recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Javik

Javik is the last remaining prothean alive in the galaxy. He has a haughty demeanor and is a believer in "survival of the fittest" in all things. His distaste for all of the "primitives" surrounding him appears to be a combination of culture/culture-shock and a desperation to be seen as a dignified embodiment of the lost Prothean Empire.

### Prothean Cycle

Javik was born into a Galaxy already in a losing war, as had his parents. One of his first memories was seeing his planet on fire due to a Reaper assault.

Javik was an extremely talented solder, and was raised up as the "Avatar of Vengance" by his people. He would later tell Commander Shepard that he also once had a commanded a strong and loyal crew- until the Reaper's indoctrination turned them and he was forced to hunt them down and kill them one by one.

Javik was to be the leader of approximately one million prothean soldiers who would survive the Reaper cull by utilizing a hidden bunker and waiting them out in stasis pods. Unfortunately indoctrinated protheans betrayed this plan to the Reapers and the base was assailed. As thousands fell, Javik and his followers fell back to the status pods. Their VI "Victory" activated the neutron purge to destroy those enemies left in the facility. Unfortunately, the purge also compromised their plan of automatic revival- forcing those in the bunker to wait for an outside force to reactivate the pods. Their VI informed Javik that if that took too long, the VI would be forced to shut down the pods to triage those left.

## Every One That Asketh

Javik survived the Reaper War and found himself assisting with the rebuilding efforts of Earth in the immediate aftermath.

### Memorial Service

On December 7th 2187, one year after the official end of the Reaper War, a memorial service was held on the Citadel to remember all those lost, and to award those who had served. Some of the most highly decorated people from this ceremony were those who served on or around the *Normandy.*

Javik, along with crew of the entire *Normandy* SR-2 was awarded the Iridium Star for meritorious conduct beyond the call of duty in the face of the enemy by the Citadel Council, the Unit Medal of Valour, for extraordinary bravery and courage above and beyond the call of duty as well as the Star of Terra, for extraordinary bravery, self-sacrifice, valour, and courage above and beyond the call of duty, in the face of the enemy and in extreme peril by the Systems Alliance.

When it came time for Shepard to receive her commendations "For her contributions to ending the cycle of the Reapers", on behalf of the Prothean Empire Javik named Shepard the Avatar of Victory. Then he took one of her hands and placed the other on the side of her head. Much to his shock, Shepard bridged the gap between them and assumed the Mandle in actuality. Shepard had somehow become 'more Prothean'.
Chapter 83: Don’t You Ever Hesitate to Call

Mini-Arc: “Shepard on Trial” continues.

To take her mind off jury deliberations, Shepard and Tali talk, and the quarian catches her old Commander on what she has been up to: researching dark energy and what has been happening to the star Dholen. To that end, the crew of the Alarei traveled back to Haestrom in the Far Rim to gather data and salvage and supplies. On a derelict geth station they had a near-encounter with Minos. After deploying the satellites, they made a quick stop at an Alliance comm array for some schematics, then to the University of Apparitus where they speak to Professor Akil Carinii about using his data on Dark Switches and what happened to Turix. While there, Veetor solves the professor’s mathematical proof. The call does a lot to distract Shepard into lifting her spirits.
Chapter 2: Not Thinking

Warning! **Here there be spoilers**

### Summary

Shepard floats in a light between existence and non existence, relaxing in victory and not thinking. Admiral Anderson compartmentalizes his feelings with careful non-thinking, and receives word of something near a huge Reaper.

### Title Meaning

The idea of "not thinking" is repeated several times in this chapter- first by Shepard, then by Anderson.

### Easter Eggs

Anderson walking around on broken limbs is the second clue that something is drastically different in the *Every One That Asketh* universe verses the Mass Effect 3 endings (the first being the hint that EDI shorted out but was recoverable in the aftermath of the blast from the Crucible in Chapter 1).
Saris Turco

"G*ranting his co-conspirators exclusive access to every single Union government database in one keystroke was going to be, he expected, both the greatest challenge and the greatest accomplishment of his career."*

## Every One That Asketh

Saris was one of the STG co-conspirators to overthrow the Salarian Union. His job was to program back doors into every salarian government database while working undercover as a lowly grunt working the record-keeping night shift. He wrote thousands of programs the the space of approximately four months.
Chapter 15: See and Understand

### Summary

Garrus struggles with insomnia and mild hallucinations, desperately trying to keep his mind off of his fears and how much he misses Shepard. He thinks about the difficulties of leadership, and how she only rarely showed him how hard it was. When he finally does get to sleep, his dreams are disquieting.
Chapter 165: Every Little Thing She Does is Magic

Aelianus reassures Garrus that Akantha will answer for her dismissal of (and possible involvement with) the slurs left in front of the park targeting Shepard. Garrus wonders how he is supposed to meditate with how he is feeling and his father encourages him to think of Shepard and Vi. After Aelianus leaves, Garrus begins his *xalanlik.* He thinks of loss, of those who have already lost, when he lost Shepard and how Shepard will likely lose him one day. He thinks of love, and of being enough, and who he really is. Eventually Garrus falls asleep and the shadow sitting beside him leaves before he wakes. Shepard and Garrus separately stress over something going wrong on their wedding day, with the wedding party acting as support groups for each. Right before the ceremony Garrus and Shepard give each other their wedding gifts- a spanner from the SR1 for Shepard because of all the time he spent fixing her beloved Mako, and an Archangel pocket watch for Garrus- because he’s always had her six.

