Important AN: Hey everyone it's been a long long time. So here is a new story of mine, its a Garrus/MShep pairing so if that offends you or whatever then just turn back now, nobody is forcing you to read it. I hope this goes ok as it's my first serious attempt at a full story, if my grammar/punctuation gets that bad then please let me know and I'll go over the chapter and try to correct it as it isn't my strong suit. Just be nice about it though, if you are rude I won't bother. Another thing is if your looking for lots of romance it isn't going to happen for awhile, I need to build things up and anytime I read a new story about a pairing that just seem to instantly be in love with one another for no reason is annoying. Its going to be mostly friendship/attraction in ME1 with more of a romance nearer the end as it will lead on to what I want to do in ME2 nicely. Plus I think they'd both be stubborn enough that it'll take a game for them to get anywhere ^^. The bare bones of my Shepard are colonist, sole survivor, adept and paragon. You'll get a more detailed background in a couple of chapters, though I'll save some for later in the story as well if I don't get carried away. I know it's a bit rough around the edges as I'm not great when it comes to writing but I hope you like the story. One last thing this, the one shot I wrote is just that, a one shot, the Shepard in that ended up abit too much like a ME1 Kaidan for me and I want my Shepard to be more of the paragon badass that we all know and love. They will be some more emotional/sensitive parts but it's not going to define my Shepard's character. So that is it I think and enjoy! :)

Mass Effect 1: It Begins

Chapter 1: Eden Prime

The Normandy SR-1 an Alliance starship, the first of her kind co-developed by both the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy, funded by the Council with state of the art stealth systems floated through space. Her sleek, smooth design hid the power that was the drive core, an experimental technology that powered the stealth systems. Though it may not be true cloaking if one was to look out a observation window, it was the closest to it possible with the current technology. It hid the heat signature of the ship and other devices so that to other ship sensors they would appear to be nothing there, hence the term 'stealth system'.

Commander Daniel Shepard strode through the Normandy towards the front of the ship as Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, or 'Joker' as he'd heard someone refer to him as prepared for the jump through the mass relay. He passed Dr Chakwas and the navigator Pressley on his way up to the front and came to a stop just inside the cockpit to jokers left. Commander Shepard stood at 5'9, of medium build, not overly muscular, though he has some it probably lent more to the lean side of the scale than muscular. He has a pale skin colour, not unhealthily so, short messy dark brown hair, dark green eyes and was wearing his familiar N7 jumpsuit. To his right stood the turian and spectre Nihlus Kryik a agent of the Citadel Council sent to oversee the Normandy's first run after completion. He stood taller than Shepard, as was standard for turians it wasn't that hard, and wore his dark black armour with red highlights. His facial marking are of a pure white colour that filled most of his face, though under that is the dark colouring of his plates. As Joker finished his checks and the Normandy approached the blue glow of the mass effect relay, you could feel as the ship almost tensed up for the jump and then they were gone, jumping across the vast emptiness of darkspace to another system.

After exiting the jump joker started to list off the status of the systems "Thrusters… check. Navigation…. Check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift… just under 1500 K."

"1500 Is good. Your captain will be pleased." Nihlus stated before he left the cockpit.

"I hate that guy." Joker muttered.

Kaidan spoke up "Nihlus gave you a compliment.. so you hate him?" Kaidan Alenko has black hair slightly thicker than the standard military cut, light brown eyes and is classed as a sentinel for his biotic and tech abilities. Biotics are a result of exposure to the dust form of element zero in utero, and as a result develop nodules of element zero in their bodies which allow them to create mass effect fields to various effects.

Joker and Kaidan then began to argue about the motives for Nihlus being aboard the Normandy, with joker being the pessimist saying that there must be some secret agenda and Kaidan being more optimistic with that they just want to keep an eye on the Normandy to see how it performs.

"You see a conspiracy everywhere joker" Shepard smirked.

Before Joker could go any further Captain Andersons voice came over the comm system asking for the status report, and after Joker had embarrassed himself talking about Nihlus who had already arrived, Anderson told him to tell Shepard to meet him in the comm room for a debriefing.

When Shepard arrived in the debriefing room Nihlus was already there, he turned to Shepard and began to speak.

"Commander Shepard. I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk."

"What about" Shepard queried.

"This world Eden Prime, I've heard it quite beautiful."

"I've never been, it's supposed to be breathtaking."

"But you know of it. It's become something of a symbol for your people hasn't it? Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them. But how safe is it, really?"

