A/N: I do not own Mass Effect, Star Trek, Starship Troopers, or any other material I might use in writing this story. If you have a complaint, be civil.
A/N 2: Uploaded the wrong chapter. Sorry.
Six Months Later...
"Welcome home, trooper." Her father, Captain Adrian Shepard, 3rd Mobile Infantry greeted warmly with a salute.
There stood in the Shepard's household doorway was newly graduated Lance Corporal Alexandria Shepard, dressed in standard issue fatigues with her gear in that familiar green bag.
"It's nice to be back." She smiled softly, entering the doorway. She dropped her bag off to the side and gave him a hug.
"Why don't you head on up and change and shower? Dinner'll be ready by the time you get out." He said fondly, picking her bag up. "Your room's just the way you left it."
"Really? I would've thought you'd have turned it into a spare guest room or something." She replied in surprise, unbuttoning her BDU top.
"Not a chance in hell." He growled, heading to the laundry room.
They lived on Elysium – but not in the city itself, they lived outside the city in a nice big house. It had multiple rooms on two floors plus a basement and included everything from a kitchen to an indoor armory, range and reloading station.
Her father, for whatever reason, always felt that despite the fact that humanity had advanced sufficiently to create hand held energy weapons, that sometimes, the old ways were best – and because they also gave you an edge that most wouldn't expect.
What you do is you take a the frame of one of the mass market "mass accelerator" weapons, and instead of sticking the eezo core and power source into it, you put in a barrel, springs, and a magazine well into it so you have an old gun that looks like a new gun.
Because kinetic barrier systems operated were reactive systems and would activate themselves whenever they detected a projectile traveling at a certain speed on a collision course, they would activate. Since regular old bullets didn't travel fast enough to trip them, that meant all they had to content with was armor.
This went into a whole bunch of political stuff that every MI had to learn about.
Due to the first contact gone wrong at Relay 314, the rest of the galaxy were aware of the types of weapons that the military used and their power.
When the Citadel Council intervened and laid the terms out for peace however, humanity had three choices – go to war, accept, or refuse.
Not wanting to start up a war, they accepted – and several new orders were issued, all of which were to keep the Citadel Council in the dark as a whole.
To make a long story short, the Alliance accepted, but was only humoring the Citadel Council – and from there, would attempt to "elevate" the other races' scientific knowledge in subtle ways and influence them to not be, in the words of the Chief, "ass-backward dumbasses who think they know everything because they were there first."
Standard issue weapons to all ground forces therefore, actually had to be downgraded to prevent the whole of the Citadel Space to throw a bitch fit at finding out that they were not as advanced as they thought they were.
What this boiled down to for Marines and Mobile Infantry was simple – if you're on ground, use bullets until otherwise informed.
In another time, there may have been more dissenters.
But the Marines and the Mobile Infantry took it in stride and simply added it to the list of things to complain about during down time – jokingly, of course. Not that it really mattered to them.
She stepped into the lavishly decorated bathroom and finished stripping off her fatigues, revealing pale and lightly tanned skin. It had been a long time since she actually had the chance to bathe by herself since the mixed bathing was something that occurred all throughout training.
She stared at her own face in the mirror, running a hand through her fiery red hair, undoing the bun she had it in. It fell smoothly down just past her shoulders.
She continued the self-examination, finally looking at the results of all that training. Gone was her formless stomach, and in its place were hardened abs.
She held her breath momentarily as she started undoing the bandages that kept her breasts from bouncing around during training, breathing a sigh of relief as the constrictive pressure was relieved, and then looked at herself once more in the mirror.
She struck a pose, arching her back slightly, pushing her chest out slightly, and then smiled mischievously. "Damn, I got sexy."
Laughing to herself, she went over to the tub and turned on the taps, letting the hot water flow into the tub and finished removing her clothes as she let the tub fill.
She turned off the water and slowly eased herself in, allowing herself to float momentarily in the ecstasy of a hot bath before she activated the air jets.
As she leaned back to enjoy the first proper bath she'd have since she left for training, she closed her eyes, and a goofy grin began to form.
'It has been a while.' She thought to herself.
Meanwhile, downstairs in the kitchen...
