If anyone wanted to try and enter Shepard's cabin, they likely had a death wish. Shepard had been lying in his bed looking through the skylight and crying for who knows how long. He didn't want to see anyone. He didn't want to talk to anyone. All he wanted was to be alone as he pondered how something as simple as answering a message had led to such a disaster.
The message Shepard received while he and his crew were celebrating their victory over the Collectors was a call from Admiral Hackett. Hackett had learned that Dr. Amanda Kenson, an Alliance operative and personal friend of his, had been arrested by the batarians while on a deep-cover assignment in the Bahak system of batarian space. When Shepard asked why Kenson was in batarian space in the first place, Hackett explained that Kenson had been investigating a rumor of a Reaper artifact in the system. The last report Kenson sent before being captured was that she had found the artifact and that it proved the Reapers' arrival was imminent. Because an official Alliance rescue attempt could lead to a war between the Alliance and the batarian Hegemony, Hackett wanted Shepard to go to the batarian colony of Aratoht, rescue Kenson from the prison she was being held in and confirm her findings about the Reapers. Normally Shepard wouldn't have hesitated to go on a rescue mission but he became concerned when Hackett asked that he go on the mission alone. Going on a mission without any kind of backup didn't sit well with Shepard especially when he had a perfectly capable squad that could help him. Unfortunately Shepard had to ultimately agree with Hackett's reason for the request. If the batarians saw a squad of armed soldiers coming, Kenson was as good as dead. While Shepard still had a bad feeling about the mission, he knew he couldn't ignore the possibility that the Reapers were coming and that Kenson's findings could prove it. The conversation ended with Shepard agreeing to Hackett's request.
After stealthily entering the prison, Shepard managed to free Kenson and use one of the batarians' shuttles to escape. On route to Kenson's research base on a nearby asteroid, Kenson explained that the artifact her team had found, dubbed Object Rho, had given her a vision showing that the Reapers were going to begin their invasion in the Bahak system and use its mass relay to travel throughout the rest of the galaxy. In an attempt to delay the invasion, Kenson's team came up with a plan simply called "The Project". The plan was to launch the asteroid their base was on into the mass relay and destroy it. It was a dangerous plan as destroying the relay would cause a supernova-like explosion that would wipe out the system and over three hundred thousand batarians. With such high stakes, Shepard refused to make a decision on how to act on Kenson's findings until after he saw the proof himself. Kenson obliged and took Shepard to the base and showed him the artifact as well as a timer that showed that the Reapers would be arriving in two days.
It was at that point that the mission went to hell. While the artifact did prove Kenson's findings, Shepard was horrified to find that the artifact had been carelessly left out in the open resulting in all base personnel, Kenson included, being indoctrinated by the Reapers. Under the Reapers' control, Kenson and her team had no intention of activating the Project. Shepard put up a fight when they tried to restrain him but was knocked out by a burst from the artifact. Despite the staff's attempts to keep Shepard unconscious, Shepard managed to wake up. Unfortunately by the time he woke up, the countdown to the Reapers' arrival was now at only two hours remaining. Knowing destroying the relay was the only chance he had of delaying the invasion, Shepard fought his way to Project control. It was a tough battle but he managed to get to his destination and activated the Project. While it was unlikely to do much good, he attempted to warn the colonists of Arathot to evacuate the system. Sadly his warning was cut off when he learned that Kenson was attempting to destroy the asteroid before it could reach the relay. Shepard managed to stop Kenson's plan but was unable to capture Kenson as she committed suicide via explosion. With collision imminent and no shuttles left to get him off the asteroid, Shepard fought through the remaining Project staff and mechs to reach a comm. tower and contacted the Normandy. Before the Normandy arrived, Shepard was greeted by the holographic image of Harbinger, the Reaper who oversaw the Collector's operation. Harbinger tried to tell Shepard that while what he had done may seem like a victory at the cost of a star system, the galaxy's greatest civilizations were doomed to fall. Shepard's response was that while it was possible that the Reapers would win, he and the rest of the galaxy would fight them regardless and they would find a way to win. When the conversation was over, Shepard boarded the Normandy and the ship just managed to leave the system through the relay before the asteroid destroyed it. Though happy to be alive, Shepard watched with a heavy heart as the galaxy map in the Normandy's CIC showed the resulting explosion engulf the Bahak system.
