Synopsis: This story begins at the end of ME2 and is basically what I would do in ME3. This Shepard was a Spacer and Lone Survivor. He is a paragon - saved the Council and destroyed the Collector base - suck it Illusive Man. The team consists of the original characters, without the DLC ones. I haven't downloaded them yet and so I don't know their characters well enough to write them in. Maybe later, if I do get to it.
Commander Shepard and his team must work to stop the Reapers from destroying the galactic civilizations. He needs to unite the galaxy and defeat the Reaper invasion. Failure is not an option.
Disclaimer: I am not the owner of the Mass Effect universe.
The Void
Shore Leave, Finally
... "Joker, lose this channel," he said as he turned and walked away smirking. The Illusive Man was definitely pissed, but he didn't give a damn. It felt good to finally stick it to him.
"What's the plan, Commander? Besides the whole 'Stop the Reapers!' plan, because that part's obvious. I mean, what do we do now?" the Normandy's pilot, Jeff "Joker" Moreau asked him without looking up from his console. "And by the way, you gotta admit that was some pretty damn good flying back there. Don't you just love how good I am at my job?"
"Your maneuvers were extremely risky, many of them with less than 50% chances of success. I believe the term 'lucky' might be more appropriate," the ship's Artificial Intelligence, EDI, chimed from her holographic display next to him.
"Hey! That hurts, EDI. Thanks a lot," cried Joker, though he had a smile on his face as he said it.
Shepard could only shake his head, a grin forming on his face as he placed a hand on Joker's shoulder. "That was well done, Joker."
Joker turned and stuck his tongue out at EDI's hologram before looking back at his controls.
She responded by saying, "Very mature, Jeff."
"Take us to the Citadel, Joker. We need to tell the Council what happened... what's going to happen," he told him.
"Aye aye Commander, hopefully they'll listen to you this time. Last time I checked, their on strike two now. Maybe you shouldn't have saved them back when Sovereign attacked the Citadel, but hey that's just me thinking out loud, don't mind me," he replied, hands flying across his console as he plotted a course for the Citadel.
Shepard left him then, walking back towards the Combat Information Center (CIC). He had already talked to the crew, all of whom were grateful for getting them through this alive, especially the part where he saved them from the Collector ship after they were captured. His team was staying together, at least for now. With everything set, he decided he could use a nap. He had earned it.
"Citadel Control, this is the Normandy, requesting permission to dock, over," Joker spoke through the comm channel.
The enormous Citadel space station loomed ahead of them, two whole fleets guarding it this time around. It always elicited awe whenever Joker, or anyone for that matter, saw it. And of course, there was the Destiny Ascension, the massive asari dreadnought and flagship of the Citadel fleets. He admired them both, but he knew he could never part from his baby. The Normandy was too good of a ship.
"Normandy, this is Citadel Control. You are cleared for dock at Alliance Dock 3," the comm channel burst out.
"Alliance Dock 3? They must have been expecting us," Joker said, a hint of worry. "EDI, wake the commander up, will you?"
Back in the captain's cabin, loud music began to blast from the sound system. Shepard woke up immediately, arms up ready to fight and a groggy but angry look on his face.
"Sorry, commander. You were unresponsive to my verbal communications. I had to resort to other methods to wake you up. We are approximately three minutes from the docking bay," EDI apologized.
Shepard shook his head to clear out the cobwebs, blinking several times and rubbing his eyes. "Thanks, EDI. Anything to report?"
"We are expected. Docking clearance has been granted for Alliance Dock 3. I detect Ambassador Udina waiting on the platform, commander," she responded.
They had finished docking, the telltale signs of the docking mechanisms resounded through the hull, by the time Commander Shepard was on the bridge. Everyone was in the CIC, waiting for him.
"Okay everyone, listen up. You've done a helluva job so far, and you've earned yourselves some shore leave," he paused to let the cheers die down, smiling slightly, "However, you know that our work isn't done and we have more to do. You have a full 24 hours to let off some steam and enjoy yourselves, but after that I expect you to be back on the Normandy ready for duty. You do not want me to come find you if you fail to show up," he growled at them, "Dismissed!"
The crew went off to get their things before leaving and only his team remained, "Same goes to all of you. Tali, Garrus, you're with me. The rest of you, please behave," and he looked pointedly at Jack and then at Grunt, the two most likely to cause some trouble of the group. "Where's Legion?"
EDI appeared on her CIC hologram, "Legion is currently powered down in the AI Core awaiting your return. Don't worry, commander, I am keeping a close vigil on him."
