Chapter 1 - Chapter 1, Meet Alpha Squad

(I posted this on FF way back in 2012 and have sicne posted it on AO3 as well. So I gigured I'd post it here as well. Some of you may also have seen one of my other works, Lizbeth is a Lucky Girl, which is a spin off to this. Hope you enjoy.)

This saga will cover all three games with only a few plot differences. Also this will eventually be Liara/Shepard romance since she's my favourite romance option in the whole trilogy.

I'd like to thank the fabulous StTheo on Deviantart for first inventing the Helldivers with his fantastic art work. I would also like to point out that I got full permission from him to base this story off of his work.

Fair warning. This fic contains language, mild violence and sex in Chapters 1, 6, 11, 17, 20 and 23, so be warned. I know this site doesn't have an MA rating, but it should. So that's what I've labelled it as.

Hope you enjoy the first chapter. I'll try and keep uploading chapters as soon as possible.

Mass Effect: The Helldiver Saga

Episode 1, The Beginning…

Prologue:

Well, what about this one? A spacer… lived aboard starships most of his life.

Ah yes, I remember him. Military service runs in the family. His mother's a Captain in the navy, his sister an N7 marine and his father's a Helldiver.

So is he apparently.

The Helldivers are well known for getting the job done. Though some see them as violent and unpredictable; some think they butcher the Batarians. That recent mission on Torfan in particular has only enforced those doubts and raised serious questions about them.

But we can't question the fact that they've freed hundreds of human slaves from the Batarians for the past few years.

True. Besides not all them are natural killers, some are more heroic. He for example proved himself during the Blitz, held off enemy forces on the ground until reinforcements arrived. He was also the first human to start off as an Alliance marine and then become a Helldiver back when he joined.

He's the only reason Elysium is still standing.

We can't question his courage.

Humanity needs a hero, and he's the best we've got. And let us not forget the Hellspawn Civil War. He's a veteran of that war who fought on the front lines. Practically a war hero.

But is a Helldiver the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy?

A Helldiver's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy.

Very well. I'll make the call. Only one thing though, I can't find his name.

His name's Shepard. Commander Austin Shepard.

Chapter 1

Meet Alpha Squad

The planet Maltoor. Not the most pleasant place to visit, especially considering how it now housed a hidden Batarian slaver camp. That was why they were here.

Commander Austin Shepard, stood up from his seat. The rest of his team mates didn't take any notice. They usually waited until he had something important to say to them. As he finished standing up, he picked up his familiar triangular shaped Helldiver helmet from the seat he had been sitting next to. As he placed it on, the familiar temporary darkness of the helmet engulfed him, all he could hear was a small hissing sound as the helmet locked into place and the air intakes activated. Then came the familiar start up sound. A holographic display came to life in the lower region of the helmet, next was the familiar voice of his suit saying "Scanning all systems, please wait." Then the words "Visual feed established" appeared on the screen, along with a perfect video image of what he should be seeing. Another holo display appeared in the top right hand region of his helmet of his entire armour. Certain sections of the armour lit up briefly and then went back to their original colour as the suit scanned everything. Austin didn't mind the short wait. He went through this procedure every time he put his helmet on and the suit came online.

Austin Shepard was a Helldiver, one of the best soldiers in the galaxy. When the Helldivers had first been created by the technologically advanced alien race known as The Arkanes, they had been made for the sole purpose of being the Arkane's military force. However as the years went by, and the Arkanes soon learned that they were not alone in the universe, it had slowly evolved into a multispecies super soldier program.

With his suit scan finished, Austin turned his attention the rest of his squad. They were all sat down, some of them tending to pieces of their own armour; others just sat in silence, and some conversing with one another. There were six of them, all Helldivers just like him, the only difference was that they all had differently shaped armour to him, depending on their race and position on the squad, one thing all their armours had in common though, was the helmet.

Some of the helmets where different sizes depending on how big there face was. But they all had the same triangular shaped design that all Helldivers where required to have. Customization was a welcome addition among Helldivers, they were free to modify their armours with different materials, swap armour parts for different ones, add accessories to their armour for decoration if they wished, and even choose the colours. As far as customization went with Helldivers, they could go all the way if they wanted to. The only rule they had to go by was that all Helldiver's had to have the same Helmet; they could gladly paint the helmet and add accessories to it if they wanted, but it had to be the same triangular design. It had become a familiar symbol for the Helldivers.

