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Shepard is a genius, violent machine, ready to bring his boots down on the corrupt, the evil, and the genocidal machines. What inspired me to write him in such a manner was Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
The Citadel
Council Chambers
"Councillors," he tilted his head down.
Each member looked tired in their own way. Udina's shoulders were slouched, Tevos seemed a tad slow to react, Sparatus looked even more dour, and Valern twitched, probably from one too many stims.
"Commander Shepard, welcome. We will have to skip the pleasantries. We believe there is an AI core in the Citadel's heart," Valern explained. The salarian spoke far faster than usual, almost like Mordin.
"An AI core? Have you been able to access it?" he asked. An AI core of all things was not what he expected. But seeing as Reapers were AIs, they could have left one inside the Citadel to monitor everything.
"Unfortunately not," Sparatus continued. "The doors are made from relay material. We can't cut through it for now, but we are working on using the Keepers to get inside."
Spirits knew they had tried everything and almost brought a torpedo to blast the door open.
"There was a salarian that approached me to scan the Keepers after Eden Prime. His name is Chorban; perhaps his research could help," he said. It was illegal to scan the Keepers or bother them in any other way, but under the current circumstances, it would have to be lifted.
Tevos nodded. "At this point we'll take anything we can get."
"I have another lead to chase in the meantime."
"Godspeed, Commander. We'll keep you abreast of any developments."
—
Dr. Bryson's Lab
"Commander Shepard, welcome. I was delighted to hear that Admiral Hackett would be sending you to assist me."
"Dr. Bryson. The Admiral told me this was important."
"It is. Allow me to give you the rundown."
Dr. Bryson was the head of Task Force Aurora. Admiral Hackett had created it to research legends and rumors about the Reapers from before the galaxy had become aware of their existence.
Which had led them to Leviathan.
"Hadley, do you have the data?"
Shepard watched the assistant walk up to the doctor and pull a gun. A biotic ball slapped it out of the man's hand.
"What the?" Brayson was startled and turned back to see what the commotion was. "What are you doing, Hadley?!" he screamed upon seeing the gun on the ground.
Shepard had already slammed the man to the ground, searching for any other weapons.
"You shouldn't be here… the darkness can't be breached…," Hadley said with blank eyes.
Brayson put his hand over his heart. "My god. What has gotten into him?"
"I wonder."
Hadley kept repeating the same sentence in a trance. He was unresponsive to his queries, but Dr. Brayson had an idea.
"Could it be?" he muttered, walking back to the console. A force field appeared around the colorful orb on display. At that very second, Hadley snapped out of his trance.
"Wait, what happened?" Hadley shook his head, looking around. "Why am I tied up?"
"What do you remember?" Shepard asked. This was looking more and more like indoctrination.
"I remember darkness and cold, like I was somewhere else," the assistant explained.
"You don't remember pulling a gun on Dr. Brayson?" he asked to check for the man's reaction.
"What?! I would never harm him," Hadley denied, genuinely shocked.
It confirmed his suspicions.
"I do not believe it was Hadley, Commander." Brayson shook his head." The Leviathan does not wish to be found. The orb must have served as a window for him to take control of him to silence me," he pointed at the orb.
It had been in this room for months, which meant the Leviathan possibly knew everything he had uncovered so far.
"Almost like indoctrination, but it requires a constant connection."
"Indeed."
"Does that mean I am indoctrinated?" Hadley asked, eyes wider than the orb that had controlled him like a puppet.
"EDI, call C-Sec. Tell them we need scans for a possible indoctrinated human."
"Understood."
"We'll get to the bottom of this, don't you worry," Brayson assured his assistant.
C-Sec was quick to arrive and take Hadley into custody. The scanners had advanced enough to be mobile. His results were clean.
"Instead of indoctrination, it seems like straight-up mind control with no lasting effects," Shepard summarized. At least there would be no lasting damage on Hadley.
"Garneau," the doctor exclaimed suddenly.
"Who?"
"A team member. He went radio silent a short while ago. I just thought he was on a lead. But if the Leviathan can control people through these orbs, then he could be in danger," Brayson explained.
Shepard sighed. He already hated this Leviathan.
"Give me his location; I'll go find him," he said. Any clues about the Reapers could save one more life in this war.
"Mahavid, an asteroid mining site in the Aysur System."
