With Pen and Pad
A Mass Effect Fanfiction.
Summary: A slight UA (Universe Alteration) in which the Hastings saved Shepard from Mindoir, and a certain XO took her in as his own. Features kid!Shep, father!Anderson, and some skewered timeline.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, Bioware, etc. I only own the idea for this story (the plot) and Shepard's personality. Don't sue me.
Chapter One: Day Zero
The sky was a perfect shade of blue and clear except for the warm sun. Mindoir was full of laughter from its single human colony. The colony, housing one-hundred and fifty families, had flourished on the farming planet and was the epitome of space colonization, a pride of the humans on Earth.
"Remember: Only kill the men. We can sell the women and children for profit."
There was a grumble from the Batarians, but none openly argued. Although they would love nothing more than to kill every human in the colony, they also knew how profitable the children and women were in the slavery world. And more profits meant more money when they split the pool.
One of the Batarians lifted his gun, peering through the scope.
A head of long black hair was in his sights. It turned, showing the face of a small girl. She was smiling, laughing with another young girl.
She was totally unaware of how fragile her life was.
His finger brushed the trigger.
He heard the leader order them to get their targets-preferring them to be the men that were currently guarding the edge of the colony-but ignored the leader's preference, wanting to take out his current target.
After all, no one would miss one child.
"Ready."
There was an excited tension in the air, all of the Batarians feeling the familiar start of an adrenaline rush.
He was practically vibrating with excitement, his finger lying on the trigger.
"Fire."
The trigger was pulled.
There was a bang and the drone crashed into the ground with a dull thud, a hole in its body. David Anderson, second in command on the SSV Hastings, frowned as he picked up the drone. It was a perfect shot but he didn't feel the satisfaction that he usually did.
He had been going after drones for only a few minutes, but had managed to take out fifteen of them; He huffed and tossed it to the trash pile, feeling his omni-tool vibrate with a message.
Need you on deck. New mission.-M
Anderson holstered his pistol, beginning his jog from the cargo hold to the main deck. Upon walking through the door, he immediately darted into the debrief room, where Captain Marcus waited for him.
Lionel Marcus was a small man, his five-foot-four-inch build making him the smallest member of the SSV Hastings crew. But every inch of him was full of a fierce and fighting spirit that earned him the title of Captain. He was known for his iron-hard stare, the same stare that he was giving his XO as Anderson approached him.
"Captain." Anderson cordially greeted. Marcus nodded.
"Lieutenant." He replied. "We recently received an SOS from the Colony on Mindoir."
Anderson nodded, face grim. "What did they report?"
Marcus frowned. "That is what's odd: the report was simply that they needed assistance and then it went dead."
"Could it be Slavers?" He asked.
"That's what's expected. You'll be leading a ground team of four, light weapons. We did a scan of the area and we can't see any life signs, but they might have covered them up. Be cautious. You go down in twenty."
Anderson saluted. "Yes sir."
"Oh, and Anderson, stop by medbay and tell the doctor to prep for survivors. Just in case." Marcus added. Anderson nodded and began heading back down to the lower levels were medbay resided.
Walking into the medical wing, he immediately found himself chest-to-face with Dorita Arroyo, the ship's doctor.
"David!" She greeted with her friendly smile.
"Rita." He responded in kind.
Rita was one of those people you couldn't dislike: she was short, only a few inches taller than their captain, and her Spanish heritage gave her a very good-looking figure, sharp tongue, and an even sharper wit.
"What's up?" She asked, leaning against one of the beds. He rolled his shoulders.
"We've got another mission: there's a colony that seems to be under an attack by slavers. We don't know how many people are injured, so we'll need you to be ready for anything."
Rita's face immediately went serious. "Okay. Can do." She replied, already flitting about the room. She went back to Anderson's side, handing him a few canisters of medi-gel.
"Just in case." She said grimly.
He nodded, taking them gratefully.
"Thanks."
Anderson turned to leave, only to be stopped by Rita's arm.
"David, keep an eye open." She ordered.
His reply was grim.
"Always do."
Mindoir was eerily silent after the Hastings left. Per usual, it had dropped off the team a little under a mile away from the colony, and the group of five was left alone, darting towards the unknown.
"Alright, keep down." Anderson ordered as they neared the main entrance. He peered through, unable to see any type of movement. With a jerk of his hand, two of the guys moved forward and the group slowly advanced. They made it to the very center of the colony before Anderson made the call.
"There's no one here."
His eyes looked around. There were hundreds on the ground, multiple wounds decorating their body. Almost all of them were men and they gazed at him with wide, empty eyes. Some were women, their hair messy and mouths open in a silent scream.
