Mass Effect: Imperial Glory

I do not own Mass Effect or any properties thereof, I am not making money off of these writings.


Chapter Two: Shakedown Cruise. Or not.

'these indicate normal thoughts'
'this is an AI construct mentally speaking.'
'This is telepathy.'
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He heard the incoming artillery shells, his HUD registered them as Turian Frag Shells.

'Great, just what I need.'

'Frag shells are ineffective against Titan armor Colonel.'

'I know that Wilco, doesn't make it any less painful.' Shepard mentally retorted.

He opened a comlink, "Anyone still alive down here?"

Static at first, then a voice he'd never forget, "Colonel Shepard, is that you?"

Shepard was shocked, "Tali?? You were part of the Defense Force?"

"John! Yes, it's me. The 4th and I were trying to retreat to Oslan when the Turian artillery took out the bridge over the Schula. I got separated from the rest of the 4th, I.. I think I'm the only one left. The bastards deployed anti-matter shells." Tali bitterly said.

Shepard responded grimly, "Don't worry Tali, the fleet's been alerted, The Turians won't get away with this. I'll see their entire race burn in hell before this is through, and you'll be right there with me understand? Upload your coordinates, I'll make my way to you."

Tali replied, "Affirmative Colonel, coordinates encrypted and relayed. Please be careful."

"You can count on it. See you soon, Shepard out." as he cut the comm.

Shepard couldn't believe it, the woman he had thought about daily since their encounter during the Lystheni purge.. here in this hell of all places. 'I'm getting out of here alive, and I'm making damn sure she's with me. I promised her that.'

'At this point I feel I should point out that reinforcements could be weeks away. The warfront is getting more and more disorganized.' Wilco stated.

Before Shepard could reply, his sensors picked up a patrol headed his way.

'Three turians, Mass Accelerator weapons, the leader has a comm and grenades. They are not aware of our presence.'

'Well it's time to make them aware' Shepard thought as he leaped out of his hole and charged, yelling a battlecry.

He smashed into the leader, grabbed his helmet and snapped the turian's neck with a satisfying crack. He biotically threw the body into the other two as he brought his plasma repeater up and fired a burst, ending their existences.

'Detecting activity, probability there were drones running passive following the patrol. Detecting more artillery fire, HE shells.'

'More good news, frag this noise, Wilco, give me a staggered waypoint to Tali's position.'

He began running and picking up speed as the waypoint appeared on his internal map. Within moments he was at the full capacity of the Powered Armor, 70mph.

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He arrived at Tali's last position without anymore encounters. 'Looks like the remains of a barn. or whatever this species called their barns.'

'Locar structures.'

'10 years and you still don't know what a rhetorical question is Wilco?'

'No.'

"Tali! You here?" Shepard said on his commlink.

"Colonel Shepard, is that you? I've never seen that armor before." Tali replied.

"It's me Tali, this is Titan mark 2 powered battle armor. Just got it issued before we shipped here. Thank the Gods."

"Praise be" Tali intoned.

Shepard saw movement on his scanners and looked, she was even better at moving stealthily than he remembered, he could barely find her outline. As they stood infront of each other again after so many years they removed their helmets. Tali was just as beautiful as he remembered. Smooth purple skin, hair and eyes as black as the night itself.

"John!" She cried as she ran up and threw her arms around him. He pulled her close.

Tali tilted her head upto him and pressed her lips to his, John returned the kiss eagerly, sliding his tongue into her mouth, tasting her for the first time. He had been waiting for this for so long.

Tali tilted her head away slowly, "Mmm, John I should have done this the last time we met. I've thought about you every day since we parted. I want to stay with you and never leave your side again."

Shepard smiled widely, "Tali, my Quarian, my Princess, I'm not letting you get away again." and he began kissing her again, his hands moving under the collar of her suit, reaching the tops of her breasts..

'Captain Shepard.'

'Dammit Wilco not now!'

'Captain Shepard it's 0600. You asked me to wake you at this time.'

John bolted upright in his bunk, looking around. 'That was a hell of a dream.'

'Quite. Princess Nar'Rayya, you care for her greatly?.' Wilco inquired.

'I'm pretty sure I fell for her the second I laid eyes on her.. I should have chased her then. Oh well, no matter. I better get ready.' Shepard finished as he got up and began to dress.

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INF 'Normandy' March 3rd, 2193.

