Location: Local Cluster/ Sol System / Earth / North America / Canada / Vancouver / Alliance HQ

The day felt like any other ever since his arrival at his new 'lodgings' six months ago. The sun was up, people got ready for the day, and life continued on Earth as it always had, no matter the circumstances.

Shepard briefly reflected on the merits of what it might be like to have a 'normal' life before banishing the thought. He lived with enough regrets in his life. There was no point in further punishing himself with imaginary regrets as well.

Things could be worse.

At the very least, he had to admit that as far as incarcerations go, he got off supremely lucky. It wasn't the lap of luxury like the suite he stayed in on Illium, but his cell was certainly better than what Jack –a friend and former biotic convict– had to endure in her stay at the now decommissioned prison ship, Purgatory.

At least I don't have to worry about dropping the soap.

The water running from his private shower was barely perceived as his thoughts turned back to the last six months. He was allowed very few, if any, outside contact and had fallen into very a repetitive routine; when a man was forced to be left to his own devices, the darkest shadows of his thoughts rear up. And Shepard's thoughts always turned back to recent events.

After the destruction of the Alpha Relay and the Bahak system, including the lives of over 300,000 innocent batarian colonists living there, he immediately resigned as a Spectre to prove that the Council did not authorize or even sanction his actions. Soon after, he turned himself over to the Systems Alliance to face judgment for his crimes. The batarians demanded the Alliance turn him over to face their judgment, but diplomatic relations between the Alliance and the Batarian Hegemony were almost nonexistent. Without any treaties or conventions established between the two races, it was ruled in Shepard's favor that extradition was unlawful. In an attempt to ease the batarian rage, the Alliance offered assurances that the event was going to be treated as a heinous war crime, and that he, as the accused, would be tried as such.

Humanity's promises did little to stem the anger. The Hegemony tried to take their case to the Citadel Council not long after. However, since they retreated from Citadel space, the Council rebuffed their request, citing that the Hegemony was a rogue state, and no longer affiliated with the established laws of the Citadel.

Shepard couldn't help but marvel over the course of his luck since then. After surrendering himself and his ship, the Normandy SR-2, to Admiral Anderson at Omega, he was placed in segregated housing pending his trial. Lieutenant James Vega, a young Alliance marine, was assigned to 'watch' him. However, Shepard had the sneaking suspicion that Vega was sent to watch over him instead.

And it was clear why Vega was chosen. He was a big man, muscular, and obviously favoring physical strength over finesse and agility. With his size, he easily cut an intimidating figure that could give an elcor pause. Despite his daunting presence, Vega was still friendly and his laidback attitude was always welcome over the interrogators Shepard routinely had to talk to; especially Major Antella, head of the Department of Internal Naval Affairs, who apparently seemed to have some sort of personal grudge against both of them.

Vega wasn't exactly a disciplined soldier or model officer, but he wasn't lax in his duties, either. He escorted Shepard everywhere when he left his cell, but never really watched what he was doing. His attention was always on the world around them, even when they casually talked. If Shepard had to guess, Anderson was probably the one that assigned Vega his new duty.

Still, the young marine was friendly enough and proved to be someone to talk to, making his stay much more tolerable. And he didn't judge his actions, which was another plus.

Preparations for Shepard's trial were underway within the first month of his imprisonment. The Systems Alliance represented humanity within the greater galactic community. Since his crime was executed in batarian space, it would be the Alliance that would try him. However, he was also honorably discharged and no longer a serving officer within the Alliance, which meant he would not be facing a military court-martial. In light of that, instead of being tried at Arcturus Station, his trial would be conducted on Earth, in a civilian court with the Alliance overseeing the proceedings.

It was easily the talk of Earth, and probably one of the most infamous trials in recent history. Oddly enough, though, two weeks before his trial was to commence, it was delayed. And then it got delayed again. After two more months of constant postponements, some of which were due to odd and obscure legal technicalities, his trial was suddenly put on hold with no ETA offered.

Even Anderson had no idea why his trial stalled before it even began, which put Shepard at odds with the situation. On the one hand, he was glad that he wasn't about to be put before the world press as a mass murderer. On the other hand, he was forced to stay imprisoned until his trial commenced, which meant he wasn't going anywhere.

Another month passed by. He took to keeping himself in peak physical and mental shape. Routine trips to the gym that lasted hours, Sudoku or crossword puzzles on his downtime, limited visits to extranet sites concerning the field of biotics, and whatever else he could do to occupy his time… all of which led to his current routine.

It was four months after he turned himself in when he finally heard some news, though it wasn't what he had expected.

~o~O~o~

Two Months Ago

"So Shepard, did you hear?" Vega suddenly said out of the blue one day.

Shepard scoffed and didn't even look up from his terminal. He was reading the newest studies on biotics and trying to understand the latest techniques that were created not too long ago.

More than two years ago, he wouldn't have wasted his time on studying the subject as intently as he did, since he wasn't a biotic before then. However, that changed when his biotic ability was gifted to him by Miranda, a former Cerberus operative. She had led a project –code-named Lazarus– that was established with the sole purpose of resurrecting him after his fateful encounter with the Reaper agents called Collectors. During the course of the experiments, his own latent biotic potential was discovered and cultivated, allowing him to manipulate dark energy and the physical world around him.

Naturally, when he turned himself in, the Alliance removed and confiscated his biotic amp, leaving him unable to utilize the element zero nodules and biotic implants hardwired into his nervous system.

"Hear what? I don't even have access to news feeds on this thing," he replied.

"Batarians have gone dark," Vega continued.

That got his attention. Turning away from his terminal, he faced the lieutenant. "How dark?"