Austin hadn't done much to his Helldiver armour, he mostly kept the colours the same. Some additions he had made though were the extra ammo packs strapped to his chest and belt, the N7 logo on his neck guard and the red N7 stripe on his right arm as well. After he'd received these commendments for his work on Elysium he had decided to add it to his armour for all to see rather than it just seeming like a symbolic gesture, the rest of the team even said it made him look "More commando like". Another noticeable feature he had was the sword and shield on his back. Although Helldiver training included basic fencing and all Helldivers where given the recently invented omni blades, they could choose to develop it further if they wanted to with advanced training. Austin of course had been one of those that had chosen to develop it, although he didn't use the sword and shield much in a gun fight, they did occasionally come in handy. Plus, he insisted on keeping them since they had been a from his mentor. One time he could remember using it in battle was when his omni blade had malfunctioned and he had had to use the sword and shield instead. It had been messy, but nice at least to use them in the field finally. The shield had been a later gift from his mentor. What made the shield special however was that it also had a gun on the inside, enabling it to double as both a shield and a gun. It enabled Austin to use both his sword and a gun simultaneously while also having some protection against melee attacks or incoming fire.

Four of the Helldivers sitting in front of Austin where aliens. A Turian, a Krogan, an Asari and a Quarian. The last two where humans. Together they formed the legendary Alpha squad.

"Alright! Listen up everyone!" Austin said demandingly.

All of Alpha squad immediately stopped what they were doing and directed there attention to their commander.

Having got everyone's attention, Alpha Squad's Commander cleared his throat. "The intel we've received reports a significant enemy presence here. We have the element of surprise, so let's use it. The Batarians can't know we're here."

"Don't worry boss. They won't even know what hit them." Austin looked to the Helldiver that had said that. The man was at the far end of the confined space they were all in. His armour was a traditional navy blue with two white stripes running down his chest, another stripe down each arm and another on his helmet. Unlike Shepard's his armour wasn't as muscular. He had a slimmer build than the others; he needed it after all since he was the team's Scout.

Dashiell Torres had been born on the planet Mindoir. When Batarian slavers attacked the colony there, he had been forced to watch both his parents die. When the Helldivers intervened, Dash had watched everything. That was one of the reasons he had joined the Helldivers once he was old enough.

Austin sighed slightly. "Normally I would encourage that behaviour, Dash. But pay attention, please!" "This is a covert operation, our mission is to locate and evacuate, we engage only if necessary." "We're not at war here."

"Not yet we're not." That came from the Krogan. He was the largest out of all of them. His Helldiver armour was painted a very dark shade of red with white tubes connecting to several different places on his chest, arms, legs and neck. If his height and muscle build alone didn't make him look big then his armour would. All the armour plates on his where massive. In addition, the various ammo canisters he had strapped to the armour gave him a look that definitely said "You don't want to mess with me, Punk" and for the heavy weapons expert that was something he needed.

Urdnot Kraan had started out at first as a merc in the Blood Pack gang, hence why he had coloured his armour in a similar fashion, but had quit when he got bored of not seeing enough action. Left to fend for himself, life had gotten extremely difficult. He had heard about the Helldivers from a friend. When he heard they were recruiting Krogan he decided to take the job since he had nothing else. To his surprise though he found the job even better than mercenary work, the best guns, the best equipment and a definite guarantee of battles.

Upon hearing the Krogan's comment, all eyes turned to him. "Kraan, that's not helpful." Said Shepard. The Krogan, Kraan gave an innocent look "What?"

Before Austin could answer however, the Quarian then spoke up. "Shepard. Do we even know if the Batarians still have them?"

Despite being a Quarian, Leena Vas Penthra was huge. At 5 foot 11, she was already fairly tall. As if that wasn't enough, she had enough muscle on her to put a bodybuilder to shame. Her armour was purple with a few silver patterns here and there. All sorts of various gadget and accessories adorned the armor as well, adding to her already larger than life apperance. A person with no military knowledge only had to take one look at her and they'd be able to tell she was an engineer. Some of the accessories where also souvenirs from when she had originally been on her pilgrimage. After she had returned to the Flotilla, she found life a tiny bit boring since she had found she was more talented in combat engineering rather than typical engineering. When the Arkanes had started recruiting Quarians she had been one of the first to sign up.

