Commander Shepard

Lieutenant Commander Shepard is the human protagonist of Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3, whose gender, appearance, skills and pre-service history are all customizable and have an impact on the story. Shepard's first name is also customizable, but is never stated in-game. The default pre-made Shepard is a male Soldier named John, with the Earthborn/Sole Survivor profile. Shepard was born on April 11, 2154, is a graduate of the Systems Alliance N7 special forces program (service no. 5923-AC-2826), and is initially assigned to the SSV Normandy as Executive Officer. Shepard later becomes the first human to join the Spectres, an elite special task force for the Citadel Council in order to track down another membr of the organization gone rogue- a turian terrorist named Saren. Saren commanded an army of synthetics, called the Geth, and funded multiple projects to cure the krogan genophage in order to turn the species into a glorified slave race. Shepard was forced to quickly build a team to stop Saren's forces throughout the galaxy- stopping the mind-control of the Thorian on the Feros colony, rescuing Liara T'Soni from the Geth in the Artimis Tau Cluster and stopping her mother and Saren's right-hand woman Matriarch Benezia on Noveria. Shepard discovered that Saren was only a puppet of an ancient genocidal machine-race known as the Reapers. The vanguard of the Reapers, Soverign, was pretending to be Saren's ship as he indoctrinated the turian and planned to bring about his fellow Reapers, but his plans were stopped by Shepard, who's actions resulted in the deaths of both Soverign and Saren.

After that, Shepard was ambushed by the Collectors, who destroyed his original ship, the Normandy, and killed him- forcing the pro-human terrorist organization Cerberus to bring him back to life using the Lazarus Project. Leading a Cerberus-funded suicide mission, Shepard put together an elite strike force to cross through the Omega-4 Relay, an act no ship had ever returned from, to destory the Collector Base and stop the Reapers once again- an act the Commander succeeded in. When the Reapers threatened to once more invade the galaxy, Shepard was able to slow them down substantially by ramming a massive asteroid into the Alpha Mass Relay they were going to use- at the cost of 300,000 innocent lives. When the Reapers did manage to begin their invasion, Shepard was forced to abandon Earth to assemble all the races and factions in the galaxy under a single banner before leading them on an assault to stop the Reaper threat once and for all.

Battle vs. Marcus Fenix (by Arrow7000)
“You can’t trust Cerberus, sergeant, trust me I know.” Shepard turned around and approached Marcus; their conversation was not going well.

“You say that, but I’m not fucking hearing a better solution” Marcus replied, becoming increasingly aggravated.

“The Alliance can help. They’ll be here soon,” the commander tried to assure him, “I know it seems like a longshot, but Cerberus cannot be an option.” Marcus shook his head; he’d been down this road before.

“Cerberus is our BEST option! The Alliance can’t get their heads out of their asses long enough to help and even if they could by the time troops and supplies reached Sera it would be too late” Marcus bellowed. Shepard walked a bit down the battlefield. Bodies lay scattered about between different stone barriers and walls. If he couldn’t convince Marcus not to send a reply to Cerberus’s offer to help Sera in their conflict, Cerberus’s hold in this region would be near complete. The planet was also too far out of the Alliance’s reach to retake. Cerberus would gain a tight hold and near permanent control in the region. Calming down Marcus continued, “Commander, Cerberus can help and I’m certainly not going to stop them.” He turned toward the path leading to the nearby comm. station.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, if Cerberus takes this planet we may never regain this cluster” Shepard said as he equipped his katana shotgun. Instinctively Marcus drew his Lancer assault rifle.

“It has to be done and you’re not going to stop me” he replied. Marcus fired the first shot, pouring rounds from his lancer into Shepard’s kinetic barriers bringing them down by half. Shepard immediately darted backwards, rolling into cover behind a large stone. Marcus had yet to retreat to a safe location and Shepard took the opportunity to fire his shotgun in Marcus’s direction. Even knowing the distance was out of range for his shotgun, Shepard’s shot tore into parts of Fenix’s armor, damaging the magnetic seals. Marcus fell back into a position further away and behind cover. Shepard looked around the corner to place his enemy but was met with another burst of gunfire. Realizing his shotgun was out ranged the commander switched it out for his Predator pistol. The Lancer, already low on ammo from the previous battle, ran out of rounds after this last burst. Not seeing any ammo around him Marcus too switched to his side arm. Commander Shepard leaned around the corner and fired three shots into Marcus’s direction, two hitting him in the shoulder.

