User blog:Xx Nik xX/Blood Meets

Year 2183

Eden Prime

The Geth swarmed the area. Thellos grabbed her pet snake, Katsuya, and ran to the back of the building locking and rigging all the doors to explode. She also set a combat drone in every room she passed, hoping beyond hope, that, that would keep the Geth from getting to her. Why are they here? For the beacon? she thought to herself. She had just manged to hide herself and Katsuya in the very back of the room, just out of sight, when she heard the first explosion go off. She tried her hardest to keep from squeaking in fear. She just knew that the Geth were going to find her and kill her. Shots were fired, presumably taking out the drones. She could hear them getting closer and closer. She finally heard the last of her drones break down before the door opened. She thought about peeking out of her cover, but hoped that the Geth would just think the room was empty and leave. She squeezed her eyes shut tight.

"Looks clear, Commander," spoke a soft male voice. Thellos' eyes flew open. Humans!

"Someone set those bombs and drones," said a female voice that sounded like honey in the ears.

"I did," Thellos announced from behind cover. She stood up slowly, showing her hands, back to the humans in the room. She turned to face them and realized that there were in fact three people in the room with her. Her eyes instantly fell on the woman in the center. She wore black and red Colossus armor, wielding an upgraded Stiletto pistol. The woman had short red hair and dark, emerald green eyes, a sprinkle of freckles across her nose and cheeks. The look on her face said she knew, but didn't believe, what she was seeing. The man and other woman both looked confused.

"Mahariel,"said Thellos simply.

"You must be Thellos," spoke Shepard.

"What's going on, Commander?" asked the woman. The man nodded his head in agreement.

"This is my... sister. My younger sister. Thellos," answered Shepard. The man and woman exchanged looks.

"We didn't know you had a sister, Commander," responded the man. The woman eyed Thellos curiously, watching as Katsuya wound herself up her arm.

"Thellos, this is Kaiden Alenko and Ashley Williams. We need you to get to safety. We'll talk later," stated Shepard.

"No. I'm coming with you. You saw what I did to the doors and with the drones. I can help," replied Thellos. Shepard thought it over for a moment. Kaiden and Ashley both expected her to say no.

"Fine. You can come with, but stay in the back. You're not wearing any armor," said Shepard. Thellos nodded and looped Katsuya around her neck. Then, with dual omni-tools, she set out four drones, two combat and two defense. She then prepared two attacks, incinerate in one hand, a frosty cryo blast in the other.

"I'm ready," Thellos said with a glint in her eye. Kaiden and Ashley both eyed her, wary of her.

"Commander are you sure about this?" asked Ashley, voice heavy with disdain. Thellos scowled at her, not liking the way she looked at her like she was going to set the three of them on fire.

"Do you let your subordinates all question your decisions, Mahariel?" questioned Thellos, daring Ashley to say another word.

"No. I don't," started Shepard. "Williams you're new to my regime, but you should respect the chain of command enough to not question me." Mahariel was stern with her words, obviously showing a little irritation towards her. Ashley blinked, shifting her feet and adjusting her grip on her assault rifle.

"She has no training, Commander. It's better for your sisters safety if she at least goes back to a safe pick up point," stated Kaiden. Shepard frowned slightly.

"That's where you're wrong. I have three years of N7 training under me. Just like my sister," Thellos corrected, not hesitating on calling Mahariel her sister. She smirked a little and placed a fist on her hip, keeping the incinerate facing away from her body as she cocked her hip to the side. Shepard, Kaiden, and Ashley all looked surprised.

"And just how did you manage that?" wondered Ashley aloud. Shots fired outside. They all looked in the direction of the shots. Shepard brought her gun up and looked at Thellos.

"This conversation will have to be resumed at another time. Thellos you're with us," commanded Shepard. Thellos nodded, moving closer to the small group. The four of them left the room, walking briskly down the long hall to the entrance. Thellos noticed that only a few of the doors were charred or blown apart. As they got closer to the exit, she noticed that a few other doors were shattered, bent, black. She stopped quickly to notice that the doors had been hacked, but a few exploded anyways. She was proud of her handy work, happy to know that even if the door were to be forced open, it might have gone off anyways. She smiled to herself.

Ashley cast a sideways glance back at Thellos. Her hair reached to just above her hips, a bright red that she thought was more product then natural. She then looked at Commander Shepard. Her hair was exactly the same color. Does the Commander color her hair? she wondered to herself. Ashley looked back at Thellos. She was about three inches shorter than Shepard. She then noticed that Thellos didn't have freckles like Shepard did. Ashley adjusted the rifle in her hands and returned her focus to in front of her.

