Author's Note: More Shepards ahoy! Next chapter should see more non-human Shepards appear, but this one is (no doubt disappointing to you all) all humans. Lilitu Shepard is named as a shout-out to Myetel's "Spirit of Redemption", which I'd recommend for anyone who has a month of free time. As usual, the Who's Who will be updated later today. I'm open to name suggestions for N, O, S, T, and U, as long as you accept that I'm probably not going to use anything but the name. 3 Apr: All Shepards have been named, thank you everyone!
Back at the embassy, the three groups of Shepards met up, their numbers now bolstered by three aliens. Udina had opened a bottle of whiskey and was already a good quarter of the way through the bottle. "Ten of you now," he protested. "This just keeps getting better."
Angela almost agreed, then stopped to do a quick head count. "Yes, ten of us. If it continues, we're going to be up to twenty-six soon, and I just hope it stops there." She shook her head and tried to organize her thoughts. "This quarian girl we rescued has evidence that implicates Saren. He was desperate enough to try and have two different teams of mercs try to kill her."
"That's good news, I think," Anderson said. "Let's hear this evidence." They listened to Tali's explanation of finding the geth memory core, interrupted by questions about the geth and her Pilgrimage. Finally, Saren's voice came through clearly, along with the mysterious woman. "This should get the Council on our side," the captain declared triumphantly.
"Let's just hope we can present the evidence without another ten Shepards showing up," Udina groused. Still holding his bottle, he led them back to the Council chambers, having to actually split the group between two painfully long elevator rides. They emerged, a slightly tipsy Udina barging right past the Volus ambassador and playing the audio file as though hurling a knife at the Council. "You wanted proof? There it is."
The ten Shepards stood there, listening to the argument go back and forth between the Council and Udina, until finally Jared and Eric stepped forward at the same time. "For fuck's sake," they blurted out, "can we skip the political posturing bullshit? Just make me a Spectre and let us track down Saren."
"By 'me' you better mean 'us', gringo," Flora threatened.
"Shepards, Councilors, please," Angela said, trying rapidly to gain control of the situation. "We still don't know why there's so many different versions of me, but as the original, I echo the sentiment," she glared at the two pale-haired male copies, "though not the words, of my counterparts. Let us track down Saren."
"And what about the other Shepards?" Sparatus said. "Granting humanity one Spectre, maybe, though I still think it's too soon for this. But ten of you?"
"Technically," Gina said, "We're all Commander Shepard."
"I don't count as human," Havok added. "So that's only nine."
"Are you telling me none of the other Spectres have assistants, squads, back-up?" Anderson asked.
Velarn smiled. "Not officially, no. Most times, a single elite agent is better than a squad or a flotilla."
"Fine," Udina proclaimed, sounding as though he was giving the Council concessions. "Make Commander Shepard a Spectre. Just conveniently leave out the first name."
"You mean, give you one Spectre on paper," Tevos murmured, "but in reality, practically a dozen."
"The way they keep popping up, we'll have a full company," Williams muttered, quiet enough only Wrex caught the sentiment.
"This is a naked power grab," Sparatus complained, but outvoted by the other two Councilors, lapsed into silence.
All ten Shepards spoke the oath in unison, the sheer sense of off-ness reverberating through the chamber with extra power. Once finished, they paused at the top of the elevator. "Anderson, I'm going to need your help," Udina ordered, pausing to take another swig of his whiskey. "Shepards, meet us at the Normandy later. Run whatever errands you need to."
Angela let them go before turning to the rest of the group. "Dierdre, you said you needed to scan more Keepers, right?" Pulling up maps, they marked off different places to search, splitting up the non-Shepards between groups, ending with Angela, Havok, and Tali being the only non-Keeper-hunting ones, headed instead to browse the markets for affordable upgrades. "Everyone's area should take about an hour at most, so we'll meet in C-Sec Academy in an hour."
"Understood," came nine Shepard voices back to her. Everyone except Eric, Inara, and Williams crowded into the elevator, stepping out onto the Presidium. Almost in unison, the eight Shepards paused just ouside the elevator, looking back out the length of the arm that extended to the middle of the station. "Something wrong?" Garrus asked.
They all frowned with nearly the same expression. "I can't explain it," they unisoned, "but I feel … drawn."
"Gee, that's not creepy at all," Kaidan muttered. "Can it wait until later?"
They shook off the feeling, though at least they all did so in a different manner, and split off their separate ways.
An hour later, they met up at the Normandy's docking slip above C-Sec academy, on the inside of the ring of the Presidium. "Hah, there's the last one!" Havok cried, skittering over to it on all-fours, and running an omni-tool over it. "Quest complete!"
"Really?" Flora muttered. "Who talks like that?"
"Those of us with a good flair for the dramatic," Jared crooned over her shoulder, causing the Hispanic Shepard to edge away. "Or crazy people, but they're often one and the same."
"Shepards," Anderson said. "I'm turning the Normandy over to Angela. Try not to scratch the paint," he told his now-former XO.
