A/N: This is my first ever fanfic so take it easy on me if mistakes are found.

This is a cross-over of The Matrix and the Mass Effect series.

THE MATRIX EFFECT

CHAPTER 1

EARTH

EMERGENCE ACADEMY

JUNE 15, 2163

A boy no older than fifteen years of age walks into a plain white room. The room didn't have windows yet the image of a large screen present along with a desk and chair facing the screen. To the left was a solid white chair that swiveled away facing the blank wall.

"Sit." The voice said and from that command the boy pulled up the chair, sat down, and awaited the next order. "Now say your first and last name followed by your age for the record."

"John Shepard. Fifteen years of age." The boy answered with instinctive discipline.

The chair swiveled around and the chair was occupied by what appeared to be an elderly gentleman. The man had a white hair and a beard match. He wore what appears to be a grayish three piece suit. "Welcome John Shepard. I am the Architech of the Matrix. Soon will be your day of emergence, but as required you and each of your fellow students must individually take the final test before you are released from the Matrix. Are you ready for your test?"

"Yes, Architech." John answered clearly.

"Very well." The Architech paused as he looks at the screen. "This test is to brief you on what you have learned since you were a child growing up here in the academy. Pass the test and you will be ready to emerge into the world. The questions will be placed on the screen and the answers will be responded by the sound of your voice. Are you ready?"

"Yes, Architech." John answered again.

"Then let us begin." The Architech pulls out a thin remote and taps on the red light.

The screen lit up with black and hazy images for a moment, and then the image turned blank. Then a simple luminescent green letters appeared on the screen.

Greetings: Shepard, John. Are you ready to begin?

"Yes."

Recite the Architech Verse.

"In the beginning, there was man. And for a time, it was good. But humanity's so-called civil societies soon fell victim to vanity and corruption. Then man-made the machine in his own likeness. Thus did man become the architect of his own... magnitude."

Correct. What was the purpose of the creation of the machines?

"To function as servants and build massive constructions projects."

Correct. What machine was the first to gain self-awareness?

"B1-66ER."

Correct. After the exile of machines and human sympathizers, what was the creation of the machine's first nation?

"Zero One."

Correct. What was the first reaction of the United Nations when Zero One tried to ease the Economic Crisis peacefully, but was refused a seat in the U.N."

"The U.N. attacked in a series of nuclear carpet bombing campaigns."

Correct. When war followed and the machines conquered every human nation surrounding Zero One, can you explain what happened in the events of 2095?

"Operation Dark Storm, which aims to cut the machines off from the sun, their primary energy source. The plan is executed with high altitude bombers dispersing sky-darkening nanomachines into the air, while the human armies simultaneously launch a ground offensive against the machine forces. The plan is initially successful, although many of the human nations' long-range weapons systems are also disabled by the lack of sunlight. With their high-tech weapons rendered useless, human commanders are forced to launch close-quarters infantry engagements, supported by electromagnetic artillery fire and armored assaults using atomic-tanks and powered armor. Heavy losses are taken on both sides, but the Machines gradually gain the upper hand."

Correct. To support the lack of solar power, what did the machines do to find a new source of power?

"To make up for the lack of solar power, the machines begin capturing human prisoners and using their bodies to power large biomechanical tanks. This was then used to power many other areas to help the machines gain the advantage."

Correct. The war ended in a truce. Explain why.

"The same group of humans that sympathized with the machines from the beginning captured the same scientists that created the Dark Storm project and forced the scientists to give up their knowledge of Dark Strom. The conclusion was peace and removing the nanomachines in the atmosphere…in exchange of allowing machines to merge with humans. After the Great Synthesis of 2102, 8 billion humans became homo-machinists. Not all humans complied with the merging of machines and humans, so space exploration came afterward."

Correct. What was the purpose of space exploration after the war?

"To continue the exploration of space and reconnect with the colonies on the moon and on Mars. A move to satisfy the demands of the natural humans to rejoin other natural born humans on other worlds."

Correct. What events followed on Mars, when attempts to terra-form the planet, was discovered in 2148?

"The artifacts of a race known as the Protheans were discovered. It gave knowledge and technical advancement to the homo-machinists race. The ruins introduced technology called Mass Effect."

Correct. What was discovered outside the orbit of the planet Pluto in 2149?

"Another Prothean artifact, known as a Mass Effect relay."

Correct. Explain the function of the relay.

"The relay gave ships the ability to travel faster than the speed of light and the first trip took an exploration crew to the Arcturus System, 35.5 light years away."

