"Come on, sis, the recruitment office is just down here" Jane said in front of me.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," I mumbled as we neared the office, brushing my long brown hair behind my ears.
"Wonder if they'll accept us" Jane thought aloud as I turned to look at her.
Her dark green eyes stared at the office as her short black hair blew around her face. I smiled in encouragement as I gave her a one-arm hug.
"Come on, the Alliance wouldn't pass up potential soldiers now, would they? I just hope we get assigned off this planet," I told her, grinning as we joined the queue of eager men and woman. I recognized a few of them from the gang; seemed Jane and I weren't the only ones wanting a fresh start.
"What's wrong with Earth?" she asked me, sarcastically.
"Nothing's wrong with it, its just…There are so many planets in the galaxy…and I want to explore them. Earth is just too boring. I want to go up there," I explained, pointing a long, slender finger towards the sky.
"You just want to find that turian," she mumbled, rolling her eyes as I punched her arm.
"That's not the only reason" I glared playfully at her as she shrugged, rubbing her arm.
"So much space; so little time" I sighed dreamily.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Jane smiling at me.
"Don't worry, Sis. There's enough time to explore the galaxy. Right now, though, we need to sign up" she ended it as we came to the front of the queue and signed up to the Alliance.
3 months later…
"Come on, sis. The shuttle won't wait forever!" I shouted to Jane up the stairs before picking up my weighted bags. We've about to leave Earth and start training as an Alliance soldier.
I was so excited but also slightly panicked. Never going to space before sorta does that to you.
"Calm down, it won't leave without us" Jane assured me as I turned to see her walking down with her bags which were similar to mine.
We stood silently as we looked up at the stairs leading up to our soon-to-be available apartment along with the other occupied apartments
"I can't believe we're actually leaving," I mumbled.
"Whatever, just hurry up," Jane told me as she picked up her bags and left the building. After a few more minutes, I left the block that contained our shared apartment since we couldn't afford to live on our own.
I placed my luggage in the shuttle under the chairs and took my seat next to Jane as the shuttle doors began to close.
"I wonder how mom will react," Jane quietly mumbled to me. I began thinking about it, immediately regretting it because of the sudden guilt that came with it.
We didn't tell her because we knew she wouldn't let us go and leave her with dad.
That is my biggest regret: leaving her alone with 'dad' the retired Alliance marine with a drinking problem.
I 'hummed' in reply, dismissing the thoughts of mom and dad as I tried to settle my inner guilt.
"Well, Lils, time to begin the adventure" Jane said smiling at me. I grinned at her and grabbed her hand.
"We begin the adventure together, sis," I told her. She grinned back.
"Wouldn't have it any other way," she said as the shuttle began to fly off.
A man came out from the front of the shuttle.
"Morning, I am Corporal Alenko and I need to brief you on certain knowledge and events before we land at Alliance HQ" he stated, sitting opposite us before handing each of us a folder.
"These contain future information you may need but for now we'll stay with the basics" he smiled at us as he began to brief us; the dull hum of the shuttle's engine ringing around the container.
That was 10 years ago…
I woke up to a repeating buzzing sound that began to grate on my nerves. Jane decided it would be funny to hide an alarm clock set to 4am in my room and not tell me where it is. She says I sleep too much and decided the alarm clock would be helpful.
I groaned as I finally got the energy to get up and dressed in my Alliance casuals. Stretching all the kinks in my body, I looked at the calendar on my desk. Today was the day we were going to do the shakedown run. I sighed sleepily as I pulled my shirt over my head.
A lot has happened in the years of serving the alliance: I got promoted to Lieutenant, Jane to Commander, and all in the space of ten years.
It probably wouldn't have happened if the battles on Torfan never happened.
I would happily remain a low rank if it meant I didn't have to live through that again.
I decided to leave my room in search of my sister and beg her again for the 7th time this week to get that fricking alarm clock out of my room! I opened and locked the door to my private room as I headed down the corridor and into the elevator.
