Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or the various X-COM games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not written for profit. I make no money from it. It is not for sale or rent.

AN: I've decided to turn this idea in full fledged story. I'll be posting the whole prologue later this evening.

Shattered Fate

Prologue

Part 3. Ghosts of a murdered past

12:11 PM ST (standard time), 5st December, 2175 AD

Memorial of the fallen

European Federation

Sol System

It was a simple, black obelisk, the only man made structure that could be seen for kilometers. That is if you don't count the almost sterile concrete slab that had been poured over what used to be my home town. I stared at the hundred meters tall monument, which was covered with inscriptions.

Each one was a name.

Ninety thousand of them, civilian and military alike.

The names of my immediate family, my parents and cousins, my aunt's were among them… Consumed by the God damned bugs or turned to ash when the division sent to contain the outbreak died trying to do so and my home town was nuked to stop the spread of the Chrysalids.

My last link to the past – gone in the blaze of a thousand suns.

I stared at a clear, blue skies and screamed in impotent rage. My Gift responded to my fury, purple tendrils of eldritch power whipping around me without direction. All I could see was a purple haze, my wordless challenge to the Ethereals remaining unanswered.

Eventually my boiling rage started cooling down. My Gift went dormant and the psionic halo surrounding me died down.

"For what's worth it, I'm sorry." My minder for the day whispered quietly.

I glanced in his direction, startled by his voice. Lieutenant David Anderson looked back calmly, unperturbed by my outburst. Unharmed too. His mastery over his own Gift had protected him when I lost control over my psionics.

"I appreciate it, Sir. Sorry for that display." I waved around and turned my back to the memorial. "I need to get out of here."

"I know just the place."

=SF=

18:15 PM ST, 5st December, 2175 AD

London

European Federation

Sol System

"This brings back memories." I said after washing a bite of chips with some dark and cold beer.

"You've been around here before?" Anderson asked.

"Well, not this place, obviously. I was part of four operations in the UK, which happened almost back to back. So for a couple of weeks I was transferred to a facility on the islands and operated as a part of one of the local units." I took a sip of my beer to clear my suddenly dry throat. "After the last mission was done, command decided that we needed some time to wind down and let us loose for a few days. Short story long, we ended on a leave in London, so I had the pleasure to sample what you Brits had to offer." I shrugged, the memories of that time causing some pangs of nostalgia. "Though to be honest, none of us tried to fish, not after our last ops on your soil. Though the chips and beer were great."

"That village that was overrun by the bugs." Anderson nodded in understanding. He probably learned about it either at during training or back at school, during history class. It's funny that what was supposed to be classified the last time I walked the Earth was now common knowledge.

"So do I pass muster or you haven't have enough time to make up you mind?" I changed the topic.

"You haven't went on the deep end. Yet." David shrugged, politely not mentioning my episode back at the memorial. "Eh. You'll do all right. As far as I can see, you aren't particularly crazier than the rest of us."

"Considering what I remember about the general sanity level among X-COM that's not reassuring."

"We've been mostly in peace since the war ended and we managed to clean up all stragglers from Sol." He shrugged. "It's natural that we are now a bit saner outfit. Not that the rest of the Alliance armed forces would agree." Anderson smirked.

"Some things never change." I snorted. "Though it's surprising. When they told me about this Citadel Council and the 'good' aliens I was expecting that there would have been war after first contact."

"We got lucky. The commander of their Scout Flotilla kept his head, ours too which was more surprising given our history." Anderson shook his head. "The fact that Commodore Howard had a Battle cruiser in his Task Force sure helped, keep the Turians hones. Then again, what's really surprising is that we didn't start shooting at each other once the politicians got involved."

"Amen to that."

"Granted, it's haven't been all good, though we have mostly decent relations with the Turians, which is important, considering that they are the Council's military arm."

"I still can't wrap my head around the galactic politics."

"It's complicated." He winced. "While we don't have the numbers to take on the Council, we do have a significant technological edge. The fact that we aren't bound to the relay network helps a lot. In a war, they will break their fleets in relay assaults, while most of our core words are reasonably secure. Hell, we have some colonies which they can't reach with their current FTL tech." He grinned. "No suitable planets on the way for them to discharge the static charge from their drives. In a war that would give us safe haven until they could capture, reverse engineer and build a lot of ships with our own FTL drives." His smile disappeared. "By that time both sides would be wrecked beyond any reason. On the bright side, that fact is know to the Council so they haven't really been pushing us around, though some facts of our life rubs them raw."

"Why do I have the feeling that this doesn't even scratch the surface?"

"Because it doesn't. You can get most of the details on the extranet."

"I'll check it when a few weeks open in my schedule."

"That's an optimistic assessment."

"How did you manage that?"

"Blame it on the X-Rays."

"Ah. So that still works?"

"Usually. Its either Asari political maneuvering or Salarian skullduggery. So any idea what are you going to do?"

I looked at Anderson for a long moment, then shrugged. "Reenlist if X-COM will have me. It's not like I have something left in civilian life. Besides I always wanted to see the stars. What do I need to do to get a shipboard assignment?"

"Well, while there is no guarantee, there are somethings that will improve your chances. That you are rather powerful psi operative does help too. Let me see..."

=SF=

06:00 AM, 15 December 2175 AD

"Col. Joakim Koh" Training Camp

New London

Local Cluster

I stood at attention, shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of brand new recruits. After agreeing to remain a part of X-COM, the powers that be had decided that it was high time to get the training I should have received before becoming a part of the Ethereal war. The silver lining was that thanks to my service during the war, I had a sergeants stripes waiting for me, as well as some back-pay. A lot of it actually. However none of that was going to help me now. First I needed to be trained to the current X-COM standards, and once I was qualified for a basic trooper in this day and age I would be looking up to NCO courses as well as advanced psi training.

That's why I was wearing a standard green jumpsuit, with no insignia and waited for the Drill Instructor to finish glaring at the recruits around me like they were the scum of the Earth. Then his eyes reached me and she smirked. Joy. I was going to bloody hate the training. I already knew it.

"Well, well… What do we have here?" She grinned at me.

Yep. Why the hell did I chose to volunteer for this shit again?