Chapter Text
Arc I: The Drums of War
Prologue: 117
(—0—)
Arcturus Station, Main Conference Room
January 9th, 2583
Local time 1128
“Well, what about the Master Chief?”
“Which Master Chief, Anderson?” Donnel Udina sardonically asked with a roll of his eyes.
“You know which one,” David Anderson responded seriously. “His early history's coated with ink, given how secret SPARTAN-II was, but we all know of Eridanus.”
“He proved himself during the Blitz,” Steven Hackett added. “Held off enemy forces on the ground until reinforcements arrived.”
“He's the only reason Eridanus is still standing,” Anderson agreed.
“We can't question his courage, nor his leadership,” Udina relented.
“Humanity needs a hero,” Anderson firmly stated, “and the Chief's the best we've got.”
Udina sighed. “I'll make the call.”
“Before you do,” Hackett interrupted, “I need to show you both something that does not leave this room, period. It will either cement this decision or shatter it.”
“Very well,” Udina said.
Hacket turned to the center of the table. “Doctor, send Anderson and Udina the dossier on John Shepard. Clearance: Hackett.”
A small hologram of a skinny man in a tweed suit and red bow tie appeared in the middle of the table. He had a small frown on his face “Admiral, before we do this, are you completely sure?”
Hacket took a moment to think. “Yes… I'm sure.”
Doctor sighed. “Very well.”
(—0—)
NAME: Shepard, John
DATE OF BIRTH: 03/07/2554
SERVICE NUMBER: 01123-02474-JS
N7 TAG: N7-0117
EYE COLOR: Blue
HAIR COLOR: Brown
BIRTH WORLD: Eridanus II, Elysium City
BIOGRAPHICAL DATA: Following the brief First Contact War with the turians in 2557, the Systems Alliance realized that they would need highly-capable covert operatives in order to counter any possible efforts that may be levied against humanity's safety, external and internal.
At the age of six, John was identified by Catherine Halsey as having several physical and genetic traits considered highly favorable, including being stronger, smarter, and faster than his fellow first-graders. Halsey also identified several personality traits she considered essential for her plans, including competitiveness and willpower. As such, John became candidate number 117 for the SPARTAN-II program, and was conscripted in 2560 alongside seventy-four other candidates, replaced with a short-lived flash clone, and taken to the colony world Reach.
During eight years of brutal training under then-Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez and several ONI drill instructors, John-117 was observed to be a strong and competent leader, with the other Spartans coming to look up to him in their early years. Doctor Halsey also believed him to be extremely lucky, with her reports stating that during several exercises, events fell into place that enabled whatever team John-117 was on to achieve victory. While his luck is not strictly quantifiable by any sort of test, it is possible that John-117 is indeed more fortunate than others.
In 2568, once the SPARTAN-II candidates reached the age of 14, Project ASTER was implemented. The candidates underwent biological augmentations that included carbide ceramic ossification, occipital capillary reversal, muscular enhancement injections, a catalytic thyroid implant, and superconducting fibrification of neural dendrites. Only 33 candidates survived without suffering physical complications, another 12 were crippled, and the remaining 30 were declared deceased. John-117 was one of the candidates who survived without physical complications, though he did grieve the loss and injuries of those candidates who failed the augmentations.
Soon after, the Spartan candidates received and were trained in the use of Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor/Mark IV, completing their training. In 2573, the Spartan-II's received a significant piece of news: the Office of Naval Intelligence was unwilling to continue to fund super-soldiers of a morally-tenuous origin, due to the possible public relations outcry should the information go public, not to mention the inter-species diplomatic catastrophe that would result, and as such SPARTAN-II was to be merged into the Systems Alliance N-program.
The N-program had been started around the same time as the SPARTAN-II program, as a way of training a new generation of elite soldiers. Whereas SPARTAN-II was drowned in black ink, N was not designed to be hidden. While N-commandos were capable of covert operations, they would also be able to be deployed alongside frontline soldiers. With SPARTAN-II being merged into the program, N would continue to fund their equipment, including Mjolnir and its development; however, all future Spartan development programs were canceled. It was later discovered that SPARTAN-II was partially funded by the human supremacist group Cerberus, further cementing the program's downfall.
In 2576, three years following the absorption of SPARTAN-II into the N-program, John-117 was on shore leave in Elysium City on the colony of Eridanus II when a massive force of slavers, primarily batarian but also including various other species, landed on the planet. The overwhelming force had crushed the planet's orbital defenses, including the defense stations in geosynchronous orbit, and had come to kill or enslave any humans they came across.
However, it was here that John-117 truly earned the title of hero, singlehandedly leading the small contingent of Army and Marines in the colony to fend off the invaders. While the slavers did escape with some colonists, and the defenders did suffer some casualties, it was nowhere near what might have happened if John hadn't rallied the defense forces. The survivors praised how he defended the planet, calling him “The Savior of Elysium”. ONI, recognizing that this meant John was in the public spotlight, saw fit to give him a public alias. It was thus that he took the surname “Shepard”. John was not present for the subsequent offensive on Torfan due to being assigned to a Systems Alliance propaganda tour; however, he did express regret that he could not participate, saying that he “would have killed at least a hundred batarians for every dead or enslaved colonist and soldier on Eridanus.”
