A Tale of Two Engineers.

"Isaac." His name echoed in his head, someone calling out to him. His eyes seemed to be eternally closed; he couldn't see anything around himself. It was dark, extremely dark, and quiet. He could hear his name being called out to him, but at the same time, there was just silence. As if he was dreaming. Isaac could never explain it, but when he dreamt, he could hear the sounds in his dreams, but there was nothing to hear. Was this a dream? What was happening? Was he dead? He couldn't feel anything. Not any limbs, not his heavy arctic suit from Tau Volantis. There was nothing to feel. Suddenly, images. Bright lights, flashing in his face, or inside his mind.

"Isaac," He heard his name called out to him again. He gasped suddenly, and looked all around himself. Where was that voice coming from? The bright light started to dim now, but his vision was blurry. Whatever was happening, he couldn't tell, he couldn't see it.

(Author's Note: you will be notified when the character perspective changes/ switches to another character.)

(Character Change)

Shepard and some of his crew ran down to the cargo bay. They'd just picked someone up, floating in the middle of space! How this man got there, a complete mystery, and how he survived? Also a mystery. His armor didn't look familiar, in fact, they'd never seen anything like it. "Come on, let's get him to the Med-Bay, have Chakwas look at him. Tell me when he wake up, I've got some questions for him." Shepard ordered his crew.

"Shepard, we don't know who this is, or who he works for, this isn't safe, why keep him on this ship?" Miranda stopped Shepard before he could walk away.

"If he's a threat, he'll be dealt with. He doesn't seem to have weapons on himself, either." Isaac crossed his arms. Miranda wasn't undermining his authority today.

"Shepard, he's got this weird… Gun, I think?" Jacob pulled out a strange looking gun that unfolded itself as Jacob grabbed the grip.

Miranda gave Isaac an 'i-told-you-so' look.

He sighed, "Bring it up to Gabby. Maybe she can figure out whatever the hell it is and how it works." Shepard told him.

"Wouldn't it be better to hand it over to Mordin?" Jacob asked, standing and walking over to Shepard.

"He's a professor, not a gun expert. Sure, he's smart, but I think Gabby with her engineering skills could easily figure out what it does, and what it's for. Now go on, bring it up, Zaeed, you bring him up to Med-Bay."

"Got it, commander." Zaeed picked up the body with a grunt, "Damn, he's a lot heavier than he looks!" He struggled carrying him over his shoulders.

Shepard walked into the slow elevator along with everyone else. After everybody else finally got off, Shepard went straight to his cabin. He sat down on the foot of his bed, and had to think about the current situation at hand. A random stranger, floating in space, alive, wearing a strange armor no one has ever seen before. What was he supposed to make about that? He was still a soldier, a commander. He wasn't going to leave that poor soul out there to die. He saves people, it's what he does, no matter what anyone else thinks about it.

(Character Change)

"ISAAC!"

Isaac's eyes opened suddenly. He saw a white, clean looking ceiling. And felt an uncomfortable and hard kind of table underneath himself. He wasn't wearing his suit anymore, he was in his casual clothing. He was stripped of it? By who? Where was he? He tried subtly reaching for his plasma cutter, only to discover it wasn't there! Had Unitologists caught him again!? How else could he be here? But then he had a sudden thought. Isn't he supposed to be dead?

"Hello?" A voice came for the other end of the room.

Isaac arched himself up with his elbows, seeing an old looking woman by a door, "Where am I?" He asked her.

Chakwas analyzed his face, and saw confusion, but at the same time, horror. He looked like he'd been through some kind of horrible hell, and spit out. Dark lines underneath his eyes, a ragged beard and messy hair. There was a severe head wound, until she patched it up. He had sustained several injuries, and the suit she stripped off him was damaged. What had happened to this man?

"You are in the Med-Bay of the SSV Normandy SR-2." The woman answered him, holding her hand behind her back, walking closer to Isaac.

"Are you a Unitologist?" Was the next and probably one of the most important questions Isaac had to ask her next.

"No, I am a doctor." She said.

