The Game Master

Mass Effect: What Came After

@Ambiguity Posted

Mass Effect: What Came After

Shepard nodded as she mad a video call to the Admiral. She quickly explained what she wanted and Anderson approved it without any fuss, it was why Shepard liked him so much, the lack of bullshit he made people go through to get things done. A few moment's later and Shepard's omni-tool blipped, alerting her to a message from Admiral Anderson, the authorization to leave her quarters in the DID Agent's custody.

"Come on, I know just the place," Shepard inclined her head towards the door. Shepard was saluted by every member of the Alliance military that they passed, it was clear her reputation among the troops remained untarnished, even if that wasn't the case with Alliance brass.

Eventually they found their way to a little hole in the wall bar that seemed to primarily cater to Alliance soldiers. Loud music, dancers and dim lighting made it easy for them to fit in. Shepard and Anderson came here to talk in private so she knew it was a safe place to bring the DID agent. They took a booth in the back away from other patrons where they wouldn't be disturbed and they'd easily be able to tell if someone was trying to listen in on them.

"What questions do you have for me about Cerberus? I want to make one thing very clear, I worked with them not for them."

Mass Effect: What Came After

@Ambiguity Posted

Mass Effect: What Came After

Shepard listened with rapt attention as Agent Bellastrum briefed her on the situation, well briefed her as much as she was willing at this point in time. Shepard was certain the DID agent was not sharing everything and given the situation the Commander was in, that couldn't be helped. She took the data pad when offered and flipped through the images, enlarging certain things she spotted on the images for a better look. She made small "hmm" sounds as she looked over the files on the data pad. She finally scrolled to image thirteen and as she suspected, just as Agent Bellastrum obviously suspected, was the unmistakable Cerberus logo, if only partially visible.

Shepard's green eyes focused on Bellastrum's for a moment, fixing her with an intent gaze, trying to discern something from the woman. Perhaps if she should trust the DID, they were another branch of the Alliance afterall, and sharing information about Cerberus could land her in more hot water.

"I believe we go have a lot to discuss," Shepard admitted before glancing around the room. She picked up the pristine ash tray on the coffee table and flipped it over for Bellastrum. An obvious listening device was stuck to the underside as though Shepard would not have though to check for bugs in her room, it wasn't even a good attempt at hiding it really. "Perhaps here is not the best place. I'm sure Admiral Anderson would be amenable to allowing me to have some free time outside of my quarters."

Mass Effect: What Came After

The Collectors had been destroyed, and Shepard had been on her way to turn the Normandy and her crew over to the Alliance when Admiral Hackett sent her a message, requesting her help in the Batak system. She of course agreed, as she was technically still outside of Alliance channels and they needed to keep this assignment that way. Oh how she wished now that she had insisted it been an officially sanctioned mission by Alliance brass. Even if it had been she doubted it would have improved her current circumstances by much.

She had been immediately placed under house arrest when she returned to Earth. She was waiting to stand trial for working with Cerberus and for causing the destruction of the Bahak system and its 300,000 batarian colonists. She was stripped of her rank and title, for the time being anyway. Granted, almost everyone still called her Commander. She was confined to her quarters for the most part, permitted to leave for meals and if she was summoned by Alliance brass for some meeting. Not that she wanted to leave her quarters much anyway. She'd fallen into a bit of depression when they took the Normandy away from her.

The crew of the Normandy had not kept in touch with the Commander. She knew it was because her communications were being tracked and no one wanted to be on Alliance brass radar anymore than they already were. No, for the time being it was best to distance oneself from the Commander.

Shepard had the option to customize the quarters she'd been given but felt no need, it wasn't like she was going to live her forever, no matter how much it felt like that. The apartment was sparsely decorated with functional furniture. A coffee table and some chairs, a small dining table and the bedroom had a single twin bed and a small desk with an extranet terminal. Shepard knew every stroke she made on the GUI interface would be relayed back to high command and so spent little time on it. In all honesty, she was beginning to feel like a caged animal.

The Alliance had started to take her warnings about the Reapers a little more seriously but not as seriously as Shepard would have liked. They needed to be making alliances with the other races, not investigating the role the Normandy had in destroying the collector base or the Bahak system (which had been necessary to stop the imminent Reaper threat). She rarely got visitors and had almost forgotten that Agent Bellastrum would be stopping by to see her from DID.

