Joint Chiefs of Staff Room, Alliance Military HQ, Arcturus Station, Arcturus Stream, Systems Alliance Core / 31.01.2383

Arcturus Station, the largest man-made structure in the Alliance, the political and military center of the Systems Alliance. Three times bigger than the original structure built about 200 years ago. A massive Stanford Torus Space Station with a diameter of 15 kilometers with 2 new wheels added, which offered space for several million people and hundreds of docks. The outer wheel contained the living habitats, agricultural, commerce, entertainment, and civilian spaceport facilities for the residents of the station. The middle wheel formed the beating heart of the Alliance government, with all three branches of government located here. The legislative branch, with the Congressional Hall, featuring both Houses of Senate and Representatives, and the offices of the members of both houses. The Executive Branch with the offices of the Prime-Minister and members of cabinet, and all different departments of the Alliance government. And the Judiciary branch with the Alliance Supreme Court. The Inner wheel was restricted for civilians as the Alliance Military utilized the inner wheel, with Alliance Military Headquarters, also called Military High Command (HIGHCOM), personnel residences, training facilities and other military facilities occupying most of the space. In the center of the station was a large central axis which housed the Alliance Navy Command and Control Center, Arcturus Fleet Headquarters, and the military spaceport facilities.

Located within the center of Military High Command was the room of Joint Chiefs of Staff. Currently 6 people occupied that room, each sitting in a comfortable real leather chair around a circular Brazilian Rosewood table, with in the center a holo-display. Six of the most powerful people in the Alliance military were gathered in the room, which had been hermetical sealed from the rest of the space station.

"Well, you all know why you're here." The oldest man in the room looked at everyone in the room before turning to look at the holo-terminal in front of him. "the PM ordered us to find a fitting candidate for SPECTRE-hood. Let's get this over with so that our beloved ambassador Udina can notify the Council." There were a few chuckles, as everybody in the room knew that there was no love lost between Ambassador Udina and Marine General Curtis Brandt, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Chairman's black Marine service uniform was filled with medals and ribbons of combat operations going as far back as the Insurgency, the First Contact War and the Frontier Rebellion.

The VI projected the face of the first candidate in question, and some basic information, the hologram hovered half a meter above the table and slowly rotated. The VI's robotic voice announced the first candidate, at the same time the date appeared on the holo-terminals in front of each person seated.

"Fausto Lampanelli, Sergeant Major, Systems Alliance Army, N-5, Assignment: 9th Direct Action Airborne Regiment, 3rd Battalion, at Hellas."

It was the 57-year-old Army general Christopher Orelas who started speaking. A man with an olive skin, dark brown hair and brown eyes, his accented voice revealed his origin from the paradise world of New Providence, where is family had established itself in the tourism business 150 years ago and had quickly made a name for themselves, now owning hotels on almost every Alliance world. Orelas was the youngest person in the room, having risen through the ranks before becoming a general officer at the young age of 48, the youngest to do so. "Lampanelli is a good man, has been with us since he joined as a grunt in 2359, came off age and enlisted when the Frontier Rebellion entered its third year. Has a solid reputation as a leader, well-liked by both grunts as the brass, he takes care of his men and they love him for it."

Marine Corps Commandant Richard Hargreaves snorted. Hargreaves, age 78, was a man from a family with a long military history, his hair had only now started greying after decades of service. The 6th Hargreaves in a row to graduate from Sentinel Military Academy on Arcadia with honors, he chose the Marine Corps instead of following the family tradition and joining the Army. When asked why, he stated that he joined the Corps, because he liked to see the universe, he didn't like being stuck on a planet. This statement dropped him right in the middle of the First Contact War, yet 35 years later he had reached the rank of Commandant of the Marine Corps. His black uniform held almost as many medals and ribbons as general Brandts. "He's nothing more than an order-taker. He can't seem to take the right decisions. He hesitated too long during that mess on Solaris' University Campus. And by the time he gave the orders to go in, it was too late. The hostages were death and the perpetrators managed to escape. We don't need someone who can't make decisions. Pass."

