Just a little one-shot with Shepard and his daughter. I'm be posting these periodically as I think of them.

The Spectre

"Tell me a story, Daddy!" demanded the five-year-old Orah'Shepard nar Rannoch. Shepard raised a brow as he tucked her in.

"Ahem," grunted Shepard.

"Please?" Orah quickly added. Shepard smiled and looked behind him at the small bookshelf in Orah's room that contained all of her storybooks.

"Which one do you want me to read, honey?" he asked.

"Make up your own," answered Orah. Shepard looked back at his daughter and gave her a confused look.

"Make one up?"

"Yes. You've read all of those other stories already." She was right. Shepard had read all of those books three times at least. To be honest, it was starting to get dull. Not that he didn't like reading to his little girl, far from it, but all these kids' fairy tales weren't exactly exciting reads.

"I'm not very good at coming up with stories," said Shepard.

"Oh," sighed Orah, clearly disappointed. Shepard immediately felt bad. He wasn't good at making up stories though. He didn't have a creative bone in his body in that regard. But I gotta tell her something. . .I got it!

"But I do know a really good story," he said. Orah's face beamed when he said that. "It's really exciting and the best part is that it's one hundred percent true."

"Really?" asked Orah. She was excited now.

"Yep, it's about a man called the Spectre. It was about ten years ago. . ."

The Spectre had just received his first assignment. Track down an evil turian called the Rogue.

"Turians aren't evil," interrupted Orah. "Uncle Garrus isn't evil."

"Oh, I know. But this turian was a traitor."

"What's a traitor?"

"Someone who hurts his friends when he's supposed to be helping them."

"That's not nice!"

"No, it isn't. Anyway. . ."

The Spectre began the hunt for the Rogue, but he wasn't alone. He had the best squad in the galaxy to help him. First was the LT, a human biotic like the Spectre. Next was the Chief, one of the bravest human soldiers in the galaxy. Third was the Agent, a turian who wanted to bring down the traitorous Rogue. Then there was the Battlemaster, a mighty krogan warrior. They helped the Spectre find the Machinist, a quarian who help prove the Rogue was truly evil. Lastly, was the Scientist, a very smart and powerful Asari.

"Did she know Aunt Liara?"

"Uh, yeah, I'd say they're pretty good friends."

The Spectre and his crew's first stop was a colony on a planet called Feros, where the Rogue and his geth army were attacking.

"What!" shouted Orah. Shepard forgot she never knew about the heretic geth.

"These were bad geth. None of the good geth helped the Rogue"

"Oh," said Orah with a sigh of relief. Shepard just smiled.

The Spectre found the geth were looking for a creature called the Thorian, a giant plant monster that was controlling the colonists on Feros. The Spectre, the LT, and the Machinist defeated the Thorian and rescued an Asari who was betrayed by the Rogue.

"He did that a lot, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess he did."

"He wasn't a very good friend was he?"

"No, he wasn't."

"Did the Spectre stop him then?"

"Just wait," laughed Shepard as he ran his hand through his daughter's hair. "I'll get there."

Their quest then brought them to an icy planet called Noveria. There they found the Scientist's mother, the Matriarch. She was helping the Rogue, but not because she wanted to. The Rogue had found a way to control people and make them do things they didn't want to do. He was making the Matriarch control a bug like species called the Rachni. The Spectre stopped her from raising a Rachni army and releasing them on the galaxy. The Matriarch regained control briefly to say goodbye to the Scientist and tell her how proud she was of her. The Rachni queen told the Spectre of how Saren turned the baby Rachni into monsters and asked him to set her free to be able to raise a happy family.

"Did the Spectre let her go?"

"He did."

"That's good." A sad look came on Orah's face. "The Scientist must have been sad to lose her mommy."

"She was. But it made her more determined to stop the Rogue."

"Did they stop him?"

"No, not yet."

The Spectre found out the Rogue was going to a planet called Virmire. When the Spectre arrived he met with a group called STG. Their leader told the Spectre that the Rogue was breeding an army of evil krogan. The STG wanted to destroy the Rogue's lab to stop him. The Battlemaster became upset. His people were sick and he thought the Rogue might have found a cure. He got mad and pointed his gun at the Spectre. Luckily, the Spectre was able to convince him that the Rogue's krogan weren't real krogan. They were mindless and evil and only wanted to hurt people. The Battlemaster agreed and decided to keep helping the Spectre.

The STG needed one of the Spectre's crew to help them fight the geth while he infiltrated the base to set up a bomb that would blow it up. He sent the Chief with them while he put the LT in charge of the bomb. While they were in the base, the Spectre, the Agent, and the Machinist met a monster called Sovereign. They found out Sovereign was really controlling the Rogue and making him find something called the Conduit that would let more monsters called Reapers come and destroy the galaxy.

