Whoa! A new story for a new group of people. That's surprising, as I usually stick to writing for Azumanga. But having just beat Mass Effect 3 (back when I first started this), I decided it was finally time to do an ME fanfic. After all, I've wanted to do so since I first joined FFN. But I wanted to wait until the main trilogy was over. By the way, this story WILL contain spoilers from the ending, just so ya know. And it takes into account stuff from the ME3 DLC :D

*Spoiler Alert* This story is set after ME3. The ending is as so: Ultimate Paragon Shepard, Romance with Tali, Everyone on your teams who can live lives (Ashley alive), Destroy Ending... *Spoiler Alert*

Anyway, this prologue might be a bit boring. It's really just supposed to set up the link between cannon ME, and this story. Everything Mass Effect belongs to EA, Bioware, and all of the other owners respectively. No copyright infringement is meant by this story. Happy Reading :)

Mass Effect: Generation

Prologue:

"Shepard? ...Shepard?" Admiral Hackett called out as he looked around the wreckage of what used to be the Citadel. It'd been a few hours since the Reaper Invasion was quelled, and the Alliance forces that were left wanted to know that their savior was still alive. Hackett bounced around the low-gravity wreckage, looking every which way for signs of life. His team had spread out across the area, searching just as diligently.

It was strange that nobody had ever found this room in the Citadel before. But it was even stranger that it had held up to the forces of the Crucible being fired. Every other section of the Citadel had taken quite a bit of damage, and this particular area had taken the brunt of the impact. Hackett made his way up to the terminal in the center of the room. The holo-display was flashing red, as it flickered, sparks emanating from the console itself. He took a closer look to find the answers to his current query; to why this section of the Citadel was still mostly intact.

On the display, three words continued to flash... "Fail-Safes Initiated". Hackett touched the nearest button on the display, which brought up another section of information. He started reading, trying to understand what kept this section of the Citadel safe. Apparently, 'the creators' had implemented several defense protocols and such to prevent damage from any nearby battles, during the harvesting periods of each cycle. Hackett didn't really have a clue who these 'creators' were, but it wasn't like it mattered anymore anyway. The Reapers were gone, and the current objective was just finding Shepard.

All this meant to him was that it was possible for Shepard to have made it. Hackett backed out to the original display, and was about to continue his search, when something caught his attention. Down near the bottom of the display were a few more words he hadn't noticed before.

"Lower level: 52% damage. No damage to organic-sustaining systems. Keeper #325 dispatched for repairs," Hackett read under his breath, before continuing to the line below. "Upper level: 37% damage. Major damage to oxygen systems. Approximately twenty minutes until reserves are depleted. No Keepers dispatched for repairs – unsafe environment for organics."

Hackett paused for a second, closing his eyes. "Upper level?" he whispered, glancing around toward the extremely high ceiling. He suddenly spotted a large door at the very top, that seemed to be connected to another room. Hackett looked back toward the console, and glanced around frantically for some sort of button that could help him. There didn't seem to be anything, and the aging man began to get a little frustrated. With a small growl, he pounded his fist on the large console.

A rather surprising rumble emanated from the ground below him, and the section of floor he was on began to rise toward the ceiling. As he got closer, the doors above opened up, and a warning sounded about the room. "Alert! Upper level not safe for organic life! Eighteen minutes until oxygen levels are depleted!"

The warning continued, but the elevator didn't stop rising. Finally, Hackett was in the upper level. He could already feel that the air here was much thinner than in the room below. The elevator dropped back down right as he stepped off, and the doors separating the two rooms sealed, trapping him there. But Hackett didn't really care at this point. His age-old instincts told him that Shepard was around here somewhere. He had to find Shepard first... then he could figure out how to escape.

The lighting in the room flickered rapidly, and debris cluttered the floor, making it difficult to move. Much of the room was made up of windows out to space. But many panels covered now them from the outside, almost like an exo-skeleton, shielding the room from harm. Hackett struggled to search as quickly as possible, while the warning continued on. "Fifteen minutes until oxygen levels are depleted!" The lights in the massive room finally failed, and he was left with only the light of the sun that shown through the few broken safety panels over the windows.

Hackett glanced around the room quickly, trying not to panic. He only had about ten minutes left, but it was so hard to see that if he didn't find Shepard soon, he probably wouldn't. Without warning, something moved sharply under some rubble nearby, and Hackett knew he'd succeeded. Rushing to move the rubble, he unearthed a battered and beaten Shepard. The Admiral was ready to make a quip about Shepard being impossible to kill, just like a cockroach. But unfortunately, the Commander was as unconscious as could be, so he would have to save the jokes for later.

