AUTHOR'S FOREWORD:
Welcome to Battlefield 2185!
The world of this story blends the human civilisation seen in the Battlefield 2142 FPS with the world of Mass Effect.
This is a sequel to Battlefield 2183, which told of the war against the geth. It will not be necessary to read that to enjoy this, as the style will be changing a little to better suit feedback I've gotten. Some also didn't like the close-to-canon beginning of 2183. This will be more divergent right from the get-go. The timeline below Chapter One summarises BF2183 for those that don't wish to read the preceding story for whatever reason, but you may still wish to read the codex chapters of that story.
There will also be three short stories in an interquel called Battlefield 2184, following four of the human characters (Ashley, Kaidan, Haider and Jack) in the interim. The first of these is already released.
The events leading to humanity's arrival on the galactic scene and the events of 2183 will be related within this chapter after the main part.
Enjoy!
It is the year 2185.
Two years ago, the human colony of Eden Prime was attacked by the geth. The Systems Alliance responded to this provocation with the answer humans always gave when attacked so boldly: War.
The aid of the Quarian Migrant Fleet was secured. Rannoch was liberated. A corridor between the Perseus Veil and the Traverse carved out of the Terminus pirate realms. Saren, the traitor that had unleashed the geth was executed. Those synthetics that survived the war surrendered. Their bodies and their connection to the rest of the galaxy taken away. The war was won. Their Reaper masters revealed to the galaxy, thanks to the actions of Commander Shepard and the crew of the SSV Normandy. The galaxy looked towards uniting against the existential threat lurking in the depths of dark space.
Yet the Reapers have not come.
The unity of the galaxy has been undermined by uncertainty about when the great threat could arrive, and the major species build new fleets and armies out of fear of each other as much as the common enemy.
Along the long new borders created by the "Eden Prime War", the pirates and warlords of the Terminus chafe against the new sovereignty of the Quarians and the expanded Systems Alliance.
Within the Terminus, Cerberus fights a proxy conflict against the pirates to defend the independent human worlds that looks close to engulfing the entire region.
The Consuls, the leaders of humanity, debate whether or not to launch a pre-emptive strike as they did against Khar'shan the year before, whether or not to take the resources of the Terminus for the armament efforts and eliminate the pirate threat.
Shepard has been missing, presumed dead for more than a year. Attacked on the Citadel by unknown assailants, her body was never found.
War is coming once more.
Chapter One: Jack
The small shuttle glided smoothly towards the huge form of the ship, a dark shadow against the backdrop of the yellow and red gas giant. Its edges were softened by the glow of its drives discharging the excess energy built up over a long FTL jump, but it retained the menacing profile expected of it. To either side, more shuttles, moving in with their emissions captured by the stealth systems, moving not by thrusters but by the manipulated gravity of Tantalus drives. In front, the first of the target ship's turrets came into view on the magnified image in the cockpit.
Jack narrowed her eyes, trying to identify the place the breach would be made, idly scratching at the armour the hard radiation and vacuum outside forced her to wear for the mission. It itched, probably because it was brand new and the bodysuit hadn't been washed properly of disinfectant. She cursed, wishing she had brought something to wear underneath it that covered a little more skin. A rare complaint for her.
The action had drawn the eyes of two of the other occupants of the passenger bay.
"Problem, Lieutenant?" asked Commander Taylor.
Jack immediately halted the scratching, and sat back down in her seat, looking up at the standing N7 as she did so. "Nope," she said, "Just looking."
The other person who was looking at her quietly chuckled. Which would have been grounds for an insult and a punch, had he been a mere private or corporal, but the triple gold stripe of a Rear-Admiral was on the front of his own armour.
"Are you nervous, lieutenant?" Anderson asked, "Nothing wrong with that if you are. This is not exactly a milk run."
Jack crossed her arms. "If I was the nervous type, you wouldn't have taken me from my unit," she said, "You pissed off General Haider bigtime doing it."
"You were being wasted in the Fallschirmjager," Anderson agreed, "And your step-mother's objections notwithstanding, it wasn't appropriate for you to remain under her command, even indirectly. Not after Illium."
"Fucking Illium," Jack swore, throwing up her hands, "I didn't even kill a single person there, that time."
"You say that as if it's a bad thing," said Taylor wistfully.
"Hannah Shepard blows their power grid, causes planet wide riots and almost starts a war with the asari," Jack complained, taking her helmet into her hands, "And I'm the one who nearly gets shitcanned for behaviour unbecoming an officer. Fucking politicians."
"Fucking politicians indeed," Anderson replied, to Jack's wide-eyed surprise, "You're not the only one with that sort of problem, lieutenant. It only gets worse with rank, I promise you."
"Good thing I'm as highly ranked as I'll ever be," Jack said flatly. She didn't want to be more than she was. A filthy mouthed, filthy minded leader of a platoon, with the biotic capabilities of a decently powerful asari matriarch. She smiled to herself, contented with that.
"Never say never," said Taylor out of the blue. Reacting to her own smile, she saw. She threw him a middle finger for the trouble. He threw one back.
"Pilot, any sign of LADAR?" Anderson said, shaking his head at their mutual display, "We're nearing the point of no return."
"None, sir," the pilot replied.
"Good," Anderson said to himself, before tapping the screen beside his chair. Jack watched him open the comms screen, and activated the QEC. Stealth shuttles, stealth comms, stealth cloaks... The Alliance had gotten pretty damn good at hiding, she thought to herself. All the better to get the drop on Cerberus, she hoped.
"This is Anderson," he said, "Status report."
"63rd SR Flotilla ready," came the reply, "JRS, Pointe du Hoc, Pegasus Bridge, Juno, Gold, Sword, Utah, Omaha, St. Mere Eglise, Caen and Carentan all report in the green. The Fifth Fleet are on standby to jump as required if the escorts begin acting aggressively. Buoy is deployed."
"We are one minute out," said Anderson, craning his neck to look forwards through the cockpit compartment, "Activate the buoy and broadcast in the clear. Maintain stealth and use passive targeting only."
Jack looked out the front viewing window again, and saw the ship ahead had grown to encompass everything, the yellow three pronged symbol of Cerberus clearly visible on the hull alongside the name of the vessel. A suitably ominous name it was too.
"Attention Cerberus vessel Anubis," said Anderson's pre-recorded voice via the comm buoy, "This is the guided missile destroyer Jane R Shepard. You are surrounded by the 63rd Stealth Reconnaissance Flotilla of the Alliance Fifth Fleet. You are hereby ordered to surrender, in accordance with the War Powers Acts. Prepare to be boarded."
The shuttle jolted, as it landed hard against the side of the Anubis. The magnetic locks latching on to the hull announced themselves with a harsh thump-click, and the jolting stopped dead for a moment.
"Helmets on!" Taylor said loudly, "Brace for impact! Vent the cabin in twenty seconds!"
Jack shoved her helmet on over her partially shaved head, the smell of the same disinfectant that had made her itch filling her nostrils as she secured the neck ring in place and the inside of the suit pressurised. A distinct rumbling began; the torpedoes from the Pointe du Hoc and the Carentan were slamming into the engine structures of the Anubis as planned, nearly a kilometre away towards the stern. Brief flashes of bright purple announced the dark energy singularities swirling, either on the edges of the huge ship's barriers or within the engines, tearing them to pieces.
