KEY NOTE Below you will find the basic backstory that follows Katrina's life. The version below is intended for those who are familiar with the Mass Effect series. If you are not familiar, but would like to read a full, detailed account of the trilogy and Katrina's decisions throughout it, that version can be found through the link below.

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BASIC DETAILS Katrina was born on the colony of Mindoir in the Attican Traverse, with one older brother by the name of Ryker (@diewithaname). At the age of sixteen, she was caught in a slaver attack, watching as her best friend (and best friend's family), and her parents were killed, while her brother was shot and fell of a cliff (survived, in most AUs). After the attack, she came under the care of David Anderson, one of the soldiers who rescued her off the colony, and became his legal foster child for two years until she could enlist at eighteen. During that time, she was trained to hone her biotics by Iryna Corlizea, an asari matriarch who came at the behest of Anderson and his colleague, Kahlee Sanders.From there, Katrina enlisted in the Alliance Military, becoming well-known for her powerful defensive biotic capabilities. During that time she was sent to investigate the disappearance of early pioneers of the Akuze colony. During the mission, the platoon of fifty marines she was in charge of came under attack, beset by thresher maws in the middle of the night. Katrina was the only soldier to make it to the landing zone alive, though she was in critical condition. Her injuries required nearly a year of recovery between surgeries, grafts, and physical therapy, leaving her heavily scarred in the process. From there, she was invited to the Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) Academy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she passed and received her N7 designation with flying colours. She was officially classified as an N7 Bastion Adept.

CANON DIVERGENCE Katrina's portrayal includes a handful of small canon divergences that I employ in my writing. Firstly, Katrina has an older brother who, in most cases, is alive and still in contact with her. He is written by another mun whose blog URL is above; in the instance that people are uncomfortable with other muns' portrayals being referenced in threads, I will default to Ryker having died on Mindoir. He will still be referenced in headcanons and occasionally in conversation, but will not be alive in that timeline. If I don't specify, feel free to assume he's alive & around! When interacting with other Shepards, it will be stated that Ryker died on Mindoir, unless I am specifically interacting with another Colonist Shepard & we have determined they are siblings.The second is that Both Kaidan and Ashley survive the Virmire assault in Mass Effect 1. I've always been saddened by the decision between the two of them, and given Kat's upbringing coupled with the events of Akuze, it is likely that she would push to attempt this. In this regard, Ashley was sent to aid the salarian STG troops, while Kaidan was responsible for arming the bomb. Check my headcanons post for more details on that particular event.Thirdly, in terms of ending, Katrina's canon follows Audemus' Happy Ending Mod, which is most effectively summed up as a modified Destroy ending. To sum it up, the Starchild AI does not exist, the Reapers are destroyed, and the geth and EDI survive, along with Katrina, who at the end places Anderson's name on the Normandy's memorial wall.

SQUADMATE ROMANCES By initial default, Katrina does not romance anyone in Mass Effect 1. This can be discussed in specific plots, but in general she will not pursue a romance. I do not have a specific "canon" romance for Katrina, though I have biases for Kaidan, Liara, Garrus, and Miranda as romance options. I'm open to any others, with the exception of Ashley as, in simple terms, Ashley is my blorbo for Mass Effect and I have a relatively heavy bias against enjoying the fem!Shepley ship (no hard feelings if you ship it--it's just not my vibe for those two). Ashley writers are welcome to interact platonically as I do adore hers and fem!Shep's friendship, but I will not ship Katrina with your portrayal in any romantic fashion. As for other ships, I am open to ideas, though Katrina's interest is limited to humans, asari, turians, and drell only. I'm also open to rarepairs, OCs, and crossover/au ships with her.Please note that while I have a bias for certain ships, all ships are strictly with chemistry and I do not practice ship exclusivity; I'm not comfortable with ship exclusivity and that is that. I don't go around "collecting" ships or anything ridiculous like that, but exclusivity makes me squicky due to dealing with jealous muns in the past & I'm just not for it.

TRILOGY DECISIONS This section will list each of the specific decisions throughout the trilogy that Katrina has made, with some details on each decision. This list covers only most of the major decisions and, if relevant, the morality path chosen (Paragon or Renegade). In many cases with Katrina, both the Paragon and Renegade options for dialogue, if leading to the same outcome, are viable choices for her. If you have a preference, let me know!

ME2 Loyalty Missions

This section contains a full general biography of Katrina's backstory. Please note that most game events will be skimmed over or summarized, and Katrina's decision-making over the trilogy will not necessarily be detailed; for full details including side missions, please check her dossier page. There are simply too many events to cover to fully detail the trilogy in paragraph form, so the point-form options will be best for specific decision-making choices. Please keep in mind that this is the shortest possible version without covering the majority of side quests in the games.Because of the length of the biography, each section is on an individual page with a back button leading back to this page. Lastly, this page is still a work in progress. There is roughly 120+ hours of gameplay to cover over the three games. It is a lot to cover. Please don't be daunted by the length; each section is usually only a few paragraphs at a time, but it's organized into individual sections for ease.REGARDING VIRMIRE-SPECIFIC CHANGES IN MASS EFFECT 2: In most interactions, Katrina will reference Ashley's presence on the Normandy SR-2 in Mass Effect 2. The Ashley referenced in these cases is my own portrayal. References to Kaidan may be references to other muns who write Kaidan and have plotted this for me, but will likely be minimal. Most references will include Ashley unless otherwise discussed. Lastly, this version will also include the canon divergence including her brother as he is integral to her portrayal.

