Mass Effect, Pt. 2

The story of Mass Effect opens with a mission to perform a test run of the Systems Alliance's newest ship, the SSV Normandy.  The Normandy is a stealth focused ship.  It's drive core and structure are designed to to keep the ship hidden from enemy sensors.  The initial design and construction was a joint Alliance and turian affair, one of the many efforts to improve relations between the races since the First Contact War.

Commander Shepard (Male)

The commanding officer in charge of the mission is our good friend, David Anderson.  His second-in-command is Shepard, the character you play as throughout the game series.  Shepard completed N7 training, just as Anderson did, and is the best and brightest the Alliance has to offer.  The mission involves a run to Eden Prime, a stable, quiet human colony, and back.  The Citadel Council has sent a Spectre to monitor the mission, a turian named Nihlus.  Shepard learns that the mission is actually more than a shakedown run; a Prothean artifact called the Beacon has been discovered on Eden Prime and they are to investigate.

But, as all good stories begin, a wrinkle soon appears.  A distress call is sent out from Eden Prime.  The video picked up by the Normandy shows Alliance soldiers in the midst of a firefight with an unknown and unseen enemy.  Then, a unholy sound rings out across the sky.  The soldiers look up and see a ship, like something out of H.P. Lovecraft's nightmares, hovering menacingly over a star port.  Then the video feed cuts out.

Upon landing, Nihlus scoots on ahead to check things out while you hit the ground with two other squadmates, Lt. Kaiden Alenko and Pvt. Jenkins.  By the time you take ten steps in the game, Jenkins is gunned like the Star Trek redshirt he is by a floating robot.  But, you manage to pick up another team member along the way, a feisty brunette named Ashley Williams.  Unfortunately, she has a squad of geth on her tail so you have to take them out.

Soon, we learn the identity of the person behind the attack on Eden Prime.  It is none other than Saren Arterias.  Nihlus, who a good half-mile ahead of Shepard, discovers him, but doesn't suspect his involvement.  When he turn his back, Saren puts a bullet through his fellow spectre's head and makes for the Beacon.  The turian has his geth minions arm a set of explosives to blow up the colony, gets what he needs from the Beacon, and jets off-world before Shepard and company catch up to him.

Saren's ship, Sovereign, on Eden Prime

You deactivate the bombs and secure the Beacon.  But, the Prothean artifact reacts with Shepard, flooding his mind with random strange and creepy visions before knocking him out.

From there, the Normandy returns to the Citadel.  In the process of trying to convince the Council to act against Saren, Shepard picks up Urdnot Wrex, a krogan mercenary who has it in for Saren thanks to a deal gone bad, Garrus Vakarian, a disillusioned turian officer with Citadel Security who wants to see justice done after his investigation into Saren gets blocked, and Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, a Quarian on her Pilgrimage who happens across a geth data chip directly linking Saren to the attack on Eden Prime.  From the data chip, it is learned that Saren has allied himself with Matriarch Beneziah, an incredibly powerful asari, and that he is searching for a device called the Conduit.

It is Tali's data chip that convinces the Council to act.  They name Shepard as the first human spectre and task him with tracking down Saren.  The human ambassador, Udina, and Cpt. Anderson give Shepard command of the Normandy.

Your sixth and final team member is found on the volcanic world Therum.  The daughter of Beneziah, Liara T'Soni, is excavating a archaeological dig when geth troopers attack.  After you rescue her from the geth and a krogan merc hired by Saren, she joins you on your mission.  With her telepathic abilities, she is able to help make some sense of the visions implanted within Shepard's mind by the Beacon, but not all of them.  The visions tell of the end of the Protheans at the hands of a race of hyper-advanced, sentient machines known as the Reapers.

And that's where we'll leave off for the time-being.  See you guys Monday!