Mass Effect: After the Smoke Falls

Reunion Pt. 2

Shepard walked over the the Galaxy Map, noting that Samantha Traynor, the communications specialist, was not at her post.

“Joker, set a course to Tuchunka.” He said.

“Aye-eye sir.” Said Joker’s voice. Shepard looked around, seeing the crew that served with him to the bitter end, and noticed that they seemed not to care of the hell they had been through. They talked as if they were standing at a balcony on the Citadel on a peaceful morning. Peaceful mornings. Shepard never had a real peaceful moment ever since he was 16 years old when his parents were killed by batarian slavers on Mindoir. He sighed, knowing that the past was over, then he decided to go check on the crew. He walked over to the elevator and headed to the crew deck.  The first sign of the crew deck he saw as the elevator doors slid open was the memorial wall. Every name of Crewmembers on the Normandy, members of Shepard’s squad, or Alliance officials were on the wall. In the center was Anderson’s name, below it, a saying in ancient Latin;

Ad astera per aspera.

Shepard touched Anderson’s name, knowing that the only way to see his old friend again was in death. He looked on the two lists of names on either side and spotted names of those he cared for most and who died during his time on tour;

Miranda Lawson

Thane Krios

Ashley Williams

Mordin Solus

Legion

Tears brimmed at Shepard’s eyes.’ Why me and not them?’ he thought to himself. Why did he have to live while so many others’s died? He looked around, then decided he should go talk to some of the crew. He decided to talk to Robert, since he still knew very little of his clone. He walked into life support and saw Robert doing maneuvers with a small Katana, one very similar to Cerberus assassin’s Kai Leng.

“Heard you come in.” said Robert. “You’re not that sneaky to be honest.”

“I usually throw people across the room with my biotics. Causes enough of a distraction to do some damage,” Shepard replied. “I’m guessing that your VI training gave you a bit more cunning than I did.”

“You could say that.” Robert said as he twisted his wrist, causing the sword to twirl like a propeller. “I’m part of the N7 Slayer group.”

Shepard nodded. “So you’re a Leautenant?”

Robert chuckled. “Yeah. Hackett saw my potential seeing as I am almost a perfect carbon copy of you, so he decided to have two Shepards in the Alliance. Is there something you wanted ?”

“Just checking up on the crew,” Shepard explained. “I still don’t know that much about you.”

Robert stopped practicing  and placed his sword on a shelf. “Sit down, I’d probably being  doing the same thing in your shoes.”

“That’s one question I have.” Shepard said as he sat down. “What makes you and me so alike?”

“Other than we are almost twins and we have L5x implants?” Robert asked. “A few things. The VI put a few things that are true about you in my ‘life’.”

Robert explained to Shepard about his VI life. Robert was ‘born’ on Mindoir, lost his parents at the age of 16, and joined the Alliance a few years later. Then things took a turn south; Instead of being a war hero of the Skyllian Blitz like John, Robert was ruthless, sending ¾ of his squad to their deaths and killing Batarian slavers who surrendered.

“I’m not proud of what I did, even though it wasn’t real in real life,” Robert explained. “But at the time it seemed like the right thing, y’a know? Get the job done first, think about the consequences over a glass of whiskey at a bar.”