2181 CE / Havington, USA, Earth
Ellen
Ellen Webber paced her room excitedly, wondering if she had forgotten something. In a few hours she would begin her basic training with the Earth Alliance army and would not see her home for a long time. She bent over her travel bag one last time: a couple of shirts, a small model of an Alliance ship her father had once given her, and a digital picture frame filled with photos of friends and family. Ellen nodded contentedly, closed the bag and left her room.
"So you're leaving now?" Maya asked Webber as Ellen walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah, it's about time," said Ellen and put on a dark green jacket.
Her mother had taken her decision to join Allianz calmly and hadn't tried to talk her out of it. Maya Webber had had a great career at Alliance herself and would probably still be there if Ellen's father hadn't died when she was a child.
"When did you become so grown up?" Maya asked, looking her daughter up and down a bit wistfully.
Ellen laughed. "Today I guess. In basic training I will probably lose the last baby fat."
Maya laughed as well and pulled her daughter into a short hug. "Take good care of yourself. And don't make trouble! And check in regularly!"
As they parted, Ellen smiled and saluted. "Yes, ma'am."
Nora
"Dad, we've talked about this enough times! I'm of legal age, so it's my decision! I'm going!" Norah said loudly as her father started to protest again. They had been having this discussion for a week and Norah regretted telling him about it every day.
"Think again. Do you actually know how dangerous it is out there? You could die," her father said, grabbing her arm hard. Norah was surprised because he had never seemed to care about her before. For him she had actually always been just a 'little freak', as he had said when he had slapped her in the face. Alcohol had taken her real father from her years ago, and the man in front of her was only a shadow of his former self.
Norah shook herself loose and looked at her mother who was sitting on the sofa with her face buried in her hands.
"Have you anything to say, mother?" Norah asked defiantly. Her mother had always let her father put her down and always stayed silent during arguments, like now.
She didn't even look at her daughter.
Shaking her head, Norah turned away and hurried out into the hallway and to the front door. All she wanted was to get out of this house and never come back.
Her father sprinted after her and grabbed her again.
"What do you want there? You're useless, you incompetent little -"
That was enough for Norah. She backhanded his wrist and he yelped. Alex's brother Ben had shown her a few useful tricks during his last home leave.
Without giving her father another look, she stepped out the front door and slammed it behind her, maybe for the last time.
Olivia
Olivia turned one last time and surveyed the hallway. On the walls were photos of her with her parents and relatives, which made her sad because her parents had been mugged and killed by some street crooks three months ago while they were vacationing on the Citadel. C-Sec said it was a robbery and they're still looking for the culprits, but Olivia doubted they'd find them now.
After all matters were settled, Olivia lived alone in the house as she was of legal age and the sole heir. She didn't have any other family to speak of, so she'd been on her own lately.
An old-fashioned framed picture caught her eye, showing her with Lauren, Alex, Ellen and Norah. She couldn't help but smile.
No, that wasn't true. She had never actually been alone. Her friends took care of her and were always there for her. All the more reason to go with them to the Alliance, because they were all the family she had left and where they went, she would go too.
Olivia picked up her bag, turned and left her house.
Lauren
"Do you really have everything, sweety?"
"Yes mom," Lauren replied, slightly annoyed. "You repacked my things twice yourself after I had just put everything in order."
Her mother was always extremely caring. On one hand it was touching, but at times it drove Lauren a little crazy.
"Beth, she'll be fine," her father said with a smile and gave Lauren a meaningful look.
The three of them were standing in the kitchen of their big house and had just finished breakfast. Through the window to the large garden you could see the rising sun, which bathed the sky in a wonderful orange. Lauren watched the natural spectacle wistfully. She would certainly miss all of this when she was with the Alliance, but most of all -
At that moment she was embraced by three small figures.
"Don't go!" yelled Kyle, the youngest of the triplets. Lyra and Felix, the other two, joined in. Touched, Lauren dropped to her knees and hugged the three of them.
