Prologue -

Location: Milky Way, Arcturus Stream, Arcturus System –
Arcturus Station, Offices of the System's Alliance Parliament

Ambassador Udina glanced at the hologram in irritation before going back to the last two files in front of him

"Well, what about this Commander Johnathan Michael Shepard." He flipped the page to take a look at the candidate, one of the few that the other two members of the small committee had not already discarded. "He's a spacer, lived aboard starships most of his life. "

The dark complexioned man sitting next to him shrugged. "Military service runs in the family. Both his parents were in the navy. His mother is currently serving as Executive Officer on board the SSV Kilimanjaro. His father was a marine, killed-in-action at the fighting on the colony of Mindoir."

Udina looked over at him. "Mindoir? That was the Batarian's, yes?"

Captain Anderson nodded. "It was a mess. The colony was practically wiped out. "

Udina went back to the file. "Signed up for military service at the age of eighteen, volunteered for mission to Akuze."

The hologram of the grizzled Admiral Hackett grimaced. "Akuze was a slaughter. He saw his whole unit die there. He could have some serious emotional scars."

Anderson faced his superior officer squarely. "Every soldier has scars. Shepard's a survivor."

It was Udina's turn to grimace. "Is that the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy? Representing us to the Council in the Spectre's?"

Anderson turned his level look on Udina, dark eyes boring into him. "That's the only kind of person who can protect the galaxy. "

Udina flipped through the rest of the file, but didn't find anything else of note. Aside from Akuze, something that couldn't be laid on his shoulders, his record was nearly spotless. He had distinguished himself by completing the full training program of the ITC, Interplanetary Combatives Training, at a record pace, gaining his N5 designation nearly 6 weeks earlier than anyone else on record. The Commander had earned excellent marks in hacking, stealth, marksmanship, and close quarter combat. His marksmanship was still among the highest on record. He earned his N6 designation in the Attican Traverse, where he put that sharpshooting skills to good use, fighting in four separate engagements against a mercenary company, the Hell Harvesters. The squad had documented 25 confirmed kills to his name, including the three most senior ranked officers of the mercenary company. At the end of that tour, he had received the highly coveted N7 designation, ranking him as one of the best of the best.

Udina flipped to the second filed on this data pad and immediately frowned. "Major Rhiannon Llewelyn-Shepard?" He looked up at Admiral Hackett. "Is this a joke?"

"I assure you it's not, Ambassador, Admiral." Said Anderson. "To the best of our knowledge, they are entirely unrelated, though they have met." He had a look in his eye that meant he knew something, but wasn't telling. Hackett grunted.

"She grew up in the colonies, originally from…." He trailed off.

Anderson finished for him. "Mindoir. She knows how tough life can be out there. Her parents were killed when slavers attacked the colony. She was one of the few the marines were able to save."

Admiral Hackett had apparently skipped farther ahead. "I think you will like this one, Ambassador. I do. She was on shore leave on Elysium during The Blitz. Distinguished herself by holding off enemy ground forces at the main spaceport until reinforcements arrived. Arguably, she's the reason Elysium is still standing."

Udina read through the report on The Skyllian Blitz. The Blitz had been a major assault on the human colony of Elysium, where pirates, slavers, and Batarian warlords had launched an attack on the Skyllian Verge. It had been caused by the rising tension over human expansion into the Verge, as well as the System Alliances campaign to suppress the repeated pirate attacks through the area.

The Major had apparently rallied the civilian defenders to hold the colony, keeping the majority of the attacking forces from cracking the meager defenses, and keeping the spaceport from being overrun. When they did crack, she had nearly singlehandedly sealed the breach herself, and held it until reinforcements, Marines from the SSV Agincourt landed to relieve her and the other survivors. She was a biotic, able to use…well, Udina wasn't a scientist, but they somehow could use and control Mass Effect fields to create telekinesis-like effects, able to lift and throw objects, as well as create protective barriers, even generating and controlling gravitational fields. It was rare in humans, though other alien races had them in abundance.

Regardless of how she did it, she had. "Well, you can't question her courage."

"If you are looking for a hero for humanity, you have her. She's perhaps the best we've got."

Hackett nodded his approval. "Prime Minister doesn't exactly hand out a Star of Terra often, Ambassador."

Udina nodded as he continued reading the file. Rhiannon Shepard had not progressed through the ITC program as fast as her male counterpart, but she had passed. She had received her N5 designation before the Blitz. She had been scheduled to go on tour after her shore-leave, but The Skyllian Blitz had put an end to that. Due to her actions during the Blitz, she been granted a field designation of N6, and had later also been granted that N7 as part of her later operations, including the capture of a rogue biotic alliance officer who had succumbed to some form of dementia.

Udina stopped, remembering something, and scanned back up through her medical history before relaxing a bit. Biotics required implants to be able to create gravitational and telekinetic fields, and he knew that some of the earlier implants had some extremely severe side-effects. She, however, had been fitted with one of the later LX3's. She would never get the power spikes some of the LX2's would, but she didn't run the risk of going insane or any of the other number of psychoses that plagued biotics with the earlier designs.

He shut down the data pad and looked at the other two.

"Well? Which one will make it past the council's watch-dog?"

Admiral Hackett shrugged. "Commander Shepard, Johnathan Shepard that is, has the most field experience. The Major on the other hand, has the fact she's already beaten the odds, even if she's slightly less seasoned. They would both be good choices in my book."

Anderson looked amused. "Why not put them both forward. "

Both the other men looked over at the Captain who just shrugged in turn. "Offer them both up. I understand that they both have been scouted by the Council already. Let the Spectre choose, if he has to choose one. He could decide he likes them both and keep both. And if nothing else, Admiral, it doubles humanities chances."

Udina thought about it for a moment, teasing the idea over in his mind. If he could sell it to the Council as not just that both were qualified, but as them deciding the kind of individual they wanted to see in a Spectre, then that might work. And if they decided by some miracle that both of them were Spectre material, that would send humanity leaps forward into actually joining the Citadel Council, and not just a government that had agreed to be bound by their rules.

"Fine. I'll make the call. "

Author's Note: I hope you have enjoyed this little tidbit. I currently have about 6 chapters written and am in the process of trying to proofread and edit them for release, and will publish them as soon as possible. This is my first attempt at a fanfic, so I apologize in advance for the abuse I may or may not inflict upon your psyche and upon your favorite characters.

This story is planned to be the first of three, covering all three games. I have thoughts on Stories two and three, but...well, you will just have to wait and see.

Again, thanks for reading!