cannotrest | AU notes

no one gets left behind

Your average "both Ashley and Kaidan make it out of Virmire and eventually both become Spectres" AU.

Probably Shepard split the party to rescue the one they didn't personally go for.

I quite like splitting the Virmire survivor encounters between them, so one of them gets told by Shepard to evacuate the Normandy and later goes to Mars in ME3, and the other one sees Shepard at Horizon and in the coup.

Cerberus test drive

The Virmire sacrifice doesn't make it out of Virmire, but Cerberus resurrects them as a test drive (the same techniques would later be used on Shepard).

They escape in the chaos of the ME2 opening and find themselves alone in the galaxy two years after their death...

Or they get a mind control chip implanted after Shepard goes rogue, and end up taking the role of Kai Leng in ME3.

Alliance spy

Ashley made it out of Virmire, but at Horizon, she accepts Shepard's offer to come back to the Normandy...

Because the Alliance wants a spy, and where better than in plain sight with a great deal of their defectors?

Hackett asked me to join his team

Lieutenant Commander Williams has accepted the role of commanding officer overseeing several specialized quick-response teams performing covert infantry operations.

is it an AU when it's an option in the game