AN: I bet you're all surprised to see me posting a story like this, aren't you? Well, if you had paid more attention to my aptly titled story "Diablo's Guidelines & Suggestions to Good Storytelling & Fan Fiction" then you would know that I've had this idea in my head for a little while now. And before anyone out there goes and says that this crossover idea has stalled out before it gets started every single time (which, admittedly, it totally has) please reserve your judgement until after you see me either make it or break it.

I've done all my research, checked the details and walkthroughs of every mission and many bits of miscellaneous dialogue from the original trilogy (many thanks to FluffyNinjaLlama and TheGameMinion on youtube for providing a conveniently gathered collection of said missions and dialogue), and I hope to bring an enjoyable crossover experience to all of you. Who knows? Once all is said and done, maybe you'll find this story a more enjoyable alternative to the "canon" Original Trilogy (which, given the "ending(s)" of the 3rd game, even after the patch, is admittedly not a very tall order).

Mass Effect 10 Part 1

Chapter 1

Just Another Tuesday

Why on earth do I feel like I just got a noogie from a Tetramand? Ben groaned as he rubbed a sore spot on the back of his head. "Did anyone get the licence of the space ship that hit me just now?" Immediately after speaking aloud, Ben bolted upright into a sitting position in shock at the sound of his own voice. "Why is my voice so much deeper?" He asked of no one as he rubbed his neck in confusion. "And since when do I have facial hair?!" He panicked as he scrambled to his feet, stumbling slightly as he found himself forced to adjust to yet another surprising change. "And pecs and biceps too?!" He continued as he flexed and gripped his arms, his shock quickly fading into approval and pride. "Though I can't say I really mind this change." He grinned smugly.

"All excellent questions, Ben," A familiar British accent interrupted his vane self-appraisal. "Albeit not the ones you should be heavily prioritizing at the moment, at least in comparison."

"Professor Paradox?" Ben turned to address the time traveling scientist in question, several blanks in his mind being quickly filled as the only possible reason for the presence of the immortal hero became apparent. "So that's why I look so much older, I was artificially aged." He realized as he stroked his beard thoughtfully. "And if you're here, and I've been aged up overnight, then that must mean you've got some time heroing-slash-universe saving you need my help with."

"An excellent, if only slightly inaccurate, deduction Young Ben!" Paradox cheered enthusiastically. "Or should I say 'Adult Ben', considering your current physical age? These matters get so confusing when you're a time-traveling immortal after all."

"Call me what you want, but do you think you could maybe change me back to normal first?" Ben requested. "I like having a heroic build as much as the next guy, but I'd kinda like the chance to grow into it on my own terms."

"I'm afraid there's going to be a slight problem with that plan Ben." Paradox shrugged sheepishly. "You see, I can only revert aging as far back as you exist, and you technically didn't exist until just a few moments ago."

"What are you talking about Professor? I'm 16 years old." Ben scratched his head in confusion. "Well, mentally anyway. Physically I'd say I'm in the ballpark of my thirties or forties." He jokingly amended his statement.

"Ben, you have experienced a great deal of traumatic and harrowing events in your life, so I know that you won't need much emotional bracing for what I am about to tell you." Paradox sighed as he reluctantly resigned himself, worrying Ben as he had never seen the jovial immortal look so dour before. "You are not the REAL Ben Tennyson, not as you know yourself at least. You are a clone, one of several created and scattered across the multiverse quite by accident in a quantum entanglement explosion during a battle against a new Negative 10."

"I'm...a clone?" Ben's jaw dropped as the implications quickly set in: denial, anger, bargaining, and depression flashed across his face as the shock worked through his system, before he eventually reached an unusual acceptance of his situation. Glancing at his wrist, he finally noticed that the familiar face plate of the Omnitrix was no longer there, leaving nothing but bare skin where the alien device once was. "Guess it was too much to hope for a replica Omnitrix too." He sighed, more upset by the lack of his transformation device than the news that he was a replica of the original Ben. "So what happened to the real Ben?"

"He's just fine." Paradox assured the replica Ben with a relieved smile. "He doesn't even know that anything happened to him. As far as he's aware the weapon the Negative 10 tried to use to kill him backfired horribly and killed them all."

"I take it they aren't really dead though." Ben remarked knowingly as he decided to take a look around his present location, only mildly surprised to see that the fields of grass and crops looked to be frozen mid-sway in the wind, immediately chalking it up to Paradox freezing time so they could talk freely without interruption. Looking a little further, he also noticed several metal blocks that looked like some kind of mass-produced space houses, and what looked like a spaceport with a particularly large, cuttlefish shaped spaceship immediately noticeable above it. "Let me guess, some of them landed here, and now I have to be the hero I was accidentally cloned to be and stop them - along with any other local threats - Omnitrix or no Omnitrix."

