Chapter 15 is here! *Confetti begins to fall everywhere!* Yay! Let's just get to it shall we. Mass Effect is owned by Bioware, so enjoy!

Ch.15: Echoes of the Past Part 1

Normandy SR-2

Commander Shepard

Shepard sat in his cabin, eating dinner with Tali. He bought some sterilized dextro meat for Tali (which had been incredibly expensive and hard to fine) and they were both sharing some refreshing water. Shepard had bought himself some good old fashioned meat and potatoes. 'Just like the food I usually ate on Mindior…' Shepard thought as he continued to eat.

Tali noticed Shepard's eyes lower slightly and she decided to speak. "Is everything ok?"

Shepard perked up and looked at his fiancée. "Yeah, everything's fine. Just thinking about the past is all."

Tali looked at him for a moment with concern in her eyes. "You can talk to me if you want to, I'll listen. I don't think you've ever told me about your past at all."

Shepard shook his head and looked down at his food. "Yeah well… There's not much good in it, so there's never really been a reason to talk about it."

Tali smiled at Shepard. "But it made you who you are today, and that alone would make a very interesting story."

Shepard looked up from his food. "Well, I'm sure you know I was born on Mindior."

Tali's eyes softened. "I heard about that... I'm so sorry, to see your family killed in front of you... I'm sorry I brought it up, let's talk about something else."

Shepard smiled. "No, it would probably be good for me to talk about it a little. You'll have to hear it eventually, so why not now?"

Tali looked at her food and took a bite. "Ok Shepard, if you want to talk about it then I'll listen."

Shepard poked his potatoes with his fork and started to mix them. "Well, it all started on another normal night, the raid I mean. I was sleeping and I was awoken by the sound of an explosion. I left my room only to see my parents get killed right in front of me… I tried to save my sister but… But she died as well. They all died…"

Flashback

Mindior minutes into Batarian raid

'They'll pay for EVERYTHING!' 16 year old Shepard was standing next to his lost sister in a field. He held the gun close to him and started running to town.

Slave ships continued in fly in above him. In the distance he saw a ship filled to overcapacity with people close its cargo bay doors and begin to fly off. A ship nearby was being filled with people as well and several Batarians guarded it. One of the Batarians saw Shepard and yelled in its strange language, but Shepard didn't care. He lifted his gun and began firing at the Batarians and continued to race towards them.

The Batarians fired back, but their rounds fizzled off of Shepard's powerful biotic barrier. Several Batarians were killed before the cargo bay doors began to close on the ship. Shepard roared with anger and charged at the Batarian closest to the ship. The sickening crack of broken bones was heard as Shepard slammed into the Batarian and began running towards the ship. Sadly the doors had closed and the ship was beginning to lift off.

"NOO!" Shepard screamed as he charged at one of the ship's engines with a biotic fist. The fist slammed into the engine and it exploded, causing the ship to crash back to the ground. The effort Shepard had put into the attack, however, had weakened him. He was breathing hard and he had his hands on his knees. A wounded Batarian stood up behind him and lifted a knife in his hands. The Batarian started to run towards Shepard with a yell. Shepard was too quick for the Batarian though. He turned around and shot a few rounds out of his gun, killing the Batarian. Shepard then walked up to the door of the small ship and pressed a button. The door opened and Shepard saw a wounded Batarian inside. He had a gash on his head and had his hands on it, trying in vain to stop the bleeding. Shepard lifted the gun and shot the Batarian in the head. The Batarian became still...

End flashback

"Keelah, you just shot him!?"

Shepard shook his head, "I thought you said you were going to listen."

Tali looked down. "Sorry, I…"

Shepard smiled, "It's ok Tali, it wasn't one of my finer moments. He would have died anyway though … at least I made it quick for him."

"I suppose … Continue the story please."

"Alright, then…"

Flashback

Mindior

Shepard looked towards the helm of the small craft. There was blood splattered on the glass; the pilot was dead. Shepard turned to the cargo bay, walked up to the door, and opened it. Inside he saw the people that the Batarians had rounded up; most of them were hurt but still alive. Luckily none had been implanted with control chips yet. Shepard walked inside and began speaking.

"Is there anyone here who can shoot a gun?"

The battered men and women just looked at him in defeat until one woman stepped forward, "I was on shore leave here, but I'm part of the Alliance. I don't have my combat armor but if you give me a gun I can do some damage."

Shepard grabbed the weapon from one of the dead Batarians and threw it to her, "Anyone else?"

A few more people stood up and were given guns. The Alliance soldier took command, "Alright troops, we're heavily outnumbered and the Batarians have our friends and family as their hostages. We need to move quickly and save as many lives as possible. The civilians here should find a safe place and hide, the rest of us should head to town."

Shepard nodded at the marine and readied his weapon. She didn't seem too happy to have a 16 year old in her squad, but at a time like this no one could be picky. One of the posse members volunteered to escort the civilians to a safe location, and he and the civilians started running towards the forest. The other 7 readied their weapons, turned on their shields, and began their journey to town.

It wasn't long before the rag-tag posse met resistance. The Batarian slavers were everywhere; they were raiding every house and taking every person they could find. After two firefights one of the posse members was shot and killed and they left him behind. After another firefight two more were killed and left behind. They couldn't waste their time on the dead…

The last remaining 4 were Shepard, the female Alliance marine, an older farmer, and his son. Shepard recognized his face but didn't know his or his son's name. Shepard then saw another ship being loaded up. They got behind a few rocks and readied their weapons.

"Alright, no one is gonna be a hero." The marine explained. "We're all gonna stay safe behind cover and kick some Batarian ass, and when they're all dead we move in and secure those civilians. Kid, when all of the civilians are safe I want you to escort them to the forest."