PERSONALITY: John Shepard is a surprisingly moral individual given his origin, willing to stand by what he knows to be right even when told otherwise. On the other hand, he also has occasional renegade tendencies, doing whatever he believes is necessary to complete the mission. He is understandably distrustful of aliens given what happened on Eridanus, batarians in particular, but is willing to work with them if he believes they can be useful. Shepard is highly competitive, having a drive to win that far outstrips even the other Spartan-II's.
PREFERRED EQUIPMENT:
Armor: Materials Group Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor/Mark VI modified with MAGNES grappleshot. Colored olive-green, with N7 stripes on right arm and helmet.
Assault Rifle: Misriah Armory MA40 Individual Combat Weapon System
Sidearm: Emerson Tactical Systems MK50 Sidekick
Sniper Rifle: Hahne-Kedar M-29 Avenger
Shotgun: Misriah Armory M45 Close Assault Weapon System
Melee: Misriah Armory M1 Combat Knife, standard issue
Omnitool: Savant Mark VII
(—0—)
Reach Orbit
January 10th, 2583
Local time 2503
A twenty-eight-year-old man sat next to the window on a military dropship. Whether he was physically twenty-eight was debatable, given the nature of modern medicine as well as his… ethically dubious origins, but he was definitely chronologically twenty-eight.
The man had pale skin, extraordinarily pale, but not to an unhealthy degree. Close-cropped brown hair adorned the top of his head, with the sides shaven down to the skin. He had a short, neatly trimmed beard, well within modern military regulation. He was only slightly gaunt, with high cheekbones, a squared jaw, and a mostly-rounded complexion. Electric blue eyes stared with far more experience than a man his age, physical or chronological, should have. But what was most obvious about the man was that he was very tall, reaching a height of six feet and ten inches without his armor on. Right now, however, he wore a simple olive-green T-shirt and gray pants, as well as a green zip-up vest with “117” emblazoned on his left breast and “N7” on his right.
Master Chief Petty Officer John Shepard looked out the window. Behind the shuttle was the planet Reach, its beautiful greens and blues swirling in a vibrant mix of land and sea. The night side of the planet was only more marvelous, with a twenty-eight-seven aurora near the poles. The planet was widely considered to be one of the Systems Alliance's most important locations, only after Arcturus and Earth itself.
From his seat, he could spot the moon Czodaszarvas, its thick atmosphere and massive rings providing a spectacle to those on Reach's surface. If he were on the other side of the transport, he might have seen Turul, Reach's smaller moon. Turul was barely symmetrical, and was practically barren save for some daredevil mining companies looking for rare resources. It wasn't always a moon, having been captured into Reach's orbit some seventy- to eighty-thousand years ago, likely before even the protheans left their homeworld.
John let out a small sigh. He hadn't gotten many details for his next assignment, save that it came directly from HIGHCOM and Parliament, meaning he was probably not going to see what had become his home for a while.
“Chief, we’ve been cleared to approach the relay to Arcturus,” a Spanish-accented voice over the intercom said, shaking John from his thoughts. “Wanna take a look?”
“Sure, Esparza,” John replied in a slightly husky voice, standing up, “why not?”
He palmed a button by the cockpit door, causing it to slide open. As he walked inside, the first thing he saw was a significantly shorter man in the pilot's chair. His black hair went to a good eight inches long, giving him a somewhat disheveled appearance, but he made sure to keep it neat. The man had a thick beard that went down to a little over an inch above his shoulders, which obscured his gaunt complexion. On top of it, he had light brown eyes seated beneath thick eyebrows. He wore a standard blue Alliance jumpsuit, with a green pilot's vest worn over it.
“The relay will be in visual range in a few minutes, Shepard,” Flying Officer Fernando Esparza reported as he set the Condor's autopilot. “If you're wondering anything, now's the time to ask.”
John didn't show it, but internally, he took a moment to process things, a moment in Spartan terms being a fraction of a second. It had been six or so years since Eridanus, but he still struggled to think of himself as "John Shepard". Sometimes, he had to force himself not to refer to himself as "John-117".
Once he gathered his thoughts, however, he nodded. “What do you know about our assignment, Esparza?”
“Only that we're being assigned to some prototype frigate, and I'm going to play co-pilot to a Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. Calls himself ‘Joker’, not sure why,” Esparza replied. “Apparently this comes from the top, so there's probably a lot they aren't telling us.”
John scoffed. “Typical.” On a more serious note, he added, “I heard a Spectre's gonna be on board.”
Esparza's eyes widened. “A Spectre? If that's true, then there's definitely something they aren't telling us. The Council doesn't send Spectres on shakedown runs.”
“On that, we agree,” John said.
Just then, a beeping noise sounded in the cockpit, causing Esparza to turn back to the controls. Ahead, the mass relay stood stationary in space, twin rings spinning between a massive structure that looked like a tuning fork. Picking up a headset and putting it over his ears, he keyed the comms. “Relay control, this is Alliance Condor Echo-216. We have calculated our mass and are requesting a timetable for clearance to pass through the relay, over.”
“Control to Echo-216, Admiral Hackett put out a notice to prioritize your shuttle in traffic. You are cleared for transit, no need to wait, over.”
Well, that was a pleasant surprise.
“Echo-216 to control, preparing for transit, over.” As the comms shut off, Esparza deftly took to the haptic controls, steering the Condor alongside the relay. A bright blue beam of lightning extended from the relay's core, connecting with the shuttle, before sending them off to Arcturus in the blink of an eye.