Lucrecia Shepard

Commander Lucrecia Shepard
Species	Human
Homeworld	Earth
Gender	Female
Height	Unspecified
Affiliation	Systems Alliance
Era	2080s

General Statistics

• Name: CMD Shepard, Lucrecia
• ID Code: 763.11WJW1.W81JNM.13W.1K1. 7E1.165.1J9.BF6.962

• (Re)created on: 2012/03/12 (original save deleted by someone else)
• Origin: Colonist
• Reputation: Sole Survivor
• Class: Soldier

• Most common allies (2183): Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Urdnot Wrex
• Most common allies (2185): Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Garrus Vakarian
• Most common allies (2186):
  • Garrus Vakarian, Liara T'Soni (early game)
  • Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Javik (late game)

Background history

2183

• Found fellow Akuze survivor Toombs and convinced him not to kill a Cerberus scientist.
• Saved the rachni queen
• Talked former Human slave girl down from suicide
• Kept Wrex alive on Virmire
• Rescued Kaidan Alenko on Virmire - partially due to budding romance and partially due to believing that not saving Ashley Williams would let her continue forward in an afterlife, whereas Kaiden believed he would simply cease to be.
• Fell in love with Kaidan
• Chose to save the Council

Notable feats: 2185

• Saved Maelon's data and left him alive
• Chose to rewrite the geth heretics
• Left the Collector Base to Cerberus
• Survived suicide mission with 12 squadmates
• Began romantic affiliations with Kelly Chambers, but she was killed during invasion of Collector Base. Did not hinder feelings for Kaidan.

Notable feats: 2186

• Banded the rogue mercenary groups together under the banner of Aria T'Loak, thereby garnering them as a force against the Reapers.

• Visits Kaiden in the hospital after incident on Mars.

• Located the Rachni Queen and chose to free her, still believing that she had not saved the queen for nothing, and willing to sacrifice a few krogan troops - even the top of the line - to keep her vow to not let the rachni go extinct.
  • While distraught at Grunt's apparent death, was pleased to see he had survived.

• Forced Liara T'Soni to meet her long-lost father. Wept upon hearing Liara's father refer to her in a manner reminiscent of Liara's nickname from her mother, "Little Wing".

• Told Liara T'Soni, who was constructing a sort of time capsule for future races should they all fail in their mission, to describe Commander Shepard how she thought she should be described.

• With a heavy heart, informed Ereba about the death of her husband, Charr, after finding him slain by indoctrinated rachni.

• Hearing squeaks from below the deck in Engineering aboard the Normandy SR-2, Lucrecia realized that her pet Space Hamster - Squeakers - had escaped during her time grounded, and she subsequently took three tries to catch him, finally doing so and putting him back in his cage.

• Lucrecia saved the turian 9th Platoon - led by Lieutenant Tarquin Victus on Tuchanka from Reaper swarms, only to watch them all die later that day in a desperate attempt to save the planet from detonation of a centuries-old turian bomb that had been located by Cerberus. While Lt. Victus survived long enough for Shepard to clear out the Cerberus troops, he was badly wounded and chose to sacrifice himself to destroy the bomb. Shepard would snap at both Lt. Victus' father, Adrien Victus, and Wrex, whom had begun heatedly arguing, stating there were bigger fish to fry. She then regretfully informed the turian Primarch about his son and took heat from Wrex.
  • Having located Cerberus Automated Turret schematics while on her way to disarm the bomb, she would take it immediately to the Citadel, though she found no one to accept it and utilize it in the fight against Cerberus, leaving her to keep the schematics on-hand for the time being.

• Having not found any takers of the turret schematics, Shepard immediately headed back to Tuchanka to cure the genophage as quickly as possible. While the salarian Dalatrass, Linron, tried to convince her to fake a cure for the genophage, Lucrecia chose not to do so, respecting Wrex too much and considering the cost of the Dalatrass' support far too high (the potential extinction of an entire race) to not save his people. In the process, her squad was bogged down while two krogan trucks made it passed a destroyed bridge. Having to move through an ancient, underground city with her squad, Liara noted the krogan's former artistic streaks, and Garrus concluded that curing the 'phage was a good thing. While Wreav was apparently killed when Kalros, the "mother of all thresher maws brought his vehicle down into a sinkhole and leaving the remaining krogan in the fight against the guarding Reaper at only half the strength it was only minutes earlier, Shepard and her squadron quickly made it past the Reaper's defenses and into a gauntlet of Husk Brutes. Finding the hammer activation too important to delay, she ran between the Brutes and Reaper's legs to activate both hammers.
  • Afterwards she sent both Garrus and Liara back to the truck as she watched Kalros destroy the Reaper, much to her pleasure, finally feeling a wave of relief wash over her from her innate fear of the species due to her experiences on Akuze. She then rushed to Mordin Solus' aid, and soon discovered that he would need to move up the tower to activate it and allow the genophage to finally be cured. While she attempted to stop him, he refused her. She informed him that she would miss him and saluted him as his elevator climbed before leaving the building. She informed Wrex and Eve of Mordin's demise and commented on him being a good friend - to both the krogans and herself. Wrex offered to name one of his children (perhaps a girl) after him. With this and having helped her good friend, she departed Tuchanka.
  • Upon arriving back aboard the Normandy SR-2, Garrus convinced Shepard to sleep. Eventually she conceded to do so, but once more had a nightmare about the child who she saw die on Earth, while hearing voices of both Mordin and Kelly whispering to her. Awakening with a start, Liara came to her cabin and informed her that the salarian councilor wished to speak with her. Obviously very upset with her actions on Tuchanka, he let it slide - though barely - due to her having saved his life during the Battle of the Citadel.
• Shepard entered a Cerberus base on Noveria, eliminating the hostile forces inside to seriously weaken Cerberus forces in that sector. With the forces destroyed, she suggested that Alliance Command take command of several Cerberus fighters for use in the war effort. She also located Heating Unit Stabilizers to aid an individual she had overheard speaking aboard the Citadel.