"No outgoing communications at all. This is all from scuttlebutt, amigo, so don't take it too seriously, but the Alliance sent a few recon teams in… just to see if the squints were thinking about making a push for war," Vega said.

Shepard frowned. "Vega, don't call them that."

The lieutenant blinked. "What?"

"No racial slurs. Bad enough I'm on trial for what I did to them. I'm not about to make it worse," Shepard said. "I know I can't order you to do anything, but I mean it. No derogatory remarks."

"I gotcha," Vega said.

"So?"

"So… what?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "What did scuttlebutt say?"

The big man slapped himself on the head. "Oh, right. The recon teams. None of them came back. Dunno how much we can believe, but I do know this as a fact: The Alliance is mobilizing the fleets. Even Hackett had to get back to the Fifth Fleet at Arcturus Station. Prime Minister Shastri is taking it seriously."

Shepard frowned. "Any unusual movement around batarian space?"

"They did say you were good, hermano," Vega said with a grin. "Nothing. Not a peep."

"They're not gearing for war, then…" Shepard replied before trailing off and furrowing his brow in thought.

While the batarians did have a fleet and army of their own, it was hardly comparable to those of the Council races. It was used more for their slaving operations or personal protection of their interests. If the Hegemony was really gearing for war, they'd employ the various scum of the galaxy they always associated with: mercs, pirates, or anyone or anything that was willing to kill for a quick credit. Even then, communiqués would be flying all over the place. Even if they were encrypted, some of the transmissions would've been intercepted and cracked.

"Is it just the batarian homeworld… or is it all of batarian space?" Shepard asked gravely.

At that, Vega shrugged. "Dunno. The geeks at intelligence are still looking into it. Last I heard, it looks like all."

Shepard rubbed his face and exhaled loudly. There was only one reason why the entirety of the batarian space would go dark so suddenly and without forewarning.

"Vega, can you get Anderson? I need to talk to him… right now."

~o~O~o~

Present Time

Four months. I killed 300,000 people and destroyed a relay, only to buy four fucking months.

But that news was two months old now Anderson believed it was the Reapers as well and confided to him some new information.

~o~O~o~

"Groups of batarian refugees are all over the Terminus Systems. Not just transients. Entire families. Civilians. Hell, we saw a half-wrecked cruiser ferrying in people by the hundreds," Anderson said.

"From where?" Shepard asked.

"They're flooding in from the Exodus Cluster. Alliance vessels were stationed there and they didn't care. They barreled right past. We actually fired on a few of them before they broadcasted an SOS," Anderson answered gravely. "They're all ranting about an alien species that's destroying Khar'shan and the surrounding batarian space. Accusations are flying everywhere."

"And the radio silence?"

"The Harsa comm buoy was destroyed and the Reapers set up a blockade on the relay. The refugees we have in custody only got out through dumb luck."

~o~O~o~

It was clear what going on and now the Alliance brass was taking notice. Something had single-handedly destroyed the entirety of the Hegemony Navy.

To Shepard, there was only one explanation: Reapers.

The batarians were being harvested. Or turned to husks. Or whatever the Reapers did when they arrived to start their cycle of extinction. The batarians were merely the closest. It was only a matter of time before the rest of the galaxy would follow.

Turning off the water, Shepard finally stepped out of the shower and finished with the usual morning rituals: brushing his teeth, shaving, and putting on a set of Alliance BDUs; the latter was courtesy of Anderson.

Better than those orange prison jumpsuits.

After finishing, he slumped onto his chair in his extremely modest cell and let the ache of his morning workout ebb away. His room wasn't bad, all things considered. His old quarters on the SSV Normandy SR-1 were smaller and sparser than his current accommodations.

Once again, he felt his thoughts roam and couldn't do anything to stop it. Even with the few freedoms he was allowed to have, there was too much time in the day and not nearly enough to occupy his attention. In the end, by himself, he was always alone with his thoughts.

Thinking about the SSV Normandy SR-1 immediately brought on her, and by extension, his, final moments. He shook the memory away. His new ship, Normandy SR-2, felt better in so many ways.

Not to mention my new cabin.

That train of thought turned into the one person that started to routinely sleep in there with him. Thinking about Miranda… like before, he pushed those thoughts away too. However, in its place, another train to his line of memories was connected: who Miranda had worked for.

Cerberus was a clandestine insurgency and terrorist organization that unofficially tasked itself with the protection and ascension of humankind, to rise or dominate above all other species in the galaxy… no matter the cost.

He had a brief partnership with Cerberus regarding the Collector threat out in the Terminus Systems. Colonists were being abducted by the thousands by a race known only as the Collectors. After his resurrection, he was tasked with gathering a team and the ultimate goal of stopping them. During the course of his mission, Shepard learned that they were actually repurposed Protheans that now served the Reapers to help judge the state of galactic evolution and determine which species would be suitable to harvest. The final result was the collection of genetic material of the chosen species to be used to create a new Reaper.

He accomplished his mission and destroyed the Collector base, hidden at the galactic core and only accessible via the Omega-4 Relay. Near the end of that final mission and soon after, he had, under no uncertain terms, told the leader of Cerberus, the Illusive Man, to go to hell. Needless to say, they severed any and all contact with each other. It was fortunate for Shepard in that regard. He was already on trial for his actions at Bahak. Associating with Cerberus, an avowed enemy of the Alliance, would probably mean he would be declared guilty on all charges, case closed.

I bet that smug bastard is still sitting his chair. Probably staring at my picture and saying: 'Oh, how the mighty have fallen,' while chain smoking and—

The beeping from the datapad on his table interrupted his less than polite thoughts. He picked up the tablet and read the time at the top. This served to breaking out his revere; he leaned on the frame of his window to observe the building across the way.

~o~O~o~

Author's Notes:

And away I go!

Here's hoping I get through this one!