A/N: I know I am far, far too late to this party, but I blame the fact that I had shelved this story a long time ago until I was asked to contribute ideas to a ME crossover. So here it is:

Mainly Paragon Shepard but still a realist when it comes to decisions (will do things like drop a bunch of crates on people for example rather than nobly fighting them on equal terms).

Medic class: Mainly focussed on Leading and supporting strike teams with the use of biotics and healing tech skills, Medic class does not have many offensive abilities so Shepard has to use his weapons and team to deal with enemies. Based on the subclass of sentinel but I wanted to give it a unique stand point.

Other points: Will be a harem story, but not a rapidly developing one, this will be a slow development which is not the focus of the story. There will be some large divergences from Canon, but I will leave which bits for you to figure out as we go.

And with that bit of required preamble out of the way, here we go!

Medic effect:

Chapter 1: Memories of Mindoir and Eden Hell.

Ambassador Udina: "What about Shepard, he grew up in the colonies after all."

Captain Anderson: "He is no stranger to hardship; his family was killed in the attack on Mindoir. Shepard made his first kill that day as well."

Admiral Hackett: "He proved himself during the Blitz, held one of our key defense towers almost singlehandedly until reinforcements arrived, saved a whole lot of lives."

Captain Anderson: "Indeed, he is the only reason Elysium is still standing. There is no question of his technical competence, fully trained biotic after his powers were discovered on Mindoir, doctorate in medicine and field triage as well as his N7 training and mission experience."

Ambassador Udina: "True, we cannot doubt his courage either."

Captain Anderson: "Humanity needs a hero and having served with him for two years now, I can definitely say he is the best we have."

Ambassador Udina: "Very well, I will make the call..."

Extract from the logs of Captain Anderson, on the subject of Shepard, the second human Spectre candidate.

*Flashback*

It was a chilly blustery day in the middle of Mindoir's Autumnal season but young John Shepard, aged 14 years and 13 days, didn't care about the cold wind at all as he held his mother's hand tightly. He walked quickly to keep up with her longer stride as she led him into the local town of Thorpen Grange, excitement bubbling in his chest at the thought of the evening to come.

There was to be a band playing and carnival games after the parade of floats and other performers, even more than usual he thought excitedly. His father had gone ahead to secure them a good spot along the procession, as the elder Shepard did not want to rush his pregnant wife more than he had to, with her so close to her third trimester. Looking up at his mother and her slightly bulging belly, John couldn't help but grin, he was going to be a big brother and from what he had seen amongst his friends, big brothers were the coolest people ever.

John was still musing on the idea of how great things were going to be soon when he caught sight of his dad stood waving at the two of them from the front of the crowd. As a small farming community, it was not often that they got the opportunity to hold such events; usually they kept to themselves on their own little communities. The celebration was for the fifth anniversary of the colonies founding, and everyone was getting into it, with the older members of the community having practiced for months before to become a passable marching band and were going to be leading the small parade that was passing through the central town of the small colony.

As they approached his dad John's grin widened, his dad clearing them a space in the crowd, gently but firmly with his large arms. John knew his dad had been in the military, something that had been explained to him when he asked about his dad's bad limp, which the elder Shepard had obtained during the first contact war with the Turian forces of the council. Despite the difficulties his Dad maintained his fitness as best he could which was one of the reasons people shifting at his insistence, his height at 6"5 another as he towered over those around him.

His mother embraced his Dad joyfully and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She opened her mouth to say something when all of a sudden; explosions began to be heard in the distance. Looking around John's sharp eyes picked out strange shapes as they began to appear in the sky, dark and menacing shapes that glowed for a moment before going dark. The explosions came again, this time closer than before and it didn't take much effort to realise what was happening from the stories his Dad had told him as a child.

Before John could ask any questions or let people know what he had seen, he found himself being swept away along with his mother, his father dragging the two of them away from the agitated crowd who obviously hadn't realised what was going on quite yet. His Dad was heading towards the outskirts as fast as he could, his head turning from side to side rapidly as if looking out for something, the look of fear and panic something John had never imagined he would see on the unflappable man.

