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Geek's Guide to Thriving in a Low End Fantasy World, a Robert Baratheon OC SI in an AU, is 15 chapters ahead,
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—
"Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space, right after Commander Shepard"
Serpent Nebula
Widow System
Citadel
Shepard was housed at a penthouse, as the Alliance brass said this was the least they could do for a hero like him. Five rooms, a private pool, 24/7 room service, and a ton of other entertainment services, including an excellent massage service that did wonders for his shoulders.
He didn't mind it one bit, enjoying the soft bed and the luxurious food to his heart's content, knowing it would be a long while before he could indulge in comforts like this. He didn't forget his juniors of course.
His meeting with Udina was amusing to say. The man had acted like he didn't hear Shepard's barbs, wanting to get into his good graces no matter what.
Today, he was going to meet the Citadel Council to see the results of his medical examination, which wasn't going to say anything out of the ordinary, though he was sure the Council already knew that.
"Commander, should we leave now? We can make it there in time, unless you want to be fashionably late, sir?" Cole asked, stuffing his mouth with an Asari dish that tasted like chicken.
"No, we should go, I want to give the Council some grief too"
"Sir, yes sir" The N2's replied before starting to clear up the table.
—
Citadel Tower
The mighty Citadel Tower, where the Council roosted and dispersed their edicts over the galaxy, keeping the status quo that had served their personal, as well as their respective government's, needs.
Unless you stepped on their toes, the Council didn't really care what you did, as long as it wasn't out in the open. If you did, they would bury you under a mountain of sanctions, red tape, and if that wasn't possible, the might of the Turian fleets, the Asari's technological and economical superiority not to mention the Salarian STG and their Spectres would definitely ruin your day.
On a permanent basis.
Not that Shepard cared. Everyone knew what happened to the last government who thought they could play ball with him.
"Ah, Commander, there you are. This way please, the Council is waiting" Udina greeted him, his smile absent, most likely due to their previous conversation.
First impressions mattered after all, and Shepard made it clear Udina needed to get his shit together.
He nodded, following the ambassador in. At the entrance the secretary requested Cole and Morrigan to stay behind as they had no business, so it was only Shepard and Udina who went in.
"Welcome Ambassador Udina, Commander Shepard" Councilor Tevos greeted, receiving a "Thank you" from Udina and a nod from Shepard.
"Ambassador, Dr. Lysara and her team have finished their review of the medical data gathered from Commander Shepard and we called you both here to hear the results" Valern explained, glancing at the nonchalant human.
"Dr. Lysara, you may begin" Tevos said and all eyes turned on the doctor.
"Yes, but there isn't much to say, Councilors, we checked everything from his DNA to his muscles, skeleton, neural and vascular systems, we found nothing out of the ordinary. No illegal modifications, genetic or cybernetic, have been conducted on Commander Shepard"
"That is wonderful to hear, Dr. Lysara, thank you. Please relay to your team our gratitude" Tevos replied.
"Now, Commander Shepard we called you" Sparatus began, only to stop midword when he didn't see the Commander, who should have been next to ambassador Udina.
"What the" Udina said, searching for the Commander. His eyes widened with dread at seeing he was behind Council members on the podium, taking a photo.
Sparatus noticed Udina's look and turned back, bewildered at what he saw.
"What in the name of the spirits are you doing here?!" He squawked, shocked by the audacity. Tevos glowed with biotic, and Valern backed away. The Salarian was perhaps the one most surprised, as he was an ex-STG known for his observational skills.
"I just wanted to see if I felt superior looking down on people from here, and honestly I can't see it. Maybe it's because I am not compensating for something?" Shepard muttered, watching as the Spectres in the Council Chambers were alerted and got ready to intercept him
"Commander, please get down from there" Udina pleaded, a second away from having an aneurysm.
Shepard raised his hands in a surrendering motion and got down under the hawk-like gaze of the Spectres.
"You were saying something, Councilor?" Shepard asked once again standing next to Udina.
"Yes, well. We, as the Citadel Council, wished to thank you both personally and in the name of our governments for saving millions of sapients from the oppression of the Batarian Hegemony. No amount of thanks would be enough, as such we are offering you the chance to become the first Human Spectre" Tevos spoke with grandeur, the whole room stopped to listen to her.
"Wow, really generous Councilors, but I don't think the Alliance Navy would be willing to part with me that easily"
"I am sure they could be convinced"
"Perhaps if you agreed to Alliance's plans to clean out the pirate presence in the Terminus Systems, I could be a Spectre after the operations in that region are concluded"
"Commander, are you negotiating with us?"
"No, I wouldn't dare Councilors, I am just considering the Alliance's position in this"
The Councilors huddled closer to discuss, looking at Shepard every now and then.
"Will you take part in those operations, Commander?"
"Most likely"
"We will agree to the Alliance's request on the matter of Terminus, with our own terms of course, however we cannot be certain as to when those operations will conclude, as such you will be inducted to the ranks of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance in seven years, owing to the substantial territory of the Terminus Systems" Tevos explained. They were already going to allow the Alliance to conduct their campaign,
"I am sure they would agree to that"
"Excellent, the details will be discussed with ambassador Udina, you may leave unless you have anything to add?"
