A/N: Yes, I did just cram ME into a few paragraphs. There are also slight deviations from canon in the ME2 storyline—mainly outcomes don't match process. I might expand on the two games in another story, but for now it remains compressed. There are enough novelizations of Mass Effect out there already, and that isn't the story I want to tell.
This entire project has been proof-read several times, but not beta-read. Thus, there are probably dozens of little continuity errors (among other things) despite keeping an Excel sheet with the status of all characters and ships.
Chapter 1 – Fury
If there was any person who could truthfully make the claim "the universe hates me" without the phrase ringing hollow, it would be Samantha Shepard. Born to spacers in the Alliance military, Sam's life was both routine and always-changing. Routine, as a military brat she knew to rise in the morning, do her exercises, attend classes and return home. Always-changing because her parents' constantly-shifting postings deprived her of any long-term friends. Enlisting as soon as she was able, Sam was swept up by what could only be called fate. The sole survivor of a thresher maw attack on Akuze (or so she thought at the time), Shepard's dreams were haunted by images of dissolving flesh, screams and blood.
Pulled into the Spectres as a face-saving gesture by the Council, depriving her then-commanding officer of his ship in the process, Sam pulled together a "band of misfits" to take down the rogue, Reaper-following Saren. Ashley Williams, eternally cursed by the actions of her grandfather, but driven to be a fine soldier for it. Kaidan Alenko, whose heroic sacrifice at Virmire ensured the destruction of Saren's krogan cloning facility. The masked Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, an awkwardly brilliant mechanical genius. Jaded-but-determined Garrus Vakarian, ex-C-Sec and top-level sniper. Loud, rough, but now-loyal Wrex, who only avoided being shot on Virmire due to the Commander's quick diplomacy. The resident bookworm, Liara T'Soni, rescued from a Prothean dig site, whose knowledge of the very same extinct culture proved invaluable in the hunt for Saren.
From rescuing the ExoGeni-backed colony on Feros to defeating an indoctrinated Matriarch, Sam's team had survived situations that almost made the Akuze nightmare seem easy. By taking down Saren/Sovereign, nearly being crushed by pieces of the latter, Sam and her team became living legends. The destruction of the SSV Normandy by an unknown enemy near the edge of geth space, and Shepard's assumed death were grave blows to galactic morale.
The circumstances surrounding Shepard's reappearance two years following her "death" only caused more discord. An apparent change in allegiance (to politically-minded types, "association" and "allegiance" were one and the same) to a pro-human splinter group of a resurrected Sam Shepard caused, in the words of one diplomat, a "political shitstorm." Still, she maintained an outward appearance of the quintessential hero—refusing to let fear or intimidation change her. After recruiting the "best of the best," surviving geth attacks, Collector ambushes and the inside of a derelict Reaper, Shepard figured attacking a Collector base would just be another mission.
In the hours leading up to passing through the Omega-4 relay…
After writing several angry messages, none of which she finished, Sam slammed her fist on her desk next to the Galaxy Map. Every possible curse flowed freely from her mouth, but she struggled to find words adequate to express her rage. Between Ash's unbelievable holier-than-thou talk on Horizon to the ice-box reception she'd gotten on Illium from Liara, Sam was convinced the universe had a sadistic sense of humor.
Even though she willingly deviated from the primary mission to help her team, Sam couldn't help but feel used. It seemed as if she was merely an accessory to solve everyone else's problems with no regard to how she felt about the tasks at hand. She failed to stop Thane's son from assassinating a turian politician. Samara's daughter Morinth slipped out of a carefully-laid trap at the last possible moment. Miranda's sister took a bad hit during her evacuation. While her location remained secret from Miranda's overbearing father, it just seemed like yet one more "Fuck you" from the universe. To top it off, the quarians were actively agitating for a war with the geth, despite the very likely scenario in which the quarian race would be wiped out for nothing as the geth were far stronger. As a final indignity, her crew was taken from her right before the jump through the Omega-4 relay.
Sam slumped in a corner by the elevator, head bowed in defeat. Why? WHY? She took a larger-than-would-seem-appropriate amount of comfort from the fact that her crew's absence meant no one heard her outburst.
"Finally, something goes right for a change" she muttered. A sadistic smile played across her face. Right, the fact that no one was around to take note of the commander's veneer of calm cracking as she threw a temper tantrum was more important than the crew being hauled off by Collectors.
"Screw this. Let the galaxy burn" she thought. At least when the Reapers finally arrived, she wouldn't have to put up with being the galaxy's biggest tool any longer.
The elevator door opened. Out stepped Miranda, datapad in hand.
"Commander?" Miranda didn't see Shepard by the Galaxy Map, or at her terminal to the left of the stairs leading up to said map. She turned upon hearing a grunt from below.
"Shepard" she began, "We're headed for the Omega-4 relay, and should arrive in a few hours."
"Why do I even bother?" was the irritated reply. "Everything I touch turns into a disaster. My record isn't exactly as shiny as the news vids would have people believe."
She put up a hand, and began listing missions that didn't go as planned. "Kolyat got to Taleed. Blew his head right off right before I got to the apartment." Her inflection grew louder, more agitated, angrier. "Then that little bitch Morinth gave us the slip. And your sister gets shot in the back just when we all thought she was safe. And that quarian scout…"
Miranda cut into Sam's self-deprecating tirade. "None of us could have known there'd be an Eclipse sniper squad waiting at the transport terminal. And my father, you recall his ability to get almost whatever he wants. Including classified tactical cloaking technology. This isn't your fault!"
If Miranda thought this would somehow improve Sam's mood, she was wrong. The sheer ridiculousness of a Cerberus loyalist trying to cheer up the only survivor of a Cerberus-backed "experiment" involving thresher maws was not lost on either party. The resulting effect was similar to tossing a lit match into the hydrogen fuel used as a backup to the Normandy SR-2's fusion plant.
"Not my fault? NOT MY FAULT?" Sam roared. On her feet now, her hands balled into fists and a terrible expression appeared on her face. "I failed! I hid while my unit died on Akuze. They say I'm some kind of big fucking hero—I survived because I was a coward! Taleed would still be alive if I'd just punched that idiot stockboy back on the Citadel, but no, I had to try to play nice! Morinth escaped because of me! If I hadn't been so dumb as to try a slutty pose by that statue of a krogan in Morinth's apartment, Samara wouldn't have had to choose between me suffocating under a rock the size of Grunt and ending a four-hundred year murder spree!"
By this point Sam's breath was coming in short, ragged bursts. She was bent over, hands on her knees as she gulped air.
"I'm…going to my quarters…"
Sam stumbled into the elevator and disappeared.
I really hope she can get it together, Miranda mused, or we're going to have one hell of a ride.