Chapter 15- Siege
September 27th, 2161. Vesta Laboratories
The tank stood silent against the wall, the interior full of nutrient fluid, allowing the lifeform inside to continue to grow. As of now, the lifeform in question was nearing completion.
Miranda Lawson paced in front of the tank, monitoring the lifeform's brain for any sign of activity. There was none, and there would be none for several more months, but she could always hope for early results. Actually, scratch that. Early results usually resulted in an incomplete prototype, resulting in a failure. With that in mind, Miranda returned to her pacing. The prototype designated Shepard was unique. It was the only one not destroyed by Project Mutation's modifications or Project Potential's biotic implants. It was the only one out of thousands of prototypes for project Hoplite. Shepard would be ready only two months before the planned attack on Sur'Kesh, and if he performed well there, the Hoplite project would be given a go-ahead to begin mass production of Hoplite clones. With a final glance up at the man forming in the tank, Miranda exited the room.
July 8th, 2164
The Prototype was complete. Today was the day that it would be woken up, and removed from the tank. Miranda watched as the nutrient fluid drained from the tank, miniature neural shocks used to jolt the brain into awareness. The prototype's eyes flickered open, widening as it took in the world around it. Then, it caught sight of Miranda and the rest of the science team. Raising its fist, it shattered the tank's glass with a single punch, before widening the hole with a few more blows. It jumped out of the tank, before standing motionless in front of the research team.
"I am Shepard. What are my orders?" It, no He, asked.
"First, you will be put through a training course, in order to see if your training imprinted correctly." Miranda replied, "But above all, we need to give you some clothes." Miranda replied, earning a series of chuckles from the assembled research team.
The next two months passed without incident, with Shepard showing off both his extensive combat ability and lack of social skill. He would hit every target perfectly with a sniper rifle at 2 kilometers, but he never said anything to anyone outside of training. The fateful day of his first combat deployment was rapidly approaching, and the scientists believed that he was ready. On August 5th, 2164, the shuttle arrived, ready to take him to Sur'Kesh.
August 7th, 2164
Sur'Kesh Orbit
The portal soundlessly opened in the blackness of space, a mixture of Human, Quarian, and Geth ships pouring out. The 25,000 strong fleet began their advance on the Salarian homeworld, defended by a comparatively small Salarian fleet. The salarians moved to intercept the enemy fleet, only 3000 warships against a force that outnumbered them by more than 8-1. The Geth vanguard was the first to engage, rushing ahead of the Human/Quarian fleet. The salarian ships' bows began to glow a bright red, before huge columns of red light burst from their main guns. While at first seeming to be an energy weapon, the Geth null barriers registered it as a constant flow of ferrofluid, similar to what the Asari had designed for their Destiny class ships. Several Geth frigates, their null barriers being barely more effective than council Kinetic Barriers, fell under combined fire from pairs of Salarian/Reaper hybrid ships. Geth responded with antimatter, as the humans and quarians began their assault on the planet's ODPs. The battle lasted for several minutes, before the last salarian ship fell, shattered by several Geth cannons. The human ships then began to release barrages of tungsten rods from their ships' undersides. They fell towards Salarian military targets, such as GARDIAN lasers and troop bunkers. Human transports began their slow descent, each one carrying a hundred troops to the ground.
Commander Shepard looked at the contents of his transport. There were a few batarians, several quarians, two drell, and even a Hanar inside. However, the majority of the force was human. The transport shuddered as it leveled out, heading towards the LZ that the Geth had already secured. He readied his rifle, and as soon as the door opened, he leaped out of the craft. The high pitched whine of human made weaponry mixed with the staccato stutter of Salarian Mass Effect weaponry. A geth platform was waiting for him.
"Shepard-Commander, We request that your squad move to take the residential building to the north of the landing zone." The Geth said, pointing to indicate the building in question.
"Affirmative." Was all that Shepard said.
His squad moved north, the four other teams in the transport moving their own separate ways.
"ENKINDLE THIS!" Blasto, the Hanar in his team, screamed as he opened fire with 8 recoil-less human pistols, firing into a large squad of Salarians. The dim red beams cut them apart, as the rest of the squad joined in the carnage. Within seconds, the Salarian team had been reduced to charred corpses. The team moved on, entering the building without incident.
"Its too quiet. I feel like something bad is going to happen." One of the human soldiers said.
"That is irrelevant." Shepard answered.
The squad proceeded into the building, some of the humans jumping at every noise. Then, there was a loud screech. Every gun in the squad pointed towards the source. It was a salarian, and yet it wasn't. Its skin was a pasty grey, covered in small, gently glowing nodes. Its eyes were dead, covered in cybernetic implants. It screeched again, its cranial horns replaced by prehensile tendrils, crackling with electricity. Several screeches answered it, and the hybrid salarians charged.
One of the humans was caught unaware, huge claws ripping him apart. The rest opened fire, but despite their injuries, they kept coming. Blasto fell down, unconscious, as one of the Salarians gave him an electric shock from its cranial tendrils. Shepard converted his rifle to a shotgun, and began mowing the salarians down with pulses. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the fighting stopped, the last salarian falling, its body in several pieces.
One of the humans, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, took off his helmet and vomited all over the floor.
"Put your helmet back on, soldier. The battle isn't over yet." Shepard reprimanded him.
"Goddammit, Just because you were created to be the perfect soldier doesn't mean that you can hold everyone else to that standard! We're all only human, so why don't you start acting like it!" Kaidan shouted back.
"Kaidan Alenko, you are to stand down immediately, or risk a court marshal." Shepard said. A screech cut off Alenko's reply. One of the salarian hybrids was not quite dead yet, and it just hit Shepard in the Achilles tendon with a cranial spike. The super-soldier went down insantly, hundreds of volts coursing through his body. Alenko fired, killing the salarian before it could maul the commander. A stim injection brought both him and the downed Blasto back into consciousness.
"Like I said, you are only human." Alenko said, before turning, and helping the team plant the bomb the geth had given them, ready to destroy the building. As they ran out of the residential building, the bomb exploding behind them, Shepard turned to Alenko. When they stopped running, he extended a hand. Alenko took it.
A/N- Here is Shepard's origin story. He will not be a main character, merely one of the multiple POVs that this story is told from. The Siege of Sur'Kesh will continue next chapter.