Mass Effect Serialisation Chapter 5

Good Evening MonkeyBoxers!

Just a quick hello before I begin, I just wanted to say I hope you and anyone reading this had a great Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoyed the extra films and end-of-year specials of your favourite soaps like Eastenders and Coronation Street.

If you've enjoyed these little (sometimes not little) serialisations of Commander Alex Shepard, then please feel free to grab the games on PC, Xbox 360 or PS3 - yes they're dialogue heavy for those of you more used to running and gunning on games like CoD, or having your dialogue chosen for you as you proceed through your games, but therein lies the beauty of Mass Effect. The story that I'll be trying to unravel (at this rate I might have Mass Effect 1 finished by next Christmas!) is just one of many, many, many different stories that you could also unravel - yes the overall story arc is the same but as has been said before during the Mass Effect 3 ending fiasco of 2012, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. And even though it pissed a lot of people off, it's so true.

Just as an extra side note, due to the massive amount of side missions, I will not be touching on them all - otherwise this serialisation will be too damn enormous.

Oh and as an extra, extra side note - these serialisations will be chocker block full of spoilers. But considering that these games are quite old now, even the newest game being almost 2 years old, I think I can carry on quite nicely.

Enjoy Chapter 5.

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Walking the Citadel

Shepard and the others left the Citadel Tower and decided to try and find the C-Sec Officer, Garrus. As they walked through the Presidium to head to Chora's Den in the Wards they couldn't help but be taken in by the marvel that is the Citadel.

The Citadel is an enormous space station, capable of housing millions of people from all races in all of it's massive arms, called wards. The Presidium is a large ring at the base of the Citadel with a massive tower protruding from the centre of it. It is the capital of the galactic community, and the seat of power for the Citadel Council. Massive fleets of ships constantly patrol the Citadel, formed from the 3 Council Races - the asari, salarians and turians.

The Citadel was found by the Asari, thousands of years ago as they took their first steps in the stars, like the mass relays and the ability to use element zero or "eezo", it is believed to be a relic of the prothean race, who inexplicably disappeared around 50,000 years ago.

As they walked through the Citadel towards Chora's Den, they passed many other races, including the hanar - floating jellyfish like beings, fanatical about the Enkindlers, their name for the protheans, who enlightened them and gave them the ability to be what they are now. The volus - small, fat people, who have to live in enviro-suits in order to interact with other races as they don't breathe the same air as most other species. Finally they passed a few elcor - enormous creatures, very slow in movement and speech thanks to their home planet having extremely high gravity. Due to their slow and monotone speech, they elaborate how they are expressing themselves before talking, Shepard nodded a quick hello to one, who replied,

"Delighted greeting...pleased to meet you human."

As they reached the wards, they found themselves at a viewing platform. They took a short break from their travels to take in the gargantuan scope of the entire Citadel as it stretched out in front of them.

"Big place!" Kadian exclaimed as he leaned against the rail looking out the windows at the Citadel.

"That your...professional opinion sir?" Ashley asked with a smile,

"How can they keep tabs on all of this? The Presidium may as well be on another planet." Shepard said,

"There is definitely a gap between their presentation and what's here. Tracking arrivals must be a nightmare." Kaidan replied,

"This makes Jump Zero look like a porta john. And it's the biggest deep space station the Alliance has." Ashley commented,

"Jump Zero was big. But this is a whole 'nother scale. Look at the ward arms. How do they keep all that mass from just flying apart?" Kaidan said, taking more of an engineerial look at it all.

"It's no wonder the Council treats us like outsiders. We'd be just another drop in a bucket they already can't carry." Shepard said,

"Yeah, they probably just take us for another gang of FNG's looking for a handout." Ashley added,

"I doubt it's personal." Kaidan said, trying to insert some practical logic into the discussion, "It's probably just a balancing act like every other government."

"But what's not to like about us," Shepard said, trying to lighten the mood slightly, "We've got oceans, sunsets...this emotion called love. If the old vids are anything to go by."

"If you want to get me in a tin-foil mini-skirt, you'll have to buy me dinner first...Sir!" Ashley said, suddenly remembering who she was talking to.

"That'll be enough Chief," Kaidan added trying to diffuse any awkardness before it started.

"All right," Shepard said, not totally disliking the idea of Ashley in a tin-foil mini-skirt, "Let's move out people."

"Aye-aye, Commander." Ashley said, clearly relieved that her comments had had no repercussions. 

They walked on through markets and past clubs, the hum of activity was a lively din that showed that the Citadel was alive with activity, much like the old Earth saying about New York being "the city that never sleeps" the citadel never seemed to sleep either.

As they neared Chora's Den, a blonde man with matching blonde goatee saw Shepard and started acting up. Slightly weary, considering that they were preparing to take down a powerful Spectre, they started to walk past him, when he called out.

"It is you!" he said, "Commander Shepard: the hero of Eden Prime!"