Kaiden on the other hand, was beyond consumed with Thellos and the Commander. Since the start of this cruise, his thoughts had been filled by Mahariel Shepard. Now there's two of them, he thought to himself. He took a look at Thellos and instantly enjoyed how she filled out her common scientist uniform. The thin green and white fabric strained over her full breasts and the grey pants she had one fit her like a second skin. He also had to admire the way the thigh high boots climbed her legs. Ashley caught him staring and she cleared her throat, causing all eyes on her. She shrugged and once Shepard and Thellos weren't looking, gave Kaiden a very pointed look. He blushed slightly, realizing he had been caught and went back to focusing on the task at hand. Though his thoughts did wander off to Thellos and Shepard every now and then. He was a man after all.

Mahariel Shepard fought with herself, trying to not look back at Thellos. She had been told what had went down five years ago when she had been discovered. Told that there was no reason to hold her in captivity or to put her to death. Told that she had been sent to a new colony to start a life. Told that she was not just a figment of bad record keeping. Told that Thellos was indeed, very real. I have a clone, she thought with a bit of realization. But she's not my clone. She's my... what did they call her... my genetic sister. Mahariel shook her head ever so slightly. She hadn't been told that Thellos had received N7 training even though she wasn't military. Oh that would definitely be brought up to Anderson. He was the one who had first told her of Thellos even existing in the first place. How could he not keep her informed of everything this... this... 'genetic sister' was or was not doing. Shepards footsteps faltered for a moment. She took a glance at her team, no one had noticed the stumble. She took the chance to glance at Thellos, she was busy resetting a combat drone. Mahariel then returned to the thought at hand. Thellos was her own being. She had not asked to be created and then picked up by military personnel. Just as Mahariel herself did not ask to be born and then abandoned by her family. This is going to take some getting used to... She is my... family... after all...

Thellos was staring a hole into the back of Mahariels head. Commander Shepard. The thought was like someone had taken red paint and thrown it on a white canvas. Commander Shepard. She felt like she had been slapped in the face with a brick. When all the questioning had ceased five years ago and she was set free, the thought had never occurred to her that she might actually meet the woman whose DNA was the core of her being. She wondered what her 'sister' was like. Did they have similar interests? The same favorite color? Anything in common? Thellos couldn't wait to get a chance to talk to her, she was so excited by just her presence.

The group hadn't traversed very far before they came to the docks of the spaceport. A Turian lay dead in a pool of blue blood. Mahariel and Kaiden claimed it was a Spectre named Nihlus. A wave of cold fear washed over Thellos. This was all real. She had been so fascinated by meeting Shepard that she had forgotten that there was a fight going on with Geth swarming her home. Thellos was about to ask how they knew the turian when Ashley noticed movement and a man Thellos recognized as Powell came scurrying out from behind some crates. Words were exchanged, ending with the group being disgusted with Powell. The man survived due to sheer laziness, hiding behind the crates during his shift to catch a nap. Powell did however, have some good information on the Geth mothership and even managed to point the group in the right direction after the beacon and some Saren character. Powell had said that he was another Turian. Said that he headed to another platform of the spaceport. Said he might be after the beacon. Thellos knew that beacon was trouble the moment it was dug up.

The group headed towards the cargo train. Thellos heard the now all too familiar sound of Geth chatter. Shepard led the team and sent out an overload to fry the synthetic. Ashley unloaded into it while Kaiden warped its defenses. The drones that Thellos had set out earlier charged the Geth, sending out bolts of electricity. Two more Geth came from around the corner. Thellos sent out and incinerate while Mahariel released a cryo blast. A well placed snipe from Ashley finished off that target. Kaiden had engaged the other Geth unit and had managed to stasis it. He then hit with a warp at the same Mahariel overloaded it and the damn thing exploded.

"Nice," whispered Thellos under her breath. They then started their way down the long path to the cargo train control panel and were held up by yet more Geth.

"Ashley, assault rifle in front with concussives," commanded Mahariel.

"You got it," said Ashley, taking point of the team.

"Kaiden, behind Ashley. Stasis what you can, warp the rest. Aim for the head."

"You bet, Commander," he replied, moving behind Ashley in line.

