John Shepard

He stared at the report on what had happened on Alchera drumming his fingers on his desk. He sighed as he set the data-pad down. If this had been the alliance military, he would have been more comfortable with sending this report. Even if it would likely have landed him with a psych eval. Randomly appearing buildings, some sort of undead, and whatever the hell those other things were.

He was uncertain that letting anyone know about this was a good idea. The communication lockdown he had ordered couldn't last, and he highly doubted that the Illusive Man had only one agent on this ship. Until he ferreted those people who were TIM's agents in the crew, it was out of his hands what Timmy boy learned.

He picked up a data-pad from a small stack on his desk which he had tagged as Omega. An image of a one horned salarian appeared on it along with a very short bio, Doctor Mordin Solus former STG…

Which explained the short resume, the STG had a well-earned reputation of being slippery.

The second dossier was annoyingly even shorter.

"Archangel", no photograph. Presumed to be a turian, expert marksman, efficient, professional, runs a well-coordinated team of vigilantes, and a master at pissing people off.

The last person was basically a simple pick up. Which meant things could get interesting. Zaeed Massani, mercenary/bounty hunter, a very expensive mercenary to boot. He was going to be waiting for them near to where they were supposed to be docking after finishing up a last couple pieces of business.

He scanned the last three again.

Kasumi Goto, thief/infiltration expert, there was a meeting point on the Citadel, and not a whole lot else.

Jack, no last name, highly dangerous biotic, currently a prisoner of the Blue Suns on their "Prison vessel". Another who should be a painless pick up. Who was he kidding? With his luck the ship would end up exploding or something.

Last there was Warlord Okeer. A very old krogan scientist apparently. Shepard narrowed his eyes, maybe having a salarian and krogan sharing the same lab space wasn't a good idea. It could end in violence.

As he mused on this problem his omni-tool pinged.

"Doctor?" He asked as he began to reorganize his desk.

"Commander I've completed my preliminary examination." Chakwas responded.

"Good, I'll let Lawson and Taylor know we're meeting to debrief. Could you come to share what you are able to." Shepard asked.

"I can do that." Chakwas answered before she shut down the call.

With a sigh he stood and left his cabin.


He looked up as the comm room's door opened and Miranda strode in.

"Is the communication lockdown really necessary commander?" Miranda asked as she settled in.

Shepard shrugged as he replied. "This situation is hardly normal."

"The Commander is right. We don't want to paint an even bigger target on our backs. The hegemony has more than a few high cast members who would love to be the first to acquire a member of a new species." Jacob chimed in.

"It's not just hegemony which could come looking for us." Shepard muttered as Miranda and Jacob continued to argue. "Enough!" He said raising his voice to stop the pair before they really got started. "The council will already want answers, and I have, for all the good reasons in the galaxy, effectively abducted two members of an unknown species. I will deal with the fallout of that decision if necessary."

The opening of the comm room door cut him off as Chakwas walked in.

"Commander, agents Lawson and Taylor." Chakwas greeted.

"Doctor what can you tell us about our guests?" Shepard asked.

"Not a lot without breaching confidentiality." Chakwas said slightly apologetically. Shepard nodded; he had expected that. Chakwas powered up the projectors embedded in the comm rooms table displaying two faces, the one on the left one had more blondish hair color while the one on the right's hair was practically snow white.

"From what I can tell they are both female, however we have no idea if their species is like the asari."

"Their species?" Miranda cut in.

Chakwas gave Miranda a brief look. "I was getting to that Miss Lawson. Yes, they are the same species. More importantly they are closely related, siblings would be my guess, but without more information they could very well be mother and daughter. As to their wounds…" Chakwas grimaced as she gestured to the one on the left. "I'm astounded she is still alive. She was stabbed multiple times by a long slim object, which I haven't been able to identify and has a deep gash on her leg. Even with a full hospital, I doubt she will be up and about in the near future. The other one has a broken arm, several cracked or broken ribs, a light skull fracture and a severe wound on her abdomen. Again, she's not going to be up in anything less than a month if not longer."

"Any guesses as to when they will at least regain consciousness?" Shepard asked.

Chakwas shook her head as she replied. "None what so ever, Commander. If they were human, I'd say potentially weeks at the very earliest. Could be hours, days, or even weeks."

Shepard sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "We'll swing by the Citadel once we're done on Omega. Let them be the Councils problem, we have someone to meet there anyway, besides I should check in."

"At least you aren't planning to recruit them." Miranda deadpanned as she checked her omni-tool.

