Author's Note: Most everything belongs to Bioware, but I shamelessly twist dates and dialogue around to suit my own fiendish purposes.

St. Augustine Penitentiary

Severn County, Texas

United North American States, Earth

April 11, 2172 CE

"This way." The warden waved his hand, leading the way past row after row of cells. Prisoners shouted at them from all sides despite yells from the guards. Captain Kahoku ignored them and Lt. Baker tried to do the same, though he was gritting his teeth. Dr. Harris was managing not to cower but he was walking as close to the captain as possible without crawling into his pocket.

"We had to put her in solitary confinement not long after she arrived." The warden unlocked a door, leading them into a maze of flat gray corridors.

"Of course," Baker said, his voice low.

Kahoku shot him a warning look then returned his attention to the warden. "Has she been causing trouble?" His voice was carefully neutral.

"Directly? No. She's really quiet. But she makes the other prisoners nervous. Frankly, Captain, I'm glad you're here. We've never had to house a…psychic?"

"Biotic," Dr. Harris supplied with a faint sneer. Now that they were away from the general population, he'd regained his confidence.

The warden bristled a bit. "Yeah, well, they aren't real common. Lots of the prisoners either think she's a devil or a witch, which gets the religious ones real agitated. She doesn't try to cause trouble but…" He shrugged. "We moved her here when there was a fight in the yard and she ended up injuring two prisoners pretty badly. She was really polite about going into confinement, didn't give us any trouble. Like I said, she's quiet."

"A nice, polite psychopath," Baker said.

"Lieutenant, you've made your opinion on this matter known several times." Dr. Harris looked very irritated.

"About recruiting a mass murderer, you mean?"

"Gentlemen." Kahoku didn't raise his voice but both men snapped their attention to him before they could think. The captain stared them down for a moment, then turned his attention to the cell the warden had stopped in front of. It was a heavy metal door with a small open window at the top and a keypad beside it. The warden motioned to someone behind the captain and Kahoku turned to see two armed guards moving into position a few feet away. He glanced at the warden, who shrugged as if to say 'just in case'.

He punched in the code and the door slid open.

The cell was tiny and pitch dark. The captain motioned Baker and Harris back and stepped into the doorway, peering in. The light from the open door lit the cot enough he could see there was no one on it. "Arian Creed?"

There was movement low to his left. He turned and squinted, finally making out the dim figure sitting on the floor just out of the light. "Shepard."

Her voice was low pitched, so quiet it took him a moment to make out what she'd said. "I beg your pardon?"

She stirred again.

She was young. That was his first startled thought as she moved into the light. She had no birth records and what few records they'd gotten from Mindoir were hopelessly unreliable but she couldn't have been more than eighteen. She was probably younger than his own daughters were. Thin, pale, and long limbed, she gave him the rather uncomfortable impression of some kind of cave insect emerging from the darkness. Her eyes were ash gray and surprisingly direct as she peered up at him. "Shepard. Arian Shepard. It was my mother's name."

Kahoku sat opposite across from the girl, growing increasingly annoyed. The second she'd been brought in to the room, Dr. Harris had been bustling around her. He claimed he wanted to give her a quick check up but the only thing he'd been interested in was the implant on the back of her neck, which he'd been chattering about for the past ten minutes.

She had obligingly bent her head forward and was holding still for the doctor, but she was tense. Those strange gray eyes flicked from one man to another with clear mistrust. She'd been curious until she'd gotten a good look at Kahoku's uniform and then she'd turned wary. He wondered if that was just a general dislike for authority figures or if she had a reason to be worried about men in uniform.

He was proud that his superiors trusted his judgement, but Kahoku hadn't been thrilled about this assignment. He had only rudimentary knowledge about biotics. He knew they were rare and knew ones with powers worth training were even rarer. He knew the Alliance was extremely eager to get more of them into the ranks and after seeing a few of them in action, he understood why. He also agreed...to a point...with Dr. Harris that it seemed a waste to let this one simply sit in jail when her skills could be put to good use.

But that didn't change the facts in her files. There were huge gaping holes in her past that they had no way of accounting for. Since the massacre on Mindoir, she'd disappeared for nearly six years. She'd only showed up on Earth a few months ago and most of them had been spent here.

Arian Creed, as she was named in official records, had pled guilty for two counts of murder in the first degree. She had killed two men in cold blood. She'd given the police every detail of how she'd planned, stalked, and killed both of them without a hint of remorse. Under normal circumstances he never would have even considered approving her join the ranks of the system he was proud to serve. Biotic or no.

It was why she'd killed them that gave him a pause. Both her own statements and the proof that had come up during the case after she'd turned herself in.

"This implant reminds me of a couple asari designed ones I've come across, Miss Creed..."

"Shepard." She was very insistent on that point, Kahoku noted, drawn out of his own musings. She became more and more agitated every time someone used her given name.

"Sorry, sorry, Miss Shepard. Might I ask where this implant came from?"

"You most certainly can."

