Final Disclaimer For Whole Story - I DO NOT OWN MASS EFFECT. BIOWARE DOES
Chapter 1 - Diamonds And Rust
The boy watched as they loaded his people into the huge spaceships that came raining down from the sky. The monsters. The four eyed demons. He watched from under the bed as they shot his father. He watched from the downstairs window when they stabbed and raped the first girl he had kissed. He watched as they violated his mother who had come home on leave from the alliance. he watched as they cut off her ring finger just to keep tally. He watched as his life burned around him.
...
The embassy room was quite clean and uncluttered. The artificial sunlight bouncing off its shiny sterile white walls. Several vibrant landscape paintings hung from them, mostly of various places of the citadel, most notably the presidium.
Staff Commander Jack Shepard stared out of the only window. The artificial sunlight really did wonders to the presidium streets. very unlike the streets of new York, Shepard liked it. Everything seemed happy and bright here. He would very much like to retire to a place like this.
The pearl white door cracked open to reveal a tired looking woman in alliance uniform. she roughly bunched up her graying hair into a ponytail as she edged the door open and slipped in. noticing Shepard her face brightened up. She silently joined him and stared out of the window.
"Everything seems so bright, happy and quiet here... I wish everywhere was like this." his voice was almost a whisper. as if he was afraid of breaking the spell if he spoke too loud.
The woman smiled
"What have I always told you Jack? Don't ever judge a book with it's cover"
"That's what this is" She gestured towards the window " that's how the council wants to see this place as..."
Shepard snorted at the mention of the council.
"Well... well... well, what have we got here? another council hater?" the woman smirked
"Please! Those idiots wouldn't know a problem even if it bit them in the..."
"But you have to agree that they're good at keeping the peace" she headed him off.
"And ignore everything else in the process... and everyone"
Silence prevailed for a moment as the woman threw a concerned look in Shepard's direction.
"You do know what they're calling you now don't you?" She looked worried.
"The butcher of Torfan... I"
silence stretched on like a sunbathed horizon.
"I know." He grunted finally
"They found the cave full of burned Batarians you know. It was all over the news, It wasn't easy for the Alliance to downplay that, I should know."
Shepard's jaw set in a rigid line
"They say that they had found every male, female and even juvenile Batarian inside. Shot in the head each one of them. and then burned... children! Jesus Christ!"
"You remember what they did to us don't you?" Shepard's shoulders were shaking "What they did to you?" His voice trembled as he grabbed her hand and stared at the place where her ring finger should have been "To dad?" He spluttered as he looked up to stare her in the eyes the tear tracks on his cheeks shining in the reflected light "The Alliance should annihilate those slaver bastards!" He spat the last words out as if he was unleashing a great evil upon the world.
The woman slid her left hand around Shepard's shoulders and pulled him into a half hug.
"I know son, but is it right to judge the many by the one that wronged us?" Her voice trembled ever so slightly
"I can judge the slavers though." He bit out "I can be judge, jury and Executioner"
The woman stared at their reflection.
"All that hate is going to get you killed someday." It was a statement of fact.
She reached out and wiped the tear tracks on his cheeks "You shouldn't become the monster you're trying to kill!"
Shepard looked away, staring at the faraway Krogan statue, but his mother knew that he only wanted to hide fresh tears.
"My son... all grown up, Your father would have been so proud" She whispered setting her head on his shoulder.
"I miss him mom" he croaked
"I know baby, I know. I miss him too." she said smoothing his hair "I miss him too.."
The door opened and a dark skinned middle aged man in alliance slacks strode in.
"Hannah!, I had no Idea you were..." he faltered noticing the other person in the room "...back in the citadel"
Both mother and son turned to look at who it was, and Captain Anderson was struck by the similarities, that distinctly rigid jaw, that distinct tapered eyebrow, and those piercing green eyes that haunted him every night...
The younger Shepard immediately snapped to attention and saluted while his mother looked on with amusement.
"At ease" Anderson couldn't help but smile at the young man. He was so full of energy... of life
"Son... This is Captain Anderson he's the captain of the SSV Romania" His mother introduced him with a smile.
"Of the fifth fleet" Anderson provided extending his right hand.
"Anderson, this is my son, Jack" her smile was possibly even brighter.
"A honor to meet you sir" Shepard couldn't believe his luck, Anderson was a legend among the alliance marines.
"No No, the honor is all mine son, it's not always that you get to meet the Butcher of Torfan..."
Shepard froze his face wiped of all emotion. This just could not be good.
Anderson couldn't help it. he barked an amused laugh at Shepard. Don't worry son, you're a damn hero in my books, however you played the final act.
Shepard couldn't help but smile with this man. his mood was infectious.
