Commander john shepard stood at the bridge of the normandy watching the space flow outside of the window on the sleeker avernus clas ship. It had sleeker models and a cold fusion engine core and space warp engine. A new invention of matriarch ferranusa manus and perturana to avoid the need for warp space. It had major plasma cannon batteries and laser lance batteries able to slice through avenger class battlecruisers like rubber.

"system checks, shields check, engine is warm. All systems are go commander." joker said. John and joker or Jeff Moreau as he was really named was an old time friend of John. "something about this smells off." John spoke. "you don't have a citadel spectre on a simple shake down run." and he looked at the female spectre. Silena Kryik (female nyhlus) smiled and spoke "something you want to ask commander. Maybe if i'm single. The answer is no. i'm a happily married woman with two boys and a daughter."

John raised an eyebrow "seems a little bit steep for the salary of a spectre." Silena smiled "i always dreemed of a big family. Meet my husband Adrius while on the force, a few dates later and we where married. Three years later and we had our kids." John snorted and turned around "i'm sorry, do I sense hostiility towards me commander." she spoke coldly.

John turned around and glared at the turian woman, his hand on his plasma pistol ready to draw at any time. "let's just say that I don't have any love for xenos. Ever since the contact war, I lost my dad and I am not over the loss. So forgive me if I am a little bit suspicious of aliens."

Silena sighed "this is why the citadel council hates working with you humans. GOD WHY ARE YOU HUMANS SO STUBORN!" she shouted the last part. John snorted and walked off towards the com room where anderson was waiting. On the way did he meet jenkins and a towering woman who was both and apothecary of the luna wolves legion and a trained ship doctor named doctor Karin Chakwas. She had served since the great crusade. "john, I hope you haven't caused too much trouble all ready." the old woman spoke in a motherly tone. John rubbed his forward and spoke "you know my history with xenos doctor but I will try to curb my more hostile tendencies." john nodded and turned towards jenkins "you ready rook?"

jenkins nodded with eagerness "yes sir. Got three sisters who are all space marines. They always protects me and its infuriating and I want to prove to mom that I can fight too. I'm a damn marine. I can fight too." John scoffed "it's attitudes like that that get you killed in the field rook. Seen plenty marines die in the field for being gong hoo. The true heroes aren't the ones that dies in the field heroicly. It's the ones that come back home everyday."

Karin smiled and remembered her own daughters having a similar talk with their eldest sister who was a captain in the blood angels legion. Karin had her matriarchs wings amongst other things. "just remember, keep your head down, don't do any stupid mistake and stick to cover and you will probably make it to the end of the day."

Jenkins nodded and spoke "yes sir. Won't happen, sir." and with that he walked into the com area. He noticed captain anderson standing watching the screen flickering about. "sir what's the matter." anderson turned around and looked into the eyes of shepard. Anderson had a cybernetic replacement eye on his right side due to taking a ork bullet years ago. "ah shepard, I was waiting for you to arrive."

John narrowed his eyes as he spoke "there is something your not telling me sir. I don't like being held in the dark." Anderson nodded and spoke "this isn't just a normal shake-down run. The 212 of the sky angels successor chapter of the blood angels legion found a prothean beacon." John nodded but spoke "the aliens that we didn't bother using technology from, which also proved that we are superior in everyway technologicaly and scientificly."

Anderson steeled himself as he spoke harshly "is there a problem commander. I will not jeopardize this mission, due to some damn personal issue." John walked up and glared anderson right in the face "with all due respect. Sir." he gritted out "the day I help a god damn alien do anything. Is when dogs fly to the moon." anderson glared back "i am not telling you to work with them. I am giving you a direct order."

John clenched his fists but nodded. "good now that that is out of the way, we are here to pick up a prothean beacon. This is a drop off for the citadel council that will hopefully get some good will towards the imperium, shepard. This is an important step for ous to get into the good graces of the citadel. We need this in order to be able to expand our trade routes."

