(OOC: The character of Kolvant Garr is not mine; I am using him with permission from Tolgron a member of the RP website/forum Mass Effect Universe, he also created his dossier)
Jason Shepard sat in his captain's quarters as he awaited the start of his trial, it had been roughly a week since the destruction of the Alpha Relay alongside over Three Hundred Thousand Batarians, Shepard wasn't exactly a big fan of Batarians, he had fought against them several times in his lifetime including the Skillian Blitz and the Asteroid X57 incident but still he was feeling some guilt over it.
"Commander?" Shepard looked up and saw Kelly Chambers at the doorway, accompanying her was a man in an Alliance uniform with plenty of medals on his chest alongside two other Alliance soldiers, a young red head woman with blue eyes and a male with brown hair and blue eyes. "Major Marcus Resoltio is here to see you."
"He can come in." Shepard said plainly and his assistant left, the oldest of the three entered the quarters and sat down.
"Shepard, it's an honour to meet the hero of the Skillian Blitz, I just wish it was under more pleasant circumstances." The Major said.
"Admiral Hackett couldn't make it?" Shepard asked.
"He had paperwork to do." The woman chimed in, her accent sounded Scottish; when Marcus looked at her disapprovingly she quickly saluted him. "Oh err, sorry for interrupting sir." She said quickly.
"At ease McKansa." Marcus said before turning to Shepard. "She speaks the truth though, however Hackett was able to pull a few favours for you, he's got one of the best attorneys in the galaxy to represent you at the trial."
"I told him I intend to represent myself." Shepard said but Marcus shook his head.
"Shepard, you'd be a sitting duck out there, consider it a favour." Marcus said before turning to the younger soldiers. "McKansa, Roberts, would you two mind standing outside for a few minutes?" The two soldiers saluted him and walked out. "Shepard, between you and me, is the Reaper threat real?"
"It is major, and I intend to prove it one way or another." Shepard said folding his arms, the major let out a sigh of relief.
"Just what I wanted to hear, the attorney I mentioned suggested going for an Insanity defence when he was informed of the reason you destroyed that system, I punched him in the jaw for even thinking along those lines." Marcus said as he stood up and started pacing. "I take no pride in this; you're a damn hero in my book, after I lost my wife in the battle of the Citadel I made my disapproval of the council's smear campaign against you known, it may have cost me a promotion but I don't care." Shepard stood up as well.
"I'm glad we see eye to eye, is there anyone else that'll be present at the trial that I should know about?" Shepard asks and Marcus stopped pacing.
"Your old crewmember Ashley Williams for one, she's been here all week come to think of it, Anderson as well and I think I saw Udina as well." Marcus said. "The bastard was as smug as ever."
"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Shepard said shaking his head. "What's with the guard detail?"
"Anderson's insistence, in case any pissed of Batarians try to take your life." Marcus said.
"He put my life in the hands of an obvious rookie and some guy who doesn't talk much?" Shepard asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Don't let that fool you commander, Roberts is a good soldier and McKansa may be a rookie but you wouldn't think it if you ever saw her in action." Marcus said folding his arms. "Besides their under my command and I know how to straighten out trouble makers."
"You mean McKansa?" Shepard asked.
"Yeah, Roberts isn't too bad he just isn't much of a talker, McKansa has a hell of a temper and is a pretty good biotic, and they were put under my command because no one else wanted her in their command due to her temper." Marcus said looking out a nearby window. "I handpicked them to accompany me Commander, I wouldn't of picked them if I didn't know that they were capable or not."
"I'll take your word for it." Shepard said before he changed the subject "What can you tell me about this attorney?"
"His name's Tyler Francs, he's only 24 years old but his skills as an attorney are second to none, your defence is in capable hands and don't worry, he won't be going for an Insanity plea anymore." Marcus said, the door opened and McKansa entered.
"Sir Anderson just called; they're ready for Commander Shepard." The young soldier said.
