Episode One: Chapter Two:

Saturday, January 27, 2187 C.E.

Shepard's Apartment,

Tiberius Towers,

Silversun Strip, Lower Wards

The next morning Shepard awoke in his apartment, located in the Tiberius Towers, formerly David Anderson's apartment, letting his eyes readjust he sees Miranda's head lying on his chest, under the sheet is her genetically engineered perfect nude body. Shepard stands up and stretches his arms and legs while seeing Miranda roll into his spot. Lying beside Miranda, on her chest is the blue-skin angel Liara, and beside her is the tattoo cover vixen Jack, with Ashley lying on the other end of the bed. Shepard dresses quickly before walking into the kitchen to find Kasumi eating her morning breakfast, and she asks, "Alan didn't you enjoy yourself last night? You're not normally up at 7:20am."

"Last night was heavenly…" answers Shepard, who likes the new arrangement much better than the previous one. Shepard originally became good friend with Ashley, Liara, and Tali during their times aboard the Normandy, SR-1. However, shortly after the mission to Feros, Ashley forced the issue by having Shepard pick between herself, Liara or Tali. Later, Shepard aboard the Normandy, SR-2, got close to Miranda, Jack, Samara, Kasumi, and Kelly Chambers not to mention a few other he got close to over the last four years like Sha'ira, Aria T'Loak, Samantha Traynor and Diana Allers. Shortly after the destruction of the Reapers, and during the V-R Day Celebrations, several of the women cornered him and wanted him to choose who he wanted to be with now that the Reapers were defeated. During that conversation, Shepard explains that he had feeling for Ashley, Laira, Tali, Miranda, Jack, and Kasumi but didn't want to hurt Samara, Kelly, or any of the others. It was Ashley who suggested that they do a 'trial period' where they 'share' Shepard or more specifically have a polyamorous relationship. Alan about leaped out of his skin at this idea. It wasn't that out of the realm of possibility since Liara, Jack, Samara, Kelly, and Diana had relationships in the past with both men and women. This only left Tali and Miranda undecided but Shepard explained that he didn't feel right being forced to pick since some part of him would always wondering what would have happened if he had let things play out naturally or had chosen someone else. Plus, it was not like it was some video game where the game was forcing him to choose. Alan was quite surprised when Ash apologized for forcing the issue back on the original Normandy, and how at the time she held anti-alien sentiments. Though neither Ashley nor Miranda had ever been with a woman before they both asked for time to think through things. Tali despite having some concerns about her health, had been in love with Shepard since shortly after the moment he saved her life aboard the Citadel in 2183. While she also had her doubts about how long a relationship of this nature could last, she would be willing to keep her options open in order to make sure that when Shepard picked her, he wouldn't have any regrets or second thoughts about his decision. Then they would settle down on Rannoch after their honeymoon. Several days later, Miranda and Ashley both agreed to do a twelve month 'trial period' where they experiment with variants between individual time with Shepard and group time with Shepard. That group may be three, four, or more depending on the situation. Shepard complimented Ashley on how far she had come and while she maintained that she is exclusively heterosexual, the intimacy she was getting from the relationship was unlike anything she had ever experienced. Miranda on the other hand was struggling with the sharing aspect more than Shepard thought she would. However, he had learned quite a bit about her, like that she and Jacob never had a relationship despite what Jacob thought. It was purely Jacob wanting her and Miranda not having the same feeling. Shepard continues, "…I'm up so early because it's hard to sleep in a two-person bed with four other people. But how was your night?"

"Wonderful," comments Kasumi, "I'm glad that I decided to keep quiet during the initial conversation about my previous relationship experiences. I hadn't felt this good since before…"

Kasumi stopped before saying his name and thinking about her previous lover, friend, and mentor Keiji Okuda. Part of why she didn't say anything during their initial group conversation is because she didn't know if she could handle opening herself up to someone again, especially sharing him with several other women. However, after talking with Jack, who explained how Shepard was with her, Kasumi felt ready to open her heart once again. The only reason Kasumi was ever interested in Jacob was because she knew it would never last since Jacob was trying too hard to be a paragon of virtue like Shepard. Shepard, seeing the tears in Kasumi's eyes, places a hand on each of her shoulders before asking, "Kasumi, are you alright? Do you want to talk about it?"

