AN- I have no idea where this came from. Posssible sequel in the works, now I've just got to finish this. Please r&r. This is the story of Hannah Shepard, my Femshep's mother. She's young, 19/20. Her backstory will be revealed as the story unfolds.

Lance Corporal Hannah Shepard had been stationed on Shanxi for nearly six months when the expedition sent through the relay was wiped out, except for a lone ship. She'd remained on the Shanxi garrison, ready for action, but not really expecting it. After the reinforcements had been sent off, she had mostly just been grateful that her pain-in-the-ass CO had gone with them. He'd come back though, sooner than she would have liked. It wasn't that she wished the man dead, she just wished he was alive somewhere else; preferably somewhere far away from her.

It was when the enemy reinforcements arrived that she was hit with the realities of war. Her unit had been separated from the garrison early on, and communications were infrequent. She spared a thought for General Williams, he was a good man and a good Commander. She knew that he took the loss of any men under his command personally, and that he took the loss of civilian lives under his protection even worse. Judging by what she'd seen so far, the man wouldn't be sober for a week after this was over.

It would be over eventually, she reasoned. Maybe she'd even be alive to see it.

"Lance Corporal?" Captain Fischer asked.

"Yes Sir?" She asked, bringing her attention back to proceedings.

The way he looked at her sent alarm bells ringing and a chill done her spine. He ordered her to get some sleep, as she was on the second watch.

When she was woken for her watch, she was tired and cranky. Nonetheless, Hannah Shepard knew her duty. Her watch was uneventful, until around four in the morning when she went to wake the third Watchman. She froze as something chemical reached her on the wind, mixed with a scent she knew far too well. 'Fischer!'

She heard the creak of new boots as he lunged, putting a cloth over her mouth. She pretended to go limp after seconds of struggling, but he held the cloth there long enough that a normal woman would have definitely been unconscious. This wasn't the first time he'd knocked someone out with that method.

The implications made her sick. As he lay her back onto the grass, she remained limp, allowing the fresh air to clear her mind slightly. It wasn't until the bastard's hands were on her zipper that she reacted, lashing out with the powerful right hook that had made her infamous in her hometown. The second he was down, she stood, every nerve tensed for action.

"Captain?" A voice called. The third watchman looked at the scene in front of him, as Corporal Hannah Shepard stared at him in shock. "Captain!" He cried. "Shepard took out the Captain!"

She opened her mouth to deny it when her peripheral vision caught movement on her left. She reached out and broke Fischer's arm with ease, realizing too late that she'd played into his hands. As the first bullets started flying, she ran. They wouldn't be able to follow her in the dark woodlands, not unless they stopped to grab their night gear.

She could outrun them. Not for the first time in her life, she thanked her father for her modifications.

It was easy to slip into thoughtlessness, to give reign to her instincts. The steady, light thumping of her feet as she ran through seemingly infinite trees, occasionally interrupted as she jumped over ditches and tree trunks, in her way.

As she neared a slope, she prepared to roll, the lessen the impact on her knees. Just as she was beginning to curl, a strong grasp on her arm pulled her towards an armoured chest, trapping her. Panic shot through her like lightning, and she reared backwards to headbutt her assailant. Stars erupted in her vision, and she stumbled out of the cage-like arms. Spinning around to face her attacker, she blinked. It wasn't Fischer! It wasn't human, and she should really be scared shitless at this point, but it wasn't Fischer!

She blinked again, and the number of human-raptor aliens decreased. There were two, one a distinctly purple colour that reminded her of the purple foxgloves on the path near her mother's observatory, and the other a dark colour that she couldn't discern in the shadowed light.

She blinked again, and the world faded away as she fell.