"Another well-educated, if also slightly off, theory." Paradox pat Ben on the back proudly. "You're much smarter and more accepting of this situation than the other Bens I'll speak with later."

"Eh, figures that I would only mellow with age." Ben shrugged as he parted the frozen corn blocking his view to get a better look at what he could now tell was obviously some kind of farming colony. "So what kind of new adventures and crime-fighting action should I be expecting of my new home? Anyone in particular I should be trying to arrest?"

"Straight to the point, that's what I like to see most in a Ben Tennyson." Paradox nodded in approval. "Before I answer your question though, I believe it would be best for both of us if we got you into some more appropriate attire." He suggested.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing right-" Ben abruptly stopped talking when he noticed that he was now wearing what looked like Rook's Proto-Armor, albeit several sizes bigger, and with green padding in place of the blue padding he was familiar with. "Huh, no matter how often I tell myself I've seen everything, something always seems to come along to prove me wrong." He smirked playfully at the ancient time traveler. "Especially whenever you get involved Paradox."

"Speaking of surprises, try pressing the button on your new headset." Paradox tapped behind his own left ear, gesturing for Ben to find a small band that curved around his own ear, with a small microphone bending along his jawline. Pressing the only button he found, Ben was surprised and delighted to see a black helmet with a transparent green faceplate spontaneously generate itself over his face and head.

"This is way too cool." Ben chuckled as he pressed the same button over and over, expanding and retracting his helmet again and again.

"I'm quite glad to see that you enjoy your gifts Ben, for I had Azmuth design them specifically to work in tandem with your new powers." Paradox explained playfully, causing Ben to freeze in excitement with his new helmet in the on position.

"I have new powers?" Ben looked two seconds away from literally jumping in joy. "Even without the Omnitrix?"

"Yes or no, depending on your exact definition of new." Paradox answered in his typical cryptic fashion. "Try to remember what it felt like whenever your Slimbiote friend Skurd would transform your body parts."

Grinning in eager expectation, Ben focused his attention on his right arm, and was delighted, but not at all surprised to see his arm turning into diamond, complete with a sword in hand. "Awesome!" He laughed in excitement as he took a few practice swings, getting a feel for his new arm and sword. "Can I do this will all of my old aliens?"

"No, and you may want to put that away for the time being." Paradox requested, Ben reluctantly doing as he was asked, the armor on his arm reforming as his arm returned to normal. "Only the ten alien DNA samples Skurd used while fused with your Omnitrix have been fused with your biology, no doubt Skurd's own use of these genetic materials are the reason they ended up bonded to the DNA of this particular Ben, this Ben being you of course." He explained helpfully. "Likewise, you can only use the body parts Skurd used from these 10 aliens. Furthermore, your greater physical age is similarly due to your numerous time travel experiences while he was bonded with you, especially when you went back to before the Big Bang."

"Thanks for the exposition Paradox." Ben remarked as he made badass poses with the Bloxx-lobber in hand, the bright primary colors and lego-like construction of the weapon greatly diminishing how badass the poses looked. "Anything else I should know?"

"Indeed, for starters you may want to check the left side of the HUD on your helmet." Paradox suggested with a slight mirth, as if he was privy to a particularly funny inside joke, which he probably was.

"Now that's something I should have noticed sooner." Ben chuckled sheepishly as he put away his weapon, simultaneously turning his gaze to two columns of five circles each on his HUD. "What are these images for exactly?"

"Each one of those circles represent how much usage you can still get out of your transformations before you need to let them recharge." Paradox explained, making Ben groan in exasperation.

"You mean I still have to worry about all my powers having these stupid timers on them?" Ben whined - which, considering his physical age, was rather comical looking - as he noticed that each circle had the familiar symbols representing the 10 alien powers he currently had from his most recent Omnitrix. "And now I have ten timers to worry about instead of just one?"

"It's not all bad, Ben." Paradox assured him with a pat on the back, which just made Ben grumble even more. "At least now you can switch between powers without waiting for a full recharge. The DNA samples recharge whenever they aren't in use, and independently of each other as well, so once you get the hang of swapping out or combining your powers as needed you'll likely never run out of options."

