21st May 2170 – Mindoir, Attican Traverse

Jane Shepard was bored. She was sat in math class listening to her teacher, Mrs Briggs, go on and on about calculus and equations. Or some shit like that she didn't really care, she hated math. Besides it was way too hot to be stuck in school, and Jane could swear the air conditioning had malfunctioned again. 22nd Century tech her ass. Balancing her head in her hand, she set about tapping aimlessly on her data pad and droned out Mrs Brigg's voice with her own thoughts. The homecoming dance was soon, and all she could think was that she was going with Seth. The Seth, who'd been her friend since she was little and who had grown up to be drop dead handsome. Safe to say she was the envy of all the girls in Grissom High Academy. And that kiss! Damn that'd been something else.

"Miss Shepard, are you listening?"

To think he'd admitted that he'd had a crush on her since they were 14!

"Shepard!"

And then he'd cupped her freckled cheek, leaned in and kissed her square on the lips. Seth Johnson liked her, Jane Shepard! Plain Jane, who hung out with the guys and played a marathon of FIFA Galaxy 2 rather than go out with her mom and aunt to get her nails done. Due to family commitments and such she'd had to pull out of all the dates he'd tried to arrange, and dammit homecoming was going to be her night. She was finally going to get to do something for herself for once.

"SHEPARD!"

Jane snapped out of her Seth-induced daydream and was brought back down to Earth (Or Mindoir in her case). Only then did she realise all eyes were focused on her, including Mrs Briggs' who didn't look too happy.

"Nice of you to join us Miss Shepard. Now would you care to tell us all the answer to this equation on the whiteboard?"

"I'm sorry Mrs Brigg's I didn't quite hear you, you know bad ear and all, can you speak up?"

Mrs Briggs sighed in frustration and was about to talk further until the bell interrupted, signalling the end of class. Hallelujah, Shepard was literally saved by the bell. She grabbed her bag and legged it out of the room.

"Hey Jane wait up!"

Shepard turned and saw John swaggering out the same classroom she'd been in ten seconds earlier. He was younger than her, but his grades were perfect meaning he'd bumped up a year. On top of outstanding grades he was also the star quarterback of the Grissom High Grizzlies football team, class president and one of the most popular kids in school. And he was just 15! Her brother was a shining star and Jane envied him.

"Hey Johnny, didn't realise you were in math class."

"Yeah well you were too busy day-dreaming to notice. You're lucky some angel out there got its wings otherwise you'd be facing the wrath of Briggs right now!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Angels? Wings? Have you been snorting red sand?"

"Ha-ha no. Didn't you ever listen to mom's stories? Every time a bell rings it means an angel's got its wings. You know that religious superstitious shit that she used to bang on about all the time when we were kids?"

"Oh yeah, now I remember. And she also used to talk about if we stepped on a crack on the sidewalk it would break her back. She is so weird."

The siblings chuckled as they walked down the hallway towards the exit. School was over for the day, and that meant they both had to go back and start getting ready for homecoming. John was taking his girlfriend of 8 months Nala, who was an asari from Illium. Nala's family were the only aliens on Mindoir and everyone was amazed by the blue skinned beauties. Many colonists had never seen an alien before, aside for the few who took part in the First Contact War. Nala was 50 years old, and while that seemed old to Jane, apparently Nala was still classed as a child among her species. John didn't care; he was just thrilled to have the hottest girl at the school on his arm.

"So Janey," John began teasingly. "I hear you're finally getting to go on a date with Seth? Tonight's the big night eh?"

Jane rolled her eyes, trying to hide her blush and elbowed her brother in the ribs.

"Shut up you dick. Stop teasing me."

"Jane and Seth sittin' in a tree..."

"What are you, 12?"

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"And to think you got put up a year."

The siblings continued their playful banter all the way back until they were about a mile away from their home. Grissom High was located between the two towns on Mindoir, out in the open. So when Jane and John reached the top of the hill that overlooked Demeter they were shocked at what they saw. Black smoke rose up from the buildings in the town, and the entire horizon was tinted orange as fires raged and destroyed whatever was in its path. The sounds of distant screams and gunfire echoed across the valley and the smell of blood was in the air. Jane and John stood rooted to their spot and stared in disbelief at the scene unfolding before them.

"J-Jane...what's going on?" John asked, suddenly reverting back to his role as the younger sibling.

Jane swallowed and realised how dry her throat had gone.

"I don't know...but we need to find mom and dad."

John glanced down and searched for their farm. When he caught sight out it, he let out a small sob. Their townhouse was a blazing inferno and Jane prayed to whatever god that was out there that their parents weren't in it. She grabbed her brother's hand and sprinted towards the town. The reached their house pretty quickly and after physically grabbing John from playing hero by running into the burning building, Jane led them around the back. Nothing prepared her for what she saw next.

There in the middle of the back yard was her parents lying flat on their backs, with a puddle of blood surrounding their bodies. Thomas Shepard was breathing heavily but was still alive for now. The same couldn't be said for Hannah, whose disfigured form was staring straight ahead with lifeless eyes and a bullet wound right in her forehead.

"Dad..." Jane croaked out as she knelt beside him with John.

Her brother was weeping uncontrollably at the sight of his dead mother. Thomas Shepard glanced up and relaxed slightly at the sight of his children safe. He tried to move but was pushed down by Jane.

"Don't...y-y-you'll make it worse." She instructed, holding back her own tears.

"Kids...you need to...get out of here," Thomas rasped. "The colony is...under...attack."

"We're not leaving without you!" John screamed, now cradling his mother's limp hand.

"It's...too late for...me. Save yourselves...stay safe until...the Alliance come."

