Mass Effect: The Search for Sheperd

Months after Commander Sheperd saved the Citadel from Sovereign, another ship approached the Normandy. The ship destroyed it, killing Commander Sheperd. The body was lost in space, only to be retrieved by the Shadow Broker.

Sheperd's crewmate, Liara T'Soni went on a mission to find Sheperd. She meets Feron, a drell spy, who worked for the Shadow Broker but decided to help Liara. Liara and Feron meet Miranda Lawson, a Cerberus operative who also plans on finding Sheperd's body.

The three of them search the space station Omega for Sheperd's body. They discover mercenaries giving the body to Tazzik, the Shadow Broker's agent. Tazzik takes the body to the Shadow Broker, who plans to hand it to the Collectors (an advanced race who stole human colonists.)

Liara and Feron intercept the body and take it to Miranda, who revives Sheperd. But what if it all failed? What if Sheperd was stolen by the Collectors and forced to work with them? Lets begin with the Shadow Broker and the Collector's transaction…

"Good. Good…" the Collector General stated, "the Shadow Broker has done well."

The Shadow Broker's volus representative muttered, "It was Tazzik here who did all the work." He looked up at his larger salarian co-worker.

Tazzik chuckled, "Hard to recognize if Sheperd was a man or a woman, but they are what you want, and its all yours as soon as you pay."

Liara and Feron hid behind the wall and watched the scene before them. "This is it…" Feron said. "We need that body."

"Alright, don't just 'accidentally' let Tazzik get away this time." Liara assured. Feron tossed a gun to Liara as he stepped towards Tazzik.

"Taz!" Feron exclaimed. "You crazy salarian you! I knew you would be here!"

Now what is supposed to happen is Taz speaks with Feron for a while about the mission, allowing Liara to get the body.

Instead, Tazzik shouts, "You traitor! I saw you on Omega! You are going down!" He aims his grenade launcher at the drell.

Feron was nervous and claimed, "N… No… I was trying to stop the asari from getting the body!"

"You know I'm smarter than that!" Tazzik yells. "You are a traitor! Everybody, get him!"

"Liara! Now!" Feron calls. Tazzik pulls the trigger on Feron, destroying him. Liara bounces from the wall and launches a biotic warp onto the mercenaries. The volus representative flies into the air. Liara begins to unload all of the bullets from her pistol onto the Shadow Broker's agents.

"That's enough!" Tazzik says. Liara turns to see him shoot at her. Liara's barrier absorbs the shot. The Collector notices that he has just enough time to pull out his particle beam. The blast hits Liara, gaining her attention. She places a bullet right into the Collector's shoulder. He runs toward his shuttle. Tazzik follows into the shuttle.

Liara brings up all of her biotic powers. She begins to glow a blue aura, a typical side effect of biotics. The shuttle begins to lift, but is encased in the blue aura. It begins to shake, but escapes Liara's grasp.

Liara watches as the shuttle moves into space. She falls from weakness, and sadness. She weeps for hours. Sheperd was gone, in Collector hands now. She wonders what they wanted with his body.

It couldn't have been the same reason as hers. Proper human burial. Or even the humans' form of burial where they burn the body and save the ashes. Cremation, they call it.

Liara remembered, a human equals Cerberus. Cerberus is a human terrorist group that believes in death to all aliens. Liara only worked with Cerberus to get Sheperd back. But maybe, just maybe, Cerberus could help her get him back again, only this time; they need to destroy the Collectors.

This was the next part of mourning. First, sadness consumes the person. Next anger fills their minds. After anger, comes denial. Maybe she will wake up and find herself on the Normandy, ready to do a mission. But that didn't happen.

Liara found herself reaching for her radio, calling Miranda. "We didn't get Sheperd…" Liara cried. "Come get me."