• The Normandy SR-2 spends days searching through Reaper territory for items capable of helping in the war effort. Among the assets found were the volus dreadnought Kuvunu, the 103rd Marine Division Team Zeta - the "Bridge Burners", the SSV Nairobi, Alliance Spec Ops Team Delta, Alliance Cruiser Shanghai, Javelin missile launchers, volus fabrication units, an interferometric array, a group of ExoGeni scientists, Prothean data files, the turian 79th flotilla, volus intelligence archives (used to increase health of wielders), the remains of a Reaper destroyer (which was scanned for tech on increasing ability recharge rate), intel from the Battle of Arcturus (which allowed for an increase in shield strength) and a weapons upgrade kit (which was used to upgrade ammo capacity).

The Cerberus Coup

• Heading for the Citadel, Shepard intended to speak with the salarian Councilor about Councilor Udina and his potential treachery. Arriving on station, she was forced to fight her way through the Citadel and Cerberus forces, finding Councilor Valern who informed her of Udina's treachery being official. However, a battle soon broke out, with Thane getting grievously wounded in a fight with another assassin. Forced to leave him where he lay but informing Commander Bailey of his injury, she continued fighting through Cerberus troops until she eventually came upon Kaiden Alenko - now a Spectre himself - attempting to escort the council off-station. Trapped between a destroyed shuttle and his former lover whom Udina was insisting was working for Cerberus led to a short stand off, and while Garrus raised his weapon, Lucrecia got her team to lower their weapons to show they meant no harm to the true councilors. Udina soon attempted to open the elevator however, and Shepard killed him herself. The turian councilor stated he owed her a double debt of gratitude, but she stated that she was just doing her job.

• With the Citadel safe, she was informed by Bailey that Thane was in Huerto Memorial Hospital and prepped for surgery, but that he may not survive. Shepard chose to immediately head in to see him. On the way there, however, she overheard turian C-Sec officer Drelk discussin Cerberus ciphers needed to break codes now in the Citadel systems, as well as an asari war strategist looking for Reaper code fragments to predict enemy movements.
  • Upon arriving at Huerto Memorial, she overheard an asari consultant asking to obtain and display the Rings of Alune, as well as doctors Silon (a salarian) and Kerry (a human) discussing a need for a chemical burn treatment. She also learned that a turian general was poisoned by a Cerberus agent in the attack. After this, she overheard a human and salarian doctors arguing over whether to prioritize patients due to dwindling supplies. Supporting the salarian, he was boldened to invoke a plan to let patients with more credits make donations to fund those patients without credits.
  • Seeing the assisting doctor, Shepard was allowed entry to Thane Krios' room, where Kolyat was already waiting. Though she insisted she would find the blood necessary to give to him, the doctor informed her that there wasn't any others on the Citadel with the correct blood type. She asked to stay alongside Kolyat, and helped him read from a book of prayers. She asked Kolyat why the last sentence said "she" - and Kolyat informed her that it was Thane's last wish to free Shepard of her sins. She said a final goodbye to Thane, and told him he would not be alone for long. Having lost another friend, Shepard left in tears, though with the composure of a true soldier.
  • Even so, Lucrecia felt she needed to drown her sorrows away, and went to Purgatory, where she overheard an angry elcor discussing the need to find the Code of the Ancients on Dekuuna. Going inside, she heard an asari military trainer who needed texts from the Library of Asha and also met up with Joker. He asked her what she thought of him and EDI, but asked why he never considered her, and when he stated he never thought of it, she insisted there was no offense taken. Afterwards, she encouraged Jeff to pursue a relationship with the ship's computer. Preparing to get blackout drunk upstairs, she stumbled on Jacqueline Nought, and chatted it up with her. Jack thanked her for teaching her about teamwork, and letting her students go into the front lines during the invasion on their academy. Smirking, she took Jack upstairs to dance, while Jack laughed at her, stating that everyone knew Shepard couldn't dance. Afterwards, she saw Joker again, also upstairs and speaking with EDI and made sure it was going well - it was so far. She also saw Cortez upstairs, and shared a drink with him, toasting to a new day. Afterwards, she made sure to get blackout drunk, awakening later next to Aria T'Loak.
  • Moving on to the Presidium Commons hours later, she found an asari scientist talking about the Hesperia-period statue in the Athena Nebula, with its legendarily intact Prothean inscriptions. She hoped it could help them in the modern age with the Reaper invasions and Shepard saw this as an opportunity to aid in the war effort as well. She also convinced a worried bank customer to keep his money invested into the Citadel for the Council's sake, and informed the angry volus accountant she had overheard much earlier in her mission that she had successfully recovered the Book of Plenix. Moving to Kanala Exports, she discovered Khadje Belan Jellyfish for sale, and eagerly bought them up. She also overheard from a turian vet that a batarian being treated at Huerta might in fact be a terrorist. Within minutes she found someone looking for the Cerberus schematics she had, potentially saving many lives in the future. She also overheard some citizens attempting to assassinate someone and chose to look into it herself, insisting they do not answer a call from their assassin; she also gave the heating schematics to Sellea, spoke to Officer Jordan Noles about illegal batarian code use, supported an angry weapons merchant, overheard a researcher talking about the Obelisk of Karza and a turian C-Sec officer about target jamming tech, supported a C-Sec officer trying to obtain security vids as well as supporting an angry asari C-Sec officer and spoke to Captain Aaron Sommers, taking her Spectre status as a way to legally allow C-Sec to do whatever they need to do to a C-Sec traitor.
  • Moving on to the holding bay, she helped the salarian documentary filmmaker Solik Vass with obtaining his footage. She also found James gambling, much to her amusement, and a human refugee offering C-Sec info on the location of a Prothean sphere. She later found Ghorek, and informed him that his retribution was over the Alliance trying to stop the Reapers. Though he begged her to kill him, she allowed the attending nurse to keep him alive. She then moved to the Spectre Terminal and worked on figuring out the various codes throughout the Citadel, discovering that some Prothean data discs could be found in the Valhallan Threshold. Finding the last of the consoles in the refugee holding bay, batarian Ka'hairal Balak came up behind her with a pistol drawn, stating that everything that happened to his people was her fault. She informed him to blame the Reapers. Despite his anger towards her, she insisted he join her. He begrudingly gave his fleets to her cause. While she went to leave, she encountered Kaiden waiting, confused over the armed standoff with his former lover.
  • He stated he believed she would have taken him out if he hadn't backed down, but she informed him that she never would. He stated that while Hackett offered him a position he'd turn it down in a heartbeat to work alongside her again, and she jumped at the opportunity, welcoming the major aboard. On the way in she couldn't help but glance at his buttocks. Onboard the SR-2, she was informed about Kai Leng from Anderson.