"Why would I do that?" Shepard asked slightly appalled. "We know next to nothing about them. Not that knowing little about our recruits is disqualifier. I grant that if they could be an asset and if they wanted to help, we're not really in a position to say no, but it would be a major diplomatic mistake to do so."

"It may be difficult to transfer them to the Citadel Commander." Chakwas stated.

Shepard frowned. "Why?"

"Because they don't seem the have immune systems." Chakwas answered. "They aren't stunted like a quarians immune system would be. It's almost as if where ever they are from didn't have diseases like we understand them. I've placed the med-bay onto quarantine procedures until I know more. On a slightly better note they are a levo species so we should be able to feed them."

"Is the crew at risk?" Miranda asked at the same time Jacob asked.

"Are they at risk?"

"I don't know; however, I haven't found any infectious bacteria, but I plan on monitoring them both closely. As for the crew I don't believe so, but I can prescribe a standard immune booster if you think it's necessary Commander." Chakwas responded.

"Damnit alright, do it. We'll be arriving on Omega soon anyway, it couldn't hurt." Shepard stated. "Any other concerns?"

"A guard maybe a good idea." Jacob stated as he gestured to the one on the right. "She at the very least is not weak. The weapon she was carrying when that thing knocked her across the courtyard is nearly thirty pounds."

Miranda nodded. "I agree I need to use my biotics to help me move it."

"This is out of my field of expertise." Shepard said shaking his head. "Yes, do it, but don't make it obvious. I don't want to compound this issue by getting someone killed." He sighed again. "Now on to other business once we reach Omega we're going after Doctor Solus first, but with any luck Massani should be waiting for us. The collectors need to be stopped and I want to get started as soon as possible. We'll gather in the armory fifteen minutes before we dock. Dismissed."


Shepard had just finished attaching the last few plates to his hardsuit when Miranda walked into the armory to collect a pistol and a sub machine gun.

"No armor Lawson?" Shepard asked as he retrieved his loadout.

"I have faith in my biotics Commander." She answered as she grabbed a pouch of grenades.

Shepard paused and looked at her. "Oh, I know that look." Jacob noted. "You're not going to win this one Commander; I've had a similar discussion with Miranda in the past."

"Which you clearly lost." Shepard pointed out.

"Commander. I know what I'm doing, armor just slows me down." Miranda stated with confidence.

"Miranda. You aren't going to help the mission from the med-bay or worse if you get killed. However, you know your own limits better than I do. So, here's the deal, you can go without armor, but if you get hurt, just once, you will wear armor from that point forward." Shepard said.

Miranda narrowed her eyes at him. "Deal."


"So, I heard you rescued a couple more alien women, that seems to be something of a hobby of yours." Joker noted as they approached the old mining station.

Shepard rolled his eyes. "You should be glad I have a habit of saving people. Including your sarcastic ass."

Joker flinched at that remark, but didn't otherwise respond. However, Shepard saw it.

"I'm sorry Joker, I'm on edge." He said.

Joker nodded. "Yeah I get it. You died, got brought back to life by Cerberus of all people, almost killed again, learn two years have passed and almost no one took your warning seriously, those who did are a terrorist organization which you put a lot of work into dismantling, who you now are working with, and now have to deal with a first contact situation. Sounds about right?" Joker summarized.

"Yeah that sums it up alright. What are the odds the ruler of this wretched hive of scum and villainy is just going to ignore us?"

Joker took his eyes off the monitors for a moment to look at Shepard.

"Don't give me that look, they're classics." Shepard replied.

"Yes, they are, also with your luck, not a chance." Joker answered as he maneuvered the ship alongside its docking port.


To the surprise of absolutely no one, they were barely fifteen feet from the airlock before they ran into one of Aria's goons, a batarian, who proceeded to inform them that Aria was expecting them and they were to report to Afterlife.

Now.

"Thing's explode around you Shepard." The batarian pointed out. "Aria keeps tabs on people like you when they visit her station." He commented before he headed back the way he came.

"Charming." Miranda noted dryly.

"Hey I never blew up the mako!" Shepard stated, a little indignantly.

"No, but you did wreck it, which is a feat in its own right." Jacob pointed out.

"According to the mission reports, blowing it up is about the only thing you didn't do to that vehicle." Miranda added.

Shepard huffed slightly before changing the subject. "Come on Massani should be up ahead."

The bounty hunter in question was in fact where he had said he would be…

With a bit of "baggage".

