Chapter Text
- David Anderson
(2172 - Earth)
She was... Tiny. The tiniest little thing I'd ever seen. I looked at her files again. 54? She couldn't have been born in 54. She would be eighteen, then, and she didn't look like eighteen. Fourteen, maybe, but never eighteen.
"You were born…?"
"San Francisco, sir. 2154." she answered, her voice steady.
"When in 2154?"
"April sir. I'm told it was April 11, but can't be really sure. Grew up on the streets, my papers aren't really that reliable."
I stared at her, as she looked straight ahead, shoulders squared in a perfect posture that most marines didn't manage until their second year of training. Her hair was reddish, like fire, a little too short, sticking out in every direction, like it refused to behave as told. She had fire in her eyes too, and fresh scars everywhere, and everything about her screamed FIGHT at high volumes.
She was a soldier alright. The tiniest soldier I've ever seen, but a soldier nevertheless.
"How long since you signed up?"
"Six weeks, sir."
"And you already have a two pages long list of recommendations?"
The corners of her lips twisted a little before falling back into a perfectly straight line. She was proud, but not too much. Usually a good thing.
"I do as I'm told, sir. And I do it the best way I can."
She sounded almost defiant, like she was daring me to say otherwise, to ask for proof. I didn't need any.
"Do you know why I'm here, Shepard?"
"No, sir."
"Have you ever heard about the N-program?"
And just like that, her eyes sparkled, looking greener than they were two words before. I had to hold back a chuckle.
"Y-yes, sir."
"Good. Let's talk about it a little, shall we?"
***
(2176 - SSV Tokyo)
She was sitting very awkwardly outside of the already overwhelmed med bay, wearing ragged jeans and a bloodied hoodie that looked very weird on her, like she was born to wear uniform, and anything different from that looked just out of place.
When the fuss from the Blitz was over and we managed to pick the ground teams up from Elysium, someone told me that the so called resistance that managed to hold back the Batarian forces long enough for reinforcements to arrive was actually a bunch of N-4 kids on shore leave.
"… And the one commanding it looks like a teenager, I'm telling you." someone was saying as I crossed the CIC, and then it all clicked inside my head.
It had been four years since I recruited that tiny little soldier back on Earth, to see if she could handle the N-program. Four years since she said yes without even blinking, even though I told her how hard the program was, and how people actually died during the training, and how most of the initial recruits hardly made it to the third level.
Four years. That would make her an N-4 by then. And she was definitely capable of pulling a stunt like that one on Elysium.
So I hurried down to the med bay, and found her sitting there. Her hair was longer, falling over her shoulders in a wild way, a little burnt at the ends, but as red as I remembered it. She had brand new scars added to the old ones, and a lot of ugly injuries that didn't seem to bother her at all. Her eyes were wide, but not in a fearful way. No, she was excited, blood boiling inside from the heat of battle.
I felt oddly proud, seeing her like that, like she was my own kid. Of course I was too young to be her father, and she probably didn't remember me anyway, but that didn't change what I felt.
I walked up to her, certain that she would never recognize me, but decided to congratulate her anyway.
"Soldier." I said, stopping right in front of her.
She fixed her eyes on me, straight on my face, and then jumped from her seat.
"Lieutenant Anderson, sir!" she said, standing on her perfect posture and throwing me a perfect salute. I chuckled, despite my best efforts.
"That would be Captain now, Shepard, and you can relax. You're not on duty in this ship."
"I'm always on duty, Captain, sir…" she said, a hint of awe slipping trough her act, as she fell at ease a little "Sorry, sir. I didn't realize."
"It's quite alright, I'm not used to it myself yet. I see you've survived half of the N-program already. How have you been?"
She gave me the tiniest smile, pride and wit overflowing from her eyes.
"I'm good, sir. Training is tough, but, it makes us good. We wouldn't be able to do what we did down there without it."
"Yes, I hear you commanded the whole operation, is that right?" I asked, and she blushed a little.
"I'm no Commander, sir, but I did what I could."
"And you did good, child." I dropped my hand on her shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, and she blushed harder, almost unable to hide her pride. Hell, I couldn't hide mine either. "Should get patched up, though. Those wounds look nasty."
