It had been almost a week since they had left citadel space. The Normandy was on course for the Artemis Tau Cluster. Apparently, an Asari scientist was there studying a prothean dig site. The scientist's name was Liara T'Soni. She was a powerful Asari biotic and she was the daughter of matriarch Benezia. That was the only standing fact that made the crew a little uncomfortable with this mission. From what Shepard had told them; matriarch Benezia had helped Saren with the Eden Prime attack. Meaning that she was working with both the Geth and Saren. And, possibly her daughter was working with them as well.

Spike, Wrex, Garrus, and Kaiden were all down in the hanger bay. Kaiden and Spike were currently sparing with each other. And, by the looks of it, Kaiden was winning. Or, so the human thought; all of sudden Spike had unfolded his wings and flew up. Only to fall back down slamming Kaiden back first into the hanger floor. While also landing hard on his chest. Spike then got up and looked down at the human. Kaiden groaned a little in pain as he lay on the floor.

Spike asked, “Had enough?” a blue glow surrounded his body as he was lifted upwards. Only to be slammed into the lockers. He laughed as he slid down to the floor; landing on his knees before he looked up with a wicked smile.

Kaiden was on his feet again; his body was glowing with biotic power. He then spoke, “I was about to ask you the same thing.” He finished with a powerful biotic Pull.

Spike used the pull to his advantage by pushing off with his feet and wings. Just as the pull took effect he had already picked up a little bit of speed. Kaiden had little time to dodge the attack; and before he knew it. Spike had crashed hard into him and pinned him down. He got him in a chokehold and held him still.

Spike spoke, “Do you give?” He heard Kaiden groan in irritation as he tried to break out of the hold. He asked again, “Do you give?” This time he got a response from the human; it was three taps on his arm. Meaning that the human had given up. Immediately Spike had let him go and got off of him. He helped him up as he laughed.

Kaiden spoke, “Good, fight Spike.”

Spike responded, “You weren't too bad yourself,” He commented, “I gotta say for a human you are a powerful biotic.” He finished.

Kaiden smiled, “Thanks,” He then groaned as a powerful migraine shot through the back of his head.

Spike asked, “Kaiden! Are you okay?”

Kaiden answered, “Yeah, just the L2-Implant acting up again. I'll be okay.” He quickly reassured.

Wrex spoke, “L2? Weren't those things replaced by the L3-Implants?” He asked.

Before Kaiden could answer Garrus had beaten him to it, “They were. But, many biotics had bad reactions to them. Some were nearly or were crippled by them. While others were put into comas.” He finished.

Kaiden commented, “What he said.”

The elevator to the hanger opened; they looked at the opening door only to see another human enter the hanger-bay. It was a female human who was known as Ashley Williams. Gunnery chief of the two-twelve back on what was left of Eden Prime. She walked up to the small group.

She asked, “You boys having fun?”

Kaiden responded, “Would be having more fun if Spike would stop kicking my ass.” That earned a good laugh from everyone there.

As they each talked to one another; a ship-wide announcement from Joker echoed through the intercom. Apparently, Shepard needed all of them to the briefing room. They each wasted little time getting to the room. Shepard was already there waiting for them; each of them chose a place to sit down. While The commander stood in the middle arms crossed with a serious look on her face.

She then spoke, “As you all know we're en route to the Artemis tau cluster. We don't know what we're getting into. But, what we do know is there's an Asari scientist there. Who may or may not be of use to us,” She paused for a moment before she brought out a datapad, she continued, “From the information on this datapad. We've got four systems inside this star cluster. Sparta, Athens, Knossos, Macedon. Readings show each of them has points of interest for both the alliance and the citadel. It also shows possible raw materials we can use.” She informed them each of them nodding to the various bits of information. She then finished, “Because of this info I'm going to task two teams. One for the main mission. The other for search and recovery. Joker and the rest of the crew will be our survey team.”

Tali spoke up, “Commander?”

Shepard answered, “Yes, Tali.”

She asked, “I'm sorry Commander but there are seven of us. Does that mean there is gonna be a team of four?”

Shepard nodded, “Yes,” she looked at the others, “Any other questions?”

Wrex responded, “Who's with who?”

Shepard smiled before she answered, “The first team is going to be with me on Therum in the Knossos system. The other will be a recon team” She began to form the teams.

