian foolishly looked over when trying to map out what was going to happen. Ken Donnelly.

Ken stepped out onto the ramp, assault rifle in his hands. He looked around in both directions and saw nothing. EDI had informed him that there was something coming up on the long ranged scanners, and that Joker was outside of the ship. Her cool and calculated voice had no ability to influx when trying to simulate being worried, but Ken knew she was.

He walked down off of the ramp and heard a low growling sound coming from underneath the Normandy. Ken turned and pointed his assault rifle out, ready to shoot anything down that would try to harm him. He finally saw Joker, being hoisted into the air and examined by some kind of monster with orange armor on. The monster was waving Joker around like he was a rag doll, and continually sniffing him. Ken took a few more steps closer and pointed his gun out at the creature. After another moment, he worked up the nerve to speak.

"Put him down!" Ken hollered, gun at the ready to kill the beast. "Put him down or I will fire!" The Anahaus turned its head and looked at Ken. He let out a low muffled growl and began to show his teeth.

"Ken, drop you gun and go back inside," Joker said calmly. The Anahaus was beginning to get angry. He looked back at Joker and then at Ken once more. "Don't shoot your damn gun Ken you could hit me!" Ken stood there shaking, very hesitant about what to do next. His eyes went back and forth from the fear stricken Joker, to his demonic looking assailant. Ken took a commanding step forward and kept the assault rifle locked on the creature.

"This has to be one of them," Ken thought to himself. "An Anahaus." They had been told about them by EDI, just as she had told Shepard and his squad. Ken was shaking out of fear and nervousness, but tried to keep some sort of composure.

"Ken, this is a bad idea," Joker said. His voice was beginning to get a little higher, the closer he felt like he and his crewmate got to danger.

The Anahaus roared loudly and held joker to his side. With his free hand he grabbed the pistol on his hip and aimed it out at Ken. Joker flailed around, trying to get free from the Anahaus's clutched. The behemoth looked at him and threw him down to the ground. Joker was lucky to only have the wind knocked out of him as he hit. The Anahaus reached back down and grabbed Joker by one of his frail arms. He squeezed tightly, causing the bones in Joker's arm to shatter and break. Joker could feel the bones in his arm begin to crumble away underneath the might of the Anahaus. He let out an inhuman scream of pain and agony, hoping that this monster would let him go.

Ken had enough of seeing his friend in pain and fired off a quick brace of shots right into the chest of the Anahaus. The monster did not move at all and began to turn his head to look over at Ken who was looking like he was gearing up to take another shot at the Anahaus. Both of the bullets came off of his chest, causing no injuries or damage to him at all.

"Oh shit," Ken said under his breath. The Anahaus quickly pulled out the pistol that was attached to his hip, aimed, and fired at Ken. The bullet him square in the chest, knocking him back and sending him to the ground. Blood began to slowly seep out from underneath of his prone and lifeless body, causing Joker to fear the worst.

"Damn it you big fury bastard!" Joker yelled, trying to kick out at the Anahaus. The Anahaus gave him what looked like a sick smile and squeezed tighter around Joker's arm. There was not much bone that had not yet been broken by the Anahaus, and now he was simply squeezing and digging his nails into Joker's flesh. Joker watched as small trickles of blood came down his arm. As the tears streamed down his face he hoped and prayed that this torture would soon end so he could be able to help Ken.

What happened next happened so fast that it took Joker by surprise. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a solid object smash into the side of the Anahaus's head. Another second later and Joker was back on the ground. But this time he was able to crawl away from the Anahaus and made his over to the body of Ken. He looked up to see Shepard squaring off against the much larger Anahaus. He reached over to Ken's neck and tried to feel for a pulse. He waited and felt and finally he found it. Somehow Ken was alive, albeit barely. Miranda, Mordin, and another Salarian that he could only assume to be Dr. Corson came running to side.

"He has been shot but he is still alive, barely," Joker said. Mordin gave Ken the rest of his Medi-Gel, hoping that could prolong his life long enough.

"He needs to go to Dr. Chakwas," Miranda said to the doctors. "Take him in the there and I will help Joker."

"What about the Commander?" Joker asked, grimacing in pain.

"Don't worry about the Commander," Miranda said. "We need to get back inside and have EDI fire up the ship. We are getting off of this world." Miranda helped Joker up to his feet and supported him as they walked up the ramp. She looked back, concerned for Shepard's life. But he was a big boy who could handle himself. And if she got involved then she would only be getting in the way. Plus, Jacob and his team were also on their way back.

