A/N- Shameless Shenko going on here. This is a novelization of an Earthborn Shepherd's life and love. This first story will chronicle the first game, and updates will likely be slowish. I hope anyone who takes the time to read enjoys the ride.
I don't own the actuall Mass Effect franchise. Just multiple copies of each game.
July, 2166
Andy Shepard watched as the lights on the shuttles flashed over her head. She was laying on her back in the grass of a small park. She was happy it was summer, the warm weather was a nice way to start out being homeless. She wondered idly if her parents had been on a ship like that. She guessed it was unlikely, the ships taking off from the nearby ship yard were pretty expensive and it was doubtful that her parents would have been able to afford passage on one of them. Andy knew she shouldn't really be surprised that they had done it. That they had left her.
Once the First contact war had ended, her parents, who were huge alien enthusiasts, had been the first to sign up for the possibility of outside colonization. And they hadn't let a little thing like having a kid stop them from accepting the first offer they had gotten. A small colony, out in the traverse. No children allowed. Insisting that it was for her own good, that it was too dangerous out there now, but that they would send for her, they had gone with hardly a backwards glance, making the pretense of leaving her with a relative. A great aunt, who was apparently senile enough to not realize that she had been saddled with a preteen girl.
Great Aunt Irma had been nice enough, when she was lucid, but she did seem to think that Andy was someone named Lucy who had come to stay for a bit. Andy was careful to stay out of her way, not quite sure what she would do if she was asked to leave.
Considering the way things had been going in her life lately she wasn't really all that surprised when she had found Irma dead in the kitchen one morning. She had dutifully called the authorities and had watched with resignation as arrangements were made for her to become a ward of the state. She packed a meager bunch of possessions and followed along numbly as she was taken to her temporary foster home. She worried that she should feel more about the passing of her aunt, but she was rather preoccupied with her own fate. Andy comforted herself with the knowledge that she had only known Irma for the space of a few weeks and did her best to put it from her mind.
Andy spent a month in the foster home before she realized that she simply couldn't tolerate it anymore. It wasn't that the couple running it were bad people, they had simply opened their home to more children then they could supervise. The lack of supervision had led to the kids coming up with their own hierarchy, and as the new girl, Andy was definitely on the bottom of the pile. A couple of the oldest kids seemed to think they could get away with a ridiculous amount of nastiness to the others, and Andy refused to cooperate with that. Which made her something of a target.
Sick of the fights and worried about what would happen to her after one of the fights had ended abruptly when she had biotically slammed one of the older boys into a table. She had left quickly, not wanting to know what would happen to a basically orphaned biotic. Her parents had instilled enough knowledge of conspiracy theories to scare the crap out of her. She had grabbed her school bag on her way out the door and taken off before they had finished disentangling the boy from the scraps of the table.
That had been nearly two weeks ago. Summer vacation had started and she was happy to not have to worry about people wondering what she was doing out of school. The back pack had not really contained much in the way of useful items. Her omnitool, a very basic model that that her parents had been required to purchase her for school, a couple of books and some granola bars. Obviously she hadn't intended to live off of the contents of the bag. She sighed and sat up, she really shouldn't stay here. It was morning and she new that people would be arriving soon, kids taking advantage of the lack of school and parents taking advantage of the neighboring zoo to keep them entertained.
Andy stood, brushing off her pants and then sat back down at the table tiredly. She hadn't eaten in two days. And what she had eaten then had been suspect, having come out of a trash can. She had been smelly too, and she wasn't really sure that the small washing she had given herself in a public restroom had done all that much good. She had read a book once, about a group of homeless children living by stealing and being clever. It had definitely not mentioned the dirt and the hunger.
She decided that it wasn't really worth it to move along, she was tired and weak, and figured she could just sit here and read or something. Hopefully she wouldn't draw much attention, and she might get lucky and someone would leave a nice uneaten picnic somewhere nearby. She slipped on her omnitool and opened up solitaire, her fingers moving as she played the game, simply wiling away the time.
Kaidan Alenko watched as the girl on the bench booted up her 'tool and sat hunched over it. He was on a brief home visit from BAAT and had been spending most of that time here. She had been in and around the park every day this week. He supposed it might be odd that he had noticed, but something about her had stood out to him. And he didn't think it was entirely because of the bruises that she had blooming across her cheek. They had turned an interesting shade of blue green and the fact that she kept her hair over her face didn't do much to hide it. She suddenly looked up and he managed to look away before her gaze fell on him and he walked by her, hoping he looked like he was minding his own business.
