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Mission Gone Dark (Revised)

(Content Warnings: Violence, Language, Threat)

Orochi’s shields sparked at the contact of the toxic rain, weakening further with every drop. He was ducking into the doorway for each reload of his SMG to allow his shields to recover slightly. But unless he was willing to let Cerberus close in on the building, he could not remain back for long. In the room that he guarded there sat two children - a brother and sister - huddled together in the corner. Orochi could hear them crying. They had witnessed their family and their would-be rescuers fall in a hail of gunfire, and now their only hope for survival was the lone Phoenix Vanguard, facing multiple waves of Cerberus forces.

His biotics had been active for so long that his head was ringing and there was a dull pain behind his eyes. As he sent out another singularity with which to seize the closest approaching Centurion, he felt his vision lurch. A dot of red light appeared on his chest plate, accompanied by a high-frequency hum. Orochi launched himself out of the line of sight of the Nemesis’ weapon, hit the ground, and rolled into the doorway. As he was climbing to his feet, he heard a noise from the other door on the far side of the room. The children wailed and crawled further beneath the desk under which had taken shelter. The decryption that Orochi had placed on the door was being hacked from the other side, the mechanism was beginning to release. Orochi raced to intercept whoever was behind that door, his biotic whips snaking out of his arms like threads of lightning.

When the door opened, there was a narrow window in which each party thought they were under attack, and Orochi almost detonated a biotic explosion off of the other solder before recognizing Alliance colors. The sight brought a relief that he never expected to feel.

'Orochi?'

The helmeted female squad leader spoke his name as if the Alliance had been searching for him. He allowed his senses to relax slightly, and withdrew his curling energy weapons back into the sheaths of his gauntlets.

'That's me.'

Her eyes through the visor shifted behind him towards the unsecured entrance on the far side of the room. There was a commotion beyond the door that indicated the incoming Cerberus agents were almost upon them. A whimper drew her attention to a table on the side of the room, underneath which huddled the two small children.

'Jesus...' The female soldier shook her head. 'Liara, EDI, hold the other entrance!' Softening her tone immediately, she bowed one knee to bring her down to the level of the children. 'It's gonna be all right. We're getting you out of here.'

She straightened and came to face Orochi. 'Where the hell is your squad?'

'Evac didn’t go as planned,' he explained, glancing over as the synthetic and asari squad members headed to hold the entrance. 'The Reapers took out communications and transport hubs across the colony. Some civilians were left stranded outside of the main area.' With a snort of anger, the Phoenix said: 'Last of my squad went down about an hour ago. We were here to search for survivors - not battle a shit-ton of Cerberus heavies.'

Her eyes grew darker as she clenched her teeth for a moment. 'Are you three all that’s left of the evac mission?' She indicated Orochi and the two children with a motion of her arm.

Orochi took a quick glance out of the nearest window, from where he could see a line of foreboding Guardian shields edging closer to the building. When he looked back at the commander he noticed her anger and frustration.

'Your Alliance screwed up, honey,' he said ungraciously. 'Evac crews missed too many civilians, half of them were left to be slaughtered by the Reaper wave. The lucky ones are scattered all over the colony, hiding and fighting these Cerberus bastards - who knows how many are still alive.'

He activated his omni-tool and applied a dose of medigel to a gash on the side of his neck. 'My team was attempt number two, sent in without solid intel. I gotta tell you, my dear, I’m not impressed by the Alliance so far. Let’s just hope third time’s a charm.'

'Liara,' barked the soldier, popping a thermal clip. 'There's a wall of Guardians out there between us and the LZ.'

'Understood, Shepard,' rose the soft voice of the asari. She glided across to the front entrance and stirred her biotics. With an audible hum the air around her began to glow blue.

The woman gave her a nod, then ducked out of the doorway and laid down a stream of cover fire. At her command Liara stepped forward, hands raised, and cast a sphere of biotic energy at the line of Cerberus shields. The air pulsated and shimmered, and the white shields were ripped from the hands of their bearers, to be raised in mid-air – useless to protect them.

Orochi did not wait for the commander to jump in. With a grunt of exertion, he dove into a roll across the cold floor, sprang up beside Liara, and unloaded a clip into the flailing group of Guardians. He felt the heat of the soldier's assault rifle by his ear as she joined in the attack.