### Title Meaning

This chapter takes it's name from the 1981 hit pop rock son by the Police, in which the singer laments their great love for a woman, but cannot find the nerve to tell her.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

One's inability to breathe in sand, advertising jingles that live rent-free in our brains, and warrior unicorns.
Chapter 170: I Would Make a Very Bad God

### Summary

Shepard dives deep into the artificial ocean in grief, grappling with the realization that the man with the glowing green eyes who just tried to kill her and Garrus was her father. However, her implants don’t allow her to breathe underwater, and Garrus is filled with panic at the idea of her drowning. Both are shaky from their combat, injuries and fear- and as a result Garrus’ commentary is downright acidic while Shepard assists him back onto the shore and back to their cabin so she can patch him up.

On the shuttle back, the newlyweds discuss the impossibility of being found at their honeymoon destination. Shepard tells Garrus that she recognized the man who attacked them as her father due to his voice inside her head- speaking like they can. They both agree that she needs to contact Hackett- but it will have to wait for after the Council meeting.

When the Council reconvenes later that afternoon, Shepard asks if anything had happened during the week she and Garrus had been unplugged. Earth is getting worse, and Reflections-in-Deep-Waters has ordered the rachni ships to evacuate civilians- even if Minos attacks them due to the direness of the situation planetside. Minos is attempting to establish control by force- and grassroots opposition to them is rampant. One such group is The Seekers, a cult that appears to worship Shepard. Shepard is horrified- but unpacking the attending issues needs to be tabled for the time being.

### Title Meaning

Shepard, an individual deeply aware of how flawed she is and of past mistakes, is profoundly disturbed by not only her power, but the idea of being worshiped. The idea of making a very bad god is a sentiment she shares with her husband- who had expressed the same opinion in the past.

### Easter Eggs

In the Doctor Who episode "Boom Town" Christopher Eccleston's 9th Doctor quips to an enemy telling him that his TARDIS is the "technology of the gods"- *"Well, don't worship me, I'd make a very bad god. I wouldn't get a day off, for starters."*

#### Discord Highlights

Jalapeño waffles, troubleshooting macarons, and Infernal Danish.
Chapter 151: Can I Talk to You for a Second?

Mini-Arc: “Secrets’ Fallout” Continues

Shepard’s temper is worn thin due to Garrus’ attempts to help her. She feels smoothed and like he forgets things that are important to her. Garrus feels like he is walking on eggshells around Shepard due to her outbursts of temper. Neither are sure how to approach the problem and both are having serious second thoughts about getting married.

With Vi out of the house for the evening, Garrus decides to try to tackle their growing disconnection by making her some coffee and himself some rylke so the two of them can sit together quietly and work on their respective paperwork. On his way to the kitchen he discovers Shepard using her capacitor nodes to perform some unauthorized physical therapy. He calls her out on overdoing it and Shepard reminds him that she didn’t ask for or require his opinion. The two of them lose their tempers- Shepard throwing past mistakes in Garrus’ face and physically striking him repeatedly before making wild accusations that he doesn’t actually want her, and doesn’t care what she wants or needs. Garrus himself loses control and attacks Shepard, throwing the fact that she accused him while she was poisoned of cheating with Verity, and that she had thought that she might have been pregnant in May and never told him, all while man-handling her. He accuses her of cheating on him. The two of them break out into an mutual, physical fight with Shepard wrenching herself from his grip before punching him squarely in the side of his face, but Shepard is still recovering and Garrus gains the upper hand and throws her to the ground with a great deal of force (we later learn that she dislocates one of her ribs from the throw) before pinning her to the ground so he can keep yelling at her. Shepard ends up using her indoctrination abilities to command Garrus to get off of her and after a large amount of effort is successful.
Chapter 127: Jump Zero

### Summary

Jack and Miranda hunt Robert Minkowski on Earth, but the mission goes pear-shaped, and Jack is injured.

Shepard visits Kaidan at Huerta Memorial where he and Nimue give her the details of the assassination attempt. Kaidan only escaped the neurotoxin tailed for biotics due to his migraine medication and being wired in the L2 configuration giving them enough time to reach help. Unfortunately, the toxin has wrecked his implants.

While there, Shepard discovers Jack has also been admitted to Huerta due to her injuries. Grappling with the discomforting idea that people weren’t just out to kill her this time, Shepard darkly promises “If any more of my crewmembers land themselves in this hospital in the next twenty-four hours, so help me God, I’ll make you all wish you’d never been born.” Later that evening, Jack and Kaidan swap stories  of how they got stuck in the hospital.

On Earth, Minos operatives assassination of anyone with political power still friendly to the Alliance and unlikely to join their ranks continues apace. Senator Johnson is only their latest victim.

Hannah Shepard pressures Hackett to tell Shepard about what her father has been doing. Hackett admits that they have confirmed the Marquis’ survival on top of everything else, and that he is worried that because they are demanding too much of Shepard, she is going to collapse under the pressure. Hannah eventually reminds Hackett that he is taking away Shepard’s choices by keeping the information from her. She offers him a deal: she won’t tell her daughter that the Marquis is still alive if Hackett comes clean regarding Robert Minkowski in fourty-eight hours. Captain Shepard herself interrupts the meeting. After they exchange pleasantries, Hackett tells her that her father is the head of the Minos movement, and that he was behind the attempted assassination of Primarch Vakarian. Shepard thinks it over and requests that if possible, not to neutralize him yet- if possible.