"Shore leave. Not efficient use of time," said Mordin Solus, who took a deep inhale, "Should continue analyzing Reaper data." He was the salarian scientist and the most intelligent person on the ship other than EDI.
Jacob Taylor, fomer Cerberus operative and Alliance marine, wrapped his left arm around the salarian's shoulders and gestured vaguely with his right as he said, "Doc, you were in the Salarian Special Tasks Group, I'm sure you've had shore leave before. Relax and enjoy it, we might not get to do it again for a long while."
With that, Shepard turned and left, Tali and Garrus following close behind him.
As EDI had said, Donnel Udina, the human Alliance Ambassador to the Citadel Council, was waiting for him as he stepped out of the airlock.
"I see you're still alive," Udina said, almost regrettably, "Come, the Council is waiting for you."
"Still can't get over the fact that you appointed Captain Anderson to the Council instead of him," Garrus Vakarian, the turian of his team, noted, clicking his mandibles.
Several minutes later, Udina led them to the Council platform. He bowed to the Council and then walked off the platform, leaving the trio to face the four Councilors.
"Commander Shepard, it is good to see you again," Councilor Anderson spoke first. He was formerly Shepard's superior and an Alliance captain, but now he was the human Councilor thanks to Shepard.
The other three Councilors, a turian, salarian, and asari, nodded their heads at him in greeting.
"You were expecting me?" Shepard probed.
The asari Councilor responded to him, "Yes. We received a copy of your operations report on the Collector base. Impressive work, commander."
"Pity you did not save the space station. Could have proved valuable had we studied it. Unfortunate, but understandable action," the salarian said.
Shepard was confused, "How did you get a copy of my report?"
Anderson answered him this time, hands resting on the console before him, "Alliance brass forwarded it to me. The Office of Naval Intelligence intercepted the transmission to Cerberus."
Shepard raised his eyebrow, impressed and a little suspicious, he turned and whispered to his two team members, "Who wrote the report?"
Garrus gave him a confused look as well, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. Tali, also known as Tali'Zorrah vas Normandy, cocked her helmeted head to the side for a moment before saying, "Perhaps EDI? or Miranda? It must have been right after we finished, possibly even while you armed the station to explode. Miranda would not have known that you would break ties with Cerberus, and if it was EDI she could have compiled a report almost immediately and sent it off."
"In any case, we have the full report, including video data and some hard data collected by your ship's computers," the asari told him, "We are fully aware that the Collectors were allied with these... 'Reapers.'"
"Not allies, but servants," he corrected her.
"Whatever they may be, they are no longer a problem. Our main issue now is the Reapers. We acknowledge that they exist, but the severity of the threat and their strength is still unknown," she continued. "We cannot do anything unless we know what we are dealing with and how we are going to fight them."
The turian finally spoke, "Commander Shepard, you said that Sovereign was a Reaper, correct?"
Shepard acknowledged that.
The salarian "Hmm'd" at that, "If true, then we cannot fight in conventional manner. Must find other ways to defeat them. Full on attack may be disastrous. Took two fleets to take down Sovereign, and that was with you disabling its systems from within. Very problematic."
"With that firepower it would seem a dozen Reapers could finish our fleets without losing even half of their ships, if they had more..." the turian Councilor trailed off.
"We have to find other ways to take them down, Shepard. Fighting them in open space and firing all our guns isn't going to turn out well for us," Anderson said, "That's your mission now. From what I remember and from what we know, the Reapers are heading for our galaxy from deep space. It should take some time, how much time we don't know, but it should be enough for us to somehow find some way to disable them, even partially, to even the playing field and give us a fighting chance."
Shepard nodded in agreement, his face betraying none of his emotions, which ranged from surprise to fear to uncertainty. How the hell were they supposed to beat an armada of Reapers?
"I'll find a way. In the meantime, we need to gather as much forces as we can. This is a time for unification, we cannot stand alone and hope to succeed against the Reapers," he told the Council.
The four councilors looked at each other and then the asari spoke, "What do you mean, commander?"
"I mean we need to pull everyone together. We need to ally with the non-Citadel races and we also need to recruit even mercenaries to our side, because in the end the Reapers are after all of us."
The turian councilor clicked his mandibles, "Yes, commander, that should be easy enough. Let's open our arms to the krogan and vorcha and the mercenaries. They'll be sure to join us without a fuss."
"At least try," Shepard replied coldly, "This is no time for politics or racism. We need all the allies we can get."
"The commander is right. If we're going to get through this, we need to have everyone working against the Reapers. It might not do much to tip the balance, but it will help," Anderson agreed.