Isaac looked her up and down. She didn't have any kind of weapon on her, and she certainly didn't look threatening. Isaac wasn't under any restraints, either. His hand reached for the wound on his head, but discovered it had been patched up, "Are you with Earth-Gov?" It had to be them, even with John Carver having been probably the very last solider, maybe they made some kind comeback?

"Earth-Gov?" Chakwas looked at him strangely, "Well, I've never heard of Earth-Gov before. I am part of an organization that refers itself as Cerberus."

"What the hell is Cerberus?" Isaac gave her a puzzled look. Something wasn't right here…

"You haven't heard of us?" Chakwas cocked her head to the side, then shook it, "Listen, mister…?"

"Clarke. Isaac Clarke."

"Well, Mister Clarke, I have to stop speaking to you now, as this ships commander wants to have a word with you." She turned away from him.

"Wait, I need answers!' Isaac stood from the table, keeping a safe distance form Chakwas. He didn't want to appear as threatening by walking right up to her angrily. Who knew what these people would do.

"EDI, send word up the Shepard's cabin. Our patient has awoken." Chakwas spoke into what looked like the hologram of some kind of blue orb.

"Right away, doctor Chakwas." EDI's monotone voice echoed into the room, before the hologram disappeared.

"What the hell was that?" Isaac asked. He'd never seen something like that before.

"That is our ship's AI. You can call her EDI."

"AI?" Isaac muttered, whilst looking down at the floor.

"Just keep still and wait there, Commander Shepard will be down momentarily." Chakwas exited the room for a moment, leaving Isaac alone with all of his thoughts.

What had happened to him? The machine was turned on again, and the moon crashed into the planet, killing him and Carver, right? Wait, no, it just lunged them off? No, he was rescued, no he made it out! What had happened!? Where was Ellie? Why wasn't she here, why hasn't she contacted him through his RIG? She left for Earth Space. Maybe these people could give him a ride back there.

The door to the Med-Bay suddenly opened, a man walked through the door, leaving it open behind himself. He walked a couple of steps toward Isaac, "I'm Commander Shepard you're Isaac Clarke, right?" Shepard stood firmly in front of him.

It took Isaac a few moments to answer, "Yes, I'm Isaac Clarke."

"I have a few questions for you, Isaac."

"Yeah, so do I." Isaac scoffed, he had no idea what he was even doing here.

"Isaac, how did you end up out in the middle of space?" Shepard asked him.

What? This was actually news to Isaac. How did he end up in space? "Look, pal, I have no idea how I got here, who you people are, what this ship is, where we all are, and I'm just as confused as you guys. I just need a way back to Earth, and I'm out of your hair."

"We can't do that right now. We were on our way on to an important mission before you showed up, it's of top priority, and we can't waste time going back to Earth right now." Shepard crossed his arms.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Isaac shrugged, "You can't just for me to stay here."

"And where are you going to go? I can't spare any of my shuttles, and I sure as hell can't stop anywhere to drop you off. You're a long ways away from Earth, and the Sol system's Mass relay. You want out? Best you'll get is jumping out the airlock."

Isaac sighed, "Then again, what am I going to do here?" He asked him.

"Any particular set of skills? Guessing your some kind of mercenary with that armor I saw you with." Shepard assumed.

"No, I'm not a mercenary. I'm an engineer." Isaac told him, "I just ran across that suit. My plasma cutter, which I'm guessing you took from me, that's one of the tools I use."

"So that's what it is. We thought it was a dangerous weapon."

"It can be."

The two looked at each from across the room for a second, "We'll put you down in engineering. Do your part while you stay here."

"I guess I can do that," Isaac shrugged, "Where's engineering?"

"Take the elevator down to the deck four, you'll find two others there. They'll help you out." Shepard told him, then turned on his heel and left Isaac standing in the middle of the Med-Bay by himself.

Isaac took a deep breath. After all he'd been through, what lead him here? Why now, is he In this place? What was he going to do? Might as well stick around until they brought him back home. At least they weren't after him. But still, so many questions arose, Isaac kept his mouth shut for now. He exited the Med-Bay and passed Doctor Chakwas along the way. She didn't say anything, and the few others here didn't say anything either. Everyone just carried on with their duties, Isaac thought it best he get to his.

