History Fanfic / MassEffectMurphysLaw

-->'''Beta:''' "We still remain eighty-seven percent effective without our appendage."
* UnusualUserInterface: Most control interfaces designed by Sean and Dan tend to be this due to their preference for physical, non-holographic controls. The Dragoon mech is the most prevalent example of this, as are their designs for fighter cockpits and ship bridges. Doubles as a form of [[{{GenreSavvy}} genre savviness]], as Sean openly deconstructs the overuse and unreliable nature of holographic interfaces in several of his [[{{InnerMonologue}} inner monologues]] throughout the story.
* UsedFuture: Considering the majority of the story takes place in the confines of the Migrant Fleet, this is the norm until the Quarians begin building their own ships and retrofitting their old ones.

* SideStoryBonusArt: [[https://www.fanfiction.net/~TacoWrath TacoWrath]] has commissioned several pieces of art depicting Sean, the Raloi, and several other characters. (Be warned, some of this art can be considered a spoiler.)

* HighVoltageDeath: [[spoiler:Tirus, the Chief Engineer of the Saint Luke, instantly dies when he is struck by an electrical discharge from the ship's reactor systems in his rush to restore engine and FTL power. The results are... not pretty, with him being unrecognizable afterwards to Sean and the crew.]]

* HotScientist: Mara is quite attractive, leaving Sean quite smitten with her (even when she considers him a rival) during the opening chapters of the story.
** [[spoiler: The inverse is apparently also true, with Mara eventually expressing that she finds Sean quite attractive as well.]]

* AbnormalAmmo: The Plasma Rifle uses synthetic plasma produced by the Nemo-Michaels Reactor as ammo, firing blue bolts of the stuff at high velocity to devastating effect. The "cells" the plasma is stored in can even be [[ImprovisedWeapon paired with a grenade to create a much larger, heat-based explosion.]]
** Later, the [[spoiler:Confederation]] begins using reversed-engineered copies of a Cerberus rifle that Sean decides to retroactively call a [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 Pulse Rifle]]. While it functions similarly to standard mass accelerator weapons, it fires larger, 4mm tungsten rounds sheathed in plasma, increasing its penetrating power and turning each shot fired into a miniature HEAT/SABOT round.
* AlienArtsAreAppreciated:
** Sean's music (and occasionally Dan's) becomes a topic of "interest" throughout the story, mostly to the Quarians they interact with. Though not aliens, it is even [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure considered unusual to some of his human friends,]] [[FishOutOfTemporalWater considering how old his music really is.]] As it turns out, many members of [[spoiler:Reegar's ORION team]] enjoy listening to Sean's personal radio station.
* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: Averted. Of the three planets in the Klenot Nebula, only one is habitable, and even then its not a dextro-amino world, making quarian habitation more difficult.
** During their [[spoiler:survey mission later in the story]], Sean and his crew visit dozens of dead, lifeless rocks [[spoiler: before discovering the Raloi homeworld, Turviss.]]

* ArtificialLimbs: After nearly [[spoiler:dying in a pirate attack at the edge of the Perseus Veil, Richard is given a cybernetic arm and eye by the Geth Collective to replace the ones he lost.]] They are based on the Geth's own mobile platforms.

* AsleepForDays: [[spoiler:Sean]] is rendered unconscious and bedridden for over a month after being badly injured during the attack on [[spoiler:Aldrin Station.]] Even after awaking, he's barely able to move and is still not fully healed.
** [[spoiler:Happens once again after Sean's operation to surgically install an implant to counteract Reaper indoctrination. It works, but the "influence" in his mind nearly kills him in the process.]]

* BashBrothers: Sean and Dan are this when together, even having code phrases for certain maneuvers. Makes sense, given they [[spoiler: used to be on a professional paintball team together.]]

* BerserkButton: Just try threatening Dan or any of his friends.
** Hurt any of his people [[spoiler:(or god forbid you lay a finger on a child)]], and Sean will ensure your remaining time in the mortal coil is very short. Sean was willing to [[spoiler: throw away his entire reputation in an instant and punch Han'Gerrel simply for speaking ill of Dan after the loss of his leg on Fehl Prime.]]
*** A particularly notable example is when [[spoiler:one of his Marines is instantly killed by a husk during the Battle of Reach. After killing several husks with a satchel of grenades, he walks out of cover firing his Pulse rifle at more from the hip, overheating and partially melting the rifle in his hands. He is left with painful burns on his hands afterwards.]]

