Author's Note: This chapter goes into the day to day life of John and Jane as teenagers, as well as introduces some of the people important to them. That said, not every character will show up later. We all have friends we made as teenagers who we just don't see anymore for whatever reason, and we also have friends who will be there the rest of our lives. So too do John and Jane.
However, this chapter also goes into some big things that are a part of this shared universe. The great thing about these franchises is that I can include almost anything and not be crazier than the original canon. But I also don't want to go overboard. So I'm trying to balance. Have something absolutely insane, but also possible within the realm of each canon. Hopefully you guys enjoy this.
February 19th, 2172 CE: Station Serizawa, Orbiting Shanxi
John Shepard woke in a start, looking around frantically. His familiar surroundings confused him for a moment. But only a moment. As a spacer kid, he'd long since gotten pretty good at remembering whatever new location he was sleeping in was. But oddly, sleeping in the same place for months tended to get confusing. Weird.
He slowly took stock of his surroundings. The room was almost bare, made entirely of steel and plastic. On a dresser next to him was a photo laid out on its face, a knife, and a necklace with a crystal imbedded in steel. Next to the dresser was a bag full of his clothes.
John felt a hard object next to his leg. On looking at it, he found his padd. It was still on. He lifted the padd up to read the passage in question.
"SCALE forces still in underground war with Batarian Hegenomy." He scoffed, tossing the padd aside. No wonder he'd fallen asleep.
He slowly rose out of his bed, stretching as he moved. At seventeen, John was on the cusp of growing into his full size. Already he was taller than most men, though nothing on the Turians he often interacted with. This caused a bit of a problem on most stations, as they were built with space in mind, but he was used to it. Still wearing nothing but his boxers, he strolled over to the bathroom, leaned against the sink and turned on the water to splash his face.
"Inquiringly: John," He smiled just a bit at the sound of his old friend outside the door. "Are you up yet."
Long used to the monotone sound of an Elcor, John splashed his face, enjoying the chill of liquid pouring down his face. While ships and space stations tended to get very chilly, there was no denying the enjoyment of cold water on skin. "Yeah, I'm just cleaning up! Be out in a bit!"
"Cheerily: See you soon." The steady beat of massive elcor limbs pressing against the floor echoed for a moment as the alien left his place outside John's door, leaving the teenager to clean up.
John looked at himself in the mirror. With his shirt off, it was easy to see his pale skin, a product of living on sunless stations since he was seven. He was getting a tan again thanks to recent changes, but it was a slow process. His bright blue eyes seemed to glow, and he ran a hand across his short black hair.
Once he finished showering and cleaning up, he put on a black shirt and shorts, perfect for a workout. The crystal now bounced on its chain as he walked, shining with an odd light as it rested in its metal setting. On entering the kitchen of the quarters he called home, he was greeted by three people.
"John," His mom stepped forward from where she been reading a padd, wrapping him in a hug. He smiled at her, kissing her cheek. He took a moment to look at her hands as sshe went back to reading.
Hannah Shepard was a striking woman. With hair so black it was almost blue, eyes the same color as John's, a trim, muscular figure, and strong facial features, she would never be seen as pretty. She was something far more dangerous, made of the sort of beauty that seemed to challenge men and women to meet her standards.
Her right arm only added to her dangerous allure. Colored blood red, and obviously armored for combat, the metallic arm moved with fluid dexterity to trace its fingers along the surface of the padd she was reading from. A small blue orb glowed just under the shoulder of the arm, like a power source of some kind.
John looked from his mom to the other occupant at the table. Of course, there was no way he could miss him. Elcor tended to stand out.
"Hey, Hades," John patted his friend on the shoulder as he walked by.
Even for his young age, Hades was big, towering over even the largest bulls among his people, a testament to the training and workout program he'd been a part of for years. Hades, named after the Olympian of Death and Wealth, was sipping from a juice box placed on the table. He wore a simple black shirt and pants, and seemed to be enjoying his juice.
At the oven, flipping eggs with intense concentration, was an Asari woman. Well, a girl really.
