The Pyjak in the Gutter: Shepard's story

Author's note: This is the backstory for my Commander Shepard (Full Paragon, War Hero, Earthborn, Infiltrator) where he grew up on the streets of Earth as an orphan, starting with nothing.

Chapter 1

Shepard rummaged through the garbage disposal unit at the back of the apartment. This block was inhabited by some upper-class citizens and they were very generous with their servings, often throwing out entire meals when their children were too full or too fussy. At the same time, though, this area was extremely dangerous for a boy of six with no family and no hometo be in; this was indeed a treasure trove for hungry street kids, but, like any feeding ground, the strong always get the first pick. Today was no exception. Most of the food was already taken, only crumbs leading where they were taken which trailed off in every direction. As Shepardsearched, he came across a pool of blood by the alley.

"Another fight must've broken out between some of the older boys," muttered Shepard, "Glad I didn't come earlier."

He continued searching, until he heard a noise up above him. He ducked down behind a generator and waited for whoever it was to pass. When another noise rattled down the pipe, he cautiously poked his head around the corner. Quiet as a shadow, he crept around to find the source, his scuffed shoes making barely a sound on the smooth concrete. Another rattling noise confirmed that it was not anyone else coming to compete with him. Instead, it was the remains of a midnight snack by one of the residents of the apartments. Half-eaten leftovers came tumbling down the chute to sit in the gutter. Shepard caught the food with his hands before it hit the gutters. It was cold, but better than what normally came through.

"It's my lucky night." He said, as he looked around before helping himself to the unknown sustenance.

The food was good, really good.

"If this was thrown away, what kinds of delicacies do they eat normally up there?" He thought

Shepard looked up wistfully, at the apartments with their soft beds, heating and clean water. Beyond the rooftops was the empty sky, the stars barely visible past the light pollution, but there was just a glimmer when Shepard squinted

"I'm going up there one day, I'm going to travel through the stars and fight bad guys in space, like the guys in the vids." He thought. He smiled at the thought. He'd make a name for himself, not just his surname Shepard, but he'd give himself a proper name. his parents left him with a note, but the first part of his name was smudged from the rain, so he only read 'Shepard.'

He turned as another kid came into the alley. He was much bigger than Shepard, and holding a broken bottle. He couldn't see the kid's face in the low light but he knew he'd overstayed his welcome. Shepherd got up and ran out the other end of the alley.

"Don't look back," he told himself, "They get you when you look back."

He didn't stop running until he got to the end of the block, where he hid in a decrepit old building that was in dire need of repair or replacement but had never been so. He clambered into the window and ran up the stairs. He knew from experience which ones were unsafe and flung himself onto the upper landing. When he didn't hear the sound of footsteps behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was safe, or at least what counted for safe when you had no home and no one to care for you but you. He got up and clambered through the ventilation duct into his special hidey-hole. His 'secret base' he called it. Only he knew the ways in and the ways out. It wasn't much, but it would keep him safe from predatory kids and prying eyes. It was situated at the base of a generator exhaust, with metal grating for a floor and a spinning fan blade for a ceiling. The exhaust would keep him warm through the rest of the night, and the hum of the generators was calming. He'd managed to drag in some items that made it more comfortable, including a patched blanket and an old vid game that was broken, so he could never get passed level four. He laid himself down on the blanket and wrapped it around himself, since the generators where offline as of right now.

"I'm going to be an Alliance soldier one day, the best there's ever been." He said as his eyes began to close.

He dreamed that he was on a ship, and no ordinary ship, it was his ship. It was so fast it could outrun an exploding star. He dreamed it zipping around Turian cruisers, dodging their fire while returning his own, decimating their fleet with a single ship. He knew he would be promoted for defending Earth so valiantly. As he landed the ship, people all crowded around him. People wanted to talk to him! He couldn't make out most of their words, but the crowd wasn't what he was interested in the most; he could see two people, a man and a woman, at the end of the crowd, looking at him with a look of pride in their eyes. He couldn't make out their faces, so he pushed through the crow to get closer to them. He waded through the crowd, their arms like tree branches hindering his progress, closing on him as he neared his goal. The further he went, the harder it got for him to walk; it was like he was wading through water. When he finally broke through the crowd, he looked up at the couple, but they were not looking at him anymore. They were looking up at the sky, which had turned a deathly shade of red. Shepard looked up, only to see the sky rent apart by tendrils of red light. Through the rent came giant robots, with glowing red eyes and lots of legs. It turned towards him and he saw that it looked a lot like a squid that he'd seen on display at the markets. The robot squids glowed red and fired lasers at the ground, which traced a path up to the people he'd reached. Just before the beams reached them, they turned and looked at him, but he still couldn't see their faces through the silhouette the lasers gave them. They were swallowed up by the light, which came closer and closer until it-

Shepard woke up panting. The generators were up and running again and sunlight shone through the spinning blades of the fan. He rubbed his eyes and crawled out to see if he could find today's meal.