"...I guess I can live with that." Ben begrudgingly accepted the new pros and cons to his powers, only to jolt in surprise and excitement once he realized exactly what Paradox had said. "Wait a second...I can COMBINE my powers now?!" He grinned excitedly as he infused Diamondhead DNA into his right arm, and Bloxx DNA into his back. When the Bloxx-lobber extended to his Diamondhead arm, the two different parts radically changed. The Bloxx-lobber was now made entirely of crystals, from the pack sprouting crystal spikes like those from Diamondhead's back, to the cracked crystal ammo belt, to the large spike-shaped gun on his arm with a small opening where the point would normally be. Turning his attention to a nearby tree, Ben braced himself as the ammo belt began feeding itself into the gun, firing shards that rapidly shredded the tree at a rate like minigun fire. "Oh yeah!" He gave a hearty fist pump as he put his DNA weapons away. "I could get used to this! I wonder what else I can do..." His mind began spinning at the possibilities this new ability presented.

"Your new armor is not lacking for special features either." Paradox explained as if he were a teacher talking addressing an eager student with many questions. "In addition to shifting and adapting to accommodate your powers, the armor also has a triple layered personal defense array. Take a look at the gauges to your right on the HUD now." Doing as Paradox suggested, Ben noticed two bars and a humanoid figure stretching from near the top of his field of vision to near the bottom; one line blue, one line purple, and the figure in orange. "The figure in orange represents the structural integrity of your armor. As it gets damaged, the parts of the figure change from light-orange to dark-red, before eventually going completely black when that part of your armor forces itself into auto-repair mode, retracting it into the rest of the suit. The blue gauge represents the current charge in your shield generators. They run on the same technology that the majority of this galaxy uses in everyday life, so installing any upgrades or fuel cells you need in order to recharge it should be simple enough. The purple gauge is where things got a little...tricky, shall we say."

"Define tricky." Ben questioned uneasily, knowing well that Paradox had a bad habit of greatly over- or under- reacting or emphasizing, depending on whichever he thought would be funnier.

"Celestialsapien DNA is far more complex and powerful than human DNA, so splicing them together and keeping the resulting combination stable required a little...direct intervention." Paradox explained as he held up his mechanical hand, a hologram of a microchip being projected from his palm. "I had to implant this microchip into the nerves on your third vertebrae, so as to keep your Celestialsapien DNA from overwhelming your body, and making you explode with enough force to destroy half a galaxy." Ben gulped in fear as he held the back of his neck protectively. "Not to worry Ben, Azmuth created and installed the chip himself. Your neck will break or be removed much more easily than it will." The professor explained in his usual chipper mood, trying and failing miserably to put Ben at ease - a potentially deliberate joke on his part. "The chip in your neck also eases your transformations slightly, as unregulated genetic shifts are often quite painful. Furthermore, it funnels the excess energy normally generated by your Celestialsapien DNA into an extra barrier of protection over the armor and its own shields during battle, with the energy levels of the barrier measured by the purple gauge I mentioned earlier."

"You're really pulling out all the stops with my powers, aren't you Paradox?" Ben grinned as he flexed his fingers a few times, a faint glimmer around every square inch of his body signifying that his shields were active. "I didn't know it was my birthday." He joked playfully, at least until the literal implication of his sarcasm hit him. "Wait a minute...I'm a clone, so it technically is my birthday!"

"Feel free to experiment with the possibilities later Ben." Paradox brought him back down to Earth, or whatever planet they were currently on at least. "Right now you need to focus on why you I brought you here."

"You brought me here?" Ben questioned Paradox quizzically. "I thought you said that I landed in this dimension by accident when some bad guys set off some kind of weird bomb."

"You and many other Bens were CREATED and scattered RANDOMLY across the omniverse by the quantum entanglement bomb." Paradox corrected his false assumption. "I am the one who chose which universes you would each best fit in with and co-benefit from, and brought each of you to your new home accordingly. Unfortunately, as Eon was one of the Negative 10 who tried to kill the original Ben with temporal technology he knew next to nothing about, he was able to create backdoors for each of his tenuous allies to follow the various Ben replicas into their new homes."

"There's the catch I was waiting for." Ben snapped his fingers playfully. "I knew there had to be something big to worry about other than all this stuff about me being a clone. So what kind of baddies am I looking at here? Animo, Forever Knights, don't tell me they let Darkstar in on the party." He paused to scratch his head. "Something about being a clone must have scrambled my recent memories a bit, because I'm drawing a total blank on who the original me was fighting when I was...born?" He remarked, uncertain as to what he should call the bizarre means by which he had come into existence.

"The new Negative 10 consisted of Malware, who had completely fused with and taken over Vilgax on a cellular level." Paradox began, causing Ben to wince at the mention of two of his most dangerous enemies fusing together, and with the more mentally unstable of the two calling the shots no less. "Eon of course, or else there would be little to no risk of any of them following you. Then there's Zs'Skayr, who somehow ended up being completely fused with one alternate version of you, and becoming a voice in his head urging, but not compelling or controlling him to commit heinous atrocities." Ben immediately felt bad for that version of himself, whoever he was. "And also Albedo, Servantis, Kundo, Dr. Animo, Adwaita, Zombozo and yes, Darkstar."