"We didn't find anything on him. Except that he likes to drink too much." This raised some eyebrows, causing former Army general and Director of National Intelligence Renardo Galán to explain his findings further. "Our psychologist states that Sergeant Major Lampanelli has started drinking after the Campus situation. They told me he probably feels guilty for not intervening earlier and letting all those students die. So, Pass." As Director of National Intelligence, Renardo Galán had control over an entire alphabet of agencies, with the 2 most important being the civilian Alliance Intelligence Agency and its military counterpart, the Military Intelligence Directorate. Both agencies were vital in the meteoric rise of the Alliance, they had quickly made a reputation for themselves as being more than capable rivals to the Turian Blackwatch, Salarian Special Tasks Group and the Council's SPECTRE's. Even STG and the Shadow Broker treaded lightly in Alliance Space, especially in the Inner Worlds, since both agencies had become renowned for their skills in counter-intelligence, disinformation and counter-insurgency operations. The three others in the room nodded at that statement and all went with a pass, as they voiced their agreement of not selecting someone with alcohol problems for SPECTRE.

The VI proceeded to show the next candidate.

"Riley Parmentier, Captain, Systems Alliance Navy, Assignment: 19th Fleet, 3rd Patrol Group, CO of the SSV Barbarossa, out of Vekta."

As Chief of Naval Operations Fleet Admiral Sylvia Seabrooke was the most powerful woman in the Alliance Navy. Her upper-class English accent revealed her aristocratic background as she proceeded with a motivation for the selection. "A vanguard who distinguished herself in the months leading up to Operation Hornigold during which she captured dozens of ships. This allowed us to pinpoint the exact locations of the pirate bases. She might be a bit on the brutal side, but she gets the work done. Piracy in the Vekta sector has dropped with almost 77% since she was assigned to the region. She received her own heavy frigate a couple of years ago. Despite numerous request not to, she still joins the boarding parties and is often in the thick of the fighting. She is on the short list for a Medal of Terra for a heroic action she did last year."

"You want to give the Council a pirate-hunter?" The 7 foot 3 massive Air Marshal Dimitri Chekhov asked astonished, his English heavy accented. The son of a Russian father who moved to the Outer Colonies to invest in mining operations in the Outer Colonies. Joining the Systems Alliance Aerospace Force once he reached adulthood, Chekhov had been worked his way up the ranks, having been a fighter ace during the First Contact War and Frontier Rebellion. He was perhaps the most liked of all in the room with the rank and file. "They don't give rat's ass about piracy. If they did, they would have dealt with Batarians and scum in Terminus long time ago. And when we want to retaliate, they force us not to, because they don't want war. We don't need a pirate-hunter, we need a fighter. Pass."

"She can only follow orders. Give her a ship and an assignment and she'll do it. But she never takes initiative or what so ever." General Orelas spoke up, voicing his discontent with the Captain.

"She doesn't work well with Turians. Her parents died defending Shanxi during the First Contact War. So that's a no." Director Galán advised.

"Next!"

The holo changed again, yet this time the person in question wasn't a service member.

"Who the hell is this? I thought we were only having military personnel and you're giving us a Fed?" Commandant Hargreaves demanded, looking up from the display in front of him at the Chairman.

"László Farkas, Special Agent in Charge, Alliance Bureau of Investigation, location: Milgrom, Bekenstein" the VI pipped up.

"Chekhov, you know him." Orelas stared at the hovering holo, he was curious. He had heard of the previous two candidates, yet had not heard anything about the current one.

"No, never did."

"Then what did he do? Special Forces, combat pilot, something else?" Orelas demanded. Everybody in the room looked at Director Galán, who quickly looked down at his notes before speaking up.

"Special agent Farkas served with the Aerospace Force Military Police for 25 years, reaching the rank of Group Captain and then joined Bureau. He is best known for catching the Maiden Killer, a serial killer on Arcadia who killed dozens of Asari Maiden tourists."

Even the Chairman stared in disbelieve at the holo.

"Which bloody moron selected him as candidate?" Admiral Seabrooke blurred out.

"I think Udina did." Galán admitted, "Special agent Farkas has received numerous awards for both the military and for his career with the ABI. C-Sec has offered him a job a couple of times, yet he refused all, not wanting to leave the Alliance."

"It says here that Farkas was an investigator with the MP's, solved 97% of his cases." Seabrooke read the man's service record out loud. "Well, at least he can solve cases. He can find new leads and draw his own conclusions."

