Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories you can read advanced chapters in my patreon page: patreon.com/Samael61
Her Eternal Excellency, a Genshin Impact and ASOIAF crossover, Raiden Ei Reborn as Argella Durrandon, is 15 chapters ahead
DCU:Blacklist, a Raymond Reddington inspired OC SI using his knowledge for his own advantage, as well as the rest of the world, is 15 chapters ahead,
Geek's Guide to Thriving in a Low End Fantasy World, a Robert Baratheon OC SI in an AU, is 15 chapters ahead,
Commander Shepard, The Greatest to Ever Live, a Mass Effect story where Shepard is greater than ever, is 15 chapters ahead,
Loki: The God of Magic , an OC-SI into Loki who is not aware of the MCU, is 8 chapters ahead,
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—
" Commander Shepard once had an arm wrestling match with Superman. The loser had to wear their underwear on the outside."
Styx Theta
Karat System
Nimbar
Torfan
The Alliance Navy, upon receiving the ready signal from Commander Shepard, bombarded the weapon encampments, artillery, and everything else that might pose a threat to the Marines as they landed on the moon.
Approaching the main entrance to the base in a controlled manner, flanked by armor and vehicles, the human forces did not receive any fire, as the Batarians were too busy shooting each other.
Commander Shepard stood at the door, helmet off, just leaning back on the door and playing something on his omni-tool, not a care in the world.
"Finally, I was wondering if you guys got lost." Shepard grumbled, shutting his omni-tool.
"Commander, how are things inside?" Major Kyle, Shepard's CO, asked, waiting for a report to decide on how to proceed.
"A mess, sir; they are still fighting, and the collateral damage is off the charts. Half of their forces have been wiped out, and they are out of heavy weaponry for the most part ."
"Good, any way to open this door?"
"I got the access codes."
"Alright, open the door on my count. Be ready to breach, Makos forward."
"One, two, three, now!" Major Kyle shouted, and Shepard opened the door, putting on his helmet and turning around to join the fray.
A Batarian, riddled with holes but somehow still walking, came out, walking like a zombie. Blood loss made him slow on the take, but eventually he comprehended that the Alliance was here in force. His eyes widened, and the wounded Batarian fell on his knees and then on his face, dead, with the last thing he ever saw being their mortal enemy.
"Move, move, move," Kyle ordered, and the Makos drove forward, providing cover for the Marines. They heard gunfire, but none was aimed at them.
—
Taking Torfan after Shepard was done with them proved to be a boring affair. With a lot of dead, wounded, and exhausted due to the infighting, most did not even bother to fight.
Each district was heavily damaged, and the Alliance forces took them one by one. The Sons of Khar'shan were the most damaged besides the Fourth Pillar when Shepard took out their weapons cache. Alliance moved on them first, Makos at the front, clearing out the twisting roads of any remaining pirates. Roofs were demolished with heavy weapons and sniper fire, rooting out any possibility of an ambush.
The Brotherhood of Kalen, with their automated defense systems to protect their drug production centers, had lost fewer members compared to the others, but their systems were in shambles. The Alliance, realizing it would be a costly fight, opted to hammer them from afar, reducing much of the district to rubble.
The third district, where the smaller groups were gathered, had fallen apart quickly, with the lack of cohesion and cooperation, and they surrendered, not as suicidal as some others, since they were mostly people who became pirates to escape their previous lives. That didn't absolve them of their crimes, of course.
The dump was much the same, and while there were diehards and racists who hated the Alliance, the rest surrendered, seeing no other way out.
The District of the Fourth Pillar was razed to the ground when they were attacked by the others en masse for selling Torfan out to the Alliance.
At least that's what they believed.
Most of their members were dead, sprawled on the streets and left to rot. Command had instructed them to burn the bodies to avoid having rotten corpses around while they secured the moon, which would take some time.
"Wait, I recognize that armor." One of the pirates—the shopkeeper he had bought the explosives from—said this as he was escorted near the other prisoners.
"You were a human?!" The Batarian was offended at having sold equipment to a human, no matter the credits.
"Yeah, you idiots were easy to trick, and look at you, you did the majority of the fighting for us, thanks." Shepard taunted, and the prisoners just realized what had happened.
"So the Fourth Pillar didn't sell us out?" A member of the Sons of Khar'shan muttered, all four eyes widening. Centuries of cooperation, and it all went down because a human fooled them all.
"Nope, but you sure as hell showed them, didn't you?" He smirked at the enraged Batarians, who started shouting and cursing at him. One of them rose to attack him before a Marine slammed his stock on the Batarian's face, sending him down on another of his kind.
"You are prisoners and will be treated as such, but the second you riot, all those rights will be forfeited, and we'll shoot you. So sit down and shut up." Shepard warned, a smile disappearing, a hard look in his eyes, threatening retribution.
—
Torfan's fall meant the end of the Batarian presence in the Attican Traverse, leaving the entire region in the hands of the Alliance. Hegemony, or what remained of it, wasn't in any position to retaliate with their civil war going on at full speed.
Terminus, weakened by the fall of the Hegemony and the departing pirates who went to fight in the Batarian territories for credits, was in a precarious situation.
For the next few years, until 2181, the Alliance started the Terminus Campaign, securing Mass Relays and clearing out any pirate presence in the systems. Shepard's feats in the Terminus Campaign were as legendary as his previous accomplishments, further spreading his fame.
There were entire pirate enclaves who surrendered upon hearing Commander Shepard was coming, some unconditionally, some demanding Shepard duel their leaders to decide their fate—the last one was mostly Krogan with a few Turians. Usually the Alliance would just take them on, but Shepard thought it would be much faster if he simply agreed.
