The other Shepards

Disclaimer

Starcraft is the property of Blizzard entertainment.

Mass effect is the property of Bioware.

Any elements used in this story are used only in order to create a story for no monetary gain nor do I claim any ownership over them, beyond the names and characters unique to this story.

"By the will of our mentors, by the wisdom of the Xel'naga.

This records will aid you in the understanding of our kind young one, may they be of use to you:

Dark energy: Intrinsic construct made manifest across most stable realities due to the interactions of the energies from the void interacting with those of the material realm.

Shepard: One of the locusts of change. The destiny of this creature has always been invisible even to the most proficient of prophets and diviners amongst the Xel'naga. Never had we met such a singularity of fate. Such raw potential was realized around him.

What will he be to us?"

-Of Nebulas forgotten, servant to Idris

Human embassy - The citadel

Shepard

Victory…

They had achieved what would have been seen as impossible mere days ago.

Saren had been deposed of his power amongst the council and he was now on the run.

Shepard would have seen it as fitting to celebrate the occasion had fate not decided that his reward for a job well done had to be more work for the commander.

Right after the meeting with the council had ended and his protoss ally was escorted by C-sec to 'have a friendly chat with the councilors' he had been instructed by Anderson and Udina to take his team to the human embassy until a vessel had been procured for him and his new crew.

Speaking of which…

It had been a couple of hours and in the meantime he had retreated with his human companion to deliberate on a certain topic.

"Do you think this is a good idea, commander?" Ashley asked as he bumped her elbow against him as she did not agree with what the commander intended to do.

"I'm not opposed, commander. But they aren't alliance, sir" Kaidan added as his misgivings against what shepard intended to do contradicted alliance doctrine.

Unfortunately for both of them, the commander had made up his mind.

"Any ally in our fight against Saren is more than welcome to form part of my crew" Shepard replied to the humans at his side as the trio face another trio of individuals.

The non-human allies that had in one way or another aided in their fight against Saren.

Each of them had offered to aid in the hunt for the mad turian for different reasons altogether and Shepard had been all too eager to accept their offer as he knew that any ally against Saren and his geth were more than welcome.

But he needed to know first what each of them was capable of and why they wished to join his cause.

First there was Garrus Vakarian.

"Officer Vakarian" Shepard began "Your help in unveiling Saren's conspiracy was more than welcome. But why do you want to continue the hunt for him? I'm more than sure that your work here in C-sec will keep you tied down with trying to find any more of Saren's conspirators across the citadel".

Garrus pondered the commander's question for a second and gave him an answer that surprised the commander "I simply cannot allow something so important in the hands of others, commander" he then crossed his arms "And C-sec? They are too conservative to do what must be done to get the job done. If leaving C-sec to follow a spectre around will put a stop to Saren and restore the good name of turians everywhere then so be it".

Wrex visually scoffed at Garrus' resolve while also shaking his head.

Shepard focused once more on the turian "Your reasoning is more than sound and I wouldn't be in favor of leaving you on the cold should you leave C-sec. Since I already know what you are capable off I don't see it as necessary to ask anything more of you" Shepard then extended a hand to the turian "Welcome aboard, Vakarian".

Garrus shook the commander's hand without a second thought "You won't regret this, Shepard".

He nodded and as Garrus took a place next to Kaidan, Shepard's gaze met with that of a very eager krogan.

Wrex was a loose cannon and Sheaprd knew this.

From the little he had managed to dig out on the old kogan, he had been one of the most accomplished krogan mercenaries in the galaxy as his record on that front was a long and steady stream of successes and victories.

But… Shepard could somehow feel that all of this meant nothing to the krogan.

There was something more…

"Wrex" Shepard began "I know that you are more than capable of making a difference in our fight against Saren. But I just have to ask one question before I allow you join us" the commander looked for any indicators of emotion within the krogan but found none "Why do you wish to join us?".

To Shepard's surprise, the reaction of the krogan was… favorable.

He smiled.

"For the fun of it, I guess" Wrex replied plainly.

This was a lie and Shepard could see that, but he knew that he wouldn't get more out of Wrex at this moment.

He nodded and motioned for the krogan to join them. The krogan did this as he took a place next to the glaring Ashley.

And then there was one.

Shepard did not know what to make of the sole remaining person who had not been yet accepted into his crew as he knew close to nothing about the quarian in front of him.

He would need to access her skills…

The commander took a step forward and looked at the girl "Tali?" Shepard called for the quarian as he could see that she was rapidly gazing at his other companions while rubbing her hands in what must be a nervous tick.

