Author's Note: This story is going to be a long one. Bare with me, this is the first time I've posted on this site so I'm still getting used to it. And of course I own no rights, this is just for fun.

Year 2170

Sarah Shepard woke up with a deep sigh of frustration. Another pointless day on the colony of Mindoir. As she got up she reflected on the current circumstances of her life. Her father was a neglectful research scientist who just didn't care about his own kid. Her mother was a boozehound in addition to being a schoolteacher for her grade this year. She wasn't physically abusive when drunk anymore, but she did get verbal… very verbal. As a colony kid on a backwater farm world she had very few options open to her. Neither of her parents' careers was appealing to her. They simply didn't hold any interest for her. Though she did know quite a bit about science and history, she was sure she could find a different way to apply the knowledge. Farming was simply monotonous. The only other really viable option was military service. And while that had its advantages, it had its own inherent disadvantages as well.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She knew she wasn't exactly the prettiest woman in the galaxy, but she's never really cared. Vanity wasn't one of her personality traits. She was Nordic pale with dark blue eyes and bright blond hair. She had an aquiline nose with a small bump on the upper part of the bridge. Also; high cheekbones with gaunt, almost sunken, cheeks and a slight natural frown. All in all a very angular face, and when her face was at rest she always looked to be brooding darkly. Combine that with the fact that she was fairly tall and not very curvy with a slim neck. Not the most stereotypically pretty picture, she knew.

While still studying herself she reached up and touched a nasty scar that ran down the left side of her face. It ran from down her forehead through her light brown eyebrow over her left eye and down her cheek. She lifted her head and noticed that the scar stopped at the bottom of her face. With her head still lifted she began studying her chin and jaw. She had a slight under bite, which helped to pronounce her strong, rounded chin.

Her eyes found the scar again and she searched her memories as to how she got it. The memory always brought a dry grin of satisfaction to her face. It was the first day of high school and the senior class always rounded up groups of freshmen. The males would beat up the freshmen males and the females would beat up the freshmen females. Not much else to do for fun on an underdeveloped planet without any real opportunities for entertainment, or even crime. The only crimes were assault of varying kinds, theft, or vandalism. All the aforementioned tended to go with the charge of public intoxication. Anyway, the senior class had actually already caught everyone, except for her. The bitches of the senior class sort of surrounded her and tried to herd her out of sight of the teachers. The local sports team had cleared off the field for the senior class already. The asshole boys had already gathered in the area, looking for a show. Once they had her where they wanted her she mentally prepared herself for the fight. They started off by throwing insults at her, getting nastier and crueler with every passing insult. Then one of the bolder ones rushed her. The punch was easy to block, and from the block she locked forearms and grabbed the girl's shoulder. She used her other hand to throw three rapid punches at this girl's gut and then a hard one to her face as she let go of the shoulder. The bitch was out like a light before she even landed face first on the ground. The insults stopped suddenly, and the area had gone deafeningly quiet. Even the boys had shut up. No one ever really fought back before, let alone this effectively. The fight began in earnest. She dodged a few wild blows, blocked and deflected the direct ones and simply absorbed the weaker ones. She barely moved her feet more than three steps. In just a minute and a half almost all the bitches were either on the ground, out cold, or limping away while bleeding and bruised. The last one got stupid and desperate. She pulled a knife and tried to use it. Shepard caught the wrist, stepped inside the fool's guard and used her free fist to punch the elbow, breaking the woman's arm. At the outcry of pain Shepard threw the woman to the ground and picked up the knife. She pretended to study it intently while eyeing the girl that drew it on her, savoring the look of fear. With a flick of her wrist she threw the blade so it landed scant inches from the girl's face and said, "Take that piece of shit blade with you."

Of course the scar came after that. She hoped her cold calm intimidating demeanor would give the boys pause. But that assumed that these sadistic teenagers had a decently sized brain among them. No, they all charged her. She won, but caught a few bruises and the last boy standing actually had some skill with his knife and managed to cut her face fairly deeply. Luckily avoiding eye damage, but the cut was still deep. Oh, she made that one pay dearly. It was also the first time she used her biotic implant. She threw him back against the goalpost with her biotics, calmly walked over to where he slumped, reeling from the blow. She glared down at him, scowling deeply and bleeding from the gash. Then, riding a rush of adrenaline, she grabbed the boy's face with her left hand. She lifted him to about eye level one handed and slammed his head back against the goalpost. Then kneed him in the gut, let go of his face and slammed her left elbow into his temple, knocking him down. Before he had even landed she reached down with her right hand and caught him by the throat. She slowly lifted him above her, clutching his throat and even squeezing a little, watching his eyes bulge in abject terror as he thought she was going to kill him. Finally she tossed him face first into the ground and walked off, heading home.

This is the part of the memory that caused her grin to fade. She got home, still bleeding and her father didn't even notice. And her mother was already too drunk to notice. So she tried to treat the cut herself with what she thought was Medi-gel. It was, but it was meant for dextro DNA life forms. What her father was doing with a supply of dextro Medi-gel she didn't find out until much later. It still closed the wound, but it left a nasty scar and the pain was excruciating. It still occasionally causes her pain when her biotic migraines flair up. Still, she had gained a reputation at school. No one wanted to fuck with her.

She stopped studying herself in the mirror and finished her morning routine.

Of course the rest of the day was far from routine…