"Oh, no!"

"Yeah, it was bad."

Sovereign left before the Spectre could ask too many questions. The Spectre had to go back to his mission and help the LT set up the bomb. The Chief told the Spectre she was being overwhelmed by the geth. The Spectre tried to help her but then the geth started attacking the LT. The Spectre went to help the LT. He knew he had to make sure the bomb went off. The Spectre and his team fought off the geth and were about to go back for the Chief, but the Rogue got in his way. He fought the Spectre, taking away the chance to rescue the Chief. The Spectre tried to get the Rogue to stop helping Sovereign but he wouldn't listen. The Rogue retreated and the Spectre was forced to leave the Chief behind as the bomb went off.

"The Spectre didn't save her?" asked Orah in disbelief.

"He couldn't. He really wanted to but he couldn't."

"Was he sad?"

Shepard was silent for a moment.

"They all were."

The Spectre was called back to the Citadel where the Council told him to stop his hunt for the Rogue. His friend the Captain refused to let it end there, however. He helped the Spectre steal back his ship so he could track the Rogue to Ilos.

"He stole a ship?" asked Orah utterly shocked.

"Yeah. The Machinist was shocked too."

"Did they all get in trouble?"

"Let me finish and you'll find out."

They headed to Ilos where they found an AI called Vigil. Vigil told them that the Reapers came every fifty thousand years to wipe out all life in the galaxy. The Rogue was going to use the Conduit to bring them back. The Spectre raced to the Conduit with the Agent and the Scientist. The Conduit took them back to the Citadel which was really a giant mass relay. The three of them fought through the Citadel taking down Sovereign's geth army. The Spectre finally made it to the Council chambers where he could open the arms to allow the Alliance to stop Sovereign. However, the Council was in danger. The Spectre had to choose to either let the council die to save his ships to fight Sovereign or rescue them.

"Did the Spectre always have to make hard choices?"

"It was part of his job, unfortunately."

"It must have been hard."

"It was. But the Spectre knew that life was full of hard choices. If he didn't make them people would get hurt."

"But people got hurt if he did made them."

"More would get hurt if he didn't."

"I guess."

The Spectre chose to save the Council. He knew the galaxy would need its leaders when this was all over. The Alliance saved the council while the Spectre met the Rogue one last time. The Rogue was completely under Sovereign's control. He was sure he was in the right, but this time the Spectre was able to make him listen. He was able to convince the Rogue that he wasn't right. The Rogue realized his mistakes and. . .

"And?"

"He, uh, redeemed himself."

"What's that mean?"

"He made up for his mistakes."

"Oh. How?"

"By making a hard choice."

The Rogue finally met his end. But Sovereign wasn't finished. He took control of his body and turned him into a monster with long claws and able to shoot lasers. It was scary looking, but the Spectre had seen scarier. The Spectre beat the monster and Sovereign fell. Everyone was safe again. The Council was very grateful to the Spectre and thanked him for his actions. They decided to allow humanity to be on the Council. They let the Spectre suggest who they chose. He decided to choose his friend, the Captain. The Spectre knew his job wasn't done though. He took his crew and went to look for a way to stop the Reapers.

"Is that it?" asked Orah hoping he would say no.

"For now," answered Shepard.

"Can you tell me another story about the Spectre?"

"Not tonight, sweetie."

"Aww," pouted Orah as she sank lower under her sheets.

"Tell you what, if you go to sleep right now and don't make a sound, I'll tell you another story tomorrow."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay," agreed Orah as she laid her head back on her pillow. "Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think I could ever become a Spectre?"

"It takes a lot of hard work. You need to be willing to make hard choices."

"Do you think I would be any good?" she asked genuinely. Shepard smiled as he started stroking her hair again.

"You're smart, kind, and brave, Orah. I think you would be a perfect Spectre." Orah smiled and closed her eyes. Shepard bent down and kissed her on the forehead. He got up and walked out of the room and quietly closed the door partway. Tali was standing outside the room waiting for him. "Oh!" he said when he bumped into her. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough," she said wrapping her arms around his neck. "I liked that story by the way."

"Thanks. Had to leave some of the touchier details out."

"I noticed you skirting around Saren's suicide."

"She's five. She doesn't need to know about stuff like that yet."

"I wasn't disagreeing. I'm going to bed. You coming?"

"Yeah. Remembering the old days always makes me tired." Tali nodded in agreement and walked down the hallway to their bedroom. Shepard looked through the crack in the doorway to Orah's room. She was already asleep. A soft smile found its way on to the Spectre's face.

"Goodnight my little Spectre."

Hope you enjoyed!