Shepard was wearing the new Alliance "fatigue" uniform, muted tones of navy blue with shoulder pads that extended just beyond the edge of the shoulder with gold trim. She wore the sleeves rolled up revealing the white underside but it was still in regulation. Her boots were polished to a mirror like sheen, she hadn't had time to pay that much attention to her boot polishing when serving on the Normandy, there had been other priorities. Here she wasn't constantly getting mud and blood all over her boots so they stayed shined longer, leaving her with less things to do during the day. Her auburn hair was slightly too long to be worn down according to Alliance regulation but she didn't care, it was too short to pull back into an effective bun. All that mattered to Shepard was that her hair was out of her bright green eyes, it was a habit of always needing to be able to see what was going on without wiping hair out of her face to do so.

When the intercom rang to let her know that agent Bellastrum had arrived she didn't respond, simply buzzed the agent in and waited. She offered the agent a salute when she entered though she technically wasn't required to with her current status in the Alliance up in the air. "Agent Bellastrum," Shepard stuck her hand. "Commander Shepard. How can I help you?" She wasn't entirely sure what DID wanted her assistance with but she had nothing better to do than talk to them so why not?

Shepard motioned her over to the couch so they could sit, no need to stand and talk when there was a perfectly good and hard couch to sit on.

Mass Effect: What Came After

I got a little carried away but here you go....

Name: Jane M. Shepard

Appearance

Class: Soldier
Bio:
Shepard was born on April 11, 2154, and is a graduate of the Systems Alliance N7 special forces program (service no. 5923-AC-2826), a veteran of the Skyllian Blitz, and is initially assigned to the SSV Normandy in 2183 as Executive Officer. Shepard later becomes the first human to join the Spectres, an elite special task force for the Citadel Council.

Both of her parents were in the Alliance military, her childhood was spent on ships and stations as they transferred from posting to posting, never staying in one location for more than a few years. Following in her parents' footsteps, she enlisted at the age of eighteen.

Early in her military career she found herself facing an overwhelming enemy force. Shepard risked her own life to save her fellow soldiers and defeat the enemy despite the impossible odds. Her bravery and heroism have earned Shepard medals and recognition from the Alliance fleet. Shepard almost single-handedly repelled an attack by batarian slavers on Elysium. After Shepard’s reported death in xxxx a monument was constructed to honor the hero of Elysium, proceeds from the memorial going to the Shepard Foundation, a charity for Alliance Veterans also named after the Spectre.

Shepard’s first assignment as a Spectre was to track down rogue Spectre Saren Arterius. The chase across the galaxy culminated in an attack on the Citadel by a Reaper, a race of sentient machine intent on wiping out intelligent life in the Galaxy. ¾ of the Alliance fleets were wiped out during the attack on Soverign, the Reaper Saren was working for, as the Commander gave the order to assist the Destiny Ascension and rescue the Citadel Council, later naming Ambassador Udina as a candidate for humanity’s new slot on the council.

After the attack on the Citadel, the Alliance sent Shepard to root out any remaining geth resistance. The Normandy was sent into a sector where three ships were reported to have gone missing in the space of one month. After four days of fruitlessly searching for signs of geth activity, the Normandy is attacked by an unidentified ship, ripping it apart.
As the rest of the crew abandoned ship, Shepard went to rescue Joker, who refused the initial evacuation order believing he could still save the ship. Unfortunately, a blast separated them just as Shepard managed to get Joker into an escape pod. The Commander's hardsuit was damaged by explosions and Shepard was flung into space, barely surviving the Normandy's destruction. However, the suit's pressure seals were compromised, and it is apparent that the Commander suffocated to death, coupled with the possibility of the hardsuit burning up on reentry to the planet below.

In an effort undertaken by Cerberus called the Lazarus Project, Shepard is rebuilt and revived, organically and synthetically. Two years later, Shepard awakens in the lab of a Cerberus space station, which is under attack. As Shepard moves through the station, the Commander begins to learn about Project Lazarus and the effort taken to bring Shepard back—with many data caches citing the immense expense of the project and that despite their efforts to make the Commander exactly as before, Shepard may have been inadvertently altered in some way. Shepard has also been referred to as "asleep" for some time by the Illusive Man, leader of Cerberus.

