Six year old Jennifer Di'meria sat scared and trembling in the corner of the living room of the bachelor suit she lived in with her mother. Her lengthy, wavy, wine red hair partially covered her face as her emerald green eyes watched wide as her mother and her male friend Kalvin inhaled the red powder that they had neatly placed into lines.

Jennifer's mother, Isabelle Di'meria, was a slender woman with long dark brown hair that came down to about the middle of her back. Isabelle was 35yrs old, but she looked much older. Her eyes constantly had bags under her usually bloodshot eyes. Her hair was mangy and falling out as a result of the other drugs she did as well. She was always weak and too tired to do much of anything so the place was always a mess.

Kalvin was just as mangy and messy as Jennifer's mother. His black hair had the look of grease and he had five o'clock shadow. Kevin stood about five foot nine inches tall and reminded Jennifer of one of those Olympians in earth's history that had turned to drugs.

Jennifer hated Kalvin. He was always touching her mom in ways that Jennifer was sure wasn't supposed to happen. Sometimes Jennifer would catch him grinning at her. It always made her uneasy. She didn't know why, a smile was supposed to mean happiness, wasn't it?

Jennifer had learned at age five not to interfere with what her mom and Kalvin did. There was once when Kalvin and Isabelle were "pushing" each other around and having fun. Jennifer didn't think it was fun so she asked them to stop. She asked repeatedly for Kalvin to stop "pushing" her mom around. Finally, Kalvin got annoyed with her and "pushed" her so hard she slammed into the wall knocking the wind out of her.

Ever since then she just huddled in the corner too terrified to move or speak. She just wanted this to be over. She could be thankful for one thing. Kalvin and her mom were getting along tonight. There were times when Kalvin would break Isabelle's arm or she would break a couple of his ribs because of a fight they would have. The red drug made them irritable and when they would fight, well that's when Jennifer was the most scared.

She sat silent with her knees drawn in towards her as she watched her mom and Kalvin continuing to inhale the Red Sand through their nose. They laughed and joked.

"So when do you plan on getting Jennifer to try this stuff?" Kalvin said.

"She's only six Kal..."

"So? I started at five. It was the best thing when I was a kid. I felt like a super hero."

"No I don't want her starting it at this age, she has her whole life ahead of her." Isabelle objected.

"C'mon, she's gunna get into it anyways, besides what kid doesn't like to feel like a super hero?"

"Fine but only this once,"

Kalvin looked over at Jennifer. Jennifer tensed, she didn't want to try that stuff. She hated it when Kalvin looked at her. He scared her.

"Jenny come here, we have a treat for ya."

Jennifer was paralysed. They had never talked to her before while they were high.

"C'mon Jenny, you'll like this I promise."

Shyly and hesitantly Jennifer got up and walked over to where her mom was and stood behind her.

"Do you wanna try some?" Kalvin asked offering Jennifer a small straw with a smirk on his face.

Jennifer quickly shook her head. Whatever it was that made Kalvin the way he was she wanted no part in it.

"C'mon its fun, don't you want to be able to be a super hero?"

Jennifer shook her head again, she liked super heroes but she had a feeling they weren't thinking about the same ones.

"Now Jenny, your mommy does it, don't you want to be like your mommy?"

Before Jennifer had a chance to answer her mother stepped in.

"Damn it Kal she doesn't _"

Kalvin slapped her cutting her off in mid-sentence. Jennifer jumped, now she definitely didn't want any part of it.

"Answer my question Jenny, don't you want to be like mommy?"

His voice was firmer and scarier now. Jennifer shook her head again. Then she looked at her mom and saw what looked like a little bit of happiness. It confused Jennifer, but that must mean that her mom was proud of her, right?

"Jenny, listen to me, you're going to have to do this sometime so take the damn straw!"

Jennifer hesitantly took the straw from Kalvin and knelt down on the torn, carpeted floor. Instead of putting the straw in her nose, she put it too her mouth and blew through the straw as hard as she could. The red sand went everywhere.

"What the hell did you do?! That was 600 credits worth of Sand!" Kalvin yelled as he jumped up in surprise and rage. "That's it I am going to teach you a lesson in respect young lady!"

"No! Kal please don't!" Isabelle pleaded.

"Shut up!" Kalvin shouted as he slapped her with the back of his hand.

Kalvin grabbed Jennifer painfully by the arm and forced her to bend over the couch. Keeping one hand on Jennifer, he used the other to undo his belt and pull it out of the belt loops of his rugged jeans. He folded the belt in half and began striking her backside. Each strike caused a sharp pain to go through her whole body. Jennifer cried out each time Kalvin struck her. By the time he was finished beating her, she had no more tears to cry and she was sure she had bruises.

There were several instances after that when Kalvin tried to get her to inhale the red sand but each time she refused, and each time she refused Kalvin would beat her. As Jennifer got older the beatings increased in intensity. Jennifer grew more and more terrified not just because of the pain but because she was afraid Kalvin would eventually kill.