"Thellos, behind me. Get a defense and combat drone up behind you and in front of Ashley." Mahariel and Thellos both fell into line and the four took the walkway at a steady pace. There were at least twenty Geth between them and the control panel. Incinerates, cryo blasts, concussive shots, warps, throws, lifts, the Geth never stood a chance. They reached the panel and Thellos activated it. She turned to look at the rest of the group. Having been so preoccupied by the Commander before, she never really looked at Kaiden and Ashley. Ashley had on pink and white Phoenix armor, while Kaiden wore grey and blue Onyx armor. Thellos thought to say something, anything that would break the awkward silence that had descended upon the group now that there was a break in the fighting. She almost wished a random Geth would land on the train as they traveled. Almost.

The train pulled into port and the first thing Thellos noticed was the Geth setting large bombs on the catwalks. Mahariel ordered her to disarm them while they covered her. The four of them moved in a cohesive unit, disarming and killing. In about two minutes, the bombs were all disabled and the Geth numbers had dwindled down to none. They had reached the beacon. Saren was no where to be found.

Mahariel proceeded to hail the ship, the Normandy, as Thellos over heard. She heard Kaiden and Ashley talking, but was more fascinated by the beacon. She was standing rather close to it when Kaiden suddenly walked past her. It was as if he were being drawn to it. It was a few moments before Thellos realized that he was in fact being dragged toward the beacon by some unseen force. Thellos moved to grab him, but Mahariel got to him first, throwing herself into him. It was then she who was pulled toward the beacon. Something forcibly lifted her into the air, holding her there.

"Shepard!" cried Kaiden from his spot on the ground. Ashley rushed to him.

"No, don't touch her! It's too dangerous!" she yelled. Thellos was frozen, unsure of what to do. When Shepards body finally fell back to the ground, the beacon was distroyed in an explosion and the three of them rushed to her. Kaiden swept Mahariel up into his arms. As if on cue, the shuttle to the Normandy arrived. They boarded with a limp commander, barely breathing. Ashley practically screamed into her headset the Shepard was down. The shuttle shuddered hard as it kicked into gear, getting them back to the Normandy in a matter of minutes. When they arrived, a woman with short silver hair and a bald black man was waiting for them. They rushed Mahariel to the med bay.

"Alenko! What happened?" barked the man.

"I don't know, Captain Anderson," started Kaiden. At the mention of Andersons' name, Thellos' ears perked up. She had been so caught up in what was going on with Shepard that she didn't really look at the new people in front of her. She had done it twice now in one day. It was very much unlike her to be so unaware of her surroundings. "One moment, I'm talking about the beacon. The next thing I know, Commander Shepard is launching herself into me and tossing me to the ground. I don't know what happened."

"Captain," cut in Ashley, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. It was as though the beacon was pulling them to it!"

"Get her on the table," spoke the presumed doctor. Thellos stayed as quiet as possible, trying to avoid any attention, especially from Anderson. She didn't know what would happen to her when he finally noticed she was there. Mahariel was placed delicately on to the table. "I need to run some tests. I'll let you all no when she wakes up."

"I'd like to stay and wait. I feel like this is all my fault," spoke Kaiden. The doctor looked past him to Anderson, who gave a small nod.

"Very well, you can stay. The rest of you need to go however," replied the doctor. Ashley and Anderson both gave small nods and headed to the door. Thellos pressed herself into the corner, wishing she had a tactical cloak to hide herself as Anderson got closer. Her eyes grew wide as he finally looked at her. He frowned in thought for a moment, then his eyes widened with recognition. He simply took her by the arm and led her to his quarters on the crew deck. Ashley watched as they went, instinctively knowing there was history there.

"What are you doing here?" questioned Anderson once the door closed behind them. He let go of her arm and turned to really look at her. She looked just like a sister of Shepard should. Similar facial construction, same eye shape and nose. Same natural up tilt of the lips. Similar chin and cheekbones. She's beautiful, but a different type of beauty then Mahariel. Where eShepard had a war torn beauty that crept into the soul, Thellos was that of an innocent child amongst a field of flowers and her natural beauty was astonishing.

"I live here. Well not here per se, but on Eden Prime. I moved here six months ago."

"Why?"

"I was contacted to workout some kind of simple defense system. My team-" Thellos cut off. The dawning realization that her entire team was dead hit her like a ton of bricks. She reached a hand up to her throat, touching Katsuya. During the fight, she had honestly forgotten all about her loyal pet. The fact that she was still there or hadn't tightened around her neck, had surprised her. "My God..."

"A lot of good people died out there," spoke Anderson, knowing what she was thinking.

"They were simple technicians. They didn't have any combat training..." Anderson stood by silently, letting Thellos cope with her thoughts. As she was coping it then hit her as to why he wanted to know why she were there. "Do you think I'm working with Cerberus?"

