Twenty Years Ago

Fourteen year old Shepard was an orphan living on the streets of Earth. With no family or friends and no place to call home, he moved from place to place picking up any odd jobs he could and studying to earn his high school diploma via the extranet. Despite the harsh circumstances, he knew he would not be living life the way he was for much longer. In four years he would be old enough to enlist into the military and then he could get off the streets for good.

One day while he was travelling through one of Earth's major cities, Shepard unintentionally wandered into an area that was controlled by a gang known as the Tenth Street Reds. The gang took an interest in Shepard as a potential recruit. They brought him to see Finch, who at the time was an eighteen year old lieutenant of the Reds. Finch offered Shepard the chance to join what he called the unofficial police force for the city. By joining the Reds, Shepard would be able to help keep the people safe.

That last bit got Shepard's attention. Despite growing up alone, he never hesitated to help people in need. He couldn't explain it. Maybe it was a trait he inherited from his parents. There was no way of knowing for sure though as he had grown up never knowing who his parents were or what happened to them. Finch's offer would give him the chance to continue to help people on a regular basis. Not only that, but the Reds would give him a roof over his head and a steady supply of food. It would be a large improvement over his current situation. He accepted Finch's offer on the spot and was sworn in as Tenth Street Red.

Over the course of the next two years, Shepard and the Reds had developed their reputation of being the unofficial police force. They had stopped a wide variety of crimes ranging from stopping drug dealers trying to sell in schools to foiling burglaries. The local townsfolk had grown to respect the group for their efforts against crime and for all the lives they had saved. The authorities on the other hand considered them vigilantes and wanted to arrest them. Shepard didn't like the idea of being on the run from the authorities but the work he was doing with the Reds was just too good to pass up. Until he eventually became old enough to enlist into the military, Shepard was more than happy staying with the friends he had made in the Reds.

That all changed on one fateful day.

On Shepard's sixteenth birthday, Finch and the Reds decided to give him a very special mission. It was a mission they said would have him deal with the greatest threat the Reds had ever faced. Shepard couldn't imagine what this great threat could possibly be but he trusted Finch and the Reds enough that if they said it was a threat, then it had to be a threat. However Finch was slightly ambiguous about what Shepard was supposed to do. All Shepard was told was that he was to meet with a contact at the local shopping mall and then he would get the rest of the details. Shepard nodded that he understood but he couldn't help but feel a bit concerned. Finch was always up front with him about the details of his missions. Why was he being so secretive about this one?

When Shepard got to the mall, he was surprised to find that it was closed. It was still the middle of the day so one would expect a mall to be flooded with shoppers at that time. He pulled on the door and it opened with ease. Cautiously he proceeded inside the mall and looked for any sign of the contact he was supposed to meet. Even with the daylight outside, it was still dark enough inside that Shepard had a hard time seeing where he was going. Suddenly, he was startled when a bright light turned on and shined in his face. He shielded his eyes from the light and was just able to make out a silhouette of a man standing by the source of the light. The man was wearing a Reds uniform.

"You must be the one that Finch sent," the man said, "the name's Carter. You're Shepard right?"

"Yeah that's me," Shepard replied, "Finch sent me here because he said you had a mission for me."

"Indeed," Carter responded as he gestured for Shepard to follow him.

Carter led Shepard deeper into mall. Soon Shepard noticed another light source coming from an electronics store. As they got closer to the store, Shepard could see that there was a camera and some lights arranged in a way similar to how news crews set up for a speech. Carter remained silent as he opened the door to the store and gestured for Shepard to step inside.

As soon as Shepard was inside, a door at the back of the store opened and two more men in reds uniforms came inside dragging someone with hands cuffed behind their back and a sack covering their head. Soft crying could be heard coming from underneath the sack. The sound of the cry and the shape of the person being dragged told Shepard that it was a woman. Shepard was now starting to feel really uneasy. A voice in his head was telling him that something was wrong about what the men were doing. Still there was nothing Shepard could do until he knew more about what was going on.

The men placed the woman in front of the camera that was set up and forced her onto her knees. While one man kept the woman down, the other one pulled the sack off her head. Shepard's eyes widened when he saw the woman's face. It was blue and her hair seemed to resemble tentacles. During the course of his studies, Shepard had memorized all of the known alien life that humans had made contact with. So even though he had never been off Earth before, he could tell that this woman he was looking at was an asari.

"What's going on here?" he asked Carter

"Just what Finch told you," replied Carter, "we're dealing with the greatest threat we've ever faced. Do you have any idea what this thing is and how dangerous it is?"

Shepard noticed that Carter was pointing to the asari as he spoke. He looked back at the asari. Her face showed signs of terror and that she had been crying for a while. It was hard for him to see how she could possibly be a threat to anyone. Then Shepard realized that he had heard Carter call her a "thing" and "it". He was starting to get a feeling as to where this situation was going…and he didn't like it.