Hackett checked in with his team, and told them he'd found 'the package'. He directed them toward the console in the center of the room, and asked the team technician to figure out how to bring the elevator back up to them. Within two minutes, he'd succeeded, and both Hackett and the beaten Shepard were on their way to safety.

Joker sat solemnly in his seat at the front of the Normandy. Some of the crew were speaking excitedly about how they'd faced the Reapers and won. Others were wondering what happened to Shepard and those down on Earth, and whether the galactic races would be able to stay as peaceful as they were right before the final battle. Still others were trying to figure out exactly what the Normandy's crew was going to do from here, since the Mass Relays had all been damaged by the Crucible.

But at the moment, Joker didn't feel like joining them. EDI had once told him that she felt he hid his problems behind a wall of humor. Every time something came up that he didn't want to talk about, he would make a joke to deflect the conversation altogether. Usually, she was right. He hated to admit it -to the point of making a joke when she brought it up- but that's exactly what he did. Still, right now he was even beyond that.

"Joker... are you okay?" a soft female voice questioned from behind, though he didn't need to face her to know that it was Liara. He simply stared down at his pilot console, which wasn't working at the moment. "Would you like to talk about it?" she continued on, but still Joker stayed silent.

"Listen, I understand that losing EDI must've been hard for you. But I'm sure-" Liara began, before several panels around them re-lit in a torrent of orange glows.

"Looks like we've already gotten the Normandy's power systems up and running again," Engineer Adams' voice sounded over the intercom system. "A quick diagnostics check, and we can take flight again, assuming there's no serious damage."

Joker prayed that EDI would greet him once more now that the systems were up, though he knew such a thing was impossible. He'd seen the Reapers all shut down simultaneously as they escaped the Crucible's blast. He heard the radio chatter about the Geth forces stopping in their tracks on Earth, and how their ships never left the system; almost as if they'd all simply passed on in that very moment. He'd seen EDI...

He knew that, whatever Shepard had done, it'd destroyed the programming in any and all AI's. It'd killed all synthetics. There really wasn't any hope for EDI to be alive. Joker watched as the Normandy's systems booted up fully, and his display changed to its normal setup. Up in the corner, a red light sat blinking from the display. He reluctantly raised his arm up, and pressed the small button, opening another display window. Joker glanced at what it said, and sat up rather quickly, surprising Liara a bit.

"Call coming in from Admiral Hackett!" he shouted, turning to face Liara. But she was already on her way toward the Quantum-Entanglement communications room.

"Liara T'Soni," Hackett started, not at all surprised to be talking to the Asari rather than one of the other crew members. "It's good to see that you all made it out safely."

"Yes, sir. Joker's piloting skills, bravery, and quick thinking lead us through the Relay just in time. Everything here is fine," she explained quickly, wanting to hear the news on the other end.

"And where exactly is 'here'?" Hackett questioned casually.

"For better or for worse, Joker sent the Normandy to the place where all of this began," Garrus announced, as he walked up next to Liara. "We're on Eden Prime, sir. Let's just hope that another galactic catastrophe isn't awaiting us once we get the ships engines running correctly, and can make it to the nearest colony."

Hackett chuckled a bit, before continuing on. "So, I'm guessing you're all anxious to hear how it is on our end," he asked rhetorically, to thirsting eyes. "Well, Earth will survive, as will what seems to be about fifty percent of the fleets we brought out for the final assault. We don't yet know enough from the other sectors of space, but you'll be updated when we get news. That may not be what you were hoping to hear, but it's better than the alternative."

"As for the Citadel," he continued "it seems the Keepers are already starting up repairs. Once we can get our bearings, we're going to begin helping them. In the meantime, each of the different galactic ground forces used in the final push will be staying on Earth. We actually found several extremely useful notes on the Mass Relays, hidden within the plans for the Crucible. So once we can make contact with each star system, we'll be sending the information to them, and we can rebuild the galactic network much quicker than anticipated. I've actually already sent the info to the Normandy, for you to make use of."

"We'll get right on that!" Liara's small voice chimed rather energetically, as if she finally believed things were truly looking up; for the first time in years.

"Well, I'd better get back to work," Hackett began, before being interrupted.

"Uh, wait, sir," Garrus shot quickly, stopping the old man in his tracks. "Any news on Shepard? Did he make it?"

Hackett began to laugh rather heartily, placing his hand over his face in shame. "I can't believe I almost forgot the most important bit of information I needed to relay to you all. I really hope this is the last war during my lifetime, because my mind clearly isn't what it needs to be for this sort of thing anymore."

