The SSV St. Lo drifted slowly through the darkness of space. Commander John Phillips stood at the bridge and stared at the large holographic map that seemed to float in front of him. He tapped a few commands on a nearby console and a planet rushed forward and was enlarged. John tapped another command and a small speck in the planet's orbit rushed forward and was enlarged.

John looked at the large floating object. It was basically a huge cylinder that floated around the Earth, quiet and hard. But inside there was much more. John had been to this place many times in his life, as had almost anybody that was new to Earth.

It was called the Earth Orbit Platform.

The St. Lo rocketed towards the large EOP and John hailed the controllers on the station. As the ship neared, John saw the huge bay doors that led to the docking bays. The St. Lo docked and John bid his crew farewell for the moment, for now he would go alone and check in on the Civil War situation.

As John walked down the platform, a small robot flew next to him and passed a beam of light over his body several times. John knew this was standard procedure, but it still felt weird to him. He reached a set of bulkhead doors and activated the door control. The doors slid open and revealed the main atrium of the EOP.

John looked out over the huge expansive room and saw all the people. Every time he had ever been here, this room had amazed him. It was akin to the 21st Century airport terminals, a huge place with many shops and businesses.

John continued inside and passed by all of the people that ran here and there, preparing to visit Earth. The EOP was the first stop for any newcomer to Earth. There they would be checked and scanned and registered, so as to keep an eye on them while they were on Earth. John was surprised to see so many aliens in the atrium, he noticed several turians and volus. He really paid them no mind though, as his prolonged visits on the Citadel made this seem normal.

"So, John. How is Earth doing?" Louis crackled over John's Comm. John stopped and sat down at a nearby bench, looking up at a large vid screen as the news scrolled across it.

"Well, it seems the fighting is not too bad. It hasn't affected the EOP yet, it's still peaceful up here." Just as the words left his mouth a large explosion erupted from the far end of the atrium. John jumped up and looked around as the crowd began to scream and run in terror.

John grabbed a man that was running from the fire.

"What happened over there?" John screamed to be heard over the crowd.

"Some guy started screaming then he exploded. I think he had a bomb on his chest or something." John let the man go and turned back to the area where the bomb had gone off. Fire was beginning to spread and soon the entire station would have to be evacuated.

"John! What was that? We just felt the whole damn platform shake." Louis yelled over the Comm.

"Some guy just blew himself up. I think the war just made it here. Get the squad ready and meet me in the atrium." John said as he pulled his pistol.

"Okay, we'll be there in a minute." Louis said as the Comm cut off.

The Longsword came into dock right behind the SSV St. Lo, Nero then heard the sounds of screaming over his com.

"Some guy just blew himself up. I think the war just made it here. Get the squad ready and meet me in the atrium."

It said over the com, Nero knew it was Phillips. He quickly docked the Longsword and made his way to John.

"come on RP7" said Nero

Nero ran pass scearming people all bumping into him and RP7, he looked over and saw Phillips standing in shock.

"Phillips!" he sreamed

John spun and looked back as he heard someone scream his name. He saw the Nero sprinting towards him, the black robot right behind him.

"Nero!" John yelled as he got closer. "I think-"

Before John was finished, gunshots rang out in the atrium. John spun quickly and looked for the source, seeing several armed men running from a maintenance tunnel. They began firing again at the local security forces.

"Nero, looks like we got trouble." John said as he switched his Comm over to Louis. "Get here quick, we got armed rebels in the atrium."

"We're suiting up now." Louis responded.

John ran towards the men, who had taken a defensive stance inside of a small restaurant. John ducked behind a small kiosk and began firing at the men with his pistol. The local guards were also firing as they fell back into a department store across from the enemies.

The rebels took notice of John and began to fire at him with automatic rifles. John knew he wouldn't last long here, so he jumped up and sprinted to where the guards were holed up.

He jumped behind a wall as bullets whizzed by. John saw several guards pop up and prepare to shoot.