When his Dad spoke his voice was low and grating, which was probably due to the running on his injured leg. 'We must keep going, head to the fields, we can lose them in there.' John's mother winced as another explosion happened, much closer this time, followed by a series of pained cries. "Paul, what is happening? Who is attacking us?" Paul Shepard, his Dad, shook his head as the fear from earlier was replaced with anger as he continued pulling them along with a hurried insistence. "Batarians, most likely slavers, though I saw at least one frigate there, we must hurry out of here, right now." There was an explosion sound as John took one more look at the colony, then everything was consumed in white light.

*End Flashback*

"Commander? Commander Shepard!" The now 27 year old John Shepard was awake in an instant, his eyes fixing themselves on Corporal Jenkins, who was the one who had been calling to him whilst he was asleep. Shepard was glad that Jenkins had been focussed on his face; it meant his instinctual grabbing of the knife that was always attached to his hip had probably gone unnoticed. Keeping a weapon to hand at all times was a bad habit, but one that had saved his life more than once. He knew he had avoided an awkward moment when Jenkins spoke again without pause or change of inflection. "Are you alright sir? You were jerking around quite heavily just now. "

Shepard nodded that he was as he sat up straight, even though he knew he probably looked a state at that moment, red eyed and soaked in sweat "I am fine Corporal, just some old memories of times that I would rather forget. What is it you need from me?" Of course John wasn't being entirely truthful when he said he wished to forget those memories, it was the ones that occurred after he didn't want to remember. He was grateful when Jenkins dropped the subject with a nod, the young marine had no actual wartime experience but had heard all the stories of John's past, so was probably imagining what horrors were inside John's head when he slept.

"Of course Commander no need to explain further. I am here as I was ordered to inform you that captain Anderson and the Turian will be expecting you on the bridge shortly, we are heading through the gate in 5 minutes and they wish to discuss the formalities of the visit to Eden Prime with you. Do you wish for me to inform them that you will be there ASAP?" At Shepard's tired nod Jenkins then saluted and left his bunk room without another word. John reasserted his grip on his surroundings, reminding himself that he was not on Mindoir; he was aboard the SSV Normandy inside his quarters, which he shared with Navigator Pressley on a vague 12 hour shift.

The room space was on such a shift due to the limited space on the Frigate, only Captain Anderson got his own personal sleeping space and even the size of it was something very unique to the experimental human ship. Knowing that he was expected Shepard quickly ran through two of the mind exercises he had taught himself to focus his mind as he heaved himself out of the bed space and into the Normandy quarters.

He hurriedly headed to the shower area, clearing his mind of the last vestiges of the emotions and stray thoughts brought on by the memories, activating the quick clean mode on one of the shower heads with practiced ease, quickly being covered in premixed soapy warm water that he quickly washed himself down with. A minute later John was out by his locker, drying himself as quickly as he could with the nano-towel that he had laid out before taking a rest a few hours before.

John then reached into the locker and began equipping himself with the N7 armour he had received as part of his first promotion, his reward for his actions during the Skyllian Blitz against the Batarian slavers who had tried to take the planet and its inhabitants for themselves. John chuckled morbidly to himself as he thought of his current situation; it was certainly interesting, being the first official N7 medic in history, the only lifesaver amongst the nest of assassins and elite warriors. From there, after five years of earning the respect of his team with blood, sweat and a few close calls, John had been plucked from his position to be 'promoted' to the position of Commander of the newest and fastest Earth built ship cadre of marines?

Logically John knew most of the reason for his promotion was due to public pressure on the politicians back on Earth as opposed to the punishment that he had taken the secondment as originally. That logic fell short of being able to explain the choice of mission they were on however, or the presence of one of the fabled council spectre operatives overseeing its completion.

"This is a hell of a force for a simple shakedown mission." John muttered to himself as he attached his custom crafted N7 right gauntlet in place on his armour. It was almost twice the size and weight of his left gauntlet, but that was because it contained enough medical supplies, surgical nanites and of course medi-gel to look after a small platoon of humans if necessary, along with a small group of the more difficult to treat council races.

It also contained a prototype device which he along with several techies in the N7 division had worked on for almost a year, something he wasn't quite ready to let the others know about quite yet. It could turn omni-gel into further supplements of medi-gel, though it had a long cool down period after each use. With all his armour in place, he reached down and grabbed his helmet in one hand whilst the other picked up and stowed his pistol on its mag-locked point on his thigh, shifting the knife that was already there to the outside of the armour plating. Quite a few of the crew probably thought him paranoid, but after the events of Mindoir, he wasn't going anywhere unarmed again.

