Chapter 1: A Fool’s Bargain

Shepard was on the table feeling very low. She had just thwarted humanities’ last leader from trying to overthrow the Citadel. The council kicked the humans off the council entirely in retaliation. The fact that a human thwarted the coup made no difference. Most of the human c-sec agents that had dominated the group were dead or fired in fear that they were still sleeper agents waiting to cause harm again. All human Spectre’s had their status revoked, except Shepard. Shepard’s only saving grace was that this happened right after Shepard saved the Primarch and that her lover was the current Shadow Broker, who had to use a boatload of favors to even let Shepard stay under the purview of the Council.

She got off the quantum entangler with Admiral Hackett who looked as if he had not slept in days and showed Shepard the minimum war assets needed to even attempt to use the device that Liari T’soni found in the Mars Archive. They were not even close, if they she does not deliver a bump soon the tentative alliance they have will be gone.

Earth not only lost their top leader, but their top diplomat, that title now rested squarely on the shoulders of Shepard. An Engineer of all things. But perhaps a victory acquired through construction of an ancient weapon needed an Engineer.

She still needed to get the other races on board. Primarily, the Krogan, Salarian, Asari, Quarian, Batarian, Aria’s groups, and anyone else she could find. It felt hopeless on how she was going to do that and find materials to build the weapon and fight the reapers.

To top it off someone was killing humans all over the Citadel. She thought it would be a nice distraction to track down the killers on the Citadel. She found someone sabotaged a docking clamp at the Spaceport, poisoning someone else. She tracked it down to an old Citadel code being used that was still active. She decided she would track down the code and catch the assailant in the act.

“Hello Shepard, I was wondering when you would show up.” A Batarian said as he held a pistol at her.

Shepard put her hands up but was only looking for a reason to grab her gun and kill this murderer.

“Ah, don’t do it Shepard. I bring a message from Commander Balak last surviving Hegemon of the Batarian Empire.” The Batarian said while lowering his gun.

Shepard lowered her arms but did not grab hers but instead leaned back and listened to what the murderer had to say.

“Hegemon Balak, is the highest-ranking officer left in Hegemony. He understands you are looking for ships to build a grand fleet to go against the Reapers.” The Batarian agent explained.

“I can neither confirm nor deny any wild assumptions you can make to the actions of the alliance. “Shepard says.

“Spare me, we have heard all your conversations with Admiral Hackett. If you are interested in what is left of our fleet to help your cause, come to this terminal in three hours, and do not attempt to involve the authorities or the deals off.” The Batarian said as he walked off.

“Commander Shepard did you find the culprit behind the killings?” A C-sec operator said into her earpiece.

“Yes ... we are letting him go, Specter Authority.” Shepard said as she sighed and weighed the impact of not having the extra capital ships, even if it was just a couple of cruisers, every bit of equipment is needed for this fight.

“What?!” exclaimed the voice.

“Believe me no one is happy about this.” Shepard said and cut off communication.

“EDI can you give me the latest Council Intelligence on the fighting capability of left to the Batarians.”

“Estimated fighting force is above initial calculations, the Batarian fleet had been mostly wiped out or, so it we thought. But reports are now coming in that the Batarians have managed to escape their planet by boarding the older Hensa class cruisers that the Batarians retired but never scrapped. They are older but with the Quarian’s help these ships can be refitted into functional warships again. Commander, this fleet numbers 20 times the Terminus System’s fleet. It might not be a threat to us but could prove invaluable in our fight against the reapers.

“Thank You EDI” Shepard utter back with uneasiness, the report meant that Shepard had to venture into the Lion’s Den to bolster their numbers. Shepard smirked with brimming confidence, overconfidence, if Balak gave her any trouble she would shoot his body back into the next galaxy, like the last time, only perhaps this time she will finish the job Shepard thought to herself.

She had her mindset to not go, but decided she would go with gun drawn this time. The previous time was the last time a Batarian would ever get the drop again. She cocked her gun and made sure it was ready to fire. I just need to keep one alive, she thought to herself.

Batarian Shadow Network intercept of Day 1 Vid transmission.

The Citadel

Zakeria Ward

Abandoned Warehouse

Shepard arrived to meet the Batarian leader. The Galactic Alliance she was building was in desperate need of ships, the war was not going well. What she saw on the Turian home world and what she saw on Earth indicated that there was no hope unless she could get every ship she could. Plus, the Batarians had their hands in every black-market operation in the galaxy. If this deal went through, she would get access to weapons and equipment no longer available to the Alliance since the fall of Earth.

