This soldier wasn't kidding around. Despite having her own ambush turned against her, she still managed to fight to a stalemate. And skill and strength were astounding, the dull pain throbbing in her chest and back was proof of that. Her equipment was also top notch, with an N7 Valkyrie and the dreaded Hane-Kedar armour, synching the muscle control with the targeting algorithms. With those two combined, you barely had to aim. Sarah was glad she didn't let her prey take even once shot.

For the moment, the gun was a poor advantage against such a beast, but Sarah still had her cloak should things turned south.

She had negotiated in worse conditions.

She revealed her face and her name, hoping it would tip the balance in her favour. The N7 was denying knowing where they were, and it was possible after all, but she'd rather not be fooled. If saving the galaxy had any perks, it was bringing a certain aura of respect.

That and the galaxy was saved.

However, the slow laugh she heard from behind the helmet was telling her the N7 wasn't impressed.

-Cerberus really did a poor job this time, she said, or did you escaped the clone batch before you were completely cooked?

The commander was confused for a second. What was that soldier talking about.

-Wait... you think I'm a... clone?

-And one even uglier than the last one. I am the only Shepard.

The woman took her helmet off, showing her face at last.

She had dark hair falling just above her shoulders, and eyes of a clearest blue. But her skin was... ravaged. Sarah could see the traces of scarification all over her, forming a pattern. A very familiar pattern.

While not glowing anymore, there was no doubt it was the trace of the Lazarus Project, the one that had only one subject. Her. And even if there had been another, the scars wouldn't be so exactly at the places.

The woman grinned.

And suddenly charged. To slow however, as Sarah never let her guard down. Cloaking away, she slipped through the other's assault, rolled and grabbed her rifle. But as soon as she turned to face her attacker, she saw the barrel of the Valkyrie pointing at her general direction. Despite how bulky she looked, the other Shepard was as fast as she was and had grabbed her own weapon.

The concussive shot was deafening, and the shock sent her on her back, disabling her cloak.

She got up and aimed in one movement, and suddenly, they were both aiming at the other, each with a real chance of dealing a killing blow.

-That's better, sternly stated the N7. Now, answer me before I turn you into a bloody pulp. Who sent you and where am I?

-I could ask you the same. I have no idea where we are, but I'm fairly certain I'm no clone.

-That so, she mocked

Sarah was holding her confusion firmly in check, flooding her own mind with tactical analysis and diplomatic possibilities. She knew she wasn't a clone. But she may not need to prove it.

-So you're Shepard, she began. How's war going?

-Reapers are dead, and so will you be if you don't give me a good reason not to shoot.

-How are the dreams?

The other froze still. Sarah was both relieved and scared and the implication of her line of reasoning.

-What dreams? Tried to bluff the other one.

-It's written all over your face. You still dream of it don't you? Not the boy. Not anymore. You dream of colours that don't exists. Places you've never been. And... of those last words, over and over again.

-How do you know this? No one know this!

-I do. I dream of it too.

Sarah took a chance and slowly lowered her weapon. Just in case though, she discreetly armed her hacking device and tuned it to disrupt the lights.

-I don't know where we are, or what the hell is going on. But if you still dream of Anderson's last words every time you shut your eyes, then you know I'm no clone.

And just like that, the other one lowered her own weapon. She looked as confused as Sarah felt. Nothing made any sense since she woke up. But she had to stay focused. Whoever that woman in front of her really was, she was no clone. And neither was Sarah.

So they were both soldiers in hostile territory.

No time to stand idle.

In front of her, the other Shepard seemed to have arrived at the same conclusion. She simply said.

-Alright, you win this round "Shepard". How did you get here?

-Can't remember, it's all blurry. I just remember waking up in the Prometheus, damaged and inside this station.

-Same here, can't bring any memory back.

-Wait, I had the VI run diagnostics and scans while I was away, maybe it has found something.

Sarah opened her omnitool and contacted the Prometheus's VI. The hologram appeared from the back of her wrist.

-VI, give me your analysis of the events as far as you can go back.