'Commander!' EDI's artificial vocals crackled over the comm. 'They have reached the back entrance.'

The Alliance infiltration unit, molded into a feminine shape, was lithe and agile. She flew through the air towards the approaching soldiers, striking out with acrobatic limbs as her pistol flashed to life. The first two troopers went down.

'Orochi, follow Liara, get the kids to the evac point!' The soldier cast off a steaming clip and slammed on the reload. 'I'll hold off the others with EDI!' In moments she was at the side of her AI companion, launching a concussive shot into the face of the nearest enemy.

The Phoenix Vanguard swung back into the doorway to signal the children. 'Come on, quick!' He let the asari take the lead while his own biotic powers fell to minimum levels. The brief respite from the jarring sensation was welcome. Scooping up the smallest child, he gathered the other to his side and prepared to lead them to safety.

Liara was breathtaking. Moving with a calm confidence, she single-handedly shattered a turret and drew the engineer responsible into a crushing singularity that crumpled him like paper. Not missing a beat, she fired her heavy pistol at a Nemesis who was sighting their weapon on Orochi. The sniper stumbled but did not fall, and then Liara biotically wrenched a shipping container from its location and cast it so hard into the head of the Nemesis that it almost decapitated them. Orochi remained behind the asari as she danced towards the landing zone, shielding the children while firing off frequent shots at the surrounding forces.

A crackling, low bark could be heard across the airwaves, rising from a Cerberus comm: 'Shit! It's Shepard!'

Orochi glanced back quickly. Commander Shepard? In her heavy armor and helmet he had not recognized her. Now it made sense that her team was so efficient – far outclassing the Alliance squad that had fallen beside him just hours ago. Approaching the LZ, he could see a Kodiak shuttle in blue and white speeding down from orbit. It briefly occurred to Orochi that it must have been launched by the SSV Normandy herself. What a day.

'We're here, Commander,' chimed the Alliance comm. 'I don't see you.'

The Kodiak thrusters swiveled into landing position and fired in controlled bursts as the vehicle was lowered to the pad. Before it had touched down, the door launched upwards and a huge, armored figure leapt from the shuttle.

'I'll clear a path for you, Lola!'

Rapid assault gunfire rained down upon the remaining Cerberus personnel. The bulky marine exiting the vessel was fearless, direct, and relentless. No defensive maneuvers, no crouching or ducking – he simply marched into the fray like an invincible juggernaut and cut down the line of attackers. Orochi liked him already.

Shepard and EDI had taken out their half-dozen enemies and were making their way towards the landing zone. But Cerberus had one last surprise for them.

Preceded by echoing thuds that shook the ground, a Cerberus Atlas lumbered out of the abandoned residential area. It turned towards the small group of soldiers and huddled children, both mechanical arms weapons-ready, and stormed forward. Its rocket launcher activated and prepared to fire.

'Hell yeah!' The battle-hungry marine with the assault rifle pounded his fist on his weapon enthusiastically. 'Come and get it!'

Shepard gave a silent signal and her team fell into position among the cargo crates and containers. She motioned for EDI to take out the Atlas' shields and the AI vanished as if by magic, appearing instantly behind the metal beast. A swift blast to the exhaust port sent the Atlas careening out of control momentarily. Its pilot swerved the machine to locate the attacker, while Shepard and Vega leaned out of cover to shoot at the armor plates.

Liara set up a crushing warp field around the Atlas, which was followed intuitively by Orochi initiating a biotic throw. The two powers detonated and shattered the cockpit glass that protected the pilot. Rather than defend himself, the Cerberus trooper inside locked his missile launcher onto Shepard's location and fired. The commander threw up her barrier and lunged for cover as the blast exploded the shipping crates around her. She rolled and came to her feet, sighting her rifle at the gargantuan enemy. Her fingers streaked across the weapon's controls, activated the incendiary ammo, and shot directly at the man inside the cockpit.

The trooper went up in a ball of flames, screaming and writhing in his seat. He dropped out and fell to the ground, attempting to roll away the fire, but was caught with a slug to the head within seconds.

As the area cleared and the smoke died down, Shepard checked on her team and the surviving children. Liara drew the little ones to her and led them to the shuttle, where she and the pilot helped them on board. Orochi was injured but stable, and felt more exhausted than anything else. James wandered off to poke around the vacant Atlas, which was burnt black and crippled.