"Thanks McKansa." Marcus said as the two men walked towards her. "Is Francs waiting for us?"
"Aye, he's still as smug as ever." She replied as Roberts joined them, the four soldiers walked to the elevator and entered it, Shepard pressed the button to take them down to the CIC and they waited for the elevator to reach the CIC. "Commander, if you don't mind me asking, do the charges have any merit?"
"I wish they didn't McKansa, that's all I'm saying on the matter." Shepard said as the Elevator reached the CIC, the four soldiers left the Normandy and Marcus looked around.
"Tyler, are you there?" Marcus called out.
"Over here." A man with an English accent called out, the four soldiers approached the origin of the voice and saw a tall and fairly muscular man with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail and brown eyes, he was dressed in a nice suit. "Commander Shepard, I'll be your attorney for the evening, Tyler Francs." Tyler said extending his hand out for a handshake, Shepard merely folded his arms. "Something I said?"
"No, I just don't like attorneys." Shepard said plainly.
"If I had a credit chit for every time I heard someone say that, especially if that someone's a client, be thankful that Hackett paid all my legal fees in advance." Tyler said shaking his head. "To be blunt I don't exactly like muscle head soldiers either but I guess we'll have to coexist."
"Treat him with respect; he's the hero of the Skillian blitz and the Citadel." Marcus demanded.
"And he also blew up over 3 Hundred Thousand Batarians in order to prevent the supposed arrival of the Reapers." Tyler said folding his arms. "I'll represent you to the best of my ability Commander but I don't condone what you did, let's get going I'd hate to delay your day in court."
"Lead the way." Shepard said plainly and Tyler led them to his car. "Are you coming Major?"
"No, we have our own car." The major said; Shepard closed the passenger side door as he entered it and Tyler drove towards the courthouse, once they arrived Shepard got out of the car first and was immediately swarmed by the press.
"I said my client doesn't have anything to say..." Tyler retorted, waving a dismissive hand to the horde of the press. He turned to give Shepard an assuring nod, to physically tell him that this was going to pull through. Though the expression that befell his face was not one of guarantee, but instead his jaw fell agape as the entire city darkened as if submerged into shadow. A piercing electronic whirr filled the air, instinctively forcing many that were present, press and citizen alike to cover their ears and peer to the skies in hopes to garner what was happening. Above them, high into the heavens themselves was a sight that one would not forget until death: A massive fleet of monolith vessels bore down on the city, their purplish armoured cephalopod hides blocked out the sun with an eclipse of ungodly proportions. "What on Earth..." Those were the only words uttered from a terrified Tyler Francs as the attack began. In unison, the ships began to open fire onto the populace, bright flashes of light, almost beautiful in a disturbing way struck the ground with such impact that the impending shockwave sent the cowering civilians of the city to their feet. Those unlucky enough to escape the radius were incinerated instantly.
Shepard and Tyler where able to get away from the blast radius in time but others weren't so lucky, several members of the press where killed in the blast alongside anyone inside the courtroom.
"So those are the Reapers?" Tyler asks and Shepard merely nodded. "If you've got any suggestions I'm listening."
"Commander!" Shepard and Tyler looked up and saw Ashley Williams alongside Anderson, Marcus, McKansa and Roberts, Ashley's hair was down and she was in grey armour. "We're leaving, now."
"Don't need to tell me twice." Shepard said walking up to Ashley. "Look, Ash about what happened on Horizon."
"Let's worry about that later, Joker sent us the Hammerhead at my request, we need to get to the Citadel and we need to get there ASAP." Anderson said just as the shuttle arrived, Shepard looked around, he had the sneaking suspicion that this was too easy, it was then that he heard it, well over a hundred husks and Scions where behind them.
"We'd never be able to take on that many at once." Shepard said. "Everyone, get on the shuttle now." Tyler was the first onto the shuttle followed by McKansa, Ashley, Marcus, Anderson and Shepard. Roberts stayed behind though.
"What are you doing?" Marcus demanded.
