Author's notice: I finished Mass Effect 3 a long time ago and I was somewhat disappointed by the "three different colors yet same flavor endings." Bioware and EA just ignored the characters we've poured our souls into and wiped them out regardless. My paragon John Shepard deserved better than that. After all that business with Saren, Sovereign, The Shadow Broker, The Collectors, Harbinger and the rest of the Reaper armada, I figure the least Bioware could do was for Shepard to live the rest of his life in peace and have some super cute blue children with Liara.
I used the default face for John Shepard, just seemed iconic compared to other faces (just my opinion, there's need spreading it around), in addition to being a Colonist, War Hero, Soldier and Paragon
Jason Shepard is a Colonist, Biotic Alliance Assassin and Butcher of Torfan. He's neither Paragon nor Renegade.
Its so annoying that I can't get more information on Elysium or Torfan, its pretty difficult to write about.
Prologue: The Two Boys
"John, Jason, wake up and get changed NOW!" A sixteen-year-old John Shepard groggily sat up from his bed, looked at his watch, it was early morning and rubbed his eyes but at the panicked tone in his father's voice shot out of bed and changed into the nearest clothes he could find.
"Dad, what's happening?" His fourteen-year-old brother, Jason asked from the bed next to his as he swiftly got out of bed and changed into a t-shirt and jeans.
"Batarians slavers are attacking the colony! It isn't safe here. Leave everything…" Benedict Shepard, a rugged man in his late thirties said as looked out of the window of their two-story house.
"Daddy, I'm scared." A small girl with long red hair and green eyes whimpered.
"It's alright Jenny, the Alliance got our distress signal…we're going to be fine. Your mother will be here soon." Ben replied reassuringly.
"Alright, lets move..." The two boys followed their father and sister as they walked down the stairs and left their home for the most of their lives. They could hear screams of terror, explosions and the sound of bullets riddling as the Shepard family ran for their lives.
Jason gritted his teeth seeing the murky orange flames slowly engulfed his house as he tried to drown out the sounds of terror around them, he'd heard rumors of what Batarians did to their prisoners and controlled his urge to vomit.
"Some more over there. " A voice yelled out and shots were fired at the family as they ran into the forest.
"Dad, why are the Batarians attacking us? We've done nothing to them." John asked as they ran.
"With Batarians, is there any reason why they do anything? There's no logic behind their decision-making. Despite living in such times, they still believe in enslavement, how barbaric." Ben replied. Rage against the Batarians filled John as they dodged the shots, his father was a university professor, not a soldier and his little sister; she was only ten years old, why were the Batarians doing this?
"I think we lost them." Jason said as silence replaced the firing of weapons.
"NO!" Jennifer Shepard cried as she tripped and her small music listening device, a small pink iPod, flew out of her hands and tumbled down a steep hill but it stopped at the foot of a tree.
"Leave it." Ben shouted and grabbed onto her daughter's hand before she could slide down.
"Hold on. I'll fetch it for you." John said and slid down the rocky hill.
"Wait up." Jason shouted after him as he too, slid down, ignoring his father's shouts.
"You got it?" His sibling asked.
"Yeah." John replied with a grin as he held the placed the device in his pocket. The two were about to tread back up when the sound of a giant explosion ringed in their ears, both of them shouted with panic as they were tossed violently down the hill. Rolling down the uneven hill, John felt something connect with his head and the pain that came was so intense that before his brain could comprehend what was happening he blacked out, the faint screams of people still continued to fill the air.
"Baby, time to wake up…" A warm, female voice announced.
"Mom?" John opened his eyes, and saw his mother's piercing green eyes. The sounds of birds squawking and the sound of waves splashing against the shore could be heard as he lazily sat up.
"I know you've had a tough semester, why don't you join your brother and sister, they're building sandcastles you know." Hannah Shepard advised her son after a peck on his cheek.
"Okay…" John replied with a smile and ran out to two figures that were squatting on the sand not far from him. "Jason! Jen!" A skinny eight-year-old boy with thick, curly brown hair with blue eyes and a six-year-old girl with long red hair with green eyes stood up and waved back him.
"So, what'd you two have in mind?" John asked.
"A tall castle! I'm going to be a princess." His little sister said with a cute smile, then with a mischievous smirk added, "You two can be my shining knights in armor."
John saw his brother giving him a raised eyebrow. The three of them just laughed and got to work as the Sun warmed their backs.
"Son?….Son?…Son?" John suddenly felt immense pain in his head as he fell to his knees and down to his side, something was wrong, his brother and sister were still molding sand as if they have not detected his pain. He watched as Jen said something and Jason laughed. The scenery before him suddenly warped and became more blurred.