"Stop! I'm with you!" He screamed. "My name is Commander Phillips, Alliance Military."

Nero quickly docked behind a pillar, he saw Phillips start to yell something but he coulden't make it out, mainly because of the screaming.

"Statement: Master I think the meatbag is trying to make the other meatbags surrender." said RP7 as he held his gun at the T.F soldiers.

"I don't want you to shoot yet RP7, got it?" Nero held his gun down looking to see if he could tell who was firing at them.

"statement: Alright master I will do as you say, but it would be much easier to blast them."

Orthe crouched near Nero and RP7, behind a stone room divider. He raised his own gun at the T.F. soldiers, but refrained from firing them off just yet. Dante stepped to the side, behind a pillar.

"So, if this Phillips guy can't knock some sense into them... We unleash hell?" he asked Nero.

"So, if this Phillips guy can't knock some sense into them... We unleash hell?"

"I think that would be the best thing to do" said Nero

He looked over checking around the area, sudden feeling of shock ran through him. What he saw was a man come running up from behind them, he had a bomb tied around him and was screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Phillips, look out!" shouted Nero "Dante, Orthe, see if you can hit that bastard!"

"Phillips, look out!" John heard Nero shout. Phillips looked toward Nero and saw a man charging them. A half second later he saw the bomb, but by then it was too late. John saw the others shoot the man, but as he fell he detonated and everything went black for John.

The next thing John remembered was an awful ringing noise in his ears. He couldn't hear anything as he pushed himself to his feet. The bomb had devastated the room and John couldn't spot the rebels or the local guards.

"John, they're headed to the shuttles. I'm gonna try and cut them off." John heard over the ringing. He assumed that it was his Comm, but he was disoriented and couldn't know for sure.

John stumbled into the center of the room and collapsed to the ground, his head spinning.

A huge blast came from the man as he detonated himself, RP7 quickly jumped in front of Nero to give him cover from the blast. Nero looked over to see if Dante and Orthe was alright, he couln't see them, he looked over to see if Phillips was still alive, he was, but by that time blaster fire coverd the room, Nero made a mad dash towards Phillip with RP7 giving him cover fire.

"Phillips!" screamed Nero as he shook Phillips to see if he was alive, "are you dead?"

"Phillips!" screamed Nero as he shook Phillips to see if he was alive, "are you dead?"

"Yeah, I think I'm dead....." Said as he opened his eyes and looked around. He stared up at Nero. "Am I dead?"

Before he got the answer, his Comm burst to life.

"John! Where the hell are you! The pricks jumped ship, they're headed to Earth on a hijacked shuttle." Louis yelled. "But we got a bigger situation. They left a bomb on the EOP, somewhere. We don't know, the locals don't know either. Pretty much we gotta evacuate the entire platform."

John's mind suddenly cleared and everything slowed down.

"Shit..."

"John, meet us near the shuttles, we're thinking it's around here." Louis said before he cut the Comm.

"Nero, we got a bomb in here somewhere. They're saying it could take down the whole platform." John said, his head clear now. "We need to find it. Now."

"Nero, we got a bomb in here somewhere. They're saying it could take down the whole platform." John said, his head clear now. "We need to find it. Now."

"Your right, but we have to take out those damn T.F soldiers first!" said Nero

"statement: don't worry master, I'll blast the meatbags"

Nero checked over by the pillar to see if Orthe and Dante were still alive, he didn't see and small feeling of worry came across him.

"Ok RP7, see if you can clear this room for us" shouted Nero

"statement: oh thank you master, I'll be sure to kill as many as I can"

Dante and Orthe got up from the debris of the concrete objects they had used as cover, and dusted themselves off.

"That's it... I'm crackin' some skulls..." Orthe said, picking up his rifle from off the ground.

They approached Nero, and Dante asked, "Any idea where this bomb might be? Or should we just focus on evacuation?"

"Any idea where this bomb might be? Or should we just focus on evacuation?"

"Right now we need to worry about that bomb" said Nero "Phillips you have any idea where it might be?"

