#Mass Effect AU Fanfic

[lilmissnatcat24]

finally writing a shakarian regency au, because regency aus get me hot and bothered

Lord Vakarian sauntered out of the room-- as he always did. It seemed as though he were physically incapable of walking like a normal person, resorting instead to strutting, swaying, and swaggering. His suit was wrinkled awfully, the buttons not clasped near his cowl, exposing a muscular set of plated just below his neck. He situated himself at the bar of the parlor, just next to Shepard’s table, an awfully pleased look on his face as he ordered an ale. 

“Lovely day for you, Lord Vakarian?” Ashley asked. She was always the most bold out of all of them, never having the fear to call across a room full of people to chide a viscount. Shepard felt her cheeks redden as Garrus turned in his stool, willing so that he would not notice her nor make comment on her impending and unfortunate prospects of marriage. 

“A pleasantly normal Tuesday evening, I would say,” he said conversationally, the stomps and curses from the asari still in earshot. “High humidity, but we cannot want for everything, I suppose.” 

He was all haughtiness with not a lick of humility. Shepard had not known the Viscount all too well. A conversation here, an obligatory dance there. He was a playboy, and a notorious one at that. He cared for nothing more than his dalliances with the opposite sex, so much so that it didn’t matter where those dalliances took place. In the closet of a ballroom, in a private shuttle back to his manor, on top of the parlor table only minutes after a game of cards had concluded. Shepard always admired a more subtle approach to romance, while Garrus seemed to run head-first into the first wall he could see. 

To her immense dissatisfaction, his eyes landed on her. Much to her chagrin she blushed, willing that her body would shrink and shrink until she was no bigger than a grain of sand. His eyes were most striking, slate blue against gray plates and a single monocle, giving the impression that when he looked at you, it was through your clothes and skin to the bone and muscle itself. His mandibles flicked out once-- never a good sign when Viscount Garrus Vakarian wanted to strike up a conversation, as if often meant either an insult or sexual proposition was incoming. 

“My word, Miss Shepard,” he said, turning his stool to face her directly. “I heard a shocking bit of gossip recently. So shocking that I myself immediately dismissed it as libel. But the more the rumor lingers in the air, the more legs it seems it has to stand upon.” 

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you, my lord, that gossip is akin to wickedness?” she said, willing so that the blush would leave her cheeks as soon as possible. It always appeared when she was forced to talk to people, especially of the brazen and bold variety. 

“I hear it’s hot and terrible where I’m bound in regards to my penchant for a hushed rumor. But what’s even stranger is the contents of said rumor. A claim that you yourself have marked your eligibility for the marriage mart. Is there any factuality in these ugly whispers, or do I need to have a word with my family’s doctor over my decaying hearing and addled mind?” 

“Your hearing, I’m pleased to say, is perfectly fine. It’s true I’m entering the marriage mart this season. Although, I would keep the doctor on standby for your mind, you seem to have a fair bit of extra prattling going about behind your skull,” Shepard added sincerely. 

[my-hot-awkward-turian-boyfriend]

my rewatching of once upon a time has inspired a new mass effect AU concept...

rather than Cerberus finding a way to bring Shep back to life they instead replace her with her long lost twin and take the nearly two and a half year absence to train her to be the same soldier her sister had been

"they could feed me her memories but they couldn't replace her emotions...her connections"

[dreams-of-an-escapist]

A Shakarian time travel AU ( universe travel?) where Shepard and Garrus both time travel to their childhood after the ME 3 ending. But not into their own past. Instead they happen to be in the world where first contact between humans and Council races was never made and they have to find their way back to each other in the world where nobody around them even understand who they are longing for.

Maybe no Reapers AU to make it easier but maybe not.

[chanihobbit]

Trick or Treat :D

Better late than never. So here’s another snippet from my current Mass Effect 2 AU. I had a little too much fun writing this exchange. 😆😆😅

—————

“Can we please stop talking about my love life. Or Kaidan’s for that matter.“

“Sure, boss. Doesn’t sound like either of you has much going on there anyway,“ Jack sniggers. Apparently she is taking great pleasure in watching Shepard squirm.

“Just why are you so invested in this anyway?“ It‘s not the first time this topic has come up and the biotic has certainly taken more than just a casual interest in Kaidan. What exactly is Jack‘s goal here and does Shepard really want to find out?

