Prologue : Recommendation

They say that cities never sleep. While everything that lives and breathes requires a certain amount of rest the city itself, the hustle and bustle never dies down. As Captain David Anderson stared out at the traffic from the office window this and a dozen other musings flew through his head, anything to distract him from the other occupant of the room. Ambassador Donnel Udina sat at his desk with bundle of files in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other, the ambassador had become a political heavyweight for humanity ever since he'd convinced the council to allow the human fleet to rival the Turian's in size, his political success however did not change the fact that he was in Anderson's opinion a self serving pencil pusher. But tonight he had no choice but to see him. Udina was about to make the biggest move in his career to date, in fact it carried so much weight that he had even asked an old soldier like Anderson for advice on the subject. The office was dark, appropriate Anderson thought, dark room for dark business. Udina had just asked him the question he knew he would have to give an answer, an answer the Ambassador would almost certainly not approve of. Grudgingly he sat down in the chair opposite Udina and prepared for an argument, in order for this political move to succeed someone had to be put forward, and in Anderson's opinion there was only one man for the job.

"Well, what about Shepard?" He suggested innocently.

Udina paused, his whiskey halfway to his lips. "I think we can find someone a little better suited than him captain." He said disdainfully.

"That's the thing I don't think we can." Anderson shot back calmly. "Shepard's better suited for a job like this than anyone I know."

Udina sighed putting down his glass on the table a little harder than was necessary, he had no time for this. "Shepard's name was put forward for consideration." He said firmly. "I looked over his files and determined that he was unsuitable."

Anderson stood up and began pacing up and down the office again. "What's the point in calling me here if you're not going to take my advice?"

"I'm not recommending him, end of story."

Anderson threw up his hands. "Ok, fine, who were you going to suggest?"

The Ambassador flicked through a few files on his desk. "Captain Tosk would be an excellent choice, Corporal Iowa a little young but quite capable, Petty chief officer Flint..."

"You were going to recommend Flint?!" Anderson laughed. "He's a mama's boy!"

Udina stiffened. "Flint's record speaks for itself, if you look at the statistics..."

"Records are words and numbers, figures and statistics." Anderson spoke over him. "You know that, and you also know that you need more than that for this job. You have to know the measure of the man you put up for this and records don't tell you that." He sat back in the chair and poured himself a generous portion of whiskey. "That's why you brought me here." He finished, taking a sip.

"Yes well while we're on the subject of records..." Udina said testily rifling through his draws. "Why don't you take a look at this?" He placed a file down on the table. "What does that look like to you?"

Anderson peered at the file. "Well it looks like Shepard's record but if you were aiming for a philosophical point..."

"Don't get smart with me Captain." Udina warned. "Honestly all you have to do is look on the front page to be convinced. Half of what's in there could get a man court martialled much less promoted."

"Is that all you did Ambassador?" Anderson raised an eyebrow. "Look at the first page?"

Udina shuffled in his seat looking a little uncomfortable. "I...I didn't need to look any further." He stammered. "Just look at the glossary of events."

"Well then." Anderson said picking up the file. "It would be unfair to knock him out of the running when you haven't even checked his background properly. Why don't I walk you through it?"

"I'm quite capable of reading it myself..."

"No ambassador, remember before when I talked about taking the measure of the man. That's why I need to walk you through this, because I doubt there is a man in the military who knows Shepard better than me."

Udina scowled at the captain for a full minute before he resigned himself, refilling his glass. "Yes alright then proceed." He huffed.

Anderson opened the file and began flicking through the pages. "Shepard was born on Earth in Chicago to George and Catharine Shepard..."

"Yes yes I know that," Udina said impatiently. "Son of the great Admiral George Shepard, that's partly why he was considered in the first place."

"Yes but because his father was always away his mother had difficulty controlling him." Anderson continued. "For the first eight years of his life he was basically a child of the streets.

"How do you know all this Anderson?" Udina mumbled through his glass.

"Because the Admiral told me his concerns about his son." Anderson said impatiently. "If you keep interrupting me we'll be here all night. Now at the age of eight his mother moved to the colony of Mindoir in the Attican traverse in order to be closer to the admiral, I was stationed there at the time as a lieutenant. Then six years later..."

