The Wrong Side of Heaven
Summary: AU. Eight years before sovereign and during the first contact war, Corporal Shepard was 18 years old and fresh out of basic. When her ship is shot down over an unknown planet, she is forced to survive and adapt. Many surprises and revelations await her as she is conditioned into the Commander Shepard we all know and love.
Disclaimer: Bioware owns all.
Chapter 1: Survival
The ship gave a violent jerk. Shepard was tossed to the floor from her bunk. The ship was in uproar. Her ears rung from the screams and scuffle across the deck- her eyes cleared from their groggy haze. She leapt to her feet and wrenched open her locker.
She hissed to the Corporal to her left. "What the fuck is going on?"
The young woman was shaking as she clasped her armor into place. "A turian cruiser is attacking. We've been ordered to man all battle stations."
Shepard was slamming her chest plate into place. "A cruiser? There is no fucking way this metal bucket can stand against a cruiser."
"Just following the orders." The other girl sighed and slammed her locker shut before darting from the crew quarters. Shepard was slapping her greaves in place with her assault rifle hanging from her hands as she stumbled across the deck.
The ship lurched again while Shepard sprinted down the hall. Her back slammed into the bulkhead as the hull breached behind her. She scrambled against the vacuum that was dragging soldiers out into the abyss.
Shepard gritted her teeth and clung to the floor panels. The VI repeated on a loop. "Critical failure. Advise all personnel to utilize escape pods on the crew deck."
"Shit, shit, shit." The young woman crawled forward as quickly as she could. Her assault rifle fell from her hands; she desperately tried to recapture it as it was sucked through the hull breach. Shepard abandoned her futile attempts and crawled through the nearest doorway.
Away from the pressure of the vacuum, she sprinted for the escape pods. "This system has lost control of the ship. Pods 1 through 11 have been deployed- zero personnel were aboard."
"What the FUCK." Shepard snarled angrily, those turian bastards were eliminating their means of escape. The last pod's shutters began to close as she dove inside. She didn't have a chance to buckle herself in when it she felt the tell tale shudder of the hull.
The pod launched itself through the atmosphere of the planet.
Nihlus watched the destruction of the human ship from bridge of the cruiser. His arms were clasped behind his back. The ship gave one final shudder before exploding.
"Spectre Kyrik. Pods 1 through 11 were deployed without survivors. Life scans report one human was able to escape in the 12th before we were able to deploy it."
Nihlus grunted. "The planet is inhabited with several different creatures, not to mention the warring batarian pirates and blood pack krogans. This planet is known for its climate instability. It'll be interesting to see if this human survives the night."
The tech regarded him curiously. "So, you aren't going to take out of the pirates and blood pack, yet?"
Nihlus gave a shake of his head. His mandibles fluttered as he returned the window with the view of the planet beneath them. "No, I'll remain aboard. However, I want your best sniper scout to go planet side and observe the human for the duration of her survival. Perhaps we can learn something useful in this conflict."
The tech nodded his head with a salute. "The best sniper we have is without a doubt Vakarian. I'll let him know immediately to suit up."
Nihlus nodded his head in affirmation.
Garrus gave a frown at the orders he had just received. "So, I'm just supposed to observe this human?"
The turian tech nodded his head. "Just observe. The Spectre thinks you might be able to learn new things about the humans this way. He doesn't expect the human to survive the conditions of the planet, but either way it should be interesting."
Garrus shrugged his arms. "I suppose. Will I be reporting directly to Spectre Kryik?"
They approached the shuttle that fluttered above the deck in the hull. "Yes. Good luck."
Vakarian seated himself inside the transport shuttle. The doors slid closed and jetted from the ship towards the planet's surface. "Escape pod located. One life sign scanned in the surrounding area."
"VI, land me one klick north of the pod."
"Understood, Serviceman Vakarian."
The shuttle shuddered as it landed on the planet's ground. Garrus leapt from the transport and moved to a well-covered area. He set his pack of provisions before him and rested the sniper over it.
He found the pod and began scouring the area for a sign of the human. He saw a flutter of red and found her body lying against the earth, motionless. His comm link clicked, "Serviceman Vakarian- This is Spectre Kryik. Have you located the human?"
"Yes, sir. The human is female; it looks like her pod was ripped in half from the landing. She's alive- her heart rate is steady."
"Good. Do you have your proper cold weather gear?"
"Yes, sir." Garrus frowned to himself. "Why?"
"The planet's climate is highly instable. When nighttime falls, the weather will drop below freezing. Luckily, tonight should be the only night that happens within the next three weeks. I don't expect the human to last through out the night."
"I won't be able to observe much in that little of time."
"That's expected. We couldn't bypass this opportunity; this is the closest we've gotten to be able to observe their species outside their element."
"Understood, Spectre."
He clicked the comm link off. He sighed vehemently. Not only would this day and night not turn up anything of use, he was going to have to suck it up in the cold.
Shepard gasped suddenly. Her eyes watered from the sudden pain she felt through out her body. Her mind flashing to the events that took place before her landing- if you could call it that. Her pod had been ripped in half; she hadn't had the opportunity to buckle herself in and was jerked from the pod.
Lucky for her, the branches of the trees softened her fall somewhat. That didn't stop the onset of soreness that curled around her muscles. Shepard groaned as she pushed herself up from the ground.
She stood on her shaky legs and took in her surroundings. The area was alive with a buzz of activity from the different life forms of the planet. She growled with annoyance. Her first fucking mission and now she was stuck here on an unknown planet- she didn't know it's cycles or what lived her; she knew absolutely nothing except that the air was breathable.
That only told her it had an ecosystem. Which meant it had predators too. Fuck. She brought up her omni-tool. It was mostly undamaged; with a little luck she may be able to hail an alliance vessel for extraction. She lifted it up to the sunlight and squinted.
Suddenly a shot rang out, Shepard dove to the ground and scrambled behind a tree for cover. She heard the sputter of technology and stared at her omni-tool which had been destroyed from the shot. Rage suddenly roared in her veins as she realized what was happening.
They were trapping her here and forcing her to survive. Why they didn't just kill her, was beyond her. Maybe they were using her for study to learn the weaknesses of humans. Her face darkened with a scowl as she stood up, they weren't going to kill her yet, that much was obvious.
Shepard stepped out of her cover and threw her destroyed omni-tool in the dirt. She kicked it angrily. Her eyes scanned the foliage around her for any tell tale shimmer of the sniper who had destroyed her chances of leaving the planet any time soon. She snarled angrily to herself and wrenched her kabar from its sheath.
If they were trying to observe her for weaknesses', they sure as hell weren't going to find any with her.
The idea of this story is to explore the strength of humanity and their abilities to adapt and overcome- and of course entailing the fun of the adventures between Garrus and Shepard. Hope yall enjoyed the first chapter- the following chapters will be longer this is just a prelude to all the fun that is to come.
As some of you may know- I am very action centered, so there will be lots of fighting and surviving and blowing shit up, because that's how I roll.
I would love to hear your guys' ideas and comments, whether it's positive or negative; I'm always looking for ways to improve. Thanks for reading!