"That's what we're here to find out, Leena." Austin replied. "We lost contact with the small human settlement here a week ago when the Batarians invaded. But luckily, our information broker, Xun, managed to intercept a leaked transmission between Batarian slavers, the humans are still alive and being held in a large fortified camp not far from here".

The Turian then spoke "Who's our back up, Shepard?" Unlike the others, the Turian's armour was mostly unchanged parts wise; he preferred to just stick with what he had. The armour's colour however was blue with shades of black, and a Turian symbol on his right shoulder.

Ventra Prarken was the team's sniper expert. He had originally worked on the Citadel, but like many C-sec officers he had felt rather held back by all the regulations and rules. On the plus side though, the training had been good, after all, it had allowed to become a Helldiver quicker than usual.

From behind his mask Shepard smiled slightly "No such thing, Ventra. As of now, we're on our own."

Ventra sat back in his seat and bared a very pleased grin "This is getting better by the minute." He banged fists with Kraan as he finished talking.

Then the Asari spoke up "So let me guess, a one day operation. We pick up their trail, infiltrate the camp deal with the slavers if necessary, grab the hostages and blow the hell out of here before anyone even knows what happened. Correct?"

Despite the fact that she was an Asari commando, her armour wasn't as muscular as some might think. In fact hers looked more light weight. That however was mainly to not tire her out while using her biotics. In addition to this, she had several small canisters of red sand strapped to her armour, therefore enabling her biotics to be safely boosted without skin contact. Red sand was toxic after all. Her suit drew the most attention though mainly because she had painted the whole torso area, parts of her legs and arms the exact same colour as her skin, and she had done it so well that some people even believed it to be her actual skin.

It was no secret that Alaara T'onrak was obsessed with sex. When she had first joined the Helldivers she bedded at least 5 different cadets before completing her training. That had changed though when she had met Sandra Whyte, who was sat right next to her, Sandra had grown attached to the Asari while they had worked together and Alaara had been impressed with Sandra resisting her flirting and advances. Eventually, the two had fallen in love with one another and become bond mates. Despite this though, Alaara still did occasionally flirt with some of the others. Plus it was hard to get her to stop teasing Sandra about how loud she would scream in bed.

Like Austin, Sandra hadn't done much customization with her armour either. One thing she had done though was have her ammo packs and canisters coloured in a desert brown colour. One very noticeable feature though was the small Asari Tattoo on her chest which was designed to resemble her bond mate who was sitting next to her; she had copied this from Alaara who had done the same thing, only her tattoo resembled Sandra.

"Couldn't have put it better myself, Alaara." Replied Austin. He then addressed everyone. "We've never got any hostages killed. I don't expect anything different today. So no heroics, everything by the book. Understood?"

All of Alpha squad replied in union. "Yes sir!"

At the same moment the lights in the drop ship's compartment dimmed and the voice of the pilot sounded over the radio. "Alpha squad, we're approaching the drop zone, stand by for green."

Austin wasted no time. "Alright, everyone gear up. Masks on!"

All of Alpha squad stood up. Those that hadn't been wearing their helmets at first now reached for them and placed them on. All the helmets hissed as they were locked into place.

As they finished, the doors to the drop ship opened, allowing the bright sun of Maltoor to finally spill in, everyone's suit glinted brightly as the light hit them.

"Once we clear the drop ship, form up on me!" Austin shouted over the sound of the engines and rushing wind.

The Hellhound drop ship hovered as it began to descend very slowly. Austin inched out slightly and looked down to the ground, holding on to one of the ceiling bars as he did so. Once the drop ship was low enough for the dive, he gave the order. This was it.

"All jump in 3… 2… 1… NOW!

All of Alpha squad jumped. The drop was short, they had only been about 60 feet up, Helldiver suits would survive that no problem. They all landed with a loud BANG! and caused small craters upon impact with the ground. Once they had all landed, they slowly stood up from their crouched positions. Shepard lifted his left hand to his helmet and spoke.