John nodded and mumbled "just hope gran won't have my hide for working with aliens. She always had a temper. Even with gramps." Anderson snorted amused at the mention of the matriarch. She had the temper of a lioness when enraged. John's sensitive ears heard her before the woman came into view.

"i see that you have been briefed." silena spoke calmly "i also see that you have curved your entusiam about your little crusade that all you humans are so passionate about." She leaned against the railing crossing her quite well trained body. John scanned her and she knew he was assessing how to kill her in the fastest most efficient way possible. She realized that john was military to the bone.

Suddenly the screen showed up showing marines and a space marine fighting off some things. "this is... 212 of the... need immediate... evac... came out.. nowhere... GET YOUR HEAD DOWN... INCOMING!... beacon.. up hill.. need..." but it just cut out after that and there was just static. John was immediately going towards the drop bay. "jenkins, alenko suit up. Bolt guns and laser pistols, we travel light, get your med kit. Medium shields. We move in 10. lets go!" the two marines nodded and spoke "SIR!". Silena couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to be miss shepard and married to this badass.

The door opened up and john stared at the drop area. "THIS OPERATION IS YOURS NOW COMMANDER. FIRST OBJECTIVE IS TO HEAD TOWARDS THE DIGSITE AND SECURE THE BEACON, EVERYTHING IS SECONDARY TO THAT." John nodded and started to walk "LET'S GO LADIES!" and with that they jumped down onto the planned. Time passed as they moved up towards the rocks ahead of them. Jenkins pulled out a electric radiowave scanner. He raised two fingers, waved forward and sneaked behind a rook putting up his boltgun ready for action. Two drones suddenly flew up. Jenkins looked towards john but he shook his head. John decided to throw a shock grenade and the small disc detonated.

John hated this new tech. It just didn't feel right to him. The disc exploaded disabling the drones. John walked up with the rest of his squad and put his finger to the ear piece. "this is Raptor force to daedalus, we have two geth drones ready for disembling and data recovering, over." a voice spoke in the ear piece "copy that Raptor force, tech-marines on route, eta 5 minutes please hold your position over."

Jenkins walked over "what about our mission, sir?" John turned towards the marine and spoke "lesson number 2 rook. Always take a opportunity to get the tech-guys to do field disembling when possible, it can save tons of lives, no matter how small the discovery it is. And know theese things by heart, you won't have time to read them on a piece of paper." jenkins nodded and they continued onwards. The group came towards a small outcropping hill. John noticed the space marine running away while carrying something. A few drones fired a couple of shots but they just pinged of the marines armor.

John and the rest charged up and fired their boltguns making short work of the drones. John walked up towards the marine and spoke "report." the marine removed her helmet revealing a quite young woman 's face. "Ashley williams of the 212 3rd company sky angels chapter sir." john noticed she was alone "where is the rest of your squad." "dead sir. I am all that is left." she answered. "i'm the only space marine stationed on this planet sir."

John could smell the rat. "are you being punished for something marine." Ashley swallowed nervously but spoke "i argued with a fellow officer sir. We where trapped in a ambush with orcs sir. I suggested to move ahead into a crossfire zone that was a natural protection that would allow me to pick em off by one by one, the officer however refused and threatened me with court martial. I did it anyway and I been stuck here ever since."

John nodded "looks like you had a hard choice to make. Save your fellow space marines, or walk into a death trap. You made the right choice marine." ashley's shoulders sagged with relief "you have no idea of how good it feels to hear someone finally say that sir." John looked at the other two and then got a grin "ready to kick theese shit-buckets of imperial soil marine." Ashley grinned gave a salute and barked "OOH-RAAH!" john charged into the fray, diving into cover and whipped out firing a shot straight into the head of one of the geth soldiers. The others followed suit by quick successions after the squad started to support their commander.