"Alan, my tears are not totally tears of sadness," explains Kasumi, "They are also tears of happiness. I do still miss Keiji and part of me is still in love with him, since we shared such a very intimate relationship but there was always something missing. I don't know maybe I'm a different person now than I was before I met you. Maybe I want different things out of life. I had experiments with women before but never really had been attracted to them but being with you, seeing that you do care for me in a way that is different from Keiji but you also care deeply for Miranda, Jack, Ashley and everyone else it mean that even if the relationship doesn't last. We can still be friends and that wouldn't be the worst ending I could imagine because if Keiji had asked for me to share him with other women, I would had cut off his balls. However, I'm a different person than I was back when Keiji and I were together, all of those years ago."

"Like I said previously we can take things as slow as you want," responds Shepard, "There is no rush and I understand you feel like you came into the game late. It is hard to be added on later and have to catch up especially since we didn't click right away but you were always talking about Jacob and I really thought you were in love with him or wanted to have his babies."

"No, I picked Jacob simply because I thought it wouldn't last and he would be a good lay," explains Kasumi, who was still hurting from Keiji's death when she met Alan, "I mean he does have a nice body but that was really all he had going for him. Besides you're much better in bed than what I think he would be and you have proven that over and over and over again. I only want your babies inside of my belly and to feel your manhood deep inside…"

Shepard doesn't let Kasumi finishing since he kisses her with all of the passion he feels running through his entire body. If this was his award for saving the galaxy, then he would be more than happy to save this galaxy again or save another galaxy. Shepard and Kasumi stand there gently kissing one another till they are interrupted as Jack comes walking out of the bedroom in her birthday suit and upon seeing, she just shakes her head but neither one said anything and just continue to hold each other…

Upper Level,

Castle Arcade,

Silversun Strip, Lower Wards

Shepard made the short walk from his apartment to the Castle Arcade, with Shepard asking, "You sure he wants to meet here?"

"This is where he said to meet him," answers Jack, who's meeting yesterday with Zaeed was simply a cover story for what is really going on. Then Zaeed came walking through the crown and says, "Shepard…" before spinning around a chair and taking a seat at the table and chuckling, "…or it is Captain Alan Shepard, right?"

"Yes, it is nice to finally had the rank, since I had been doing a Captain's job since I first became a Spectre but the Alliance didn't officially award me the rank until this year," explains Shepard, who wasn't promoted when he received command of the Normandy, SR-1 like he should had been. Now with the change the Alliance officially promoted him to Commander in 2185 and Captain in 2187 though he is still waiting for his back pay. Shepard continues, "So how is everything going aboard Tartarus Base? Have you learned anything more? Do you think it time to bring in the Council or Alliance to help figure out the base?"

"Well, now with the Reapers gone we have been able to actually get to work exploring the base but it's massive," explains Zaeed, who Shepard left in charge of the Collector Base, after the mission through the Omega-4 Relay. Zaeed's first priority was to free the entire group of captured colonists. However, before releasing the captured colonist, Zaeed and his team needed to make sure they weren't indoctrinated or otherwise harmed. That took most of 2185. When the Reaper invaded in 2186, Shepard ordered the base to go dark in order to make sure the Reapers didn't discover it. Shepard was planning to use the captured Collector Base as a fall back point in case the Crucible failed. He only told a handful of people this as he wasn't sure who he could trust, "We had learned that the indoctrinated had to be in close proximity to the Reapers to maintain their control over the subject. According to Doctor Ross, the longer the subject is under control the longer and harder it would be for them to recover from the indoctrination. Then there is also the matter of Fehl Prime. According to Marian the Collector was planning on attacking the colony in 2185 but you launched your assault on their base before they could. That leads me to why I'm here. We discovered a second Collector Cruiser, fully operational and there are the 'stasis chambers' aboard Tartarus. Doctor Ross and Rana feel like the stasis chambers are where the Reapers left previous captured species preserved in stasis. Rana believes there also could be captured Protheans aboard, I guess reinforcement if the Reapers ever needed them. I bring this up because I know how Javik reacted last time to hearing that we killed more of his people. Rana doesn't think these Protheans are indoctrinated yet since according to her research the subject needs to be awake to be indoctrinated. Then there are the stasis chambers located in the asteroid belt, which Ross thinks is where the Collector stored the crews of the ships they had destroyed over the past 50,000 years. So basically, what I'm saying is that I need more men. We had already redoubled our efforts. Plus, the men are working as fast as they possibly can."