"Son? Son can you hear me?….Goddamn it, stay with me. You're going to be alright." A male voice John did not recognize said, the warmth of the beach and the smell of salt from the ocean were gone, replacing them were the charred smell of trees burning that seemed to suffocate him. Widening his eyes, John pushed the man away with unknown strength and eyes darting crazily like a madman surveyed the destruction around him like a wounded animal.
"Calm down son, I'm with the Alliance, we're not here to hurt you." The man wearing blue armor and a blue beret, signaling his higher rank said calmly as he keep his palms open in front of him. Recognizing the Alliance insignia on the man's blue armor, John nodded.
"Captain, we got another one here not far south from your position…bit problematic though, the kid's a biotic, he's put up a barrier." A voice said as the Captain's Omni-tool glowed orange.
"Sir, that's my brother they're talking about. Let me talk to him." John shouted, his palms were now fists. Giving John a glance, the officer nodded and tapped a fingers to his wrist and said,
"Stand down, I'll be there ASAP. Johnson out." Turning to John, the officer beckoned him to follow him.
Jason bit back a snarl as he stretched open palm against the unknowns facing him. His body was glowing blue, a strong barrier that would've protect him from the worst against those guns the people in blue armor held. He then heard rustling and his eyes widened as he saw his elder brother whose hair was caked with mud and his face was plastered with dust and soot. Along with his brother was another blue armored man who was wearing a beret.
"Jason, these people are with the Alliance, we can trust them so put down your barrier."
"Are you sure about that? Mom and Dad always said that we can't trust strangers." Jason retorted.
"Men, holster your weapons." Johnson ordered to his men's disbelief.
"But sir-"One marine protested.
"DO IT" The marines all immediately stowed their weapons and Jason, seeing his brother's nod closed his eyes and the blue flames around him as well as on his body dissipated into thin air. John rushed and caught his brother as he saw his knees giving in.
"You look like crap John." Jason murmured.
"You too little brother, just when I thought you couldn't get any uglier." John retorted with a grin.
"Really, if I were that ugly, why was I able to ask Allison Stark, the most sought out girl to the dance?"
"You got lucky…"
"Right…I can walk by myself, thanks." Jason remarked sarcastically. Both boys became paler as they neared what was their home just a few hours ago. They could barely recognize it, what was once a green, peaceful, quiet paradise was now a burning, foul stench nightmare that will rest in the back of both boys' heads for the rest of their lives.
"Were there any others?" John asked while Jason could only look down at the charred earth. With a sad look in his eyes, the Alliance officer simply shook his head. They reached the town square, or what had been the town square where blue UT-47 shuttles were resting on the ground. Along with them, rows of bodies were covered up with white sheets. Suddenly John saw Jason run off from his position next to him.
"Jason, wait! What are you going?" John's question was answered as he saw the familiar long lavender sleeve that stuck out of a white sheet, and a familiar silver ring that was around a pale, bloodied hand. John closed his eyes as he saw a sheet covering an obviously smaller body right next to the one that he knew was his father underneath.
Beside him, Jason had fallen to his knees and hands, tears freely running down his eyes as he tried gasping for air. "Why?...Why?...Why?" He croaked with agony and let out an incoherent pained cry as he beat the ground beneath him, there was nothing John could do but to wrap his arms around his younger brother as he felt his own tears trailing down his face and down to the earth.
The two brothers stayed there weeping for who knows how long till John felt a hand on his shoulder. Slowly he got his young brother to stand up, who slowly approached the body, kneeling down and pulled the ring off his father's finger. Wordlessly, Jason allowed his brother to escort him into a blue shuttle, which sympathetic faces beckoned them into.
"So…you kids having anyone we can contact?" Captain Johnson asked in a gentler tone.
"Our mother, XO Hannah Shepard of the SSV Kilimanjaro." John whispered after a while, Jason simply stared vacantly ahead.
All the marines, Johnson included immediately stared wide-eye at the two children. Even as they approached the Alliance ship, John and Jason did not seem to be excited at the least. Which was understandable since they just saw their home leveled to a burning inferno and their family gone before their eyes.
The two boys didn't say another word then, even when Johnson had sent the ship's psychologist to talk to them. Johnson sighed sadly when he received word that the two survivors had refused to say anything as he examined their files, which he had dug up from the Mindoir Civilian Archives. He could barely believe it, one boy was sixteen, the other was only fourteen. Those boys have had enough pain to last a life time, Johnson thought and prayed that no further misfortune would fall upon them as he stood up and looked out the thick windows into the vast twinkling void.
