Elizabeth was the first through the door into the dorm-like room she shared with the other Recluta. She staggered to her small bed and collapsed onto her stomach with a grunt. Behind her, the other six followed suit. DeLuca flopped down on her bed which was next to Elizabeth's and let out a sigh. Groans and moans could be heard from all the others. Each of them had been recruited and arrived within the same three day time period. Elizabeth had been the last one to show up, just a few hours after Gonzales whose bed was opposite of hers.

They had been at it for two days and each of them were bruised and broken. The training had been vigorous and it was painfully obvious that the Assassins were not holding back. They had spent the previous day and all that morning practicing something they had called freerunning. Elizabeth had done somewhat well with it. At least until she had slipped off a wall and landed on a beam, bruising the entire right side of her chest and possibly her ribs. The throbbing on her side was becoming more intense, laying on her stomach was a bad idea. With all the energy she could muster, she rolled herself over onto her back and relieving some of the pain. A very loud sigh escaped her and she allowed her mind to start to sink into darkness, vaguely aware of the voices of the others in the room.

"I heard tomorrow we move on to hand-to-hand." Evans stated, his tone indicating he was responding to a question.

"Think they'll let us heal first?" DeLuca, her voice had an edge of pain to it.

"Doubtful. Think they're trying to break us." Roden's deep voice from across the room.

"Physically or mentally?" Evans' voice dripped with dark amusement.

Roden chuckled, "Both."

"I really didn't think it was that bad today." Byrd's high voice piped up, her young age very evident in the sound.

"Tell that to Shepard." A slight tone of sympathy in DeLuca's voice.

"How're the ribs Shep?" More amusement from Evans.

Elizabeth for her part gave a dismissive groan and wave which elicited a round of small chuckles from the group.

Her mind was being blanked by the warmth found in exhaustion and she was embracing it wholeheartedly. Maybe, if luck was on her side, she'd get a few winks in before lunch and the next round of training. She liked exhaustion; an exhausted mind kept the dreams at bay. The dreams were always the same. Dreams of fire and smoke, screams of fear and horror, blood and pain. The smell of burnt flesh was the worst, those not taken were culled with fire. Drifting on the edges of sleep, her thoughts betrayed her. Simply thinking about how the dreams may not come brought them on anyway. Her body paralyzed by sleep, she could do nothing to stop the images from drifting into her mind's eye. The sounds started as a dull whisper and were growing steadily. The weight on her chest labored her breathing as she was becoming overwhelmed by the memories. Faces of those she lost were all around her calling her name.

Please stop, leave me alone!

"Shepard!" Elizabeth gasped as she was ripped away from the dream. It took a moment for her eyes to clear and the faces of Roden and Byrd to become recognizable. Roden had his hand on her shoulder, his light blue eyes held a look of concern.

"Are you okay?" Byrd had taken a seat next to her, genuine worry etched on her dark features.

Elizabeth's mouth felt dry and she could feel the sweat that had accumulated on her face. Bracing her elbows on the bed, she started to sit up. Roden offered her a hand which she took, "Yeah, I'm fine." Roden helped pull her up to a sitting position, she grunted as pain shot from her side. Looking around, she could see the only other person was Shu who was sitting on his bed, nose deep in his omni-tool. "Where are the others?"

"Lunch, they weren't up for waiting." Roden continued to hold her hand, allowing her to stand completely. The pain in her side was hindering her ability to move and she was grateful for the help.

She let go of Roden's hand. "Thanks." He gave her a small, lopsided smile in return. "Guess we better get going ourselves."

Byrd popped up off the bed and rounded to the other side heading for the door, Roden and Elizabeth followed closely behind. As they reached the door, Elizabeth stopped, "You coming Shu?"

Shu looked up from his omni-tool. He furrowed his brow, contemplating the invitation. Elizabeth found him to be a naturally quiet person, his nose always in his omni-tool. His features softened and he clicked off his omni-tool, "Sure, I could eat." Elizabeth smiled, pleased that he was going to join them.

The entire group made their way through the maze of corridors to the large dining hall. As they entered, Elizabeth felt eyes on her and the group. They stood out like sore thumbs. It was obvious who the Recluta were, they didn't even have the "honor" to wear the white hooded tunics but instead wore black tees and dark grey slacks. She knew they had no respect, not until they proved themselves. Ignoring the Assassins, the group grabbed their trays of food and found the table the others were sitting at.

"Hey Shep! Glad to see you're not dead." Evans piped up as they approached.

"Don't call me Shep." Her reply was instant, Evans had taken to calling her by the irritating nickname.