One short conversation and two gunshots later they had their first recruit…

Once he turned in his bounty. Which was fine since they still needed to talk to Aria.


"Omega. What a piss-hole." Miranda commented once they entered than open area, dominated by a large club helpfully named Afterlife.

He privately agreed with her assessment, as he took in the area. Omega had a well-earned reputation. "Come on. Let's get this over with." He stated in a resigned tone as he noticed the line to get in.

A couple minutes later, one almost fight with a few, none too bright, batarians they ascended the steps toward the dais which presided over the dance floor.

"If you're looking for weapons, you aren't doing a good job." Shepard noted as they were scanned.

"It could be anyone wearing your face. Can't be to careful." The asari watching the club stated as her guards stood aside. "There is only one rule on this station. My rule." She continued as she turned toward them.

"Which is?" Shepard prompted.

The asari smirked as she slid down onto the couch behind her, relaxing into it. "Don't, fuck, with Aria."

Shepard smiled slightly. "Short, and to the point, I like it. Makes it easy to remember."

"See that you do. If you don't someone will remind you." Aria answered.

"Then I toss your sorry ass out the nearest airlock." The batarian who met them earlier added.

Aria gave the batarian a small nod, before gesturing for Shepard to sit. "Now what brings a supposedly dead SPECTRE, along with such interesting company, to my station."

"I'm looking for a few people. A salarian named Doctor Mordin Solus for starters." Shepard began.

Aria gave him an odd look, before responding. "I always liked Mordin just as likely to talk to you as shoot you, but either way he's in the Gozu district, which is on lockdown due to a plague. No one is allowed in without my permission. Who else are you looking for?"

"A turian, call's himself Archangel." Shepard stated, and Aria grimaced slightly.

"You and half of Omega, did he piss of Cerberus too?" Aria mused.

"Popular guy." Shepard commented. "And not that I know of."

"Thinks he's fighting the good fight, being a hero, all that nonsense Yet all he does is piss people off, but he's smart enough to stay out of my way. However, he managed to get the three local merc groups to stop killing each other for the moment, which is mildly impressive." Aria stated as she assessed Shepard again. "Tell you what Shepard, I'll let you into the Gozu district, if you are willing to get Archangel, whoever he is off my station. I don't care how."

Shepard nodded. "Alright one last thing what do you know about this plague?"

"Very little." Aria said dismissively. "I'm surprised you don't know more about it. After all it's something your new associates would find very interesting, as humans are immune to it. Well humans and vorcha."

As Shepard stood to leave, Aria spoke again. "One last thing about Mordin." Shepard looked back. "Don't get him talking. He never shuts up."


On the way out they met up with Zaeed and headed for the transport hub which would get them into Gozu. Aria's orders made it to the checkpoint before them, and they had little trouble getting through. Though having a grenade launcher would have made thing easier if it had gotten ugly. Thus, with full supplies and a warning about the local Blue Sun contingent they pressed into the quarantine area.

After the last barricade the smell of burning flesh steadily rose into it was almost noxious. Not helped by the fact that the first couple of Blue Suns they ran into took one look at them and opened fire, while radioing for back up.

"Does everyone in this place have a damn death wish?" Shepard grumbled as they methodically took down each merc in turn.

"Beat's me." Jacob replied as he hit an incoming merc with a lift, before Zaeed drilled two neat holes though their visor.

"Bloody amateurs, stupid of them to rush in like that." Zaeed growled as the last merc thudded to the ground.

"Search the area." Shepard stated as he got up from his cover.

There was nothing of much interest in the surrounding area save a tragic account of a pair of turians sealed in to a room and left to die. The other thing of note was a batarian who he almost let die, but his conscience overcame his dislike and he stabilized the alien. The batarian was able to provide a little more information of the doctor.

Mordin was apparently a stone-cold killer given the how he had dealt with a group of Blue Suns who had tried to shake him down for protection money. Paralyzed and then executed them, before simply going back to work.

"Like this Mordin." Zaeed commented after they had moved on.

They pressed on through a platoon's worth of Blue Suns, meeting a couple who were sheltering in their apartment and driving off a group of looters, before they arrived at the clinic which was protected by a couple of guards and a small squad of Loki mechs.

The guard sized them up before he gestured them in. "Go on ahead but don't cause trouble, everyone here has had enough for a lifetime."

The inside of the clinic was much as could be expected in a plague zone. Shepard got directions to Mordin, and he headed off to find him while Zaeed stayed to flirt with the receptionist.

