AN: This is the first story of many I hope to write based in the Mass Effect universe. Mass Effect doesn't belong to me, it belongs to BioWare. So yes, insert legal wording here. As I said this is my first story and I'm just getting back into the swing of writing, reviews and constructive criticism are welcome and encouraged.
Warning: This story will contain violence, drug references, alcohol use, LGBT people, etc. So if such things offend you please turn back.
"I've met the most interesting people while flying or on a boat. These methods of travel seem to attract the kind of people I want to be with." – Hedy Lamarr
Vancouver, British Columbia - April 11th, 2172
"Well, Hedy, guess that's a good enough reason as any to get me anywhere but here." Alex mumbled down to the datapad in her hand. She powered down the battered and singed pad, placing it back into her bag. It was her eighteenth birthday and she was about to give herself the best and only gift she'd ever gotten for herself: she was about to join the Alliance and get the fuck off this rock.
Alex Shepard was someone who, despite her efforts to blend into the crowd, always managed to stand apart. Slightly taller than average, with a lithe build that came from a combination of too little food and too many fights, she could generally talk, shoot, or blast her way out of most circumstances. In a world that was ever-blending, many of the recessive physical traits had died off. The majority of people around her had at least some natural shade of brown or tan to their skin, as well as darker hair and eyes. Alex, however, was pale in complexion and would freckle instead of tanning. With her striking green eyes and naturally rich red hair, she tended to be easily visible in a crowd. However, what really made her stand apart was something intangible. There was an air of command about the young woman; something that caused heads to turn and inspired people to do what she asked of them. She carried a certain gravitas as she moved through the world around her, easily navigating the crowds of people that were everywhere in the cities where she had lived over the years.
Alex had spent most of her life roaming up and down the large megalopolis that now took over the vast majority of the state of California. All of the land from what had once been State Route 99 to the Pacific coast, and from Chico all the way down to the San Diego area, was just one giant city with suburbs and some chunks of farm land scattered throughout. Large portions of what had once been one of the best wine regions in the world had become too hot for the vines to thrive. The vineyard owners were doing their best to save their grapes, but the buildings and homes just kept squeezing in. Alex had the feeling that if the Big Ag companies weren't so damn powerful in the state, all the farm land would have disappeared decades ago, completing the transformation of the whole region into one enormous, sprawling city.
While growing up on the streets of a megalopolis had many downsides, it had taught Alex one very important lesson: while allies may emerge from time to time, they always left in the end. She would always end up alone. Alex ran her fingers through her hair as she stood outside the Alliance headquarters. Honestly, she didn't want to be alone. She hated being alone. That was part of why she wanted to join the Alliance. Well, that and she made a promise to make a better life for herself. In the Alliance, someone would always have her back. She had to go inside, but she was still nervous. Life on the streets and in gangs had been most of her existence. Her face twisted into a rueful smile. She was exchanging one violent life for another: one was seemingly indiscriminate with its victims, while the other attempted to be disciplined and organized. Hopefully, she would still have the chance to blow stuff up. With one more deep breath to center herself, she opened the door toward a new life.
Los Angeles - April 15th, 2154
The once-iconic train station had been transformed into an even more crucial central hub for travel over the years. People came and went at all hours, for a variety of reasons. Thankfully, one of those people happened to be Charles Dumas, an engineer with a private security firm, who had just finally gotten some long overdue time off to surprise his family with a visit. A young man with short black hair, light brown skin, and rich chocolate eyes, he was only twenty-five years old, with a sharp mind and a promising career in front of him. He had been trying to get this time off for months. His mother's birthday was coming up soon and he wanted the chance to surprise her before his employers sent him off to work on some new classified project that would keep him away from his family for at least a year. Charles preferred traveling lightly, as there was little worse than waiting for luggage, so he carried only a duffel bag. Nothing could take the bounce from his step as he hummed to himself, making his way to the main station exit.
He stopped in his tracks, humming cut off mid-tune as his grin turned into a frown. Over the general din of the station, he heard the sound of a baby's cry. While this sound may not be out of place in a crowded area, it caught Charles' attention. He had helped raise several younger siblings and knew a cry of distress when he heard one. What worried him the most was that it sounded like a newborn's cry. Part of him wanted to get back on his way. His youngest sister, Amelia, was the only one who knew he was on his way home. She was helping him by setting up a surprise party for his mother, and was expecting him shortly. Sighing, he bowed his head, rubbing the spot between his eyebrows with the middle finger of his right hand, something he always did when he was being indecisive. Surely, the child's parent would calm it down soon. Why was he even worrying?