"Gonzales was just about to regale us with tales of his life on Omega." DeLuca said. She was leaning closely towards Gonzales.

"What's Omega?" Byrd asked, always with genuine interest.

Gonzales sighed, he seemed reluctant to say anything about it but somehow had it dragged out of him. "A shithole station in the Terminus Systems."

"The Terminus?" Elizabeth had heard stories of the Terminus, all that seemed true after the attack on her home. Mindoir was near the border between the Terminus and Traverse, close enough that the raiding party had seen it as the perfect target. "Why the hell were you out there?"

Gonzales shrugged. "My mother dragged me out there when I was really young. She died before I was old enough to think about asking."

"What did you do?" Roden leaned in.

"I was eight when she died, after that I ran the streets and ducts. Omega really has no authority, merc bands control various parts with some asari controlling the strongest group. Kids like me were often paid to run small jobs for the mercs. Unfortunately it made us a target by rival groups, our mortality rate was high. I lost a lot of friends." A distant look overcame his eyes, remembering the friends he lost. Elizabeth could relate, flashes of her own friends lost came to mind. Visibly shaking his head, as if shaking the memories to the side, he continued, "As I got older, the mercs found other uses for me. They paid me to fight. Little brawls here and there with kids twice my size. This," He pointed to a long scar that ran from his hairline down to his jaw on the right side of his face, "was from a kid who put my head through a window."

Byrd gasped. Elizabeth silently thanked Evans that he kept his snide comments to himself. The voices of the Assassins in the room were tuned out as every member of the Recluta focused completely on Gonzales.

"After that, I worked harder. Made it my goal to not just survive the fights, but to win them. I got a small percentage of the winnings, I was going to use it to get the hell off Omega."

"How old were you when you started fighting?" Elizabeth jumped at the sound of Roden's voice.

"Ten. Six years of fighting left me with more than just this one scar. But it helped me grow bigger and stronger, something I needed on Omega." A dark look came over his face, "The mercs had other ideas. There was this one group, the Blue Suns. They...owned me, so to speak. I was making them money. They wanted more, tried to force me into joining their group. I refused. After that, the fights became fixed to try and kill me. My fights had always been one-on-one, the last fight pitted me up against three. Biotics. Psychos more like it, apparently their implants had made them insane. I barely survived." Gonzales looked down at the table, his brow was furrowed, "It was the first time I had killed." He let the silence hang in the air, "The arena was in chaos, the biotics had practically destroyed the place in trying to kill me. The fact that I survived made the Blue Suns even angrier. I was now their target. So I ran. Managed to hide myself for three days before I was found...by an Assassin." Elizabeth's eyes darted to the others, looks of recognition flitted across the other's faces. "And the rest is history, that's how I got here. They gave me a way out and I took it."

Gonzales lifted his head, every face looking back at him filled with understanding. "A salvation for the lost." Elizabeth said with a quiet voice. Gonzales met her eye and gave her a slight smile. She understood.

"Well that was a charming, uplifting story." Evans' sarcastic voice had made its way back and had cut through the mood. "Thanks for sharing."

"Spirits Evans, do you really have to be an ass?" Elizabeth shot at him.

"Aw Shep, language." he smiled an overly sweet smile.

"Don't call me Shep."

She opened her mouth to continue berating him when Roden intervened, "We all need to get moving anyway. We're due up at the course for more training." Roden placed his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder, she turned to look at him, "Think you can handle it?"

An eyebrow shot up at the challenge. She knew he was trying to distract her, trying to stop a fight before it really got underway. The look in his eyes pleaded with her, Let it go. Anger ebbing away, the corner of her mouth crept up, "It'll take more than a bruise to keep me from kicking your ass."

The atmosphere at the table relaxed, Byrd had a visible smile on her face. "I'm ready to go, see if any of you can keep up with me."

They all rose to the challenge and headed for their training.

Author's notes: Saving the notes for the bottom this time.

For those who have been following the story, you'll notice some changes. The title change, description and the character listings all reflect the new direction I'm going in with this story. Originally it was going to be split into two stories: Pre-ME2 and During ME2. Now the Pre-ME2 part is split further and sadly, Thane does not feature prominently in this part of Shepard's story. However, he will in the second part. This thing is becoming a beast, with about 30 chapters planned for this first part.

Muryama is not necessarily Masayaf, it is the city where the headquarters is located.

The Mentor is the official title given to the head of the Order. Al Mualim was one during his time as was Altair and Ezio.

I've reached a point in the story where I feel I'll start rolling through so there shouldn't be as many delays.

Thanks for all the reviews and the favorites, they really keep me going!