"Pilot, we're all clear. We'll radio in once we have the hostages and we're ready for pickup."

There was a quick pause before the pilot replied. "Roger that, Commander Shepard. Good luck."

Once the drop ship had vanished from site, Austin turned back to his squad. "Okay everyone. Move out."

All of Alpha squad unholstered their preferred weapons from their backs. As they did, the weapons folded out until they were properly deployed.

Maltoor was well known for its vast deserts. Despite the hot temperatures and sunlight though, there was always a good chance of their being a small pool of water nearby. It only rained during the night, but when it did, it produced huge amounts. Hence it was capable of sustaining life, and in this case, was an adequate place for a small human settlement. That had all changed however when the slavers arrived. After this, Austin doubted whether any humans might come back here. "But then, I thought that on Torris as well, and look how that turned out. It's always best to look on the bright side." He thought to himself.

After what felt like nearly an hour, Alpha squad soon found what they were looking for, debris from the convoy that had been attacked. After the wreckage had been examined, Ventra reported that he had found the Batarian's trail.

Sure enough, the trail led them to what looked like an abandoned dig site. Now though, it had been transformed into a large Batarian camp.

Austin held his left fist up to indicate the "hold position" gesture to everyone. Everyone immediately obeyed and crouched down. "Hold here until I tell you, I'm going to analyse the camp better, plan out our tactics." Austin activated his tactical cloak and slowly moved in closer.

Tactical cloak was one the Arkane's best inventions. It allowed it's user to stay almost invisible. It had only just been invented though, so it did have some draw backs. For one, fast movements instantly disabled it so Helldivers had to move slowly when using it. This was ideal for Stealth missions though and made it easy to analyse the battlefield very closely without being seen. Another drawback was that the cloak used up a lot of power. When it had first been added to Helldiver suits it originally used the suit's main power cells; however the cloaks high power consumption proved to be a problem. In order to at least correct this issue all Helldiver suits where fitted with another power cell exclusively to power the cloak. Because of this, Helldivers where advised not to use the cloak unless necessary, and for it to be used only for short periods, since the cloaks power cell took at least half an hour to fully recharge.

Austin slowly crept closer to the camp. Taking cover behind a nearby rock, he took a small grenade shaped device from his belt and quietly threw into the camp. "Deploying sensor"

As the device landed, it let out a small pulse. No one could see it, it only showed up on a Helldiver's helmet. Austin watched his HUD light up with several new silhouettes that showed where all the targets where.

"Okay, two Batarians watching from that post, one sentry guard, and another guard for the hostages. This is going to be easy." There were a lot more hostiles, but right now, Alpha squad only needed to worry about the four that Austin had tagged for them. He then gave the form up sign. The rest of the team activated their own cloaks and slowly crept towards there Commander.

"Alright, here's the plan. Leena, Kraan, take out the two in the tower. Ventra, deal with the Sentry and take up Sniping there. Alaara and Sandra, backup. Once you give us the all clear I'll take care of the one guarding the hostages. When he's dead, Dash will get them to a safe distance from the camp. Once he gives us the all clear, we deal with the camp."

Alaara became confused by the last bit "I thought we were assaulting only if necessary?"

"This camp's bigger than I thought it would be, and the Batarians are more organised than usual, and more heavily armed. This may be a main base of operations. If it is, we can't just leave it. Taking it out could gain us an advantage over the slavers." Austin replied.

"Ha! Promotions for everyone!" Kraan quietly laughed.

"Maybe... Maybe. Right, everyone get to it." With that, Leena, Kraan and Ventra slowly separated from the group, still cloaked. "And you two." He indicated to Sandra and Alaara. "I don't want a repeat of last time. At least keep your armour on until we've cleared the camp. If I find you two giving into your... urges again you won't be on the next mission with us." Austin said sternly.

"Not a problem." Said Alaara sarcastically "We can easily just share our little secret with everyone else. Hmmm?" Both the Alaara and Sandra giggled.

