Mass Effect 4 Story
Five years after the Great War with the Reapers, the galaxy was still devastated. The war was a victory, but many species lost many people because of the war, planets like Thessia lost at least a billion people. Earth took a huge beating. When Commander Shepard sacrificed his life to save the galaxy, a powerful energy shot out from the crucible hitting the mass relay in the Sol system. The mass relay is what allows space travel between two stars. It is one of the greatest discoveries that humans made. It is what brought humans and aliens together and advanced humanity two hundred years. The blast from the Crucible almost destroyed the mass relay. This event caused a chain reaction damaging the rest of the mass relays, rendering space travel. Five years later the mass relays have been repaired. However space travel is still dangerous and only military can go through the relay. Back on Earth, rebuilding has been at a steady pace. Many of the facilities have been rebuilt and even the alliance has been training soldiers again.
Lieutenant Chris Hopkins has been sitting in Captain Pierce's office for three hours already. "There would be only two reasons that Captain Pierce would call me to his office", Hopkins thought. "Either to dismiss my duties from the SSV Phoenix or to promote me". Another half hour went by and finally Captain Pierce finally came out. "Thanks for coming Hopkins", he said. "I called you down here to talk to you about something very important.", "Come in". The two men sat down across from each other in the office. The office had a cold feel to it. This was not surprising because Captain Pierce had a hard, cold personality. Captain Pierce grew up in a military family and each of his relatives has had some sort of military experience. Even though Pierce had the strictness of a drill sergeant, he was very straight forward and approachable when sitting down and talking to him. Pierce finally spoke up and said "I wanted to talk to you about a few changes in the crew on the Phoenix." Hopkins didn't like where the conversation was going. He feared for the worst, thinking he would have to leave the Phoenix. The Phoenix has been his home for over five years, since the Great War. The crew was his family and he couldn't see himself going anywhere else. Captain Pierce said "I have been promoted to admiral and Commander Lincoln has taken my place. After looking at the four lieutenants on the Phoenix, Commander Lincoln and I have selected you to become Commander. You have shown us that you have the ability to lead this crew on whatever missions come up."
There was a sigh of relief from Hopkins. "Thank you sir, this is a great honor. I don't know what to say."."You don't have to say anything", Price said. "You will be the commander of the Phoenix and its crew. Captain Lincoln will brief you on your first assignment. Let me know if you need anything Commander." Hopkins hearing Pierce call him commander felt odd, but natural. As if it was his destiny to command the Phoenix.
After leaving the newly promoted Admiral Pierce's office Hopkins went back to his apartment. By the time he arrived back, it was late and he decided to go out for dinner. There was a sushi restaurant not far from him. The place was still up after the Reaper attack and to this day made some of the best sushi in London. He sat down at a table and looked at the menu. He decided to have the salmon rolls and waited for his meal to come out. As he was waiting for his food, Hopkins heard a familiar voice from behind him "Hopkins?" Hopkins turns around to see Amy Jones. Hopkins hasn't seen her since the academy. Hopkins replied "it's good to see you Amy, how have you been?" "I've been good. I just was reassigned and promoted to lieutenant" Amy said. "Really?" Hopkins asked. "Where have you been assigned to?" "The Phoenix" Amy said. "And I heard you're the new commander." "That's right." Hopkins said. "I guess I will be seeing you around the ship a lot." "You got that right Commander." The lieutenant walked away as she gave Hopkins a wink. As soon as she left, Hopkins's food came out. As the rest of the night went on, Hopkins thought to himself "Since when did she become so attractive? I must be seeing things. I never saw her like this at the academy." Hopkins finished his dinner and returned home knowing tomorrow was going to be a big day.
The next morning, Hopkins woke up at 5:30 ready for the big day. He reported to the Phoenix at 6:30, a half hour earlier than expected. Captain Lincoln was already there getting things ready for the day. Captain Lincoln greeted Hopkins with a big and long handshake. "Welcome back Commander. Its good to see you here early." "Its good to see you too Captain." Hopkins said. Captain Lincoln was a lot different from Pierce. He was a lot more laid back and had a casual relationship with all of the officers on board. "I heard Pierce told you about your promotion. How does it feel to be a commander?" Lincoln asked. "I still can't believe it." "You'll get used to it" Lincoln assured him. "I remember when I first became a commander. It was a great experience. First mission was a firefight with a bunch of Geth fighters. I had a blast." As the two superior officers of the Phoenix went up the ramp to the ship, Lincoln finally spoke up as they entered the airlock door "you're probably are wondering about this mission that you're about to embark on." Hopkins spoke up and said "Pierce didn't say anything to me about the mission and said you would explain everything" "That asshole, I hate it when he does that. Anyway the mission you are doing is pretty dangerous. But I think you'll be up for it." Hopkins turned red as he argued "So for my first mission as commander you and Pierce decide to assign a mission that is dangerous to everyone including myself on board that could potentially end my career early?"
"Hey, listen duty calls. I could strip your rank here right now and kick you out of the alliance for good. I'm sure you want that." Hopkins finally regained composure and said "no." "good, I would hate to lose my best officer. Don't get cocky with me kid. The mission involves the mass relays. Since they have been repaired only military personnel has been allowed to go through them. Recently the SSV Seattle went through and there has been not contact from them since. The mission is to go through the relay and see where they ended up. They were headed to Eden Prime to aid the planet. Make sure to head on the same course they were on." "Yes sir". Hopkins replied. "I wish I can go with you guys, but unfortunately I have to take care of a few new assignments as Captain." Lincoln said. "Good luck."
The ship was pretty much empty as Hopkins walked around. There were a few of the junior officers getting ready for the day. The pilot Johnny was already there. "how are you doing commander?" Johnny asked. "Good, and you?" Hopkins asked.
"Never better." "That's good to hear" Hopkins replied. Hopkins went to the elevator and went to the Captain's quarters which was now his quarters for the duration of the mission. Hopkins decided to take a nap. An hour later Johnny called Hopkins through the intercom and said "Commander, the whole crew is here. Are you ready to go?" Hopkins replied "Yea Johnny, let's get going." The ships engines began to hum and the Phoenix left the Earth's Atmosphere. The ship flashed past Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, once past Pluto, the mass relay was in sight. The ship connected to the relay: the ship's engines hummed even louder than before and the ship was surrounded by energy. Soon enough beams of light surrounded the ship and the ship disappeared from the Sol system in a flash.
(Disclaimer: the science fictional concepts, terms, locations, are all from the video game series Mass Effect made by Bioware. Some of the past events mentioned in this story are from the previous games. The Character Commander Shepard is also an original character from the game.)