History FanFic / ForTomorrowWeDie

* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: Legion's masterfully executed prank actually needed very little in the way of personal input. The plan played off of Blue's [[UncannyValley attempts to appeal to the quarians]], Tali's reaction to said attempts, Garrus's fondness of messing with Tali, and the growing evidence that Garrus was a fan of Fleet and Flotilla. All Legion needed to do personally was quietly suggest the voice of the show's Lead Actress for Blue's diplomatic routines and the joke would essentially write itself without anyone suspecting a thing until the big moment.]]

* UncannyValley: Invoked in-universe when Mobile Platform Two enters diplomatic mode. Quarians do ''not'' like it.

* KillEmAll: WordOfGod states that the "we die" part of the title is very indicative of the body count. By the end of the story, [[spoiler: in the original ending, ''every named and unnamed crewmember of the SR-2'' Normandy ''besides Tali, Garrus, and Mordin has been killed.'']]

* ActionGirl: Tali'Zorah has become one of these after long service on the ''Normandy,'' an example being when she is attacked by a FENRIS mech on Dashta and her shotgun overheats. She easily melees the bot into submission and is more embarrassed about losing track of her weapon's status than scared.

* {{Jossed}}: A minor case involving ''Fleet and Flotilla.'' In Mass Effect 2, the vid is only mentioned in passing by a desperate turian trying to hit on a quarian. In the fic, much of it written before ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Tali expresses a strong dislike of the show for being unrealistic and glossing over the day-to-day struggles of her people in favor of glamor and romance. When Citadel was released for ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', canon is that ''Fleet and Flotilla'' is one of Tali's favorites, to the point where she sings along with the vid whenever she sees it, and even shares a moment with Shepard doing it.

* TheChessmaster: The Illusive Man, Matriarch Naranna
** [[spoiler:Legion]] proves himself a mostly harmless version of this. [[spoiler:Knowing what he did about Tali's discomfort around geth that defy the mold, Garrus' tendency to rile her up ForTheLulz, the fact that ''Fleet and Flotilla'' is a sore spot for Garrus himself, and aware that the Geth Consensus was intending to send a platform specifically designed to imitate organic behavior, Legion suggested they match the voice of the lead actress from ''Fleet and Flotilla'' as an indicator of a pleasing Quarian voice. He did this, knowing that the Geth would agree, that Tali would be annoyed and eventually ask the Geth to stop, and that Garrus would pick up on this and subsequently ask the Geth to start again, all to set up a moment that would turn the ''entire joke back around on Garrus.'' As a bonus, Legion was present when his plan came to fruition and was able to question Garrus' manhood in the process.]] Clearly, messing with [[spoiler:Tali]] is a good way to bring out his inner {{Troll}}.
* TheIlluminati: The asari Council of Matriarchs
* TheMole: [[spoiler: Eric Dahlberg]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Legion gives one to the entire geth collective criticizing their decision not to help the quarians when they face possible extinction.
** Garrus and Shepard trade these at Mordin's going away party, inverted in that they are both talking about themselves. Garrus feels guilty about the turian crew's [[FantasticRacism ridicule of the quarians in the midst of a crisis,]] while Shepard feels bad for [[IDidWhatIHadToDo agreeing with the Alliance's decision to back out of the quarian/geth negotiations right when they need help the most.]]

[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6604741/1/ "For Tomorrow We Die"]] is a ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic telling the story of a well-intentioned attempt to broker peace between the quarians and geth that has far-reaching consequences not only for the involved parties but for the galaxy at large. Following the events of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the collectors have been defeated beyond the Omega Four Relay, and the ''Normandy SR-2'' is trying to make its way home after suffering severe damage in the battle. The quarians and geth are on a path to reconciliation after centuries of war, but circumstances and prejudices render the peace process difficult at best and impossible at worst. Neither the quarians or the Citadel are trusting of the geth, and the fact that a rogue Spectre in service to Cerberus is behind the plan does nothing to ease tensions. Complicating matters, the clock is ticking on the inexorable return of the reapers.

!!For Tomorrow We Die contains examples of:

--> '''Captain Lorian:''' Your friend is an accomplished alcoholic.
--> '''Shepard:''' You get that way real quick aboard this ship.

* ForWantOfANail: The moment that splits the original and golden endings. [[The Xenophon is set to both self-destruct and to plunge into the sun at maximum speed, and Legion is fighting for control of both functions but the computerized failsafes are so well designed that the geth cannot fight them for long, and has to remain behind to keep the ship from killing the rest of the squad. In the original ending, Jacob and Kasumi volunteered to remain behind to help while Shepard went on to the geth hub, which is a logical if difficult choice. In the golden ending however, he remains behind to save Legion. This seemingly nonsensical decision actually has a massive ripple effect:]]

* YouAreNotAlone: Tali to Legion after the geth is exiled as a platform from the geth collective. Having been exiled herself, she understands exactly what it is going through.

