The APC hit the ground with a thud, followed by more grumbling from the cockpit up front. I had to hand it to the vehicle. Not many wheeled vehicles could scale a sheer mountain cliff. Even if said vehicle did have jump jets in the undercarriage, it was still impressive.

"This happen often when you explore planets like this?"

Garrus was the one to respond. He seemed like he was less effected by the rough path Shepard seemed intent on following. "All the time. Whenever we get planet side, Shepard seems dead set on taking the shortest path possible- even if that's strait over a mountain."

"Good thing we left the warthog behind. Don't think it would be able to go this way."

Liara looked up at me, the rough road clearly taking its toll on her. "If you don't mind me asking, how do you seem so calm? I mean, this is-" The vehicle caught some air, then slammed down hard. "This isn't exactly an easy road."

I leaned back, hands behind my head, grinning. "Trust me, compared to some of the things I've done, this is a breeze."

Liara seemed confused, but Garrus seemed more interested in what I had said. "What could you have possibly done that puts shame to Shepard's driving?"

Shepard cut me off with a stern "I heard that Garrus!", but didn't seem too annoyed.

"What have I done that's worse than Shepard's driving? Let's see. There was that time I rode a warthog off a collapsing structure across a 30 foot gap into a hangar bay. Or the time a rode half a ship down into an ocean. Or all those times I dropped down from orbit in a pod about half the size of this car. Those were fun."

Shepard joined in on the conversation. "What was that about dropping from orbit?"

Liara was the one to cut me off this time. "Shepard, shouldn't you be focusing on driving?"

"Relax Liara, this isn't too rough." Shepard's response would have been more reassuring if it wasn't punctuated with the car crashing to the ground. "Thompson, answer the question."

"I was an ODST before I was a Spartan. It was the main way we got from ships to engage the enemy on the ground."

"ODST?"

"Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. The best of the best, aside from Spartans."

Shepard seemed satisfied with my answers, but Liara had a few more questions. "What's a Spartan?"

"Spartans are super soldiers. Faster, stronger, and tougher than normal humans."

Shepard seemed interested again. "Super soldier, huh? How super?"

"I guess that's what we're here to find out."

Just then, the vehicle peaked over the mountain, and half drove, half fell down, the research base clearly visible ahead. It looked small, a few prefab sheds, to silos, not much else. We pulled up close to the sheds, and no one came out to greet us.

Liara summed it up the best. "This place looks abandoned."

Shepard thought about it for a second, then decided. "Alright everyone, seal up. We won't find out much from inside the mako. We might as well look around a little bit."

I picked up my helmet from beside me, then put it back on my head, making sure it was sealed. I waited for everyone else to get out, then hopped out behind them. We made our way over to one of the sheds, then Shepard hit the open button. The door opened directly into the rest of the shed, no airlock. Then I realized something. The sheds were all of similar make, all the same size. If this one didn't have an airlock, then probably none of the others did. There weren't any larger buildings here other than the silos, which were probably just used as storage. A guess backed up by the fact that there were a couple of bunks in the back of the shed.

I made sure the speakers were off, then said, "Saria, you notice how these things have no airlocks?"

"Yeah. I was just about to bring that up."

I turned the speakers back on, and brought it up with Shepard. "These sheds don't have airlocks. Maybe they suffocated through their own stupidity?"

Shepard was waiting on Garrus to open a crate. "I doubt even a survey team would be that stupid. They probably had some external supply."

Garrus got the crate opened, and pulled out a small box. I looked over, slightly curious. "What's that?"

Garrus opened the box, and I saw a couple tubes of something, along with a few mechanical parts. "Looks like an armor set. Not sure what a survey team would be doing with military grade armor, but hey, we could use it."

I shrugged. I'm good on the armor side, with the MJOLNIR armor all Spartans used. Thinking of my armor, I realized I forgot the repair kit in the warthog. Oh well, just another reason to go back for it. We moved on to the next shed, found another crate. Similar box inside, but according to Garrus, it was a shotgun. Not exactly sure how a box of scaps and a tube of liquid could be a suit of armor or a shotgun, but whatever. Not my problem.

The last shed had a terminal in it. Shepard stepped back to let Garrus take a look at it. "According to these data logs, the survey team unearthed some kind of alien technology."

Liara spoke up. "Perhaps we will find more answers at the excavation site."

Shepard nodded. "Good idea. Lets go."