That evening Shepard and the rest of the Citadel Council go over the data gathered by the *Alarei*, while she battles an ever-worsening headache, and worry over her squad in the hospital. While discussing the thorny issue of how to disseminate the dire information without spreading panic, a rachni queen crashes the meeting: Reflections-in-Deep-Waters has been sent by her mother to help the rachni assist the rest of the Galaxy.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Server Highlights

Suspecting the hell out of Verity Wilkes Scott, istie's highly suspicious narrative choices, and suspiciously on-point predictions.
Chapter 92: The Things We Create

### Summary

Bakara goes into labor and Wrex asks Garrus for help in distracting him. They briefly talk about Garrus’ father as Primarch. When Garrus asks him directly, Wrex admits that he loves Bakara.

Shepard talks to Sha’ira about her cover identity “Isabel Windsor” under great protest, saying that she wanted to forget her and what she had done. Sha’ira points out that she wouldn’t be there if the past hadn’t already happened. Shepard is forced to confront the idea that she was the one who was kidnaped, tormented, and premeditated murder to escape.

After her therapy session, Shepard joins Wrex at the hospital. Bakara and Wrex’s twins, Din and Mor, are born. The two new parents perform the first off-world Rite of Parentage, with Shepard asked to participate as their alanakh.

Shepard, Garrus, Joker, and EDI are introduced to the Austerlitz, along with acting XO Major Nimue Wynn and the ship’s onboard AI CORI. EDI and CORI are very enthused about the idea of working together.

Shepard and Garrus pack for their Victory Tour and talk turian markings and how they have changed due to parenting. Philosophical or not, Shepard declares she still has a thing for Archangel. Garrus declares that the packing can wait.

### Title Meaning

The title likely refers to a running theme in each of the character's lives; Shepard created the Isabel persona, Wrex and Bakara are holding their children, and Garrus is growing and adding to himself as his worldview has been altered by fatherhood. Shepard will also have to create her own set of markings for the clan she is founding.
The Illusive Man

## Background

Jack Harper was a normal civilian with a job and family before the First Contact War broke out.

As the occupation of Shanxi raged, he became a mercenary under the command of General Williams (Ashley Williams' grandfather). During one of the battles, he and his team of Ben Hislop and Eva Coré encountered an artifact, likely of Reaper origin. This would lead them into conflict with Desolas Arterius, brother of Saren Arterius.

Shortly after the memorial service for his friends Eva and Ben, Jack sent a manifesto that was circulated through the extranet. In it he encouraged humanity to take it's rightful place and assert its power over the aliens. The System's Alliance attempted to downplay and dismiss the message unsuccessfully, but ended up coining the epithet that he would take as his name: The Illusive Man.

## Mass Effect

### Post Mass Effect

In the aftermath of the Battle of the Citadel, the Illusive Man doubted the official story blaming the geth armada. He viewed Commander Shepard as their best hope against the Reaper threat, and when the Normandy SR-1 was destroyed, he channeled enormous resources into reviving and preparing to equip her for the mission of saving humanity.

### Mass Effect 2

With the Lazarus Project being a success, the Illusive Man gave Shepard a crew, a ship, and a set of specialist dossiers with which to build a squad find out why human colonies were being wholesale kidnapped, and to stop it.

### Mass Effect 3

The Illusive Man's exposure to the Reaper artifact 30 years prior made him especially prone to indoctrination. Though he planned to use the information in the Mars Archives to take control of the Reapers, the Reapers were in fact controlling him. As a result, Cerberus sabotaged many of the other species efforts to combat the Reapers- especially the Crucible project.

## Every One That Asketh

Death was not the end for the Illusive Man. In October of 2187 he began to appear in Shepard's dreams, often obliquely referencing current stressors or events and offering his opinion. For quite a long time Shepard mistook these dreams for simply her own subconscious.

On September 7th, 2188- almost two years after his death, he appeared to a dying Shepard. After briefly vebally sparing with him, Shepard came to the startling realization that she knew his actual name. He replied that it was "One of the many perils of being subsumed into a consciousness greater than one’s own", and went on to explain that he felt that humanity was in a better position than any other in the galaxy to explore the potential between blending synthetic and organic life- to evolve into something more. And now that goal is realized.

Finally Shepard asked him what was going on- presumably with everything. What answer he gave wasn't immediately revealed.

Shepard died (again) the next day and once again the Illusive Man appeared to speak with her. While he confirmed that she was indeed dead, he told her that she could rest, or not stay dead- and she had a choice to make.
Aemyn Indus

*“I know what you’re planning. I want in."*

## Every One That Asketh

Aemyn Insus is a junior dalatrass in clan Indus. Tall, with pale yellow-orange skin, dark speckling along her cranial horns, and an extremely dark green jaw, she cuts a very striking figure.

She is one of the direct descendants of the current head of her clan, and despite her outspoken nature and controversial positions, she is their presumed successor. Extremely observant and clever, the wise among the dalatrass have been watching her carefully for some time.