She shrugs. “Being on this ship is boring, Shepard. Cerberus sure doesn’t know how to throw a party. Speculating about anyone’s love life would be a step up from the constant boredom. Especially when it’s yours.“

“And why is that, exactly?“

“Cause you’re the boss, Shepard. Gotta figure out who to butter up to get in your good graces. A lover would be a good place to start. Or someone like your would-be boyfriend.“

Shepard wants to laugh at that. He can‘t quite picture Jack turning on the charm and becoming buddies with his estranged former friend. “Well, good luck with that. If you figure out a way to get into Kaidan’s good graces do let me know. I’d sure love to know how it’s done. All I can get him to do these days is shout at me.“

Jack chuckles. “Didn’t look to me like he was the passionate type. Except when it comes to you. Must be love.“

“Sure,“ Shepard replies sarcastically. “It must be. And him busting my balls any chance he gets is just his idea of foreplay.“

“Now, you’re getting it.“

“I really don’t,“ Shepard deadpans feeling very much done with this entire conversation.

Sadly, Jack is apparently having too much fun to let him off the hook just yet.

“Well, if you’d like him to do other things to your balls, you probably have to tell him. Doesn’t seem like he’s that quick on the uptake.“ Her grin widens at that. Shepard‘s plight must be an endless source of entertainment for her.

“That’s it. I’m leaving.“

“Hold on Shepard“, she calls after him, still barely able to contain her laughter. “I have another question for you. Is this a bad time to ask for a favor?“

——————

[easternpine]

Life gets in the way and thus my 2024 Mass Effect Big Bang project fizzles into a regular story. But... a trilogy! This is a story that's been living in my head and on my computer as little bits and bobs for a long time now. I was happy to finally have the excuse to write it. Description:

Ex-Alliance soldier, Jane Shepard, is out of work and down her luck when an old childhood friend, Gianna Parasini, comes calling. With Gianna’s help, Shepard high-tails it to the Citadel and begins a brand new life as a corporate investigator. But things quickly turn deadly as one of Gianna’s former colleagues is found drowned in the galactic capital.

Under the guidance of C-Sec’s special investigator, Detective Garrus Vakarian, Shepard and Gianna work to unravel a tangled knot of avarice, murder, and corporate corruption.

A Shakarian, No Reapers AU

There was nothing to weigh her down, not really. Two pairs of sensible shoes, a selection of shirts (black or gray) , three pairs of pants, one pair of brand new jogging shorts, socks, underwear, and the usual personal hygiene products: these were the things that Jane Shepard had brought with her onto the ship that had ferried her from Earth. She owned little in the way of personal effects. She had no use for sentimental things—no family heirlooms, no trinkets bought on holiday, not a single photograph committed to physical form. The only thing she’d packed besdies the basics was her Alliance service medal, a heavy, brassy thing that had never been removed from its original box, now shoved into a hidden pocket inside her rucksack like a forgotten, ancient talisman. Leaving Earth was not as regrettable as she had expected. Seven months she’d been unemployed, about the same amount of time since she’d finished serving her last tour with the Alliance, and she was desperate to do anything, anywhere, as long as it meant keeping her nose clean and keeping herself housed and fed.

continue reading the story on AO3

[alulangel]

Winchester Directive 1521: Pilot Picks the Music, Shotgun Shuts His Cakehole // T // deancas // ~5k words // written for the ProfoundBond Exchange: Space

Written for @adromelke !

Having never seen Red Dwarf I unfortunately could not pull off an AU, but I hope I may have captured some of the vibe? Also featuring food and a brief appearance of wings! I hope you enjoy!

Summary:

A space AU that boldly asks: "what if Sam and Dean Winchester, but on a spaceship." After their food bio-resequencer gets stuck on the leafy torture of Sam's plain salads, Dean sets off on a deadly mission to scavenge old ships for parts to fix it. But while on an abandoned mining vessel, they brothers encounter a strange, otherworldly voice trapped in the ship...

Excerpt:

They head to the bridge. Things aren’t even close to desperate, not yet, but it’s been two months of no credits, repair after repair, running from system to system. Their bio-resequencer broke, stuck on the last meal it had made. Which would be fine, except the last meal that it had made was one of Sam’s stupid fucking salads, so all Dean had had to eat–apart from what they could buy fresh on-planet when they had the rare chance–was Lepus Saturnalia food. He was dying for something else. Anything else. Sam was, unsurprisingly, not at all sympathetic to his plight.

“It’s good for you, Dean,” he’d say, which was bullshit, because any spacer worth their salt knew that it was your mind you had to keep healthy first and foremost, and days and days staring out into the black picking at a bowl of leaves was enough to make anyone want to throw themselves out the airlock. Good for him. Ha. It was killing his spirit, Sam , what was good about that? And it would be one thing if it was just a bio-resequencer problem, but the trouble with flying a vintage ship like Baby was that they didn’t make S-class Impala cruisers anymore, and trying to find someone with the know-how to work on it and easy access to parts was a pain and a half. And that was just on one of the outer worlds that still used the barter system, not one of the “civilized” planets that used Edlund Corp. credits. If Dean ever met Carver Edlund, he’d like to greet him with a swift kick in the ass.