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Your people are still newcomers Shepard. The galaxy can be a very dangerous place. Is the alliance really ready for this?"

Just then Captain Anderson walked into the room, the dark skinned older man wearing his formal Alliance uniform broke the conversation.

"I think we should tell the commander what is really going on now." He stated.

Nihlus walked forward, "This mission is much more complex than a simple shakedown run."

"What's so important that it had to be kept in the dark?" Shepard spoke, slightly annoyed that he'd been let out of the loop.

Anderson answered Shepard. "We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why the Normandy was needed with its stealth systems working."

"Why the secrecy Captain?" Shepard questioned.

"The information came down from the top, strictly need to know basis. The scientist on Eden Prime discovered a beacon of some kind, a prothean beacon."

"Didn't they go extinct over 50,000 years ago?"

Nihlus spoke next, "The mass relays and the citadel are prothean technology left behind, even our ship drives are based off their technology."

"When humanity discovered the prothean technology on mars our own technology was jumped forward 200 years, the changes this beacon could bring now may start another such leap. Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to study it properly, so we're bringing back to the citadel." Anderson cut in excitedly.

"This goes beyond just human interests, commander. This could affect every species in Council space with the information found from the beacon." Nihlus said shortly, annoyed at being cut across.

"Well with how important this beacon is, we could use all the help we can get." Shepard spoke to Nihlus.

"The beacon isn't the only reason I'm here, Shepard." Nihlus stated as he stepped to stand next to Shepard.

"Nihlus is here to evaluate your performance, he wants to see what you can do." Anderson said.

"What's going on Captain?" Shepard questioned.

"The alliance wants a bigger authority in the intergalactic community. The Spectres represent those qualities, are representatives of the council. If a human is accepted it shows where we have come since joined the community." Anderson spoke getting livelier as he went on.

"Not a lot would have survived what you went through on Akuze, it shows great will to survive, a good talent to have. Which is why I have put your name forward to be considered for a position in the Spectres" Nihlus spoke in.

"Why would you do this for me?" Shepard asked.

"We see your potential, what you have to offer the galaxy and the Spectres. We are an elite group, the right hand of the Council, all I care about is that you can do the job. You have the necessary skills and I think that you might make a valuable addition to the Spectres. Being a human has nothing to do with it, even if others focus on that point."

"What do I need to do?" Shepard was surprised, even with what Nihlus had said this would still make an impact on people. It was quite an honour.

"Eden Prime will be one of several missions together where I'll be able to see you in action Shepard. Your evaluation needs to be thorough if we are to proceed." Nihlus responded.

After Anderson told Shepard the specifics of what he would be doing on Eden Prime, he asked some questions to get all the specifics so he could compensate for being left out until the last minute. The discovery of the beacon could be monumental once it was studied, an exciting time. But it was not going to be as smooth as they hoped when a distress transmission came through from Eden Prime and everything went into overdrive. Everyone got their gear and made their way to the cargo bay where Nihlus jumped out at the first drop point to scout the area and Shepard and his team, consisting of Kaidan and Jenkins went at the second.

After losing Jenkins to some attack drones they made their way to where the beacon hopefully still stood, looking out at the devastation that had happened to the colony as they made their way along a cliff into a wooded area. Taking out another group of attack drones on their way through the wooded area they heard gunfire from up ahead and sped up to reach the fight. When they emerged through the group of trees they saw a female soldier in white and pink armour taking out two drones, before diving behind a boulder for cover as two unusual looking humanoid mechs seemed to impale a human on a spike before going after the soldier. Shepard threw his arm out, biotics flaring and one of the mechs went flying backwards into a rock, the soldier unloading her rifle into it. Then Shepard lifted the other one with his biotics and Kaidan threw a concentrated ball of energy at the mech, commonly known as a warp, which shredded it. After that Shepard talked to the female soldier, know known as Ashley Williams, who has black hair tied back in a ponytail and a light skin tone. Her squad had been patrolling the area to guard the beacon before the attack started and they had been killed. After finding out that the 'mechs' were actually the geth from beyond the veil they set off after the discovery site to find the beacon missing. After taking out what had once passed as a group of people, but now turned into something pumped full of cybernetics they found some survivors hiding in a building. The Dr told them that the beacon had been moved to the spaceport, so after getting them to stay hidden they set off after it hoping to get their before the geth did. Shepard reached Nihlus over the comm and filled him in on what they knew so far, he told them that he'd meet up with them at the spaceport.