As Captain Shepard walked into the small Officers Mess, he saw Lieutenant Alenko and a woman he hadn't met eating at one of the two tables. He grabbed a tray of the standard fare.

"Captain, you haven't met Medical Officer Chakwas yet have you?" Alenko asked, gesturing for him to set with them.

"No I can't say I've had the pleasure, Captain Shepard, nice to meet you." Shepard said as he sat down.

"Likewise Captain, I was holed up in the Infirmary nearly all of yesterday, so we didn't have the chance to meet. The Servicemen who brought my supplies on-board must have some form of major malfunction in the higher reasoning areas of the brain." Chakwas explained.

Shepard laughed, "I don't think I've ever heard a navy doctor complain about Servicemen before."

"I might be a naval doctor Captain," Chakwas started, "But I've been working with the Corps for 32 years, first as a corpsman and then as a Medical Officer on marine ships."

Alenko spoke up, "Word of caution Captain, don't get on her bad side. I swear she was a DI in a previous life, the way she can chew a person out."

"I'll keep that in mind Lieutenant, where's the Commodore by the way? Doesn't he eat in the mess?." Shepard asked between mouthfuls of food.

Alenko smirked, "The Commodore rises about an hour before 1st shift and eats, he likes to be ready before the rest of the officers. I swear sometimes he just doesn't sleep."

"You've served with him long Lieutenant?" Shepard asked.

"Since the Purge sir, the Commodore put me in for a promotion after that last battle and had me transferred to his personal unit. Been with him ever since." Alenko answered.

The three chatted for afew minutes, finally Shepard finished his meal. He stood up saying, "Good to meet you Doc, Lieutenant, I need to report to the Commodore." and left.

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Captain Shepard strode onto the bridge, returning a salute to the Marine Guards.

Navigator Pressly stood to attention and saluted, "Good morning sir."

Shepard returned it, "Morning Pressly, carry on."

The Bridge was a very impressive sight.

In the center was the large console where Pressly had his station, there were 2 other stations around the center console, Auxiliary Fire Control, which was un-staffed, and the bridge Engineering Console. At the center was a raised platform where Commodore Anderson was currently, in the command chair. The wrap-around Command Console had readout displays for all primary and secondary systems, the Ship 's Commander could pull double duty if a crewman or tech was injured during battle, redundancy was the watchword on the Normandy.

Just in front of the Command Console, over the center console, was a work of art. A real time full motion Holo-display of surrounding space. Displayed here for the Commander, and relayed to the rest of the crew through their Neural Nets, it was an incredible tool. Shepard remembered the battle simulations he had watched yesterday, the Normandy gliding between enemy capital ships like a bird of prey, invisible, the guns of the ship suddenly coming alive, turning the surrounding space into a place of death and pain.

His reverie was broken suddenly, "X/O Shepard on deck!" The Normandy boomed over the speakers.

Commodore Anderson spoke up, "Captain I didn't notice you, this 'galaxy map' is distracting, thank you Normandy."

Shepard walked up onto the Command deck. "It's a thing of beauty sir, and if it works even half as well as the simulations predict.. Well, I doubt we'll ever have to worry about the subjugated races getting illusions of grandeur again."

Anderson nodded, "That it will Captain." the Commodore touched a comm panel, "Bridge to Engineering, Adams are we ready?"

"Affirmative Commodore, Tantalus Core is operation at 130% of projected output, all gauges well within acceptable tolerances." the Engineer confirmed.

"Good." Anderson hit ship-wide, "All hands to your stations, rig for launch, T Minus 3."

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "Three sir? Cutting it close."

"This crew can do it. Otherwise we start pushing the slowest ones out the airlock. To your station Captain."

"Aye aye Sir." as Shepard turned he saw the Turian, what was his name again..

'Nihlus Kryik' his AI answered. Shepard gave a nod to the Turian as he passed him.

Walking toward the cockpit he took note of the sensor tech positions in the neck. 2 on each side, with huge displays. Past that directly behind the cockpit were two gunnery stations for the forward weapons. He could hear the pilot chattering away before he reached the cockpit.

"I'm telling you, this is ridiculous, a turian on an Imperial warship, not to mention a highly classified and experimental one?" Joker said.

"The Commodore has allowed him on-board, we must have orders from high up for this. I'm sure we'll find out eventually, the brass has to have a reason for this." Alenko? When did he sneak past him.