Finally she got the courage to sneak out of the house. Even an alley way felt safer then when Kalvin was around. Jennifer just sat on the ground pulled her knees in towards herself and cried.

"What's the matter little one? You cry like a mother who lost her child in battle."

Jennifer looked up to see an old Turian looking at her. His face was like that of any other with the hard scales and marking, but his eyes were kind.

"It's Kalvin," she said wiping the tears from her trying to make herself look a little bit tougher "he hits me every time he comes over." Her voice wavered.

"Why don't come with me and I can teach you how to fight back" His voice more stern this time but still kind. Jennifer hesitated.

"I promise I will not hurt you." He promised as he held out his hand.

Jennifer knew the danger of talking to strangers but she also knew that there could be little that would be worse than home. So she took his hand.

"I'm Jennifer, what's your name?" she said kind of quietly not sure how he would react because she had never spoke to a Turian before.

"Unfortunately my name would be too hard to pronounce for someone of your age." He said as he started leading her to his home.

"What about Sensei?" Jen asked.

"Sensei? That's an interesting name, where did you get that name from?"

"In school. My teacher is telling us about Japanese history and she said that the word Sensei means teacher."

"That sounds like a perfect name." The Turian said smiling.

From that point on Jennifer met with Sensei almost every night that Kalvin was there. Unfortunately there would be days where Kalvin would be there when Jennifer would come home from school. On those days she would still be offered Red Sand, she would refuse, and she would be beaten.

Twelve Years Later

Tonight was the night. Jen was going to put an end to the violence that had been inflicted on her since she was a small child. She ran through the scenario in her head. He'll come over. He'll ask me if I want some Red Sand. I'll say no. Then when he goes to beat me that's when I'll let him have it. Jen had secretly been training in martial arts from the retired Turian General she called Sensei. She had come to admire him, he trained her as if she were a Turian soldier. In the beginning at age 8 she had a hard time doing some of the manoeuvre but she was determined to get it right. He pushed her to her limits and beyond. Finally, all of her training would pay off. Sensei said that she was ready to put her skills to the test.

She paced the room. Jen wine red hair, which normally reached down to the middle of her back, was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a pair of relaxed camouflage sweat pants and a black tank. Kalvin would be here any minute to get high with Isabelle. Jen no longer called her "mom", she lost that right when she failed at protecting Jen from Kalvin. The terrifyingly familiar knock on the door jarred her from her thoughts.
"Jenny if you only said yes to him for once he would stop." Isabelle said just before opening the door.

As expected, Kalvin showed up with a couple of bags of red sand in his hands. He looked coldly at Jen. Then Jen did something she had never done before and stared coldly back. Kalvin must not have liked it because when he noticed that Jen wasn't intimidated by him, he paced up to her. Stand your ground Jen, don't show him fear. Jen thought to herself as he came toe to toe with her.

"You got something to say Jenny?" Kalvin said coldly

"What do you think?" Jen said with a strength she didn't know she had.

"I think your being disrespectful."

"Since when do you know anything about respect?" Jen challenged

Just then Kalvin tried to strike her but Jen had blocked the blow with her forearm. In response she kneed him in the groin sending him to his knees, perfect for her fist to make contact with the side of his head sending him the rest of the way to the floor. Next she landed a knee in between his shoulder blades and grabbed his left arm and twisted it painfully behind his back.

"Now, you listen to me you worthless piece of shit. I am going to leave this planet and get away from your crap. You and Isabelle can snort that red junk till you overdose but you will never again lay a hand on me. You will not come look for me because if you do... I will kill you."

With that she let him up off the ground, grabbed her bag which she had prepped earlier that was sitting just behind the brown ragged old couch and walked out the door. Jen knocked on the door of Sensei's house. The door whooshed open and the friendly Turian face she had known since she was 8 greeted her.

"I did it Sensei, I stood up to him."

"That's good to hear, do you know where you are going to go?"

"I was thinking of going to Earth or possibly Omega, I want to make a difference and both places have their fair share of crime."

"Did you ever think about joining your Alliance?" Sensei asked.

In truth she had thought about it but was unsure about so many things. She liked the uniform but at the same time she didn't want to get tied up in military politics.

"I have, but I don't know if it's a good fit for me."

"You've had the honour of receiving training from a retired Turian General. You should pick up on their program easily enough."

"I just don't like the politics of it all." Jen admitted.

"My dear, you're going to get politics no matter where you go, it's just looks different in each place."

"Yeah that's true," Jen thought for a moment, "You know what I think I will go with the Alliance."

"Good, now you better get going before Kalvin realizes he was just humiliated by a girl."

"Girl?" Jen said playfully.

"Sorry Jen, I meant woman. Now get going."

"Yes Sensei. I'll call you every once and a while to let you know how I am."

"I look forward to it."

With that Jen booked a flight off of that God forsaken planet and was headed for the training base on earth.