Shepard: Chapter 3: Alone
Shepard could hear the sound of the wind blowing through grass and he could feel the Sun's heat on his face as he lay on his back, eyes closed. He opened his eyes to bright midday sun; he pushed himself up into a sitting position and saw only tall wheat grass all around him. He stood up and looked around; he was back on his family's farm. He smiled, a feeling of warmth and belonging washed over him, but something felt wrong. He looked to his left and saw his house, nothing out of place; he even saw a tray with a jug full of ice cold lemonade, the heat made him thirsty and so he started walking towards the house.
"Derrick." He turned towards the familiar voice. It was Elle, she was standing in the field wearing her normal summer outfit of a tank top and cut-off jeans, her thick black hair waved gently across her face. She wiped the hair out of her face, but instead of seeing her beautiful smile, he saw only a horrified expression.
"Elle, what's wrong?" He tried to walk to her. She lifted her hand and pointed towards something behind him, he then heard gun fire and screams. When he turned around his house was on fire, his mother and father as well as Mr and Mrs Daniels lay in pools of their own blood.
"Why didn't you save them Derrick? Why didn't you save my family?" He heard the weeping voice of Elle and turned to look at her again. She was crying, tears streaming out of her eyes, "Why didn't you save them Derrick?"
He wanted say something, but every time he tried to speak Elle just said louder "Why didn't you save them, Derrick?" Louder and louder until she was shouting at him, "Why Derrick, Why did you not save them?" Something drew his attention back to the house, the fire was still raging but something was written on the wall of his house, written in blood, "Why didn't you save them, you human filth?"
Elle continued to shout and then suddenly she whispered, "Derrick?" He turned towards her voice, she was closer now, only a couple of meters, but now she had bruises on her face and arms, her tank top was torn and covered in blood and her beautiful hair was shaved off her head.
"Why didn't you save me?" She whispered and then there was loud gunshot, blood splattered on his face as the shot penetrated through the side of her head. He shouted in agony but no sound escape his lips. He turned to the sound of mocking laughter; a Batarian holding a pistol was mocking laughing at him.
The alien then looked at Shepard, "Pathetic human". He raised his gun and fired...
Shepard gasped as he jerked upright, it took only a split second for him to realise that it was just another nightmare. His heart slowly dropped to normal as he tried to calm himself while lying in his bunk bead inside his platoon's barracks. He rubbed his face and sighed again, looked to his left and saw that everyone was still asleep; a low snore penetrated the silence. He turned his attention to the overhead clock; the digital hologram faintly indicating that the time was 03:48AM. In half-an-hour or so Commander Welch or one of his fellow tormentors would barge through the door and wake up the platoon for the day's drills.
He swung his legs over the side of his bed and stared at the floor while rubbing his eyes as he tried to shake off the latest nightmare. He had tried grow accustomed to the recurring nightmares he had almost every night, but they had yet to lose their potency. In a way he was grateful for the nightmares, they served the purpose of reminding him why he was here; why he joined the Alliance Navy in the first place.
"Elle..." He mouthed softly.
Shepard shook his head, trying to dispel the images that flood his mind as he thought of 'her'.
Might as well get it over with, he got out of bed, grabbed his towel and headed for the communal bathrooms. He showered quickly but savoured the hot water as it made him relax; almost washing away the nightmarish visions. He went back to the bunker, got dressed and sat on his bed and waited.
"Five, four, three, two, one..." He whispered to himself before a loud siren assaulted his ears while at the exact same moment Lieutenant Edward Gains barged into the bunker.
"Good morning maggots rise and shine! Get your worthless behinds into formation! He shouted with a Texan drawl.
In a matter of minutes the entire platoon was dressed and standing to attention at the foot of their beds. Commander Norman Welch walked into the barracks, looking over the recruits as they stood at attention.
"Look at these boys; can you believe that after 15:00 hours today they will be Alliance Naval Officers?" The commander spoke mockingly but with a hint of pride.