After a little while, the ship slipped out of the mass effect drive field. The teams were set and ready to be deployed. To Sparta, the team of Garrus, Ashley, Spike, and Kaiden. were sent. They were heading for the planet Edolus. Apparently, the Normandy had picked up a distress call for help. The three were assigned to search and rescue. The other team assembled was of Tali, Wrex, and Shepard. They were off to the dig-site on Therum in the Knossos system.

The team of four sat in the shuttle silently. Each of them waiting for the doors to open so that they can begin their mission. When the shuttle sat down and the doors opened; they quickly got out and scanned the area around them. Each of them had their weapons ready; just in case of any hostile attacks. The planet they were on was a giant desert planet. With constant meteor impact sites.

Ashley pulled out the datapad she was given. She looked it over before she spoke, “Okay, from what I'm seeing the signal is coming from over that ridge,” She turned and looked at the others, “Kaiden, Spike, you're with me.” The two nodded as she looked over at Garrus. She continued, “Garrus, I saw a few anomalies west of here on the map. Can you check them out?” He nodded and she finished, “Okay let's move out.”

The group split up and headed out for their objectives. The team of three walked for almost three miles. Eventually arriving at an area that was a flat plateau. Close to the center the team saw a tank next to the emergency beacon. As they walked closer they eventually saw three dead bodies lying around. They ran up to examine the bodies just as the ground started to shake.

Ashley yelled, “Earthquake!”

Spike took a quick observation the tremor was getting worse. Yes, one would think of an earthquake. But, there was something different, yet, familiar with this quake. He then focused on the area just in front of the. The ground began to form into a huge hump; the dirt was breaking about and a loud roar came from underneath the ground. He immediately recognized that this wasn't an earthquake.

Spike shouted, “Threshermaw!”

The moment he shouted that the creature broke loose from the soil. It roared loudly as it gazed up at the sky. Before it focused on the three of them. It reared it's head back and launched a massive ball of acid at them. They each scattered and took cover behind the tank.

Ashley ordered, “Return, fire!”

Each of them began to fire at the creature; ducking behind cover whenever it would launch its attack. Before they would fire back at it. There would be times one of them would go down. Thankfully, Spike knew how to use unity. Which allowed him to heal all of them at once. Unfortunately, they only had four health packs left. Meaning one of them would not be healed if two of them were taken down. Eventually, they did manage to kill the Threshermaw. When it feels and slid back under the soil they knew they had one.

Kaiden checked one of the dead bodies. He sighed as he made a sad discovery, “These were admiral Kahokus men.”

Spike added, “They were possible lured here by the distress signal. He'd want to know what happened to his men.”

They deactivated the signal to prevent other incidents like this from happening. They then regrouped with Garrus who had managed to find a few rare minerals and trinkets. They then signaled for a shuttle to come and pick them up. Thankfully they didn't have to wait for long. Back on the Normandy; they all met in the debriefing room. Shepard and her team were already back; thankfully they had managed to successfully find, save, and recruit Liara T'Soni. Although the mission did end with the destruction of a prothean dig-site. The mission in their opinion was a complete success. Shepard soon dismissed them so she could speak to the council. Garrus and Tali had gone back down to the hangar bay. While Ashley and Liara headed to the medical bay. Wrex, Kaiden, and Spike headed for the mess hall. After the battle they each had; they could use a good meal.

Shepard had just ended her call with the council; she was irked by more than a few of their comments. But, she kept it suppressed. She headed to the bridge to speak with Joker. He was setting them a course to another relay. When she reached he turned and looked at her.

He asked, “Commander, need something?”

Shepard responded with a question, “Anything new?”

At first he shook his head until they picked up an urgent transmission. He spoke, “Hold on one second.” He then patched the message through.

The message was a distress signal, “Hello, hello, if anyone can hear this. This is Asteroid X57! We need help! We need.” The message was cut off.

Shepard gave a quick command, “Joker, get us to where the signal came from! On the double mister! “

Joker replied, “Aye, aye, Commander.”

He quickly got the ship moving to the next really. Wasting little time to enter the mass effect field and jump. Heading for the star cluster the distress signal had come from. Hoping and praying they were not too late.

Author's Note

New chapter enjoy.