Austin didn't press the issue upon hearing that comeback. He knew better than to argue with the couple when they brought up the subject of him sleeping with them both by accident. It hadn't been his fault really; it had happened one night after they'd pulled off one of their most challenging missions yet. He, Sandra and Alaara had celebrated with a few drinks. However Austin and Sandra had probably had a bit too much, as they had ended up in a threesome with Alaara who hadn't been as drunk as the others but had still been pretty tipsy, and horny, enough to first suggest the idea. Austin had been shocked by this, and they all knew that if this did get out it could have a bad impact on his reputation. They had agreed not to speak of it to anyone else. Although the two bond mates would often tease Shepard, while the others weren't around, about the incident when he complained about them sometimes having sex while on a mission.

Austin and Dash both went their ways as well, slowly making their way down toward the tent where the hostages where.

Ventra slowly snuck up on the sentry guard. He was completely oblivious to the fact that a Turian was creeping up on him. Before the guard even had time to react to Ventra's loud breathing, he felt a large pair of hands on his face, the start of the sound of his snapping spine and then, nothing. Ventra gently placed the body on the ground then he unholstered his sniper rifle. "Sentry cleared, Sniper in position" He said into his comm.

Leena and Kraal crept up to the tower. There were two Batarians, both oblivious to the camouflaged Helldivers below them. Kraan spoke "You take that one, I'll take the other." Leena merely nodded. Leena activated her own omni blade, two spike blades, pulsing with electricity, flipped out of her omni tools. It had been quiet enough so that the whole camp didn't hear, but loud enough for the guard above her to look over the edge. "Big mistake" She thought. Leena brought her blade right into the Batarians chest and pulled him out of the tower, at the same time Kraan simply pulled his target out of the tower. "And… snap!" He placed the limp Batarian on the ground then spoke into his com. "Tower clear, Shepard."

"Roger that." Austin replied. "Dash, hold here. I'll take out the guard. Once I give you the all clear, get the hostages out of the camp. When you reach safe distance, let me know, then we'll hit the camp."

Dash merely nodded. Crouched down, Austin slowly made his way down to the tent. Taking cover, he peeked his head around the corner. There was one guard and he had his back to the prisoners. Austin smiled, they never did learn. With his cloak still on, Austin slowly crept up on his target. Very slowly, he withdrew his small combat knife from the holster on his chest. It was too risky to use his omni blade; it had been okay for Leena to use hers since the tower was further away from the camp. Here though, the guard ,and probably a few other Batarians would hear. Austin took a deep breath; he brought his left hand over the guard's mouth. As he did, the fast movements disabled his cloak. Fortunately, all the over guards were out of sight or out of hearing range. As the Batarian struggled, Austin quickly brought his knife into the Batarians heart. The Batarian's struggles stopped.

The prisoners panicked slightly after seeing their guard killed. Austin however made a quick reassuring gesture to them and placed his finger to where his mouth should've been on his mask. "Shhhhhh. It's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you." He whispered calmly. The prisoners quickly calmed down. "Dash, get them out of here." He turned back to the hostages as Dash uncloaked and began leading them out of the tent. "Go with him. He'll get you out of here and to safety." The prisoners slowly stood up and began following Dash out of the camp. One girl though stayed behind briefly. "Thank you." She whispered. Austin merely nodded then the girl joined the others.

Austin then turned to Dash. The two Helldivers nodded to one another before Dash followed the rest of the hostages. Austin meanwhile, re-activated his cloak and took cover behind a small crate. After a few moments, Dash's voice sounded on the comlink. "Hostages are clear. Give those bastards hell for me!"

"Alright. Hold position and wait for my signal. I've got an idea." Austin said into his comm. With his cloak still on, Austin slowly crept over to a currently parked UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle. Unlike the ones used by the Human Systems Alliance, the shuttle was painted black and red with a Batarian logo. He took another small device from his combat belt and gently threw it at the shuttle. Upon contact, the device attached itself to the shuttle. There was a quiet beep to indicate it was armed.

"Shepard, what are you doing?" Came Ventra's voice through Austin's com.

Austin quickly replied "You know how they say? Start the party… with a bang?"

Without any hesitation, Austin's orange omni tool flashed into life and he armed the detonation device.

The entire shuttle exploded taking five other nearby Batarians with it.

"Show time everyone!" Austin yelled into his comm.

