Hi all, I just wanted to give you a few word before you read the story. I am a non english native, dyslectic, first time story writer. I never planned on writing anything in my life, hell, I always tried to get out of any essay that had to be written during my school years (with moderate success) and yet now I am here. This will be a story about how Quinn Shepard perceives this war. I find that the game itself lacks that quality. I hope you will enjoy it! Please leave me some feedback an tell me, in a personal message, if you found (and you will) any spelling errors. Also I would like to have a few beta readers to help me find any flaws! So leave your reviews behind, give your idea's etc etc. I hope you will enjoy this story (I am quite nervous about it.. I never like to expose myself in anyway)

PS chronologically the story may differ from the actual game

edited 19sept2016 thanks to OneTheArrow :)

Also special thanks to Fishbone76 from deviantart. Although my Shepard can't cry, this pic captures what I needed.

for more art of this talented woman go to fishbone76. deviantart. com

PPS I realize that my writing style sucks a bit, but it will gradually improve ;) (written 21-07-2017)

Only a few days had passed since she celebrated her sweet sixteen on the human colony of Mindoir. Quinn was still excited that she had got her own room! No more sharing with her parents. "Privacy, at last, some privacy," Quinn whispered to herself.

While thinking about how to decorate her new room, she suddenly heard a scream coming from the living room. What the hell was that? She walked to the door, opened it, and saw a batarian standing over her mother with what looked like some sort of shotgun. She wanted to scream until she locked eyes with her mom, giving her an all saying stare to stay quiet.

Even though no words were exchanged, Quinn understood her mom directly and clasped her hands on her mouth, stepped back into her new room, and closed the door. The shotgun went off with an ear deafening BANG.

Shepard woke up screaming, sweating heavily and close to hyperventilation; she looked around wearily. It took her a few moments to realise that she was safely in bed at the Alliance headquarters on Earth.

Still groggy from the nightmare she stumbled to the bathroom, put some cold water on her face, and looked in the mirror. "Six months of rest and I still look fucked up," she mumbled. Frustrated by the nightmares and the fact she'd been grounded by the Alliance, Shepard punched the mirror with her fist, cracking it in a thousand pieces.

Looking around the floor and the rest of the bathroom she noticed that not much was still in one piece. She already cracked the sink, the faucet was crooked and the shower was unhinged.

"Maybe I should name this room "rage by Shepard" and sell it to one of my lunatic fans as art," she scoffed to herself.

Knowing she probably wouldn't get anymore sleep today she decided to get dressed for a run. I might be relieved from my duties, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't stay in shape. Before she had the time to put on some of her old N7 gym clothes, her omnitool started beeping with a message from Admiral Anderson, he needed to speak to her ASAP. Aaannnndddd there goes my workout. What the hell do they want from me at this time of day? She thought.

Halfway to Anderson's office she spotted him walking up to her with a worried look on his face. This doesn't look good…

"Admiral Anderson, are you okay?" She asked.

"No Shepard." He replied. "Two of our outposts have gone dark and our radars tell us something big is on the way."

"Reapers." Shepard sighed.

"I am afraid so Shepard." Anderson replied.

"Admiral, we are not ready by a long..." BOOOOM. T

Before Shepard was able to finish her sentence both of them were flung through the building after it got shot by the Reapers. When will all these nightmares stop? She passed out.

Shepard regained consciousness a few moments later, although it felt like hours. Anderson stood above her, making sure she was fine.

"Come on Shepard, we need to go find the Normandy."

While feeling the bump on her head, she stood up and took the gun Anderson handed to her.

"You're hereby reinstated to active duty Commander Shepard, now let's go."

"Yes sir," she replied, and they both started to run to find an exit.

When they were finally outside they started to comprehend the destruction the Reapers were able to cause in just a few minutes.

"Oh my god Shepard, how are we going to fight these things?"

"Sir, we need to survive this assault and get help before we can even THINK about fighting the Reapers. What is the location of the Normandy, sir?"

"I don't know yet Shepard. I can't get a ping on the ship. We need to find a stronger radio than these damned omni-tools. They are handy, until shit hits the fan."

"Sir, I see a downed gunship over there. Maybe we can use its radio to contact the Normandy?!"

"Good idea Shepard!" Anderson replied.

They started to fight their way to the downed ship, killing husks left and right and trying to ignore all the death and devastation around them, until they finally reached the downed gunship.

Keep your head down! It's crawling with enemies!" Shouted one of the two wounded men.

"Are you guys okay?" Anderson asked in a father like voice.

"Compared the other crewmates who didn't survive the crash? We are peachy, sir." One of the men replied sarcastically.

"Do you have a radio here soldier?"

"Yes sir, it is on the other side of the gunship."

"Shepard, go make contact with the Normandy."

Trying to keep herself in cover, she only had to fight of, what she thought, a few husks, not noticing that she was being flanked by Cannibals. "Fuck my life!" Shepard grumbled angrily as bullets started to fly around her.

"Admiral, defend my left flank Sir, so I can take out those damn Cannibals." Shepard shouted.

"I am on it Shepard!"

After a few minutes of intense fighting, Shepard could finally reach the radio safely and tried to make contact with the Normandy

"NORMANDY NORMANDY, DO YOU READ?"

"Shepard, is that you?"

"Ashley? Thank god, you're still alive." Shepard's voice sounded relieved. "What is your ETA to our position?"

"5 minutes, Commander."

"Okay, we will try to clean the LZ. It is extremely hot and we've got wounded!" As she finished her sentence, a Marauder's bullet grazed her face") leaving a tiny scratch.

"Understood ma'am." Ashley replied.