What follows is the prologue for a series I've been planning for a while, dramatizing the events of Mass Effect 2 and 3, mainly from the perspective of Miranda Lawson, with an emphasis on her relationship with Commander Shepard. You know from my one shot story, "Keeping a Promise" how their journey ends, but that doesn't make the path there any less significant (Maybe I'll do an extended cut of that story once I get to the end *sarcasm*). Shepard in this story has the Colonist Background, and the War Hero service record. His class specialization is that of a Sentinel. I plan to update this story at least once a week until its completion. Enjoy.

Prologue – The Lazarus Project

Subject – Lt. Commander John Shepard

Service Number: 5923-AC-2826

Age: 29

Height: 1.85 m (approx. 6 ft. 1 in.)

Weight: 82 kg (approx. 182 lbs.)

Hair: Black

Eyes: Blue

Born John Mason to Robert and Hannah Mason. Both parents and younger sister, Katherine, were killed in a slaver attack on their home colony of Mindoir in 2170. Changed his last name to Shepard when he enlisted into the Alliance later that same year (underage). Graduated the Systems Alliance N7 Special Forces program (one of the youngest ever to do so) with his Military Specialization Classification listed as Sentinel (a combination of biotics and cyber warfare). Began active service and received several medals for bravery and heroism, culminating in being awarded the Star of Terra (Earth's most prestigious medal) after defending the citizens of Elysium from enemy ground forces during the Skyllian Blitz in 2176. Shepard had been on shore leave at the time. Assigned as executive officer to Captain David Anderson aboard the SSV Normandy. After rescuing Eden Prime from a Geth attack (later determined to be part of campaign of sedition led by the rogue Turian Spectre, Saren Arterius), Shepard was appointed the first human Spectre, and tasked with tracking down Saren. After several missions in the Terminus Systems, Shepard caught up with and confronted Saren in the Citadel Tower during the battle for the Citadel in 2183. His actions during the battle allowed the Alliance Fleet to both save the Destiny Ascension and destroy the Geth flagship, Sovereign. Afterward, he was tasked with rooting out remain Geth resistance, until he was killed in an attack on the Normandy by a ship of unknown origin. His body was never recovered and he is officially listed as MIA, presumed dead.

Miranda leaned back, having finished reading the Alliance Record's brief on Commander Shepard for the 3rd time. The full profile was scheduled to be sent to her later that day, but she wanted to make sure she had a handle on the basics before going into detail. The first time she had read the line referring to the "Geth Flagship" she had winced. Depressing really, how determined the council was to bury the truth for their own convenience and piece of mind. Sighing, she kneaded her temples with her fingers. She was confident in her abilities but the task before her was monumental. Moments ago she had emerged from a meeting with the Illusive Man, a follow up to their earlier conversation in which he had sought her opinion on Shepard's viability as a Cerberus asset. They had concluded that although it would be a difficult proposition, a man and, more importantly, a symbol like Shepard was invaluable to humanity and therefore Cerberus as well. Their plan for a gradual approach to Shepard had been blown to hell when his ship was, but it appears that they weren't done with him yet.

The Illusive Man was never one to let the increased difficulty of an operation deter him from having it carried out, and Shepard's death seemed to him to be only another obstacle to his eventual recruitment. Bringing him back to life, however impossible that might seem, was a moot point for the moment, as the man himself - or more accurately, his body - was missing. Expeditionary teams searching for the Normandy's crash site had been unable to locate the Commander's remains. Recent chatter on Omega, however, suggested that members of the Blue Suns had possession of the late John Shepard, and had plans to hand his body over to the Shadow Broker. Miranda had no intention of letting that happen, but Cerberus had limited influence on Omega. She would need to enlist the assistance of a certain Asari who had served with Shepard during his hunt for Saren, and was currently searching for his body, same as her; Dr. Liara T'soni.

Weeks later, thanks to the help of the commander's erstwhile Asari ally, his body lay before Miranda on their specially prepared operating table. She had spent the intermediary time recruiting a crack team, both from within Cerberus' ranks and without. Even with all the specialists and medical professionals she had assembled, and the Illusive Man's personal assurance that his every resource would be at their disposal, she was daunted by what needed to be done. The longest a human had ever been clinically dead outside of a hospital and been subsequently revived was 34 hours, and that was a skier who had been frozen in an avalanche in the Alps, and found and revived over a day later. Shepard had been subjected to sub-zero temperatures for the majority of his death and spent the rest of it in a stasis pod, but still, he was beyond clinical death. The man before her was dead in the most absolute definition of the world. The only way of bringing him back, and not some clone or copy, was to rebuild him piece by piece.