He walked over to the elevator, pressing the down button to go to one of the lower decks. Looks like someone else was using this elevator, and coming down to this floor. Isaac figured he'd just ignore them as well, and get on.

But as the doors opened, the… thing before him, it wasn't human.

"What the hell?" Isaac backed up, looking up at the creature, being a head taller than him.

"Hmm?" The thing looked down at him, "Haven't seen you on the ship before. Your clothes don't seem to be Cerberus."

"I, what the fuck are you?" Isaac stammered over his words. He'd seen a lot of crazy shit, but what was this?

"Oh, well, that doesn't hurt my feelings in any way. What do you mean by that, human? I'm a turian, how do you not know this?"

"Look, there's a lot of things I don't know about where I am. It's like im in some alternate dimension," He scoffed, "Or maybe another galaxy far away from my own. But, I'm not from yours. Not by miles. I don't know this ship, what the Alliance or Cerberus is. And I sure as hell don't know what a turian is."

"Well," the turian cleared his throat, "My name is Garrus, a turian. And buddy, there's a lot of uglier aliens than me." He said.

"I'm Isaac. Isaac Clarke." Isaac put his hand forward.

Garrus shook it firmly, "Welcome aboard the Normandy, Isaac. I'd chat a bit longer, ask a few questions, answer yours, but I've got to get to some calibrations. Good luck, wherever it is you're stationed on the ship." Garrus nodded his head and turned to walk away from him.

Isaac watched him go; this was indeed a strange world, or strange dream. He stepped onto the elevator, pressing the button to go down to the engineering deck. As the doors closed, the elevator slowly made its way down to its destination. When it finally got there, and the doors opened, Isaac stepped out and made his way to one of the doors. When opened, he stepped in, "Not very big in here." He walked in, but almost jumped and ran at the sight of a massive monster.

"Hm? What do you want, human?" Its gruff and deep voice echoed in the room.

This must've been one of the 'uglier' aliens that Garrus talked about. It took Isaac a second but he answered, "Wrong room, sorry," Isaac backed out as quick as he could. His heart felt like it had completely stopped. After exiting, he was breathing heavy. What the hell was that thing? And were there more like it? Obviously, if Garrus was turian, that meant that there were a lot more like him. An entire race of turians. Probably an entire race of whatever the hell that thing was in that room just now. Isaac walked into a different room, seeing two others and a semi-big room.

(Character Change)

"Joker, what's the ETA?" Shepard was standing behind Joker, next to EDI's hologram.

"Around two hours. Who're we going to get?" Joker asked him.

"Tali. Got a dossier from the Illusive Man; apparently she's out in the Far Rim on a planet called Haestorm. We'll going in, hopefully after the events at Horizon, she'll be more than willing to join us. I mean, it's Tali. She helped me take down Saren, I'm sure she'll join again to take down the Collectors."

"Yeah, I wish the entire old crew was back. At least you got to see Wrex, Kaiden, Liara, and we recruite Garrus and now we're on our way to get Tali. Not so bad. Everyone else is new, but that doesn't mean they're not good."

"Yeah, you're right about that. Just hope we can get an old friend back here." Shepard turns away and walks from Joker.

"See you, Commander."

In his cabin, he started to think. That armor has to mean something… Isaac could be some kind of mercenary with the skills of an engineer. Why else would he have that on him? There has to be more to it. When they arrived at Haestorm, Shepard was going to take Isaac along, and see what he was capable of. Tali was an engineer, and she had skills in battle well enough to be a part of Shepard's crew. She could handle herself with a shotgun and pistol. Shepard thought, he'd pick out an entire weapons list for Isaac to see which one he picks and how good he is with it. A sniper, a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun and a machine gun. Being an engineer like Tali, perhaps he was only good with a pistol and shotgun. But that drove him back to the armor Isaac carried on him. there was more to it… he knew that. And two hours later, he'd see if he was right or wrong.

(Character Change.)

When the time finally came, Isaac called Garrus and Isaac over to the shuttle bay.