In the midst of the STG conspiracy, Aemyn put the pieces together and approached Major Tallin Kirrahe on becoming part of their coup. As a dalatrass, she would be on the inside of the inner-most Salarian Union meetings, and able to provide crucial intelligence.
Chapter 61: Sleep Now, My Starlight

The extranet media reels from the assissination attempt. Miranda is confused by Shepard’s cybernetics rebuilding themselves and drafts up an IV to give her body the nutrients it needs to heal and her cyberware to rebuild and repair without locking her into a cycle of rebuilding herself to death. Shepard makes the point that her and Garrus must announce their engagement if they are to live their lives at all, and it should be on their terms, not the paparazzi’s. Shepard telepathically wakes Garrus in the middle of the night as she slides down into despair, feeling broken beyond saving and a burden. Garrus holds her close and sings her a lullaby.
Nestal Laedrila

*" This has to be the most salarian of wars there has ever been."*

## Every One That Asketh

Nestal Laedrila is the captain of the STGV *I’a Mailevai.*

While smuggling two terraforming capsules out of Sur'Kesh for Palaven, Nestal had his ship stolen by Shepard during her "call" to meet with the rachni queen on Suen. While grounded, he mused in his log that he was worried that Shepard felt like she needed to run and hide to accomplish her mission.
Chapter 8: Olly Olly Oxen Free

Warning! **Here there be spoilers**

### Summary

The fallen Reaper extraction team work to cut though the hull of the downed ship and Lieutenant Skyler and Admiral Anderson discuss the frequency they are following being a newly-rolled out KIA signal. Deep in the Reaper hull, they discover a still-living Commander Shepard, encased in Reaper technology. When Anderson touches her, he receives a vision of pain.

### Title Meaning

"Olly Olly Oxen Free" is a call in some children's games that tells those playing that they may reveal themselves without losing the game.

This is the chapter where Anderson and Skyler's team discover Shepard attached to the Reaper. The war is over, and now it is "safe".

### Easter Eggs

"*Olly Olly Oxen Free, it's safe to come out*" is one of the thoughts Shepard has just before the arms of the Citadel open in upcoming Chapter 35: Voyager.

Olly Olly Oxen Free is also important in regards to Halo's Spartan IIs- a secret seven tone tune that declared an "all clear". istie is also a fan of the Halo franchise.
Chapter 70: Marriages of State

Garrus wakes Shepard with sleepy snuggles and she tells him about the Council meeting and the paparazzi-mob. They decide they need to give some kind of interview to deal with questions on their own terms, and decide to try to find Emily Wong for this task. The Council talks about the logistics of adding the Perseus Veil to Council space. Shepard and Garrus give their interview to Emily Wong. It goes live six days later, along with a wedding date and their reveal of Vi to the wider galaxy.
Chapter 103: Mothersinger

### Summary

Shepard arrives on the surface of Suen and gets her first look at the rachni city of Whispered Memory. Her escorts explain that although she felt a compulsion to come, she has a choice to go or not and that she is their guest. With her permission, Wind-on-Wet-Stones leads her to the Deep Cradle within the city to speak to the rachni queen.

Onboard the *Austerlitz*, Garrus receives intel from Liara about Shepard’s stop at Omega- putting them only an hour behind her. Unable to do anything further for the moment, Garrus goes to spend some time with Viatrix, who misses her mother.

Deep in the Queen’s Nest, the rachni queen tells Shepard to communicate with her the way she does with Garrus, and reveals that she can ‘hear’ their conversations. She then shows Shepard three memories, appearing as a web stretching over the whole galaxy. Shepard asks about the whispers in her mind, and the queen says that they don’t feel dangerous to her, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t. The queen then turns to Shepard’s own feelings, acting as a therapist for her. Then the queen reminds her that she has many allies- including Garrus. She then reveals that Garrus is calling for her, and offers her help to reach him.

On board the Austerlitz, the crew is unable to hail Shepard. Shepard reaches out across the galaxy web  with the queen’s help and touches Garrus’ mind, much to Viatrix’s delight.

### Title Meaning

The rachni queen refers to Shepard as "Shepard Mothersinger". Mothersinger is not defined in words per se as much as feelings: "The one who held you, taught you, shaped you. Who loved you so much they gave all of themselves for you, no questions asked, no hesitation. The one who knew you the best – who knew when they didn’t know you, and when to let you go."

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

Mama Rachni, more Venian expletives, and the holy shit handle in the Mako.
Chapter 123: Out on the Edge of Everything

### Summary

Shepard’s silence in the rachni web greatly disturbs Free-Flickering-Flame, and her children feel her anxiety. Despite her calling, Shepard’s song is quiet,

Conrad Verner and the crew of the *Alarei* go on a whirlwind tour of radiation soaked relays and planets. Conrad explains that some of the mass relays (but not all) have special “dark switches” that appear to allow excess dark energy to be shunted away from the relay.

As the crew pulls logs from the relay, they create a timeline of events:

Several billion years ago, an enormous amount of mass came through the Kappa Iota Relay, overloading it. The relay failed over to it’s dark switches and the resulting dark energy was so violent it aged the star billions of years- causing it to go neutron.