Through the pain Marcus took aim at Shepard and released a volley of shots from his snub pistol but Shepard’s kinetic barriers prevented any injury. The protection his shields offered him allowed him enough time to dive just out of Marcus’s sight. Collapsing his pistol, Shepard pulled out his Avenger assault rifle and leaned around the corner to look for Marcus. During Shepard’s Jump to cover Marcus sought safer ground as well and quickly moved to the nearest corner.

“Going to need some stronger shit for this one,” Marcus said to himself as he threw down the snub pistol and withdrew his shotgun, “let’s see you handle this you son of a bitch.” Not seeing any movement Shepard moved forward to the nearest conveniently placed chest high wall. Marcus too, rolled out from his position to the nearest available cover in an effort to close the gap between them, but not before Shepard managed release a full clip from the Avenger in his direction missing most of the shots as Marcus dove for cover. Marcus felt the searing pain as he looked down and realized more than a few shots passed completely through his armor. “You’ll pay for that you bastard now I’m pissed” He yelled at the top of his lungs through the pain.

“You’re pretty quick I’ll give you that, wasn’t really expecting that with your armor” Shepard yelled back before turning to his assault rifle to eject the thermal clip. Marcus saw his chance and charged Shepard’s location. Before Shepard placed a new thermal clip Marcus vaulted over the barrier between them, his foot contacting Shepard’s shoulder stunning him briefly. This gave Marcus enough time to fire the Gnasher point blank at the commander. The shot overloaded the already stressed shields opening Shepard to another shot. By the time Marcus fired again Shepard jumped back but the shot still took its toll on his armor and even pierced it in a few places. Before Marcus could fire a third Shepard was on his feet and knocked the shotgun from the soldier’s grip. Marcus, ready to tackle Shepard, received a powerful second blow to his face from the commander and stumbled backwards. Seeing the body of a nearby gear Marcus grabbed the deceased’s lancer and swung around hitting Shepard with the back side of the gun before he could land another attack. The dazed Shepard staggered back and Marcus activated the lancer’s chainsaw. The bayonet roared to life and plunged into Shepard’s side as he tried to dive out of the way. The saw hit right between the ablative ceramic plates in his armor and cut into his flesh and with all his might the marine pushed the against the weapon permitting him the precious time needed to deploy his own. The last thing Marcus Fenix saw was a flash of orange before Shepard’s Omni-blade appeared around his wrist and plunged deep into the soldier’s chest, killing him near instantly.

Commander Shepard pulled away from Marcus as his omni-blade disappeared. Moving his hand away from his wound and seeing the blood, he looked around and said all that he could think of, “I should go.”

Winner: Commander Shepard.

Expert's Opinion
Shepard’s weapons were deemed more powerful and able to do more damage to Marcus than his weapons could do to Shepard’s kinetic barriers. Only the Gnasher shotgun was strong enough to cause significant damage.

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Battle vs. Johnny Rico (by So-Pro Warrior)
Commander Shepard:

Johnny Rico:

On the bug planet of Klendathu the Hero of Planet P Johnny Rico and 4 soldiers of the Mobile Infantry are clearing out an area infested with "Bugs". After clearing the area Rico looks up into the sky and notices a strange ship heading to the planet and notice it land nearby. Johnny radios command and asks if they had sent any new ships into the area and command replies "No." Johnny figures that something is up and orders his men to follow him to the landing site of the ship.

At the landing site Commander Shepard exits out of the shuttle with 4 Alliance Marines.

"Remember men the MSV Wakanda was last reported near this planet called Klendathu. We are here to find the ship and look for any survivors." Shepard said

"Sir do we know anything about the ships location, what happened, and the natives of this planet?" A Marine asks

"All we know is that the last transmission mentioned something about heavily armed and armored mercs." Shepard replied

"Now let's move out!" Shepard said

"Sir yes sir." The Marines reply.

Shepard and the Marines leave the shuttle and head into the nearby hills to scout for crash site.

4 hours later...

Shepard and his men are on their way back to the shuttle as they have found no signs of the wreckage and think that a search from the Normandy would be better. However Shepard orders his men to get behind the rocks and orders the Marine with the M-92 Sniper to aim at the shuttle. The Marines ask what is going on and Shepard replies saying that he saw men near the shuttle. The Marine Sniper looks through the scoop and sees Rico and the 4 Mobile Infantry soldiers searching the shuttle.