Adrian chuckled to himself, wondering what the look on Alex's face would be when she finished cleaning up and came downstairs. He didn't tell her since he knew it'd be a bit weird, but an old friend of his would be dropping by any time now.
Which was why he was out back in the barbeque pit, tending to the rather large hunk of pork he started smoking seven and a half hours ago.
Good barbeque was hard to find in Elysium – which is why he made it himself. It was perfect for special occasions – particularly because the leftovers made for a good lunch the day after.
As for why he invited the Chief over, it was simple – she only knew him as an instructor and a superior officer. He wanted to introduce him as a friend of the family, and most importantly, someone she could trust when shit hit the fan and she needed help – because the MI takes care of each other.
As he poured himself another beer out back, he checked the temperature in the pit and the wood chunks he was using to smoke it. Since this was the last dose of smoke, the chunks had a lot of ash around them with a small patch of black left. Perfect.
He opened the lid to the outdoor storage area and started pulling out some foil, a large and two forks for pulling, plates and buns.
Thirty minutes later, he took the pork off the smoker, wrapped it in foil, and let it sit in the large pan to cool for a while.
"Thought I smelled pig."
Adrian grinned. "Well, you know – it's not every day your daughter joins the MI."
The Chief chuckled lightly. "Well, she's definitely got fire, I'll give her that. Kind of surprised you only taught her the basics, though." He added as an afterthought.
Adrian shrugged. "It's because we have competent instructors who know what the fuck they're doing. Can't say the same for you, though." He added. "Which side of the mine do you point at the enemy again?"
The Chief grumbled. "That was years ago and I was just a private." He said indignantly.
"Doesn't matter Pierce – you could be the man that cracks the transwarp barrier, but you will always be remembered as the grunt who didn't know how to operate a claymore mine to us." Adrian declared, grabbing two beers and handing one of them over to Pierce, raising it. "To the Mobile Infantry." He toasted.
After the beers were drank, they sat down in the lawn chairs and lounged, reminiscing about old times and talking about the new times – such as the exploits of Alexandria Shepard during MI training.
They continued on for some time until Alex came out the back. Gone were the fatigues and bun, and in their place was a pony tail, a t-shirt and some shorts.
"So, food ready yet?" She asked, walking towards the pit.
"Almost." Adrian replied with a straight face. "Grab a beer and sit down."
"Alright." She nodded, just passing the chairs that faced the pit. As she grabbed the offered beer from her father's hand, she looked around for a spot to sit in before finally noticing...
"Chief!?" She stammered, jumping in shock. "W-what are you doin' here?"
Slowly and deliberately, the Chief put the beer down and drew himself to full height, and put himself directly in front of Shepard. He gave her a menacing glare.
"I'm afraid I've got some bad news." He started. She gulped, sweat beginning to form on her forehead.
He slowly reached behind him with both hands...
And withdrew a knife and a pistol.
"You forgot these." He said airly, handing them over and returning to his seat.
She looked down dumbly in confusion.
"Hell, you were right Captain – she does look kinda cute confused." She heard him say humorously.
And then, they both broke into howling laughter.
Finally realizing she'd been had, her confusion turned into indignant anger. "Daaaaaaaaaaaaad..." She growled.
"Ah, calm down sweetheart, it was just a joke." Adrian explained in between laughs. "Allow me to introduce you formally. Alex, this is Master Chief Petty Officer Jackson Pierce. We served together for some time a while back when I was still a Sergeant and the Chief here was only a lance. He's also a family friend." Adrian explained.
"So relax, kid – I'm not here as your SDI." Pierce added.
"Oh great." She rolled her eyes. "Just what I need."
"There's somethin' else." Pierce continued. "Somebody up top was impressed with your performance during basic, so if I were you, I'd keep my nose clean for the next year or two."
"That fast?" Adrian raised an eyebrow.
"Part of it was because of you, but most of it her. Something about trying out a new officer training program because the one we have now is too costly in terms of recruits and what not." Pierce shook his head. "Basically, some bean counter back on Earth is trying to cut fucking corners. But to make a long story short, Shepard here's going to be tapped for OCS. You'll get the official nod within two weeks instead of your deployment orders. From there, you'll be heading back to Earth to attend the Academy, then onto the usual MI routine."