John walked up towards the bodies. "geth has never ventured beyond the veil before. What are they doing here now." ashley spoke. " third thing to teach you rooks." john started " always carry a knife. Fourth thing to trust. If something tells you its off, don't count that feeling out. It can safe your life." john started to carve out the geth's head. "notice this data chip." he said as he pointed towards the small chip like thing. " they all nodded "now if we hotwire it like so and attach it to your omni-tool. God I hate this thing." john gripped as he pulled out his omni-tool. "now we can get all the date we need." he muttered to his self.

He scanned the codes of 1's and 0's as they flowed by. "sir it's just code." jenkins said looking at the numbers. "fifth lesson rook. Not all species uses the same lingo. Machines speaks in machine. AKA 1's and 0's ." and with that he saved the code. "there's nothing wrong from asking questions. Just make sure that your open to learn and accept the answer that you get from them." jenkins nodded. And they moved up towards the tram station.

"CONTACT!" ashley shouted and she sprinted up. She had put her helmet back on after they left the dig site. They opened fire on the geth making short work of them. "thats a geth prime. They are the heavy hitters of the army of the geth." Ashley said. "something smells rotten." jenkins added. "orders sir." kaiden finished. "we go to the end, see what's on the other side." the rest of them all nodded.

Time passed and john stared out of the horizon remembering his former squads last deployment all of them died except him due to a orc ambush. He could still see romirez, a young female officer just returned from her mother's leave. He stared down at his hand remembering the blood. "you okay. Sir?" jenkins asked.

John shook his head and returned to the present. "just remembering somethings that's in the past, jenkins." he finished and they arrived at the space port. They started to make their may towards the place where the beacon should be. Suddenly they heard gunshots "DOUBLE TIME SOLDIERS."

they made their ways down the stairs and Ashley fired her boltgun into the geths. Several of them exploaded when the rounds flew into their bodies. "SIR WE HAVE A BOMB!" jenkins shouted as he took cover behind a pillar. "KAIDAN, DISABLE IT WHILE WE COVER YOU!" john roared as he whipped out behind cover from his metal container and fired a a three round burst into the geth sniper, causing it to exploade. Kaidan rushed towards the bomb as the bullets where flying. Ashley moved to cover Kaiden with her gravis aggresor power armor without the shoulder rockets and flamestorm gauntlet.

The bullets flew off her armor and she shouted "ANYTIME NOW KAIDEN!" as she fired her boltgun into the swarm of geth that was attacking. "DO YOU WANT TO GO KABOOM! IF NOT LET ME FOCUS! I AM NOT A TECH WIZ." kaiden roared as he continued to work on the active bomb. After a few seconds he shouted "IT'S DONE, NOW LETS GO!". The squad started to move up towards the shipping dock when Jenkins roared "SNIPER!" they all dove into cover "JENKINS DO YOU HAVE VISUALS!" John roared "NEGATIVE SIR. I... SHIT!" jenkins screamed as he ducked into cover and he rubbed his shoulder and his hand came away with blood. "I'VE BEEN HIT. JUST A FLESH WOUND BUT THIS SERIOUSLY MAKES ME THINK HE IS A HIGH GRADE MILITARY SOLDIER OR A MERC! STICK TO COVER!" he shouted.

John peeked behind his cover and saw flashes in the upper corner and then he saw Silena's body rising and sinking weekly. "KAIDAN COVER ME!" John roared as he sprinted towards silena's down body. The squad opened fire as john moved into cover. Silena weakly looked at him and smiled "DON'T SAY A FUCKING WORD! I'M GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE!" john barked as he dragged her into cover. He gave her a med stim to get her stabilized and shouted into his com "THIS IS JOHN SHEPARD, WE HAVE A DOWNED SPECTRE! I REPEAT, WE HAVE A DOWNED SPECTRE. NEED IMMEDIATE MEDICAL EVAC. OUR POSITION IS ALPHA, SIERA 1121 SPACE PORT OSIRIS. UNDER FIRE BY A SNIPER!"

