One

Jor'vik is having a good day, his men were celebrating the taking of an Alliance frigate and taking the crew hostage. Jor'vik sent a ransom demand to the Alliance saying that if they wanted the frigate and the crew back in one piece then they would have to pay four million credits. To his surprise the Alliance agreed to pay the ransom, however Jor'vik had no intention of upholding his end of the agreement.

"Bring me the girls," Jor'vik ordered one of his men who immediately disappeared to the holding cells. Moments later he emerged with all the female personal from the Alliance frigate. Jor'vik could tell that some of them would fetch a high price from some of his clientele, especially from the Hidden Pleasure.

The women were lined up in front of Jor'vik so he could inspect them. Jor'vik couldn't understand how some species found humans attractive, to him they were too weird, too alien for him to find attractive. That didn't stop some of his clientele from buying them for their own personal uses. One by one he inspected them.

"Take off your clothes," Jor'vik ordered them. When they didn't he drew his carnifex and shot one of them in the head causing the other to scream as their friend's head exploded from being shot close range. "I'm not going to repeat myself."

Meanwhile outside the complex Jor'vik and his men stayed at when they were hiding from the military. Guards patrolled the grounds surrounding the complex, bored and pissed that they aren't celebrating with their colleagues. Night made it hard for the guards to spot any intruders but that didn't stop them from keeping a lookout. What the guards didn't know was that four figures were watching them before they disappeared into the night.

Two guards were talking amongst themselves about taking orders from a batarian when they heard the gunshot.

"Fucker probably shot one of the prisoners."

"He does understand the concept of hostages, right?"

Before they could continue their discussion a figure emerged behind them. The figure held a knife in its right hand, elbowing the guard on the right in the throat causing him the stagger. The knife sunk into the throat of the guard on the left, the guard on the right finally regained his senses as he brought up his rifle in an attempt to shoot the intruder. The figure noticed this immediately and knocked the rifle away, using the momentum from knocking the rifle away the figure grabbed the guards chin and the back of the head from behind and twisted. The sound of the guard's neck breaking and his body going limp signaled he was dead.

The figure walked over to the guard with the knife embedded in his throat and removed the blade. One of the guards noticed the attack and was about the raise the alarm when her neck was broken from behind. Another guard was killed when his throat was slit. The remaining guards were shot in the head by a sniper perched on a cliff that overlooked the pirate complex.

"How we looking?" The figure who killed the two guards asked, the voice reveling the figure as a woman.

"All guards are dead and no alarms," the sniper answered, as she looked over the complex through her scope checking for any remaining hostiles. "Let's take a peek inside."

Outside the complex a small drone flew in a vent and emerged inside the main building, giving the sniper an idea of enemy positions as it marked them. The marked pirates showed up to the sniper and her team as red outlines, once the drone made it to the lobby pretty much every pirate inside the complex was marked. The video that the drone sent back from the lobby made the sniper slightly sick.

"Fucking degenerates," the sniper told her team over the comms. As the team was also linked into the drone feed they couldn't help but agree.

"This is why I hate batarians."

The drone feed showed the remaining Alliance women removing their clothes, the pirates yelled their approval making the women cringe.

"Focus, right now our priority is Jor'vik and the intel he has. Then we get our people home," the woman who killed the two guards said over the comms.

"You got it, boss."

"Roger."

"Got it."

"Oden, Preacher. You in position?" The woman asked, placing a breaching charge on the outside of the lobby wall.

"Almost there." Oden said, engaging his cloak as he entered the pirate complex. Once inside he placed laser mines on the hallway walls. "In position," he said once he was outside the lobby doors.

"Set," Preacher said, placing a breaching charge on the roof of the complex.

"Sis?"

"Good to go," Sis said as she adjusted the scope on her rifle. "Ready when you are, Wolf."

"Let's introduce ourselves," Wolf said as she grabbed the detonator for the breaching charges she and Preacher placed. "Sis."

Sis lined up one of the pirate's outline in her scope and fired.

Jor'vik was figuring out how much credits he could get for the girls from the Hidden Pleasure when one of his men's head exploded. When Jor'vik realized what happened, it was too late as the ceiling and the wall behind him exploded. Debris from the ceiling crushed some of his men, while the ones closet to the wall blast were killed by the concussive force. Jor'vik was disoriented from the blasts that he didn't notice a flashbang was tossed in.