"Yeah, yeah, but what about combat experience? Can he hold his own in a firefight, can he handle himself when he is surrounded and fight his way out?" Hargreaves wanted to know. "Renardo?"

"Was involved is several shootouts, yet he's been stationed on Bek for 6 years now. Investigating mostly white collar crime. He hasn't use his gun outside of the firing range for 4 years."

"A man who hasn't shot his gun in 4 years?" Hargreaves frowned. "Pass."

One after another, all people in the room said the same word. "Pass."

"Thalassa Xenaki, Chief Petty Officer, Systems Alliance Navy; N6, Assignment: 1st Special Reconnaissance Regiment, out of Arcturus."

It was Admiral Seabrooke who read out the woman's service record. "Top percentile of her class when it came to infiltrator training. Instructors said that she used cloaking tech like a second skin. Because of her small figure, she can fit into spaces where others can't. But her colleagues say that she's a loner, and doesn't working well with others. When she is teamed up with others, debriefings state that she doesn't co-operate with her team. And that she goes lone wolf, sometimes even risking the mission."

Again, each member voiced their negative opinion about this.

"I think she would be good in Intelligence; the Directorate can always use more infiltrators." The DNI stated. "I'll advice the director of MID." Seabrooke agreed with this.

"Well, we've got two remaining candidates." The holo change again.

"Marc Flaggs, Major, Systems Alliance Army, Assignment: 27th Army Division, Arcadia."

"Major Flaggs is the son of Senator Flaggs from New Providence, he graduated from Illium University of Law and spend the following years traveling throughout Council space. He eventually joined the Army. His superiors say that he is rather arrogant, but also has the tenacity of doing everything to get the job done. His arrogance rubbed some the wrong way, yet his tenacity is the reason why he has been promoted so many times in such short period." Major Flaggs was general Orelas' favorite. Their families went back for decades and both had grown up together.

Chekhov interrupted. "He has disciplinary problems. Hitting superior officers. We don't need that."

"Flaggs stated that the officer insulted his father." Orelas protected his childhood friend.

"We don't need someone who hits his superiors." General Brandt voiced his displeasure. "Someone who does, shouldn't even be in the military."

"Looks like the senator has used his influence to keep his son out of trouble. Seems like all of it was buried." Hargreaves had heard about Major Flaggs, he had used his biotics to put a superior officer through a wall because he had said something about Senator Flaggs. That officer had been a respected marine officer, whom had received a medical discharge afterwards.

Everyone said their part, either voting for or against Major Flaggs. In the end, he was passed over.

"Marie-Ange De Sarlat, Alliance Intelligence Agency, assignment: classified."

Again, all voiced their opinion about the candidate. Again, there were more who said 'no' that 'yes', the general opinion being that a spook shouldn't be humanities first SPECTRE.

General Brandt cleared his throat and caught the eye of everybody in the room. "Okay, none of the candidates were accepted, I've got two more possibilities." He entered a code into his omni-tool and the last holo hovering above the table changed to two faces, one male and one female. A rather unknown man, the woman however was well-known with the Alliance brass.

"The bloody Lion of Elysium." Admiral Seabrooke breathed out. It was 8 years since the Blitz had happened and you still couldn't look anywhere on an Alliance world without seeing Alliance recruitment posters with the iconic photo of then Sub-Lieutenant Jane Shepard defending Elysium. She should have known that Jane Shepard would be one of the candidates. "Who is the other person?" Before an answer could be given, the VI spoke up.

"Jane Tamara Shepard, Lieutenant-Commander, Systems Alliance Navy, N7, Assignment: 11th Fleet, Heavy Frigate SSV St. Petersburg, out of St. Michael. And John William Shepard, Captain, Systems Alliance Marine Corps, N7, Assignment: Not Available"

"Family?" Orelas questioned, staring at the holo in front of him.

