A/N A continuation from ME3. Destroy ending. Tali and Shepard were together in the war. Shepard was a he, and he was a paragon and war hero. He's the sign of intergalactic cooperation and heroism, the pinnacle for all races to follow. In this chapter, there's only some strong language, so the rating's pretty low. In future chapters, there'll be suggestive themes and violence. So the rating will probably boost to an M.
After the destruction of all synthetic life forms, the galaxy realised that not only was the Council a failed attempt at governing, but that they needed to take the risk of exploring the uncharted Mass Relays to scavenge supplies from places they'd never been.
The Allied Races Government was formed, between all space-faring species, in honour of Commander Shepard, who had proved that they could work in unity. They rule the galaxy through diplomacy, with six members of each species having a seat in every debate and a say in every law passed.
In this same spirit of unity between all races, the ARGS Shepard was built, to serve as their flagship. Some former squad and crew members from the Normandy - the current flagpole for interspecies co-operation - were reassigned, with the addition of crew members from other races. In times of battle and conflict, the crew all answer to one Commander. But a group of diplomats representing the other races present on the ship advise and counsel him, each chosen by the crew.
They lead the expedition to a newly discovered relay, on the very tip of the galaxy.
"Okay, everyone. We should be passing through the relay in: Three. Two. One," Joker announced through the comms. The familiar pull dragged on the ship and after a moment, the relay shot them forward.
The dual-toned voice of Commander Vakarian spoke out from the comms, "Diplomats, make your way to the CIC in preparation for what we find."
A second voice murmured from his end.
"Yes, Jack, that includes you. My orders," he replied, his smug glee at ordering around the "psychotic biotic" barely repressed. "Wait, is this damn thing still on?"
The comms line cut off and the man sat next to Joker shook his head. God damn it, does it hurt the guy to smile once in a while?
Tebian, his batarian co-pilot, glanced over. "How do you think she ever got to be a diplomat for the ship, anyway?" he asked.
"The same way as every other species' diplomat. She was voted in," he replied cooly. Not another argument.
"Come on . . . it had to be rigged, or Vakarian called in some favours or something. She's crazy," the co-pilot scoffed.
He grit his teeth. "She's not crazy. And she's a damn good diplomat. Granted, that's because if you try to argue with her she smashes you into a wall, but if something works . . .."
"Don't try to fix it," Tebian finished, scratching his neck. He looked over as if to continue the conversation, but merely paused and returned to watching the deep black in front of them.
The CIC had been cleared of non-essential personnel prior to the jump. The large room, lined with monitors and centred with a galaxy map, now stood empty, except for fourteen people of varying races.
The seven diplomats stood gathered around the galaxy map.
"As you know, we've made it through the relay without any problems. Everything's quiet so far, but I've located a nearby planet," Eshorla Linon informed them, bringing up a scan of the nearby planet.
Eshorla was the elected salarian diplomat. Not surprising, due to her skill with communications and information technology; and being one of the rare females to ever leave the salarian colonies. Even rarer after the war.
"Now, obviously, we haven't been able to do any definitive scans from a single ship, but it does appear to have a settlement here." Her small hand motioned to a red blip on the map.
It flashed every few seconds, breaking the silence that had fell upon them. Her large eyes flashed between them. "Well? What're you all thinking?" she rushed, like any salarian, she'd already came to hundreds of possibilities.
"I'm thinking, we should send a small scouting party to evaluate the situation," the drell diplomat, Adaril Mende, suggested. "We can't send too many people, especially if we have just discovered a new race."
"So we should let our guard down in front of a potentially hostile race?" growled the krogan diplomat, Urdnot Jorag. "We should land the Shepard somewhere well populated and let them see how well armed we are."
"And provoke hostilities?" Tali'Zorah interrupted. She'd always wanted a place on her homeworld, but the lover of Commander Shepard had always had his exact same problem: she was always volunteering for new ways to find trouble. Hence, how she now found herself aboard the Shepard.
"We'll be asking to get fucked over if we appear weak," Jack warned. "You can appear strong without being threatening, y'know."
"For once, I agree with the criminal," Alyana T'Sini said. The asari diplomat had pertained issues over Jack's sense of attitude and dress sense since they first met. It didn't help that she was supposed to be representing every human on the ship. "We need to earn respect, not fear."
"Criminal?" the tattooed human growled. "Says the race who hid a prothean beacon that could've enhanced the entire galaxy, but instead used it to make themselves the most fucking superior race."