"Hmm," mumbles Shepard, who underestimated the undertaking that would be the Collector Base. So far, they had managed to keep everything quiet since the captured Colonists were still living aboard the base, because with the Reaper Invasion it didn't make a lot of sense to resettled them on their colony, "Alright, I think it time to speak with Admiral Hackett about this. He is going to lose his shit when he heard I didn't destroy the Collector Base plus that there are almost 4.3 million colonists living aboard the base. Zaeed, I want you to go back to Omega and speak with Aria, it's only with her help that we managed to keep everything about the Collector Base secret. However, I'm now curious, to why you asked for Jack instead of someone else?"

"Because I wanted to ask Jack if she was still close to any of her students at the Grissom Academy," explains Zaeed, who didn't get to talk for long yesterday because there was a new development in another matter, "I had learned that a group known as the Enlighten are planning a terrorist attack the Academy. However, the group is only planning to target the biotic students and I thought she could get a message to the Academy covertly or without setting off the panic button. From what I had gathered the attack will happen within a week to ten days."

"I can speak with Kahlee Sanders, from the Normandy communication room," voices Jack, who despite not being their teacher anymore is still fiercely protective of her ex–students.

"That is alright, I will speak with Sanders myself, after talking with Admiral Hackett," orders Shepard, "However, we may need to find out more about what is actually going on with the group called the Enlighten. Why would they attack the Academy? Better yet, why would they attack just the biotic students? Zaeed, get to Omega and meet with Aria. Jack, I want you to take a shuttle to Grissom and just keep an eye out. I will tell Sanders you're coming. You may want to take someone with you and I will swing by as soon as I'm done. Then I will travel to Omega."

Both Jack and Zaeed nod in agreement before standing up and leaving the Arcade. Shepard leaves the Arcade before taking the Citadel Rapid Transit to Bay D24, where the Normandy is docked.

Communication Room,

Normandy,

Docking Bay D24, Citadel

Shepard had explained the situation about the Collector Base, now known as Tartarus Base, and what Zaeed said about Grissom Academy. Much to Shepard surprise, Hackett already knew about the Enlighten. They were apparently an anti-biotic group made up of several distinct species that had recently turned to terrorism. Hackett also approved the reassignment of the S.S.V. Achilles and S.S.V. Proteus to service under Shepard's command. He had also approved the transferred of Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Shepard to the Normandy. Hackett commented he couldn't turn down Hannah. Hackett continues, "…Shepard, I want our first priority to be to resettle the captured colonists back on the original colony. Then I will send a research team, a scientist team, and intelligence team to Omega, where you will equip their ships with the ability to use the Omega-4 Relay. I understand Baynham and Ross are both already on Tartarus? The last I heard was, Ross was dead and Baynham was still on Feros."

"I gave Doctor Ross a counter proposal," explains Shepard, "I didn't take her bribe but offered her the chance to leave. She owed me a favor and basically now works for me. Doctor Baynham and her mother were eager to assist me, after I saved them on Feros. Also, Admiral Hackett, I'm requesting additional Marines present. There is a Lieutenant Marie Durand that I first met on Nepmos. I would like her unit of the Marines to be assigned. Durand is assigned to the First Platoon, Company D, 4th Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade of the 10th Frontier Division. I don't need the entire Division, but Company D could be useful."

"I will speak with Lieutenant Colonel Aboim, Captain Ponder is currently in charge of Delta Company but are you sure one platoon is enough for such as massive station?" asks Hackett, who was thinking it might would be better to promote Durand and give Shepard an entire Company, 96 soldiers instead of just 24.

"Admiral, I need someone who I can trust," explains Shepard, who had done his best to stay in contact with the peoples he had met through his journey, "This base is probably my closely guarded secret. Besides, you could always promote Durand to Captain if you think I'm going to need a larger number of Marines."

"That is an option," responses Hackett, "However, I wanting to speak with you about something else you haven't told anyone. It happened back in 2183 before you departed the Citadel to find Doctor T'Soni. It is known as Hal9000, but you named it Clippit."

"How did you find out about that?" asks Shepard, surprised since only two other humans knew what he did, one of them was Lieutenant Alenko but he died on Virmire. The other person was Ashley Williams, but Shepard was sure she hadn't told anyone about Shepard sparing the A.I. that he encountered aboard the Citadel.