Anderson's gut went cold at the sight of the few children that didn't make it. Some of them had women cradling their body, while others simply lay there with eyes closed as if they were simply sleeping.
"Anderson, report."
Marcus's order brought him out of his trance, forcing him to swallow the bile in his throat.
"No one living is here, sir." He reported. "All we found were bodies."
"Sir! We have movement at ten o'clock!"
Anderson motioned for them to take cover, moving to the front to kneel beside some rails by the stairs. He peeked around the edge and felt his anger surge.
A pair of Batarians stumbled out of the jungle, voices raised in argument. One of them held onto a small child by her hair, dragging her around even as she fought.
"I told you they would leave! Mahrik told us there were Alliance ships inbound!"
"But-"
"We're left on this shit-storm of a planet because you had to get some girl!"
The one holding on the girl suddenly turned on her, yanking her in front of him.
"Stop squirming, little bitch!" He snarled. Anderson checked to make sure that his pistol was loaded, looking up just in time to see her spit on the Batarian.
"Why you little-"
"Don't move!" Anderson yelled, popping up. His crew followed his example, all of them popping up and training their pistols on one of the two.
The Batarians moved quick as well, the one on the left pulling out his pistol and aiming at Anderson while the other one pulled the girl in front of him.
"Alliance military. Let her go." Anderson ordered. The one on the right laughed.
"You believe that you can order me?" He snarled, his grip on her tightening. "I have the hostage."
"I'll give you one more chance: Let. Her. Go."
Anderson noticed as the girl reached down and pulled something from her waistband, tensing in preparation for whatever she was going to do. Her hand went up and suddenly went forward. He could see her fall forward, and, as she darted to the side, he opened fire on the two.
As the two fell, there was static over the comm.
"Anderson, what happened?!"
"Two Batarians. They had a little girl; we managed to get the Batarians down but the girl ran off. I'm going to search for her now." He said, holstering his pistol. He turned to his team.
"Sweep the edges of the colony. Make sure that we don't have any other surprises. Begin documenting the scene here." He ordered. They nodded, already moving.
Anderson turned back and started walking to the location he had seen her run: to a two-story house1. He was slow as he went inside, cautiously glancing around. It seemed like there had been a happy family here.
Had.
A man Anderson presumed was the father lay on the inside of the door. His chest was missing and he had bled out into a large puddle. Anderson carefully walked around it, noting the slight disturbance on the edge of the pool. He reluctantly pulled out his omni-tool, snapping pictures of the carnage for the report.
Looking up, he saw another body-a woman, probably the mother. Her chest was missing as well, a larger pool of blood on the floor. This pool was disturbed as well: it looked like someone had run through it, slipping slightly. His heart dropped at the sight of small, bloody footprints that led out to the backdoor. Putting his tool back, he followed them, reaching a small spot under the stairs where they suddenly vanished. He knelt down, looking closely at the edges of the floor tiles and noting that this tile had a piece missing on its corner.
He gave it a soft knock, hearing the hollow sound echo. Anderson quietly leaned down, peering through the hole. There was just enough light for him to see a pair of curious blue eyes gazing back at him before they disappeared. He quickly pulled off the tile, seeing the girl scamper into a corner.
"Wait." He called out. "Wait, my name is David Anderson. I'm here to help you."
She slowly crawled forward, her eyes still on him. He gave a smile, offering her his hand.
"I promise I'll take care of you." He said as she hesitated. He reached in further and she backed down, curling up in a small ball. There was a glint of light and he could see a piece of glass in her hand, which she was squeezing so tightly that it was cutting into her palm.
"I won't hurt you." He spoke slowly and softly. She glanced out from under her arm.
He tried again with a smile, which seemed to win her over; she dropped the glass and reached up, one of her small, bloody hands grabbing his and allowing him to help her out.
He looked her over, trying to spot any sort of injury and feeling sick at her messy state.
Her hair was black and missing a portion that she had cut off earlier. Her skin, covered with scratches and bruises, looked dark and slightly browned. She was small, covered with an oversized shirt and a pair of ripped up pants, and blood spatter decorating her attire. Her face held a pair of big blue eyes that were empty.
Seeing that she was relatively unharmed, he gave her a smile.
"Can you tell me your name?"
She looked at him, exhaustion on her face, and he realized that she needed to get out of there.
"Can I pick you up?" He asked. She looked at her bare feet before nodding. He gently scooped her up, letting her head rest against his shoulder.
"Alright, I want you to close your eyes." He said. She turned her head into his neck, burying her face in there as he began walking through the house again. He paused only to pick up a datapad that was labeled 'Family Information' before swiftly taking her out. He went to tell her that she needed to keep her eyes closed a little longer, but stopped when he heard her snore.
