Hi, so I'm sorry about not writing in a while, for the last few months I've been sucked into my Xbox, not literally of course, but it definitely feels that way. Anyway, I hope enjoy this.

I do not own Mass Effect, just thought I'd let you know.

I'm Shepard And This Is Shepard

Two marines stood on the docks of Arcturus station, one a man and the other a woman. They stood with their mouths agape as they looked upon the SSV Normandy. Eventually the man made a sound.

"Sweet," he whispered.

"Totally," the woman next to him responded. The man held out his fist to her and she bumped her own into his.

"Hey, thanks for pulling the strings to have me assigned here too," he said. The woman scoffed, and nudged him with her shoulder.

"Don't mention it," she murmured, before saying in her most authoritive voice "now, march up that ramp and get on board Lieutenant!" He snapped off a quick salute with the added 'Aye Commander' before spinning around, grabbing his bag and jogging towards the airlock. The Commander smiled as she grabbed her own bag and jogged after him.

After waiting a few minutes for the decontamination to finish they stepped on board the most advanced star ship in the entire Alliance fleet. There they were greeted by Captain Anderson, the man who had requested the commander personally to be his XO. To the Captains right was a man with an Elvis hair style. The captain cleared his throat.

"Commander Shepard, meet Lieutenant Alenko, he's going to show you and the Lieutenant around before taking you to your quarters and the Lieutenant to the crews quarters. Once you've settled in Alenko will bring you the comm room where we will have a small debrief before heading out. I'll leave you to introduce yourselves properly." That said Anderson walked off.

"I'm Kaidan," Alenko held his hand out for both of them to shake, but he only seemed to have eyes for Shepard, something the Commander didn't notice, but the younger Lieutenant did.

The truth was that Kaidan had fallen in love with the Commander as soon as he laid eyes on her. Her dark red locks cropped short and falling free, her bright blue eyes sparkling with curiosity and hunger, a hunger for adventure, her posture screamed military lineage and her body was toned and slightly tanned. The only blemish was the scar that crossed over her right eye at an angle, cutting through the brow and ending halfway down her right cheek. He was completely smitten.

"I'm Artemis," she said with a friendly smile, "the big lug next to me is Dante Shepard." She snickered as he shouted 'Hey!' from next to her.

"Shepard? Are you brother and sister then?" he asked nervously, worried that they were married.

"No," Artemis began, and Kaidan felt the bottom of his stomach drop out, "He's my cousin. He's my father's younger brother's boy," she finished, and Kaidan felt relief beyond any he had felt in his life.

"We should get on with the tour," Kaidan said after collecting himself, "we wouldn't want to keep the Captain waiting." Kaidan showed them the Cockpit and introduced them to Joker, who it seemed Artemis got along with smashingly as they both had the same sense of humour. They couldn't stay long though as Kaidan reminded them that they had to get on with the tour. He took them through the CIC and introduced them to Pressly, the man originally earmarked to be the XO. He took them downstairs and showed them the mess hall, pointed out the captain's cabin, showed them the place they could usually find him if they needed him, and introduced them to Doctor Chakwas, a lovely woman who told them not to get injured too often as she didn't want them as a permanent fixture in her medbay. He led them the Galaxy's slowest elevator and took them down to the cargo hold. He pointed out the lockers, took them to look at the drive core and introduced them to Adams, the chief engineer.

"Do you have a gym?" Dante asked. Dante was a typical Marine. Strong build, broad shouldered, tall and muscular. His black hair was close cropped, he had similar eyes to his cousin and his skin was also slightly tanned. He was a soldier, while his cousin was an infiltrator. He was an N7, just like his cousin. He also had a scar on his face; his started below his left eye and ran down his check, ending just before the curve of his jaw. Most importantly, he wanted a place to workout.

"We don't have one per say," Kaidan hedged, as he led them back to the cargo hold and towards the matted area in the one corner, "We have this. It's a place to spar. We also have some weight benches, some free weights, a couple of running machines and a few skipping ropes as well as a punching bag." Dante looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding in satisfaction.

Kaidan led them back up to the mess hall and from there led them first to the crews quarters and then to the Commanders before telling them he would meet Artemis back in the mess hall when she was ready to go meet with the Captain. He added that Dante was welcome to join as far as he was aware. Then he spun around and marched away. Artemis and Dante looked at each other and identical grins blossom on their faces. They were on the SSV Normandy, life was sweet.

Thank you for reading, now please review.