She wore a purple dress in the style of her people, which went well with teal appearance of her lightly scaled skin. She was the shortest person of the room, and also the youngest. John walked over and poked the tentacles on her head mischievously.
"H-Hey!" She squeaked, slapping his hand away. "Stop it!"
John smiled at the shorter youth, which responded with by pouting. Her purple eyes were full of annoyance, but she quickly smiled when she found that he wasn't being malicious. "How'd you sleep?"
"Good." John looked over the eggs, then nodded as he decided they looked delicious. "How about you, Ashira?"
"All right," She shrugged. "It was cold though. How do you get used to it?"
"It's in the blood," Hannah said behind them, not looking from her padd. "That and practice."
Hades took another sip of his juice. "Curiously: What time is class today?"
"Should be in about an hour." John lifted an arm, taking a look at his omni-tool's watch function. "Yep. We better start eating."
"Shifu doesn't mind if we're late anyways," Ashira moved the eggs around, then placed them on three plates.
"Well I need to get as much learning in as I can now, remember?" John took a plate for himself and began scarfing down food.
Ashira frowned. "Oh yeah. Military service… Do you have to go?"
"Soon as I'm eighteen," He mumbled around a mouthful of eggs.
Hannah hit the back of his head with her flesh arm for talking with his mouth full, not even looking up from her padd. He grinned at that, and obediently swallowed his food.
"Lucky," Ahshira crossed her arms and pouted. "It's not fair humans get to join the military so early! I have to wait thirty years to join my military!"
"Sarcastically: It must be so hard to be immortal."
John choked on his eggs at both the joke and Ashira's cute attempt at anger. At sixteen, the girl was a baby in the eyes of her society. She was lucky enough to be allowed to go to an EDF school. Joining the military was just not in the cards for her.
"Where's Samuel?" He asked his mom, trying to change the subject.
"Already working out." Hannah flipped the page on her padd. "You know Samuel."
"Hm." John ate another bite, already focused on what was coming for the day ahead.
February 19th, 2172: Omega, Afterlife
Jane growled as she rose from her sleep. She looked around her room for a moment. Clothes, bullets, and pieces of trash lay all over the floor. She struggled away, looking around. After a moment she growled again, reach for a pair of pants. She gave the bathroom a glance, then sniffed her armpit. Wincing slightly, she put the pants down and walked over the bathroom.
A knock came from the door as she was showering. "Jane!?"
Jane brushed back a lock of her red hair, blinking a bit of shampoo out of her eyes. "Showering, dad!"
"Hnn," The gravely voice at the door somehow echoed. "I have a hunt today. You're coming with me. Eat a protein bar or something."
Jane blinked, shocked. As the sound of footsteps leaving filled the air, the teenage girl grinned under the deluge of water from her shower.
"Yes!"
When she entered the living room, she was dressed in full armor. Like her father's, her armor was colored a dark red, with a stripe of black on the arms and legs.
Wrex looked up at the sight of his adopted daughter entering the room. He looked her up and down for a moment.
Jane was shorter than himself, but still taller than most of her species females. She had a small scar on her chin, a trophy from when she'd killed her first fully grown Krogan a month ago.
Pride filled Wrex at the sight of his tough little daughter. To think, it seemed like only a few days ago she'd been just a toddler, walking around awkwardly on her pudgy limbs. But he knew from the moment that toddler responded to a Varren barking at her with a headbutt instead of crying, that she was something special.
It was strangely adorable, the sight of tiny human blinking at a barking varren, only to frown in determination, rear her head back, and smash her forehead into the animal's face.
He threw back those fond memories to appraise her from a more professional standpoint. "Armor looks good. Biotics?"
Jane raised a hand, watching it glow briefly. "All fed up and ready to go," She gave Wrex an excited smile. "Are you really bringing me on a hunt!?"
He grunted. "You need to stop smiling like that. It's creeping me out."
She put her teeth away, trying push away her giddiness as she stared aeagerly at the massive Krogan she called her father. "Sorry. I'm just—"
"Yeah, I know." Wrex grabbed an assault rifle, a brand new piece that had been resting on the table. "Early happy birthday by the way."