* {{BFG}}: The [[{{Plasma Cannon}} Plasma Gun]] is this for Sean, and anyone else wielding one.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:The Illusive Man receives an unceremonious one at the hands of Sean in Chapter 94.]]

* CanineCompanion: [[spoiler: Sean receives two purebred Labrador Retrievers from Admiral Hackett as [[{{HeroesLoveDogs}} part of a special request]], raising them alongside his daughter.]]

* ChekhovsHobby: When Richard asks Sean how he has so much experience with combat tactics, he answers "Professional paintball. Mostly." much to Richard's horror.
** Turns out Richard's "hobbies" include advanced cybernetics, prosthetics, and implants. As a medical genius in charge of a team of [[spoiler: ex-Cerberus scientists]] working in the same field, this is to be expected.

* CurbStompBattle: The battle between the [[spoiler: Migrant Fleet and Cerberus above Reach quickly becomes this, with the Quarians doing the stomping]]. It's an absolute bloodbath.
** [[spoiler:The Battle of Imaneya becomes one as well, with Sean's forces suffering no casualties in-orbit against Cerberus, or on the ground against the huskified remains of their experiments.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Sean in the "alternate", bad future kills himself after Mara and several others are killed by the Reapers. This horrifies the "version" of Sean that Old Dan encounters, who is unable to fathom taking his own life.]]

* ElaborateUndergroundBase: CASTLE Base is one of these, with multiple levels and a [[spoiler:hidden Prothean archive buried at the bottom.]]
** UCNF HIGHCOM is also this, being the headquarters of the United Confederation military.

* FantasticRacism: [[spoiler: Admirals Zorah and Gerrel make it very clear that they do not care for Sean or his crew, but will continue supporting them as long as they keep providing the Migrant Fleet with new experimental technology. Iolin initially exhibits shades of this, though he ultimately proclaims the loyalties of he and his people are to the Confederation when he denies the Council's offer of an embassy on the Citadel.]]
** As is usually the case, Cerberus is this. Most in the organization hate the fact that Sean and his team have devoted themselves to improving the lives of the Quarians [[spoiler:(and later the Raloi and Geth)]], and have tried to capture and kill them on several occasions. [[spoiler:This comes back to bite them in the ass later down the line, when Sean and his Marines manage to infiltrate Cronos Station, eventually killing The Illusive Man.]]

* [[spoiler:FlingALightIntoTheFuture]]: [[spoiler: Old Dan's entire character arc involves this, with him traveling through massive version of the SDD from a "future" where the Reapers accomplished their goals. He and an older Dimitri fought Cerberus from the shadows for much of the story, subtly influencing certain events before actually encountering Sean and Mara in-person on Turviss. From that point on, he occasionally assists Sean with designs and technology he brought with him, ending up with a new identity and ship. Without his help at certain points, Sean and his friends would have not survived the war.]]
* ForgetsToEat: Richard regularly does this, despite his cybernetics requiring a nutrient-rich diet to function properly.

* GadgeteerGenius: Though all members of the old Task Force exhibit shades of this, its most clearly seen with Richard, who not only devised a way to transform brain signals into digital code, but has [[spoiler: successfully reverse-engineered and reproduced Geth tech, constructed cybernetics to improve the Quarian immune system, developed a brain implant that counteracts Reaper indoctrination, and managed to build a whole new body for Lydia.]]

** Given how old Sira is by [[{{ReallySevenHundredYearsOld}} Asari standards]], this could just be an adolescent tick.

** [[spoiler: Dimitri and Kira, as well as Dixon and Morgan, both post-Reaper War.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: The scientists that [[spoiler: defect from Cerberus following the Human/Quarian coalition attack on Minuteman Station. They help revive Shepard and develop several other technologies.]]
** [[spoiler: Dixon, Tony, and Morgan from the Pragia facility are also this, though as lower-level members of Cerberus, they weren't privy to what was really going on, and were considered disposable by the facility's project leads.]]
** [[spoiler: Captain Kira Hayms and her crew also turn on Cerberus after discovering the truth about what they had been doing to Alliance colonies in the Terminus, among other incriminating details.]]

** The [[spoiler: Cerberus defectors from Minuteman Station]] prove instrumental to [[spoiler: reviving Commander Shepard]] and developing several new technologies, both mechanical and biological.
** [[spoiler: Dixon and his friends]] waste no time proving their value to Sean, [[spoiler: eventually becoming members of his CIC crew aboard the UCV Saint Luke. Dixon in particular, considering his position as XO.]]
** [[spoiler: Kira Hayms proves vital to ending the Cerberus threat, using her ship to get Sean and his Marines close enough to Cronos Station to board it. She later joins his Third Fleet, helping defend Reach during the war.]]