Thus Shepard now found himself lying in his bed crying. He knew that destroying the relay had to be done. The galaxy was not ready for war with the Reapers so he had to delay them by any means necessary. The thing was that no matter how many times he told himself that, Shepard just couldn't get over the fact that he was responsible for the deaths of over three hundred thousand batarians. Sure he tried to get a warning off but would it have really done any good? If only he hadn't been unconscious for two days. The time he lost would have definitely helped get most of if not all of the batarians out of the system. Of course the part that really bothered Shepard was that unlike all the other people he had killed over the course of his career, the batarians that died on Arathot were innocent men, women and children. They were all just trying to live peaceful lives not knowing until it was too late that Shepard had pushed the button that sealed their fate. Even if Shepard's choice ended up helping him defeat the Reapers, the guilt he felt over sacrificing those people was never going to go away.
However Shepard wasn't sure if his choice was going to make a difference anyway. During his debrief with Admiral Hackett in the Normandy's med bay, Hackett informed Shepard that while he believed Shepard made the right call, the rest of the Alliance wasn't going to see it that way. The batarians were already calling for Shepard's head on a platter and might declare war on the Alliance if they didn't get it. If that happened, the galaxy's chances against the Reapers would practically drop to zero. The only chance to avoid war was if Shepard turned himself in to the Alliance and plead his case. With luck, he could show them why he did what he did and get them to take his warnings about the Reapers seriously. Hackett promised to buy Shepard time to finish whatever he still needed to do with the Normandy before Shepard would have to return to Earth for his trial. While Shepard appreciated the gesture, it was hardly necessary. His mission against the Collectors was over and there were no pending assignments or personal missions left. The only thing he was going to do with the time Hackett gave him was wallow in his guilt. He would eventually have to tell the crew what was going to happen when he turned himself in but that could wait. He just wanted to be alone.
Suddenly Shepard shot up when a sudden thought entered his head. Hackett and his crew knew what really happened in the Bahak system. Anderson probably had heard from Hackett by now about what happened and Shepard knew Anderson would stand by his decision. The question was…does SHE know the truth? Shepard had been letting his guilt overwhelm him to the point that he had failed to even think about trying to contact Ashley. The whole reason their relationship was nearly ruined was because Shepard wasn't able to tell Ashley that he was alive right away. Instead she had to learn about it through rumors that also falsely reported that Shepard had defected to Cerberus. The message he had received from Ashley after Horizon gave him hope that their relationship could be saved. Now Shepard may have unintentionally thrown away all the work he had put in to saving their relationship.
Shortly after wrapping up his briefing with Hackett, Shepard had sent Ashley a message telling her that he had survived the suicide mission but he had one more thing he needed to do before he could try to get together with her on Earth. Due to Hackett's request for discretion, he didn't give any of the details. By now Ashley was probably listening to news reports about the explosion and how Shepard was suspected of being responsible. Without the critical detail about the Repears' involvement, Ashley easily could piece together the connection to the "one more thing" Shepard needed to do and jump to the conclusion that Shepard had committed senseless genocide.
Shepard had to do something to stop Ashley from thinking that and fast. He shot up from the bed and ran to his private terminal. Typing as fast as he could, Shepard opened up his mail and composed a message for Ashley. Unlike the previous messages he sent to her, he wasn't taking the time to carefully choose his words. This message needed to get to Ashley as soon as possible. As long as Shepard gave Ashley the chance to hear his side of the story, that was all that mattered. Once the message was written, Shepard hit the send button.
ERROR IN SENDING MESSAGE: MESSAGE BLOCKED
A shocked and confused look appeared on Shepard's face when the error message popped up. He tried to send the message again but got the same result. He was about to ask EDI if she could figure out what was going on when he noticed that he had an unread message in his inbox. It was from Hackett and the subject read: Heads Up. The subject worried Shepard and he quickly clicked on the message. As Shepard read it, his heart sank.