Wonder what this could be about, Isaac thought to himself, putting down a couple schematics and tools he'd been looking at and headed down the elevator. Along the way down, the elevator stopped at one of the decks before reaching its destination. Garrus was standing there again, "Well, looks like we'll have plenty of time together now." He said.

"What do you mean?" Isaac asked him, moving to the side to give Garrus room in the elevator, then continuing its way down.

"Usually when Shepard calls two people up, it's to go on a mission with him. We're getting a recruit." Garrus answered him.

"A mission? Wait, I know he said that I'd do my part, but, mission? Cerberus, it's military, right?"

"Eh, kind of. At least, our mission is… Kind of. It's all a bit difficult to explain, a lot easier if you had been here since day one like me." Garrus said.

"So, you're recruiting? For Cerberus?"

"No, Cerberus is just having Shepard do a mission for them, a mission to save humanity. The Alliance is completely ignoring it, which is the only reason that Shepard is working with Cerberus. That, and the fact that they brought him back to life."

Isaac thought about it for a second, "And what is the bigger mission after all the recruiting?" he asked.

"Shepard will explain it to you later."

The elevator stopped, Garrus and Shepard both getting out.

"I know you don't know the way, so just follow me. I'll lead you there." Garrus walked ahead of him, leading Isaac to the shuttle bay where Shepard stood, fully armored and an arsenal of weapons next to him, as well as Isaac's engineering suit that he had found back on Tau Volantis.

"What's all this?" Isaac walked forward a couple of steps.

"Suit up," Shepard tossed Isaac his plasma cutter, Isaac catching it, "We're going on a mission."

"I thought this was just recruitment." Isaac looked at him a little puzzled.

"Planet wont be so friendly, they got Geth all over the place."

"Geth?"

"Another long story," Garrus told Isaac.

"Look, that's not armor. That's my CEC Engineering suit. It serves well as armor, but I don't know how well it could do against…" Isaac remembered the several bullets this armor protected him against, "Well, actually, I guess it just serves well as armor. Also, this," He held up the plasma cutter, "Good for shooting limbs off. Slicing through flesh, not armor."

"Then pick a full arsenal. I want you take five guns, and I'm going to see how well you use each out there." Shepard explained his little plan.

"Well, shit. These'll definitely work well… I had some experience with military rifles and shotguns but I mostly put together tools with tools and made my own weapons. Luckily, that is no longer an option and I can use military grade stuff here." Shepard walked over his engineering suit first, putting it on but not letting his helmet unfold yet. He picked up an M-97 Viper, a M-6 Carnifex, M-8 Avenger, M-27 Scimitar, and an M-9 Tempest, "This'll work." He said, putting them all on his back after a few modifications to the suit. Everyone else readied themselves, and Isaac boarded the shuttle with Shepard and Garrus.

The shuttle eventually landed them down on Haestorm, Shepard and his team getting off and on the planet surface, "Let's move," Shepard took out his weapon, moving forward, Garrus following behind him. Isaac took out his assault rifle, getting a feel for it before moving a few feet behind his squad.

They were in a relatively shadowed area, but as soon as they set foot in the sunlight..

"Hey, my shields are going down." Garrus told Shepard.

"Mine too." Shepard quickly moved over to the shadows.

"Shields?" Isaac asked them, he didn't see any.

"Shit, we forgot to give you shields. You best stay in cover a lot, you don't want to get hit by a Geth pulse rifle. You'll be knocked on your back, with a hole through your chest." Shepard warned him.

Isaac nodded, "Fuck…" He muttered under his breath.

"Shepard, it appears that the sun's rays overload your shields. Best to stay in the shadows." EDI's voice came up on all their communication devices, even picked up by Isaac's RIG.

"I figured, EDI." Shepard said.

The trio eventually made it to their first encounter of Geth troopers.

"We've been spotted!" Shepard slid into cover, Garrus as well, and Isaac moved over behind a concrete wall. Immediately their cover was being shot at by the Geth and their assault rifles.

"Don't let them pin you!" Isaac shouted, throwing a grenade over the barrier he crouched behind. It knocked the Geth over, and obliterated them, their white blood splattering the ground.

