**Authors note- This FF basically this follows the game. I skipped almost all of the side missions (my god that is half the game), and used a lot of the in game dialogue. I didn't describe most battles in detail (again, most of the game and there are only so many ways to say 'She shot the geth and killed it'). At this time the story is complete up to the Citadel Battle. I am working on continuing it throughout ME2, and then I'll probably leave it open until ME3 comes out. The ME2 part is not complete, and I won't post chapters to that section until it is. I appreciate everyone who reads stories like this, because I myself often don't have the patience to read anything more than ten chapters. I value reviews, and if you find something within the story that contradicts itself (I tried really hard to keep things straight) let me know with a review/message. Just reposted some of the first chapters after re-editing. New chapters will be coming more frequently now**
Chapter 1 – Shepard's Background
Youth from Earth's megatropolises went to Alliance offices rather frequently. A lot of them needing to escape, but lacked the money, skills, or brains to do so. Andromeda Shepard wasn't much different. She had been born and raised on Earth, though she never knew who her parents were or if they were still alive. She had been abandoned, and raised at an orphanage. Unfortunate but she wasn't alone. Mostly she was average, nothing spectacular. She went to school, got average or slightly better grades. All of her teachers and friends considered her charismatic, leadership material, great potential, but lacking in discipline. Again, not uncommon among Earth's unfortunate youths.
Going to higher education wasn't possible. The orphanage only had a small fund they kept for each of the children, not enough to pay for a month at a small college. No defined skills to find work. So on her eighteenth birthday, she signed up with the Alliance Navy. By the time she graduated high school they were ready to send her off to basic training.
It took a year before she realized that joining the Alliance hadn't been just an escape from Earth, it had become a calling. Everything she had done before she had done average, with little to no care about the outcome. It changed her, motivated her, and disciplined her.
"Lieutenant Shepard looks like a good possible candidate," Captain Anderson said, looking over the file. "Strong technical aptitude, excellent marksman, one of the top hand-to-hand combatants…"
"If he's so damn good why are you trying to ask me my opinion?" Admiral Bentley snapped.
"He's a she, sir," Anderson said, handing the file over as Bentley's hand reached out for it.
"No," Bentley said, throwing the file in the pile of rejects.
"She's stationed on Elysium right now, before throwing the potential away maybe we should meet her. Interview her," Anderson suggested. Bentley was old, nearing retirement, and used any excuse he could to leave Arcturus Station. He agreed.
The same time they were leaving Arcturus, Elysium was attacked. Elysium was a large colony, millions of civilians but only a couple hundred of Alliance soldiers. The attackers were a massive coalition of slavers, Batarian crime lords, and crime syndicates, all hoping for a share in the massive resources destroying Elysium would provide, not to mention causing the Alliance to lose a strong foothold in the galaxy.
"Commander, your orders!?" Lieutenant Shepard said, skidding to a halt when she found her commanding officer. He looked at her, his eyes wide and a dark stain spreading through his pants before he fainted. "Oh, fuck," she groaned. She got on the radio, "This is Lieutenant Shepard, Commander Fricks is incapacitated, I'm taking lead. All Alliance staff report to your stations immediately! Defensive positions! Defensive positions!"
The colony had automated defenses against ships, but the ships landed out of their range and they were heading in on foot. Thousands of mercenaries and slavers marching for their weakest point.
Shepard prepared the soldiers, and reluctantly, rallied any willing civilians to take up arms with them. By the time the real fighting started they had a fighting chance.
Alliance patrols didn't reach Elysium until four hours after the attack had begun, and when they neared the attackers retreated. An hour after that, Anderson and Bentley arrived. They had heard about the attack on the way there, but were too far out to do anything.
A private saluted them immediately, looking a bit scuffed but uninjured. Anderson returned the salute, "Where is your commander?"
The private looked a bit unsure of himself but tried to answer as professionally as he could, "Sir, Commander Fricks and Lieutenant Shepard are at the Alliance hospital."
"He asked for your commander, private, not for your lieutenant," Bentley said in a low growl.
"Sir, Lieutenant Shepard acted as commanding officer during the defense. Wasn't sure which you needed to speak to…but both of them are being treated in the hospital, sir."
"Let's go," Anderson said, wanting to a longer conversation.
Shepard looked over at Fricks, who was still hyperventilating between occasionally crying. Whether it was from the shock of being attacked or embarrassment over pissing himself she didn't know. Fricks was an officer because of who he knew. He got cushioned posts with very small risk of ever having to fire a weapon.
She looked up as Captain Anderson and Admiral Bentley walked in, and moved to a sitting position and went to move to stand.
Anderson raised his hand, "As you were, please."
Shepard nodded gratefully to him, "Thank you, sir. And thank you for coming as soon as you could, wasn't sure how long we would be able to hold them."
"What's wrong with him?" Bentley asked, nodding towards Fricks. "You look more banged up than he does." And she did. Her armor was broken off on her left arm, while it wasn't bleeding there was blood shining on it. There was a ugly wound on the side of her neck, bleeding halted by medi-gel but not closing. And she was being careful not to move her leg. She had been through hell.
Shepard winced as she adjusted herself on the gurney, "He's…um…" she frowned. She couldn't stand Fricks at that moment, after how he had responded she had no respect for him. "I'm not sure. Sorry."