Shepard cleared his throat, "Joker, all systems check?"

"Yes sir, and I must say I'm dying to see what this honey can do." the pilot replied.

Shepard chuckled, "I'm just thankful there aren't any bridges in space."

Joker turned to him, "You get a aero-fighter stuck between bridge pylons ONE TIME and you never live it down."

"Captain, Lieutenant, Pilot." A newcomer greeted, Shepard turned to him, 'Nihlus'

"Turian." he acknowledged.

Commodore Anderson's voice reverberated through the ship-wide, "This is the Commodore speaking, all hands stand by for launch." He linked to the cockpit circuit, "Joker, take us out."

"Aye aye sir, clearance recieved from Arcturus, checking space lanes, confirmed, lanes are clear. Releasing clamps." Joker responded.

"Arcturus Control to Normandy"

Anderson opened the comm, "Normandy here Arcturus."

"Commodore Anderson, stand by to receive priority orders, Red Clearance, straight from High Admiral Hackett."

'Priority orders from Hackett.. strange.' he shook his head, "Affirmative control transmission received."

"Confirmed and encoded Normandy, gods be with you, Arcturus Control out."

'Well well' Commodore Anderson thought as his Neural net decoded the orders. 'This mission just got a whole lot more interesting.'

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"Relay cleared, helm, check, structural integrity, check, thrust, check. power generation, check. All systems green. Drift, just under 400k." Joker finished his checklist.

"400 is exceptional, the Commodore will be pleased." Nihlus commented before he turned and walked away.

Joker shook his head, "I hate that xeno."

Alenko looked at him quizzically, "Nihlus gave you a compliment, so you hate him?"

Joker scowled, "He's a turian, he shouldn't even be here. He's propably waiting for the perfect moment to screw us!"

"Stow it Marines! You're soldiers, act like it." Shepard barked.

Alenko replied, "Yes sir."

Joker scowled again, "Sorry Captain."

The comm came to life, "Joker, status report!"

"We've cleared the relay Commodore, all systems check, uploading my report to your net now."

"Good, have Captain Shepard head to the briefing room, I'll meet him there shortly."

"Yes sir, better brace yourself sir, I think the turian is headed your way." Joker said.

Anderson growled over the comm, "He's already here. Just do your job."

"Oh frag me.. did you catch that Captain?" Joker asked.

Shepard sighed, "I'm on my way."

"You ever think you'll manage to talk to the Commodore without pissing him off joker?" Alenko asked.

Captain Shepard passed Sergeant Jenkins and Doctor Chakwas standing near the galaxy map.

"Captain Shepard." Jenkins said as he saluted.

"Carry on Jenkins."

The briefing room was at the rear of the bridge. It doubled as a Comm room and two marines were posted at the door at all times. Shepard returned their salute as he walked in.

"Captain Shepard," Nihlus greeted as the doors closed. "I was hoping we'd have a chance to talk."

Shepard was suspicious, "Where's the Commodore?"

Nihlus replied, "He's on his way. Captain, I assume you've heard the rumors about the Spectres being reactivated?"

Wilco popped in, 'Ah-hah!, told you'.'

Shepard grumbled, "Where's this going turian?"

Nihlus's face hardened, "Captain, I want you to understand something: I don't hold anything against Humanity. You won, we lost. Some of my species refuse to accept that, but I don't.
I've sworn an oath to Humanity twice, the first when I was commissioned in the Turian Auxilia, and the second when I was reinstated in the re-formed Spectres. Treat me as a soldier that has fought beside Humans and shed blood for the Imperial cause."

Shepard took a moment to process those words, "You're right. I should have realized you wouldn't have been here otherwise. We humans have a ritual when we begin on the wrong foot, we start over." He stepped closer and extended his right hand, "Captain Shepard, Imperial Marine Corps.

Nihlus almost pulled off a smile at that, and shook Shepards hand, "Nihlus Kryik, Imperial Special Tactics and Reconnaissance."

"I see you two are getting acquainted." Commodore Anderson stated as he walked in.

Shepard saluted, "Commodore. Nihlus and I got off on the wrong foot, we cleared it up."

Anderson smiled, "Glad to hear it Captain, since you'll be working very closely for a while. I assume Nihlus was filling you in on the re-formed Spectres?"

"Actually Commodore, we hadn't got to that point yet." Nihlus stated.

