Disclaimer: EVE Online is owned by CCP and Mass Effect by Bioware, I claim ownership of nothing except the storyline.

I doubt I'll keep this pace up, but second chapter is a go. The third will probably be somewhere next week if I know myself. I would like to note here that I'm adapting some of the standard eve lore to make this work better. Some things are done for gameplay purposes simply make no sense in relation to the story and others I'm adapting to make sure a capsuleer can still act like a capsuleer.

As always I hope you enjoy it and any comments are welcome.

Introductions

Eve maneuvered her ship to only a few meters from the Normandy and extended the docking tube. She couldn't be bothered with fully disconnecting and then getting presentable though, would take too much time. So instead she simply jump cloned to a presentable clone stored in a stasis tube near the docking port. It was dressed as the projection she had conjured up earlier for ease of presentation and featured standard implants as well as some hardwires use full when out of the ship, unlike her piloting clone. Besides the metal plugs on her back and neck nothing would seem out of the ordinary though. Quickly she made her way across the tube to the Normandy's decontamination chamber and waited the scan out.

Meanwhile she was pondering her options. Her scans had detected an object about the size of a stargate in system, but it was sending out massive amounts of that strange gravimetric energy and she was still unsure of what that would do to her ship. Her navigation systems had already plotted out most of the star systems surrounding them but no recognizable pattern had emerged yet. She truly seemed to be in another galaxy. That also brought doubts around her immortality about though. Usually when her ship was destroyed she would just wake up in a station somewhere and move on. But she had detected no space stations as of yet and it would be unlikely that they had technology compatible with her neural implants. At least her ship itself still had an on board cloning bay, which meant her immortality was intact as long as the ship itself remained safe.

In theory her fluid routers should remain connected to its quantum pair no matter where she went. This is why it still worked in wormhole space. Theoretically it could just mean that the vast distance between galaxies she had covered had made even quantum pairs lag, though that wasn't a theory she was willing to put to the test. It seemed farfetched, but it was the only reason she could think off why quantum communication would be down. Admittedly she had never bothered to become an expert at the technology, but it would probably be worth crosschecking her database for the full specs and related theories.

A small blip announced the end of the scan and the doors opened to reveal Commander Shepard. She smiled and almost automatically she linked to the on board computer.

He had expected her to be taller somehow. He was around 1 meter 90 long, but she stood at least a full head shorter. Around 1.60 he guessed. She exhumed a wave of confidence that belied her small stature though. Lightly she walked in. "Interesting security you have here."She said as she stopped in front of him.

He frowned, not really sure what to say to that when EDI piped in. "Shepard she has attempted to link with the Normandy's on board computer, I have isolated her frequency and she has made no attempt to further engage the link."

She smiled apologetically at that. "Yeah, sorry about that, just a matter of habit. No offense intended."

Shepard stored that piece of information away for later, but graciously accepted the apology as he guided her to the comm. room. "No problem, were not that used to people linking with computers."

She laughed and followed along. "This is going to be one fun conversation then."

He smiled and specifically guided her through the lab and not the armory on their way to the comm. room. Upon entering everyone assembled looked up at. She seemingly hesitated for a split second at the sight of Garrus, Mordin and Grunt, but continued on. Shepard was about to start the introductions, when Eve made a giggling sound and pointed at Mordin. "You!" Mordin looked at Eve and then Shepard, but he was just as surprised as Mordin was. "Now the clicking and squeaking language makes sense. You have to be Salarian."

Mordin got over his confusing quickly and nodded. "I am indeed and you appear human."

She smiled back. "That's because I am human."

Shepard cut in at this point. "Before Mordin starts a debate with you about whether or not you're human, let's get the introductions done first." She nodded and smiled apologetically in reply. "From left to right we have Grunt, a Krogan." Grunt pounded his fists together and nodded as greeting. Eve just nodded back with an interested look, though seemed not intimidated in the least. "Then there's Jacob Taylor." Jacob saluted and quickly mouthed: "Pleasure to meet you ma'am." Eve answered by nodding. "Likewise." Shepard continued on. "Then there's doctor Mordin Solus, who as you guessed is Salarian, and Garrus Vakarian, who's a Turian." Garrus simply nodded while Mordin gave a slightly longer welcome. "Excited to meet you, look forward to good relations and exchange of knowledge." Eve simply giggled and nodded back. "And last but not least Miranda, my second in command." Who also thought a nod would suffice, which Eve returned, but here her eyes again lingered longer as if studying her form for some reason. "This is of course not the whole crew, but you've met the key members now."