Shepard,
I hope you get this before it's too late. I meant it when I said I would make the Alliance fight to get you to come back to Earth. Unfortunately there are still some things I can't delay them from doing. Right now Alliance techs are working to hack into your mail. When they do, they are going to ensure that you can't send or receive messages. There are still some people in the Alliance who think that you are with Cerberus and don't want you to contact them for assistance. I tried to tell them that you're temporary alliance with Cerberus was over and that blocking your messages wasn't necessary but I couldn't change anyone's mind. I'm sorry, Shepard. All I can do now is hope you get this message so you won't be surprised when your messages stop going through.
You will be summoned to Earth eventually so do whatever you still need to do before then. Take care of yourself, Shepard.
Hackett
When Shepard had finished reading the message, he was overcome with anger and threw his terminal across the cabin. After the initial outburst, Shepard collapsed back into his chair and looked at Ashley's picture. The tears returned as he picked it up. Once again, outside forces were keeping him from contacting Ashley. It was beginning to look like the galaxy was trying to keep Shepard and Ashley apart. Shepard looked at Ashley's photo for several seconds before bringing it to his chest as if he was hugging it. He then got up from the chair, picture still in hand, and laid back down on the bed.
"Please Ash," he said to himself looking through the skylight, "believe in me. Don't let the rumors sway your judgement again…please."
Then Shepard said a silent prayer. He asked for God to work inside Ashley's heart so that she would be able to see the truth despite what everyone else was saying. He also asked that if it was God's will, that he would help him and Ashley reconcile so that they could have the relationship they had two years ago. Before ending his prayer and going to sleep, Shepard asked God for forgiveness for his actions in the Bahak system and that the galaxy would prepare for the Reapers arrival so that the deaths of the colonists would not be in vain.
Ash,
We did it! My crew and I have blown the Collectors to kingdom come. As we were preparing for the mission, we were told constantly that it was going to be a suicide mission. Well, we not only defeated the Collectors but we did it without a single casualty. The Normandy's crew is still intact, MY crew is still intact. I emphasized "my" to show you that the Normandy is no longer a Cerberus vessel. With the mission over, I have ended my temporary alliance with Cerberus and the best part is the entire crew sided with me as well.
Unfortunately, while I'm glad that we are all okay and that we stopped the Collectors, I'm not calling the mission a total success. I'm sorry to say that we were unable to rescue any of the colonists that the Collectors abducted. By the time we got to the Collector base, the last of the abducted colonists from Horizon were dead. The thing that haunts me the most was how they died. The Collectors were melting them down to use their genetic material to build a human Reaper. We managed to destroy it but…the stuff I saw on that base, I don't think I'll ever be able to get those images out of my mind.
Ok, enough with the sad stuff. Our mission is over but there is one more thing that I need to do before we head back to Earth where I'm planning on turning the Normandy over to the Alliance. I can't go into details about what the last thing I need to do is right now but I promise I will explain everything when it's done. Speaking of stuff I want to talk to you about, I hope you have been thinking about what I mentioned in my last message. If it means anything, I still meant what I said about wanting to see what the future holds with you.
Well I need to go. We're going to be reaching our destination soon and I need to get ready.
Take care, Ash.
Shepard
When Ashley had received Shepard's latest message, she cheered so loudly that it caused Sarah and Mrs. Williams to come running into her room. She didn't even have to read the message's content or subject line before she cheered. Simply seeing that she had a message from Shepard in her inbox was all it took. Sarah and Mrs. Williams asked her if everything was okay but all Ashley could say, or rather shout was "HE DID IT! HE'S ALIVE! SHEPARD'S ALIVE!" Though initially taken aback by seeing Ashley so excited, Sarah and Mrs. Williams quickly joined in once Ashley's words sunk in. The three women then huddled together to read the message. Ashley probably should have been annoyed that her mother and Sarah were reading over her shoulder but she was too excited to care. Aside from being slightly disturbed by Shepard's description of what he found on the Collector base, all three women were happy to read that Shepard's mission was a success. Sarah then started asking Ashley about what Shepard was referring to when he mentioned the previous message he had sent but Ashley wouldn't say a word about it. Deciding not to pry, Sarah and Mrs. Williams once more expressed their happiness with the news and left the room.
