by Joshua Scott
I own no characters unless explicitly stated. All characters, locations, and much of this story should be considered property of Bioware unless explicity stated. Even then, assume most material written here is the property of Bioware. The Mass Effect trademarks are to be considered the property of Bioware. Holy cow is there nothing I own aside from a bit of extra writing in hopes that people will like it?
"Well, what about Shepard?" a terse voice spoke, the tinny audio ringing off the small space's walls, as a finger jetted out to a small button along a glowing orange holo-computer wrapped around the operator's arm, which diminished the volume levels coming through. "She grew up in the colonies," it continued, unaware of the actions on the other end of the call, though his voice showed he probably was too wrapped up in whatever he was doing at the moment.
Captain David Anderson nodded, before replying to the conversation, "She knows how tough life can be out there. Her parents were killed when slavers attacked Mindoir." The operator raised an eyebrow, only hearing Anderson's part of the conversation, but the young man stayed silent anyway.
"She proved herself during the Blitz," a third voice interjected, a wise yet smooth voice that commanded experience from its years, "held off enemy forces on the ground until reinforcements could arrive."
The Captain nodded again, though the conversational partners couldn't see, "She's the only reason Elysium is still standing."
A moment later, "We can't question her courage," the first voice finally admitted, though somewhat unconvincingly.
"Humanity needs a hero," Anderson interjected, "and Shepard's the best we've got." The Operator finally glanced upwards towards the Captain, who had turned slightly to avoid eye contact.
A moment later, "I'll make the call," the first voice concluded, and the Captain turned and nodded to his Operator. With a series of taps along his Omni-tool, the young man ended the three way call from the Captain's earpiece, as well as bringing the remaining processes of the elevator back up along with its regular ascension, immediately reciting the news reports from across the galactic colonies.
They stood for a moment before Anderson finally spoke up, "I'm assuming you'd have questions after that." He smiled faintly, turning to view the young man, whose somewhat slender build seemed muffled under the bulky Alliance Navy armor.
"To be honest," he spoke, removing the helmet and running a few digits through his somewhat short, dirty blond hair, "That was... quite a thing to partially eavesdrop on." He stared out the viewing window of the elevator, "I have to ask, why would you include me in on that?"
Anderson nodded, "My recommendation for Commander Shepard will eventually be known to the rest of humanity, but... for this call, I'd rather keep only those directly interested in the know how."
The younger laughed slightly, "Yes but... not that I don't mind, but seriously, sir?"
The older man turned to face him again, "Well you're going to be in on what we're doing anyway, you were one of my other recommendations."
"I'm sorry, for what, sir?"
Anderson crossed his arms as he noted the elevator's level ascension, "This is a certain mission involving delicate matters. Very delicate, something the brass wanted the best for."
"Well, I'd understand Shepard being nominated as the best, yeah."
"Oh," the Captain jumped in, "So you know her."
The younger man chuckled softly, "Yes, I still remember her, obviously." This made the older man laugh quietly, as the floors whizzed by, men in jump suits moving cargo around inside of their loading bays. Soon the consoles beeped, and the elevator ceased, the doors hissing open to a small connecting hatchway to a shuttle. They entered and took opposing seats as the doors once more slid shut with a hiss, and the shuttle bobbed slightly before its thrusters moved them away from the loading area. "What I'm startled by more is that I'm being considered a "Best-of"," the operator continued, forming the last words with finger quotation marks.
Anderson smiled, "It wasn't just me, you had the flags coming in from other members of this mission. Engineer Adams was another high flag, as did Navigations Officer Pressley. Even our pilot asked that you be on board."
"No kidding, wait, this wouldn't be Joker would it?" the younger man asked with a smile on his lips.
"You guessed it. The best requesting the best, we're all proud of you, Keith," Anderson spoke, sitting back in his sharply designed Captain's uniform.
Keith Sunderland smiled to himself as he glanced out of the shuttle window towards the stars of the galaxy, "That's... that's heavy," he finally stated, leaning forward and rubbing his hands together. "I mean, I really wished one day this would happen... but now, I can't believe I'm going on something big. What're the details, actually?"
