Notes: Hello everyone and welcome to my take on Mass Effect 3, the most controversial game in the series. First, if your new thanks for the click on this unique take to the Mass Effect mythos. Unfortunately, I suggest you go back and read the other two main entries in the series at least if you haven't already. You may think you know Mass Effect but, my version can be extremely different at points and I don't want anyone to get lost no matter how badly book one is edited. Second, while I will not spoil anything, I promise, I think addressing the elephant in the room is important...

The ending to Mass Effect 3 disappointed many including myself even to this day. I can say right now with confidence that you aren't getting that ending in the way it was presented. Will my ending satisfy everyone? Maybe, maybe not.. I don't want to strictly pander. However, keep in mind this is only part 4 in a 7 part series.

Finally, this is war with huge stakes and not everyone is going to make it across the finish line. That being said...this story won't be a bloodbath either. All I ask is that you read the entire work before assuming any particular characters fate. And again three books are coming after this. With that out of the way...

Prologue: Special Report

David Anderson sat alone with his thoughts in the captain's quarters of the SSV Normandy SR2. How in the hell had Humanities rise in the galactic community turned out to be such a shit show? Just over a year ago things were considered by many to be going fine at the very least. Udina hadn't been making a fool of himself in the Citadel Council for once and the Geth were on the run. Then the raid on Donovan Hock's estate to capture Shepard went to hell. Not only had they been working off of false information linking Shepard to the Collector attacks, they also started a war with Aria T'Loak losing multiple operatives in the process. That alone would've been enough to make any political progress Humanity gained during the Geth crisis come to a crashing halt, and that was before the incident.

Six months ago, the Viper Mass Relay, linking Batarian space with the rest of the Milky Way had gone dark. At first, people assumed it was merely a malfunction due to the signal that had pulsed through the Relay shortly before that. Unfortunately, the Normandy had arrived on the Citadel a few hours later and it was full of Batarian refugees. They claimed that Commander Jack Shepard had taken over an asteroid base near the Relay, using it as a weapon of mass destruction. At the same time, Jack and his husband Kal turned themselves in to authorities on Earth claiming they committed the war crime in order to stop the Reapers. Most people didn't believe the idea that there was a race of sentient machines bent on destroying all life in the galaxy every fifty thousand years. He wasn't most people, David had seen Sovereign nearly destroy the Citadel, to think that was just the Geth was insane. When Shepard had escaped Ashley Williams custody, he had assumed it was related to the Reapers. David just had no idea that was going to result in such extensive damage.

Not being able to sleep, David turned on the extranet device he had installed in the room, "I told you three years ago Emily, Shepard has always been concerned with his own personal life, and his made up conspiracy theory, before worrying about the Alliance's interests. That's why this news from the Batarian legal team doesn't surprise me."

That was Diana Allers a journalist for Westerlund News, a pro-human news organization. Like most of the time these days she was on Emily Wong's ANN broadcast to debate issues. Personally, David thought trying to debate anything with someone that purposely twisted facts to fit their argument was pointless. However, the segment got ratings because of how explosive their back and forths could be so the network made it a regular occurrence no matter how distasteful it was. He would have turned it off if Diana hadn't been saying something that was news to him. Even though he hadn't been paying attention to Shepard's trial every day, David was confident the trial was going into it's sentencing phase. What new evidence could the Batarian lawyers be presenting at this point? They already had Shepard guilty for killing millions, what else did they want?

Emily just glared at her from across the desk, "Whether you believe Shepard's story or not, do you really believe Geth caused all that damage to the Citadel on their own?"

Diana just shrugged back innocently in her direction, "I mean, why is that so hard to believe? I'm definitely willing to put more credence into that theory rather than saying there is a race of sentient machines coming to kill us. Seriously, Emily the Geth have been living alone for three hundred years. Who knows what kind of technological advancements they've made with everyone ignoring them."

Another guest put his hands up to calm her down, "I think it is important to point out that whatever motivation he might of had, Shepard saved the Council and the Citadel as a whole by raising the alarm. We shouldn't just wash that away because an anonymous source is making conspiracy theory level claims about what he did and for who when."