'James,' called the commander, taking EDI's hand to pull her up to the Kodiak. 'We're leaving.'

The large soldier placed one foot in the cockpit of the Atlas and looked back at Shepard. 'Can I ride it first?'

'James. We're leaving,' she repeated flatly. 'Joker, you read me?'

'Loud and clear, Commander,' chimed the Normandy's pilot.

'Send a team to reclaim the bodies of the Alliance squad who were killed here. I want to bring them home.'

Orochi mounted the shuttle and dropped down into one of the seats. It had been one hell of a day. Though he was not much of a team type, and he didn't play well with others, he had grown accustomed to – if not fond of – the Alliance marines who had fought alongside him. It was fitting that they were returned to their families. He wondered, though, what would happen to him now. Ex-Cerberus, not navy, he himself had no guarantee of a place in the Alliance now that his collaboration with the team was over.

At length the Kodiak was on its way. Orochi sank back into the chair and contemplated his fate. What would Commander Shepard do with him now? He wanted to be on the front lines, fighting back Reaper forces and Cerberus invaders, for death and glory. As the shuttle disembarked, he peered out of the window and watched Benning fade away, along with the glorious dead.

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Mass Effect Scenery | Gellix

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N7 ANGEL portraits using NewProfilePic

[ssv-gabriel]

Hey, can y’all rb this if it’s okay to send you messages asking about your ocs, cause on god I wanna interact with y’all but I am terrified of being annoying lol

[ssv-gabriel]

For my ME3MP fic, I've written two different beginning chapters. I haven't decided which to continue.

Rescue

From the POV of Lt. Kitani, where the N7 ANGEL team first meet Lucas Rendon. Jumps right in to the elite team as an existing unit.

Mission Gone Dark

Featuring Commander Shepard, from the POVs of Shepard and the ex-Cerberus Orochi. Introduces the N7 ANGEL team as his new unit.

I would appreciate any feedback. You can also view them on ao3 and leave kudos, thanks!

[ssv-gabriel]

Mission Gone Dark (Alternative Beginning)

When the shuttle dropped their squad down on Benning, a pretty heavy acid rain was coming down all around them. They had to run for cover almost immediately to avoid compromising everyone’s shields. Well this was just great, it would probably mess with Liara’s barriers, too. Shepard shook her head and consulted her omni-tool to scan for signs of life. Joker had warned that Cerberus was in the area. The slums would be crawling with agents soon enough, and that didn’t give her much time to look around. Luckily, it didn’t seem like the life signs detected were too far off from the drop point. She started moving in their direction.

Hackett had been less than forthcoming in terms of how to handle the situation. Usually that was Shepard’s wheelhouse, but here it concerned her. A squad of marines gone dark on a mission to recover reaper technology on Benning, plus a time constraint because of Cerberus involvement. It was likely that the organization was just after the technology, too, but there was no way to be certain, even if the Illusive Man himself had said so. It troubled her that the squad leader she was trying to find was apparently a Cerberus defector. It seemed a little too obvious that he could be playing both sides. What kind of double agent would be so bad at maintaining their cover? They were getting closer now, according to her tool there were life signs on the other side of this door. She pressed her hand to the console to open it and took a step back. The life signs could just as easily be Cerberus as they could be Alliance.

Orochi’s shields sparked at the contact of the toxic rain, weakening further with every drop. He would duck into the doorway for each reload of his SMG to allow his shields to recover slightly. But unless he was willing to let Cerberus close in on the building, he could not remain back for long. In the room that he guarded there sat two children - a brother and sister - huddled together in the corner. Orochi could hear them crying. They had witnessed their family and their would-be rescuers fall in a hail of gunfire, and now their only hope for survival was the lone Phoenix Vanguard, facing multiple waves of Cerberus forces.

His biotics had been active for so long that his head was ringing and there was a dull pain behind his eyes. As he sent out another singularity with which to seize the closest approaching Centurion, he felt his vision lurch. A dot of red light appeared on his chestplate, accompanied by a high-frequency hum. Orochi launched himself out of the line of sight of the Nemesis’ weapon, hit the ground, and rolled into the doorway. As he was climbing to his feet, he heard a noise from the other door on the far side of the room. The children wailed and crawled further beneath the desk under which had taken shelter. The decryption that Orochi had placed on the door was being hacked from the other side, the mechanism was beginning to release. Orochi raced to intercept whoever was behind that door, his biotic whips snaking out of his arms like threads of lightning.

