The SSV Normandy, an innovative top-of-the-line alliance ship. Innovation frightened Shepard. The military was his entire life; he understood the need for innovation he would just rather have been serving on a mediocre 10 year old frigate watching Captain Anderson champion new ideas from afar. Shepard admired his commanding officer but he did not emulate the man.
Shepard waited on the crew deck, he looked through the crew manifest and held it in ambivalence; there was a fair number of stand-up officers such as Navigator Charles Pressly, but the crew not as carefully picked and a few stood out as dangerously unprofessional. He had already finished comprising a mental list of crewmen that he would soon have transferred and he only looked a second time as a means of excusing himself from any conversation a crewman might attempt to initiate.
The captain's voice over brought relief to a Shepard's desire for action: "Commander Shepard, suit up; we're approaching Eden Prime."
Shepard marched towards the bridge, the peculiar Turian design that the Normandy employed put the pilot too far forward and he had to weave his way past the bridge crew down a narrow walkway in order to meet with the ship's pilot.
The pilot was an annoying hot-headed little man who must have had more than a dozen strikes on his record for insubordination. He found the pilot arguing with a staff lieutenant about the council specialist, Nihilus, just as the man left. He paid no attention to what they were saying, assuming that the pilot, a Mister Moreau, was in the wrong.
He cut their discussion short "That's enough, you're soldiers; act like it!"
The reply came from the staff lieutenant "Sorry, Commander."
Shepard liked this man, he tried to recall his name; Alenko, Kaidan Alenko.
A few words from the captain gave Shepard his orders; report to the comm room. Before making his way into the room he intruded upon another argument.
A man by the name of Jenkins, a corporal, asked "What do you think, Commander? We won't be staying on Eden Prime too long, will we? I'm itching for some real action!"
This man's voice stank, his over-enthusiasm screamed liability, but before Shepard could chastise him the Chief Medical Officer retorted with an equally disturbing remark.
"I sincerely hope you're kidding, Corporal. You're 'real action' usual ends with me patching up crew members in the infirmary." This Dr. Chakwas sounded less the pleased to be doing the job she was paid to do.
"That is what your position entails, Doctor. Marines are meant to fight; you just patch us up when we're done."
Thankfully, the doctor did not challenge his authority. She continued to chide Jenkins, nonetheless, but he didn't get the message.
Shepard addressed the corporal, drawing on his air of authority, "Do your job; follow my orders and there won't be any problems."
Jenkins persisted "Easy for you to say; you proved yourself on Torfan, everyone knows what you can do…"
Shepard had had enough; he gave a harsh interruption "I don't like your tone, corporal. You will obey orders and if you do anything to screw this mission up you can be rest assured that you will never serve on an alliance ship again. Am I clear?"
The corporal murmured a reply but Shepard left for the comm room before he could hear his full apology.
Shepard had found Nihilus in the comm room, and assumed the Captain would arrive shortly. The Turian council agent, a member of a Special Forces group known as the spectres, had asked him about Eden Prime.
"…I've heard it's quite beautiful."
Shepard couldn't confirm this "I haven't been there, sir."
The word 'sir' had rolled so easily of the commander's tongue, he had been unsure of Nihilus' rank but the alien's tone had indicated authority and Shepard refused to test it.
Before long, the Captain had arrived and the true nature of the mission had been revealed. The mission to Eden Prime was more than a simple shake-down run; it was a covert pick up.
Ruins from a lost civilisation had been uncovered and, amongst them, a beacon of similar design to the Prothean technology that had brought humanity into the age of inter-stellar space flight needed to be taken to the Citadel, the centre of galactic society, for study.
This was not the only purpose of the mission, however, as Shepard had been selected as a candidate for the spectres, it was a chance for the council agent Nihilus to observe the commander and report as to his competence.
Shepard didn't like the idea of punching above his weight, but both Captain Anderson and Agent Nihilus demanded he take the opportunity and he would never refuse a request from two ranking officers.
Before their mission could begin however, the three were treated to an emergency distress signal from the planet's surface. The footage wasn't stable, but a battle could be clearly seen along with an unknown ship wreaking havoc with its local environment and the deaths of a number of human soldiers.
With adrenaline already starting to kick in, Shepard was immediately on-board with Nihilus' suggestion of sending a small strike team in to retrieve the beacon before this unseen enemy could.
The captain wasted no time "Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up, commander. You're going in!"