Ben let out a low whistle. "Wow, they really pulled out all the stops for this Negative 10 didn't they? I'm surprised the original Ben managed to deal with them all." He nodded in admiration for the original version of himself. "Well, all except for Darkstar at least. He's just an angstier, ruder, uglier, way more selfish and way less powerful or competent version of Kevin from back when we didn't get along." He amended mockingly. "So which of the baddies followed me here? Gotta know who I'm gonna be up against." He grinned eagerly as he started shadowboxing to warm up.

"I am afraid I can't say for certain. Eon has covered their tracks far too well for me to identify which, if any, of the Negative 10 came here, but I assure you that your old foes will be the least of your concern in this universe." That got Ben's immediate attention. Despite his joking attitude, Ben knew that any one of those baddies in the new Negative 10 would be a nightmare by themselves - literally in some cases! If even Paradox thought that any one of those frankly terrifying super villains was small potatoes compared to the threats of this new universe, then Ben knew he better start listening seriously.

"Alright, you've got my undivided attention." Ben remarked in the most serious attitude he could muster. "Now talk."

"When you looked out over the fields, did you happen to notice a spaceship shaped like an enormous cuttlefish?" Paradox gestured over at the giant ship in question.

"Kinda hard to miss it." Ben remarked casually. "So I take it I have to take down whoever's driving it?"

"That and so much more I'm afraid." Paradox shook his head ruefully. "I can't get into the intimate details just yet, but suffice to say you'll have your hands quite full for the next few years." Ben's eyes widened in shock when Paradox said years. "Try not to be so surprised Ben, not all of your problems can be solved in just half an hour after all." The professor chuckled at his inside joke, which just confused Ben. "I'm afraid I can't give away too much - spoilers, you know - but I do have four pieces of advice that will be vital for your success." He spoke seriously as he counted the points off on his prosthetic. "First of all, this may be the Milky Way, but it is not your Milky Way, Ben, so no one here knows anything about you. If you want to have any influence in this galaxy, you'll have to convince them you're someone worth listening to. Which, considering your powers are far beyond anything that anyone in this galaxy has ever seen, shouldn't be too hard if you can make-up a nice cover story for your abilities."

"Second, and I cannot stress this enough, is that, contrary to your usual live-and-let-live philosophy, there will come times where you have to take lives, or even make the conscious decision to sacrifice someone else, for the sake of saving everyone." If Ben was in serious mode before, now he looked ready for war. Unlike the Saturday morning cartoons he was raised on, Ben was no stranger to murdering his enemies. He didn't particularly like that part of the job, but he knew it had to be done sometimes, or at least attempted, as many of his bad guys had a nasty habit of cheating death. Sacrificing others however...Ben didn't like the idea of that, especially in light of how he almost resorted to killing Kevin once when he was forced to give into his dark side, and he'd fight tooth and nail to try and avoid that. Still, Paradox wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't important.

"Third, when you get to the Citadel, the first thing you should do after dealing with its insufferable Council is look for Quasar. And forth don't try to bring out your big guns until Virmire. Ta ta!" Paradox remarked, back in his usual jovial tone, disappearing without giving Ben time to ask who the hell Quasar was, or who, what, where, or when the hell Virmire was.

"You'd think a guy who can travel through time would have a little more patience for others." Ben grumbled before the sound of gunfire drew his attention. "Speaking of time, I don't have any to spare!" He snapped into hero mode as he sprouted Stinkfly's wings. "Going Hero!" He declared as he flew off in the direction of the gunfire.

...

Meanwhile - Eden Prime Spaceport

Jane Shepard considered herself to be a soldier of strong principals, dedication, and moral compass. Whether it was repelling a Batarian slave raid that severely outnumbered her on Elysium almost single-handed early in her career, retaliating violently for Elysium with admittedly costly but necessary tactics against another batch of Batarian slavers on Torfan, or surviving a Thresher Maw attack on Akuze that tragically cost the rest of her unit at the time their lives, two things remained consistent through it all: She never gave up, and never let anyone or anything get to her.

Seeing an enormous, clearly unregistered dreadnaught shaped like a giant metal squid attacking Eden Prime, having one of her ground team killed just moments after landing, finding Geth impaling innocent colonists on spikes that turned them into robot zombies - or Husks, as she had taken to calling them - and finding Nihlus - a veteran Spectre - dead at the traitorous hands of his former mentor Saren, had certainly pushed her temper and suspension of disbelief, but not beyond anything her mind couldn't process.

What she witnessed next changed all that.

