Shepard Profile: First name: James; Paragon, Soldier (Commando), Earth Born, War Hero.
An ME2 story showing the friendship between Shepard and his old team and the impact it has on the new one. Developing Shep/Miri subplot.
Me 1: Wrex survived, so did Ashley Williams, Council was killed, replaced by diverse new council. Love interest was Ash.
Inspired indirectly by Miranda's quote: 'You have a fire inside you.'
This has evolved a lot since I started it. The 5-6 Chapter story I planned as my introduction to fan fiction's has evolved into something much bigger. I've had a lot of positive feed back so I'm going to keep going but am always keen for your thoughts.
CH 1: Old Friends.
Normandy SR-2 (Omega).
James Shepard lay back on his bed, his hands folded behind his head and sighed. The SR-2 was an impressive ship but he'd have traded his new command for his old in a second, not for the ship but for the people.
He was alone. No, that wasn't true, not completely. He trusted Chakwas and Joker totally but when it came to the people who would be backing him up on missions he had a boy scout and an idealist.
Jacob was a good soldier, sounded like a hell of a fighter but he'd never been a commando, never been N-7, never taught to be cynical in the way Shepard had. He was too eager to salute and say 'Yes sir' and follow orders without question, essential on the front lines but incredibly dangerous in the murky water's they were treading now. You had to ask the difficult questions, to challenge authority, to make a stand when you knew something was BS.
As for Miranda, she was smart enough to ask questions but he'd seen the light in her eyes when they'd spoken of Cerberus and that prick the Illusive Man. She believed in what she was doing, believed hard and that was much more dangerous than naivety. She'd rationalise any of the horrors she saw Cerberus commit as being for the greater good….they must be, it must all be worth it because if they weren't then the people she respected were monsters and it takes a very, very strong person to realise that. To her, goals mattered, people didn't
No James thought, bottom line he had no one on the ground he could trust completely, no one who went into combat not for big ideals, not for noble causes but to fight for their friends, their brothers. That's what he'd had on the old Normandy, that's what he missed now.
Shepard sprinted across the bridge, his heart racing, rifle cracking as he shot the freelancer in the back, there's no honor in a gutter fight.
A second merc was enveloped in a pulse of biotic force which tore him apart in a flash, James had to stop himself flinching, Lawson might be a cold one but she was undeniably lethal. No time to think though, they were across the bridge and into the room beyond.
There we're more free lance merc's ahead of them, they hadn't realised that Shepard and his team we're gunning for them, James wasn't planning on letting them fix their mistake.
"Take them now" he braked firing short bursts at the mercs who immediately started to spread out. Next to him Jacob's shot gun roared and one of them dropped. Another ducked in to cover, James tossed a grenade his way and the guy leapt out with a yell to avoid the blast and was cut down in Shepard and Miranda's cross fire. Another merc was crouched on the stairs shooting at them while to more raced along the landing towards the room Archangel was concealed in.
"Taylor watch our six, Lawson clear me a path" barked Shepard drawing his pistol and taking off at a run, the one remaining merc's shield tech sparked and exploded and he stumbled back stunned from Miranda's EMP. James leveled his pistol and hired a single, high impact shot and blew the man's brains out the back of his head. Then he was up the stairs and after the two mercs, heading towards the sound of shooting.
James looked at the cooling bodies of the mercs and then up at the Turian sniper, "Jacob cover the door, Lawson on me" he ordered stepping forward, his hands in front of him, he didn't want to catch this guy unawares, it was clear he was dangerous.
"Archangel I presume" said James, the Turian held up a hand and looked back down his rifle, paused and then fired off two shots in quick succession. There we're no screams from outside, just the sounds of two bodies hitting the ground. James raised an eyebrow, "Impressive….We've come a long way to find you, my names James Shepard….."
"Thank the Spirits….I thought for a second the galaxy had been cursed by a second freakishly ugly human" replied the Turian cutting Shepard off before he could finish the introduction.
James stopped, he stared hard at the sniper, "What….the hell…", in response the Turian reached up and undid his helmet, revealing his face and James was stunned.
Shepard blinked a few times, then strode purposefully towards the tall Turian sniper, reached him, flung his arms wide and grabbed the Turian in a bear hug. "Damn it Brother….you're a sight for sore eyes" Shepard managed his voice shaking with emotion, "Same to you Shepard" replied Garrus Vakarian hugging him back.