When the door opened, there was a narrow window in which each party thought they were under attack, and Shepard almost detonated a biotic explosion off of the other solder before recognizing him from his file.

'Orochi, right?' Her eyes shifted behind him, there was an unsecured entrance on the far side of the room and she could hear a commotion beyond the door that indicated the incoming Cerberus agents Joker had warned about. Either they were here to kill Orochi or they were here to extract him. 'Where the hell is your squad?'

A whimper drew her attention to a table on the side of the room, underneath which huddled two small children.

'Jesus.' What the hell was going on here? 'Liara, EDI, hold the other entrance.'

She watched them move, keeping a peripheral eye on the soldier she didn’t know before approaching the children. She knelt down on the floor, resting a hand on the table.

'Are you injured?'

What were children doing down here? Benninghad been evacuated since the first Reaper attack. Was it possible these children were left behind? How had they even survived?

Orochi was relieved to clamp eyes on the Alliance colors - something he had never thought he would feel. The helmeted squad leader spoke his name as if the Alliance had been searching for him. He allowed his senses to relax ever so slightly, and withdrew his curling energy weapons back into the sheaths of his gauntlets.

'Evac didn’t go as planned,' he explained, glancing over as the synthetic and asari squad members headed to hold the entrance. 'The Reapers took out communications and transport hubs across the colony. Some civilians were left stranded outside of the main area.'

Shepard hadn't known about the civilians, just the recovered reaper tech and Cerberus trying to take it. Why the hell hadn’t Hackett told her what was going on? Orochi had answered that rather quickly; with no communications they couldn’t tell Hackett that civilians were still here.

With a snort of anger, the Phoenix said: 'Last of my squad went down about an hour ago. We were here to search for survivors - not battle a shit-ton of Cerberus heavies.'

Her face grew darker as she clenched her teeth for a moment. 'Are you three all that’s left of the evac mission?' She indicated Orochi and the two children with a motion of her arm. If that was the case, then she’d gotten here too late to do much of anything. They’d have to fight their way back to the launch pad and get the hell out of here before Cerberus had a chance to get in reinforcements. What a goddamn disaster.

Orochi took a quick glance out of the nearest window, from where he could see a line of foreboding Guardian shields edging closer to the building. When he looked back at the commander he noticed her anger and frustration.

'Your Alliance screwed up, honey,' he said ungraciously. 'Evac crews missed too many civilians, half of them were left to be slaughtered by the Reaper wave. The lucky ones are scattered all over the colony, hiding and fighting these Cerberus bastards - who knows how many are still alive.'

He activated his omni-tool and applied a dose of medigel to a gash on the side of his neck. 'My team was attempt number two, sent in without solid intel. I gotta tell you, my dear, I’m not impressed by the Alliance so far. Let’s just hope third time’s a charm.'

'Liara,' barked Shepard, popping a thermal clip. 'There's a wall of Guardians out there between us and the LZ.'

'Understood, Shepard,' rose the soft voice of the asari. She glided across to the front entrance and stirred her biotics. With an audible hum the air around her began to glow blue.

Shepard gave her a nod, then ducked out of the doorway and laid down a stream of cover fire. At her command Liara stepped forward, hands raised, and cast a sphere of biotic energy at the line of Cerberus shields. The air pulsated and shimmered, and the white shields were ripped from the hands of their bearers, to be raised in mid-air – useless to protect them.

Orochi did not wait for the commander to jump in. With a grunt of exertion, he dove into a roll across the cold floor, sprang up beside Liara, and unloaded a clip into the flailing group of Guardians. He felt the heat of Shepard's assault rifle by his ear as she joined in the attack.

'Commander!' EDI's artificial vocals crackled over the comm. 'They have reached the back entrance.'

The Alliance infiltration unit, molded into a feminine shape, was lithe and agile. She flew through the air towards the approaching soldiers, striking out with acrobatic limbs as her pistol flashed to life. The first two troopers went down.

'Orochi, follow Liara, get the kids to the evac point!' Shepard cast off a steaming clip and slammed on the reload. 'I'll hold off the others with EDI!' In moments she was at the side of her AI companion, launching a concussive shot into the face of the nearest enemy.