Four Years Later, Earth, Sol System
It was a warm, sunny day in spring as John, with a proud smile on his face applauded heavily as his little brother's name was called out and he walked up to the podium, dressed in his college graduation robes. He'd always know that his brother was a smart-ass prodigy, used to be nerd when they were younger when it came to science and mathematics but it surprised even him that he had graduated from university, not just any university but Harvard University Summa Cum Laude at the age of nineteen.
John merely rolled his eyes when he saw his mother tearing up with joy next to him. Hannah Shepard was dressed in her military uniform, as was John, which obviously set them apart from the rest of the people around them.
"Your father would have been so proud….of both of you." Hannah whispered as the tears freely rolled down her cheek from the normally stoic and unemotional Executive Officer. Crying was suppose to be a sign of weakness, no matter in what military one served in but John felt the urge to join his mother as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
Over the years, the changes had been significant on both of them ever since they left Mindoir; they've witnessed and stared into the face of death for one. Their childhood had died that day; John shook his head as he recalled that Jason had not once smiled care freely after they left Mindoir even as they were reunited with their mother. That encountered just made even more tears leave their eyes. What was left of the Shepard family had relocated back to Earth where the boys went to live with their grandparents while their mother resumed her duties as Lieutenant on the SSV Kilimanjaro.
Appearance aside, John reckoned that they didn't change much, aside from his short military style hair cut which Jason constantly teased him about. Jason himself retained his thick, unruly brown hair, prominent chin and brow, chiseled jaw and sharp cheekbones. While others may look at Jason and see him as a pretty boy, John knew better, despite his outward skinniness, the younger Shepard had a black belt in Taekwondo as well as Karate and Kendo. Not an opponent to be underestimated indeed.
Reflecting on his own experiences since Mindoir, John felt that he did okay, considering that he got through military training. His mother was originally distressed at his decision, she had wanted normal lives for both her children but relented after hearing his rather powerful speech. Jason had snorted and said that he should've been a politician, earning him a rather long knuckle sandwich. He had wanted to make a difference in the world; he'd have no idea that he'd be the only one who could make a difference.
He clapped loudly and smiled as he saw Jason and the rest of his classmates throw their graduation hats into the air.
Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream
"It is with great personal honor that I bestow the Star of Terra, the highest and prestigious military honor of the Systems Alliance, upon newly promoted Commander Jonathan Daniel Shepard, for his immense courage in the face of impossible odds and for his vital role in the preservation of our colony at Elysium." John was emotionless as the cameras flashed when his superior placed the Star of Terra on his uniform, by all means he should be happy but he had lost a lot of good men and women on Elysium who were the ones that deserved honor and recognition.
People had called and hailed him as a hero but the word meant nothing to him, the entire ceremony felt alien and wrong. When he first stood on Elysium, it vividly reminded him of that night when his family were fleeing from Batarians.
It was what drove him on, he'd never want another family to go through what he and his brother went through, that thought spurred him on to hold his position against the never-ending waves of four-eye hell spawns.
He was subjugated to a psych evaluation as soon as he came back from Elysium, he'd admit, killing Batarians brought him great satisfaction but it seemed to be only temporary. Then the guilt, which he'd first refused to admit ate him away, it would seem that he still had a conscience after all.
John mentally sighed, as he didn't spot his brother in the crowd, it had saddened and angered their mother when Jason announced that he had decided to join the Alliance. Of the two of them, Hannah had wished that her youngest wouldn't follow in his brother's footsteps, John had concurred with her.
Bekenstein, Serpent Nebula
"I'm not five anymore mom, I can choose whatever I want to do." Jason said icily in the spacious living room in their large house in Bekenstein.
"I know you aren't Jay, but why? You said military lifestyle isn't for you." Hannah replied as she sat down on the cream beige sofas.
"I admit, shooting people and blowing up things is probably more John's ideal lifestyle but the Alliance needs people like me. The four eye freaks are never going to learn and stop killing our innocents. I'm tired of not being able to do anything while innocents are out there in the mercy of those animals!" Jason replied, trying to reign in his rage.
"I know you want to make a difference brother and I am proud that you could pass the combat training so easily but those are merely simulations." John warned as he looked into his brother's ice blue eyes, nearly everyone in the military had heard of the inhumane speed of progress of Jason Edward Shepard. He heard whispers that some recruits were even afraid of him, as he was so emotionless and calculating.
"I'm going to be fine just trust me," Jason said in a more gentler tone, "Mom I love you."
Hannah sighed as her youngest son kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly. "Alright…but stay safe the two of you." Hannah replied with a smile as she beckoned John over and the three of them shared a Shepard family hug.
