Mason Pratt

Mason Pratt was a rear admiral in the Systems Alliance Navy and former commander of the 23rd Scout Flotilla, before their devasting defeat at the Battle of the Citadel.

Early Life
Mason Chadwick Pratt was born on April 9, 2156 CE to a highly regarded marine colonel, and a mother who was a small time actress and model. Pratt grew up in a troubled neighborhood, and was prone to vicious brawls with numerous other kids his age. As time progressed these fights blossomed into blinding hatred between Pratt and a group of other boys, whom he constantly fought.

When Pratt turned fourteen he was savagely beat by five others boys who broke one rib, fractured another, dislocated his jaw, crushed both his ankles so he couldn't walk, and robbed him of all his money, clothes, and valuables, including a cherished picture of himself and his father, one of the few he possessed. Pratt, barely clinging to life, managed to drag himself into a public plaza, where concerned people called the authorities.

Soon, Pratt's father returned home, furious at his son's brutish behavior and hostile personality. Pratt, who hardly saw his father, had come to resent him over time. After he was beaten, Pratt felt abandoned and dejected. Their strained relationship would only evolve into a worsening situation that would drive a split between their family.

When Pratt turned eighteen he, accompanied by four of his friends, jumped two other boys behind some abandoned lots. The two boys both suffered concussions and broken ribs. In addition, one had his pelvis fractured, and the other suffered from severe damage to his legs. Pratt and his friends fled and someone was able to call the authorities and save the two boys. After months of investigating the police finally obtained evidence connecting Pratt and his friends to the crime. All five boys were arrested and convicted of assault, battery, and intention to murder, which the jury found all five of them guilty. However the judge gave the boys an escape, join the Alliance and serve a few years, or risk jail for up to fifeteen years. Pratt, almost instinctively joined the Alliance Navy, following in the steps of his father

Training at OCS
When Mason informed his father of his choice to join the Navy, his father immediately pulled some strings using his highly regarded status, and in spite of Mason's rough past, enrolled him at Officer Candidate School. During his initial months, Mason frequently stirred up trouble by causing numerous pranks around the OCS campus, resulting in not only himself being punished but various other trainees as well, many of them with bright futures.

Fed up with Mason's attitude and rebellious manner, the director tried to expell Mason from OCS, but his father pleaded with the director to keep him in and give Mason one last shot. The director agreed, and Mason's father, truly seeing the potential in Mason, gave him a passionate speech about duty and and a past experience that transformed the boy into a serious and brave soldier.

Mason, enlightened by the new events, buckled down and focused all his time on OCS, furnishing himself into one of the best candidates OCS had witnessed in the last decade. Mason passed his adaption, engineering, and leadership exams with flying colors, bringing him to the attention of Alliance officials who lined up to offer Mason tour deals.

Mason chose one that allowed him to command a cruiser, and promoting him to captain. Once he graduated Mason and his father's relationship started to piece back together and his future seemed bright.

First Deployment
Mason traveled to a space station orbiting the planet Jupiter, where his new ship was docked, the SSV Lincoln and met his future crew. Mason was introduced to his XO, Taylor Albright, who harbored a small grudge against Mason for assuming command instead of himself. Mason familiarized himself and immediately prepared the detachment protocol from the station and had the slip space engine reactors on standby for the Mass Relay jump.

Mason wasted no time and mere hours after formally assuming command, he left the station and used the Mass Relay to jump to the Citadel, where he was requested by Rear Admiral Yuselev Stenovich, commander of the 23rd Scout Flotilla. Once he arrived, Mason was escorted to the Citadel tower, where Stenovich was holding a high-priority conference with three other ship captains.

The purpose of the meeting was to clarify a new threat spreading throughout the Terminus Systems and threatening to pour into Citadel space. Stenovich referred to the new threat as the reshar, a newly-discovered species with extraordinary brute strength that had been encountered during an a civilian excavation. The reshar had already seized two Alliance outposts and had utilized the weaponry and vehicles at both to sucessfully combat and defeat batarian raider camps throughout the Terminus Systems.

Intel suggested that the reshar's true gifts were their unnatural ability to lift heavy objects, the power to absorb massive amounts of damage, and their skill of exerting enough force to break nearly every bone in a human's body. However they were heavily burdened by their low intelligence and were incredibly slow due to their massive frames and muscle weight.

Now furnished with Alliance weaponry, command feared the reshar could bring about a massive war within the Terminus Systems that could breach Citadel space. Alliance brass had ordered Stenovich to eliminate the problem by dispatching a battlegroup to fire on the reshar population at their homeworld. The Alliance hoped that a few hundred civilian casualties would be sufficient to teach the reshar not to meddle with human affairs or bother any other species protected by the Citadel.

However the Council was highly skeptical and believed that an aerial bombardment could be interepted as an act of agression, which would ignite a war. Instead Stenovich's orders were changed and Pratt and the other three ship captains were ordered to conduct a peace treaty or at least spread the message that humans or any other Citadel species wished no harm to the reshar.

Pratt and his companions departed from the Citadel and traveled to the Flora System, where the reshar homeworld Gha'Nar resided. They approached the orbit slowly, continuiously broadcasting a message declaring an armistice in reshar language, which they discovered on primitive papers during the civilian excavation a few weeks prior.

Reshar Treaty of 2178
Pratt and his companions were allowed to dock their ship, but were not permitted to carry firearms. A few dozen armed reshar guards escorted Pratt and the others towards their high chieftain, Dak'Bahr, who was no more content to settle the issue peacefully than they were. As Pratt took his seat, he noticed the glyphs littering the walls, depicting all the wars that the reshar had fought, and concluded they were quite a warlike species.

As negotiations commenced via translator, Pratt knew they were wasting time, only delaying the inevitable. After hours of disagreements, Dak'Bahr finally ceased the negotiations and forced Pratt and his other captains to leave.

Later Pratt contacted Stenovich and informed him about the failed peace treaty, but the transmission was cut short as multiple reshar ships departed from Gha'Nar, and openly attacked the Alliance vessels. One of Pratt's fellow captains was killed and his ship critically damaged. However Pratt coordinated the defensive measures and defeated the reshar ships with little difficulty.

Upon returning to the Citadel, Pratt, met with Stenovich and was briefed about the negotitions. Alliance brought their case before the council and were granted a declaration of war against the reshar. Stenovich deployed the entire 23rd Scout Flotilla to Gha'Nar and waged war by sending down an aerial bombardment, devastating their city. Reshar forces retaliated by sending their ships to combat the Alliance.