After a few seconds she seemed to have had enough of studying Miranda and turned to the rest of the group and smiled again. "Well it's certainly a diverse group. I'd offer you to meet my crew, but I don't have one so that goes down the drain."

Miranda picked that up quickly. "Wait that ship of yours has no crew? It's bigger then a heavy cruiser, how do you run it without a couple of hundred crew members."

Before Eve could answer Mordin had run with it. "Implications interesting, must have stunning amounts of automation in systems. Still data flow would too much for one human. Advanced VI support perhaps?"

Eve giggled once more and cut in. "Something like that Mordin. Tell you what, I'll answer all your questions if you get me answers to mine."

Mordin nodded. "Reasonable proposition, equal information exchange."

Shepard agreed. "Fair enough, what do you want to know."

Eve smiled sweetly and answered. "Everything, give me access to your database. I'll answer your questions while my link answers mine."

Again Miranda was the first to respond. "I don't know if that's wise Shepard."

Mordin's thoughts immediately linked both facts together though. "Neural computer link, no crew on ship. Makes sense, link pilot directly to ship. Large increase in data process capability and highly improved reaction times. Technology for that highly advanced, beyond our current scope. Suggests permanent implants too as well as high degree of mental discipline."

Shepard took a moment to consider it. There was so much they could learn from her, as her technology had apparently developed without the use of element zero, and so far she seemed friendly and cooperative. On the other hand her advanced technology could mean she would be highly dangerous should she ever become hostile. "Alright, EDI give her standard access. Alert me is she request any other access or attempts to access classified files."

"As you wish." Was the only reply.

Eve closed her eyes for a second, smiled and focused back on the group. "Very well, what do you wish to know?"

"Well let's start with where did you come from and what are your people like?" Shepard replied.

"Well the system I just jumped out of was called Renyn in a region of space we call Essence, though I doubt that means much to you. We call our part the galaxy New Eden which is divided between 5 empires and numerous other smaller faction and spans a couple of thousand of systems. I'll give you a quick run through of all five. The five empires consist of the Gallente Federation, from which I originated, the only real democracy in our region of space. The Caldari State, a ruthless meritocracy run by a few mega corporations. The Amarr Empire, the largest and oldest of all the empires. They are ruled by an Empress that governs a religious caste system. The Minmatar republic, a tribal society since they managed to secure their independence from the Amarr empire a few centuries ago. Then last, but definitely not least the enigmatic Jove. They are the smallest empire, but technologically advanced beyond imagining. They make my ship look like it came from the stone age. But their downfall came from the very genetic enhancements that made them so advanced. They accidentally created a genetic disease that, for all their technology, they have been unable to cure and it's been slowly killing them ever since."

She seemed to consider something briefly and then continued on. "I am however no longer a part of any of the empires. I am what is called a capsuleer. A select breed of pilots numbering only a few thousand among the trillions that inhabit New Eden. We are sometimes referred to as a nation unto our own, simply due to the power and wealth we wield. As you already know, our ships require no crew, we plug ourselves directly into our ships and interface on a level unobtainable without extreme levels of implantation as well as AI support. We require no fuel, no sleep, no ammo and barely any food. Due to this the abilities of a standard capsuleer vessel easily outclasses that of its normally crewed counterpart. This in turn has led us to also to war. For ourselves, for others and simply just for money. The average capsuleer is killing machine both in space and on the ground that, where I come from at least, has no match." Grunt slightly laughed at the notion. "The main reason for that is our rather extreme level of augmentation." She looked at Shepard specifically for this. "You have cybernetic enhancements yourself, but they pale in comparison to mine. This body is not as frail as it might seem." For now she purposefully left out her immortality. That was something she would keep for when it was needed.

The others stayed silent, probably processing what she had said. Eve just kept on smiling. "For now I must admit I find this element zero fascinating, hell the entire idea of mass changing. It's also explained the weird readings I've been getting from the aft of this ship and from her." She pointed Miranda. "Biotics I assume. And then there are the Mass relay's. It's so familiar and at the same time so unlike how we travel space."