Maybe it would be best if he spoke with her alone.

"Can the rest of you give us a moment?" He asked the other people in the room as he turned towards them.

"Sure, commander" Kaidan said as he motioned for the rest of them to follow him outside.

Once everybody had left the office he was left alone with a more relaxed quarian.

"Okay… Now that we are alone you can speak your mind" Shepard began as he turned to the quarian and could perceive that she remained slightly nervous "What is your reason for wanting to join our mission?".

"I-I…" she gathered her valor and spoke "Do you remember when I tried to explain to you what our pilgrimage was?" The commander nodded to this "Well, it's a tradition in which one of our people leaves the fleet until she can bring something of value back home. Ships, parts or even information can be sufficient to complete our pilgrimage" she began to look at her hand as she explained this "Something tells me that if I follow you in this mission I may find what I have been looking for: A gift for my people".

Shepard found himself surprised by this confession and understood that asking this of him was something that required a lot of valor on her part.

He knew that this quarian would put too much at risk if she decided to follow him and his team on their hit for Saren.

…

But this was the kind of person he wanted in his crew.

"Before I tell you if you can join us or not… What can you do? What are your skills?" Shepard asked as he had no idea what quarians were even capable of.

"I am was given training by the marines back in the flotilla so I can hold myself well enough in a fight" she extended her hand and activated her omnitool and began to write on it "I also have certain expertise in cyberwarfare and I know my way around most systems used across citadel space".

Shepard felt as his omni-tool vibrated as if he had received a message.

He opened it and saw a notification with a message attached to it "Having a good day? :3" Shepard turned to the quarian with a smile and saw that she had an aura of smugness around her "Do you know its illegal to hack into the property of a spectre while on council space?".

"I-I… sorry I didn't. Oh, kheela…" Tali began to act all flustered because of this.

Shepard had made up this claim just to play with the girl as he didn't even know what spectres were even allowed to do.

"I'm just messing with you" Shepard said as he gave her a hearty chuckle "Anything else you can do?".

Tali began to rub her hands while nodding "If anything else I am proficient in repairing and maintaining ships".

That sounded good enough for him.

Shepard extended a hand to the quarian "Welcome aboard".

Tali just grabbed his hand with the tip of her fingers and shook it slightly.

At that moment shepard felt as his omni-tool vibrated once again "Was that you?" He asked the quarian.

She just shook her head in denial.

Shepard turned to his omni-tool with a weary eye and saw the recipient of the message.

It was addressed by Anderson.

The commander opened the message and combed through its content.

"Fuck…" He cursed as he read the message while Tali tried to peek at what the commander was reading "It would seem that we got ourselves a vessel. Though I don't like the sound of what I read…" Shepard glanced at the quarian and motioned for when to follow him as they would now make their way to their new vessel.

The Normandy.

A while later

Udina was a weasel. Shepard understood this perfectly now.

How could that bastard relieve Anderson from his duty as the captain of the Normandy. This had to be a mistake.

"Are you sure about this Anderson?" Shepard asked his old friend as the captain had removed himself from the command of the ship in a surprisingly peaceful manner.

"I'm sure of it, son" Anderson approached the commander and his team and placed a hand over his shoulder "You know the crew and they respect you. My presence would only be in the way as you would most likely defer most of your judgment to me if you got the chance".

Shepard gave a heart chuckle at the captain's… at Anderson's response.

"I still don't like it, David" Shepard began to speak as his team waited restlessly for him to assume command of the vessel.

"Its fine, son" Anderson extended a hand to the commander as he wished to shake his.

The commander did not disappoint him.

"We will get this son of a bitch, David. I promise you that" Shepard replied as he shook his friend's hand.

"I'm sure you will" David replied as he let go of the captain's hand and saluted him and his team "Godspeed to all of you".

The captain ended the salute and departed for the elevator.

Shepard looked with shame as the captain made his way to the elevator and pressed the button to call for it.

As the elevator finally arrived, the commander was surprised by the sight of a tall figure as it exited the elevator and faced the captain.

Xiltar had arrived at the last second to Shepard and the group's surprise.

They had a little exchange as the captain lingered to tell something of the protoss and left only after Xiltar nodded in agreement.

The captain departed and the protoss approached them. The commander was surprised to find that the alien was singed and burnt in certain places while he walked in a slow and tired fashion.

Before Shepard could ask what had happened to the alien, he spoke first "I have returned to offer my service, Commander Shepard" Xiltar spoke in his mind as he approached the commander and handed him a tablet "With the blessings of your leaders".

