Roads

"''Space is dangerous. A slight hole in a ship's hull can prove catastrophic. Weak shielding can allow radiation to fry you and your crew. Poor piloting can get you knocked to pieces in a debris field. And those are just the dangers that don't involve other forms of life. Pirates, slavers, mercenaries, crime lords, geth, they're all out to get you and leave you as bits in the vacuum. And the guys on your side, the officials and beaurocrats? They'll just squeeze you out of your money, your morals, and your sense of self worth."

"Yep, space is dangerous. Only fools go galavanting off among the stars with this idea that they can make a difference, that somehow the galaxy will be a better place for their passing through it. No one is big enough to change things on that kind of scale. Heroes, they're fine for a while, but sooner or later they'll die or end up a villain. For regular individuals, it's a hard life. But that's why you stick together, why your crew becomes your family all the way out here in the black. Alone, you're dead. But when you're with others that will stick by your side no matter what because they know you'll do the same for them, well that's worth more than a fleet of warships. Because not only are you alive, but you're living. You're living despite all those dangers that are just waiting around the corner for you. And that's the most heroic thing that can be done.''"

Roads is a work of fan fiction set in the Mass Effect universe, written by Ninja_Orca, under the pen-name Harold Trilby. It focuses on the multi-species crew of the Astral Hind, a freighter and passenger transport, and their various escapades in the galaxy. Beginning a few months after the supposed death of Commander Shepard, who was a paragon in this interpretation, it has just finished up its first arc, with an interlude of sorts biding the time till the next arc begins.

It can be found here. There's also a character sheet.

This work provides examples of:

 * The Chains of Commanding- Colleen feels somewhat stressed during the first story arc, when Bionus is missing.
 * Dead Fic: Roads hasn't been updated since late June 2010.
 * Dirty Cop:
 * Expy: Admiral Montgomery Theon, introduced in the first Interlude, bears a striking character resemblance to a certain Imperial Grand Admiral.
 * Nothing Personal: Renarra says that it was just business when she.