*Flashback*

His father's face, twisted in agony as his injured leg gives out from under him, a laughing Batarian standing over him, covered in blood and gore, his mother, screaming for him as she is dragged away, the Batarian raising a bloody knife with a malicious glee clear on its features as it stepped over his father's corpse towards him...

*Flashback End*

John snapped back into reality finding himself in the elevator on the way to the command deck, his body having followed the semi familiar path without his conscious guidance. John shook his head as he ran through his mind clearing exercise once more, he needed to be focused, no time for memories. The elevator door opened with a quiet bing, exposing him to the large semi-open area that served as the Normandy's command deck. A raised dais, where the Captain stood and gave orders, overlooked the other crew pits which contained work stations for the various sections of the ship.

John stepped out of the elevator without as much as a pause, meeting eyes with Captain Anderson straight away. The two had worked together before on several N7 operations before the two of them had been moved to the Normandy and they were quite good friends outside of missions, though Shepard secretly thought that Anderson had something to do with his transfer here. Remembering that this was technically mission time John snapped off a salute to both him and the Spectre who was stood next to him.

The Turian went by the name Nihilus who straightened from looking into the galaxy map area to return the salute, reminding Shepard of why he liked the Turian who actually tried to fit in with their command structure rather than just dominating it as the Spectres he had encountered in the past had done. Anderson wasted no time in formalities beyond returning the salute with a textbook classic response of his own, his lack of his usual welcoming and friendly attitude showing the true urgency of the matter. "Commander, we have a situation on Eden Prime."

He gestured as Shepard walked up onto the dais, looking down onto the galaxy map as it went from a general overview of the Milky Way and focused on the planet that Anderson had mentioned. "All data feeds from the planet went silent about 15 minutes ago. We thought initially that it might just be solar activity or trouble with a transmitter, but then we received this heavily jammed message at the same time. It took some work but this is it after the techies cleaned up as much as they could whilst Jenkins went and fetched you." With a press of a button the speakers began playing the sound of someone's voice.

"Station, we've just received a large ship through the mass relay, it hasn't been responding to hails as it approaches. Is this some kind of drill?" Shepard's ears picked up the sound of explosions in the background a few seconds before the voice seemed to notice and react to them. "Dear god, all units, we are under attack, report to battle stations..." There was a jump in the feed and then there was a video that came to life on the galaxy map display, John recognised gunfire and explosions on screen blurry as the feed was, the view having changed to that of what he assumed was an officers helmet.

"We are under heavy attack... Many casualties!" At this point the officer was pushed into cover by a female marine as more explosions occurred overhead. John was impressed by the marine he could see on the screen, showing no fear as she stood quickly, firing in controlled bursts with her assault rifle as the officer carried on speaking. "We need support, evac for the wounded, they are everywhe..." he was cut off by a strange drone that drowned out everything else.

The camera cut to the sky and a ship appeared, wreathed in red lightning, four limbs askew like the hand of an angry god descending upon them. The camera cut away again as the firing intensified, before a bright light put up the screen, and darkness fell before static dominated the speakers once more. Captain Anderson cut it off with a wave of a hand, his face grave and serious, making him look much older than Shepard remembered seeing him before.

"The rest of the communication is static and interference, but we now know to come in weapons hot. Commander, you are to lead the advance scout team. Your primary objective is find out what we are up against and what strength of opposition stands between us and retrieving that beacon. Secondary objectives are to kill as many enemies as you can as well as to help any troops or survivors you find in any way you can. Nihilus will be dropped nearer the beacon, we need to still obtain that, and it might be what the attackers are here for."

Shepard nodded, it was a good job he had as many supplies as he did, it sounded like his medic abilities would be put to good use again. "Yes sir, who am I to be taking with me? And when do we deploy?" Anderson gestured and Jenkins and another marine Shepard didn't know stepped forwards. "Corporal Jenkins and Lieutenant Alenko will be with you as the sweep team, team Beta will be providing support and extraction." The Normandy's pilot, who was affectionately nicknamed Joker by the crew and had refused to answer by any other including his given name, came on the intercom.