"Eat crystals you robot invaders!" A voice called - loudly, Shepard noted with mild disdain - from above, as the Geth she was about to shoot down were quickly shredded to pieces by a barrage of DIAMONDS of all things!

"What the hell?!" Shepard couldn't help but question as she followed the barrage to its point of origin, and saw, of all things, a fully armored man flying quickly in their direction, with an obscenely large gun and bandoleer made of more diamonds!

"Incoming!" The man shouted as the bandoleer disappeared into his back, and the diamond gun turned into a diamond arm and sword, which immediately found itself lodged in the torso of the last Geth standing. "Oh yeah! Who's your hero!?" The man boasted loudly as he pulled the sword from the Geth, retracted what Shepard could now see were large insect wings into his back, and turned his arm and sword into a normal arm.

Shaking the stars and shock from her vision, Shepard approached the man and asked the only question she could think of. "Who or...what the hell are you?!" She questioned, not fully aware if the sky was still above her and the ground still beneath her.

"Funny, you're the forth person to ask me that exact same question today." The man joked as he casually stretched his arms above his head. "The name's Ben Tennyson. I'm just your average, genetically engineered, shapeshifting ambassador-slash-hero from the galaxy you call Andromeda." He explained as if it were no big deal, further stunning Shepard at the absurdity of the claim. "Speaking of which, can we hold all further questions until after we take down all these evil robots that are killing people? We're kind of working against the clock here."

Shocked beyond belief for the second time in as many minutes, she didn't even have time to pull herself together to respond before the shapeshifter - Ben Tennyson, Shepard had to remind herself - took off running in the direction of the Prothean Beacon.

"Commander...what do we do here?" Ashley Williams asked her uncertainly, the impromptu tag-along just as shocked and confused as she was. "This seems like a First Contact situation, but..."

To her credit, Shepard was quick to get her bearings again. "The mission is still the same as before: Get to the Prothean Beacon before the Geth and Saren can. We'll just have a little more back-up now."

"More like he has more back-up." Kaiden Alenko remarked as they struggled to keep up with Ben Tennyson. "Just look at how fast these Geth and Husks are dying."

"Not fast enough!" Ashley protested as she opened fire on a Geth that Ben hadn't destroyed. "The fool's leaving a lot of stragglers that could shoot him in the back."

Shepard had to admit that her fellow biotic and the Gunnery Chief both had good points. Even taking point, this Ben Tennyson fellow was demolishing any Geth that came anywhere near him with a pair of yellow, pile-driver/drill hybrids that replaced his earlier diamond arm/gun, but wasn't paying much attention to the ones that weren't in his way. Shepard would be upset at this blatant suicidal mad charge if she didn't see what he was really doing. "His shields seem pretty damn tough, and he's clearing a path and making the Geth follow him into a chokepoint. That's not foolish, that's good tactics." Shepard corrected her squadmate as she and her team began picking off the Geth from behind with relative ease.

"Does he even know where he's going?" Kaiden asked curiously as he and Ashley concentrated fire on a nearby Geth until it was down for the count.

"He's going the same direction we are and clearing a path for us, that's all that matters right now." Shepard replied with ease as the spaceport's freight train came into view. "We can ask him a few quick questions once we're on the freight train headed for Saren and the Beacon, but until then we follow his lead." She instructed brusquely, leaving no room for argument. He's an unknown, and I don't like unknowns. Still, I can't afford to be too picky right now.

...

Now I can see why Paradox loves showing up and saying crazy stuff all the time. Messing with people like this and seeing their reactions is so much fun! Ben chuckled to himself as he drove his Armadrillo arm through the torso of another robot. Still, I probably shouldn't leave them hanging for too long. That chick with the red bob cut looked pretty dangerous...and just plain pretty. He chuckled again as he changed his arms to Wildvine's, wrapped up a robot and a robot-zombie in his vine whips, and smashed them together before throwing them off a ledge. "Aaaand...TOUCHDOWN!" He cheered as he jumped dramatically onto an obvious tram if Ben ever saw one.

"Glad someone is enjoying themselves in all this death and destruction." One of the group Ben had passed earlier - a woman with wavy black hair - remarked with oozing sarcasm and thinly-veiled disdain as she and her two...teammates, Ben wanted to say. As she and her two teammates got on the tram with him, and the only man in their trio started fiddling with the controls.

Glad they're here to deal with this tech stuff, and hopefully know where they're going. Ben thought in relief. Even with that giant metal squid being a big, obvious target in the sky, I was only half sure I was going the right way at all. He straightened his back as the redhead from earlier approached him, most likely the leader of their squad based on the way she carried herself. "Hello again, I'm guessing you have a lot of questions for me?"