She took a breath and began to assess the damage, mentally running scenarios for possible solutions to each problem as she focused on it. His brain was obviously the main concern. His helmet had kept his head mostly intact, but there were still a multitude of problems. After death, the human brain is the fastest part to decay. As it is deprived of oxygen, delicate and irreplaceable cells and neural pathways begin to die. This process can be slowed by sub-zero temperatures, and even more so by modern advances in stasis technology, but nothing can stop it altogether. Due to the amount of time since his death, significant portions would have to be rebuilt with great care if they wanted to maintain their original functionality. Miranda made a note of what tasks she would first be assigning their two resident Neurologists.

His body was of less concern, but just as badly damaged. Most of his bones had sustained at least minor fractures, and many had been nearly disintegrated by impact. Decay was less of a worry than with his brain, but skin cells had already begun to lose their integrity (partially due to crystallization of glucose in his bloodstream from being frozen, which resulted in damage to the cell walls), and on top of significant trauma this meant that much of his dermal architecture would need to be replaced. Any muscles and tendons that hadn't been damaged by his orbital drop had, and would continue to suffer the effects of atrophy. She had already considered this, and had plans to both regrow current muscle and marrow that had been lost, and supplement with cybernetic augmentations. This would both ensure stability for the commander's entire body during recovery, and make him stronger and more durable upon his eventual revival. Almost all of his original organs would need to be replaced with cloned duplicates, but she was confident that this wouldn't affect Shepard's mind. A few glands that regulate hormones, like the pituitary, adrenal, and thyroid glands would need to be rebuilt to exact specifications to ensure that Shepard's mood and emotions were unaffected, but that didn't worry her unduly.

After a few hours of examination and consideration, she had established a plan for his revival, and an outline detailing the responsibilities of each member of her hand built team, along with her own. She would present this to the rest of the team the next morning after getting it approved by the Illusive Man. Looking away from the screens she had been assessing to the remains of the man lying on the table in the center of the room, she was struck by the fact that despite all that she knew of the man, from his military record, to his high school report card, to his cellular structure, she had no idea what to expect if- when, when she mentally corrected herself, they finally revived him. The image she had formed of the Shepard she would be rebuilding in her head over the last few weeks was hollow. Resolving to rectify that before the project was completed, she saved and sent off her reports, turned off all non-essential machinery, and retired to her quarters to prepare for the work to come.

The days turned into weeks, and weeks into months as Shepard's reconstruction progressed. Initial results showed promise. Preliminary regrowth of basic tissues was going well, and the pulmonary and cardiovascular systems had been almost completely restored. They were growing cloned organs separately, with the goal being to anticipate the amount of time it would take to regrow each (every organ is different in this regard), and have it ready as soon as Shepard's body was made ready to receive it. Even with artificially accelerated growth, the fastest of these would take at least a month. Their current working plan, proposed by Miranda, was to preserve the brain as best they could as they restored his body. Once they had that repaired and ready to sustain his brain on its own, they could reconstruct the neural pathways that made up Shepard; his memories, his training, his personality. As an alliance soldier, Shepard had been required to complete physicals 4 times a year, and once a year his tests included extremely thorough neurological testing. Cerberus had "acquired" Shepard's most recent tests, performed only a month after the attack on the citadel. Their plan was to use these scans as a guide to rebuild any parts of his cerebral cortex that had been damaged during his time spent as a corpse.

As the Lazarus Project progressed, Miranda used what could be loosely referred to as her spare time to try to fill in the gaps in her knowledge of Shepard. The fact remained that when he awoke (and it was looking more likely every day that they would succeed in making this happen), Shepard would be among what his most recent experiences would tell him are enemies. The more Miranda read of the Commander's exploits, the more concerned she was about what would happen when he woke up. It was entirely possible they would be able to bring Shepard around to their side in time, but it was unlikely they would be able restrain him if his initial reaction was violent. At the outset of the program, Miranda had proposed a solution to the Illusive Man, but had been shot down.

"No." The Illusive Man sat in his chair on the other end of the holo-call, as infuriatingly implacable as ever.

"Respectfully, sir, Shepard has personally wiped out four Cerberus bases in the past. If we don't have a means to control him-" Miranda was interrupted before she could finish.

"I understand your position, but I'm afraid I think it's worth the risk. Shepard has gotten to where he is because of who he is. The slightest change could ruin him. We need the man who saved a galaxy that didn't believe in him, not a chained attack dog. My decision is final, Miranda. Find a way to make it work."

She knew getting the Illusive Man to refute an earlier decision was all but futile, so she had to content herself with filling in the blanks, and learning exactly who and what to expect at the end of the project. Since the best source of information was still mostly dead on her table, she would have to rely on secondary sources.

Excerpt from the debriefing of Lieutenant Gregory Adams, Chief Engineer SSV Normandy

Lt. Adams: After we'd cleared the Widow System, having absconded with the Normandy, Commander Shepard called all crew members into the CIC.