"Here's the basics Captain," Anderson started, " The Empress herself ordered the Spectres re-formed. She hopes this will go a long way toward reconcilement with the former council races."

Nihlus continued, "The premier Spectre will be a Human however, and then more will be chosen from the Imperial ranks as time progresses. You're an N7, your service record speaks for itself. You have blood ties to the Imperial Family itself, and you've managed to garner respect from both the Asari and the Salarians during your career. You, Captain, are the perfect choice."

Shepard responded, "It would be the greatest of honors, Commodore."

"I knew you'd accept Captain, Nihlus was one of the most decorated spectres before their disbandment, he'll operate with you for a time as a mentor of sorts." Anderson finished.

"Now, we were going to head to Citadel Station after the shakedown run for the induction ceremony, but it will have to wait. I received Red clearance orders as we left Arcturus." Anderson stated.

'Red clearance? That's the second highest classification in the Empire. This must be incredibly important' Shepard's AI commented.

Anderson continued, "We're heading for Eden Prime, it's a small agricultural world in the Utopia cluster. We're making a covert pick-up. A research team working at a archaeological dig unearthed a prothean beacon, it's a type we've never encountered before."

"Like the cache on Mars sir?" Shepard asked.

"Exactly Captain, the martian cache gave us the secrets to FTL travel, who knows what this one might contain?"

Nihlus spoke, "The blueprints for ancient super-weapons, prothean history, any of a hundred-thousand possibilities."

Something was nagging at Shepard though, "What's the catch? You don't need a top of the line stealth ship to retrieve a prothean beacon from an agricultural world, if it is that important you'd send a Marine Brigade."

Anderson answered, "We've been getting dozens of reports from the Utopia cluster the last few days, sightings of Geth."

"The Geth haven't been out of the veil for hundreds of years.. they know the beacon's there?" Shepard asked.

"They're looking for something, we assume it's the beacon but we honestly don't know. Two Marine Combat Detachments were moved to Eden Prime to reinforce the colonial forces two days ago, under great secrecy," Anderson said.

There was a sharp beep, then the voice of Normandy, "Commodore, we're receiving a priority-one distress call from Eden Prime."

"Dammit, put it on the viewscreen."

The large viewscreen showed realtime telemetry from the Eden Prime comm beacons, there was a count of atleast 24 Geth frigates and several larger ships either in orbit or in the atmosphere.

"Gods and kings! Magnify ship 17." Anderson exclaimed.

The view switched to a black shape, a huge ship, reminiscent of a 'kraken' of terran myths, in the atmosphere, breaking for a landing.

"That's twice the size of a Dreadnought!" Shepard stated, "How the hell is it operating in Atmosphere?"
'Captain, this propably isn't important at the moment, but I don't think that ship is Geth.' Wilco said.

'I think you're right Wilco.'

"Commodore, I don't think it's just the Geth attacking, that huge ship, it doesn't share any similarities with the smaller Geth ships." Shepard explained.

"You might be right Shepard." The Commodore responded. "But we.."

"Commodore, transmission from the 212 Marine Combat Detachment should I patch it through?" The Normandy asked.

"Do it Normandy" Anderson replied.

The viewscreen switched to a vidlink, you could see a firing line of Marines taking cover behind boulders and makeshift fortifications. The view switched to a Marine in full armor with the colors of a Colonel. "This is Colonel Larson of the 212, we're under heavy fire, armor and aerospace assets have been wiped out, enemy strength estimate at 10-1 numerical superiority, we are under attack by Geth forces, repeat, we are under attack by Get-"

"DROPSHIP INCOMING, BUNKER DOWN" there was a flash then the screen went blank.

"All transmissions from Eden Prime have been ended Commodore."

Anderson hit the comm, "Joker, bring us up to full emergency speed, what's our best ETA to Eden Prime?"

The pilot replied, "At full speed, 35 minutes. No other Imperial ships in the area."

"Alert the Third Fleet and prepare for a stealth approach. Anderson out."

Nihlus spoke, "A small strike team could drop near the digsite and either secure the area or destroy the beacon, it's our best chance to control this situation."

"Meet us in the drop bay in 20 minutes. Captain, get your team together and suit up, take anything out of the armory you'll need."

"Aye aye sir." as he walked out he opened a comm on the Marine channel, "Alenko, Jenkins, meet me in the armory, doubletime."

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Alenko and Jenkins were already suiting up as he entered the armory.

