A/N: Welcome ladies and Gentlemen to my first fanfic! Excuse the typos, I am just one person sitting alone at a computer after all. Anyhow, major inspirations goes to LogicalPremise, though he doesn't know I exist. This is gonna be AU, even though it starts off a bit cannon. Anyhow, enjoy!
Three figures stood around a massive, metal table. The halls of the Alliance HQ in Vancouver were bare, and sterile. Humanity had never felt a need to decorate the building. Something about humbleness. Anyway, only one figure in the room was physically there, the other two appearing as blue holograms.
Admiral Hackett gazed at the two other men from under his cap, as he leaned against the table. His frame had lost none of bulkiness over the years, in fact age seemed to have made him look even more rugged, with a rough stubble and a mean looking scar tearing down from his ear to his upper lip. Ambassador Udina was the exact opposite, a balding man who was in his twilight years and looked all of them. He was skinny, his white suit hanging loosely from his houlders and arms like a table cloth. Captain Anderson, to his left looked a lot better. If we told you his was in his sixties you might have called bullshit. His skin was a lot darker than the other two men, and so were his eyes. His uniform, unlike the ambassadors, fit perfectly, but did not stretch across his chest like Hackett's.
"Gentlemen," Hackett started, his rough voice reverberated slightly, "Our relations with the council has improved, after the war." he paused, barely acknowledging Udina's all to smug smirk. The man took way to much credit, just because of his surprisingly good friendship with the asari Councilor Tevos. And it was just a friendship, or at least that's what everyone sincerely hoped for the Councilor's sake.
"And now they offer us a position among their spectres." he finished. Anderson swallowed tightly, but did not say anything. Udina glanced quickly in Anderson's direction before responding. "Yes, they told me. And we are to choose from a list of candidates and present him or her to the council." he drawled out. Hackett resisted rolling his eyes, but who could blame him? Udina had this weird habit of making huge deals out of small things, and small deals out of big things. You would swear they were here to choose the next name for a frigate.
Hackett responded, his gruff voice carrying none of his inner exasperation, "Yes. I have compiled a list of candidates, and each one has been presented to the consuls. They agreed down to four candidates." That particular debate had lasted hours, and Hackett had an internal shudder remembering it. Afterward, the Admiralty board handed him the list of four and just said: You choose.
Udina nodded slowly, "And will either of them be joining us?"
Hackett shook his head," They have left the ultimate decision of who to us." The fact that the consuls, Aulus and Lucius, were not joining them was a relief beyond relief. Those two contradicted eachother like water and oil.
Udina sighed but nodded, "Alright, bring up the list." He was the lone politician in this conversation, and he knew neither of them would care about political ramifications. Spectres were badasses who could kick ass and get shit done.
Hackett brought up a console and soon a list appeared before him. He brought up the first candidate, "Firstly, we have Zack Mattiason." a picture of a blonde haired man with violet eyes peered out from the console. His hair was admitadly longer than alliance regulation, but it had been tied back and gelled heavily. Kind of like those greasers from way back in the 1900s
"1st shadow, Engineer corps." Hackett read out his military history, "Was heavily involved in the attacks into Batarian Space. Promoted into Shadow. Star of Terra awarded after destruction of Batarian dreadnought during the Kite's Nest raid. N7"
Anderson ran a finger under his chin, "Shadow is quite... on the covered up side. It is afterall mostly used for Black Ops." Plus, Zack was a rather unhinged fellow. He liked to hack things, blow things up and had a pet drone name 'Sparky'. The name was apt, but that did not stop the Alliance from questioning his sanity.
Udina shrugged," Still, he destroyed a dreadnought single-handily." That alongside the miles long list of other operations that he had completed single handed.
Hackett sighed," Yes, he grew up on Mindoir..."
"So he could have some serious issues.." Anderson replied but waved a hand. "It doesn't matter. Who is the next one."
"Major Mason van Altena. Butcher of Torfan. Earthborn." The picture showed a severe looking caucasian man, his sharply cut beard snaked down from his ears, belown his nose and down the otherside. His hair was dark brown and silver eyes glared from under his heavy brow.
"He grew up on Earth, a South African gang member. Lost a great deal of his unit on Torfan." Hackett read out. He had met Mason a couple of times before, was even the one to hand him the Star of Terra. Mason had a way of motivating his soldiers to the point were even if there supply line had been cut with not air or space space support, they would still destroy an enemy base, despite the odds.
Anderson's jaw set hard, "His own fault. He was ordered to retreat. Wait for backup."
"He won but he is... a loose cannon. Next one." Loose cannon being a loose term for him.
Hackett brought up the next candiate. A man with striking orange hair, a roman nose and piercing green eyes. "Lieutenant Felix Shayne."
"No." was the immediate response from Anderson. "He's already being lined up for a position as captain of the Everest. Besides, he doesn't specialize in ground combat as much space combat." Well, so much for him.
Hackett nodded, and brought the final candidate. "Alex Shepard, Sole Surviver of the Akuze incident, grew up in space."
Udina made a thoughtful noise," N7, high mission success rate. But, she saw her entire unit die on a Akuze."
Anderson shrugged," Shepard's a soldier. And a damn good one at that. She is a survivor."
He tried to hide it, but it was clear he was vouching for the girl he had co-raised with Hannah Shepard. Shepard's father had been killed in the First Contact War. After that, her mother had almost relied on Anderson and Kahlee's assistance in raising the girl.
Hackett regard him with an almost knowing look, though there was... complication that Anderson was likely going to blow a gizzard over. Before he could bring it up, Udina spoke, "I agree. Saren himself approved off her for the posistion."
'Very tactful, Udina...' Hackett thought bitterly, slowly bringing his hand to his forehead as Anderson exploded. "What!? No way, we cannot allow that bastard anywhere near this!"
Udina was about to angrily retort, but Hackett raised his hand, silencing him. "Captain," he said, as politily as he could, "What happened on Garthak, was an accident. Saren did not blame you, you blamed him. The council has decided that, we would get another chance. Saren opted for the position of evaluation."
Anderson glared, his hands folding into tight fists. He looked like he was about to throw a tantrum. Which he was not, but a damn near looked like it. Hackett sighed, "You'll be there, Anderson. Just don't antagonize Saren. Please. For Shepard's sake, as well as ours."
Anderson's stiff posture dropped as he seemed to vent out his anger, it was replaced instead with a tired expression. He had been- and still was- so sure of Saren setting him up. Maybe the Turian bastard had, but right there was nothing he, nor the Alliance could do about it.
"Fine, lets hope this goes better than my own evaluation." he winced on the last word as though it were an ugly wound, which it technically was. "I'll inform the commander." with that, he left. His hologram shimmered out of existence, leaving the admiral alone with ambassador Udina. Which is not a situation many want to be in after a discussion like that.
Thankfully, Udina did not seem to be in a chatty mood, as he said his goodbye and left, leaving Hackett alone in the bare meeting room.