Notes: Special thanks go to fellow author Elizabeth Carter for permission to use her "echo game" from her Samantha Shepard 'Phoenix' series ('Rising from the Ashes' ch 13, if you want to find it).


Blaze of Glory

November 2172 - Arcturus Station

Second quarter training revolved mostly around biotic generalized specialty orientation. No matter what specialty the student planned on selecting, the Alliance felt it was necessary for biotics to understand all the skill sets and know what advantages and limitations each brought to the fight.

Adepts were the ultimate biotics; wearing light armor and normally carrying only a pistol, they were masters of dark energy, leaning almost entirely on the raw strength of their biotic abilities to carry them through the fight, on both the offensive and defensive side of the battle. Adepts focused on the mid-range battle because their light armor made hand-to-hand dangerous and longer ranges limited biotics effectiveness. Adepts were generally responsible for controlling the pace of the battle by influencing enemy effectiveness via lifts, throws, singularities and stasis applications while protecting friendly forces with barriers. Of the three classes available, their skill set offered the widest application of pure biotic power.

While generally lacking the pure raw power of an Adept, Sentinels made up the difference by being more versatile, adding in tech skills to disable and track enemy forces, kinetic barriers to protect the team and advanced medical training to help heal team members as required. They generally focused on combat support, operated from the rear and wore light armor. They also utilized a pistol and brought critical electronics skills to the effort, improving chances of hacking security systems, door locks and other electronics. Sentinels also had the option to further specialize into offensive or defensive roles, becoming Bastions or Medics, depending on whether their talents fell along technical or medical lines.

Lastly was the Vanguard. More of a traditional soldier, Vanguards were known to be quick and brutal in their attacks. Definitely a frontline soldier, Vanguards utilized a wide range of weapons and armor, augmented by a full range of offensive biotic skills that allow the Vanguard to close quickly on an enemy. Specializing at short range and hand-to-hand combat, they are known for their high-risk, high-reward combat style. With her love of weapons, this was where Shepard wanted to be; she just couldn't see herself in the mid-range battle or in a support roll. She needed to be on the front lines, leading the charge. She was comfortable in the biotics training area, having spent the last three years already studying under Huntress Arlyna Sheya, so had no fear in her ability to master the skills required.

The first four months of their training had been focused on the basic mechanics of each of the biotic powers, first learning how to perform each skill, and then working on the intensity and duration of the effects. By the month of November, all of the students had the necessary proficiency to begin working strictly on the military applications of biotic power. The class started out working against still targets and then mechs, gradually progressing in the level of difficulty. They divided up into groups based on their preferred specialty; fourteen students wanted to be Adepts, eight wanted to be Sentinels and the remaining four, Shepard included, wanted to be Vanguards. The Adepts practiced against each other under the strict supervision of the instructors, breaking into pairs and taking turns working on various attacks and barriers. The Sentinels practiced their tech skills, attempting to hack an assortment of locks, electronics, turret controls and mechs, and also practiced their battlefield first aid skills on various medical dummies and any students who happened to be injured during training.

The Vanguards ran a different training scenario; their training was limited to dummies because of the high risk of injury and the high cost of replacing all the mechs that would be destroyed. The instructors did tell them, however, they could face live targets during portions of the testing and selection phase. That caused consternation among two of the four, complaining it was unfair that the first time they faced a particular enemy would be at their test. Shepard rolled her eyes, knowing the huntresses' reactions to such statements would be far from favorable, and she was not surprised when Niria Phessi stepped forward, glowering at their small group. The huntress glared at them, speaking in a serious tone, "So you expect the enemy to inform you what they will bring to bear against you, before they do so? The Vanguard by nature is high risk. If you are not willing to accept it, then you have chosen the wrong specialty."