Correct. Explain the First Contact war.

"It was humanity's first contact with an alien species known as turians. The Turian Hierarchy responded to the activation of a Mass Relay outside the Shanxi-Theta System by invading the colony of Shanxi. The Hierarchy gained considerable advantage over the newly formed Systems Alliance. After a month of fighting, the Hierarchy gained control of all the cities on the planet and forced the remaining Alliance forces to flee into the mountains and forests. Help arrived when Alliance Dreadnaughts decimated the turian forces with advanced weaponry."

Correct. The image on the screen turned into a picture of what looked like large twin cannons attached to opposite ends of the Dreadnaughts. What are these weapons?

"The Nebuchadnezzar Ion Cannons or the NI cannons as they are commonly called. It was far superior to what the Hierarchy had and the pulse cut through their armor like a hammer breaking glass."

Correct. When did official cease-fire begin?

"Shortly after we received contact from the Citadel to end hostilities between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy."

Correct. What happened after the events of the First Contact War? Please explain.

"Humanity was invited to join the Citadel Council Races, but respectively refused on the grounds of the Citadel Convention that prohibit the creation of Artificial Intelligence and would force the Systems Alliance to restrict themselves since humanity is a human-machine hybrid species. The Alliance was allowed to have an embassy on the Citadel to maintain contact with the three high ranking species known as the Asari, the Turians, and the Salarians. The Alliance was allowed to link its economy with the Council's currency system, yet the Alliance is granted to govern our own area of the galaxy."

Correct. Congratulations. All 16 questions have been answered correctly.

Shepard contained his pride as he answered all of the questions correctly. Showing any form of emotion during a training session or a test is strictly forbidden. Emotional outbursts are considered harmful and counter-act the training he must learn from childhood to his coming adulthood. However, showing emotion is not forbidden during meal, recreational and private times.

The Architech sat and stared at the screen. He turned off the screen and stood from his seat. "Stand up, Shepard and face me at attention." Shepard complied with the order. "If I were human, which I am not, I would be showing the impression of pomp and circumstance. You answered the questions correctly and I want to let you know now that you are going to graduate from this academy. I understand that both your parents are in the Alliance Navy, am I right?"

"Yes, sir." Shepard adds.

"Glad to hear that." The Architech said. "I am also aware that you have plans of joining the Alliance Military yourself, but not as an enlisted serviceman. You're going to the Alliance Military academy after your Emergence Day?"

"Yes, sir." Shepard said.

"That's why I'm going to put in a letter of recommendation to the academy for your acceptance." The Architech said. "You are guaranteed to get in with my endorcement."

An endorsement from the Architech himself. Shepard could barely contain his excitement before entering his dormitory. As soon as he was behind his door, he threw his fists in the air and made a silent scream in victorious triumph. A new life begins behind these walls once he leaves the Emergence Academy…if one could say these walls as he knows all too well that he wasn't in a physical realm of existence. It did remind him to check on his computer screen and check out his own status. He watched himself as he really is… inside a pink colored pod and he can make out the silhouette of the body which is his.

"Soon, I will out of there." Shepard reminded himself. "No longer being a battery in a power plant."

The primary purpose of the Matrix was to raise all the children and way to keep track of all the humans born in the Alliance. It was odd to think about it, because one does not feel like they have been raised in a pod their whole life. It was as if you were always raised in the outside world and not knowing you was part of a sophisticated virtual reality program. It was necessary for this to be used since the Matrix gives humans advanced knowledge, strength, and agility. In exchange we humans offer the thoughts and flesh from which our bodies produce to power this almost flawless government. Shepard couldn't imagine what it would be like if humanity didn't have these abilities.

As Shepard gave into more thoughts of the future, a ringtone chimed from the screen next to his pod screen. He answered the phone and his parents were on the other line. Eric and Hannah Shepard were standing next to each other as if they were taking a portrait for a camera. The couple was an attractive looking older couple and both were wearing officers' uniforms of the Systems Alliance.

"John." Hanna said. "How did your exam go?"

"Great." John replied. "I got all the questions correct and I received a letter of recommendation from the Architech."

"John, that's great." Eric replied. "I think now's the time to transfer your credits to the Alliance Academy now before your summer holiday begins."

"Yes. You will need that time to recuperate your body and get it up to speed." Hanna explains. "When you get in, they aren't going to go nice on a soft kid who was just born from the pod. Trust me on that."

"Yeah." Eric said. "You're about to use a body that has never been active. We'll help you get up to speed this summer."