"Captain, we will be clearing the gate in 10 seconds." Anderson nodded, turning back to the marines. "Head to the shuttle bay men, and Shepard?" Shepard turned, wondering what the Captain could have to say that he hadn't already. "Sir?" Anderson pointed at his pistol, shaking his head. "Please tell me you're taking more than that peashooter on this mission?" Shepard grinned almost viciously at that comment and turned away as he charged the weapon. "Sir, if I need more than this baby, then the mission is already fubar enough to worry me." shaking his head, Anderson's only reply was an exasperated grin obviously knowing not to bother pushing the point, the expression was the last thing that Shepard saw before the elevator closed and began its descent into the ships depths.

Time Skip:

"That ship is huge!" Jenkins muttering of the obvious did nothing to reduce the similar feelings of concern and anticipation that were passing through Johns head at the time. "How did they get such a monster into atmosphere, that shouldn't be possible!" Kaidan's insightful but distracting comment brought Shepard's mind back to the mission and he gestured forwards in an attempt to get the others to do the same. "Focus on the mission people; we can work out how to deal with the thing over there afterwards." Alenko nodded, drawing his assault rifle as he did so. Shepard gave out his first orders as he scanned the area with his pistol at the ready.

"Jenkins, take point whilst we advance, I don't want to have any surprises here." Jenkins nodded, obviously eager to prove himself on their first mission. "Of course commander, let's go save us a..." The rest of what Jenkins was going to say was cut off by the appearance of two floating drones, which swooped down on Jenkins, weapons blazing into him viciously. Even as Jenkins fell, screaming in pain, Shepard was already moving into action. With his right hand he raised his gauntlet and fired a dose of medi-gel into the fallen Jenkins via a dart injection system that he was currently testing for alliance R+D along with the other gizmo's that he had incorporated into the piece of armour.

In his left hand his pistol was already up and firing, shots slamming into the closest of the flimsy machines, whilst Kaidan coated the other with sustained and accurate rifle fire. Alenko's drone crashed to the earth whilst Shepard's drone managed to line itself up for another run. As it accelerated, Shepard raised his hands and focused his strength and will. As the first shot scorched the ground in front of him he pushed forward and released a warp spike. The focussed biotic wave was his personal version of the warp, acting as a nano-blade through the air and splitting the machine in two parts.

The remains fell to the floor smoking even as Shepard reached the fallen Jenkins, whose torso was now a blackened mess of armour, flesh and bone. He was breathing, if barely, and the inside of his visor was covered in blood. The medi-gel had done its job however, and as Shepard worked away to try and mitigate the worst of the damage, he could see the chances of Jenkins surviving increasing greatly. He managed to activate his comm unit in a moments respite from treatment as Kaidan swept the area once more.

"Beta, we have a man down, I need you to perform emergency extraction, and we will continue the mission regardless. Kaidan, the drones remains; we will want them for analysis considering what their weapons did to our armour!" Twenty seconds later the drop ship streaked into view, landing a short distance away, two marines leaping out of the opening door, stretcher carried between the two of them. Shepard helped moved him onto the stretcher as Kaidan moved the drones onto the ship with the help of one of the other marines.

After quickly instructing the lead marine on how to keep Jenkins stable, Shepard moved off with Alenko as they moved back towards the transport. He knew that moving on now was a risky decision as it would be at least 30 minutes before the drop ship was back into position from delivering Jenkins to the Normandy. That meant that for the time being, they were on their own without any support in the case they encountered a force that could overwhelm them.

But waiting would greatly reduce the chance that they would find any survivors at all and that was something the medic in him couldn't stand despite the risks. Shepard took the lead this time and whilst they moved he got his suits VI to enhance his forward shields to maximum capacity at the cost of his rear armour shields. The armour gave a low buzz before stabilising once more, better the shields block a shot to the front and risks a sneak attack than be useless for both angles.

They had barely gotten 100 yards before they each heard the distinctive whine of more Geth gun drones. This time he and Kaidan were ready, and with a few short bursts of fire the drones tumbled to the floor, more junk to be collected once the nightmare was over. The smell of death and smoke was becoming more prevalent the further they advanced, penetrating their helmets with surprising ease, reinforcing his earlier though that if they were to find any survivors, they would have to move fast. Indicating that he would continue to lead they continued to advance rapidly and quietly.