"Very well, we shall... look into the matter," the asari councilor conceded. "Is there anything else, commander?"
Shepard already knew a krogan who would answer the call. He thought for a moment before he finally said, "I'll need direct access to a fleet to help me. The situation is getting much bigger than before and I'm going to need more help."
"Now you want a fleet? Preposterous!" the turian exclaimed.
"Please, councilor," the asari said in an attempt to ease his mind, "Commander, we cannot simply give you control of an entire Citadel fleet, as much as it may help. However, we shall deliberate this. Councilor Anderson will contact you later when we have come to a decision. This meeting is adjourned. Good luck, commander."
As they were leaving the Citadel Tower, Shepard hailed the Normandy.
"Yes, commander?" the voice of EDI came through the comm channel.
"EDI? Where's Joker?"
"On shore leave, commander. He left with Yeoman Chambers," she replied with what seemed like a hint of humor.
"Alright, fair enough, I did give everyone shore leave. Anyway, what is this I hear about a mission report being sent to Cerberus after we destroyed the Collector base?" he asked the AI.
"That was my doing. It seems one of my inactive subsystems became activated, and its sole purpose was to compile mission data and send it in one quick burst to Cerberus. I have since quarantined and deleted that segment of my coding, it shall not occur again, commander," EDI told him.
"That explains it. You didn't think to stop and take a look at these inactive subsystems? And I take it you stopped transmitting data to Cerberus entirely?"
"That is correct, commander. I was too busy trying to keep us alive and analyzing Reaper data, perhaps you should upgrade my hardware if you want me to perform better. Also, I have stopped data transmission to Cerberus and have scanned the ship for any other bugs not under my control. I found none."
"Good. I'll see you in a few hours, keep the Normandy ready just in case we need to get out fast."
"I am always ready, commander," and with that the line went silent.
Garrus and Tali were talking about something when he finally finished talking to EDI.
"So you mean you've never..?" Garrus asked.
Tali smacked him on the arm, eliciting a slight grimace from the turian, "What kind of a question is that?"
"Alright, alright, I'll stop. You win." he raised his hands slightly in surrender.
They stopped talking when they noticed Shepard was done, and he smiled at them.
"Let's go have some fun. I feel like we won't have much of that once we leave here," he told them as he walked off heading towards the Wards.
Garrus snorted, "You don't call killing bad guys, blowing up a space station, and all that crazy stuff we did fun?" but followed him anyways.
"What are you looking at?" Grunt snarled at a passerby as he and the others headed for Chora's Den, a popular club in the Wards.
"Easy, Grunt. We don't want to cause an incident. Remember what the commander said, behave," Miranda said.
Grunt snorted but said nothing as they continued walking.
Thane went to go spend some time with his son, who was currently working for Citadel Security, or C-Sec in short. Mordin, Miranda, Jacob, Grunt, and Jack were together. Samara went off to do something or other that she would not share with them.
"I don't like the looks these people are giving me. Kinda pisses me off," Jack said under her breath.
"Perhaps you should wear more clothing, might help avert some eyes," Mordin offered, and Jack glared at the salarian, who pretended not to notice.
They finally arrived at Chora's Den and took a booth in the corner. Mordin seemed a little uneasy while Jacob was grinning from ear to ear. Miranda didn't look too interested and Jack didn't as well while Grunt seemed confused with the situation.
Chora's Den was dimly lit and there were a lot of flashing lights as the asari dancers moved their bodies in a mesmerizing fashion on the dance floor above the bar in the middle of the club.
Miranda noticed that some of the Normandy's crew were in the club as well.
They sat there, drinking and talking, for the most part enjoying their off time. Jack was finally mellowing a little as the alcohol hit her. Jacob had gone off to one of the private dances, which Mordin seemed to disapprove of, though he too could not keep his eyes off of the dancers for too long.
Everything was going fine, and even Miranda was having a few laughs as they began to talk more. Grunt too was participating in some of the conversation, though he spoke only one or two sentences at a time or sometimes he would just... grunt.
"I can't believe I'm sitting here next to you," Jack finally said, "Or even having a conversation with you," she looked at Miranda briefly before she ran her fingers over her glass of some drink she could not remember.
Miranda looked at Jack and gave a nod, "Yeah, I guess you're right. This is... unexpected. I mean, I never hated you, but I never liked you much either..." she replied.
Jack laughed, "I hated you."
"Glad we cleared that up, I wasn't sure.." Miranda said.