Wolf waited for the flashbang to detonate before she ordered Oden and Preacher to move in and clear the room. Wolf entered the lobby after the flashbang detonated, while Preacher used his jump jets to land safely on the ground and Oden entered from the lobby entrance. Sis took aim at another pirate when Wolf and her teammates opened fire on the disoriented pirates making sure not to hit Jor'vik. Wolf, Oden, Preacher, and Sis took down the pirates in the lobby easily. Within a matter a seconds the firefight ended and all of the pirates were dead. Wolf gestured for Preacher to check on the hostages, while she and Oden went to Jor'vik. Sis provided cover for the team.

Wolf grabbed Jor'vik's arm and twisted it behind his back and hit the back of his knees, forcing Jor'vik to kneel.

"Who the fuck are you!" Jor'vik yelled to his captures. He couldn't get a good look at them as his vision was still blurry from the flashbang. From what he could see they were either human or asari.

"We ask the questions here, fuck face." Wolf said as she drew her sidearm and placed the barrel of the handgun against Jor'vik's face. Jor'vik just laughed until Wolf twisted his arm even harder, almost to the point of breaking.

"You are so fucked." Jor'vik said through clenched teeth as pain eradiated from his arm pinned behind his back. "You think this is all my men! More are coming! And when they get here I'm gonna kill you slowly." Jor'vik yelled.

"We know. We even left a welcoming present for them." Oden said, just then explosions could be heard in the distance.

Elinna's day just kept getting worse. First, she has to take orders from a batarian who doesn't care who he kills as long as there's money to be made. Second, she knew that the Alliance wasn't going to take an attack on one of their frigates lightly. And third, she has to help her "boss" from whatever shit is going on in the lobby. Elinna was just about to grab some shut eye when she heard explosions go off in the direction of the lobby. So, she grabbed her gear and weapon and made a beeline for the lobby. She caught up with other pirates running towards the lobby.

"What the hell is going on?" she yelled to one of the pirates as they turned a corner. The pirate was about to answer when all of a sudden he was flung against the wall. Everyone stopped running, wondering what the hell happened when two more pirates were flung against the wall.

"Move!" Elinna ordered the remaining pirates when another was shot. 'What the hell?' she thought, Elinna knew plenty of weapons from her time in the asari commandos but she didn't know of a weapon that could punch through walls, let alone reinforced walls. However, she didn't have time to think about it because when she and the remaining pirates turned the corner they didn't see the laser mine that Oden placed. The moment the laser beam was broken the mine exploded, turning Elinna and the pirates into red smears on the hallway walls. All throughout the pirate complex the laser mines detonated.

"You're clear." Sis said over the comms as the last pirate was killed by the laser mines.

"Now that we're alone. I have some questions for you." Wolf said to Jor'vik, pressing the barrel of her pistol against his face as a clear warning to not try anything stupid. Jor'vik could now see who killed his men, now that the effects of the flashbang were gone.

The one in front of him wore some type of combat gear he didn't recognize. From the build Jor'vik could tell that he was a male and human from the skin that showed from his rolled up sleeves. Most of the gear that he could see were obviously human made. The man wore bulky armor pads that covered his entire body except for the forearms, Jor'vik wondered how he could move wearing all that armor. The man carried a large weapon that he couldn't identify, based on the size of the weapon Jor'vik assumed an LMG. He also carried a large shield on his back along with a bag pack. Covering his head is a helmet that covered his entire face, a skull was painted on the front of the helmet and over the left eye was a holo display that glowed blue.

Jor'vik looked to the one attending to the hostages.

Jor'vik could tell that he was also a man from the build. Like the one in front of him he also wore unknown combat gear, but he wasn't as heavily armored. Instead he wore a vest that covered his torso, armor pads that covered his upper arms and legs. He didn't have a helmet, instead he wore a hat, a piece of cloth that covered the lower half of his face, and a pair of black sunglasses that also had a holo display over his left eye. He also wore a headset that went over his hat. On the ground next to him was a bag pack full of medical supplies, so Jor'vik assumed that the man is a medic.

