Chapter 1
Anderson stood and stared at the list of candidates for the specters. He was trying to figure out how they chose Shepard over the others. Especially Bardone, the hero of Elysium. It was a good thing that they chose to look at a list and not talk to them all at once. Shepard beat Bardone pretty badly last time they met. Same with Johnson who was with Shepard's brother John on Akuze and was the only survivor. It wasn't Johnson's fault that he grew up on the streets of earth and knew how to survive. Then there was Jackson. Whose family got killed on Mindoir. If he hadn't killed a slaver and taken up his gun then there would have been nothing to save when the alliance got there, and he was barely more than a teenager at the time. Anderson sighed. Shepard was the last person he expected to make the list even if he was very good at his job. His past was the reason that it would have been bad to bring in Jackson. Jackson had been part of his squad on Torfan. Jackson knew a secret about that day. A secret about Shepard, but he wouldn't tell it. Whatever that secret was, it had caused great tension between them. The rest of the list was filled with other candidates that weren't as impressive. No, in the end Shepard was the best choice.
Anderson's list:
Washington
Hanson
Johnson - Highly recommended
Jacobson
Tinklepaugh
Georgia - Missing in action
Carolina - advised against
Texas - Mentally unstable
Burns - Great leader, bad soldier (not allowed a sniper)
Tucker - good follower(if he can keep his mouth shut), bad soldier (Not allowed sniper after incident with Texas. Ships can't handle that much damage.)
Caboose - bad with teams (killed the last three), NO TANKS!(too emotionally attached, caused death of first team member)
Iglesias - no longer have armor in his size
Bardone - Highly recommended
Moore - all three Moore brothers have a reputation for being unstable with crazy combat and eating habits
Darson - friend of Bardone, up for darkfall initiative
Ryant - small, fast, and willing to fight enemies twice his size (100 Turian, 50 asari, 20 salarian, 15 krogan, and 2 yahg kills recorded.)
Sparrow - insistant we remember that his rank is captain, never shuts up, has a strange taste for rum
Jackson - Highly recommended
Shepard - Recommended
Bueller
Sheen
Bond
Shepard was walking to the ships cockpit while Anderson was looking over the list and now stood in the cockpit behind the pilot named Joker. That's what he was pretty sure it was at least. He didn't really care. He had already learned he was a pain in the ass and he already got on the voices nerves. It had already suggested snapping his neck more than once. Then there was the spectre. A damn turian. If there was one thing he hated, it was turians and all the other races. This turian was named Nihlus and wouldn't stop following Shepard. He had more than once thought of snapping his neck too.
"I hate that Guy." Joker stated. This brought Shepard back to reality and out of his thoughts.
"Nihlus gave you a compliment. So you hate him?" The copilot responded.
"Remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a point the size of a pinhead. So that's amazing! Besides, specters are trouble. I don't like having him onboard. Call me paranoid."
"Your paranoid," the copliot replied, "The council helped fund this project so they have the right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment."
"Yep that is the official story, but only an idiot believes the official story."
"Will you two just shut the fuck up and fly the ship!" Shepard screamed.
"Wow. Someone has anger issues." The pilot replied.
Suddenly the intercom went off with Anderson speaking over it. "Joker! Send the commander to the com room. I'd like to speak with him."
"Yes sir. And get ready, I think Nihlus is headed your way."
"He's already here lieutenant." Anderson replied as Joker shook his head.
"Did you hear him commander?"
"Yeah. And it sounds like you pissed him off."
"Captain always sounds like that when he's talking to me."
"Why am I not surprised?" Shepard said as he walked away.
On his way to the com room Shepard passed the navigator. Pressly he believed his name was but it didn't matter to him. Then he passed Dr. Chakwas talking to a marine who the voice had also marked as a pain in the ass. As he passed them he discovered that they were talking about Eden Prime and the spectres. He then passed them and entered the com room. Where not the captain, but Nihlus awaited him.
"Where's the captain?"
"Not here. I wanted to speak to you first."
"Like that's going to happen."
"It will. Now tell me about this colony we're going to I've heard it's quite beautiful."
"You come along to admire the planet? Or do you just want to mess with my head?"
"Don't be an ass. Is the Alliance truly ready for this?"
"I think it's time we tell the commander what's really going on."
"This is more than just a simple shakedown run."
"Well no shit Sherlock."
"Excavation teams on Eden Prime dug up something. It turned out to be a prothean beacon."
"And I give a shit why?"
"We're on our way to retrieve it." Nihlus said.
"That's not all Nihlus is here for. He's also here to observe you for spectre candidacy."
"What?! Who the fuck made that choice because I sure as hell didn't make it!"
"It was made by Udina, Hackett, and me. Besides this will help the alliance commander."
He wasn't happy about it but Shepard knew he was right. He still didn't like the fact that the turian would be watching him, but he would put up with it.
"Fine. Now what's the plan?"
"You'll be part of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it back to the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe."
"Fine. Lets get this over with." The voice was very agitated and it was giving him a headache.
"We should be getting close to Eden—"
"Captain!" Joker broke in over the loudspeaker.
"What is it Joker?"
"Urgent message from Eden Prime. Your gonna wanna see this sir."
"Bring it up on the screen."
The screen then lit up with with the video from Eden Prime showing it from the first person view of a soldier. It showed a woman in Phoenix armor tell the soldier recording to get down and then firing her weapon at some enemies. He then looked at some other marines who were also firing their weapons at an unseen enemy. Suddenly a loud noise broke out through the air, and all the soldiers looked up. Upon seeing this the soldier recording looked at what they were looking at and saw...
Shepard couldn't believe what he was seeing. On the screen was an enormous dreadnought shaped like a giant squid thing. All around this "squid" was red "lightning". The screen then went to static and Shepard was finally able to take his eyes away from it.
"That's it. Cuts out after that no com chatter at all."
"Freeze at 38.5," the screen returned to the dreadnought. Anderson stared at it for a few seconds and then said "Status report."
"Seventeen minutes out sir. We're the only military force in the area."
"Take us in fast and quiet. This mission just got a whole lot more complicated."
"A small strike team should be able to move quickly without drawing to much attention." Nihlus said. "It's our best chance to secure the beacon."
"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold." Anderson said to Nihlus. He then turned to Shepard who was still staring at the screen. "Commander." Shepard's eyes continued to stare at the screen. Anderson, thinking Shepard is just ignoring him, tries to get his attention again. "Shepard." Shepard went on staring. There was something about the ship that made him feel a certain way. Like if he controlled it then he would have ultimate power. Yet even though he had never felt it before, he felt like he had. Anderson, realizing something was up, tried the last thing he could think of. "Tarius?" That got Shepard's attention immediately. His face contorted in emotional pain, his hands clenched, and his biotics flared. No one had called him that in years. No one since...
"Yes, sir?"
"You all right?" Anderson felt the first ping of sympathy for Shepard. The look on his face had caused that.
"Fine... Sir"
Anderson knew that wasn't true but he moved on anyway. "Tell Jenkins and Alenko to suit up. Your going in."
"Yes sir." Shepard took one last look at the screen before turning around and walking out, thinking about ultimate power.
Author's Note:
First, I'd like to say that in the prologue I still haven't fixed the problem stated in BlueSpartan107's (my brother's) comment. I went to fix it and did but it didn't update when I hit the button, that I know of. Second, I ran out of room to type my explanation of the chapter with the apparently I'm using so I will be using a different one from now on and will have the explanation in the author's note at the beginning of the next chapter.