10 years earlier

Getting into the building was the easy part, Casey just slipped in through a ventilation system. He made his way through the vents until he figured he was right over the main room. He could hear the commandos talking to themselves, some concerned that the long range communicators were down and others were worried about what the Alliance's next move would be.

Using a scanner in his lenses, he peered into the main room and was able to see through the vent wall. Scattered around the room were six individuals, some sitting and others standing around. Casey moved further into the building to an upper area that over saw the main room. Using the scanner, the overseeing room had two occupants; one sitting in a chair, bound, and another on guard.

"Silent Knight, Blue Moon and I are in position just outside the main room, waiting on you."

"Hold position, Golden Son" whispered Casey. The asari commando guarding over the bound hostage turned away to type on the computer screen behind her. Casey quickly dislodged a vent cover and slipped down to the floor. The hostage saw him and his eyes widened. Casey put his index finger to his mouth, signaling the hostage to be quiet. Casey crouched and snuck behind the asari and immediately put her into a sleeper hold. The asari drifted into unconsciousness as Casey laid her on the floor. He turned around and pulled out a knife to cut free the hostage.

"You have to help her" blurted the man.

"Quiet, where's the other hostage?"

"The ambassador, they took her and put commando armor on her. They locked up the armor so she couldn't move and put her with the rest of them down there."

"What?" then Casey did a headcount in his head, five commandos stormed the embassy. They left with two people, a man and woman, the woman being the ambassador. Seven people entered a gunship piloted by an unknown person. That leaves six commandos and two hostages for a total of eight people. There were two people in this room, the hostage and the guard, leaving six in the main room.

"One of them out there is the ambassador" Casey said to himself in a self-realization. He immediately put his hand to his ear, activating the com, "Silent Knight to Golden Son, hostage is mixed in with commandos, repeat hostage is dressed as a target." Casey waited for confirmation, but heard nothing, "Golden Son, do you copy?" There was nothing but static on the line. "Something is wrong"

Just then a pistol shot rang out in the room below, Casey went to the window and looked out. "Golden Son to Silent Knight, shot fired, we're moving in"

"No! Golden Son, GOLDEN SON!" Assault rifle shots started going off everywhere as the soldier and asari matriarch moved in.

"SHEPARD NOO!" yelled Casey, dropping the codename in his anger, as he shattered through the window overlooking the main room. Falling in the air Casey let out several smoke bombs that quickly filled the room. Casey turned on his scanner and saw the commandos shooting at Shepard and the matriarch in the doorway. He noticed two of the commandos were already down as he landed in the chaos.

He grabbed the closest asari commando and flipped her over, slamming her to the ground. Casey rolled to the doorway as the matriarch was making her advance. Casey grabbed her side arm and twister her arm around her back, then ramming her into the wall and tossing her aside.

Shepard couldn't see what was happening, but saw the matriarch fall to the ground in front of him. He advanced forward and was suddenly attacked.

Casey grabbed the Avenger rifle and stripped it from Shepard's hands. Casey knew that wasn't going to stop Shepard, he was a trained soldier; when you lose one weapon, you grab another.

Shepard unhinged the shotgun on his back and pointed it at the unknown attacker. The assailant roundhouse kicked the weapon right out of Shepard's hands. Not needing a weapon, Shepard tackled the masked person to the ground. The smoke was starting to let up and Shepard recognized the person he just tackled as Silent Knight. "Casey is that you?"

"You need to stop Shepard" Casey growled as he flipped Shepard over and brought a powerful knee to Shepard's jaw, disabling him long enough for Casey to control the situation. He got up and saw the remaining four commandos taking cover, not knowing what was happening. Casey ran towards the commandos, vaulting himself over a table hiding two of the asari. He landed behind them and bashed their heads together. The remaining two now saw him and as quickly as he could, Casey threw two throwing knives at the asari.

One blade connected in the upper shoulder of an asari, causing her to fall in pain. The other blade was blasted out of the air with a blue orb. The other asari had her hand extended as she tossed out another bubble of biotic energy, connecting with Casey on his chest. The force caused him to fly backwards and hit a wall. The commando walked over to him with her shotgun pointing down at Casey.