Pressing the top button, I waited for a few painfully slow minutes before the doors reopened in the mess hall.
A few of the newest recruits were relaxing at the tables as we exchanged nods and 'Morning's' before I headed up the stairs into the main area of the ship.
As I reached the top, the door guards saluted me as the dazing glow of the interactive galaxy map greeted me, along with the dozens of staff-occupied terminals surrounding the edges of the room.
Behind the map, various stations created a small island in the center of the room, each specifically designed for one of the ship's main maintenance areas.
Waving at some of the crew as well as Pressley, the ship's navigator, when I walked past them, heading to the front of the ship: the cockpit.
Form here, I could see Jane's silhouette in the darkness of the room; the lights of the ship's navigation terminals painted the room in a dark orange.
I could make out Joker's hat next to Jane's abdomen and also Kaidan's form next to him. I could tell it was Kaidan because no one else had that hairstyle.
I smiled as I made my way towards them.
"Hey, sis" I said, putting my arm over Jane's shoulders as Joker flew through the mass relay.
"Hey, Lily" she replied, glancing towards me with a smile.
"Sis, would you mind-" I began but she cut me off with a sharp 'no' leaving no room for argument. I sighed in defeat.
"I hate you," I mumbled, dropping my arm.
"I'm Commander, everyone hates me," she retorted as Joker snorted.
"Now that's not true Commander; we love you really" I could hear his smirk on the other side of the chair.
"Just drive the ship" Jane rolled her arms as she pressed her hand on his chair, leaning against it.
I looked to the right to see Kaidan sitting at the terminal.
"Hey, Kaidan. How's my favourite biotic?" I asked, moving towards him and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Been okay, Lils. Nothing unusual" He informed me.
"Implants okay?" I asked worried.
Kaidan unfortunately had an incident a week ago where Kaidan's shields had malfunctioned and a stray bullet had gone through Kaidan's arm and into his biotic implants.
"Been better; been worse. I'm fine, though. Don't worry" he encouraged me, the terminal's glow highlighting his dark brown hair and eyes.
"Good to hear" I told him, patting his shoulder before moving away and towards Joker.
I hugged him from behind: crouching behind the chair and wrapping my arms around his neck.
"And how is the greatest pilot in the Alliance doing?" I asked, tiredly, suddenly feeling very drowsy.
"Been better, though I reeeaaalllyyy need to take a piss" He joked. I laughed lightly as I removed my arms from his neck.
"No soiling the seats, got it?" I ordered playfully as I took my place on the left of Jane, behind Joker.
"Got it, Lieutenant," he said before the radio began to speak.
"Joker, tell Lt and Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room" Anderson's commanding voice sounded over the intercomm.
"Yes, Captain" he spoke obediently into the intercomm microphone before turning around to see us.
"Got that?" he asked us, raising an eyebrow.
"Got it," we replied in sync before turning and walking briskly down the long corridor, towards the main room.
As we walked around the island in the center of the control room, in the distance, I could hear a part of Joker and Kaidan's conversation.
"Sounds angry" Kaidan faint voice echoed behind me.
"He always sounds like that when he's talking to me" Joker sighed faintly as I had to focus to hear their voices the further we walked away.
"Can't possibly imagine why" was Kaidan's sarcastic reply. I snorted, smirking while earning a confused glance from Shepard before the guards saluted in time with the opening of the door to the comm room.
We entered quietly to see Nihlus standing near the intercomm.
"Hey, Nihlus" I smiled politely at the turian spectre.
"Hello, Lt Shepard" he replied politely, nodding his head.
"Where's the Captain?" Shepard interrupted our conversation, becoming cold towards Nihlus.
"He'll join us in a minute. I wanted to talk to you before he joins us" he answered passively, returning to business.
"About what?" I asked him curiously, crossing my arms.
He turned back to the intercomm where a large black screen was attached to the back wall behind a small control panel and a metal railing, creating a small platform with 6 circling chairs along the edges and a narrow pathway towards the exit.