Read on ao3

[helix-enterprises117]

Halo Effect

In the year 2150, humanity found the Halo Arrays. Ancient ringworlds which they decided to use to achieve Slipspace-Travel, and they reverse-engineer old Forerunner technology from these ringworlds to make all sorts of neat tech, leading to a technological new-age that lasts for 400 years and counting. (Forerunners are still called 'Forerunners,' but they play the Protheans' role).

It's currently 2552...

The United Nations System Alliance (UNSA, which is The UNSC + The System Alliance) are the military and political arm and protectors of humanity, but a shadowy intelligence-agency called "Agamemnon" (ONI + Cerberus) led by 'The Visionary' (Doctor Halsey + The Illusive Man), operates in the dark as they commit various war-crimes in the name of humanity and it's protection; the military and the police are one-&-the-same.

Agamemnon created a program that would train a new breed of military-police troopers that are above jurisdiction and have free-reign to do what they'd like called the "Spectre-II Program" (The Spectres + N7 + Spartan-II) with the best Spectre among them being a Commander-ranked Engineer-class Colonist with a background for being particularly ruthless named John Shepard-117, though he likes to go by the callsign that Captain Jacob Anderson gave to him: "Master Chief" (Anderson was previously Master Chief when a young John asked if he could Master Chief one day).

The Spectres are dedicated to fighting The Matrix (Covenant + Geth), a hivemind of religious cyborgs who believe that the Halo Arrays are ACTUALLY created by The Warforge (Reapers + Prometheans), a legion of sentient starships that are piloted by The Spores (The Flood + The Collectors), and want to liberate thenselves from humanity and their ancestors by activating the rings.

The truth is they were obviously made by the Forerunners to be a counter against the Spore/Warforge, as the SWs collect and harvest any all sentient life to feed and cleanse the galaxy so that the whole universe can live under the Spore's rule; so the Forerunners made death machines, the Halos, which destroys all life in the galaxy so that the mech-piloting parasites can starve. It worked and life began again...

But the Spores/Warforge returned.

And the fate of the galaxy rests in John Shepard-117's hands after he learned about all of this from a Matrix excavation-site on Madrigal Prime, where he touched an ancient Forerunner beacon they were digging up. So assembles a ragtag-team of remarkable people to help him, including: Garrus "The Seraphim" 'Vadamee (a vigilante who atones for his past mistakes by killing the wicked across the galaxy), Kai Alenko-125 (a fellow Spectre-supersoldier and a powerful biotic), Leenda'Zorah (A sniper with keen-sight and is constantly in a skin-tight Hazmat-suit; John gives her Spectre-armor that's the same in-design as her original Hazmat-suit, but offers far more protection and has all sorts of bells-&-whistles that'll keep her safe), Miranda (a super-spy and scientist who is the daughter of the Visionary; her real legal-name is either Keyes or Lawson, but she'll never tell), Ares (a brutish bounty-hunter and ex-clan-chieftian who hails from a planet of dying warriors) and Durandana (the UNSA Normandy's ship AI, given physical form in the form of a blue woman who looks exactly like a younger version of the Visionary).

@mrtobenamedlater, @authortobenamedlater, @makowrites, @empresskadia, @ageless-aislynn, @inthatfandom, @ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask, @pelgraine, @jellotherelol, @killer-orca-cosplay.

[rexstorm]

Behold my sweet boys. My Ryder twins as teenagers and Kyle Shepard as a kid causing some trouble.

[iheartgarrus]

Drabble Prompt: Cover

(AO3 Link - Some fluffy roommates content!)

“A blanket?” Garrus questioned, pulling the gift from its box.

Shepard looked down at her hands - hands that had made that blanket, he realized. He’d seen her working on it without asking what it was. “Happy birthday?” She said with a shy smile. “I know you keep the apartment cooler than you’d like, for my sake. I thought maybe this would make up for it a little.”

It was soft, striped in shades of blue running from cobalt to midnight and back again. Clearly she’d noticed his preferred palette from their months of living together.

His mandibles flared. “Thank you.”

[resident-sentinel]

Raconteur: Aim for the Moon

Master List:

Name < Here > TBD

The moon has always been something that felt so untouchable. So close yet so far. When word spread what their leaders have kept hidden or managed to spin in their favor...

Many began to realize that reaching for the moon was just the beginning. Why just aim for the moon? Not even the stars are the limit.

Keep moving forward.

Keep exploring.