It was pretty, Jack decided, but there was no way in hell the gunners responsible could see that beauty. Just another reason not to be a Navy girl; who wanted to blow things up when you couldn't see it? Either way, Cerberus couldn't escape now. The Illusive Man and all his little minions were going to pay today. She watched, ignoring the slight hiss as the air was sucked out of the shuttle to allow them to work.
"Lieutenant Haider, front and centre!" said Commander Taylor, as he unravelled a breaching cord from the minifacturer attached to his omnitool, "Prepare for breach."
"Jawohl," Jack said, moving into the middle of the shuttle's compartment and opened the bottom hatch, twisting the safety handles two at a time and flipping the composite deck plate up and to the side.
The Commander laid the breaching cord in a square onto the black-coated metal below, as wide as the hatch would allow without damaging the shuttle itself. The rest of the squad on board, men and women that Jack didn't know well as she had been moved to Anderson's detail at the last minute, crowded around and covered the whole arrangement with their weapons.
"Fire in the hole!" Taylor declared, before tapping his omnitool.
Jack summoned her biotics as the breaching cord detonated in a white flash. The metal below sundered into a square, and was pushed outwards into the shuttle by the atmosphere contained within it. Using the air pressure inside to do the dirty work was one thing, but a large piece of flying metal in a zero g setting was another. Jack caught the metal with a biotic pull, bringing it to a stop at knee level and setting it aside, before it could bounce around the inside of the compartment.
They didn't have long before the life support systems would detect a pressure drop, which could have activated emergency atmospheric shielding. Jack dove into the hole, knowing that was what she was there for. The change in the gravity's direction danced a jig in her stomach, but it was not something she was unused to, and she gracefully landed on her feet in the room beyond. It was some sort of access corridor, its walls being nothing but bare unpolished metal seeming to stretch the whole length of the ship, and very minimal lighting. Further down, she could see other teams breaching or entering, and it seemed all were getting in safely.
There was no one waiting to meet her with a gun, so she sprang to the side and clicked the comms control on her neck to let the others know it was safe to enter. They all came through the hole, including the pilot, with a bit more difficulty than she had, but she laid the blame for that with the fact they were in a hurry.
Anderson recovered quickest, to her surprise, and took a look down both ways of the corridor. "They really did just slap guns on a Nile-class," he thought aloud, "They didn't bother to remove the civilian external accessways."
"More power to us," Taylor said, bringing his rifle into his hands, "Which way sir?"
"CIC is that way," Anderson said pointing towards the bow, before activating his comms, "First turn on our left. All teams, advance."
The next minutes were a flurry of clearing corners, meeting up with other teams and advances deeper into the ship. Occasionally, the sounds of running footsteps could be heard, but no one challenged them. It set Jack's teeth on edge, forcing her to clench her jaw to stop herself from bitching about the lack of targets and how bad a sign that was. Everyone present was already aware.
The reason became apparent as they reached the section where the CIC was in the 'head' of the ship. The Cerberus troops, what few of them were on board, had concentrated to defend the place. The huge central passageway of the ship was bristling with them, the lighting being far better there to see them. At their head, a woman with long black hair in a white bodysuit, toting an assault rifle. Jack wondered if the woman had a latex fetish, finding the possibility interesting only until she reminded herself that this was the enemy.
The assault forces took up positions opposite, keeping to the cover of storage crates and metal railings as best they could. Yet no shooting started, to the absolute disappointment of Jack.
"Miranda Lawson," Anderson noted, "That's a good sign. If she's here, then the Illusive Man should be too."
"The soldiers with her are not a good sign though," Taylor said, "They have only half our number, maybe, but they're the ones holding the defensive position, not us. The ordnance they're carrying doesn't look too friendly either."
Jack felt the rage tickle the back of her brain with heat, her heart pumping faster with the urge to fight that Cerberus themselves had engrained in her with drugs. She knew she had to fight, right here and now. Every instinct screamed at her to charge right there and then. But her step-mother had taught her the right response to that. "You said there's lots of civilian accesspoints, right?" Jack said quickly, before anyone else could speak, "Go take everyone through them, they can't defend every nook."
"That sounded like you aren't coming along, Haider," Taylor warned, "Which isn't the deal. You follow orders, you don't give them." Fucking boyscout, she thought.
Jack didn't move her eyes off the figure of Lawson. "That bitch has answers," she said, "And I'm going to fold her like fucking origami until I get them out of her. She's a powerful biotic anyway, you don't want to fight her in a maze. I'll deal with her."
"See that you do, Lieutenant," said Anderson, putting his hand on Taylor's shoulder before he could react, "Teams One through three to starboard. Teams four through six to port. Advance and engage."
The JANUS teams did as they were ordered, and dispersed into the side corridors and up access ladders, Taylor and Anderson with them. The Commander shot her a narrow look of disapproval before he vanished. She just gave him one back.
Jack waited where she was as the others disappeared back into the corridors behind, stripping off her heavy armour down to the barrier plates and exposing her tattooed body, anticipating the moment to strike with a familiar giddiness. She pulled the leather tangle of her underarm holsters on, and pulled the pistols out from them. The hunger for the fight grew with her anticipation. She felt like she was starving all of a sudden, and a big juicy steak was being dangled in front of her.
Thankfully, it didn't take long for the Cerberus troops to begin moving, trickling away to the sides. The internal surveillance systems must have raised the alarm. They departed two teams at a time, to make sure it wasn't some sort of feint that could be exploited to take the central passage. The sounds of gunfire began echoing through the open doorways in front. The distinctive chattering of the Alliance weapons interspersed with the louder crack-crack of Cerberus heavy semi-autos.
When Jack saw that all of the Cerberus troopers had gone and Lawson looked ready to leave, she burst into a run straight down the passageway, vaulting onto the raised transport tram track that ran down the middle. It was still below where her target was standing on the docking ramp for the tram itself, but was wide enough to prevent her getting trapped.
Lawson showed some of her hand at once. The Cerberus operative spun on her heel without delay, weapon raised to the shoulder, the movement in her peripheral vision being enough to warn her of a threat. She sent a burst directly in front of Jack, having misjudged the speed she was travelling at only slightly. The bullets tore holes in the track ahead, in a tight clean group that stuck in the mind because of how easily it could have been in flesh instead.
The next burst sure to find its mark, Jack pirouetted away onto the portside walkway with the assistance of her biotics. She stopped behind a support pillar, trying to figure out her next move as the shots continued to pour out, attempting to suppress her. Although she was immune to such a tactic because of her powerful barriers. The bitch was making a point. Time to change tactics. After a few seconds, the shooting stopped, allowing her to step around the support again. As she expected, the shooting did not resume immediately.
Lawson still held her weapon at the ready, but slightly lowered. A look of pure focus on her face, rather than enjoyment, rage or exertion. Cold eyes. It made Jack wonder if this woman had any emotions at all.
"You're not bad!" Jack called cheekily, approaching at a walk with her pistols aimed at the floor, "But not good enough."
"You must think me an imbecile to fall for that old bait and switch," Lawson replied, her aim steady, "Subject Zero."
The hated name that robbed her of everything. Just hearing it made the blood of 'Subject Zero' boil.
"My name is Jennifer Haider," Jack smiled viciously, fangs out, "Jack to my family."