"And you're reporting for duty on The Romania next week."
"Thank you si... wait! What?"
"You heard me son. However I feel about it, the council thinks you're a bloody terrorist after they saw the report that Al Jalani woman aired about there being a cave full of burned batarians." His voice was stern now.
"So, short of Executing you... which mind you they were stonewalled by the alliance for suggesting... they've decided to send you to what they think is the worst possible place to serve. They've pushed since last week son, and something's got to give."
"Sir, honestly I don't think the Romania is the absolute worst place to serve."
"That's kind of you to say son. It just stands to show that the council thinks that we humans are just shoddy upstarts they can dismiss. And it's up to soldiers like you to prove them wrong"
"Specially that Turian bastard!" Shepard grumbled and they all burst out laughing.
...
Shepard was slouched in a seat, the flashing lights at flux rendering him in dark purple to onlookers. The Butcher of Torfan. That was all he was to the general public. A racist Xenophobic maniac that should be avoided at all costs. He wondered if he should join Terra Firma just for the media shitstorm. An unwilling smile graced his lips at that thought.
It had been four months since he was transferred to The Romania and that hadn't changed anything. for every Batarian he had killed the media had painted him that bit more unhinged until five months now, after Torfan it was cemented that he was a rising star in the eyes of the Alliance and a Maniac in the public eye. So there he sat there alone at flux with three days of shore leave, deep in the citadel wards.
Just a few tables away a group of marines were laughing raucously, surely drunk. They were singing the Alliance anthem at the top of their lungs, smiles plastered on their faces, there was even a cripple among them. a huge grin on his unkempt face, raising his beer above his head calling for a toast. Probably their pilot. He looked happy. So why was Shepard feeling so jealous?
Shepard smiled wryly as he sipped his own drink. This was why people like him did their jobs, so that nameless, helpless, faceless people could be happy. And people like Shepard could feel jealous of them, oh the irony!
Shepard grinned as the scotch did its job. He was drunk.
The group of marines started to get ready to leave and were in the process of electing who should run up the tab. when the pilot volunteered. As he wheeled himself to the bar his friends filed out of the club. yelling "oorah" as they passed the swinging double doors.
And then out of nowhere. It all came falling down.
Two Batarians walked up to the pilot and started to laugh at him,
"Where's your pussy Alliance now?" one yelled pushing his wheelchair
"Oops... guess my hand slipped motherfucker" the other Batarian intoned in his gravelly voice as he emptied his glass on the pilot's face. "Hey!" he called to his friend. "He pissed himself!" Both of them burst out laughing.
The pilot froze, paralyzed, probably in fear. Everyone just stared at them vandalizing the defenseless boy, afraid to intervene, afraid to lend a helping hand. Afraid to change the way things WERE
Another four slouching around a table in the corner piped up "Hey! wheel the Alliance pussy here Avos, maybe we can teach the fucker to fly." Avos grabbed the wheelchair's handles and started to push him when Suddenly something collided with his face and he keeled over spitting blood.
His friend pulled out a knife and stared around, another something just missed his head by millimeters. It was a chair! And it was fucking flying! It flew into the bar like a wrecking ball shattering everything in its path. Silence reigned
"YOU BASTARDS!" Shepard yelled as he grabbed a nearby bottle of brandy and smashed it into the remaining Batarian's upper eyes with all the force he could muster. His knife clattered to the floor as he keeled over, bleeding like a pig.
Shepard was remotely aware of people screaming by now, screaming for C-Sec probably. Good! that meant the pilot was out of harm's way.
"YOU BASTARDS" he yelled as the other four assaulted him from all sides, brandishing the broken glass handle, stabbing the nearest one in the stomach he kicked him over the bar and yelled again.
"YOU BAST..."
the world went blurry as one of them hit him hard in the back of his neck, probably with a bottle by the sound of it, and he fell to his knees. Four hands grabbed him and held him against the glass wall that overlooked the wards. The remaining Batarian hit his legs with what he at that moment thought was a golf club. Shepard could hear his kneecaps shatter and his legs twist in odd angles. Then he missed and hit the glass instead. as it shattered four hands roughly let go.
For a second Shepard thought that it was all going to be okay, his legs would heal and everything would be okay. Then one of the fuckers stabbed him in the chest. and as a searing pain blossomed Shepard tumbled through the shattered glass wall into the traffic below.
only one sentence was in his mind "you fucking bastards!"
...
Councilor Serinya was having the time of her life. A wide smile was plastered on her face, as she was zipped through the skyline at almost 160kmh in the new hoodless speeder she had bought. This was so exhilarating!
And then HE came into her life. HE literally fell from the sky. Right into her backseat.