There were three dark-silver plates in a row in from of the television, which I've recently learned was to communicate with the Alliance seniors and, in rare occasions, the council.
I drew my eyes away from the quick scan of the room and focused on Nihlus's form, leaning on the control panel and facing away from us.
"This place we're going to, Eden Prime, I've heard it's quite a paradise," he stated, factually.
"Very" I said offhand, eyeing him warily.
"A sign of humanity's progress since First Contact" he continued, slowly pressing on the subject.
"What are you getting at?" Jane asked, suspiciously, which I couldn't help but share.
Shepard's trust was hard to gain during our service to the Alliance. I think the only people she trusts at the moment is Kaidan, Joker and Doctor Chakwas, only because you will have a hard time in the Alliance if you don't trust the woman you takes care of your wounds.
I heard the door open behind us as I instinctively turned to see Anderson walk towards us.
"I think its time to tell them what's really going on," Anderson said, looking at Nihlus with a knowing look.
"This mission…it isn't a shakedown mission" Nihlus began. I rolled my eyes.
"When do we ever get simple missions? Though I guess I shouldn't be surprised," I sighed, dropping my arms and grabbing the bar behind me, leaning against it completely.
"Why else would a spectre be here?" Jane added, eyeing Nihlus.
"This is an important mission, Shepard. We needed to make sure no information was given out," Anderson defended, taking a place to the right of Nihlus.
I raised an eye at him.
"What kind of ' important mission' are we talking about here?" I asked them, intrigued.
"We're making a covert pick-up on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational" Anderson began to explain.
"I don't like being kept in the dark, Captain" Jane narrowed her eyes at Anderson who narrowed his eyes slightly in disapproval.
I glanced at her confused. Usually, she would understand something like this being kept secret.
'Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed today' I thought to myself, shrugging it off.
"This comes down from the top, Commander. Information strictly on a need-to-know basis" Anderson explained, though disapproval was laced in his words.
"Then why am I here? I'm just a Lieutenant" I asked him, confused.
"You have proved your loyalty to the Alliance on many occasions. Since a few of those missions were with me, I know personally that we could trust you with this information" he explained in detail.
I smiled at him in thanks as my inner self-pride grinned happily. I didn't know I was this trusted. I thought it would be because-
"Also, your sister is the Commander on this ship. She would know if you were giving information away about this," he added, nodding at Jane.
That's what I was waiting for. Don't get me wrong, I love my sister dearly, but sometimes it's really frustrating. It seems like the only reason people trust me or get to know me is because my sister is a Commander and probably their commanding officer. Getting to know your boss's sister is an easy way to stay on her good side.
Anderson quickly cut off my thoughts.
"A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation. It was Prothean" he finished, catching my interest.
"Prothean? I thought they died around 50,000 years ago," I said, becoming more curious the more he explained.
"Vanished, actually, but their legacy remains. The mass relays, the Citadel, our ship drives-It's all based on Prothean technology," Nihlus explained to me.
Anderson continued explaining.
"This is big, Shepard. The last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forwards 200 years" Anderson explained to Jane.
"But Eden Prime doesn't have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study" Anderson finished with Nihlus continuing.
"Obviously, this goes beyond mere human interest. This discovery to affect every species in Council space." Nihlus added.
"That's a bit of an exaggeration, isn't it? I mean, come on, it's just a beacon. What's so special about it?" I asked. I mean, how important could a beacon be?
Ignoring my question, Jane began to talk to Nihlus.
"We can handle this on our own" Shepard spoke with slight harshness.
"Unless something goes wrong" Nihlus retaliated. I silently agreed with Nihlus. At least if something goes wrong, we can blame it on the Spectre.
Anderson chose the perfect time to cut in.
"There's more. Nihlus isn't just here for the beacon. He's also here to evaluate you," he said to Shepard.
"Since when do we answer to spectres?" Shepard glared at Nihlus.