He crossed over to the concession stand and bought a large meal, two huge sandwiches and fries, carrying them back to the table next to the one the girl was sitting at. He picked at the fries as he felt her eyes on him and then he jumped slightly and opened his omnitool like he had received a message. He stood quickly and walked briskly away like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. He paused at the entrance of the park and saw that she had moved too. She was walking for another park exit, her bag bouncing in her back. He looked back at the tables and was happy to see that the food was gone.
March, 2171
Andy tried her best to look nonchalant as she stood lookout in front of a small electronics store. She still felt somewhat uncomfortable being involved with crimes like this, and knew that in her situation that was a weakness. She was female, and young. She knew that only her mild biotic abilities and her willingness to come along as back up on things like this kept her in this part of the business of the gang, and not in another branch that she would find much less palatable.
She stood up straighter and cursed slightly as the proprietor of the store, a kind looking middle aged man came around the corner and she gave a low whistle, the signal to clear out. She stepped away from the shadow in the doorway of the neighboring building and walked briskly towards the man, knocking into him and exaggeratedly falling to the ground with a cry. As she had expected he stopped, apologizing profusely and leaning down to help her up. She stuttered and blinked her eyes in a way that she hoped made her either alluring or pathetic, whatever would keep him distracted by her longer, and caught sight of Bug, the other lookout nodding the all clear to her. She smiled at the man and brushed off his apology, moving away from him and assuring him that she was fine. She waited for him to turn from her and then blended quickly into the crowd of passersby, rushing to meet up with the others.
As she had anticipated, there was more than a little anger as she caught up. "What the fuck is your problem Shepard? One guy was not a reason to call things off. We coulda handled him, no problem."
Andy glared at John, the one in charge of the small burglary, "You know as well as I do that we were only there for one thing. And beating up some old guy, while fun for you I'm sure, would have attracted way more attention than we want." At not seeing his glare lessen any she rolled her eyes and threw off the restraining hand of Bug as she advanced, "You have a problem with that? Take it up with Tank, not me. I'm not the one in charge."
John sorted with disgust, "And aren't we all grateful for that. We wouldn't none of us eat." He moved away and smacked Bug in the back of the head as he moved on down the street.
Andy looked at Bug and smiled slightly. "You ok?"
He nodded and then shook his head, "But you sure won't be, you keep pissing him off that way. Tank won't be around forever, and when he's gone, and John's in charge, you are so screwed." He started walking, Andy moving to keep step with his stilted gait.
She worried that that statement would apply to the both of them. Bug's club foot was good in his use as a diversion she supposed, but honestly she knew that John had little use for him. She needed to find a way to get them both out as unlikely as that seemed. It didn't help that Bug just would not stop using. Red sand was nasty stuff, and his dependence on it meant that he would probably never get out. He would simply die. That was monumentally depressing.
Andy took a deep breath, "Listen, I'm gonna take a walk, give him time to cool off. I'll see you later." She punched his shoulder lightly as she left, veering off down an unfamiliar street, honestly content to just lose herself for awhile.
She walked for about an hour, randomly turning corners and basically getting herself pretty lost. She was surprised when she looked up and realized that she recognized where she was. It was the park she had spent almost a week in when she was twelve. It was where that boy had left her food. She knew that he had done it on purpose, at least she was pretty sure that he had. She had gone over it in her head dozens of times in the intervening years and she was pretty convinced of it.
She entered the park and sat on a picnic table, her feet propped on the bench below her. She watched some boys playing soccer several yards away and leaned over, her elbows resting on her knees as she let her mind wander. She supposed she was better off than she had been then. She had food and regular access to showers. She also had an uncertain situation with violent people who either wanted her dead or didn't really care much one way or the other. She would have left a long time ago if she had thought there was anywhere she could go. The Reds would find her anywhere in the city, and she would never have the means to go farther than that. And then there was Bug.
Her usefulness as a biotic was the only thing that kept them both alive and in the relative good graces of the powers that be. She felt responsible for the kid. With a sigh she dropped her head into her hands and sat like that for awhile, only looking up when she felt the buzz of another biotic nearby. She looked up to see the biotic in question looking back at her, apparently having felt the same thing. With some surprise she felt herself blush as she recognized him. He was the boy who had left her his food. What were the chances of that?