Alarms began to sound throughout the camp. All the other Batarians immediately stopped what they were doing and grabbed their weapons. From his sniper post, Ventra managed to take down at least three Batarians before one of them managed to spot him and fired a rocket at him. It missed him, but his sniper position was completely destroyed. Kraan, Alaara and Sandra moved down from the hill they had been on and into the camp, continuously gunning down any Batarians that tried to get in their way. Alaara was quickly able to knock a few others done with her biotics while Sandra provided cover fire with her Assault Rifle.

Kraan meanwhile was having the time of his life. His large mini gun blasted anything in sight.

Leena had stayed on the high ground with Ventra and had managed to build a twin barrelled sentry turret which was making short work of the camps defence systems.

Austin meanwhile was sticking to cover and firing when seeing an opening. The Batarians where putting up a good fight, but he and his squad mates had faced worse. One of the Batarians had manned a large turret and was making cover a bit difficult for him, he'd be pinned any second, but he wasn't worried. He unclipped a grenade from his belt and threw it at the tent that was set up behind the turret. He knew that grenade wasn't powerful enough to destroy the turret, it was armoured and shielded. Fortunately, the Batarians had been stupid enough to set up the turret right in front of a weapons cache. The whole tent exploded, taking the turret with it and sending the Batarians flying.

Once the rest of the squad had caught up with their commander they moved to the centre building.

"Cover me, I'll handle this." Austin ordered. With that he kicked the door down. "Knock, knock!"

He managed to land a concussive shot on one Batarian, but the other was quicker and he shot his own concussive round. A normal soldier would have blown completely out of the building, for Austin though, his shields absorbed the impact but it still knocked him back a bit, he quickly returned fire and the other slaver fell. Austin noticed movement out of the hole in the building where the other Batarian had been blown out by his concussive round. He saw two other slavers retreating.

"Ventra. We've got two fleeing the scene. Take them out!" He ordered into his comm.

Austin watched as the two Batarians fell from the sniper shots, both their heads exploded. Suddenly he heard a gun click from behind him. Acting immediately on instinct he smashed the butt of his rifle into the attacker behind him as he whirled around. The attacker was knocked unconscious by the impact. Austin only noticed afterward though that it looked like another colonist. A young woman, she had scars on her face and obvious signs that she'd been abused.

"Oh crap." Austin thought. She clearly hadn't meant him harm, she had probably just been scared when her guards had left her and all noise had been going on. Plus the fact that the safety on the gun was still on enforced that theory.

Leena quickly ran in having heard the noise. She looked down at the unconscious woman then back at Austin.

"I acted on instinct. She snuck up on me from behind. She was probably just scared." He then noticed what looked like an information terminal. "See if you can gain access. Let me know what you find."

"Yes, Commander." Replied Leena. Austin then looked back down at the woman he had just knocked out. "Let me know when she wakes up." Leena merely nodded and started hacking into the console. Austin meanwhile stepped back outside. The rest of Alpha squad where gathering up the bodies of the Batarians. Ventra was observing the other buildings, checking for anything useful. Then Kraan came out of another tent carrying two more bodies over his shoulders. But they weren't Batarians.

"Oh no."

"I'm sorry Shepard. They were dead when I found them. Those bastards must've tortured them to death. Just for fun." He spat on one of the Batarians bodies as he finished talking before heading into another tent.

Austin knelt down in front of one of the bodies. They always seemed to go for the young ones. "Must think they're play things or something. "Sick fuckers!" He thought angrily in his mind. What made it worse was that the other woman had been pregnant. But with her dead there wasn't any way the child could've survived. Both the colonists had clearly died long before they had arrived. But that still didn't make the pain any better. Austin laid his hand on the woman's forehead and bowed his head in silence.

He was then interrupted by a call from Leena. "Shepard! You'll want to take a look at this!"

Austin slowly stood up and walked over to the building he had just come out of. "What've we got?" he asked.

"A damn jackpot! That's what we've got." Leena happily replied. "Slaver contacts, shipping manifests, transmission logs, tactics. This must be our lucky day. Seems you're instincts where right after all."

"When have I ever been wrong?" Austin replied, slightly happier now that he knew that this mission and the loss of the two colonists hadn't been in vain. He smiled under his helmet.