"Of course." John just shrugged off the light criticism. "What will be amazing is that I finally get to meet you guys in person and not in a simulated parental visit. It's a surreal thought to be thinking at the moment."

"Well, get some sleep tonight." Hanna advised her some more. "Because tomorrow you will finally be awake. Love you John."

"Bye, guys." John said as his father only responds with a two finger salute towards his son. The screen cuts off and he looks at the screen of himself inside the pod. "Yeah. I wake up tomorrow."

EARTH

EMERGENCE ACADEMY

JUNE 16, 2163

John Shepard stood at attention among his classmates at the Emergence Academy. Inside the large auditorium was 1000 young men and women watching the stage and listening to an hour's worth of overconfident speeches towards the students about to emerge into the real world.

Like the rest of the graduating class, Shepard wore a maroon colored Academy vest and pair of pants to match. There was a golden Academy seal on his left chest which matched the drapes hung above the professors on the stage. The professors were podborns – a term for humans born into the Matrix, yet they can strap into a seat and enter into the Matrix. There are people who were born naturally, but usually they chose to live in more remote locations on colonies around the Alliance. This group of humans was referred as freeborns.

That's when Shepard realized that when he leaves the Matrix and if he encounters a freeborn, that will entitle him as a podborn.

Shepard snapped out of his trance, then focused on the last speaker that was about to speak before the graduating class of 2163. The podborn professor introduced the final speaker and the anticipation was thick enough to feel in the entire room. "Graduates! I present to you our final speaker! Our mutual mother of our society! Our matriarch! Our most recognizable and beloved figure in the Matrix! The Oracle!"

On cue, the music played and the golden drapes with the academy seal on stage parted down the middle. Standing behind the curtains was an elderly woman with darken skin. She had a face of kindness and warmth, the kind of look a mother would see in her child. She was the polar opposite of the Architech, cold and a facial image made of stone. The Oracle wore a maroon colored gown and she smiled the whole time as she approached the stand.

The Oracle placed her hands on the stand and spoke to all of her students. "My children. Today you are no longer children. You have worked hard and prospered since the day you were born and you have all served your duties from the cradle, the Matrix. In return we give you the education for when the day comes of your emergence. Now is that day. Now you will serve humanity as a whole weather they have been born in the Matrix or lived free to determine their own future. Whatever the case maybe, the Matrix has always been the foundation of our past from the end of the Human/Machine war, the Great Synthesis of 2102, the discovery of the Prothean artifacts on Mars and its Mass Relay, then our great Systems Alliance after the First Contact war. The Matrix has been and always will be the foundation of our society." The Oracle clasps her hands together. "Graduating class of 2163." She spreads them out in a hugging gesture. "I now free you from the Matrix."

The crowd roars in a volley of applauds. The screams of joy and excitement follow as the young men and women couldn't believe their ears that they were no longer students. Tears were running down the cheeks of many while others found and hugged friends.

A booming voice echoed over the auditorium. "Graduates!" Said the faceless voice. "Walk to the next room behind the stage and find your seat with your name written above."

The people complied with the order and after what must have been almost an hour, each man and woman found their assigned seats. Shepard found his seat and sat down on something that reminded him of an old dentist's chair. He sat down and wondered how long this would take. Hell. I've been asleep for 15 years. What's another hour or two? He casually thought to himself. When something did happen, he saw a man wearing an orderly uniform while pushing a cart filled with cups. The man stopped by Shepard and gave him one of the cups and carted them away to the next chair. He looks inside the cup and notice a single red pill at the bottom. A small voice from somewhere unknown said "Take the pill when instructed to do so." Okay. Shepard will do whatever is told for him to do.

Without warning the chairs swiveled a complete 180 degree angle and realized that the graduates were now staring at the center of what looks like a control booth. There was a man inside with a shaved bald head and a black goatee, wearing a speaker set on his head. "Alright kids, listen up." It was the same voice from the auditorium. "My name is Cypher and I'm here to instruct you to wake up. Take the red pill in the cup when I tell you. That pill represents your desire to wake up. Then when you do wake up, do yourself the most important thing when you are born again…DON'T PANIC! Do not squirm! Do not scream! Do however try to break free! You don't want us trying to resuscitate you on your first day out of the pods!" Cypher types on a keyboard in front of him. "Now! Take the red pill and swallow it!"

On the man's order, Shepard swallows the pill and instantly felt a slight tingle of warmth, but at the same time he felt tired.

"Hold on to everything, because Oz is going bye-bye!" Cypher told the people suddenly nodding off.