Thomas reached around the ground with the remaining strength he had and handed a pistol to Jane. She took the gun from her father and nodded in understanding.

"Who did this Dad?"

"B-b-batarian Slavers."

Whilst many on Mindoir had barely seen an alien, aside from Nala's family, many humans still knew what the other races looked like. It was standard Alliance protocol to educate their civilians on what the many different species looked like. Both Jane and John had been taught from an early age what Turians, Asari and Salarians looked like, as well as Batarians. And it was also common knowledge that the Batarians weren't the most friendliest of races with humans; now being a prime example.

Thomas coughed as blood began coming out of his mouth. He grasped at the gun wound in his neck and tried to force more pressure on it. John and Jane huddled around him, waiting for him to tell them what to do.

"It's...t-time kids. I love you...very much..."

And with those words, Thomas Shepard drew his last breath before joining his wife in death. John let out a slow grieving whine as his father went limp. Jane on the other hand had a face of stone, and didn't let a tear shed. She stood up and tried to pull John with her; almost as if she was on autopilot. She led her brother back to the front of the house, hoping it would calm him. After a few minutes John stopped crying but occasionally still snivelled a bit.

"We need to find somewhere safe to wait until the Alliance get here." Jane said in monotone.

"Yeah...you're right," John replied, wiping his eyes with his hand. "But Jane...I need to find Nala. I need to make sure she's okay."

Jane looked up at her brother and his distraught face and sighed. She knew they shouldn't, but she also knew she couldn't deny her brother's wish. Plus if they went into town she could keep an eye out for Seth too.

"Okay, but we need to be careful. The Batarians are probably still here."

...

An hour into their search and the Shepards hadn't found any survivors or Batarians along their way; only deserted burning buildings and dead bodies. It was just as John announced that they were getting close to Nala's did they hear the sound of talking. Glancing around the corner of one house, Jane saw the slavers for the first time. There were three of them talking amongst each other with deep voices that sounded foreign, whilst holding pistols similar to the one she had grasped in her hand. The Batarians were stood over a group of people who we kneeling on the floor with their hands bound.

"Jane that's Nala and her family with those people!" John hissed in her good ear.

Sure enough John was right, Nala and her parents were huddling next to another family and their son, who looked no older than 7. Jane whipped round to face her brother.

"Stay here, I'm gonna try take these guys out."

"What!? Are you insane!? You'll get yourself killed!"

"I'll be fine, and besides I'll have the jump on them."

Reluctantly John let his sister go and watched as she crept up on the unsuspecting Batarians. Jane glanced at Nala and the group as they caught sight of her sneaking behind their captors. As she neared the slavers she raised the pistol in her hand, flicked off the safety, aimed at one of the Batarian's heads and pulled the trigger. The bastard had no clue what had hit him before his brains emptied on the ground. His body shortly followed and his fellow slavers stood in shock. Before they could react, Jane took out the second slaver the same way she had the first. John silently cheered as his sister delivered the deadly blows. However the third Batarian regained his composure and attacked.

The ensuing fight was brutal. Although Jane was thankful she'd taken up martial arts a few years back, she knew she was losing. The Batarian was much stronger than she was and wasn't tiring as easy as she was. However Shepard was agile and quick and that helped her land a deadly counter-attack at the slaver that sent him sprawling to the ground near his captives. Jane walked over to Nala and the group and unbound their hands before returning her attention to the supposedly knocked out Batarian. John sprinted over from his hiding spot and embraced Nala in tears as her parents watched on in relief. Jane deemed the slaver to be no threat and joined her brother.

"Oh John it was terrible, they were going to send us off to be slaves!" Nala exclaimed, sobbing into her boyfriend's chest.

"It's okay, you're safe now."

Nala's mother and father walked over to Jane and placed a hand on her shoulder. The girl looked at the asaris' concerned faces whilst gripping the gun tightly in her hand. She thought of her mom and dad, still lying in their back yard.

"Jane, are you okay?" Nala's mother asked.

"Yeah...I suppose-"

Jane was cut off by a bloodcurdling screech from the woman from the other family she'd rescued. The group turned to see the woman's husband fall to the ground clutching his side as a bullet tore through him. The Batarian was stood a few feet away sneering as the man's life drained away. He raised his gun to the young boy, who'd been stood next to his father when he was shot, and prepared to pull the trigger. Before she even realised, Jane was dashing over to the boy and shoved him out of the way as the slaver fired the gun. Pain ripped through her cheek as the bulled sliced through it.

"NO!"

John screamed and grabbed one of the fallen slavers guns before returning fire at the remaining Batarian, killing him instantly.

"Quick, she needs medi-gel!" shouted Nala as they all rushed over to the older Shepard.

John grabbed a packet on the Batarian corpse, spilt it open and lathered it on his sister's face. At the same time, blue and white shuttles flew into the vicinity, bearing the Alliance logo. The marines found the group huddled over Shepard and instantly took them all to a make-shift medical camp. Jane was lucky, the bullet had split open her cheek as it grazed past her face, but nothing more. She was alive, and now orphaned

"Oh my, that was horrible!"

"That isn't the even the worst thing that Shepard had to suffer through Clarence."

"So what happened after sir? To her and her brother?"

"Well Jane's cheek healed, got a nasty looking scar, but she survived. Her and her brother were taken in by the asari they saved."

"You mean Nala's family?"

"Yes. After the Alliance rescued them, the Shepards were placed under their care. They all relocated to one of the planets within asari space."

"What about that other human, the one Shepard saved?"

"He went on to be a marine too, saved an entire colony during the Reaper War."

"Wow. So what's next?"

"Well after two years of living with Nala's family, Shepard decided to join the Systems Alliance on her 18th birthday..."