All the usual disclaimers apply. We're shifting somewhat off canon now for Mass Effect, mostly because there isn't any canon for what Shepard does in the intervening seven years between the Blitz and Eden Prime. I'm also changing the date on the destruction of Akuze, because…well, you'll see. It doesn't affect anything else. There is a reason (well, a handwave) for the reason for these shifts from canon, but you won't see it for about a hundred thousand words.
2176 CE Arcturus Station
Assistant Minister of State Donnel Udina was willing to ask the stupid question. "What in the world is Project Overwatch?"
"It was a proposed project to provide military training, obsolete material and some support personnel to the unaligned Human colonies in the Traverse and Terminus," Assistant Minister of Defense Paul Patel explained.
"It fell through due to opposition from...well, everyone," MP Abril Bernard put in, she was at this meeting in her capacity as head of the Defense Committee.
"That's hardly fair, Abril, it wasn't a bad plan."
"I didn't say it was a bad plan," she said. "I said everyone was opposed to it and they were. The Admiralty and Ministry of Defense screamed as loud as anyone else."
"Why? It seems sensible enough to me. My ministry certainly deals with enough complaints that we aren't doing enough for our fellow Humans in the Traverse, or our fellow sapients in the Terminus, depending on the prejudices of the complainer. This would be something we could point to."
"Inshallah," Paul whispered, deliberately audible.
Abril shot him a sharp look and for a moment Admiral Hackett was concerned the meeting was going to devolve into bickering and blame shifting, but the MP just answered the question. "All three constituencies had objections. The colonies in question didn't like it because they don't trust us. If they did, they wouldn't be independent colonies. The parliament didn't like it because we don't want a war in the Terminus systems a—"
"Oh come on! How would this project cause war in the Terminus?" Paul argued.
"Because the story that starts 'Alliance marines killed trying to save children from enslavement by Batarian slavers' ends 'pressure grows on Arcturus to take action to bring order to the Terminus systems.'" Abril said.
"It hasn't so far," Hackett pointed out.
"Please. We all know that half the pirates in the Traverse and the Terminus are affiliated with either the Hegemony, or some other polity in the area. We've been lucky so far that no proof has turned up of that, because when it does, we're gonna have a war on our hands," Abril countered.
"And that would be a problem, because?" he muttered, inaudibly.
She couldn't hear him, but knew he'd spoken, so she continued her earlier line of thought. "And the Admiralty screamed because it would have taken money away from one of their other pet projects."
"Okay, I can't speak for the other problems, but I don't think anyone's going to object to Shepard being sent out, not with the way the press is lionizing her. By the by, is her promotion going through?" Udina put in before the others could begin to argue.
"Yes," Paul said. "She'll be a Lieutenant Commander by the end of the week."
"And she's being bumped up to N7," Hackett put in.
"We'll talk about that later," Paul said.
"What?" Hackett asked, surprised.
"The ministry thinks there is propaganda value in the woman who destroyed those pirates being seen to not be our best. After all, if that's what an N6 can do, does the universe really want us to loose some N7s on them?"
A muscle in Hackett's jaw jumped. "We will talk about that later," he agreed.
"Good, good, the Prime Minister has asked for Parliamentary approval of awarding her the Star of Terra. The vote will be unanimous," Abril put in.
"Really?" Udina asked, dubiously, it was well known that you couldn't get a unanimous vote out of Parliament on the color of the sky on Earth.
"There will be some abstentions, but the whip made it clear she expected party unity and the opposition isn't going to vote against an award for a hero, not and let us claim her victory for our own. As for the minor parties, the isolationists like her because it was a defensive battle she won, Terra Firma likes her because she killed a bunch of aliens and the Family doesn't like her at all, but they're still taking so much heat for the whole Djibar* fiasco that they can't do anything that looks positive towards Batarians. But none of this solves the other problems," Abril pointed out.
*The MSV Djibar was a colony ship constructed by the political party known as the Family, believing that all sapients form a single family, they had achieved several successes working with various Asari groups. Using the proceeds of those endeavors, they'd constructed the MSV Djibar, intended to create a joint Batarian and Human colony. The enslavement of the humans who'd volunteered was hardly a surprise. However, the Family was filled with idealists, but not idiots, and so they had looked into the Batarians they were working with and hadn't missed anything. The execution of those Batarians who had accompanied them, adjudged traitors to the Hegemony, was kept secret, unlike the fate of the humans. And so the Family was ridiculed as fools and their Batarian allies died unmourned and forgotten.