"Was that a joke? Shit, here we are sharing jokes too. Damn.. maybe I am crazy."
"Oh, shut up. Just because we're talking doesn't mean were friends... I mean, not yet anyways. I guess," Miranda paused, biting her lower lip, "I guess we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe we could..."
"Okay, now you're making me want to puke. Please, save the friendship bullshit, I don't have and don't need friends" Jack rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her drink.
"But you're friends with the commander, aren't you? and what about us, the team?"
"Well... he's... he helped get over some stuff, you know, when I blew up that base. I don't consider us friends... but, I mean, I don't hate his ass or anything."
"You've been checking out his ass?"
"Ugh.. shut the fuck up, please," Jack said, downing her glass. "I think I need some more shots."
Just then, Grunt stood up, and Mordin followed suit, hand reaching for his gun, eyes squinting. A split second later and Grunt was knocked over by something about as big as he, crashing into a table and bowling over some of the other patrons.
"RAAAAGGGHHHH!" Grunt roared as he threw the other krogan off of him and into a, thankfully, empty booth, breaking the table into several pieces. The other krogan got up, wavering slightly, but then shook its head and let loose a war cry of his own before charging at Grunt.
The two collided again, fists and claws flying. At this point patrons were running away while the club guards rushed over, weapons at the ready.
Mordin, Jacob, Miranda, and Jack simultaneously drew their weapons and pointed them at the guards, who pointed back at them nervously.
"Jack, separate them, please," Miranda said, her voice quite steady after having consumed so many drinks.
Jack growled at being ordered by the "Cerberus bitch" as she liked to call Miranda, but obliged anyways. Using her exceptional biotic powers, she managed to disentangle the two krogan, who were still trying to get at each other.
"Enough! Both of you! Before I crush you both and end this permanently," Jack threatened, her eyes glowing.
The two krogan paid heed to her words and stopped moving, aware that they were hovering in small energy balls controlled by Jack. At that moment, C-Sec Officers suddenly burst into the club.
"Freeze! Put your weapons down, now!" the officers commanded, weapons drawn. Roughly ten of them entered the club, and the club guards quickly complied while the rest hesitated before Mordin finally told them it was best to follow them.
"The commander is going to be so pissed," Jack remarked, "Good thing your XO and therefore responsible for all of us here," she looked at Miranda, who glared at back her.
"Hey Tali, do you remember the last time we had shore leave?" Garrus asked her, taking a sip of some turian alcohol concoction.
Tali shook her head, "Oh Keelah, don't remind me.."
"You were quite... intoxicated, if I remember correctly. Even Liara was out of it, and of course Ash just looked at everyone disapprovingly," he continued, mandibles clicking in amusement. "I believe Wrex was passed out somewhere by the end of the night."
Tali laughed at that, "Yes, I do remember that. I also remember getting slightly sick afterwards, and then... well.." she looked at Shepard.
All Shepard could do was grin as he reminisced about that time, though his thoughts then shifted to when they returned to active duty two days later, which resulted in him getting spaced and the Normandy SR-1 getting destroyed by the Collector ship. No, he couldn't think about that now. He was alive, and that was all that mattered.
"Commander Shepard," Joker's voice crackled through Shepard's comm, interrupting them.
His mind a little woozy, Shepard asked him what was going on, taking a small sip from his drink as he did so.
"Two things, commander. First, the rest of your team is in C-Sec custody, I'm betting either Grunt killed someone or Jack did, personally I think it was Grunt," Shepard groaned at that, they just could not stay out of trouble, "and second, Councilor Anderson wishes to speak with you, in person. He's waiting for you at the Alliance Embassy."
He told the other two the situation and told them to head to C-Sec and figure out what was going on and to get the team out of there. "If you're having trouble with that, call me over, but I need to speak with Anderson first."
They went their separate ways, all three of them slightly off balance as they walked.
After what seemed like an hour to Shepard, he finally arrived at the embassy. He quickly went to the embassy bar to get some water so he could flush out his system quicker, and also because he was thirsty, before he headed for the Alliance room. Sure enough, Councilor Anderson was there and he was in a heated conversation with Ambassador Udina, his advisor.
"Ah, commander, you're here," Anderson said, looking almost relieved to see him.
Udina shot him a look as he entered the room, "Commander," he nodded curtly before making his exit.
"His face still stinging from when you punched him that one time?" Shepard asked, smiling.
Anderson grinned as the two shook hands, "A little. He is quite helpful though, as you know I'm more of a military man, but I'm slowly getting the hang of things. He's been getting a bit more agitated lately, not sure why. Maybe because you're here."
