Next:	Skirmish in the Vetus System
The Lion's Stand Part of the Battle of Elysium (Skyllian Blitz)
Date:	25 December 2176 CE
Location:	Valhalla / Elysium / Vetus / Petra
Outcome:	Major tactical Alliance victory Marcus Shepard successfully holds off enemy army, and inflicts catastrophic casualties on the enemy Civilians successfully evacuated Batarian ground assault is repulsed, and remaining survivors surrender or withdraw
Belligerents Systems Alliance Batarian Hegemony Commanders Marcus L. Shepard Kharak Rac'megan † Strength Systems Alliance Marine Corps 52nd Valhalla Garrison Charlie Squad 1 marine 1 M31 Whitecheek Hegemony Slaver Corps Grand Slaver Army of the Verge 10,000 troops 100 tanks 23 aircraft Casualties None Grand Slaver Army of the Verge wiped out 9,471 ground troops killed 67 tanks destroyed, 9 disabled, 7 abandoned All aircraft shot down General Kharak Rac'megan

"I did what I had to do. A lot of lives counted on me holding the line that day. I didn't even expect to survive...perhaps divine intervention is what saved me, but in the end...I was barely alive, and the battle was over. Seemed like a dream when I woke."

— Commander Shepard recollecting his involvement in the battle to Miranda Lawson.

The Lion's Stand, also known as the Battle of Valhalla and the Battle at the Greek Markets, was the main surface engagement during the Battle of Elysium that occurred on December 25, 2176 CE. The battle was named for its sole Alliance participant, First Lieutenant Marcus L. Shepard, who later became known as the "Lion of Elysium" for his heroic stand against enormous odds: a ten thousand strong army fielded and funded by the Hegemony Slaver Corps with its own armoured brigade and dedicated artillery units. Donned with the name Grand Slaver Army of the Verge, the force besieged Valhalla with the intention of enslaving the population. As they advanced and overwhelmed the local Alliance garrison, Shepard's commanding officer was killed, with Shepard taking command and attempting to evacuate as many civilians as possible. However, the slaver army's advance began to collapse the perimeter they set up, and most of Shepard's squad was killed, with his girlfriend killed by artillery bombardment. Knowing that civilians wouldn't stand a chance if the slaver army caught up to them, Shepard assigned what remained of his men to evacuation operations while he stayed behind to hold them off as long as possible.

Many of the details about Shepard's stand come from the man himself, with only periphery details from the men he assigned to coordinate the evacuation. With only minutes to spare before the vanguard of the enemy army was ontop of him, Shepard raided the nearby armoury and deployed several mines along the two streets that flanked the markets. He then drove a fueled up M31 Whitecheek into view of the right side street: he also used what remaining explosives he had make IEDs and plant them across the streets, inside abandoned skycars and jammed inside craters as makeshift fougasses. When the time came, Shepard used a light machine gun and rifle and switched between the two streets rapidly. When the battle finally joined, it turned into a slaughter. Shepard used controlled bursts of machine gun fire and rapid position shifting to convince the batarian troops they were facing a bigger force then they initially believed, forcing them to commit all their forces in the one area to counter it. These gave them two chokepoints to advance through, which Shepard turned into a killing ground. The batarians could not call in artillery fire at the risk of hitting their own men, and so were forced to bring up their armoured columns. When they did, Shepard's mines picked them off, either destroying them or trapping those that survived from retreating, which were then finished off by the fougasses he planted. Shepard then manned his tank and cut through the enemy forces. They eventually managed to damage the tank and forced Shepard to leave it, but they were left unable to advance when Shepard continued to cut through them with controlled bursts of fire. A few enemy troops managed to get close enough to engage Shepard in melee, but he easily overcame them and in one case used a grenade launcher to collapse part of a skyscraper down on a fresh enemy battalion that was trying to close in from his left flank.

The battle lasted two hours, but by the end, it was a decisive victory for the Alliance. The slaver army was decimated, suffering 9,400 casualties while the rest of their army either surrendered or attempted to withdraw. Shepard suffered major injuries over the course of the engagement, but the course of his life was forever dictated by that event. Not only did his actions land him a promotion to Lieutenant Commander as well as entry into the N special forces, but his participation in the battle caught the Council's attention, getting him recruited into the spectres, and indirectly involved in what would become the Reaper campaign. As such, it can be considered a flashpoint in not just Shepard's life, but for all galactic history.