He tossed the large weapon at Jane, watching as she caught it. "No good going on you're first hunt without a good weapon."
Jane just barely kept from squealing as she stared at the weapon, as excited as a little girl getting a pony. It was the same color as her eyes, built with a curved top, and had an M-7 on the side.
"It's a Lancer." Wrex noted. "Old human weapon. Has an omni-bayonet on it too."
Even more excited, she pressed the button on the side, watching as a orange blade slid out of the micro-fabricators built into the bottom of the blade.
"Fires both mass effect rounds and plasma. Plasma uses more power, but it's useful for burning through armor," Wrex watched her stare at her new gun. After a moment, he opened his mouth, then hesitated. He shuffled awkwardly before speaking again. "So what do you thi—?"
Jane rushed forward to wrap her armored arms around his body. As she squeezed him tightly, he stared down at her awkwardly. Slowly, a fond smile came to his face. She twisted her head to look at him, smiling.
"Thanks, dad."
After a while he pushed her away, but not without a pat on the head. "You're welcome, brat."
He turned away to grab a shotgun off the table. "Now come on. The Queen has business with us."
Jane nodded firmly. As she followed her father, she attached the assault rifle to her back like he'd taught her, letting it fold into its smaller form. Then she patted her side.
There, at her waist, was a knife. If anyone had taken it out of its sheath, they would have seen that it was made of a bright crystal.
February 19th, 2172 CE: Station Serizawa, Orbiting Shanxi
John, Ashira, and Hades had been living on the station together with John's mother for almost a year. But they'd been friends for longer than that.
Hades was actually born on Earth. The son of an elcor businessman and his wife, he'd been given the name Hades as a respectful nod to the planet of his birth and it's myths. He'd come to the station to continue learning under his Shifu, who had moved away from Earth to the station by request.
Ashira's story was similar. Her mother and father, both pureblood Asari, had moved her to the station in order to help her develop her biotic talents. Thessians were not exactly cruel to pureblood children, but the stigmata was bad enough that Ashira's parents felt it best.
And finally, John. He'd only been detected as a biotic last year, and had been fitted with L3 implants immediately. He moved to the station as well, roomed with his mother, Hades, and Ashira, and had trained to develop his skills ever since, in preparation for joining the military like his mother.
So it was that the three of them began walking together to the gym in the center of the station. The station was one of the largest in existence, a four kilometer long beast that was shaped like a broken sword welded onto an anvil. Created to act as a defense platform/training academy, Station Serizawa was renowned for being horrendously huge, state of the art, and very big (It could not be overstated how freakishly huge it was).
Humanity had a well-deserved reputation for creating big things after all, and they weren't willing to give it up.
The gym they stepped into fit that esthetic design. It was a massive space, big enough to hold several space shuttle if need be, and have room for a few Krogan tanks. On the left side as they entered the room was a large window displaying an incredible view of the planet below. In truth there was no window, only a very good holograph, but it was a real time view of the planet of Shanxi nonetheless.
Going from the window all the way until it took up the middle of the room, was a thick green mat. Made of a revolutionary material, the mat was made to absorb even the strongest of blows, allowing students to fall as much as necessary without grievous injury. On the right side were sets of workout equipment. While the room was almost empty, one of the occupants was bench pressing what had to be around seven hundred pounds of weight. When the weightlifter in question noticed the trio enter, he let the weights down and rose to give them a fanged smile.
"Sam," John said with a nod.
"Guys," Samuel was a Simeon, one of the more militant races that were a part of the Earth Defense Forces. Like many of his race, he was covered in thick fur, a dark brown forest of clean and well groomed hairs. He had a face similar in structure to that of Earth's gorillas, though more capable of displaying complex emotions than Earth primates. He stood to his full height of eight feet. Of the group, only Hades had more muscle mass, and even the large elcor was shorter than Samuel.
"Shifu is taking a call," Samuel nodded towards the back room, where a window showed a man walking back and forth. John walked towards the room in question, the others falling into step beside him. The door was open, allowing the others to hear the tail end of the conversation.