Once her mother and Sarah were gone, the smile on Ashley's face vanished and turned into a face filled with concern. She was as happy as the others about Shepard being alive but unknown to them she was troubled by one part of Shepard's message. What could Shepard possibly be referring to when he said he had "one more thing" he needed to do? Ashley never was a fan of being in the dark and this was definitely not the time for her to be in it now. She had been waiting a long time for the day Shepard's mission against the Collectors would be over as she felt that shortly after that happened she and Shepard would be able to begin reconciling their relationship. Now their reconciliation was being delayed by a mysterious thing Shepard needed to do. What was so important that Shepard would delay their reunion even more?
"No Ash," Ashley said to herself as she shook the thought out of her head, "don't doubt Shepard now. Look at where that got you last time. He said he would explain everything when he was done. If there's one thing you can say about Shepard, it's that he's a man of his word. I can wait."
It had been almost two weeks since Ashley had received Shepard's message. As the days went by, she was finding it harder not to be worried. Shepard had not given her any indication in his message that his "one more thing" was going to take long. Shouldn't Shepard have sent her another message by now? Adding to her nerves was the fact that her leave was going to be over in two days. If Shepard was going to want to talk with her, it would have to be before then as she had no idea where she would get assigned when she returned to duty.
At present, Ashley was visiting Lynn, the middle child of her siblings. Lynn was the only one of her siblings that she hadn't had the chance to spend some time with during her leave. Thankfully Ashley didn't have to take all the blame for that. It was hard to schedule time to spend with Lynn because of her job as a nurse at the local hospital. The only time Ashley had seen Lynn since coming to Earth was the day they went shopping for their dresses. Now that they both had a day where they weren't doing anything, they arranged to spend some time together watching classic romance vids. It was an interesting experience as Ashley always loved romantic stuff while Lynn couldn't help laughing at how cheesy the romance scenes were.
"I'm telling you Ash," she said as they reached the end of a vid, "no guy would ever use lines that cheesy to romance a girl."
"You'd be surprised," Ashley replied, "when Shepard and I were getting serious, I asked him if he was interested in me baggage and all. His response was 'everyone comes with baggage, the trick is finding a matched set.'"
Lynn raised an eyebrow, "he actually said that?"
Ashley chuckled, "yeah. As sweet as it was, I still can't get over how awful that line was. I really don't know what he's worse at, coming up with romantic lines or dancing."
The two sisters shared a laugh before suddenly getting quiet. As fun as it was talking about the funnier moments of Shepard and Ashley's relationship, it just brought Ashley back to the fact that she was still wondering why Shepard hadn't sent her a message yet. Quickly sensing what Ashley was thinking about, Lynn attempted to snap her out of it by asking Ashley to refill their popcorn bucket before they started the next vid. Ashley nodded and took the bucket into the kitchen. She was about to start the popcorn popper when Lynn called out from the living room.
"ASHLEY! GET IN HERE! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS!"
Ashley dropped the popcorn bucket and ran back into the living room. Lynn was pointing at the TV which was currently showing a news report. The first thing that got Ashley's attention was the headline: COMMANDER SHEPARD SUSPECTED OF MURDERING 300,000+ BATARIANS. It was after reading the headline that Ashley saw the vid that was playing. The scene showed Shepard in handcuffs being escorted by Alliance soldiers through a crowd of reporters. The reporters were shouting out questions but Shepard remained silent as his guards led him into an Alliance Headquarters building. Ashley joined Lynn on the couch to listen to the announcer explain what they were seeing.