Katrina Caroline Shepard was born on the colony of Mindoir, a small farming colony in the Attican Traverse, in the year 2154. She grew up little more than a simple farm girl: she sold vegetables down at the supermarket that her family grew on the colony, and spent her free time either with friends or exploring the fringes of the colony with her older brother. She was an artist who spent her time drawing beautiful graphite landscape images and hoped to one day become either a famous artist or work in graphic design.All of that changed in the year 2170. Days after Katrina's sixteenth birthday, she was at a friend's house (by the name of Mariah). She and Mariah were in the kitchen when shots rang out in the living room; both girls came running, only to see Mariah's parents shot dead, her younger brother--only seven at the time-cowering and sobbing. Before them were batarian slavers, who grabbed Mariah's brother as he screamed. The other grabbed Mariah, who fought back, screaming for Katrina to run... and Katrina did just that.She ran. She ran as far and fast as she could, sprinting through the streets despite the echoes of others screaming behind her, running to her parents' place. Coming in the door, she found the same sight: her parents, with guns held to their heads, turning in her direction and screaming for her to run. And so, she ran; she met up with her brother, Ryker, near the cliffs, and they both ran... until one caught up to Ryker, shooting him in the face and sending him off the cliff.Despite that... She ran, again. She continued running, looking for a place to hide until one of the batarians caught up to her, grabbing her and knocking her down. He held her by the hair--her long, waist-length braid acting like the perfect rope to drag her by--despite her protests and screams. As she tried to fight back, turning and kicking at him, punching where she could to try and free herself, he realized she wasn't worth the effort, tossing her to the ground and pointing a gun directly in her face.At the time, she had no idea what exactly had happened next. She screamed, shoving at him--or intending to shove at the gun, she's not entirely sure--as a blue light surrounded her and the batarian. The force was enough to push him back, sending him careening into wall, hard; a sickening crack! was heard when he impacted. He then slumped to the ground in a heap, lifeless and unmoving. Katrina, still running on adrenaline, took the opportuning and ran, hiding in a cornfield until help arrived.A passing Alliance patrol caught the colony's distress signal, coming to the rescue. Katrina found herself rescued by the groundside squad led by Lieutenant David Anderson, a recent N7 graduate. Katrina was taken on to the Alliance ship, though she remained traumatized and frightened. It wasn't until one of the other soldiers on the ship finally spoke to her that she understood what had happened.She was a biotic. Though it had remained dormant most of her life, the stress of the incident--coupled by element zero exposure from an exploded civilian ship that had landed on the colony to stock up on produce to sell on the Citadel during the slavers' attack--had brought out the biotic potential. Little did Katrina know, her mother had been exposed while Katrina was in-utero, and though there were no apparent side-effects, the second element zero exposure during the attack activated Katrina's biotic potential.Unfortunately... No one was likely to adopt an orphaned, traumatized biotic teenager. As a result, David Anderson applied almost immediately to be her foster parent, and because of the significant hatred for human biotics among their kind, he was almost immediately accepted. Believing that she had lost her entire family, Katrina was quiet and reserved at first, barely even talking to Anderson; eventually after some searching, Anderson came across a number of kids and older teenagers from Mindoir that had been rescued from the slavers. Among them was Ryker, Katrina's older brother, who had miraculously survived the assault and the fall from the cliff. Katrina was relieved to see him, though it was short-lived; revealing her desire to join the Alliance when she was eighteen caused a rift between Katrina and Ryker, and the latter eventually left on a sour note, travelling to Earth where he became involved with gang life.With little else to motivate her, Katrina's desire to join the Alliance at eighteen remained strong, and she reached out to Anderson for help. Rather than rely on the Alliance to teach her how to use her biotics, Anderson--with the help of Kahlee Sanders--found Katrina a tutor that wanted to study and learn more about human biotics: an asari matriarch--formerly a commando in her matron days, but retired--by the name of Iryna Corlizea. Iryna, a renowned asari neurologist and former commando, taught Katrina how to hone and control her biotics, learning and understanding the link between the human nervous system and the function of biotics in comparison to the asari's natural control over their nervous system. At the same time, she was able to effectively teach Katrina how to use her biotics in combat, finding that the human girl, traumatized as she was, had a natural talent for using them.At the age of eighteen, Katrina did the only thing she could think of: she enlisted with the Systems Alliance, doing her best to put Mindoir behind her and vowing that she would make a difference with the Alliance. She would protect people. She would save lives, no matter what. She would not allow something like Mindoir to happen again.

Much of Katrina's service history remained simple; she was an expert biotic, far more advanced than her peers, though she was known for her gentle demeanour and charismatic personality. Though she was significantly better than most of her fellow soldiers, Katrina took it upon herself to teach those soldiers, helping them to hone their biotics further. She was assigned to the Recruit Training Depot in Macapá, Brazil, under the tutelage of Gunnery Chief Ellison. During basic training, Katrina was certified with the standard M-3 Predator Heavy Pistol and the M-4 Shuriken Submachine Gun, as well as certified as high-proficiency with her L3 biotic implant and light-weight hardsuits. Completing her zero-gravity training in Earth geosynchronous orbit, Katrina later completed her Hostile Environment Training at Fort Louis Riel on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons, near Binary Helix Corporation's Nautilus facility. During this, she was awarded several commendations for her leadership expertise and careful, but intelligent tactics; though some of her techniques were bold, her capability in the scenarios allowed for her team members to come out unharmed and without dying (though they were training scenarios where her squadmates would not have died, Katrina's tactics would have, in theory, allowed for zero casualties in a real, live-fire scenario).Katrina was noted to have incredible instincts and was quickly recommended for OCS, and was accepted not long after her training. From there, she was assigned to the SSV Batoche, serving as part of their marine unit while she completed her officer's commission. Upon completion of her degree, Katrina was quickly promoted to First Lieutenant, where she was assigned to the Broncos Platoon of the Marine Reconnaissance Division. As head of the platoon, Katrina was sent to investigate the disappearance of a pioneer team near the proposed location of the Akuze colony. Upon landing they found the settlement intact, but no survivors were found. As night began to fall during their investigations, they chose to set camp for the night, setting up shift rotations for watch duty overnight.Not long after the first shift had begun, the ground beneath them began to rumble. The next thing they knew, they were set upon by a number of thresher maws. Everything happened faster than Katrina could process it; she ordered every one of their soldiers to run. She, too, took off as fast as she could, turning only to use her biotics to help deflect as many of the acidic projectiles as she could.Her defensive attempts were no use. Behind her, she could hear her fellow marines screaming before they were dragged underneath the sand. She just kept yelling at them to run, to make it to the hills where the thresher maws couldn't reach them. Kat made it to the hills... but not before a massive glob of thresher maw acid hit her in the back, coating most of her hardsuit and knocking her flat. She managed to crawl behind a rock out of sight, but the acid ate entirely through her biotic barriers and began to slowly eat through the material of her hardsuit.For hours, she lay there as the acid ate its way through the protection she had, eventually eating right through her skin, in some places down to the bone. She screamed in agony, eventually passing out from the pain; their distress signal brought a small Alliance ship down to the mountain, where they found Katrina barely clinging to life. Rushing her to the nearest medical facility, she was immediately treated, but she would never be the same.She was the only survivor of the attack on Akuze. Waking up, she had no idea where she was or what had happened; the trauma had temporarily suppressed any memory of the incident. When she was finally able to speak--despite a significant portion of her body covered in wound dressings to protect them and allow her to heal--she recounted the events as best she could, learning the gruesome details of the thresher maw attack. The pioneer team was never found, and of the fifty-one marines sent to investigate, Katrina Shepard was the only survivor.What confronted her after Akuze was something she hadn't expected: Anderson, uncertain of her condition, had reached out to Ryker to inform him of his sister's severe injuries. She was angry with him at first, oscillating between lashing out at him in anger and entirely ignoring his presence. She was angry at him for abandoning her years ago; he'd broken her heart in the process, taking away the one thing that she had to hold on to after Mindoir. Despite her anger, she eventually cracked, and Ryker was there for her, remaining steadfast despite her anger at him.What followed was months of surgeries, recovery, and physical therapy to get Katrina back on her feet and back to serving, where she relied on her brother heavily to get her through it. She was left with significant scarring from reconstructive surgeries; distinct, lattice-like patterns along much of her chest, stomach, back, and legs from reconstructive skin graft surgeries using cloned skin created directly from her DNA. But the physical scars were nothing compared to the emotional and psychological scars Akuze left on her.After Akuze, she became more withdrawn; while she wasn't unfriendly with people, she became quieter, almost shyer when it came to personal interactions. While she could interact professionally without issue, she avoided forming friendships or bonds with fellow soldiers or even those in her PT classes, instead keeping to herself. She'd made friends in the unit on Akuze, and had lost them all.Not long after returning to duty from Akuze, Katrina received an invitation she wasn't expecting: she'd been invited to Interplanetary Combatives Training (ICT) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to participate in N7 training. With her talent and skill, Katrina passed most of the N courses with flying colours, breaking a number of records in the process. During training, a new assignment came up: Katrina, upon completing her N-training, was to be assigned to the SSV Normandy SR-1, a new stealth frigate designed with cooperation between the Alliance and the turian militaries. She was instilled as Anderson's Executive Officer and second-in-command of the frigate, and was present for the Normandy's shakedown run.