Alliance Archivist: To brief you on the upcoming mission?

LA: No. Well, yes, but before that he had something to say to the entire crew.

AA: What did he say?

LA: That he wouldn't order any member of the crew to come with him. He said that we were passing by a human colony on the way to the Mu Relay, and that any who were uncomfortable with disobeying a council directive would be dropped off there. Needless to say none of us took that option.

AA: You were all aware that what you were doing could be considered treason if you were wrong?

LA: He made sure we understood both what we were doing and the consequences. The fact is, with Shepard in command, not a single man or woman on that ship cared.

Communication between Admiral Steven Hackett and Commander Shepard following a mission dealing with Major Kyle, an ex-alliance soldier suffering from PTSD who had started a cult for biotics.

Admiral Hackett: My reports say Major Kyle remanded himself into our custody without incident. I don't know how you did it Commander, to be honest I was expecting the situation to end in a blood bath. Good work.

Commander Shepard: Thank you sir, but I was just doing my job.

AH: I wish every soldier had your definition of "Just doing your job." Keep up the good work Commander. Hackett out.

Over the course of several weeks, Miranda absorbed more and more audio logs, news footage, mission briefings, security tapes, interviews, and first-hand accounts. A coherent profile was finally starting to assemble itself. She now felt her earlier fears of a murderous rampage upon awakening were unfounded. Shepard was by no means soft, but he never took the easy way out. She felt confident he would at least ascertain her name and purpose before gunning her down. Even then, unless she was an immediate threat to him, it was unlikely he would resort to violence. Numerous scenarios from his long and varied career had proven that despite his extensive array of deadly skills, using them was the last option he would employ. That wasn't the only thing she had learned in her investigation into the Spectre, but it was her most immediate concern, and the rest were trivialities she could scarce afford time contemplating at this critical stage of the operation. For they were about to begin work restoring Shepard's mind.

Miranda Lawson's Personal Log (Encrypted)

I normally don't indulge in personal journals, but the tension of this project is even getting to me, and I fear without an unobserved way to vent, my performance might suffer, and that is something we cannot afford at this juncture. Despite everything we've accomplished so far, the success of this project is wholly dependent on this next phase. I feel a layman could not even comprehend the magnitude of what needs to be done. The brain is the most complex and delicate part of a human being. Despite nonsense about feeling something in your heart or gut, or knowing something in your bones, everything that makes us who we are is contained in three pounds of soft tissue sloshing around inside your skull. Every neuron contained within is unique and irreplaceable. The structure is equal parts based on genetics, experience, and a million variables that take place during the course of one's life. No two human brains are identical, and rebuilding one as damaged as Shepard's has never been attempted before. We cannot introduce anything new into the brain. A cloned brain would just be an empty shell, what Shepard was at the moment of his birth (although variables during growth mean that even that's not certain). Even if we could copy the structure of his current brain onto a replacement, that wouldn't be Shepard. Compare coping a file from one computer to another. Nothing physically moves, the data is simply replicated on a new hard drive. The original still exists. All we would have done was created someone who thinks they are Shepard. The philosophical connotations are mind boggling, but fortunately our mission directive has made things simple: bring back Shepard. And I will find a way.

Together with the two Neurologists she had selected for the project, Miranda worked tirelessly over the next few months painstakingly restoring the damaged portions of Shepard's mind. Luckily for the team, the section that had sustained the most damage was the Medulla Oblongata, which controls the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, along with other autonomic and involuntary functions. This was fortunate because between different people, this was the section of the brain most likely to be similar, and as such was the easiest to restore. Other damaged sections, while not suffering from nearly as severe damage were much more difficult. They had to carefully restore, neuron by neuron, pathway by pathway, entire sections of his motor and cerebral cortex to exactly match scans taken from alliance databases. Miranda thanked whatever gods might be watching that the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and hippocampus - the areas of the brain most responsible for the formation and storage of memories – were mostly intact. Rebuilding them could very well have been impossible. Despite more than 250 years of research into the brain, memory was still one of the most difficult mental structures to understand.

As they progressed, Miranda found herself more and more coming into conflict with one of the other two specialists still working consistently on Shepard, Dr. Wilson. He was always eager to rush ahead, even when a particular task required precision. More than once, his recklessness had nearly cost them weeks of work. He constantly questioned her every move, sure (quite wrongly) that he knew better. She had originally chosen Wilson for the team because of a combination of his history working in experimental medicine, and his substantial debts. The latter had made him easy to recruit, but in retrospect, she suspected she should have read more into what that said about his character. He seemed to fail to understand that this was more than just an experiment. All it would take was one costly mistake to end the entire project, and yet he continued to push. On a few occasions she had wondered what his hurry was, but always ended up attributing his rush to his rash nature. His current proposition had her genuinely terrified. Not only because of the risk it posed to Shepard (and therefore the project) but because the Illusive Man had already given his consent, in spite of her protests.