"I'll pack up and find him. In the meantime, I'll have Alliance marines secure your lab. Keep those orbs behind the force fields at all times."
"Yes, Commander."
—
"Aren't we going to pick up Garrus and Hailey?" Ashley asked. Shore leave was cancelled early due to a possible lead on the Reapers.
Yet two members of their team were not recalled.
"No need. It is just a mining colony. There shouldn't be any threats except mind control orbs," he said.
He would have to make this up to the crew. No one enjoyed getting their shore leave cancelled.
"That doesn't fill me with confidence," Kaidan muttered.
—
He had to report the situation to Admiral Hackett. Just as he was done, Joker entered the comm room. His pilot was shifty for some reason.
"Hey Commander, can we talk?" he asked.
"Joker? Sure, what is it?" he asked, gesturing to the seat opposite to his.
Joker sat down, fiddling with his thumbs. "You know how EDI and I are getting along really great, right?"
"Yes?" He'd say they got along more than really great.
"Well," Joker scratched the back of his neck, "would it be too weird if we started dating? I mean, a human and an AI with a sexy killer robot body?"
Shepard tilted his head to the side. It would be a first, but there were weirder things in the galaxy.
"Jeff," he said the pilot's actual name, "I am dating a quarian, Hailey is dating a turian, and I had the misfortune of learning about salarians with a thing for krogan and that they have a fan club of me. Believe me, you dating EDI isn't any weirder or more taboo than any of that."
The only phenomenon that could be labeled as weird when it came to interspecies relationships was the asari mind sex.
"Wow, thanks, boss. I actually feel a lot better now."
"Then go ask her out next time we are ashore."
"Got it, thanks again."
—
He was in his room, working on the black hole projector when Javik came.
"Commander, do you have time?" he asked from the door.
"Javik, come in."
"I wished to thank you," the prothean said.
Shepard raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"I am sure you will claim that the efforts of the primitives of this cycle were a part of it too; defeating the Reapers, once we have, that is, would not have been possible without you. I cannot bring my people back, but because of you, I can avenge them."
Javik's words stunned him. As the last of his race, the only thought that kept him going was revenge. When he avenged his people, there would be nothing holding him from ending his life. He didn't want the last protean to go out in that manner.
"You are welcome."
Javik nodded. "Though, I do have one question."
Shepard rolled his hand.
"You have the mind of a great scholar, the greatest in fact, yet you risk yourself by choosing to fight. Why?" It did not make sense to Javik. Shepard's mind would be more useful in creating weapons that could destroy the Reapers with frightening ease.
The memories he saw and the tales he heard showed that Shepard could not be killed by any existing means. However, how long could that continue?
Shepard smiled. Most people were too busy gushing to ask why he was fighting at all. The Alliance thought it was to serve humanity; the aliens thought it was to serve the galaxy. "When you want something done, do it yourself, especially when your leaders are politicians."
In the end, all he wanted was peace. If he had to acquire it by ensuring there was nothing left to threaten it, then that's what he would do.
"Ah, I can respect that."
"How does being in this cycle feel so far?"
Javik smirked. He admitted that the technology was far more advanced than it was in the Prothean Empire. The disunity of the races was foolish to him, but he also conceded that it might actually win the war.
The races incorporated into the Prothean Empire all thought and fought like one. Once the Reapers figured out how to defeat one planet, the war was already lost. The empire could not adapt and was extinguished.
"You know, the hanar worship your people as gods," he said with a grin.
The hanar also called him an Enkindler reborn, but this was about Javik.
"Hanar?" Javik snorted. "They were nothing more than appetizers in my cycle."
Shepard chuckled. It would definitely be amusing if a fish gained sapience and worshiped humanity like gods.
"They call protheans the Enkindlers."
"How amusing. Perhaps I shall go and grace their world with my presence."
"They'll treat you like a king there."
"What of the other races? I did not have much time to read about their history."
"The asari are diplomats, with the most advanced technology before I came. The turians are a meritocratic military nation; the salarians are spies and scientists. The humans are all-rounders; the batarians were slavers before I razed Khar'shan to the ground. The volus are merchants, the krogan are a bunch of berserkers, and the elcor are miners."
His brief summary was overshadowed by the mention of Khar'shan.
"You razed an entire planet to the ground? I must hear this," Javik said, taking a seat.