The two grumbled between themselves, but made no additional spoken complaints. The other potential Vanguard, Bobby Stone, cast a sidelong glance at Shepard, grinning and with a twinkle in his eye. He knew the pseudo-reprimand was coming as well, but also knew those two in particular had complained at nearly every stage of training throughout the course of the class, so didn't expect anything to change now. Shepard flashed a grin in response, and they headed to the far side of the room to start their new individual training regimens. As the month passed, Stone and Shepard became good friends, always selecting adjacent training booths and talking during rest periods, swapping tips and hints they got from the instructors as they practiced. Shepard discovered Stone's father and grandfather had both fought in the first contact war, and Bobby wanted to follow the family tradition of being a front line soldier. Shepard understood that motivation quite well, but still wondered about his true capacity to kill an enemy. Shepard's experiences had given her a core rage that she could rely on, a deep anger that could be released as necessary to not only defend herself, but to take another's life in an offensive capacity at the mere thought these people would want to hurt someone close to her. Her life experiences had turned her into a natural protector. Bobby had never experienced such a close and personal loss and still possessed a more gentle soul, and Shepard privately wondered if he had it in him to actually kill anyone. Regardless, they trained side-by-side in preparation for testing day, and when it came they would be either ready or not, and their futures in the Alliance would be decided one way or another.

December 2172 - Specialty Qualification and Selection

The next few days would determine whether or not Shepard could pursue her chosen career path in the Alliance; though every instinct told her she should be nervous, Shepard just plain wasn't. The students had been told the selection panel was made up of three Alliance Navy biotics and three Alliance Marine commanders, whose sole purpose was to evaluate each student's potential in their preferred specialty and either concur with the choice or recommend another path they felt the student should pursue based on their skill set strengths. Being relatively small in stature for a Vanguard, Shepard knew she faced an uphill battle to convince the three big burly Marines she was cut out to be a front line soldier. She had the distinct advantage of having trained under the huntresses for three years, and not just in biotics. She had also been taught meditation and concentration techniques and various forms of martial arts, excellent for hand-to-hand and melee confrontations; forms the Alliance testers were not familiar with, and she planned to use those skills to her advantage.

The generic skills testing began with the students on a range, going against sensors that scored the accuracy and strength of each attack, methodically progressing through every offensive skill. A sensor would pop up and the student would have to react with the designated maneuver within a certain period of time before the target disappeared. After a very short standardized recovery period, the next sensor would pop up and the student had to again attack the target with the next selected offensive skill. After running the gambit of all the established offensive maneuvers, the pattern repeated for a total of three cycles, each cycle having less recovery time between skills, purposely intended to run the students to their point of failure, to establish their level of endurance. The same type of repeat testing was then completed for defensive skills to test the strength and durability of their barriers. Since each test worked the students to the point of exhaustion, each test consumed an entire day, after which they were allowed to eat and sleep, to resume the testing the next day after the students had the chance to fully recover.

The third day began the specific specialty testing. Captain Hackett was present and addressed the group before they got started. Every eye was on him as he walked to the front of the room and turned to address the students. He clasped his hands behind his back, and his head was down in contemplation as he began. "Now that your general skills testing and grading is complete, today begins your specialty testing. Some of you may not end up in the specialty you desire, but do not consider this a failure. Our goal here today is to merge hopes with reality. We will not force you to another specialty just because we think you could perform another better; we will only recommend you consider the one for which we feel you may be better suited. The final choice remains yours. As long as the panel feels you have the capacity to succeed in the career path you have selected, you will be awarded that specialty."

Hackett's head came up and he looked over each student before he continued, "However, you also need to realize our mission in general is to protect Alliance interests, and it is in the Alliance's interest, as well as your own, to keep each and every one of you alive and battle worthy. To that end, if we feel you are truly not suited to perform the specialty you initially selected, your choice will be removed and we will direct you to another career path. At that point, you will have two options; either you accept our judgment and train in this alternate specialty, or we will release you from any obligation and you walk away free and clear. At the end of the week, should you choose to walk, you forfeit any opportunity to ever serve in the Alliance military; you will not be allowed to return."

Hackett strolled amongst the students, looking at each of them in turn. "Today and tomorrow, you will be tested. Once testing is complete, you will all be counseled individually, in private, in alphabetical order. You will then have until the end of Friday to decide what you want to do. Speak with whomever you wish to speak with and ask whatever questions you want to ask, but you must render your decision to the panel before 1600 hours on Friday. At that time, if you plan to stay, you will sign a service commitment contract for a minimum of five years. If you decide to leave, you have until lights-out on Sunday to turn in all your gear and vacate the dormitory." Hackett returned to the front of the room and looked over the twenty six students once more. "The testing times were drawn randomly; the complete schedule is posted on the announcement board. Good luck to all of you." With that, Hackett turned and went to speak to the panel members while the students scrambled to figure out when they had to test.