After a couple more minutes of advancing in silence there was a short buzz before Nihilus came over the radio, speaking quietly and urgently. "Commander, there are a lot of burning buildings here, bodies too. I'm going to check it out, keep moving to the dig site." Shepard was about to respond when the sounds of gunfire came from in front of them, follows by the now familiar sound of Geth plasma fire in response. Sprinting to the top of the hill his eyes took in the scene in a moment.

There was the female marine from the communications video they had received on the Normandy, sprinting as fast as she could away from a pair of drones who were spitting fire at her, two shots clipping her armour and nearly making her stumble. Shepard had his gun up and was just about to fire at the closest drone when the marine leapt to the ground, drawing her pistol as she did so and turning. Three bursts of fire felled the drones, accuracy that John would have appreciated if he wasn't already eying up his next target, which was the pair of large humanoid robots that were holding a colonist on some kind of strange device.

Loosing off a warp spike even as he began firing, Shepard was pleased when the biotic attack slammed into the synthetic holding the colonist down and causing it to pull the colonist off the device as it fell to the ground from the impact. His relief turned to concern as not a moment later a giant spike shot up from the middle of the device the colonist had been placed upon, leaving no doubt as to what would have happened if Shepard hadn't taken the shot.

The other synthetic seemed torn between target him or the female marine, who had moved into cover and drawn her assault rifle as he charged down the hill with Kaidan right behind him. The thing had just started firing at him when the female marine shifted out of cover and began firing, rounds impacting on the things chest as Kaidan joined in with his own fire, the rain of assault rifle shots bringing it down in moments. Shepard had carried on moving forwards, aiming for the one that he had knocked down as it pushed itself back to its feet in an unsteady manner.

He was ten feet away as it turned with its weapon ready, a trio of pistol rounds impacting in the head area sending it collapsing to the floor once more. Checking the two robots for a moment before deciding that they wouldn't be getting back up, John saw that the colonist was alive if not entirely with it due to shock. Selecting a small sedative from his kit, he injected it into the man who didn't even seem to notice before he slowly fell unconscious. Turning to the female marine who had moved up in his wake and had been sweeping the area with her rifle he began to check her visually for injuries or damage to her armour.

She obviously noticed his look as she switched her rifle to her left hand hurriedly before saluting. "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, are you the one in charge here sir?" Consummate professional even after being under fire, no signs of injuries and his scans weren't sensing any signs of shock. Shepard gave a quick salute back before asking his first question. "I am Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy, so unless we find your commander I am giving the orders for this mission. Are you wounded Williams?"

She shook her head with a small look of remorse. "A few scrapes and burns from weapons fire, nothing serious. The others, they weren't so lucky. It is a good job you showed up when you did Commander." Looking at the mangled remains of the two drones Shepard couldn't help but smile slightly. "You seemed to have it under control as best you could Williams. Now help me move this man into some cover and you can tell me what happened to the rest of your unit."

Ashley nodded though it was clear she didn't agree with his assessment of the situation even as she moved to grab one of the colonist's arms. "We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call but they have been blocking our communications. Then we tried to double back to the beacon only to walk into an ambush. I have been fighting for my life ever since, I think I am the only one left."

Knowing from experience what it felt like to be the only survivor of an attack, Shepard decided to try and make sure that Ashley knew that their sacrifice wasn't pointless or her fault, though he tried to avoid outright saying as such as pity was the worst approach in this situation. "Well its thanks to your squad's communication that we knew what we were coming up against otherwise we wouldn't have been ready for this. I am sure that you did everything you could to save them."

The news that the communication had gotten through had the effect that Shepard had expected it too, with Ashley's demeanour visibly brightening, if only momentarily. "It did? We weren't sure with the jamming going on. We held our position as long as we could until the Geth overwhelmed us." The mention of the Geth made the niggling feeling inside Shepard's head go away, he thought he had recognised the larger synthetics from somewhere, even if it was only in the dusty textbooks at the academy.

"The Geth haven't been seen outside of the Perseus Veil in over two hundred years. Why are they here now?" Williams spoke quickly in reply to Kaidan's question and her comment confirmed what Shepard had been thinking. "They must be after the beacon, it's the only thing of strategic importance here. The dig site is close, I was trying to work my way to it after the ambush. The beacon might still be there. It is just over that rise there." They had moved the Colonist whilst they were talking to one of the trees which were surrounded by small bushes, more than enough to hide him from a basic search of the area.