She waved her pistol around in the air. "And I'm going to teach you that with this."
Lawson kept her cool. "I'm sure you'll try," she said, "But coming any closer is a colossal mistake. Turn around and go back to your shuttle."
Jack ignored the command. There was no way she wasn't going to bend this bitch in half now. "The girl in the fucking swimsuit gives me an order and I'm supposed to take it seriously?"
The icy bitch actually found that amusing, the corners of her lips twitching ever so slightly upwards. "You don't exactly wear much yourself," said Lawson, eyes sweeping up and down, "But you have as much social grace and intellect as a wrecking ball. You wouldn't understand who I am, what I am capable of. Nor do I need you to understand."
Another few steps, Jack thought, and she won't be able to stop my charge. The wrecking ball was about to swing.
"I'm sure I get exactly what you do with those tits," Jack laughed, edging ever closer, "I'm sure you wrap plenty of dumbasses around your little finger with them. But that outfit won't save you from me."
Lawson's face contorted into a smile, an I-know-something-you-don't smile. "Won't it?" she said.
A tiny bolt of doubt shot up Jack's spine, and she hesitated for just a second. A second too long. A moment to slap the side of her wrist was all the Cerberus operative needed. Glowing orange plates began flashforging around Lawson's body, hovering in place with micro mass effect fields, covering her from head to toe in ablative tech armour.
Jack sighed, wishing she had something similar. Wishing she had charged a moment before. This shit was definitely going to prolong things.
"So that's how it's going to be," said Jack, nodding, "Okay then, cheerleader."
She unleashed the biotic charge, wreathing herself in dark energy and bursting forwards straight at Lawson, purple light swirling. The cheerleader got a barrier up just in time, the bubble surrounding her for maybe only a few milliseconds before it burst under the impact. The Cerberus operative let out a groan with the effort, but moved back to use her weapon more effectively.
Sensing she had the initiative, Jack bounced forwards on her feet and raised her pistols to shoot point-blank, triumph filling her as she could almost taste the kill. A section of Lawson's armour exploded outwards in retaliation, sending shards of hot hardened omnigel straight at her. She deflected most of it with the remains of the unstable energy left over from the charge she had made. There was too little warning to deflect everything, and she shouted a curse as a three or four shards glanced off her side, drawing blood. Flesh wounds, but annoying ones.
Lawson retreated along the portside walkway, using her biotics to carry her while firing her rifle at Jack, heading towards the end of the passage and the entrance to the CIC.
Jack gave chase along the starboard, her barriers returned to full strength and her pistols giving as good as she was getting. But it wasn't good enough. The rage was building in her, more and more with each missed or deflected shot. It tasted like blood in her mouth, and she wanted release.
She holstered her pistols and took again to the charge, soaring over the central tramway. Lawson brought her rifle up instinctly to shield herself, betraying that she wasn't sure that her barriers would hold after the first charge hadn't been stopped. Jack's biotically enhanced fist broke the rifle in two and sent the operative sprawling backwards. A small victory, as the cheerleader's training took hold and she rolled onto her feet at the end of the movement, but it was enough.
Jack pressed on, sending a shockwave rippling after Lawson, who was now in retreating at full sprint. The unstable gravitational fields shredded the walkway, the railing, the walls and even the lights, sending bright sparks of electricity bursting out into the air. But the cheerleader jumped away, a biotic flare sending her up onto the tramway. It was hard to keep up with her.
"That's right, run!" Jack roared, "Run, but know you can't hide!" She waved her fists, and sent a flurry of warp bolts at the fleeing form. Lawson stopped and raised her arms, as if she had eyes on the back of her head, and raised another powerful barrier bubble around herself. The bolts thudded into it, harmlessly, and she resumed her sprint like she had never stopped.
"What the fuck!" Jack said, having never seen such a thing in her life before. The cheerleader's biotics were not on her level, but she seemed faster in every imaginable way than any other human she had met. With the possible exception of the first human Spectre. Most human biotics would have already been tired after fighting her this long at this intensity. Lawson betrayed no sign of fatigue. If anything, she seemed more energetic than before.
The doors of the CIC bloc opened, and Jack watched the cheerleader's toned ass disappear into it. She rushed with all her might to make it through them before they closed. But they were designed to snap closed against loss of life support, to trap air inside the CIC. Too fast, even for her. Her biotic charge collided with the thick, reinforced metal with a crack, fracturing it in places but not enough to open easily.
Letting a gurgle of frustration escape her throat, Jack gave the door a kick. Lawson was trapped, that much was clear, but now she'd need help. The cheerleader wouldn't be alone in there, and she gave up taking absolutely crazy risks on a promise. She activated her comms.
"This is Lieutenant Haider," said Jack, "I'm outside the doors of the CIC in the central passage. Lawson escaped inside, I need backup."
For a moment, there was nothing but static. To her surprise, it was Anderson who replied, not Taylor.
"Cerberus are retreating," the Rear-Admiral said, "We'll be at your position in two."
Jack blew out a breath, wondering what the hell that meant. Cerberus retreating? They must have had a way out of this. A way out of being chased on their own ship, surrounded by an entire Alliance fleet including a flotilla of stealth frigates, in a system without a mass relay. She would have doubted anyone could have gotten out of this situation, but if Cerberus were running, it was absolutely certain it was in the direction of a way out.
Anderson showed up without Taylor, in the company of two JANUS troopers. Both of which had blood smears on their armours, discernible only from the change in navy blue to pitch black.
The Admiral looked at the door she was standing beside and whistled. "They weren't kidding when they talked about your biotic power," he said, as he ran an armoured finger over one of the cracks she had made.
"I can get through it," she said, "But I can't defend myself while breaking it."
"Understood," Anderson said. He waved the troops forward, and they covered the doorway. When they had all found their place, he nodded at her to begin.
Jack sucked in a breath, raised her arms to summon her powers... and jumped back as the doors rumbled open slowly with a sudden screech. The damage done to them was severe enough that they only opened half way. It was enough for Lawson to step through. Unarmed, without her tech armour plates floating around her body, and with no biotic energy called forth. She wasn't even sweating from the fight mere minutes earlier.
In her joy at finding her enemy once again, Jack grabbed for her pistols and brought them up to shoot. Another JANUS trooper had done the same, and they all awaited the command. They all knew who this was, or enough about her to want to open fire.
"Admiral Anderson," Lawson said, not sparing Jack a glance, "The Illusive Man is waiting. If you'll come this way?" She turned around and went back through the doorway.
Jack's mouth dropped open at the bitch's audacity. As if she was going to fall for that one. She flew forwards, and burst through after the cheerleader, landing just beyond. She heard the others come in behind her, weapons raised. The expected firefight did not materialise.
The CIC was darkened for combat operations, but from the glowing red on many of the screens, it didn't look like combat was going to happen. Too much damage had already been done. The crew remained seated, but raised their hands.
"Hold your fire," said Anderson as he came up beside her, "Let's see where this goes."
Jack grit her teeth, and lowered the pistols in her hands, but kept them there.
"This way," said Lawson, her face kept carefully neutral except for the amusement Jack imagined dancing in her eyes, "You two alone."