Wanting to get to Chora's Den, after their diversion viewing the Citadel wards, Shepard was not in the mood to talk.

"Do I know you?" he said sternly,

"Erm...no. I'm Conrad Verner! They say you killed more than a hundred geth on Eden Prime! It's so nice to meet you in person!" he said like a giddy school girl meeting their favourite pop star.

"I don't have time for this Conrad. I'm not here to be a role model." Shepard said, folding his arms and scowling.

"Oh I see how it is." Conrad replied, clearly upset, "Commander Shepard doesn't have time for the little people. You go be a hero." Conrad waved his hand in dismissal and walked away.

"That was weird..." Kaidan added as they walked away.

They walked on through some more markets and found themselves at the entrance pathway to Chora's Den. As they approached, they saw 2 turians waiting outside, one of them said loudly "That's him!!" and they drew assault rifles on them. 

The turians opened fire on Shepard, Ashley and Kadian as they jumped to cover behind a small wall. They drew their weapons and spread along the wall to draw fire. Ashley broke cover and opened fire on one of the turians with her pistol, her perfectly honed marksmanship dropped the shields of one of the turians and Kaidan seeing this used his biotics to throw him against a wall, snapping his neck instantly. The other turian ran along another low wall and Shepard drew his assault rifle, he quickly left cover and in one fluid movement put the turian in his sights opening fire with a heavy volley of bullets - specially modified with chemicals to induce a chemical burn that would cut straight through shields and start to melt the armour and anything else to cause damage and death. The turian, clearly stunned at the ferocity of the attack, paused slightly, and that pause was enough for Shepard to shoot again, connecting with a perfect headshot killing him instantly.

Kaidan commented that they must have been Saren's men. And that the coast seemed clear. They holstered their weapons and entered Chora's Den.

Chora's Den was like a stereotypical bar that could be seen anywhere in the galaxy; asari dancers on platforms and performing private dances for patrons, all races enjoying drinks and laughs - even krogan were present in the bar, one as a bouncer for the back rooms. Krogan are huge reptilian bipeds from the sun scorched planet of Tuchanka, known for it's unforgiving environments, scant resources and over-abundance of vicious predators. The korgan rose to the top of their world being being even more vicious and adaptable than anything else on their world. As they advanced to a similar level to 20th Century humans, instead of showing any restraint with nuclear warheads, they showed an over-willingness to use them, destroying their planet and reducing their species to a post-apocalyptic primitive state. 

Despite their natural aggression, they were "uplifted" by the salarians about 2000 years ago to aid in the galactic war against the ancient arachnid race called the rachni. After driving the rachni to extinction, they were celebrated heros and saviours of the galaxy. That all changed when they started to focus their aggression on the other races, culminating in the Krogan Rebellions, a second galaxy wide war which ended with the genophage, a genetic modification developed by the salarians and utilised by the turians to reduce the fertility rate of the krogans who bred like insects, to 1 viable pregnancy in 1,000.

This action led to the krogans slowly dying out over the course of the next 2,000 years, scattering across the galaxy as hired guns, mercs, bodygaurds and bouncers - anything that required muscle and guns.

As Shepard and the others walked through Chora's Den looking for Harkin, Ashley commented that despite being millions of lightyears from Earth, they still managed to end up in a sleazy bar with dancers for the men. They walked through the bar and saw Harkin, sat alone, drinking glass after glass of booze.

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I hope you enjoyed.

Toolbox24

Mass Effect Serialisation Chapter 4

The Citadel

Shepard left the MedBay and entered the ships mess. Ashley was waiting for him, and called him over.

"Shepard," she beckoned, "I'm sorry about Jenkins."

"Soldiers die Ashley," Shepard said, standing slightly more to attention, "When your numbers up, it's up. His was." he said very matter-of-factly.

"That's grim Commander, but with what happened to you on Torfan, I can't say I'm surprised." she said,

"Every time you kill it get's a little easier," Shepard said referring to Torfan, where he led a battalion of marines against batarian mercenaries, which became a massacre - a massacre which cost many of his own troops lives.

"With all due respect, I'm glad you're on our side." Ashley said with a wry grin,

"How are you holding up, it got pretty rough down there." Shepard asked,

"I'm OK Commander, but I'm still coming to terms with everything that happened down there. My whole unit got wiped out, and you never get used to seeing dead civilians." she replied,

"We couldn't have done it without you Williams," Shepard said,

"Thanks Commander. I have to admit, I was a little worried about being assigned to the Normandy, it's nice when someone makes you feel welcome." Ashley said,

"I think you're going to fit in just fine here Williams," Shepard said as he smiled and walked away. He left the mess and walked up the stairwell to the Command Centre and the cockpit to see Joker as he would bring the Normandy to dock in the Citadel.

The Normandy came through the Mass Relay, and approached the Citadel, as it did it flew past the Destiny Ascension - the flapship of the Citadel fleet. It dwarfed the Normandy as Ashley and Kaidan both stole glances through the windows of the Normandy's cockpit.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Size isn't everything," Joker said defensively.