Keep those dreams high and far, reaching out to no end. Those dreams only growing towards the farthest star you can see. The dream came true at the sight of discovering a beacon on Mars. Followed by a Mass Relay that led them out, furthering those dreams.

[lilmissnatcat24]

bound ch 1- a professional rake of a man

Jane Shepard, heiress to Normandy House, has thrown away her ideals to join the marriage mart. It seems she is not the only one.

pairing: female shepard/ garrus vakarian

rating: explicit

tags: regency au, marriage of convenience, enemies to lovers, slow burn, eventual smut, fake dating, mutual pining, hurt/comfort, fluff and angst

lil text blurb:

“Miss Shepard, of all the eligible bachelorettes on this entire station, you were the last one I ever considered throwing your stake into the race,” he said earnestly. “It has me thinking, what could be so wrong with the heiress to Normandy House for such a sudden and extreme switch of ideals?” 

“Absolutely nothing is wrong with my house,” Shepard said nearly frantically, with all of the misguided bravado of someone who clearly has something incredibly wrong with her house. “And to insinuate such a thing is not only an insult to me, but to Lord Anderson himself.” 

Garrus put his hands in the air flamboyantly, as if surrendering dishonestly. A mockery if Shepard had never seen one. “We certainly do not wish to offend the Lord or his heiress. I was simply ensuring that you are not being blackmailed, or threatened with the gun aimed straight at an artery underneath the table. That isn’t happening, is it, miss?” 

“It most certainly is not .” 

“Right. And by the looks of your reddening cheeks and your stuttering tongue, I can tell you are most pleased to no longer go at it alone as a bachelorette.” Shepard very much wanted to stomp over and slap him across the face. In fact, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d done that in Jalissar’s. But she had been warned by the old asari who ran the parlor that one more scuffle and she was banned, so regrettably she held her tongue and kept her fists to herself. 

[alta-et-astra]

Chapters: 18/? Fandom: Mass Effect Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian Characters: Female Shepard (Mass Effect), Shepard (Mass Effect), Garrus Vakarian, James Vega, Kaidan Alenko, David Anderson, Ashley Williams (Mass Effect), Jeff "Joker" Moreau Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, coffee shop AU, Mass Effect - Freeform, no Reaper war, Past Kaidan Alenko/Female Shepard, Cafe competition, shenanigans ensue, Garrus becomes a private detective, Shepard also becomes a private investigator, Private Investigators, Action & Romance Summary:

On break from cleaning up the mercenary groups on Omega, Garrus visits his friend James Vega on the Citadel and meets an intriguing human woman in a coffee shop. While doing a standard security job for James as a favor, things go sideways quick and James tasks him with investigating what happened. As soon as the job is done though, he will be heading back to Omega.

Shepard has retired from military life and works as a manager at David Anderson's coffee shop, Normandy Coffee. When Anderson finally decides to retire, Shepard makes the decision to buy the cafe from him. In an effort to raise money to buy the cafe, Shepard accepts a job from James to help Garrus with the investigation.

As they spend more time together they can feel their attraction growing, but while Shepard's roots on the Citadel are only growing stronger, Garrus refuses to see his time on the Citadel as anything other than temporary.

[grtmnick]

The continuation of Mass Effect: The Cloned Conspiracy coming soon! Catch up on the story so far:

(Shoutout to @masseffectwillcontinue on Instagram for sharing the above art of Miranda Lawson in action!)

[gideonfromthecrypt]

"The only ones that can save the galaxy"

With this pic its probably a good idea to continue the mass effect AU i started a good while ago.

If anyone is interested in reading its here

[chanihobbit]

Another excerpt from the Mass Effect 2 AU I’ve been working on. Hopefully I can start posting soon(ish).

———

“Where else would I be?,“ Joker shrugs, his expression darkening. “The Alliance didn’t exactly try very hard to keep me around. Guess you would have known if you‘d bothered to stay in touch.“

Apparently Joker is done dancing around the subject and what is Kaidan supposed to say to that? That he had planned to stay in contact and simply forgot? Well he hadn’t and he isn’t about to lie in Joker‘s face just to spare him the pain.

For his part Joker is clearly not expecting an answer because after a brief pause he simply continues. “I tried to contact you, after— after it all went down. But I guess you didn‘t care. You just ghosted me. Guess that teaches me who to put my trust in.“ He snorts derisively.

Kaidan is unsure of how to respond. Truth be told he'd received Joker‘s messages. And he‘d chosen to ignore all of them. By the final one he could tell how desperate the pilot had become, he just couldn‘t bring himself to care enough to reply. That was on him but he‘d be lying if he said he was sorry.

“I know you blamed me for the Shepard's death. You didn‘t have to say it. The silence spoke volumes.“

“What do you want to hear from me?“

————