"You gave an unknown, unidentified A.I. a starship to travel to meet the Geth, just a day after you fought the Geth on Eden Prime? What were you thinking, Captain?" asks Hackett, who found out after Jacob Taylor passed along secret files. Jacob's relationship with Shepard was strained over Shepard's not recommending Jacob for the Spectre and because Brynn Cole called out Shepard's name one night during sex. Brynn later revealed that she thinks about Shepard more than she should even though she is technically with Jacob. Jacob later found out that she only was interested in him to learn more about the, 'Great Commander Shepard.' This had caused Jacob friendship with Shepard to deteriorate to the point where Jacob wasn't talking with Shepard. This was reconfirmed again by Kasumi during her brief conversion with Jacob. Worst was that Shepard had invited Cole to join the staff on Tartarus Base, once she return from her maternity leave. Shepard even originally planned to have Jacob takeover the Shadow Broker network after Shepard defeated the Yahg known as 'Ares.' However, with Jacob continued distance of himself, Shepard selected Corporal, Second Class Richard L. Jenkins who was killed on Eden Prime but brought back by Cerberus and Project Lazarus. Originally intended as a test, Jenkins was selected because he was lost while under Shepard command, which according to the Illusive Man, would make Shepard more willing to accept the reborn Jenkins. It took until 2185 but Project Lazarus was a success. With Shepard recruited into Cerberus to fight the Collector in the same year, the project proved to be unnecessary. Shepard later discovered Jenkins, who was still undergoing treatment at a Cerberus base. With the help of Miranda and Jacob, Shepard freed Jenkins and brought him back aboard the Normandy, with Doctor Karin Chakwas treating Jenkins. Fully recovering from the experience, Jenkins was still listed as dead by the Alliance but now served as the Shadow Broker. The only reason Jenkins told Jacob was because he felt he like he owed Jacob for rescuing him and he didn't realize that Jacob was planning to use the information against Shepard. Worst was that Jacob had rejoined the reborn Cerberus, now under the control of General Oleg Petrovsky. Shepard explains, "Listen Admiral, in four years Clippit hasn't caused a single problem. I learned from Legion, he made contact with the main group of Geth and after some time he was accepted by the Geth, eventually being placed into a mobile platform. It was Clippit who recommended sending Legion to find me, after Clippit explained that I was unwilling to destroy it since it hadn't done anything to harm anyone. I also explained that I believe synthetics can coexist with organics peacefully. This act lead to Legion joining my crew and gave me the reputation to negotiate peace between the Geth and Quarian, which proved an additional war asset to the Fleet when we retook the Citadel. I agreed that I made a snap decision, but I did what I thought was morally right. You don't seem to have an issue with me saving Doctor Ross or the Dantius's sisters or Helena Blake. I had made a lot of decision that other had questioned but Admiral I figured that by now you would trust my decision-making ability. If the Council or the Alliance Military had listened to me in 2183, the Reaper Invasion would have been vastly different. Instead, I was forced to work with Cerberus to stop the Reapers and then almost lost command of the Normandy because of the Alpha Relay Incident. I had suffered losses, Anderson, Alenko, Pressly, Joker, Thane, Mordin, Cortez and 20 other crewmen when the Normandy, SR-1 was destroyed. I understand loss and don't want to have to kill anyone I don't have to. Rescued Matriarch Benezia T'Soni and the Asari called me a hero but saved one A.I. and gave it a starship to disappear then all of a sudden, my judgment is in questions. Who told you about Clippit?"

"Jacob Taylor passed along secret files he said that Cerberus collected on you," explains Hackett, "Most of it was stuff we already knew. However, the Clippit thing got my attention. Then there is the matter of Corporal Jenkins still being alive. Or was Jenkins brought back by some crazy Cerberus science experiment?"

"It was called Project Lazarus," explains Shepard, thinking he made a mistake making Jenkins the Shadow Broker because only Jenkins would have access to the information to be able to pass it along to Taylor. However, Shepard needed someone he could trust. So, Shepard figured he is human after all, "He was brought back in 2185. I found him on a Cerberus base and decided till I knew more it was better to remain quiet. Jenkins wasn't sure if he wanted to put his family through the torture of finding out he is still alive. Plus, at the time, I didn't know how the Alliance would react. I'm not even sure how Cerberus did it! Plus, the data had been lost with the two chief scientists on the project Steve Wilson and Garret Bryson are both dead. While Miranda oversaw the project, the medical aspects are outside of her area of expertise. He is alive and well at a safe location."

