Yeah, another chapter so soon. Next chapter should be action packed. BTW you should know several fonts shows different type of process.

BOLD - Author's Comments

ITALICS - The person's thoughts, always the person that is narrating.

"QUOTES" - What the person is actually saying. Italics might be used to emphasize certain words, but not all of if like thoughts would do.

Chapter 2: Arriving to Eden

Dakkben's Perspective

As the shuttle's frame softly creaks as I continued to read the datapad I had in my hand about Eden Prime.

One of first human colonies established beyond the Charon Relay, well suited for Earth native life. One of the most beautiful paradises known to all species. Located on the borders of the Terminus Systems.

I sighed as I closed my data pad and put it away in my pack.

Still, I'm never going to get used to pretending that Miranda Lawson the cold hearted bitch, my contact to Cerberus, is my sister.

I look around the inside of the shuttle, I can easily see several other marines, some of which are fresh out of basics training.

When the attack comes, these guys are going to be slaughtered, looks like I got my work cut out for me. I thought as I softly chuckled to myself.

The shuttle jolted to a stop and I can hear the airlock door pop open.

"Looks like we're here" I said to myself as I got off my seat, picked up my pack and moved to get out of the shuttle. But before I could get to the airlock, a big, burly man quickly moved to shove me out of the way. I quickly grab one of his arms and twisted it as I quickly got behind him, pinning his arm to his back.

"If you want to keep that arm, I suggest you leave me alone, understood?" I growled at him as I twisted his arm a bit more. The big man let out a slight yelp of pain before nodding yes. I sighed as I let go of his arm, picked my pack back up, then left through the airlock.

I noticed a woman in a pink-white Onyx armor barking orders at other marines.

She must be the one in charge. I thought to myself as I walked over to her.

I quickly stopped, dropped my pack and gave her a brief salute.

"Serviceman Slade, reporting for duty, ma'am!" I said. She glanced over to me and sighed as she gave me a brisk salute.

"At ease, serviceman. The barracks is over there" she said as she pointed to the barracks. "Put away your things and report back here at 1400 hours". I gave her another salute in affirmative response and began to head to the barracks.

I found my bunk and began to put my things away when the burly man from the shuttle walked up from behind me and tried to take my pack.

"What is your problem?" I growled at him, pushing him away. He only laughed and tried again, this time, I punched him in the face. I heard loud gasps from other soldiers in the barracks, surprised that a 5 foot 11 would punch a 6 foot 7 mountain of a man. The big man only laughed again "Well, little man, how 'bout we settle this outside, eh?" he said.

Stupid bastard, I can easily wipe up the floor with him and still fight an army, looks like he's in for a surprise. "You're on, and you are...?" I said as I pushed him out of my way, careful to not completely floor him to keep my full strength hidden.

"Leroy, little man! Leroy!" he said as he followed me outside, I can see the woman I talked to briefly looking at me. I sighed as I turned to face Leroy only to be punched in the face by a big fist. I quickly allowed myself to fall to the ground and rolled onto my feet. Leroy laughed at me again as he lunged at me, I quickly dodged to the left and punched him in the gut, careful to not punch hard enough to rip through. Leroy was taken off guard by the sudden counterattack and was sprawled on the ground, holding his stomach.

Wait...is he...crying? I thought to as I noticed Leroy was shaking in soft cries. I look up from Leroy to see everyone from the barracks looking at me, shocked. "What?" I said, annoyed. Several murmurs of 'nothing' and 'badass' was heard. I can hear footsteps from behind and turned to face the woman from before. She looked at me with, what can be described as silent surprise.

She smirked softly and said " Nice job, Serviceman, didn't think he would go down in one hit."

I only nodded at her, she gestured me to follow her, so I did.

"I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, by the way. You can call me Ash after what you did. I was actually going over there to kick his ass for insubordination, but since you already took care of that, I'm thinking you should be my second in command seeing how well you handled yourself" she said as she patted me on the shoulder.