"Admiral Kahoku had a suggestion regarding the funding problem. All the fleet can spare some personnel, let Shepard put out a call for volunteers and they'll keep being funded out of their previous commands. The big expense is the ships, fortunately, we just came into possession of more than two dozen additional ships, some of them quite badly damaged, admittedly, but most working just fine," Paul suggested.
"And if Elysium is any indication, the operation may be able to be self-funding," Udina pointed out.
Abril's lip curled slightly, "Parliament has really not looked fondly on self-financing military operations. Historically such operations either go very bad, or they go very, very bad."
"Indeed, which is why we would need to put a watch-dog in place," Paul put int.
"Which might resolve some of our concerns too, if the right watch-dog could be chosen," Abril said.
"I was thinking about JAG Officer Hassan Bin Sinan Al-Jilani," Paul suggested, bringing up the man's file on the screens around the conference table.
"Why do I know that name?" Abril asked.
"You're thinking of his cousin, Khalisah, she's a reporter with Westerland News," Paul said.
"Oh, right, she's from my constituency. And she's not a fan of me," Abril noted.
"Oh, come on, she likes you more than she's liked any of your competition," Paul argued.
"Only because Terra Firma doesn't break 1% in my district!"
Hackett was ignoring their byplay, attempting to figure out why he knew that name. Then he found it, Hassan was the only survivor of the ill-fated expeditionary force to Akuze. "Well, Shepard shouldn't be able to overawe him," he muttered.
"Why?" Udina asked.
"He deployed with the Akuze investigation team. No one who survived a thresher maw attack is going to find anything intimidating ever again," Hackett explained. "Though," he flicked through the screens, "I'm not seeing an obvious explanation for why a JAG deployed with what was supposed to be an investigation into a missing colony."
"He volunteered," Paul answered.
"Good man. Good marine. Good choice," Hackett said.
"Fine, he's a good soldier, but would he be able to keep Shepard from starting any wars and going rogue?" the MP asked.
"He's an expert in fiscal law, so he should be able to handle the financial side of that," Paul explained
"And the other side of it?"
"He can make sure she follows interstellar law," Paul argued.
Hackett twitched slightly. A JAG's duty was to advise their command on what was legal and what wasn't, but they didn't generally have any ability to stop command from taking actions which were illegal. Paul had served, though not in the Systems Alliance military, so he couldn't be sure if the man really believed that or was playing it up to the MP. There was another problem with the whole argument however, which was which she honed in on.
"Something could be legal, but still start a war."
"Only if she loses," Udina countered.
"What?"
"The story which begins 'Alliance marines stop pirate raid,' does not end with 'Hegemony declares war over dead soldiers.'"
"So, what, you want to gamble that she'll win every battle?" Abril asked, disbelievingly.
Udina shrugged. "I want you to gamble that this new project won't publicize their defeats and that they'll follow orders if you command them to pass along all intelligence to Alliance Intelligence, not the press."
"There will be leaks," Paul put in.
"There always are. Leaks can be denied, or explained. Statements from someone wearing the Star of Terra cannot," Abril concluded.
"She's an Alliance officer. She'll follow orders," Hackett said.
"Since half the stories about our 'military unpreparedness' and why we have to double your budget come from 'unnamed Alliance officers' or 'recently retired Alliance officers,' you'll pardon me if I don't find that terribly reassuring," Abril snapped.
"Come on, at least a quarter of those complaints are perfectly legitimate and you know it," Paul interjected.
The MP gave Paul a hard look and the bureaucrat stopped smiling.
"Okay, yes, it's been a problem," Paul said. "But no active duty officers talk to the press under their own names, now do they? They only do that once they've mustered out, right?"
"Like Shepard might choose to if we deny her this posting?" the MP asked, tone making it clear how little she liked to be blackmailed.
Paul shrugged, though he was unable to suppress a small smirk.
Abril leaned back heavily in her chair, hand tapping the table arhythmical. After a moment she leaned forward and began to read through Hassan's file in more depth. Paul leaned forward to sell the idea harder, but Udina caught his arm, the man was in danger of overselling. Instead he pulled him into a discussion of the problems arising in the joint Alliance-Republics exercises which were currently occurring around Trategos, and especially the amusing series of problems arising from very different fraternization rules between the two military forces.
Hackett ignored them both and returned his attention to the giant mound of paperwork his aides had reviewed, but which still needed his approval. A quick glance was all he could give most of it, but he didn't have time to sit around doing nothing.
