"Intruder on level three."

"Squads twelve and fourteen have been destroyed."

"A new intruder has been detected. This male registers as enemy."

"All units retreat to the vault. We must survive."

12,000 years later

Shepard almost fell out of her seat as the shuttle shook violently in the planet's dust storm. The quarian in the seat next to her almost did the same, and the turian sitting opposite them stifled a laugh.

"Laugh it up Vakarian," Shepard said with a smile, "You won't be laughing when I save your sorry ass for the twenty-fourth time."

"Twenty-third," Garrus corrected her, "That incident on Pragia doesn't count."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Garrus." Shepard said as she shrugged her shoulders.

The voice of Matthews, the shuttle's pilot, came through the intercom, "ETA four standard minutes, Commander."

"What's the plan Shepard?" asked the quarian Tali, speaking for the first time since the shuttle had left the Normandy SR-2's hangar.

Shepard opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Garrus.

"You've been awfully quiet today Tali," he said with the turian equivalent of a smirk, "I guess my stylish good looks left you speechless."

"I've never been attracted to men with scars Garrus." Tali replied.

"So you're saying you were attracted to me before I got my scars?"

"In your wildest dreams Garrus."

"The human would like to talk!" Shepard shouted across both of them.

"Sorry, Commander." The two of them mumbled.

"Anyway," Shepard began, "The plan is to find whoever sent out that distress signal EDI detected, and to search for survivors."

"I don't like this," Garrus said he stared up at the ceiling, "This far out, on the very edge of the galaxy, it could only be pirates. This could be a trap."

"It could not." Shepard said with one of her eyebrows raised.

Garrus chuckled at the odd human body language, "Fine, Commander. But, as Wrex once said, if I die I'll kill you."

"So let me get this straight," said Tali as she loaded a thermal clip into her shotgun, "We're diving headfirst onto a planet that any sane sentient being would never dream of setting foot on and that is probably housing a small army of bloodthirsty, merciless pirates?"

"Just like old times." Garrus and Shepard said together with insane smiles.

The shuttle buckled wildly as it touched down on the planet's surface.

"We have now arrived in the ass end of nowhere," said Matthews over the intercom, "Please enjoy your stay!"

Shepard and Garrus put on and sealed their helmets before stepping out into the never ending dust storm, Tali followed them.

"I'll be waiting here Commander," Matthews said over Shepard's helmet communicator, "I might try and do some repairs while you're away. The navigational controls need some fine tuning."

"Aye aye Matthews. But I want hourly updates to know that you're okay, you got that?"

"You're such a big softie Commander! Matthews out."

Shepard monitored at her companions to move out. The trio drew their weapons and slowly made their way across the rocky landscape. The rocks, as well as the ground beneath their feet, had a bizarre, purple tinge.

"Mordin would love it here," said Tali over the helmet communicators, "Hundreds of interesting samples."

"Keep chatter to a minimum," Shepard said with a whisper (although she had no idea why she whispered), "We don't know who could be listening in." She hated to admit it, but Garrus was right. There was something not quite right with this planet.

Later, just after Matthews had given them his hourly report, Shepard and Garrus almost had a simultaneous heart attack after Tali suddenly swore incredibly loudly.

"Jesus Christ, Tali what is it?" Shepard asked as Tali jumped up and down on the spot.

"You're quite the screamer." Garrus said with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up Garrus. Sorry, I stubbed my toe on that." Tali pointed down at a heap of extremely rusty metal partially buried in the sand.

Shepard picked up a member of the metal heap. It was shaped like a chest with an assortment of wires hanging uselessly out of the empty arm sockets. She looked to her right and saw Garrus handling what looked like a head with handle bars coming out of the top.

"Any idea what this is?" Garrus asked as he stared at the rusty head.

"No idea," said Tali as she continued to jump up and down on the spot, "But it clearly doesn't mix well with quarian toes."

Shepard picked up an arm from the pile and noticed what looked like a weapon mounted to its wrist, "Perhaps it's some sort of high tech battle armour. I'm no scientist but, judging by how rusty it is, I'd say it's been here a while. You were right Tali."

Tali stopped jumping and looked at the Commander in confusion, "Right about what?"

"Mordin would absolutely love it here."

The three of them continued over the nearest ridge and saw something incredible.

"By the Spirits," Garrus said, "It can't be."

"Oh, it is." Shepard said as she stared out at their discovery.

Spread out before them was an enormous city, at least several miles in diameter. Its architecture was rigid, formal and uniform. Its streets were deserted and the never ending dust storms beat against the rusty buildings. Three large industrial funnels towered over the rest of the city; however, it looked like they hadn't been used for centuries.

