Chapter 7

Eden Prime

Let me just this out of the way for my Shepard, he's a spacer, a War Hero (You probably figured that out) a Soldier and a default male appearance. Let me say this right now I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT. I don't care if you think Shepard would be better as a Sentinel or a Vanguard every time I played Mass Effect I picked the soldier class, and that's what I'm using for this story, if you've got a problem with that then I really don't care. Alright, this chapter will start the events of Eden Prime and will introduce some of my OCs more will show up as the story progresses. By the way the inside of the Normandy is identical to the one in Mass Effect 2 in terms of interior and size. I liked that one better and I thought why not?

Taylor Winters relaxed against the side of a Warthog, his short brown hair moving slightly in the soft breeze. He wore ODST armor, his helmet lying next to him He was sitting near a wide expanse of growing crops, one of many stationed on Eden Prime. Despite high hopes, the planet had never become quite as successful as Harvest with many other planets producing just as much produce, some more. As a result, Eden prime was not expected to be attacked any time soon. Because of these, defenses were relatively light. A couple hundred Marines and a handful of frigates in orbit were all the defenses that it had, but the UNSC was happy with it.

Taylor had an open book in his hands, The Crassus Campaign - A History, by Sarah Jennings. It was a novel that detailed one of the last battles of the Human-Covenant war, the Battle of Crassus. The battle hadn't been incredibly significant, with Crassus being a run down colony. What had made the battle famous to this very day, was that it was one of the first recorded instances of Humans and Sangheili fighting side by side.

Taylor was quite submerged in the book and barley noticed when an ODST approached him. "Working hard or hardly working?" the ODST asked in a feminine voice. Taylor looked up to see a women with red hair that was short and cropped, a popular style in the military.

"Would you believe hardly working?" Taylor asked.

The woman laughed. "As a matter of fact I would. There's not much to do out here is there? You're Taylor Winters right?"

"How'd you know that?" Taylor asked "Have we met before?"

"No we have not," the woman replied "No offense but you're the only biotic on the planet. I read about you in the database a few hours ago an I recognized your face. I'm Rebecca Frost by the way."

"Taylor Winters, Rebecca Frost, how much you wanna bet that someone's going to make a joke about that?"

"Maybe a couple hundred," Rebecca said as she sat in the passengers seat of the Warthog. "Anyway, have you heard about the Prothean beacon that they found?"

"Prothean beacon?" Taylor asked, looking interested.

"Yeah," said Rebecca, a research team found it yesterday. They've forbidden us from telling the civilians or anyone off planet about it, they're scared that pirates are going to steal it apparently. The UNSC decided that bringing it to the Citadel would be a good way to cool tensions with the Council."

"Makes sense," Taylor said, as he closed his book and climbed into the Warthogs passenger seat. "They're really big on Prothean technology, Hell, the Hanar worship them for Christ's sake."

"To be fair, we have no idea what we can get out of that beacon," Rebecca said "Forerunner technology is apparently more advanced than Prothean in some ways, but you have to admit that those Mass Relays are amazing it terms of how fast you can go."

"True," Taylor said "But the relays bug me a little bit."

"In what way?" Rebecca asked, a curious look on her face.

"When the Halo array was fired it any other civilizations should've been sent back to the stone age. Also, from what we've been able to tell, the Forerunners spent eons perfecting their technology. This raises a question, how did the Protheans develop such advanced technology so quickly? And while I'm at it, what happened to them?"

Rebecca shook her head. "Nobody knows. Maybe they had a bad run in with the Flood and fired the Halo array again."

"Maybe," Taylor said. The two were silent for a moment, before Taylor's helmet began to beep. "What the?" he said, as he grabbed the helmet and put it on, Rebecca doing the same with her helmet. "Looks like an emergency COM broadcast," Taylor said.

"JESUS CHRIST!" a panicked voice came through "To anyone who can assist, an unknown fleet is attacking Eden Prime! The flagship is massive and whatever kind of weapon it's using is cutting through out ships like it's nothing, we didn't even get a chance to fire our MACs! The ships that have survived have sustained heavy damage, and need to retreat, any and all UNSC forces HELP!"

Taylor took his hand away from his COM unit, and pulled his designated marksman rifle, or DMR, off of his back, slapping a clip into it. Looking at Rebecca, Taylor saw her slipping shells into a shotgun. "Do you think that they're here for the beacon."

"It's a possibility," she said. "I know where it is, get on the turret, I'll drive." Taylor nodded as he climbed out of the driver's seat and manned the turret, while Rebecca slipped into the driver's seat.

"Um, is it a safe bet that those are dropships?" Taylor asked pointing at a pair of ships that were descending towards their position. They were gray and seemed to be rather jagged.

"I've got a bad feeling that they are," Rebecca said as she slammed on the acceleration. "I think you better warm up that gun."