Shepard took the device and began to read through its content.

…

"!" Shepard was surprised by what he saw and decided to read the content of the message out loud "... Due to the service provided by the diplomat known as Xiltar of the Ihan-rii mandate, the council has rewarded said individual with an exemption and pardon from his crimes of transgression and illegal entry into council space. This individual is to be therefore considered as a member of spectre's Shepard crew with both the endorsement of the alliance as well as the council".

Several gasps from behind him made him understand that most of the people in his team were surprised by this notice.

"What… How did you manage this?" Shepard asked, completely dumbfounded.

"And what is this about you being a diplomat?" Kaidan asked in turn.

"And why do you look like a rotisserie chicken?" Ashely andef in confusion.

"I can answer all those questions but with one answer…" Xiltar began as he raised a finger "I made it so you have to find only one turian instead of two… and the salarians are surprisingly curious. Huh, that made it two".

"What do you… You know what. Nevermind, this document is genuine and we have wasted enough time" Shepard said as he extended a hand "Welcome aboard".

The alien took a moment before he cautiously extended his hand and shook that of Shepard "I appreciate your cooperation. Know that my people will honor your aid".

Shepard just nodded reassuringly as he let go of the alien's hand and turned to the group.

"Ready to go?" Shepard asked.

All nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later

"Is everything ready, Joker?" Shepard asked the pilot of the Normandy after he had left his team to their own devices.

"Yes, commander" Joker said as the commander approached his side while in his military uniform "Can't believe what happened to captain Anderson. Survives a hundred battles and gets taken out by backroom politics".

Shepard sighed "What a disgrace" he replied.

"Just watch your back, commander. Things go bad on the mission and your next on the chopping board" Joker warned the commander with honest intent.

"I know" Shepard began "But Saren is out there. And we are going to find him, no matter what!".

Joker nodded at the commander's response "We are all behind you, commander. One hundred percent" he moved his hand towards a panel and pressed a button "Intercom's open. If you have anything you want to say, now's the time".

Shepard nodded and leaned in so his crew could listen to what he wanted to say.

"This is commander Shepard speaking" he began "We have our orders: Find Saren before he finds the conduit. This mission isn't going to be easy" the commander paused for a moment and turned to the crew of the bridge as they looked at him from the CIC "For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now its time for us to step up and do out part for the rest of the galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of!" the commander then remembered what he was fighting for "Eden prime was just the beginning. If we don't stop Saren then we leave the galaxy at the mercy of a mad man! When we go for him there will be an army of his followers in our path. But we will be ready for them" Shepard turned back to the console and Joker "We need to do this. Not only for us but all species in citadel space. Make me proud, people. Shepard out".

As the commander ended his speech some cheers were heard from the CIC as everyone of them waited impatiently for the journey to begin.

"Well said, commander. The captain would be proud" said Joker.

"I know" Shepard said as he crossed his arms "Our first lead is the location of Benezia's daughter. Take us to the Artemis Tau cluster, Joker".

"Aye aye, Sir" Joker answered as he began to coordinate with citadel control so he could lift the Normandy to its rightful place amongst the stars.

Shepard could clearly feel as the clasps that held the normandy in place began to detach and the vessel rocked as its thrusters began to take the task of keeping the vessel afloat.

A brief motion made the whole crew move as the vessel began to leave port while moving backwards.

Not long after, the vessel left the confines of the citadel and began its voyage into the unknown.

But fate wasn't done with Shepard that day…

An hour later…

Shepard had been dreading this moment.

He had done almost everything in his power to avoid it.

The commander had done what most would have thought impossible: he uncovered a conspiracy to destroy the galaxy while also achieving the position of a spectre while also being a seminal figure in the first contact with a race of ancient aliens who return to the fold.

But destiny had something else in store for him.

The commander was tired…

As tired as any reasonable person could be.

And as tired as the rest of his crew was.

The journey to the cluster they intended to visit would be a long and heavy one. He had some time to kill while they went to investigate the whereabouts of this doctor T'soni.

So the commander had first checked in with his crew to see how they were doing.

Alenko was eager and ready to aid him at a moment's notice, due in great part to what they had both experienced first hand on Eden Prime: the threat that Saren posed to any inhabited world. But Shepard found him more willing after the spectacle that had happened in the council chamber. He had hoped to speak with Kaidan for a while longer but the lieutenant excused himself as he wished to rest.