"Well… There was that time Kato…" Leena started sarcastically. But before she could continue, Austin stopped her.

"Whatever." He replied cheerfully. "Copy it all to your omni tool and wipe the local copy." As he finished speaking he heard a groan from behind him. He looked down at the woman he had knocked out earlier, she was coming around. Austin knelt down in front of her and waited for her to fully recover.

"What… Where? What happened?" When her vision cleared she found herself staring directly at Austin. He was close enough, and it was also quiet enough in the building, for her to hear him breathing inside his suit. She was startled at first, but quickly relaxed when she saw the N7 log on his chest.

"Are you alright?" Asked Austin.

"Yes. I'm fine." The woman wearily replied. "Who are you? What happened? Why do I have a headache all of a sudden?"

Austin placed a hand reassuringly on the woman's shoulder. "I'm Commander Austin Shepard of The Helldivers. We just raided this camp to free you and several other hostages from Batarian slavers. You tried to sneak up on me earlier with a gun, I acted on instinct and knocked you out. That's why your head hurts. Sorry about that."

The woman looked at Austin for a few moments. Although the helmet he wore showed no emotion, the tone of his British accented voice was calm and gentle. She rubbed her sore forehead a bit before replying.

"Oh yes. I'm so sorry. I… I was scared. I didn't know you were a Helldiver. I was so frightened, all the noise, the explosions…" She sounded as though she was going to cry, but Austin gently placed his hand on her cheek.

"It's alright. All the Batarians are dead, and we're on your side. You've got nothing to be sorry for."

The woman sniffed a bit and then relaxed. "You're lucky that gun jammed." She said after she'd calmed down. "I could've killed you."

"Trust me, Miss. A shot from that gun wouldn't even have dented this armour. Besides, the gun still had the safety catch on."

"No wonder it just clicked when I tried to fire it."

"What's your name?" Austin asked.

"My name's Lilith. I was a simple farmer here before those slavers took us."

"Why weren't you with the others?"

"They thought they'd try and have fun with me. One of those fucks tried to rape me. They hit me for trying to resist." Lilith indicated her black eye. Then her face suddenly took on a worried expression "What happened to the others?"

"It's okay, there safe. We got them out of the camp first before we attacked. I'm afraid two of them are dead. They were tortured to death." Austin replied sadly.

Lilith sighed. "At least you came now rather than later. We might all be dead now if you hadn't come."

"True." Replied Austin.

Even though Austin's face was covered, Lilith could tell he was smiling again. Austin then stood up and offered Lilith his hand.

"Can you walk?"

"Yes I think so. I just feel a bit dizzy." Lilith took Austin's hand and allowed him to help her up.

"Try and sit down for now." Austin said calmly. "We'll be pulling out soon." Lilith merely nodded and went to sit on a nearby chair.

Austin walked back outside. All the Batarian bodies had been gathered now in a pile.

"Shepard, what do you want done with these two?" Ventra indicated the two dead colonists.

"Put them in stretchers we'll let the other colonists decide what to do with them after that."

Ventra nodded.

Austin looked around. There were only three of them outside.

"Where are Sandra and Alaara?" He asked. Both the other two Helldivers looked around. Nothing.

Austin sighed. He knew where they were. "Well at least they doing it now rather than earlier." He thought.

"Don't worry, I'll get them." He said, and walked over to a nearby shelter. Sure enough he found what he was looking for. Sandra had Alaara pinned against the shelter and was furiously kissing her. Portions of their armour lay scattered on the ground and they had both removed the upper regions of the suit mesh. They both felt each other's breasts as they continued making out with one another. Alaara had managed to get more off than Sandra since Sandra had her right hand down Alaara's panties and was furiously fingering her pussy.

"Oh yes! Yes! Rub me their! Oh Goddess, Sandra you're so good, don't stop!" Alaara moaned into Sandra's kiss.

A small puddle had formed on the ground where Alaara was standing. The two both moaned rather loudly as they continued to fuck each other furiously.

"You like me fucking your pussy don't you, you dirty Asari?" Sandra moaned in Alaara's kiss.