Charles looked at the clock high up on the wall of the station. Amelia wasn't expecting him for an hour and it only took thirty minutes by cab, even in the perpetual traffic of the city. It was then that Charles realized that he had been standing there for almost five minutes, lost in thought, and the crying hadn't stopped. In fact, it seemed to have become more desperate. Well, that made up his mind for him. Something in him was telling him to go see what was wrong, and his gut was usually right about such things, so he started picking his way through the crowd toward the sound of the wailing infant. No one else seemed to be paying attention, but how could they not? The baby's cry had heightened in pitch, volume, and desperation over time, making it more and more noticeable. Thankfully, the station was starting to thin out a bit as the most recent wave of arrivals finally left. Charles began to wander through the terminal, casting his eyes this way and that in an effort to locate the source of the crying.
Charles wandered through the aisles of seats, looking for the infant. After several minutes of searching with no luck, Charles started to worry. He noticed a security guard passing by, a man who appeared to be in his early 30s, and reached out to grab his arm. "Hey man, can you help me out for a minute? You hear that baby crying? I can't seem to find it."
The security guard scowled at Charles, pulling his arm away. "What's it matter to you that a baby is crying? It's a baby, that's what they do. Plus, I'm sure the parents are trying to calm the kid down."
With that, the security guard turned to walk away. Charles just latched onto his arm again, "Look man, I've been listening to that kid cry for ten minutes and it's only getting worse. It may be none of my business, but I helped my mom raise a couple of my younger siblings, as well as some of my cousins, and that sounds like a newborn in distress to me." The guard still had the scowl on his face, though he didn't pull his arm away this time. His eyes began to soften a bit with worry, so Charles decided to press him a bit more. "It'll only take a couple minutes at most. If we find the kid with its parents, then no harm done. But who knows, something could be wrong and they could need help."
The guard sighed, running a hand through his hair. Taking care of any disturbances in the station was part of his job, after all, and this guy seemed genuinely concerned. Plus, if he didn't agree to help, the guy could go bitch him out to his superiors. Also, who knew, a baby could really be in trouble. It would only take a couple minutes, then he could get back to his boring-ass day. "Alright, let's go see if we can find this baby."
Charles smiled slightly, "Thanks, sir. It shouldn't take long with two of us." With that, the two men began searching around the main waiting area of the station.
Fifteen minutes later, the baby continued to cry. The guard called for assistance over the headset, and soon, three uniformed police officers came to help in the search. However, it was Charles who finally found the infant. He had been assuming that the child would be in some sort of car seat or hover stroller, but it wasn't until he looked under a small cluster of station seats in a corner of the waiting room that he saw the box. Charles finally pulled off the duffel that he wore slung over his back, setting it on one of the seats. He reached under the seats with a shaking hand and pulled out the box. Inside was a small screaming bundle, wrapped in what appeared to be soiled blankets. The baby definitely had a dirty diaper and was red in the face from crying so long. He yelled out over his shoulder, "I found the baby!" What shocked Charles most was the baby's appearance. It had a shock of strawberry-blonde hair, pale skin, and striking blue-green eyes. A baby like this would be priceless to some parent wanting these harder-to-come-by traits, and some heartless fuck had just left it alone in the station to an unknown end.
The cops and security guard came hurrying over as Charles pulled the baby's tiny feet out of the blanket to see if it would have the telltale hospital band around its ankle. It was an archaic system, but was still common as a method of hospital identification. When he pulled out the infant's left foot, he was happy to see the rumpled white band printed with a strip of black block letters.
The first person to make it over to Charles was the security guard. As he approached, Charles could hear him talking on his headset, requesting for the emergency medical personnel on staff to head over. The guard frowned, looking over the infant as Charles cradled it to him. "Well shit, I'm glad you talked me into looking for the baby now. Is there any ID?"
Charles squinted down at the ankle bracelet. It looked odd. "Yeah, she has one of the baby ankle bracelets, but it doesn't look like it's from any hospital. There's no logo on it, and all it has is her name, Alexandria Shepard. Oh fuck, it has her birthday, April 11th. This kid is only 4 days old."