Ashley Williams was an old family friend. She was the woman who the commander had always had a hate/love relationship with but the commander knew that she was more than a capable soldier and he agreed to accept her request when she decided to tag along. Shepàrd dared to guess that the real reason as to why she joined him on this merry adventure was so she could save him in a heroic manner and as such pay the debt Williams thought she owed to Shepard's family for the sacrifice of his father and the liberation of Shanxi or maybe she just found the idea of rubbing in the fact that Shepard needed her help an enticing prospect.

Now ex-officer Garrus Vakarian, had not much trouble seeing as how joining the crew of a spectre would beat the dull line of work that he was offered as an investigator. Almost immediately after he came abroad he laid claim to the Mako that had been provided by the alliance and had only stopped tinkering with that thing after his body had told him that enough was enough and sent him crashing into sleep… When the commander had found the sleeping turian in a nock of the tank he heard as he mumbled something about calibration.

This worried Shepard.

As he found that the turian was indisposed to speak he then turned to another resident of the cargo bay, Wrex. He found the old krogan while he reclined against the bulkhead of the ship while doing nothing but count something on a pouch of his. As the commander approached he was surprised by the krogan as he handed him a coller and said that this was his pass for the ferry. Shepard opened the cooler to find three bottles of beer as a six pack was missing half of its cargo.

…

Shepard thanked the krogan for the gift and as the massive creature moved towards the elevator to find a place to sleep on the mid section of the ship he handed the cooler to him and asked the krogan to place them in the common fridge.

He did not want to be tempted.

Moving along to those that still remained in the same level as him, he turned to engineering to engineering as he owed the people who kept the vessel running a visit.

As the commander was introduced by chief engineer Adams to the rest of his team he was surprised to find that Tali had already integrated herself fairly well to the rest of the team after the commander had pointed her towards the location of engineering.

He was happy to see that the girl had found a place for herself amongst his crew but Adams had revealed to Shepard that she had only entered engineering after a couple of minutes of pacing in front of the entrance while she rehearsed how she wanted to introduce herself.

Adorable.

Shepard just chuckled and thanked the engineering team for their work and that should they need anything they were more than welcome to approach the commander and ask for it.

The fact that one person immediately asked for a newer model of coffee machine to the approval of the rest of the team was a sign to the commander that he only needed to do simple things to keep engineering happy.

A new coffee machine it would be.

He returned to the cargo bay after leaving the cheering engineers to their work and found that Garrus had most likely woken up and followed Wrex to the crew quarters or had most likely been woken up by the cheering engineers as Shepard promised them more and more luxuries.

The point was that Shepard found himself alone…

Alone safe for one.

Xiltar had apparently laid claim to a table next to the mako as he found the alien while working on something on the table.

Shepard wasn't sure how he had missed the alien in its entirety but he was surprised to find him in a more cheerful attitude.

At least he thought that was supposed to be cheer.

Regardless, the protoss spoke to the commander in a more calm and cooperative manner than what the human would have expected. He clarified the nature of the brief mission that had awarded him a place in his crew at the behest of the council and of the few details he had been allowed to reveal both scared and reassured the commander that his skills would certainly be useful in their future endeavors.

He also explained that he had been present in the cargo bay the whole time but found that the stares that were given to him were a little bit too much for him and had decided to remain concealed while the commander spoke to the rest of the team members.

The commander appreciated the honesty and the ancient alien had told him that he was currently in the process of trying to fix some of his own technology with what the vessel had on hand.

Shepard wasn't sure how successful he would be on that but decided to leave the creature to his own task.

The alien had pledge his services to his cause but the commander was still weary of his true purpose and he found it annoying that the alien was also capable of reading his mind as he had told him that indeed, he should not.

And then he found himself in Anderson's quarters…

His quarters now.

Shepard had been dreading this moment as he was about to do something he wasn't really happy with.

He approached the terminal and dialed a call for some people he needed to talk to.

He waited and waited as the call continued to be patched and as it began to take more time than usual to go through Shepard almost thought about hanging up, but as he moved to press the disconnect button on his screen the connection had finally been made and he found himself face to face with two familiar faces.

Two very angry faces.

The first was his mother. Hannah Shepard, the executive officer of the SSV Kilimanjaro. His mother was not glaring at the commander with her piercing blue eyes as she looked at him with a scowl.

She looked tired.

It may have been that she had a long day of work behind her or it may have been the fact that she had been trying to reach her son for the last couple of days.

She looked as if she would tear him a new one at the first opportunity she got.

The other face that welcomed her was unfortunately that of his sister, lieutenant Jane Shepard.