"That's putting it mildly." The redhead remarked sarcastically as the tram began moving, before switching back to serious. "I'm Commander Jane Shepard, of the Systems Alliance, and this is my team; Staff Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams." She gestured to the man and woman with her respectively. "First of all, since we're so pressed for time right now, I have to ask for the sake of clarity; are you REALLY an ambassador from the Andromeda Galaxy?"

"Can the people from this galaxy do this?" Ben grinned as he activated his Fourarms DNA, flexing his muscular red arms in multiple standard bodybuilder poses, two at a time. Looks like that was the right cover story to go with. Based on their reactions, and the way Paradox said I was in a new universe, while talking about galaxies when referring to the locals, it looks like these people have only gotten as far as mastering interstellar travel, not intergalactic travel. He thought in relief as he changed his arms back.

"No, no we cannot." Shepard nodded, still looking somewhat skeptical, but accepting the situation nonetheless. "Sorry about the circumstances, ordinarily First Contact with a new species is a much more civil affair than a battlefield."

"That's perfectly fine, I actually came here to help take down that giant, metal, space squid." Ben politely brushed aside her apologies as he pointed to the massive ship. "Taking down an evil alien invader that turns innocent people into robot zombies seems like a good way to make a first impression."

"That's not exactly normal behavior for ambassadors." Ashley remarked with some suspicion.

"Not for us, but maybe this is just how they do things in Andromeda." Kaiden was nice enough to give him the benefit of a doubt. "Like he said, first impressions are important, and what better impression is there than saving people?"

"You I like. Her, not so much." Ben gestured to Kaiden and Ashley respectively, pleasantly amused by both of their reactions.

"You seem very...forward for an ambassador." Shepard noted curiously.

"What can I say? Not all politicians are shady, power-hungry jerks." Ben shrugged nonchalantly. "My approach is actually perfectly normal by Andromeda standards. Maybe a little more adventurous than most, but we're a lot more open with our emotions than people in your galaxy seem to be." Of course Ben had no way of knowing what politics in Andromeda were really like, if they even had a centralized galactic government to begin with, but he figured that the lie he concocted would help him cut through a lot of the red tape that normally plagued politics, especially if the idea of an extra-galactic ambassador was as politically groundbreaking as the soldiers in front of him led him to believe.

"And you know about our politics, how exactly?" Ashley questioned, trying - poorly - to sound impartial and open-minded. Shepard sent her a quick but strict glare that clearly meant for her to mind her manners.

"Flash training." Ben tapped the side of his helmet covered head. "Growing up in a tube didn't exactly give me much time for study, so my creators put a bunch of information they gathered about this galaxy directly into my brain for this job." Ben was extremely grateful that he was technically telling half-truths, and that his helmet did a good job obscuring his face from view, otherwise a keenly train eye could easily spot his left eye twitching. Gonna have to work on that if I'm gonna get into politics here. He thought to himself ruefully, already regretting going with politician as his cover story.

"I was about to ask about what you meant by being genetically engineered actually." Shepard nodded curiously as she noticed out of the corner of her eye that their destination was fast approaching, needing to wrap this conversation up for now, but wanting to know more about their increasingly curious new guest. "Unfortunately, it seems that further questions will have to wait until after the mission."

"No problem, I'm sure we could have at it for hours once we save the day." Ben replied gracefully as he channeled Diamondhead's DNA, creating a sword in one hand, a shield in the other, and a second helmet over his first one. I almost can't believe that worked! He thought excitedly as he rushed forward and started blocking bullets with his shield, so he could charge in close and cut the robots down to size with his sword.

"Demolition charges! The Geth must have planted them." Kaiden cursed under his breath, drawing Ben's attention away from his robot targets.

"Hurry! We need to find them all, and shut them down!" Ashley reacted immediately as well.

"Hold up Ben, Saren and his Geth set up bombs strong enough to blow this entire colony to pieces!" Shepard called for the hero to wait. "I need some help keeping the Geth and the Husks away while I disarm them all." She paused in her work to looked over her shoulder and see Ben already beheading one Geth before throwing his sword through another that was sneaking up on Kaiden, while providing cover for Ashley by expanding his shield. He works with them both so easily, like he's done this sort of thing before. That can't just be flash training, immediate synergy like that has to be practiced several times with just as many different people before it becomes that natural. Who or what are you really, Ben Tennyson? Putting her suspicions aside for the moment, the commander got back to disarming the bomb. "It's disarmed! I'm getting readings from three other charges though." She called out as she and the rest of her team pressed onward and upward towards the stairs and across the scaffold.

