An Endless Cycle
Long before the Council or humanity one sentient species lived, constructing massive relays from one part of the galaxy to the other. No one knows where they came from; of all the codex's found each portrayed the species as non-existent, each one without a single entry about this 'species'. But long before these codex's were formed a massive galactic genocide would take place. For millions of years the Reapers continued to exterminate all sentient life in the galaxy, ruthlessly persevering until not one being still stood. Then they would retreat into dark space to await the pinnacle of the next galactic species, like farmers to the crop.
The cycle, however, would be interrupted, if not broken. The Protheans, the most recent in the cycle of extermination, would unlock the secrets of the Mass Relays. Upon this discovery the Reapers returned to once again harvest their crop, indoctrinating those they could and then exterminating the rest. The Protheans resisted, as did every species before them, but they had little chance; their leaders were killed before they were aware of the truth.
Meanwhile Prothean researchers on a top secret facility on the planet Ilos retreated into stasis pods, monitored by a Prothean virtual intelligence by the name of Vigil. All records of Illos were destroyed during the initial Reaper invasion; and Ilos didn't exist. Thousands of years passed as the Reapers swept across the galaxy, obliterating all sentient life, and one by one Vigil was forced to shut down the stasis pods due to dwindling energy reserves.
By the time the Reapers retreated once back into dark space only the twelve top scientists remained, an insufficient number of beings to repopulate the galaxy. So the last of the Prothean completed their work on the Conduit. Upon its completion the twelve traveled to the Citadel with a plan to stop the continuous cycle of extinction. They were able to generate a signal within the Citadel that would interrupt the Reaper signal sent to the keepers to activate the Citadel Relay.
Once again, much like the Protheans, the galactic species of the Milky Way began to come together. Wars were fought on many fronts with an excess amount of difference in the galaxy. The first species after the Protheans to achieve true space travel were the asari, who also discovered the Citadel. Next were the Salarians, who along with the asari founded the Citadel Council. The third were the Turians, who served and continue to serve as protectors of the Citadel species to this day. Other species were given embassies on the Citadel, the volus, the hanar, the elcor, and the batarians. The most recent species to join the ranks of the Citadel is humanity. After conflicts early on, the batarians cut their diplomatic ties to the Citadel when the council ruled favorably for humanity.
For thousands of years humanity began to develop fighting primitively with each itself, their origins untraced. It took tens of thousands of years to reach the pinnacle of their species. Humans travelled into space and began to terraform and colonize first their home world's moon, and their sister world, the planet Mars. During a survey mission for a mine shaft, Prothean ruins were uncovered. It was said to be the single greatest discovery in human history. The discovery jumped human technology forward 200 years. The technology in question was element zero. This material had an interesting property, that, when exposed to an electrical charge, would alter the mass of any object. Humanity called it miraculous. The civilizations of the galaxy called it Mass effect.
Charon, the moon of Pluto was revealed to be a Mass Relay, encased in a frozen prison. The humans worked tirelessly to activate the relay, and eventually succeeded. For the first time in human history, mankind was able to leave their own solar system and to explore the galaxy. The Systems Alliance, humanity's interplanetary governmental body, allowed the activation of every new relay, a process deemed extremely dangerous by the Citadel Council.
Soon came the turians and the First Contact War. The First Contact War was a quick, brutal, and decisive war that took place on and in orbit around the human colony world of Shanxi. The turians decimated the unprepared human fleet and captured the colony after the surrender of General Williams. Humanity struck back with an overwhelming force and nearly destroyed the entire turian fleet around Shanxi. Before the conflict could spread, the Council stepped in and forced peace negotiations. After the truce became final, humans did all they could to prove themselves. In recognition of this, humanity has the distinction of being given an embassy faster than any other species. Despite this, and other signs of respect from the council races, humanity still needed a figurehead to prove themselves once and for all in the eyes of the galaxy.
They would have their way when a Systems Alliance Lieutenant Commander named John Shepard was slated for Spectre evaluation during a recovery operation for a Prothean beacon. The recovery operation when horribly wrong when the destination colony, Eden Prime, came under attack by the geth. Shepard and his team fought their way to the beacon and accidentally activated it. Imprinting confusing but horrifically vivid images and sounds into Commander Shepard's mind and destroying the beacon in the process. Along the way, they found the body of the Spectre in charge of the evaluation, Nihlus Kryik. An eyewitness reported that another turian, whom Nihlus called Saren, was responsible for the murder. Saren was the council's best Spectre agent. News of his treason was disturbing for the human forces. The geth assault was repelled, but only after severe damage was delt to the colony.
The geth insurrection lead by a rogue Spectre took priority. When Saren Arterius was accused of treason before the council by the human delegation, he is found innocent. Shepard is also denied the admission to the Spectres after he is partially blamed for the death of Nihlus and the destruction of the Prothean beacon. Grounded on the station, the Commander begins his search for evidence against Saren. He finds allies in Garrus Vakarian, a turian C-Sec agent, and Urdnot Wrex, a krogan mercenary. After confronting an underworld boss named Fist, Shepard learns that a quarian may possess evidence against Saren.
Shepard tracked down the quarian and helped save her during a firefight in the wards. The evidence is saved and presented to the human ambassador, who arranges an audience with the Council. The evidence is presented and Saren Arterius is stripped of his Spectre status. Humanity's ambassador, Udina, pushes for the persuit of Saren by the Citadel fleet, though his request is denied. When Commander Shepard suggests that he be sent instead, the Council grants him Spectre status. Shepard is given the SSV Normandy, a prototype warship co-developed by the Systems Alliance and the turian military. The Normandy possesses a prototype drive core and an experimental stealth system that renders it invisible to all sensors.