During the Normandy's shakedown run to Eden Prime, Kat was faced with surprising news from Anderson: Nihlus Kryik, the turian Spectre that was aboard their vessel for the run, was actually there to assess Kat's capabilities, as she was being considered as a viable candidate for the Spectres. With humanity having no humans within the ranks of the Spectres, it was the opportunity of a lifetime; Nihlus even revealed that he had put forth her name for the position. As they came closer to the planet, they received a distress call from the marines on the ground, indicating that the colony was under attack. Gathering Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Sergeant Richard Jenkins, Katrina went groundside with the two marines, while Nihlus went on his own and scouted ahead.As they landed, things quickly turned sour. During their first encounter with the unidentified attackers, Jenkins was immediately gunned down, though both Katrina and Kaidan survived. Moving further along, they encountered Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, the sole remaining marine of the 212, who had been on the run from their attackers--the geth--for a number of hours by that point. Knowing that Williams' knowledge of the colony's layout would be helpful, Katrina asked the woman to come along, and Ashley agreed readily.As they moved through the colony, they encountered a deceased Nihlus, and it was revealed by a surviving dockworker, Powell, that another turian--by the name of Saren Arterius--had attacked Nihlus, and appeared to be behind the attack on the colony. Unfortunately, Saren managed to escape, but not before activating the Prothean beacon that had been unearthed; as Shepard, Alenko, and Williams reached it at the spaceport, its power attempted to draw Lieutenant Alenko in, forcing Katrina to push him out of the way. The energy from the beacon then drew her in, burning images she couldn't understand into her mind, and knocking her unconscious for the next thirty-six hours. Upon waking up in the med-bay of the Normandy, Katrina explained the incident to Captain Anderson, who also revealed that he'd requested Williams' transfer to their marine unit: he, along with Alenko, believed she was a capable marine, and with Jenkins' death they were short a man. Katrina agreed with the decision and welcomed Williams' assistance.

Upon arriving on the Citadel, Katrina--along with Lieutenant Alenko and Chief Williams--attended a hearing to level evidence against Saren Arterius. Unfortunately, the Council initially found there was not enough evidence to strip Saren of his Spectre status; his status even made it difficult for C-Sec officer Garrus Vakarian to find any evidence to work against Saren. After following a few leads and enlisting the support of Garrus, they tracked some information to Fist, a known associate of the Shadow Broker--and subsequently Saren--which led them to Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, a young quarian who was on her Pilgrimage. Tali revealed that she had a voice recording that incriminated Saren regarding the events on Eden Prime as well as revealing that he had an accomplice; after revealing this to the Council, Saren was then stripped of his Spectre status, and his accomplice was revealed to be an asari matriarch by the name of Benezia. Saren was searching for something known as the Conduit, though it was unknown what the Conduit was used for or capable of doing. Though the Council would not send a fleet to take down Saren, they saw fit to offer something else: Katrina was inducted as the first human Spectre, and given the task of tracking down Saren and stopping him. Along the way, they also picked up Urdnot Wrex, a krogan mercenary who had been tasked with killing Fist (unbeknownst to Wrex, Fist had been left alive and disappeared) and wanted revenge on Saren.After being inducted into the Spectres, Captain Anderson revealed that he and Udina (primarily against Anderson's will, though he saw the necessity behind it) would be turning the command of the Normandy over to Katrina. This gave her a ship she could use in the fight against Saren, as well as a crew that knew her and would respect her. She took over as Commanding Officer of the Normandy, and instilled Navigation Officer Charles Pressly--the ship's navigator--as her Executive Officer.

Katrina's first stop in the search for Saren was to find Liara T'Soni, the daughter of Matriarch Benezia. Upon arriving at the dig site, they encountered multiple geth troops that were also trying to find Liara; unfortunately, the researcher had trapped herself in a Prothean stasis field by accident, and required rescuing. After making their way around the field, they fought their way past Saren's thugs and escaped just as the digsite was falling into the lava. Liara revealed that she did not know much, if anything, about what her mother was up to, but was determined to find out; she was also intrigued by the fact that Shepard had managed to use the beacon on Eden Prime, and believed that her knowledge of the Protheans would come in handy.

Katrina's next stop in the chase for Saren was to visit Noveria, a frozen, ice-cold world with cold-hearted corporations that begrudged the idea of a Spectre looking into their business. After removing Anoleis, a corrupt official, from power with the assistance of Noveria Internal Affairs agent Gianna Parasini, Katrina was off to the Peak 15 labs of Binary Helix, where Saren and his matriarch accompaniment, Benezia, had been spotted. Fighting their way through the labs, they encountered strange bug-like creatures--later revealed to be rachni, a supposedly dead race that had supposedly been destroyed by the krogan hundreds of years ago. During the ensuing firefights, they encountered Benezia, who fought them at first, but later revealed that Saren's ship--called "Sovereign" had the ability to control minds. Wresting control back for a moment, Benezia revealed portions of Saren's plan, then begged them to kill her. Before Katrina could grant her wish, Benezia fought back once more, and was killed. At the facility, they encountered a new rachni queen, who communicated through one of the deceased asari commandos to inform Shepard that she had no control over her 'children'--the rachni at the facility--and asked to be let free. Katrina decided to let the queen go free, with the promise that she would remain in the fringes of the galaxy and avoid associating with council races whenever possible.