Nihlus approached the spaceport in a crouch, assault rifle held at the ready. He crouched behind a nearby crate as he heard movement up ahead. Taking a breath to prepare himself he rounded the crate, assault rifle raised to take down a geth and stopped at what met his gaze. Turned away from him was a turian, with grey plate colourings, armour, a black material covering his fringe and a prosthetic arm. Even before the turian turned Nihlus knew he would have piercing cybernetic blue eyes and no facial markings.

"Saren?" He said disbelievingly, mandibles opened in shock for a moment.

"Nihlus." Was the calm reply.

"What are you doing here? This isn't your mission Saren." He walked forward to stand by the other turian.

"The council thought you could use some help with this one." He placed a gloved hand on Nihlus's shoulder before walking by him.

"But we didn't even know about the attack till we got here… The situations bad, why are the geth even here?" Raising his head to observe the area.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine." Saren pulled out a shotgun as he spoke, aiming it at the back of Nihlus's head.

Just as he pulled the trigger a faint biotic barrier sprung into existence between the two of them, absorbing the worst of the damage of the shotgun blast. Nihlus however was still knocked to the ground by it as the barrier shattered. Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley ran up onto the spaceport deck, Shepard body shimmered from the quick use of his biotics to throw up the barrier, Ashley and Kaidan took aim at Saren and fired. Saren dove backwards out of the way and ran to the other end of the deck, geth appeared covering his retreat with gunfire as he disappeared around the bend. Kaidan who was closest to Nihlus grabbed him to pull him out of the way behind a crate as Ashley and Shepard took cover nearby, covering Kaidan with their own fire as he got Nihlus out of the way. Shepard focused his biotics and his body flared with the blue energy as he swept his arm out, throwing a condensed orb flew towards where the geth were hiding. As it struck the crate it exploded outwards into a singularity, with a gravity field that pulled the geth from their hiding spot into the air helplessly and Ashley took them out with her assault rifle. As the last one emerged to take a shot Kaidan used an overload which disabled its shields and left it stunned, using his pistol he finished it off where it stood.

After checking to make sure there was no more enemies Shepard and Ashley went over to Kaidan who was checking Nihlus over, he looked up as they approached and spoke.

"He should be fine, that barrier took the brunt of it. He'll have a nasty bruise but otherwise no problems I think." He finished with a relieved sigh.

"Good we got here just in time, but why did he let his guard down to get in that position?" Shepard wondered.

"Well he should be able to tell us that himself, he seems to be coming around."

Nihlus then proceeded to let out a grown, a hand coming up to cover his face. Shepard knelt down beside Kaidan, as Ashley watched their backs to make sure they didn't get surprised by more geth.

"Nihlus its Shepard, are you hurt?" Shepard asked.

Nihlus removed his hand and focused on his face before replying. "I'm fine, what happened?"

"The other turian pulled out a gun and tried to shot you in the head just as we arrived, I threw up a weak barrier which absorbed most of the damage but it still managed to knock you down unconscious." Shepard explained.

"Saren? Did the turian have a grey plate colouring? Similar armour?" Nihlus Questioned.

"Yeah that was him, I assume you know him from the way you were stood?"

"I don't believe it, why would he do that? But I heard the shot right behind my head, there was nobody else there to pull the trigger, It had to be him. Where is he now?"

"There's somebody over there behind those crates!" Ashley shouted. Shepard turned around pistol outstretched as Kaidan mimicked him, Nihlus pulling himself to his feet in a surprising burst of speed as a figure emerged. It turned out to be a dockworker who'd managed to survive the attack, as he'd been slacking off sleeping behind the crates. He'd seen everything, including Saren and Nihlus talking before Saren had attempted to kill him, and then taking off towards the main bigger spaceport. Nihlus retrieved his assault rifle from where it had fallen and they all made their way to the transport that would take them over to the main spaceport, efficiently taking out the geth that guarded it.

Saren was furious that he had been bested. He hadn't managed to kill Nihlus he was sure of that, and that left him a respected Spectre and that ragtag group of humans as witness to him being there. He would have to find out more about those annoying humans. He faced one of the geth troopers and spoke his voice low in his anger.

"Place the explosives, leave no evidence of us being here."

The geth turned away and Saren looked at the object of their being here, the prothean beacon. He strode forwards to place himself directly in front of it. Then there was some force emitted from the beacon as it picked Saren up and he rose into the air.

Shepard and the others arrived at the spaceport and they saw a geth leaning over some sort of charge on the level above them. They could see other geth around the level as well, quite possibly setting other charges.

