Her Father's Footsteps

Saturday, April 11 2172.

Calista Shepard, a navy brat, prepares for enrollment in the Alliance.

"Hello, my name is Calista Ann Shepard, and I would like to enroll in the Systems Alliance Military as an Officer."

"Okay, I'll download an information packet for you, start filling out this application." The Alliance recruiter said, handing her a datapad. Several minutes later, her Omni-tool beeped, signaling the completion of a download, "First off your physical is in two hours in the med bay, don't be late. Your Basic Officer Training Program is on Arcturus Station, get there in three days, and submit a travel claim for any expenses incurred."

Shepard sent a message to her parents, "Hey mom and dad, I've joined the Alliance as an officer, I start my training in a couple of months on Arcturus Station."

"Hello, Cali, my name is Dr. Karin Chakwas, and I'm going to do your physical. Please strip down to your underwear. I will start with a full body scan, please lie down on the table, and stay still."

"How do you know my name?" asked Cali.

"I was the attending physician when your mother gave birth to you." Replied Karin.

Shepard lay down on the table, and waited patiently as it slid in to the scanner. Several minutes later, the bed slid back out from under the scanner.

"Interesting, do you know where you were about four years ago?" asked .

"I was in Constant on summer leave, why?" Calista asked.

"Oh, never mind. It was nothing." Dr. Chakwas responded, "as far as I can tell the only thing abnormal with you, other than the scar above your right eye, and the aforementioned anomaly with your full body scan.

Wednesday, October 5th 2168 Eden Prime Gazette

The MSV Hector Morales blew up over the city of Constant on the planet Eden Prime.

Investigators believe that the terrorist organization 'Cerberus' is behind the ship explosion. The remnants of a proton grenade bearing their logo were recovered at the crash site. The eezo cloud drifted across the entire city, many citizens suffered secondary exposure…

3 months later.

"I am Operations Chief Marks; I will be your instructor for the next three months! You will do everything I tell you to do.

"Cadet Shepard, you will be the course senior for the entire course, meaning you will relay everything that I say to you to your course mates. In theory you are a higher rank than they are, so they follow you. I don't want any bullshit Shepard. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir." Shepard replied, with a stare that would melt steel.

"Report to my office Shepard; Class dismissed."

"Sir?" Shepard asked.

"Tomorrow at 0900, you have an appointment at base supply for outfitting, and weapons issue. That should take most of the morning, after that, you will march back to the barracks, and get ready for inspection you are free to anything on base until 1900, I suggest you get ready for inspection, morning comes early during a Galactic Standard day*. I have just uploaded a room layout to your Omni-tool; you are responsible for distribution. Breakfast is on your own time, inspection is at 0600, course starts at 0700, lunch is from 1000 to 1100, course ends at 1400, and you are on your own time, until lights out at 1900." The Operations Chief said.

'Beep…beep…beep' came the warble of Shepard's alarm. Shortly thereafter, a fist shot out of the darkness, and permanently silenced the alarm; it flew across the room, and impacted the wall with a thud. Shepard rolled out of bed, the ambient red glow from her Omni-tool lighting up her room. A few taps later, and the lights were on, and the windows were open. Trudging towards the washroom, Shepard reached over and hit the warm-up button for the shower. Stripping off her t-shirt and panties, she climbed into the shower, and allowed the steaming water to pour down her body. Shepard dried off and pulled on her clothes. They consisted of stonewashed skinny jeans and a tight white t-shirt. She put on her watch, and tied up her hair. Exiting her room Shepard walked down the barren metallic corridors of the Arcturus Station Academy, towards the cafeteria. Upon arrival, Shepard noticed that Gunnery Chief Marks was sitting alone at a table chowing down on a steak. Walking up with a heaping plate of steak and eggs, and a large cup of coffee, she set her tray down across him, and asked, "May I sit here?"

Chief Marks glanced upward at her, "sure, Shepard," he said with hesitation.

Shepard sat down and began to eat. The chief glanced over at Shepard's plate noticing her meal. "So are you copying me, or do you eat steak and eggs for breakfast as well?"

"I eat steak and eggs for breakfast as a tribute to the astronauts of 20th century earth." Shepard responded.

"That's nice, shut the fuck up, and eat." Mumbled Marks.

Finishing her meal, she placed her tray on the conveyor belt of the dishwasher. Shepard then walked back to the common area in the barracks where she met up with the rest of her course. Glancing down at her customized Rolex**, it said the time was 0516, "have you guys had breakfast yet?"

"No ma'am," they replied.

"You should probably grab it before we go to outfitting." Shepard stated.

"We aren't getting kitted until 0900, so we were going to eat later, if that was okay with you ma'am?" asked Trang.

"Don't forget your room inspection in 84 minutes, are your guys' rooms squared away? and yeah, that should be okay, as long as you are ready for 0815, because that's when we're leaving for the QM.