"Since they can do what the bloody hell they want. Why are you so grumpy today?" I whispered to Shepard. She's normally a quite cheerful person, if a little distant. Why the hell is she so uptight today?
Ignoring my question again, Anderson began to talk.
"You're smart enough to know how things work, Commander"
"The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time. Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council" Anderson explained to us, crossing his arms.
"The spectres represent the Council's power and authority. If they accept a human within their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come" he continued.
Nihlus cut in.
"I was pretty impressed when I studied the reports from Torfan. A grim business…but you got the job done" Nihlus told us.
I scowled and looked away. Torfan was a failure in my eyes. If I was in charge of the mission, I would have done things entirely different but that's just my sister. She will act sweet and kind to you normally but during a mission, she treats you as…expendable.
I get the same treatment. She got the job done, yes, but the measures she took to get there was unnecessary to say the least. She refuses to talk to me about it: I think something happened.
Nihlus's next line stopped my train of thought and quickly replaced it with shock.
"That's why I put your name forward as a candidate for the spectres"
I stared wide-eyed at Nihlus before turning to Shepard to see her reaction.
"I don't like people making decisions about my future" was her reply. That made me more shocked.
"Sis, you're offered to be the first human spectre and you're saying 'no'. Have you completely lost it, Jane?" I whispered angrily at her, astonished about her reaction.
"This isn't about you, Shepard. Humanity needs this. We're counting on you," he said to Shepard. Why is everyone ignoring me today or am I imagining myself speaking?
I could sing Britney Spears and still not get attention.
"I need to see your skills for myself, Commander. Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together," Nihlus told us.
I smiled inwardly. I spent some time talking with the turian since he spent some time on the ship. He's actually a good guy; I'm happy he's staying with us a little longer. I've always had a soft spot for turians, you could say.
"You'll be in charge of the ground team. Secure the beacon and get it onto the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission," Anderson continued to explained, pacing in front of us.
Don't mean to be rude but they're talking a lot at the moment. When're we getting to Eden Prime already? I'll have to talk to Joker when I leave the room…if I leave the room.
"Just give the word, Captain" Jane said. Finally, are we done? I'm not known for my patience.
"We should be getting close to Eden-" Joker cut off Anderson on the intercomm.
"Captain! We've got a problem," he said over the intercomm, slightly panicked.
"What's wrong, Joker?" All of us looked up at the ceiling.
"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!" Joker replied nervously.
"Bring it up on screen" Anderson ordered as we all turned to look at the screen.
Suddenly, an image appeared on the screen with bullets flying everywhere and a woman in a white suit running towards us.
"Get down" she ordered the person sending the transmission, pushing him lower to the ground.
Bullets continued to fly around the screen when another voice was heard.
"We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties. I repeat: heavy casualties! We can't…argh...-eed evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-"
He was cut off as he fell backwards and the camera turned to see everyone staring in shock at something. The camera followed their gaze to reveal a giant metal-like claw land on the ground and soon after the transmission died.
"Everything cuts out after that. No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing," Joker explained to us, unnerved.
"Reverse and hold at 38.5" Anderson ordered Joker.
Soon, the image changed to reveal the claw. I stared in shock at it.
"What the hell is that thing?" I mumbled to myself, pushing off the bar and walking closer to the screen.
"Status report" Anderson ordered Joker.
"Seventeen minutes out, Captain. No other Alliance ships in the area" Joker replied. After a moment of silence, Anderson spoke again.
"Take us in Joker. Fast and quiet…this mission just got a lot more complicated" Anderson told Joker, mumbling the end.
"A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It's our best chance to secure the beacon" Nihlus informed Anderson.
"Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold" Anderson ordered Nihlus.
"Tell Alenko to suit up, Commander. You're going in. You too, Lieutenant" Anderson told us as he marched the room.
After a moment silence, I turned to Jane.
"Well, this just got interesting" I commented as we smirk at each other.
"Come on," she said, wrapping her arm over my shoulder as we followed Anderson out.