Jenkins spoke, "Captain, is it true? Geth attacking Eden Prime?"

"Unfortunately yes Sergeant, you're a native aren't you?" Shepard replied.

"Yes sir, born in Sovosa, about 400 miles south of the capitol in the southern island chain. Is it bad?"

"We won't know for sure until we get there Sergeant, but from the transmissions we received.. it's very bad." Shepard said.

Shepard walked over to the secure locker and inputted his personal access code.

The compartment opened with a hiss and he de-linked the carapace bonds holding the front torso armor onto his 'Titan' armor. He heard a low whistle from behind him.

"Titan Powered Battle Armor, I've never seen it up close Captain." Jenkins said.

Shepard smirked, "If you think it looks impressive wait until the ordinance starts flying."

"I've seen the specs Captain, that thing is a beast." Jenkins said before walking to the weapons locker.

Shepard turned around and stepped into the large boots of the armor, the suit immediately adjusting to his personal specifications. 'Wilco, you have a good link?'

'Affirmative Captain, your HUD should be updating now' his AI replied.
Power Generation, 104%. Integrity, 100%. Net-Link, Fully established.

'Excellent.' he thought as he began walking across the armory.

"I can't believe how compact they made it, only 30% larger than standard heavy carapace armor." Alenko commented.

"Alright, what kind of a selection do I have here?" Shepard said to himself.

"I requisitioned the armory myself Captain, Shadow-works rifles and pistols, everything out of the first quarter 2193 Jormangund catalog, even some BSA and Ariake Tech weapons." Jenkins explained.

"Is that a DragonClaw repeater?" Shepard asked, shocked.

Jenkins picked it up, "I had to call in some favors for this one, Ariake HAR-17T Energy Repeater. One of only 40 made in run 2. A Titan suit should have enough power generation to run it."

Shepard hooked it into his suit. No warning lights, everything stayed stable. 'Good'

He picked out a Shadow-Works Cobra plasma pistol, a BSA, 'Holdout' pistol and a set of Infernium grenades.

He looked over Jenkins and Alenko, Alenko carried a Shadow-Works plasma carbine along with his sidearm, and Jenkins had a Jormangund plasma rifle, along with a ballistic carbine and several sidearms concealed in his heavy armor. Shepard grinned ferally.

"Let's get to the drop bay, Marines move out!"

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When the Marines got to the drop bay Commodore Anderson and Nihlus were already waiting.

"Adams gunned the core, we're already entering orbit." Anderson spoke.

"No time to waste then, let's get stowed into the drop pod." Shepard stated.

They had plenty of room. Drop pods were built to carry up to 15 Marines, and double as escape pods in an emergency. As they strapped in Shepard noticed Nihlus was uneasy.

"Nihlus, never been in a drop pod before?" He asked.

"Negative Captain.' Nihlus replied over the comm.

"Don't worry, I've done this hundreds of times. The chances of us dying in horrible agony are relatively slim." Shepard joked.

He could hear the sarcasm dripping from Nihlus, "How comforting Captain. I hope I someday get the chance to offer you such a reassurance."

Commodore Anderson's voice came over the comm, "Captain Shepard, the Beacon is your top priority, under no circumstances can you allow the Geth to capture it. The Third Fleet will be here within 6 hours, if you can hold out for reinforcements do so, otherwise destruction of the beacon is authorized."

"Understood Commodore, we will not fail, for the Empire!" Shepard responded.

"The mission's yours now Captain, Audaces fortuna iuvat!" Anderson said.

The Normandy piped in over the speakers, "Clamps releasing in 5, be safe Marines."

Shepard felt the pod starting to drop even through the gravitic compensaters.

"Hold on, this is about to get fun!"

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Eden Prime.

'We've hit the ground Captain.' Wilco informed him.

"Alright, we've hit ground, Marines move out!" Shepard commanded.

"Blowing the hatch in 5!" Jenkins cried.

The sound of an explosion filled the pod as the shaped-charges detonated, blasting the hatch 50 feet into the distance.

Sergeant Jenkins jumped out first, rifle at the ready, followed by Lieutenant Alenko, who already had a biotic barrier up. Shepard, followed by Nihlus, left the pod next.

"Area clear sir!" Jenkins declared. Shepard looked around, he saw some barriers and what looked to be a geth communications relay set up in the small clearing they had dropped into.

"Nihlus, you have any tech experience?" Shepard asked.