"She doesn't look like she could be a threat to anyone," said Shepard.

"Oh you are wrong about that Shepard," Carter replied, "this thing is the daughter of an alien politician that is here on a 'mission to improve relations with humanity.' What that really means is the aliens are trying to stick their noses into humanity's affairs. Well we're going to show them that we don't need them. We've set up this equipment so that we can broadcast a message to the aliens demanding that they leave Earth and never interfere with humanity ever again. Then we will execute this alien as a demonstration of what will happen to them if they don't."

Carter's speech had now started to make Shepard sick with disgust. After two years of being a part of the Reds, he now knew what they really were: an anti-alien organization. All his life Shepard had noticed some people talking about the other races like they were not real people and that they either had to be repelled from Earth or wiped out entirely. Shepard figured it had to do with the fact that when humans first made contact with aliens it led to a short but brutal war. Despite all the hostility, Shepard had grown to believe that even though they weren't the same species, humanity shared enough similar traits with the other races that they should be considered equal. Whatever traits they didn't share were what Shepard felt was done so that they could balance each other out. If the Reds carried out this execution, the fragile alliance between humanity and the other races would be shattered. Shepard had to stop this execution somehow.

Right now though, the odds were not in Shepard's favor. It was three men armed with pistols against one unarmed man with a hostage between them. During his time alone on the streets, Shepard had taught himself a variety of fighting styles as a means to protect himself from anything he might face. However, unless something happened to turn the situation to Shepard's favor, none of his fighting styles could help him.

Carter continued, "As a special treat for your birthday, Finch has decided that you are going to be the one who will pull the trigger. You should feel honored Shepard. Finch is giving you the chance to save humanity from alien influence. So will you do the honors?"

As Carter finished, he pulled out a Kessler pistol from his waist holster and held it out to Shepard. Shepard had to keep himself from smiling. The tide had just turned. He carefully took the pistol and saw that the safety was off. Carter and the other men smiled at Shepard while the asari closed her eyes and bowed her head like she was praying, anticipating that she was going to die. It was time for Shepard to spring into action.

"I say," Shepard said, "no."

Before Carter and the men could react, Shepard grabbed Carter and pulled him close enough to smack him on the head with the pistol. With Carter now dazed, Shepard turned him around and used him as a human shield. The other men were now starting to pull out their own sidearms but they were not fast enough. Four shots were fired and the men were down on the floor as Shepard had hit both sets of kneecaps. When the men hit the ground screaming in pain, they dropped their pistols. Shepard quickly whacked Carter on the head with the butt of his pistol and raced over to kick the other men's pistols away from them. Within five seconds, Carter was unconscious and the other men were down with wounded kneecaps.

With no more immediate threats to worry about, Shepard set the pistol down and walked over to the asari and started to remove her restraints. Suddenly a group of loud voices were heard outside the store and they were getting louder. Someone was coming and Shepard doubted it was mall security. He quickly helped the asari to her feet and then lifted her up so that he was carrying her bridal style.

"We need to get out of here before their backup gets here," he said, "just try to stay calm and I'll get us both out of here alive."

Despite still being terrified, the asari nodded to indicate she understood. Shepard then carried her out of the electronics store and began running in the direction that he had come when he first entered the mall. The voices were still getting louder behind him. The Reds were catching up to him. Eventually he reached the entrance and practically charged through the door. Once he was outside, he raced for the skycar that Finch gave him to get to the mall. The skycar doors opened as he approached. He placed the asari in the backseat and quickly hopped into the driver's seat. A few button pushes later the skycar was warmed up and took off heading away from the mall.

Shepard didn't get far when a series of gunshots started striking the underside of the skycar. He glanced behind him and saw that three Reds skycars were lifting off from another part of the mall's parking lot and were now pursuing him. Shepard shifted the skycar into the fastest gear possible and started to pull away. The Red's followed suit in an attempt to close the gap. Unfortunately once Shepard got into the main traffic routes, the oncoming skycar traffic made it hard for him to keep a constant speed.. He constantly had to change where his eyes were focused between his rear-view mirror and the traffic in front of him.

Suddenly Shepard noticed they were about to go between two skyscrapers that were connected by a bridge. The traffic ahead of him was pulling up to fly over it. This gave Shepard an idea for how he could lose one or both of the skycars. He had the accelerator as far as it would go and kept his focus on the bridge. The Red's skycars were now getting within a skycar length of Shepard. The bridge was getting closer but he didn't make any move to fly over it. He heard the asari scream from the backseat as she braced for a collision. Just before Shepard reached the bridge, he put the skycar into a dive and went under it. One of the Red's skycars managed to avoid the bridge too but the other was not so fortunate. It crashed into the bridge at full speed and exploded on impact.