As they go along, they see a pattern of spikes of radiation from large mass transfers. These appear to collate to Reaper (and Geth) fleet movements: Sovereign arriving to speak to the geth on Rannoch and Sovereign and the Geth arriving at the Citadel. Some of the Alarei’s crew are stuck on Hastrom for a time as they gather logs there. While waiting for enough of a break in the radiation to leave, Veetor and Conrad confirm their hypothesis: The timeline of something using the mass relay at Dholen and the star losing mass (and irradiating Hastrom) match. It suddenly occurs to Conrad that what they are seeing at Dholen and Hastrom match what is happening to Sol- and Earth.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

Runaway quote bots, the sword of writer's block, and arranged arguments about cream cheese.
Chapter 149: Crossed Wires and Cross-Purposes

Sasha and Aeran continue their work on Shepard’s wedding dress, explaining that accommodating her recovery is easy and their pleasure. Shepard gets momentarily distracted by her own dysmorphic feelings before Aeran’Celet accidentally reveals who she really is by revealing she had done corsets on Shepard before. Shepard apologizes for putting Aeran in her current position, but Aeran tells her that eventually she was creating for her because the quarian wanted to, and wanted to protect Shepard. With the air finally clear between the three of them, Aeran and Shepard joke about weapon placement in the wedding dress.

After the dress-makers leave Shepard finds herself drifting into the *iborihe,* and sees an ancient harbor with sunken obsidian ruins. Garrus ends up startling her out of her vision. The two of them find themselves walking on eggshells around each other, as much from the fallout of Shepard’s illness and the lies surrounding it as being unused to cohabitating again. Despite this, they end up sharing a shower. Under the stream of hot water, Garrus asks Shepard to show him the planet she saw. She does, unsure if the planet is real but buoyed by Garrus’ certainty that it is. The two of them make love in the shower, feeling connected to each other, though Shepard is caught between the “now” and her vision.

After their shower, the two of them help each other with getting ready for the remainder of their day, joking about the two of them being “respectable”. Then in a mercurial shift after Shepard asks about a classified meeting Garrus is having with Sparatus, the issue of the months of broken trust leaves them on a sour note.

### Easter Eggs

Discord Highlights: Why nobody yeeted the dead Reapers into the sun, THEY ADDED TENTACLES TO THE THRESHER MAWS IN MELE, and istie starting book four.
Dr. Emma Fallujah

Dr. Emma Falluja is a medical doctor and the System Alliance's top cybernetics specialist. She was assigned to Commander Shepard after she was removed from the fallen Reaper during Operation Scalpel.

### Description

Dr. Fallujah is a shorter human woman, with dark chin-length hair.

## Every One That Asketh

Shepard was transferred into Dr. Falluja's care onboard the SSV *Parigoria* on December 15th, 2186. As the doctor began the full makeup on what promised to be a profoundly complicated case, they discovered that the Commander was pregnant- though it took a few days to realize the embryo was not human. Just before the new year, the child was discovered to be turian which quickly narrowed their paternal possibilities. Garrus Vakarian was confirmed to be the baby's father on January 1st of 2187. Given that Garrus was last known to be aboard the *Normandy* as she was leaving the system, the Alliance reached out to Aelianus Vakarian, Garrus' father for assistance. Aelianus promised to do as much as possible, but that might not be much. Aelianus came through with information on turian prenatal and neonate care as well as a supply of paracetimium acholinisterase alpha to help support the pregnancy.

There were a few incidents of accidental contact with the comatose infiltrator, and Dr. Fallujah noted that her brain waves would either go completely silent or off the charts. Additionally, every time she attempted to remove the Reaper machinery Shepard was encased in, both her and the child's vitals would go crazy- making safe removal impossible.

When the *Normandy* limped into Earth's orbit in May, Dr. Falluja was introduced to Garrus and provided some additional details. Garrus reached out and Miranda Lawson, under the cover ID of Jennifer Smith, arrived to assist Dr. Falluja due to her familiarity with Shepard and her Cerberus implants. Dr, Fallujah put a dangerous question to Admirals Hackett, Anderson, Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard and Garrus: Due to their failure in removing the Reaper cocoon as her pregnancy drew to a close, if push came to shove, should they try to save Shepard or the baby? With some reluctance, it was determined that they should try to save the child if possible.

On September 20th around lunchtime, Shepard regained consciousness in mid-labor. Much to both Dr. Fallujah and Miranda's shock, the machinery fell away, allowing Shepard to labor safely without them attempting a caesarian though the thick plates and wires. Dr. Fallujah moved to record as much as possible, with Miranda effectively acting as Shepard's doula while the Commander and Garrus welcomed their daughter to the world.

Dr. Fallujah survived the Minos attack on the *Parigoria* on September 29th and would testify during Shepard's indictment for high treason to her experiences while treating the now-Captain Shepard on February 17th, 2188.
Chapter 105: The Gift of the Magi

### Summary

Garrus stresses over the final preparations for the *Normandy’s* relaunch. Shepard discovers that to be a turian masseuse all you need are ceramic-reinforced bones and cybernetically enhanced musculature.

The next day Hackett asks Garrus if Shepard is ready, Garrus answers truthfully that she’s never going to be one hundred percent and they can’t guarantee that something like Rannadril won’t happen again. Hackett asks if he trusts her. Garrus affirms that he does, but he doesn’t know if he trusts whatever is inside of her. Hackett takes it as an affirmative, and mentions that now he doesn’t have to find a different birthday gift for her.

Shepard wakes up on her thirty-fourth birthday and muses over the strange occurrences that have plagued her over the last decade. Viatrix wakes and Shepard moves to feed her, thinking that she was in her bed with her family, loved and safe, and that was pretty good. A few hours later, Hackett officially lifts her section twelve injunction and asks her what she wants to do. Shepard admits she wants to be “home” on the Normandy and Hackett tells her that the ship is hers as long as they want.