Harris paused expectantly but she was silent. "Where did it come from?"

"I didn't say I'd answer."

Baker rolled his eyes. The girl caught it and her own eyes narrowed ever so slightly. She seemed on the verge of making some kind of comment when Harris interrupted. "Miss Cr...Shepard, we're trying to do you a favor here, you might show a bit of courtesy in return."

"What favor? All you've done is drag me in here and poke at me."

"Dr. Harris," Kahoku decided it was high time they pulled things back on track, "perhaps it would be best if we explain exactly why we're here."

"That would be a real novel fucking treat," Shepard said snippily.

Kahoku stared at her, his dark eyes locking with hers until she had to look away, fidgeting. He spoke in the same quiet voice that made any man under his command snap immediately to attention. "First, young lady, you will mind your tone when you speak to me, or Dr. Harris, or Lt. Baker. If you're trying to come off as tough, it isn't working. If you're trying to be clever, you're failing. All you are doing is coming off as crass and stupid when I know full well you are no such thing. Dr. Harris believes you could be an asset to the Alliance if given the chance. I'm starting to agree with him, so I would appreciate it if you didn't prove me wrong before we can even get started."

She glared at him for a long moment, her lips pressed in a thin line as if she were fighting to keep back a retort. He got the impression she wasn't used to being slapped down. For a tense minute she simply stared at him, her eyes searching his face. Kahoku kept his expression neutral and stared her down without a flinch. He'd faced down far worse than this strange little vigilante.

In a way it was a first test, at least in his mind. If she wasn't willing to swallow her pride and take orders, she wasn't going to last long. Her biotic abilities didn't even register much to him anymore, it was the potential he saw in her that was intriguing. Right now she wasn't much, but what she could be with the right training...some discipline...

She finally broke away, looking down at the table for a moment, absorbing his words. Baker and Harris looked between the two of them. Baker looked like he wanted to say something but he kept silent. The girl took a deep breath and pushed herself up from the slouch she'd thrown herself into when she'd sat down. She folded her hands and looked at Kahoku again, nodding. "I apologize...sir. Dr. Harris." She turned her head to nod at him. Harris smiled a bit nervously and nodded in return.

Kahoku relaxed back in his chair. "All right, then."

Arian stared at her reflection for a long moment. She'd been given back the street clothes she had been wearing when she had arrived and the Captain had allowed her to change back into them in the tiny bathroom off the prison's waiting room. She opened the tiny envelope that had been with her clothes and smiled a bit when she saw the earrings and studs that had been in her various piercings. After a moment of consideration she tucked the envelope into her pocket without replacing any of them, they probably wouldn't let her wear them at boot camp anyway.

Here's how it is. You're a biotic, and it's obvious you've had some training. Several people of note have stated it seems a shame to let so much potential go to waste. You'll be granted citizenship since you have no birth record and most of the Mindoir records were destroyed.

Her. In the military. That was one profession she'd never in her life considered. She would have laughed in the face of anyone who suggested it. But then again, when had anything in her life gone the way she'd expected it to?

You will be allowed to enlist in the Systems Alliance Military on a severely provisional basis. Consider it a different kind of parole. This means you're going to have everyone watching you very carefully, you'll have to report to several different people for evaluations on a regular basis, and if you screw up once, and I mean one time, you're out.

Dr. Harris and others were probably going to interrogate her about her abilities and she was still working out exactly how she could get around them without saying too much. At least with the implant she could honestly tell them she didn't know where it had come from. She'd overheard the doctor saying it was a little bit weaker than a standard L3 implant so maybe he'd lose interest in it. She didn't know how fast biotic implants and bio-amps went out of date, but hers was several years old.

You will go through boot camp and also the Alliance's training programs for biotics despite whatever training you may have received already. On a personal note, you don't strike me as the type that usually makes it. But there's potential in you, girl, if you have the courage to let it grow.

Could she make it, though?

She looked at her face in the mirror again, staring into her own tired eyes and the nightmares that lived behind them. Probably not. Probably she'd screw it up or piss off the wrong person and be sent back here within a matter of days.

She stared down at her hands for a long moment. She'd turned herself in as a punishment for the innocent blood she had on those hands. Not the fuckers she'd killed here...no one here on Earth could convict her for the crimes she deserved to be punished for.

She closed her fingers into a fist and stared at it thoughtfully. It was fairly obvious she wasn't going to make it far in the military, not with her background and record, but that wasn't the point, was it? Kahoku had a point even if he hadn't meant it in the same way she did. The Alliance helped people, protected people, like the people in colonies. Like Mindoir.

She closed her eyes against those memories.

Wasn't serving a purpose greater than herself, however small her contribution might be, better than just doing penance?

It was worth a try.

With that thought in mind, she splashed water on her face and picked up her small bag of possessions.

You are being given an opportunity very few are granted, Arian Shepard. A second chance. And a chance to serve both your people and the galaxy itself. I suggest you don't waste it.

She opened the door and stepped out where the captain was waiting for her.