Their next stop was Feros, a colony that had come under attack by the geth recently for unknown reasons. Landing at the port of Zhu's Hope, Katrina managed to assist in getting their systems running before heading along the Prothean Skyway to the ExoGeni headquarters, where it was revealed that ExoGeni had been using the colonists at Zhu's Hope as live experiments: all of the colonists had inhaled the spores produced by Species 37--the Thorian--which was an ancient, sentient plant that was at least fifty thousand years old. Present when the Protheans were driven to extinction by the Reapers, the Thorian had absorbed a wealth of knowledge from them--known as the Cipher--that Saren had come to acquire. Shiala, an asari commando who had served under Matriarch Benezia, had been given to the Thorian as a sacrifice in exchange for the Thorian allowing Shiala to mind-melt with it, acquire the Cipher, and pass it to Saren. Shiala was rescued by Katrina when the Thorian was destroyed and passed the Cipher on to her so that she could further understand the visions burned into her psyche from the beacon on Eden Prime.

Responding to the distress call above Terra Nova, Katrina was quick to show anger--and ruthlessness--at the batarians attempting to destroy the colony. Despite this, she was forced to let Balak go free in order to save the hostages, though it was very begrudging, as she hates batarians like him.

Katrina was able to talk Corporal Toombs out of killing the scientists but immediately took it upon herself to end their lives. Knowing that the scientists were involved in the incident on Akuze, Katrina was momentarily blinded by rage and grief, and later regretted her decision; she realized that killing the scientists didn't change what had happened and that more lives had been lost as a result of it. Despite that, a small part of her is glad the scientists are no longer alive, as she worries they might have tried the same thing.

Receiving intel that Saren was working on a facility on the planet Virmire, Katrina quickly went groundside to meet with the salarian STG team that had gone dark. It turned out that the facility was a krogan breeding facility, and that it would require the work of both the Normandy's team and the salarian STG team to take down the facility. Their plan was simple: the salarian team would convert their ship's drive core into a large-scale nuke, which would then be delivered by the Normandy--using its stealth systems--to the center of the facility. Before the Normandy could land, however, Katrina--along with two squadmates--would have to take out one of the AA (anti-aircraft) guns, while the salarian team--occupied by one of their Alliance soldiers--would take out the other. Knowing Ashley's tactical prowess, Katrina opted to send the Gunnery Chief with the salarian team, while assigning Kaidan Alenko to the bomb, feeling his technical expertise would be better put to use there.But there was one other hurdle: Urdnot Wrex. Upon hearing that they were going to destroy the facility, Wrex turned on Katrina, showing zero hesitation in pointing a gun at her. Though she tried her damnedest to talk him down, Wrex was not about to back down; her only saving grace was Gunnery Chief Williams, who took it upon herself to shoot Wrex before he could take out Katrina. Shocked by the sudden change, Katrina understood Williams' decision after taking a moment, though she wished she'd have been able to talk Wrex out of wanting to save the facility.As they got the bomb settled in the center of the facility--taking out a number of Saren's troops along the way--the salarian team, along with Ashley, radioed for assistance. They were pinned down at the destroyed AA tower, and were soon going to be overrun with geth. Needing time to arm the nuke, Kaidan assured Katrina she'd have enough time to reach Ashley and the remaining salarians and make it back to the rendezvous point with them. As they were halfway there, another geth dropship flew in, aiming directly for the bomb site.Katrina had a choice to make. She could continue on to the AA gun and save Ashley, or she could race back to the bomb site and save Kaidan. As she wavered on the decision, she remembered what she'd told herself on Akuze: that the next time, she would do better.She chose the third option. Ordering Tali to go groundside at the bomb site to assist Kaidan, Katrina sent Garrus back to provide them cover fire from up high, taking only Liara with her to the AA gun. She ordered Alenko to hold out at the nuke as long as he could, while they raced to the gun. Reaching Ashley and the salarians, Kat madly called orders to everyone, pushing and straining her biotics to the very limits to get them to the rendezvous. They arrived just as Tali, Kaidan, and Garrus were barely holding out, scrambling onto the Normandy, and raced out of the way just as the nuke went off.

Returning from their operation on Virmire with information on where Saren was headed, Katrina was informed by the Council that the Normandy would be grounded, and they would not be allowed to pursue Saren through the relay to Ilos. Angered by this decision, Kat spoke to Anderson, who had a plan: breaking into Udina's office, he managed to get the docking bay cleared for the Normandy to escape. Taking off as mutineers with the most advanced warship in the Alliance fleet, they were off to Ilos to find the Conduit and, ideally, stop Saren.On Ilos, they were confronted with a grim reality: The Conduit was actually a mass relay connected directly to the heart of the Citadel, a relay that would allow the Reapers to pour in and destroy the heart of galactic civilization before they could even react. It was revealed that this was what initially defeated the Protheans: their entire government collapsed in the blink of an eye, leaving their people scattered about. However, with a number of contingencies added over the years, the Protheans were able to prevent the invasion signal from being broadcast to the Reapers, buying the current harvest cycle more time to react. Saren's plan was simple: he would go through the Conduit himself and rectify the tampering that had been done, allowing the Reapers to pour through the Citadel and begin their harvest for the cycle.With no other options, Katrina took the team she had and raced toward the Conduit, driving directly into the active miniature relay with their ground vehicle.

Entering through the relay, Katrina and her squadmates found themselves on the Citadel's Presidium Ring, and it was in shambles. Geth had poured in, slaughtering anyone they could along the way; they were met with nothing but a path of sheer destruction. Fighting their way through the Citadel, they reached the controls and confronted Saren. Meanwhile, Joker had taken off with the Normandy, rushing to Arcturus Station in an attempt to rally the Alliance fleets for assistance. Unfortunately, Saren's assault had deactivated the mass relay network, preventing the Alliance fleets from arriving to assist. With the Citadel Fleet already diminished by having sent ships to cover each and every mass relay in Citadel space, the Citadel itself was at stake, along with every citizen onboard the station. Fighting her way through and facing down Saren, Katrina managed to reactivate the mass relay network, allowing the remainder of the missing Citadel Fleet as well as the bulk of the Alliance Navy to pour through the relays to assist.With Joker at the helm of the Normandy leading the charge with Admiral Steven Hackett backing him, the Alliance vessels quickly began working their way through the geth fleets that had arrived, assisting the Citadel's defenses as best they could. As Katrina faced down Saren one final time, she was radioed by Admiral Hackett, who needed her to make a decision: the Destiny Ascension, the flagship of the Citadel Fleet, was attempting to escape the clutches of the geth and Sovereign. With ten thousand passengers on board--including the turian, asari, and salarian councillors--Katrina had one decision to make: command the fleets to attack Sovereign, or command them to protect the Destiny Ascension. With ten thousand lives at stake, she gave the order to assist the Ascension, allowing the Council to escape unharmed and its passengers to survive. In the process, the Alliance lost a significant portion of their fleet, but gained significant respect and was offered a seat on the Citadel Council. In the aftermath of the battle, Katrina put her support in for Captain Anderson to be nominated as human councilor, much to Ambassador Udina's chagrin.