I was taken off guard by such statement, but it was a way to gain her trust, so I replied "Thank you ma'-, I mean, Ash" as I gave her a weak smile. "So where are we going? " I asked Ash.

She only smiled as she opened a door to another building, I noticed a sign above the door saying 'Training Facility'. Ash went in, and I quickly followed behind, I saw many exercise equipments, yoga mats, even sparring areas along with reinforced punching bags.

"Like what you see?" Ash said as she began to take off her pink-white Onyx armor.

"Huh? What are you doing Ash?" I said, surprised at Ash's remark.

"We're gonna spar, see if you can hold your own against an experienced soldier, so take off your armor" she replied as she finished taking her armor off, wearing only a navy blue tank top along with blue shorts that reached down to her knees.

"Allright, gimme a min" I sighed as I took my armor off, piece by piece.

Feels awkward, I'm not even wearing a shirt at all, hope she doesn-. My train of thought was interrupted as I glanced over to Ash, she was staring!

Feeling a bit awkward as I removed the last pieces of my armor, wearing only my shorts that stretches to my knees.

"Uhh, Ash? Like what you see?" I said. She quickly looked away, I noticed a slight pinkish blush on her cheeks.

"Allright...I'll grab a shirt..." I said as I looked around the room, noticing some spare clothes near the towels, I put it on, it was another tank top, similar to Ash's but bigger to fit on men. I walked back to the sparring area to face her, she looked back to me and gave me a nod.

But before any of us made a move, the door suddenly opened up and many people poured in including officials, trainees, soldiers, even Leroy himself, smirking at me. I sighed as I looked back to Ash in time to quickly dodge her right hook. I took a fighting stance and rapidly moved to do a left jab. She quickly blocked it, big mistake as the power behind the jab caught her by surprise as her whole upper body was twisted by that jab.

Damn gotta be careful, don't want to blow my cover.

Ash quickly used the momentum to backhand me with her right hand. I only gave her a slight grin as I did a right hook, she dodged it, as expected, she copied what I did to Leroy and tried to uppercut me in the gut. Instead, she only hit air as I twisted around her and got her in a headlock.

"So, are we gonna keep fighting until one of us breaks something?" I asked her. She only gave me a nod as I let her out of the headlock.

"Draw?" she asked. I noticed she said it in an angry tone.

Maybe trying to save face in front of others?

"Yup" I said as I outstretched my hand to her. She took it and shook it as I heard the spectators groan as I let go of her hand. I picked up the pieces of my armor and put them on as she did. The others quickly left as we were suiting up, I can feel Ash leaning into my ear "You tell anyone otherwise, I will kill you in your sleep".

I only laughed and replied "Wouldn't dream of it, Ash".

She only smirked in a serious face before saying "Good, don't want them to think I'm going soft, c'mon, I'll show you to your private quarters, and to your new responsibilities" as she led me out of the door. She showed me to my new quarters, told me what to do. Throughout the weeks on Eden Prime, others had grudgingly developed respect, even Leroy learned to behave after I beat him for the 87th time in the sparring sessions. I've made several reports back to Miranda, she seems satisfied that I've been gaining trust and managed a position of responsibility. I've noticed that even Ash seemed to develop a sisterly relationship as we both had respect for each other.

Now...its been three months, I'm not sure if the sources that Illusive Man had was that reliable. But still, I drag myself out of my bunk, put on my armor, but this time, I took a moment to look over it. It was a different design from my original medium armor which had been pitch black with red trim along with Cerberus logo, but this Alliance version of my Cerberus Onyx armor was painted dark gray with navy blue trim. I sighed as I finished putting my armor on, picked my assault rifle, pistol and shotgun and strapped them in their respective places. But as soon as I reached the door, the building shook as sounds of screaming filled my ears. I quickly got my assault rifle out and ran through the door. What I saw shocked me, a massive dreadnought was destroying the colony as colonists tried to flee in terror.

The attack had begun.