As they reached the back room, they heard several people speaking, one was likely human the other was chattering at a rapid pace.

Most likely this would be Mordin.

"Doctor Solus?" Shepard asked once the nurse had scurried off on the Salarians orders.

The salarian turned and faced them, the face matched the file. Mordin crossed his arms and tapped his chin. "Human, humanitarian workers? No, to well-armed, soldiers not scientists, not mercenaries either, equipment is military grade, not local, to clean, Citadel SPECTRE offices?" Mordin shook his head. "No, no new human SPECTRE's, Alliance, possible but unlikely, still avoiding aggravating the hegemony." Mordin's head snapped up and he glared at Shepard. "Only one option, Cerberus. Fitting. Bio-weapon targeting aliens very valuable to organizations stated goals."

Shepard flinched. "An excellent deduction, Doctor Solus, but I am not Cerberus, I am working with them to take out a larger threat. The collectors."

Mordin narrowed his eyes, and powered his omni-tool, swiftly scanning Shepard. He frowned slightly. "Shepard, Commander, declared killed in action over Alchera over two years ago, following an attack by an unknown vessel. Rumors began to spread several months ago that you had joined Cerberus, despite your previous efforts to dismantle it. Scan shows multiple cloned organ tissues and cybernetics along with recent surgical scars."

Shepard shrugged. "From what I understand I was killed in action, Cerberus rebuilt me. I have the project head with me if you want details, but I came to ask for your help doctor. I need your expertise in combatting the collectors who are targeting human colonies in the terminus systems. They have a weapon which can incapacitate an entire colony which allows them to take the population without firing a single shot."

Mordin help up a hand to stop Shepard. "Gas? No, to slow. Water? Again, to slow for their purposes. Some sort of drone?"

Shepard nodded. "Yes, we managed to recover a few of those from Freedom's Progress. We need a counter measure otherwise any attempts to disrupt their operations is dead in the water."

Mordin shook his head. "Want to help, can't leave now, have developed cure for the plague, curious you came to me about collectors, one of the few species with the knowledge and technological expertise to make this plague. Needs to be dispersed the same way the plague was spread, the air filtration system-"

Mordin looked up suddenly and as if on que the system ground to a halt.

"Well shit." Jacob commented.

"Blood pack have disabled the system." Mordin stated as he looked at what his omni-tool was telling him. "Unless reactivated, whole district will suffocate before the next solar day. Shepard take the cure, reactivate the system, and I will help you as much as I can. Also, one of my assistants, Daniel when into Blood Pack Territory to deliver the cure, foolish but commendable. Would be grateful if you looked for him. Here take this." Mordin produced a large hand cannon from a table. "Weapon taken from dead blue sun mercenaries."

Shepard smiled Mordin handed the gun over. "Thanks doc. Somehow I think this will be very useful."

Mordin nodded. "Need to monitor situation in clinic. Good luck, Shepard."

They grabbed Zaeed and headed into vorcha territory. They ran into a couple groups of blue sun stragglers who were manning barricades.

They didn't last long.


Shepard was done with this district, as a cone of liquid fire was lobbed over his cover. He popped up and shot the canister on the vorcha's back, the alien flailed for a moment before the explosion tore it and the mob around it apart.

"Really starting to hate this place." He called out as another wave of vorcha appeared lead by a krogan.

"Really? I hadn't noticed." Miranda commented as she hit the krogan with a lift and throw combination which had the krogan imitating a rocket into the far wall.

Jacob was being precise with a vindicator he had picked up, taking out each vorcha in turn with a burst to the head. "Least it keeps our aim sharp." He called back as he punctured the tank of another pyro.

Zaeed taking the que lobbed an incendiary at the pyro, causing a chain reaction. The resulting explosion clearing most of the mob and letting them mop up with little fuss.

"Come on let's keep moving the filtration system shouldn't-" Shepard began then he heard something behind a nearby door.

"Don't lie to me human. I saw those vials; you're spreading the plague." One voice said.

"Please those vials contain the cure. I'm telling the truth!" Another replied.

He motioned for everyone to stack up. On the count of three the opened the door and rushed in.

Three batarian had a young man at gunpoint.

"He has friends!" One of the batarians exclaimed as he shifted target.

The leader grabbed the young man and put a gun to his head. "Don't move, one more step and he dies."

"Put your guns down or none of you will walk out of here." Shepard ordered.

"And let him continue spreading the plague?" The batarian snarled.

