Chapter 1

You would have thought the SSV Normandy would be… well. Bigger, thought Ratchet. For a state of the art spacecraft, it was only the size of a large civilian transport. It was sleek and long, themed around black and white. The fuselage looked like a cylinder that was slightly bent and compressed in the front end. Wings and extra engines were located towards the back, flat and minimalistic.

The current design was a result of the collaboration between two races: the humans and the turians, a race of humanoid beings covered in armor plates and razor sharp claws. This was a historical moment because they had hated each other since the First Contact War.

At the moment, it was docked and was being stocked for an upcoming test run. Being the second in command, he was supposed to be moving in and getting a tour today. He would also like to talk with the people he will be working with. Sometimes people were different than they seem in their files. Shepard walked across the almost empty dockyard towards the woman beside the stairs to the airlock.

"Lieutenant Commander Shepard, Sir?" He nodded. "Please display your notice of relocation." He did so. "Now, please, step towards the iris scanner, sir, for…"

The ship's specs was highly sensitive information and so only a small group of trust worthy people were allowed to work on it or guard it from prying eyes. On top of that, many levels of authentication were needed to access each and every of the sections. It was a good five minutes before Shepard was confirmed and after a short decontamination cycle, he was in.

A man was waiting for him in the hallway. He was quite tanned and had very short black hair. The man's uniform was classic Systems Alliance, the name of the human military organisation, with blue as its primary color, yellow as its highlights and seemed like a blend of old European army general's uniforms.

"I am the Navigation Officer, Charles Pressly, Sir! Are you Lieutnant Commander Shepard?"

"Of course. Are you the glorified tour guide?" Replied Shepard in a gruff voice.

Pressly didn't even flinch. "Yes sir, if you would please follow me this way. We will first start with…"

"HATCHET! YOU'RE HERE TOO?!" They both stopped in their tracks and Ratchet braced himself in reflex. Then, he loosened and turned around to face the source of the voice. It was a young woman, barely out of her teens, seemingly of Japanese descent. Her black hair was cut to about where her neck starts. "Ha! Scared you, er-, "she then hurriedly snapped to a salute. ", Sir!"

He stared at her seriously. "Review your position papers again, Private! You have to know who your higher ups are so that you know who to follow in case of a confliction of orders." The woman looked sheepish. "And this is not a situation for saluting, at ease. You got it wrong again." She pouted in reply.

Pressly spoke up. "You two know each other, sir?"

Ratchet glared at the woman. "Private Jane Shepard. A delinquent, but a good soldier and is noted to have potential to become a N7 if she ever, quote, 'grows up', unquote. Was promoted many times, but was quickly demoted every time for callowness. No," he stressed the last word, "relation to myself." She seem to deflate.

"They were just been meannnnnn… a bunch of idiots with a stick up their-"

"JANE HARRIET SHEPARD!" Jane jumped. "THREE HUNDRED PUSHUPS WITH A FOURTY POUND WEIGHT!"

"But-"

"NO BUTS! GO!" Ratchet took a wrench off his belt and waved it threateningly at her.

"Eeep!" This time she actually ran off.

"AND IF I FIND OUT YOU SLACKED OFF…!"

Pressly blinked at the retreating sight of the female Shepard.

Clipping the wrench back onto his tool belt, the Lieutenant Commander turned towards his Navigation Officer. "So, officer Pressly, you were saying?"

"…and this is the personal items storage area and sleeping pods. Do you have any questions, sir?" Ratchet shook his head.

"None, thank you. You are dismissed." The Navigation Officer saluted before exited the room, leaving Shepard by himself. He went straight to where his stuff were, opened the locker and verified their integrity. Finding them to be in reasonable condition, he closed the locker and found himself face to face with a mirror.

He looked over his harsh face and red facial hair. He was bald, but had a moustache and thin beard that wouldn't look out of place on a king. A scar spanned from the top of his right eye all the way down to his mouth. From his face, one would guess that he was in his thirties, even if he was actually only twenty eight year old.

Ratchet reached up to adjust his slightly bent collar. His uniform was similar to the one Pressly was wearing, instead with the stripes identifying him as a Lieutenant Commander. Though, around his waist, he had a belt filled with engineering tools and healing supplies. After all, he was an engineer with a medic specialization. That, and he also loved to be prepared.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a door opening and he turned around to face a… Turian?

"Good morning," Ratchet said. The alien had white face paint on red faceplates. He also still wore a red and grey armor, even if they were out of a combat situation. What was even more noticeable however was the characteristic three fingered hands and slightly avian body structures of his species.

"Hm… humanity is a bit young among the stars, don't you think?" Said the turian, rudely ignoring the human's greeting. Shepard narrowed his eyes as the other person approached.

Ratchet took a moment to think carefully, before replying. "Even the young have things to teach the old. The elder who is static will always be surpassed by the young who still seeks to improve himself."

A silence spread between them for a few minutes. Shepard stared at the inquisitor and he stared back at him.

Then: "A wise reply… but we'll have to see if your species can live up to those words." Without a warning, the turian turned to go. "I am Nihlus Kryik. Don't disappoint me," was the last thing he said before the door closed on him.

A few hours later, the rest of the crew had come on board and everything was set. The Normandy was cleared for its shakedown run and now it had just finished a relay jump, heading towards a planet called Eden Prime. All was peaceful.

"Incoming transmission! Commander, you might want to see this…" called the pilot through the intercom. A moment later, three people walked hurriedly into the cockpit.

"Joker, where is it from?" inquired the leading figure of the trio, Captain David Anderson. He was the actual commander of the ship, while Ratchet Shepard was the executive officer. To his left was the mentioned Lieutenant Commander and to his right followed Nihlus.

"Eden Prime, sir! Shall I bring it up?" The Captain gave his affirmation, and an orange holographic screen expanded before them. Static filled most of the screen and screwed with the sound as a video message played.

The visual was from somebody's helmet cam. In the field of view, Shepard could see the surface of a lush green civilized planet being scarred by explosions and gunfire. The camera turned towards a man in full Systems Alliance power armor.

"We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties!" He cried. "I repeat: heavy casualties! We can't… holy!" Suddenly, the man stopped and looked towards something in the sky in horror. Whoever whose helmet camera the transmission was using looked at all his or her teammates. Each of them had the same horrified expression. He or she only then followed their gaze.

Hanging in the sky, pixelated and distorted, was what looked like an enormous claw. It was at least the size of a dreadnaught. Then, without a warning, blue explosions filled the screen, smacking the camera around. The video feed cut, but for a few more seconds there was just painful screams, before also going silent.

"Commander, the comm traffic just cut out. The source of that transmission went dead. Er- maybe literally." The pilot said as he looked behind him in his chair.

The Captain seemed calm. "Status report."

"We're one minute out, Sir. No other Alliance ship detected in the area."

"Take us in, Joker. Fast and quiet." A pause. "This mission just got a lot more complicated."

The turian beside them spoke up, but Ratchet was too focused in what had just gone on around him.

Something feels… different.

A/N: Have you noticed the differences? Any clue on what they'll mean?

BTW, plz leave a review!

4/30/2016: Fixed some errors.