The Brother of a Hero (Mass Effect)

It was early in the morning Zulu time when our ship entered Illium’s atmosphere. I stood near one of the few windows of the ship, in the mess hall. Crewmen flittered back and forth, eating their meals and quietly chatting. None joined me near the viewport and one by one they gradually emptied the room. I supposed they must have seen sights similar to our descent to Illium.

The planet was a bright gem that hung precipitously over a sea of unending black. The Jewel of the Terminus, people called it. One of the few worlds in the Terminus Systems people from Council space regularly visited.

“Are you alright, John?” a soft, feminine voice broke me out of my reverie. I turned and beheld a woman.

“I’m fine,” I lied to her.

My mother, Hannah Shepard, smiled. It was a fragile thing for such a normally fierce woman. Her piercing green eyes bore into me with the strength of all the suns I’d ever seen. She looked so much like Jane it was painful.

My mother walked over to me. She was glad in her form-fitting Alliance jumpsuit. She had a voluptuous body with fat in all the right places. Pretty much a textbook example of a MILF, but turned up to eleven thanks to Alliance genemods that kept her body fit and healthy into her late forties. You’d never have guessed she was flag officer with the Alliance fleet.

I wondered how her subordinates kept their eyes off her body. It was certainly difficult for me, and I’m her son! God, there’s something wrong with me.

“Hey. I… I miss Jane, too,” she cupped my chin. I let her move my head up stare into her intelligent eyes.

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I kind of expected that something like this would happen to her. Ever since Dad. You know.”

“Since Mindoir,” she nodded. She sighed. “Your sister may have gotten my looks, but she had your father’s courage. She was a soldier, through and through, and she gave her life to save her shipmates.”

Anguish bubbled within me like a witch’s cauldron filled with acid that threatened to spill over and melt through the floor. I kept the tears out of my eyes, if only just barely.

“Yeah, she was a big damn hero. And the Alliance thanked her by sweeping her warnings about the Reapers under the rug,” Mom opened her mouth to respond, but I interrupted her. “She told me all about them, Mom. Jane could never keep anything from me. Ancient godlike machines wiped out the Protheans and now they’re coming back to do the same to us. The Alliance and the Council are treating Jane like she’s a liar who made all that shit up! Why couldn’t you do something about it?!”

Hannah Shepard’s eyes narrowed angrily.

“Keep your voice down,” she warned. “You may not have joined the military like your father and I wanted, but we both taught you the necessity of following the chain of command.”

“Yeah. Look where that got Jane and Dad,” I regretted the words the moment they left my mouth. Had I really meant them? A part of me did, I think. A part of me wished we’d grown up on some colony or back on Earth instead of on ships. Maybe Jane wouldn’t have joined the military then.

And then the Reapers would have come through the Citadel a year ago and killed everyone.

Mom looked like she wanted to slap me and for a moment I wished she would.

Instead, she gave a long sigh.

“I took a month’s leave on Illium so we could spend some time together and reconnect after Jane died. I can see we’re already off to a rough start. I don’t know why I expected otherwise.”

The door to the mess hall opened with a swish.

In stepped one of the marines I knew was assigned to Hannah’s personal guard. She saluted.

The Alliance brass weren’t about to let one of their flag officers vacation in the Terminus without heavily armed marine escorts. I was actually pretty surprised they okayed the trip in the first place even with the security. Illium might have been relatively safe, but it was still a Terminus world. I wouldn’t put it past the Batarians to try to abduct my mother there and hold her for ransom. And who knew what they would do to her while she was captured? I’d heard plenty of horror stories about what the Batarians did to females of other species they took as slaves.

My mother saluted back. “At ease, Chief. What is it?”

“Admiral, we’re about to touch down on Illium. We should be at the docks in fifteen minutes,” Ashley Williams said. She was already decked out in her hardsuit. The dark-haired beauty glanced at me momentarily, her almond-brown eyes softening. It looked like she wanted to say something.