Just like every other student, Shepard went immediately to the announcement board to look over the test times; they were thirty minute blocks, the first test of the day was at 0900 hours, the last started at 1730 hours. As soon as she found her name, Shepard groaned. She had hoped she didn't end up going first, but she hadn't wanted to go last either, and that was where she ended up, not until 1230 hours the next day. Crap! Twenty-sixth in the line-up! She noticed Bobby would be testing fourteenth, at 1530 hours, so she grabbed him and asked if he wanted to practice any moves in particular. Typical Bobby, he just laughed, saying if he didn't have the skills to at least demonstrate potential, he never would, and he would rather enter the test rested.

Shepard smiled at her friend, gripped his hand and wished him luck before turning and heading out to the training rooms. It was still early, so she knew the first-year students would be there until 1000 hours, but figured Arlyna wouldn't mind if she sat in the corner meditating until the class cleared out. After meditation, her plan was to run through all the basic control exercises and then see if she could get Arlyna to run a round of the Echo Game for her. The morning didn't go quite as predicted; Arlyna took the opportunity to demonstrate the game to the new students and Shepard immediately found herself in the center of spacious dual rings of twelve drums each, one circle inside the other. In the inner circle, each drum was suspended in the air by a narrow pole that towered just over two meters. The outer circle of drums resembled Japanese taiko drums, each with a student ready to play it as a distraction to whoever was attempting the echo game challenge. Arlyna had described the challenge to the students and instructed them on their part as a diversion. Arlyna stood between two drums on the inner circle with a bowl of dried beans and Shepard stood in the center of the circle, blindfolded.

Arlyna would start the game by flicking a single bean at one of the drums, after which Shepard would be required to locate and strike the drum with a very mild biotic pulse, echoing the sound of the bean. Each successive turn, the number of beans would increase and the number of drums each bean would strike before dropping to the floor could also increase. A player's skill was built up over time, first learning to accomplish the feat blindfolded, then eventually establishing the ability to focus well enough to discern the difference between the echo drums and the taiko drums to correctly follow the pattern of the echoes. The skills learned made a warrior able to continue a fight blind, unimpeded by smoke, haze, heavy gunfire and even tactical cloaks, by relying on sound, not sight.

Arlyna asked Shepard if she was ready and the student turned toward the instructor's voice and touched her right-hand finger tips to her forehead before she lowered her hand out flat, palm up, in the Asari salute of respect. Shepard then assumed a battle-ready stance, and with a quick nod to Arlyna the game began. The huntress took a single bean from the bowl and flicked it at a drum, resulting in a dull thud as it bounced off the face of the drum and hit the floor. Shepard spun and sent a pulse to the drum, successfully echoing the bean. Arlyna picked up two beans and, using her biotics, bounced each off of two drums as a single student started to also drum on the taiko drums. Shepard's focus was unbroken and she successfully copied the four echo drumbeats. Each round added more beans, more strikes, and more students drumming the taiko drums from the sides, with Shepard spinning, tumbling and doing backflips as necessary to successfully keep track of the proper sequence of echoes. Shepard's focus remained unbroken until the beans numbered an even dozen, with thirty-six strikes. When Shepard stumbled and missed a drum during the last round, she stopped and removed her blindfold, turning toward her instructor and saluting once again. She bowed her head and waited for permission to break the circle.

The huntress looked proudly around the circle at the amazed expressions of the first-year students as she spoke, "Cadet Shepard has studied biotics and meditation with me for just shy of four years, and this is the result. Do not think any lesser of yourself because you are not a natural born biotic...the only limits you face are those that you impose upon yourself." She then looked to Shepard. "Thank you, sim're, for an excellent demonstration. That was your highest count yet to date. The basic skills testing has you very well focused and I have every confidence you will do well on your specialty selection exam. When do you test?"

Shepard raised her head, smiling at the praise. "Thank you, ai'a me. I don't test until last, at 12:30 tomorrow afternoon." Her smile faltered as she continued, "I had really hoped to test today and be done with it."