"Not much Captain, but I do have some." He replied.

"Lieutenant, you and Nihlus check out the geth relay, see if you can hack into it. Jenkins, let's check out the clearing." He received 'Aye aye's' in response.

As they walked around the pod something caught Sergeant Jenkins' eye, "Captain, I think I figured out why the clearing is deserted." and he pointed to the bottom of the pod.

Shepard looked wide-eyed, then chuckled, "I'll be damned, looks like we dropped exactly on top of the geth position, what's that you think, some kind of geth light-tank?"

"Looks that way Captain, think it was by chance or Normandy did it?" Jenkins asked.

Shepard thought about it, "Propably Normandy, you've got to love bloodthirsty AI."

He opened a comm channel, "This is Captain Shepard, Imperial Marine Corps, is anyone able to respond?" Silence.

'Dammit' he thought.

'All reports of the Geth would point toward them being very thorough and methodical.' Wilco stated.

"Lieutenant, you and Nihlus made any progress yet?" Shepard asked over the comm.

"Negative Captain, I think we could hack into the comm network, but it would take an hour or more." Alenko replied.

Shepard sighed, "No time, blow it to hell and let's head out. Jenkins, you familiar with the area?"

Jenkins replied, "Actually Captain I am, this was part of the Capitol Province park, we're about a mile from the dig-site."

"Finally some good news." He said as Alenko and Nihlus joined back up with them."Marines, head out. Jenkins take point."

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"This doesn't feel right sir, 20 minutes with no contact?" Jenkins observed.

Shepard's sensors gave an alert, "Speak of the devil Jenkins, Drones, dead ahead, closing fast."

The drones began firing as soon as they came into view, hitting Jenkins. "Son of a bitch!"

"Squad take cover, Jenkins, you alright?" Shepard ordered.

"Of course I'm alright, I've just been shot no big deal, frag me! They're using pulse weapons." Jenkins retorted.

"Quit your bellyaching you'll live, Alenko, Nihlus, on 3. One.. Two.. Three!" he finished as he rose from cover and opened fire with his repeater. His enery burst almost vaporized the center drone, while Lieutenant Alenko's plasma fire destroyed the rightmost one. Nihlus's Mass Accelerator fire hit the left drone, weakening it's shield, a Biotic Throw from Alenko finished it off.

"Everyone's still in one piece." Shepard stated, then looked at Jenkins, "Well more or less, Jenkins you able to move?"

Jenkins rose and nodded, "Yes sir, my nanites have already sealed the wound. I'll need treatment once we get back to the Normandy though, and dammit that stings!"

The squad continued on, engaging more drones, until they came to a small clearing.They saw 4 geth moving bodies over to what looked like barrels. As they set one body on top two things happened: first, a large spike shot out of the device, impaling the man, whose scream showed he had still been alive. Then from a side trail burst a Marine, being chased by drones, that caught the attention of the geth soldiers.

"Jenkins! Alenko! Heroic charge!" Shepard yelled as he engaged the servos in his power armor, leaping and covering the distance between him and the geth in an instant. As Shepard landed he tossed an Infernium grenade at the geth squad and the spikes, the grenade detonated and vaporized them all. Jenkins and Alenko opened fire on the drones, destroying them.

The Lieutenant ran over to the Marine and helped her up.

She snapped off a salute, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212, Sir!"

"At ease Williams, status report, where's the rest of the 212?" Shepard asked.

Williams looked distraught at that, "When the geth hit my squad got separated from the main body, we ran into a geth walked and it cut the rest of my men down.. our camp was hit by several wings of those geth ships. I don't think there's anyone else left."

"Dammit" Shepard cursed," We need to get to the beacon, do you know where it is Chief?"

Williams nodded, "Just before the attack it was still at the dig-site, the 215 was guarding it. It's possible they might have moved it to the research camp as well."

'Nothing's ever simple is it.' Shepard thought. "Alright, Williams, take point with Jenkins, we need to get to the dig-site, Move out!"

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"There, the dig-site's just past those rockwalls." Williams stated.

'Scanning.. 7 Geth, same soldier type as encountered before.'

"Alright, Wilco counts 7 Geth, those pulse weapons hurt normal armor so I'll take point, cover me." Shepard said.

Williams looked at him strangely, "Who's 'wilco'?"

"...I'll tell you one day when the planet we're on isn't being besieged by thousands of cold-blooded murderous synthetics, now charge!" Shepard said as he took off running.