A few months after the Battle of the Citadel, Katrina was tasked with seeking out and taking care of a few small pockets of geth resistance near other human colonies. During one of these scouting missions, the Normandy SR-1 was attacked; this was later revealed to be by the Collectors, who were working as a proxy for the Reapers while they travelled through dark space to reach the Milky Way galaxy. Twenty members of the crew were killed during the attack; among them was their navigator and XO, Pressly. Katrina, in an attempt to save Flight Lieutenant Jeff "Joker" Moreau, who refused and ignored evac protocols, was knocked away from the escape pod near the bridge, but was able to launch the escape pod before a second explosion tore through the Normandy and knocked her further. The blast caused a tear in her hardsuit, jarring her oxygen lose and causing her to suffocate in space.In the aftermath of the attack, Kaidan Alenko became the Acting Commanding Officer of the crew as the highest-ranked officer remaining, with Ashley Williams as the acting NCO in charge of the remains of the marine detachment, tasked with tactical defense until their distress call was answered by Alliance patrols.

Katrina's body plummeted to the surface of Alchera, was severely burned up as she entered the planet's atmosphere and landed a significant distance away from the rest of the crew's escape pods (as well as the wreckage). Her body was eventually recovered by the Shadow Broker, who planned to sell it to the Collectors; it was then stolen by Liara T'Soni, who turned her over to Cerberus, where she became the focus of the Lazarus Project. Headed by Miranda Lawson with the assistance of Cerberus' best scientists, her entire body was reconstructed; luckily, her brain remained intact as it was protected by her helmet during atmospheric re-entry, while Alchera's freezing temperatures kept it in a state akin to cryogenic stasis.The Lazarus Project resulted in a mix of cybernetic and organic reconstruction, recreating Katrina with a more durable physical form enhanced by cybernetics. Her biotic implant was also upgraded in the process to the new prototype L5x, significantly increasing the power and capability of her biotics. Before the Lazarus Project was fully complete, Lazarus Station came under attack--later revealed to be orchestrated by Wilson, the Chief Medical Officer of the project, on behalf of the Shadow Broker--and Miranda was forced to prematurely awaken Katrina from her comatose state. Waking up with unfamiliar cybernetic scars in a strange place, Katrina fought her way through the mechs on the station, running first into Jacob Taylor, and later into Dr. Wilson. Making their way to the shuttle pad, they are met by Miranda Lawson, who without question shoots Wilson for his traitorous actions.Miranda, Jacob, and Katrina then escaped to Minuteman Station, another Cerberus facility, in order to touch base with the Illusive Man, the enigmatic leader of Cerberus.

After getting the details of her resurrection from the Illusive Man on Minuteman Station, Katrina was informed that over the last few months, human colonies in the Terminus Systems had been disappearing with no rhyme or reason. As Freedom's Progress recently went dark, Katrina was sent to investigate with the help of Miranda and Jacob. Upon landing on the colony she ran into Tali, who was not only surprised to see her, but reticent given she was accompanied by members of Cerberus. Despite that, Tali took their offer to work together, helping them reach Veetor to get what information he had. Despite Miranda and Jacob's insistence on taking Veetor with them, Katrina chose to send Veetor back to the Migrant Fleet with Tali, who later forwarded the data from Veetor's omni-tool for them to use against the Collectors.In (most) cases where Ashley is present on the Normandy, Katrina also encounters Ashley on Freedom's Progress, and Ashley is invited to come with them to join the crew, despite Miranda and Jacob's protests to her presence. After taking over the rebuilt Normandy and dubbing it the SR-2, Katrina--along with Joker, who was the pilot of her new ship--headed to Omega. In verses where Katrina's brother is alive, she sends a message to him asking to meet on Omega, and asks him personally to join the crew (in an attempt to surround herself with friendly, trustworthy faces, such as himself and Ashley).

Upon landing on Omega, Katrina encountered Zaeed Massani, who was taking care of a job he'd been assigned on the station. She was informed of the fact that Zaeed had been paid incredibly well to join her mission against the Collectors. She was informed of his request to chase down Vido Santiago, the current leader of the Blue Suns, as part of his deal. She agreed to look into the refinery takeover that Vido had staged on Zorya.

Katrina was sent to Omega to recruit Archangel, a notorious vigilante who had made himself known on Omega. Archangel had attracted the attention of the three primary mercenary gangs on the station: the Blood Pack, Blue Suns, and Eclipse gangs were banding together to take him out. After speaking to Aria T'Loak, the de-facto "leader" of Omega about the best way to reach him, Katrina and her team joined up as "freelancers" assisting the three major gangs with taking down Archangel. In the process, Katrina sabotaged some of their mechs and their gunship repairs, gaining herself an advantage in the fight to get Archangel out alive.Upon entering the base and reaching Archangel, the vigilante's identity was revealed as Garrus Vakarian, the turian squadmate she'd spent time with in the hunt for Saren. Relieved to see her old friend, Katrina managed to help Garrus take down the three major gangs, but not before tragedy nearly struck: a stray rocket caught Garrus in the face, causing significant damage; he barely made it to the Normandy alive, and after significant medical attention at the hands of Karin Chakwas and Miranda Lawson as well as some minor cybernetic reconstruction, Garrus was deemed fit for duty, taking over maintenance of the Normandy's main gun battery.

While on Omega, Katrina was sent to recruit Professor Mordin Solus, a salarian scientist known for his incredible intelligence. Mordin had a clinic set up in one of the quarantine zones of Omega, where a plague had been tearing through the population; the only immune species appeared to be humans (as well as vorcha, who are by default immune to disease). Upon reaching Mordin's clinic--and fighting their way through significant Blue Suns territory--Katrina assisted Mordin in dispersing a cure for the plague. Upon reaching the life support systems of the quarantine zone, Katrina learned that the vorcha had been working with the Collectors to spread the plague on Omega, and was able to shut things down.

Katrina's next stop was the prison ship Purgatory, where it was noted that Jack, a powerful human biotic, had been captured and was for sale. Jack was a known violent convict, but her biotic talent was unmatched; Cerberus had paid a hefty sum of credits to have her removed from cryogenic stasis to help against the Collectors. Upon boarding, Katrina was nearly captured by the ship's leader, as he had determined she was "worth far more alive than what Cerberus had paid for Jack". This forced her to fight her way out, releasing Jack in the process. After some talking, Jack was persuaded to come aboard the Normandy despite it being a Cerberus vessel, with the promise that she'd be allowed to access whatever files Cerberus had on her (much to Miranda's chagrin).