Wilson had decided (and apparently the Illusive Man agreed) that an assessment and testing of Shepard's neural integrity was in order, and had proposed a plan involving utilizing electric impulses throughout Shepard's brain that would allow them to stimulate different areas and observe the results to assess functionality. The problem was that a multitude of complications (ranging from minor to fatal) could easily arise, and given that they projected Shepard should be conscious – properly – within the next two or three weeks, Miranda questioned the necessity of such a risk. Wilson had argued that they should know about any problems before Shepard woke up, so they could correct them with greater ease. Confident in their results, Miranda felt this was unnecessary, but her objections had been overridden by the Illusive Man, and as such, the testing would proceed.

His eyes glued to the screen, and attempting to ignore Miranda's icy glare boring into the back of his skull, Wilson began his dictation of the test, "Beginning electrical stimulation to the Basal Ganglia."

A beep from the machine and a subdued jolt from the electrode mounted on Shepard's head later, the marine's left leg twitched slightly.

"Motor control between brain and extremities seems to be functioning." He sent a few more pulses through the commander's brain, alternating between different limbs, and making auditory note of the results. Miranda had moved from her position against the wall and was now alternating between observing Shepard and eyeing the various machines that were monitoring him.

"Bringing up cerebral imaging," Wilson noted, changing the view on his screens to several cross sections of Shepard's head, using various filters. "Stimulating the Amygdala. We should observe the signs of a reaction to something exciting or unexpected." After a few moments of observation Wilson nodded, "Looks pretty good. Let's try anger." Again, the results seemed satisfactory, "One more before we move on, testing the fear response." This time, the screens seemed much more lively "Very good response to that."

"What was that?" Miranda sounded concerned, so Wilson glanced at the screens monitoring Shepard's vitals.

"Just an adrenal response. It's to be expected, given what we stimulated. We'll give it a few minutes to dissipate, then continue."

"No, that." He noticed she was looking not at the screens, but at Shepard. "He just blinked."

"What? We have him sedated, he can't have blinked." Panicking slightly Wilson moved back over to the screens showing neurological function. Behind him he heard Shepard stir on the bed. "He's reacting to outside stimuli, showing an awareness of his surroundings. My god, Miranda, I think he's waking up!"

Miranda moved swiftly across the room to stand next to Shepard, whose eyes were half open, and whose head was starting to rise slightly. "Dammit Wilson he's not ready, give him the emergency sedative." She turned to Shepard, and grabbed his arm which was lifting to push himself upwards, gently bringing it back down to his side.

"Shepard don't try to move, just lie still; try to relax." She did her best to make her expression reassuring in spite of the dread and anxiety that were threatening to consume her.

Wilson administered the sedative, but the noises of the monitors made it clear that this wasn't enough. "Heart rate's still climbing, brain activity is off the charts." He glanced at another screen. "Stats pushing into the red zone. It's not working" Shepard was breathing heavily, and his face was contorted in pain.

"Another dose, now," Miranda commanded. Wilson complied, for once, and yet more sedative flooded the commander's system. A few tense seconds crawled slowly by seeming to last a lifetime.

Finally, Wilson reported, "Heart rate dropping, stats falling into normal range. That was too close, we almost lost hi-" Miranda cut him off.

"I told you your estimates were off, run the numbers again." Miranda looked down at Shepard, and for a moment before he returned to unconsciousness, their eyes met. What she saw there surprised her. It wasn't fear or confusion, as one might expect, it was fire. A fiery determination that belied his current state and helpless position, and despite the fact that he was falling back into the deep sleep in which he had spent so much of the last two years, that one look into his eyes had made him seem more alive than anything else Miranda had learned of him so far.

Wilson had been right about one thing: that was much too damn close. She could not - would not –allow him to compromise what she had devoted the last two years of her life to accomplishing. From now on, she would review every last bloody thing he did before signing off on it, and she felt confident the Illusive man would no longer doubt her judgment.

It was this decision that would save Shepard's life.

Author Notes:

That concludes the prologue to my series. You can expect a new installment every week or so. I promise that future chapters will have less technical babble, but I have to admit that I was geeking out slightly over the prospect of explaining just how bloody difficult the Lazarus project would actually be, especially given my lifelong fascination with the complexities of the brain. Anyway, I also planted the seeds for multiple details of Shepard's background that I plan to expand upon later. Miranda's background will also be explored, but I wanted the first chapter to be about Shepard, so that will come later. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and will return for future instalments. Cheers.