"Yes ma'am." Replied Trang.

Shepard sat down on one of the chairs, and resumed her game of Galaxy of Fantasy .

Shepards omni-tool vibrated 74 minutes later, signalling her to get her course mates ready for inspection, before awaiting the chief to arrive. All of the students passed the initial inspection, and they marched off to the QM for equipment issue.

Upon arrival, the chief ordered them to form up in alphabetical order. Now 'S' is near the end of the alphabet, so Shepard had some time to kill. She pulled out her tanto and began twirling it between her fingers. The cadet on her right, Trang, was getting quite nervous because he knew that this knife could penetrate hardsuit armor, and if that knife could do that, then human leg (muscle and bone) was no problem.

"Cadet Shepard!" came the intercom.

Shepard left the central waiting area, and followed the arrows on the floor that guided her to the reception area of the QM.

"Cadet Shepard please stand in the red cross-hashed square. The system needs to take your measurements, before the nano-forges modify your armor."

A pair of red lasers began scanning Cali's body. She glanced to the left, and noticed an image of her body on the monitor, and numerics flowing across the bottom. The laser pod retracted into the ceiling.

"You may return to the waiting area."

Several minutes later.

"All cadets please report to classroom one." came the intercom.

"Morning maggots; before you is a questionnaire to determine which class of combat officer you fall into."

Shepard glanced down at the holopad on the desk, the questions read:

1) Are you a biotic?

2) Do you have latent biotic abilities?

3) Do you have any technical skills?

4) How well do you fair in combat simulators?

5) Which weapons are you proficient in?

6) Do you enjoy high risk situations?

7) Do you fold under high pressure?

8) Which weight of armor are you most comfortable wearing?

Shepard answered yes to questions 2 and 3; she answered very well to 4; she answered all weapons to 5; no to 7; and all weights to question 8. She forwarded the results to the chief.

After a thorough analysis of the students scores, Chief Marks had a competent squad on his hands. He had 3 infiltrators, 9 soldiers, 4 adept, 2 engineer, 3 vanguards, 3 sentinels, and well Shepard. Chief Marks had a tough time classifying her. She excels in combat simulators, she is highly skilled in technical applications, and has latent biotic abilities. He pulled up her marksman records, and they showed she was in the top one percentile of shooters, especially with long rifles. She is comfortable wearing all weights of armor, and carrying all types of weapons. When asked what weapons she would take into battle, she stated her modified M-96 mattock battle rifle with a fully automatic trigger, and a high-efficiency heat sink, and a silenced M-86 Python anti-material rifle with a ranged scope. After careful review of Shepards specs, he decided that she would make an excellent N level operative.

"Okay class, today you will learn about the history of the armed services, from 1900 till today. This presentation will last the entire day, so grab a coffee, or a stim, sit back, and enjoy the show," announced the Chief.

Several weeks later

"This is my range, and today is range day, before you is every single rifle currently in the Systems Alliance Arsenal, you may choose up to five different weapons. The short range is to your left, the medium, and long range are straight ahead. Please choose your weapons and move on," bellowed Gunnery Sargent Galindez.

"Excuse me Sargent, but I brought my own weapons, may I use them on your ranges?" Asked a lithe women carrying a large hardcase.

"Only if you can guarantee that they will perform appropriatly," replied the Sargeant.

"Yes, in fact I just finished cleaning them before I arrived here," responded the cadet.

"Alright just set up in the long range, I'll be keeping an eye on you though because of your personal weapons," commented the Sargent.

Cali took the two cases down to the long range, where she set up her M-86, and M-96 rifles.

The Sargent retreated to the observation room, and watched intently as the cadet named Shepard, proceeded to fire her silenced M-86 at the target. Which in the long range happened to be over 5000 meters away, yet there was only one hole. The Sargent wondered if she was that good of a shot to fire through the same hole, or if she just got lucky and missed all of the other shots, so he pulled up her marksman records. He was amazed that there was someone else in the Alliance that shot the same as him, if not slightly better. Even firing her automatic Mattock the rounds made a nice 6 inch grouping at 1000 meters.

"Cadet Shepard please report to Gunnery Sargent Galindez in range control," came the intercom.

Cali calmly cleaned her weapons, and returned them to her hardcase, before walking over to the range control office.

"If you wouldn't mind opening up your hardcase, i would like to see what have done to the weapons in terms of customization, and modification," asked the Gunney.

"Sure sargent," replied Shepard with a grin on her face.

6 months later.

"Officer Cadet Shepard, please step forward."

"SIR!" Shepard shouted; voice full of authority, and respect.

"From the power invested in me by the Alliance Military, I present you with the rank of Second Lieutenant. Congratulations Shepard." With that, Shepard took one-step backwards, snapped off a crisp salute, turned, and returned to her seat.

~end of chapter 1~