"Move up!" Shepard got out of cover, Garrus and Isaac carefully moving forward with Shepard.

"Some troopers to our left!" Garrus shouted, aiming his scope and shooting the head right off one of the Geth, "Dropped!" He got into cover.

Isaac aimed his rifle up, firing it at the Geth unit, taking it down with several shots to the chest, "Whoo! Feels good to be able to shoot somewhere besides the limbs!" He laughed, getting behind cover.

"I wonder what that means…" Shepard whispered to himself.

Three other Geth emerged from behind a wall, shooting their rifles at the group, Isaac stood for a moment, just to peak around the corner. He saw a red canister, probably flammable. His kinesis could reach it from here. He stuck his arm out and activated kinesis, lifting up the canister and throwing it over to the three Geth, blowing them up to bits.

"Holy hell! That was loud!" Garrus said, peaking out of cover.

"You're a biotic too?" Shepard walked up to Isaac.

"What the hell is a biotic? I just used my kinesis module." Isaac raised him hand up, showing him the device.

"We'll have the professor take a look at that late if you don't mind. Come on, lets get going." The squad moved up again, occasionally running into scrambles of Geth troopers that scattered the grounds. Little by little, the group eliminated them, taking them all out as they made their way across. No injuries so far, and their progress became quicker and quicker.

Eventually Shepard and his crew got up to a couple of dead quarians and some dead Geth, a transmission being sent to one of their radios.

"is anyone there!? This is Kal'Raeger, someone answer!" The voice sounded from the radio.

As Shepard spoke on the radio, Isaac looked down at the dead bodies of the Quarians, "What're these guys?" He looked up to Garrus as he knelt over by the corpses.

"They're Quarians. They've been at war with the Geth for a long time after they kicked them off their home planet." Garrus told him.

"I noticed the Geth aren't organic. Were they created by the Quarians?"

"Bingo."

"So AI's who rebelled against their creators?"

"That's right. But there's a little more to it than that."

Shepard put the radio down, "Come on, lets move. Tali's out there, and she's trapped. Geth are everywhere, so stay on your toes. Lets go!" Shepard rushed on ahead.

Isaac and Garrus followed behind, running behind him. Isaac looked as they made it to a ledge. Below, dozens of dead Quarian soldiers, Geth everywhere, and also plenty of cover. They dropped down, and began obliterating them, except Isaac, who was only really able to kill a few as he had to mostly stick behind cover.

"Scratch one!" Garrus voice came from ahead as he took them down. The Geth fought, but were being battered and thrown off their feet by the firing of the assault rifles of the trio.

Isaac peaked out and noticed not many left. He could finally get out of cover and help. He stood and started lightly running towards another barrier to get closer, but in suddenly a gigantic Geth Prime emerged out of nowhere. "FUCK!" Isaac fell back and rolled over to the barrier in mere seconds before the Geth Spitfire wielded by the Geth Prime completely destroyed him.

He panted heavily, "Hey, I need some help over here!"

"I got a few problems of my own!" Shepard shouted, being pinned down by five other Geth troopers, and Garrus could be his only help, but only after dealing with the other Geth trying to kill him.

The barrier was slowly being destroyed by the Spitfire, Isaac had to bow his head down lower to avoid being hit, "Damn it!" He faced bigger and worse things before. He took a deep breath, "Come on, Isaac… Come on," He grabbed ahold of his gun tightly, and finally, his helmet unfolded onto his head, the blue light glowing behind his helmet. He rolled out of cover, and shot a blast of stasis at the Geth Prime, slowing it down. He then aimed his assault rifle at its head and barraged it with bullets, "Die you son of a bitch!" He shouted at it, its entire head being slowly and completely shattered and blown off into tiny bits in the air. When the stasis ran out, it fell over, dead. He then picked up the Geth Spitfire and aimed at the five Geth pinning Shepard, and fired it relentlessly at them, killing them all, then helped Garrus with his situation. The firing stopped, and both Shepard and Garrus looked over to Isaac. He dropped the gun, "What the hell are you guys just standing there for? We got a mission, let's get the damn thing done."

"Damn right." Garrus said, rising his sniper over his shoulder.