-I have restored 78% of the data Commander. The activation of the escape pod began as a manual command by yourself. My scans indicate that it was inside a critically damaged Salarian Exploration Ship, designation unknown, somewhere within the Perseus Veil.

The other Shepard muttered something, but didn't seemed willing to share it.

The VI continued.

-The data starts to erodes at this point. The sensors detected a brief surge of gravitational pressure combined with bombardments of unknown radiations blinding the sensors, and provoking an emergency lockdown for 6 minute 48 seconds. The lockdown was lifted by you.

And that was all, nothing more. Sarah emitted a disappointed sigh. She had hoped that the informations would be of more use, maybe trigger something inside her, but there was nothing. Nothing more than the feeling of her head being crushed as she was lift from her seat inside the pod and banged on the side.

She knew that if the sensors had no idea what happened, knowing the context held no promise of enlightening her. Still, she hated the thought of having a piece of the puzzle just out of reach.


The situation was extremely confusing. Lauren had before her another Commander Shepard. At first she thought that it was just an extremely well made clone, with the same neural pathways and so, the same knowledge. But then why the hell the different face? The feeling of uneasiness only grew as the VI of "her" Prometheus mentioned the Perseus Veil. She remembered it. A little. Vague images, words floating in the air, out of their conversations.

But it was the idea that somehow this person in front of her was... Shepard.

She tried to shake the feeling, there were other priorities she had to focus.

Could she trust this woman? No. Of course not.

Could she afford to let her loose? Absolutely not.

She had to... They had to...

-We must contact the Alliance, or any vessel nearby.

-Already doing it, so far nothing. Can't even seem to find a comm buoy, so it transmitting in the vacuum hoping someone listen.

-How about he comms here? There must be some way to contact people outside.

-Maybe, if it hasn't been stripped like everything here. With luck, it will bring us to...

And luck abandoned them. A distant detonation made the walls shake, a shiver ran through Lauren as she recognized the explosion.

-You, Techie, you went alone?

-Yeah, what was that?

-I rigged my pod. Lauren put her helmet back. We are not alone.

It took them a few minutes to hurry back to Lauren's pod. She was on point, to her great discomfort. Having someone she didn't trust in her back made her edgy, and leading her to her pod was against her better judgement. But this was no time to be picky. She caught the other one several time glancing when they had the luxury of looking elsewhere than straight forward. Even through her helmet, she could see that the situation was troubling her too.

That was reassuring, and frightening at the same time.

The finally got to the garden section. The sound of metal clawing at metal could be heard echoing through the corridor. A hand tapped on Lauren's shoulders. The Techie was asking by hand sign to scout ahead and take a firing position with her rifle. She refused. There was no way she got the chance to get invisible on her.

Weapons ready, they followed the sound and arrived at the door. It was open, and they could now hear that the noises were accompanied by the sound of heavy walk on the ground.

Lauren took a deep breath, and went in first.

In the big and previously empty room was her pod. Or what was left of it. Crawling around it like a swarm of black metallic worms were a dozen of humanoid cyborgs abomination. What skin was visible on their flesh and body was grey and dry, deformed by gory cyber implants sticking out of their flesh and suit. They looked like corpses whose exoskeleton, fused to their bone, was making move in a slow and jerky dance. Their hands, or what was left of them, were merely mechanical protuberance armed with tools.

With which they were tearing the Prometheus apart.

Without a second thought, Lauren armed her weapon, set it on disruptor ammo, and took a shot at the first in line. Two bullets flew through the air and land in a circle the size of a penny, right in the back of the head of one of the monstrosity. The cyborg's muscles suddenly contracted as the electrical shock spread through his body, and he fell face first on the ground.

The other Shepard had soon done the same. On disruptor shot pierced the gross eye implant, sending its owner flying back with a hole the size of a golf ball in the head.

Whatever those things were, they had no kinetic barrier.

Three more shots landed on the first to take notice of them, piercing right where his heart should have been. It fell too, but strangely took his time, as if his mechanical part was trying to support the rest of the body alone. Now all of them were turning their attention toward the door and the intruder.