What was he talking about? Shepard thought as he noticed silver liquid consuming his feet and hands. Then the liquid spread all over his body and finally reaching into him mouth. He tried to close his mouth, but the force of the liquid forced it open and ran itself inside his throat. Then blackness came.

When John Shepard opens his eyes, the room was all of a sudden made of fluid…a purplish pink fluid. He couldn't remember what was going on at that second, but as soon as his mind was able to put the pieces together. The pod! I'm in the pod! He reached his hand out and touched the thin layer of skin that kept the fluid in. He lifted his head out of the pool of sticky fluid and realized there was a tube down his throat. He pulled it and gagged as if he was vomiting. He then looked at the wires connected to his body, but soon detached as if he wanted them out. The feeling of the release was slightly painful, but not as painful as the release from the back of his head.

Shepard observes his surroundings and noticed a series of circular towers stretching towards the clear blue sky. As he looked closer, there were pods attached to those towers. He glances to the left and right and realize that he was on one of these towers and there were other pods next to his. People were also lifting themselves up from their pods and each person was glancing around the surroundings. Shepard then realized that he was naked, pale, and he didn't have hair of any kind on his body and head. He also realized that he was waist deep in the sticky liquid that was probably supposed to be placenta.

An electronic voice rang out and said. "Preparing for flush mode. Do not make sudden movements and relax."

At that moment, Shepard felt a tug from his feet and he was dragged in from the suction of the drain at the bottom of his pod. The situation felt like he was on a water park ride, sliding down the tube and hoping that there is nothing deadly at the end of this slide. What he did see at the end of the slide was an area which looked like a kind of grate for drainage of excess water. The slide curved almost parallel to the floor and Shepard gently lands on the grate while the fluid is drained beneath the floor. He shakes his head and realizes that he is inside a glass box with what looks like a shower nozzle above his head. He stood up to see that many of the other people from the pods above were also with him as well. Each person realizes that they too had a glass box of their own. Someone even shouted 'Let's do that again!'

The same mechanized voice that he heard before spoke again and this time it said. "Decontamination shower now in progress." The shower nozzle showered a gentle stream of water and the Shepard just rubbed the warm water all over himself. It felt good to get the sticky residue off of his body.

Five minutes later, the shower stopped and the voice said. "Rejuvenation vapors now in progress. Breathe in the vapors to prevent muscle atrophy." Shepard saw white mist coming from the floor of the box and breathed in the vapors. The vapors were odorless and didn't know if the process was working correctly, but he did feel something happening. He felt stronger from the eyes in his head to the bottom of his feet. He didn't feel as clumsy as he did five minutes ago.

After the vapor treatment, the voice cracked on again. "Now please exit the pod. Towels and disposable garments will be provided to you as you exit." The glass box lifts gently above all the people. Both men and women looked around and notice that they were all hairless and naked. Some covered themselves with their arms while some casually strode as they all walked towards a table holding piles of towels and disposable white coveralls and slippers.

After the shower, the medical examinations, and the briefing of what's to come, Shepard heard the phrase he wanted to hear from the head examiner. "In the next room, your parents and guardians are waiting in the next room. You are now free to see them."

John Shepard and the rest of his graduating class walked into a waiting room, which seem similar to one in a hospital. He strolled around the area with people holding up signs with names in front of them. When a name was recognized, the graduate would literally meet them, as if for the first time which would physically be for the first time. John would stool from one set of parents to another looking for his name. It took a while, but when he saw the words John Shepard his eyes lit up. Before him were his parents and he was looking at them with his own eyes for the first time ever. His mother and father stood up from their seats and saw their son and they gave him a big hug.

"John." Hanna said as she kissed his forehead. "So wonderful to meet you in the flesh."

"Still keeping the look from when you were born." Eric rubbed John's head as John shrugged off the joke. "So what are we hanging around here for?"

"Don't forget. We got you few gifts." Hanna pulls out a department store bag and John observes what's inside. It was clothing, a hat, sunglasses, and a pair of shoes.

After John got dressed, his parents took him to a restaurant just right outside the spaceport which was located thirty miles away from the Matrix facility. The hat and glasses were essential to his reoperation, because he needed to keep the shine of the sun off of his hairless head and eyebrows. The meal John ordered was a steak and potato. He looked at the meal before him and said. "Now that I think about it, this is literally going to be the first time I eat solid food. Now I'm getting the significance of the whole concept of being born again."