Heading to the planet Korlus, Katrina searched for Okeer, a renowned warlord among the krogan people. Upon landing, they could hear a female voice over the loudspeaker by the name of Jedore, who was in charge of the Blue Suns troops on the planet. Jedore, it seemed, was hoping that Okeer would make her an army from the cloned tank-bred krogan he was working on. As she got further along, Katrina met up with Rana Thanoptis, an asari geneticist that she'd let live on Virmire on the condition that she clean up her act. Seeing that Rana hadn't done so, Katrina was left with no choice: she shot Rana for her transgressions, seeing the horrible experiments she'd helped Okeer perform (including on humans, according to the corpses nearby). Reaching Okeer, it turned out that he had managed to create one perfect, "true" tank-bred krogan, and needed time to prepare; this left Kat to take on Jedore and her Blue Suns troops. In his attempt to save his work, Okeer was exposed to toxic gases and was killed, leaving Katrina to take his tank-bred krogan back to the Normandy. She chose not to open the tank immediately.

After receiving a call from the Illusive Man in the debriefing room, Katrina was informed that another human colony, Horizon, had gone dark. If Horizon wasn't already under attack by the Collectors, it soon would be, and they had to act fast. With Mordin's countermeasure against the seeker swarms completed, they were able to land on the colony undetected by the swarms, fighting their way through to interrupt the Collectors' attempts to kidnap the colonists. Fighting toward the large AA gun that had been installed recently, Kat was able to connect the targeting system to the Normandy's systems, allowing EDI to calibrate the targeting software in order to attack the large Collector ship.What met Katrina after the assault, however, was the last thing she expected. Kaidan Alenko, her former squadmate, had been present on the colony. Though she was glad to see him, she didn't get the impression that the feeling was mutual; Kaidan was upset that she was working with Cerberus, going so far as to call her a traitor and say that she'd turned her back on everything she stood for. Though she remained stoic in his presence, Kaidan's words cut deeply, making her further question her own identity and whether she really was. Not only was she hurt by Kaidan's words, but she was also livid that the Illusive Man had intentionally put him in danger without saying so.

With the events of Horizon still painfully fresh in her mind, Kat made her way to the Citadel, going to the one person she was certain wouldn't doubt her: David Anderson, her former foster father, whom she'd made the human Councillor after the Battle of the Citadel. Anderson was relieved to see her, despite the notable changes in her appearance; seeing him was like a breath of fresh air, and for once it felt good not to be questioned for her decisions like Kaidan had. Joining a meeting with the Citadel Council, she took the time to explain her actions and explain why she was working with Cerberus--despite her reticence to trust them and wholeheartedly agreeing that their past actions were questionable at best--and, with the Council still showing an offer of support to her as an individual, Katrina accepted her reinstatement as a Council Spectre. This gave her access to resources she didn't previously have, as well as another level of authority she could utilize around the galaxy when needed. Despite that, she was asked to restrict her activities to the Terminus Systems while working with Cerberus.

While on the Citadel, Katrina sought out the assistance of master thief Kasumi Goto, who had been contacted by the Illusive Man to help with their efforts. Kasumi's technologically savvy abilities would come in useful, and her ability to procure goods they might not have access to would be an indistinguishable asset. Kasumi agreed to the terms of the deal, and joined them on the Normandy.

Heading to Illium, an asari trading colony bordering Citadel space and the Terminus Systems, Katrina was surprised to find yet another one of her old friends present: Liara T'Soni. Though she easily recognized Liara, much like her other friends it was clear Liara had changed over the years, much to Katrina's disappointment. After helping Liara get the information she needed on Illium, they were able to converse properly, and Katrina learned that she'd been searching for the Shadow Broker over the last two years... and on top of that, Liara had been involved with Cerberus.After visiting at a later point, Katrina learned that Liara had been responsible for turning her body over to Cerberus for the sake of the Lazarus Project and, in the process, was responsible for her being brought back. This news was almost crippling to her psyche, driving a rift between her and Liara in the process and leaving Kat questioning the impact she'd had on her friends (or if she was even their friend to begin with).

Katrina's next stop on Illium was to recruit Thane Krios, a renowned assassin. Following him to the Dantius Towers, Katrina fought her way past Nassana Dantius' Eclipse mercenaries. She found many salarian workers that had been injured or assaulted during the attack and sent them back down the towers, allowing them to escape unharmed, learning along the way that someone--later revealed to be Thane--had let them live. Reaching the top of the tower, she confronted Nassana directly, still holding a bit of a grudge for the way Nassana swindled her two years ago. Nevertheless, Thane killed Nassana and joined their crew against the Collectors.

Dossier: The Justicar

On Illium, Katrina went searching for an asari justicar by the name of Samara, who had reportedly been searching for an asari fugitive on the colony. Samara's presence was linked into the murder investigation of a volus merchant who had been killed in an alleyway the night before. Samara's presence was making a number of the local officers uneasy, and it seemed that Detective Anaya had been asked to take Samara into custody, at which point Samara's Code would force her to resist and ultimately kill Anaya.Offering to help, Katrina tracked down the name of the ship that the fugutive--an Ardat-Yakshi by the name of Morinth--escaped on. Along the way, she came across a young asari who claimed to be new and stated she'd only pretended to shoot; however, knowing that in order to join the Eclipse, an Eclipse member must kill someone to earn their stripes, Katrina was not convinced and killed the asari without hesitation. Later, it turned out that the asari mercenary had killed the volus as part of her initiation into Eclipse. Finally reaching the Eclipse headquarters, Kat was tasked with a difficult foe: Wasea, the Eclipse leader, was a powerful biotic and in the process had been enhanced by the Minagen X-3 shipments that they were smuggling.With the ship name found, Samara was able to be released from Anaya's custody and joined the crew of the Normandy, swearing the Oath of Servitude so she would be bound to Katrina's orders even if they went against the Justicar Code.

One of Katrina's last stops was the planet of Haestrom, on the fringes of geth space. Her target was Tali, an old comrade that the Illusive Man had suggested for their mission; Katrina suspected their work on Haestrom was in relation to the work Tali had mentioned she had to do when they'd crossed paths on Freedom's Progress. Haestrom's sun was deteriorating rapidly, with such strong rays that it was capable of frying and overloading their shields in seconds. Landing on the colony, they were met with the sight of the geth attacking Tali and the quarian marines that had accompanied her; they were able to provide assistance, meeting up with Kal'Reegar, who was still barely holding the geth off from getting to Tali. Ordering him to stand down and only provide cover fire, Katrina circled around to take out the Colossus and the remaining geth, freeing Tali from the room she'd holed up in. With Tali's survey data transferred to the Migrant Fleet, she joined the rest of the crew on the Normandy, taking up her old spot in Engineering to help with the drive core.