"You are a..." trailed off Anderson looking for the right word.

"Experiment?"

"Yes, for lack of a better word. You are an experiment of theirs. When you were released as a civilian, we kept an eye on you for about one year, curious to see if Cerberus would try to take you back. When they didn't-"

"You offered me the N7 training."

"Correct."

"You know, I never asked before, but why did you offer me the training?"

"We wanted to see just how much like Shepard you were. See if you would score similarly to her."

"And?"

"You have some of the best scores we have ever seen. We thought to recruit you to join the Marines, but higher ups didn't want it. So you were released again." Thellos just stared at Anderson. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to say that she was happy, that she was proud she scored so high, but she figured that it was really thanks to her genetics, thanks to Mahariel.

"Thank you..." whispered Thellos. "So what are you going to do with me?"

"Well for now I need to speak with Alenko and Williams. Go up to Joker, the pilot, and tell him to take us to the Citadel," said Anderson. He then left the room and Thellos took in a deep breath. She took in a deep breath, and uncoiled Katsuya from her neck. She looked the tiny snake in the eyes and made a kissy face.

"Mommy loves you," she said. "You and me are gonna have to stick together." She then placed the snake atop her head and felt the tail curl gently around her neck as an anchor. She walked from the room, spotting Ashley and Anderson talking near the Med Bay doors. Ashley looked at Thellos, an almost discernible scowl on her face. Thellos looked away quickly and walked around what she found to be an elevator. She turned her head and saw that there were two flights of stairs leading up. She started up the left flight when one of the soldiers stopped her.

"Miss, you have a serpent on your head," he spoke, slight worry and confusion on his face.

"I know, but thank you," she said with a smile. He nodded and walked way as she continued up the stairs. The door at the top opened to reveal the CIC. She had seen plenty before this one, but this... the way everything was positioned... she was left breathless. This had to be an engineer's playground. She had to stop herself from going over to one side consoles and poking around. Katsuya shifted on her head, causing a curtain of hair to cascade in front of her face. Katsuya slithered off the side of her head, plopping down on her right shoulder, and circled around her throat just tight enough to let Thellos know she was there.

Thellos ran her hands through her long hip length hair, pushing it out of her face. She looked around the CIC again and noticed a long hall. She figured that the hall lead to the pilots chair and followed it. Low and behold, it led directly to the cockpit. She saw a man in a baseball cap sitting in a chair in the center of the small room.

"Joker?" she questioned, moving to stand just off to the left of him. The man turned his head.

"Yeah?" When his eyes connected to the red haired, green eyed, goddess, his jaw dropped. "Who are you?"

"I'm Thellos. Are you Joker?"

"Yeah, yeah. But who are you."

"Oh! I'm Commander Shepard's little sister." No hesitation.

"Commander Shepard has a sister?"

"Apparently," Thellos giggled. "Captain Anderson told me to tell you to take us to the Citadel."

"Right," said Joker under his breath. He turned back in his chair and set the destination. Thellos shrugged her shoulders, walking back towards the crew deck. Joker gave her second look, obviously gawking at the way her ass swayed as she walked away. No way Shepard has that for a sister and didn't tell anyone, he thought with a sly smirk. He then turned back in his chair and resumed his work.

As Thellos reached the end of the stairs, she looked at the elevator door. She thought about taking it down to the lower level, but she didn't know if she had permission to explore the ship. She walked around the elevator, headed back toward the common area. She sees that Ashley is sitting at a table with a few crewmen. She knew that Ashley and herself were not going to get along. She could feel it in her bones. Thellos simply moved by her and headed towards Anderson's quarters. She needed to know what was going to be done with her on a long term bases and their previous conversation had done nothing to really answer that.

As she approached Anderson's quarters, a wave of dizziness washed over her. Something was wrong. Not with her. With Mahariel. She could feel it. Thellos' head started to throb. She pressed her fingers into her temple, hoping to somehow stem the pain. The dizzy feeling grew more overwhelming and she reached out to brace herself. Her vision was getting dark, and the room was spinning out of control. Thellos collapsed to her knees. She heard a voice call out, but couldn't make out what was being said. She felt as though her pet snake, Katsuya, were tightening around her throat. Thellos grabbed with numb fingers at the snake, but to no avail. She grasped at the air and toppled over to her side. The pain in her head was so immense she curled into the fetal position. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. But she was in so much pain. Finally, she wasn't able to handle whatever it was that was happening to her and she passed out, laying limp on the floor.