"How do you contact the Hidden Pleasure?" Wolf asked, bringing Jor'vik back to the one pinning his arm against his back and holding a gun to the side of his face.

"Fuck you, bitch." Jor'vik replied, "I'm not telling you shit."

Wolf twisted Jor'vk's arm once again, this time breaking the arm. Jor'vik screamed in pain as Wolf twisted his broken arm some more, causing intense pain.

"I'm not going to ask again." Wolf said, her words laced with venom as she twisted his arm again. "You have no idea of what I'm capable of."

"Fuck you," Jor'vik repeated through clenched teeth to keep from screaming.

Wolf fired her pistol four times, deafening Jor'vik. Wolf brought the barrel of the pistol to Jor'vik's face and pressed the heated barrel of the pistol against two of Jor'vik's eyes, making him scream. Wolf held the pistol barrel against his eyes for ten seconds before easing up.

"Last chance. Talk," Wolf told Jor'vik, placing the barrel of the gun close to his last two eyes. "Or, you can lose your remaining eyes and I place a bullet in your gut and leave you here to die in your own shit."

"Ok… ok." Jor'vik said defeated. He considered himself tuff, but he wasn't going to lose his eyes over keeping the Hidden Pleasure safe. Besides once these humans let him go, he can get revenge on them once he recovers. "I send them a code from my terminal."

"What is the code?" Wolf asked, pressing the pistol barrel against Jor'vik's cheek.

"Alpha-Omega- 2369."

"Where do you meet the ship?"

"They send coordinates for the meet. That's all I know." Jor'vik told them. "You'll let me go now, right?"

Wolf released Jor'vik's arm, much to his relief and slowly withdrew her pistol from next to his head. Jor'vik decided to risk a glance to the one who broke his arm and burned out two of his eyes. Slowly turning his head, Jor'vik got a good look at the human female.

Like the medic she wore a vest that covered her torso and armor pads that covered her shins and one of her shoulders, leaving the other bare. She wore a helmet and part of her face was covered just like the medic, only her mask had an image of a skull jaw and she also wore dark glasses that also glowed blue with a holo screen over her left eye. But most importantly, Jor'vik saw the barrel of the pistol she was holding still aimed at his head. Wolf didn't hesitate as she pulled the trigger, killing Jor'vik.

"Command, this is Wolf. We have the code that will summon the Hidden Pleasure." Wolf said over the secure connection to the spec ops dreadnaught Inferno.

"And the hostages?"

"Alive and well. Minus one." Wolf answered somberly.

"Understood. The Midas from the third fleet is already on route. They'll be there in thirty minutes. Make sure the hostages are secure before departing."

"Understood." Wolf replied, closing the connection she relayed the instructions from the Inferno to her squad. Once the crew from the Alliance frigate were secure, Wolf and her team went to the landing pads where Sis was waiting for them in a Rhino gunship. Once everyone was on board the Rhino, they departed the planet and flew to the nearest Mass Relay to rendezvous with the Inferno.

When the marines of the Midas finally arrived at the pirate complex they were greeted by the crew of the Alliance frigate that was attacked. After extracting the crew and the body of the fallen crewmember, the Midas destroyed the pirate complex from orbit. When the surviving crewmembers were asked who saved them, one of the female officers replied.

"Ghosts."

One Month Later

Karen laid awake in bed next to her husband, content to just lay in bed as she hasn't seen her husband in six months. After her last op she and her team were given leave on Earth and when she returned to her husband, she was glad that their daughters were staying at a friend's house. Sadly, the alarm on their bed stand had different plans as it went off, signaling the start of the day. Karen rolled over to shut off the alarm, hoping that her husband didn't hear it as he is a deep sleeper.

"I heard that." Karen heard her husband David mumble sleepily. Karen rolled back to David's side and kissed his shoulder. "Morning," David said to Karen as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Morning" Karen replied.

"We should get up. Dana and Jen are going to be up soon." David told Karen just as she swung her right leg over David, so she was straddling him.

"They can wait." Karen said to David seductively before she kissed him passionately, "My leave ends today and who knows how long I'll be gone." She whispered in David's ear.

"Who am I to deny my wife satisfaction," David told her as his hands went under her tank top.