“Alright. I’ll gather my things and meet the security detail at the airlock. John,” she turned to face me again. I did everything in my power not to allow my eyes to be drawn to the way her tits wobbled within her jumpsuit. “Get ready to leave. You have fifteen minutes.”

With that, she turned around and exited the room. Her large, matronly rear swayed and jiggled as she walked.

Fuck, there was definitely something wrong with me.

I turned my gaze to the viewport once more. We were within Illium’s atmosphere now. It was almost night where we were, with only the faintest glow of the sun illuminating distant clouds a deep, dying red. Like faded blood.

The cityscape was massive. Towering, curved structures stretched into the sky. Skycars danced around them like distant fireflies.

I heard movement behind me and realized that Ashley hadn’t left with my mother.

The marine watched me uncertainly. Emotions I couldn’t discern warred within her gaze.

I wondered if she knew I’d seen her naked before. It’d been when I’d first gotten aboard the Saratoga. I'd wandered into the crew showers during female hours by mistake.

She’d been an absolute marvel. Her perky, largish breasts had looked absolutely mesmerizing as water ran down them, kissing her olive skin. Her eyes had been closed as she hummed a tune I didn’t recognize, her hands entwined with her wet hair. She’d turned, presenting me with her juicy bubble butt. Her tits had been amazing, but her ass was definitely her best feature. I’d stared at her for a few moments completely slackjawed before coming to my senses and ducking out of there before she noticed.

Needless to say, I’d jerked off to the memory of her plenty of times since.

Ashley seemed to be at a loss for words, so it fell to me to end the awkward silence.

“Hi. Ashley Williams, right? I heard you served with my sister on the Normandy,” I held my hand out. “I’m John.”

She gave me a relieved smile.

“Yeah, I did. Shepard – Jane – talked about you a lot.”

Her voice carried warmth that hadn’t been in it when she’d been addressing his mother.

“She did? I hope she didn’t tell you any embarrassing stories,” I gave her an encouraging smile. She might have been out of my league, but I definitely wasn’t going to miss the chance to get to her to enjoy talking to me.

Ashley chuckled. It was a pretty sound that I wanted to hear more of.

“God, I wish she had. She was always a very private person, more interested in solving other people's problems than airing out her own. She wouldn't have told us anything too personal about you without your permission,” she said fondly. Damn, that was just like her, wasn’t it?

“Yeah, Jane was special. She’d never let anyone know if something was bothering her and would always be there for me if something went wrong. I miss her a lot.”

Ashley nodded at me.

“I miss her, too. Come on, we should be getting ready.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I’ll go get my stuff real quick. It was nice meeting you, Ashley.”

I walked past her and into the hallway. The walls and floor were a uniform gray, save for the color-coded strips on the floor (blue) and ceiling (red) that denoted which was which in case artificial gravity failed.

“Wait, John,” Ashley followed me into the hall.

I quirked an eyebrow at her.

The gorgeous marine reached down to open a storage compartment in her blue and white Alliance hardsuit.

She retrieved a small, yellow-gold object from the compartment and held it out in front of her. She stared at it for a long moment, as if mesmerized. My cock twitched.

“Jane wanted me to give this to you when I saw you. She… she handed it to me before she sent me to the escape pods.”

I took it from her hand. It had a soft, metallic surface that was warm to the touch. It looked like a fancy pen from back when people still used to write on paper.

“What is it?”

Ashley shrugged.

“Beats me. She said she found it in one of the Prothean ruins we explored while we were hunting Saren. She said it brought her good luck,” she said.

My chest tightened. Jane was still looking out for me, even after her .

“T-thanks, Ashley. This means… thank you.”

Ashley smiled and nodded.

“It’s the least I can do. See you later, John.”

She walked past me, patting me on the shoulder.

I didn’t stare after her. I wanted to, but I was enraptured by the final gift my sister had given to me. I swore I would treasure it always, but I couldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams how completely it would change my life.