Authors Note: I remembered reading the story titled The Most Dangerous Game Every Played, and this idea popped up.

R&R please?

Disclaimer: Bioware owns Mass Effect and all characters thereof… darn it…

"Shepard, we need you to investigate the loss of multiple Alliance patrols in the Dis system of the Hades Gamma Cluster; we've lost four patrols in that area," Admiral Hackett said in his monotonous voice.

"Any idea what took down the patrols?" Shepard asked.

"No," Hackett replied, "each of the patrols dropped out of contact without a trace near the planet of Nearrum. Shepard, we need you to find out what happened and if possible neutralize the source."

"What about survivors Admiral?"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up Shepard," Hackett paused, "but if there are any survivors we'll send in the Everest to pick them up.

"We'll get it done Admiral."

"Good luck Shepard, Hackett out."

Shepard's mind returned to the present as her gaze rested on the holographic image of Nearrum as it slowly turned in the Galaxy Map. She leaned forward with her forearms on the railing in front of her, her mind going over the little information that they had on Nearrum.

"Nearrum is a terrestrial world with a thin atmosphere of methane and argon. Its frozen surface is mainly composed of basaltic rock. Its most prominent feature is the Ellos Rift Valley, a long volcanic divergence zone that stretches across half of the northern hemisphere."

Shepard shook her head at the little bit of information, practically useless, she thought. With a few button presses the map zoomed in on the rocky surface, the Ellos Rift looking like an ugly scar on the surface, stretching to a width of eight miles at its biggest.

Shepard looked to her right as Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams settled in the same fashion as Shepard on the railing, Ash's brown eyes meeting Shepard's blue, "What do you think Skipper?"

Shepard sighed and shook her head, "I don't like it; this feels all wrong. The Alliance loses four patrols within a short time and they call us to investigate. Everyone knows that when the Alliance needs help they call their council Spectre to do the job."

"A trap then, they use the lost patrols to get your attention."

Shepard nodded her head, "We know it's a trap, now we need to know who and why."

Ashley smirked slightly, "Well Commander lets see, there's Cerberus, whose bases we destroyed, and Exo Geni, I imagine their not too happy about losing Feros and the Thorian, not too mention all the crime circles and bases you have brought down."

Shepard smiled, the scar running along the right side of her face pulling tight, "Good point Ash, and I haven't exactly been making friends have I?"

Ash shoved Shepard playfully, "Oh I wouldn't say that," She leaned in close so only Shepard would hear with a mischievous grin on her face, "you've been very… friendly with me."

Shepard started to retort when Joker's voice crackled over the intercom, "Commander we are ten minutes out from Nearrum, and I'm picking up an Alliance distress beacon coming from the edge of that giant rift."

"Bring us into orbit; get a scan of the surface, I want to know everything that's on that planet."

"Aye aye, Ma'am."

Shepard turned to Ash, "You and Liara gear up, and meet me in the cargo bay."

"Yes Ma'am," Ash turned on her heel and headed towards the stairs.

Shepard took one last look at the planet, a familiar feeling of unease coursing through her; she had felt it twice before, before the attack on Mindoir, and the slaughter on Akuze. Shepard shuddered briefly at the memories and headed to her locker.

"The signal is coming from the middle of an encampment near the south edge of the Ellos Rift. I'm picking up multiple life signs inside the camp, but there's no way to tell if they're friend of foe. To the north about two clicks is a cluster of buildings, from the scans they appear to be abandoned, no life signs or heat signatures are present within those ruins."

"Alright, good work Joker; drop the Mako two clicks south of the camp, we will approach the camp using the high ground to avoid detection," Shepard ordered as she took the driver's seat of the Mako.

"Yes Ma'am; time till drop, two minutes."

Ashley climbed in, brushing her hand on Shepard's arm before taking the gunner's chair, followed by Liara, who took the technician's chair towards the back. They quickly went through the pre-launch check list, talking little as they prepared to be dropped.

"Opening bay door," wind whipped and howled through the cargo bay, "dropping in three… two… one." The Make shot forward out of the Normandy, forcing its occupants against their seats; then a brief feeling of weightlessness as they plummeted towards the ground. The feeling disappeared as the jets kicked in and slowed the Mako so that Shepard could manage to stay in control as they landed.

"Systems check," Shepard's voice rang out seeming very loud in the enclosed space of the Mako, "Weapons?"

"Check," Ashley answered.

"Shields?"

"Check," came Liara's voice from the back.

"Radar? Targeting?"

"Check and check, I think we're good Commander," Ash said smiling at Shepard.

"Let's get going," Shepard said smiling back. The Mako lurched into motion, eating up the distance between them and the distress signal. They remained silent as they rode, the sounds of the Mako's engine making it difficult to hear anyone, until they got near to their target. Shepard stopped the Mako behind a pile of rocks and they all sealed their helmets before stepping out onto the surface of Nearrum.

Shepard activated her suits com, "Everyone read me?" At the nods of her companions she pulled her pistol from her side, Ashley following suit with her assault rifle and Liara with her pistol, and headed towards the edge of the Ellos Rift. As they neared the edge they dropped and crawled to the lip, staying low to prevent being seen. Ashley pulled her sniper rifle out at Shepard's signal and sighted at the camp below.

Their were three building spaced in a circle around the beacon that was giving the distress call; Ash saw six sentries spaced around the buildings with two groups of three patrolling as well. All had Alliance markings on their armor and she could see the commanding officer, a 1st lieutenant, talking to a group of five soldiers next to the beacon.

"I've got eighteen outside the buildings; one of them is the commanding officer by the beacon, they all are marked Alliance Navy." Ash reported into her com.