After their morning session both David and Karen took a shower and got dressed. David wore his Alliance uniform and Karen wore a casual outfit, jeans and a black t shirt. Arriving in the kitchen they were greeted by their two twin teenage daughters, Dana and Jen. After saying their good mornings David went to the coffee maker while Karen sat at the kitchen table with her daughters.

"Coffees already made." Jen told her dad as she drank her own coffee.

"Thank you," David told her pouring a cup for himself and Karen. Setting the cup in front of Karen which she thanked him for.

"What are you doing?" Karen asked Jen, who was typing on her portable holo terminal.

"Writing a report on the N7's during the First Contact War," Jen replied taking a break from typing to take a sip of her coffee.

"You know there weren't many stationed at Shanxi."

"I know. General Williams was lucky that two were stationed there and helped him drive back the turian occupation."

After breakfast was finished Karen told her daughters that her leave is over today and that she'll be headed back to active duty. Dana and Jen were used to their mom's various deployments, over the years they learned to cherish every moment they spent with her. So, they hugged their mother and told her that they will send video messages regularly before they left for school.

After their daughters left for school Karen went back to their bedroom to pack her things while David went to start the sky car. After Karen packed her things, she went to the garage and entered the sky car. David eased the sky car into traffic and flew towards the Alliance docks. Arriving at the Alliance docks in record time, David parked outside the docks.

"Got everything?" David asked Karen as she began to gather her things from the backseat.

"Yeah. I'll let you know when the next time I have leave," Karen told David before she kissed him. After the kiss Karen exited the sky car and went to the gates where the MP's asked for her ID. Showing her ID the guards let her pass and saluted her as she passed them. Once inside Karen went to the landing pad that held a shuttle that would take her back to the Inferno.

However, Karen wasn't the only one headed to the landing pad. Karen ran into her teammates Alice, Dean, and Jake. Arriving at the landing pad showed that the shuttle wasn't there, the intercom announced that all flights are being delayed by at least thirty minutes. So Karen and her team decided to pass the time talking amongst themselves when they heard a news report that caught their attention.

"In other news, the captain of the Hidden Light is set to be given life without parole in a maximum security prison. The Hidden Light was a ship that dealt with the sex trade. The captain whose name is being withheld would buy girls of all age and species, forcing them to become prostitutes. The ship was taken by a joint Alliance/C-Sec task force."

After the news report ended, Alice spoke her mind.

"We do all the heavy lifting and the Alliance/C-sec task force gets the credit." Alice said to her teammates.

Dean smirked, "If you want credit. Join the N7's."

"I tried to," Alice replied. "but if I did who would you pick on?"

"Jake, but he isn't as fun as you."

"Aww, you big softie." Alice cooed to Dean, making Karen and Jake laugh while Dean ruffled Alice's hair.

Finally, the shuttle arrived after Alice fixed her hair. Boarding the shuttle, they put their things in the hold and grabbed a seat. The shuttle thrusters activated lifting the shuttle and activating the inertial dampeners. Finally, they were clear of the landing pad and went to space, leaving Earth behind as the shuttle docked with the Inferno.

Gathering their things from the hold, Karen and her team left the shuttle and were greeted with the sight of the entire crew running around making final systems check and securing cargo.

"Hey, what's going on?" Jake asked one of the passing crewmembers.

"Don't know. Just that we have orders to depart once you guys got here."

"Wolf Squad, report to the briefing room immediately. All hands prepare to departure" The captain announced over the ship intercom.

"Let's go," Karen told her team. Making a quick stop at their quarters to drop off their things before heading to the briefing room. The ship slightly jolted signaling that they just made a Relay jump. When they arrived at the briefing room they grabbed their seats and waited for the Captain to show. When the Captain finally showed Karen and her team rose to salute her.

"At ease," the Captain told them. "I'm not the one who will be briefing you today," she told them as a holo display came to life, displaying Admiral Hackett.

"Good morning. Please by seated," Hackett said to Karen and her team. After taking their seats, Hackett resumed talking. "I trust you all know what Prometheus is."

"Prometheus is how the Alliance reacts to a major discovery like the Prothean data cache on Mars. It's only been activated once," Karen answered. Admiral Hackett nodded at Karen's explanation of Prometheus.

