Mass Effect: To the Last Man/The Death Squad

In the year 2178, seven years and dozens of missions with the N7 after the batarian raid later, Staff Lieutenant Gerard was once again reunited with Jessica, Ben, and David in an Alliance headquaters on Earth in an otherwise empty meeting room.

"Jess?" he said, excited to see her again. "Ben, Dave? Damn, I haven't seen you guys in years. Where the hell have you three been?" he asked them, shaking Ben hand.

"Pretty much every other planet in the galaxy," answered David. "What about you? Getting run ragged all over the place?"

"'Kicking ass' is a better term, I think," replied Keller, smirking. "Anybody know what this meeting is about?"

"I don't kn-" Jessica stopped mid-sentence and quickly stood at attention, saying, "Ten-hut!" Without even looking and thinking, the other three marines turned and stood at attention, saluting as Admiral Hackett walked inside and closed the door.

He saluted to them as well before saying, "At ease." As the four relaxed, the admiral spoke. "Let's get this meeting started. Take a seat, marines."

Each of the soldiers sat down in one of the dozen chairs along the rectangular table. Admiral Hackett did not sit down and remained standing.

"Marines, have any of you heard of an organization that calls itself 'Cerberus'?" asked Hackett.

"I know of the name and that they're pro-human, but nothing more, sir," said Jessica. The other three had never heard of this group before.

"Well, they were once a secret black operations branch of the Alliance, but they went rogue many years ago," explained the admiral. "Since then, we have refused to start up a similar program in order to avoid the same problem, but we've waited long enough. We are the only Citadel race in the galaxy without a real black ops team due to the dangers of a rogue group. We need a team that can deal with any threat to the Alliance or its allies at any time. To avoid the risk of a group the size of Cerberus going rogue again, we are putting together a small squad instead of another branch."

The four N7 soldiers listened intently on what the admiral was about to say.

"Now, I've looked through at least a hundred different dossiers on who will lead this squad or be a part of it," Hackett continued. "What I was looking for were soldiers who not only can beat impossible odds, but who can work together perfectly to take down entire armies. Marines, I've read your dossiers and was impressed, but I saw a vid from that batarian raid in the Traverse seven years ago of the four or you defending your fellow soldiers. All of you have something unique with one another, something that no one can teach another through training. It's belief. I've never seen anyone work together so well under pressure and be willing to lay down their lives for each other without a second thought in so raw a recruit. I never saw any of you question another's orders, but you reacted instead. That's why the four of you will make up this team. Understand?"

"Yes, admiral," said the four.

"Good, now follow me to Hanger 12," said Hackett, exiting the conference room with the four soldiers close behind. After making their way to Hanger 12, three of the marines looked curiously at the massive ship in the center. Gerard, Jess, and Dave had never seen anything like it before. Ben, on the other hand, looked more proud than amazed.

Admiral Hackett turned and faced the soldiers, saying, "Marines, behind me is the most heavily-armed and heavily-fortified frigate in the entire Alliance Navy. Engineer Hatzis and his team have christened it the SSV Troy. This will be your mobile command center as long as your team exists. Understood?"

"Admiral, what's the team's official name?" asked Gerard.

"Well, officially you don't exist and the thought of this team has never even crossed our minds," replied Hackett pointedly. "But only to those know are allowed to know of your existance, you will be known as the team that finds all threats to the Alliance and ends them. For all of your missions after today, lethal force will always be authorized. You will be known as 'Omega Squad'."