HELLO ALL xD THANKS FOR SHOWING INTEREST IN MY STORY! THIS IS MY PRIDE AND JOY RIGHT NOW, SO I HOPE YOU ALL REALLY LIKE IT. FIRST OF ALL, I WANT TO THANK LowWren FOR BEING A MAJOR INSPIRATION FOR THIS STORY. IF YOU HAVEN'T READ EITHER OF HER STORIES YET, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU GO CHECK THEM OUT. THEY'RE BOTH MASS EFFECT STORIES, THE FIRST IS SHELL AND THE ONE SHE IS CURRENTLY WORKING ON IS DESCENT. THEY ARE VERY ENGROSSING STORIES AND FANTASTICALLY WRITTEN, SO GO READ THEM! PS- LowWren, I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND THE SHOUTOUT xD

OKAY, SO THIS STORY WILL COVER THE EVENTS OF MASS EFFECT 1, INCLUDING THE BRING DOWN THE SKY DLC. A LOT OF THE DIALOGUE WILL BE THE SAME AS IN THE GAME, BUT WITH A SLIGHT TWIST. THE SHEPARD BEING USED IN THIS STORY IS MY PERSONAL MALESHEP, WITH THE COLONIST BACKGROUND AND THE SOLE SURVIVOR SERVICE HISTORY. IF YOU'RE CURIOUS WHAT HE LOOKS LIKE, CHECK OUT THE COVER. PS-SORRY FOR THE SHITTY QUALITY OF HIS PIC, I TOOK IT ON MY IPOD FROM MY TV. ALSO, WHEN YOU CHECK OUT THE COVER YOU MAY NOTICE THAT THE DUDE ON THE BOTTOM LEFT IS THE CHARACTER MODEL FOR THE PC IN THE NEXT MASS EFFECT. I USED HIM BECAUSE HE IS PRETTY MUCH DEAD ON WHAT I IMAGINED LUCAS TO LOOK LIKE. SO HE'S THERE FOR VISUAL REFERENCE AS WELL.

IF YOU LIKE WHAT YOU READ, PLEASE LEAVE ME A REVIEW. IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT YOU READ, YOU CAN TELL ME THAT TOO! ANY PRAISE OR CRITICISM WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED; I'M WRITING THIS FOR YOU GUYS AS MUCH AS MYSELF. I WILL TRY TO POST UPDATES EVERY WEEK, BUT I MAY END UP POSTING EVERY TWO WEEKS. IT SHOULD NEVER TAKE ME LONGER THAN THAT. BUT YOU KNOW, LIFE, AND SHIT HAPPENS, SO YEAH. NO PROMISES.

WARNING- THERE WILL BE PARTS OF THIS STORY LATER ON THAT WILL DISPLAY ADULT CONTENT. I WILL BE SURE TO PUT A WARNING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER THAT CONTAINS IT, SO READ FORTH AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION. I WON'T TELL YOU NOT TO READ IF YOU AREN'T 18, YOU KNOW WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN'T HANDLE. IT'S NOT MY JOB TO TELL YOU HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE. WHATEVER MAKES YOU HAPPY, BRO xD

**DISCLAIMER** I DO NOT OWN MASS EFFECT OR BIOWARE OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS THERIN. I DO, HOWEVER, OWN MY OC. IF YOU WANT TO USE HIM FOR YOURSELF, PLEASE ASK FIRST. THANKS xD

FUTURE A/N WILL NEVER BE THIS LONG. A LOT OF THE TIME, I PROBABLY WON'T EVEN HAVE AN A/N. SORRY FOR THIS ONE, BUT THERE ARE THINGS THAT NEEDED TO BE SAID. AND I APPRECIATE THOSE OF YOU WHO TOOK THE TIME TO ACTUALLY READ THIS WHOLE THING INSTEAD OF SKIPPING AHEAD TO THE STORY. I WOULDN'T PUT AN A/N HERE IF IT WASN'T IMPORTANT ^_^

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I PRESENT TO YOU MY BABY ^_^ ENJOY!

ROGUE

I stepped off of the shuttle, my Alliance issue duffle bag thrown over my shoulder. I looked around the landing pad, taking in my new home and my very first duty station with the Alliance. The colony itself looks cozy, and the surrounding countryside is beautiful, from what I could see when we flew in.

As the shuttle flew away behind me, an officer in Alliance dress blues walked up to me and I snapped off a crisp salute. "Sir, Private First Class Lucas Graham, reporting for duty."

"At ease private." I dropped the salute as he extended his hand, and I shook it firmly. "Welcome to Eden Prime, Graham. I'm Commander Woods, commander of the 212."

"It's a pleasure to meet you sir." I offered politely. He grunted in response.

"Listen, I don't know whose cheerios you pissed in to get the Dog Squad as your first assignment, but if you're looking for an easy ride then you are definitely going to be disappointed. The Dog Squad is my toughest division, and command runs a tight ship."