There were times that the chain of command felt like it was wrapped around her neck like a leash, and this was one of those times. Jack went along nonetheless, following behind Anderson and watching for any excuse that might allow her to be let loose. Rather than battering Lawson to death. Unfortunately, no Cerberus soldiers showed themselves and other Alliance teams began showing up in the doorways, their opposition having withdrawn and dumped arms, presumably.
The cheerleader brought Anderson to a room just off of the CIC towards the bow. A comms room.
The door opened, and in the dark stood a glowing holographic figure of a man sitting in a chair. He was pretty but middle aged. Dressed in the most expensive looking suit that Jack had ever seen, black and silver silk with gold cufflinks. He was smoking a cigarette. His eyes were fully enhanced artificial replacements, designed for maximum visual capability rather than being a mimic of the real thing. This alone made him creepy as hell, completely at odds with the luxury of his clothing.
It was the Illusive Man, the leader of Cerberus.
And Jack couldn't do a thing to hurt him. He was somewhere else. She deflated, her hopes for revenge and answers draining out of her, like blood through a deep wound. She rubbed her face and listened, unable to do anything else.
"So, you're not on the ship," said Anderson, disappointed, "I had hoped to take you alive today."
"You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?" said the Illusive Man.
"Yes, I did," Anderson said sharply, "Our intelligence clearly indicated that orders were being issued from this ship, and reports for you were being sent here too. We detected no traffic that would indicate you were merely using it as a relay, and as far as we know, you do not possess QECs yet."
"Not many QECs," Lawson clarified, "I'm afraid that General Haider's security measures on Mars have prevented us from simply taking the technology, but we've managed to extrapolate the principles and build our own design."
Jack felt a surge of pride that Mama Haider had prevented Cerberus from getting something, even though they managed to get it through other methods anyway.
"The ship is still mine," Anderson pointed out, "As is Miss Lawson and the rest of the crew. We'll find you soon enough."
"Perhaps, but is now really the time to be engaging in a pointless dispute?" the Illusive Man said, tapping the ashes of his cigarette into an ashtray in the arm of his chair, "Alien pirates are attacking Cerberus' own holdings and they are planning to attack the Alliance's Traverse colonies. Someone is paying them to do so, and neither of us know who. And the Reapers are still coming."
"We did help you at Tikkun, Admiral," said Lawson, "We helped you liberate Rannoch and finally defeat the geth. Did that assistance mean nothing to the Alliance?"
"It doesn't change the fact that the Alliance is the sole legitimate government of humanity," Anderson said, "I am grateful for your help, but that was a year and a half ago. You want to help us? Restore your colonies and fleets to the rightful government on Earth. Unite humanity under one banner, and we'll face the pirates, their backers and the Reapers together. I'm sure I can sell pardons for you and your top people to Parliament if you delivered that, even in the face of protests from the other Council races."
Jack, enraged that a pardon could even be a possibility, opened her mouth to object. But her rage made her slow to choose her words.
"It's a tempting offer, Admiral," said the Illusive Man, "But you know why we must decline. Aside from the mistrust our own colonists have for the member states of the Alliance, which is considerable, Cerberus will never submit humanity to a position of inferiority. Not to mention we would never ally ourselves with a batarian government regardless of its form."
"We are on the Council now, we aren't inferiors, not any longer! " Anderson snapped, "And we beat the batarians and took their homeworld! Simply occupying it would be a waste of troops and ships we need against the Reapers. Better to have a friendly government on Khar'shan than punish the batarians."
"I had no hopes of being able to convince you, Admiral," said the Illusive Man, "Not with argument."
Jack finally had enough. The yammering was going nowhere.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jack shouted, "Here's what's going to happen! We're taking your ship, your crew, your fucking cheerleader here, and we're going to find you. And then, I'm going to kill you, slowly, for all the shit and hurt you've caused over the years. And if I can do it with a camera nearby so everyone in the galaxy can see, I'll die with a big fucking smile on my face the next minute! You're done, you hear? We've beaten you."
"You have taken one ship. We have others. Nor are you going to take this ship, my crew or Operative Lawson," the Illusive Man said, "Not only because you are not the one who makes the decisions here, Subject Zero, but because I have something even you will want."
"And what is that?" said Anderson, "Only thing I can think of worth that much would be the location of the Reapers in dark space."
Jack snorted. She didn't give a shit about that piece of information, so clearly it wasn't that. Anderson caught the noise, and grimaced, realising his mistake. He shot an apologetic look at her, which made her feel a little guilty. The old man was alright, after all.
The Illusive Man took a long drag on his cigarette, and took an equally long time to breath out the smoke, through both his mouth and his nose. Jack clenched her fists so hard, she hurt herself. The dramatic pauses and the fancy talk were on the verge of driving her mad.
"Shepard is alive," he said at last, looking at the floor, "And we know where she is."
Icy cold poured down Jack's neck, soothing her anger and replacing it with pure astonishment. The Commander. The Angel of Death that had reaped her way through geth and krogan in front of Jack's own eyes, alive?
"She's alive?!" Anderson asked desperately, "And you have her?!"
The Illusive Man looked up at the Admiral. "She never died, Admiral," he said, "I'm surprised you aren't asking if we were the ones who attacked her on the Citadel, That would be the logical conclusion, according to some."
"We all know she sympathised with you, to some degree," Anderson said, "Despite T'soni and your murder of Admiral Kohaku."
"Your predecessor's death was at the hands of Kai Leng," said Lawson, condescendingly, "I delivered him to Shepard myself for the trouble. And an asari lover is no reason to kill humanity's greatest soldier. Shepard does not place herself in a position of inferiority to anyone."
"Regardless, the answer to your question is no," said the Illusive Man, "We do not have her."
Jack detected a lie, or a half-truth. "But you did have her," she growled, "Didn't you?" How else could they know she didn't die? From what Mama had said, Shepard had to have been torn half to pieces by gunfire by the time she was taken.
The Illusive Man's head turned towards Lawson, and he nodded.
"We rescued her from the agents of the Shadow Broker on Omega, before delivery to whoever hired them," the operative confirmed, "But her body was too heavily damaged. She was not dead, but she would have died in seconds had we removed her from stasis when we retrieved her. I led the team to repair her organs... as well as give her some enhancements, with the hope of making her combat ready in time for the Reapers' return. She regained consciousness a month ago, but was still too injured to be walking around. We kept her sedated and made incredible progress beyond that point. Unfortunately, two weeks later, the chief medical officer betrayed us to the Shadow Broker and the facility she was being held in was attacked. I barely escaped with my life, and Shepard was taken."
A sob story to cover for being stupid, Jack thought. "You need better security," she said, "I've seen some the Broker's people. Apart from Urdnot Wrex, all of them were all pushovers."
"Our own mechs were hacked and killed most of our people as they slept," Lawson retorted, "I killed the man responsible, a Doctor Wilson, but not before the Blue Suns were swarming all over the station led by a senior salarian operative of the Broker."
"If the Broker has her, how do you know where she is?" Anderson asked.
"We have our own mole, on board his ship," said the Illusive Man, "We don't know where it is and neither does the mole. The Broker has to send a shuttle to pick up his agents, he doesn't trust any of them with the coordinates. But the mole recently gained access."
"And he's breaking Shepard out as we speak," said Lawson, "To a location only we know."