That evening in front of the ship’s crew, Admiral Hannah Shepard christens the *Normandy* SR-3 and Captain Shepard takes a tour of her overhauled home. When she gets down to the shuttle bay, she discovers her squad is waiting to celebrate her birthday with her.

### Title Meaning

The 1905 short story "The Gift of the Magi" is about a young married couple with little money giving up their most precious possessions to give each other a Christmas gift. Though the nature of the gifts mean that they cannot use them, it shows the distance that the two of them went for each other. This in turn is a reference to the biblical "Wise Men" who journeyed to Bethlehem at the fulfillment of a prophecy and gifted the Christ child with gold, myrrh, and frankincense.

### Easter Eggs

The *raneol* that Shepard and Garrus discover represents istie's spouse, and was put there by their request.

#### Discord Highlights

Upcoming chapter titles being a little too on-the-nose, what happens when istie is vaccine-fogged, and hunting down obscure single lines of dialogue from ME1.
Sunrise House

### Description

Located in Old South Dakota in the remains of an old high school, Sunrise House is an orphanage home to thirty kids full time, plus a number of other children that still have homes but occasionally need adult supervision.

Rafael also brought a number of biotic children from outside the area to Sunrise House due to Minos' interest in 'disappearing' anyone who shows signs of biotic powers to "special camps". A biotic himself, Rafael is rounding out their education in using their skills while Juilo teaches self defense and supplements their meager supplies.

### Staff

Sunrise House is run by Rafael Vergara, an Alliance Veteran and biotic who was discharged after an injury in the Skyllian Blitz, and Sophie McGill, an early childhood educator native to South Dakota. They also have four additional staff:

* a middle-school teacher
* a line cook
* "Mister Julio": A former gangster skilled in the more mundane trades of carpentry and plumbing. He also assists in getting extra supplies- And Rafael is careful to not ask where he gets them.
* an accountant.

### The Full Time Children

* Annabel
* Tyrell DeMarcus
* Rosie
Chapter 134: Comings and Goings

### Summary

Alexander Trechenkov is leaving Earth, and Clara Goyle, to return to his mission of trying to bring the Reapers back. Clara is extremely unhappy about his leaving, so Alexander offers to “show” her again why the Reapers need to return. The vision he shares with her quells her doubts enough to let him go.

The farmers of Earth know the soil is dead- and the tiny settlement of Little Kimironko has been preparing for a daring escape, though it will require the sacrifice of a brave volunteer.

Some of the Lunan farmers know it will only be a matter of time before Minos conquers them too. Adriana and Lee decide to leave for the Prothean archives on Mars before there is no way to leave at all.

The crew of the *Alarei* finish with setting up the monitoring equipment needed so the Council and the Alliance can keep an eye on the Local Cluster and its star. Tali comments that Garrus wears the mantle of command well. Admiral Hackett contacts the *Normandy* with intel on the Marquis: he has purchased some sentient cargo, and will end up in one of three places. The *Normandy* will cover Neidus- but there are other assets to search the other two places.

Solana and her Blackwatch team are one such asset, searching the worst parts of Omega for their quarry. Luck is with them- the Marquis is there. But while they rescue a victim from slavery, the slippery target escapes them.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

Whether Hannah kept the Intai'sei apartment, pizza with pineapple and pepperoni, and what's scarier than the Reapers.
Chapter 73: Everything We Do Matters

Garrus and Shepard struggle to learn dancing together due to a multi-species PR disaster. We flashback to earlier in the day, where in the Council Chambers Bakara and Valern get into a shouting match over krogan terra-forming capsules. Bakara tells the council that she is done with the krogan being cannon fodder, and that she wants her children to not grow up in a world choked with rage and hate- but if the Council will not help, then she will not be able to stop a war. After receiving a message, Sparatus tells Bakara that the Hierarchy will provide the needed capsule as a start of reparations- possibly dooming Palavan in the process. Flashing forward, Marase calls Shepard and Garrus into a tango, where they begin to experience entanglement again, and Garrus feels Shepard’s deep anger. Flashing back, in the midst of a post-council meeting press briefing a journalist ambushes Shepard, asking if she has a comment regarding the Vakarian clan’s key involvement on Shanxi. The council shuts down the briefing and sends Shepard to her waiting car. She explodes on Garrus, asking why she was only now finding out about the Vakarian involvement with Shanxi. Garrus replies hotly that he just found out himself, in the same call where his father told him that they were giving up their chance to save Palavin. He also drops the bombshell that it was his mother who gave the order for occupation.
Chapter 60: Past the Darkness

### Locations

UnknownTaralos Amphitheatre, CitadelKithoi Ward, CitadelKasumi's Safe House, CitadelLiara's Safe House, Citadel

### Major Characters

Captain “Commander” ShepardDr. Karin ChakwasEDIKasumi GotoGarrus VakarianUrdnot Wrex

## Chapters

### Next Chapter

Chapter 61: Sleep Now, My Starlight

Dr. Chakwas and EDI stabilize Shepard just enough and her crew make a plan to get her to a safehouse Kasmi knew about and to create a diversion to get her there. Once safe, they regroup and ponder Minos’ motivations and what were Shepard’s actions on the Crucible. Jack sends urgent messages to Miranda for help. Shepard wrestles with voices in the void before falling back into the light and against all odds, wakes up.
List of Normandy Crew