The Phoenix Vanguard swung back into the doorway to signal the children. 'Come on, quick!' He let the asari take the lead while his own biotic powers fell to minimum levels. The brief respite from the jarring sensation was welcome. Scooping up the smallest child, he gathered the other to his side and prepared to lead them to safety.

Liara was breathtaking. Moving with a calm confidence, she single-handedly shattered a turret and drew the engineer responsible into a crushing singularity that crumpled him like paper. Not missing a beat, she fired her heavy pistol at a Nemesis who was sighting their weapon on Orochi. The sniper stumbled but did not fall, and then Liara biotically wrenched a shipping container from its location and cast it so hard into the head of the Nemesis that it almost decapitated them. Orochi remained behind the asari as she danced towards the landing zone, shielding the children while firing off frequent shots at the surrounding forces.

A crackling, low bark could be heard across the airwaves, rising from a Cerberus comm: 'Shit! It's Shepard!'

Orochi glanced back quickly. Commander Shepard? In her heavy armor and helmet he had not recognized her. Now it made sense that her team was so efficient – far outclassing the Alliance squad that had fallen beside him just hours ago. Approaching the LZ, he could see a Kodiak shuttle in blue and white speeding down from orbit. It briefly occurred to Orochi that it must have been launched by the SSV Normandy herself. What a day.

'We're here, Commander,' chimed the Alliance comm. 'I don't see you.'

The Kodiak thrusters swivelled into landing position and fired in controlled bursts as the vehicle was lowered to the pad. Before it had touched down, the door launched upwards and a huge, armored figure leapt from the shuttle.

'I'll clear a path for you, Lola!'

Rapid assault gunfire rained down upon the remaining Cerberus personnel. The bulky marine exiting the vessel was fearless, direct, and relentless. No defensive maneuvers, no crouching or ducking – he simply marched into the fray like an invincible juggernaut and cut down the line of attackers. Orochi liked him already.

Shepard and EDI had taken out their half-dozen enemies and were making their way towards the landing zone. But Cerberus had one last surprise for them.

Preceded by echoing thuds that shook the ground, a Cerberus Atlas lumbered out of the abandoned residential area. It turned towards the small group of soldiers and huddled children, both mechanical arms weapons-ready, and stormed forward. Its rocket launcher activated and prepared to fire.

'Hell yeah!' The battle-hungry marine with the assault rifle pounded his fist on his weapon enthusiastically. 'Come and get it!'

Shepard gave a silent signal and her team fell into position among the cargo crates and containers. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Orochi grinning. James Vega couldn't be seen clearly, but she was pretty sure he was grinning, too. Boys. She motioned for EDI to take out the Atlas' shields and the AI vanished as if by magic, appearing instantly behind the metal beast. A swift blast to the exhaust port sent the Atlas careening out of control momentarily. Its pilot swerved the machine to locate the attacker, while Shepard and Vega leaned out of cover to shoot at the armor plates.

Liara set up a crushing warp field around the Atlas, which was followed intuitively by Orochi initiating a biotic throw. The two powers detonated and shattered the cockpit glass that protected the pilot. Rather than defend himself, the Cerberus trooper inside locked his missile launcher onto Shepard's location and fired. The commander threw up her barrier and lunged for cover as the blast exploded the shipping crates around her. She rolled and came to her feet, sighting her rifle at the gargantuan enemy. Her fingers streaked across the weapon's controls, activated the incendiary ammo, and shot directly at the man inside the cockpit.

The trooper went up in a ball of flames, screaming and writhing in his seat. He dropped out and fell to the ground, attempting to roll away the fire, but was caught with a slug to the head within seconds.

As the area cleared and the smoke died down, Shepard checked on her team and the surviving children. Liara drew the little ones to her and led them to the shuttle, where she and Steve helped them on board. Orochi was injured but stable, and looked more exhausted than anything else. James wandered off to poke around the vacant Atlas, which was burnt black and crippled.

'James,' called the commander, taking EDI's hand to pull her up to the Kodiak. 'We're leaving.'

The large soldier placed one foot in the cockpit of the Atlas and looked back at Shepard. 'Can I ride it first?'

'James. We're leaving,' she repeated flatly. 'Joker, you read me?'

'Loud and clear, Commander,' chimed the Normandy's pilot.

'Send a team to reclaim the bodies of the Alliance squad who were killed here. I want to bring them home.'