"Why would he be bringing the plague into vorcha held territory? They are immune." Shepard asked in a reasonable tone.

One of the batarians lowered his weapon. "He's right it makes no sense."

The leader seemed to consider things. "We let him go can we leave?"

Shepard nodded, and the batarian let the man go. He made a motion to clear a path and the three batarians hurried out.

"You alright?" Shepard asked.

The young man nodded. "Yes, little shaky but, anyway, thank you. My name is Daniel."

"Mordin's assistant? He asked me to keep an eye out for you." Shepard answered.

Daniel sighed in relief. "He's a good man. I should be able to make it back alright. Thanks again."

"You aren't walking back alone, Jacob, go with him." Shepard ordered.

"Yes Shepard." He replied.

They watched the pair head off. "Alright the environmental controls should be close." Shepard said.


They walked into the control room and were met by even more vorcha and the odd krogan. Weirdly the one in charge appeared to be a vorcha who started ranting.

"No, no, no, you work for doctor! Come to fix machines, spread cure, we break machines then everyone choke and die, then collectors-" Shepard rolled his eyes and drew blowing the vorcha's head clean off.

There was a brief moment of silence then the shooting started.

"What was that about?" Miranda demanded.

"He was monologuing!" Shepard answered defensively.

"Hey love-birds! More shooting!" Zaeed shouted, as he suppressed a pyro.

"Shut it Zaeed!" Miranda and Shepard called back simultaneously.

The battle raged as they ran from one terminal to another. Shepard had managed to get the first terminal up and running when EDI contacted them.

"Commander, there's-"

"Not now EDI!" Shepard called back as a krogan charged his position.

After several more minutes of running around and shooting everything in red they managed to get the ancient machines running spreading the cure and recycled air throughout Gozu.

"Alright let's get out of here." Shepard said after they did one final sweep of the area.


"Plague levels dropping, vorcha retreating, patient's vitals improving. Well done Shepard." Mordin said.

"And thank you again. I don't think I would have survived if you hadn't shown up." Daniel continued. "I didn't think you were really going to let them go."

Mordin frowned. "Would have killed them myself."

"How could you say that? You're a doctor! You help people!" Daniel replied appalled.

"Many ways to help people, sometimes by healing, sometimes by killing dangerous people." Mordin countered, and Daniel gave him a wary look. "Go check on patients." He instructed and Daniel hurried off.

"You already to go?" Shepard asked.

Morin nodded. "Will need lab and equipment, have personal supplies packed, said good byes, ready to leave when you are."

"Good. Let's-" Shepard was cut off as his comm beeped at him. "One moment. Yes EDI"

"Commander is this a better time?" EDI asked.

"Yes, what is it." Shepard asked and EDI's response made his blood run cold.

"There has been an incident in the med bay."


Review responses

As always constructive criticism is welcome.

Rogue-eL: I'm glad you like it, as for the MC of any of the DS games, I have no plans at the moment for that. Simply adding a literal unkillable god-slayer would be difficult. Cause immortals are REALLY hard to write. If I do decide to use one, The Ashen One, would be my choice mostly because they generally don't end up looking like a walking stick of jerky after a few deaths.

Chaosservant: I agree on the Elizabethan Era English there is a little more to slog through but not a lot before the shift to "modern" English.

People whitewashing Cerberus is a bit of pet peeve of mine. I get that ME:2 was the entry point for a lot of people into the series (to be completely fair it was mine, but I did backtrack for ME:1) and that some of the side ops which featured Cerberus were fairly obscure. If you missed that content it could leave you with a slanted view of the organization. The Council as always doesn't help since they seem to be waving off your warnings and discrediting them (and you) to boot. Also don't get me started on the extended universe material which covers even more Cerberus mischief. So, we are left with what looks like the only sane man with morally grey tendencies (all according to plan). At the end of the day the hardcore of Cerberus are a bunch of arseholes with a massive, ends justify the means stick, incompetent arseholes at that.

Jebest4781: Glad it snagged your interest; I hope I can hold it.

Guest: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it so far.

Authors note 2

Holy shit this was a pain to write, it may have been better if I had played the mission this year but how do people stand doing a direct novelization? Also trying for shorter chapters one of the problems I have is knowing when to stop. I.E. the first chapter for this story I could have broken in two. I may have to blow out part of Omega during the Archangel chapter to make it interesting, or have an old friend or two make an appearance, because a direct writing of the mission is not working. It's the "new" content that calls to me, and certain fight scenes…