Shepard could hear the explosion behind him and checked his rear-view mirror to see he still had one Reds skycar following him. There was also someone sticking out of the window with a machine gun in their hands. He started taking some evasive maneuvers just as he heard the gunfire begin. The gunfire persisted until Shepard heard a second explosion and felt the skycar shake. A display on the skycar's dashboard began flashing and Shepard saw that it was telling him that one of the thrusters was damaged. This was confirmed when he saw that his speed was decreasing.

The drop in speed was all the Reds skycar needed to pull up next to Shepard and began trying to ram him into the nearby skyscrapers. With no way to speed up, Shepard started moving the skycar up and down to avoid a collision. As Shepard continued dodging, he noticed that even though the Reds weren't hitting him, they were forcing his skycar closer to the skyscrapers. The next time the Reds tried to ram him, Shepard was going to either have to take the impact or dodge it and end up scrapping along the skyscraper.

Another burst of gunfire hit the skycar. To Shepard's surprise however, the gunshots came from above and the Red's skycar was right next to him. At least it was until it swerved away and disappeared from sight. The sound of sirens allowed Shepard to figure out what was going on. They were being pursued by a two police skycars and it spooked the Reds into fleeing. One of the police skycars flew after the Reds while the other one continued to pursue Shepard. Unfortunately they were still firing at them as well. Shepard couldn't understand why until he noticed where they currently were.

During the chase Shepard had ended up piloting the skycar onto the grounds of the hotel where politicians stayed when they visited Earth. To ensure there would be no threats against the politicians from the air, no air traffic was allowed above the grounds unless it was at a minimum height requirement. Shepard knew that they were nowhere near the minimum height and now the police thought his skycar was a threat. The fact the skycar had Reds insignias probably didn't help. Worse still, a quick check of his dashboard showed that the skycar would not be able to take any more damage from the police before it lost power completely. He had to convince them they weren't a threat and fast.

Turning to face behind him, he saw that the asari was still shaking in fear from the gunfire. Unfortunately Shepard knew that he needed her to tell the police who she was to get them to stop shooting. He quickly grabbed the radio speaker and held it out to her. When she didn't even glance at him, Shepard tried talking to her to calm her down.

"Hey," he said, "it's ok. I know you're scared but we can get them to stop firing on us if you tell them who you are over the radio. I would tell them myself but they won't believe me unless they hear your voice."

Before Shepard could continue, a new alarm started beeping on the dashboard. He turned to see that another police skycar had flown in front of them and they were about to crash into it. Shepard barely managed to grab the controls and pull the skycar up and over the police. Unfortunately the police skycar that was behind him wasn't so lucky. The two police skycars collided head-on and began spinning out of control. Shepard could only watch in horror as the skycars seemed to fall to the ground in slow motion and crashed. He was about to curse to himself when he noticed figures stumbling out from the wrecks. He breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared that there were no casualties. The relief was short lived when suddenly four more police skycars appeared and began pursuing Shepard. With four to one odds, Shepard knew it would only be a short time before he was shot down.

"Listen," he said to the asari without turning back to face her, "what's your name?"

After doing nothing but shaking in the back, the asari finally looked towards Shepard.

"Tatyana," she said.

Even though he knew she couldn't see him doing it, Shepard smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Tatyana. My name's Shepard and I promise you that we will get out of this alive. All you have to do is talk into the radio and tell the police you're in here. That will get them to stop shooting."

Tatyana was still hesitant about speaking but changed her mind when another shot hit the skycar. She leaned forward and spoke into the speaker Shepard held to her.

"Hello? This is Tatyana. My mother is Ambassador Shala of the Asari Republics. I'm in the skycar that you are shooting at. I was held captive by criminals but I've been rescued by the man that is in the skycar with me. Hold off your attack."

No sooner had Tatyana finished speaking that the police skycars stopped firing. No other sounds were heard for about a minute. Shepard figured it was because they were running voice recognition to ensure that it was indeed Tatyana's voice. Finally a voice came over the skycar's radio.

"Tatyana this is police skycar Adam-14, we have confirmed your identity. We'll escort you to the hotel entrance where your mother will be waiting for you. Advise the man who is with you that when you land he is to remain in his seat with his hands behind his head until an officer gives him an all clear."

Tatyana turned to Shepard who nodded that he understood.

"Understood," Tatyana replied, "Tatyana out."

With the help of the police escort, Shepard was able to pilot the skycar down to the hotel's entrance. Waiting there to greet them was the ambassador and several heavily armed policemen. When they had touched down, Shepard opened the skycar's doors and placed his hands on his head as the officer had instructed. He almost flinched when he saw the policemen raise their weapons at him. One of them called out for him to keep his hands where they were and sent two other officers to help Tatyana out of the skycar. One of the officers removed Tatyana's restraints and brought her back to the waiting arms of her mother. The other officer stayed and helped Shepard out. After giving him a quick pat down, the officer cleared him and sent him towards Tatyana and the ambassador. Shepard noticed that the ambassador seemed surprised when she saw him. He had a pretty good idea why.