"Why so touchy Joker?" Ashley joked,

"I'm just saying, you need firepower as well." Joker explained,

"Look at that main gun!" Kaidan jumped, "It could tear through the barriers of any ship in the Alliance fleet."

The Normandy started it's approach to the Citadel tower, where it would dock for Shepard, Anderson and the ground team from Eden Prime would meet with Ambassader Udina - Earth's representative on the Citadel.

Anderson, Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley made their way to Ambassador Udina's office on the Citadel Presidium, where he was already in a meeting with the Council via hologram. Udina was a late-middle aged man, immaculately dressed and olive skinned. His greying hair starting to recede at the edges of his forehead - he spoke with command, however he had a way of getting peoples backs up.

"This is an outrage!" Udina shouted, "The Council would step in if the geth had attacked a turian colony!"

"The turians don't found colonies on the edges of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador" replied Councillor Valern, the salarian representative of the Citadel Council. Salarians are amphibious beings that are very slender with long heads and large black eyes, Valern is not one for surprising situations, and buries his head where possible.

"Humanity were well aware of the risks when they entered the (Attican) Traverse." Councillor Tevos added. She is the Asari Councillor, and is a blue-purple colour with light purple markings on her face. Like all Asari, she is a natural beauty, but with the age and wisdom to lead the Council as it's Chairman.

"What about Saren?" Udina snapped back, "You can't just ignore a rogue Spectre! I demand action!"

"You don't get to make demands of the Council Ambassador!" Councillor Sparatus, the turian Councillor barked,

"Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren, we will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing - not before." Councillor Tevos stated, as the transmission of the Council ended. Udina turned to face his visitors, and approached Anderson.

"Captain Anderson. I see you've brought half your crew with you." Udina said, clearly unimpressed by the other soldiers in the room.

"Just the ground team from Eden Prime." Anderson replied, calmly "In case you had any questions."

"I have the mission reports. I assume they're accurate?" Udina said with his usual scowling look.

"They are." Anderson said, "It sounds like the Council have agreed to give us an audience."

"They were not happy about it. Saren's their top agent, they don't like him being accused of treason." Udina said,

"I'm not going to sit on my ass because the Council doesn't want to do anything." Shepard said, "If they wont stop Saren, I will."

"Settle down Commander." Udina sharply replied, "You've already done enough to jeopardise your candidacy to the Spectres. The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove you could get the job done - instead, Nihlus ended up dead and the beacon was destroyed."

"That's Saren's fault, not his!" Anderson jumped in, defending his XO.

"Then we better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations." Udina replied, "Otherwise the Council might use this as an excuse to keep you out of the Spectres. Come with me Captain, I want to go through a few things for the hearing. Shepard, you and the others can meet us at the Citadel Tower - top level. I'll make sure you have clearance to come in."

Udina and Anderson left the office, and Ashley spoke up.

"And that's why I hate politicians."

Shepard and the others made their way through the Presidium, to make their way up to the Citadel Tower and the Council Chambers. The Presidium itself is extremely similar to a 20th Century design for a space habitat known as a Stanford Torus - a ringed section of the Citadel, housing the most elite among those on the Citadel, as well as the embassies of all the Citadel races. 

Shepard reached the summit of the Citadel Tower, where he saw a turian C-Sec officer arguing with Executor Pallin - the turian chief of C-Sec.

"Saren's hiding something!" the officer said, "Give me more time. Stall them!"

"Stall the Council?" the Executor scoffed "Don't be ridiculous. Your investigation is over Garrus." Executor Pallin walked away, leaving Garrus to curse under his breath, he turned and saw Shepard and the others. Garrus was wearing the standard issue C-Sec Agent armour, but had a modified Kuwashii visor covering his left eye.

"Commander Shepard?" He asked, "Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren."

"Find anything I could use?" Shepard replied.

"Nothing solid. Saren's a Spectre, all of his files are classified. But I know he's up to something - as you human's say, I feel it in my gut" Garrus said, folding his arms.

"Shepard, the Council is waiting for us." Kaiden said,

"Good luck Commander." Garrus said, "Maybe the Council will listen to you."

Shepard and the others walked through the Citadel Tower past ornate fountains and small patches of grass with trees on them, and finally up a couple of staircases to find Captain Anderson.

"The hearing's already started, come on." Anderson said as they approached. They all walked up the last couple of staircases to the hearing. The Council were stood at their pedestals, and an enormous hologram of Saren stood over everyone, Udina was already stood on a platform addressing the Council.

"...The geth attack is a matter of some concern. But there is nothing to indicate that Saren was involved in any way." Councillor Tevos said,

"The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason." Councillor Sparatus added.

"An eye-witness saw Saren kill Nihlus in cold blood!" Udina protested,

"The testimony of one traumatised dock worker, is hardly compelling proof." Councillor Valern said.

"I resent these accusations. Nihlus was a fellow Spectre... and a friend." Saren stated.