"Yes, siblings actually." The Chairman took the word. Having a good relationship with the entire Shepard family, except for the black sheep of the family, John Shepard. The Shepard family had members serving in the military since the second world war. Its members had taken part in every important event of Alliance history in one way or another. "Well you all know her as "The Lion of Elysium" and one of the strongest biotics in the Alliance history. But I'll give you all a quick bio. Lieutenant-Commander Jane Shepard. As you all know, the Lieutenant-Commander is a military-brat, the daughter of SAMC Major Adrien Shepard, God rest his soul, and Commodore Hannah Shepard, currently XO on the dreadnought SSV Mangala, part of 7th Fleet. Born on April 11th 2354. At age 2 her parents divorced, Jane stayed with her mother and grew up on space ships and space station. At age 8, she was officially detected as a biotic and has been trained ever since. Being a member of the Shepard family, she got accepted in Arcturus Naval Academy, one of many academies and universities offering her a scholarship. She graduated with 2 master diplomas', one in Geopolitical Science and another in Linguistics. She was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant and send to Elysium where she worked as a military liaison and intelligence officer to the local government on Elysium. This being the reason that she was present during the Blitz. She took the initiative in the successful defense of Illyria. She received a Star of Terra, one of many awards she has received, for her actions. Captain David Anderson, then a Lieutenant-Commander got the honor to invite her to the Villa. She graduated as N7 with specialization in the Vanguard Program. She did several covert operations and was later stationed at Churchill Military Base on the Citadel where she participated in numerous joint operations with alien forces and C-Sec across the Council Space. Currently she is assigned as XO to the SSV St. Petersburg, under Captain Bardani, part of the 11th Fleet stationed out of St. Michael."

"Well, she is the Lion and our PR girl. Her face is known to every Alliance citizen and she has good standing with aliens. Making her a SPECTRE, gives us even more influence. She is Alliance through and through, she'll do whatever we order her." General Orelas spoke up. He had always liked the Lieutenant-Commander. "I like her. She has my vote."

"She has courage. Any dirt on her?" Air Marshal Chekhov stared at Director Galán, who shook his head.

"No, we combed through her entire live. Nothing of note. No financial problems, no political land mines or what so ever. She has been in an on-and-off relationship for the last 3 years with one Kaiden Alenko, a biotic and a 1st Lieutenant with Army Rangers. She's got my vote, yet I'd like to wait for her brother before I make my vote definitive." Director Galán spoke, looking at each person in the room.

"She is the only reason Elysium is still standing. She has my vote." Chekhov stated

"Yeah, yeah, we all know Lieutenant-Commander Shepard, but what about the other one? Her brother. I remember him from Mindoir." Admiral Seabrooke stared at the picture of the male Shepard sibling in front of her. The Shepard siblings didn't have any resemblance, if you put them next to each other without knowing they were siblings, you wouldn't be able to say they were related. Jane Shepard had the emerald green eyes of her mother and burgundy red hair from her paternal grandmother. John Shepard had inherited the grey eyes and jet black hair that defined most of the males in the Shepard family.

It was Commandant Hargreaves who gave an entire resume, knowing it by heart as the male Shepard sibling had been a favorite of both the ranks and file and the officers in the Marine Corps. "Captain John Shepard, born November 9th 2350, lived with his father on Earth after the divorce of his parents. He romantically linked to the Kellan-heiress until her disappearance in '66. Moved to the colonies with his father and new stepfamily a several months later before they settled on Mindoir. He was accepted into Arcturus Naval Academy. To the amazement of his instructors, he won the ANA hand-to-hand Combat Tournament four consecutive years in a row, beating cadets with years of training ahead of him. Before Mindoir he was at the top of his class, having been raised as a marine by his father since he was born. His instructors described him as a uniquely talented marksman, but he had a penchant for getting himself into trouble. Yet somehow, someway, he always got himself out of it. When participating in mock battles, the team he was in almost always won. His team members attributed their success to his ability to command them from hundreds of yards away even as he was picking off targets with his sniper rifle. Long range engagements were his strong point, but not his strongest. Give him an assault rifle and he was truly in his element, moving with an asari matriarch-like grace according to reports from teachers and instructors.