Miranda looked on as realisation struck, feeling annoyed and frustrated, Garrus bloody Vakarian, Shepard's old team mate and according to Cerberus intelligence one of his closest friends. This would complicate everything, now he would be distracted by a variable she hadn't foreseen.
Eventually Shepard let go of his friend and looked at him annoyed, "You shot me you ass hole" he growled in a mock angry tone. Garrus snorted, "Please that was barely a tap, had to make sure the bad guys thought you we're one of them. Good thing I saw you first though, if it had been either one of these two I'd have used a high power round and you'd be scraping brain matter off the walls."
Shepard gave a snort of laughter, "Figures the only time you actually hit anything is when you're trying not to", Garrus swore good naturedly, smiling, "Screw you Shepard, if there's two things I can do better than you its shoot and pick up women." "Dream on Vakarian, I'll out shoot you any place, any time" replied Shepard grinning back at his friend. Garrus smile turned cold and he jerked a talon at the window, "Care to put that to the test", James grinned back, "With pleasure."
They both un-slung their sniper rifles, knelt by the window and aimed over the bridge, "Lawson, Taylor watch our flanks" ordered James, "Just like old times eh Shepard" said Garrus grinning, "Don't remind me" replied Shepard grinning back, then the battle started.
17 minutes later.
James charged back up from the ground floor saw Garrus get hit by the blast, saw him go flying across the room, saw him smash into the ground and lie there still, saw the blood pour from his face. He turned to the gunship, his face contorted in a killing rage.
"Taylor get Garrus, Lawson on me" he snapped running forward, grabbing the M-15 assault rifle from where it was leaning on the couch. It was modded with AP rounds, Garrus's custom load out, perfect.
Shepard ran to the window and dropped to one knee and raised the rifle as Miranda dropped in next to him. "I want that bastards barriers down Lawson, give it everything you have" he ordered. Miranda paused, "I can do it but only for a few seconds, time enough for one shot." Shepard looked at her, murder in his eyes, "That's all I need" he replied.
The gunship banked around, still spewing smoke from its engine and came in for a final pass, ready to deploy everything and wipe them out. 'This is crazy', thought Miranda, 'The Turian is dead, the mission is over, we need to get out.'
Something made her stay, partially it was the knowledge that she was as likely to die running as if she stayed put, partially it was the look of anger on Shepard's face, mostly it was the bitter taste of failure in her mouth. She did not leave things unfinished so as the gunship came head on towards them she braced herself, waiting until the gunship was right on top of them and then unleashed a searing blue pulse of biotic force.
The warp blast slammed into the gunship and its shields flickered and collapsed. Four point three seconds later the emitters re-established the integrity of the field and the shield re-activated.
James saw the shields flicker and die, his armor flooded his blood stream with adrenalin, time seamed to slow, he lined up the rifle cross hairs on the cockpit, on the pilot, exhaled….and fired one shot. The bullet struck the pilot in the head, he was dead before he knew what was happening and even as its shields restored the gunship plunged into a death spiral.
Miranda was breathing heavily, a faint sweat beading on her forehead with the effort of the warp attack but she stared, stunned at Shepard's shooting. She turned to speak to him but he was already moving towards the fallen Turian.
Shepard dropped on his knees next to his friend, "Call the Normandy, tell them to prep for a casualty" he ordered Jacob. "Commander he wont make it….." began Jacob but froze as Shepard whirled on him, "Do as I damn well tell you know or so help me god….", he didn't finish the threat, he didn't have to. Taylor was on the com to the Normandy ordering extraction and a med team.
Shepard pulled out the med gel from his suit and applied it liberally to Garrus's wounds and then followed with field dressings to try and staunch the blood and let the gel work. Suddenly Garrus's arm twitched and his eye flashed open, wide in pain.
James grabbed his friends hand and gripped it hard, "Stay With me….Brother, stay with me" he snapped still applying the med gel one handed.
Miranda knelt next to him and went to work helping him, swiftly dressing the wounds with cool efficiency. She glanced at Shepard and saw his face was wracked with emotion, anger and fear and despair at being unable to do more to help his friend. This was bad, he was showing signs of falling apart. Whatever happened to the Turian, Shepard would need careful management if he was going to be able to keep it together and complete their mission.