Dr. Chakwas walked in, "Oh…Anderson, so good to see you again!"
"Doctor," Anderson said with a smile and a nod as she kept moving to the Commander's side. "How is he?"
She opened a pill bottle and gave two green pills to him and a glass of water, "Physically, absolutely nothing. I have a psychiatric consult coming in to further assess if he will be fit for duty after this. Shepard!" Shepard looked up at the doctor with wide eyes, "What did I say?"
"There is nothing wrong with Fricks, that you are…"
"I said I want you lying down," Chakwas snapped, and quietly adding, "Smart ass."
"Yes, ma'am," Shepard said, slowly laying back on the gurney.
Chakwas closed a curtain to Fricks' bed and stood over Shepard and began scanning her.
"How is she holding up?" Anderson asked.
Chakwas smiled and looked at Anderson, "We have ourselves a war hero, here."
"Doc…" Shepard started.
"No talking," Chakwas snapped.
"So what happened?" Anderson asked.
"We got scans that there was a fleet coming in," Shepard began. "IFF signatures were mixed or just not there. Commander Fricks became unable to command. I sent out the order for defensive-OUCH!"
"Sorry," Chakwas said, stepping back a bit. "Your armor slowed the bullets, but didn't stop them all. I need to prepare you for surgery."
"Quick version, then," Shepard said with a grimace. "We were outnumbered and the defenses weren't prepared for what they brought. A lot of civilians volunteered to help. I got them armed and in position before the attack hit. We held off until they retreated. I'm still waiting for casualty report."
Anderson and Bentley stepped out as Chakwas prepared Shepard for surgery. Anderson had worked with Chakwas before on Shanxi during the First Contact War, she was a great doctor and knew Shepard was in the best hands available.
"She was laying there with a bullet in her while talking to us?" Bentley asked as Chakwas came out.
She rattled the pan, "Four full ones, few fragments of others, and part of her armor broke off and lodged itself in her calf. She'll make a full recovery in a few days. She's tough. Demanded I treat Fricks before seeing her. That…" Chakwas made a disgusted sound.
"I've been listening to the others," Anderson said quietly. "Heard there was a major breach in the defenses?"
Chakwas nodded, "Most of her injuries were sustained during that breach. If not all of them. She held them back on her own to give the armed civilians a chance to retreat, actually pushed the attackers back before she got help. Once the danger was over she walked two wounded soldiers in, went back for Fricks, then asked for some medi-gel for herself."
"Crazy, then," Bentley muttered. "No regard for her own life."
"I don't think so. She told me she knew her injuries weren't life threatening, just painful. She wanted to make sure she had done all she could before taking a physicians time away from others who found it…unbearable. Give her a few hours and you can speak with her yourselves."
Shepard was sitting on her gurney, fully dressed, when Captain Anderson walked in. He tried to tell her she didn't have to move, but she stood up and saluted, "Captain," she said.
"At ease," he said, a bit amused. "How are you feeling?"
"Alive, sir."
Anderson nodded, "A lot of people on Elysium are alive because of you, Shepard. I've been looking around, hearing different versions of how things went down. You want to know what most of them are saying?"
"If you want to tell me, sir," she answered.
"Everyone remembers things a bit differently, or saw it a different way. But they all agree, you were the factor that rallied them to victory." He watched her face, looking for a reaction. But her green eyes just stared at him, her mouth straight. "What do you think about that? Talk freely."
"If it wasn't for your reinforcements, the enemy would not have retreated when they did," she said.
"Maybe. But if it wasn't for you, everyone seems to think that the enemy would have broken through the defenses within an hour of the attack. You stepped up when your commanding officer was sitting in a pool of his own piss. You organized your resources, including the civilians. They want to call you a war hero because of it."
"They can call me whatever they want. I'm just here to do my job, and to do it well."
Anderson held out his hand, and she looked at it before taking it, "Its soldiers like you that make me proud to be in the Alliance."
"Thank you, sir," she said. "Believe me, I'm going to be proud to tell people that Captain Anderson was there to reinforce us here."
He smiled a bit, "Afraid I never corrected that assumption, lieutenant. I actually arrived an hour after the retreat with Admiral Bentley. Our arrival after this attack is just coincidence. We were on our way here to speak to you." Her face changed then, her eyebrows furrowing in concern and suspicion, her mouth hard and tense. "We wanted to interview you after looking over your special forces application. After this fiasco, though, an interview is an absurd thing to ask of you, but I still have questions."
"Ask me anything," Shepard offered, almost a dare.
"Why do you want to take this training? You are doing good work where you are now."
"I do good work wherever I am," she said. "But a colonial post…what just happened is an exception. I don't live for combat, sir, or excitement, don't get me wrong. But my talents are put to waste guarding a colony that, after this, probably will never be attacked again."
"Your talents? You mean shooting a gun?"
"Tactics," she corrected. "I coordinated with Fricks on day-to-day operations. Working with all soldiers posted here to find what they were best suited for. If it wasn't for the past six months of ground work, they would have been shooting each other in the foot. Ability to adapt under pressure. And…willing to bend protocol."
"By arming civilians?"
"Yeah," she said. "Thankfully none of them died out there. If even one had…well, I wouldn't be a war hero. I'd be a…I don't know. Captain, I want to be out there, the first to respond when there is trouble to have a chance to protect our people."
He shook her hand again, "Training starts in two weeks."