"I think we've discovered a lost civilisation." Tali said in amazement.

"I'd better get my name in the history books this time." Garrus said.

"Still bitter over not getting a mention in Battle of the Citadel?"

"Even Chakwas got a mention! I have every right to be bitter!"

Shepard activated her helmet communicator, "Hey Matthews! You'll never guess what –"

"It's okay. I'm fine, I'm fine." Said Matthews' voice over the communicator.

"Jesus, Matthews at least let me finish. We've found a –"

"It's okay. I'm fine, I'm fine." Matthews repeated in the exact same tone.

"What the hell's going on?" Shepard slapped the side of the helmet in a vain attempt to fix whatever was wrong.

"It could be the dust storm Commander," Tali said, "It could be interfering with your communicator, giving you the same audio again and again."

"So we're completely on our on?" Garrus said to no one in particular, "Fantastic."

"Come on Garrus," Shepard said as she smiled under her helmet, "Just like old times. Now let's get some data on that city. I'm sure Mordin would practically faint with joy at our findings."

The trio slowly and carefully made their way down the slope towards the city (Tali almost broke her ankle, prompting her to swear loudly again, which in turn prompted another snarky comment from Garrus). Once in the deserted streets of the city, their noticed that every single door had a formal-looking sign over it.

"You recognise the language Commander?" asked Garrus as he snapped photos with his omni-tool.

"Never seen it before," Shepard replied, "This has to be an undiscovered species."

"Undiscovered and extinct," Tali said as she scanned the area, "What do you think Shepard? Reapers?"

"Possibly. But these buildings don't seem as old as Prothean ruins. They seem fairly young by comparison."

They continued through the city, collecting as much data as possible on the way. They eventually came across a large vault door in the side of a rather small building.

"Tali, can you get us through this?" Shepard said as she pointed at the door.

"Of course I can Shepard. What do you take me for?" Tali knelt down, opened a control panel to the left of the vault door, wired in her omni-tool and began typing away furiously.

"Have you tried contacting Matthews again Shepard?" Garrus asked.

"I keep getting the exact same answer in the exact same tone. It's kind of creepy."

"Must be a glitch."

"Yeah. Must be." Shepard said, although she wasn't entirely convinced.

"You're in my light Garrus." Tali said without looking away from her omni-tool.

"Sorry Tali, you know how much I enjoy the sight of you bending over."

"Bosh'tet!" Tali yelled as she smacked her omni-tool in frustration.

"Are you talking to the omni-tool or Garrus?" Shepard said with a laugh.

"Both," said Tali as she torn a wire out of the control panel. The vault door slid open with an almighty groan.

"Good work Tali." Shepard said as she patted Tali on the shoulder.

"Well you know, sometimes the brute force method works best." Tali said as she discarded the torn out wire by throwing it at Garrus.

The trio slowly make their way down the narrow, sloping path in the vault. They must have walked for around half a mile before reaching the bottom of the slope.

"I can't see a thing." Garrus' voice said through the pitch darkness.

"Wait, I've got something for this," Tali said over the sound of her rummaging through her suit pockets, "Come on, where are you you little bosh'tet – ah!"

Shepard and Garrus heard a kicking sound and suddenly the room was filled with light.

"Gravity Globe," Tali explained as she pointed at a small luminous ball floating near the centre of the ceiling, "Little invention of mine."

"Impressive." Garrus said with genuine admiration.

The three of them took a proper look at the underground room for the first time. It was a mile long and the ceiling was at least fifty metres above their heads. There were hundreds upon hundreds of eight foot tall glass cases, each one of them housing a fully intact (very shiny) version of whatever it was that Tali almost broke her toe on. The metal men each stood perfectly still; their unblinking eyes staring into nothingness. At the very back of the cavern, stood a huge vid screen. The light from the Gravity Globe cast an eerie light over it all.

"By the Spirits, there's a whole army of them!" Garrus said in amazement, "That one we found outside the city must have been some sort of scout or sentry."

"Not so extinct." Tali whispered.

Shepard tapped on the glass of the nearest case. No reaction from its occupant.

"I think it's some sort of suspended animation." She said.

"Impressive," said Garrus, "Not even the Cerberus has that kind of tech."

"They're all in that battle armour," said Tali as she pointed at their shiny chests, "Why? If they had a choice, why would anyone choose to wear a suit all there life?"

The three of them almost died from shock when an excited, young, male voice suddenly boomed across the cavern.

"Ah, yes! I got it working! Hello people of the future!"