"I want Jenkins brought in for debriefing," orders Hackett, "Then I want you to meet with the new Geth Ambassador, U48, they are aboard the Citadel. You met before on Rannoch?"

"Yes sir," replies Shepard, who had never seen Hackett like this before, but Shepard could understand Hackett's point of view.

"Now as for the Academy, I will contact Sanders personally since we need to catch up because I haven't talk with her since Anderson's memorial ceremony," explains Hackett, who knew that his good friend Rear Admiral David Anderson didn't survive the final assault on the Citadel. Anderson had volunteered to command the Geth Dreadnought during the assault to reassure some of the species that the Geth was on the same side against the Reapers. Unfortunately, the Geth Dreadnought that Anderson had nicknamed Kahlee, was destroyed shortly before Shepard was able to activate the Crucible. Shepard and Hackett took his death hard, however Shepard blamed himself for not making it sooner to the control network, "If there is nothing more Captain Shepard?"

"No Admiral," responds Shepard, as Hackett terminates the connection, however Shepard have another call to make, pressing the intercom, Shepard orders, "Kelly, get me Elenava on Illium."

"Yes Captain," replies Kelly, over the intercom from her communication station on Deck 2. After a few minutes of silent Kelly asks, "Sir, do you still need to contact Grissom Academy?"

"No," answers Shepard. Elenava Talara is an Asari who Shepard met during his time working for Cerberus. Shepard says, "Elenava I need you to come to the Citadel immediately and bring your assistant Nyxeris. I can't really explain over an open channel."

"Must be important if you need me there immediately Shepard," responds the information broker who operates from the city of Nos Astra on Illium, "I'm currently in the middle of something that is very important. So, it will be either late tonight or early tomorrow before I can meet you on the Citadel."

"Just get here as fast as you can," explains Shepard, kicking himself for not placing Elenava originally in position as the new shadow broker. Originally, Shepard selected fellow Spectre Tela Vasir but shortly before the Reaper attack against the Citadel in 2186, Jenkins replaced Vasir as the shadow broker so Vasir could return to her homeworld and prepare for the Reaper Invasion. Jenkins wanted to help Shepard and Shepard didn't really have anything else for him to do so it seemed like a good plan at the time but in hindsight, picking Jenkins was a mistake.

"I will be there as soon as possible," answers Elenava, before terminating the conversation. Elenava's conversations were normally short and to the point but if you got her talking in person she could talk till the sunrise. Shepard's thoughts drifted through his decisions since the Eden Prime mission in 2183. It had been one Hell of a roller coaster ride one with few periods of down time.

Shepard's Office,

Spectre's Headquarters,

Citadel Embassies, Presidium

Shepard is in his Spectre's Office, when Miranda walks in and asks, "I heard you and some Admiral had a little bit of an argument."

"Admiral Hackett wasn't happy about a few of the choices I had made over the years," explains Shepard, "Primarily one in 2183, that I made shortly before been giving command of the Normandy."

"Let's see here, you were giving command of the Normandy on the 27th of January in 2183 but a lot happened over the course of those two days following your mission to Eden Prime," voices Miranda, who had read Shepard's dossier during her time with Cerberus, "So what decision actually upset Admiral Hackett?"

"Miranda, you surprised me that you don't already know," comments Shepard, not feeling like talking about it. So instead he takes Miranda into his arms and asks, "Changing the topic, how is your sister doing? You hadn't spoken much about Oriana since our victory celebration. Is there something wrong?"

Miranda pauses before lifting her head and looking up with longing in her eyes, and mumbles something Shepard didn't understand. Still holding her, Shepard gently lifts Miranda's head up and says, "Miranda, what wrong? I had seen you like this before and it always because of your sister. Now what is wrong?"

"With our 'father's' death, Oriana was doing some digging into his past and discovered what she believes is another attempt to create his genetic dynasty," explains Miranda, holding back the tears, "I know he engineered other off-springs before me, but they either didn't survive or were deemed unacceptable and eliminated. If I have another sister, then I'm going to search the galaxy for her. I know you're dealing with a lot but there is never a good moment for thing like this. However, I may need…"

Shepard kisses Miranda passionately and just gently holding her in his arms. After several minutes Shepard replies, "Miranda, you don't even need to ask for my help. I'm there for anything you need. Anything you ever need. You just let tell when and where."

Miranda doesn't speak a single word, but nothing needs to be said…