"Batarian slavers hit the colony killing just about everyone and dragging the rest off as slaves." Udina finished grimly. "I know our history Anderson."

"Yes but here's what you don't know, I was the one who found him. Fifteen years old, kneeling next to the corpses of his mother and father... I can't even imagine what he must have been feeling."

"Call me old fashioned but this scenario doesn't exactly scream mental stability." Udina sniped.

Anderson carried on, pretending he hadn't heard. "For the next three years Shepard was in the alliance's custody, moving from place to place, ship to ship, station to station. He tried to enlist in the alliance twice by lying about his age until he reached 18 and we couldn't stop him any longer."

"Yes well he certainly gained a reputation once he enlisted." Udina grumbled. "Three commanding officers called him utterly ruthless, particularly against Batarians."

"Those same commanding officers called him tactically brilliant possessing both creativity and the daring to pull off his plans." Anderson countered. "Were it not for him we would've had a lot more Mindoirs. And besides, his ruthless streak only lasted until he was promoted to Petty Chief Officer. He was put in charge of his first team and for the first time in a very long time he made friends."

"A touching story." Udina said unenthusiastically.

"It all started with the team biotic, a kid named Kaiden Alenko. Those two got on like a house on fire, and then he began to form attachments to his whole team. It happened gradually, but Shepard changed. Then it all went wrong..."

"The Akuze incident." Udina murmured. "Fifty marines dead because he got cocky."

"Ambassador, you keep finishing my sentences for me and people will start to talk." Anderson said testily. "We all make mistakes, Shepard is no exception. He and Alenko survived but the rest of his team and the detachment they were leading were lost. The court martial hammered the lid on the coffin though..."

"Aha! I knew he was court martialled." Udina crowed. "I simply cannot allow such a man to be put forward."

"You know the system ambassador." Anderson sighed. "They needed a scapegoat and Shepard was the obvious choice, the real sting in the tail is he let them, like he blamed himself for their deaths. He took every accusation without a fight and that was just about it for him, twenty five and his career in ruins."

"So why should I consider putting forward such a man?" Udina asked. "You have told me the full story of this man and all I can see is a mentally unstable soldier who is foiled by circumstance at every turn. Why should I consider him when I have a handful of perfectly respectable candidates right here?"

Anderson leaned forwards against his hands, swirling the liquid in his glass. "Because he's an N7."

Udina's glass dropped almost as fast as his jaw. "What?!" He snapped. "You don't honestly expect me to believe this disaster area of a man has been through the N7 program?"

"I recommended him." Anderson said coolly. "One of the benefits of being an N7 myself."

"But why?"

"Because I saw potential in him no one else realized, I promise you Ambassador in or out of the military that man was born to change the world."

"Yes well while you're giving out glowing testimonies what happened then."

Anderson took another drink." He rose through the ranks again faster than any other man in the history of the alliance. It took him three years to reach the rank of lieutenant-commander and he now serves as my XO aboard my new ship."

Udina took a deep breath in and out slowly, his doctor had told him to watch his blood pressure. "Well, I mean I'm not saying your argument is not compelling Anderson but look at his past, at his psyche profile for god's sake. Is that the sort of man we want protecting the galaxy?"

"Udina that is the only kind of man who can protect the galaxy, a man who has been through the shit and survived, who has faced all the odds and still come out with flying colours. Now you know I'm right, you know what to do."

They sat in silence for a while, the gears grinding in Udina's head as he battled back and forth. Suddenly the quiet of the office was interrupted by a loud bleeping, a light on Udina's console was blinking.

"That'll be the council." Anderson said with a wry smile. "Make the call."

Udina grimaced then pressed a button on his desk. "Good evening Madam Councillor...No no you're not disturbing me...Yes I imagined you would like to talk about that...Once again I would like to thank you for this prestigious honor...Yes I do have a name I would like to put forward...Lieutenant-Commander John Shepard."

Okay, I went and did it. After playing with the idea in my head for a good year and a half I decided to attempt the maddening task of writing a Mass Effect novel, but for the moment I am brimming with ideas, so you can expect an update every few days. Feedback is welcomed because I have been away from writing for a while, good to be back.

Much love,

Sonangan