Andy thought it doubtful that he would recognize her. Unlike him, she had changed quite a bit, back then she had been a skinny twelve year old, half starved and filthy. She had had a big ass bruise covering half of her face and her blonde hair had been dirty enough that the color had been pretty unrecognizable. Now she was nearly seventeen, wearing relatively clean clothes and had her hair dyed black and enough eyeliner on for at least a dozen other girls as Bug had gleefully informed her a few weeks ago.
She smiled slightly at him as he smiled at her and moved to sit down beside her. Not close enough to touch, but still close enough that their energy buzzed happily, a sensation she had never felt before, not even with the few other biotics she had met. She looked sideways at him and was completely satisfied that he had no idea who she was. He was wearing a uniform, the crisp material making him look handsome she thought, and frowned internally at herself. She usually didn't think along those lines. It only got you into trouble.
She cleared her throat and asked, "Alliance?" She gestured at the uniform and smiled again as he looked down, almost like he was surprised to find himself wearing it.
He nodded, "Yeah, I just joined up. Shipping out this afternoon."
Andy tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. He had a nice voice she thought, low and kinda scratchy. "Aren't you a little old for a new recruit?"
Kaidan grinned sheepishly and nodded, "Well, yeah I suppose I am. Better late than never, as my dad says."
She nodded slowly and asked, "They like biotics in the alliance? The rank and file usually seem a bit suspicious." She looked out over the field as she spoke.
Kaidan watched her, wondering why her profile seemed so oddly familiar. He belatedly answered, "They do, I suppose they find us useful. Pretty amazing incentives."
Andy sat up straighter as she looked across the way and saw John leaning against a tree, looking right at her. She wasn't doing anything wrong… but still, sitting around chatting up a guy in uniform was probably an unwise thing to be seen doing. She stood quickly, stepping off of the bench and turning briefly with a small wave. "It was nice talking to you, but I really need to go."
Watching her leave, Kaidan felt oddly bereft as the low hum of her biotic energy moved away. He wondered at her sudden change in mood and frowned as she approached a man across the field, shoving his hand away from her as he had reached out to grab her arm. They left together, but it was obvious from their body language that neither of them were particularly happy about it. He stood and started to turn to leave when she looked back, he lifted his hand in a wave but she didn't respond. She just turned back and left. As she disappeared from view, he realized why she seemed so familiar. Something about watching her walk from that exit confirmed who she was in his mind. He had always wondered what had happened to the girl from all that time ago. He still didn't know, but it didn't really look good.
February, 2172
Andy was breathing heavily as she ran down the street, her breath puffing out in front of her in the frigid air. She turned a corner and almost slipped as she hit a patch of ice, over correcting and swearing as she put out an arm to catch herself against the side of a building. Hearing the clear sounds of her pursuers catching up she took a turn down an alley and dove behind a pile of garbage, trying to slow her breathing down as she heard the cops come closer. She hoped like hell that they didn't have any extra tech on them that would allow them to detect her, and waited, trying to hold her breath. They moved on and she closed her eyes in relief.
Slowly she stood and stepped out from behind the garbage, curling her lip at the new aroma she had, just her luck to find a pile of restaurant garbage to hide in. Oh well, beggars and choosers and all that. She hefted the case she carried, it was the latest in weapon mods. She was somewhat uncomfortable handing them over and put them in her bag as she walked, mulling it over. She walked on, coming up on a small vacant lot and frowned as she heard a noise. There was a meaty thud and a small cry, like an exhausted exhalation. A beating then, and it must have been going on a while. Against her better judgment, she turned to approach the source of the noise, fingering the pistol she had under her jacket and stopping dead in her tracks at what she saw.
It was John, and a handful of others, they were gathered around a form huddled on the cold ground. She got closer and realized that the person on the ground was Turian. John pulled back his leg to deliver another kick and she yelled without thinking, "Stop it!" She got closer, committed to this course of action as John turned his angry eyes on her. She saw the… man maybe?… on the ground turn his head as well and felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she saw the blue blood smeared everywhere. She couldn't let this happen. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Why don't you mind your own damn business bitch? This doesn't concern you. Unless of course, you want to join in?" John almost smiled and she couldn't keep the disgust off of her face as she stood in front of him, feeling the eyes of the others on them as they faced off. This moment had been coming for a long time she supposed. She had finally reached a point where she could not let this continue.
"I think you have made whatever point you were trying to make. You should leave now." She looked at him cooly, her eyes as hard and unyielding as she could make them. She was standing with her feet slightly apart, braced for the fight she was pretty sure would be coming.