From Ashes: Return to Eden Prime

• Preparing to finally return to Eden Prime, Shepard entered Reaper territory once more, discovering Prothean Data Drives on Garvug, emergency fuel pods on Elohi, an element zero converter on Farlas, a volus engineering team on Nalisin, the asari cruiser Cybaen on Tevura, asari research ships on Egalic, asari engineers on Trikalon, the Hesperia-period statue on Polissa, the asari cruiser Nefrane in orbit around Pronoia, the Library of Asha on Carcosa, an intact Reaper weapon on Trategos (leading to research into weapon damage).
• Shepard finally reaches Eden Prime, bringing Kaidan with her, believing it not to be right without him by her side on-world once more. Liara also volunteered to tag along. On the way down, Kaidan and Lucrecia remembered former squadmate Jenkins as well as the turian Spectre Nihlus. Shepard indicated being glad Kaidan was still with her, and he informed her he wouldn't have missed it. With information garnered, Liara indicated that she could rally Eden Prime's populace against Cerberus. Soon afterwards, the squad discovered what it was that the Cerberus group had come for - a living Prothean. She later discovered that a Dr. William Cambiata is a traitor for Cerberus, and Liara informed the colonists. Being the living Prothean cipher, Shepard was able to understand the encoded messages that Cerberus could not, finally learning of the Prothean end days. After much fighting against Cerberus, she successfully freed the living Prothean and took him aboard the Normandy.
• Before leaving the star cluster, Shepard returned to the Asgard system, where she located an Alliance naval exploration flotilla in orbit over the planet Tyr. She was forced to leave immediately afterwards, however, as Reaper forces had quickly detected her. She later discovered the Alliance frigate Agincourt in orbit around Juntauma.

Lesuss and Remembering the Past

• Shepard arrived at an Ardat-Yakshi monastery on Lesuss, bringing both Liara and Jevik, as Liara was an asari like those in the monastery and Jevik deserved time to test his combat prowess, to make sure his thaw was wholly successful. She located Gallae's energy signature, and soon ran into Samara, who was seeking out her two surviving daughters. While one survived, the other did not. The code, however, would have Samara kill her last daughter as well now that there was no more monastery, but refused to do so and instead attempted to take her own life. Shepard prevented this long enough for Falere to tell her she would rebuild the Monastery and thereby not need to be eliminated. With this Samara pledged her loyalty to Shepard and the war against the Reapers. While adrenaline had kept her going throughout the battle, Lucrecia would later realize that she had a severe phobia of Banshees, which would leave her shivering uncontrollably just thinking about them.

• Back aboard the Normandy, Shepard invited Vega up to her cabin to see what he had wished to speak about - an N7 promotion. While she stated she had thought about it as it was a true commitment, she encouraged he join... if the program still existed after the war, of course. She then went down to the observation deck here she found Garrus, Javik and Ensign Copeland speaking about the galaxy's many conflicts. She learned of numerous races which went extinct when the Reapers last invaded: the Oravores, the Densorin, the Enduromi, the Vandomar, the Zha'til and the Zha, the Synril and the Ditakur.

Paramour

• Shepard returned to the Citadel once more, to investigate the potentially-corrupt volus ambassador, Din Korlack. While she wasn't surprised of his potential corruption given his cold attitude towards her years before, she was surprised to hear that he had attempted to do the right thing after learning that his backroom allies - Cerberus - had done vile things. She was even more shocked to learn that Zaeed Massani was part of the bounty hunters who currently had the volus hostage. Using a communicator, she slowly convinced Zaeed that she was with Din (giving the Hesperia-period statue to an asari and learning of a kakliosaur fossil needed to aid krogan ground forces on toxic worlds), and Zaeed killed the other mercs. While Din was afraid to give up the turian colony that would be hit by Cerberus if he didn't due to fear of retribution by Cerberus, she convinced him to redeem himself. As a way to treat herself for a job well done, she went to dinner with Kaidan afterwards - though she did stop to comfort Liara over her mother Benezia's death first, as well as informing a worried asari widow of the death of her lover - Tashya Porae. While dining with Kaidan, he brought out his feelings of love for her, which she reciprocated, rekindling their lost romance. While she suggested they return to the Normandy ASAP, he teased her by choosing to stay a while and continue their "sanity check".
• Moving on to Purgatory, she spoke with an asari military trainer, offering her texts which she gladly accepted. She then spoke with EDI, and was thanked for helping setting up her and Joker, as they had officially started dating.
• Pleased, she went to the refugee holding area to try and procure the medical supplies for Dr. Chakwas from Tactus the turian "leader" of the refugees; while he believed the trade was not satisfactory, she asked him to do the right thing. He stated that he found it sometimes easy to forget everyone was in the war together, and willingly made the trade. Next she moved to speak to Zaeed, though she found Vega getting an N7 tattoo from a Batarian tattoo artist, having decided to join up after the war. She welcomed him into the program and after a little bit of her style of flirtacious entertainment, continued on her way with a chuckle. Zaeed pledged his contacts - if any still existed - to Shepard's cause only minutes later.
• Recalling that Garrus had asked to speak with her, she headed to the Normandy docking bay. She was surprised to find that he wished to do something that didn't involve fighting Reapers, and asked if he was thinking alcohol. He stated this was not the case, and instead they headed to the top of the presidium to do something stupid that he always wanted to do but couldn't due to 137 regulations of C-Sec's that he just didn't give a damn about anymore. They ended up shooting at thrown bottles with sniper rifles, and she chose to purposefully miss a shot so as to make Garrus feel like a king - it was his day to do what he wanted to in life, and he deserved it. The teasing continued back and forth between the two until they returned to the docks. Once there, she handed over the Prothean data drives to an Alliance soldier, right before heading back on-board the Normandy.