* MacGuffin: The [[{{InterdimensionalTravelDevice}} Spatial Distortion Device]] acts as this, sending Sean and Dan into the future and [[spoiler: eventually becoming a device of interest to Cerberus.]]

* MoneyForNothing: Even though they do eventually start getting paid by the [[spoiler: Alliance again]], Sean and the others can't really use it since they spend all their time with the quarians, who have a trade-based economy instead of one based on money.
** [[spoiler: This becomes a [[{{SubvertedTrope}} moot point]] in the epilogue, where Sean, Mara, and the rest of the team have become filthy rich in the twenty-four years since the Reaper War, having created their own company and patented their best technology, mainly the Gravity Drive and NM Reactor. According to Elle, they became millionaires "seemingly overnight".]]
* MundaneLuxury: Sean considers [[{{MustHaveCaffeine}} Eight O'Clock Original]] a vital consumable.

-->'''Sean:''' I'll call her [[VideoGame/{{HaloReach}} Reach]].

* NoMacGuffinNoWinner: Sean and Dan resolve to [[spoiler: destroy the Spatial Distortion Device they've helped build for Cerberus and all their project notes, despite how badly they want to see the device operational again.]] This doesn't really apply to [[spoiler: Old Dan, however.]]

* PreciousPhoto: Sean has several of these, either from before or after the accident. He carries copies of them anywhere he goes.
* ProudWarriorRace: The [[Main/BirdPeople Raloi]] are shades of this, even though most of their population consisted of poor, poverty-stricken farmers restricted to a House-based caste system before First Contact with Sean and his crew. [[spoiler: They eventually begin to fit this mold much better post-war, having vastly expanded their presence in space and grown socially.]]
* PsychologicalTormentZone: Sean enters one on his own construction in his unconscious mind, [[spoiler: especially when suffering from the early effects of Reaper indoctrination. In it, he is tormented by his past mistakes and regrets, and the Reaper "influence" in his mind takes the form of dead members of Cerberus, specifically those who's deaths he was personally responsible for. Crosses over into [[{{MindRape}} mind rape]] when they actively try to kill Sean during an operation to counteract said indoctrination with an experimental implant.]]
* RageBreakingPoint: [[spoiler: Sean]] has experienced two of these so far. He expresses deep regret every time he loses control of himself (though one can hardly blame him given both circumstances.)
** He employs [[{{WaterTorture}} waterboarding]] during his interrogation of [[spoiler: Lynda Embry as revenge for all the people she got killed aboard Aldrin Station earlier in the story.]]

** Sean later becomes one himself, [[spoiler: accepting a sudden promotion to Admiral during the Quarian Schism and later retaining that rank as a wartime leader in the United Confederation.]]
* RedBaron: [[spoiler: Following the Reaper War, Dixon, now a Captain, gets the nickname "Hunter" following the Pegasus Offensive. People began using the nickname to describe him due to how efficient and brutal he was at eliminating pirate ships during the Offensive. This gave him a somewhat infamous reputation, and resulted in him taking an early retirement when the UCNF tried to promote him.]]
* RobotGirl: [[spoiler: Lydia receives a whole new BODY as a result of Richard and Powell's research, allowing her to finally be free of her card reader and function independently from computer systems. While based on the Geth mobile platforms, her body is of a unique design with numerous upgrades and advancements, effectively making her a new, unique form of life.]]

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: A very widespread example. The [[spoiler: Quarian Schism between the pro-war and anti-war Admirals leads to a sudden mass exodus of ships from the Klenot System, with the anti-war Admirals and over 1/3rd of the Migrant Fleet leaving to seek peace with the Geth.]]

* WhatHaveIBecome: In Chapter 41, Lydia admits she has heavily questioned her current, digitized state ever since becoming an A.I., lamenting her lack of power in the "physical" world and her inability to cry. She even goes so far as to question her own memories and their legitimacy. Sean talks her down, reassuring her that her memories and experiences are what define her humanity, not her lack of a body, which makes her feel better.

* FutureFoodIsArtificial: While working on Aldrin Station, Sean and his colleagues never had trouble accessing actual meat or other luxuries such as coffee due to their proximity to Earth, but when they end up isolated in the Migrant Fleet (where everyone except them has dextro-amino biology), they're forced to rely mostly on freeze-dried food packs and MREs. It isn't until later in the story when they actually begin growing their own fruits and vegetables and importing more specialized items, including coffee.