The Normandy tore through space at an incredible speed. The Normandy was a rather unique ship, it was around the size of a standard UNSC frigate, yet only required a skeleton crew to operate at maximum capacity. It was much larger than a Turian frigate, and originally it had been thought that it would be unable to land on most planets. However, the ship had been installed with RSN anti-gravity technology, so landing on a planet would be a cinch. Although it's engines were based off of Mass Effect technology, the Normandy was still equipped with a slipspace engine which was much more effective than any Mass Effect FTL with the exception of the Mass Relays. In addition to that it was equipped to prototype stealth systems, one system masked the engines making them invisible to radar, while a cloaking system rendering visual contact impossible.

In the communication's room Commander Shepard stood before Captain Anderson, and the Spectre Nihlus.

"So let me get this straight." Shepard said "We're going to Eden Prime to recover a Prothean beacon?"

"That's right Shepard," said Anderson, looking at Shepard "This is big, Prothean technology is the template for every last Council race with the exception the UNSC and RSN. The UNSC wants to cool the tensions between Humanity and the Council. We're haven't been on very good terms with them every since the Quarians were absorbed into the RSN."

Shepard frowned "Why would we be on bad terms with the Council because of that?"

"It's simple really," said Nihlus "The UNSC found Sanctuary and gave it to the RSN. While it is rather unreasonable, many view the UNSC as having helped the Quarians find a new planet. Many still resent the Quarians for having created the Geth, which are still in existence. Many are afraid of the Geth, and since they can not strike against the Geth, they strike against their creators."

"There's also the fact that some people are afraid of Humans," Nihlus continued. "They control over 200 planets and have quite a massive fleet. Some people look at your kind and fear you wish to rule the galaxy. They see danger, but some, like me, see potential. Delivering this beacon to the Citadel will allow many others to see that Humanity cares about other species and not just themselves."

"But that's not all," said Anderson "We want to go one step further in proving that Humans can be trusted."

"Your species shows amazing comprehension, being the only known one to have become a space fairing civilization with technology it developed itself," Nihlus said. "In addition to that, During the Blitz you demonstrated amazing skill an courage, holding off an advance single handily. Not every soldier could do that, that's why I put your name forward for the Spectres."

"You want me to join the Spectres?" Shepard asked, glancing at Anderson. Anderson nodded. "What exactly would I have to do?"

"I need to see your skills first hand," Nihlus said "Eden Prime will be just the beginning of my analysis, several other missions will follow."

"Shepard, you'll be leading the ground team," Anderson said, looking at Shepard. "Get the beacon and get it onto the ship ASAP, Nihlus will accompany you."

Shepard nodded "Just give the word."

"Good," said Anderson "We should be getting close to Eden-"

"Captain! we've got a problem," Joker's voice said coursing through the COM lines.

"What is it Joker?" Anderson asked, putting his hand to his COM unit.

"Emergency transmission from Eden Prime, audio only," Joker answered. "You're going to want to listen to this."

"Put it through Joker," Anderson commanded.

A panicked voice made it's way into the COM lines. "To anyone who can assist, an unknown fleet is attacking Eden Prime! The flagship is massive and whatever kind of weapon it's using is cutting through out ships like it's nothing, we didn't even get a chance to fire our MACs! The ships that have survived have sustained heavy damage, and need to retreat, any and all UNSC forces HELP!" After that, static was the only noise that could be heard.

"Everything cuts out after that, no COM traffic at all," Joker said, a slightly nervous tone in his voice. "There's nothing."

"Joker status," Anderson commanded.

"Thirteen minutes out captain, no other UNSC ships in the area." Joker replied.

"Take us in, fast and quite, bring the stealth systems online," Anderson said, a grim look on his face.

"A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention," Nihlus said, looking at Anderson "It's our best way of securing the beacon. There's no way that this attack is just a coincidence."

Anderson nodded "Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold," Anderson told Nihlus, who nodded and began to walk away. "Shepard, tell Alenko and Williams to suit up, you're going in."

Minutes later in the cargo hold, Ashley and Kaidan were strapping on the last of their ODST armor. "Nervous?" Kaidan asked, looking at Ashley as he loading his SMG.

"A bit," Ashley admitted as she inserted a clip into her assault rifle. "I just got transferred to this ship and things are already blowing up. And I thought things were just going to be annoying with Joker hanging around.

Kaiden smiled "He tends to have that effect on people." Straightening up, both ODSTs turned to face Anderson, standing on either side of Shepard.

"Alright Shepard, you're the muscle in this operation," Anderson said over the roar of the engines. "Go in fast and hard, and head for the beacon." As he spoke, the loading bay doors opened, and Nihlus jumped out. "Nihlus will scout out ahead and feed you status reports, apart from that, maintain radio silence."

"We've got his back," Shepard said, who was now, like Ashley and Kaidan, wearing full ODST armor.

"Approaching drop point 2," Joker said over the COM lines.

"Here we go," Shepard muttered.

Please note that The Battle of Crassus was not my original idea or in Halo cannon. That little part of my story with just a shout out to the fan fiction The Enemy of my Enemy. If you have not read it yet, I suggest that you go do so now.

Also remember this, when reading about my OCs remember that there may be more than meets the eye,(No they aren't transformers) They all have backstory waiting to be revealed, well except Taylor his backstory has pretty much already been laid out, I just need to give it filling. Well please review and tell me what you think.