"Son of a bitch," the guard swore, swiping a hand through his hair. "Who would do this to a kid this small?" He leaned his head to the right, talking into his headset. "Hey Benji, can you see me on the monitors? Yeah, go back over the logs on this spot and find out just how long this baby has been here."
The other officers, seeing that the matter was under control, stood in a perimeter around the two men, keeping the general public away until the situation could be handled. The EMTs, a dark skinned woman who appeared to be in her forties and a young Latino man who barely looked old enough to be out of school, were finally able to push their way through the crowd. It had been thirty minutes since the group had started looking for the crying child, and everyone was glad she had been found. Who knew how long she had been there, or how much longer she would have remained there if Charles hadn't cared enough to search for her? The baby had finally stopped crying and had fallen asleep in Charles arms as he rocked her gently, his body remembering what to do from all those years ago helping with his siblings.
"Sir, I said you can hand her over to us now. We'll take it from here." Charles' head jerked up. He had barely registered the voice of the female EMT talking to him. She must have had to repeat herself. She held out her arms, so Charles passed the infant over to her. "Oh right, here. I hope she's okay." As he passed over the girl, she remained asleep but made a displeased sound as she was taken out of his arms.
Charles turned to watch the guard, who had turned his back to the group and was talking into his headset. "Uh-huh. Right. You found out when, Benji? Are you serious? That long? Fuck, can you at least see a face on who left the kid? Fuck, okay. Thanks, Benj." The guard turned back to the EMTs, who were attempting to start the baby on an IV, then to Charles, who just stood there waiting for news. "Well, it looks like we all you a big thanks, buddy. Looks like that baby was left here a little over six hours ago. Unfortunately, the person dropping her off was wearing a hoodie and big sunglasses, so we can't get a good face shot. It's cliché, but it works. We're still gonna send the image to the local authorities to try and track down whoever did this, but honestly I don't know what good it's gonna do."
"I don't recognize this tag from any hospital around here." This time, it was the female EMT who spoke up. "It's missing too much information to be from a hospital, anyway. I know some midwives use them too. Maybe it was a hidden pregnancy; someone who didn't want to get caught with the kid at all. Sadly, it would explain leaving her here and not even using a safe surrender site."
As she was talking, the guard began to collect the box and extra blankets that had come with the baby. "Well, looks like we can take care of it from here. Thanks for the help." He extended his free hand to Charles.
Charles eyed the man's hand, then smiled a bit sadly while shaking it. "No problem, just glad I could help." He turned his eyes to the female EMT as her younger companion took what readings he could from the baby girl, who was now awake and fussy. "What's going to happen to her?"
The woman lifted her head. "We'll take her to a local hospital to make sure she's alright, and then she'll be placed in foster care until she gets adopted. Everyone wants a baby, and she's certainly cute enough that she should get adopted fairly quickly. Well, time for us to get going." The two EMTs rose and began to walk away, the guard following with what there was of the baby's possessions.
"Wait a sec!" Charles called after them. The trio stopped and turned to watch him. "I'll forward my information to security, in case you need to get a hold of me for a report or something, but there is one quick thing." He opened up his duffle bag, rooting around near the bottom. It took him only a moment to find it: a toy spaceship. He walked over to the guard, handing the toy to him. "This is for her. I've had this since I was a kid, and it's always brought me good luck. From her start, it looks like she's gonna need it far more than I do."
The guard smiled and took the toy. Placing it in the box with the blankets, he looked over to the female EMT, who smiled and nodded. He turned back to Charles. "You got it. We'll make sure it stays with her if we can. You have a good day." And with that, the trio made their way out a side entrance. An ambulance pulled up as they stepped out the side doors, the cops clearing a path for them through the crowd that had formed.
Charles sighed and looked up at the clock. He was going to be late to his mother's party. Normally, Amelia would be pissed, but he hoped that she would understand because of the day's unusual turn of events. He zipped up his duffle bag and slung it back over his shoulder. Charles took one last look at the ambulance as it pulled away. It was sad to watch the little girl leave, but hopefully she would have a better life now that she was safe. He placed the wireless earpiece for his phone into his ear and placed a call to Amelia. "Hey, sis. Look, sorry, but I'm gonna be late. I know the party's important, but just listen to the day I've had…"