"Yeah, stop by any time," The man chuckled. "I'd love to finally meet Kolyat, see how he's growing… be safe," Hanging up, the man smiled at the youngsters gathered at his door. "Sorry about that. Old friend."
"No problem, Shifu." John said with a smile.
The man he called shifu, or 'master', wasn't very impressive. Chinese by birth, he had thick black hair braided into a ponytail, a modestly muscular build, and wore a simple t-shirt, flowing pants, and martial arts slippers. He was young, and shorter than John by a few inches. He once laughed when a student compared him to Bruce Lee in appearance.
The students stepped away from the door and walked over to the mat. Each removed their shoes, bowed, and stepped onto the mat, though Hades settled for simply nodded his head before moving his titanic form. Standing in a line, they waited respectfully for their shifu to follow.
"Now, as I understand it, two of you will be leaving soon." Their Shifu looked between John and Samuel, who shared grins. "The EDF will be glad to have you."
"Thank you, Shifu." Samuel bowed respectfully. "I'm sorry to leave you so early in my teachings."
"Same." John chuckled a bit. "Especially since I haven't been here long."
"Believe me, you both will do well." Their shifu sighed. "Sadly, the battlefield is the only place to truly polish the skills I have taught you. As much as I have pushed you within these walls, it will be nothing compared to the tempering wrought by the fires of war."
He waved a hand idly. "But enough philosophical bullshit. Let's start the lesson." He lifted a hand so that his palm faced the ceiling. In a flash of light, ice slowly swirled into existence over his palm, gathered into a single spike.
"Chi," He nodded to Hades. "Biotics," Ashira, then John. "And psychics. Each of these is simply energy, and the expression of it. While each has different places in the world, never see yourself as the better of others because of your abilities. Appreciate your powers, practice them, and perfect your skills. But remember that death comes to all men eventually. Death is the great equalizer. Nothing in this universe is truly immune to it. Rather than despair, simply take heart in it.
"Of all my teachings, this is one I'd like you remember the most. Do not fear death. Fight it off, save others from it. But do not fear its inevitability. When she comes to you, I want her to look you in the eyes, smile, and tell you that you fought well."
He clenched his fist, and the ice floating above his hand shattered. "None of is truly better than others. And Death, though inevitable, is not be feared. Remember that, and no enemy will ever truly be able to defeat you. You will be the mountain that they shatter their bodies upon."
He clapped his hands. "Now. Ashira, you and Samuel will spar. Hades, I'd like you to work on your chi magic. Fire, in this case. John, you and I will spar as well. I'd like to see about perfecting your biotic charge. I'll be damned if you can't beat out most Matriarchs before you leave my tutelage."
John smiled at that thought. As he did, Hades backed away from the others.
An Elcor roaring is not a sound many know about. To most, the only sound they could produce was the monotone, slow speech they were famed for.
Hades' bellow of noise shook the room. Samuel responded with his own roar, a blast of joyous glee. John and Ashira, despite having far less powerful lungs, still let out cries of their own, no less powerful for their lack of volume.
An aura of fire came to life around Hades. He aimed at a well-blacked spot on a back wall, and the fire coealesced into balls of fire before launching forth one at a time.
Samuel charged Ashira, still roaring as he launched a fist as large as her head at her stomach. A biotic barrier worthy of an asari seven times her age stopped him his tracks. She slammed a palm into his chest, sending him back with a wave of biotic force. Rolling as he hit the floor, he punched the air before him. A telepathic blast of power hit Ashira, and sent the tiny girl flying. She spun in midair, stopping her flight by enveloping herself in biotic power. Gritting her teeth in concentration, she flew towards Samuel, who roared in challenge before rushing to meet her.
As Hades practiced on his own and Samuel and Ashira sparred, John face his master.
"So Shifu, when do we start?" John said cheerily.
"…John," His master's serious voice took John off guard. "I'm going to do something from my past. Use an ability I haven't used in hundreds of years."
"Hundreds…" John stared at him shock. "But that's…"
"This world, John, is full of far more impossibilities than Kaiju, aliens, and psychic powers." He chuckled. "Well, I suppose you are used to such things. They are a confirmed part of history now. But in my time, such things were impossibilities. The world is ever changing John. And I feel that change is coming again. This universe is going to face things that will make most men falter. You and Samuel are joining the EDF. I sense that this will bring you both into contact with those changes."