Casey didn't know what to do in that one moment. The asari was about to pull the trigger and a shot echoed in the room. Casey flinched but realized he hadn't been shot; he looked up as the asari fell to her knees and slumped over, dead. Casey looked behind her and saw the matriarch holding a smoking pistol.

Casey quickly got up and made a B-line for the matriarch. Shepard got up a moment before and now stood next to the matriarch. Casey made his way over to them and before anybody could say anything, Casey brought a rage fueled fist into the matriarch's face.

Shepard unclipped his pistol and instantly brought it up, pointing it at Casey.

"Shepard" Casey started.

"What the hell is going on Kane?" interrupted Shepard, yelling now.

"I am not the enemy, she is" Casey said pointing to the fallen matriarch.

"Says the guy who put his knee in my jaw. Explain yourself!"

"This was all a trap, set by her. Think about it, six highly trained commandos and not one look out? They were waiting for us to come in. She knew I would go for the easy target first, separating me from you two."

Shepard still had the gun pointed at Casey, but was listening carefully.

"The first hostage told me that the ambassador was dressed as a commando in locked armor, down here." Shepard's eyebrow arched. "I tried to radio you, but there was no answer, a jammer I presume, but I assume she heard everything."

Shepard slowly started to lower his weapon.

"The timing was too perfect, one of the commandos was taking 'practice shots' and the matriarch knew if you heard a shot fired you would storm in."

Casey walked over to the center of the room, kicking one of the asari in the face as she was gaining consciousness. He made his way to the other side and leaned over one of the fallen bodies. "I assuming the matriarch shot first?"

Shepard played the shoot out over in his head. He and the matriarch stormed and she shot the first commando they both saw holding an outstretched hand. "Yes."

Casey nodded; he reached down and pulled the helmet off of the downed commando revealing a human female. "This was the ambassador…"

Shepard had lowered his weapon completely, "Okay, but why?"

"Let's ask her" Casey said as he strode by Shepard to the waking matriarch. Casey grabbed the groggy matriarch and lifted her off the ground. He then pinned her against the wall, "Well?"

The matriarch shook her head, "Well how about you just assaulted a matriarch of the asari government!"

Casey shoved her against the wall again, "Not the answer I was looking for. Why go through all the trouble and not have one of your former students kill the ambassador?"

The matriarch started to laugh, "To embarrass the Alliance. This is going to make the news and you both are going to pay for it, I'll make sure of—" she was cut off by Shepard's fist going across her face. Casey let her limp body slide to the floor.

"We better call someone and straighten this out" sighed Shepard.

Casey and Shepard were sitting in an office, side by side in their dress blues. Behind the desk was a decorated captain reading through several holo-pads. Every so often he would look up at the two soldiers and then continue reading the reports.

"You two made quite a mess. I've read all the reports. The asari matriarch has been taken in by authorities, but there were cameras set up in the room. Someone got a hold of them and is slandering the Alliance, showing clips of Ensign Kane taking down Shepard and the matriarch. The Embassy wants someone to pay for the dead ambassador and the asari government is not taking responsibility for the matriarch's or commandos' actions, claiming they were working for themselves. So here we are."

Shepard spoke first, "It was a trap, Sir, orchestrated by the matriarch to make us look bad. She wanted the ambassador dead and to make it look like the Alliance screwed up. This man did all he could to prevent what happened" pointing at Casey.

"I know, but someone needs to take the blame for this, I'm sorry son. Kane, as commanding officer of this mission, the responsibility falls to you."

Casey's face remained stoic, "This is what she wanted."

"I know. Ensign Casey Kane, I hereby discharge you from the Alliance military. For you valiant service thus far and good standing in your ranks, you are discharged with honors." The captain stood up and saluted both the men as they stood and did the same. The captain then put his hand out and shook Casey's hand. "Good luck to you, son."

Casey nodded and left the room with Shepard. Outside the officer both men stood and shook each other's hands.

"Good out there, Kane, hopefully I'll see you around."

Casey smiled and headed towards the exit, but then turned to face Shepard, "Hey Shepard, try not go get yourself killed out there!"

Both men smiled again and then headed in opposite directions, each with a destiny to fulfill.