Collector Ship

With the majority of her team put together, Katrina received another call from the Illusive Man, this time regarding a report they'd received about a Collector ship that had gone dark. Though she was hesitant, Katrina took the information and boarded with a small team, intending to explore the ship and connect EDI to the ship's systems to get further information. Partway through, it became clear that the ship itself was a trap: the intent was to trap Katrina herself on-board to bring her through the Omega-4 Relay to Harbinger, the Reaper controlling the Collectors. Along the way, they came across devastating information: the Collectors were not exactly a race of their own, but rather, they were distinctly related to the Protheans, clearly having been repurposed by the Reapers in the previous cycle. This news was devastating to galactic knowledge, confirming that the Protheans had not simply disappeared fifty thousand years ago, but rather, had been enslaved by the Reapers.Reaching the drive core, Katrina was able to connect EDI to their systems to assist in their escape as well as to allow the AI to datamine their files and information, gathering crucial data for their mission. Katrina and her team fought her way out of the ship, and upon returning to the Normandy, she had some very choice words for the Illusive Man... including a threat to never send her in blind like that again. She was beyond livid with the decision to send her in blind, and made her displeasure very clear. She wouldn't tolerate that kind of bullshit--ever.

Please note that with the loyalty missions, these missions are not necessarily done in chronological order, as the order can vary from game to game. However, one key aspect is always clear: Grunt's loyalty mission is always the last loyalty mission completed before the Reaper IFF, while Legion's is completed afterward. All loyalty missions, save for Legion's, are completed prior to the Reaper IFF; however, this section still contains the details of Legion's loyalty mission to keep everything together.

ZAEED: THE PRICE OF REVENGE Heading to Zorya as part of the requirements for Zaeed's assistance against the Collectors, where they landed just south of the Eldfell-Ashland Refinery on the planet, which had been taken over by Vido Santiago, the leader of the Blue Suns mercenary gang. Upon landing, they caught radio chatter of Vido sending men to investigate, quickly meeting resistance along the way. It was here that Katrina learned that Zaeed was one of the two original founders of the Blue Suns, along with Vido twenty years ago. Vido later betrayed him and shot him in the head, finally explaining the severe damage to Zaeed's face.Upon reaching the refinery, they were met by Vido, whom Kat felt was little more than a man with too much ego. Zaeed's thirst for revenge got the better of him, eliciting the mercenary to start a chain reaction in the refinery in an attempt to kill Vido. This immediately caught Kat's attention, leading her to punch him in the face for putting the innocent lives of the refinery staff in danger. She immediately turned their mission from killing Vido to saving the refinery workers, much to Zaeed's chagrin in the process.Making their way through the refinery, they were able to get the fire suppressant systems turned on and the gas lines closed, saving the workers in the process. Zaeed was unhappy with the decision but went along with it anyway, as Katrina was in charge of the mission. Unfortunately, this meant that Vido had enough time to reach his gunship, escaping despite Zaeed's attempts to shoot down the gunship. Another small explosion rocked some debris, pinning Zaeed's legs, to which Katrina had an ultimatum: Zaeed brought this on himself by being reckless and seeking revenge, reminding Zaeed that he was now part of a team, and he damn well needed to act like it.

KASUMI: STOLEN MEMORY Heading to Bekenstein, a planet in the Boltzmann system near the Citadel, Katrina was informed of the details of their mission by Kasumi: she was to take on the alias of Alison Gunn, dressed in a fancy dress to attend a party being thrown by Donovan Hock, a powerful criminal. Hock had stolen the greybox of Kasumi's friend and former lover, Keiji Okuda, and there was vital information that could be detrimental to the Alliance on the greybox. Coming with a gold statue of Saren to add to Hock's impressive vault, they were met with resistance at the door, with Hock stating he didn't like the look of Kasumi, asking her to wait outside for the duration of the party. Seeing the issue, Katrina conceded to Hock's terms, speaking with Kasumi privately off to the side to discuss their plan. Kasumi chose to follow her covertly, while Katrina would be responsible for publicly interacting at the party.Scouting the party floor, they found the entrance to Hock's vault, taking in the security: a DNA scanner, a kinetic barrier, and a voice lock. Shutting down the kinetic barrier was easy enough; they simply had to cut the power, and it was easy enough to find. For the voice lock, Katrina goaded Hock into a grand conversation, letting him grandstand enough for Kasumi to get a viable voice sample.From there, they found the security room door and broke in, taking down the two guards to get their hands on the password of the night: Peruggia. Searching more around the party, they came across a datapad to find out about Chief Roe, the easily-irritated Eclipse mercenary in charge of security. Talking to the security guard outside Hock's quarters, Kasumi was able to falsify Chief Roe's identity by intercepting the transmission, pretending that Katrina had permission to enter Hock's private quarters. They were able to find enough of a DNA sample to open the vault, making their way down to crack the vault door and allow Katrina to change into her combat gear, which was hidden in the statue of Saren.While exploring the inside of the vault, they were interrupted by Hock, who confirmed he'd been tipped off that it was Kasumi with her at the door, stating that he wanted Kasumi's greybox so he could crack the remaining information in Keiji's greybox, as they were linked. Growing tired of listening to Hock's grandstanding, Katrina took aim and shot at one of Hock's statues, quickly getting the collector's attention (much to his displeasure). She and Kasumi fought their way out of the facility, eventually surfacing to face Hock down in a gunship; with a mix of Kasumi's technical expertise to take down the gunship's shields along with Katrina's biotics, they were able to blow up the gunship, killing Hock in the process, and escape.Afterward, Katrina let Kasumi explore the contents of the greybox, encouraging her to concede to Keiji's wishes to have it destroyed. She believed Keiji's wishes ought to be honoured and that it would allow Kasumi to move on from Keiji's death. She offered to destroy the greybox on Kasumi's behalf, and did so.

GARRUS: EYE FOR AN EYE After some discussion with Garrus, Katrina was informed by her old friend that he had found a lead on Sidonis, the turian that betrayed his squad on Omega to the mercenary gangs. Heading to the Citadel, they met up with Fade, a man who specialized in helping people disappear. Touching base with Bailey, they found themselves headed to the Shipping Warehouse on Zakera Ward. Taking down the bodyguards "Fade" ordered to shoot them, they were quickly informed that the volus they'd met was not Fade, but rather was one of Fade's agents, and they were told where they could find him.Heading to the Factory District, they were met with a surprise: "Fade" was Harkin, the sleazeball she'd met in Chora's Den looking for information on finding Garrus when she was first on the Citadel. Fade, it seemed, had started working with the Blue Suns after C-Sec had given him the boot. They fought their way through the district, taking down Blue Suns and their mechs along the way, eventually reaching Harkin and catching him just as he tried to escape. Garrus, of course, was unimpressed by the man, ruggedly taking him down and roughing him up. Kat had little sympathy for Harkin, happily letting Garrus blow off a little steam in the process. Eventually Harkin was convinced to set up a meeting with Sidonis so they could talk to him.However, there was still a line despite Harkin's turn to crime... and when Garrus aimed to shoot Harkin in the knees, Katrina stopped him. Ultimately, Harkin was harmless as usual, though he was quickly turned over to C-Sec for his crimes. In the skycar on their way, Katrina was worried about her friend; she wasn't sure that killing Sidonis was the right decision, at least not outright. Reaching the meeting place, Katrina went to meet with Sidonis, instructed by Garrus to draw him into Garrus' line of fire.But the conversation went differently than she expected. In talking with Sidonis, she realized he'd been motivated by fear, and understood his struggles. She continually kept herself in Garrus' line of fire, never so much as hesitating to tell Sidonis that she was the only thing standing between him and a bullet in the head, confident that Garrus wasn't so reckless as to shoot through her to take Sidonis down.Eventually, she was able to convince Garrus to let Sidonis leave with his life, though Garrus was unimpressed with the decision at first. She empathized with Sidonis' knee-jerk reaction to survival, and didn't want Garrus to have that kind of blood on his hands. She also felt that killing Sidonis would be merciful rather than vengeful; letting Sidonis live with the guilt for the rest of his life was a more fitting punishment for what he'd done.