"Sir what are your orders?" The Sniper asks

"They must be mercs but I've never seen mercs with that kind of armor before." Shepard says

"Well sir by the looks of it they are well armed and well armored." A Marine says.

Shepard nods his head and the sniper takes aim at the Mobile Infantry soldier at the door of the shuttle.

"Sir you better take a look at this I've never seen tech like this be..." A Mobile Infantry tries to say but is shot through the head and falls down with a hole through his head.

"SNIPER!" A Mobile Infantry soldier yells

"TAKE COVER!!" Rico yells

Just then another thermal bullet strikes the side of the shuttle and Rico and the Mobile Infantry soldier get behind nearby rocks for cover.

"We need a counter sniper." Rico says

One of the Mobile Infantry take out their Morita MkI Assault Rifle and attaches a scope to it making a Morita Sniper and looks for the sniper.

"I need someone to run out and act like bait." The MI Sniper says

One of the MI soldiers volunteers and runs out into the open to another rock. The Alliance Marine sniper sees him and fires but misses but the MI Sniper is able to locate his position and fires at the Alliance Sniper and puts a bullet through his head.

Shepard heads up to the Alliance Sniper and grabs the M-92 Mantis and looks for the MI Sniper and locates him. The MI Sniper however kept his eyes on the Alliance Snipers location and fires at Shepard but Shepard is able to duck down behind the rock and quickly locates the MI Sniper and fires putting a thermal shot in his head. Shepard finds the M-92 Mantis out of ammo and orders his men to charge at Rico and the MI soldiers. His Alliance Marines get out of cover and cautiously move towards Rico and the MI Soldiers. Rico sees this and orders his men to open fire and the MI Soldiers return fire with their Morita's. A Alliance Marine with his M-8 Avenger fires at a MI but the MI soldier gets back behind the rock and as the Alliance Marine gets down to reload the MI Soldier stands up and fires uses his Grenade Launcher to fire a Grenade at the Alliance Marine and blow him out from cover. Shepard fires his M-8 Avenger at the MI soldier and is able to hit him a couple a times in the chest, Shepard and his men continue to move up and a Alliance Marine with his M-9 Tempest runs to a rock but a MI soldier with a Morita Carbine jumps out and tries to kill the Alliance Marine but the combination of his armor and kinetic barriers protects him and empties his entire thermal clip into the MI, but as he continues to run Rico sees him and with the Kinetic barrier still recharging he fires a lot of his rounds at the Alliance Marine and kills him after penetrating the shield and armor. Rico falls turns to see Shepard and a Alliance Marine running towards some rocks for cover and tries to fire but finds himself out of ammo and fires his grenade at Shepard and the Alliance Marine. Shepard is blown against a rock but survives but the Alliance Marine is not so lucky and is torn apart. Shepard gets up and sees Rico and fires his M-8 Avenger but Rico gets back into cover and takes out his Vektor CP1 Pistol. Shepard moves towards Rico's position and right as he turns Rico hits the M-8 Avenger up and kicks Shepard in the chest. Shepard loses grip of his gun and tries to crawl towards it but Rico kicks it away and tries to shoot Shepard in the head but Shepard is able to kick Johnny off his feet and makes him lose his pistol. Shepard gets up right as Rico does and tries to hit Johnny in the head but Johnny blocks with his arm and headbutts Shepard in the head. Shepard stumbles back and notices Rico heading for his pistol and goes for his M-3 Predator. Rico picks up his Vektor CP1 and fires a few shots at Shepard but the Kinetic Barrier protect Shepard who pulls out his M-3 Predator and fires 5 shots into Rico's stomach. The Hero of Planet P falls down dead and Shepard raises his pistol in the air and yells in Victory "FOR THE ALLIANCE!!"

Winner: Commander Shepard

Expert's Opinion
While Rico's gun had more ammo then Shepard's. Shepard brought in the better armor that protected more then the MI Standard Issue Armor. Plus the crucial X-Factors of Training, and Combat Experience brought the win to Commander Shepard.