"There's another way to be born again, but that involves reciting phrases from the Christian bible and being dowsed in a lake or pond." Eric let out a soft laugh.

John cut the first piece of meat and ate the chunk. "That's not bad."

"So are you ready for your other gift?" Hanna said.

"Alright." John said with a smile.

She pulls out a box and gives it to John. John opens the box and sees a ring and circular pod with an insert valve attached to it. "Is this an Omni-tool?"

"Yes." Hanna said. "This is a version for podborn humans."

"What's the version for freeborn humans?" John asked.

"It involves a surgical implant to the brain for the base, but you already have that mode in the back of your head." Hanna explains. "All you have to do is insert this in the outlet in the back of your head and it will do the rest."

John excitedly put the small ring on his left hand and then inserted the circular node in the back of his head. The tool activated as soon as he heard the final click into his head. His whole left arm just turned orange and he was amazed how fast the information was being processed from his mind to the tool. He looked up many things which were preset for him. "Mom. Dad. It says here I have a bank statement. I don't remember having a bank account."

"Better open it up and see what it says." Eric grinned.

John activated the account. After a few minutes of putting all his personal information and creating a number code to access his account, he noticed that he had three hundred-thousand credits to his name. John loses his breath and said. "Is this right?"

"It's is." Eric said with a wide grin. "We have been building up a trust fund account for you since the day you were born. This money is for you while you go through the Military Academy after the summer holiday."

"Thank you guys." John said.

"One more surprise." Hanna said. "During the summer holiday, your father and I got leave for the entire summer until you enroll at the Academy. We rented a place on Shanxi. It is where we are going to give you pointers and tips on how to handle military life."

"Not to mention the amount of work you'll be doing around this place." Eric said. "Oh, I forgot to tell you. There is still some cleaning up to do from the First Contact War. You'll be doing some physical labor that will be good for building muscle and character. You'll even learn a piece of history and you'll see the results of what war looks like. The things you'll need before you go."

Suddenly John's smile disappeared, but it wasn't going to let that ruin his day of celebration.

John Shepard sat patiently while they called the final boarding call to the Shanxi colony. He fiddled with the Omni-tool for a while and found some Codex files on different alien species and their governments. He activated the one that mention humans first before observing other species.

Codex: Humans. Homeworld Earth. Although similar in appearance, humans have a diverse culture but the two main differences would be between 'Podborns' and 'Freeborns'. The reason for this is that back in the late 21st century, machines were created to serve humans as a menial labor force. As machines grew self-aware, machines formed their own nation and body of government called Zero-One. When this machine ruled nation's economy was harming the global economy on Earth, the human nations declared war on Zero One in 2095 the Human/Machine War began. After years of fighting a truce was declared and it was decided that humans and machines can merge as one calling it 'The Great Synthesis of 2102.' Eight billion humans became homo-machinist while the remaining two billion humans remain to be free from machine control. The early portion of the 22nd century caused a huge migration of free humans to leave Earth and join the colonies on Earth's moon and on Mars. Both colonies weren't affected by the Human/Machine war and which caused dissident against human/machine hybrids. As these hybrids were being raised in pods of their governments on Earth, they earned the name Podborns which the name originated from the Martian colonies.

In 2148, during an attempt to ease Podborn and Freeborn human relations, there was a joint project to terraform the planet Mars into a living, breathing atmosphere. The project was halted when the discovery of Prothean ruins were discovered. The ruins provided knowledge of advanced technology and in 2149 the moon of Pluto turned out to be a Mass Relay which projected ships to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other at FTL (Faster Than Light) speeds. Although this allowed humanity to spread out all over the galaxy, Both Podborns and Freeborns found their own form of opportunity. Podborns found opportunity for exploration and expansion of scientific knowledge while Freeborns found opportunity to claim habitable worlds. The stigma of this concept for Freeborns was to 'Get as far away from Podborn influence as possible' as many colonists had placed it. The Systems Alliance was created in 2055 to help govern the Earth and its colonies more effectively, but it was considered a loose Confederation of independent government colonies.