"Making sure the hero of the Citadel makes it out alive." Roberts said giving a respectful nod to Shepard who returned it. "Major, it's been an honour serving under you."
"Don't talk like that, there's still room on the Hammerhead." McKansa chimed in; Roberts said nothing and started firing at the husks as the Hammerhead took off.
"This is it; I always did want to go out in a blaze of glory." Roberts thought as he fired upon the crowd of husks, he held his own for a while using his Alliance training to his advantage but the Scions constant interference proved too much for the soldier and he was quickly overwhelmed.
"Damn it." McKansa said as she watched Roberts sacrifice himself punching the Hammerhead's window in frustration as she did, she was clearly unhappy about the development. "This isn't right."
"I don't agree with it either McKansa but he gave his life to save us." Marcus said sadly. "I'll see to it that he'll get a proper burial when this is all over." Marcus reassured her, McKansa sighed and calmed down.
"Let's get back on topic." Anderson said as he looked between the other occupants of the Hammerhead. "Shepard I'm sure you have a lot of questions in mind so I'll get your first question out of the way, we are on the way to the Citadel for an emergency meeting with the Council, word hasn't reached the Citadel yet but it's only a matter of time."
"Do the other councillors know?" Shepard asks Anderson and the Human Councillor nodded his head in response.
"I sent them a live video feed from Earth in case the Turian Councillor was ready to dismiss the claim." Anderson added and Marcus grinned.
"I'd like to see those idiots dismiss this as a Geth attack." Marcus said before turning to Shepard. "I and McKansa intend to join your ship Commander, we have family on Earth and we intend to make sure that they make it out alive."
"I'd be honoured to have you aboard the ship." Shepard said before turning to Tyler. "Do you want to be dropped off anywhere in particular?"
"Just drop me off on the Citadel, my law firm's there and it's also where I live." Tyler said before adjusting his suit. "Major, I want to apologize for even suggesting the insanity defence when I first heard about the reasons for Shepard's destruction of the relay."
"Apology accepted, at least your man enough to realize that you where wrong." Marcus said as the Hammerhead entered the Normandy, once the door was closed Shepard hopped out of the Hammerhead and made his way towards the CIC and ran up to Joker.
"Joker, get us to the Citadel now." Shepard commanded; Joker started typing in commands as he piloted the ship towards the nearest Mass Relay, once they were out of the Sol Cluster Shepard turned to Anderson. "So what's the plan once we reach the Citadel?"
"We'll go to the Citadel Tower and see what the Council thinks of this." Anderson said folding his arms. "I'll see to it that you get your Spectre Status fully reinstated."
"That won't be enough." Marcus chimed in. "It took the original Normandy, a large amount of Alliance ships and the Destiny Ascension to defeat one Reaper when Sovereign attacked the Citadel, we'd need a lot more than that if we're planning on taking out all the Reapers on Earth." Shepard nodded and looked out the nearest window, his mind already at work.
"First priority is upgrading the Normandy's Weapons Systems, armour and engine protection, they were designed to take out a Collector Ship and protect against Collector weaponry." Shepard said as he turned to the others.
"I have some friends in Research and Development; I'll call in a few favours once we're on the Citadel." Marcus responded folding his arms.
"Good, next priority is assembling a team; we'll need the best if we're going to take down the Reapers." Shepard said turning towards Ashley. "Ash, I could use you on this mission..." Shepard started and Ashley stopped him.
"Say no more Skipper, with my recent admission into the Spectres I'll be glad to help." Ashley said glancing around the ship.
"Good...wait what?" Shepard paused upon hearing the last part, he turned to Anderson. "When did this happen?"
"Sorry Commander, I meant to tell you sooner but with everything that happened on Earth we needed to get off the planet first, she was accepted into the Spectres shortly after the mission on Horizon, she didn't know it at the time but that mission was her last test before she was accepted into the Spectres." Anderson said, Shepard frowned obviously unhappy at not being told sooner but let it pass.