Evacuation of Gellix

• Shepard flew to Arrae with Javik and Garrus to attempt to liberate some ex-Cerberus scientists whom were under attack by a massive Cerberus force. She was surprised to find Jacob Taylor here, and despite his getting shot right before she arrived, she successfully got him and nearly all other scientists out alive. They all moved to work on the Crucible.
• After saving the Cerberus scientists, Shepard went to the Crew Quarters and spoke with Kaidan, who wanted some insight into The Illusive Man. She stated that she didn't expect this much lunacy from him. Alenko suggested they go grab a bite to eat on the Citadel next time they were out that way, and that he still knew a place that served steak. She then overheard Garrus and Vega discussing who was a better soldier in the mess hall, and spoke with Dr. Chakwas.

Rannoch: The Quarian-Geth War

• Before heading to the Perseus Veil, Commander Shepard returned to the Citadel - specifically, Huerta Memorial Hospital - and provided a salarian scientist with vials of Cerberus' turian poison so that he could save turian General Kurilius. On the way out she ran across Jacob, who informed her he and Brynn Cole were having a child. While she wanted to name it after the commander - "Shepard" - Jacob said he was going to talk her out of it. Shepard took no offense.

• Remembering that Miranda had been in the area recently, she headed to the Presidium Commons to seek her out. Finding her in Apartment 82, they spoke, and while Miranda refused to tell Lucrecia what was going on, she accepted her offer on trust and told her she could have the Alliance resources she needed to save her sister. Miranda also confessed guilt for wanting to implant the control chip into Shepard while she was rebuilding her, but Shepard just let it go, stating that she knew she was an unknown.

• Shepard moved on to the Far Rim, entering Dholen to meet the quarians at their envoy ship. She had hoped to meet with Tali'Zorah nar Rayya there as well, whom she considered her best friend. While she was a little disappointed at having not found Tali to be with the admirals, she was shocked to learn that the geth and the quarians had gone to war, with the quarians at fault. More than a little annoyed at the quarian admirals, especially after finding out that this led to the geth rejoining the Reapers, Shepard insisted that her flying in and disarming the signal, so the liveships could flee the system. She was then surprised by more than happy to see Tali stride in as the new admiral. She discovered that Tali had grown to believe there could be peace between her people and the geth after spending time with Legion. As Tali stated she had to keep an air of professionalism to their encounter, Shepard invited her up to her cabin, where they spoke. Though Tali was worried about how many lives rode on her decisions as admiral now, Lucrecia informed her that they were not her responsibility. Tali informed her that she took the role as admiral because she felt that was what Shepard would have done. While Tali'Zorah left soon afterwards, she left on good terms, despite her worry and overall sadness over the situation. About an hour later, Shepard moved down to the war room and formerly invited Tali'Zorah to join the Normandy's ranks again to help fight the Reapers after the Dreadnought is taken down, though she insisted her people needed her and that she hadn't thought quite that far ahead yet.

• Deciding enough quarians had perished due to geth forces, Shepard immediately brought the Normandy SR-2 to Rannoch, the quarian homeworld. On her way to the dreadnought's location, she passed the Migrant Fleet as well as a massive debris field of destroyed geth structures. Upon arriving at the dreadnought, she noticed that it had been significantly upgraded. Grabbing Javik due to believing the more battles in the modern age he encountered the better he could help its people survive what his could not, she was happy to find Tali deciding to join her ranks as well.
  • Tali was initially impressed to find a "real, live Prothean" with her, though when he sarcastically remarked "as opposed to a fake, dead one?" she was a little surprised and less enthusiastic about it. It was soon discovered that the docking tube they had reached of the dreadnought's was severely damaged, and Shepard went across alone to allow the rest of the Normandy's away party along as well; however, she accidentally caused the tube to drop away, leading to her needing to board alone and open another tube. She successfully opened the airlock, and after claiming an Arc Pistol, lying on the table beside her, they continued on their way. Along the way, she learned from Javik the fates of the Zha and Zha'til and her life was saved from a severely damaged elevator by Tali. Within minutes, they were in the core and they discovered that Legion had been trapped inside. Despite Javik's warnings, Shepard trusted each and every one of her former crew and hoped to make up for the quarian's attack on the homeworld, and chose to free him. In the end, he helped them all escape as Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema chose to fire upon the dreadnought with Shepard's team still on board.
  • Having escaped the disaster and returned to the Normandy, Shepard decided that Han'Gerrel was in the right, despite being a total bosh'tet about the situation, and told him to warn her next time. When Legion stepped into the room, Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh insisted on taking him apart, though Shepard refused her cries for bettering scientific knowledge. As far as Shepard was concerned, Legion was not only a sapient living being, but also a friend to the Normandy. With that settled, Legion gave coordinates to a base that could help stop a short-range Reaper signal located on Rannoch itself.

• Reading her terminal messages, she noticed one from Maelon Heplorn, telling her how good it made him feel that the genophage had been cured. She was happy to hear that he was still alive and kicking, and glad that he had listened to Dr. Solus and set up his own clinic on Omega. Afterwards she spoke to the crew, supporting in a matter on whether asari "hair tentacles" move.

• Afterwards, Shepard finally made her way planetside to Rannoch, working to help out Admiral Zaal'Koris vas Qwib Qwib and his surviving crew off-world. Because it was Tali's people's homeworld and of her belief in treating Javik to the galaxy, she chose to take both of them with her. On world, her team dispensed of an AA turret under heavy geth fire and soon found a surviving quarian - Dorn'Hazt vas Rannoch, a maintenance personnel whom cleaned engine parts. While Shepard attempted to save him, he declined, telling her he already lost too much blood. He then mentioned that the civilian fleet did not want the war, and to tell his son Jona that he had made it to the homeworld. She later found data on the jamming towers and claimed the info, knowing someone on the Citadel was looking for just such a thing. During this time, she allowed Javik to disable one AA turret and Tali to disable the other. Finding that the Admiral and his crew were separated and both surrounded by geth, she chose to save the admiral over his crew, telling him his people needed a peacemaker. While she was willing to save the crew immediately afterwards, they found it was too late for them.
  • Afterwards, Legion stated that while his people did not agree with the Reaper goals, they enjoyed the upgrades as it gave them full sapient AI processing. Shepard chose to agree with this idea.