All the while, the entire populations of human colonies have been disappearing without a trace during the Commander's incapacitation. Due to the ignorance and political red tape hampering both the Alliance and the Council, Cerberus is the only organization in a position to combat the threat, and Shepard agrees to work with Cerberus to solve this mystery. Meanwhile, rumors of Shepard's apparent survival have mixed concerns. Some would even think that Shepard is undercover investigating the colony disappearances. Shepard assembles a new team with some old friends and discovers the colonists are being abducted by Collectors – EDI determines after some analysis that the Collectors were once Prothean but were repurposed by the Reapers. Shepard destroys the Collector base and turns herself and the Normandy over to Alliance authorities.

The Commander is on Earth and is placed under arrest, waiting to be tried for causing the destruction of the Bahak system and its 300,000 batarian colonists. Six months later, the Reapers launch an assault on Earth, having found an alternate means of entering the galaxy. Shepard and David Anderson escape to the Alliance-refitted Normandy SR-2, where Anderson recommissions and charges Shepard with finding help while he stays behind to lead the resistance

As the Normandy lifts off, Shepard spots a young boy who previously refused help, climb into a departing shuttle, only for it to be shot down by a Reaper Destroyer. Shepard continues to have recurring dreams of the child, seeing him becoming consumed by flames before the Commander can reach him. In one such dream, Shepard sees the boy run up to another version of themselves, before both of them are consumed by the fire.
Shepard then begins trying to recruit the different races of the galaxy, both to fight the Reapers, and build a super weapon known simply as the Crucible, the schematics for which were discovered by Dr. Liara T'Soni in the Prothean Archives on Mars. Unfortunately, the Illusive Man seeks to oppose the Commander's efforts while trying to find a way to control the Reapers.

During the final battle for Earth, Shepard is gravely wounded in an attack by Harbinger. After reaching the Citadel and dealing with the Illusive Man, Shepard is greeted by the Catalyst - an ancient A.I. that controls the Reapers. The Catalyst explains to Shepard the purpose of the Reapers and their cycle of destruction, and then states that Shepard has up to four options for ending the cycle:
1.Destroy the Reapers: Shepard need only shoot a key energy tube, causing a massive explosion. Using the mass relays, the energy fired by the Crucible would destroy all synthetics across the galaxy, including the Reapers, EDI, the geth and possibly the Commander as well.
2.Control the Reapers: Shepard would grab hold of two electrical handles, which slowly disintegrate the Commander's body. Using the mass relays, the energy fired by the Crucible would upload Shepard's mind as the new Reaper master consciousness. The Reapers would depart Earth, the mass relays would be damaged by the Crucible firing, and the Citadel remain intact. The Reapers would help rebuild the galaxy, including the mass relays, and the new Shepard A.I. would vow to protect "the many" – though its manner of carrying out this duty is affected by whether Shepard's Morality was more Paragon or more Renegade.
3.Synthesis: Shepard would jump into the Crucible's energy beam, which absorbs and dissolves the Commander. Using the mass relays, the energy fired by the Crucible would transform all life in the galaxy into a new hybrid of synthetic-organic life (with all individuals developing green-highlighted skin and glowing eyes). The Reapers would depart Earth, and both the mass relays and the Citadel would be damaged by the Crucible firing. The Reapers would work together with everyone to rebuild the galaxy, including the mass relays, and share the knowledge of previously-harvested civilizations.
4.Refusal: Shepard could refuse to choose any of the three possible options or shoots the Catalyst. The Catalyst would shut down the Crucible and leaving it unable to fire. The Reapers would succeed in harvesting all advanced organic life throughout the galaxy, allowing the cycle to continue.

Shepard, suspecting that she might be indoctrinated like she believed the Illusive Man to be opts for the destroy option, believing that other civilizations would not have built a weapon purposefully to destroy all synthetics, only the Reaper threat.

Mass Effect: What Came After

I did not get the mention. I don't think it works if it's in the first post. I'll rely sometime later today. Just got home from work.

xMissxMellox's Interest Check~ (F Looking for M! (Ignore post count!))

@xMissxMellox Are you still interested in your teacherxstudent pairing?

Mass Effect Romance RP

Just bumping for good measure

Mass Effect Romance RP

Just gonna bump this up again