"I'll miss you little monsters too," she said.
"Will you bring us anything when you come back?" Lyra asked.
Lauren laughed and stood up. "Promised!"
"I think we should get going," her father said, taking her bag and stepping out through the glass kitchen door. Her mother walked up to her and hugged her. "Just be careful."
Lauren patted her on the back reassuringly. "I always am. And I apply to the paramedics as early as possible, so nothing can happen to me anymore."
Lauren's dream had always been to become a doctor, but unfortunately her final grades weren't good enough for the university. When she met with an Alliance career adviser, he told her that after basic training she could apply to be a paramedic and that her chances would be pretty good. From then on she had been hooked and happily committed to the Alliance along with Ellen, Norah, Alex and Olivia.
They broke apart and Lauren wiped a tear from her face. It was hard for her because she loved her family very much, but it was time she left the nest and pursued her dream.
"Write to me whenever you feel like it. And remember, there would be no shame if you dropped out of basic training, you can always come back home," her mother said.
Unable to say anything, Lauren just nodded and followed her father outside.
Alex
Alex got off her brother's bike and pushed up the visor. "You could have driven a bit faster!" she said with a grin. He had brought her to the station where a shuttle would pick her up soon.
"I'd rather not, Mum would kill me," he replied, removing his helmet and taking hers from her.
It was pretty old-fashioned to ride a motorbike these days, but Alex's brother Ben had always had a thing for it and tended to his bike all day long when he was on home leave.
"Do you think she will ever forgive me for this step?" Alex asked dejectedly. There had been a lot of arguments since Alex had enlisted in the Alliance, which surprised her since both her brothers, Ben and Steve, were in the military. Her father calmed down relatively quickly and tolerated it somewhat, but her mother had hardly spoken to her in the past week.
Ben shrugged. "Sure, of course. You're her only daughter, so she might have thought you'd be the perfect wife and have a lot of grandchildren, but eventually she'll get the hang of it."
Perfect. That word resented her, because she was supposed to be perfect at everything when she was growing up. The perfect ballerina, the perfect violinist, the perfect student. Katharina Zhao had expected nothing less from her daughter, while Ben and Steve had enjoyed their childhood to the fullest.
Alex shouldered her bag. "We will see. Maybe I'll just marry a krogan. They're the only ones in the whole Milky Way more stubborn than her."
Also, her mother was a little racist, so partnering with an alien would probably provoke her and delight her brothers even more.
Ben laughed out loud. "That would probably even exceed your commitment to the Alliance. Maybe you'll find a nice asari and bring home blue babies."
"Are you guys taunting your mother again?" Ellen asked with a grin as she joined the two of them.
"Hey El, we just picked me a spouse," Alex replied.
Ellen thought for a moment. "Hmm... definitely a vorcha." She elbowed Alex in the ribs for that.
Shortly thereafter, Olivia, Norah and Lauren also arrived.
Alex was getting nervous and had a restless tingling in the stomach. She still couldn't really believe that the next and perhaps biggest chapter of her life was about to begin. The others seemed to feel the same way, being unusually quiet even as Ben said goodbye.
"If I'm in the area, I'll stop by!" he promised and then rode back home on his motorbike.
"Anybody want to back out?" Norah asked, looking at them carefully. For Alex, she had always been the unofficial leader of her small group, so it wasn't surprising that this question came from her.
"Only if you back out first!" Ellen said, grinning.
Lauren shook her head. "If I want to be a doctor, I have no choice."
Olivia and Alex also said no.
In the distance, a gray and blue shuttle could be seen rapidly approaching and eventually landing directly in front of them. A door to the side opened and a soldier stepped out.
"Webber, Eli, Schulze, Krieger, Zhao?" he asked, eyeing them carefully. They all nodded. "Okay, then have a seat, we don't want to waste any time!" he said harshly and let them in.
When everyone was seated and buckled in, the soldier signaled the pilot to take off.