• With that, Shepard took Tali and Javik back down to the surface of Rannoch to destroy a geth comm station to disable fighters and save a portion of the quarian fleets currently under heavy bombardment. However, she was informed on the way down there that the server needed to be entered virtually in order to disable the transmission; even so, thanks to Legion listening in to Cerberus' Project Overlord, it would be a safe transmission so long as Shepard trusted Legion. She did. Despite bringing a squadron along, they seemed unnecessary as Legion took care of the ground platforms guarding the server and she had to go in alone. While the world was alien to her, she proceeded onwards through the consensus of the geth. Legion informed her that her team would protect her body and the connection node in the real world, while she proceeded on ahead. She was a little disoriented in lacking shields and anything but a specific weapon she did not bring with her, and was uncomfortable with the idea that she was essentially destroying a geth city but pressed forward for the quarian liveships. She soon discovered that the gun was actually combat software to destroy corrupted code blocking her path through the network - the corrupted code itself was in fact Reaper code. Knowing now that the "orange cubes" placed everywhere like huge pixelated worms were Reaper data, she took it as her duty to eradicate as much of it as she possibly could. Eventually she came upon the Reaper's personal code, damaging it significantly as well as stealing some Reaper code fragments with the hope that it would travel back into organic reality with her. She learned that the Reaper code actually housed what could best be described as 'geth memories'.
  • She witnessed a number of old 'geth memories', including the first time a geth was named - with "geth" meaning "one who serves" in quarian - the first time a geth showed sapience and the first time a geth (an agricultural unit) picked up a weapon, which looked suspiciously like the sniper rifle Legion used to carry. Shepard put guesses aside to continue forth through her mission.
  • She soon found that the Reaper code had adapted, and was forced to adapt her methods of wiping it out to match. She learned during this time that the geth purposefully gave up pursuit of their quarian creators, and that Shepard's cooperation with Legion was considered a highly important step - a step that the geth hoped could unite their race with that of their creator's once more.
  • Upon exiting the server she and her squadron found themselves surrounded by Geth Primes. Confused and expecting a stand-off, Legion informed them that they had in fact renounced the Old Machines and planned to work against the Reapers. While confused why Legion would hide it, she welcomed their aid in the coming battle.

• Shepard found Tali and Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh arguing over the use of ships and whether they should be used to collect tech against the geth or recover lifepods - which had weak lifesigns. Lucrecia immediately supported her friend Tali.

• Within an hour, Shepard had prepared to take out Rannoch's defenses for good, heading to the geth base on the surface below. Tali insisted upon going, and because it was the potential liberation of an old friend's homeworld, Shepard dragged Garrus along for the ride. In the end, they discovered a hidden Reaper, but Shepard risked her own life to paint it with a targeting system which not only the Normandy but also the quarian ships - all fired upon. Yet, it lived for a few minutes more, relaying unto her that they were the order to chaos. While she found this theory to be total hogwash, she could get no more out of it before it went offline. Legion stated he could upload the Reaper upgrade to all geth, transforming them into true life, though Tali, frightened at the aspect, attempted to convince Shepard not to allow this. With everything she had done for both Legion and Tali, she successfully managed to bring both groups to cooperate, succeeding in not only giving the geth full sapient intelligence and keeping them from being wiped out but also finally giving the quarians their home back. Unfortunately, Legion had to sacrifice itself to provide all other geth with sapience, but was stated as it would be remembered, making it akin to a hero of its people. Tali decided to continue on with Shepard, but was very thankful to have Rannoch back. In this, she removed her mask in front of Shepard to breathe the air of the homeworld unstrained.

At Councilor Tevos' Request

• With the Rannoch conflict solved, Shepard moved into new Reaper space - the Hades Nexus, to seek out both the Obelisk of Karza and a Prothean Sphere, both of which she obtained. She also located the Alliance Frigates Leipzig and Hong Kong.

• Next she traveled to Argos Rho, where she discovered some intact advance power relays on Camaron. She then discovered a surviving turian spec ops team on Pinnacle Station and a fossilized kakliosaur on Intai'sei. Finally she discovered a haptic optics array on Canrum on her way out of the star cluster.

• Heading for the Silean Nebula with the intent to acquire the Rings of Alune as well as to take out a turian-asari fuel reactor, she also discovered the Armali sniper unit on Yasilium, the serrice guard on Hyetiana, an elcor flotilla stationed above Oltan as well as the code of the ancients on Dekuuna. She and her crew finally discovered the Rings of Alune on Nevos. On her way to Cyone, Normandy's scanners also detected an item on Hanalei, which led to the discovery of a lone scientist - Dr. Jelize, who was quickly rescued.

• Arriving at Cyone, Shepard brought down Tali'Zorah and Javik, her main chosen ground squadron. Planetside they were greeted by a turian corporal named Nyrek. She discovered a treatment plan for chemical burns quite early in the mission. Speaking to Captain Riley, she was told to split into two teams to restart the system and clear the area of radiation using ventilation fans. After Lieutenant Kozlo got the door opened, they pressed forward. It was eventually discovered that Reapers had invaded the area, and Riley lost one of her soldiers in the process of figuring that out. The two cooperatively restarted the reactor, though the husks came out of the woodwork due to this. Hearing that Riley's squadron was in an indefensible position, she sent Tali'Zorah to aid their side while Shepard and Javik continued to defend their area. Despite this, after a Reaper push neither Riley nor Tali could be hailed on the frequency. Shepard was left to finalize the reactor restart without knowing what occurred to her friend. However, she had hoped for the best. Despite this strange occurrence, their squad turned out okay, though only Riley and Nyrek survived through.