"But don't think I'm done with you yet! 1st Lieutenant Rico, you are taking command of Charlie Company for today, if you think you can handle that?"
"Sir, yes sir!" The soldier on the opposite Shepard responded enthusiastically and then looked at Shepard with a quizzical look.
Shepard was confused; he had been Company XO from as much as day one, his excellent leadership ability and test scores had propelled him above any of his fellow officers. Something was up.
"Then what are you waiting for, get them in formation outside!" Welch ordered.
"Charlie Company, head out!" Rico ordered as the company moved out.
Shepard moved to follow but the Commander stopped.
"Hold on 1st Lieutenant, you won't be joining the rest of the platoon today."
"Sir?" Shepard asked confused.
"There is an Admiral Hackett who wishes to speak to you. You will report to HQ at 06:00 in full naval dress, you understand Lieutenant?"
"Sir, yes sir." Shepard replied and saluted.
-0O0-
Shepard walked up to the office door in full naval dress as ordered. He knocked on the door only once before a gruff voice told him to enter. He entered and saluted, the admiral was sitting behind the desk reading through data pads.
The man sitting before him was in his late forties or early fifties with an uncompromising stare and an attitude that showed his obvious experience in war and combat; the long scar left of his right eye gave him the look of a man that has weathered a few storms.
"At ease." The rear admiral ordered while he was still reading over the files.
Shepard relaxed his stance and waited, after a few quiet moments the admiral finally looked at him and spoke.
"Why did you join the Alliance Navy?"
"Sir?"
"I would like to know why you chose to join the Alliance Navy." Hackett asked again.
Shepard decided to tell the truth.
"Sir, to stop what happened on Mindoir from ever happening again, sir." He replied with determination.
The admiral looked straight into Shepard's eyes for moments that felt like hours. It seemed that he saw something in the young officer's eyes, whatever it was he saw made him nod to himself slightly.
"You ever hear of ICT Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir" Shepard replied, his eyes opening slightly wider.
"Tell me what you know."
"Sir, Interplanetary Combatives Training or ICT is an elite academy within the Systems Alliance Navy that specialised in special training for officers. The training is of the highest level, it is also known as N-School, the N standing for the designation trainees receive when completing the rounds of training; N1 being the first and N7 the last and most accomplished designation. ICT was established to take the best of the best and make them even better, sir."
"That is a basic explanation but accurate enough. Only a hand's full of the most promising officer graduates are invited to attend the first round of N-School, and even fewer get invited back, any questions?"
"Sir, just one; what N rank do I need achieve to be a part of the teams that strike at Batarian targets, sir."
Hackett looked at Shepard with a hard uncompromising stare, Shepard didn't flinch.
"The Systems Alliance is not at war with the Batarian Hegemony, as such no sanctioned aggressive action is taken by the Alliance against Hegemony forces…but if any such action would be attempted it would be reasonable to believe that only N6 and up designation soldiers would be able to complete such action…however as such actions is not the official policy of the Systems Alliance it is thus of no concern to you at the moment, is that understood!"
"Sir, yes sir." Shepard said as he stood at attention again, the admiral had kept his hard stare on Shepard and then spoke in a formal tone.
"1st Lieutenant Derrick Shepard, you have been invited to attend the first round of ICT, should you choose to accept, than you need to report the Systems Alliance transit office by 08:00 tomorrow; all the information you will need and travel arrangements will be available with the ICT representative that will be waiting for you there, dismissed"
Shepard stood at attention and saluted the Admiral and turned around and left. When he finally left the HQ building his heart was racing. He had just been accepted into the most elite training program in the Alliance military; those designated with N6 or higher were considered the best that the Alliance could offer. This was his best chance at making a difference, if he failed he would end up serving on some ship that patrolled Alliance space, but if he succeeded and possibly made to level N6; he could make a difference but more importantly he could stop another Mindoir.
Shepard squared his shoulders and marched back to his bunk to start packing.
-0O0-