At Ashley's direction they were ready to move out once more, questions that were not mission sensitive could wait till later. "We could use your firepower Williams, ready to take the fight back to the Geth?" Ashley nodded eagerly and readied her assault rifle once more. "Aye Aye sir, it is time for some payback." Shepard nodded but knew he would need to keep an eye on her, vengeance was a great but terrible weapon and if left unchecked Ashley could get them all killed. "Lieutenant, take point whilst I debrief Williams, we will talk as we move."

There were no disagreements as Kaidan moved into position and they took off at a quick jog. "What can you tell me about the Beacon? Why would the Geth be after it?" Ashley seemed almost annoyed with herself as she answered. "They found the beacon whilst they were digging to extend the monorail from the main colony a few weeks back, unearthed some Prothean ruins which the beacon was in. Everyone who had something to do with science in the colony was clamouring to get a hold of it, which is when we were brought in to secure it. I heard one of the scientists say this could be the scientific find of the century, but I don't know anything more than that Commander."

The lack of Intel was annoying but hardly unsurprising. "The researchers, what happened to them?" Ashley pointed off to the left of where they were headed. "They set up a camp near the dig site, the 232 was with them. Perhaps they fared better in the attack then we did." Knowing how unlikely that chance was Shepard decided to leave the conversation at that, an avoidance that was helped by the plasma that flew over Kaidan's head as they cleared the rise overlooking the dig site.

"Four Geth troopers... Make that three!" Kaidan's call was punctuated by his utilisation of biotics to throw the nearest Geth into the wall of the dig site, impaling it upon an extended pole. The remaining three Geth were dealt with quickly between Shepard's and Kaidan's biotics as well as Ashley's impeccable accuracy, but it was the synthetics presence at the site that confirmed the bad news he was slowly starting to expect at every turn with this mission.

"The beacon was here, someone must have moved it." Kaidan sighed, he was obviously getting as used to complications as Shepard was. "Well the question is who moved it, us or the Geth?" Ashley nodded towards the path that led out of the other side of the dig site. "I don't know, but if there are any survivors they might be holed up in the camp and they might know about it."

Reasonable assumption Shepard thought as he spied something in the hands of one of the dead researchers at the site, a Hurricane IV model if he wasn't mistaken, definitely not standard issue. Deciding to worry about where he had gotten it from later, Shepard grabbed it and tossed it to Ashley who caught it deftly, looked it over once before putting her own Hurricane I model on her back. The upgraded weapon would serve them well and considering how FUBAR the mission had already gone, they would need all the help they could get...

Time Skip:

"Humans, thank the maker!" The female researcher seemed overjoyed at their presence, but the injured male seemed much more cautious. "Quick, close the door before they come back!" As much as he didn't have time for pleasantries, Shepard knew that trying to rush a conversation past these two might cause them to clam up or forget things, so he tried the nice approach. Kaidan was searching the rest of the camp for other survivors anyway so he had some time. "Don't worry, we have dealt with the Geth in the camp and on the outskirts, we will protect you from here. I am Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy."

The woman smiled in relief. "Thank you, I think we will be okay now. I think everyone has gone." Ashley spoke up at this point. "You are Dr Warren, the one in charge of the excavations. Do you know what happened to the beacon? It has been moved from the dig site." The newly named Dr Warren nodded before explaining. "It was moved to the spaceport this morning, Dr Manuel and I stayed behind to help pack up the camp. When the attack came the marines held them off long enough for us to hide in here. They gave their lives to save us."

"No one is saved; the age of humanity has ended. Soon, only ruin and corpses will remain!" Shepard already really didn't like the guy and his attitude wasn't helping. Deciding to ignore him in the hope he would remain quiet Shepard focussed on Warren. "What else can you tell me about the attack?" She shrugged apologetically. "It all happened so fast. One moment we were packing up our equipment, the next we were hiding in this shed whilst the Geth swarmed over the camp."

Dr Manuel started ranting about extinction again so Shepard tuned him out whilst Warren continued. "We could hear the battle outside, gunfire, screaming. I thought it would never end. We locked the door and just sat here; until you came along we didn't dare hope for a rescue." Shepard nodded in understanding; such a reaction was hardly out of the norm for non-military personnel. "We are planning on heading to the spaceport to retrieve the beacon but if you remain here we can extract you once we have it and the Geth withdraw. Is there anything you can tell me about the beacon?"

