Disclaimer

The characters don't belong to me; the idea for this story is my imagination. I do not intend to make money with it.

"The war is over. The reapers have been defeated. Against all odds, and in the face of the greatest threat this galaxy has ever known, we survived. We suffered many losses. The relays are severely damaged, but we won. This victory belongs to each of us… every man, woman and child. Every civilization… on every world. Now, as we take our first steps toward recovering what we lost, we must remember what it took to win. This wasn't a victory by a single fleet, a single army, or even a single species. If this war has taught us anything it is that we are at our strongest when we work together. And if we can put down our grievances long enough to stop something as powerful as the Reapers, imagine what we can achieve now that they are defeated. It will take time, but we can rebuild everything that was destroyed. Our homes, our worlds, our fleets and defences. All of this and more. Together we can build a future, greater than anyone of us could imagine. A future paid for by the sacrifices of those who fought and died alongside us. A future that many will never see. And while we still have many challenges ahead of us… We can face them together. And we will honour those who died to give us that future."

- Admiral Steven Hackett

Prologue

After the Reapers where gone, the Earth was one big place of chaos and destruction. So many losses, so much grief and despair. And yet, there was hope. A new dawn had arrived, even after they all had lost faith. The morning sun was slowly rising in the eastern sky as the remains of the reapers fell to Earth and shattered to dust. It took a moment for the people to realize… he did it. Commander Shepard had finally defeated the Reapers.

Three days later, Lieutenant Daniel Grady and his Rescue Squad were still searching the wreckage of the Citadel for survivors. Only a few hours after the Reaper's fall, many Squads had been sent out by Admiral Hackett to search and find survivors, and to recover the bodies of the victims before a plaque could spread out. In truth, this was the main activity of the Rescue Squads – this war had left damn few survivors to rescue on the battlefields. But it was also the most important part and the very first step of rebuilding their home world, as no good could ever be built upon the rotting cadavers of the dead.

Lieutenant Grady took a short break and looked around while he wiped the sweat from his face. This place was all dust and ashes. The former glory had been turned to smithereens. Nothing was left of all the pomp and splendour the Citadel once had held.

Slowly Grady resumed his work. He had not been overly enthusiastic to be assigned with this task, but he did it nonetheless. He never questioned the orders of his superiors, but he also knew how important this work was. It hit him hard, that he had not found a single living soul yet, while he and his squad rolled over debris after debris and waded through rubble. After more than two days of hard work, he had given up all hope that anyone on the Citadel had survived. They had found the body of Admiral Anderson near the top of the Citadel, deformed and partly burned by the explosion, but still recognizable. Grady had looked it over closely and in his opinion the Admiral had definitely not died in the explosion. The Admiral had been shot in the belly and presumably bled to death before the whole station had been blown up. But they had never found even the smallest trace of Commander Shepard – the one man who had made this victory possible.

While Grady worked his way through the wreckage, he let his thoughts wander to the Galactic Hero that Commander John Sheppard had been. Always working against all odds, the Commander had never given up his hope, never given in to the ones that were telling him how wrong he was. If they only had known better and listened to him from the beginning… Maybe none of this would have ever happened. Maybe they could have averted this disaster, somehow. Maybe they would have been ready for it... But as it was, Commander Shepard always stood up alone, with just a handful of people behind him. He defeated a misguided Spectre called Saren and destroyed Sovereign, who was some kind of a harbinger for the Reapers. After the Collectors hit the colonies, he travelled through the Omega-4 Relay to destroy a complete Collector Base - and not even then they could believe that there was a threat! Not to mention that he even died in the process and was brought back to end his mission by a former Human Black-Ops Organization that went astray with their ideals! But in the end he did it. He won this war and saved the whole fucking Galaxy!

Grady let the ruins of the Citadel feel his desperate anger by kicking out at the nearest debris as hard as he could. Once, he did not believe any of this, neither. After all, he had been far away, save on Earth. It is hard to believe in a galactic threat when your own life is stable, calm and peaceful. But then the Reapers attacked Earth and killed his family and his friends, and suddenly everything Shepard had said turned real. The worst possible nightmare had happened right in front of his eyes. Looking back, Grady could not believe how stupid he had been. How stupid and blind all of them had been. But none of this did matter anymore. There were no more maybes and ifs, there only were the Reapers. And again, Commander Shepard never said "I told you so!" but kept going his path and saved them all one more time. He went out, united the whole Galaxy and brought back the greatest fleet anyone had ever seen. Turians, Asari, Krogans, Quarians, Salarians... even a few Batarians, all of them in this fight together. And on the way he incidentally cured the Genophage, brought the Quarians back to their home world and even made peace between them and the Geth. Peace! With the Geth! How was anyone supposed to believe that? Still in disbelieve, Grady shook his head while working. Yeah, even the Geth had helped building the Crucible and fighting back the Reaper forces.

Grady turned over another stone and stood again to wipe the sweat from his forehead as he glimpsed another body lying under the rubble nearby.
"Hey guys!" he half-heartedly called to his squad. "I found another one."
He bent down and began moving the debris from the body.
"Gods…" he murmured in shock as he slowly realized. "He's breathing!" Grady called over his shoulder. "We found a survivor… MOVE!"

"Barely got a pulse here, this one is going to operation room 4, ASAP!"
The nurse at the hospital hectically shoved her assistants in the right direction.
"Prepare the room!" she called while hurrying off behind the patient.

The surgeon and his assistants carefully removed what remained of the patient's armour. Slowly they cut through the fabrics in order to begin tending his wounds. It was harder than it seemed to remove the last pieces, the armour had begun to melt to the skin here and there… They needed to cut it loose, cautiously.
"Doctor…" the assistant surgeon began quietly. "Doctor, please take a look…"
The operating surgeon turned to look at the patient's face, as his assistant pointed. He almost lost hold of his instruments as he slowly became aware of the identity of the man.
"This… this is…" he stammered, visibly shocked and unable to move or react for just another few moments.
"Beth" he called to the nurse on the other side of the room, while he recovered from the first shock and continued to care for the patient on the table before him.
"Summon Admiral Hackett" he ordered with a determined voice. "We found Commander Shepard."