"Yes sir, I've heard that. But with all due respect, I didn't join the Alliance to sit on my ass and pick my nose all day." That earned a chuckle from the Commander.

"Come on, tough guy. Let's go meet your new squad." I threw my bag back over my shoulder and followed the commander off the landing pad and further into the colony. It seemed to be a normal colony, there were children playing and laughing in the outdoors and there were women standing outside of their homes gossiping away. Christ, it's like I never left home.

He led me into a building near the perimeter of the colony that I assumed were the barracks, and when we walked in everybody stopped what they were doing and snapped to attention. Commander Woods called a somewhat irritated 'at ease', and everyone seemed to go on about their business. The few exceptions were a group of people that had been sitting around a table in the center of the room, about five people, that walked over to us instead of going back to whatever they were doing.

"Alright Dog Squad, this is your newest recruit. I'll leave the introductions up to you, and…" his voice trailed off as he looked around the room. "Where the hell is Williams?"

"She went for a quick run, sir; should be back shortly." One of the men with short blonde hair spoke up, almost too quickly. Commander Woods muttered something under his breath and shook his head.

"Fine, I'll leave you all to it then." With that, he turned on his heel and exited the building, leaving all eyes on me. The same blonde haired man that spoke earlier stepped forward and shook my hand.

"Alright, Rookie, time for some introductions. First of all, I'm Sergeant Donkey. I'm the, uh… second in command of the Dog Squad. First is Chief Williams, you'll meet her soon enough." He turns and begins to introduce the rest of the squad. First he gestures to the dark skinned man to our left. "That's Specialist Jenner, he's our comm specialist." He moves over to introduce a slightly older light skinned man with obviously dyed red hair, as the hair on his face was a salt-n-pepper color. "That's Serviceman Third Class Rasputin. He's our sniper."

He moves on to the only female in the squad, who is light skinned with dark hair that is chopped off just below her ears. "That's Private First Class Pennyloafer. She's our medic." Finally he turned to the last man, who was built about like me with his thick muscle mass. He had some stubble on his face and short brown hair. "And last but certainly not least, we have Specialist Bates. He's our heavy hitter, you know with grenades and heavy weapons and all that." Yeah, that makes sense. Jenner and Pennyloafer grinned at me and waved at their introductions, while Rasputin just grunted and gave me a curt nod. Bates moved forward and clapped me on the shoulder.

"Welcome to Dog Squad rookie, the best damn bunch of marines on this rock!" his statement earned enthusiastic whoops from the others.

"Right, good to meet you all, I'm PFC Graham." I exchanged a handshake with all my new squad mates and they all returned to the center table, save for Sgt. Donkey. He turned back to me and folded his arms over his chest.

"Alright rookie, few ground rules; first off, everyone pulls their own weight around here. You do your part, and we'll all get along just fine. Second, the Dog Squad is the best damn bunch of marines on this rock. And we work damn hard to stay that way, so I really hope that you aren't expecting this to be easy. And lastly, when you meet Chief Williams you're probably going to start drooling, as she is definitely… well, you'll see. My point is, don't get any ideas. Ash is mine, you got that?"

"She's yours?" I furrowed my brow. "Aren't there rules against fraternization in the Alliance?" he looked at me for a long moment before bursting out laughing.

"Nobody takes that too seriously around here, save for Woody. And as far as her being mine, well… it's a work in progress." I noticed a bit of red creep into his cheeks.

"So does she always go for runs at this time?"

"No not usually, but she's taking Marley's discharge pretty hard. Marley is the guy you're replacing, by the way. Ash doesn't like to lose anyone, no matter the reason." He looked at me for a moment as if trying to decide whether to tell me something. Finally, he sighs. "She's not a fan of newbies, either. So if she's a little standoffish towards you, don't take it personally. She'll warm up eventually."

"What happened to Marley?" I asked. He unfolded his arms and glanced around the room before taking a step closer to me.

"The Admiralty Board charged him with drinking on duty and then murdering one of the colonists. But they're full of shit, the damn politicians. We were all off duty, and we were all drinking. Then one of the colonists came up starting trouble with Marley. He threw the first punch, and Marley was just defending himself. He just took it a little too far."

"Damn, that's rough." I shook my head. And that's why I don't drink.

"Yeah it is. Hey listen, it would be wise not to bring this up to anyone, especially Ash. We're all still sore from it, but she's taking it especially hard."

"Got it. So what's the best way to get on her good side? Just follow orders or be an ass kisser?" I said, half joking.

