Note: Edited a few times to correct a couple of errors.
Picture this, the opening movie to a new Mass Effect game:
The Normandy-2 picks up a large anomaly in a nearby system on its sensors. There is no record of a similar anomaly in the database, so they plot a course over there to check it out. As they arrive, three Batarian cruisers, apparently also there to check out the anomaly, turn their weapons on the Normandy. Shepard quickly issue a distress call identifying himself as "Commander Shepard of the human ship Normandy", as they're no longer a part of Cerberus or the Alliance. Their FTL drives are quickly knocked out, and with no means of escape, they're fighting a losing battle.
The Normandy's Thanix Cannons manage to punch a hole through one of the Batarian ships, putting it out of commission, but the Normandy is almost done for. Just as their shields go down and hull breaches occur on the engineering deck, the camera pulls outside the Normandy to show three beams of what appear to be red light searing through the hull of one of the Batarian cruisers. No sooner than these beams have finished effortlessly carving up the cruiser, two small, glowing red spheres hit it, exploding and obliterating it completely.
With the silhouette of the ship from which these weapons were fired looming menacingly, the remaining Batarian ship enters FTL and flees.
On the bridge of the Normandy, EDI displays a small, 3D image of the their saviour, obscured by the camera.
"The vessel does not match any known ships in the database, Shepard."
On the bridge of the unknown ship, a man stands and surveys the Normandy on a large display screen. His ship's computer informs him that the Normandy does not match any ships in their database either.
The man's second in command asks:
"Shall we open communications, Captain?"
The camera slowly pans out, gradually revealing first the Captain's face and uniform, then his ship as a whole, from space.
Captain Picard replies; "Make it so, number one."