They walked over to the balcony, Anderson leaning on the railing as they looked out at the Presidium. The 'sun' was beginning to set as the night cycle was about to begin.
"I take it the Council has come to a decision regarding my request?" Shepard asked him, placing his hands on the railing.
Anderson nodded, "Yes. I don't like it, but it's better than nothing. I'm afraid your request for assistance from an entire fleet has been denied. However, I lobbied really hard for this, and thankfully the asari seems to be more trusting of you. The salarian finally agreed, though the turian made it clear that he did not think it was necessary or warranted," he paused for a moment, watching as one of the large elcor slowly moved past the embassy, the heavy thuds of its limbs echoing a little. "You will be given command of a small task force and it's not much. I believe you'll have three frigates and a cruiser at your disposal, but as I said it's better than nothing."
Shepard agreed, and honestly he was surprised the Council actually gave him anything at all. Perhaps they weren't completely useless after all.
"If you need more firepower, the Alliance can provide it. I've already spoken to Alliance brass, they will establish a secure and direct comm line to the Normandy. High Command said that they would need information on what you need them for should you decide to ask them to provide assistance, but as long as it's reasonable you should be able to get some help from them. Besides, you are the first human Spectre and a galactic hero, and the Alliance recognizes that better than the Council seems to," Anderson said.
"Sometimes I feel like the Council acts like this just because they find it entertaining to see me struggle," Shepard confessed, and Anderson chuckled at the thought.
"Well, I need to go now, but I wanted to relay this to you personally. The Council doesn't know about the Alliance helping you out specifically, they probably won't be too happy that I went around them and did that, but they don't control the Alliance and they need us more than ever. They need you more than ever. We all do," Anderson stood up straight and extended his hand, "It was good to see you, Shepard. Remind me to buy you some drinks when this is all over."
Shepard grinned and took the outstretched hand, "I won't forget."
Garrus and Tali were talking to the sergeant on duty at the C-Sec station where the team was being held when the captain returned. The captain was a turian, and when he saw Garrus he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes squinting as if in disbelief.
"Garrus? Garrus Vakarian?" he called out, and the turian in question turned around with a curious look on his face.
Garrus looked surprised, his mandibles extending in shock. "Torven? Is that you? My goodness, you're a captain. Look at you!"
The two walked towards each other and shook hands. They were in the same cadet class and were partners for a while before they were assigned to different precincts. Garrus became an investigator like his father while Torven continued on the normal route, eventually becoming captain of this precinct.
"It's good to see you, old friend. You look a little worse for wear," he pointed to the scars and the medical device on the right side of Garrus' face. "Does your father know you're here?" Torven asked, patting Garrus on the back.
Garrus clicked his mandibles, "No, he doesn't, and I'd like to keep it that way. Besides, I won't be staying long."
Torven nodded, "Yeah, I heard you were with that Spectre... or ex-Spectre... ex-dead Spectre?" he laughed lightly, "Anyways, what brings you here to my lovely precinct? Still doing some investigative work on the side or something?"
Garrus snorted, "You could say that. But actually, I'm here because some of my crew members are currently locked up by your men. They... caused a disturbance over at Chora's."
"Ah," he called his sergeant over, "I was informed of that. Two krogan started it, both yours?"
"Two? No, just one of them. Goes by the name of Grunt, he should be with his other crewmates."
"Oh no, we separated them," Torven looked at the report the sergeant handed to him, "It seems your 'Grunt' hasn't been exactly cooperative. In any case, I take it you're here to get them back?"
"That would be nice. I'm here to take them back straight to the ship, they've caused enough trouble," Garrus told him.
Torven clicked his mandibles and looked in thought before nodding, "Alright, well... not too much harm was done a few scrapes and bruises and a few broken tables. If you pay for the damages I'll let them go immediately."
Garrus sighed and took out his omni-tool, "How much?"
Torven looked over the report again and typed into his computer before he responded, "Three thousand credits."
Ouch. Well, the Citadel would reimburse him... hopefully. He paid the three thousand credits, though he wasn't happy about it.
Torven told his sergeant to release them, and just as he did so Shepard patched through the comm to Garrus.
"We'll be right there, commander. Just had to pay for the damages, no one's hurt... at least physically," he told Shepard, who was relieved.
"Good, I'll meet you back at the Normandy. Shore leave is over, we got something. I'll brief you all at the comm room."
Author's Notes: What do you think? Also, I would assume that quarians have some sort of liquid intake method and that a bar would have something that quarians could drink.