Orochi mounted the shuttle and dropped down into one of the seats. It had been one hell of a day. Though he was not much of a team type, and he didn't play well with others, he had grown accustomed to – if not fond of – the Alliance marines who had fought alongside him. It was fitting that they were returned to their families. He wondered, though, what would happen to him now. Ex-Cerberus, not navy, he himself had no guarantee of a place in the Alliance now that his collaboration with the team was over.

At length the Kodiak was on its way. Orochi sank back into the chair and contemplated his fate. What would Commander Shepard do with him now? He wanted to be on the front lines, fighting back Reaper forces and Cerberus invaders, for death and glory. As the shuttle disembarked, he peered out of the window and watched Benning fade away, along with the glorious dead.

[ssv-gabriel]

Intro

The SSV Gabriel is a Human Systems Alliance vessel, home to the special forces team N7 ANGEL. An elite search-and-rescue team, they travel the galaxy, evading Reaper and other threats, locating distress signals and Alliance squads in peril. With Commander Shepard fighting to save the galaxy, the rest of humanity must do their part in this war.

This blog is all about the crew of the Gabriel, the six members of N7 ANGEL, and their missions during the events of ME3 and ME3MP. I have a fanfic in writing that will be showcased here in segments. I am also considering RPing one or two of my N7 OCs, if I especially bond with any of them during my writing. For now, my muse is Bethany Kitani, the Fury Adept of the team.

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Bio: Bethany Kitani

Bethany was born to Daichi and Lana Kitani in London on the 27th February 2153. Her older sister Louise took care of her throughout their childhood, introducing her to extranet videogames, martial arts, and music. When Daichi and Lana divorced, Bethany and her sister stayed in London with their mother, while their father returned to his childhood home in Japan. Bethany was four years old when her mother remarried – a British man named William Hatch – and within a year her half sister Amanda was born. Amanda was initially an inconvenience to Bethany and Louise, her being the beloved baby of the family who took delight in irritating them. But as they grew up Bethany and Amanda became closer and closer, until they were best friends.

At school Bethany was diagnosed early on as a Biotic and segregated from the other children. She was fast-tracked for great things. Among her peers she stood out for more than just her abilities; she was odd, maybe even eccentric, and socially challenged. As soon as she was old enough she was admitted to a biotic training academy.

The Kitani family was tight-knit and dedicated to the Systems Alliance. Over the years Louise decided that the Alliance wasn’t the organization she truly had confidence in, and she went off to discover her own purpose. Amanda chose to follow her mother’s career path and study medicine within the Alliance Navy, eventually landing a coveted position on the Citadel. Bethany, however, experienced some traumas that set her on an unhappy path.

At the academy Bethany had a best friend who trained alongside her. This friend, Samantha Lorraine, shared a bunk with her for several years and was the only student who seemed to understand her. The pair graduated together and enlisted in the Alliance Navy as biotic soldiers. Though they were drafted to serve on the same ship, Bethany was given a more prominent position, while Samantha worked the graveyard shift. In combat situations Bethany was in the alpha squad, but Samantha was kept in reserve. The friends began to grow apart, and Samantha found new associates in a black-ops branch of the Alliance called Cerberus. When Cerberus went rogue, Samantha followed, abandoning her duty, her crew, and her best friend.

In her youth Bethany took an interest in the Turian species. She loved how different they were from Humans, was fascinated by their culture, their military prowess, biology, history, and religion. She was taken under the wing of an elderly turian female named Korelus, who taught her the ways of her people, adopting her like one of her own. When tragedy struck Korelus, Bethany was temporarily lost in grief.

Still loyal to the Alliance and trying to serve despite her depression, Bethany was in a vulnerable state. A new posting brought her under the command of Commander Eric Hunter. Hunter used his authority to manipulate and take advantage of her – threats of high-risk positions, fabricated reports to the brass, withholding backup in combat. He demanded sexual favors, and Bethany was too afraid to defy him. It wasn’t until she summoned the courage to confide about her ordeal to her sister during a call that it finally ended. Her family alerted the brass, and after a torturous hearing, Hunter was transferred to another post with a slap on the wrist. Bethany never had to serve with him again.