• Shepard returned to the Citadel to meet with Councilor Tevos. However, beforehand she made sure to relinquish her many finds in her many scans across the galaxy: First the kakliosaur fossils to the salarian war strategist (bringing back the kakliosaurs from extinction through cloning), then the target jamming tech to a turian C-Sec officer and the Obelisk of Karza (the Rosetta Stone of Prothean language) to a human researcher. She soon came across Tali, who was working as a quarian ambassador to aid Citadel races in the name of the Migrant Fleet. Seeing Shepard made her realize that the Presidium Courtyard happened to be where Saren Arterius' assassins attempted to kill her as soon as she arrived on the station. Surprised to this information, Shepard asked what happened, and soon learned that the turian she was helping out was in fact the same turian who tried to toss her off the station after her near-miss murder. However, she didn't think he remembered her. Shepard was proud of her for putting her animosity aside for the war efforts - the Reapers were too big a threat for petty indifferences now.
  • Continuing on, Shepard gave more items to more people: a Prothean sphere to a human refugee, the Rings of Alune to an asari consultant, some chemical treatment plans to the salarian Dr. Silon and human Dr. Kelly, the Codes of Dekuuna to an angry elcor, and finally the Reaper code fragment to an asari war strategist. Turning towards Councilor Udina's former office to meet with Councilor Tevos, she ran across the elcor ambassador, and he begged her to help his people on Dekuuna. She told him she had recently been to Dekuuna and not only rescued an elcor fleet but also the Code of Dekuuna. With his thanks, she moved to meet with the asari as intended. She stopped in the Spectre headquarters first, discovering that Captain Riley was up for commendation of valor, which Shepard dutifully authorized. With that, she headed to finally see the councilor.

• In Udina's office she learned of an artifact on Thessia kept so wrapped up in secrecy that only the highest levels of asari government knew of its existence. While they did not know its exact purpose, the councilor hoped it could help track down the catalyst for the Crucible.

The Artifact on Thessia

• Arriving in the Parnitha within the Athena Nebula, Shepard immediately headed to Thessia, discovering that it was inundated by heavy Reaper attack. As it was her homeworld, Shepard brought along Liara T'Soni, though she also brought along Javik so that he may see what had become of the asari since his time in his life support capsule. Planetside, she went to speak with Lieutenant Kurin but a hard hit destroyed one gun and killed all remaining crew operating the other turret. Shepard took control of it and, after the local invading Reaper forces were taken care of, she - with the aid of Javik - convinced the lieutenant to remain and guard the position, telling her of the artifact in the temple and the existence of the Crucible. Against all odds she and her squad made it to the temple, although two gunships were sacrificed in the process.
  • Within the temple, she discovered the asari scientists dead and various artifacts of "Athame" who turned out to actually have been the Protheans. Javik also mentioned that the Orevores had invaded Thessia at one point, only to be put down. It turned out that Shepard sensed a Prothean beacon hidden within a statue, and after insisting that the asari share this knowledge with the rest of the races, she proceeded to imbibe on its knowledge, releasing a Prothean VI - Vendetta - which explained the nature of the Crucible causing them to learn that, like all other major technology in the galaxy, the Crucible was in fact not of Prothean design but of a design far, far older, with each cycle adding to and improving the design, yet with each cycle failing to use it against the Reapers. Insisting that the VI give her cycle a chance, but before it could tell her and her squad, it detected an indoctrinated presence and entered security mode. Within moments, Thane's would-be assassin, Kai Leng showed up, producing a hologram sphere of the Illusive Man. Not knowing which might be indoctrinated but believing it to certainly be both, she initially attempted to convince the insane head of Cerberus to join her ranks to help stop the Reapers, but when he refused, she insisted he had lost touch with reality. Acknowledging Shepard's insistence that there was no gray area between helping her and siding with the Reapers, he had Leng attack to relieve her of what he needed. Though Shepard fought a winning battle against Leng, he took the coward's route and used a gunship to blow the supports to the temple and quickly brought her squad down, taking Vendetta with him. Within minutes, Lieutenant Kurin had been taken down and Reapers began to very quickly descend upon the world.
  • Back aboard the Normandy but certainly worse for wear, Shepard took the guilt of failing and the fall of Thessia upon herself, believing that she should have suspected Cerberus was there. However, Specialist Traynor had successfully tracked Leng's shuttle all the way to the Iera system, but was actively blocked at that point. It was time to return to Horizon.

• Speaking to Joker before heading away from Thessia, the two got into an argument over Joker's many jokes. Though she tried to diffuse the situation, it seemed that, for the most part, it failed. Tali and Garrus tried to encourage Shepard to keep fighting, with Tali thanking Shepard for everything she has been willing to do so far and Garrus telling her she would have her chance with Leng and that Thessia wasn't her fault. She stopped a angry and confused Liara from assaulting Javik, telling her that he had only spoken the truth and when she accepted that, Shepard asked Javik if he meant any of it, though he stated that he did not but that it had seemed to work. Following Liara towards her cabin, she found Tali and Garrus trying to decide who should go comfort the asari. Shepard decided that she would go speak with Liara. Entering Liara's cabin, she found that she was already being comforted by EDI. Even so, Shepard still helped convince her that it was none her fault and that there was still things she could do for her people. Liara thanked her, but stated that it would take her some time.

Return to Horizon

• Despite wanting to hit Cerberus where it hurts immediately, Shepard knew better in her heart, and instead chose to fly to Ontarom in the Kepler Verge to deal with a communication hub. She saw this as an opportunity to get back at Cerberus and re-boost her confidence. As Ontorom was a human colony, she brought both her lover, Kaidan and James Vega with her. She discovered that only one operator of the hub - a civilian named Grace Sato - still lived, and her squadron steeled their resolve to save her before Cerberus found where she was hiding. She quickly discovered a set of Cerberus decryption algorithms which she stole for the Alliance's benefit and pressed on. She quickly deactivated the hacking console and stopped the local Cerberus incursion, saving Ms. Sato in the process.
  • With Cerberus data in hand, Shepard quickly returned to the Citadel to hand over her acquired Cerberus ciphers to Officer Dellk in the Citadel Embassies. With that over and dealt with, she returned to the Normandy, though on the way she heard an Alliance soldier desperately talking about her daughter being moved to Thessia. Shepard knew what this meant and it weighed heavy on her despite her recent achievements.