Emily cut in before Diana could reply, "That's absolutely right Gary. If your just joining us, Batarian lawyers on the Jack Shepard case are claiming they have received evidence that Shepard was behind the destruction of the SSV Einstein during the battle of Torfan. According to their sources, who are remaining anonymous tonight, Balak Hgar blackmailed Shepard with the safety of his now husband Kal'Reegar in exchange for ordering Torfan's experimental defense cannon to fire on the Einstein. They also believe the Alliance was aware of this and nominated him to become a SPECTRE anyways."

Her words made him sit down on the couch like she had just dropped a ton of bricks on him. It wasn't necessarily a surprise, the events before and after Torfan were suspicious. Why would Admiral Kahoku change his mind leaving Eden Prime to attack Torfan without some nudging? Why did the Quarians immediately withdraw from the celebrations after despite contributing a sizable amount to their victory? Why had that cannon fired on the Einstein when according to Shepard, he and Balak had been fighting over the controls? Shepard was the type of fighter that David was confident that he wouldn't have let that happen willingly. He had especially doubted Jack could have anything to do with that considering his mother Hannah had been the captain of the Einstein. His mind and he imagined many other Alliance citizens would most certainly doubt Shepard's virtue given what he had just been put in jail for.

Diana shook her head with a chuckle, "I don't know why either of you are trying to put so much doubt on this report. I mean let's think about Shepard's investigation into Saren. Why did it take so long? Shepard went off to Terra Nova in order to save Kal'Reegar from who? Balak. Who was helping Shepard get back to the Normandy after the Luna terrorist attack? Kal'Reegar. Hell, who was Shepard kissing the moment he got pulled out of Geth debris? Kal'Reegar. And who turned themselves in with Shepard after the Viper Relay attack? I mean I sound like a broken record at this point."

Emily fired back, "Congratulations, you proved that two people who are married have had a relationship for some time now. That does not prove that one; he would kill his own mother, or two; the Alliance knew about it."

Gary was looking between the two of them, "I think the real point that discredits the report is that Shepard was a SPECTRE. Why would Ambassador Udina risk this kind of scandal if he knew during the nomination process? It makes him look like a fool! If the Batarians could find this when they don't even have a homeworld, what does it say about our vetting?"

David couldn't help but wince from what this Gary had to say. He couldn't care less about Udina's reputation but, Donnel was going to drag the rest of them down with him if it made himself look good. Although knowing the man well enough, David had to guess that he'd put the blame for the lack of vetting on the dead Turian SPECTRE who purposed it in the first place. In truth, everyone in that briefing room on Arcturus had been 'at fault.' While the rest of them surely would've had a different first choice for first Human SPECTRE had they known about Jack's background, he wouldn't have changed a thing. No one else in the Alliance military had the courage to work with whoever he had to in order to get something done. And no one else would've taken the Reaper threat seriously until it was too late. Still, he was a little surprised no one from HQ was calling him right now about the broadcast, maybe it was a good idea to check other channels.

A red haired woman anchor was speaking much more calmly on the next station, "Improving diplomatic relations between the Quarians and Citadel Council have chilled after the Migrant Fleet refused to consider visitation by Council weapons inspectors. The move comes several months after Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib-Qwib stationed himself on the Citadel, revealing deteriorating conditions for the Quarian people. The Migrant Fleet allegedly acquired dual-use ship materials, which could be used to create dreadnought-scale weaponry. The allegations leveled by unnamed SPECTREs, center around a battle over the Terminus world of Korlus. In a violent dispute, the Migrant Fleet fought Blue Suns mercenaries and when the fighting was done, took its fill of starship parts on or orbiting the planet. Quarian representatives have so far been unapologetic. 'We have no embassy on the Citadel, and are no longer signatories to the Treaty of Farixen,' Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema said. 'Our armaments are none of the Council's business. Further, these worries are unfounded. We have never had, nor do we plan to have, hostile intent to Council species.' Admiral Koris declined to comment."