"As for the rest of the team, Anderson I'll need your help with assembling the team, could you make that happen?" Shepard asks and Anderson nodded.
"I and Udina will get to work on that as soon as we're on the Citadel, we'll collect dossiers on the best scientists, mercenaries and engineers we can." Anderson said looking around the CIC. "What's the next priority?"
"That's simple, unifying the galaxy against the Reaper threat." Shepard said and the rest of the crew gave him funny looks.
"If that's your idea of simple I'd hate to see your idea of complicated." McKansa said folding her arms.
"Jenny has a point Commander, we're talking about entire races setting aside their differences and considering the differences between, and for example, the Krogans and the Salarians that's like trying to get Keepers to do advance Mathematics." Marcus said before frowning. "And don't even get me started on the Batarians." Marcus said shaking his head. "They hated humanity already but with the destruction of the Alpha Relay..."
"I get the point, but I've pulled off the impossible before and I'm not about to start." Shepard said sitting down on a bulkhead. "I already have the Rachni on our side anyway but getting the Quarians and Geth on our side should be easy enough." At the last one Marcus, Anderson, Ashley and Jenny did a double take. "I probably should've mentioned earlier, we have a Geth on board in the AI core and yes this ship has an AI."
"If the any of you need any assistance I will be happy to help." EDI'S avatar popped up behind them and they span around.
"I'm not even going to ask." Ashley muttered shaking her head, Anderson, Marcus and Jenny nodded in agreement as the Normandy entered another Mass Relay.
"We've arrived at the Citadel commander, we've just landed." Joker announced and Shepard nodded.
"Let's not waste any time, we'll take the rapid transit to the Citadel Tower and speak to the council from there." Shepard told the crew. "As for you Tyler are you okay with staying on the Wards?" Tyler nodded but he was already on his way out anyway, once Tyler left Shepard and Anderson left the Normandy and headed towards the nearest rapid transit and took it to the Citadel Tower, once they were in the building Shepard looked around, it didn't look to different from the way it looked before Sovereign's attack but it was clear to him that security had been stepped up a great deal with a metal detector near the elevator entrance and armed guards near the council chambers and that was only what he could see. "I see security's been stepped up here as well."
"To be blunt I'm surprised they didn't upgrade security sooner." Anderson replied before approaching one of the guards. "He's with me, he's a Spectre agent."
"We'll need to confirm it, what's his name?" The Turian asks as he activates his onmi-tool.
"Commander Shepard." Shepard said approaching them, once the guard confirmed it he let them through, however he stopped Shepard and turned to him.
"Word's spread about the attack on Earth human, your species has my sympathies." The Turian added with sincerity in his voice.
"I appreciate it, thank you." Shepard responded as the Turian let him go, he caught up with Anderson as he reached the council chambers.
"We have reviewed the live footage of Earth commander; the fact that Reapers actually exist is troubling to say the least." The Salarian councillor started as Anderson joined them.
"In light of this the council pledges full support towards you and any efforts you make to stop the Reapers before they reach the Citadel." The Turian councillor added. "Just say the word and we'll help you in any way we can."
"Good, here's what I need, I need my ship upgraded, I'll need to assemble a team, and an even better one than the one I assembled for the Collector mission at that and most importantly I'll need to unify both the council and non-council races against the Reaper threat." Shepard said as the Councillors nodded.
"We'll leave the unifying to you but we can arrange the dossiers and the upgrades." The Asari councillor said. "That will be a difficult mission though, after all most of the non-council races hate the council races."
"I understand but I have accomplished the impossible in the past." Shepard pointed out. "I only have one request, that the crew members that worked on the areas your upgrading superivise the upgrades, is that possible?" Shepard asked and they nodded. "One last thing, how long will you need to get the upgrades done?" The councillors looked at each other and though for a moment.
"I'd say about two hours Commander." Anderson finally said and Shepard nodded.