"Then lets go," Shepard thought Isaac showed great promise. Taking down a Geth Prime by himself and saving he and Garrus?

Shepard continued down the way with his team.

Along the way they encountered more enemies, a few messages that had been recorded by Tali, and finally, the room Tali was supposed to be in, but there was only a hologram of her, calling out, "This is Tali'Zorah to base, anyone there?" She kept asking, thinking someone would answer. But Isaac and his team already saw what took place here. Dead Quarians, and Geth scattered all over the room.

Shepard walked over to Tali's communication, "Just me, Tali." He said.

"Shepard? What're you doing here?" She asked in surprise.

"Just in the neighborhood, thought you could use some help." He smiled.

"Well you came by just in time, Shepard. Listen, I'm trapped inside one of the outposts, there's Geth outside and eventually they'll get in. I've got extremely important data that needs to be delivered to the admiralty board, in other words, its important this room doesn't get swarmed by Geth."

"Don't worry, Tali, we're on our way." Shepard almost left before Tali stopped him.

"Shepard, there's one more thing. If you run in to Kal'Reager, make sure he stays alive. I cant have him die. I'll explain everything later when you rescue me… Again."

"Got it, Tali." He left the communications, Tali as well.

"Sounds like we better get moving," Isaac said, holding up his assault rifle.

It didn't take long for Shepard and his team to eventually run across a Quarian, who was most likely Kal'Raeger. They ran over to his side, and stayed in cover beside him.

"Commander Shepard?" The Quarian asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"I'm Kal'Reager, marine!"

"What's the situation?"

"Tali's over on the other side of that field, but the Geth have been trying to get her for a while now. They even got a colossus by the entrance. Every time I get a few shots at it, it just curls up and repairs itself!"

A massive cannon blast shook the whole wall.

"What the fuck is that thing!?" Isaac shouted.

"Big robot, destroys stuff." Garrus told him.

"Well, guess that's all I really need to know, huh?" Isaac said.

"I can distract that colossus from here, give you guys a shot to go around and nail it."

"Fight's over for you, Kal. Tali needs you alive."

"Can't do that, commander. I'm not useful just sitting here."

"She told me it was important for you to stay alive, I cant have you risking yourself out there. My team and I can handle it from here, just stay put. For Tali."

Kal sighed, "All right, sir. Don't make me regret this. Good luck, commander."

Shepard nodded at him and looked back at his team, "Come on, let's take this thing down."

Isaac followed Shepard and Garrus as they leapt down from the ledge and fell into cover, avoiding the blasts of the Geth rifles. Isaac especially, he couldn't probably do much for this part, either. If he peaked even once, his whole head would most likely be blown off.

"Garrus, on me, Isaac, stay put. I cant have you getting killed."

"Got it, commander. But if things get hairy for you guys, I'll do my best to help out from here. I can do a lot with my kinesis and stasis module from a distance." Isaac said.

Shepard and Garrus moved out, avoiding the colossus blasts that shook the ground underneath their feet. Isaac kept taking deep breaths, he occasionally felt the vibrations of bullets and explosions near him and it made him terribly nervous. He just barely looked from the side. Garrus and Shepard seemed to be doing okay on their own. They could handle the Geth troopers, it was that damned colossus that made this especially difficult. One thing Isaac noticed was that the fire was drawn away from him and only toward Garrus and Shepard. This probably wasn't a bad thing. He pulled out his sniper rifle, and laid behind the barrier.

Isaac set up his sniper rifle, and took aim at the heads of the preoccupied Geth units. He blew each head off, one by one. They were completely unaware of him. For now at least. He hoped that this helped out Shepard and Garrus. They were slowly making their way up, eventually almost the entire field was clear of any Geth units. All that stood was the colossus and a few other Geth troopers.

Isaac stood from his cover and looked at that massive Geth, "Holy shit. That's a big guy." He got his assault rifle out and started running up the stairs on the right, Shepard and Garrus were going up the left ones. Perhaps they could flank the colossus and the other Geth there.