The following weeks before the First Contact War of November 2157, a small Alliance exploration fleet, made up of five patrol ships and a frigate containing ten thousand Podborn Marines and researchers activated an uncharted Mass Relay. The fleet was destroyed when it was attacked by unknown vessels. Only the frigate, the Coronado made it out and asked for assistance by the colony of Shanxi, a colony populated by Freeborn humans. Despite the hesitance of a ship full of Podborn humans, the colony took in the damaged vessel and the wounded Podborn crew. The alien unknowns followed the ship and ordered an attack on the planet. The alien hostiles called themselves the Turian Hierarchy. The Hierarchy launched an invasion of the colony and the colonist fought against the invaders for a month. When all of the major cities of Shanxi fell, the remaining ground forces fled to the forests and continued a guerilla campaign. It wasn't until December 23rd that the Alliance mobilized a fleet of dreadnaughts and attacked the Turian fleet surrounding Shanxi. The Turian fleet surrounding Shanxi was destroyed in fifteen minutes by the Alliance's more advanced weaponry. On January 10, 2158 official hostilities ended, when the Citadel Council called for a peace settlement between the Alliance and the Hierarchy.

Stories of what happened on Shanxi spread rapidly throughout Alliance space. Stories of how Podborns and Freeborns fought side-by-side against a common enemy and uplifting stories of overcoming incredible odds of survival. One particular photo that showed heroism during the war was an image of a Freeborn human helping an injured Podborn while another Podborn was giving the two men cover fire. Later the title of the photo was named 'Brothers-in-Arms at last.' The image became such an icon that swayed public opinion between Podborns and Freeborns showed that the First Contact war brought humanity socially closer together and strengthen the government of the Systems Alliance.

After peace was achieved, the Citadel Council invited the Systems Alliance in talks of joining the Council. Five representatives appeared. The five representatives were two Podborns, two Freeborns, and a template connecting to the Matrix. The Council was willing to accept the Alliance under the condition that the Matrix would be downgraded from an Artificial Intelligence template to a Virtual Intelligence template since A.I.'s are forbidden under the Council Convention. The Alliance respectfully refused to comply, but a compromise was reached when the Alliance would be allowed to be an individual government as long as the Alliance can have an embassy on the Citadel and allowed to merge the Alliance's economy with the rest of Citadel space. The Alliance promise not to sabotage or unintentionally disrupt the economy like the nation of Zero One did back in 2095, which caused the United Nations to go to war with the machines.

Shepard noticed a link below the last paragraph. It was marked as a recruitment ad, but served as an information guideline. It said Shanxi stories. He activated the link and something that looked like an Alliance recruitment ad in the form of a PSA announcement.

The screen showed this interview was made by men and women who were colonist on the planet Shanxi during the First Contact war.

Man #1: I ran a store.

Woman#2: I worked a space port.

Man#3: I lived and worked on a farm.

Man#4: I did construction.

Woman#5: I worked in an office.

Man#1: At that time I didn't care for the Alliance. I just had a business to run.

Woman#2: I wasn't thrilled about podborn people.

Man#3: To be honest, I was pretty prejudice against someone not being born naturally.

Man#4: I didn't want to be around one.

Woman#5: They weren't someone I would have a cup of coffee with.

Woman#2: I was working that day when the Coronado had to make an emergency landing. At first I was shocked to see a lot of podborns coming out of the craft. I helped when I found out they were attacked by some unknown fleet. While I was helping with the wounded, that's when the attacks began.

Man#1: My store was destroyed from the turian's orbital bombardment.

Man#4: I was on a high-rise tower when I saw everything around me buring.

Woman#5: I almost got killed when the building I was in collapsed around me. Some of my co-workers weren't so lucky.

Man#3: I could see the fire on the horizon what was going on. I grabbed my guns and ran to the nearest city to see if they needed help. That's when the turians came. We fought their advances for a month, but it felt like years.

Man#1: They took everything from us and now they wanted to take our lives.

Man#4: We were on the verge of death, until it happened…a miracle.

Woman#2: We sent out an emergency broadcast to the nearest colony or system to help us. It was the Systems Alliance who answered the call.

Woman#5: I was pulled out of the wreckage of my building by a podborn. I hugged him and thanked him.

Man#3: I was helping a squad of Alliance soldiers clear out a turian pocket of resistance, I served as their guide.

Man#1: My family and I owe everything to the Alliance when they helped us recover.

Woman#2: I never worked alongside podborns my life, working together for a common goal.

Man#3: I proudly fought alongside with them and for the first time I was able to call a podborn 'my brother'.

Man#4: After fighting side-by-side with the Alliance, that's when I decided to join the Alliance military.

Woman#5: The Alliance liberated our world and saved the lives of me and my family.

Then the PSA advertisement ended with information on recruiting on the extranet and a location of a recruiting office.

Hanna came up to John as told him. "Were boarding. Are you ready?"

John stood up and looked at his mother proudly. "Yes ma'am." He walked towards the terminal with the words Shanxi written above the doorway.