Arlyna cast Shepard a gentle smile and then dismissed her first-year students for the day. She looked to Shepard and held her hand out in invitation. "Come, young one. Let us go get some tea and talk. I believe more than meditation or training, you need distraction."


Shepard stood ready on the testing floor after selecting a shotgun and heavy pistol as her standard weapons, along with her omnitool; the panel of six sat above her on an observation deck outside the edge of the arena awaiting her signal of readiness to begin. She had received her gear and instructions for the test and had been somewhat surprised. The instructions had been amazingly simple, yet amazingly vague at the same time. "You are an Alliance Vanguard facing rogue defense mechs. Do what needs to be done." Shepard hesitated only momentarily before punching the start button under the viewing platform with her fist, then moving quickly to cover. She thought about the Sentinel test; they were probably expected to hack the mechs and shut them down, but Shepard was a Vanguard, so the reasonable assumption was she should destroy them. Her ruminations about Sentinels and Vanguards vanished when she heard a door open somewhere in front of her.

She peeked around the corner and saw only two security mechs with standard issue pistols. Calling on her biotics, she lit up blue and vanished in a charge of biotic power before they had a chance to separate, careening into the first mech and smashing it into oblivion. At the same time, she pulled up her shotgun and quickly dispatched the second mech with a headshot. She immediately rolled to a ready position as a synthesized voice came over her radio, "Intruder detected. Security mechs deployed to zone three."

Shortly after the announcement, Shepard heard doors on each side of the room open so she quickly worked her way to the left side where she had heard the first mechanical footfall. She was rewarded by a mech stepping around the corner as it raised its pistol. Before it got a shot off, Shepard had destroyed it with a second headshot and she rolled around the barricade with her biotics ready. A second mech had entered but it hadn't yet even turned to face her when she warped it into the wall. Moving quickly, she crossed the center aisle and glanced across the room, trying to locate the mechs that had entered from the other side of the room. Failing to locate them visually, she moved carefully to a more central position along the right-hand wall and froze, gently closing her eyes and concentrating on sound. The mechs weren't moving forward, but she could hear servos spinning, like they were turning their heads trying to locate her. All the obstacles in the arena prevented her from pinpointing exactly where they were, but the servo noise gave her a very good indication as to their general direction. Knowing where they entered the room and the direction they had headed, it was easy enough to circle around behind them and blast them from behind.

As she moved back to cover once again toward the left-hand wall expecting more mechs, one of the panel members spoke into the comm. "Cadet Shepard. You must now exit the room at the door opposite where you came in. You must penetrate a defended pirate safe house and take out the pirate captain on the second floor."

Shepard slowly worked her way to the door, carefully tapping the entry pad and then stepping to the side so she was covered as it opened. She peeked in around the corner and a sniper shot pinged off her shield, dropping it to half strength, but not before she got a look in the room and saw something she didn't really expect... people. Live people, not mechs! Shepard stalled for time to allow her shields to rebuild and tapped her comm, speaking quietly, "Sir, request verification of orders to terminate targets?"

Shepard drew in a quick breath between her teeth when she heard the response. "Affirmative, Vanguard. They are pirates. Terminate with extreme prejudice."

So be it. Hope I'm not charged with murder when this is over... "Roger that, Sir."

To prepare herself, Shepard thought about her father and then pictured the two guards before her in Cerberus armor. Shepard called up her biotics and charged all the way to the safe house door, closing on the two outside guards quickly while cutting the angle so the sniper couldn't pin her down anywhere along the way. She smashed into the first guard, sending him flying, then turned and quickly blasted the second with her shotgun. They were both heavily shielded, so neither died on first contact. She promptly dropped down and leg-swept the guard who was staggered from the shotgun blast, swiftly ripping her omniblade across his exposed throat to finish him off, saving her biotics for her next strike. She spun around to locate her charge victim and caught motion over her head with her peripheral vision. She hastily cast a biotic throw above her head, yanking the exposed sniper out of the window and tossing him across the field into a barricade. Her eyes snapped back to her original target just in time to see his SMG coming to bear right at her chest plate; she hit the ground rolling and closed the distance, pegging him in the chest with her shotgun before he laid enough firepower on her shield to make it drop.