Command Crew:

* Commanding Officer: Captain Shepard
* Commanding Officer: Captain Garrus Vakarian
* Executive Officer: Major Kaidan Alenko
* Gunnery Chief: Gunnery Sergeant James Vega
* Operations Chief: Master Sergeant Steve Cortez
* Chief of Security and Tactical: Major Nicholas Coats
* Communications Officer: CWO2 Samantha Traynor
* Conn Officer: Staff Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau
* EDI

Medical Personnel:

* Chief Medical Officer: CWO5 Dr. Karin Chakwas, MD
* CWO4 Dr. Rossi, MD
* CWO3 Wong, RN

Science Personnel:

* Chief Science Officer: CWO4 Dr. Ann Bryson, PhD
* CWO4 Lara, PhD, MSci
* Captain Schmidt, PhD, MSci
* WO1 Corrigan, PhD, MA
* Lieutenant Commander Ivanova, MSci
* CWO4 Espinoza, PhD, MD
* WO1 Gustafsson

Engineering Crew:

* Chief of Engineering: Greg Adams
* Assistant Chief Engineer (Power): Kenneth Donnelly
* Assistant Chief Engineer (Propulsion): Gabriella Daniels
* Captain Riley
* Chief Warrant Officer Second Class Mejia
* Petty Officer First Class Anand
* Petty Officer Second Class Weber

Office of Naval Intelligence:

* Major Nimue Wynn
* Staff Lieutenant Currie
* Staff Lieutenant Avalos

Personnel and Support Staff:

* Lieutenant Commander Ingabire
* CWO1 Donna Pearce
* CPO Anwar
* CWO3 Cohen

Operations and Mechanical:

* MCPO O'Reilly
* SCPO Černý
* SCPO Hailu
* PO1 Järvinen

Ground Personnel:

* Marines
	+ Staff Lieutenant Rizzi
	+ Master Sergeant Anoa'i
	+ Gunnery Sergeant Fry
	+ Gunnery Sergeant Rahman
	+ Lieutenant Cano
	+ Sergeant Graves
	+ Sergeant Calderon
	+ Corporal Olivier
* Rescue and Recovery
	+ Major Li
	+ Sergeant Khan
	+ Corporal Mæjadóttir
	+ Corporal Aoki
* Artillery and Armour
	+ Corporal Antoniou
	+ Corporal Saetang

Former Crew (living):

* Tali'Zorah vas Alarei
* Liara T'Soni
* Urdnot Wrex
* Urdnot Grunt
* Zaeed Massani
* Kasumi Goto
* Miranda Lawson
* Kelly Chambers
* Jack
* Samara
* Jacob Taylor
* Javik
* Rupert Gardner
* Diana Allers

Former Crew (deceased):

* Mordin Solus
* Thane Krios
* Legion
* Ashley Williams
* Charles Pressly
Chapter 112: This One’s for All the Marbles

### Summary

Shepard and Garrus attend a carefully screened gathering of many different groups that wish for the Normandy crew’s endorsement and licensing. The party is quite the success, including Ariake Technologies developing a Vakarian line of visors, and Jormangund Technology building sniper rifles and hardsuits bearing their names.

The next day is the final Armax match and the team discovers to Shepard’s horror that not only will they be fighting VI simulations of themselves (including squad members that are dead), but the Armax team technicians want to utilize a pilot program that will accurately transmit pain to them from any virtual injury they take. Shepard is on the warpath as a result, and demands to know who’s hairbrained idea it was. The technician who drew the short straw to talk to an angry Commander Shepard stutters out Dr. Mordin Solus. The idea is to gather such data for use in medical treatments, and for rehabilitation therapy.

Hearing Mordin’s name takes the fury out of Shepard, who tells the technicians they may run their pilot ONLY on volunteers.

The final match is fifteen people versus nineteen VIs in a battle royale. The fight is long and fierce, but it comes down to Shepard and Garrus and their VI counterparts. The VIs are too uncanny, causing Shepard to hesitate to kill the program that looks too much like her fiance. The real Garrus takes out his VI look-alike right before VI Shepard strikes him down with an omniblade. The sounds he makes are too real and Shepard turns with sub-zero inhumanity on the projection that took out her bondmate. She stalks towards her prey as an unstoppable force, eventually stabbing not-so empty air. Her double’s tactical cloak fails before Shepard double-taps the VI out of existence. Her rage is palpable as the lights go out.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

Surprise live readings, the stuffed toys in Vi's crib, and whether Garrus keeps the visor on in bed.
Chapter 122: It's You When I Look in the Mirror

### Summary

Captain “Commander” Shepard comes by her sharpshooting skills quite naturally. Both the Shepards and the Minkowski’s have a long, long history relating to their aptitude with guns, and accurate eyesight. And the living members of the family have been busy.

Hannah Shepard is extremely distrubed by Hackett’s current refusal to tell Shepard the truth about Aelianus’ assasination attempt- enough that it is affecting her shooting. She thinks back to her and Robert’s discussion on his last undercover assignment as well as all her regrets and loneliness.

Hackett grills Shepard on her relapse in her own mental health, and demands to know why she shouldn’t be put back on medical leave. Shepard points out that she spirals while on leave- she needs something to fight for. She asks for three weeks to get into fighting shape and pass her physicals. Hackett gives her the time she’s requested, but adds that if she fails, he will be forced to transfer her file out of active command due to “misusing the Alliance’s best resources on both sides of the equation” otherwise. Shepard, rage apparent but under control, tells Hackett plainly that she is going to crush her recertifications, because the day she takes a non-feild commission will be “the day I die”.