"That just let you catch him off guard!" Anderson countered,

"Captain Anderson. You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me." Saren replied smugly. "And this must be your protege, Commander Shepard - the one who let the beacon get destroyed."

"The mission to Eden Prime was top secret. The only way you could know about the beacon was if you were there." Shepard replied, sternly.

"With Nihlus gone, his files passed on to me. I read the Eden Prime report, I was unimpressed." Saren replied without missing a beat, "But what can you expect...from a human."

"You can expect me to kill you the next time we meet." Shepard said with a snarl,

"Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard. You're not ready to join the Council. You're not even ready to join the Spectres!" Saren snarled back,

"He has no right to say that! That's not his decision!!" Udina said with a growl,

"Shepard's admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting." Tevos said looking up at the hologram of Saren,

"This meeting has no purpose. The humans are wasting your time, Councillor. And mine."

"You can't hide behind the Council forever!" Shepard told Saren,

"There's still one outstanding issue. Commander Shepard's vision. It may have been triggered by the beacon." Anderson added,

"Are we allowing dreams into evidence now?" Saren said with a sarcastic tone, "How can I defend my innocence from this kind of testimony?"

"I agree." Sparatus said, "Our judgement must be based on facts and evidence. Not wild imaginings and reckless speculation."

"Do you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?" Valern asked,

"You've made your decision." Shepard said bluntly, "I wont waste my breath."

The Councillors quietly discussed the findings and agreed quickly on an outcome.

"The Council finds no evidence of any connection between Saren and the geth. Ambassador, your petition to have him disbarred from the Spectres is denied." Tevos announced.

"I'm glad to see justice was served." Saren said as his hologram cut out.

"This meeting is adjourned." Tevos said, as they left for the Council Chambers. Udina, Anderson, Shepard and the others left the platform and Udina started placing blame.

"It was a mistake bringing you into the hearing Anderson, you and Saren have too much history. It made the Council question our motives."

"I know Saren. He's working with the geth for one reason: to exterminate the entire human race." Anderson said defiantly "Every colony we have is at risk. Every world we control is in danger. Even Earth isn't safe!" 

"The Council wont help us, we've got to deal with this ourselves." Shepard said.

"As a Spectre, he's virtually untouchable. We need to find some way to expose him." Udina said,

"What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator. We saw him arguing with the executor" Kaidan said,

"That's right!" Ashley added, "He was asking for more time to finish his report. Seems like he was close to finding something on Saren."

"Any idea where we find him?" Shepard asked,

"I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us find him. Name is Harkin." Udina said,

"Forget it." Anderson cut in, "He got kicked out of C-Sec last month, drinking on the job. I wont waste my time with that loser."

"You wont have to," Udina sharply retorted, "I don't want the Council using your past involvement with Saren to dismiss any evidence we bring up."

"You can't just cut Captain Anderson out of the investigation!" Shepard said,

"The Ambassador is right. I need to step aside." Anderson conceded.

"I need to take care of some business. Captain, meet me in my office later." Udina said as he turned to walk away.

"Harkin's probably getting drunk at Chora's Den, a dingy little club in the wards." Anderson told Shepard,

"I thought he was a drunken loser?" Shepard asked,

"He is. Still, it couldn't hurt to talk to him. But I wouldn't call him reliable." Anderson said.

"Are there any other leads?" Shepard asked,

"You should try talking to volus banker, Barla Von in the financial district." Anderson replied, "Rumour has it he's a representative for the Shadow Broker."

"The Shadow Broker?" Ashley asked,

"An information dealer, a necessary evil of galactic politics. Buying and selling information is part of the game, and the Shadow Broker just happens to be the best player on the field. Always sells to the highest bidder. Doesn't get involved in politics. Doesn't pick sides. A simple system, but it works. He's not a threat to anyone, not directly. He's just a resource we can use. Or she is. Or maybe they are. Nobody really knows. Barla Von is rumoured to be one of his top agents." Anderson replied.

"You and Saren have a history. What happened?" Shepard probed,

"About 20 years ago, I was part of a mission in the Skyllian Verge. I was working with Saren to find and remove a known terrorist threat." Anderson said, "Saren eliminated his target, but a lot of innocent people died along the way. And the official records just covered it all up. But I saw how he operates. No conscience. Not hesitation. He'd kill a thousand innocent civilians to end a war without a second thought."

"Sometimes a thousand innocent people must die so that a million can live." Shepard said, clearly seeing a similarity with himself and Saren,

"Yes, but only if there isn't any other way." Anderson explained, "Saren doesn't even look for another way. He's twisted, broken. He likes the violence, the killing. And he knows how to cover his tracks."

"I should go." Shepard said,

"I'll be over in the Ambassador's office if you need anything, come back to us if you find anything." Anderson said, as he walked away towards to elevators down to the Presidium.

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Thanks for reading again, this is turning out to be a labour of love for me!!