"If I wanted my ass kissed rookie, I'd ask Donk." A voice from the door made me jump. Sgt. Donkey just plastered a boyish grin on his face and practically drooled in the direction of the voice, and I turned. The woman that I presumed to be Chief Williams was standing in the doorway, dark hair plastered to the sides of her face with sweat. She was still breathing hard, evidently having just finished her run. I had to admit, Sgt. Donkey (or Donk, as she called him) wasn't exaggerating about her. She was definitely a strikingly attractive woman, without giving conscious effort to try and be. The way her workout clothes hugged her figure was enough to make any man take notice. She had her hands on her hips and she was eyeing me curiously.

"If that's an order Chief, I'd be obligated to do so." She rolled her eyes at him and walked over to me, folding her arms under her chest and slowly circling around me. I shifted uncomfortably as she appraised me and ran my hand through my hair. Finally she stopped in front of me, but continued to look me up and down, causing me to shift my weight again. I could feel the heat beginning to rise in my cheeks as her eyes moved over me. They lingered briefly on my right arm, and I resisted the urge to try and pull my sleeve further down my arm to cover my tattoo.

"Well, you're clearly in good shape so you shouldn't have any problems keeping up with us physically." Her espresso eyes finally met my steel grey. "But from what I understand, this is your first duty station right?" I nodded and tried to swallow past the lump in my throat as her eyes narrowed. "Well they picked a hell of a unit to stick you in. This isn't going to be a cake walk, and…"

'All due respect ma'am," I cut her off, earning a raised eyebrow from her. "I've been told since the day I received my orders what kind of squad this is, and what a hard-ass you are. I know this is going to be difficult, I never expected it to be easy. But I'll tell you the same thing I told the Commander. I didn't join the Alliance to sit on my ass and pick my nose." She glared at me, and despite the strong urge to look away, I met her gaze with equal intensity. After a moment she finally nodded.

"Good to know you're willing to work for it. And you've definitely got balls." She took a step closer to me and her eyes narrowed again. "But if you ever interrupt me again, I'll tear them from between your legs and shove them down your throat. Are we clear?"

I bit my tongue to resist giving her some snide remark, remembering she was my superior. "Crystal." I settled for instead.

"Good. Now as I'm sure you've already guessed, I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams."

"And as I'm sure you've already guessed I'm Private First Class Lucas Graham." Her eyes narrowed again at my lack of formality, and just like before I met her gaze equally.

"I'm going to hit the showers." She pushed past me towards the latrines, and from the corner of my eye I saw Donk open his mouth to say something, but before he had the chance she called over her shoulder, "And no, Donk, that wasn't an invitation." He closed his mouth again and smirked at her retreating back. Once she was in the latrine, he turned back to me.

"You got a death wish or something rookie?"

"What do you mean?"

"Ash takes her command very seriously. She kind of has to, with all the business with her granddad. She doesn't much care for when her command is challenged." He shook his head at me and folded his arms over his chest again.

"I wasn't challenging her command. And what was that about her grandfather?" his brow arched at my question.

"Nobody told you?" when I shook my head, he scoffed. "That figures. Ashley is the granddaughter of General Williams, commander of the Shanxi during the First Contact War." Realization hit me at his words, and I mentally kicked myself for not making the connection earlier.

"The first human to ever surrender to an alien race," I recalled. Donk nodded. "That's bullshit, General Williams did the right thing then, and even so Chief Williams shouldn't have to pay for her grandfather's actions." Donk's brow shot up again.

"Damn rookie, maybe you should tell her that sometime. It might soften her up a bit towards you." He grinned and clapped me on the shoulder. "Now grab your bag and I'll show you to your rack."

Shepard stirred at the sound of someone knocking on his cabin door. He groaned and slowly sat up in his bed, the pounding in his head growing more intense with every movement.

"Shepard, it's Anderson." The familiar voice filled Shepard's small cabin, muffled by the door. He pulled out his omni-tool and unlocked his door, allowing the man on the other side to enter.

"Captain, what can I do for you?" Shepard asked through the haze of sleep and what was left of the previous night's activities.

"Enjoying your time off, I see." Anderson shook his head and chuckled, folding his arms over his chest and leaning back against the far wall across from Shepard.

"Yes sir. Don't get me wrong, the Tokyo is great, but Arcturus offers a slightly more…" he tried to find the right word as he slowly rose to his feet. "Relaxing atmosphere."

"Clearly," Anderson chuckled again. "Listen Shepard, there's something I want to talk to you about. There's this sort of secret project that the Alliance is working on with the turian hierarchy. It's still a few years from completion, but they're already putting together dossiers for the crew."

"The crew? Is it a ship?"

"Yes. It is a ship that I will be in command of, and I want you to be my XO."

"Anderson, I…" the Captain held up a hand to cut him off.

"I know that this position was supposed to be your last command position for a while, but I need only the best crew the Alliance has to offer for this. I need you, Shepard." The men were silent for a long moment as Shepard rubbed the back of his neck, contemplating his answer. Finally, he let out a long sigh.

"Fine, I'll be your XO. What's the project?" Anderson straightened and smiled smugly at Shepard.

"Project Normandy."