Robert Minkowski

Robert Minkowski is the real name of Alexander Trechenkov. He is also father to Shepard, husband to Hannah Shepard, and grandfather to Viatrix Ismena Vakarian.

### Early Life and Marriage

Robert was born sometime in 2124 to Jan and Emilia Minkowski. In 2142 he enlisted in the Alliance.

He was already an ONI operative and had use of the SSV *Vestra* when he and Hannah Shepard made the decision to get married in 2152, despite knowing that the two of them would not get to see each other as often as they would have liked due to their differing carrier paths. While his father pushed for a church wedding, Robert and Hannah were married in space by Hannah's father John on the SSV *Hawking*.

Together, the would have one daughter- Shepard, born on April 11, 2154.

### Mass Effect 2 and 3

Shortly after Shepard's reemergence after her resurrection, Robert was tasked with infiltrating Cerberus. Hannah was reluctant to allow him to go, due to the danger, but Robert rightly pointed out that he was the best candidate. He promised to stop taking missions after completing this one, and went under deep cover.

### Every One That Asketh

On October 28th Miranda Lawson sent a video to Commander Shepard of some people on Earth wearing the same iconography (Minos) of the people who had tired to assassinate her and Vi the month before- the image was grainy but Shepard thought she recognized one of the men. Shepard sent the video to her mother, who tentatively agreed that the man looked like Robert under the deep-cover implants. One of their great fears appeared to have come true- Robert had been indoctrinated, though what he was doing seemed unclear.

What shortly was clear however, was that he was the power behind the throne of the new terrorist group Minos, though granddaughter of the first human ambassador, Clara Goyle, was the public face. Using his considerable skills (including judicious leaks to the press and more than occasional assassinations), he began to manipulate the population into accepting Minos' control.

Robert did not remember his past as an Alliance operative, husband, and father. He was simply Alexander Trechenkov, though he did have to privately admit that he was missing a large amount of his memories as his deep-cover implants broke down due to age and lack of care. He heard voices in his head telling him repeatedly to "Find her. Bring her to where it began. Return her." He also possessed the ability to show visions to people that immediately convinced them that the Reapers must return- though doing so gave him headaches, much like any attempt to remember his past. As the voices grew more insistent, "Alexander" made the decision to try to thin the layers of protection around Shepard and her daughter. He traveled to Palavan and attempted to assassinate Aelianus Vakarian, though the Primarch miraculously survived. He assigned Dr. Rossi to get on board the Normandy as a doctor to administer a specially tailored poison to Shepard via her supplements. This worked too well too quickly, and as a result Agent Mary was sent to moderate the dosage. In mid-August of 2188 Alexander leaked the news that Earth's star was dying to the press as another point of pressure to force Shepard to return to Earth, having received the information from Agent Mary late in July.

In September, Alexander left Earth to attend to his true mission of ensuring the Reaper's return- much to Clara Goyle's dismay. He first traveled to Eletania and received the Prothean Cypher after interacting with a mysterious Prothean sphere there. Afterewards, he traveled to Ilos and spoke to the VI Vigil, asking it to tell him "where it began". Afterward, he ventured much deeper into the facility to find a door that Vigil had descibed. Inside, new voices told him that he was fractured, and the could mend him. Under their direction, Alexander entered a tank of some kind of body-temperature liquid.

On November 14th, Alexander found and attacked Shepard and Garrus on their honeymoon with a strike team, and strange aquatic looking shuttles. He was wearing upgraded armor and his eyes were glowing bright green. He also spoke to Shepard in her mind and was a match for her, even though she was using her nodes. Though the strike team was defeated, Alexander escaped.