"Only three?" Ben remarked with no small amount of mirth, changing his loadout from Diamondhead DNA to his Feedback arms. "They've gotta be joking. Do they really think so little of us?" He chuckled slightly as he plugged his fingers into a pair of downed Geth, draining their batteries, and then activating his Bloxx-lobber. The resulting fusion of DNA looked like a black and gold car battery with a similarly colored lightning rod extending straight up on his back, with a DC power connector joining the pack to his right forearm, which now looked vaguely like a sniper rifle with a two pronged DC plug on the end of the barrel. With a quick eye and a steady hand, Ben tested out his new weapon on some Geth on the next scaffold over that were pelting his shields with sniper rounds, overloading them both with a single, high-voltage shot to the very scaffold bridge they were using for cover and a sniper perch. "I am really liking this!" He grinned as he swung his gun around to take aim at another couple of Geth he was fast approaching. Unfortunately, his grin quickly gave way to shock when his weapon wouldn't fire. "Are you kidding me?! I used up my whole charge in that one shot! Ow, ow, OW!" He panicked and ducked behind cover as the bullets really started wearing down his shields, leaving the rest of the squad chuckling softly at how comical his retreat was. "...Not one word." He pouted at their amused expressions as he powered down his DNA for a recharge.

"Just glad to see that you apparently have some shortcomings." Ashley quipped as she resumed firing her assault rifle on the Geth.

"Yeah, at the rate you were going up until now, you were liable to put us out of work." Kaiden added as he used a biotic throw a slightly damaged Geth into a wall with extreme force, leaving it an easy target for Shepard to finish it off with a single well placed headshot.

"What do First Contact protocols say about behavior again?" Shepard quizzed her squadmates strictly as she reached the end of the bridge and began to disarm bomb number two.

"Assume peaceful and be respectful until proven otherwise." Kaiden sighed in resignation, sad that he couldn't keep teasing their new...teammate? None of them were entirely certain how exactly Ben fit into their admittedly improvised team dynamics, much less if he was going to be working with them for long. After all, if he really is an ambassador from Andromeda, he's probably gonna be spending a lot of time on the Citadel, working with the Council. Which, given his obvious preference for the direct approach, would definitely be a sight to see.

"Sorry Commander, it won't happen again." Ashley hung her head in shame, utterly mortified to have been caught up in Ben's boisterous and easygoing pace and forgetting that he was technically the biggest VIP in the galaxy at the moment.

"Eh, I'm already over it." Ben shrugged as he turned his arms into Wildvine whips and charged forward from cover to cover, lashing out at two Geth, but only managing to hit one of them, and send it crashing to the ground in a half-broken heap. "More or less." He amended sheepishly as he ducked behind a wall as the Geth he missed began firing on him.

"I have so many questions I want to ask you when we're done here." Shepard shook her head as she began disarming bomb number three, which was coincidentally in the same little alcove Ben was using for cover as he tried to angle his whips around to smack the Geth off the elevated walkway, only managing to succeed on the third attempt after getting to cover.

"Do you mean that in a good way or a bad way?" Ben inquired curiously as he turned his arms back to normal, before turning them red, ripped, and growing an extra pair again. "I can work with either, I just wanna know ahead of time so I can be ready."

"Not the time for this conversation, Ben." Shepard brushed his lax attitude about this whole chaotic situation aside for the moment, choosing to instead focus on both her main mission, and her own private observations of the extra-galactic ambassador thus far. He's clearly far more advanced than any genetic modifiers in our galaxy, and he says he was literally made for his job. Just what kind of civilization does he represent? She thought to herself as they came to both the final bomb, and the turnoff to where the beacon was located. Deciding to let the politicians deal with this bullshit, she put such thoughts and concerns to the back of her mind.

"Alright, I've disabled the last of the bombs! Let's go get that beacon!" Shepard barked the new orders even as Ben rushed forward, trading his four red arms for his diamond weapons and armor as he charged at the nearest Geth. "Do you even know what we're looking for, Ben?!" She found herself paraphrasing Kaiden's earlier question in exasperation as she and her team followed after him.

"Not really!" Ben admitted without any trace of shame as he decapitated a Geth. "I just figured I'd keep fighting robots until they led me to something big and important looking." He added nonchalantly as he beheaded two Husks in a row, before spotting the Beacon out of the corner of his eye. "Found it!...I think." He shrugged as the rest of the team finished off the Geth and Husks, Ben changing back to his default form as they did so.

"Job well done team." Shepard sighed tiredly - from both the physical exhaustion of fighting several waves of Geth and those Husks, and the mental exhaustion of trying to keep up with Ben's...unusual pace and enthusiasm - as she approached the Prothean Beacon. "Now let's get this Prothean Beacon out of...my god!" She gasped as she and her team saw the massive scorch marks left by the Geth ship. "One ship caused that much damage just by landing and taking off?" She stared and the massive circle of scorched earth in awe and hatred, with more of the latter than the former.