Toolbox24

Mass Effect Serialisation - Chapter 3

Look at That Ship

Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley advanced up the slope toward the prefab units, but before they reached them they found more spikes like the ones they saw the civilian impaled on, only there were what looked like altered humans already impaled on them.

As they approached with caution, the spikes lowered, and the altered humans stood up from them. They were grotesquely changed, with a more robotic look and had tubes hooked up into their mouths that connected round their backs. And they screeched and groaned with a guttural moan that sounded like their last gasp of humanity screaming in a living hell.

The beasts ran at Shepard and co, who duly took them down after a heavy volley of gunfire as well as Kaidan utilising his biotics to throw one of them across the ground.

Afterwards, they slowly approached the now lifeless bodies, with Shepard commenting on them,

"They were human, but now...now they're more like husks than people."

"What the hell happened to them?" Kaidan asked, "Did those spikes change them?"

Ashley replied "It looks that way yeah, but how? Are the geth even capable of this?"

"It doesn't matter at the moment, we need to find out where that damn beacon is." Shepard said very matter-of-factly. The others nodded in silence, and they continued on toward the prefab sheds ahead. They were all open bar one that was locked tight, Kaidan went to the door and hacked into it to unlock it. Inside were 2 scientists.

"Thank the maker!" one of them said "I knew it would only be a matter of time until someone came. I'm Dr Warren, the lead scientist at the dig site." she looked relieved to see the Alliance soldiers in front of them.

"What happened here?" Shepard asked,

"It all happened so fast, one minute we were packing up our stuff, the next the geth were swarming over the site, killing anyone that moved." Dr Warren replied, rubbing her hands nervously. Her assistant walked forward towards Shepard, looking around skittishly,

"Agents of the destroyers. Bringers of darkness. Heralds of our extinction." he said prophetically,

"We could hear the battle outside. Gunfire, screams. We hid in here until it went quiet, but then we were too afraid to move, then eventually you showed up." Dr Warren added.

"Have you seen a turian around here?" Shepard asked, before Dr Warren could reply, her assistant immediately spoke up.

"I have seen him. The prophet. Leader of the enemy. He was here - before the attack!"

"That's impossible, Nihlus was on the Normandy the whole time before the attack."

"I'm sorry, Manuel is...unsettled. We haven't seen your turian, we've been in here since the attack." Dr Warren said.

"What's wrong with your assistant?" Shepard asked, obviously annoyed at his presence.

"Manuel has a brilliant mind, but has always been unstable. Genius and madness are 2 sides of the same coin." Dr Warren said.

"Is it madness to see the future? To see the destruction rushing towards us? To understand that there is no chance, no hope. No, I am not mad - I'm the only sane one left!" Manuel said with conviction.

"I gave him an extra dose of his meds to calm him down." Dr Warren added.

"Well, I can help. Say goodnight Manuel." Shepard said as he slowly approached him, before swinging his fist back to punch him in the face, knocking him out and off his feet.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Dr Warren said,

"That may have been a little extreme, Commander." Kaidan added.

"He was clearly off the rails, it was only a matter of time before he flipped and did something to hurt himself or someone else." Shepard said,

"I...suppose you're right. He was getting worse by the minute." Dr Warren conceded.

"Williams, take us to the spaceport." Shepard said, as they then left, leaving Dr Warren in the prefab shed, and took off towards the spaceport.

---

Nihlus was approaching the spaceport, sneaking behind crates as he saw a figure on the platform. He broke cover wielding his assault rifle, when he looked shocked, and lowered his weapon.

"Saren." He said, confused.

"Nihlus..." Saren replied, turning to see his turian compatriot. Saren was taller than Nihlus, and had a pure grey colouring, his head was larger, and his armour looked a mix between a futuristic battlesuit with tubes and wires, and a medieval suit of armour.

"Saren, what are you doing here?" Nihlus asked, obviously perplexed as to why his fellow Spectre was on Eden Prime.

"The...Council thought you could use some help on this one." Saren said, walking past Nihlus giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"The situation is bad, I never would have thought the geth would go beyond the Veil." Nihlus said, now having completely lowered his weapon and looking up at the red sky.

"Don't worry." Saren said, turning to face Nihlus's back, whilst drawing his pistol. "Everything is under control." As soon as the last letter had been uttered, he pulled the trigger and killed Nihlus with a close range bullet to the back off his head.

NOTE: I described Nihlus as having red colouring on his face, when it was in fact his armour that has red trim. His face (as above) is black and white.

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Shepard, Ashley and Alenko were closing in on the spaceport when they heard a single gunshot echo around them. They turned a corner and heard a loud rumbling and they all experienced a strange screaming sound in their heads.

"Commander, look at that ship!" Kaidan exclaimed, the 3 of them all stopped in their tracks and looked to the sky. A massive ship, with red lightening sparking from it filled a large portion of the sky. It looked almost alive as it rose from the ground, it was enormous - easily 2km in height - and was shaped almost like a cuttlefish with gargantuan legs.