As the last outside guard fell, Shepard confiscated two flash-bang grenades from his ammo belt, then continued past him along the wall to the next window and peeked inside. There was no one left on the ground floor, so she circled to the back door and crept inside, moving cautiously to the stairwell. She glanced up the stairs and saw nothing as far as the corner, so she started up slowly, moving as quietly as she could and calling up her biotics, fully expecting someone to pop around the corner when she got halfway up. Surprisingly, nothing happened until she reached the corner, when a flash-bang rolled down the steps and stopped on the corner landing. Shepard didn't hesitate; she lunged and grabbed the grenade, lobbing it quickly back up the steps while closing her eyes as tightly as she possibly could. Even so, she saw the bright flash through her eyelids, but at least it didn't temporarily blind her. The explosion in the closed hallway made her ears ring, so she wouldn't be relying on sound to tip her off any time in the near future, most likely for the remainder of her test. It seemed to her the thirty minute block should be up, but she knew that five minutes in any stressful situation could seem like an eternity; she didn't want to think how long thirty minutes in a firefight would seem.

Regardless of the time remaining, Shepard was determined to finish the mission. She leaned around the corner and saw nothing; she raised her shotgun and crept up the steps to the next landing. When she arrived, she realized she was at the top of the steps with a blind corner that opened to a back room. She edged over and peered around the corner and saw two large barricades, one on each sided of the hallway, with a guard atop each. She figured the pirate captain had a personal guard, and must be somewhere farther back in the room. She set her shotgun on the floor within easy reach and pulled out her heavy pistol. Reaching out with a biotic lift, she grabbed one of the guards and picked him completely above the barricade, easily killing him with a heavy pistol shot to the head. The second guard immediately hunkered down where Shepard couldn't see him, and hence couldn't grab him with biotics. She holstered her pistol and rolled one of her stolen flash-bangs down the hall; the second it exploded, she grabbed her shotgun and charged up to the barricade, stopping just short of ramming into it. The guard was very surprised when instead of shooting him, she reached around the barricade and biotically yanked him off his perch onto the floor, promptly crushing his windpipe with an elbow thrust.

After peeking around the corner, Shepard prepped her biotics for one last charge. The pirate captain was huge and there was no doubt she was going to have to hit him hard and fast to have any chance of taking him down; her only chance was to hit him first and give him no chance to recover. She threw her last flash-bang into the room at his feet, flipped the visor on her armor to max dark and charged the second she saw the captain start to dodge. Everything was in motion at once. The flash-bang exploded as the captain tried to dive off to the side. His large bulk was already in motion, so when Shepard hit him at max charge velocity, he practically ricocheted off the wall. Using her entire reserve for the super-charge, Shepard held nothing back for shields; it had been an all or nothing gambit. As soon as the captain hit the floor, Shepard blasted him with her shotgun, the first shot gone before the blaze even died from the flash-bang. She fired her shotgun as fast as it would fire, until it was empty. Many long moments later, he was dead and Shepard's world dissolved around her.

She looked around, somewhat stunned, quickly realizing the entire time she had been in a damn simulator. She breathed a huge sigh of relief, confirming in her mind that she had not really killed anyone just for the sake of a test, but knowing in her heart she could have done so had a real-world mission asked it of her. Her ears were still ringing, making it somewhat difficult to hear, but she managed to make out from the seemingly garbled transmission in her headset that she was supposed to return through the door to the training arena.


Shepard's turn for her evaluation came around relatively quickly, even though she was late in the alphabet; she figured it was a good thing, because it told her the evaluations were mostly quick and painless. The one notable exception had been one of the four Vanguard testers, a guy named Jack Valley, one of the grumblers. When the counselor in the individual session advised him he needed to change his specialty selection and the panel recommended a Sentinel Bastion position, he exploded in anger and had to be forcibly removed from the room when he was crazy enough to try to attack the evaluator. When Shepard stepped into the room, she was met by one of the three big burly marines, who stood as she entered and offered his hand, introducing himself as Major Stevenson. She was surprised at the casualness of the big man's approach, but calmly stepped forward and shook his hand as he said his hellos and asked her to take a seat.