John sneered at her, "I don't answer to you. And what do you care anyway? Fucking alien is getting what he deserves. Coming here onto -our- turf. Don't you care how many humans died because of them? What are you, an alien lover?"
"I don't think that this turian was single handedly responsible for the first contact war any more than you were." She spoke quietly, trying to ignore the poor beaten thing at her feet, unable to, she glanced down at him. John made use of her distraction, reaching for his gun. With barely a thought as she saw him move, she lifted her hand and pulled mentally, creating a mass effect field that froze John in place. She looked at him nervously and then looked around at the others, her hand still raised. She was grateful for a moment for the general distrust people had for biotics as they scattered. Leaving her with an injured turian and a very angry John who would come out of stasis any time and shoot her.
Andy stooped and looked down at the alien on the ground, noting that he was still conscious. "I won't be able to carry you, do you think you can walk if I help?"
He nodded slowly and lifted his arm, she took it and levered him to his feet, moving as quickly as she could. She got to the street and leaned him against the outside of a car. He looked at her curiously as she picked up a rock and broke the window in. "Sorry, no time for finesse, and we need to get out of here quick. Otherwise I obviously would never -steal-." She tried not to think of the case of illegal mods in her bag as she helped him into the car before slipping behind the wheel and opening her omnitool. She shut off the alarm and started the motor. Then looked at the wheel in confusion. This was the strangest control mechanism she had ever seen, just her luck to choose some kind of antique. She looked at the gear shift and bit her lip as she put it to the 'D' figuring that D for drive was hopefully pretty universal. She then gripped the wheel and put her foot out to the pedals. She hit one and the car jerked forward.
She smiled as she got the hang of the steering thing and took off down the road, looking over to see her new friend looking at her with an expression she couldn't read. Not being overly familiar with the facial expressions of aliens.
Andy slowed to a stop in front of a hospital and turned the car off. She looked at the alien, he had closed his eyes and was leaning his head back, resting she presumed. "Do you think you can get inside?"
He nodded and looked at her. "Thank you. I know you did not need to get involved. I have never thought particularly highly of humans, you might just have changed my mind."
"I… Thank you. I, um, I'm not going to stick around, it's… well, it's…"
"It is better for you not to be found here. I think I understand. You go. I will wait a moment before going inside."
She smiled slightly and opened the door, "Thanks." She said as she slipped out and rushed off into the night. She had no idea what she was going to do now.
The morning found Andy waiting outside of a small store that fronted for a fence. He was small time, and the reds had never dealt with him much, so she hoped she could get in and out without him realizing who she was and thinking he needed to tell anyone that she was here. When he had opened the store she stepped inside and slapped the case of mods down on the counter. Without preamble she asked, "How much?" She was aware of how she looked, she looked like what she was, desperate. She couldn't risk dickering and knew that the man would be able to sense that.
Predictably, his eyes narrowed slightly as he sized her up and with hardly a look at the goods he quoted a price that was ridiculously low. Andy nodded and doing the math in her head knew that with what she had stashed at the transport station, it would be enough. Enough to take her somewhere off world maybe. "I'll take it."
The man looked almost disappointed that he had offered that much but turned and handed over the credit chit. Pocketing it, Andy left the store, and keeping her head down as she headed for the station.
As she got there she crossed directly for the bank of lockers that stood on the far wall and pulled out her key, accessing hers. She jumped as she heard someone behind her. "I knew I would find you here."
Andy turned and looked at Bug, "Well, I figured you would know that." She pulled the bag from the locker and checked the contents before pulling it over her shoulder.
"You really did it this time. They're going to kill you you know."
"I figured they would try. Bug, I have enough to get both of us out of here. You should come with me."
He smiled and the expression almost made Andy grimace before she caught herself. The drugs had done a number on him, his face and body were cadaverous and she knew that if he did not get clean, he would be dead very soon. "And then what Andy? Where would we go?"
"We can go somewhere away from here. We can get you some help." She knew that her voice had taken on the pleading quality that it always did when they talked about his addiction, and she knew that he recognized it as he smiled that horrible smile again and shook his head.
"I think we both know that that won't happen. You should definitely go though."
"I can't just leave you, they might kill you because of me."
Bug shook his head, "Nah, I'm just a junkie. They won't waste the bullet. We all know I'm not gonna last much longer anyway."
