Author's Note: Hello! I have something brand spanking new for you guys, something to wet your appetite for some more story on our great Commander Kelly Shepard. So, here it is! I will be updating this as close to every Monday as I can.

Enjoy!

And please, Read and Review!

...

Standing amongst the crowd of sailors freshly graduated from Alliance Recruit Training, a young, tall, red headed woman wearing full Aliance dress blues, her nametag proudly proclaiming 'Shepard'.

She forlornly watches the families and sailors celebrate their finishing of boot.

"Buck up Kels." a woman with bright platinum hair comes up to her. She barely stands at Shepard's shoulders as she wraps her arm around Shepard's waist and ruffles her hair out of its tie, "You ain't all alone, you got me."

"Thanks Deunan." Shepard grins a crooked grin as she ducks out of Deunan's grip, trying to pull her shoulder length hair back into its horsetail. "I'm not sure always having you is a good thing."

Deunan scowls and throws a light punch into her friend's shoulder, her green and silver eyes dance in mischief despite her scowl, "Hey, if it weren't for me, you never would've made it this far."

"Uh-huh, you keep on believing in that." Shepard smirks and jumps to the side to avoid a second punch. She rubs at her offended shoulder, Deunan's first punch having not been so light.

"See if I ever pull your ass out of the fire again." Deunan scoffs, turning her back as she crosses her arms.

"Aw, c'mon Deunan, gimme a break." Shepard takes Deunan's shoulder, turning her around, "I was just teasing you."

Deunan can't hide her grin of amusement, having never been cross in the first place, "All good. Let's ditch this dump and have some real fun." Her wolf's grin has Shepard on edge, but it is also infectious.

"What did you have in mind?" Shepard raises an eyebrow as she looks over the crowd again, this time seeing them in a different light. They look so much younger than she feels, none of them are over 20, the majority her age at 18, but they all seem so much younger. She supposes that it has to do with the differences in their lives.

Deunan gives Shepard a nudge with her elbow when she sees her friend lost in thought, "Oy, thick head. C'mon, I've got a great place in mind."

Shepard snaps her attention back to Deunan and smiles, "Alright, where's this 'place' you're thinking of?"

….

Shepard laughs looking up from her drink at the bar Deunan chose. Deunan is on the dance floor, with at least four other women dancing with her, to the disapproving look of the man who got shut out. The sour look on his face as Deunan begins to dance with the women has Shepard biting back harder laughs and snorts.

Looking into her glass of whiskey, Shepard's thoughts turn inward as she thinks on what the last eight weeks have been like.

Alliance training was nothing like she expected it to be. It was both tougher and yet, in places, it seemed easier than what she believed it to be. The physical demands of their DIs was rigorous but Shepard had been through worse, she was more than physically fit upon entering the Alliance. After over a year and a half of being a merc, what the Alliance forced them through was almost a breeze for her.

She graduated top of her class in hand to hand combat, closely followed by Deunan, top in both short and long range marksmanship. Top of the ranks in their engineering studies, her experiences growing up having given her an edge up on the rest.

The only place she didn't excel at as well was the medical courses, she just didn't have the aptitude for medical care beyond the very basic field first aid.

It had earned her constant criticism from her DIs, and much amusement to her fellow trainees. She had been mocked by all as a run and gun shooter. Simply content to slap medigel and a bandage on wounds and move on, she failed to see where any more knowledge and experience was necessary.

She is interrupted from her thoughts as Deunan crashes into her table, spilling all their drinks to the floor.

Standing up she wipes her face and shakes off Shepard's hands. Staring down the man from before she growls, "That was a cheap shot. You're mine."

Shepard doesn't have the time to hold her friend back before she launches forward. Deunan moves in a near blur of motion around the man, hitting him from all sides, and easily dodging his rage fueled attempts at shots on her.

"Deunan!" Shepard calls out, running into the fray to try and pull her friend back before she does any real damage to the drunken man.

Shepard succeeds at grabbing Deunan and pushing her away, as she turns back to ask the man if he's alright, she is blindsided by a sharp punch. The left side of her face lights up in pain as she sprawls to the floor.

She pulls her hand away from her jaw, her lip is split and blood has spilled onto her hand. Looking up in shock at the man she has to duck and roll to the side to avoid a fierce kick from him aimed at her midsection.

Jumping to her feet she faces off against the man, her face set in focused concentration, "Alright, that was uncalled for. I'll give you one chance to walk away, no grudges held." She holds her arms up, but leaves her feet set to dodge in a heartbeat if needed.

"Your friend there is a disgusting whore." He growls, she can see his eyebrow and cheek are beginning to swell from a shot from Deunan,

"I am not!" Deunan snarls from behind Shepard, she risks a glance back and sees two other patrons are holding her back, and doing a good job at it. Deunan is struggling like mad to get back into the fight.

"Cool it Deunan." Shepard tells her, her voice more commanding and confident than she feels. She turns back to the man, "Ok, I'm gonna let that slide, if you back off and leave. I don't want to fight you."

He snarls and lunges forward, swinging wildly for Shepard's face again. She ducks, jabbing her fist sharply into his gut, doubling him over. She spins around behind him and kicks him hard in the back, knocking him to the floor.

He regains his feet, gasping for air, rounding on Shepard he glares murder at her, "I will kill you. You are just as disgusting as your slut of a girlfriend."

Shepard can't help a chuckle, responding in a hope to distract him, "First off, she ain't my girlfriend, hasn't been for some time. And secondly, calling me disgusting is your last mistake. You aren't gonna kill me. It's you they'll be mopping off the floor."

As he comes in once more, charging to grab her around her waist, she twists at the last second, one hand on his collarbone she grabs his hip and jerks, effectively flipping him over her hip and crashing backwards into some barstools, knocking them over.

Bad luck for her, they were occupied. The men get back to their feet, shove the drunk back towards Shepard before starting an all out brawl.

"Time to go." Deunan grabs Shepard's elbow tugging her away.

Shepard doesn't know how Deunan got free, but she's glad of it as the two women duck and dodge their way out of the bar, skidding around the side corner of the bar as they see Alliance patrol cars coming down the road.

"Shit." Shepard swears, she changes directions and pulls Deunan onto a motorbike that is sitting nearby. "C'mon, let's go."

"Um, Shep." Deunan points to the center dash, "We haven't got keys for this, and no idea who's it is."

"Would you rather get pinched by the cops on our first night out of boot?" Shepard draws up her left arm and omni-tool, quickly hacking the controls of the bike to start it, "And I never need keys." She smirks as she kicks the bike into high gear and peels off out of the bar's lot and in the opposite direction of the Alliance patrols. The two women laugh the whole way down the road as they ride into the night.