He sat back down on his chair and placed his elbows on his desk, his hands steepled before him, one hand wrapped inside the other as he started to speak. "Cadet Shepard. I requested to be the one to provide your debrief, and I did so for a couple of reasons. First off, I didn't believe you had the stature or strength to do the job of a Vanguard, and openly told the others so before your test even began." He saw the look of incredulity on Shepard's face and grinned. "Yup. I did, but don't get angry at me. I'm very willing to admit when I make a mistake, which is what I'm doing now, as well as apologizing to you for prejudging your abilities. I've either worked with or personally evaluated every Vanguard to come through Alliance training for the last eight years, and I'm here to tell you, you have the potential to be the best damn Vanguard I've ever seen. Hell, you'd be better than a third of those I have in the field if you were to graduate right now, and you haven't even started your real specialty training yet." He paused for a moment, watching the smile grow on the cadet's face. "Any questions on my first reason for wanting to talk to you?"

Shepard sat quiet for a second, trying to decide just how bold she wanted to be, when curiosity got the better of her and she spit her question out. "Yes, Sir. After watching me for less than ten hours, spread out over three days, what makes you say that I'm the best?"

The major barked out a loud, hard laugh before he answered. "For that, right there! Most would just say 'thank you' and move on. But you? Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead...you're fucking fearless, Shepard. Maybe because you've got the stick to back it up, because you're also smart, resourceful, and a hell of a biotic. You could have easily gone pure adept and been the strongest of the class, but you didn't. You picked a specialty that was going to put you on the front line, jumping with both feet straight into the fray." He shook his head and laughed some more. "We picked the biggest, baddest character model in the sim for that damn pirate captain. Most people are so scared of him they sit back and chisel at his shields until their time or their ammo runs out. Some manage to get his shields down and then die on the charge because they don't have enough biotics left to do any real damage. You? You fucking did an all or nothing charge straight down the gauntlet, right into the mouth of the beast... and pulled it off! In ten years, only a handful of people have ever beaten 'the captain,' and none have ever made it look so fracking easy. You made me eat some serious crow from the other panel members."

After a brief pause to let Shepard absorb what he said, and to see if she had any more questions, the major continued. "Reason number two for me wanting to do your eval? I want to hire you. You're good now and by the time you get done with training, you're going to be downright deadly. I work in First Fleet on the SSV Leipzig; I command the Rapid Response Team. If shit goes down anywhere in Alliance space, except for the unlucky bastard who happens to already be sitting there, we're the first into the zone, the first unit to put boots on the ground. We need people like you. When you graduate in six months at the top of your class, a lot of folks are going to ask for you. They'll come courting with fancy promises of great training opportunities and maybe even a few bribes. I'm not giving you any of that. I'm offering an honest job with real danger, straight to the front line of the next fight we find ourselves in. If that's what you want, you pick the First Fleet RRT. That's all I got for ya." The major stood up and walked toward the door.

Shepard stood to follow him, but he suddenly pulled up short and looked back at her, his face turning a little red. "Oh, yeah. One more thing. You got selected as a Vanguard by the way. So, you can stay and train as one or you can walk away free and clear, seeing as you have no commitment yet."

Shepard laughed and stuck out her hand to the major. As they shook, he was smiling. She grinned and started to speak, "Sir, I accept your offer to be a Vanguard, and I'll be in first thing in the morning to sign my contract. I'll also give serious consideration to your offer to join First Fleet, but that's six months down the road. I jump when it's time to jump. A lot can change between now and then, and jumping early or late can get you killed. I'll wait for the right time to make that call."

Stevenson laughed and clapped her on the back as she left. "Either way, Cadet, I'm sure I'll see you at graduation in June."

When it was all said and done, the class finished with thirteen Adepts, ten Sentinels, and only two Vanguards; after the incident with Cadet Valley, the panel met with Captain Hackett and they reconsidered their opinion...not about Valley being a Vanguard, but to declare him non-suitable for military service; he was told to hit the road, as he was not Alliance material. Comparatively speaking, everyone else's session was quiet and quick. A few Sentinels and Adepts had traded places and the second Vanguard who didn't pass his test was Bobby; he ended up as a Sentinel. It turned out he just didn't have it in him to take a human life, so he had to move to a support role and he opted for the medical track. The twenty five remaining students were all happy to have made the grade, had all signed their commitment contracts, and would all be back in class the following Monday to start their specialized training. Considering what Major Stevenson had told her, Shepard could hardly wait.