In the end, Shepard decided to go by herself for whatever reason. If she had to kill Balak and his crew she did not want her team implicated as they did not have Specter status, and they have been much wearier of her being on the Citadel. The sooner she could get off the station and get war assets the sooner life could return to normal. As she slowly entered a warehouse behind one of the factories, she decided to search the smaller rooms of the abandoned warehouse, as she went down one of the side corridors off the main warehouse floor first. The hallway was littered with rooms. She checked one after another, after another. Whether it was the ridiculous stress of her current situation, or the lack of sleep from the nightmares she suffered, who knew but the longer she searched the more she lost focus.

Shepard got careless in her search. Shepard screamed internally when she felt it, a gun behind her head, before she could turn around ten more Batarians came into view. They already had a bead on her. There were too many. Fuck, there goes my backup plan Shepard thought to herself.

“Hello Shepard, Drop your weapon.” A familiar Batarian voice said.

“Balak!!” Shepard cried out, as she slowly let her gun dangle off her finger and let it hit the floor. She felt other Batarians go behind her and relieve her of her Indira sniper rifle and her Cerberus Harrier.

“Yes, the very same, I said we would meet again. I apologize about taking your guns human but the last time we spoke you left four slugs in my body.” Balak paused before continuing.

“So, I heard you were looking for ships, you wanted to send the last of my people and their hopes against the meat grinder of the Reapers?” Balak said.

Shepard was going to point out that reason he got shot is because the bastard denotated a bomb killing all the scientists. In the end she chose prudence. She was not here to fight. She, or rather humanity, needed their help. Balak was right and she is asking them to fight a foe that has been killing people by the millions.

“Damnit! Balak we have to work together if we are going to beat the Reapers don’t you see that? No more games you can get your revenge after we win!” Shepard retorted passionately.

“No, no I do not see that. If you want my ships it is going to cost, you! Spare me your pep talk. We did not have the option of asking for help. Thanks to your kind, human, we were outcast.”

Balak quickly admonished Shepard for trying to rally his sense of community.

“Fine!” Shepard responded in disgust.

“How much? How many credits? You want a new world? What?” Shepard said shrugging her shoulders.

“No.” Balak responded looking at Shepard as if his wheels were turning.

“What then?” Shepard said shakily.

“Put this on your neck and we can talk” Balak said handing Shepard the square piece of metal.

“Wait ... I will not” Shepard said before being cutoff.

“Put this on or I will pull the trigger and you die right here and right now, and the Alliance will not get any of our ships. Put this on, and you might walk away from our ordeal with the entire Batarian fleet at your disposal plus all our merc contacts. Plus, access to the Batarian Special Interdiction Force” Balak said with a tone of calculating reason.

“If that is on the table then why play this game?” Shepard asked.

<Click> I will not ask again. You know I do not bluff Shepard...” Balak said as the room grew quiet,” The Batarians in the empty office of the abandoned warehouse knew this was the part where one side would blink. Shepard thought about firing a bolt from her Omni-tool, but neural shock only worked on one person at a time. An overload blast could only get about three at time. That would leave seven soldiers with clear pre-aimed shots at her body. Plus, Shepard was kicking herself for not upgrading her tech shield when she left for Citadel space. Damnit, I must play along for now, Shepard thought.

“Okay okay!! I will put it on” Shepard said in a tone of resignation.

The collar was a two inch by two-inch piece square piece of metal with a button in the center. Shepard placed the metal on her throat and voluntarily pressed the button. Immediately an orange holographic collar appeared around her neck which forced Shepard to raise her chin.

“Excellent” Balak excitedly proclaimed right before casually pressing his omni-tool and looked on as a holographic leash shot out and attached itself to her collar. Before Shepard could react to the leash one of Balak’s guards grabbed her wrist, slapped a tiny piece of metal and instantly her hands were cuffed behind her back. Great. the collar and the cuffs were already tuned into his Omni-Tool. Shepard thought.

“Happy, Can We talk Nowaa-”Shepard said trying to get her bargaining position back before Balak callously yank the leash to shut her up and started walking towards a door in the back of the office. Shepard stumbled after trying not to fall on her face, especially with her hands cuffed behind her. The door seemed to lead to a hidden corridor on the citadel.