A sigh escaped him as he was unable to ignore all of the fires that seem to have ignited all across the galaxy. From the Quarians appearing to be making a move for Rannoch, which was in direct violation of multiple laws, to the Batarians who were demanding Humanity take all of the Viper Relay refugees despite the fact that they were still at war. If those problems weren't enough, the Krogan were claiming that the Turians destroyed a cure to the Genophage they had been developing. If the Krogan weren't recognized on the galactic stage soon, their leader Urdnot Wrex, was threatening all out war on everyone he deemed to be the culprits behind the set back. Maybe joining the Citadel Council wasn't such a good idea, with the way things were going they were going to get dragged into multiple wars even as they were fighting Aria. At some point the Joint Chiefs and President Doalia was going to have to recognize that the Alliance military was getting spread too thin.

His omni tool device started to ring prompting him to spring for it, "How bad is the fallout?"

To his surprise it was Admiral Hackett who had called, "Bad. We just lost contact with two of our deep space outposts. There's something massive on the long range scanners."

He blinked for a few seconds trying to wrap his head around what Hackett was talking about. David had assumed Donnel or even Admiral Mikhailovich would've been the ones to call him about the political response they had in mind to the Shepard news. Hackett hadn't been known as someone who payed attention to sensationalized news programs and what he said didn't match up with the report. One of their bases was going to be under attack soon and he called the Normandy to warn him. Did he want the ship to deploy and assist in whatever conflict in the Terminus he was referring to? Surely he had to know Alliance engineers as well as several former members of the crew were still stripping Cerberus designs out of the ship in order to be positive it couldn't be tracked by The Illusive Man. Why was he calling Earth directly?

David made sure to have his tone take a more serious attitude, "I think we're talking about two separate things Steven. What were you referring to by something massive?"

Hackett sounded impatient with the question, "Like I said our deep space probes and sensors are going dark around the Relay that would've went to Batarian space six months ago. David, the scans we were picking up are like nothing I've ever seen. The mass size of the signals moving rivals planets."

A chill went through his stomach as he knew deep down what was coming, "Is this what Shepard warned us about?"

The answer that followed was disappointing but inevitable, "I'd stake my life on it. I've called the Joint Chiefs and President Doalia together for an emergency session to come up with a plan. Everything else going on right now has to stop Anderson."

It took everything Anderson had not to chuckle at that given the political situation right now here in Vancouver. There was no way the Batarian lawyers were just going to accept a delay to the trial right after they published damaging news about the Alliance to the press. Especially when the excuse he was going to have to use to postpone the sentencing was the Reapers, a defense that almost got Jack ruled mentally unfit to stand trial. The problem was Hackett had a point that he wasn't willing to argue against. If they were about to go to war with the Reapers, they needed the person who had been waging that war already for the past three years. He just hoped Hackett had enough sense to let Udina know what was going on. Otherwise, it was going to look like he was getting Shepard out on his own without consulting anyone first.

He quickly grabbed his dress uniform knowing it would be better to interrupt Shepard before his sentencing hearing began rather than making a scene after, "How long do we have before everything goes to hell?"

Hackett had an edge of sorrow to it, "Not long, I've sent word to other appropriate Admirals. The fleets are making a full retreat out of the Terminus Systems to defend Alliance territory."

The fact that Hackett was willing to abandon the entire war with Aria T'Loak was another red flag this signal was terrible. Ever since the second Terminus war began, the Alliance had the upper hand. Maybe it was just luck, or the fact that neither side had been prepared for the fighting to begin. Either way, the war had been messy enough that Hackett's fleet managed to start the siege on Omega within the second month. Unfortunately, since Omega was in the middle of an asteroid field, getting to the actual bas had seemed nearly impossible. Each asteroid around the next corner either had a fighter squadron hiding within to harass their convoy, or experimental cannons strapped to them similar to Torfan. When that didn't work she used Balak's playbook literally turning the asteroids into missiles. Hackett was willing to throw all the progress he made on Omega into the trash because he knew the same thing David did, the Reapers were here.

Anderson nodded with grim determination, "Understood, I'm going to get Shepard, see you at the meeting... God help us all."

Hackett let out a laugh, "God was never my biggest fan but, right about now I think we're going to need everything we can get. Hackett out."