He was present on Mindoir when the Raid happened. Lost his father, step-mother and all his siblings living on Mindoir during the Raid, the Bloodbath or thermobaric explosion. He was one of the few lucky ones that got out of Nouveau Genève before the Bats leveled it. He had suffered severe injuries and was out for several weeks. But he threw himself into his recovery. Reports from teachers and instructors state that he turned introvert when he returned to the Academy. He closed himself off from his fellow classmates and spend all his free time at the shooting range or library. Stayed at the Academy during the holidays, refusing to visit his family.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant and was tapped for training with Marine Force Recon. After completing training, he took part in numerous covert operation throughout Council, Alliance, Terminus and Batarian Space. During a joint Turian Army and SA Marine Corps counter-insurgency operation in the Terminus he risked his life to safe several pinned down and wounded marines and Turians. He received a Silver star and was offered a place at the Villa. He went through the courses in a record time and became the youngest N7 in history. A record that still stand, one of the many records that he established. He was selected to become part of the Marine Raiders, Evocati team, attached to the 13th Marine Division."

"Wait a minute." Orelas interrupted holding up a hand, before he received a glare from Chairman Brandt for doing so. "He is the one responsible for Torfan. The Butcher." He spat out the title alien and some human news agencies had given him. Despite this title, he had been a hero among the rank and file.

"Yes, he is the one responsible for Torfan, but let me continue." Hargreaves stared at Orelas until he nodded. "The Blitz. We all know the picture of Jane Shepard standing in the breach with her biotics flaring and a gun in her hand, surrounded by bodies of the attackers."

"We have been using that bloody image for years, you still can't look anywhere without seeing it somewhere." Seabrooke spoke. While she was the female Shepard sibling eternally grateful since her daughter and family had been in Elysium during the Blitz, she couldn't stand the woman nor could she the mother.

General Brandt nodded "Yes, but what no-one knows is that John Shepard was also on Elysium. He was on leave, on Elysium to visit his sister for the holidays, the first time he had made contact with her since Mindoir. When Haliat attacked, then 1st Lieutenant John Shepard led dozens of N-rated forces behind the lines. They disrupted Haliat's forces so much that Haliat ordered half his forces to search Illyria for them. Keeping them busy for so long that the Army Corps of Engineers had the time to turn that hotel in a damn fortress. They killed several hundreds of enemy combatants."

"Why nobody knows this?" Air Marshal Chekhov asked as curiosity got the better of him.

"Because he never wanted his identity to become known. He refused any medals offered to him. And we've kept a tight lit on it." Director Galán responded. He had liked the male sibling, who had a Machiavellian approach to things and knew that not everything was as black and white as most people though.

Hargreaves continued. "After Elysium he was send to aid the anti-slavery faction on Anhur as part of the 13th MEF and later he was the XO of an expedition to investigate the missing Pioneer team on Akuze, where he was the only survivor after an encounter with those big monster worms. Spend 5 months recovering from those events. Took part in Operation Hornigold, Evocati was vital in the capture of 2 pirate bases. His team was present on Torfan. And we all know what happened there. When the fallout of the operation and more specifically his actions became known, those good-for-nothing idiots in parliament turned around from basking in the light of having defeated those vile pirates to forcing us to court-martial him and several general officers among the army, navy and aerospace force agreed. His family did that idiotic stunt and claimed that to them he had died in those tunnels on Torfan along with all who died. After this, he disappeared." All faced towards Galán, demanding more info, who sighed before giving an explanation.

"A couple of months after Torfan, with the public backlash, he was approached by Cerberus." The revelation made some of the people frown. Once Cerberus had been the darkest of organizations of the Alliance, but in the recent years they had committed several very questionable things which had found their way into the spotlight. These acts had caused the Alliance to disavow the organization, while the Council had labelled them a terrorist organization. Despite this, the organization was not actively being hunted by the Alliance. "He responded negatively to their request. And general Petrovsky approached him with a preposition, recruiting him into a covert JSOC/AIA program, with official cover being "on indefinite loan to AIA". That was days before Petrovsky was forcefully discharged."

"Petrovsky, former Marine general Petrovsky?" When Orelas received a nod as confirmation to his question, he furiously continued. "This man is working for Petrovsky? That monster?" Orelas had never liked the Marine general who had been in charge of the legendary 13th Marine Expeditionary Force. It was under the command of Petrovsky that the 13th gained their reputation of fearless ruthlessness despite overwhelming hostile forces, their most (in)famous operations include the counter-attack on Reach and Elysium, the Anhur civil war and Torfan.