Andy clenched her teeth and shook her head no, but Bug held up a hand, "You know it's true, and I think you also know that it's ok with me. You shoulda left a long time ago. It was selfish of me to let you stay because you felt like you had to. They don't know about this. And I won't tell them. I just wanted to say goodbye." He stepped closer and hugged her. As he stepped back he made a face. "And pay for a shower, you stink like garbage."
She laughed and it sounded pathetic because it came out as more of a sob. Bug ruffled her hair and stepped back, "You go off and be awesome now. Join the alliance, or cerberus, or something. I know you've thought about it."
Andy nodded and watched as he turned and wound his way through the crowd of people rushing through the station. She took a deep breath and headed for the ticket counter. She looked at the next transport scheduled to leave and saw that she had enough credits since Bug was not coming. With that sober thought she bought the ticket and rushed to catch the shuttle. She was apparently going to Arcturus Station. Considering Bug's last words to her, she found that ironically amusing. It was to be the alliance then. She had known cerberus was never going to be an option, she had issues with the level of bigotry they seemed to embody. Maybe some of her parent's alien obsessed ways had rubbed off on her. Or maybe she was just a fair minded person. She hoped it was the latter. Alien obsessed seemed to bring images of teenaged boys enamored with asari to mind.
As she took her seat on the shuttle Andy glanced around, realizing how very out of place she was. She was surrounded by soldiers and the type of people who work around them, people who looked professional, and like they belonged. She considered the Alliance, wondering if that could be a place where she could belong. She wouldn't be eighteen for nearly two months, and wondered if she had enough credits to have a place to sleep and food until then. She looked out the window as the shuttle left atmo and gripped her arm rests, drawing an amused glance from the man next to her. She looked at him and smiled slightly, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks. He held out a hand, the gesture surprising her so much that it took a moment before she responded in kind, the blush on her cheeks deepening.
He smiled wider as they shook hands, his teeth looking very white against his dark skin. "I'm Commander David Anderson."
Releasing his hand, Andy cleared her throat and replied, "I'm Andy Shepard."
Commander Anderson nodded and gestured to the window, "Is it your first time off planet?"
Andy nodded and twisted her hands in her lap nervously, "Yeah, that obvious, huh?"
"Well, the death grip you had on my arm there was a bit of a give away."
Looking down, she felt her face flush in mortification, what she had taken for an arm rest had been his arm -on top of- the arm rest, "Shi.., um, I'm sorry."
He grinned at her obvious discomfort and the fact that she had cut off the curse word, "No harm done. Auspicious choice for your first trip off of earth. You're visiting someone on the station?"
Andy considered lying, then thought better of it. "No, I'm actually hoping to join the Alliance navy when I turn 18 in a few weeks, and I found that the place I had to stay on earth was no longer available to me. This seemed like as good a place as any for me to go. It was the next departing shuttle." She smiled wryly, sure that he would think she was either crazy, or the petty criminal homeless person that she was. Anticipating his polite, or not so polite, dismissal she turned to look out the window again, watching the void of space with fascination. Looking like this, she could almost understand what had drawn her parents so much.
Anderson watched the girl and thought. He considered himself an excellent judge of people, and something about this girl… well, he thought she had definite potential. She was admittedly a bit rough around the edges. She had the look of a young delinquent. And she had an interesting though faint aroma of garbage about her. He imagined there would be an interesting story behind that. He focused on the matter at hand. "Why do you want to join the Alliance?"
Surprised at the continuation of their conversation, Andy turned back to him and tilted her head to the side as she thought of her answer, "Well, I want to help people, and the Alliance seems like a good way to do that. I'm a biotic, and it seems like a good use of my powers. I don't really have anywhere else to go, and it seems like a place where someone could actually belong." She hadn't really meant to add that last bit. but something about his gaze, the directness of it, like he could see into her mind himself had prompted a level of honesty that she had never shared with anyone. It was disconcerting in the extreme.
"Your parents?"
She understood the question posed by those two words and couldn't help the slight snort that she gave, "Not in the picture. Gone, possibly dead."
Commander Anderson reached a decision then and nodded slightly, more to himself than to her. "I think we might be able to figure out a way around the fact that you aren't quite eighteen. When exactly does that change?"
Andy had been looking at him in surprise, "April 11, sir."
He grinned, "No need for the sir just yet. We should be able to get you in an early training program pretty easily."
"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why?"
"Why would I help you? Well, for the most part, we all need a hand sometime. And you strike me as someone who needs a hand. You also strike me as capable, or I would not be quite so willing to help." He watched her digest that and smiled when she nodded.
"Thank you, I won't disappoint you, Commander."