Udina kept up the amusing stream of chatter, not looking over when he heard the MP's muttered exclamation when she saw what made Paul think that Hassan would keep Shepard from engaging in any xenophobic bullshit, and coincidentally, why Udina had known Hassan's name. The case had been an ugly one, half-a-dozen drunk Alliance marines gang-raping an equally drunk Asari maiden. The evidence had been slim, with the Asari barely remembering anything and the panel was more than willing to believe that an Asari maiden had been up for a gang-bang in a bar. The Ministry of State had leaned hard on the Admiralty to get them charged, but with the Admiralty pushing just as hard for a verdict of not guilty, the best State had hoped for was a verdict of not proven. Udina had even proof-read the statement they were going to release when that verdict came out.
The guilty verdict had been a surprise which they'd leapt upon, sending the poor JAG Officer on a goodwill and speaking tour of Asari universities. It had gone quite well, the man becoming a minor celebrity in Asari space, helped by a strikingly handsome appearance. It hadn't done his career any good, indeed, there were whispers that the enmity of the rank and file were why a JAG Officer had ended up on the ground on Akuze, though when asked, all he would say was that the records indicated he'd volunteered.
Laura River, one of Udina's colleagues, had looked into it when dealing with requests from some of the Asari gossip rags for interviews with Hassan after Akuze, seeking to ask him about how it felt to be disfigured by a Thresher Maw. After speaking with his physician and psychologist, the Ministry of State had politely declined, instead issuing a statement about how Hassan felt the focus should be on the fallen heroes. It had the benefit of even being mostly true.
Finally Abril finished reading the file and looked up, forcing Udina to stop in the middle of an anecdote. "Okay, if Officer Al-Jilani is assigned as the JAG for the project and oversees the financial side of things, and the committee can select their PAO*, and orders are given to prevent them from launching any aggressive actions against sovereign state forces, that I can take to the committee to approve."
*Public Affairs Officer.
"We can do that," Paul said.
"Then you have my support. Project Overwatch will be provided with the ships seized at Elysium, and volunteers from other commands. I'll get you a firm answer from the committee by the end of the week."
"I'll have our ambassador inform the Councilors, unless we want to keep it secret?" Udina asked.
"We better give them a heads up, we'll be doing a full press blitz with this, so we might as well," Paul said.
"Make sure you check with the PM's office. He's being extra controlling about information releases since the Crux Corp's* leaks," the MP said.
*The Crux Corp's leaks were actually a series of documents released through legal requests for information made of the Ministry of Colonial Affairs which revealed sweetheart land deals for one of the PM's major financial backers. Though technically legal, the deals and the attendant eviction of the colonists squatting on the land, dominated the news cycle until the news of the assault on Elysium broke.
2176 CE Elysium Orbital 6
"By order of the Admiralty, at the direction of the Prime Minister, for outstanding service, for undoubted valor, and for proven loyalty, Lieutenant Ashley Shepard is granted the rank and concomitant responsibilities of Lieutenant Commander," the Minister of Defense said, as she attached the insignia of a Lieutenant Commander on Shepard's dress uniform.
She saluted sharply and stepped back. The other promotions coming out of what was being called the Skyllian Blitz, dragged on for more than two hours, but Shepard kept her place, saluting each of the promoted officers as they accepted their new rank. This was only half the dog and pony show of when she'd been awarded the Star of Terra. Then she'd had to go back to Arcturus. That place was so thick with politicians, bureaucrats and brass that she'd been glad when she was sent back to Elysium, even if the place was full of bad memories and graves.
With that done, the Minister called her up again. The promotion had been expected. This was not, though it explained the heavier than expected press presence. "Lieutenant Commander Shepard, the Admiralty has a mission for you. The criminal filth that attacked Elysium have also threatened other worlds throughout the Traverse and the Terminus. The Admiralty assigns you the task of helping those worlds. The Admiralty charges you to hunt those pirates who would prey on our people," she extended a hand carrying parchment with those orders in elegant script, as well as the pretty version of her promotion papers, rolled velum with handwritten script, rather than the tiny printed pages the others had received. The others would receive their pretty papers if they paid the hundred and thirty credits.
Shepard saluted the woman sharply and accepted her orders. "Yes, ma'am. It's an honor."
The minister was short, stout and pale, in skin, eye and hair alike. A captain with the 2nd Fleet during the First Contact War, she'd retired soon thereafter, going into politics. Minister of Defense was as high as she was ever going to get, despite being extremely competent, she was also famously abrasive, with few political allies. She jerked her head, directing Shepard to follow her into a conference room. Her guards sealed the room, sharks in bulging business suits, civilians like all the bodyguards of senior politicians, but their movements said N-School to Shepard's eyes.
