Aboard the ship Kilimanjaro Helen Shepard went into birth on their way to the Citadel, leaving Helen wishing that her daughter would hold on just for a little longer in order for her to give birth in the hospital rather than a ship's medical bay.

''Breathe Helen'' said Karin Chakwas

''I am breathing'' she hissed

''Now push'' smiled Karin

Helen screamed, every member of the crew was stood outside the room, waiting for news on how the pair were doing

''It's a girl'' shouted

April the 11th 2154, Alya Elizabeth was born, on the ship the Kilimanjaro, surrounded by her family. That night as they all stood around Helen Shepard they all swore they would care for her and treat her like she was one of their own. None of them, knew just how much that would that pledge alone would affect her for the rest of her life and the principles that she carried with her

Growing up she was allowed to run riot on various sections of the ship and shown the most secure places for her to hide during the first contact war against the Turians, granted it only lasted for three months but it took three days to find Alya Shepard on more than one occasion as she used her hiding places as dens when the ship was in utter disarray, which forced Helen Shepard to realise she needed a steady home to raise her daughter in-between various Alliance duties, plus with a decent promotion to Executive Officer it meant she could afford a nice apartment on the Citadel which allowed her to work around her assignments and still be in contact with her higher ups, plus with a home base, her and her husband could take it in turns to watch over their daughter, until they were both forced to take time away from their work as Shepard developed a nasty eye infection at the age of eight which caused her to lose her sight in her right eye.

A year later, Karin Chakwas made a point to travel there as soon as she could as she claimed no other doctor could help her god-daughter, which had Helen laughing. Within a week of Karin's arrival, Alya Shepard was more than happy to choose the colour of her synthetic eye match her remaining left eye, though in truth there was a little green in her original eye, compared to the dark blue she had chosen. Not that anyone was happy to argue with the young child.

She appeared to recover well after surgery, and was more than happy to test her new eye as soon as she could as she buried her head into all sorts of books with themes around space travel.

''I should get back to work'' said Nigel Shepard

''Alright dad'' smiled Alya

''Take care of yourselves'' smiled Nigel as he kissed his wife and made his way to a shuttle.

Alya and Hannah were allowed to go for a short walk with him, however once the shuttle took off there was some kind of malfunction causing the craft to explode in mid-flight. Alya screamed and flashed everyone clear signs that she was infact a biotic, but she soon collapsed from exhaustion from the ordeal.

Hannah cried as various emergency medical professions and officers rushed to the scene and watched a biotic field collapse just as Alya did

''Did you know?'' asked Karin

''I didn't know'' cried Helen

''Come on we should get both of you looked at'' insisted Karin as she lifted Alya onto a bed, and allowed Helen to lean on her for support