Shepard burst into the small clearing, taking down two of the surprised Geth with a single burst.
The other 5 immediately started pouring weapons fire into him. 'Integrity holding' Wilco stated.

He biotically threw the closest geth into two further away, then fired at a geth crouching beside a crate to his left blowing the torso apart. Jenkins and Williams arrived and started firing into the three geth attempting to disentangle themselves. Alenko biotically threw the final geth off of the small ledge where it was perched, disabling it. "Area clear!" Jenkins called out.

"Good job squad, and... no beacon. Williams, you said they could have moved it to the research camp?" Shepard asked.

"Yes sir, the camp's about a quarter mike ahead along that path." She finished as she gestured to the right.

"Captain, it might be best for us to split up, I can move ahead and check out the spaceport, it's about a mile from us, the beacon might have been moved there." Nihlus said.

Shepard nodded, "Good idea Nihlus, Williams, give Nihlus your plasma rifle and packs, that M/A weapon he's carrying isn't effective against these synthetics."

"Alright, Nihlus, good luck, Squad: Move out!"

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Shepard spotted some rubble, a pair of intact portable buildings and a small group of those damned spikes.
Williams spoke, "This is the camp. Looks like the geth hit the storage building, the office and lab are still intact."

Suddenly the spikes started making a noise, "Squad watch out, I don't like this at all!" Shepard stated.

Suddenly the spikes retracted, and the bodies went aflame with sparks of electricity. Then they started moving.

"Hades' Throne!" Lieutenant Alenko swore.

"Open fire!" Shepard yelled as the reanimated bodies began to charge.

The fight was over in a few seconds.

"I don't believe it.. they're turning our own dead against us." Williams said.

Jenkins asked solemnly, "You think they did this all over the colony?"

Shepard shook his head, " I doubt it, the process must be superbly wasteful. It's just psychological warfare."

Jenkins moved ahead and entered the first building, it was a small office, empty except for a weapons rack. Jenkins grabbed a rifle and the plasma packs and tossed them to Chief Williams.

Shepard tried the second building and found the door was code-locked. 'Wilco..'

'On it Captain'

In seconds he heard the blip as the door unlocked and slid open, he swung in with his 'Cobra' drawn and at the ready. Two humans in technical garb were inside, a man on the floor apparently sleeping and a woman who clasped her hands together and said, "Marines, thank the Gods! I'm Dr. Warren, the research head."

"Captain Shepard, INF Normandy, Doctor, I need to secure the beacon that was unearthed here." He stated.

Doctor Warren nodded, "I understand Captain, if it falls into the wrong hands it would be a disaster. The last thing I know is one of the 215's squads were moving it to the cargoport near here, then by tram to the main spaceport. This was right before the attack so it could be anywhere between here and there by now."

"Alright, thank you doctor, the geth in this area have been cleared out so you should be safe for now. Marines, let's go." Shepard finished.

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Shepard tried raising Nihlus on the comms for the fourth time as they approached the cargoport.

'He might be near a jamming signal, I've detected some geth ELWar platforms operating.' Wilco said.

"Captain, there's the cargoport, I don't see any geth but there are 4 of those spikes." Jenkins stated.

"Alright we'l... what in the hells is that noise?"

Alenko cried out, "Look, off in the distance!"

The huge 'Kraken' ship was taking off, it's drives burning as bright as a small sun.

"That's a huge ship, how did it ever land?!" Williams yelled.

Shepard shook himself, " I don't know but we'll find out, some on let's head in."

They disabled the spikes with plasma fire before they were able to deploy.

"That shed," Chief Williams spoke up, pointing near the ramp, "It's codelocked, there might be someone inside."

"Good thinking Williams, they might have a better picture of where the beacon is."

'Wilco, crack it' 'Linking and... IN' his AI said as the door swished open.

Three human figures walked out, two men and a woman, dressed like common laborers.

"Is it safe, are they gone?" The woman asked.

Shepard nodded, "We took them out, do any of you know where the beacon is?"

The man in front spoke, "Not a damn clue, that's what drew these things isn't it? I knew it was trouble as soon as they dug it up."

"We don't know for sure, stay here, relief's coming soon." Shepard turned to go.

"Uh soldier, before you go, take these." He handed Shepard a case of grenades, "We were offloading them before
the attack, I grabbed them before we ran."