"Usual routine?" She asked.
"The Mobile Infantry differs from Starfleet in that our officers all must spend time as a grunt, and that during officer training, you'll be attached to an active unit heading into an op as a third lieutenant for evaluation. After that's done, you return to the Academy, and finish your schooling and graduate as a Second Lieutenant." Adrian explained. "Naturally, not all candidates survive the third lieutenant rank, so the MI's always in need of officers."
"Then what's the difference?" Shepard frowned.
"Instead of going for seasoned non-coms, they've decided to go with newer, more inexperienced troopers. Widen the pool, so to speak." Pierce added. "But since you're a freakin' genius, that shouldn't be too hard for you."
The timer went off.
"Hey, pork's ready to pull." Adrian grinned, heading over to the work area. He picked up the forks and started "pulling" the pork with them.
There wasn't a single scrap left over by the time they were done.
"Got any more food?" Alex asked, picking her teeth with a toothpick.
"You know, I think I got some steaks in the fridge. Let me go get 'em and prep 'em for the grill. What about you, Chief?"
"I'll take one." He grinned. "It'd be nice for a Shepard to not fuck up a food drop for once."
"That was one time!" She protested, blushing in embarrassment.
"You somehow managed to throw the grenade into the only pond on the planet." He deadpanned. "Twice."
"There was sand in my eye!"
"Well, if you had listened to me and put on your damn goggles, you wouldn't have had sand in your eyes, would you?"
She opened her mouth, then closed it, harumphed, crossed her arms and grumbled, looking away.
Pierce opened up another beer.
The Chief as it turns out, was on Elysium temporarily and was currently staying at the main base on Elysium with Starfleet Marines since the MI weren't normally assigned for colony duty – even if they were the ones that advocated ensuring all colonies were either had heavy defenses or were within sixty seconds of backup.
Elysium only had a contingent of Marines, some light positron laser cannons, and thirty photons. to defend itself with, although it was located in "safe" territory. It wasn't located anywhere near the frontier, and was in the process of developing into a "pleasure" or resort planet. It had the weather, the locales, and most importantly it was safe.
So, deciding to put her free time to good use (at the pressuring of her father, who all but shoved her out the door with money to burn), she hit the strip – which folks called New Vegas. Filled with lights, dancing fountains, street shows, and an old-fashioned monorail system and smaller replicas of the Great Wonders, the cacophony of chaotic bells, whistles and lights were more than a little disorienting.
"Vegas indeed."
As she walked the streets, she passed by several street promoters and a holographic Elvis belting out "Viva Las Vegas".
"First time at the strip?" She snapped out of her thoughts, looking at the source of the voice. It was an older gentlemen with grayed out hair with a twinkle in his eyes and a very charming smile, dressed in a suit.
"Uh...yeah. Who are you?" She asked, stepping up to the terminal.
"Me? My official designation is NVHGR-04639-B, but since that's a mouthful, you can just call me Vic. Vic Fontaine. Welcome to Vegas, trooper." He grinned. "Congratulations on your graduation."
"Uh...thanks. How'd you know?" She asked, confused.
"It's my job to know. See, thing is with being a resort world, you gotta know your customers. Since it's impossible for a regular human to do the job, that's where us AI's come in. We can access arrival records and the like and find out basic info, stuff like where you just came from and how long you're staying. Helps us deliver on the whole resort aspect of things." He explained. "So, tell me – what are you in the mood for?"
"Well...what do you recommend?"
"Well, personally, I'm a little biased, but you might want to come back later tonight to see the show tonight at the Fortuna. But for the more immediate time, there's the gambling at just about every place here on the strip – it depends largely on your taste. There's also the New Vegas Combat Arena, where people can go and get a taste of what fighting's like, minus the death and injuries. There's also the restaurants, the shopping, the list goes on. Got an omni-tool? I'll give you a map."
"Sure." Shepard nodded.
"Done. Take care of yourself, alright? See you around. And don't forget – tonight at the Fortuna. Just tell 'em Vic sent you." Vic smiled, before heading off.
She opened her omni-tool and found a map of the area, a list of all the attractions and places complete with descriptions, and what looked like a mono-rail pass.