"Shall we go talk to them Shepard?" Liara inquired

"Something's not right, if this is one of the patrols where is their ship? There were no craters or wreckage to show that they crashed, nothing at all; and if this patrol survived where are the others?" Ash commented as she continued to watch the camp.

Shepard contemplated the camp below before speaking, "Williams, stay up here and keep me posted on any changes through our private channel, if any thing goes wrong you will provide support from here; Liara will accompany me into the camp. Everyone got it?"

"Affirmative, Shepard," came Liara's lyrical voice. Ash just nodded her head stiffly.

Liara crawled back out of sight; Shepard started to follow, but tarried for a moment to place her hand on Ash's shoulder. Ash turned her head quizzically in Shepard's direction, "Yes Commander?"

"Ash…," Shepard paused before going on, "if this is a trap and those Alliance soldiers are involved…," she trailed off unsure of how to continue, looking into Ash's eyes through her visor.

Ash gripped Shepard's hand in hers, "I understand Commander, I will not hesitate," she placed her hand on the side of Shepard's helmet before whispering, "I've got your back Oh Captain, My Captain." Shepard smiled, nodded, and crawled back to join Liara.

"This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy, can you read me? I repeat this is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy," she sighed dejectedly when no response came yet again from the camp below.

"Would it not be quicker if we approached the camp and gained their attention?"

Shepard glanced at Liara and shook her head, "They might mistake us as hostiles and gun us down before we could explain who we were."

She heard Liara sigh as Shepard attempted for the tenth time to make radio contact with the Alliance Marines in the base, "This is Commander Shepard of the SSV Normandy, can anyone read me?" Shepard paused, about to try again, when Ash came over their com, "The whole camp is stirred up, I think they received your message."

No sooner had they finished when a man's voice crackled over the radio, "This is 1st lieutenant Stevenson, are you the Commander Shepard; The Savior of the Galaxy Shepard?" Stevenson's voice quaked as he spoke her name, almost as though in fear.

Shepard looked questioningly at Liara, she nodded her head; she had heard it as well. "Yes… I am that Commander Shepard," she answered slowly.

There was a loud sigh of relief from Stevenson, "Thank God you've finally come! We've been stranded here for a week," he paused to collect himself and take a deep breath, "Forgive me Commander, come down to the camp and I will give you a full sitrep."

Shepard hesitated; her instincts were telling her to leave, but she couldn't leave a group of Marines to die. "We'll be right down Stevenson."

Shepard switched to her team's private channel, "Ash, stay put and notify me if anything weird or out of the ordinary occurs, no matter how insignificant it might seem."

"Copy that, holding position," Ashley confirmed.

Shepard gestured to Liara and they began the downhill trek towards the base.

Stevenson offered Shepard a jerky salute, which Shepard returned smoothly before speaking, "What happened on the patrol lieutenant?"

"Uhh… um… right… uh…," Stevenson stuttered out, at Shepard's raised eyebrow Stevenson shook himself and started again, "We were headed back to the Mass Relay when we picked up this beacon's signal," he gestured at the distress beacon, his movements jerky and nervous, eyes constantly shifting, "they dropped our team and we came to investigate, all we found were these empty buildings and the distress call."

"What about your ship? What happened to it?" Liara cut in.

Stevenson jerked at Liara's voice, fear filling his eyes, "You are Dr. T'Soni? Where is Chief Williams? She's always with the Commander!"

"Is there something you're not telling me Lieutenant?" Shepard asked, the bad feeling in her gut increasing; she stiffened imperceptibly, becoming suddenly very aware of all the soldiers that were crowded around her and Liara.

While the Lieutenant attempted to stutter out an answer Ash's voice cut in, her tone urgent, "Commander you need to get out of there! I have three rovers headed straight for your position not marked Alliance; they are heavily armed. ETA four minutes, get out of there now Shepard!"

Shepard pulled her pistol and aimed it at Stevenson's heart while Liara threw back the Marines behind them with her biotics, a pistol in her hand as well. "What the hell is going on here?!" Shepard demanded of the lieutenant.

"I'm sorry Commander we had no choice," Stevenson muttered quietly, reaching for his own pistol at his side. As his hand closed around the grip of the pistol, Shepard fired. Shepard barked out orders as Stevenson fell dead to the hard rock of Nearrum, "Liara run! Ash covering fire now!"

Bullets flew across their path, impacting their shields, as they sprinted for the Mako. Shepard fired at the Marines that got in their way, the bullets ripped through the Marine's shields, killing them. They reached the edge of the rift and started to scramble up the sides; Shepard could hear the rapport of Ash's sniper rifle and saw Marines fall to the ground. Liara cleared the ledge first, Shepard reached for the edge when a hand gripped her ankle and jerked with enough force to dislodge her grip, and she tumbled down the slope and landed at the bottom… hard. She didn't rise.

Ash pulled Liara over the edge and reached over to grab the Commander, when she disappeared from view. Ash watched as the Commander tumbled down the slope, flinching as she hit the ground. Get up Skipper… get up…she mouthed silently. When her Skipper didn't move she yelled at Liara to run to the Mako and radio the Normandy, while she pulled her assault rifle over her shoulder and scrambled towards Shepard, firing her gun at the remaining Marines with little effect.

She charged into the Marines, knocking some to the ground while others fired their weapons. Her shields beeped in warning, but she kept going. She knocked one Marine to the ground with the butt of her rifle; as she pulled her rifle up the hit him again, stars sparked across her vision as she fell to the ground. She looked up to see a Marine holding a shotgun; I failed Skipper she thought as she watched the Marine bring the shotgun down, butt first, and her vision went black.