"It's some type of data module from a Prothean galaxy wide communications network. It's remarkably well preserved and could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetimes. Miraculous new technologies, ground-breaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside?" The awe in which Dr Warren spoke about the beacon made Shepard realise how much she loved her work if talking about it could drag her from the horrors she had been forced to listen to outside.

His appreciation for her love of the subject was ruined by Dr Manuel once more. "We have unearthed the heart of darkness, awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness." It seemed that Dr Warren was tired of his ranting as well, but she limited her response to an exasperated sigh and comment of. "Manuel, please. This isn't the time."

Looking closer at the man for the first time, Shepard noticed several signs of a mental break, twitching hands, unfocused staring and wide eyes mixed with sudden jerky movements. "What is wrong with your assistant? He seems to be suffering a mental breakdown." Dr Warren sighed. "Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he has always been a bit... Unstable." Looking at the man, Shepard couldn't help but think that was a slight understatement. "Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin after all. I gave him an extra dose of mess after the attack, but they don't seem to have had much effect."

Deciding that they needed to move to the spaceport soon if they were to secure the beacon, Shepard had one last question to ask. "Did you see a Turian move through here recently?" Manuel looked up sharply at this and his eyes fixed firmly on Shepard for the first time since he entered the shed they were in. "I have seen him. The prophet! The leader of the enemy. He passed through here before the attack." That didn't make sense, Nihilus was on the Normandy before the attack so what could the madman be going on about? Shepard wanted to shake it off as the ravings of a lunatic, but there was something in his eyes that made Shepard think there was something going on here that they did not know about yet.

Bad enough they already were dealing with Geth who had machines that turned humans into some kind of electronic husk that attacked them on sight. The possibility of a Turian being involved just made things worse. "I am sorry, Manuel is a bit unsettled, we haven't seen anything since the attack, and we have been hiding in here." Shepard nodded, it was probably nothing and he was getting paranoid for no reason. "Williams, I need directions to the spaceport, Kaidan any survivors?" After receiving a surprising confirmation from the lieutenant, who had found two badly injure marines hidden in a storm drain, it took a couple of minutes to move them into the shed where the others were hiding.

Dr Warren waved him off as he went to treat them. "I can look after these two, you need to go and save as many others as you can. You are the only hope most of them have got." Feeling slightly chastised at the reminder Shepard nodded before heading to the door. "Lock this when we leave, I will make sure the evac team announce itself before trying to get inside."

That was five lives saved, only another couple of thousand to possibly lose on the way to the spaceport and the beacon...

Time skip:

After two more squads of Geth troopers had been in their path and were dealt with, mostly by an angry Ashley who took slightly more joy in reducing the synthetics to piles of broken machinery than Shepard was comfortable with, they made it to the space station storage area. "This place got hit hard, I wonder if anyone managed to make it out?"

They saw the first Geth trooper that seemed to be sweeping the area, Shepard downing it just in time to see the giant unknown ship take off in the distance, like a spider ascending to its web after devouring its prey. They moved through the area dealing with another half a dozen Geth. After the hostiles were down Shepard led a quick search of the area and found another half a dozen survivors, hidden in another storage shed that the Geth had been guarding along with the station, seemingly content to wait the humans out rather than storm the building.

The colonists had been simple farmers that hadn't been able to help him with much information, but they had had some smuggled weapons that Shepard had easily persuaded them to part with after a speech about risking everything to save Eden Prime. He was now the proud owner of a Stinger III pistol, which was certainly better made and maintained than his older model. The old Stinger was the last memento from his pre-military days, something he had been given by the marines who had rescued him from the Batarian slavers all those years before. But for now he needed the extra firepower the newer gun gave him, so he swapped it out and stored his still in his backpack.

As the three of them headed into the main area of the space station, they were attacked by a group of Geth that were obviously standing guard to the entrance. The combined group of Geth troopers and husks were more of a challenge than Shepard anticipated the three of them unable to concentrate their fire to finish off either group without risking exposure to the other. It took a couple of minutes and a plasma wound to Shepard's shoulder before the last husk fell with a crackling nimbus of blur energy radiating from its unmoving body.