"I've given Pressly the data we have on recent geth activity, and a lead on the Matriarch on the recording," Udina proclaimed. "So get out there, catch him, and don't let any of yourself screw things up." He lifted the bottle, draining the last two swallows out, then hurling it out of the atmosphere field to spin off into vacuum. "One of you would be enough of a headache, let alone ten." Still grumbling, he wobbled off back towards the elevator.
Bradley nudged Inara. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I think so," she replied, "but I don't know of any elcor escort services."
"Anderson," Angela asked, ignoring the byplay behind her, "Are you really alright with this?"
"Relax, I'm now officially Kahoku's aide, so it's not like my career is over." He huffed out a sigh.
"It just feels that way, doesn't it?" Charles sympathized.
"I'll look over the data as we're departing," Angela said. "But personally, I'm leaning towards tracking down the Matriarch's daughter."
"It's all up to you now," Anderson said, clapping her on the shoulder. "Go do some good out there."
Ten Shepards, two Marines, and three aliens trooped on board. After the first five seconds, Angela overrode the sterilization procedures, just so they could get people onto the ship. They all circled the galaxy map, seeing the shock on Pressly's face as the number of Shepard's nearly doubled. She started counting, only to be interrupted. "I must have missed the memo on additional crew," came a voice almost deep enough to rival Eric.
Deirdre and Gina fought briefly over who got to engrave the 'K' on the newest Shepard, and Williams fled the bridge, whimpering. "Alright, now we're up to Shepard number eleven. I'm Angela, everyone else sound off."
They ran through the alphabet until they reached the new one, who glared at her before finally muttering, "Kohana." He flicked a black braid with two raven feathers over his shoulder. "I take it you know what's going on?"
"Welcome to my universe. Random alternate Shepards keep popping up like a bad twentieth century sci-fi vid, and all the records say I'm the original." She pulled up the data Udina had left for them. "Right now, we're off to scour the Artemis Tau cluster for some sign of Matriarch Benezia's daughter. There's four systems, so where should we start?"
A jumble of voices came over, so she took tallies one at a time. "Alright, Knossos it is, then Sparta, Macedon, and Athens." She frowned then, as something occurred to her. "Slight problem. There's eleven of us, plus three new alien crew, and no way to fit everyone into the sleeper pods or the captain's cabin."
"I'll talk to the quartermaster," Deirdre said. "He can clear out one of the storage bays, and we can crowd a few extra mattresses into the cabin."
"Hot racking again," Inara said balefully. "How fun."
"Don't remind me," Eric grumbled.
"We'll make the best of it," Angela ground out.
"Who's going down when we find the chit?" Jared inquired.
"Kohana, what's your training?"
"I am a Vanguard."
"Alright. Kohana and Inara will go down with me," Angela said. "Depending on surface conditions, I might have Joker come in low enough to let the rest of you offload."
"The Mako can fit five," Deirdre waspishly pointed out.
"And I'm paranoid that another Shepard is going to appear," Angela countered.
"As much as I'd love to see how everyone handles in the field," Havok said, "I daresay it's time for grub." Half the other Shepards agreed with him, and mobbed the crew deck.
Angela leaned on the railing around the galaxy map, resting her face in her hands. "Ah, Angela?" Pressly asked.
"What is it, XO?"
"I'd like to request a transfer. One of you is all I can handle." She groaned and slumped to the floor.
"Cheer up," Charles Shepard said, clapping her on the shoulder. "At least this whole thing isn't based on, say, the Japanese alphabet."
"Or the Turian one," Garrus added, pausing at the door. "I don't think the Citadel is ready for forty-two Garrus Vakarians." For some unfathomable reason, that just made her groan louder.
The landing was fairly uneventful, cruising along next to a lake of molten sulfur like it was normal, blowing apart armatures and running over smaller geth, occasionally letting Inara Overload one by leaning out of the hatch. The first guardhouse they stopped at was, aside from the rocket turrets, also uneventful. "Must you constantly bounce us around?" Kohana groused from the gun turret.
"Hey, it's the easiest way to dodge those rockets at close range!" Angela responded, sending the Mako jumping another dozen feet up.
"We have shields! You're ruining my aim!"
"Now now, children," Inara said, "We're all Commander Shepard, in our own way." She leaned out the hatch, causing one of the rockets to blow up inches out of the turret. "Surely we can get along?"
"Bah," both of them responded in unison.
They cruised around to the side, running over several more geth, before disembarking. "Alright, you two take the building on the left, I'll take the one on the right," Angela ordered.
"By yourself?" Kohana raised an eyebrow behind his visor.
"If L Shep decides to show up, I have a feeling it'll be here," she muttered. Naturally, Murphy's Law was listening, and she had to deal with a geth by herself, with no backup. She blew out its shields, shorted out its weapon, and then blew its head off. "Hah!"
She headed back outside, to find the newest Shepard leaning against the Mako, sniping geth emerging from the other pair of guardhouses. "Why? Why now?" She complained.
"Identify yourself!" the new one responded.