"Sit down, soldier," the Minister ordered, instinctively taking the seat at the head of the table.
Shepard sat.
"Okay, despite the original plans, you aren't getting all the ships. You're getting three of the frigate analogues and one of the larger armed transports to act as a command ship."
"To secure the Traverse?" Shepard asked.
"To get started. You've also got the right to accept volunteers from the fleet and anywhere else you can, to seize resources from criminals, to accept donations from non-Alliance sources."
"And from the Alliance itself?" Shepard asked.
"Your pay, the pay of any Alliance personnel who volunteer to join you, we've got a list of recommendations," the Minister didn't move, but Shepard's omni-tool vibrated slightly, informing her of the arrival of said list. "more tactically useful, the right to draw standard supplies and fuel from Alliance depots and the right to request assistance from Alliance forces, which they will grant, unless doing so would endanger Alliance security."
"Understood. How much operational control do I have?"
"Unlimited, as long as you stay out of Citadel Space."
"So, I choose where we go, what we do?"
"Don't start any wars, but otherwise, yes."
"That's an awful lot of discretion." Shepard's eyes narrowed. "Where's the red tape?"
"That's JAG Officer Al-Jilani's problem. You can choose most of your own officers, but he's not optional. Neither is Captain Mikhailovich." Shepard's eyes narrowed further. "Relax Lieutenant Commander, this is still your baby. The Admiralty's too worried about the stink you'd kick up if they assigned it to someone else to dare to put someone else in charge, even if the politicians want to send you out on the campaign trail and State wants to send you on a propaganda trip through our 'allies'. No, no, you've got your command."
"Then why the captain?"
"You've been infantry your entire career. You can choose your engineers and pilots, but you need a top flight space-tactician and you aren't qualified to pick one out, so I did it for you. Say thank you, Minister." That was all true. The fact that Mikhailovich was a protégé of hers with familial connections to important people in the main opposition party didn't render him incompetent, even if it did make her impartiality very, very suspect.
But Shepard didn't follow politics, so all she said was "Thank you, Minister." Of course, if she had followed politics, then she'd have said the exact same thing, just for different reasons and she might have said it somewhat less sarcastically.
The Minister chose to placate her. "He's senior enough that your other ship commanders will listen to him, but junior enough to follow your lead and you are still in command. You decide where you go and when you fight and are absolutely in overall command and when you're dirtside, you're in complete control. I've already explained to him that he only decides how to fight, after you've already decided whether, where and when to fight."
Shepard nodded. "Any other assigned officers?" It was standard to have your officers assigned to you, being able to pick her own people was a surprising luxury, but a tempting and addictive one.
"Nope. Officer Al-Jilani and Captain Mikhailovich will be here within the day. Your ships can be ready to go at any time once they're crewed up, so I suggest you pick out a crew and get to work. Great things are expected of you Shepard, it will be almost impossible to live up to the expectations which the Alliance has placed on your shoulders. Good luck and don't die," the Minister rose, swung a lazy, navy salute at Shepard, which was answered with a precise, parade-ground snap, before dropping the Lieutenant Commander from her attention with an almost audible thud, turning her head to her omni-tool and the endless mounds of working waiting for her there.
"Aye, aye, ma'am," Shepard said and left. Awkwardly juggling the papers, the hat she wasn't allowed to put on, or put down and her omni-tool, she managed to activate the list of personnel who had already volunteered, along with the Ministry of Defense's opinion on their abilities. More than twenty thousand marines and swabbies had volunteered for the maybe five hundred slots in Project Overwatch.
This was going to be a lot of work. Well, at least she could offload choosing the navy pukes onto this Captain Mikhailovich. Picking out the ground forces would be a bit trickier. For a moment she considered using Al-Jilani for that red tape too, but then she considered all the ways that could go wrong and decided against it. She shuddered slightly and went in search of a desk to look through the applications. This was going to be boring.
2176 CE Omega
Aria T'Loak was pissed. This, in-and-of-itself was not unusual. However, the sheer embarrassment she was suffering was unusual. The Queen of Omega had not been so embarrassed in decades. Being talked down to by a Volus was painful for most, their small stature and staggered speech patterns making it too easy for the subconscious to identify them as children, or mentally deficient.