"Seventeen hours ago Prometheus was activated. When one of our colonies, Eden Prime discovered an intact Prothean beacon." The briefing room grew silent at the revelation that an intact Prothean beacon had been found. "As of this moment a response force is preparing to leave Arcturus to extract the beacon from the colony."

Alice held up her hand which Hackett immediately noticed and gestured to her.

"Who's leading the response force?"

"Captain David Anderson of the Normandy along with his XO, LT. Commander Jane Shepard."

"Hell of a maiden voyage for the Normandy." Jake said.

"Alliance high command sees this as the perfect opportunity to test the Normandy's stealth systems."

"Orders, sir?" Karen asked, bringing the conversation back to the briefing.

"The Normandy will extract the Prothean beacon from the colony and deliver it the Citadel. As a gesture of good will from us." Hackett said, "Your orders are to shadow the Normandy's ground team and make sure that all goes well."

"Rules of engagement?" Dean asked.

"Your discretion. Eden Prime is on the border of the Terminus Systems," Hackett told the ghosts. "They don't know about the beacon but expect the worst case scenario."

"Yes sir."

"Good luck and remember ghosts. Credit is failure." Hackett said to the ghosts before cutting the video transmission.

"The Normandy is set to leave Arcturus after they pick up a last minute addition to the crew," The Captain spoke up after Hackett ended the transmission. "We'll arrive in the Utopia System in thirty minutes. Gear up."

Karen and her teammates gathered in the cargo bay, checking their weapons and gear.

"Anybody else curios as too why the poster girl for the Alliance is going on a simple extraction mission," Alice said as she checked her HTI-X6 sniper rifle before loading it with a fresh magazine, switching the safety on, collapsing the rifle and placing it on her back. She then moved to check her assault rifle when Karen spoke up.

"Scuttlebutt in Alliance Intel is that the Alliance wants Shepard to be a Spectre," Karen told them as she checked her own rifle, the AR-9X with an under barrel grenade launcher.

"Didn't the Alliance try something similar with Anderson some years ago?" Dean asked as he loaded his M280 LMG.

"They did and it didn't go well," Jake told Dean, checking his Scorpion SMG.

Karan put on her helmet and adjusted her mask so it covered her nose and mouth, leaving her eyes uncovered. "Link up." she said as she put on her ballistic glasses as did the rest of her team. One by one their glasses glowed blue as a holo display came on over their left eyes.

"Neural link engaged," a VI said over their comms. A slight cooling sensation could be felt by everyone as their neural implants activated. With the team linked and ready to go Karen slipped into her 'Wolf' persona as she ordered everyone onto the Rhino gunship just as the Inferno exited FTL. Wolf sat in the pilot's chair as Sis took the co-pilots seats behind Wolf.

"Inferno, this is Wolf squad. We are set and ready to go." Wolf said into the comms as she did pre-flight checks.

"Wolf squad you are clear to go."

"Roger," Wolf said as she activated the Rhino and began to the fly towards Eden Prime. Once they entered atmo, Sis noticed something was off. There was no radio communication or anything coming from the colony or any of the marine units in the area.

"Boss, I think so…" Sis was cut off by an explosion that destroyed one of the gunship's engines. Warning alarms went off as another explosion destroyed the other engine, causing the gunship to go into a dive.

"Sis!?" Wolf yelled over the comms trying to get the gunship out of the nose dive.

"Somethings jamming us. I can't get a fix on what shot us!"

Wolf finally managed to get the gunship out of the nose dive and fly somewhat straight, but she had no control as the gunship wasn't responding.

"Prepare for crash landing!"Wolf yelled. "Sis when I say now activate the front thrusters. We can use them to slow our landing." When the gunship was hundred meters from the surface, "Now!"

The gunship slowed down enough for Wolf to bring the nose of the gunship up so that the rear of the gunship would hit first instead of the front of the gunship which would kill her and Sis instantly.

"Brace!" Wolf yelled as the gunship hit the ground. The gunship barreled over trees and anything in its path as it slid across the landscape. Finally coming to stop a mile from the colony outpost.

A/N: This is something that I wrote after taking a break from writing a chapter for my other story Finding Home. This was planned along with my other story but I don't know if I'm going to be doing a full story of this as I'm focused on my other one right now.

Thank you to all who took the time to read this story.