He shuddered, before smiling at his confused student. "So, John. I will show you something impossible. From the days when the land of the Jade Empire knew me as the Spirit Monk, and when I brought about a change of my own."
A bright orange glow filled the room. And John's eyes widened. He took a step back, shocked beyond all belief.
"F-Frog!"
It had brown, mottled skin. Long fingers sharpened into claws. Feet with saurian talons. A mouth big enough to swallow a whole pig, and a pink tongue that seemed to have no end in length. It wore armor across its calves, and its waist was wrapped in a pale white cloth embroidered with odd symbols. Brown eyes set under a ridge of bone blinked at John. When the beast spoke, it was with his master's voice, if far more… demonic.
"Toad, actually." The creature chuckled. "This is my lesson, John. Survive me, and do so for every day that you are here. And you will be ready for every impossibility of this universe. Now. Prepare yourself!"
With an enormous leap, the creature came at him. John, still shocked, yelped when the toad demon slammed its belly into him.
"What the fuck!?" Samuel yelled in the background.
"Continue your lessons Samuel. You're next."
Paling in horror, Samuel, Ashira, and Hades ignored what they were doing and instead watched as John rolled to his feet, enveloped his fist in biotic power, and charged the toad demon that was his master. The toad blocked the blows with speed impossible for its size.
"Good attack, but you need more speed. Be careful now. This one of a hundred forms that I'll be testing you with, so you'll need to beat this one quickly."
As John dodged a long tongue, he felt his prospects of reaching eighteen without breaking every bone in body dwindle.
February 19th, 2172: Omega, Afterlife
Walking up the steps to Aria's throne was a daunting prospect for most. In fact, it tended to be the most terrifying part of most people's day.
Aria was Queen of Omega. Reviled by many, contested by few. But the undisputed Queen of the place often called the Citadel's dark sister. There were few within the hallowed out asteroid of scum and treachery that would have felt anything but daunting fear and hope that they would leave with their lives intact.
"Auntie Aria!"
Then again, few people were Urdnot Jane.
Aria, dressed in the white jacket and black undersuit that were her 'business' uniform, turned to look at the redheaded young girl walking towards her, and gave her something that would have shocked those who knew her.
A genuine, heartfelt, smile.
"Jane." She rose from her couch, extended her arms out at the girl walking towards her, and enveloped her in a hug. Another asari noted the hug from where she'd been dancing, and started to walk over. Aria pulled away from Jane to smile again, though it was the more dangerous type she was famous for. "I hear the old asshole is taking you on this job."
Wrex cocked an eyebrow, unoffended (He'd once heard something about pots or kettles or whatever, and quickly got distracted trying to remember how it went).
Jane smiled then.
Aria's guards, a group made up of two krogan, two asari, three batarians, and four turians, all situated around the stair that lead up to Aria, and all long since used to the violence and carnage that came with living on the most criminally infested station in the galaxy, shuddered at the sight of that smile.
It looked far too much like Aria's.
As the two gave each other a smile carrying all the promise of a blade tracing along skin, another asari came up the steps, the guards separating for her. "Jane, Mom?"
The two turned to see the young asari walking over to join them. She was wearing the dancers uniform asari had made famous throughout the galaxy, and she filled it very well. Of course, not a single man who knew who she was related too would have taken more than a glance at the incredible curves of her chest and hips, face that was a mix of cute and dangerously seductive, and eyes that seemed to gleam in the lights of Afterlife's neon lights.
"Liselle," Aria flicked her eyes to her guards. They all pointedly kept their eyes front, allowing Aria her soft moment.
It was a testament to Aria's power that even when she was fawning over her favorite girls, she was still the most terrifying person in the world.
"What's up cous?" Jane and Liselle hugged, only for Liselle to wince.
"Ouch. Seriously, don't hug anyone while wearing full armor." Liselle tapped Jane's chest piece with her knuckle, a loud clink following. "Why are you wearing this anyways?"