"So you see, Admiral," the Illusive Man added, "Either you release our ship and crew, or it will be Cerberus alone who meets Shepard for the first time in almost two years. I'm sure explaining that the batarians she loathes from the bottom of her heart are now friends of the Systems Alliance will make her waver in her loyalty to your cause. Backing down from the pirates in the Terminus and letting them attack human colonies, even Cerberus ones, without any retaliation, that is not something I envisage Shepard reacting favourably to either. I would not be surprised if she joins us in response."
He took another drag on his cigarette, finishing it off and stabbing it into the ashtray.
"In fact, I'm counting on it."
Thanks for reading!
The next chapter will be from the perspective of 'The Angel of Death'!
22nd Century Timeline:
Pre-War
2103:
The European Union founds Lowell City near the Martian South Pole, the first permanent human settlement on Mars. The achievement is feted as a triumph of European engineering, and threatens to trigger a space race between the European Union-African Union bloc and the massive Pan-Asian Coalition. The US plans further afield, investigating Jupiter's moon "Europa" for possible colonisation.
2105:
Arctic and Antarctic summer ice begins a stunning reversal of 21st Century norms, extending to the Eurasian and Canadian mainlands for the first time in fifty years. The discovery and development of fusion technology is celebrated as having finally undone the climatic damage done during the 20th and 21st centuries.
2100s:
Technological progress in all areas continues at pace, with anti-gravity technology based on controlled air pockets and plasma weaponry being developed in the Pan-Asian Coalition. US espionage places most of the advances in the hands of the Western powers.
2112:
The winter of this year is particularly harsh. The North Sea and the Baltic Sea freeze. Huge glacial flows stretch far into Russia, China, Korea and Japan. Canada nearly disappears under the ice, but its major urban centres are untouched. Populations further north than Moscow are displaced southwards for a number of years.
First anti-gravity aerial assault craft, or Titan, is launched by the PAC, soon followed by European and American projects.
2119:
The first year of permanent glacial flows. Emergency session of the United Nations hears evidence that the Earth is entering a new Ice Age. Evidence points to variance in solar output as cause. Treaties of mutual assistance are signed.
2123:
Pan-Asian Coalition begins to feel the effects of population movement and loss of huge amounts of agricultural land and resources. Unrest begins, measures put in place to insure order, elections permanently suspended. European Union and United States condemn the Pan-Asian Coalition, but refrains from economic sanctions due to fragility of global economy.
The European Union and Union of African States sign formal military and economic alliance treaty.
2120s:
Ice continues to extend further southward each year. Huge areas of Russia and Canada permanently under ice by decade's end.
Space colonisation efforts by the PAC cease as resources are strained, but existing settlements on Mars are maintained.
Assault walkers are field tested.
2134:
Titan deployments for humanitarian purposes save millions from starvation in the PAC, but the government of that state foresees mass starvation and economic ruin by the middle of the century without a change in circumstance. PAC begins mass military build-up along border. Europe and Africa respond in kind, concentrating their forces along the Mediterranean. The US increases its defence budget in response, leading to the same from South America and Australia.
Europe builds the three defensive lines in Northern Europe: Minsk, Brandenburg and Maginot.
Steven Hackett is born in Buenos Aires, in the South American Federation.
2137:
The last real effort to come to a diplomatic solution for resource distribution between the PAC and EU fails. The attempted US-brokered peace would have seen PAC military technology and resource wealth traded for food and energy technology. Both parties continue diplomatic talks beyond this point, but both use it to stall in order to complete their war preparations.
The Eldfell-Ashland Energy Corporation demonstrates helium-3 extraction from Saturn, causing a severe drop in the American stock market as helium-3 extraction from Luna is put under threat. Luna is an exclusively American holding at this time. The United States falls into a state of civil unrest as its economy is already badly affected by the climatic changes, precluding involvement in the Eurasian Crisis.
David Anderson is born in London, European Union.
The Cold War
2139:
With coordinated offensives from the Baltic to Africa, the Pan-Asian Coalition declares war on the European Union with the objective of capturing its resources and land.
The Union of African States honours its alliance with the EU and joins the fight. The PAC first strikes prioritise Africa in a conventional assault, drawing away many regular units of the European Army.
The United States' economy begins to recover quickly as European firms and government contracts pour into the country to fill war logistics demands, allowing Washington the time to solve some of its internal problems.
Kahlee Sanders is born in the Texan Megapolis, United States of America.
November 2139: Minsk
Operation Canute: Three battalions led by General Arkadi Petrov attack Minsk, the EU's command centre for the Minsk Defensive Line. First deployment of the militarised Titan in live combat operations, changing the nature of human warfare forever. Defence and destruction of titans becomes basis for military strategy during the war.
2140: Breaking the European Lines
PAC offensives concentrate on the Balkans primarily, as the region has yet to feel the full brunt of the new ice age. PAC divisions trap EU forces in the region in Belgrade in February. Despite a spirited defence by the EU 9th Armoured Corps lead by General Emil Nikoli, Belgrade falls in March.
The PAC attacks the Brandenburg Line in force. By July, PAC gunships have air superiority over the battlefield, and PAC Titans drop entire regiments behind Berlin. In August, the PAC offensive against Berlin begins, and the city falls two months later. Remaining EU forces retreat to France to make a stand while populations and industrial base is evacuated to Africa.
2141: Verdun & America
The PAC control much of Europe, but the ice advanced to its furthest point recorded, rendering almost all of the land useless. The Mediterranean remains firmly in EU hands.
The next PAC offensive quickly bogs down at the Maginot line at Verdun. Caught between huge iceflows and the European defences, the PAC walkers and tanks found the attack impossible to sustain. EU tank formations using the less-sophisticated but reliable A-8 Tiger were well able to match the Nekomata hovertanks fielded by the PAC. The EU uses infiltration tactics to destroy PAC titans.
The South American Federation, seeing the other major powers distracted by war, declares its own war on Mexico. Mexican forces defend their borders valiantly, and contrary to the hopes of the SAF, the United States declares war immediately, unable to tolerate the possibility of another world power directly on its doorstep. US Titans deploy to the front, against which the SAF deploys anti-Titan missiles.
By the end of 2141, the PAC copies European anti-titan tactics and Verdun falls, but the EU's strategic objective has been achieved; populations and industry have been moved to Africa. The US and Mexico holds off the SAF, but can make no progress to halt the enemy as their military had not been at high readiness when war broke out.
2142: The Fall of Europe & The Venezuela Offensive
With Verdun in PAC hands, the offensive swept through France and into Spain.
Cerbere in southern France stands as a stronghold temporarily until the intervention of PAC General Yuri Vladormirovic. Commando units using advanced optical camouflage technology breach the port's defences, but the EU leaves its crack infantry unit, the Hell Brigade, behind to defend the port. The Cerbere Landing establishes itself as the most costly battle of the Cold War.
US Titan forces attack Venezuela en masse, taking heavy casualties but successfully establishing a beachhead. The region is one of the SAF's industrial centres, and they retaliate with a general offensive on all fronts to draw away the Americans from the sector by the year's end.
The assault on Africa begins soon after with the PAC attacking Camp Gibraltar in Morocco. In May, the PAC strikes at the Suez Canal with large scale Titan forces. The EU responds in kind with their own Titan forces, and a campaign of attrition begins. Raids on Tunis and elsewhere fail to stop European and African reinforcements.