Before they could take in the view too much, they found themselves under fire, and heard the now unmistakable shriek of the husks. They split up to draw fire around the battlefield, and attempt to confuse the husks, and took down the geth firing at them and only just managing to kill the husks before they reached Kaidan.

They traversed the small battlefield down towards the spaceport loading platform, where they came across the corpse of Nihlus. 

"It's Nihlus, looks as though he was shot in the back." Kaidan said,

"Wait! There's something moving behind those crates!" Ashley cut in,

Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan drew their weapons and focussed on the back of the platform. A shaking man came out from behind them,

"Don't shoot! Please! I'm human!" he said,

"You coward, thanks for helping out when those geth attacked us. Really helped us there." Shepard said, holstering his pistol.

"But...I'm just a dock worker, I don't even have a weapon!" the man said, "I was hiding here during the attack, and then I saw your friend get shot by that other turian."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Shepard snapped,

"Your friend, he saw the other turian, Saren he called him, and then he seemed to relax, he let his guard down - lowered his weapon and then he shot him...right in the back." the man said.

"Where did Saren go after killing Nihlus?" Shepard asked,

"He jumped on the cargo train to the other platform, probably going for the beacon. That damn beacon has been nothing but trouble since they dug it up, everything's gone right to hell. First that mothership showed up, then the geth. They killed everybody, damn sure would have killed me too if I weren't behind these crates." the man said.

"Do you know what happened to the beacon?" Shepard asked,

"They loaded it on the cargo train this morning, took it to the other platform. Everything seemed so normal. It's hard to believe that that was only a few hours ago." the man replied.

"Hang on, how come you're the only survivor? Why didn't anyone else hide behind these crates?" Shepard asked,

"They never had a chance. I...I was already behind the crates before it all happened." the man said sheepishly.

"Wait a minute, you were hiding before the attack started?" Kaidan asked,

"Sometimes, I need a nap to get through my shift. So I sneak off behind the crates where my supervisor can't find me and catch 40 winks." he said

"You lazy son of a bitch!" Ashley said, pointing at the man,

"You make me sick, firstly you ditch work, then you sit back while everyone else got butchered by the geth?" Shepard accused,

"What was I supposed to do?" the man said defending himself, "Walk out there to die? I don't have a weapon, there was nothing I could do. I'd just be dead too."

Looking disgusted, Shepard decided to call it a day with the dock worker. "We have to get to that beacon before it's too late!"

"Take the cargo train to the next platform, it's where the beacon is being held." the dock worker said "I have to get away from this place, too many bad feelings."

Shepard and the others proceeded to the cargo train, taking out the remaining geth in their way. They boarded the train and started it, taking them to the next platform.

Meanwhile, already at the other platform, Saren approached one of the geth.

"Set the charges, destroy the entire colony. Leave no evidence that we were here." he ordered.

He then approached the prothean beacon, looked up at it - and it activated raising him from the ground.

Shepard reached the platform that the prothean beacon was being held. And as soon as they left the train, they found a large bomb. They quickly defused it, and their omni-tools detected 3 other bombs on the platform of similar size - they were rudimentary nuclear warheads, destructive enough to destroy a third of the planet, and certainly enough to destroy the colony.

They were surrounded by geth on all sides, and knew they had a limited amount of time before the bombs would go off, they ran through the barrage of bullets, shooting and using Kaidans biotics to destroy the geth.

They managed to reach the 3 bombs and defused them with their omni-tools before they could detonate.

Shepard led his team down onto a sub-platform, where the beacon was being held. There were a number of husks and geth troopers dotted around it, but none of them were a match for Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan.

After destroying the last geth, Shepard radioed the Normandy to confirm that they had found the beacon. While he did, Ashley and Kaidan spoke about the beacon, which was glowing and had a beam of green light shooting out to the sky above it.

"I can't believe it. Actual working prothan technology. This has to be at least 50,000 years old." Kaidan said,

"It wasn't doing anything like this when they dug it up!" Ashley remarked, as Kaidan walked back towards Shepard.

"...in to secure the beacon for transport to the Citadel." Shepard finished his transmission to the Normandy. As he did, Ashley approached it, compelled by it's glowing and humming. Suddenly, a force pulled her closer and Shepard saw her struggling - he ran over to her and pulled her away, putting himself in her place. The beacon pulled him in closer and closer, Ashley then attempted to run to his aid - but Kaidan jumped in to hold her back.

"Don't touch him! It's too dangerous!" he shouted.

The beacon pulled Shepard to it, and raised him up in the same manner it had to Saren before him. Suddenly, Shepard's mind was filled with scattered visions of machine parts, and blurred images of organics being slaughtered. He couldn't make sense of anything he was seeing, and the surge of activity in his mind and in the beacon caused it to overload, exploding and sending Shepard crashing to the floor, losing consciousness in the process.