joker came in over the coom "copy that commander, evac enroute and eta 30 seconds." ashley shouted "WE'RE CLEAR COMMANDER!" john looked around and scanned the area. "SECURE THE AREA, KAIDAN, YOU'RE WITH ASHLEY. JENKINS PUT PRESSURE ON THE WOUND." he shouted. And john started to slowly walk up towards the crates plasma accelerator pistol raised. The boxes started moving and john barked "COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD. I'M COMMANDER JOHN SHEPARD OF THE IMPERIAL NAVY. DON'T REACH FOR YOUR WEAPON OR I WILL SHOOT."

slowly a older man wlked out and he spoke "don't I am unarmed. " john looked around and spoke quickly "any friends I should know about." the man shook his head and he spoke "that female spectre that was here earlier. Yea she was shoot but another turian that she called saren. He seemed to not like ous humans. I don't blame him. Anyway once he had shoot her he moved up towards the beacon and just hovered their for a minute. Afterwards he ordered the charges set and to detonate the space port.

Most of the humans that were rounded up was shoot execution style and I am so getting out of here." John narrowed his eyes as he spoke "you're saying that you survived just because your a scared little shit." the man shrugged as he spoke "whatever saves my skin in the end of it is okey in my book."

John glared at the man and he spoke "that is ground for immediate execution by a commisar. I could kill you right here and now and the upper brass wouldn't even blink at it." the man snorted "it wouldn't do well if you killed a witness now would it."

John lowered his pistol and turned around as he spoke "get lost. I don't want to ever see you again." the man snorted and left. John returned towards the ledge and started to walk towards the edge as he put his finger to the com and spoke "this is ground team, beacon secured and ready for pickup as well as statement taken from human survivor, moving to guard the beacon. Over." captain anderson's voice came over the com link as he spoke "copy that ground team, moving to recover."

john returned towards the docking port and noticed ashley moving towards the beacon as she spoke "it didn't do that when it was dug up." the beacon suddenly started to drag her towards it. "JENKIN'S, KAIDAN! HELP ME GET HER OUT OF THERE!" john roared as the three men slammed into the space marine and managed to drag her out of the beacon's grip of influence. John gritted his teeth as images flew through his mind. He could weakley hear ashley shouting his name and then the beacon exploaded.

He slowly came to in the sick bay and stared into the warm grandmotherly smile of chakwas face. "morning commander. Other than an increased activity in your hippocampus, signifying that you were dreaming when you we're out of it." john rubbed his forehead and sat up. "i shouldn't have touched it. The beacon is destroyed and we have no idea if silena is going to pull through and I..." ashley started to ramble. "ashley. It's okay. You couldn't have known. Lesson number 3, never expect a enemy to fall neatly into your plan, you have to adapt to your enemy's strategy. Learned that the hard way in the first year in my n7 career."

ashley nodded and smiled "i heard you where worried about my health commander. "john raised his eyebrow at the weird comment and noticed her blush. "are you hitting on me lieutenant." her blush became even deeper. John sighed "let's start out with commander and soldier first. Then we can see where things goes."

they nodded and john turned around towards the doctor. "how is she doctor." chakwas smiled "you got good instincts, commander. She's going to be fine once she gets to sierta memorial hospital. You managed to stabilize her temporarily long enough for me to permamently stabilize her long enough to pull her out of the woods but she is gonna need better care than what I can give her with the knowledge I have at the moment."

John nodded and said " keep her in good condition for the transition to the hospital." he rubbed his forehead and spoke "you better read up on the citadel races's physiology, I have a feeling we are going to get more xeno races on this ship soon." chakwas smiled and put her hands on john's as she said "you are progressing into a fine young man, john. It takes a lot of strength to recognize the value that people can add to your squad even if they are from another race." and chakwas turned around and started to read up on the citadel races on her terminal.