"Oh, get over yourself," Angela spat, calmly etching an 'L' on the new girl. "Hah, I think we're back up to even numbers!"
"I'm Commander Shepard, and I demand you identify yourself!"
Kohana and Inara had emerged by then. "We're Commander Shepard," the three of them said in unison, making L blink. "You have a name?" Kohana demanded.
"I'm Lilitu," she said. "What the hell?"
"We can explain later. Get in the Mako," Angela said. "We have an asari somewhere, if the geth haven't gotten to her yet."
"They've only been here a day and a half," the lone male noted dryly, "surely an untrained civilian could have managed to hold off an entire dropship or two of rogue synthetics." He fired a shot at said dropship, to no apparent effect.
"Let me guess," Inara queried the new girl, "infiltrator training?"
"Did the sniper rifle give it away?"
"There's a rockfall up here," Angela warned them. "We're going to have to walk from here on out."
"Just what I wanted to do today," Lilitu grumbled, "stroll through a lovely molten hellhole and get shot at."
"Did you really have anything better to do?" Kohana asked, before charging a trio of geth, slamming one of them tumbling over the rocks.
"Can we quit with the bad-ass one-liners and just scrap these things?" Angela said, causing another one to blow up.
"You're taking all the fun out of it, sweetie," Inara said, patting her on the back before shooting one in the head. "Get into the spirit of things!"
They blasted their way through two dozen platforms, then a colossus. "If that asari is dead, I'm going to wring her neck," Kohana muttered through clenched teeth, while Lilitu applied medigel to him.
Inside the facility was much calmer, until they reached the bottom of the elevator, to find the asari trapped in a force field. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here," said yet another Shepard.
"After all," Angela said dryly, "there's five of us here." He turned around, raising an eyebrow. "You must be M Shepard."
"I can't wait until we get to Q," Lilitu muttered.
"Why's that?" Inara asked.
"I'm going to guess you're not a James Bond fan?"
"Never heard of him."
"Would you all please figure out a way to get me out of here?" Liara cried from behind the force field.
"We're on it," they chorused, and proceeded to drop down to the cavern floor, slaughtering a krogan and several geth, looting everything portable from their corpses, and moving towards the mining laser. "Actually," the new one said, "I have an idea."
"What's your name, anyway?" Angela asked.
"Marid. Not Mohammed. I might be Arabic, but I'm not Muslim." He cleared his throat. "Judging by your reactions, I'm guessing you weren't surprised to see me."
Inara gestured to the engraved letter on her armor. "You could say that."
"So, there's another, what, eight Commander Shepards?" Angela nodded. "All with different skills and training."
"Get to the point," Kohana muttered.
"How many biotics?"
Angela paused to consider. "So far? Two adepts, three vanguards, two sentinels." He raised his own finger. "Three sentinels."
"They drop off the ship, we all hit that force field with biotic force – warps, singularities, slams, whatever. If that doesn't work, then we activate the giant laser beam." He waved one hand at the ruins. "Just thinking, we might not want to utterly wreck one of the few known surviving Prothean ruins."
Kohana rolled his eyes, but both Angela and Lilitu nodded. "That's a pretty good plan, actually. Shepard to Normandy." Static greeted them. "Apparently, you should have thought of it ten minutes ago, though."
"Ten minutes ago, I was on the surface with Wrex and Tali."
"You brought the quarian?" Inara asked, clearly intrigued.
"Who better to destroy them than one of the people who built them?" Kohana added sarcastically. "Can I fire the damn thing now?"
They backed off a little, and he fiddled with the control panel. "Alright, here goes. Imma firin mah laser!" he cried as he stabbed the big red button, rapidly turning chunks of rock into dust and raising the temperature by at least twenty degrees Celsius. "Can we get the hot blue alien babe and get out of here now?"
"Gladly," Angela muttered. They rose through the place, took down the intruder field that captured her, and moved to make their escape, only to find themselves blocked by two krogan and three more geth. "Look, we don't have time for this."
"Give us the asari," the lead krogan complained.
"Your mama was a varren," Kohana shouted, and combat was ever so briefly joined, as Liara joined her own biotics to their group, the second krogan being flung off to land several stories below and vanishing under a wash of molten sulfur.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe it's time to evacuate!" Inara shouted, propelling Liara up the ramp. They reached surface, piling onto the Normandy and flying away seconds before the entire installation sank into the ground.
"Commander? Did you want to update the Council?" Joker came over the intercom to the cargo bay as they all shed their armor and weapons, leaving them in a mostly-tidy pile on Williams' overcrowded armory station.
"Give them the short version – we're up to thirteen Shepards, we rescued the girl, and the geth destroyed the Prothean ruins," she responded wearily.
"Hey," Kohana complained, "I should get credit for that." She shot him a murderous glare and limped for the elevator.
Author's Footnote: Yes, all you Garrus fangirls are probably squealing happily at the mere thought of 42 different Garrus Vakarians. You'll either have to wait for the Fistful sequal, or write your own.