2143:
Mass migrations, diminishing food supplies and extremely insufficient energy generation ravage the PAC's population. With the political situation becoming increasingly desperate, PAC military forces turn their attention to the EU agricultural city project at Shuhia Tabia. Both sides deploy a dozen Titans, and the fighting over the city lasts a year, after which only two Titans are left. The region will become known as the Titan graveyard.
A similar offensive to capture the huge energy plants at Sidi fails after only two months, as PAC Titans divert to capture Shuhia Tabia or are reserved for logistics roles.
The US are repelled from Venezuela, but not before destroying the facilities there, including the SAF's Titan project factories. Furthermore, a joint US-Mexican offensive takes Panama and the path into Columbia. The entire north of the SAF is under threat.
On Mars, the European Union manages to land specialised military equipment, and attempts to bombard PAC settlements from space without success. The colonists in Lowell City begin training, and the first military unit founded on an offworld colony is raised: the European 1st Martian Armoured Regiment. Given the huge distances and harsh terrain, the government is reluctant to use its military forces aggressively until the right moment.
2144: Stalemate and Prothean Ruins
The EU repulses the PAC from Africa, and launches limited offensives eastwards from its holdings. A successful raid on a Titan facility in Karkand leaves PAC Titan production crippled. The Europeans prepare to take back their homeland.
US and Mexican forces sweep into Columbia, Peru and Chile as the Titans lead the way. The success of the attack draws the attention of Brazil, which intervenes in order to preserve the balance of power that has reigned in the Western hemisphere for nearly a century. Brazilian reinforcements push US forces back from Chile and Peru, and the first and only Titan battle between the US and Brazil occurs over Lima in September. The Brazilians copy EU and PAC tactics, using missiles to overwhelm the defences of the enemy titans and then infiltrating them to destroy their reactor cores.
The European Union orders its Martian colonies to use its newly raised military force to finally attack PAC settlements on Mars. The Martian 1st Armoured leaves Lowell City on the months-long journey to Vladivostok-on-Mars. The armoured column runs into something entirely unexpected after a modified rover falls into a large pit.
Inside the pit are the ruins of an alien outpost, complete with a cache of technology and a new material: element zero. The offensive against the PAC colonies is called off as the scientists in Lowell City examine the technology and information. News of the discovery is suppressed.
2145: Endgame
After half a year of examination of the alien technologies found on Mars, the European Union discovers the mass effect. As its first act, it integrates the new technology with existing orbital military satellite strike capabilities.
The planned counteroffensive to retake Europe from the PAC proceeds at a blistering pace. PAC titans and anti-titan missile installations are subjected to orbital bombardment and are annihilated. EU Titan forces are able to range at will and without contest, and PAC forces are swept back. By the summer of 2145, the EU has restored the pre-war borders.
The PAC refuses to surrender, and the EU retaliates with an all out invasion of its own. They quickly capture vast swathes of territory in Asia. The PAC response is to turn to its nuclear arsenal, which has gone unused until this point out of fear of damaging valuable productive land and further lowering the global temperature. European anti-ballistic missile systems shoot the nuclear strike down before the aging missiles can reach their targets.
The European Union responds to the attempted genocide with targeted orbital kinetic strikes on major PAC government facilities. The PAC collapses into a state of anarchy, and the rump government finally gives in. It surrenders unconditionally on November 11th 2145.
The next day, the EU declares war on the SAF and Brazil, and targets Brazil's titan forces from orbit, forcing the South American allies to the negotiating table with the US and Mexico. The cost of peace is war reparations to Mexico and a demilitarised zone in Central America, as well as the resignations of all those who voted in favour of war.
Victory to First Contact
2146:
The European Union formally annexes the majority of the Pan-Asian Coalition, setting up client governments in Japan and Korea. This causes it to become the single largest state in the history of humanity. The population of the former territory of the PAC has dropped significantly due to mass migrations to other states as well as starvation and combat losses. Millions of displaced Europeans are resettled. Surviving PAC citizens are granted citizenship of the EU and receive generous subsidies. Those responsible for the start of the war are hunted down and tried for crimes against humanity.
Earth's economy begins to recover.
The advance of the arctic ice halts at last and recedes slightly.
2148:
The European Space Agency ship Ariane makes the first manned FTL flight between Mars and Luna. The ESA begins a worldwide recruitment campaign for the best pilots and astronauts.
The United States demands full payment of the massive European war debt, hoping to gain FTL technology. The European Union refuses, stating that it would pay its debts as agreed previously and that its new technologies were not for sale. The US begins serious diplomatic efforts to rally the rest of the world against Europe for its position, calling the hoarding of the technology to be selfish and without regard for the cause of humanity.
The European Union accepts Canada as a member state, allowing millions of Canadian refugees to enter Europe as citizens from the massive refugee camps in the United States.
2149:
The secret of European advances in technology is leaked, and the human race learns that it is not the sole sentient species in the universe. Demands from other worlds powers to share the technology gleaned from the Prothean Archives on Mars are met with military brinkmanship from the EU.
Production of mass effect technologies explodes, with everything from small-arms to spaceships being constructed by European state-firms. Petitions to open the technology to private firms are shot down in the European Parliament, which wishes to insure European military superiority before allowing civilian applications.
The Charon Mass Relay is discovered. The American test-pilot Jon Grissom is the first man to leave the Sol System, travelling by mass relay to the Arcturus system on board the European Space Agency ship Ragnarok.
2150:
The European Union gives in to massive international pressure from friends and rivals alike, and forms the Systems Alliance, a political and military compact for the exploitation of space by humanity. As the largest polity on Earth, the EU dominates the alliance along with the US. Two military wings are formed, the Navy made up of the European fleets under unified political control, and the Army, made up of modernised military forces from all member nations.
Arctic ice recedes partially, releasing parts of Canada, Britain, Ireland and Europe from the glaciers. Mass effect technology is released to the private sector, leading to a boom period of population growth and economic development.
The Systems Alliance begins its first surveys of other systems for habitable planets. Demeter and Eden Prime are among the first to be discovered.
Miranda Lawson is born in Werrington Downs, Australia.
2151:
The Systems Alliance accelerates the original European fleet construction programme in anticipation of first contact with extraterrestrials, as well as for the colonisation of space. Ships of all classes as well as orbital-deployed Titans and assault walkers are built en masse. US, African and EU armies are equipped with mass accelerator weapons for the first time.
The first colonisation congress is held in the Palace of Versailles. The European Union cedes the entirety of its rights to the colonisation of Terra Nova to the Union of African States, in compensation of its contributions during the Cold War.
An airport accident in Singapore leads to mass exposures to element zero in dust form.
Kaiden Alenko is born in Singapore, EU-Administered Malaya.
2154:
Jane Shepard is born in Lorient, European Union, to Hannah Shepard, a Canadian cadet of the Systems Alliance Navy.
2155:
Jeff Moreau is born on Arcturus Station, the new forward naval base of the Systems Alliance.
The ten year anniversary of the end of the Cold War is held, with massive parades in Paris, Mexico City, Cape Town and Washington.
2157:
The First, Second and Third Fleets of the Systems Alliance are declared formally ready for combat operations. Exercises in space with the various new weapons designs are ordered as exploration continues at a rapid pace.
Jacob Taylor is born in New York State, the United States of America.