Robert Minkowski assassinates the asari matriarch in charge of delivering supplies to one of the few metropolitan centers not under Minos’ control. Shortly afterward, the asari that survived are run off-planet, and another city raises Minos’ banner.

Shepard trains for her recertifications, camouflaging drawing power from her nodes, though she does feel better. With Verity’s help, she has been eating more often and sleeping more, though the headaches have lingered.

On the day of the gauntlet of exams, Shepard is feeling very good, and shocks the people evaluating her. When she goes in for her firearms recertification, she is thrown into a holo simulation of the run up to the Crucible. Unlike the actual fight, her disruptor ammo acts like it has been cranked to 11. She flies through the simulation, almost adrenaline drunk, like a force of nature. The simulation reacts by throwing so many troops at her, they can’t even move. But Shepard feels like a million bucks, and her mind is calm.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

istie being the opposite of reassuring, Taken starring the Shepard-Vakarians, and new MELE players discovering that the fish die.
Chapter 166: I, Commander Shepard…

### Summary

In a ceremony blended with both of their cultures and traditions, standing before their family, friends, and the whole galaxy, Garrus and Shepard finally get married! For a moment mid-ceremony Shepard feels like someone is watching her.

### Title Meaning

"I, (name)" are the opening words for most wedding vows. This chapter contains the wedding ceremony itself.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights:

Clafoutis masquerading as hand grenades, blue morph suits, and Garrus's resemblance to both macaroni and cheese and a good kebab.
Chapter 152: The Only Way Through . . .

Mini-Arc: “Secrets’ Fallout” Continues

On the planet of Eletania, Alexander Trechenkov awakens from interacting with the Prothean Sphere, having acquired the Cipher and is certain that his next stop needs to be Ilos.

After their altercation, Garrus calls Liara from the door of one of her safe houses and tells her he needs a place to stay for the night away from Shepard. Under Liara’s gentle prying he admits that he and Shepard had a fight, neither of them was ok but no one was dying, and Vi was ok, but he doesn’t want to talk with her about why they fought. Liara advises that he be kind to himself as she transfers the codes, and makes a point of mentioning the newly installed basement firing range.

An unwelcome 5:30am omni-tool message from Shepard awakens an extremely hungover Garrus the next day. Javik has found something on Mars and requires Shepard to meet him on Kahje, so she requires Garrus to come with her for child-care, plus the Illuminated Primacy has invited the family to attend the closing ceremonies of First Cresting Bloom. As such, they need to present a united front to the rest of the galaxy and not tip off that there is trouble in paradise- for security reasons.

Following in Shepard’s footsteps, Alexander does some fancy flying in order to make the tiny landing zone matching the classified Prothean Bunker coordinates on Ilos. His mind is not clear, and the voices in his head are muted as he struggles to make it down towards his destination: Vigil. His question for the Prothean VI? “I need to know. . . where it began.”
Chapter 154: Third Time’s the Charm

Mini-Arc: “Secrets’ Fallout” Continues

After almost three hours of mind-breaking work, Javik and Shepard find themselves only halfway through the Mount Vassla Prothean Archive. Though Shepard is losing her grip on exactly who she is, she forges ahead and discovers a memory three cycles removed from hers containing information about the Reapers. Like the Eden Prime vision, this memory contains a dire warning- and lots of information otherwise lost to time. By the time Shepard falls out of the *iborihe*, she is laughing hysterically and not quite in control of herself. Javik immediately calls an end to their excursion, and is intensely worried about Shepard due to her dissocating- her human brain wasn’t designed for this form of communication after all. Javik tells her that he is going to call Garrus as soon as they reach the surface- and Shepard’s feelings on this idea trend extremely negative, though she desperately wants his support.

When Garrus meets them a few minutes later, Shepard’s condition has not improved. As she stumbles, Garrus pulls her close to him in an attempt to help and support her and ends up dragged deep into the *iborihe*, switching from vision to vision, until he sees Shepard at the Crucible. Shepard shoves him away and limps slowly toward the *Silent Watcher*. Javik makes it utterly clear that he expects Garrus to help her, but doesn’t give any ideas on how.

Shepard gives Garrus no opening to talk about what happened- either on Kahje or between them, and by the next morning she sends him away, leaving Garrus struggling with what to do next. Finally it occurs to him to call his dad, where he lays out almost everything that happened between the two of them, but leaving the mind-control part out.

Aelianus draws parallels between Garrus and Shepard and himself and Evadne, and points out that while Garrus had desperately been trying to help Shepard, his help in fact had sabotaged her agency in her own recovery. Furthermore, he had accidently sent the message that he didn’t believe in her capabilities. The cherry on top being that Shepard was now unable to utilize a major stress management technique she relied on as a soldier- working out. He suggests that Garrus only help Shepard if she asks for help so she knows that he still thinks of her as capable and not to rob her of her wins, to find some other way to help her exert herself safely, and most importantly to apologize sincerely- without trying to lessen her apology with the wrongs she had done to him. That unpleasantness out of the way, the two turians change the subject to the elder Vakarian’s work.

### Easter Eggs

#### Discord Highlights

You want me to come up with highlights? in this economy? zzzzzzz