A/N: YAY! Some plot development. I kinda had to work with... not a lot to come up with the description of Earth's capital city.
What Could Possibly Happen In Mass Effect 3?
Vancouver-Seattle was widely acknowledged as the capital city of Earth. Not only was it the capital of possibly the largest country in the world, the UNAS (United North American States), it was also one of the largest cities in the galaxy; it had once been two cities, but after the unification of the USA, Canada and Mexico in the mid-21st century, the two cities of Vancouver and Seattle merged into one super-sized city, spanning quite a length down the western edge of North America.
This sprawling metropolis was also where the Systems Alliance kept their Earth-based Headquarters. It was here that Commander Shepard had been asked to come and explain his actions in a trial.
As the Normandy SR-2 entered orbit around Earth, the Commander approached the chair of the Normandy's helmsman, Jeff Moreau, or as he was more commonly known, Joker. Shepard was dressed semi-formal, wearing a navy-blue shirt and camouflage military-standard trousers. It was actually only the second time he had ever visited the human homeworld, the first being when he had signed up for the Alliance Navy. Of course, being the son of two well-known Alliance captains, there had been little chance of him being rejected.
Shepard stared in both awe and disgust out of the Normandy's bridge window at the amount of frozen hunks of garbage floating outside, stuck in Earth's orbit. Joker glanced over at Shepard, then back at his console.
"Getting ready to take her in, Commander," Joker stated unusually formally. He pressed a button on his terminal and the Normandy began a shallow dive into the familiar planet's stratosphere. Shepard braced himself as he felt the gravitational shift that started to pull him towards the front of the ship; however the Mass Effect Generator was still active, which created two plains of gravity. Joker carefully levelled out the massive space cruiser so that they weren't diving, and instead utilised a gentle descent through the planet's atmosphere.
All of a sudden, a familiar blue dome somewhat like an ice-cream cone sprung up to the left of Joker; a dome named EDI. "Disengaging Mass Effect Core's gravitational field," She stated coolly as ever. "Co-ordinates received from Alliance computers as to a place to dock; uploading co-ordinates to the Normandy's computers now." She finished crisply.
"Thanks, EDI." Said Joker with considerably more emotion in his voice than his AI counterpart, looking affectionately at her.
"It is my pleasure, Jeff." Replied EDI.
"Joker, stop flirting with EDI; it's weird." Shepard said, with a touch of humour in his tone. Joker swivelled his chair around and gave Shepard evils. "C'mon, Shepard, lighten up! I may be flirting with her, but that doesn't mean that you're gonna find me down in the AI Core with my-" he began, but Shepard cut him off.
"That's enough, Joker. If you want to-" started Shepard, before realising Joker wasn't paying him attention. Instead he was looking around Shepard and down the corridor. "Hey Tali," he said nonchalantly, cutting off Shepard. Shepard turned around, and, there she was, his quarian girlfriend making her way towards the bridge. "Shepard and I were just talking about unnecessary flirting on this ship," he said, knowing what he was doing. He looked back at Shepard. "There's waaay too much of it, don't you think?" Just as Joker had planned, Tali went straight into nervousness, not realising that Joker was referencing him and EDI, not her and Shepard.
"I- what? Shepard? What do you mean?" she asked, her head turning between the two of them, wringing her hands nervously. She turned and looked at Shepard. "Don't you like me… flirting with you?" she asked in surprise. Shepard cracked a grin as he realised the double entendre.
"Oh, no, Tali. Joker and I weren't talking about you and me, we were talking about him and EDI." Shepard explained.
Tali instantly relaxed, and then her hands went to her hips. "Joker…?" she said slowly.
"Yeeeees?" mocked Joker, also drawing out the word.
"You've been seducing EDI?" asked Tali, half-joking and half-accusing.
"Well, it's not like I've been-" began Joker in defence, before being cut off. Again.
"Alliance Control to Normandy? Alliance Control to Normandy, over." Came a human male's voice over the intercom. Joker picked up the receiver, and said formally "This is the Normandy, how shall we proceed?"
"When you get dock with Alliance Headquarters," the voice returned, "Please have all of your crew leave the ship at once."
Joker looked around at Shepard in confusion. This wasn't standard procedure, they both knew. Shepard reached over and picked up the receiver. "This is Commander Shepard of the Normandy, could we request for what purpose?" asked Shepard, also rather formally. There was the sound of datapads being moved around. Then… "Since the Normandy is technically Alliance property, Alliance Command wishes to take possession of the ship." Replied the man on the other end. Shepard looked at Joker, then at Tali, then at EDI. What choice did he have?
"Alright then. I'll have the crew clear out." Shepard said.
"We await your arrival at approximately 9:30AM this Thursday the 5th of March in 2186," Concluded the Voice. "Have a pleasant day." It added in afterthought.
The Normandy continued on, skimming over Earth's pacific ocean towards the colossal mega-city that was Earth's capital city.