Shepard glared at the marine. "With all due respect ma'am, I think I should stay with the group, I've killed more Batarians than all of you."

"No arguing kid, we don't have time. Do what I tell you or get shot, is that clear?"

Shepard's glare hardened and he looked down, "Yes ma'am."

The marine nodded. "Good, now let's go."

Shepard and the marine quickly ran behind a few more rocks a few feet away and waited. The older farmer gave the signal and threw a grenade he had stolen from a Batarian. A group of Batarians were conversing about something Shepard couldn't understand, but the grenade ended the discussion quickly; the rest of the Batarians readied their weapons and began firing. The older farmer ducked a second too late, and a powerful round shot through his cheap shields, hitting him in the head and killing him instantly. His son watched from behind his cover and Shepard heard him yell loudly. The son jumped out of cover with his rifle drawn and began mercilessly pumping shots into the group of Batarians. Several Batarians fell until a dreaded sound was heard: the son's rifle had overheated. The Batarians quickly recovered from the shock and fired at the son and he was pelted with mass accelerator rounds, falling to the ground with more holes in him than Swiss cheese.

"Damn it…" The marine muttered next to Shepard. She looked at him with a stern gaze. "You're not dying too, stay back here and cover me."

"But…" Shepard was too slow, however, and the marine was already gone.

She ran to more cover and began firing at the Batarians. She killed them all off quickly with efficiency Shepard had never seen before and she began moving towards the ship. Shepard saw a Batarian come out of a doorway in the back of the cargo bay of the ship. Staying in cover he fired a shot and hit the Batarian in the side. The Batarian fell back to the wall, slid down, and stopped moving. The marine ran into the cargo bay and began releasing the prisoners. Shepard started to leave his cover and moved to help her, but then he looked back at the Batarian he had shot; the Batarian held a grenade in his hands and had just activated it. Shepard yelled "LOOK OUT!" but it was too late. The grenade exploded and everyone in that cargo bay became dust. The ship's engines caught fire and Shepard ran back to cover. He barely made it when the entire ship became completely engulfed in flames. The marine and all of the civilians were dead...

The anger in Shepard only rose higher as he crawled out of cover and looked at the burning remains of the ship. He didn't know what to do; everyone was once again dead. He had no one to turn to and everyone he had ever known was probably gone. 'These aliens will PAY!' Shepard thought as he began to run towards town. There were so many ships flying out of the small skyline already but Shepard was determined. He had to save the people from these monsters, and these monsters had to pay for what they had done...

End Flashback

Shepard took a bite of potatoes and continued. "I was in town for a while killing slavers. I didn't really save anyone else until Anderson found me and got me out of there. I don't really know how many I killed... all I knew was that it hadn't been enough. I... believed that all of the aliens had to pay for what had happened there, and I got into fights with aliens in boot camp, in the streets, every once in a while in bars... It wasn't until Akuze that Anderson was able to slap some sense into me."

Tali raised an eyebrow. "You mean you once hated aliens?"

Shepard smiled at her. "The same way you once hated the Geth. It just took a charismatic marine and a little hurt to get me to see things differently, just like you."

Tali glared at Shepard. "You're seriously comparing the two..."

Shepard smiled devilishly. "Well, I guess in the end you didn't end up sleeping with a Geth, so it's not all the same."

Tali laughed. "Bosh'tet..."

Tali and Shepard took a few more bites. Their plates were nearly empty when Tali decided to speak again. "So, what happened on Akuze that made you 'see things differently?'"

Shepard shook his head and looked at his plate again. "I'm pretty sure you know how it feels to lose your entire squad and have only you survive. It's hard for something like that to not have an effect on a person."

Tali looked at her plate too. "Yeah, you're right … At least Reegar survived for me though."

Shepard kept his eyes on his plate. "Reegar was a good soldier... You remember Corporal Toombs right? The one we found yelling about that Cerberus scientist while we were hunting Saren? He was a friend once... I sent him a message a few days before we launched the assault on Earth, asking if he would help me now that I had left Cerberus. Last I heard he had accepted and had joined Hammer... I haven't gotten any other news from him though."

Shepard looked up to Tali. "He used to be one of my closest friends back when I was just a marine. Him and Red always kept me on my toes before missions. We used to play poker and bs until we were deployed somewhere. I'd always win at poker of course." Shepard smiled at Tali.

Tali looked up and shook her head. "I believe it, your poker face is amazing."

"That's what Red always told me. He said I had some kind of 'poker secret' and that someday he'd figure out what it was. I told him he was full of shit and I was just lucky."

Tali kept her eyes on Shepard. "So who was Red and why'd you call him that?"

"Red? Oh, his real name was Tony Paterson. Everyone called him Red because he had red hair... Not too many humans have red hair anymore. It's a rare thing, so we all had to bring attention to it every time we talked to him I guess."

Shepard looked at his plate again and took one last bite. His meat and potatoes were now gone. "Those were interesting times, I wasn't the super nice love everybody commander I am now. I still had a lot of growing up to do…"

Tali got up and sat down next to him. She put her arm around his shoulders and leaned on him. "So, what happened next?"

Shepard put his arm around Tali and pulled her closer, "Well…"

Author's endnote: Yes, more! More Shepard background! It must be expanded upon in every way possible! We must know why he's so nice to everyone! *Cheers are heard in the background* No one is just naturally born nice, so I think it's pretty realistic to think after an event like the slave raid of Mindior Shepard would develop a terrible hatred of aliens, especially Batarians. But after another traumatic event (like Akuze) he could change and become the man he became, the man who saved the galaxy (three times and maybe more! :P). If you don't like it well… I think it makes sense, so just go with it... please? Anyhow I hope you continue reading and please review, follow, favorite, etc.!