* TheChessmaster: [[spoiler:Legion]] proves himself a mostly harmless version of this. [[spoiler:Knowing what he did about Tali's discomfort around geth that defy the mold, Garrus' tendency to rile her up ForTheLulz, the fact that ''Fleet and Flotilla'' is a sore spot for Garrus himself, and aware that the Geth Consensus was intending to send a platform specifically designed to imitate organic behavior, Legion suggested they match the voice of the lead actress from ''Fleet and Flotilla'' as an indicator of a pleasing Quarian voice. He did this, knowing that the Geth would agree, that Tali would be annoyed and eventually ask the Geth to stop, and that Garrus would pick up on this and subsequently ask the Geth to start again, all to set up a moment that would turn the ''entire joke back around on Garrus.'' As a bonus, Legion was present when his plan came to fruition and was able to question Garrus' manhood in the process.]] Clearly, messing with [[spoiler:Tali]] is a good way to bring out his inner {{Troll}}.

* {{Jossed}}: A minor case involving ''Fleet and Flotilla.'' In Mass Effect 2, the vid is only mentioned in passing by a desperate turian trying to hit on a quarian. In the fic, much of it written before ME3, Tali expresses a strong dislike of the show for being unrealistic and glossing over the day-to-day struggles of her people in favor of glamor and romance. When Citadel was released for ME3, canon is that ''Fleet and Flotilla'' is one of Tali's favorites, to the point where she sings along with the vid whenever she sees it, and even shares a moment with Shepard doing it.

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: The Illusive Man knows he and Shepard will eventually collide, [[spoiler: especially after he orders the attack on the ''Rayya'']] so he takes [[LuredIntoATrap preemptive measures to ensure he will come out on top.]] Miranda, having worked under TIM for years and being equally paranoid sees it coming.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Captain Artuis of the ''Vellius''.

* ChekovsGun: Enlea T'Vari's datapad.

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Despite the suicide mission being a total success, and no one dying in the Collector base, Thane and Ken die saving the Normandy as it escapes, Jack succumbs to wounds gained from warning the ''Normandy'' of the ambush at Dashta Interchange Station, and Legion, Kasumi, and Jacob go up with the ''Xenophon'' when it self-destructs.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The geth/quarian conflict is over. Tali saved the geth collective from Cerberus, and out of gratitude the geth spare the quarians from extinction and allow them to return to Rannoch. The reapers are ultimately defeated thanks to Commander Shepard's efforts to unite the Alliance and Citadel races and by forcing the Council to believe in the threat. The price? The ''Normandy'' is destroyed and everyone in the crew but Garrus, Tali and Mordin are killed.]]

** [[spoiler: Legion, who, while hacked into the ''Xenophon'', is holding back the self-destruct command from executing. However, the ''Xenophon's'' GARDIAN lasers are targeting Shepard's shuttle. Unable to countermand both orders, he focuses on the lasers, causing the ship to self-destruct, but not fire down on Shepard.]]
** [[spoiler: Commander Shepard, Miranda, Zaeed, Grunt and Samara during the final assault by the geth. Their deaths buy Tali just enough time to restore consensus to the geth making them friendly once more, but it comes too late to save her friends.]]

* KillEmAll: WordOfGod states that the "we die" part of the title is very indicative of the body count. By the end of the story, [[spoiler:''every named and unnamed crewmember of the SR-2'' Normandy ''besides Tali, Garrus, and Mordin has been killed.'']]

* CharacterWitness: After the massacre at Dashta, Shepard and the ''Normandy'' crew are branded as terrorists and murderers by the media. The Illusive Man intends to counter with his own propaganda blitz showing Shepard as a hero, but is beaten to the punch by the asari ex-commando Shiala who erects an extranet site called ''Normandy's Hope'' encouraging people who've been saved by Shepard to share their experiences. The site goes viral when Urdnot Wrex submits a video defending Shepard and promising to violently end the lives of those trying to frame his friend, drawing the attention of Emily Wong who both reports on the story while adding her own experience with Shepard to the list.