One of the most closely guarded secrets in the galaxy was that a high-ranking Asari Matriarch a few centuries earlier became enslaved on Kar’shan. She divulged the passkey that led to a hidden corridor network in the Citadel. The Asari could not ask the Salarians to track down and deactivate the key as it was one of the secrets, they kept from even the Salarians. Turning it off was not an option, deactivating would tip off many overseer programs at Citadel Tower. They had to just accept the Batarians knew of this backdoor as well.

“Shut up and follow me!”, Balak barked at Shepard. They entered the corridor. Shepard again struggled to keep up to Balak’s pace. She could swear he was walking this fast on purpose. They made it to a hidden alley behind the old marketplace in the destroyed wards of the Citadel. Shepard gasped as it was full of Batarians. The Batarians growled angrily at the mere sight of her. Fuck me Shepard thought to herself.

“Ah you got her!!!! The Bitch that promised she would take you down when I let her go over Terra Nova!! I lost two eyes because of you bitch!!!!!”

Charn said pointing to his two eye patches over his face.

Shepard took a step back, and realized who she was speaking to.

“Ah yes ... a penalty for betraying me on that mission.” Balak stated flatly. He followed up his words with a cold look to Charn.

“You were going to kill an entire planet!” Shepard cried out defensively.

“Like you did on Bahak System!!” Another Batarian yelled out. “Yeah ... you killed my wife!!!” another yelled out. The Bahak System, it always comes back to the Bahak System, the last two years that was pretty much all she thought about. Shepard felt emotionally injured as she became at a loss for words when confronted with the righteous indignation of the Batarians in the room. They had a legitimate grievance with her. They would never accept she did it to save them from the Reapers. Especially now, the Reapers still came and attacked their planet first no less. She felt that she had committed genocide for no reason. Shepard had a very uneasy feeling about this. She felt an enormous weight of guilt build up on her shoulders, it was clouding her thinking. What Balak said next woke her up from her own pity party in her head.

“Strip her!” Balak yelled out with menace.

Shepard eyes got wide, and guns be damned Shepard went to attack Balak.

“The fuck you will Arrrrrggghgh!!!!!”

Shepard lowered her head to headbutt the Batarian when the collar came to life. Shepard yelled out in pain as the collar erupted with electrical current. The shock came so intensely that it caused Shepard to grab for the collar only to be shocked harder when her hand met the collar. She screamed as she crumbled down to the floor in agony. Shepard writhed on the floor in intense pain as Balak let the current go through her body for about a good two minutes.

The attack left Shepard crying profusely in agony. Unbeknownst to them this triggered a severe PTSD memory from her childhood. Memories of her parents on Mindior started flooding her head. She felt vulnerable again, wanting to hide in the cubby hole her parents put her end so the slavers would not find her. She had a fear of Batarians ever since she was a child.

“Want to go again?” Balak said.

“No” Shepard panted out as she tried to catch her breath.

“Sir ... No Sir ... Say it again” Balak added.

“Go fuck your Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggh!!!!!!!!!!” Shepard growled back before the collar erupted with energy again as Balak let the electric tendrils do their work.

Balak let it go on this time for three minutes this time. The pain was so inhumane and intense that Shepard was openly drooling by the time it was done. She could barely feel her tongue as it went numb.

“Want to go again?” Balak asked with his finger ready to press his Omni-Tool once more.

“No ... pwease ... no Arrrrrggghh!!!” Shepard blabbered out.

Balak still not satisfied with her answer activated the collar again this time for four minutes. By the time it was done Shepard was convulsing and crying profusely on the floor. The poor Specter was writhing in agony much to the delight of her captors.

“Would you like to go again?” Balak asked.

“No ... Sir ... Sir ... sir ... ppppwease ... no ... more ... sir ... sir” Shepard said over and over again.

“Good, now that we got that established. I need you to strip” Balak said.

Shepard, with tears in her eyes meekly nodded and let the Batarians to undo her armor.

“I need you acknowledge what I tell you whore” Balak said.

“Yes ... Sir...” Shepard said slowly as she gingerly went to remove her shirt.

“Yes, Sir what?” Balak barked.

“Yes, Sir I will let them strip me.” Shepard said, still stuttering from the attack she had just suffered.

“Good, you see, if we are going to be military allies it is good to get to know the Hegemony’s military protocols. We must make sure you have the best discipline.” Balak mocked. The Batarians in the room chortled in sadistic glee.