Even though she was younger than him, being born the same year as their father had died, she gave him a glare if she was also looking forward to kicking his ass after their mother had her due.

She had inherited her redhead from her mother, while her green eyes were apparently something from their father.

"John" Hannah began "I hope you weren't thinking of hanging up" she glared at his arm, still reaching for the disconnect button, sooo close.

He began to retract his hand and as he did so his sister scoffed at him.

"Well. What a coward we got as first spectre" spoke Jane "Seems that all you grunts are good for is making the day of the navy with stupid shit like this" she said while taking a stab at the fact that she had followed the same path as their parents in life unlike John.

"Jane, we spoke of this" intervened Hannah as she didn't like it when they fought about alliance service

"Sorry ma" said Jane.

"Its officer ma to you lieutenant sweetheart" answered their mother as she knew that Jane was most likely making her call from the Einstein's mess hall, in full range for her crewmates to hear.

"MA!" Jane said as she turned as red as a tomato.

John smiled as he was about to make fun of his sister's situation "Don't you dare John" These words from his mom made him stop immediately.

"Yes ma'am" answered John.

"Good. NOW…" she yelled at him "You little shit thought you could just go MIA for god damm weeks without contacting either of us" she yelled at him. In truth he knew that she was just worried for him after the events of Akuze.

The down time he had been given by the alliance after the incident made the situation worse for him as he was haunted by visions of the incident and the best recommendation the psychiatrist he visited had given him was to do some soul searching and connect with his roots.

That had been a mistake

He was found a few days later by captain Anderson. Bloody and beaten to a pulp in one of London's many pubs.

He had gone there in order to try and connect with his father's roots, but found that the barkeep wasn't too keen on serving another Shepard.

His father's tab was still an unresolved issue.

"I'm sorry ma'am" began John "but my missions…".

"YOUR MISSIONS MY ASS!" yelled Hannah back, pissed. "You know I have to check on you in order to make sure you aren't doing something stupid again!" she continued as she referred to what had happened at the bar "You fucking asshole told the barkeep your intention was to leave another Shepard's tab unpaid. What the fuck could you mean by that?!" he had truly fucked up with that one.

"I'm sorry ma'am" replied John once again.

"And the only answer about where the fuck you were is a message from uncle David saying: 'Sorry to call you so late, but there's been a situation with John where he almost died. BY THE WAY, he might be possessed by an ancient spirit from who knows where. I will see you at the next family meeting. Thanks, love you' what kind of sick joke is that, baldy" this time it was Jane, making fun of how he always shaved his head as a child.

His reasons for this were… personal.

"Jane, again with that!" spoke Hannah, now angry at both of her children.

"But I'm not wrong MA!" she retorted "Not only is this complete bullshit, but there's also the thing of him: One, waking up and not calling any of us. Two, going to the citadel were I was on shore leave at that moment and not calling. And three, being made a god damm FUCKING SPECTRE!" she ranted, not caring about the stares her crewmates were surely giving her " AND STILL NOT CALLING FOR FUCKS SAKE!".

John was impressed as his sister had been gunning for a promotion to XO of the Einstein but after this outburst he doubted that it would be happening in the near future, a smile formed in his face.

Hannah sighed "John, I'm sorry, but your sister is right" he found himself defeated "I will be on shore leave next week I will go to the citadel and I want to see you there to have a LONG chat with me" she ordered him, he wouldn't say no "Jane, our next family reunion is in a couple of months.. Try to not bring anymore "Soulmates" this time around" she answered as her sister had a propensity to bring more boyfriends and girlfriends than he could count with both hands.

"No promises, commanding officer ma" she said as she disconnected.

"And you, John? Please bring somebody" she almost pleaded as she hung up.

He was alone.

Alone and tired.

…

Shepard dread what was to come but found that his duty for that day was over and he would need to rest soon.

He got onto his bed and waited for sleep to take his consciousness to another place while his body rested.

And then the nightmares began.

Afterword.

Funny story, I never had a sister but always wanted one. Was always angry so I can understand that.

Now for the due answers.

Guest 1 - No

Kukuhimanpr - Was actually my first idea. It didn't connect well with the rest of my plan.

Guest 2 - Considering that we only get them until me2 with the shadow broker Dlc it has always bugged me as to why a reason wasn't given for their absence. Oh well, its absence in me1 kinda works for me.

RandomReader - He might have been chosen only due to the loss of so much of their leadership but he still cares about his people above all.

Guest 3 - No but with a frowning face :v

Oh and no geth this tim… /º\ GOD DAMMIT!

Edit - Cleaned up.