Austin sighed again but also laughed at the same time. Although he did find it embarrassing that the two had sex while on a mission, it was quite funny and surprising that they didn't mind doing it in front of everyone else. Although since all of the squad was aware of their relationship that probably had something to do with it.

"Hey girls, I hate to break things up, but we're heading out soon."

The human and Asari turned to Austin. They weren't shocked to be caught in the act. This hadn't been the first time their Commander had caught them half naked.

"You could join us Shepard." Sandra giggled.

"You know what I said last time." Austin replied. "It felt wrong the first time, its not gonna be any different now."

The two bond mates laughed. "Shepard, you really have got to get a girlfriend again. Besides, we both know about your fascination with my people." Alaara giggled.

Austin remained quiet for a few minutes.

"I expect you both back with the others with all your armour on by the time we leave. Am I clear?" He asked sternly.

"You're not gonna try and stop us? Oh Goddess! That's the spot love!" Alaara replied.

"You at least listened to my previous order about saving it until the end. Better now than earlier. Keep going by all means. Just be back before we head out." And with that, Austin left the couple to continue the wild sex while he walked back to the centre of the camp.

The two dead colonists had now been put on stretchers and cleaned up. Lilith was knelt in front of the pregnant woman. Her face was streaked with tears.

Austin noticed her sad expression; he walked up to her and knelt down beside her. He put his arm on her shoulder. "Friend of yours?" He asked.

"Friend of friend." Lilith replied shakily, trying to hold back her crying. "She was only a month pregnant."

"I'm sorry. Truly I am." Austin said. As he stood up Lilith spoke again.

"Does it hurt, Commander?" Lilith asked "Knowing that despite all you do… You can't save everyone."

"Yes, Lilith." Austin replied. "It does. More than you know. As Commander, it's my job to prevent this. I do all I can, but… the galaxy just isn't kind enough sometimes."

Austin decided to leave Lilith alone for now and walked over to the pile of Batarian bodies. "Clear the area; leave no traces that we were here." He ordered to his squad.

Ventra nodded and walked off to take care of the footprints they had left. Kraan took a small blue glowing capsule from his belt and poured a small quantity onto the pile of bodies. As the blue liquid made contact with the bodies they began to slowly dissolve. Unlike acid, the special substance that they were using was designed to not leave any residue or scorching, or even signs that the body had been melted.

Once the last of the bodies had been dissolved, Alaara and Sandra both returned. Leena soon followed as she appeared out of the main building. "All data wiped, Shepard. Ready when you are."

Austin nodded. They were pretty much ready to leave now.

"Dash, this is, Shepard. Do you copy?" Austin asked into his com.

"Copy Commander." Came Dash's voice.

"Send us your coordinates." We'll rendezvous with drop ship there.

"Aye aye, Commander. See you there."

Austin then turned to the two stretchers. "You two, carry that one." He indicated the stretcher to Alaara and Sandra. "Kraan, Ventra, that one."

The four Helldivers picked up the stretchers and began carrying them out of the camp. Austin then followed with Leena and Lilith both in tow. With the camp cleared of any evidence of their presence, Alpha squad began their journey to the landing zone, and their way off of Maltoor.

Pretty soon they had re-joined with Dash and the other colonists, they were overjoyed to see Lilith but at the same time heart broken by their losses. Austin then radioed the pilot for him to pick them up. After a short wait, the Drop ship reappeared above them. This time, it landed so that everyone could get in. As the drop ship began ascending, Austin took one last look at the vast desert of Maltoor before the doors closed and the last bits of sunlight disappeared.

Well there we go. The first chapter.

Like to also point out that further details on the Helldivers and Shepard's background will be expanded on in the next few chapters, this one is mostly here in order to introduce all the readers to the Helldivers, Alpha squad (who will play a larger role in future stories) and Shepard in general.

For anyone still unclear on what Shepard and the Helldivers in general look like, do this:

Go to Deviantart

Search for StTheo

One of his works is called Commander Shepard. That's the Shepard i'm using in this series. His actual facial appearance will be in the next chapter.

There are also some other Helldiver pics I intend to feature in this story. Rest assured I got his permission to write this story and I take no credit for the idea in the first place. He deserves it not me.

If you have anything to say about this please do leave a review. At the moment I'm more than welcome to feedback.