Isaac made it up, just in time to see Shepard and Garrus on the other side of the platform. He got into cover, and started firing at some of the Geth troopers while their backs were turned. They seemed to notice, but didn't have time to react, except two Geth Primes, armed with Geth Spitfires, sending a barrage of plasma fire at Isaac's cover, "Damn it!" He remembered last time's plan, this time it would be double stasis, and shoot the fuck out of their heads. They seemed to stop shooting for a second, Isaac jumped out of cover, and everything seemed to move in slow motion as his hand raised up, and he saw the beginning fire of the Geth Prime's gun come toward him. As his stasis shot out, the plasma round sank itself deep into Isaac's side, knocking him over on his back. It was like being hit by a truck. He landed hard, hitting his head on the ground. His read blood splattered the grey ground and his body and head ached in pain, "F-fuck…" He groaned, grabbing at his side. There was probably a massive hole there… Was this it for him? The end of his life or a crazy dream? Was he still floating in space right now? Or dead?

The sounds of exploding and guns seemed to fade out as his eyes closed. Soon, there was silence.

"Isaac." A voice whispered his name.

"Isaac." It whispered again.

"ISAAC!"

Suddenly his eyes opened, his side not feeling as bad as it did a bit ago, Shepard and Garrus were kneeling beside him, Kal making his way over to them, limping.

"What?" He looked over at his injury, seeing a strange orange hologram coming from Shepard's arm.

"Don't worry, this Medi-Gel will fix you right up." Shepard put his hand over Isaac's wound, applying a bit more Medi-Gel.

"Sure as hell doesn't hurt anymore." Isaac groaned, "What's the color of my RIG?"

"Uh, RIG?" Garrus asked.

"The light on my back," Isaac said, kind of annoyed that no one knew what he spoke about, and he didn't know what anyone spoke about.

"Its yellow, but its moving upward and changing to a light green."

"That's good. All right, help me up, let's finish this." Isaac took hold of both Shepard and Garrus' arms, and they helped lift up, all grunting as he was heavy.

They both helped him over to the doors, Tali speaking to Shepard over her radio, "Let me unlock that for you guys." Tali said, then the doors opened, all walking in.

"Shepard, Garrus! And um," She looked at Isaac, "Cerberus recruit, I suppose?"

"No, literal space drifter we picked up on the way here. Engineer. And a damn good soldier." Shepard said, helping Isaac to take a seat on a desk, "He saved our lives, and got us here just as much as I did. We all owe him a little." He said.

Isaac looked up at them, "Just doing my part, commander." He grunted, holding his side again.

"What's his name?" Tali asked.

"Isaac Clarke," Shepard answered her.

"Well, thank you, Isaac. I'm glad Shepard has you on his team. Kal! You're alive!" Tali had finally noticed the limping Quarian walking in.

"That's right, ma'am. Got these fine gentleman here to thank fort that." He too was limping in pain.

"Are you all right? Whats happened?" Tali had a bit of worry and panic in her voice.

"Don't worry, ma'am. I'm all right. Got a small tear in my suit, but I'll live…" He sighed, "I lost my whole squad."

"I'm sorry, Kal. I'm sure they died honorable deaths." Tali held her hands in front of herself.

"Now then," Shepard looked at Tali, "I did come for a reason, Tali. I need your help again. I know you don't like Cerberus, no one does, really. But what they're doing is important. I've seen the Collectors and what they did. It's real, Cerberus is not bullshitting. So I'm asking you to come with me, and help me take them down."

"Like the good ol' days of saving the galaxy," Garrus chuckled.

"I'll be more than happy to, Commander. Let me just transfer this data to my fleet, then I'm all yours."

End of Chapter One.

Author's Note: I'd really appreciate some feedback on this. This is being written for myself and a few friends, but I'd love a bit of motivation if you liked this story. Make sure to tell me what you think, what you like, don't like, what you'd like to see happen and more. And this story will be a long one, so sit back and stay tuned for a chapter at least every few days or week. It will last from Mass Effect 2 (Not the very beginning) to the end of Mass Effect 3 and even a little bit after. It sounds far-fetched, but I've got a good feeling about this. I also have just come to realize that asterisks do not appear. Instead, i will bluntly state it.