Being one of my favorite games of all time, I attempted to write some fanfiction about this. Unfortunately, I have yet to get too far with any of my prospective Mass Effect projects.

This takes place after the end of Mass Effect and features Male!Spacer!War Hero!Shepard.

Let me know if this Archive Reject was Good, Bad or Ugly!

"So, Captain, where are we off to now?" asked the pilot of the SSV Normandy, Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, to his captain, Commander John Shepherd, the man who was now a human icon, an inter-galactic hero, and the very first (and to date, only) human Spectre.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm tired of fighting and politics," said Shepherd, "So I think a little vacation is in order."

Joker smirked. "Can't say I'd disagree with that... Not that I'd want to."

"You sure? I can always assign you to watch the ship..."

"No, no... That's quite all right. I've spent too much time on board here as it is. I could use a little break," Joker insisted.

"Good," replied Shepherd.

"Any particular heading?" asked Joker as he began to run several ship diagnostics programs in preparation of their departure. He looked over his shoulder and saw Shepherd, as he gazed out of the cockpit windows to the vast expanse of space, with a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Second star to the right... And straight on 'til morning(1)," Shepherd ordered.

"Sir?" asked Joker uncertainly. Shepherd shook his head, the smile still on his face as he turned to walk away. Joker looked back to the Executive Officer for clarification, but the man merely shrugged. "Alright... Second star it is..."

Thinking on what to do, Joker contemplated his choices.

There was ONE place he'd always been meaning to go to, but few freighters ever went out that way and the ones that did were rather pricy and since the commander never specified where he wanted to go, Joker was pretty sure he wouldn't mind. Not like any of them couldn't afford it, the Council had given the entire crew of the Normandy a rather hefty stipend after that last battle with the Reaper Sovereign.

Commander Shepherd made his way around the star map with a look of longing.

"Are you alright, John?" asked Doctor Chakwas.

"Better than I've been in a long while, all things considered, Doc," Shepherd replied with a surprising amount of honesty. "I've always been a 'Spacer' at heart. I have spent my entire life traveling through space. I've probablly been to more systems than most of the crew combined. Space is my home, and despite the fact that there is still much to do, I have the chance to enjoy it for a while. I was born out there, lived there my entire life, and I will die out there."

"Quite passionate about the 'great beyond' aren't you?" chuckled Dr. Chakwas. "Why the military? Why not become a colonist or an explorer?"

"And be tied to a single planet? Colony life would drive me crazy, and explorers need all sorts of grants and permits to go anywhere, and even then it's rather restricted. As a soldier of the Alliance Fleet, I can go places others dream of."

"I never knew you were such an idealist," Chakwas quirked an eyebrow.

"I didn't say they were all good dreams. Skillian Verge, Eden Prime, and Virmire are more than proof enough of that."

"It's an impressive resume to say the least," Chakwas replied.

"Got me into the Spectres and Humanity on the Citadel Council," responded Shepard, "But where to from here? The Reapers are still out there beyond the outer fringes of known space and the Normandy is going to be out there with them on the front lines. We've already lost Jenkins and Alenko and countless others... Who else is going to be next?"

(1) Many will recognize this as the location of Neverland in the children's story Peter Pan. It is also a line said by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It was the final heading he gave just after he was informed that the USS Enterprise-A was to return to Earth to be decommissioned. After the struggles the crew of the SSV Normandy had undergone to stop Saren and destroy Sovereign, I felt that this line was appropriate for Shepard's state of mind given the background I selected for him.