Shepard's pursuit of Saren leads him to the eventual discovery that the true enemy is not Saren or his army of geth, but an ancient being that calls itself Sovereign, a Reaper. Along with this revelation came the clarity of his visions, and the need to reach the Conduit before Saren. The Commander travelled to Illos, the lost Prothean world in his visions and the location of the Conduit. Following Saren closer than ever, Shepher learned the fate of the Protheans and the true nature of the Conduit. It is a miniature Mass Relay that links directly to the heart of the Citadel.
In a last ditch effort Shepard and his squad race to the Conduit before it closes barely making it through. Upon their arrival, they find the Citadel in ruins. Saren and his geth have already entered and made their way into the Citadel tower, while Sovereign and the geth fleet attack the Citadel in space. Sovereign easily dispatches the defending ships and makes its way into the Citadel as Saren closes the ward arms. Sovereign links with the Citadel tower directly and waits for Saren to give it direct control. Shepard and his squad fight there way up the exterior of the tower and make it to the council chambers before Saren completes what he set out to do. While his squad keeps the geth at bay, Shepard convinces Saren that he was wrong in his beliefs, and that he can still do the right thing. Saren fights through the implantation and indoctrination by focusing on his morals and turian sense of duty to find his last remaining option. With a quite word of thanks to Shepard, the rogue turian kills himself.
Shepard and company take control of the station and reopen the Mass Relay network, allowing the human reinforcements from Earth to save the Destiny Ascension and the Council as well as aid the remnants of the Citadel fleet in dispatching the geth and destroying Sovereign. In a last ditch effort, Sovereign reanimated Saren's corpse through the extensive implants he had received under Sovereign's indoctrination and attempted to dispatch Shepard and give itself control of the station. When that failed, the Reaper was finally destroyed by the combined fire of the Citadel and human fleets.
Within a month the Citadel was restored. Yet a new voice was be heard among the Council. A human on. laced with the experience of a military official and a voice of reason. With the acceptance of Captain Anderson by the Council, humanity had finally proven themselves as worthy members of the galactic community, not to mention getting a say in how things were run. For the Council the fight was finally over.
But not for Shepard. A Spectre's job is never finished.
Terra Nova, a human colony world in the Utopia system in the Exodus Star Cluster was to be the destination of Asteroid X57. But upon transit the asteroid was hijacked by a group of batarians, intent on sending the hulk straight into the human colony. Shepard was sent to save the colony. He was successful, but many people died: both innocent and batarian. However, crucial information was learned; there was to be a batarian rebellion. This news troubled Shepard and even though the hijacking of the asteroid had been thwarted he continued to search the galaxy for any signs of this uprising.
Four months after the batarian's attempt to destroy the colony of Terra Nova, an Alliance space station, Mercedes, dropped off the communication grid. Shepard was tasked with investigating this anomaly and found himself walking into a trap. Upon entering the stations command center a video feed from the station's reactor lit the screens. Placed against the reactor was a nuclear device. The door Shepard, Garrus Vakarian, and the quarian, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya had come through shut and locked itself, leaving the three to watch the screen in horror as their lives ticked away.
Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, aboard the SSV Normandy watched with despair and horror as her love, Shepard and her friends were atomized by the explosion. From the center of the station a miniature star formed, tearing it into billions of pieces. Then just as quickly as it had formed the light was gone, as were the three brave individuals who had volunteered to survey the station. Little did those on board the Normandy know, occupied as they were by the sudden death of their Commander and friends, an Alliance research facility established under ExoGeni on Titan, Jupiter's moon suffered a similar fate.
Within the week the batarian radicals staged a coup d'etat, seizing their homeworld. This show of brute force was only acknowledged in the slightest and met with no hostility by the Council; another human was becoming a Spectre. Captain Roland Whitfield of the Alliance accepted the status with great pride, his first mission was to attend the funeral of Lieutenant Commander John Shepard, so that he could grant the man --- the legend --- his condolences and present the Council's highest honor, the Medal of Valor to the fallen Spectre. But the ruthless batarians did not stop as a representative of the batarians rose to speak of Shepard on behalf of their new government.
This representative looked into the eyes of every human there, and cursed Shepard's name, claiming the explosion was the will of the batarians. He spoke of how humanity was disgusting, and that they had stolen from the batarians what was rightfully theirs. Then the batarian sealed his fate when he announced that under each pew resided a bomb. Whitfield drew his Pistol and killed the batarian, stopping the would-be massacre.
That next day during a Council session, Ambassador Udina was assassinated by a batarian sniper. The sniper was killed upon pursuit, leaving the human's with no other alternatives. These ruthless acts of war demonstrated to the soldiers of the Systems Alliance that a certain brutality of equal proportions would be needed in the war that would certainly come.
Meanwhile, on Earth, a meeting was held between the Arcturus and Migrant fleet: Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams was attending the meeting upon popular request by both commanding officers, as was Whitfield. Admiral Hackett and Migrant Commander Deri'Veio vas Rayya, Tali's father, met along with Whitfield and Chief Williams to discuss an alliance against the batarians. The Migrant Commander made it very clear with the humans that the government and people who ended his daughter's life and pilgrimage would pay with their lives.
Disclaimer: some artistic license was taken during the creation of the storyline. If there are any disputes please send them to Councilor Destitution for immediate review. All information provided is based off of Mass Effect, copyrighted by Microsoft and BioWare.