"Thanks citizen, Jenkins, grenades." He tossed the case to the Sergeant and started moving to the ramp as the squad followed.

"Captain! It's Nihlus." Lieutenant Alenko said as he ran to the body.

"A turian?" Williams asked, "You know him?"

"He was one of the new Imperial Spectres." Shepard said, "Frag it all."

"Captain, let's go write his memory in the blood of these geth bastards." Jenkins said.

Shepard smiled, "Alright squad, mo..dammit incoming geth!" as he started firing.

They dispatched the patrol. "Jenkins, where's the tram?" Shepard asked.

"Follow me sir." Jenkins took point and led them down a walkway to the cargo tram.

"Sir, the forward cars are crawling with geth, one of them's a big sumbitch!" Jenkins yelled.

Shepard screamed out a batllecry, "Squad, covering fire!" as he charged, He fired burst after burst, felling six geth, finally he came to the third car and saw the red geth, easily 5 times the size of the smaller geth charge a ball of pulse energy and fire it at him. The blast knocked him back a good 10 feet, but he looked at his hud, Integrity: 85% 'Captain, that blast destroyed your repeater' Wilco informed him.

Now he was pissed. He slid the repeater back into it's harness on his back, and bullrushed the red geth, taking fire. Shepard smashed into the geth and they both went rolling, he extended his gauntlet-blade and plunged it's energized ceramite edge into the neck of the geth, the explosion came unexpectedly and threw him into the tram controls.

'Wilco, remind me the next time that that's a horrible idea' Shepard requested.

'Noted Captain' The squad had neutralized the smaller geth as he had wrestled with the red one.

"You alright sir?" Chief Williams asked.

"Fine Williams, Jenkins, tell me you can run this thing." Shepard said.

"Hell Captain, I can hot wire one if I have to, I'll have to tell you about my teenage years sometime." Jenkins said as he input the coordinates and started the tram.

--------------------------------

They arrived at the spaceport, as the tram began to slow down they watched as several white geth in various areas around the terminal were setting up these large...

"They're setting up antimatter charges!" Jenkins yelled.

"Dammit, come on, we have to neutralize the geth and disable those charges!" Shepard ordered.

'Wilco, can you remotely disable those charges?'

'Scanning.. yes I believe so Captain, this is most curious, the charges are of a Turian design.'

'Turian design? We'll sort that out later, get to work' He ordered the AI.

Jenkins was already off the tram and firing at the closest geth, Alenko right behind him. Shepard took aim at a geth on the upper walkway with his pistol and fired a plasma burst, dropping the geth sniper. 'Closest charge disabled Captain, linking with the second.'

'Good job Wilco'

The squad moved to the first walkway and crossed over to the other side of the platform, firing at geth.

'Second charge disabled Captain'

Jenkins moved forward and charged a group of the white armored geth, tossing a grenade as he went. Within moments the entire platform was clear of geth, and Wilco reported the last of the charges disabled.

'Damn good job Wilco' Shepard thought. "Okay everyone, I'm on point, the beacon has to be here somewhere."

Williams spoke, "There's a cargo area over that way, that'd be the most likely spot."

As they made their way across they encountered three more geth, quickly neutralizing them.
They went down the ramp, past the cargo area was a field of molten rock where the Capitol of Eden Prime once had been, but before that on the platform.."There's the beacon!" Shepard broke and ran over.

Shepard keyed his comm, "Normandy, do you read?"

"Normandy here, This is Anderson, report Shepard."

"Beacon is secure, repeat, beacon is secure, geth have been driven off from the spaceport and we have encountered several survivors. Requesting pickup." Shepard reported.

"Affirmative Captain, incredible work, elements of the Third Fleet have arrived ahead of schedule, the IML-311 will be at your position shortly. Anderson out."

Shepard smiled, finally things were going.. "Aaahhhh!"

'The inevitable monkey wrench being thrown into the gears of the 'verse.'

Chief Williams was in some kind of an energy field around the beacon, Shepard ran to her and threw her away, getting caught in it himself.

"Shepard!" Williams reached for him. Alenko restrained her, "No you can't, there's no telling what that field can do!"

Shepard floated in the air, suspended by the field, he saw visions of war, destruction on a galactic scale, genocide, death. Suddenly the beacon exploded, the field dissipating and dropping him onto the metal of the platform, his last thought was pain, then Moebius claimed him..

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End of Chapter Two.