"Shut up, you know nothing about what truly happened." Hargreaves was quick to defend his old comrade-in-arms. "It were different times back then. Those bastards on Torfan were Hegemony-backed, they were privateers who had been a thorn in our side for years, disrupting our trade, attacking our colonies, enslaving and/or killing our people. Parliament wanted us to show power. They wanted us to make it clear that humanity was not to be trifled with. We send in our marine supported by a fleet. The troops we send in were vastly outnumbered, 4 to one compared to the number of slavers, pirates and other scum. By all accounts, we should have lost that battle, yet we won."

"We lost thirty thousand men!" Orelas protested.

"And they lost seven hundred thousand!" Hargreaves slammed his fist on the table. "Petrovsky did what he was ordered to do! Parliament gave him an objective, and he completed that objective. He conquered that moon!"

"Three hundred thousand of non-combatants died! And they killed prisoners and civilians! You all have seen that footage that got leaked. He shot humans for gods sake!" the argument between the two became heated. And the chairman intervened before things became even more complicated.

"General Orelas," the Chairman addressed the Army general, "Have you read the after-action reports?" When the general responded negatively, the Chairman continued. "Well then, let me tell you the complete story."

"The moon of Torfan was the last part of Operation Hornigold, during which we tracked and captured or destroyed 7 major pirate anchorage station. Initial intelligence told us that the inhabitants of that rock had been employed by the Batarian Hegemony for at least half a decade as privateers to disrupt our trade, attack our colonies and to enslave and/or kill our citizens. Intelligence indicated that there were about 8.4 million inhabitants in the subterranean levels scattered across the moon. So, we send in the million strong 13th MEF, supported by the 5th Fleet under Hackett." Chairman Brandt offered. "Somebody in the navy messed up, the orbital bombardment failed to deliver the expected results. They were waiting for us when our troops landed, despite that the navy told us that the bombardment had forced them deep underground. Within the first hour of the landing operations we lost 3000 men, N-teams and ODAM's (Orbital Drop Assault Marines) were slaughtered and marine Kodiak's and Ospreys were fired upon while midair by the AA-guns that somehow weren't destroyed during the Navy's bombardment. The entire field command structure across the moon was disrupted. Many officers were either incapacitated or killed. The ones who were lucky enough got medevaked back to the fleet. Army major Kyle, the commanding officer responsible for the LZ where both Shepards would land, was pinned down from the moment he set foot on that moon.

Petrovsky had been smart enough to keep several N7 units back as reserve. One of these units was Captain John Shepard's Evocati Marine Raiders and Varangia, a naval N7 unit of which Lieutenant Jane Shepard was part off. Captain Shepard went to Petrovsky, told him he could make a difference. Petrovsky gave him the go-ahead. Evocati and Varangia dropped right into the thick of the fighting, other teams dropping at other landing sites. Major Kyle was unresponsive when Evocati reached him, thus as most senior officer in the area and N7, John Shepard quickly took command and led the charge. He got everybody out of the kill-zones and established a perimeter and went into the tunnels with about 200 men. The unusual dense rocks made comm-contact beyond line-of-sight was near to impossible. Once Shepard went in, he was out of contact with command for at least 2 days and for a long time nobody knew if they were still alive. The first ones who surrendered, about 40, were a small group of non-combatants, but mostly suicide-bombers. They had mines and grenades strapped to their bodies, once they were within the midst of our troops, they detonated, killing dozens of our troops, among them 2 of Captain Shepard's unit. He was furious and told his unit to show no quarter. He did it for a couple of reasons, the first one being to prevent the deaths of anyone else under his command, the second reason being, that he knew that he didn't have enough people to both guard/accompany the prisoners back and keep pushing forward if they came across more prisoners , and his last reason and most important one, the order came from the very top."

"That's bullshit." Orelas interrupted in disbelief.