"Enough," Commander Vakarian growled, slamming his fist off the table. Yup. Always with the theatrics, Garrus. Nice. "We'll land near the settlement. Close enough that we don't look like we're spying on them, and far enough to have warning if they attack. I'll lead in Tali, Jack and Jorag. Anyone got any issues with that plan?"
Everyone shook their heads.
"Then it's decided, suit up you three," he ordered. Me. Ordering the flagship of the entire galaxy. If only Shepard could see this . . . he'd probably make a damned comment about me missing out on calibrations. He turned and headed to the cockpit, ignoring the undoubtedly criticising comments being levelled his way from the asari diplomat.
"Joker, you catch that?" he asked.
"Sure did, Commander. Heading towards the settlement now. You sure you've got control over those guys? Sounds like a powder keg getting ready to blow."
"And that doesn't remind you of a certain team who fought the Collectors a few years ago?"
"Ha. Fair point."
The Commander walked back out to the CIC, now flooding with ensigns of multiple species, and headed into one of the two elevators. He clicked the holo for the Armoury and it smoothly descended.
Jack loaded a heat sink into her Scimitar, weighing it in her hand. Damn, it's good to feel you in my hand, baby. Been way too long.
She looked over at Jorag and Vega, who ran the ship's armoury. He'd been relegated to this duty ever since an injury he sustained during the Battle of London. He was lucky. A lot didn't even make it out alive. All he got was a fucking scar and a ban from field missions.
Tali sat next to her and she stiffened.
"Hey, Jennifer," Tali said playfully, prodding the biotic in the arm.
Jack glared at her. "Have you been drinking vodka through your 'induction port' again?" she asked.
"What? No. I was trying to start a conversation."
"Oh. Well, it sucked," she growled.
"It's good to see you too, Jack, just like old times," the quarian mumbled. She tapped her fingers against each other, and whistled a tune.
Garrus arrived just in time to stop the next in Jack's infamous string of crimes. He grabbed a Viper from Vega after the two shared a few dude-bro words, which caused Jack to roll her dull brown eyes.
"Is the Kodiak ready?" Garrus asked Tali, who nodded.
"Yep. We can go."
"Then let's see what's out there," he said with that infuriating grin of his.
If I don't get laid by some alien dude, I swear I'm going to kill someone.
"Commander, there's an issue," Eshorla announced over the comms.
"What is it?"
"The Reapers have been here, sir. Further scans of the settlement have show it has been decimated. It has to have been them."
"Agreed. They had to have been doing something in the 50'000 years they were away from our races. We couldn't have been the only ones in need of 'harvesting'. Tell Joker not to enter the atmosphere." He sighed, stepping into the Kodiak slowly. "Come on, you three. We may as well check it out anyway."
Well, I guess someone's dying tonight.
The Kodiak's thrusters kept it gliding through the black clouds and torrential rain that lashed around it. The clouds parted as it descended, revealing a destroyed, enormous city. The arched, glass and steel buildings spread like a cobweb over the land. Their glass had been shattered, their metal burnt through and the ground of the city was buried under metres of ash, like a hellish desert.
"I like it," Jorag grunted with a slight nod of approval. "Reminds me of Tuchanka."
"Yeah, shitholes always seem to have that affect on krogans," Jack retorted. He doesn't have a fucking right to joke about somewhere thosuands, maybe millions, died.
The Kodiak weaved through the curved structures like a dancer through a dead crowd, twisting them past places that most likely looked beautiful before the Reapers had arrived.
"I can't believe we managed to avoid . . . this," Tali whispered.
"Some places didn't," Garrus corrected with an irritated twitch of his mandible.
'Bout time someone fucking pointed out her race is one of the few that got out of the war relatively unscathed. Their homeworld was barely even touched.
"Sorry, Garrus," she apologised almost immediately.
"Let's just touch down," he ordered. "There."
Jorag touched the Kodiak down on a small area free of debris, at the foot of one of the arched buildings. They stepped out one-by-one and for the first time ever, Jack regretted leaving a bit of skin on show. The winds were whipping up the ash at a blistering rate, and it was scratching at her like powdered glass. The others must have noticed, because they all sprinted to a ramp that lead underground.
Once they'd took shelter, she glanced at her bare skin. It had been scratched raw. "How the fuck am I supposed to go out in that? I can't just hold up a barrier all day," she moaned.
"I don't think we're supposed to be looking outside," Tali corrected, clearly relieved.
"What's so-" Jack began to demand, spinning round. She stopped at the writing on the wall. An arrow pointed further underground.
Sanctuary, this way.