Shepard reappeared in a small looking room on another platform like the one in the Catalysts lab. A door opened in front of him and a humanoid machine walked in, reminding him of EDI's body. It looked like it was built to look human, though its eyes were green.
"Who are you?" he said to it
"Hello Shepard, Im Kaylar, I'll be your pilot on the Venture" she said in a British accent, holding out her hand to shake Shepards
"Err, hi" he said, shaking it, "the Venture?"
"Yeah, our ship, the Catalyst had it specifically built for your return, its only a small ship though, tiny. We'll be the only two on it, more secure that way" she said, Shepard could tell already she wasnt like other AIs he'd met.
"If you don't mind me asking, err... what are you?" he said, trying not to sound rude.
"Don't worry, I know all about how you've been resurrected after twenty years so its understandable that you know nothing about the galaxy right now. Anyway, I'm a fully aware, self intelligent artificial organism, im just as alive and free as a human or turian, just made of metal. Theres quite alot of us now, actually, we live alongside evryone else" she explained.
"hows that possible? Everyone I knew hated synthetics" Shepard asked as they walked out of the room and into what he assumed was the CIC, which was alot smaller than the Normady's, The ship was indeed only built for two people.
"You set us free Shepard, Synthesis made us see each other for what we are, which was now not that different, except for how we were made. Anyhoo, lets not sit around waffling all day, we have a galaxy to save again, if you want to catch up use an extranet terminal and have a browse" she said.
"Are you always this casual and cheerful, or is it just because of me?" Shepard asked
"No everywhere else i'm a right bitch, nah I'm joking, I just have a positive look on life, a bit like you i suppose, ive heard everything about you after all, peacemaker, paragon of humanity, generally nice guy and all that, so shall we head off then?" she asked
"Go for it, i dunno where we're going but lets get there quick" Shepard said, thinking where they could go. He looked at a screen which had a readout of the ship, it was a good looking ship, if a bit small, he was half hoping the Catalyst would send him to the Normandy where Joker, EDI and the rest of the crew would be waiting, but realised that was a bit a of a silly idea since he was supposed to be keeping his existence quiet, also the Normandy was probably still Alliance property. And on top of that it had been twenty years, he still couldnt quite believe that, everyone had probably moved on, last time it had only been two years and everyone still did the same thing but now...
"We ready? he was interrupted by Kaylar, who was pressing buttons and getting ready for lift off.
"lets go then, Kaylar" he said, actually feeling a bit excited to be getting out there again. He looked out of a window at the Citadel as the moved away. It looked the same as it did before, impressive, massive, except it also had a planet behind it now. Shepard looked out at Earth, at Great Britain down below, remembering the last time he had seen it from orbit, entire continents on fire, London burning. Now it not only looked like back to normal, but the planet looked greener. Not just Synthesis green like Kaylars eyes, but natural green, the rain forests were growing back after all humanity had done to them and then what the Reapers had done, entire deserts were green, Earth was healing itself. Shepard sat down next to Kaylar and looked at the screen in front of him.
"What does this do?" he asked
"Well if you want to do a bit of catching up just connect to the extranet and search something. Hey you could look up all your old friends! see what they're doing now, that'll be fun won't it?" she said with grin.
"Yeah because that hadn't occurred to me, thanks for that idea" he said back
"No need to get sarcastic, going to be a long journey" she replied
"Where are we going anyway, Miss Ive-got-an-answer-for-everything?"
"Your funny, well the Catalyst thought we should try heading to where the SSV Paris and Talaron were destroyed and-"
"Talaron?"
"The Reaper, they have names Shepard, they have feelings too now, thanks to you" she said
"wonderful, okay then lets head there" he said
They headed for the Mass Relay, which Shepard noticed looked just a little bit newer than when he last saw it.
"We'll go through a few relays then hit FTL, the trip should take a day, maybe just several hours if we're lucky" Kaylar informed him
"Okay, i'll just sit here and play on the extranet for a while, see whats been happening since the war ended."
Shepard had been browsing the web for a few hours on things that had been happening in the last two decades. Synthesis had completely changed the way synthetics looked at organics and vice versa. People, plants and animals had been affected. They hadnt suddenly become super smart or anything, just been "upgraded" in a way. Machines like Kaylar were made in warehouses and factories run by other synthetics, they were already synthsised when they were "born", although Shepard could only guess how that happened. They were treated like normal people and now had the same rights as organics, like jobs and and homes, some even had partners. Lots of people had questioned whether synthesis was ethically right after they found out what it was, and whether Shepard had the authority to put it on the whole galaxy. Others said said he was the only one who had that right, after everything he had done for them. but in the end it was EDI who won the majority over. When the Normandy had returned from the unknown planet it had crashed on she had informed the galaxy of her new life, how she saw things, people, about her feelings for Joker, about how she was "alive" and that a new future could begin. But in the end the galaxy was full of people who had their own opinions, and there were still people out there who hated synthetics with a passion, an extremely small minority had even turned a gun on themselves rather than live with the Reapers around. Another noticeable thing was that everyones eyes glowed and there was a circuit board pattern on everyones faces, the circuit boards could be made to dissapear though, as some people thought they looked ugly, but the eyes were permanent.