"Normandy, this is Alenko - we need an emergency medevac now! Lock in on my signal!" Kaidan shouted through his radio, "Come on Commander, come on!" he said to Shepard checking him over.

---

The enormous ship that attacked Eden Prime was surging through space with Saren onboard. He was sat in what appeared to be a throne, deep in thought. An asari approached him, she was wearing bizarre headwear, and was a strong shade of blue, she looked beautiful - as all asari do and looked very human. She coughed slightly to let him know she was there. 

"The humans prevented the bombs from detonating, the colony still stands." she said.

"And the beacon?" Saren asked.

"One of the human's may have activated it." She replied. Saren started breathing heavier, and was clearly irate, he jumped from this throne, and started throwing anything in his way around the room, getting into the asari's face, grabbing it in his talon like hand.

"This human...must be eliminated." he said.

---

Shepard was back on the Normandy following the situation on Eden Prime, and started to come to. Ashley's voice was the first thing he heard.

"Doc, Doc! He's waking up!" 

Shepard sat up on the bed, grabbing his head. Dr Chakwas walked around to face him,

"You had us worried there Shepard. How are you feeling?" she asked,

"Urgh, like the morning after shore leave." he groaned back at her "How long was I out?" 

"About 15 hours, something happened down there with the beacon." Chakwas replied,

"It's my fault," Ashley said, "I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You pulled me out of the way."

"I expect better from my people Williams," Shepard scolded Ashley, "Your recklessness jeopardised the mission and could have cost me my life."

Ashley looked disheartened, as Chakwas spoke up,

"Actually, we don't even know what set it off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out."

"The beacon overloaded, the blast knocked you out. The Lieutenant and I got you back to the ship." Ashley added,

"What's the damage doc?" Shepard asked,

"Physically you're fine. But I detected some unusual brain activity - abnormal beta waves." Chakwas said, "I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming."

"Not a dream. More of a nightmare. I saw death, destruction - nothing's really clear." Shepard responded. As he did, Captain Anderson entered the room.

"Glad to see my XO is back on his feet" he said, "I need a moment with the Commander - in private."

Ashley and Chakwas left the medbay to give them that privacy.

"Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard Commander. You sure you're OK?" Anderson asked,

"Intel dropped the ball sir. We had no idea what we were walking into down there." Shepard said,

"The geth haven't been seen outside the Veil in 2 centuries - there's no way to know they would be there." Anderson replied.

"Williams isn't a part of the crew, what's she doing here?" Shepard asked,

"We could use a good soldier like her, I had her transferred to the Normandy." Anderson said.

"You said you needed to see me in private Captain?" Shepard asked.

"I wont lie to you Shepard. Things look back. Nihlus is dead. The beacon was destroyed and the geth are invading. The Council is going to want answers."

"The Council can kiss my ass, I didn't do anything wrong." Shepard said,

"I'll stand by you and your report Shepard. You're a damned hero in my books. That's not why I'm here. It's Saren, that other turian." Anderson said "Saren's a Spectre - one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the geth, it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's danerous, and he hates humans."

"Saren wasn't on Eden Prime because he hates humans." Shepard said,

"You're right. Saren has allied himself with the geth. I don't know how or why, but it had to be to do with that beacon. You were there just before the beacon self destructed - did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?" Anderson asked.


"Just before I lost conciousness, I had some sort of vision." Shepard said, leaning against his bed.

"A vision?"

"I saw synthetics. Geth maybe, slaughtering people. Butchering them." Shepard said,

"We need to report this to the Council!" Anderson said.

"What are we going to tell them? I had a bad dream?" Shepard retorted.

"We don't know what information was stored on that beacon. Lost prothean tech? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever the case, Saren has it now. Anderson replied "I know Saren, his rep, his politics. He believes human's are a blight on the galaxy. This was an act of war! He has the secrets of the beacon and an army of geth at his command. He wont stop until he's wiped humanity from the galaxy."

"I'll find some way to take him down." Shepard said, brimming with confidence and anger.

"It's not that easy. He's a Spectre - he can go anywhere, do almost anything. That's why we need the Council onboard with this." Anderson said, "If we prove Saren has gone rogue, they'll revoke his Spectre status. I'll contact the ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to meet you when we get to the Citadel. Speaking of which - we're close to it now. Go to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in."


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Thanks for reading!

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Mass Effect Serialisation - Chapter 2

Eden Prime

Shepard, Alenko and Jenkins quickly assembled in the hangar where Captain Anderson was waiting for them. Nihlus was already there as well, already suited and booted and ready for action - it seems Spectres expect to be in the thick of it at any given notice.

"You'll be the brunt of the mission Shepard, find that Beacon - helping survivors is a secondary priority" Anderson said through the bluster as the hangar doors had opened. Eden Prime was below them, a beautiful garden world dotted with towers, but the sky was scorched red following the attack from the unknown source. The Normandy's stealth system was fully engaged and operational, they would be going in quick and quiet. Nihlus joined the others by the hangar doors, checking his shotgun.