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Battle vs. Cybermen (Parallel Universe) (by Greenberet69)
Out in space near the Citadel a Turian Cargo ship is in flames and heading towards the Citadel. People on the Citadel watch as the flaming wreckage heads towards an area of the Wards and crashes into the section. C-Sec is the first on the scene and are able to put the flames out and send Officers into the wreck to search for surviviors but group after group of C-Sec officers enter and none come out. The Citadel Council decide best to send the famous Human Hero and their own Spectre Commander Shepard along with 4 other Spectres ( 2 Turian, Salarian, and Asari) to investigate the crashed Cargoship and look for survivors and the C-Sec officers. Shepard and the Spectres arrive on the scene

"Captain Bailey what seems to be the problem here?" Shepard asks

"A Turian Cargoship crashed here in the wards, can't find out the name, no ones come out of there, sent some Officers in and haven't seen them in hours." Captain Bailey says

"Don't worry we'll check it out." Shepard says

Shepard and the 4 Spectres head into the Turian Cargoship. 10 Minutes into searching the ship and heading towards the Bridge something catches one of the Turian Spectres attention. The Spectre runs over and finds the body of one of the C-Sec Officers dead with no pulse.

"Shepard its one of the C-Sec officers." The Turian Spectre calls out

"Does he have a pulse?" Shepard says

"No he doesn't." The Turian Spectre replies

Just then he looks up to see a tall metal man who grabs him by the throat, lifts him up in the air and the metal man turns out to be a Cybermen who uses his Electro attack to fry the Turian Spectre who yells in pain. Shepard and the other Spectres look to see the Cybermen drop the dead body of the Spectre and turn to them.

"Contact OPEN FIRE!" Shepard yells

The team of Spectres open fire with their M-8 Avengers and riddle the Cybermen full of Thermal Clips. Just then 4 other Cybermen walk out from the dark, one of the Cybermen armed with a Energy Blaster fires at the Salarian Spectre and penetrates the Kinetic Barrier. The Salarian tries to get to cover but the Cybermen fires again and kills the Salarian Spectre. Shepard orders the remaining Spectres to get out of the ship as the hallway was to narrow and needed to get back into the open of the Wards. The Asari Spectre fires her M-9 Tempest and a Cybermen in the way and takes out the Cybermen with a hail of Thermal Clips.

Back in the Wards...

"Commander Shepard this is Bailey is that gunfire I hear?" Bailey asks

"Bailey I found your team their dead. We've encountered these metal man with some odd technology and they've already taken out two of the Spectres evacuate the Wards." Shepard says

"Alright. C-Sec we need to clear the Wards quickly." Bailey says.

Shepard and the Spectres exit the ship to find the Wards area evacuated giving relief to Shepard as no innocents will get hurt now. Shepard and the Spectres quickly get to cover and wait for the Cybermen to exit the ship, The Asari Spectre begins to hear mechanical noises around here and looks everywhere but doesn't see amything. After hearing more noises she looks behind her and looks down to notice the hand of a Cybermen however the arm points the Wrist Blaster at the Asari Spectre and fires it's lasers at the Asari Spectre and kills her in two shots. Shepard looks and sees the hand and fires his M-8 Avenger at the hand destroying it. Finding his Avenger out of ammo he tosses it aside and takes out his M-98 Widow just as the Cybermen start exiting the ship one of the Cybermen fires a tranquilizer from its mouth but misses Shepard and Shepard fires his M-98 Widow and blows the head off of the Cybermen with no arm. The Turian Spectre fires his M-8 Avenger but soon finds himself out of ammo and is about to pull out his M-9 empest when one of the Cybermen fires his Wrist Blaster while yelling "DELETE!" and kills the Turian Spectre but not before Shepard blows off the head of the Cybermen to. The last Cybermen fires it's Energy Blaster at Shepard's position and while Shepard is able to dodge the blast he loses the M-98 Widow and begins to sneek to the side of the Cybermen. Thining Shepard is still there the Cybermen continues to fire its Energy Blaster until he hears someone behind him say

"DELETE THIS!" Shepard says

The Cybermen turns around as Shepard draws his Omni-Blade and drives it into its chest. The Cybermen falls down onto the ground dead and Shepard raises his dist in the air and yells in victory.

Winner: Commander Shepard

Expert's Opinion
Shepard won becasue he had the more better weapons, had faced off against foes much more powerful then Cybermen and his intelligence in making plans was greater then the Cybermen who would just walk to their deaths.

Click here to see the original battle, votes and weapons