His win streak lasted until the end of the campaign, winning thirty-four duels to the death.
But all good things must come to an end.
—
2181
Aboard SSV Orizaba
"What do you mean we are not taking Omega?! We can finish this right here and now, no matter how well defended the system is." Shepard was pissed that the campaign was coming to an end.
He had been called by Admiral Hackett while planning for the assault, only to be told the Alliance had declared the campaign a success and was ceasing all operations immediately.
"I am not supposed to say this to you, Commander, but the Asari Republics have sent us a thinly veiled communique, asking the Alliance Parliament to end our campaign "due to financial problems it would have on the Systems Alliance and the Citadel Space." Hackett told Shepard, as weary as the Commander was feeling.
He was surprised the campaign went this far without red tape, but eventually it would bite them in their asses.
"They are threatening us with our economy over a pirate den?"
In that moment, the ruling elites of the Asari Republics felt a shiver go down their spines, collectively.
"Navy Intelligence caught wind of Aria T'loak meeting with Councilor Tevos. We don't know the details of what was spoken, but it is no coincidence." Admiral Hackett shook his head, but with the amount of territory they had gained, he wasn't going to push it.
"So either Aria has dirt on the councilor big enough for the Asari Republics to intervene, or she is in bed with her." Shepard reasoned, as he doubted the prim and proper Councilor Tevos would do this just because the Pirate Queen of Omega asked nicely.
"Most likely, though we have no idea what exactly it is."
"Fuck." Shepard muttered, wondering if he should just go against the orders and take Omega anyway.
"That's not all; instead of just the stick, she gave us the carrot as well, promising further funding from the Republics for joint colonial development," Hackett added. He would have preferred to take Omega and the remaining pirate systems out, but it wasn't really worth it at this point.
"Wonderful." Shepard said, sarcasm dripping from his tone.
"At any rate, we are done here, but you still have much to do. There is a new project between the Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy, and you are needed there." Hackett had great hopes for the project, especially since it concerned Shepard.
"Understood, sir."
"And Commander? This conversation never happened." Hackett warned," No one would give him grief over disclosing secret matters like this to Shepard, but better safe than sorry.
"What conversation, sir?"
—
Jonathan Shepard wasn't the type to give in so easily and thought it would be a good idea to call Robert Carson, his friend.
"Commander?" A sleepy voice answered, and Shepard sighed, having forgotten to check the time since he was too pissed.
"Sorry to wake you up, Mr. Prime Minister, but there was something bugging me." Shepard said, but his tone made it clear it was more than just bugging him.
"The matter with the Omega?" Robert Carson replied, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He had—discreetly, of course—ordered a personal QEC to be given to Shepard for situations like this.
"Yes."
"Commander, I can understand your anger, but simply put, taking the station wasn't worth the trouble Councilor Tevos and the Asari Republics would cause us. What's more, at the rate our Navy has been growing in the last eight years, the funding they agreed to provide would greatly reduce our financial burdens." The Prime Minister of the Systems Alliance explained. He liked it no more than Shepard did, but you did not just ignore the premiere economic force in the galaxy without consequences.
"So, we are done?" Shepard asked for confirmation, a sour look on his face.
He lost, not to the Hegemony, not to the pirates infesting the Terminus, but to politicians.
"Yes, we are; however, as I am sure Admiral Hackett informed you, you are needed elsewhere for a much more important mission." Robert said. He knew if Shepard wanted to do something about this matter, they would be powerless to stop him, so he opted to change the subject in the hopes of Shepard finding his new task more interesting.
"Ah yes, this cooperation between us and the Hierarchy. What is that about exactly?" Shepard was curious about it, as the Prime Minister hoped; he was just frustrated with the politics getting in his way.
"A joint development of a stealth ship, which will be put under the command of Captain Anderson, and you as the XO. We weren't going to inform you until it was ready, but things changed with the campaign ending earlier than planned and the Primarch Fedorian insisting you to be a part of the development process." He explained. Shepard's connection with the Primarchwhich had stemmed from the Turians he had saved from the Hegemony—was a boon for the Alliance.
The usually frosty Human-Turian relations began to thaw when Commander Shepard received the Nova Cluster, straight from Primarch Fedorian on Palaven, where he had been invited as a guest of honor.
Primarch Fedorian, using the goodwill Shepard had unintentionally gathered from the Turian people, had decided to reward the commander with the highest honor the Turian Hierarchy had.
It was a calculated move on his part to improve the relations between two nations, and it had paid off.
Seeing their commander receive an award from the leader of the Turians made the citizens of the Alliance think maybe the birds weren't so bad after all.
Now, while they weren't exactly buddies, the Alliance and the Hierarchy had good relations, and the Turian Councilor and the Human Ambassador had been warned to stop their barbs.
"Primarch himself, huh? Alright then, I am interested now."
—
Post Reaper War Memoirs of Admiral David Anderson on Jonathan Shepard
"Shepard's advancement of the ranks was meteoric, having made Commander way before anyone else would have been eligible, but after that he kept refusing the promotions, citing he didn't feel ready for the responsibilities.
We all knew he just didn't want to stop going out to the field, and after he became a Spectre, it was a moot point for the Alliance.
Had he accepted, I have no doubt he would have been the youngest Alliance Admiral ever."
—
Notes: As I said, I didn't really want to drag out the Terminus Campaign and start the main story with the addition of Shepard being a part of the final stage of Normandy's development.