Most kids have a vague idea of what they want to be when they grow up, running the gamut from astronaut to zombie.

Kids.

John Shepard was one of the exceptions. From the time he was a little tyke he knew exactly what he was born to be.

A soldier.

He might as well have been born wearing the alliance uniform. He'd been born aboard the ship his parents had been serving on at the time.

At three years old, he'd learned that his father had been killed by monsters. A couple years later, he understood that his father had died fighting turians during the first contact war, but monsters was all he'd been able to focus on at that age. He still considered them as such as an adult. Turians were the worst of the lot, but he didn't have much stomach for the asari or the salarians either. Krogan he could respect slightly more, if only because they knew what it was like to get screwed by the council races.

His mother Hannah continued to serve aboard the SSV Einstein, and he'd grown up on Arcturus Station with his grandparents, both in the military as well, but with desk jobs. He saw his mother in between deployments. He enlisted on his eighteenth birthday, much to the pride of his entire family. He'd gotten on the officer track quickly, showing a natural aptitude for leadership. His combat scores were impressive as well, marksmanship at the top of its class with pistols, rifles and shotguns. Since then, he'd made a name for himself; everybody knew who John Shepard was.

Or so he hoped.

Four years after his enlistment, he'd decided to use some shore leave to celebrate his promotion to Service Chief. Elysium. One of the jewels of the system alliance. With dozens of resorts, it was a tourist destination spot for many in the galaxy. Upon arrival, John had been a little dismayed to see just how many xeno's lived on the planet, but as long as they kept to themselves, he hoped his vacation would go smoothly.

That was before the fuckin pirate ships started bombarding the colony. Before they landed and the goddam batarians and turians and krogan and salarian and asari and turncoat criminal humans started pouring out of the shuttles and started stealing, killing, raping and burning and interrupted him while he flirted with the waitress at the bar he was at. Rachel. Cute girl.

Chalk it up to the universe deciding he'd had enough shore leave.

Or maybe just being in the right place at the right time.

He was a soldier. A human. But most importantly, he was a man.

And they'd stopped John motherfuckin Shepard from getting laid.

Plenty of reasons to get up and do something. And that he had, grabbing a gun from a dead security guard and opening fire on the pirates that tried to get into the bar. They'd died quickly, probably not expecting anyone to mount any kind of resistance. John had followed a straggler out into the street and started waging a one man war on the pirates on the block.

It was heroic.

And the thing about being a hero was that it drew people to you.

He wasn't sure when he noticed that he was getting help, but at some point his one man decision to protect the bar had galvanized others into action. Other marines on shore leave. A couple turian cops. An asari mercenary. Hell, even some of the civilians were getting in on the action. John didn't begrudge the xeno's that stepped in. If they were bent on helping, he could use the firepower.

Some fell. Some died. But they followed, without him asking to. He was the only person that seemed to have any kind of plan.

He had that kind of effect on people.

"Never leave a man behind!" He'd shouted, remembering all the old holo-vids he used to watch, and some of the civvies had started pulling the wounded to cover. They routed the pirates on the block. Then the next block. John fought all the way to the city limits, were someone had had the bright idea to form a barricade using vehicles; Military and civilian, skycar and shuttle. He'd seen some marines fighting there and got to them. Their commanding officer had been killed and they trying to fix the radio, trying to signal the second fleet, as the ships were stationed fairly close to Elysium.

John had asked them what they needed. They needed to halt the pirates advancing long enough to fix the tower.

That was how John found himself in his current predicament, commandeering an alliance mako from the barricade and meeting the advancing pirates head-on. He'd been doing pretty well until his gunner had gotten killed. Then they only weapon he had left was the Mako itself.

"Come on you apes, you wanna live forever? Cover me goddamit!" he growled into the comms.

John Shepard hated driving.

But he hated those who preyed on the weak more. And he hated aliens more than that. The Mako handled like shit, but it didn't stop him from mowing down a dozen pirates as he hurtled back and forth, crushing bone and armor under the wheels. He kept going until the enemy was dead or fled and then drove the Mako right into the gap of the barricade, sealing it off.

"That's not gonna stop them for long." Someone said over the comm. Shepard grimaced and looked out the window. Dozens of pirate ships were getting closer; they were coming back down for another bombing run. Then the one in the lead exploded into a massive fireball. Then another. And another. A cruiser flew by with a roar and a wild cheer rose from the ragged crowd.

"It's the alliance!" someone crowed. "We're saved!"

John grinned in spite of himself as he exited the Mako, keeping his back straight and his head held high. Couldn't let his adoring fans see how tired he was. It was all about image after all.

I better get a promotion for this. He paused. Make that several.

"That was…I mean…You're a hero." One of the women said as he drew nearer to the mass of people.

"You're goddam right I am. " John replied as a roguish grin stole over his face.

"So, you doing anything tonight…?"

And here we have the final one-shot of this little collection. John Shepard is my Renegade, a spacer/war hero/soldier. It always made a certain sort of sense to me for this background to be renegade. He's been raised military, and look how few of them are progressive thinkers. He's humanities greatest hero. Keyword, humanities.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, keep a look out, I plan to use these three Shepards in different fics in the near future. And as always, reviews are welcome!