"Then you have two hours, my crew will assist in any way they can." Shepard said before folding his arms. "If there's nothing else I'll return to the Normandy."
"There is one other thing commander." The Turian Councillor interrupted him. "The Citadel fleet is armed and ready to attack the Reapers on Earth."
"Even that won't be enough." Shepard pointed out. "There was over a dozen Reapers in the city where my trial was held alone, we don't even know about the rest of the planet." The Salarian and Asari councillors nodded realizing that Shepard had a point, after that Shepard left the Citadel tower and returned to the Normandy where he watches as the upgrades where carried out, he was in the CIC waiting for news from the Citadel Council.
"Commander." Kelly Chambers ran up to him carrying several datapads. "Anderson just forwarded these dossiers." She said handing them over, Shepard looked at them before turning to the Yoeman.
"Thanks Kelly, pass the word around that if anyone wants me I'll be in my quarters." Shepard commanded, Kelly nodded before running off, Shepard took the elevator up to his quarters and sat down as he began to read the dossiers.
Urdnot Drakus
-Krogan Battlemaster
-Years of experience under his belt
-Fought in the Krogan Rebellions
A very powerful biotic and combat veteran, Drakus is one of the most powerful biotics in the Terminus Systems; he was last seen on Omega.
Andrea McKenzie
-Powerful biotic and tech expert
-Good shot
-Surprisingly intelligent for a freelancer
A career criminal originally from Earth who escaped to the Terminus Systems in order to escape prosecution, the Council is willing to give her a complete pardon for her crimes in exchange for her cooperation, she was last seen on Omega.
Shepard stroked his chin as he read the first two dossiers, deciding to recruit them first since they had been sighted in the same location, his thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Shepard looked up.
"Commander, Chambers said I could find you up here." Garrus said entering the quarters, he looked around the quarters. "Those are the dossiers?" Garrus asked motioning to the datapads in Shepard's hand.
"Two of them." Shepard said setting Andrea and Drakus' dossiers aside. "How are the upgrades going?" Shepard asked.
"They're going well but that wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about." Garrus said taking a seat. "It's that young soldier, Jenny McKansa, she's been...hostile towards me." Garrus said trailing off.
"You want me to talk with her?" Shepard asks, the last thing he wanted was hostility between the crew members.
"If you can even talk to her than you'll make more progress than me." Garrus grunted shaking his head. "She's been avoiding contact even with Marcus ever since the upgrades started."
"I'll talk to her on the way to Omega." Shepard said as he looked at the next dossier.
Liara T'Soni
Shepard didn't bother reading the rest, he had worked with Liara before after all and unlike the Council he knew where to find her, the Shadow Broker's base on Hagalaz, he wasn't sure if he would be able to recruit her but time would tell.
Kolvant Garr- Centuries of combat experience - a hardened soldier.
- A good deal of expertise in hacking and engineering
- Remarkable self control and level-headedness for a Krogan.Kolvant Garr is one of the more dedicated and reliable Krogan mercenaries in Citadel space. We have currently set up a contract with him, and he is ready for pick up on Tuchanka, where is currently paying respects to Clan Kolvant's chieftain.
"Clan Kolvant?" Shepard said out loud.
"Sounds like a Krogan clan." Garrus said looking at the dossier. "A Krogan infiltrator? Did hell freeze over when I wasn't looking?"
"I'm sure Urdnot Wrex will be able to point us in the right direction." Shepard said before realizing that was the last of the dossiers for now. "The council must still be working on that." Shepard theorized.
"Commander, the upgrades are completed." EDI'S avatar popped up, Shepard and Garrus turned to EDI and Shepard nodded.
"I'll return to the forward batteries in that case Commander." Garrus said before standing up and leaving the quarters, once Garrus had left Shepard turned too EDI.
"Tell Joker that we're going to Omega first." Shepard said as he stood up, he set the datapads aside, as the Normandy left the Serpent Nebula he prayed for anyone that was stuck on Earth during the Reaper attack before leaving the crew quarters.