Garrus
Legacy Name: Garrus.

At first, Shepard seemed harsh, cold, almost hostile to me and the other non-human races onboard the Normandy. However, after I first voiced frustrations about an old case and my inability to pursue an organ trader. No, that's a light term. He harvested organs, and grew organs inside of living hosts, and made a killing off of it. Shepard actually agreed to assist me with taking out Dr. Saleon. Imagine that... Commander Shepard, taking time to stop for something for me. That's what first drew me to her. I didn't know how to express myself, and kept things casual. After all, we were trying to stop an invasion from the Reapers, which were thought to be extinct or nonexistent, so we had our hands full.
The final battle with Saren and defeating Sovereign... it was very satisfying. I felt really proud, being able to be with Commander Shepard on her mission, and help make a difference. Working with a Spectre was so much better than being a boring ol' C-Sec Officer, shuffling paperwork all day.

Then, not long after, on a routine check investigating mysterious disappearances in the Terminus Systems, the Normandy was attacked. Shepard... sacrificed herself to save her crew. Even when Joker, the stubborn guy, wouldn't let the Normandy go, Shepard stayed behind to convince him to get out. And, ultimately, it resulted in her death. Everybody was torn by that fact. We all just sort of... fell apart after that. Going our separate ways, not keeping in touch. After all, what's a crew without its Commander?
Two years went by. I had become a sort of rogue on Omega. Not a bad rogue, but uh... the locals took to calling me Archangel. I tried going back to C-Sec, but the regulations killed me. So, I started taking care of crime on my own accord... and managed to piss off a number of the gangs in the process. So much that they had me pretty much pinned down, with only a bridge separating us. I couldn't hold out forever, but... they didn't have unlimited persons at their disposal to dispose of me, either. I guess it was a good thing I'd become proficient with a sniper.
Three new, odd faces appeared. They weren't with the rest of the mercs... looking through my scope, I felt my heart skip a few beats. All three looked very, very familiar... I carefully picked off the mercs around them, shot a few purposely-missed bullets at the trio, and allowed them to infiltrate my 'base.' Sure enough... It was Tali, Shepard, and Liara. All familiar faces. I felt oddly relieved to see them, and they were all just as surprised to see me. However, we didn't have time for a happy reunion. We had to take care of the mercs that were knocking on the front door, so to speak.

As the stories go... I took a rocket to the face. Not one of my best moments or moments I'd like to remember, but I'm still around to talk about it. Thanks to the medical care onboard the Normandy, I made a full recovery. But, of course, I had scars... but hey, females like scars, right? And Shepard had one hell of a story to tell herself. After being being ejected into space and basically becoming a meteor and crashing down to the planet she was closest to, an organization called Cerberus found her and rebuilt her entire body. I had to say... I was impressed, and I'm not easily impressed. The catch, however, was that Shepard help Cerberus and pursue their interests as well. Cerberus had a well-known bad rep for... various unethical things. But, it was still the same Shepard to me, so of course I was going to seize the opportunity to work with her again.

Shepard recruited a few new squadmates. A drell named Thane, a geth named Legion (I'm still not sure how Legion became independent; that just baffles me), and of course there was the Cerberus operative, Miranda... and then there was Jacob. Some people said I had a stick up my ass? I think he had a whole tree up his. But, you didn't hear that from me. Samara joined, and she was... fascinating. I felt slightly intimidated by her, honestly, but again... you didn't hear that from me. Then, there was Grunt and Mordin, a tank-bred krogan and salarian scientist. Oh, who am I forgetting... Oh, right! There was that biotic human, Jack. She was pretty crazy. I'm surprised Shepard even convinced her to join the Normandy, but... I will admit, her biotics and ruthless tactics were quite helpful. There was the thief, Kasumi, and... the bounty hunter, Zaeed. But, anh... anyways...
Reapers were still a threat, but of course, the Council didn't want to listen. They never do. You'd think after all Shepard did and went though, they'd give her some credibility, but... no. Sometimes, I just want to figuratively take that stick up my ass and smack the the Council over the head with it. After taking care of some unfinished business with each of the crew members to boost our morality (or so she said), we proceeded to do what was called the Suicide Mission. By this point, Shepard and I had become, well... it was beginning to be no secret. We were lovers. It was really awkward for me, because, well... it wasn't really heard of for a human to be with another species. The only other species that would get together with other species regularly were the asari. Just before we started the Suicide Mission, Shepard and I... well, we had some time together and I believe we created a bond that would never be broken. I told her I would always be there for her, would always be there to watch her back.

Turns out the so-called Suicide Mission wasn't really a Suicide Mission at all. Miraculously, everyone made it out alive. Not completely unscathed, but we made it back mostly in one piece. After that, Shepard was, well... she was what you might call 'grounded.' Granted, she saved lives, but... her way of doing so wasn't exactly seen as good by the Council. And some higher-ups from Earth didn't want her flying around, so she got stuck on Earth. I didn't get to see her much, but at least I knew she was alive.

But, everything changed. The Reapers invaded Earth.

Before anybody could do anything, the Reapers had landed and casualties skyrocketed, from what I hear. Shepard barely made it out alive. The threat was real, now. If Reapers were attacking Earth, well... it was only a matter of time before they moved to other planets. And there was no question of how urgent combating this threat was. Shepard managed to get her old title back and rounded most of her old crew up again. Thane, unfortunately, died shortly into Shepard's newest mission. Very unfortunate, I really liked the guy...
A number of times, we found ourselves wandering places where Reapers were known to have already been, and had to outrun a number of them. Thankfully, the good ol' Normandy was still faster than anything else we knew. Shepard managed to help cure the krogan genophage, but lost Mordin in the process. Shepard also managed to get the rachni on our side, after saving that queen that was in captivity a while back.

When it came down to it, it was only Shepard that could defeat the Reapers. It really was. We all wanted to be by her side, me more than anyone, but I took a hard hit and was unable to continue.

That... was the last I, or anyone else, saw of Shepard.

The Reapers were destroyed, as well as the mass relays. I... found myself on some Earth-like planet after being failing to outrun what appeared to be a black hole that was a part of the destruction of the mass relays. We still had most of our crew, and as we made repairs, we added Commander Shepard's name to the Wall of the Fallen. Officially, this time. The Citadel remained intact, for the most part, most planets were still able to be lived on, and... it wasn't as hard to communicate as we thought it was. We were able to make it back to The Citadel, after a very, very long and depressing journey on the Normandy.

I couldn't cope. I didn't know how I was going to live with myself... even if things did mange to get rebuilt, and the mass relays somehow got to be working again, what was there for me? Shepard was gone, and she was the only one that kept me going. But, some of her last words stuck in my mind.
I'll be looking down. You'll never be alone.
We'd tried to be lighthearted... talking about children and retiring together. But, I knew now that this would not come to pass. Life without Shepard? She said there was no Shepard without Vakarian, and I could say the same.

There's no Vakarian without Shepard.