"You're the man who saved my daughter?" she said. "You're just a child."

"Mother!" Tatyana exclaimed. "You can't just simply thank him?"

"It's okay Tatyana," said Shepard, "I can understand why your mother is surprised. Don't let my youth fool you Ambassador. The truth is that I grew up on the streets. It can be a dangerous life but fortunately my time on the streets has allowed me to learn a few tricks that have kept me alive. I used most of them to save Tatyana."

The ambassador was amazed by what Shepard told him, "That's impressive. With a little more training you might even be able to rival some of my people's best commandos. But what do your parents think of this?"

Shepard frowned, "I don't have any parents. I'm an orphan."

Tatyana gasped, "That's awful."

"I'm sorry son," the ambassador said somberly, "I can't imagine what it's been like for you growing up alone. Still the fact that you've survived everything that you have on your own is a testament to your character."

"Thank you, Ambassador."

"No I should be thanking you. I do appreciate what you did for my daughter and I would like to repay you. Maybe Tatyana and I could help you find a home or you could even stay with us for a while."

Shepard looked to Tatyana who seemed happy with the idea. He had to admit that there was a part of him that appreciated the offer. He never had a family before and he liked the idea of having one. In this case he would have a mother and a sister. But there was another part of him that was telling him not to take it. Unfortunately it was the stronger of the two parts. All he could do was try and explain it as politely as he could.

"That's a very generous offer Ambassador," he said, "but respectfully I'm going to have to decline. I'm doing okay on the streets. Besides I won't be here much longer. In less than two years I'll be able to join the military. They will provide me with room and board and I will be out there helping people, which is exactly what I want to do with my life. Don't get me wrong I would love to be part of a family. I just don't know if I want to join one now when I'm on the verge of getting off the streets on my own."

The reply had caused Tatyana's smile to disappear. The ambassador on the other hand had a small smile and nodded approvingly.

"I guess I see your point," she said, "you want to make it through life on your own efforts. I respect that. Still, thanks again for saving my daughter."

"But actually Ambassador, there is something that you might be able to do for me."

With the ambassador's support, Shepard was able to convince the authorities to not bring him in for his ties with the Reds as he had no intention of going back to them now that he knew what kind of a group they really were. He even agreed to do community service to make up for his vigilante activities he did with the Reds. Once everything was settled with the authorities, Shepard said goodbye to the ambassador and Tatyana.

"I don't know if you believe in such things," the ambassador said to Shepard, "but may Goddess be with you and keep you safe."

Shepard thanked the ambassador for her wishes and shook her hand. He then reached his hand out to shake Tatyana's. To his surprise, instead of shaking his hand, Tatyana leaned forward and gave Shepard a kiss on the cheek. The ambassador giggled while Shepard's face began to turn red as he struggled to think of how to respond.

"Forgive me," she said as her own face seemed to be blushing, "I've understood that it was an Earth custom for a girl to kiss their rescuer."

Shepard chuckled and nodded in agreement. After saying one more goodbye, Shepard left Tatyana and the ambassador and followed the waiting police officers to be debriefed. He explained to them everything he knew about the Reds and where the hideout where Finch and the rest of the Reds were located. Unfortunately by the time the police arrived, Finch and his men were gone and there was no evidence left as to where they went. Even though Shepard wished that Finch and his men had been caught, it ultimately didn't matter to him. As long as he never saw Finch or the Reds again, he would be a happy man.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Thirteen years later and shortly after Shepard had become a Spectre, he ran into Finch again on the Citadel. Finch asked Shepard if he would help get a member of the Reds released from custody after he was caught in turian space. Finch claimed that it was all big misunderstanding but Shepard knew with the Reds reputation as an anti-alien gang that there was more to it than Finch was letting on. However, Finch also mentioned that if Shepard refused to help, he and the Reds would let the whole galaxy know that the first human Spectre ran with a gang.

The threat fell on deaf ears as Shepard didn't care because his past with the gang was public record. So instead of negotiating the Reds member's release, Shepard warned the turian in charge of security that the Reds had approached him for help. The guard thanked Shepard for the info and said he would strength the security around the prisoner. A furious Finch stormed in and told Shepard that he was going to make good on his threat to tell the galaxy about Shepard's ties to the Reds. Before he could, Shepard gave a warning of his own. He knew that despite Finch's anti-alien agenda, Finch was only doing what he thought was needed to strengthen humanity. Shepard pointed out that launching a smear campaign against the first human Spectre would have the opposite effect. Realizing that Shepard was right, Finch furiously stormed out and he never made good on his threat against Shepard.

That was the last time Shepard had seen Finch.