"Are you coming with us Nihlus?" Jenkins asked, barely containing his excitement.

"No. I work faster on my own." he said as the Normandy descended for a drop off - Nihlus jumped out and advanced.

"Nihlus will go on ahead, maintain radio contact with him." Anderson said,

"I'm not sure I like putting my life in the hands of a turian, sir." Shepard shouted over the chop that had risen in volume,

"That's enough Shepard, he's got your back - you get his!" Anderson commanded,

"Yes sir!" Shepard said - he may have his opinions, but he respects the chain of command, especially with Captain Anderson.

The Normandy came round to the second drop point, and Joker lowered it undetected to drop off the team.

Shepard led the team through some what appeared to be some old ruins, where they came across the scorched corpses of civilians, Alenko was taken aback - Shepard viewed them as though they were nothing special.

They carried on forward when they came to a large opening. Shepard signalled for the others to stop, looked ahead and put Jenkins on point to take the lead. Jenkins went forward quickly, and seemingly out of nowhere, 2 flying machines appeared and blind sided him, bringing him down with a heavy volley of gunfire.

Shepard and Alenko broke cover to destroy the machines that appeared to be drones. Alenko went to Jenkins body, closing his eyes.

"He never stood a chance, they ripped right through his shields." Alenko said, somberly.

"Leave him, we have to continue." Shepard said bluntly, knowing that soldiers die, but the mission has to continue.

They advanced further up through the open area to find more cover, where 3 more drones were waiting for them. After a brief gunfight, Shepard and Alenko destroyed them and continued on their way.

They cautiously went through a few trees, when they heard gunfire. Shepard told Alenko to get down and ready his weapon, as they saw another large clearing. What they saw was a marine, who appeared to be on the live feed Shepard saw on the Normandy running towards them, with 2 drones in pursuit. She dove to the floor, turning as she landed, drew her pistol and took the drones out with a few shots.

On the far side of the clearing they saw 2 mechs, with a clearly wounded civilian, laying him on a pedestal, he was still alive and clearly conscious as one of the mechs activated the pedestal, which drove a large spike skyward, impaling the civilian.

The mechs looked round and saw Shepard, they started to advance. Shepard, Alenko and the other marine engaged the mechs taking them out after combining well and flanking them around a large rock in the centre of the clearing.

Afterwards, Shepard and Alenko approached the marine, and Shepard spoke up,

"Soldier, give me a status report."

"Sir, Chief Tech Ashley Williams, of the 212 stationed on Eden Prime. Everything was normal until about an hour ago when those things showed up and blew everything to hell, sir." she said, still catching her breath. Ashley was a beautiful woman, clearly a tough soldier and a good shot. She carried herself well, but as though she was carrying more than her fair share of burdens.

"What were those things?" Alenko asked,

"I believe they are geth, sir." Ashley replied,

"Geth? Impossible, the geth haven't been seen outside the veil in nearly 200 years, what would they be doing here?" Alenko retorted.

"I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with the beacon." Ashley said,

"What do you know about the geth Williams?" Shepard asked,

"Only what they told us in school, sir." Ashley said, "They were a sentient race of machines created over 200 years ago by the quarians, who drove them to exile, and haven't been seen since."

"What happened to the rest of your unit?" Shepard asked,

"Wiped out sir, I'm the only survivor." Williams said, without missing a breath.

"Can you take us to the dig site Williams?" Shepard asked,

"Yes sir, it's time for payback on those sons of bitches."

Shepard instructed Williams to join him and Alenko, as they advanced out of the clearing onto a small slope, feeding down to what appeared to be the dig site. Small ruins dotted the slope to the main dig site and Shepard took point, taking cover behind the seemingly ancient stone blocks.

As they neared the dig site, they could see that it was littered with geth, Shepard instructed the others to hold fire while he took out his sniper rifle. He lined up the geth the furthest away from him, andtook aim. His bullet ripped the geth's top half clear off and sent the others into cover - looking for the shooter. The geth were humanoid in form, but with a large curved "head" with a large blue light at the front of it - this appeared to be it's eye, and it made noises in a series of grunting sounding bleeps and churns.

Williams and Alenko opened fire on the remaining geth, while Shepard waited for his gun to cool down, once it had he lined up a second geth and took it out. After the geth were taken down, they advanced into the dig site.

"The beacon! It's gone!" Ashley said,

"Where could it be Williams?" Shepard asked,

"I suppose the scientists could have taken it when the attack started, there could be some more alive further on." she replied. Just then Nihlus radioed through,

"Shepard, I'm seeing a lot of strange activity down by the tram station, I'm going to go and check it out. Meet me down there when you can."

"You heard the man, let's move out." Shepard said, as they set off up another slope towards a series of prefab units that housed the scientists.

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More Mass Effect Serialisation soon! Oh and just so you know, this whole thing is just because I bloody love these games so much - and for it's story alone, it's a great ride. I just hope my words can do it justice.

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