2157: FIRST CONTACT WAR
The Relay 314 Incident:
A scouting expedition from Shanxi colony attempting to open a mass relay is attacked by a turian force and destroyed. A single exploration vessel returns to Shanxi, which sends out a retaliatory flotilla. The flotilla destroys much of the alien fleet in turn, and the situation escalates. The Systems Alliance, unsure if they're fighting Protheans or some other alien species, they rally the military-grade ships at Arcturus and prepare for total war.
The turians, still looking to police the newly discovered species, rally a fleet and destroy several Alliance scout flotillas before heading to Shanxi itself.
The Occupation of Shanxi:
Despite all attempts to stop them, the turians successfully made it to orbit around Shanxi with little effort. They laid siege to the colony, but not before word of the attack was sent to Arcturus. The turians bombarded the Alliance strongpoints from orbit, and then started bombarding food storage facilities and utilities. Guerrilla warfare was used to slow down the turian ground troops with some success, but with civilians dying daily and food running low, General Williams called for a surrender. The colony's own defence forces and the accompanying civilians complied.
The United States Colonial Marine Expeditionary Force under Colonel Edward Ryan, a small group of US troops on a tour of colonies with the Alliance, refused the order to surrender. The turians hunted them to Xi'an Valley, where they made a last stand. With the American forces gone and the colony surrendered, the turians occupied the planet and settled in to defend it, assuming that they had destroyed the bulk of the Alliance fleet.
Outrage:
Word of the surrender and the massacre of the US CMEF got back to Arcturus just as a fierce political argument was breaking out between the constituent states of the Alliance. Shanxi was a European-backed colony made up largely of former PAC citizens, so the European Union wished to counterattack immediately. However, every other member of the alliance disagreed, refusing to sign off on the huge spaceborne counterattack already being organised by the Europeans. They still did not know who exactly they were fighting and why.
The why became irrelevant as soon as word of the surrender arrived. The United States, who had led the calls for diplomacy, immediately turned on its position. Not aware that their marines had refused to surrender, the Americans assumed that there had been a horrific massacre of surrendering soldiers. The occupation soon outraged all parties, and it was agreed that the counterattack should go ahead as planned.
Retaliation:
A month after the occupation began, the Systems Alliance Second Fleet under Admiral Drescher jumped into the system and annihilated the turian fleet guarding the colony. The turians were taken aback by a number of human innovations in space combat technology and tactics, and were outnumbered at any rate. The surviving ships limped back through the Shanxi-Theta relay.
With the turian ships shredded, it was the turn of the army. Titans and shuttles were dropped from orbit, surrounding the colony proper with the soldiers of Europe's Hell Brigade and the American Rangers. L5 Riesig assault walkers, now upgraded with kinetic barriers, blasted the turian occupiers to pieces. The aliens' anti-armour weapons were of little help as the active defences on the human armoured units detonated the munitions before they even hit the barriers. The turians soon adapted, using heavy machineguns to wear down the humans' primitive barriers, but they were simply outnumbered by metal behemoths.
The Alliance retreated, having demonstrated their strength and not wishing to risk the civilians' lives. Titans brought down reinforcements from orbit, and the turians were offered the opportunity to surrender. The aliens surrendered, and the human race saw the face of their aggressor for the first time.
The Council intervenes:
With Earth and her colonies now gearing up towards total war against an alien aggressor, and the Turian Hierarchy moving real assets towards crushing the human race, the Citadel Council intervened a month after Shanxi. Humanity learns that the galaxy is in fact inhabited by many species, many of whom possess mass effect technology, and most of whom organise their political and economic life via the Council. A ceasefire is negotiated between the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy, with the turians accepting responsibility for the war.
After First Contact
2157:
A manifesto for a pro-human group is published, calling for a Cerberus to defend humanity from the alien threats at its doorstep, in the midst of a proliferation of "pro-human" political grouplets and parties. The Systems Alliance dismisses the manifesto as nonsensical.
2158:
Ashley Williams is born on the American colony Sirona, in the 61 Ursae Majoris system.
2160:
The Systems Alliance Parliament is formed, consisting of a Council of States to represent the original powers and their designated colonies, and a Senate to represent the people directly.
Kasumi Goto is born at an unknown location.
2161:
Jennifer Haider, also known as "Jack", is born on the European colony of Eden Prime.
2165:
The Systems Alliance gains an official embassy on the Citadel, and humanity gains full unrestricted access to the galactic economy.
The Batarian Hegemony begins to compete with the Alliance for colonies in the Skyllian Verge. The Alliance slowly prepares for war as the batarians' culture of slavery and aggressive stance leave little doubt in minds on Earth that conflict with the aliens is inevitable.
Official founding of the Alliance Army, and institution of the legion system. Each numbered legion is composed of up to six million soldiers and service personnel from an Alliance member state or group of states, and is tasked to hold a cluster, a world or a continent of a heavily populated world.
2170:
The Alliance colony of Mindoir is attacked by Batarian slavers, who seize many citizens and kill many more, starting the First Verge War.
With a potential military coup brewing if no retaliatory action is taken, the Alliance Parliament appeals to the Citadel Council to intervene for the return of the kidnapped colonists. The Council refuses to intervene, so the Alliance Parliament authorises escalating military strikes against the Hegemony until the colonists are repatriated. Alliance Army Titans and armoured forces are dropped onto several batarian colonies in the Verge, and battles fought with the batarian navy.
Alliance use of nuclear weapons on three minor batarian colonies forces the Council's hand, who impose a ceasefire, trading off the kidnapped citizens for compensation to victims of the nuclear attacks. Not all of the kidnapped are returned however, and outrage at their treatment as slaves leads to an expansion of the Systems Alliance Army and Navy.
The A-61 Mantis, developed to replace the old Cold War era UD-8 Talon for new technologies, is flown for the first time.
2171:
The Batarian Hegemony asks the Citadel Council to limit human expansion in the Skyllian Verge. They are refused, and withdraw from diplomatic relations with the Citadel, becoming a rogue state. The Systems Alliance reacts by a full assault on various mercenary groups in the Verge, pushing them out of the region and into the Terminus Systems.
Worst winter on Earth in a decade, thousands displaced from their homes. Glaciers advance for the first time in seven years.
2173:
Out of frustration with the Citadel Council and their tolerance of criminal activities, the Systems Alliance seeks to spread its influence. It successfully signs a treaty with the Quarian Migrant Fleet for technical cooperation in return for a number of visa considerations to quarians on pilgrimage as well as various diplomatic concessions and ship deals.
2176:
Batarian-funded pirates attack the colony of Elysium, but the assault is repulsed with contemptuous ease by the V Legion of the Alliance Army and several fleets of the Alliance Navy. The Second Verge War begins.
In retaliation, the Alliance sends six legions to the joint batarian-human colony of Anhur, crushes the slavers there and seizes the world, expelling the batarians en masse to Terminus space.
2177:
Slaver activity in the Verge continues, and the Alliance is lead on a wild goose chase to find their stronghold.
Fighting in the Yuki Cluster. An Alliance Army column on Akuze is attacked by Thresher Maws, the first time humans encounter the beasts. The assault walkers suffer heavy casualties, but are able to use the mass effect generators and heavy weapons on their armour to good effect. Several specimens are taken to the biolabs on Arcturus for examination.