"They're going to blow the place sky high!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Then we need to stop them fast, Kaidan you disable the charges and we will cover you." Shepard spoke turning to Kaidan.

"Got it Commander." Kaidan nodded.

"Saren has got a lot to answer for." Nihlus muttered, expression dark.

The group worked their way onto the upper level taking out the few geth around the charge. Kaidan knelt to focus on disabling the first explosive and the others took cover, firing at the approaching geth. Shepard threw out a great shockwave of biotic energy which knocked the group of geth on the walkway flying, Nihlus took out another couple with precise headshots before turning to Shepard.

"I'll go around the other side and we can flank them." He said quickly.

"Right, we'll keep working on the charges." Shepard replied. Nihlus didn't wait for anything else and took off onto the walkway staying low, Shepard providing him with gunfire and biotics till he got over to the other side.

"This ones disabled commander." Kaidan spoke up.

"Lets move on to the next one."

With Shepard and Ashley keeping the geth pinned down with their gunfire and biotics, Nihlus was able to take them out from the side quickly enough as they had nowhere else to go. They moved down the side quickly, taking out the geth as Kaidan disabled the charges. Once they had made a circuit of the upper level determining that there was no bomb left they moved onto the only other area of the spaceport left, where the prothean beacon must be held if it was still here. As they rounded the corner they saw more geth taking up positions, Shepard and the team did the same. Ashley pulled out a sniper rifle to deal with the further enemies, peaking out from behind cover and Shepard, Kaidan and Nihlus dealt with the rest. As more of the husk like beings pulled themselves from their spikes, Shepard lashed out with his arm, quick bursts of biotic energy throwing the husks off their feet over the side of the spaceport. Nihlus and Kaidan finishing of the rest of the geth, Kaidan pulling them from cover with his biotics, and Nihlus reducing them to scrap with his weapons.

As the gunfire ceased Ashley spoke to the others. "That's all of them, I don't see Saren anywhere."

"He must have left already. The beacons still here though." Nihlus gestured to the beacon standing in the empty space, emitting a faint glow.

"I'll radio the Normandy." Shepard moved off, hand raised to his ear.

"That's weird, it wasn't doing that before when it was dug up." Ashley spoke puzzled, moving closer to the beacon to have a look at it.

"Wait!" Kaidan exclaimed.

But it was too late, the beacon seemed to grab a hold of Ashley and drag her closer into its grasp. She struggled but it seemed to be of no use, Shepard turned and saw what was happening. He pushed past Kaidan and ran at Ashley, grabbing a hold of her and throwing her to the side. The beacon then seemed to renew its efforts on Shepard pulling him up into the air, and then start transmitting some form of information into his mind. He wasn't sure how much he could take, his vision going dark as images appeared in his head and then the beacon exploded throwing Shepard back unconscious.

"Shepard!" Ashley shouted.

The others moved to his side checking him over to see if he was ok, before the Normandy arrived at their location and they took Shepard aboard. The remains of the beacon were also collected in case they could be of any use.

Shepard awoke to the sound of hushed voices a little way from him, Shepard shifted on what felt like a bed from a med bay. As he blinked rapidly a couple of times and his vision cleared he took in the medical equipment of his surroundings and saw that he was indeed in the med bay of the Normandy.

"Dr Chakwas, I think he's coming around." Ashley came into his sight as he moved to sit up. Dr Chakwas walked from her desk to stand beside her with a datapad in hand typing a few notes.

"You had us worried commander. You've been out for a while." Dr Chakwas looked up a thin relieved smile on her face.

"How long was I out?" Shepard asked.

"About fifteen hours. How are you feeling?"

"Some throbbing, nothing more than a headache." He raised a hand to his temple.

"Physically your fine, however I noticed some abnormal brain activity, and an increase in your rapid eye movement. The signs typically associated with intense dreaming." She added.

"I saw lots of death and destruction….. Slaughter, I …. Its not clear, just a blur." Shepard said uncertainly.

"Shepard I'm sorry, if I had been more careful this wouldn't have happened and you wouldn't have been grabbed by the beacon." Ashley cut in.

"It's fine, you had no way of knowing what would happen." Shepard replied.

Ashley concerned expression softened and a small smile appeared. Dr Chakwas added something to her datapad.

"Well I'll have to add this to my report, Shepard I… Oh Captain Anderson." Dr Chakwas looked to the open door as Anderson walked into the room.

