Commander John Shepard looked at Earth through a viewport in the barracks of the SSV Yellowknife, the frigate he was instructed to wait for his new assignment on, and smiled, remembering the vids he had watched as a kid on Mindoir, the vids that glorified Earth into a great, beautiful, and peaceful place. He knew now that it wasn't the way it was portrayed, but back then he would fantasize that he would see Earth and all of its amazing sights. Thinking back on it now he realized that his past self would have been very disappointed by the view, while there was no doubt it was beautiful, Earth looked very similar to Mindoir from orbit, just with more light pollution and more water. His reminiscing was interrupted as he heard the Yellowknife's VI monotonously state, "Commander Shepard is needed on the bridge." He jumped up and moved out of the barracks and into the mess hall at a brisk walk, causing a few curious glances from the crewmen in the mess. He walked into the elevator and realized, as the door closed behind him, that he was anxious. Today wasn't the day he was to be given his new assignment but he wanted to be off of the Yellowknife. He had grown tired of the frigate in his three months serving on it and the crew didn't seem to like his laid back personality or his sense of humor. He wasn't unprofessional by any means but the crew of the Yellowknife was about as uptight as they come. He hoped the next ship he was to be assigned to would see some action. The most interesting thing that had happened to him while on the Yellowknife was when he had been granted shore leave on Terra Nova and he had met a fellow soldier by the name of Kaidan Alenko at a bar in Scott, the planet's capital. Kaidan had been sitting at the bar and had noticed Commander Shepard walk in. He had stood up, walked over to Shepard, and introduced himself, held out his hand and nodded as the Commander shook it. They had become fast friends and had spent the rest of the day getting drunk and trying not to trash the bar any more than they already had. That had been a week after Shepard had been assigned to the Yellowknife. He and Kaidan kept in touch and Kaidan had gotten reassigned from the SSV Taipei to the SSV Normandy, a prototype Human-Turian ship under the command of Captain Anderson, one of Shepard's oldest friends. Captain Anderson was the one who had persuaded Shepard to join the Alliance after he had arrived on Arcturus station after Batarian slavers had hit Mindoir and had killed or enslaved almost everyone on his homeworld. Anderson had gotten him into the Alliance and Shepard had a deep respect for the man and would have jumped at the chance to serve under him again. Shepard shook his head to clear his thoughts and stepped out onto the bridge, walking up to Captain Barnes, the senior officer of the Yellowknife, and saluted, "You wanted to see me sir?" "Yes Commander," he said, returning the salute, "I received a message from Admiral Hackett requesting you be transferred to the Normandy ASAP, pack your things Commander, you're needed aboard the Normandy." "Ready to get rid of me so soon Captain," Shepard joked as he snapped off a salute. "Yes Commander I am," the Captain said coldly. The Captain didn't like jokes and Shepard knew it. Shepard made his way back to the barracks shaking his head at the Captain's comment, but his spirits were high and he couldn't believe his luck; he would get to see Anderson and Kaidan again, leave the Yellowknife, and maybe even see some action on the Normandy. He arrived at the barracks and he packed what little he had within twenty minutes and as he rose to step out he heard the VI's monotonous voice, "MSV Borealis requesting docking permission," "Granted Borealis, Commander Shepard that's your transport to Arcturus station, where the Normandy is docked." Shepard made his way back up to the bridge, passed the Captain without acknowledging his presence and went straight to the airlock to board the Borealis. The Commander stepped through the airlock and onto the Borealis. The Borealis was a typical Kowloon class civilian freighter; the interior was painted a sterile white with red accents and a glossy finish. Shepard, after examining the interior of the ship, made his way to the center of the ship where the leader of the 40 or so people was, according to the airlock guard. Shepard approached the man, who appeared to be in his late forties and of Asian descent, and introduced himself as Commander Shepard of the Alliance Marines. The man shook Shepard's hand and said, with a smile," Nice to meet you Commander Shepard, I'm Fai Dan and this is Arcelia Silva Martinez," pointing to the woman next to him with short black hair who looked to be of Mexican descent and in her early thirties. She looked at Shepard with a smile, shook his hand and simply said,"Hi." Shepard smiled back, nodded, looked back to Fai Dan, and asked, " Why pick me up Fai Dan, I can tell you and your people are colonists, I'd think you would just want to get to your destination, don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful, just curious." Fai Dan smiled and said happily," Well, I suppose that's fair, we had just left Earth when your Captain Barnes contacted us and asked if we would take a passenger to Arcturus station, I agreed because he said he would pay and Arcturus is on our way." Shepard, intrigued, asked, "Where are you guys heading, if you don't mind me asking?" "Feros, in the Theseus system." Fai Dan answered. Shepard yawned and asked, " Well I'm tired, not a lot of sleep these past few days, is there anywhere I could set up my gear and settle down for the night?" "Yes," Fai Dan smiled, "In the corner by the weapons crates," he pointed behind him with his thumb. Shepard thanked him and said, "Wake me up before we get there, I want to talk to you about Feros." "Of course Commander," Fai Dan said, "See you later." Shepard walked over to the corner and set down his gear. He pulled his sleeping bag, pillow, and sidearm out of his footlocker. He got in the sleeping bag and put the sidearm under his pillow, he didn't know or trust any of these people except Fai Dan and he wanted to be sure no one would catch him off guard, so he set his Omni-tool to wake him in 5 hours, long enough to be over halfway to Arcturus, but leaving him enough time to ask Fai Dan about the planet him and his people were going to colonize.

Shepard stepped off of the Borealis and into Arcturus station's airlock, turning and waving to Fai Dan and Arcelia. He made his way to the Alliance information console in the lobby and downloaded a copy of the station's map. While he looked over the map he thought back to what Fai Dan had told him about Feros. He had said that two-thirds of the planet is covered in a sprawling Prothean megalopolis and the atmosphere had been fouled with fifty thousand years' worth of dust, but was still somehow breathable. Shepard had asked why they would even think about colonizing the planet and Fai Dan had answered," Because I feel like I could make a difference." Shepard found docking bay D16 on the map and began to walk in that direction and knowing that serving on the Normandy would be better than anywhere he had ever served before.

He reached docking bay D16 and punched in a code he had gotten from a message from Anderson telling him to use that code on the docking bay door. The docking bay doors opened and Commander Shepard stepped on to the Normandy, sealing his place in galactic history.

Author's note:

I do not own Mass Effect or any of the characters featured.

Thank you for reading my first attempt at fan fiction. Please review, I like constructive criticism so, tell me what you think!