This embarrassment was somewhat mitigated by the fact that the Volus in question was escorted by a squad of soldiers wearing the distinctive uniforms of the Palavan Blackwatch. She'd fought with and against the Blackwatch before, but at the time she'd had Asari commandos beside her, not Terminus mercs. She might still be able to win, she'd only grown more powerful over the centuries, but with the dreadnought Kwunu and three different Volus bombing fleets drifting off Omega, victory on the ground would be thoroughly irrelevant.
Usually Omega's naval defenses consisted of whichever pirates and mercenaries were on the station when Aria needed assistance. However, it was rare for her to bother as off-station ships weren't her responsibility and on-station they'd have to land to steal anything. Aria's land (well space-station) forces were more than sufficient to handle any feasible raid, but the Volus weren't threatening a raid, but rather utter destruction.
Kaknar Dileed, Speaker for the Elkoss Combine claimed a seat on her dais, though he did not insist upon dethroning her. He did insist on staying there until she found and returned the Volus who'd been kidnapped and the property that had been stolen from them. Usually this would not have been an issue, or at least not one that brought Hierarchy warships into her space. But this raid had taken members of the clan which owned the Combine from within Volus space. That was a crime and an insult that the Combine was not going to overlook.
The small man ignored her, her dancers and the raucous party* which filled Afterlife with casual equanimity. This was hardly surprising as, though there were exceptions, Volus generally did not find Asari attractive. The joke amongst Asari was that this was just a defense mechanism to avoid explosive decompression which would result from trying futilely to copulate with one of them. And though some certainly did like to party, or at least ingest various forms of intoxicants which could get through their suit's filters and then bounce around in the awkward manner they called dance, no one who rose to the top of Volus society was likely to have any frivolity in them at all.
*Thrown to show the Volus and Turians that Omega was not intimidated just because a massive fleet was sitting out there shooting down anything which tried to leave Omega. It did not appear to be having any effect, though it was harder to tell with the Turian guards, who could be watching anything given their full helmets and 360 degree cameras.
Kaknar Dileed was a clan leader and power in his own right, as well as Speaker for the Elkoss Combine. He had no time to waste on anything. And was more than happy to let everyone on this degenerate station know it.
Bray finally returned, a dozen of the two dozen mooks Aria had sent with him were still alive, though most of them were bloodied. Still, they had all three of the captured Volus and the captain of the pirate ship with them, though the later had to be carried by two of the less injured thugs as he continued to thrash about, despite the fact that it looked like his entire face was a bruise and his hands were tied.
Bray gave her the slight nod which was as close as the veteran mercenary came to a salute. "His boys didn't want to give up. We had to kill them all. Lost two of the boys bringing this dick," he elbowed the smaller Batarian hard enough to make him grunt despite his armor, "in alive."
Kaknar rolled to his feet. "Is…hsht…this correct, clanmates?"
A chorus of agreement came from the Volus.
"What the fuck, Aria!" the captain wheezed as he was put down, not particularly gently, but on his feet. "I thought this was a free port! Since when do you fucking raid the ships that land here?"
Aria swayed to her feet as the Volus continued to talk. "You shouldn't have tried to start a war with the Hierarchy," she kicked his feet out from under him and knelt beside him, lifting his head from the carpeted floor, strong fingers closing around his jaw, biotic energy swirling, "and you really should not have brought that war to my doorstep." Her hand tightened and he choked, "And don't ever speak to me like—"
She saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, but did not think that the fact that Kaknar was pointing at the prisoner mattered. When the Batarian's head exploded in her hands, she reconsidered. Fortunately, her shields held against the shrapnel that was the Batarian's exploding skull. Unfortunately, her hands were too close, as portions of the exploding jaw were within the shield itself, but her gauntlets held up. As Aria leapt back, she was extremely glad that she'd chosen to wear her battle gear to this meeting.
A snapped command prevented an accidental bloodbath between her reacting mooks and the squad of Blackwatch. The heavy pistol disappeared into the Volus's wristguard as he turned back to his clanmates.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" Aria shrieked, biotic energy swirling around her hands.
Kaknar turned back to her. "I…hsht…told you I would….hsht….kill him. Why….hsht…are you surprised?"
"Not while his head was literally in my hands, you lunatic!"
"He hadn't sold…hsht…the cargo he stole…hsht…I didn't need him for anything."
"Next time you fire a gun at me, I'll take it and the wrist it's attached to off," Aria said, voice level and frightening.
"Terrifying…hsht…" the Volus's translator didn't get intonation quite right, so she couldn't tell if he was actually scared, or mocking her. After a moment's thought she decided she didn't want to know. "Level 489, Bay 12, let's go…" he ordered the squad of guards and was, finally, if only temporarily, gone from Aria's life.