For Peace

Beatrice Shepard

"Where is the explorer ship that was attacked?" Shepard asked as they cleared the relay. "Did they give us any coordinates?"

"The wreckage shouldn't be that far away," Miranda replied as she turned on the scanner. "The scanner should pick up on it's location."

"From what the Alliance gave us," Shepard said. "The wreckage was near a planet."

"The nearest planet is several miles from here," Miranda replied. "The wreckage could have been drawn into the planet's gravitational pull."

"It's our best shot," Shepard using the long-range scanners to find any evidence on the wreckage. "Take us in slowly. Who knows how advanced these aliens are."

While the two of them navigated toward the planet closest to the mass relay, the long-range scanners didn't pick up anything strange and Shepard began to worry. There was no way anyone, human or alien, would leave wreckage out in the open for anyone to take.

"Something doesn't feel right," Shepard commented as they approached the planet. "The long-range scanners should have picked up on something."

"I'll try to boost our signal," Miranda said keying in some numbers.

"The wreckage could be hidden by the planet's gravitational force..." Miranda muttered. "Still nothing."

Shall I take a look? A voice spoke up in Shepard's head.

"Miranda," Shepard said ignoring the voice. "How much power can we put out before getting noticed?"

"We should be fine at our current output," she replied. "Any more and we may attract some unwanted visitors."

"How close can we get before we're drawn to the planet's gravitational force?"

"We can get a bit closer," Miranda replied. "I'm not detecting anything unusual from the planet."

"Bring us closer," Shepard ordered. "Do another scan."

"Scan complete....scan has picked up on something...."

"The remains of the wreckage?" Shepard asked waiting for confirmation.

"Yes," Miranda confirmed. "There are pieces of the wreckage on the planet and there is another piece about 1000 feet from our current position."

"However," she continued. "This piece is highly unstable. The slightest change in position will make it hurl down to the planet. It won't be a safe reentry."

"Is there any other spacecraft around our immediate proximity?"

"Scanners are not showing anything," Miranda said clicking a few buttons. "There is no heat signature or frequencies showing up on the scanner either."

"Take us in," Shepard said after a few moments of thinking. "But be prepared to evacuate. If there is anything unusual when we board the wreckage, we are leaving."

"Yes ma'am," Miranda replied. "Approaching wreckage in 2 minutes."

Shepard let Miranda take control of the ship before going to get changed. Shepard donned her N7 armor and double-checked the air tanks. Everything seemed in order as Miranda brought the ship in closer and prepared to dock. When Shepard grabbed an oxygen tank and was about to attach it, the voice spoke up once more.

You are about to equip defective equipment, it said.

"What?" Shepard asked out loud.

"Docking completed," Miranda called out.

The oxygen tanks are defective, the voice repeated. If, in fact, my scanners show that all of this equipment is defective. You'll get about 10 minutes of oxygen per tank.