Anderson smiled, "Hopefully nothing increasingly dramatic," he stated, waving a hand, "This should be a simple pop in, pick up mission on one of our colonies. Eden Prime as it turns out."
Keith sat back and nodded, his eyes lowering to the floor, pondering the situation over. "So you're pulling the best together to pick up some groceries, some delicate groceries... hell I guess I'm behind you." He smiled brightly as he adjusted in his seat, a frustrated sigh escaping his lips, "Sir, can I request some lighter armor?" He stood up, his hands moving to pat his hips, "It uh... well it sucks having to sit in these," he finally stated, grabbing hold of the railing above their heads.
The Captain narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, before smiling and shaking his head, "I'm sure we can get you situated in something like that. If it helps you on the field of course." He approvingly nodded before glancing out the window and rising to his feet. "Ah here we are."
"Huh?" Keith stated as he glanced out the window, before his eyes widened and he smiled to himself, "Wow... well you don't pull a crew up together for a previously made ship." He stayed silent for a moment, as the sleek design of what he recognized as a space-faring ship moved into better view, the light reflecting off of home world Earth gleaming from the finished hull.
"Correct," Anderson stated, his elbows propping along the windowsill, "We're taking out a brand-new prototype ship designed for stealth. It's built for surprise drops, and is probably one of the fastest ships in the galaxy with the new Tantalus Drive core."
"Hey isn't that supposed to be twice the size of-"
"Yes it is. This girl is one of the best, a collaboration of forward steps in science, and collaboration with alien designs in the ship. She's built with Turian ship format, and we're even commissioned by the Council."
"Well... it'd be the best if this thing doesn't suddenly fall apart after launch," Keith stated, rubbing his chin as he continued to peer down towards the loading bay, as if the craft were ready to take off without warning.
"Very funny," Anderson replied, leaning back slightly to glance at the young man, "That's why you're here a couple of weeks early, to run over the diagnostics, make sure everything's good and up to snuff."
Keith shrugged as he adjusted in his boots again, "Yes, now I can see why you suggested me. Everyone wants to use the devices, but when it suddenly starts going off on error messages, you need the guys like me." A moment passed as the shuttle closed in towards the docking bay, the thrusters humming down a in pitch, noting their deceleration. "So... what's her name?" he finally asked, glancing towards his superior.
Anderson smiled as he stood back, his hands cupping behind his back, "We're calling her the Normandy."
Keith smiled and peered out towards the new bridge, "I like it."
In the year 2148, explorers on Mars discovered the remains of an ancient spacefaring civilization. In the decades that followed, these mysterious artifacts revealed startling new technologies, enabling travel to the furthest stars. The basis for this incredible technology was a force that controlled the very fabric of space and time.
They called it the greatest discovery in human history.
The civilizations of the galaxy call it...
MASS EFFECT
And hello everyone, welcome to what I hope amounts to a good fanfiction for Mass Effect. Yes, shockingly I'm taking on the daunting task of remarking the events of the games, though as told with a better focus on the crew members' experiences.
I absolutely love the Mass Effect universe, from its detailed space faring civilizations to the nitty gritty of what planets give off what energies. My only qualm was the fact that your crew members never seemed to interact with each other. Imagine my discomfort when the barest semblance of inter-crew conversations were from a list of emails on the Shadow Broker's computer, (WHOOPS SPOILERS!) So one day, I wondered what it would be like if I tried to write in a secondary character that would help tie the group together, let them interact and so on. So while we follow Shepard on her mission to save the galaxy, we'll be doing so through the eyes of a crewmember, on away missions, still on the ship as she goes to the various planets, and exchanging story with the rest of the cast.
I'll try not to delve too far into changing ANYONE's character. And don't worry about Keith, he'll be hitting bumps and bruises along the way. In case you're wondering, yes I'll also expunge his backstory. I'm definitely not saying he's gonna die anytime soon, what with the third major installment coming down the road, he's definitely going to see that. But he's not going to be making any of the big calls. As for the rest of it... well, you'll see.
The first chapter I'll try to get up really soon, come fly with me.