Shepard thought he'd look at the memorial that had been held two months after the war, he pressed the play button and watched the recording. On Earth in London, thousands had gathered in the streets, humans, aliens, even the geth had gathered as the event was broadcast on every channel to the rest of the galaxy. There was a burnt out building with the allied leaders standing on a balcony. Hackett stood up and everyone went quiet.
"Today we celebrate a victory we thought couldn't happen, we stand here in the ruins of London town, and we are alive. In all our long history, we have never seen a greater day then this, this victory belongs to everyone everywhere, every race and every world. Everyone has done their bit to help the war effort. But we will never forget our brothers and sisters who fought and died to give us this future. They will be forever honored. And we will also honor one man who gave it everything to end the war, one man who said "no" to the extinction that awaited us, who gave his life to make sure we all live a better one. We will remember John Shepard. This is your victory!" He finished before coming away from the microphone.
That was nice of him to say that, Shepard thought to himself, quite taken aback.
Next was a few words from the leaders of the different races saying a few words about the war, the dead, the future, and Shepard. One by one the turians, asari, quarians, geth, even the batarians said something. Then a Reaper came down and landed behind the building, it was Harbinger, its eyes now green.
"I bring a message" it bellowed and a projection appeared in front of it in the shape of a Reaper.
"I am the Catalyst" it said in a booming voice it hadnt used with Shepard.
It then went on to explain, as it had with Shepard, how it was ashamed with itself and now only wanted to help the galaxy rebuild, it said it and the Reapers had no purpose now so would do everything the other races required them to do.
Shepard finished watching and decided to look up the old crew. The Catalyst had files in case he was curious. He started with Garrus Vakarian, it said he had returned to Palaven to help with the rebuilding, he was now an important part of the hierarchy and also married Tali, who had returned to Rannoch initially to help rebuild as well. Nowadays they were living together and had two adopted kids from the war, a quarian girl and and a turian boy, and now quarians didnt need their masks either, which made Shepard happy. Grunt and Wrex were both back on Tuchanka which was rebuilding, Wrex and Bakara had lots of kids and Grunt had lots of kids with another krogan. Miranda had settled with a normal guy and had a kid, her infertility had been cured with synthesis. Jacob and Brynn had given birth to their son who was now a man, Jacob had gone on to have four more kids with Brynn. Kasumi had carried on with her career as a master thief, Zaeed had retired and now lived on some exotic tropical island on Earth with lots of women around, which made Shepard laugh. Jack was still a teacher at Grissom Academy, it said biotics had become even more powerful from synthesis. Samara had renounced the Justicar life and lived a quiet life on Thessia with her last daughter, whose Ardat-Yakshi condition had also been cured. Ash had stayed in the Alliance and was still a Spectre, so had James who had made N7 Commander, it also said he now had a girlfriend, Shepard grinned. Shepard looked up Javik next, the last Prothean had received alot of attention after the war, he had originally planned to find his old comrades graves and take his life, but synthesis had given him a new outlook on life, after the rebuilding, he spent a few years being king of the hanar, then apparently had got bored, he had even been heard by someone saying "send me back to the Reapers" before leaving Kahje forever. Now he worked on Tuchanka, where there was always some fun to be had. Shepard also noticed it said he had co-authored a book "Journeys With a Prothean" with Liara T'Soni, which brought Shepard to his last dossier
Liara he thought to himself, he wondered what she was doing now, before opening her file. The Catalyst's information said she had never gotten over Shepards death after the war. After London had been rebuilt she had resumed her role as the Shadow Broker and ran the network from her new home in the city, It seemed the Catalyst had figured out Liara was the Broker but hadn't told anyone. When Liara had taken over the original Shadow Broker on Hagalaz, she had also inherited all his private funds, making her a billionaire. The file said she had used this wealth after the war to help in aid of others, giving to various charities and war orphanages. Shepard scrolled on, seeing what else it said about her.
Dr T'Soni now resides in London, Earth, where she runs the Shadow Broker Network with the aid of her assistant, the drell Feron. Currently with no spouse or known partner, she lives alone with her daughter-
Shepard froze. Daughter?
He read on: -alone with her daughter, Benezia "Nezzy" Shepard, born on Thessia on (Earth date) 9th March 2187, she is currently-
Shepard stopped, he couldnt read anymore, he looked at a picture of Liara, she looked exactly the same as he remembered her, except for her eyes, which glowed an amazing blue colour. He also saw a picture of her daughter, his daughter, she looked only young, a teenager by human standards, but at the same time she looked just like Liara. He'd missed her birth, her whole life, he felt a tear roll down his cheek. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried, sometime when he was about five years old, but this, this was different. Kaylar noticed him.
"Hey dont worry, we'll see them both after this" she said with a smile, as another tear rolled down Shepards face.
"She doesnt know I exist" Shepard said, wiping his eyes
"She will, they all will, when we give them all a reason to say your name again" She said
"Thanks" Shepard replied, he started thinking, they were on Earth, he had been in orbit right above their heads, he could have said hello before heading out. Then a part of him started to realise he wouldnt have been able to leave it he did.
Several hours later, Shepard had fallen asleep in his chair, when Kaylar woke him.
"Shepard, we're here"
"mmm? Oh right" he looked out the window, "oh my god"
"Shepard, another ships coming!"
