Hackett recruits a teenage thief into the alliance, never quite dreaming his protege will end up the first human Spectre. From the Street to the Stars
goes into the past that made Michael Shepard the man he is, and the hero he is becoming.
It stays close to the canon of Mass Effect, although it focuses more on the relationships between the characters and adds a different feel to a lot of the interactions.
From the Street to the Stars provides examples of:
- Ascended Extra: Hackett plays a much stronger role, acting as Michael's mentor and to an extent, his father figure.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: There is a reason Michael Shepard is the guy in charge of the Normandy.
- Badass Adorable: Michael often describes Tali as "bouncing".
- Because You Were Nice to Me: As a kid, Michael respected very few people and had to deal with a lot of abuse. Fortunately, there were a couple good influences in there as well, preventing him from going completely dark side. Michael fully acknowledges this.
- Benevolent Boss: Michael can be a real jerk to a lot of people, but he is always nice to his crew
- Big Brother Instinct: Tali brings this trait out in Michael. She even gets a hug from him a couple times.
- Big Damn Heroes: They are the crew of the Normandy. That's their job description.
- Boom, Headshot!: Michael and Garrus are both snipers, and they keep score.
- Broken Ace: Michael's personality changed after Torfan. He was starting to get back to his old self, then he died and ended up with Cerberus.
- Fantastic Racism: Michael's opinion of Salarians isn't particularly high, though he treats Mordin just as he does any other crew member.
- Magnetic Hero: The crew is loyal to Shepard with good reason, though that occasionally surprises him.
- Mildly Military: Michael gets away with a lot, though he has apparently been court-martialed a few times. He does, however, enjoy some protection courtesy of Hackett.
- Noodle Incident: Having been a criminal before ending up Hackett's personal black-ops man, Michael has a lot of them.
- Orphanage of Fear: Michael spent time in a couple of them during his time on the streets, as well as in juvenile detention centers. He generally broke out the first chance he got.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Hackett decided Michael was more useful in uniform than in prison.
- Refuge in Audacity: One reason Michael gets away with some of the things he does may be simply that nobody wants to try to figure out what form to fill out to explain it.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Hackett sends Michael out to handle a negotiation. Michael walks in and shoots the guy in the head before the guy gets two words out. Kaidan objects, but Michael simply points out that if Hackett had actually wanted a negotiation, he'd have sent a negotiator.
- Sticky Fingers: Michael has apparently kept his pickpocketing skills in practice.
- Trading Bars for Stripes: Hackett intercedes on Michael's behalf after witness Michael give up a chance at escape and risk his own life performing a rescue. If Michael joins the Alliance, Hackett will make sure he doesn't go to jail.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Michael and Garrus love to pass the time by arguing over weapons, armor, and anything related to weapons and armor. They also treat most combat situations as a competition between each other rather than a fight for their lives.