Patching himself up whilst the others searched the area, Shepard almost checked his comm link for damage when Kaidan spoke up with an almost disbelieving tone in his voice. "Commander, you should come see this, its Nihilus." Standing quickly Shepard followed his sensors which lead him to Kaidan's position, Ashley's motion signal also converging from the west. Seeing the unmoving body of the Spectre on the ground Shepard had to resist the urge to rush forward to check on him, scanning the area as Ashley suddenly spoke up. "There, something is moving behind those crates."

Prepping his pistol Shepard was surprised when a human voice called out. "Don't shoot, don't shoot I am human!" As the colonist stepped out from behind the crates with an obviously terrified look on his face, Shepard knew he wasn't going to like what followed...

Time skip:

As he activated the rail transport that would take them to the station the beacon was being held at, Shepard knew he had been right with his unoptimistic thoughts. The colonist's report of what had happened to Nihilus was both confusing and daunting to hear. The name Saren, the Turian that supposedly shot Nihilus when he wasn't looking, was one that Shepard didn't recognise. But according to Powell, the colonist who had seen the shooting, Nihilus seemed to know him; we'll enough to let his guard down at least to let Saren shoot him in the back of the head. Unfortunately there was no time to properly investigate the body, the fact that Saren seemed to be headed to the beacon made everything that much more urgent.

Powell, who one of the farmers they had encountered before had told Shepard was the main smuggler on Eden prime, also had gotten hold of some experimental grenades they had been using at the dig site to remove the harder rocks. Judging by the damage the grenades had done when Shepard had used them to destroy the large Red Geth on the rail platform; they definitely were more impressive than the alliance standard models.

As the rail transport began moving, his comm link activated once more. "Commander, Beta team are back in position though we cannot follow you to the space station, scanners are picking up a large enemy ship in the vicinity and if we get much closer it will pick us up. What are your orders?" Relaying what he had discovered thus far about the attack and the beacon, Shepard got them to head to the research camp to pick up the survivors and then return to the Normandy to inform Captain Anderson of developments.

Looking up after letting go of his comm link, Shepard saw they were approaching the other station, with a white armoured Geth already preparing its weapon to fire in their direction. "Take cover, hostiles to the front." His call went unneeded as Ashley and Kaidan were already moving to the sparse cover the transporter offered them. Taking aim with his pistol Shepard began firing, his first shot clipping the Geth's shoulder and throwing its own fire off course. Let the slaughter commence.

Time skip:

With the Geth bombs neutralised, each with enough explosive power to level a good portion of the colony by themselves, mopping up the remaining Geth didn't take too much time or effort for his team. Looking at the beacon in front of him as the smaller Geth ship took to the skies, obviously to escape the explosion they had just prevented, Shepard wondered what the hell it contained that had made it worth so many lives. Shaking his head, that was a matter that went far above his head, Shepard reached for his earpiece to report in. "Normandy, the beacon is secure. The space station is clear of hostiles and the Geth ships have left planet side, requesting ground teams to help with mopping up and search and rescue operations."

He heard Kaidan say something in an awed tone in his voice as Joker came on the line. "We are on our way; Beta team reported back half an hour ago and the Captain? Well let's say he wants answers and he wants them now."

"Roger that Joker, I know exactly how he is feeling, we will guard the beacon until ground crews are here." Releasing the comm link button, Shepard turned to find Kaidan stood there waiting for him. "Extraction is on route, we will be out of here... Ashley!" He cut off as he saw the beacon light up, Ashley being drawn towards it by some invisible force despite her obvious efforts to pull back. He didn't know whether it was the medic or the soldier in him that made him run forwards and grab her. He pulled with all his might but didn't seem to be able to move her at all, so he instead spun round with her so he was closest to the beacon, flinging her back towards Kaidan even as he felt the pull draw him closer to the now pulsating beacon.

He was drawn up into the air by the same invisible force, unfamiliar and strange images filling his head as he heard Ashley cry his name from behind him. The jumble of images was not clear, but the feeling behind them was clear enough. For the first time Shepard understood why Manuel had been like he was, such was the feelings of despair, terror and imminent death that the images evoked in the subconscious of his mind. The stream of images accelerated and Shepard could just start to make out what they were of, when the beacon gave a high pitched squeal and everything went black...