"No it was not. Despite all that was said, it was an order coming directly from the top." Hargreaves schooled his colleague. "The Prime-minister and his cabinet told us to make a statement, and Shepard was the one who did it. Do you even know what happened further?" When Orelas didn't respond, Hargreaves continued. "After hours of brutal fighting, about 200 meters underground, they arrived at the only slave processing center on the moon. They found thousands, if not tens of thousands of all species. Human, Asari, Turian, Salarian, Drell, Batarian, around hundred of Elcor and even Quarian. All forced in too small cages. Half of them were implanted with Cranial implants so they didn't offer any resistance. When our people were well into the room, having cleared it, they started opening the cages. Then the Bats gassed the chamber. Our men were lucky because of their sealed armor, the slaves weren't. All, except the Quarians because of their suits, died within minutes before the eyes of our men."

"You know the footage that was leaked to the media? Where Captain Shepard was the first to fire upon a line of humans behind which Batarians were standing?" Hargreaves continued, he didn't leave Orelas time to respond. "That happened in a room not far from the cages. The Bats were using them as shield. They were taunting us. It was Shepard who started firing first, he later told Petrovsky that he didn't want the Bats to escape like they did at Mindoir or similar situations. The entire brass agreed with what he did. We couldn't have a repeat like Mindoir, where they escaped because our people were too afraid to harm those captured."

"Shepard killed them without reason."

"No! Those slaves were nothing anymore. Whoever they had been before, didn't matter anymore, they had been conditioned so much to only respond to their masters' orders. Killing them was an act of mercy."

Again, Orelas wanted to speak his mind, yet when he received a stern look from the chairman he quickly closed his mouth.

"How did he manage to kill those thousands in the levels below?" Seabrooke asked.

"He found where the Bats kept their gas and send it into the air vents leading deeper into the stronghold. Then he turned off the air supply and let them die. After that, they entered the main stronghold.."

"Didn't his sister went against him? Didn't he pull a gun on her" Seabrooke remembered.

Now it was Galán who responded. "Yes, Lieutenant Shepard went against her brothers' orders after he shot those used as human shield. She refused to kill our own. While he would have been in his right to kill her for disobeying an order during combat, he let her and all others who refused, about 130 men and women turn back to report to whoever was in charge at the moment. He then proceeded with 30 marines to kill all those who remained. It was of this small group of which three quarters died, but they had wiped put 400.000 people with the gas. But we are moving away from the point why we are here. Personally, I think Captain Shepard would be a good candidate."

"Mindoir, Akuze and Torfan. He must have some serious emotional scars. Pass." Chekhov voiced his concern. He was not sure if someone with such a record would be a good choice.

"He might have scars, but he's a survivor." Hargreaves argued.

"I don't like it. And the Council definitely won't like it. We don't need someone like the Butcher, it's better that we give them our Lion, whatever my opinion about her might be." Seabrooke voiced her opinion. Despite her dislike for the female Shepard, the issues that the male sibling might have, had forced her to change her opinion.

"Where is he now?" the Chairman looked at Galán.

"We actually don't know. The outfit he is part of, has been of the grid for several weeks."

"So we have one sibling who is a known hero and another who could be considered a war criminal, who is part of a black ops program and who's current whereabouts that unknown? Do you really need to know my opinion about the matter?" Orelas questioned.

"Richard," Chairman Brandt looked at the Commandant, "I know you like John more than Jane, but I'm with Sylvia on this. The Council will look down on us when we send the John as our choice, Jane would be a much safer choice."

"So everybody agrees? Lieutenant-Commander Jane Shepard will be our SPECTRE?" the chairman looked at all the people in the room and when they agreed, the Chairman stood up, causing the others to rise up too. "Very well then, I'll tell Udina to inform the Council."


Author Note: So it's been a while since I've uploaded something. I've been way to busy the last couple of months, hence the delay. I was unhappy with the chapters that I had written before and all the free time I had I spend with rewritting everything. Giving more background.

In this story Mankind has been in space for about 200 years longer than in the Me Canon. It has carved out a nice territory for itself and has experienced its fair share of unrest and war.

I've changed the background of several characters, for example Joker was selected for the Normandy because he had real space combat experience, not because that stunt they made him do in the comics.

Military ranks for the Alliance Armed forces will be a mix of American, Commonwealth ranks.

Each species will have its own weaponry, not everyone using the same like in the Canon. These can be found on DeviantArt: nach77

Description of Arcturus Station goes to Mal Cobb, author of 'Mass Effect: A Measure of Salvation'. If you're not reading this already, you should.