"I'm going on my first hunt!"
Liselle blinked. "Really?" She looked at Wrex. "Isn't seventeed young for that, even with humans?"
Wrex shrugged. "She comes from a planet of giant monsters, and her species responded by making giant fucking robots. I figure she can handle one asshole or three."
"It'll be fine," Jane patted Liselle's shoulder, then looked at Aria. "What's the job, Auntie?"
Aria sat back in her throne. Wrex moved to stand next to his adopted daughter, towering over her. Liselle sat next to her mother, watching in interest.
Aria motioned with a hand. Immediately, a turian man sped over and handed her a padd. "A SCALE operative is on the station, apparently trying to offload something. Normally I wouldn't mind. But he has apparently decided to do so in such a way that I can't help but notice." She pressed the padd, and turned it towards Jane and Wrex. Liselle leaned over to look as well, only to drew in a gasp.
"Is that?"
"Kaiju." Jane starred at the image of an arm the size of a truck being transported through a cargo bay, carried by a gravpad. An arm with dark green screen. Only the forearm, but massive. "Looks familiar for some reason."
"Knowing SCALE, it's probably a Gigan clone." Aria said, referencing the strange obsession SCALE seemed to have with the cyborg assassin. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is that these idiots decided to bring a Kaiju sample on my station, and not only didn't tell y people about it, but decided not to pay the 'tax' for transporting goods on Omega."
Jane winced. As much as she loved the woman she'd adopted as her aunt when she was eight, she knew full well only the stupid or the crazy would attempt to cross her.
"I'd send my guys I, but I figured this would be a good test for you." Aria threw the padd to Wrex. "Your job is go to the location, kill anyone standing in your way, then blow up the arm and anything else in there. That warehouse is already a wreck, and it's on good real estate. The Eclipse have been looking for a new place to build one of their mech workshops, so I'm going to sell them whatever you leave behind."
Wrex looked over the padd. "Hmm. James Rechenkov?"
"Fake name," Aria waved a hand dismissively. "Not that it matters. Just send a message Wrex, and I'll give you both my usual payment for such jobs. Understood?"
Neither Urdnot saluted, but they did nod. With that, they turned and left the room.
When they were gone, Aria felt Liselle's eyes one her. She ignored her, simply leaning back in her chair and listened to the music. Liselle continued to look at her. While Aria was not a cruel mother, she'd long since taught her daughters to respect her, and part of that was speaking only when it wasn't rude.
When Aria felt enough time had passed, she opened her eyes to look at her daughter. "You have questions, Liselle?"
"Yes, mother." Liselle leaned in. "I don't understand why you sent out Jane. Wrex can do the job himself, and Jane is so… she's so young."
Aria chuckled. "Young to an asari maybe. But on her species homeworld, she'd be only a short year or so from joining the EDF. Besides, Wrex asked me very politely," She smirked. "That's something I like about Wrex. He's rude, and not a good negotiater. But he'll be whatever Jane needs him to be. And if that means bowing down and asking me to pretty please let his human daughter in on a job, he'll do it."
"Mom…" Liselle said softly.
"Oh calm down." Aria scoffed. "Wrex has done good work over the years. And Jane has been trained by the best liars, cheats, and killers in the galaxy. SCALES agents will die, and they will be back for you and your sisters to baby before you know it."
With that, Aria grabbed another padd and made a notation. She was transporting eezo to a small rebel faction on Thessia, and the final payments hadn't come in yet. She'd been hoping for that, as she really preferred Thessia to remain under it's current rule, and now she had the excuse she needed to crush the rebels without risking her reputation as a businesswoman.
She simply had to torture a few of the negotiaters. Disgusting business, as nothing screamed so horribly as her fellow asari, but worthwhile in terms of how much money the whole thing would make her.
So Aria sat in her throne, the lives of several thousand people in her tight grip, her daughter next to her, and her empire nice and healthy.
It's good to be the queen.
Author's Note: So that's the chapter. If you guys have any questions, please let me know, and please read and review. Also, if someone could tell me how to make a forum here on fanfiction, so I can actually have discussions with ya'll, that would be great :)