They simply walked toward them. All nine of them, with the same cold an uncaring determination, their "hands" extended toward them. The Spectres picked their shot, but to their surprise, the disruptor enhancement had suddenly no longer any effect. As their bullets hurled towards the dead machines, a shield appeared to drain them of voltage. And they were tough to kill. Not only their armour was thick, but they seemed devoid of pain or vital organs to shoot at.

They simply endured, pointing their shredder tools forward, always progressing towards them. The Prometheus was still well in sight, its plating ripped open in a matter of minute. Lauren thought for an instant of what her own fate would be if they got too close. And that was enough. She armed a grenade and threw it in the mindless mob, jumping to cover. The bast was devastating, yet extremely localised. Everything within ten meters was obliterated by shrapnel combined with a mass effect induced force field that contained and reverberated the shock wave within it. It lasted but a second, but it decimated them all in one sweep.

The room had now one black crater, the metal of the floor red hot of all the energy produced. The cyborg had endured horribly well considering, they seemed untouched by the tremendous heat, but had been lacerated by the debris and the pure shock of the blast. And despite being dismembered, they were still trying to move, like puppets, reaching out blindly for something to kill.

They were made short work of.

Lauren then hurried to the Prometheus while the other gal seemed to take a look around. It was a wreak, but an oddly ordered one. Whatever those things were, they were taking the ship apart very methodically. Now she knew what had happened to everything else on that level. It had been collected. But to what end?

With a smirk, she noticed that not everything had been taken away. Most notably her weapon cache. She had taken a lot of equipment, but was reluctant to bring everything with her in her scouting mission. Now that she had a taste of what was lurking around, she wouldn't mind having her firepower close at hand, even if it slowed her down a bit.

-Hey! The other Shepard yelled from the other side of the room. We may have a very big problem here.

Fixing her arsenal on her armour, Lauren went back. Her Prometheus was just a pile of rubble now, and it's not like it was of any use anyway. The other one was analysing what was left by their cybernetic attackers.

-What's up Techie?

-The name's Shepard. And there's not enough debris here to account for all the parts that were taken from your pod.

-I noticed. There must be more of them.

-And they have our technology.

-So what?

Techie seemed to be thinking for a time. She then took a determined look.

-I'm going back to my pod.

-Our priority is getting out of here, who cares if they collect a portion of our technology.

-We are against an unknown enemy, maybe even an alien life form or some sort of invading AI. The protocols are clear, we must not let them know our technological capabilities.

God this woman was worse than an instructor. Spewing the codes as if it was of any relevance to actual combat. How did she survived the Reaper war? How many had died because she couldn't let go of her stupid...

No, it was not the time to think like that. She was right. Annoyingly so, but right. Cold calculations began to form in her mind. She was analysing her situation, determining the best course of action. The most efficient one.

-Do you detect any central energy source? Hangar bays, or escape pods?

-What are you thinking?

-I'm thinking about destroying the place, and get the hell out before we die in it too.

-Seems a little... extreme. And premature. We don't know who else is in the station.

-We may not have enough ammo for those things, and your little relic here isn't going to do you much good. So I ask again. Energy source, escape routes.

The other one checked on the holomap, downloading it to Shepard's omnitool.

-There seems to be a sort of alcove at the base of the station. Could be a bay. And the readings indicate energy spikes at level 8.

-I'll go there. You, you stay out of my way.

-Splitting. What a brilliant tactic, snarked the other Shepard.

Lauren contained he explosion of her rage and spoke in aslow, deep and threatening voice.

-Listen your majesty, I've got a job to do and no fuck to give. You either fall in line... or get out.

A heavy silence fell in the room. Lauren couldn't explained her sudden outburst, but she didn't care much either. She couldn't watch her back all the time while doing her mission. And she couldn't waste time killing or restraining the other one.

The pale woman stared at her with eyes of stone. Lauren could feel the fury aching to explode behind those emeralds. But she blinked, and the fury vanished.

-I'm keeping contact in case I make any progress.

-Good for you Techie.

-Don't die too quickly, Cutie pie, she added while turning her back on her.

And she left the room, disappearing in the corner.

Lauren took a deep breath and readied her weapons.

Level 8, in the thick of it.