"No, that's all from me" Shepard responded, turning back and leaving to find his minions.
He made his way out of the Citadel Tower and headed towards the N2s who were chatting up with an Asari.
"Commander, I am Lerina, an acolyte of the Consort, Sha'ira. She wishes to extend you a special invitation to Consort's Chambers"
"Really? When?"
"Lady Sha'ira knows you are a busy person, so she leaves the choice of time at your discretion"
"I am grateful to Consort for her invitation but unfortunately I don't know when I will be back at the Citadel"
"I will inform her of this"
"Commander, did you just get an invitation from the Consort? Consort who is so popular it takes months to get an appointment and costs more than half my salary? That Consort?"
"Holy shit Commander, can we get assigned to your unit permanently?"
"Do you two think you can handle it?"
"Huh, good point actually, considering the kind of destruction you leave behind"
—
Alliance and The Council reached a decision after weeks of negotiating. Per the terms, the Alliance would handover several populated planets within the region to the Citadel, depending on which race was the most populous in the world and in return the Citadel would buy planets that weren't suitable to human life. Mining rights in systems rich with raw materials for shipbuilding would also be sold to other Citadel races, as their respective navies would need to grow and the Alliance would be allowed to build two dreadnoughts for every three Asari or Salarian dreadnoughts.
The Alliance would agree to allow free trade to flow in the region and the Council would fund human colonial development on several worlds.
Overall, both sides were satisfied with the deal, Alliance would get financial backing for the campaign and the rest of the Citadel new planets to colonize, not to mention the increased trade that would come eventually.
Alliance Navy did not waste any time and plans were drawn up by the highest echelons of the command, along with Commander Shepard since he had already proven to be a one man army.
Their first target would be Torfan, a pirate haven that was used as a staging point to launch raids into the systems in Attican Traverse.
—
Getting to Torfan wasn't simple by any means, as there were several smaller but still important pirate strongholds in the systems leading to Torfan.
Kepler Verge, Sentry Omega and Shadow Sea felt the brunt of the Alliance's counter attack first hand. Shepard was at the helm of each operation.
He infiltrated the large pirate base in the Kepler Verge, causing a meltdown in the reactor and neutralizing what defenses they had. It also forced the pirates out right into the waiting arms of the Alliance when the underground base began to run out of air. It was a short and bloodless victory for humanity.
Sentry Omega had several smaller bases spread all over the system, from an asteroid base to caves on the planets, and they all kept in contact with each other to avoid being taken by surprise. The plan was to cut off their comms and take the asteroid base fast enough to inform the rest of the bases that ships from the Hegemony would be coming to recruit anyone willing to fight for a hefty fee, as well as whatever slaves and loot they could pick up. Knowing how many already joined up with the Hegemony and seeing as the humans were coming, the pirates figured they could earn enough to retire. The ID Shepard stole from the Batarian SIU Captain had come in handy, as they used a VI to overlay a Batarian's face on Shepard's, and with the codes that the now defunct Batarian government didn't have the chance to cancel, the pirates were all too eager to board the Batarian ship the Alliance impounded several months earlier.
SIU's dealings with the pirates had become the latter's downfall.
What awaited them was rows of Alliance Marines with heavy weaponry.
Shadow Sea had a single base, hidden enough it required the interrogation of the pirates. They played it tough at first, refusing to sell out their pirate brethren, before Shepard threw the Turian insulting humanity out of the airlock.
The rest raced to be the first one to speak after that.
The base served as a trading post, where slaves, weapons, Prothean artifacts and everything worth a credit was sold. Unfortunately, infiltrating the base wasn't possible without an inside man to invite them, so a frontal assault was planned.
Pirate shuttles, controlled by a VI and loaded up with explosives were sent to target the enemy ground defenses, softening up the resistance.
Blowing the main door with a liberal amount of explosives, they had widened the entrance enough to pour two companies' worth of firepower to clean out the enemy combatants waiting for them.
They had cleaned out the base methodically after that, room by room, all the while ensuring the safety of the slaves in the base.
It wasn't easy and had dragged the operation out, but it had to be done.
The base proved to be a treasure trove, as several artifacts of Prothean nature, large amounts of credits, and intelligence on other pirate strongholds in the region have been discovered.
Which had led them to their next target, Torfan.
A moon of the gas giant Nymbar in the Karaht System of Styx Theta, it was a popular pirate stronghold where several Batarian gangs were gathered. Supported by the Helium-3 sources at both Nymbar and Donmazi, the pirates had used their earnings to fortify the moon rather than spend it for pleasure.
The surface was dotted with artillery, mortars, and air defence to shoot down anything small enough to land on the surface. The main gun of a dreadnought could easily clear them out but rest of the base was a different matter. The intelligence they had gathered so far pointed out that even if the pirates weren't a unified force, they could easily become one with proper motivation, such as an Alliance invasion. With its maze-like structure, clearing it out would extract a heavy toll on the marines, something Shepard would like to avoid.
"So Commander, do you have a genius plan or do we go ahead with an all out assault?" Admiral Hackett, the CO of the Terminus theater asked.
Shepard hummed, hand on his chin as he began to consider.