“Yes, show her how we do things Commander!” A Batarian said from the group on the other side of the room.

Shepard glared as they slid off her boots and then cut off her shirt with small energy blades. The guard behind her was much more intimate. He deliberately molested her when he reached around her hips, unzipped her underpants, and pulled them down her ankles before slicing them to shreds between her feet. They kept going until she was down to her bra and underwear.

The guards were teasing the crowd as if Shepard was the final unwrapping of some great surprise. They spun Shepard around in front of Balak. Shepard could do little as she was cuffed and collared but to endure the indignity of being ogled in her underwear. Then after a brief moment of fun the Guards ripped off Shepard’s panties and sliced her bra off her body until she stood in front of Balak with no clothes, leashed to a collar and cuffed with her hands pinned behind her back.

“Holy Shit Gorn, she is built perfect, are you sure she is not the genetically perfect one?” Someone barked out from the back of the crowd.

“Sure, looks like juicy piece of fuckable meat that’s for damn sure, for a human.” Charn barked out.

“Stop acting like you do not like humans Charn!” A Batarian next to him yelled out. The group erupted in joyous laughter.

“Turn around ... Let us see” Balak softly.

“Yes Sir” Shepard said as she blushed profusely turning slowly showcase her body to her Batarian torturers.

“Do you recognize these men?” Balak asked.

“I recognize your man Charn ... the others...” Shepard gave a face of indifference and made as much of a shrug as she could muster with her arms bound behind her back.

“Ah ... just as well. Most of those men have bullet wounds from your own gun when you interrupted our mission on Terra Nova. Every one of them were sent to Alliance Prison Planet after I escaped. They would have stayed that way if we did not negotiate for their release on a prisoner exchange program that the Alliance gave us after you massacred everyone our citizens in the Bahak System.

Shepard was about to say something but bit her lip to stop her from making this worse.

“Before we give you command over our fleet, we need to make sure there is no bad blood between us. I need you to offer to make up for what you put them through.” Balak said. Shepard could not hold it in any longer. The Bahak system was one thing but what they did on Terra Nova was inexcusable.

“Bastards! You were trying to kill a planet. I am not negooooooooooti!!! AAAAARRRRRRRRRggghhhhhhh!!!!”

Shepard attempted to yell out defiantly to the Batarians in the room. Her argument was cut short by Balak’s omni-tool. She suffered in pure agony until the pain was too much and she slowly lost consciousness before it all went black.

Balak let it go for five minutes this time, ignoring Shepard’s pleas and the fact she passed out. When it stopped Shepard was spasming involuntarily as she lay unconscious on the ground. Balak looked down and grinned.

“Oh no we cannot have that. Give me the punishment gel” Balak said to his compatriots. A loud sadistic laughter overcame the room, but then again if anyone spent any amount of time with Batarians, you know their default setting was set to Sadistic.

Balak took what looked like a simple medi-gel pack and administered it to Shepard.

It took about three seconds then Shepard’s eyes shot wide open and screamed at the top of her lungs in pain.”AAAAAAHHHH!!!!! Fuck!!!! What is this!!!!!”

“Cannot have you sleeping on your duties, got to make sure you are strong enough to fight beside” Balak said as the room erupted in sadistic glee.

“It burns it burns it burns!!! Holy Shit it burns!” Shepard screamed out as she was trying to jump out of her own skin.

“Ah to make sure you fight harder to stay awake slut. If you pass out ... this is how you will be waking up!! Understand? Cannot have you avoiding our generous lessons in discipline.”, Balak barked down to her while jabbing the toe of his boot into her ribs to make sure she was getting the message.

Shepard wheezed and heaved trying to catch her breath, nodded fervently. As the burning sensation finally abated Balak’s guards moved her hands from being cuffed behind her back to in front of herself.

“Now you are going to start, right here, right now, making it up to my men the physical harm you caused them. Balak ordered methodically.

Shepard slowly rose off the floor. Shepard face was washed in a demeanor of resignation. She submissively nodded slowly in affirmation towards Balak. She knew better than to defend herself against that accusation now, and she never wanted to feel the burn of that horrific wake medicine she was given again.

“Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghghghgh Fuuuuuck!!!” Shepard once again was hit with the collar and fell to the floor. Balak this time let it go for four minutes.