He explained the chain of events that had led to the founding of the Batarian Republic. Starting from the Skyllian Blunder, with him infiltrating and annihilating most of Khar'shan's forces. Freeing the slaves and kidnapping the leadership of the hegemony before nuking another fleet to death, he had left a wreckage behind that had resulted in the Batarian civil war.
"I see why people fear and respect you so much. Had you been in our cycle, I shudder to imagine what you could have done."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"This has been most informative. Thank you, commander."
—
"Hey boss, I have a question for you," Vega asked him while they were sparring in the cargo hold.
"Go ahead, Vega," he said, ducking beneath a punch.
"I have been offered a position in the villa," his opponent said, blocking the light punches.
Shepard took a step back, evaluating Vega's stance. "About time."
"But we are in the middle of a war, and I don't want to leave Normandy." James took two steps forward, on the attack now.
"I'll sign up as your mentor," he grunted, pushing a hand away and tripping Vega.
James tried to right himself, but Shepard's feet stopped inches from his face. "Well, that saves me the trouble of asking."
"You are welcome."
—
"So you are my new comms officer," he said to the skittish officer.
"Yes, Commander, Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor." She saluted him, forcing her eyes to stay still.
"Right. Tell me about yourself, Traynor."
Her parents were originally from London but preferred the freedom of colonial life. They did not have the money to send her to a university. The Alliance, upon seeing her aptitude scores, offered her a full scholarship.
She was a part of the Normandy's retrofit crew. When she got along extremely well with EDI and the rest of the crew, the acting XO had offered her a permanent place on the ship.
The chance to work with Commander Shepard was an offer no sane person would refuse.
"Thanks, Traynor. Carry on, and no need to be so stiff."
"Yes, sir."
—
Aysur System
Mahavid
Shepard landed on the site with Ashley and Kaidan. It did not take long to figure out that the entire base was under the control of the Leviathan.
The workers were sluggish, saying Shepard and his team should not be here. They found a man that introduced himself as Garneau, but the face did not match the photos of the real man.
He still questioned the man, who claimed the Leviathan was a dead end. When Kaidan pressed him on the artifact, the Leviathan stopped playing the fool.
"Why do you pursue me?" it said with a deep voice.
Shepard crossed his arms, glaring at the creature. "So you finally decided to talk."
"Leave the artifact. You will not take what is mine," it declared.
"The rest of the Reapers are scared. You will tell me everything you know about them. Or I will take it from you."
He didn't have the time to play games. If this thing was a Reaper, which he was less and less sure with each second, then it would talk. If it wasn't a Reaper, it still knew enough to kill one.
Escaping wasn't a choice he'd give this creature.
"You. Shepard," it said.
"Yes. Now speak."
"There is nothing to say," the Leviathan growled. There was a high-pitched noise that shattered the glass and disoriented the team.
The Leviathan tried to run, but Shepard recovered quickly, slapping a stasis around the man.
"I was not asking. Since you are unwilling to talk, I'll find you and make you talk," he said. He pulled the man back, breaking the stasis, and knocked him out.
"What now?" Ashley asked. Good thing the helmet kept most of the noise out.
"Now, we find the artifact the real Garneau mentioned, along with him if he is alive." Seeing as the Leviathan did not control the real one, he was most likely dead.
He found Garneau at a different section of the mine. The man was dead for a while, lying next to an exact replica of the artifact in Brayson's office.
The miners most likely came across it while digging the asteroid. Seeing as it was not removed from the stone yet, the Leviathan must have taken control of the mining colony that instant.
He didn't have a forcefield on hand and improvised with a layered stasis. The miners snapped out of mind control.
They were thralls to the Leviathan for more than a decade, unaware of anything except a cold, dark place.
He ordered evacuation for the miners.
The Leviathan was looking more and more like a liability each second. If it didn't want to cooperate, then Shepard would kill it. If the Alliance wanted to learn something from it, the remains would have to suffice.
Fortunately, he had the firepower for it.
—
In the next chapter:
"So we are actually getting shore leave?" Joker asked, his arm looped around EDI's. It would draw eyes, but the people were too busy gaping at Shepard like a fish out of water.
"Yes. Anderson is letting us borrow his house," he said. He had been to the place a couple of times; it was spacious enough for the crew.
"We should throw a party. You know, relax before the big battle that will decide the galaxy's future," James suggested.
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