(I never got to try the Mass Effect trilogy when it first came out. The Legendary Edition gave me a chance to experience this masterpiece for myself, and it was everything I hoped for and more. What an incredible, emotional ride it was. I fell in love with the characters and the galaxy full of stories and lore. I guess that's what it took to get my writing spark back, but here I am, writing a story for the first time in a very long time! Hope it's a return to form, and I hope this is a good tribute to an amazing sci-fi adventure! This will be a short prologue, with the next chapter being the first complete one.

Enjoy!)

Prologue: Shepard

Beyond the open arms of a massive space station, the great emptiness of space, dark and swirling with the light of stars. An endless view she had spent most of her life gazing at, dreaming of possibility and adventure. Vast darkness that had filled with dread and hopelessness as ancient machines returned to the galaxy to fulfill their horrific purpose.

Against that endless dark void was the sight of Earth, burning in the fires of war and void of it's once-great life and splendor. All around that blue globe, ships in the thousands flew in the deadly dance she had seen so many times before. Facing an unyielding and insurmountable enemy, against hopeless odds and certain death, the peoples of the Milky Way stood together in defiance of a fate chosen for them long ago.

Far below, the bodies of an old friend and a determined adversary lay side by side, each their own testament to the will of humanity. The last words of a man who had never lost faith in her, still audible even now.

"You did good, child. You did good. I'm proud of you."

Behind her, a shimmering form of blue light, a voice that was a child's and yet was far more, echoing with a presence that stretched back untold millenia. A creation of beings of great power that had proven no less fallible than those that came after. A mind beyond that of mortals, dedicated to a purpose it could not fulfill, seeking an answer from the one mortal it could not break.

And ahead of her, a console, a beam of light, and a pylon. One last choice, placed upon her shoulders. A final chance to change the galaxy forever.

She looked upon the console, a means of controlling power beyond anything else in the galaxy. She remembered a dear friend in a life-sustaining suit, and a machine standing beside her. A race of created beings that chose their own destiny, and chose to live alongside those that created them. In the face of persecution, they had not faltered in that choice. She remembered the horror and devastation inflicted by a race of beings with too much power and no concept of life left to them, and the suffering caused by those who had tried to seize that power for themselves.

She looked upon the console, and saw it for what it was: a lie.

The beam of white light flared brightly ahead of her, a beacon of change and a future never before imagined. Life and technology merged into a form of higher being. But she remembered the joy on the faces of krogan as their race was freed from shackles placed on their future, free to begin truly living once more. The love and encouragement of a mother who'd given birth to her, raised her, pushed her to safety as the slavers came for them all. And she remembered an indoctrinated turian, pale as death, shooting himself to escape the twisted body and mind he was trapped in.

She thought of a photo of nineteen friends gathered together, of a family that fought for each other above all else- and wondered how much of that would be lost in such a future.

She looked upon the beam, and saw it for what it was: a curse.

Her blood-covered eyes turned to the pylon, basked in its own deep red glow. The end of the Reapers, an end to the war and the cycle of death and destruction. A sacrifice of a friend and a species. An aftermath that would test the galaxy further. A way to keep the promises she'd made.

All her promises but one.

The pain had faded, the choice made and her mind elsewhere now. One step became two, a slow approach towards the pylon. She didn't have to force herself, didn't have to think; her body knew what to do, what it had always done.

One last time, Janna Shepard advanced, raised her weapon, and pulled the trigger.

A Marine in white and red armor, her back against a nuclear bomb, fighting off enemies as she watched the Normandy fly off into the atmosphere.

Another pull.

A salarian doctor, giving one last smile as an elevator shut its doors and carried him towards the redemption he had long sought.

Another pull.

A kneeling geth, its torn torso patched with an N7-marked chestplate, its mind dispersed to bring peace between its kind and its creators.

Another.

An AI that had become as real a person as any of them, berating the man in the pilot's chair next to her, the affection clear in her voice.

Another.

An old soldier and dear mentor, leading his men from the front as he charged towards the galaxy's final hope.

Another.

The pylon ruptured, blasts racking it as a great charge of energy built up, the beam of light beyond pulsing violently and beginning to glow red as well. More explosions shook the floor, shook her, but she would not fall. She walked forward still, watching the pylon begin to tear itself apart, her gun still raised to finish the job.

The shining blue eyes of the turian lying next to her, his arms the one safe place left in the galaxy. The man who would follow her through Hell and back for love, a love that she fought on for when all else seemed lost. The final promise he had asked of her as he held her close.

A promise to come back to him.

Janna shut her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Garrus."

She fired her gun once more, and felt the heat take her away.