"Just like your father…stubborn asses." Jason and John heard their mother whisper and cringed when Hannah bonked both of their heads with a fist.
Torfan
"Good shot!" Lieutenant Jason Shepard smirked as he pulled the trigger on his uniquely modified Black Widow and another Batarian had his head blown off into a bloody mess. He'd majored in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, thus modifying a gun wasn't that big of a challenge.
The Black Widow could shot three times, in Jason's case five, instead of only once before reloading on the M-98 Widow. From the first day, he held a weapon in his hand; Jason knew he was destined to be a sniper, it just felt right in his hand so it was no surprise that he fell in love with the Black Widow when he picked it up. He'd often remarked to his older brother for being a brute who always opted charged into the face of danger.
Snapping out of his thoughts, he blew the heads off of three Batarians through his scope and with ease ejected the thermal clip before slamming in a new one. Ahead of him were foot soldiers were pushing forward towards through the heavily fortified Batarian compound.
"Lieutenant, We need more cover fire." Major Kyle said through the device attached to Jason's ear.
"With pleasure." Jason replied and continued doing what he did best, killing Batarians. After what seemed to be an eternity, all resistance was decimated around the area of the compound and finally was Jason allowed to move from his cover and stretch his tired arms and legs.
"That thing's not going to work in the enclosed spaces up ahead. I suggest you switch to a closer range weapon." Jason scowled but didn't accept the M-8 Avenger.
"You sure?" Major Kyle asked as Jason walked off, his only response was blue flares appearing on the Lieutenant's body. Though they didn't receive much casualties as they pushed deeper into the dark slaver facility, Jason felt uneasy, it wasn't just the foul stench in the air that troubled him.
"Four eye bastards are stupid but they aren't that stupid." Jason thought to himself, the sounds of turrets being set up answered his worries. "Oh fuck."
Thinking quickly, he thrust his hands out and a large barrier erected before him shielding him and his squad mates behind.
Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream
"I'm sure he's okay Ma," John Shepard said as he saw his mother bite her lip on the video image via Omni-tool in his room.
"I don't know, it's his first real mission." Hannah replied, face filled with worry.
"Mom, Jason's a hell of a biotic and sniper, not to mention his hand to hand combat skills…he'll be fine. Chief Ellison didn't even yell at him once because he was apparently quote "got everything perfect in his first goddamn try."
"I hope you're right dear." John cringed, he loved his mother dearly but it was still a bit uncomfortable to hear his mother was still treating as if he was still a kid.
As Jason pushed on deeper into the gloomy, poor lighting slaver facility and entered a large spacious rectangular room that acted like an entertainment area or something close to it. He glowed blue, he pushed out his right arm and smirked when the Batarians were dragged from the ground against their will from his Singularity. Three consecutive shots from his M-3 Predator pistol took care of them. Firing a warp, Jason watched as he shredded a Batarian in two.
He turned around and saw the rest of his squad breathing heavily, as if they've just ran a marathon, which he grudgingly supposed they just did and more. They haven't received much, barely any casualties, because Jason had asserted himself to the very front of the lines, using his Biotics to create barriers to protect his squad behind him. It was a sound strategy on paper but it was more exhausting in reality.
"Major, I have a proposition…" Jason proposed in an emotionless voice as they finished eliminating all hostiles in the area.
"Yes Lieutenant?"
"Noticing our squad's exhausted state, I volunteer myself in scouting the area ahead." Major Kyle was about to chew his lieutenant's ass out but giving a glance around and knew his second in command was correct. His squad wasn't in a state to resume combat, that and Jason Shepard was the only one who was not breathing heavily save himself.
"Okay son, we'll stay and secure this area but stay safe soldier."
"Yes sir," Jason said with a salute, which was returned and quickly walked towards the door at the far end of the room.
"He's crazy." One marine remarked to his comrade as the door automatically closed behind Jason.
"Yeah but you see how he kicked the asses of those four eyed freaks with only his force powers?" The second marine exclaimed with excitement.
"Its called Biotics." A female marine integrated herself into the conversation.
"Whatever, I wish I could do that." The excited marine replied.
Jason gritted his teeth as he hid behind a crate, he peeked around the edge of the crate and fired a singularity, which caused two Batarians to float hopelessly in the air, pulling the trigger twice on his pistol, Jason pushed deeper. Truth be told, he didn't like being placed in a squad, it meant that he always had to cover someone else's ass; he'd prefer working alone. Back in military training, Ellison had called him "A narcissistic bastard who only cared for his own survival, but does a hell of a job at completing his objective."