"I'm just waiting for the rest of my team to get treated first. I'm not so bad, really." She sent a well hidden worried look over her shoulder towards the med bay, and I saw right there all the qualities of a good Commander starting to show up.
She's going far, this one.
"Well, in that case, why don't we go get some coffee at the mess? Sitting around and waiting won't help anyone."
"I'm not sure if I should…"
"Come on, kid. You were a hero down there today. You've earned a cup of coffee."
- Alessa Shepard
(2183 - Terra Nova)
Patience. I waited, very still, until the target came into my line of fire. He walked fast, pulling the little girl by the arm, yelling at her as she cried. She stumbled and fell hard, and he raised his hand to slap her.
I pulled the trigger, and he was dead. He was never going to hit her again.
"Target is down, I repeat, target is down." I said, breathing the tension out of my body.
"Understood, Contact Team is moving in now." said Ramirez, as he hurried his team inside the building. A minute later, I could see him through my scope. "Girl is fine, Commander. Nice shot, by the way."
"Isn't it always?" I smiled, and he smiled back at me.
As I turned to leave the tower I was camping in for the past forty five minutes, my omnitool made a pling kind of noise I've never heard it making before. Apparently, that noise was for top secret messages only, and that particular one was from Anderson.
Last time I saw Anderson was a couple of years before, when we were both on shore leave on Elysium. Before that, he was there when they gave me the Star of Terra for my actions during the Skyllian Blitz, then we met again in a military gala thing back on Earth, and later he came to my N7 graduation, all proud and emotional, and almost made me cry when he said he knew, from the moment he saw me, that I was gonna make it.
It was getting tricky, finding familiar faces around the galaxy. At this line of work, all familiar faces were either dead or fighting their own fights. Anderson's was one of the only familiar faces that kept coming up, and truth be told, I was kind of glad. He always felt like family to me, in some odd way.
I took a quick look at the message as I walked out, and then had to stop and read the whole thing very slowly, because I was pretty sure I had got something wrong, but as it turned out, I hadn't.
Anderson had selected me, specifically me, to be XO in his new ship, in a classified line of action. Hell, he wouldn't even say the name of the ship in the message. He said it was a small ship, small crew, very specific objectives, with a possible bonus for my career, whatever that meant.
He also said that test run would be happening sometime in the next week, and I could join him if I wanted, but the action would officially begin in three weeks. If I wanted the position, that is.
"Commander? Shepard, are you there?" Ramirez voice snapped me back into reality.
"I'm here."
"Pick up in five minutes, Ma'am. Are you okay there?"
"Be there in five." I said, fixing my rifle over my shoulder and typing a quick reply to Anderson's message.
Re: I'm in.
***
Ramirez stopped at the edge of my bunk, staring at me as I packed up.
"Ramirez." I said, not looking up. That was going to be difficult.
"Cut the crap on me, will you, Alessa? You own me at least that much." He was using my first name. Yep, definitely going to be difficult.
I stopped, sat on the bunk and stared at him. He was angry, and I could hardly blame him. I sucked at good byes. If I could help it, I would sneak out of the ship without telling anybody, but I had to get my paper work signed by my current CO, and after that, well… News always ran fast in a small crew.
"Sorry, Joey. I didn't know what to say, so…"
"So you were going to leave without saying anything?"
"Well…" Shit. Why couldn't I learn my lesson? You never date crew, Shepard!
"Wow. Now that's just perfect. Is that what I mean to you, Shepard? Not even a goodbye?"
"No! Joey, it's not like that. This isn't about what you mean to me. This is just… I just… I really suck at good byes. Always had, and you know it. It's not like…"
"You know what, Shepard?" he interrupted me sharp and rough, his voice rising a little. "Good luck on your new job. Little piece of advice, though: don't get involved with your crew when you get there. You're probably gonna fuck it up too."
I watched as he left, biting back the emotional crap I had almost flying out my mouth. That would help nobody. Instead, I continued packing my stuff. One week. One week from there and I would be XO on Anderson's ship. All this crap would be left behind, and I would never, EVER, date crew again.