"I'd hate to see what it looks like in battle." Kaiden shook his head nervously.

"I've seen a small taste of what it can do." Ashley scowled with vitriol in her voice. "Trust me, it's not the kind of ship you want within a hundred lightyears of you."

Just as the implications of this battle - no, not a battle, a massacre. Jane corrected herself - started to sink into the commander, something immediately cut in on her brooding.

"Uh...guys?" Ben remarked nervously, drawing their attention to him standing in front of the now active Prothean Beacon. "This antenna thing started glowing when I got near it. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He queried as he struggled against the pull towards the Beacon he was feeling.

Acting before she had time to think, Shepard rushed forward and yanked Ben away from the Prothean Beacon, unwilling to allow a VIP - no matter how tough of body, or annoying of personality - to come to potential harm on her watch. Unfortunately, after pulling Ben away, Shepard found herself being pulled toward the Prothean Beacon herself.

"Jane!" Ben panicked as he instinctively reached for his Omnitrix, only to curse under his breath when he remembered he didn't have it anymore. Before he could mentally activate a set of DNA however, a bright light from the device momentarily blinded him, Kaiden, and Ashley.

What was just a bright light to them however, was actually a massive overload of information being beamed directly into Shepard's skull. The transfer only lasted a few seconds of real time, but to Jane it felt as though hours of trauma had passed by, with no point of reference to keep it all straight. Once all the information was messily transferred into her mind, the Beacon exploded, dropping her to the ground with an unceremonious thud. Before she passed out completely, the last thing she saw was Ben removing his helmet for some reason, surprising her buy just how...human he looked.

...

Meanwhile - Saren's Ship: Location Unknown

A voluptuous Asari dressed in an elaborate black attire cleared her throat to gain the attention of the cyborg Turian she approached. "We identified the ship that touched down on Eden Prime." She began speaking in a monotone almost as mechanical as her companion. "The Normandy. A Human Alliance vessel. It was under the command of Captain Anderson." She continued as the Turian made a pyramid with his fingers in contemplation. "They managed to save the colony."

"And the Beacon?" The Turian immediately interjected, not wanting to waste valuable time on what he considered to be insignificant detail.

"One of the humans may have used it." The Asari answered in the same robotic monotone, causing the Turian to snarl and shift in agitation, seemingly muttering to himself to quickly and quietly to be anything discernible as language. Ultimately, the Turian settled on savage snarling and breaking his furniture, eventually grabbing the unmoved Asari threateningly by the face. "There was also another...unforeseen complication." The Asari continued as though she were not being threatened, hesitating only slightly, as if she was actually uncertain what to make of this recent development. "Apparently, the humans were aided by a vastly powerful shapeshifting ambassador from the Andromeda Galaxy." Her words actually seemed to get through to the clearly insane Turian, causing him to step back in shock. "...The ambassador is currently traveling with the rest of the Normandy crew to the Citadel. How should we respond to this development?" Her monotone took on a slight uncertainty as she asked.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, the Turian didn't hesitate in his response. "This human must be eliminated." He declared coldly. "As for the ambassador...we will have to wait for more data to make a decision. Whether they are an asset or an enemy to us will determine their ultimate fate." He concluded before storming off.

And so it begins...

Before anyone asks: Yes, I really do have a well thought out plan for the entire original trilogy. Yes, it's going to be a harem story. No, I will not tell you who all will be in it. Yes, I will be changing several minor and major details of the canon storyline, with exponentially more details being changed as the story progresses. Yes, at least one of the Negative 10 I mentioned will be making an appearance. No, I won't tell you who they will be, or when they might appear. Yes & No, I will be doing some DLC content, but not all of it.

No & Yes, I don't yet have an exact plan for Andromeda, but I do have a rough idea I'm hammering out. Yes, Andromeda will be a harem story as well. Unfortunately, due to Andromeda most likely being the last in the Mass Effect Franchise, and because the original Mass Effect creation team has mostly left the series, if not the entire company, there will be nothing beyond that unless I make up something myself. I make no promises though, because this is gonna be a LONG story, divided into at least FOUR different stories, and I have no idea how I'm gonna feel about a continuation once I get that far.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter of Mass Effect 10: Part 1. Sorry if a lot of it was exposition, but I had to get that all out of the way early so I could focus on the story itself. I try to keep a buffer of at least a few chapters completed ahead of time, so you can expect chapter 2 to come out relatively soon. I'll try to keep to a schedule of at least one chapter every other week, so stay tuned!