Shepard pulled out his shotgun and aimed it at the Anahaus in front of him. The only ones that he had faced off against today had no armor or shielding, and this one had both of them. The Anahaus moved forward a little slashed downward with the blade on his wrist gauntlet, right at Shepard's head. Shepard brought the shotgun up to parry the strike but the blade tore through the shotgun, leaving it in two pieces. An evil roar came from the Anahaus as he lunged forward for another strike. Shepard rolled to the side and pulled out his assault rife. It took a second for it to open up to be ready to use, and that down time was all that the Anahaus needed to capitalize.

He grabbed the assault rifle and flung Shepard into a nearby tree. Shepard got to all fours, a little groggy, and felt around for his rifle. He looked over to his left and saw the Anahaus moving quickly towards him. Before Shepard could grab another weapon, the Anahaus ran up to him and kicked him in the side, breaking at least two of his ribs. Shepard held his side as a sharp pain began to shoot up through his body. The paw of the Anahaus grabbed him by the throw and lifted him up off of the ground. He roared at Shepard, causing spit and saliva to run out of his mouth. Shepard reached one hand down for the pistol that attached to his hip, but the Anahaus took notice.

The Anahaus slammed Shepard back first into another tree, multiple times. A glass look came over Shepard's eyes as he was thrown like a sack of potatoes to the ground. He looked up at the blue skies, trying to keep his eyes open and not slip into unconsciousness. He watched from the corner of his eye as the Anahaus's foot came crashing down onto his chest. Shepard wailed and screamed out in pain while the Anahaus pressed down harder and added more weight onto Shepard's chest. Every time he thought that he was going to get a small reprieve from the pain, the behemoth over him would send his foot back crashing down onto his chest.

Breathing became a struggle, as did the desire to maintain consciousness. Each stomp was less painful and every time hear heard a roar it was fainter and seemed farther away. Then everything seemed to change. Crack! Shepard knew that sound. It was the sound of a sniper rifle from a close distance. The Anahaus was rocked a bit, but stayed with his foot on Shepard. Crack! A second bullet fired in from a close distance, this time the shields of the Anahaus were beginning to fade. Shepard felt around for his pistol, knowing that he only had a few seconds left before he blacked out from the pain.

Crack! Crack! Another salvo of bullets came flying in. The first one knocked out the shield. The second bullet zipped in and connected with the Anahaus right in his knee cap, shattering it, and sending the monster into a frenzy. Shepard pulled out his pistol and aimed at its head. He pulled the trigger and watched as blood exited from the back of its head. The beast crashed down to the ground and laid there lifeless.

Shepard rolled to his side and coughed up a little bit of blood. He felt himself being lifted up off of the ground and was relieved to see that it was Grunt.

"Come on Shepard," said Grunt. He threw the Commander over his shoulder and ran up the ramp and into the ship. The rest of the crew followed them on inside and the ramp began to retract back into the ship.

Grunt carried Shepard down to the med-bay with Joker and Ken, while EDI took full control of the ship. The engines roared to life and the familiar hum of the Normandy's systems could be heard throughout the ship. EDI lifted the ship off of the ground and plotted a course that would lead them back to the Citadel, and report their findings. Once the ship was out of Calypso's orbit EDI switched on the ships Kinetic Barriers and Mass Effect fields and headed for the nearest Mass Relay.

Kahn

It was a small personal victory for Kahn; two of them at that. General Odsa was dead, and he was able to ensure that the Salarian doctor made it onto the ship. Kahn knew something that the generals did not: the Salarians all have locator chips installed in all of them, making it easy to track them down should they try to escape. Unfortunate as it was that the general would not listen to him, this was Kahn's gain. The other four Grand Generals did not have the hatred for him like Odsa did, and maybe they would be willing to listen to him now. With Odsa gone it meant that Kahn would be able to speak to them without fear of seeds of doubt planted in.

Kahn stood in front of a holographic image of his Uncle Geng. "I have good news and bad news Excellency. General Odsa has been killed today."

Geng was internally furious, but did not stray from his normally composed demeanor. "And the good news?" To Kahn that was the good news. In fact, to him there was no bad news, only news that needed to be classified as such for the sake of his uncle.

"The good news is, a Salarian went missing," Kahn answered. Geng looked at him in shock.

"Be quick in your explanation my young nephew," Geng said.

"He has the Salarian," Kahn replied. He saw the thoughts running through his uncle's head as Kahn broke that news to him. Finally they could begin their vision.