"Shepard's going to be fine, though he'll probably need quite a bit of work before he's up and moving. Since Cerberus put him back together using synthetic parts and computer systems, he needs to basically be rebooted, and some of the computers need to be replaced. Otherwise, he'll be alive, though not exactly coherent. Luckily, we've already got Miranda on it, as well as a few of the people from the original team that put Humpty-Dumpty back together in the first place. Good thing Shepard helped those Cerberus defectors when he had the chance, or he might have died. As it is, he's going to be fine... Hackett out," the Admiral finished, leaving them with the note he knew they were hoping to hear.

*Some Time Later*

Shepard sat down under the nearby tree, wiping the sweat from his brow and breathing deeply with relief. Seconds later, Tali followed suit, smiling at him through her helmet though she knew he couldn't see it. The both of them simply stared at the work they had done; some of the first work toward rebuilding Rannoch. The Quarians finally had their home back, after such a long time away.

"It's just like you, Shepard," Tali remarked mysteriously, still staring off into the distance, where thousands of other Quarians continued building the new capital city; Normandy.

"What's just like me?" he questioned back, grabbing her hand with a grin.

"You've only been in full health for a couple of days, and already you're working to fix the universe and all of it's problems. Nobody expects you to help out. After all, you're the reason we even have the chance to rebuild after the Reaper Invasion. Most Quarians feel that's enough. You're going to be legendary as it is Shepard, but still you continue."

"I'm just doing what needs to be done," Shepard modestly explained in return.

"But that's more than most can say when things get difficult," Tali retorted, pausing for a second. "Thank you Shepard..."

Shepard waited in silence. Though he couldn't see Tali's face, he could tell that she had more to say. "You left your home planet to help me rebuild my own. You've left everything to make sure that I'm taken care of. You-" Tali started to confess, before Shepard stopped her.

"Tali... I'm not only doing this for you. I'm doing this for us. Earth is in capable hands. They don't need me there. I came here to be with you, so that we can start a new life for the Quarian race. This -Rannoch- is my home now; it's our home," he told her warmly.

Comforting silence ensued between the two of them for a few minutes, before they decided it was time to get back to work. Shepard got to his feet, holding out a hand for Tali. The Quarian girl gracefully stood up and embraced him tightly. As she did so, Shepard caught a glimpse of a small Quarian child peeking out from behind another nearby tree. Shepard gently broke off the hug, and began walking slowly toward the young child, Tali following curiously in tow.

As the two of them neared, the child -who was now clearly a boy- hid himself nervously behind the trunk of the tree. Shepard slowly bent down and gave the boy a calming look. "Are you lost?" he questioned curiously, though the the boy just looked away in a nervous silence. Tali proceeded to sit down across from the young one, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"What's your name?" she asked politely, getting the boy to actually glance her way. He stayed quiet for nearly ten or so seconds before whispering a response.

"Richka'Orion nar Neema. I'm six years old."

"Well that answers my next question," Tali giggled. "Where are your parents?"

Almost immediately the boy shut himself back down, looking down at his hands without uttering a single word. "They're... gone," a strong male voice echoed from behind them. Tali looked up to see a rather large Quarian standing above them, looking stalwart and confident in stance. "We found him alone two days after the war got over with, hiding in the storage area of the Neema. We'd just made it back to Rannoch after our quick escape through the Relay, and were getting ready to start re-colonization efforts. I saw him trying to find his way into one of the ventilation ducts."

At this statement, Shepard was barraged with images of the small Earth child from the day of the initial Reaper attack. This boy seemed so similar, that even Shepard had to admit, it was a bit frightening.

"When I finally got him to trust me, we started looking around for his parents. Only after I'd given up did he finally speak to me. He told me that we weren't going to find them; that the 'big metal monsters' had taken them away. It seems they had been two of the six unfortunate souls that were killed when the Neema took damage... from the one and only Reaper attack that had actually made contact with it."

Tali looked down at the child in sadness. Even though the war was over, it seemed its impact wasn't fully understood. It was hard to fathom being so young, and having something so terrible utterly rip your simple and happy life to shreds. "So... what's going to happen to him?" Shepard questioned, a rather fierce and determined look in his eye.

"Once things are a little more stable, I'm going to try and find an actual family that can adopt him. Until then, I'll be taking care of him."

Shepard placed his hand on the boy's opposite shoulder from where Tali's hand still sat, and looked him in the eyes. "Would you like to be a part of our family, Richka? I'm sure Tali here would be happy if you joined us, and I know I would."

Richka once again waited in silence, looking slowly from Shepard to Tali. Finally, he gave a small nod, and tightly hugged Shepard around the neck. "It's going to be alright Richka. We'll take good care of you," Shepard muttered in a comforting tone, as he closed his eyes and thought back to the boy from Earth one last time...

Well, that's the prologue. A little sappy, and a little... exaggerated in some ways. But this is really just a bridge to the story beyond, and doesn't have a whole lot to do with it. Please, please, please review if you would be so kind. Anyway, Hope You Liked :)