"Alright, let's get out of here." He said into the comm. as softly as he could. His regrouped, a few of them shooting the girl in his arms a glance before turning back and simply escorting them out.
As she twitched in his arms, Anderson subconsciously tightened his grip on her.
"Ander-"
Marcus's call died down as he spied the child in his XO's arms and he quickly ran to his side, glancing at her.
"Is that the girl?" He asked. Anderson nodded, not wanting to wake her up.
"Is she alright?"
"Yeah." He replied. "I couldn't see anything major wrong with her."
"What's her name?" Marcus was peering at her now.
"I don't know." Anderson said in a whisper. "She wouldn't speak and when I picked her up she fell asleep instantly."
"Any family?"
"The entire colony was killed. I don't know about anywhere else. I did find a datapad labeled 'Family Information'."
Marcus nodded. "Alright, I want you to take her up to the doctor. Write your report and send it to me after you're done."
Anderson nodded, already heading to the elevator that would take him to the upper deck, where the medical wing was. He shifted the girl to his left side, holding up the datapad that he had picked up from the house. He had just turned it on when the doors opened and he put it away, focusing on getting to the medical ward.
The door gave a soft whirr as it opened. Anderson walked in and was immediately face-to-face with a young woman.
"David, I heard the comm. chatter! Is this her?" Dorita Arroyo, the medic on the ship, asked quietly, looking at the girl. He nodded and she immediately held out her arms.
"I'll take her from here." She said.
David was surprised to feel a reluctance build up as he handed the girl over. She stirred, but didn't wake and the doctor quickly whisked her away, leaving David alone.
"Message me when she wakes up!" He called out to Rita as he left, heading for his locker. He unlatched his armor, hands brushing over the few scratches he had in it from previous missions. His stomach flipped as he saw a bloody handprint—the girl's. He quickly tucked everything away into his locker and headed to the showers, hoping to clear his mind.
As David stepped out of the shower, he still felt unclean. The sights and smells of the colony were still heavy on him and he wearily sat down in the mess hall to write out his report. He had just sent the report, the pictures, and a note on how the others also recorded footage of the scene to Marcus when his Omni-tool vibrated with a message from his captain.
Anything on the girl yet?—M
Rita's still working with her. I haven't had time to read the info. Doing that now. –A
After sending it off, Anderson pulled out the datapad he retrieved from the home and began scanning through the information. From what was on the datapad, the family—the Shepards—consisted of the two parents that Anderson had seen in the house, and three children. The oldest two were a pair of twins: Alexandra and Bailey, black hair and blue eyes. They both matched the description of the girl he rescued, the issue was figuring out which one she was.
His heart dropped as he read the age: eleven years old. Not even a teenager and she had seen more death than most soldiers saw in the field. He rubbed his temples, shutting off the datapad and pushing it aside.
"David."
He jumped as Rita materialized next to the table, her eyes looking tiredly at him.
"Rita." He greeted. His eyes flickered over to the medbay doors and then back to her. "How is she?"
Rita sighed, taking a deep breath and sitting across from him.
"Physically, she's fine." She began. "She's a healthy weight; there are a few scratches and bruises that seem to be from foliage. The worst thing on her is that cut on her hand from the glass."
David listened carefully. "Okay, so that's the physical aspects."
Rita nodded. "Right. Now, there's the mental aspect. She was assaulted by the Batarians, most likely saw many of the colonist's bodies, and definitely saw her parents bodies—that we know."
David nodded. "Right."
"Anything else?"
"Apparently she has two other siblings: a brother and a twin sister. I don't know where they are or what happened to them, but I know that there was no one alive on that planet when we left."
Rita frowned. "Okay, so that will be affecting her too." Her omni-tool vibrated and she opened it up, looking back to David.
"She's awake."
David nodded, already standing up.
"I've got to talk to her." It was an explanation for both of them, trying to justify what he would have to bring up in the room. Rita nodded.
"Okay, but be careful: the girl's been through a lot."
"I know."
"And try to be comforting. She'll probably latch onto you; after all, you did pull her out of that hell."
"Okay. I'll message you if there's a problem. Go get some sleep." He ordered, squeezing her shoulder as he passed.
A few notes:
'Two-story house': I imagined the homes for the colonies looking like the housing units on Horizon in ME2: with the grey blocks and such. For this house, it would be one block over the other, with an outdoor staircase linking the two.
Timeline: As stated in the summary, the timeline is a bit skewered. Anderson and Shepard were both born in the canon years, but the attack on Mindoir happened earlier, taking place right after Anderson was rejected as a Spectre candidate.
Author's Notes: Thank you so much for reading and please leave a review/comment/critique because everything helps! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!—Andi