SSV Fuji, 2165

"All right, tell us what happened from the beginning."

Juliana held a towel against her mouth. "Philip was picking on Naomi, so I told him to stop."

Ian Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Philip is telling everyone that you punched him first."

His daughter scowled. "I wouldn't have punched him if he hadn't have shoved me."

Behind them, Captain Jacobs crossed his arms. "So you're wanting us to believe that my son is picking on other children and then you decided to put a stop to it yourself by starting a fight?"

Juliana's eyes blazed. "But he is!" She let go of her towel and showed off the cut on the left corner of her mouth. "And he doesn't even have the guts to hit a girl with his own fists! He used a piece of scrap metal instead!"

Ian dabbed at her still bleeding mouth with his handkerchief. "If this is true, we want to know why you didn't come to either of us with this information. Why did you go after him yourself?"

She looked away. "I didn't think anyone would believe me. He usually beats kids up in places the guards don't patrol and he picks on the ones he knows won't tell on him. Naomi's my friend; I couldn't just stand around and let her get hurt."

Captain Jacobs uncrossed his arms. "I wanted to get your side of the story before I came to a decision, Juliana. I've already spoken with your friend Naomi and the officer who discovered and broke up your fight." He paused and looked at Ian. "While I don't condone fighting on my ship, I believe you did the right thing at the time. Philip is a lot bigger than you; you put your friend's safety before your own welfare. I'm ashamed of my son's actions and I want to apologize to you for not realizing what he was doing.

"Believe me, Philip will be apologizing to you in person and his punishment will be severe. I raised him to treat others with respect and he has been ignoring my lessons. I want to ask you, Juliana, what do you think is a fitting punishment for his crimes?"

Juliana looked from the Captain to her dad, then back again. "I think whatever you decide would be enough, Sir," she said cautiously. Looking at her dad again, she sat up straighter. "But I want him to know that there are people that won't take his bullying. Now that the rest of us know that someone is willing to stand up to him, he's going to have a harder time pushing us around."

Captain Jacobs nodded. "I'll be sure to let him know." He clapped Ian on the shoulder. "Your girl has a good head on her shoulders. I see leadership potential in her; you should be proud."

Ian nodded. "I am, Sir." He grinned at Juliana. "Damned proud."

Juliana watched as the Captain left the medical bay. "Am I in trouble?" she asked, once she and her father were alone.

"Nah," he replied, pulling out a first aid kit. "I sure as hell know that you're not in trouble with me." He dabbed a pad of gauze with antiseptic and pressed it to the cut. The ragged edges bubbled and he winced in sympathy, but he was quietly surprised that she didn't cry out. He'd seen grown men react to the stuff worse than his daughter's short hiss of pain. "This is probably going to scar."

"Good."

He tilted his head. "Good?"

"Yeah, so when I get bigger and people ask about it, I can tell them that if they thought this was bad, they should have seen the other guy."

Laughing, he took a wet cloth and cleaned away the drying blood that had dripped down her mouth and chin. "Now, let's see the damage on your hands." Clearing a space on the gurney Juliana was sitting on, Ian boosted himself up to sit at her side. Taking her right hand in his, he cleaned her skinned knuckles. "What happened here?"

"I hit him in the mouth." She shut her eyes tightly when her dad poured more antiseptic on her scrapes.

"And what did I teach you about fighting?"

"Go for the body shots," she recited. "Hitting someone in the face will up the chances of you breaking your hand." She cracked open an eye. "But he would have hit me again and his face was the closest target, Dad." She had been aiming for his cheek, but Philip ducked his head down and her knuckles wound up skimming his teeth before she could correct her move.

"I'm just glad that there aren't any tooth fragments in your hands," he told her. "Your mother…"

"She's gonna be mad, isn't she?"

"For a little while, maybe, but then I'm betting she'll be proud of you for standing up to a bully." He picked up her injured hand and kissed her fingers, just like he used to when she was five and she came to him with skinned knees. I'll kiss it and make it better, he'd told her, and it had always been enough to stop her tears. His little girl was eleven now. It wouldn't be long until girlish giggles would give way to embarrassed teenage admonishments of Sheesh, Dad accompanied by rolled eyes. He hated the fact that she was growing up so quickly, but at the same time, he was pleased to get to see the person she was shaping up to be. "Just like I am."

"Really?"

"Really." Letting go of her hand, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tucked her snugly against his side. "You think I was telling the Captain I was damned proud just to hear myself talk?"

Juliana beamed as best as her split lip would allow her to. "I love you, Dad."

He kissed the crown of her head. "I love you too, my Julie-Girl." Hopping off the gurney, he put the first aid kit away. Tucking his hands underneath her arms, he lifted Juliana and then set her on her feet. "Now, did you finish your homework?"

"Yes, sir."

"And all your chores?"

"Yes, sir. Before dinner."

"Good. Then let's head to the exercise room. It's time we moved from basic self-defense to some more advanced techniques." He looked at her sternly. "I'm not saying that you should take matters into your own hands all the time if something like this ever comes up again, especially if you can inform an adult of the situation first. There are proper channels to go through with stuff like this, and I want you to follow the rules, is that clear?"

She nodded. "Absolutely clear, sir."

Ian looked down at her and marveled at her serious expression. She might have her mother's high cheekbones and flame-red hair, but it was like looking into a mirror at his daughter's blue eyes. He reached out and ruffled her hair, thinking that even with inheriting his stubborn looking chin and slightly squared jaw that she was going to grow into a strikingly pretty woman. Gonna haveta beat boys away with a stick when she gets older, he thought wistfully, wishing again that he could keep her this age forever.

"Then come on, Shepard," he said, clearing his throat and ruffling her hair again, just to hear her squawk indignantly. "Let's teach you how to throw a punch where you won't get a fist full of teeth."


Expanded the scene that was floating around in my head during chapter 18 of QM where Shepard was explaining to Joker how she got the scar on the side of her mouth. Juliana played out as roughly 75% Paragon most of the time, so I'm thinking that she'd do the right thing and stick up for her friends at an early age.

While we're given some info on Spacer!Shepard's mother, Shepard's dad is pretty much a blank slate. I might have missed something explaining why he's not in the picture, but for this story, Juliana's dad is around. For reference, I'm picturing him looking a bit like a mix of 60's era Clint Eastwood and Jim Steranko era Nick Fury (especially the splash panel of Strange Tales #168 from May of '68.) There may be more of Dad!Shep in the future, more than likely ME3 centric stuff.

I didn't find much information on the SSV Fuji except that it was an older Everest-class dreadnaught. The newer Killmanjaro-class ones have 2180's construction dates, so I'm playing around with info and thinking that the Everest-classes were around in the 2160's. I'm also playing fast and loose with the probability of these types of Alliance vessels having kids on board, but maybe the Fuji wasn't assigned to any dangerous parts of the galaxy at the time.