2178:
The Alliance discovers the main staging base of the batarian slavers on the moon of Torfan, as well as several safe ports the pirates use thanks to their trajectories upon fleeing from the Alliance fleet sent to destroy them.
On the direction of an Navy N7 reconnaissance team lead by Lieutenant Jane Shepard, the XIII Legion of the Alliance Army brutally crushed all resistance by the batarians at the expense of many lives. The majority of the N7 team perished while clearing the dropzones for the Army and in the subsequent close quarters fighting. Shepard receives a promotion to Commander, and is assigned to the SSV Tokyo under Captain Anderson. The non-human media nickname her "The Butcher of Torfan", whereas the human media prefers "The Angel of Death".
Unable to conquer Khar'shan, the Alliance Navy begins a bold operation to destroy the batarians' capability to fight. The Battle of the Kite's Nest begins at the end of the year, a series of naval engagements within the core of batarian space that destroys the Hegemony's capability to fight. The victory forces the batarians to the negotiating table. A humiliating but fair peace treaty is signed on the Citadel, ending the Second Verge War in total victory for humankind.
2178-2182:
With the Alliance pulling its weight for the preservation of galactic civilisation, and the Terminus Systems crawling with potential threats to peace, the Turian Hierarchy decides to involve itself in a joint construction project with humanity for the creation of a new class of stealth frigate. The first of the completed vessels is the SSV Normandy. Fleet modernisation and innovations continue across all classes of ship.
2183:
The Eden Prime War begins after a geth attack on that world in January. The Alliance's Black Forest Protocol is immediately triggered, and the Alliance Navy and Army both respond to the attack. The traitor Spectre Saren successfully escapes on board the Reaper dreadnought Sovereign, with knowledge from a Prothean beacon. N7 Commander Jane Shepard also succeeds in gaining the knowledge. She is assigned to hunt Saren down, and is given command of the SSV Normandy to complete the task.
The first fleet engagement between the Alliance and the Geth Collective occurs over Therum, as the geth attempt to abscond with Prothean expert Dr. Liara T'soni. Elements of the Fifth Fleet's Carrier Group Nine face down a geth dropship flotilla escorted by a heavy cruiser. The engagement is a victory for the Alliance, as Commander Shepard rescues T'soni and the Fifth Fleet inflicts heavy losses on the outnumbered and outgunned geth. The Commander is elevated to the rank of Council Spectre for her role on the ground.
Geth launch offensive across the Traverse border, dropping troops off on any colony they can reach to undertake terror attacks on the civilian population. Eden Prime, Terra Nova, Noveria, and Feros see further combat with the geth, as well as more than half a dozen others. On Noveria, the fighting results in the accidental release of a cloned rachni queen, requiring the nuclear annihilation of the area surrounding both the facility it was being held in and the capital of Port Hanshan. The Council commends the Alliance's rapid response to the possible return of the rachni.
The Alliance finally secures the Traverse Line with an attack on the former quarian colony of Ket'osh, the site of an extensive mass relay monitoring network. The Fifth Fleet defeats the main geth expeditionary fleet in detail with heavy losses, which include Rear-Admiral Mikhailovich. Group-Captain Hannah Shepard takes command and successfully holds off the geth until the arrival of the Quarian Heavy Fleet. Ket'osh is handed over to the Migrant Fleet as a gesture of friendship between the Systems Alliance and the Quarian people.
Humanity signs the Versailles Pact with the Quarian Migrant Fleet in July, creating a permanent military alliance with the largest fleet in the galaxy, for the express purpose of liberating Rannoch from the geth. As Pact forces push their way through the Terminus with the unsolicited assistance of Cerberus attacks on pirate warlords, Shepard's hunt for Saren continues, leading her to the world of Virmire. A krogan cloning facility is discovered there, as well as information as to the true nature of the Reapers worshipped by the geth as gods. The genocidal machines are planning to return.
The war ends in September at the contemporaneous battles of Tikkun and the Citadel.
At the Citadel, Saren uses a micro mass relay on the world of Ilos to launch an assault with geth ground forces, in order to use the station in its original role as a relay to dark space. This is combined with an attack by Sovereign and a geth fleet previously undetected by Citadel forces. The battle traps millions inside the closed station with the synthetics, resulting in running firefights on the Presidium and the Wards.
Commander Shepard and her team follow via the Ilos micro-relay, and after storming the Citadel Tower, manages to defeat Saren. The traitorous Spectre is executed by Liara T'soni. The station is opened once more, exposing Sovereign. Meanwhile, the battered Alliance Fifth Fleet arrives to support the Citadel Fleet and Sovereign is destroyed, alongside the entirety of the geth space forces. The Alliance Army's Thirteenth Legion lands by titan on the station to assist C-Sec in clearing out geth ground forces, later joined by elements of three turian divisions.
At Tikkun, the joint Alliance-Quarian forces are joined by the bulk of Cerberus' own fleet, and the liberation of Rannoch begins. Ground troops are landed on Rannoch, the fleet maintains a highly aggressive posture that forces the geth to utilise all their numbers to fend off. Meanwhile, the Alliance deterrence fleets make for a partially completed geth Dyson Sphere in the Haestrom Cluster and destroy it. Combined with the defeat of Sovereign hours before, this convinces the geth that annihilation is their future if the war continues. The first geth formally surrender to Lieutenant James Vega of the US 101st Orbital Assault Division and Lieutenant Kal'Reegar of the Quarian Migrant Fleet in a bunker on Rannoch, quickly followed by the great majority of the geth fleet and ground armies.
Humanity becomes the fourth race of the Citadel Council for their defence of the Citadel itself, while the quarians become the fifth in December on the invitation of the asari.
Commander Shepard is assassinated on the Citadel in October, although her body was never found.
2184:
The Torfan Memorial is opened in April, on what would have been Shepard's thirtieth birthday.
The Illium Incident occurs. The Alliance Fifth Fleet under the command of Admiral Hannah Shepard enters orbit over Illium and delivers an ultimatum to the matriarchs of the planet to hand over all human and quarian slaves as citizens owing military service to the Versailles Pact. The matriarchs refuse.
The Fifth Fleet bombards the planet's power grid with disruptor nanite weapons, leading to immediate blackouts. An asari fleet made up of ships loyal to those republics allied to Illium arrives, and begins skirmishing with the Alliance. Full battle is delayed only by the discharge requirements of the asari dreadnoughts, but political events overtake the military situation. On the precipice of war, the Council brokers an agreement to forgive all debts of bondage for human and quarian indentured servants on Illium in return for a ceasefire and future non-intervention in Illium's affairs.
The rebel batarian government in exile on the world of Shan'kharit declares the Batarian Commonwealth, as the sole legitimate government of the batarian people, and declares war on the Hegemony. The government signs the Pact of Versailles in August.
The Third Verge War breaks out between the Systems Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony, with the Alliance counting both the Quarians and the Batarian government-in-exile as part of its coalition. The lower castes rebel. The indoctrinated Hegemonic leadership is plagued by technological inferiority in its military, political unrest and belief in the invincibility of its own cause. Khar'shan falls in less than a month to human fleets and batarian rebel armies. The Great Ziggurat, seat and residence of the Arch-Hegemon, falls to Alliance special forces. The remains of the Reaper called the 'Leviathan of Dis' are discovered in its vaults.