Finishing off another Batarian with another warp, Jason leapt over the crate from which he was hiding behind and found sanctuary behind another crate. The rapid machine gun firing at his cover gave him a good idea that turrets were being placed.
"Let's give them a surprise." The lieutenant thought with a grin as he peeked around the edge of the crate, tapped his Omni-tool and sent an overload, which fried the shields of a heavily armored Batarian. Without a second's hesitation, Jason glowed blue and thrusting his right hand forward, he shot a shockwave, which caused all foes in its trajectory to fly into the air violently as if they were weightless.
Slumping down to the floor, Jason wiped the sweat from his forehead, he'd never use his Biotics this frequently before and now it was slowly taking a toll on him. But the image of a smiling girl with long red hair appeared in his fatigue mind and instantly his knees rose against his battered body's protest. Catching his breath, Jason picked up some thermal clips from the Batarians he'd just killed and ejected a magazine before slamming a new one in.
Unknowingly to the lieutenant, Major Kyle and the rest of his squad had decided to go after him when he failed to report back in, "Shit, he did all this?" A marine asked out loud to no one in particular as he walked pass a dead Batarian who was ripped in half from the waist.
Another marine just whistled, "Stow it Marine, Riley take point. Be alert, we don't have the Lieutenant coddling us with barriers." Major Kyle warned as he walked passed more Batarian corpses. He could hardly believe that one man could have done all. He readied his M-8 Avenger as he heard gunshots coming from the next door.
"Please have mercy! We surrendered." Jason ignored their pleas as he executed the remaining Batarians one by one with cold fury plastered on his face. Some tried to run and their lives ended with shots to their backs.
"Lieutenant, stand down!" Major Kyle barked from the second level as he and his squad ran down the stairs just to see Jason had executed every single Batarian.
All the marines watched as Major Kyle punched the Lieutenant across the face with a right hook. "What the hell are you doing? This wasn't a fight, you were slaughtering enemies that had already surrendered."
"They deserved it." Jason spat, as he did so, his eyes glanced at a door underneath the stairs.
"Riley, Martins go check out that door." Awkwardly, the two marines broke from the group and the sound of the door mechanically opening and closing signaled that they had entered. Glaring at the Major, Jason turned and sat down on a long row metallic bench while examining his helmet, or what was left of it anyways.
"Unlucky hit from a rocket to the side of the face, mom's going to make a big deal out of this." He sighed as he placed the wrecked helmet beside him.
"Major, we've got survivors, lots of them, all of them in poor condition. It's not looking good sir." Major Kyle's Omni-tool glowed orange as Riley's sickened voice emanated from it. The Major gave a glance at the Lieutenant, whose palms were curled into fists and his face distorted with contempt.
"Stay where you are marine, we're going in." Kyle ordered and turned off his Omni-tool. Jason didn't say a word as he stood up and examined his pistol. "The nightmare was over." He thought, but he was about to find out that there was worse lying ahead of him.
Bekenstein, Serpent Nebula
The intricately designed glass door opened automatically and Jason was surprised to be hugged no more by his elder brother, which he awkwardly returned.
"Good to see you in one piece, little brother. Mom's been worried sick, now that you're back, she'll stop pestering me." John said with a grin as they exited the Bekenstein ship docks.
"Well, you're the hero of Elysium, I think you can handle mom." Jason yelped with surprise as his older brother placed him in a headlock.
"You okay, I heard it was a rough ride." John asked with concern.
"How'd you know, I thought everything was classified." Jason replied, all humor aside.
"I've got my ways…so, you want to talk about it?" John said with a shrug as they entered the Maglev train, which barely had any people in it.
"Hmph, don't have to worry about the bugs…ingenious, I'm impressed….guess you do have some brains in that brutish skull of yours." Jason remarked, earning a dark look from his elder brother.
He was very tempted to tell off his older brother for trying to act like a psychologist but with a sigh, Jason started talking. "You weren't there brother, seeing all those slaves and the despicable things done to them…for God's sakes, there were children!"
"I understand your intentions but here…I really hate to say this but certain protocols must be followed, you're lucky they didn't court-martial your ass."
"Well, I did singlehandedly wipe out a Batarian base with almost no casualties…figure they thought that was pretty impressive." Jason retorted icily, while John just shook his head and kept quiet.
"Hey, did you receive this too?" The younger Shepard asked after a while with curiosity as he fished out an envelope with an N seal. John's eyes widened with shock as he nodded, Jason smiled.
"I've always wanted to see Brazil again."
Please Read & Review, this is my Mass Effect fanfict. The next chapter will probably fly pass time pretty quick considering how long the three games are combined.
