#fandom showerthoughts

Shepard: "The turians lost twenty cruisers, figure each had a crew of around 300. The Ascension, the asari dreadnought we saved, had a crew of nearly 10,000."

Khalisah: "But surely the human cost—"

Shepard: "The Alliance lost eight cruisers: Shen Yang, Emden, Jakarta, Cairo, Seoul, Cape Town, Warsaw, Madrid and yes, I remember them all. Everyone in the Fifth Fleet is a hero. The Alliance owes them all medals, the Council owes them a lot more than that. And so do you."

If you make the Paragon choice, ordering the Fifth Fleet in to save the Destiny Ascension it costs the Alliance dearly both in ships and lives, and Shepard never forgets this. They enshrine the names of the lost ships, the number of crew, as a reminder. That when called upon the System's Alliance was willing to go into harms way damn the costs.

A high cost it was.

...

O hear us when we seek thy grace

I imagine it's an intense affair, Shepard's crewmates take to the stand and are questioned over every detail of their deceased CO. The Alliance tries to pin the destruction of the ship on a lapse on Shepard's judgment, an "unqualified officer in command of a rushed into service ship", The Commander having rubbed some in higher Command the wrong way.

Ashley/Kaíden are reprimanded for cursing out the accusations thrown at Shepard, Joker is forced to describe her final moments and admit he holds some responsbility for her death. Anderson raises hell as does Admiral Hacket, claiming the board overseeing this is merely trying to pettily diminish Shepard's accomplishments, "spitting on the Commander's coffin" to get one last jab in.

The entire thing is behind closed doors, publicly the Alliance says nothing to the contrary, but they break up the Normandy's crew and sending them off to separate posting around Alliance space.

The mood is tense. Krogan space is civilized but along its border bands of renegades, holdouts of the old ways of war aren't uncommon. The mission has a few Asari commandos providing security but they're outnumbered two to one. Should they turn back? Stall for time and try to plan an escape?

Instead, Matriarch T'Soni holds up a hand, calming her staff and without a word, walks down the ship's ramp towards the Krogan completely unarmed, in nothing but her gown, ignoring the cries behind her begging her to come back.

She reaches the band of Krogan warriors, looks the leader up and down and places her hands on her hips.

"Is this anyway to greet your mother, Grunt"?

A tumbleweed passing makes the only sound

The Krogan grins, and scoops Liara into his arms for a hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her 'round.

"I missed you." He says softly. She pats his shoulder as he places her down again.

"It's good to see you again too Grunt. You've got quite the command here it seems." She feels a smile on her lips as she waves her hand at the Krogan milling about, all trying their best not to stare, just as stunned as the members of the Asari mission.

"Yep. I've got my own brigade now. Aralakh Brigade. Over 2'000 strong. All under my command." His voice rings with pride. Liara nods.

"She'd be proud if she were here you know. Of what you've become Grunt. Following in her footsteps."

Grunt laughs. "She would, wouldn't she"? He doesn't wait for an answer and Liara knows he doesn't need one. They both know the answer. Shepard had taken Grunt in, seen past the tank bred warrior exterior to the boy beneath and had taken him to her side.

When Liara learned of this upon meeting Grunt for the first time on Utukku (Learning her bond mate had an adopted son that she'd never seen fit to mention) she had been surprised, but surprises were something she had grown used to with Shepard.

"Kid just needs a bit of direction Liara. Give him a chance." She could still hear Shepard's voice in her memory reassuring her.

She had been right "on the money" as she was fond of saying.

Liara ran a hand down her front, straightening the folds of her dress as she put back on her 'matriarch face'. "Well then. We have a schedule to keep. A meeting with the planetary overseer. Would you escort us"? She asked aloud.

Grunt nodded, with a slight twinge in his own voice putting on his 'Commander' voice. "I'd be honored, Matriarch T'Soni." Turning he bellowed out to his troops. "Form up!"

Liara walks back to her staff, almost all with wide eyes at what's unfolded before them. She crosses her arms. "As I recall we have a schedule to keep, do we not?" Breaking the trance they rush to their duties. She turns her back to them, hiding a small smile and watches Grunt form up his troops. The way he orders them into formation reminds her of no one but Shepard, a small piece of her still alive all these years on.

She would be proud.

...

In ME2, the reason Shepard builds models is because Kelly recommended a hobby to try and help them relax after coming back from the dead. An outlet to relieve tension between missions.

Shw actually suggested things like knitting or yoga, but Shepard shot each down quickly till she finally suggested scale model kits as an option, and EDI chimed in that Shepard would likely enjoy the process given their military background and the amount of kits available on the market.

The barber sprays Shepard's hair with water, and begins straightening it. Liara's not used to seeing Shepard's hair outside a bun or buzzed short. "By the goddess, there's so much of it. How long have you been hiding all of that from me."

Watching the barber comb it and then trim it with scissors. Garrus' eyes are wide. "Crap, doesn't it hurt to have it pulled around like that?"

Anyway...I noticed some parallels between them during my last playthrough.

When we meet Harkin in Cora's Den, he's drowning himself in liquor after being suspended from the force. He was skimming credits from crime scenes, using excessive force on suspects, drinking on the job. The sort of conduct that does a disservice to a peace officer.

When we point this out what does he say?

Harkin: "What the hell do you know? Working for C-Sec ain't like being a Marine. People get pissed off if we shoot somebody. Investigations, inquiries, rules, regulations. Everyday I plow through enough red tape to choke a rhino. That's how you gotta be to do this job. So don't talk to me about 'right' and 'wrong'. You soldiers got it easy."

Later when we ask Garrus about his frustrations with C-Sec after joining us aboard the Normandy he cited the same points.

Garrus: "At C-sec, you're buried by rules. The damn bureaucrats are always on your back. Sometimes it feels like the rules are there to stop me from doing my work. If I'm trying to take down a suspect it shouldn't matter how I do it so long as I do it. But C-Sec wants it done their way, protocol and procedure comes first. That's why I left."*

*This is actually two separate lines but I've combined them for brevity.

Both argue that bureaucracy, rules. They get in the way. People won't understand, are too quick to judge.

I think if Garrus had stayed in C-Sec, he would have become as jaded as Harkin. Soured into a shell of himself. We see in ME2 how far he can fall when his vendetta against Sidonis consumes him to near a near Ahab like obsession.

In a world without Shepard or the Reaper? In twenty years it would have been Vakarian sipping dextro beer in a seedy club making passes at women, a cautionary tale to new recruits about falling from grace.