"How's the commander?" He asked.

"There seems to be no damage done, I think he shall be fine."

"Good, Shepard I need to speak with you... in private." Anderson gave a glance to the two others in the room.

"Captain, I'll be in the mess hall if you need me." Ashley saluted and followed Dr Chakwas out the door.

"The beacon knocked you out for over ten hours Shepard. You sure you're ok? Anderson queried.

"I don't like people dying under my command." Shepard brain supplied the image of Jenkins being gunned down by the geth drones instantly, it was too soon.

"He was a good man Shepard and you did your best."

"I'll be fine Captain." Shepard added.

"Shepard with the beacon destroyed, geth attacking after not being seen since their rebellion and now with Saren involved the Council's going to want answers."

"We haven't done anything wrong, and Nihlus can back us up. How is he?" Shepard thought of the attempted shot to the back of the head.

"Dr Chakwas checked him over, just a nasty bruise is all, you saved his life Shepard."

Anderson began to pace the room before stopping and turning back to Shepard. "But that's not why I'm here its Saren. He's a Spectre, one of the best and if he's gone rouge and allied himself with the geth, we will be in big trouble. He hate humans and would gladly see us all wiped out, did you see anything there? Any clue as to what Saren might be after? Anderson questioned, looking at Shepard expectantly.

"I think it must have the something to do with the beacon. I saw images before I passed out, but they're too distorted to make anything out of it. The beacon was already damaged, whatever information it had is useless right now. Saren may have used it before and then damaged it to prevent anyone else from seeing whatever it contained?" Shepard said with a thoughtful expression.

"Nobody knows what was on that beacon, prothean technology, blueprints for devastating weapons? But Saren has it. He's a Spectre, can go anywhere and do anything. With a army of geth he won't stop till he's killed us all."

"We have to take what we know to the Council and prove his guilt. Then we can go after him." Shepard cut in.

"Nihlus has sent a report to the Council already and they want to see us as soon as we arrive. I'll stand by your own report Shepard when you send it. We should almost be at the Citadel, go up to the bridge and tell Joker to pull us in to dock. The ambassador will meet us there." Anderson nodded to Shepard before leaving the room his expression grim at the events which seemed to be unfolding.

Shepard followed Anderson out talking briefly to Ashley who still seemed to be worried about endangering Shepard being her fault and the fate of her squad. He was quick to reassure her that it wasn't her fault and that she did the best she good for her squad. He moved on past the elevator and up the stairs to the upper level, as he came through the doors he saw Nihlus up ahead making his way to the cockpit. Shepard followed him and when he stepped through Nihlus noticed his presence and turned to him.

"Shepard I'm glad to see your ok."

"You too Nihlus." He replied.

"I sent a report to the Council already, they're going to open an investigation into Saren." Nihlus mandibles remained tight and rigid against his face, his voice seemed slightly lower, frustrated.

"Why don't you sound pleased? Isn't that good news?" Shepard asked puzzled.

"It was the way it was phrased, an obligation to do something than wanting to. Saren is one of the best, he mentored me. The Council won't want to see him in this way, we're going to need hard evidence to convince them otherwise its just our word against his and I don't think it will go in our favour." Nihlus replied, frustration becoming clear.

Joker turned his head in his seat and spoke to Shepard. "We've reached the Citadel, you want me to bring her in?" He asked.

"Do it, we've got a meeting with the Council to get to." Shepard Nodded. He had a feeling this was going to be a long day.

AN: So that is it the first chapter, yay. I hope you liked it. I know it was a bit linear but as I get more comfortable and into my own story it will get more personal. I've already started on Chapter 2 and I think that is much better already, lot less referring to the actual dialogue and more making it up so bear with me. I know I've kept Nihlus alive but I'm always disappointed that he's in it for such a small amount of time and I thought 'hey, this is my story, so lets keep Nihlus alive' and so there we go ^^. We get some of our favourite Turian next chapter so that will be great, I'll make sure to make it awesome ^^. Also I probably wouldn't of even thought about actually writing a full story of this if it hadn't been for one random person who messaged me asking about it. So if you like it go give your thanks to Buck50 as well, or if you didn't well forget about me and blame them lol :P. I think I've got about half of chapter two done so it shouldn't be too long before that's up. I'll try to keep to a weekly update at most but when I go back to University after the Christmas break it might be a bit longer as I will have to do actual work, so fingers crossed at that point it will be no longer than two weeks. Let me know what you think. :)

Next Chapter: The Citadel.