Sister-in-Arms

Arianna, or Ari Shepard took a deep long look at the new member of her taskforce she had recruited. The woman was all covered in tats and held a lot of anger. Yet, Ari knew better to double-cross Jack when it came to her demands for Cerberus data. Frankly, the woman reminded Ari a lot of herself. Ari had grown up on Earth, an orphan. Shepard had a tough life back on Earth. A flip of a coin, that's all it would have taken and she could have ended up sharing a similar fate to Jack.

Ari remembered her past. She had grown up in a slum back on Earth. When her parents had died in an accident when she was sixteen, she ended up being shifted back and forth from relative to relative. No one really had wanted her and she had always known it. She hid that wounded feeling she had with tough bravado and a left hook to match. She had joined up briefly with a gang of other young people that were similarly damaged. All teens who felt like it was them against the galaxy.

However, it took the gang to knock some sense into Shepard's young head. In the end, most of her "friends" had ended up dead. Sure, she survived brutal attacks from rival gangs and that was because she refused to go down without fighting. She had been far too young to see death but it had been the only thing that made Ari realize one thing, the more power you had the better chance you were going to live another day. There was no future with the gang she ran with, and Ari realized it. Gang life meant one thing; a sure way to live fast and die young. When she turned 18, Shepard went down to the nearest Alliance recruitment office and joined up.

Frankly, joining up with the Alliance Navy that had given Shepard an out. A way to focus her cold-hearted mentality on scum that deserved it. Kill someone in cold blood, you end up in prison. Kill a thug, merc, or pirate resisting the orders the alliance gave. You're considered a hero.

It was that same drive that drove her back on Torfan. Kill fucking Batarians, no matter what the cost. Those fucking slavers and pirates deserved it for what they had done back on Elysium. Major Kyle, ended up losing it during that raid and seeing that she took charge. If it wasn't for the circumstances, she would have more than likely been discharged for actions that bordered close to munity. Shit the major was weak as he couldn't even make the difficult decisions that day. She did what he couldn't do and that was throw their own squad back at them with that bloody coldness she possessed. A majority of them died that day, but she had earned the respect of the Alliance. Major Kyle refused to do it but Shepard lined up all the Batarians who had surrendered and shot them to death. Kyle protested but she said firmly. "Major, the Batarians need to learn a lesson. And I play for keeps...I play for blood. It's the only lesson they understand."

Her actions earned her the sobriquet 'The Butcher of Torfan' and the promotion of Commander. All this eventually ended up with her finally drawing the attention of the council and ended up with her being named a Specter. Saren never knew what hit him when Ari ended up being sent out against him. Shepard was a ruthless killer as a Specter/commander and she didn't care what she had to do to get to Saren. She'd walk over a river of corpses just to get one bullet in that damn Turian's head. She honestly didn't care that he had been indoctrinated by Sovereign. Yeah, that was a plus that justified in killing him.

In the end, Shepard believed in victory at any cost, and she had sacrificed the council because she saw it as way to get rid of a bunch of ineffective bureaucrats. They were weak, and didn't honestly respect her or the opinions of Udina or Anderson. They refused to act against the threat that she had come across with Saren and the Reapers. The threat against the Reapers was real, Shepard had seen it and the only thing that scared the shit out of Ari, was Sovereign. Sovereign represented something deadlier than all the enemies she had faced before. It was the only thing that made Shepard even more of a sadist than she already was. She was determined to wipe them all out even if she or everyone died in the process.

Being a Specter, and Commander of the Normandy added a shade of respectability and authority to Shepard. She was tolerated for her actions because she got results. Results that most of the Alliance Navy didn't have the guts to do. Ari also had years of military training, it honed her into a more disciplined individual with a very cold and brutal personality. This was something that Shepard knew Jack didn't have.

There was something about Jack that drew Shepard to her. A damn moth to the flame, so to speak. There was something about her that Shepard liked, a kindred spirit. Yet, Jack was undisciplined and Ari wanted to do something about it.

"Hey."

Jack raised her head at Shepard's greeting.

Shepard looked around this quiet dark space. "You know you could have a decent room on the Normandy, in fact I could…."

Jack snorted. "No, thanks. It's small and dark. That equals safe for me."

Ari nodded. "I get it. Find what you are looking for?" She pointed one of her pointed military boots towards all the data pads that Jack had spread out towards her.

"Commander why are you here?"

"I am just making sure you're settling in okay."

'You're obviously here for something more than that."

Shepard gave a hard glance at Jack. "It's my ship. I go where ever I want and when I want. And I check in on all my crewmembers."

Jack gave an equally pissed off look at Ari. "Fine. But don't except a warm reception. You're a fucking Cerberus bitch, like that fucking Miranda."

Shepard's eyes glared over with a fire and she raised an arm. She wanted to throttle the life out of Jack but then that fire cooled and she took a deep breath. "I am not with Cerberus. Miranda is but…"

"But…. what? You came flying in that ship with Cerberus colors and you expect me to believe you."

Ari sighed. "It's complicated."

"Then uncomplicate it"

Shepard laughed. "Yeah…. well, they chose to bring me back from the dead. They sent me on a crusade. A crusade against the Collectors. That's my mission. They gave me the ship and told me to go wreak havoc against them. I am willing to oblige them on that. However, if you ever call me a Cerberus bitch one more time. You will regret it. This mission is mine and despite the fact that this maybe a Cerberus Op, I am in charge here and I will do whatever I want."

"Like hell Cerberus will allow that."

"So far, our objectives are the same. Go after the Collectors and save humanity…."

Shepard paused; at times she wasn't sure humanity deserved saving. Cerberus was definitely proof that humanity held its own ugliness. But she was the "GREAT COMMANDER SHEPARD", she was supposed to believe in humanity. "Well at least the segment of humanity that deserves saving."

Jack raised an eyebrow.

Ari gave a slight smile. "But don't let anyone know I said that. I am supposed to be ' Commander Shepard.' Hero of the Citadel and savior to all humanity."

Something about that must have caught Jack's attention because Jack stared at Shepard for the longest not saying anything and then said. "What kind of Commander are you?"

Ari paused and then said. "One who gets results no matter what the cost. But enough about me, I am pretty sure you know me. I am the Cerberus bitch that went out of her way to save your ass and brought you here. I am here because I deserve to know who the hell, I ended up saving. I gave you the records you wanted and frankly, Jack, you owe me. You owe me big time."

A/N: Not sure if I should continue with this or not. But something about Renegade/Ruthless and Earthborn Shepard and Jack always sort of interested me in that they both seemed similar in nature to me.