* CharacterWitness: After the massacre at Dashta, Shepard and the '"Normandy'' crew are branded as terrorists and murderers by the media. The Illusive Man intends to counter with his own propaganda blitz showing Shepard as a hero, but is beaten to the punch by the asari ex-commando Shiala who erects an extranet site called ''Normandy's Hope'' encouraging people who've been saved by Shepard to share their experiences. The site goes viral when Urdnot Wrex submits a video defending Shepard and promising to violently end the lives of those trying to frame his friend, drawing the attention of Emily Wong who both reports on the story while adding her own experience with Shepard to the list.

* KillEmAll: WordOfGod states that the "we die" part of the title is very indicative of the body count. By the end of the story, [[spoiler:''every named and unnamed crewmember of the SR-2'' Normandy ''has been killed.'']]

* KillEmAll: WordOfGod states that the "we die" part of the title is very indicative of the body count in the story. As of chapter 68, [[spoiler:Tali and Garrus are the only two surviving members of the ''Normandy's'' ground team, and Garrus is in a medically-induced coma. Chapter 69 adds whoever was still on the ''Normandy'', including Joker, Chakwas, Gabby, and Kelly, which was destroyed before control of the geth consensus was fully restored to the collective.]]

[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6604741/1/ "For Tomorrow We Die"]] is an in-progress ''Franchise/MassEffect'' fanfic telling the story of a well-intentioned attempt to broker peace between the quarians and geth that has far-reaching consequences not only for the involved parties but for the galaxy at large. Following the events of ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the collectors have been defeated beyond the Omega Four Relay, and the ''Normandy SR-2'' is trying to make its way home after suffering severe damage in the battle. The quarians and geth are on a path to reconciliation after centuries of war, but circumstances and prejudices render the peace process difficult at best and impossible at worst. Neither the quarians or the Citadel are trusting of the geth, and the fact that a rogue Spectre in service to Cerberus is behind the plan does nothing to ease tensions. Complicating matters, the clock is ticking on the inexorable return of the reapers.

** Shepard talking to Captain Lorian after Mordin's briefing about the losses both commanders have endured.

* ActionGirl: Tali'Zorah has become one of these after long service on the ''Normandy,'' a prime example being when she is attacked by a FENRIS mech on Dashta and her shotgun overheats. She melees the bot into submission, chastising herself for losing track of her weapon's status.
* TheAlcoholic: Almost everyone on the ''Normandy,'' backed up with scenes where the crew either drinks, talks about drinking, thinks about drinking, or drinks something they wish were alcohol. Partially because it's fun, partially because for the taste of it, [[INeedAFreakingDrink but mostly because after everything they've been through, they need it.]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Several on all sides, including Admiral Hackett, Commodore Rehme and Commander Shepard in the Alliance, Admiral Raan and High Captain Wylo of the quarian Conclave, Captain Artuis in the turian Hierarchy [[spoiler: and ultimately Fleet Captain Lorian.]]

** Garrus and Shepard trade these at Mordin's going away party, inverted in that they are both talking about themselves. Garrus feels guilty about the turian crew's [[FantasticRacism ridicule of the quarians in the midst of a crisis,]] while Shepard feels bad for [[IDidWhatIHadToDo agreeing with the Alliance's decision to back out of the quarian/geth negotiations.]]

* KillEmAll: WordOfGod states that the "we die" part of the title is very indicative of the body count in the story. As of chapter 68, [[spoiler:Tali and Garrus are the only two surviving members of the ''Normandy's'' ground team, and Garrus is in a medically-induced coma.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Despite the suicide mission being a total success, and no one dying in the Collector base, Thane and Ken die saving the Normandy as it escapes, while Legion, Kasumi, and Jacob go up with the ''Xenophon'' when it self-destructs.]]

* FireForgedFriends: Enlea T'Vari learns that if members of the ''Normandy's'' squad attack you, Commander Shepard will automatically assume they were in the right.

** Enlea T'Vari when she sees a Cerberus ship is carrying an asari Justicar.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Legion gives one to the entire geth collective criticizing their decision not to help the quarians.
** Garrus and Shepard trade these at Mordin's going away party, inverted in that they are both talking about themselves. Garrus feels guilty about the turian crew's [[FantasticRacism ridicule of the quarians in the midst of a crisis,]] while Shepard feels bad for agreeing with the Alliance's decision to back out of the quarian/geth negotiations.

* UncannyValley: Mobile Platform Two in diplomatic mode. Quarians do ''not'' like it. [[invoked]]

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Several on all sides, including Admiral Hackett, Commodore Rehme and Commander Shepard in the Alliance, High Captain Wylo of the quarian Conclave, Captain Artuis in the turian Hierarchy [[spoiler: and ultimately Fleet Captain Lorian.]]