Back on Earth, on temporary leave to recover, Bethany reunited with her mother and stepfather. Her elder sister Louise was now a vocal supporter of the Terra Firma political group, calling for Earth to detach themselves from the Citadel races. Bethany lost respect for her and they only kept in touch as a family courtesy. Amanda, however, was thriving as an Alliance Counsellor on the Citadel, and making them proud. With help from her stepfather – a respected Alliance Admiral – Bethany refocused on her career and was accepted into the elite N7 training programme in Rio.

By 2186, when the Reapers came, Lieutenant Bethany Kitani was a specialised Adept, with dozens of successful missions under her belt. She was offworld when the invaders hit Earth, and her family went dark – all except for Amanda, who was safe aboard the Citadel. Bethany wanted to find her loved ones, but her CO ordered her to stay and await deployment. All she could do for them now was join the fight against the Reapers and hope that the famous Commander Shepard would succeed in finding a way to end it.

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Bio: Tarou Orochi

Tarou Orochi was raised in a Terra Firma household- resenting aliens and their influence on the evolution of humanity. His father was part of a black ops group in the Alliance Navy which later became Cerberus. When the group broke away from the Alliance, Tarou’s father followed. He taught his son to admire the ideals of Cerberus.

Tarou’s mother was one of the “accidental” Eezo exposures back when humans needed more biotics. She always believed that her husband orchestrated the accident, but never found out for certain. Tarou was born with biotic capabilities. He soon became the subject of covert tests, since his father gave consent eagerly. The man used to say: “Anything for the advancement of humanity!”

Orochi was drafted into Project Phoenix when he was old enough- which experimented on enhancing human physiology to develop stronger biotics. He was successfully implanted with an L5x and genetically engineered to be a powerful Adept, with full combat and survival training.

As Cerberus detached themselves from the Alliance outright and earned the label “terrorists”, Orochi grew increasingly uncomfortable working for them. Then in 2183, when the Eden Prime beacon was discovered and Reaper technology began to be incorporated into Cerberus’ experiments, Tarou’s parents fell to indoctrination and became husks whilst working at a Cerberus lab. They died in the destruction of the lab at the hands of Commander Shepard.

Tarou did not hold Shepard responsible for the deaths of his parents- they had already been lost by that point -he blamed only Cerberus. He cut ties with the organization, abandoned Project Phoenix, and dropped off the grid.

At the arrival of the Reapers in 2186, Orochi immediately signed up for Alliance service on the front lines.

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Bio: Lucas Rendon

Rendon was born on the newly established Alliance colony Bekenstein, to a factory foreman and employee. When he was just 10, the colony was attacked by Batarian raiders, who slaughtered his parents and took him and several other children to sell into slavery. Rendon spent 6 years as a kind of pet to a Batarian master - a master kinder than some, but a master nevertheless. He dubbed Rendon his “dancing pyjak”, due to his primary role of entertainer.

When he was 16, Rendon was rescued by an Alliance team and his master was killed. He and the other freed slaves were taken to Earth to undergo therapy and medical treatment. There he learned of the First Contact War with the newly discovered Turian race, as well as humanity’s eventual acceptance into the Citadel alliance of races. Inspired by his saviours and eager to make something of himself, a young Rendon enlisted in the Alliance Navy.

Developmental problems caused by his stint in slavery hindered Rendon’s progress - not a lack of intelligence or ability, but an inability to relate to other people and understand social cues. He learned to mimic the behaviour he observed in his peers, but always felt like an outsider. As with his Batarian master, he found that he pleased people best by being an entertainer. Thus he became the academy joker.

Rendon rose through the ranks as years passed, excelling in technical skills and combat strategy. In 2186 he led a team to Benning in response to a Cerberus attack on the colony, and attempted to evacuate the civilians. His team was overwhelmed and slain, leaving only him alive. He succeeded in escorting the remaining civilians safely to the transports, but stayed behind to provide cover fire. It was presumed that Rendon died saving those people.

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Character Summaries - N7 ANGEL

Fillipo Rosario is the captain of the SSV Gabriel and the leader of the N7 team designated ANGEL. He is an N7 Paladin Sentinel. He and his family are Italian American by ethnicity, including his pregnant wife back on Earth and an aging mother – both being taken care of by the Alliance in a secure bunker in New York. The rest of his brothers are scattered elsewhere, with some serving in the Alliance military. A practicing Catholic, but not permitted to wear a crucifix while in uniform, Rosario has the sign of the cross tattooed on his chest, beside the name of his wife: Maria. He is a dependable, task-oriented person who puts duty before all else. Though good looking and in fine shape, he is by no means a ladies' man – in fact, he could be described as a geek. His hobbies include comic books and videogames. Being slightly shorter than the average human male has given him self-esteem issues, but he does not let these affect his work performance.