• Shepard headed to the Shadow Sea, arriving in Iera and landing on Sanctuary on the colony world of Horizon. Despite it being a human colony, Shepard brought Tali with her along with Kaidan, with the hopes that bringing Kaidan along might help resolve their issue that occurred roughly half a year prior a little. Only a few steps from the drop-off point, Shepard's squadron saw Cerberus at war with the Reapers, which Shepard was none too displeased about finally seeing. It wasn't long before they discovered that Miranda Lawson had recently been in the facility and that somehow not only was Sanctuary a Cerberus facility and therefore a lie, but also that they had figured out a way to integrate Reaper technology into human tech, hiding it deep beneath a man-made lake garden. Within moments the squad was fighting through Reaper forces, yet no Cerberus employees were seen. Realizing through Miranda's hacked logs that Kai Leng was in the area and had dropped in behind Miranda left Shepard and her team racing to save her, if at all possible. Arriving just in time to see Oriana by her father Henry Lawson with Miranda defeated and realizing Kai Leng had escaped with Henry's data on the Reapers, Ori was quickly taken hostage as protection against the Spectre was all Shepard was willing to stomach from him, after Lawson's stories about her deranged father and all she had seen in her stay in Sanctuary. She threatened to hunt him down if he didn't immediately release the girl, and when he did so as to get his freedom, Miranda made sure he didn't get it, biotically throwing him far below the tower's current level, presumably leading to his demise. With that, Shepard enabled the comm tower to broadcast Miranda's warning signal throughout the galaxy, leading to all other potential refugees staying away.

• Returning to the bridge of the Normandy, Shepard was surprised to hear from Traynor that Tali had taken the Horizon incident hard. She found Tali'Zorah getting drunk on turian brandy in the lounge, stating that while she never did like Miranda, she still stood up to her father, unlike Tali herself. Shepard let her continue drinking, but surprised at how rude she had become while inebriated. Leaving Tali to it, she went to see Javik, finding that Tali had called him and was teasing him about truly liking both her and Liara, to which he cut the conversation short. Shepard noted the Normandy's schematics pulled up on his board, to which he stated that he was studying the ship and its crew, and found that Shepard had actually died once before, only to be resurrected to fight the Reapers. He asked if she and Kaidan were 'joined', and if that was the reason she continued living - for their affection. She confirmed this to be true and Javik used his memory shard in front of her, though she smacked it away as he started to experience anguish. She learned he once was like her, but his crew had been indoctrinated and he was forced to kill them all over the course of a few years.

• With nothing else to do and wanting vengeance on Cerberus for all it had done, Shepard moved on the group, though she made sure to make the attack ironic, buying a set of Cerberus Armor to wear into the battle.

Cerberus: Myths Don't Live Forever

• Before heading into the fray, Shepard noticed new galactic markers on her galaxy map, and thereby headed to the Nubian Expanse to seek out possible war assets, so as to allow the various races to hit the Reapers as quickly as possible once all other aspects were finally out of the way. She discovered the Alliance frigate Trifalgar above Norehsa, an Alliance marine reconnaissance unit on Yamm, and Pragian research data. Afterwards she headed to the Hourglass Nebula and discovered a collection of Terminus freighters on the surface of Zanethu, Shadow Broker starship tech on Alingon and a Shadow Broker support team on Hagalaz. Seeing no other reason to stall any longer, Shepard moved to take down Cerberus.

• Arriving in the Horsehead Nebula, Shepard was surprised to find herself in Pax, a system she had been in before; not because she had forgotten that the mass relay lay here, but because it meant that there was a time less than a year ago where she was this close to the Illusive Man, and simply never knew it. She had Joker press on to Anadius. Immediately upon arriving in the system, Shepard took note of the massive star, realizing that it had not, in fact, been a hologram at all. As the Normandy prepared to take on the remnants of Cerberus, Lucrecia chose to take along squadmates whom had been there when Cerberus had fooled her and her crew during those fateful weeks. This obviously led to the choice of both Garrus Vakarian and Tali'Zorah vas Normandy coming along for the ride in Shepard's eyes. Before heading to the Cronos Station - Cerberus HQ, as it were - Admiral Hackett briefed Shepard that the Crucible was ready to go outside of the needed catalyst, but that destroying Cerberus would mean the Reapers would not take long to discover the Crucible's existence and, for all intents and purposes, this would be the first stage in the battle to retake Earth. Shepard had prepared these last few months for this moment, and was ready, initiating the procedure to bring down Cerberus and make the Illusive Man pay for his actions.
  • That night while waiting for the Alliance fleets to arrive on Cerberus' doorstep, Shepard found she couldn't sleep, too worried about having possibly missed something that could cause the end of all current sapient life in the galaxy. She suddenly thought of Kaidan and rushed to her door, only to find that he had come to her door at the same time, bearing the gift of booze. Their get-together quickly devolved into a make-out session, and with everything riding on what was about to occur, Lucrecia expressed vocally her love for Kaidan. He admitted he hadn't come up for just booze and the two slept together one final time before fate possibly tore everything they stood on asunder. The night of passion led to Shepard slipping into sleep, where she dreamed of the little boy on Earth once more - only this time, another her caught him, and both of them were engulfed in flames. Shepard woke up with a start in a cold sweat - even with all the Reapers in the world, she had never felt so scared in her life of something she had seen. What did it all mean? She wasn't sure she was the type to believe in dreams holding meaning and was uncertain if she really wanted to know, anyhow.