"So how do you travel through space?" Shepard asked.

"I'm sure the good doctor will ask for more details later, but simplistically seen we have two main ways of travel. The first we use mostly for intersystem travel and we call warp drive. The warp drive creates a depleted vacuum by repeatedly 'compressing' vacuum between two polar discs, draining all energy neutrons and quarks out of it. A laser-locked field is then created to hold the ever-increasing depleted vacuum bubble until it has enveloped the whole ship. When that happens the ship is able to enter FTL speed. We use this mainly for intersystem travel, though in theory it could be used for travel between systems as well. From what I gather our warp drive is about as fast as your standard ftl speeds are. Our main mode of transport between systems would be via what we call Stargates. These gates are pretty much like the mass relay network in that they allow for instantaneous travel between systems, bar for the fact that they work via a completely different mechanics. Stargates link together as pairs and create a stable wormhole between them. Basically like the one I just came through but then without the collapsing bit. Another major difference is that we built our own gate system and spread it throughout the stars. Any system that has inhabitants is linked to the network via one or more Stargates."

Again Mordin jumped on the information. "Fascinating, would greatly appreciate additional data on new method of travel. So many new possibilities. Not just new technologies, but applicable combinations as well."

Eve tilted her head to the side lightly and absently noted. "I like you, your fun." She then righted her head and nodded. "Data package transfer in progress. Done, 12.4 zettabytes of data transferred. Keep in mind that this is all pretty standard data. So if you have any problems interpreting it feel free to ask later." She then smiled and looked over at Commander Shepard while Mordin started scanning his omnitool.

"Commander." EDI piped in.

"Yes EDI."

"Eve is requesting further data clearance relating to current mission parameters and updates."

Miranda butted in on hearing that. "I'm pretty sure that can wait till later. There is still a lot of other things she can access first."

"That is incorrect operative Lawson." EDI replied. "In the past few minutes she has been indexing and copying data at the rate of around one yottabyte per minute. All information I have allowed her access to has already been accessed."

Eve's eyes never left Commander Shepards, but her lips had lost the smile. "I came here through a wormhole in search of new experiences and profit. This meeting has been quite entertaining and your data has been extremely interesting. So as far as I'm concerned this is fun, but my main objective will be searching for a way back. So far you have been helpful and I am honorable enough to return the favor. But my main question remains, why are you here? And will you be helpful beyond the point where I can be a use full source of knowledge?"

Shepard again took his time to consider. She seemed friendly but her quick change in attitude had surprised him. Could she be trusted? On the other hand she seemed a potential resource he couldn't ignore. Technology not dependent on mass effect fields, ships piloted by single persons and apparently technologically advanced enough to create their own equivalent to a Mass Relay network. He wasn't sure he wanted to think about how that ship she came with would stack up against an alliance heavy cruiser for firepower, but something told him it wouldn't end well for the cruiser. On the bright side he concluded that she hadn't simply disabled the Normandy and taken what she needed by force. Then again she might not have been sure of his ships combat capabilities. It would be a risk, trusting her, but then again fighting the collectors and the reapers was an even greater one. He decided to do the same thing with her as he had done with Jack and Grunt, trust her until she gave him reason to do otherwise.

"EDI give her access."

He carefully studied Eve's face while she analyzed the new data. It went from smile to frown back to smile and finally to a determent glare as she looked back up at him and nodded. "I agree."

He couldn't help but look a bit surprised. "Agree to what?"

"To what I now know was the inevitable question. I'll help you against the Reapers if you help me find a way home."

He couldn't help but smile. He should have know she would lay the connection. "Agreed then."

She closed her eyes for a moment and said. "Joker in three, two, one."

At that exact moment Joker came over comms. "Uh, commander. That ship out there just vanished."

"Did it cloak like the Normandy?" he replied, while looking at a bright smiling Eve.

"Um, well that too, it's not on any sensors anymore. That's not what worries me though. I mean it actually disappeared. One moment I look out the window and it's there and the next its gone. I'm afraid I'll bump into it by accident."

Shepard could only look at Eve in hopes of an answer, who started making her way out the room as she simply said. "Don't worry, it's still there Commander. I've locked my ship in a course around 500 meters off yours. It will keep that range no matter what so feel free to move Joker." And with that the door closed behind her.