Benjamin Prince is second in command to Captain Rosario, an N7 Destroyer Soldier. He is of African American descent and grew up in Chicago. Prince was raised by a strict military father and grandfather, but lost his mother to an accident when he was young. In his family he was always the youngest, always the smallest – despite his impressive height and muscle definition in comparison with average people – he had to struggle all his life to be good enough for his large family of military men. He is eager, competitive, and dedicated. In his downtime Prince works on maintaining his ridiculously good shape, plus enjoys boxing and football. He has somewhat of a hero complex – especially when it comes to women. Females find him irresistible, as the strong, silent type, and gravitate towards his warmth. He could arguably be labeled a womanizer, which stems from his lack of platonic female influence growing up.

Alexander Eamon is the team's Demolisher Engineer – the brains of the outfit. He is a tech-savvy mastermind, flowing with creative juices and obsessed with solving problems. He was part of the group on Elysium at the Battle of the Blitz who repelled Batarian invaders – his contribution being an intricate rigging of defensive technology. For his personal life, Eamon is introverted and has few friends, is an only child, and his parents live on Elysium. He always has his head in a book – he prefers old paper copies to datapads – and hopes someday to write murder mystery novels. Despite his vast intelligence, Eamon is by no means arrogant. He enjoys discussing philosophy, politics, theology, and social issues, with just about anyone who will talk about them. Despite his lack of social confidence, he finds people interesting and appreciates those who engage with him.

Lien Tishkova is a Shadow Infiltrator and the most secretive person on the Gabriel. To each person she gives a different story of her life and childhood, so that no one actually knows what is true. Originally from Russia, with a Russian father and Chinese mother, she joined the Alliance as a teen to escape an abusive home. She feels no real affection for the cause, and simply worked her way up the ranks out of sheer curiosity. She seemed to have a knack for covert operations, and so her training officers urged her towards the Infiltrator class. She is an expert sniper and enjoys her work. In her private life, Tishkova plays music – she learned to play the piano, the cello, and the clarinet, as a child. Her teammates call her “Tish”, but it is less of a fond nickname and more of an effort to humanize her. Really, they are baffled and intimidated by this femme fatale and do not know how to interact with her outside of a battlezone.

Bethany Kitani is a Fury Adept with great biotic abilities. Her family has always been Alliance, through and through, and it was expected that she enlist, too. Bethany suffers from depression and mental issues – some of which stem from her time as a rookie with a C/O who took advantage of her. Despite taking some time off from service to recover, she nevertheless made it to Rio and earned the N7 designation. Kitani is of British Japanese descent, whose family name was actually “Kiritani”, but was misspelled on her birth certificate by a Japanese illiterate person. She is fascinated by the Turian culture and grew up with a Turian mentor. Eager to please and socially awkward, she makes friends easily, but agonizes over every interaction. At times, her mental issues cause her to detach from reality and retreat into herself. This does not usually affect her military service, however. Several of her family members are currently missing on Earth after the Reapers came, but she was ordered to stay aboard the Gabriel and fight.

Tarou Orochi is an ex-Cerberus Vanguard who defected after Commander Shepard uncovered certain inhumane experiments that were being performed on humans. He was part of Project Phoenix, a Cerberus initiative to create biotic super-soldiers. Capable, skilled, and intelligent, he has an ego that surpasses these virtues. In his heart he is Terra Firma (Earth First), and distrusts aliens. But for the survival of humanity he has learned to look past his xenophobic views and cooperate – at least for now. He has no living family; his parents were victims of Cerberus' husk experiments and fell to Commander Shepard after being turned into mindless creatures. Rather than blame Shepard, however, he knows that it was Cerberus that truly killed his parents. In his spare time Orochi enjoys fine wine, fine women, and any form of gambling available. He has been described by psychologists as having a God complex.

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The face designs for Rendon

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The face designs of Fey

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The face designs of Rosario

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The face designs of Prince

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The face designs of Eamon

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The face designs of Kitani