"That was the scene outside the Alliance HQ in Vancouver as former Commander Shepard was officially placed under house arrest. The Savior of the Citadel and first human Spectre is currently facing charges for causing the mass relay explosion in the Bahak system that resulted in the death of over three hundred thousand batarians. The batarian Hegemony is already demanding that Shepard be turned over to them so that they could punish him themselves but an Alliance spokesperson commented that the Alliance will not make any decisions on that until after their investigation is completed. Shepard has already been the subject of controversy since he recently resurfaced after supposedly being dead for two years and was seen working with members of the Cerberus group. Now even the most loyal of Shepard supporters are starting to lose faith as it has been reported that Shepard is not denying responsibility for the explosion. Several attempts to get a comment from Shepard on the matter have been made but with no success. Stay tuned to this station for further developments on Shepard's case."
Lynn muted the TV and turned to Ashley who's eyes were going all over the place as several thoughts went through her mind. The report explained why Shepard hadn't been able to send a message to her but there was still so many questions she needed answers to. Was killing the batarians the "one more thing" Shepard wanted to do? Humans and batarians didn't have the best of relationships but Ashley had never known Shepard to kill someone without a good reason. There was no way all three hundred thousand of those batarians were criminals. Could it be possible that Cerberus was controlling him? Or worse, could the rumors have been right all along about Shepard working for Cerberus willingly? No it couldn't be. The messages she had received from Shepard seemed to indicate that he was still the man she loved. And yet….Ashley just didn't know. She had no idea what was true anymore.
Shepard was getting restless. The room he was in was not a jail cell but it might as well have been one. He was not allowed to send messages to anyone and he was only allowed to leave his room during exercise periods. If it wasn't for his omni-tool keeping time, he would have lost track of how long he had been in the room a while ago. It was weird but Shepard was actually wishing his trial would get underway. Given his boredom however, the trial would be the most exciting thing to happen to him. Though his time in the room was not entirely uneventful. Every afternoon from two to four was the time where Shepard could have visitors. During that time, he would occasionally be visited by his court-appointed advocate, Hackett and Anderson. Each one of the men would give him an update on the trial which would have been nice if it wasn't always the same update on how slow the process was going. Besides while Shepard appreciated his advocate's assistance, he wasn't someone Shepard really cared to see. Also Hackett and Anderson's company was always enjoyable but there was only one person Shepard really wanted to see…Ashley.
It was visiting hours yet again and Shepard was doing what he always did during that time. He sat in his chair and faced the door. For two hours he would watch the door and hope that it was going to be the day that Ashley would walk through it and he could finally tell her what really happened in the Bahak system. This particular day, Shepard had another reason to believe that Ashley was going to visit. During one of Anderson's visits, he mentioned that he had requested Ashley's presence to testify in Shepard's favor. This was the day she was scheduled to testify and she was supposed to be done before his visiting hours were over. As far as Shepard could tell, the only thing that could keep Ashley from visiting him was Ashley herself.
Visiting hours came and went…the door never opened.
A/N: Well there you have it folks. We have reached the end of Mass Effect: Love Conquers All. I know the ending is not really a happy one. But if you have played ME3 then you know that based on the choices you make, Shepard and Ashley can properly reconcile and continue their relationship. So while this is the end of "Mass Effect: Love Conquers All", it is not the end of Shepard and Ashley's story. In fact, if you want to see some happier Shepley moments, I invite you to check out my other Mass Effect stories (assuming some of you haven't already).
With this story done, I am going to be taking a break from Mass Effect stories for a few months. I've been working on an unrelated story simultaneously with this one. While I've been able to make it work, trying to get chapters done for two stories every month has been tiring. So I'm going to be focusing on my other story for a while. But fear not, check out my page next N7 Day for a special one-shot I will be releasing to tide you all over. This one chapter story will follow a previously untold story from the Mass Effect series: the induction of Ashley Williams into the Spectres. We will finally be able to see the historic moment when the council welcomes it's second human Spectre and see how the first human Spectre played a part in the ceremony.
Until then, this has been theaterman007 telling you the story of "Mass Effect: Love Conquers All". I would like to thank those who have left reviews, followed and/or favorited this story. The support of each and everyone of you is much appreciated. Take care everybody. theaterman007 out.