We went outside, and back into the mako. The dig site was a short distance away from the camp. We got out, and I got a look at it. It was little more than a tube going into the side of a mountain with a small ramp leading up to it. We walked up to the door, and again Shepard pushed the 'open' button, but this time there was another door behind it. An airlock. Why they put it to the excavation site and not the sheds, I had no clue, but that did put a rather large hole in my 'died through their own stupidity' theory. On the other side, Shepard and company pulled off their helmets and started down the slanted tube to another door. I followed slightly after. On the other side of the door was a small cave, obviously sealed, but yet there was still water all over the floor. Another door was in the side wall.

On the other side of that was something I was not expecting. There was a group of ten of what I could only describe as 'robot zombies.' Once the others spotted them, they pulled the hunks of metal off their backs, which quickly unfolded out to guns. I pulled the assault rifle of my back, with a quick glance at the display to make sure it had a full mag in it. Garrus gave a quick "Take 'em out!" That was when the things finally noticed us and started charging. Garrus, Liara and I opened fire, Shepard waiting until they got closer with what I assumed was a shotgun.

I was slightly surprised to find that the things were slightly shielded, but thankfully, nowhere near as well as an Elite. They went down fairly quickly. I looked over at the others' guns to see heat radiating out of them. They definitely shot bullets, but it looked like its main limiting factor was heat, not ammo. Weird.

After the things were cleared out, I put a fresh mag in the rifle, then put it on my back. Looking down at the things we just killed I voiced my confusion. "What were those things?"

Garrus spoke up. "I've seen this before. They're machine cultists. The survey team must have unearthed some alien technology that turned them into mindless fanatics."

Shepard appeared thoughtful for a second. "These look like the husks my team and I fought on Eden Prime."

Husks. That seemed a fitting name.

Liara had her two cents as well. "Whatever they found, it is long gone now."

We all wandered throughout the rest of the cave. In the center was a large, metal claw, black and alien looking, over a bright orb of white light. I moved on. That didn't give any clues as to what happened to the survey team. I noticed two doors in the back of the cave. I made my way back there, the others wandering their way over. When I got close to one of the doors, it opened from the other side. More husks. Great. I pulled a plasma grenade off my belt, armed it, and hurled it at the leading husk. It was apparently harder then I meant to throw it, causing it to stumble back a step into the other husks, just before it exploded.

I heard the other door opening, and I turned, pulling the rifle off my back. Saria gave me a warning, "Nick! Energy buildup behind you!" I turned more, just in time to see Shepard, shrouded in a blue aura, thow what looked like a sphere of energy at the husks. A similar aura came around Liara, and what looked like a mini black hole appeared, picking up all the husks, making them easy targets. They didn't take long to go down.

With the last of the husks down, I turned to face the two. "What was that ... Glowy stuff?"

Shepard thought about it, then gave a noncommittal "It's complicated. I'll explain later. Lets look in those two rooms, see if we can find out what happened to the survey team."

I shrugged. Answers were answers. Whether they were given now or later didn't matter much to me. I'm a patient man.

Inside the two rooms were several tripods with a large spike coming out the middle, rising maybe a foot over my head. They certainly were impressive. Shepard seemed to recognize them.

"Those are the dragon's teeth the Geth used back on Eden Prime. I guess that explains where the husks came from. But these are older than the Geth. Maybe they're not Geth tech?"

No one really had any answers, so deciding that the mystery was solved, we headed back to the surface and got back in the mako, heading to the cave where they picked me up from. I went inside to get the warthog out, while Shepard called their ship. I took some tricky maneuvering, but I was able to get the warthog out of the cave. When I came out, there was a ship hovering overhead. Seemed too small to be a military vessel. Looked weird too. Instead of the blocky design the UNSC favored, this 'System Alliance' seemed to like curves and wings. It was tough getting the warthog into the cargo bay, but we got it in. Before she went on the lift up, Shepard gave me another physical storage device.

"What's on it?"

"The latest version of the Galactic Codex. Should be able to answer any questions you might have. If you have any more questions afterward, feel free to ask."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Now, if you need me, I'll be at the galaxy map, in the CIC. Feel free to take a look around, get to know the crew. You may be here a little while."

Shepard made her way over to the elevator, which slowly rose up to the deck above. I looked around, and found a good place to sit, over out of the way. Making sure the speakers were off, I decided to talk to Saria.

"What have you got from that Galactic Codex, or whatever?"

"It's interesting, I'll give it that much. I've got some entries here you might be interested in."

"Great. Thanks."

The conversation over, and alone for at least a little while, I got comfy and started reading.

Well, here you go. Next chapter will probably be meeting the crew, learning about the mission, and possibly shopping on the Citadel. And, seeing as Valentine's Day was a few weeks ago, I'll leave you with a vote to honor it.

Vote #2: Romance, shot 1

Who should Shepard start a romance with, if any?

Poll Closed. Check next chapter for results.