General Disclaimer: You know the drill by now :3


SSV Rand: 2183

I had only been on Earth for a couple weeks for evaluations and conditioning, but in the first few days I was there, I had already figured something out. I hated Earth. Sure, it was the home planet of the human race, my both of my parents grew up here and if it weren't for it I wouldn't even exist, but being there just felt wrong. The air had an acidic tang, the weather was just horrible, and no matter where I went, it was cramped. I guess that's what happens when someone like me, who has lived on space ships and stations all of her life, goes to Earth.

I was glad I had gotten off of that that rock when I did.

On the ship ride down from Arcturus, I had heard that the poverty level throughout the planet was pretty bad. Arcturus had poverty. Hell, every station had poverty. Even the Citadel had it. But Earth was worse. Then, I wouldn't have guessed that someone would've tried to mug me as soon as I left the base. I was proven wrong pretty quick.

I could understand why I would've seemed like an easy target. I hadn't been wearing my Alliance uniform that day and had traded it for a white t-shirt, jeans and an old jacket. I looked just like any other civilian that night on her way to get a drink. The girl had been tailing me since a few feet out of the base. After a while, she had started to get a little too close for comfort, and that's when she made a snatch for my jacket pocket. I was quicker.

I grabbed her wrist and proceeded to twist it and pin it behind her back. She screamed and tried to struggle out of the hole as I grabbed her other flailing arm. "Kid, you picked the wrong person to try to pickpocket." I snarled.

Getting a better look at her, my rage subsided. I observed she must've not been the most well off person. Her clothes were kind of dirty and ratted and she had a bandage on her cheek that had a fair amount of dried blood on it. Gang violence. She's been hanging around with the wrong people. I thought to myself. The scary thing was, other than that, her and I had the same features. Shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes, lightly tanned skin, and high cheek bones. We could've been mistaken as sisters any other time.

"Look! I- I'm sorry lady!" the girl said in a panicked voice "Please! Let me go!"

One of the fellow snipers back at the base said it wasn't worth trying to talk to the kids that ran the streets either looking for handouts, or just wanted to kill you or sell their bodies for a little bit of credits. Most were already too far gone and saw accepting help as a weakness. Looking at the girl, I thought I might as well have tried to do something good.

"I don't think that's going to happen just yet." I said, loosing the venom in my voice in favor of a more friendly tone. "Now, if you promise you won't run off, I'll let go of your arms. Okay?"

"What do you want?"

"I just want to ask you some questions."

The girl stopped struggling and sighed in defeat "Okay. I promise I won't run off."

I let go of her and thankfully, she kept her word and didn't run. She just stood there and rubbed her wrist where I had a hold on it. "What's your name kid?"

She didn't meet my eye contact. "Alyce Stills."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen ma'am."

I huffed with amusement. "You know Alyce, I wouldn't have expected manners from someone who just tried to steal from me."

She scoffed "You'd be surprised how many good people end up like this."

"Why did you end up like this?"

"Gang violence took my mom from me a couple weeks back. Landlord kicked us out, I ran out of the money I had and had no where else to go. Now I'm lucky enough to get enough credits together to get me something to eat."

I dug in my pocket and took out several credit bills. I didn't even bother seeing how much. I held them out to her. "Here. All you had to do was ask. There was no need to resort to stealing."

Alyce looked at me in confusion "Why are you-"

I smiled "Not everyone in the galaxy is a selfish jerk."

She took the bills from my hand and smiled. "Thank you! No one has ever done this!"

My expression softened. I had never been in her shoes. Even when my parents were on duty and I was left at home alone. "But hey, you don't want to stay on the streets like this do you?"

"No... I really don't."

"Look, I'm in the Alliance military, and I know they're always looking for new recruits. Signing on would help you get off the streets, even see the galaxy."

She averted my eyes. "I was told that they don't take street urchins."

I took out a business card I was handed when I first got on the base. It was for the recruitment and relations officer there. "The man here should be able to help you." I said as I handed her the card. "I can't force you to do it, but just remember that's it's always an open option."

Alyce smiled at me as she took the card. "I'll consider it. I can't thank you enough ma'am. No one's been this nice to me ever since my mom died."

"Please, it's Sandra." I said, returning the smile. "I'll see you around. And don't spend all of those credits in one place."

After her and I parted ways, I didn't see her hanging around outside of the base anymore. I had planned on asking the recruitment officer if he had a kid come by wanting to sign up, but between advanced rifle training and infiltrating drills, I never had the chance. When I finished my time on Earth and boarded the SSV Rand to go back home, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to the scruffy little pickpocket. I chose to not let it bother me for the rest of the trip.

The Rand was an hour away from Arcturus when I had chosen to get some coffee. I hadn't slept since I boarded on account I couldn't stand sleeping pods, so I had to keep awake somehow. I was talking with one of the engineers in the mess hall when my Omnitool beeped with a message. It was from Captain Anderson and was short and to the point: "The construction on the Normandy has been completed. Crew are able to board in the next few weeks. We await your arrival on board."

Arcturus Station, Alliance Docking Bay 147: 2183

I had seen a lot of ships in my lifetime, but none of them had compared to the one I was standing on the airlock platform looking at. I had finally understood why my father had obsessed over the Normandy. She had all of the fine points of what made both human and turian ships what they were. All with the beautiful sleekness that would obviously accompany a vessel built for stealth. I pressed my hand against the cold glass smiled, thinking of how much my father had wanted to serve on her. I chuckled "Well, at least one of us is." I said to myself.

A voice sounded from behind me, making me jump. "Sorry, what?"

A few feet behind me stood my company. He was wearing the same, normal, navy blue Alliance uniform that I was, except he had a matching hat. He also carried himself on crutches, but I dismissed that as a random injury.

"Sorry," I said with a laugh, "I thought I was alone." I looked back at the Normandy, sitting in the docking bay. "My dad's a pilot and he's been obsessing over her ever since she was announced."

My companion came to join me by the window "I don't blame him. She's a beautiful ship."

"Sure is." I agreed. "I'm assuming you're serving on her as well?"

"Believe me sweetness, I'm going to be doing a lot more than serving on her." he said with a wicked grin.

I raised an amused eyebrow at the 'sweetness' comment "Why do you say that?"

"You haven't seen a ship fly until I've been behind the controls."

"So you're the guy who's ass my dad wants to kick?" I asked with a laugh.

He shrugged "I guess you could say that."

"So what do they call you flyboy?" I asked "I need to know the name of the person that's going to be pulling my ass out of trouble."

"Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau, but everyone calls me Joker. Yes, like the Batman villain." He explained "And I'm sure things will get awkward really quick if I keep calling you Sweetness, so what should I call you instead?"

"Commander Sandra Shepard." I replied. I noticed that he immediately lost the cocky smile, and the expression that returned was that of what could only be described as 'Oh Crap'. "What?"

"You mean the same Commander Shepard who's the XO?" He asked. I nodded, and he sighed and shook his head. "Great. I sure started my service here off on a good note by calling one of the galaxy's most deadly snipers 'Sweetness'. Aren't I something?"

I laughed "It's okay Joker, I knew you were kidding." I held out my hand to him "Still friends?"

He shook my hand and smiled again "Still friends."

I motioned to the airlock with my head "So, shall we see how she looks on the inside?"