Taking it in stride, she decided to just check out the nearest one – which happened to be a place called "The Falls".
Upon entering, she found a very well decorated and wide open lobby. In the center were some bronze colored pipes with water flowing through it sitting in the center of a very large fountain. A little farther in and she came to the central area of the place, which had a map detailing the different casinos, shopping areas, and arcades.
She decided to just walk around, checking out the shopping areas. She even passed by a live pianist playing as shoppers walked around, checking out the various things being sold. Everything was sold here – ranging from tourist souvenirs to all kinds of minerals, jewelry, alcohol; there was even a couple of shops that sold armor and weapons for the combat arenas.
Then she found one store with something in the window that caught her eye.
She entered the store.
"Excuse me – but are those lightsabers?" She asked.
"Yeah. We make 'em for people who want to use 'em in the combat arena. They're perfectly harmless." The staffer said, reaching for one of the sabers and igniting it. It even gave off the authentic snap hiss. And, to prove how harmless it was, he grabbed the lit blade with his hand.
"See? Perfectly harmless outside of the combat arena. They're not good for much other than that, other than novelty's sake." He paused. "We specialize in custom made gear." He added.
"Is it all for the simulated stuff or do you guys do combat-grade replicas as well?"
"We do...but we normally don't get that many orders for stuff like that. Only about a quarter of the people that come here actually buy anything – most of them are just here to "play" with the toys."
Shepard nodded, thanked the man for his time and browsed around for a bit before she left and continued exploring. Thirty minutes later, she decided to pay the food court a visit – and ran into some old friends.
"Holy shit! Alex!" She heard someone exclaim. "Hey guys, it's Alex!"
She whirled around in recognition. "Elena!?" She exclaimed.
She was then suddenly tackled to the floor and enveloped in a hug by what appeared to be...a kid.
"Orianna!" A sigh. "Sorry, Alex."
"Don't worry about it." Shepard groaned, sitting up, rubbing her head. "Wait, Miranda? Elena? Orianna? What are you guys doing here?"
"Vacation, duh." Orianna scoffed. "Where have you been!? I haven't seen you in like...forever!"
"That's because I haven't been around." She commented. "You guys here by yourselves?"
Elena and Miranda shared a nervous glance between each other, which didn't go unnoticed by Shepard.
"Not really. The guys are currently checking out lightsabers somewhere." Elena explained hesitantly. "But enough about that – look at you! You got sexy." She teased, poking her left breast.
Alex shrugged. "Hey, working out will do that." She grinned. "Like what you see?" She teased.
Elena gave a saucy grin. "Mmmmm..." She said, leaning in. "It has been a while."
The two of them locked eyes...
And then immediately broke out laughing. "Oh god, that was fucking horrible!" Elena laughed. "Like what you see?" She repeated, mockingly. "It's good to have you back Alex."
"How long are you back for?" Miranda asked curiously.
"A week or two." She admitted. "I joined the Mobile Infantry."
Silence.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAATTT!?"
Shepard gave an apologetic look to the rest of the people who had all turned their heads to see what was the problem.
"You joined the MI? Why didn't you tell us!?" Elena demanded. "We gotta throw you a party. How's tonight sound?"
"I would, but I've got a show to attend." Shepard said.
"Where?" Orianna asked.
"Uh...The Fortuna? Tonight?"
Miranda raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "Alex, you know that's one of the hardest shows to get into, right?"
Alex frowned. "Vic said differently. He told me to just tell 'em he sent me."
"You met Vic Fontaine!?"
Alex suddenly had the sinking feeling that her father did a lot more than just shove her out the door.
"Well, we can always go tomorrow." Elena said cheerfully. "But you've got time now, right? Come on – we were gonna hit the food court and wait for the guys there. You can tell us all about training."
"Meet anyone interesting?" Miranda asked, Orianna in tow.
"You could say that." Alex said, wagging her head from side to side.
"Bet there were a lot of hot guys." Elena grinned.
"If you're into jarheads." Orianna quipped. All three of them turned their gaze onto the younger member of their group with a mix of surprise and humor.
"Hey, don't give me any of that little kid crap." She growled.