Just as Nero finished his question a soldier came running towards them, but not before turning into a blasted corps by RP7's blaster.

"statement: Master I think the bomb would be somewhere in the middle of the Platform"

"John, we have located the bomb. It is in a maintenance alley near the shuttles." Louis said over the Comm. John's stomach flipped over. It was the one place that everyone trying to evacuate would head to.

"Nero, they found the bomb near the shuttle bays. We should head there." John grabbed his pistol and began to run. He stopped and turned to Nero. "I have a plan! We can just load it onto a shuttle and shoot it off into space."

John turned again and sprinted towards the hallway that lead to the shuttle bay.

Nero stood up and looked back at his allies, "Cmon" he said "we gotta find the bomb before it goes off!"

And like that the small team was off. They came across a narrow maintenance alley, "this looks like the way" said Nero, the team made there way down the long alley - just then men started repple down off the roof tops, "Its a trap!" Shouted Dante, the team began to fire on the enemy, one man came running out, but not before his neck was slit by Nero's blades.

"That Bomb has to be near here" Shouted Nero

Dante drew a grenade from his belt, and threw it down the narrow pass. It rolled to the other side, and detonated. Shouts of pain were heard.

"Let's do this." Orthe said, powering up his biotic amp. He threw some of the descending terrorists off their ropes, and they fell to the ground with a crack. Orthe started to fire at them as they got closer to the ground, and so did Dante.

Some of the men got to the ground, and started firing on the four soldiers. Orthe set up a barrier, which took some of the shots for them long enough for them to find cover.

(OOC- I'm gonna wrap this up so we can all get to the Citadel for the big fight. Hope that's cool. :) )

John sprinted into the alley and saw as the terrorists began to rappel down. He aimed his pistol and fired as the men slid down their ropes. Several grenades were thrown and the explosions resonated throughout the alley. John ducked behind a wall and watched as the men with him fired at the hopeless terrorists. After several moments, all of the terrorists had been subdued.

"John we have located the bomb. It's inside one of the shuttles. We have it secured, but we don't know how much time is left." Louis said over the Comm.

"Okay, be careful with it. I'm on my way." John turned and looked at the others. "They have the bomb secured. It's inside one of the shuttles."

John turned and jogged towards the shuttle bay. He had to figure something out quickly, as the bomb could go off at any moment. Then it hit him.

"Louis, set a charge on the bomb and get off the shuttle. We'll just send it out into space and remote detonate it." John said over the Comm as he entered the shuttle bay.

"I copy you. Will do." Louis cut the Comm.

**************************

John looked out the window as the shuttle crept into open space. After several seconds, the shuttle plumed into a yellow cloud and then vanished. John smiled slightly.

Louis approached him and spoke.

"Nice idea there. The local guards are back in place. We can leave now." Louis said as he stared out the window.

"Okay, any news? How's the war going?" John asked as he too stared out the window.

"We''re needed at the Citadel. It apparently is under Geth attack." Louis faced John, his face serious.

"Shit....." John whispered. "We all knew it was only a matter of time."

"Yeah. I'll get the crew ready. We're gonna try and get there before it gets too bad."

"Okay, I'll be right there." John said. He looked out the window again.

This Universe would never be at peace.

"Ah, we just got here. Alright, let's go." Orthe said. He walked to his ship, Blueshock, and swung into the cockpit. With a few button punches, his ship's thrusters fired up, and the frigate started to lift off the ground. Its blue wings unfolded, and its guns were raised. Orthe signaled into John's communications device. "You know the status over there, by any chance? Will we need to assault the place just to get in?"

Nero, RP7, and the rest of Dante's squad got aboard the Longsword, It slowly began to leave the docking bay and fly up by Phillips ship.

"I'll go in ahead of you" said Nero over the com "my ship has stealth so we can get a good look at how big their fleet is"

And without waiting for a Reply the Longsword passed through the Relay and towards the Citidel.

((Continued in Geth Assault))