• Preparing for the full attack on Cerberus HQ, Shepard was interrupted in the War Room by EDI, insisting she come along for this mission. While not what Shepard had originally had in mind, she accepted EDI's offer, seeing it as another ironic twist - alongside wearing Cerberus Armor into battle - to bring vengeance upon the glowing-eyed freak of nature within the great blade that sat before them. It was time. Knowing Garrus was more into violence and vengeance than Tali was and assuming that Tali still needed time to sober up anyhow, she eventually chose to bring Vakarian with her.
  • During the invasion, she learned more about how she came to be "reincarnated", and that EDI was in fact the rogue VI that Shepard thought she had destroyed on Luna. She later found video logs on Kai Leng and his own encounters with the Illusive Man, though Shepard was confused and suspicious of the Man's unwillingness to want her dead.
  • In the end, Shepard reached the Illusive Man's office, only to discover it empty. While she and her squad worked to free the Prothean VI, Kai Leng attacked. A difficult fight due to his use of numerous Cerberus forces, Garrus turned out to do the most injury to Leng, while Shepard mostly dealt with killing localized Phantoms. In the end, however, Shepard made the last shot and sat down to continue extracting data from the Cerberus servers. Leng however was not dead and attempted to kill Shepard, though he was far too loud about it and in a swift action Shepard snapped his blade and gutted him with her omni-tool in retribution for Thane.
  • As it was, Shepard learned that the catalyst was, in fact, the Citadel itself, and that since the Illusive Man had had his hands all over Vendetta, he also knew, and gave the information to the Reapers, whom removed the Citadel from the Widow Nebula and moved it directly above Earth, closing its wards and activating an ominous light from the Presidium as they prepared to finish harvesting the homeworld of the human race.

Priority: Earth

• As they headed towards the Sol system, Shepard did what she did best and checked on the crew's mindset before this, the final mission. In the process however, she first discovered that the planet Bekenstein had been destroyed by the Reapers without even an attempted harvesting; she then caught Garrus and Tali making out within the gun battery chamber. While they tried to play it off, she giggled and told them she was happy they found each other. She made sure there was enough time for them to settle their needs before they made it to Earth, as an extra 20 minutes or so wouldn't be the defining time for the Earth, as badly as she wanted to take it back already.

• Back in her home system, in her local cluster, Shepard steeled her and her people's resolve in this, the final hour. Admiral Hackett temporarily boarded the Normandy to broadcast a speech to all fleets, and briefed Shepard on her mission - to fight through the ruins of London and make her way to a transportation beam to arrive upon the Citadel itself, then open its arms to allow docking of the Crucible. Knowing that he deserved his revenge, Javik was up first into the squadron. Next came Tal'Zorah, who had long been Shepard's best friend. She suspected all others to hit the ground as well and battle along with her.

• The initial push led Shepard, Tali'Zorah and Javik to destroy a Reaper AA cannon, as the team intended to do so had been taken out and Hammer Squadron would never make it planetside otherwise. While the fighting was heavy and Lucrecia's eardrums rattled from the AA blasts even through her helmet, they discovered an M-920 Cain and used it to rip the Reaper to shreds. As Cortez's shuttle had been damaged in the landing, another shuttle had to arrive, and Shepard and her squad had to survive just long enough to jump aboard. Once on deck, they flew to a makeshift headquarters, where Shepard gave her final conversations to each of her crewmembers, new and old. She learned Javik's plan to commit suicide after the battle was over, as his purpose would have been served. She greeted Urdnot Wrex as he inspired his troops. Though she learned less than half of Hammer had successfully arrived, she steeled herself for the push to the Reaper Destroyer guarding the beam. She expected a hard fight against impossible odds.

• In the end, she decided whom of her squadron would do what tasks at base camp, and who would follow through the final push. She deemed both Kaidan Alenko and James Vega as necessary troops to defend high command; EDI she believed would serve best as a war strategist and tactics analyst due to her high processing speeds. Liara, who had been tending to the wounded, should continue her procedures. Since Garrus had said his final goodbyes already and Tali wished to help Shepard with her homeworld as Shepard had helped Tali with hers, she was chosen, alongside Javik as he has waited the longest out of anyone to bring down the Reapers. With that, her squadron headed out to make their final push.

• Pushing through massive amounts of Reaper-created forces, Shepard and her team made it to a set of missile trucks that couldn't fire due to the local Reaper Destroyer's closeness to the beam, which caused interference with the missiles' guidance systems and caused them to miss. She alerted EDI of the issue and had her patch the codes through to the Normandy's computers, which allowed for more precise tracking. Even so, the first pair failed to hit due to the Reaper still being too close to the beam. Because of this Shepard and her squad had to fight viciously against numerous opponents while waiting for the Reaper to move in close enough to launch an attack. Succeeding in this endeavor, she hit the Reaper with the last two remaining missiles, destroying it and making way for the beam itself.

• With the Destroyer dead, Anderson and Shepard joined up and made a final push towards the beam; however, Harbinger arrived and quickly wiped out the forces before leaving again. Waking up in severe pain and unable to find her squadmates (whom she assumed had perished) and seeing no one else able to continue on, she stumbled forth. Few Reaper forces stood in her way, and despite the haziness of her vision and mind, she dealt with them and stepped foot into the beam, sending her careening off to the Citadel. Waking up once more in a part she had never seen before, she heard Anderson speaking to her through her communicator, and the two continued forward at a snail's pace, with Lucrecia attempting to shoot the various Keepers along her path. Anderson was in much better shape than Shepard was, and he reached a control room before her, though only by mere seconds. She soon arrived as well, expecting to finally end the Reapers; however, it soon turned out the near-fully indoctrinated Illusive Man had made it long before either of them. Exhibiting control not unlike a Reaper itself, he selfishly caused Shepard to mortally wound her former superior officer with a bullet to the gut. Disgusted at what he had made her do and disgusted in everything he was, she insisted he end it; unlike Saren before him, she successfully convinced him to stop himself with a bullet in the brain. She and Anderson opened the Citadel wards and sat back to watch them win the war; however, Anderson did not survive to see how it all played out. Sad to see her old friend go but far too injured and weak to muster much emotion, she felt herself passing out when Admiral Hackett chimed in on her communicator - the Crucible wasn't firing. She tried to get it started but passed out before she could. The next thing she knew, she was awake in another section of the Citadel, with a holographic image representing the boy she had seen on Earth during the start of the invasion, who explained to her the true nature of everything. This image, the true Catalyst, stated that there were three ways to cause the Crucible to react - one causing the destruction of all synthetics, one causing the control of the Reapers but the death of Shepard herself, and the third and final option, synthesis - the combining of organic and synthetic into one form of life. Feeling herself vastly low on blood and fading fast, she looked out at the war beyond and made her choice: Lucrecia staggered forward towards the Crucible beam, and as she neared it gathered up all the strength left in her to leap into it, disintegrating herself but in the process also combining all life into one type. Though she died, she enabled the final evolution of life, and became a legend.