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01. GENERIC SQUADMATE AU Please note in this particular AU that Katrina is not related to canon!Shepard, and is treated more like an OC.Katrina Scheper remains a colonist born on Mindoir who survived the slavery attacks. Upon being rescued, it was found that she had biotic potential, and she was given an implant by the Alliance and trained to use her biotics, and enlisted at the age of eighteen. During her early years, she was part of an exchange program with the asari commando military, where she was trained to be a heavily defensive biotic. After the exchange program was completed, she was sent to Akuze, where she became the sole survivor of a fifty-man marine platoon (or, in the case of another Sole Survivor Shepard, Kat was one of a few who survived). The incident left her scarred physically and psychologically, though she recovered from the incident.By the time of ME1, she is the rank of Lieutenant-Commander and serving as part of the marine detachment of the SSV Normandy SR-1 on its shakedown run. She does not possess her N vocation in ME1 in this AU. Comparably, since she is not in command, Kat is quieter and more reserved, rarely speaking unless spoken to (on a social level).Katrina survived the destruction of the Normandy SR-1, but was severely injured in the process. She was rushed to an Alliance hospital, where she was declared critical. In the absence of Shepard, she is offered Spectre status due to her capabilities on the Normandy SR-1 under Shepard’s command, and after extensive cybernetic enhancements to save her life and restore functionality to her body, she is offered a place among the N program. After her recovery, she finished her N courses with flying colours, approximately halfway through the ME2 timeline (around Horizon). By default, she will not join the crew in ME2, though she can be available for interactions/individual plot ideas where she could join.In ME3, she is found assisting Liara on Mars with her investigation, and is present during the attack. Despite Shepard’s appearance, Katrina remains aloof and opts to work alone, not entirely trusting Shepard’s motivations due to her own investigations into Cerberus. As such, she will not join the squad immediately, instead opting to circle around outside to help secure a secondary route to the Archives (primarily on Liara’s behalf). She remains on the Citadel running her own operations until after the Cerberus Coup, where she will approach Shepard and apologize for how aloof she’s been despite the war effort. She will request to join the Normandy crew to assist. If rejected, she will instead take over leading a crew of N7 Special Forces operating under Admiral Hackett to hold key zones during the war as well as train them in anti-Reaper warfare using her N-designation skills.

02. SQUADMATE AU - TWINS/SIBLINGS This AU is open to any Shepards with the Colonist/War Hero background. For this AU, the choices will default to your Shepard's game decisions, and Kat will function as an additional squadmate. If your Shepard has a different background, we can work out other individual ideas for them to be siblings/twins--just reach out to me!Kat is the younger twin sibling of the Shepard twins. During the attack on Mindoir, they were separated but were both rescued. Kat's sibling watched their family get slaughtered, while Kat was at her friend Marina's house, and ran from there to find her sibling. Along the way in her attempt to escape, she managed to biotically blast a batarian back into a wall, snapping his neck and killing him instantly. Kat and her sibling were both rescued, and eventually enlisted with the Systems Alliance. Early on, it was determined that their ability to work together in combat with perfect synchronicity during basic training--combining their respective strengths--made them suited to be stationed together as part of the marine core. Thus, they have rarely been on separate missions, except on two particular occasions: Akuze and during the Skyllian Blitz.On Akuze, Kat was sent with another fifty marines to defend the colony, and was the only survivor; her sibling's team caught their distress signal and saved her, but not before she was severely injured and the rest of the team entirely wiped out by thresher maws. She was then rushed to the Citadel for medical attention, and was out of commission until the Skyllian Blitz.During the Skyllian Blitz, Kat was part of a second ground team defending the colony, but broke away from her team when she could tell something was wrong. She eventually fought alongside her team, breaking through the slavers' defenses and rescuing her sibling from where they'd held out solo for hours against the attack, pulling them to safety in the process.In this AU, Kat retains her Sole Survivor background and was thus still part of the attack on Akuze, while her sibling retains the War Hero background, defending colonists on Elysium from batarian soldiers. Kat and her sibling are both assigned to the Normandy in Mass Effect 1. All events of Mass Effect 1 are retained, except for Virmire, where both Kaidan and Ashley survive (Kat held out with one VS, while her sibling rescued the other, and they were able to meet at the rendezvous).Kat, however, survives Alchera, though she takes a significant personal leave after her sibling's death. She returns after a six-month period of leave but isn't quite the same when she returns. She is colder and less open, except with those who've already formed a bond with her (such as the original Normandy crew) and rarely, if ever, will open up to people. She is made a Spectre for her efforts during ME1 but questions her own ability to live up to her sibling's capabilities constantly. She is reunited with them on Horizon with one of the Virmire Survivors (Kaidan or Ashley, depending on who is also present on Horizon) and intuitively knows it's them, but is hurt that they didn't reach out to her, making her initially reticent. On Mars, however, she is quick to jump to their defence, stating that if anybody knows them, it would be her. She returns to the Normandy immediately after Mars and remains part of the team until the end.

03. ME2 ALT AU - SQUADMATE (SIBLINGS) This AU is a secondary squadmate verse for Kat under the twins AU, but allows her to be a squadmate in the ME2 era. Though she's noted to be a Spectre after ME1, Kat starts taking duty up in the Terminus Systems, spending most of her time hunting down batarian slavers. She is more renegade-leaning after Alchera, going on a campaign to free slaves that are under (primarily) batarian influence.She can thus be recruited as a squadmate for the Suicide Mission. She's identified as a nameless vigilante (akin to Garrus) known for liberating slavers, though rumours state that she is a Spectre working for the council. She is found attacking a key batarian pirate base as her recruitment mission. Her loyalty mission is TBD, and may vary depending on her sibling's background. Because of Akuze, Kat does not trust the majority of the Cerberus crew apart from those she already knows, and actively avoids associating with most of them unless necessary.