Face It

Yell

Most people wouldn't believe it, but Shepard was originally soft spoken. There was no need to yell when you lived out in the silent hills of Mindoir. The only scare there was varren, and they were easily taken care of if you were careful, which she always was.

"Shepard, if you so much as speak in a normal voice, you fail." Her teacher said.

Shepard blinked. Swallowed. Fail? At N6, if you failed... you washed out. That was it. You got one shot at it. You stayed there. You didn't graduate to 7. With a nod, Shepard acknowledged that she understood.

The rookies she was in charge of met her in a room. Shepard could remember doing this on the first few weeks of the training- you hadn't even covered basic yet. All they'd taught you was to follow instructions. It was kind of like a buddy program. Here, at the end of the training, you tutored the people at the beginning of theirs.

"Alright, names." Shepard said. James, Lara, Mitch, Izzy, and Marie were their names. They all seemed nervous, but most were taking strains to calm themselves. It was greatly appreciated. It means they at least had their heads about them.

"My name is Shepard." She waited for the gasps and 'oohs' and 'aahs'. None came.

"Why did you pause?" Lara asked. Or was it Izzy?

"Sorry. You all come from small, backwater planets. Right?"

"Wow! How did you know that? Did they teach you that?" James exclaimed.

"Ah, no. It's just that my name's... well, it's ah, not important." Shepard cleared her throat, grateful that she didn't have to handle all of that. They were on a time limit here, "Skills. Who's a biotic, tech?" No one said anything. They looked around at one another.

"You're all weapons specialists?" Shepard said exasperatedly. She was realizing that this was the price she paid for not having fans.

"Yeah. We...can't do any of that other stuff."

"Alright, alright that's fine. We'll work around it. That means we'll need to..." Shepard thought for a moment. If she had all of the weapons specialists, everyone else had biotics and techs. Techs were bad news. They could short out the weapons, leaving all but Shepard vulnerable. They could try and attack, but there were many variables.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna figure. What else can you do?"

"I'm an alright tracker. We had to be-"Izzy started.

"Alright, anyone else?"

"I-" One of the young girls started. She silenced herself quickly.

"It could make the difference between your passing." She said, as if her own passing wasn't hinging on their success as well.

"I can dance. I...I"

Shepard's eyes lit up, "Perfect. You're quiet on your feet. You'll be our reconnaissance."

"That's like a spy, right?" Marie asked.

"Sure. You're going to look, and report. Some will need to go with her, but you need to be quiet. You'll be reporting back to us." She started categorizing the rest of the team, getting ready for the coming onslaught.

…

"I see a lot of light." Marie whispered. Shepard could hear the fear.

"What color?" Shepard asked calmly.

"Orange. There's one purple-blue...glowy..." The young girl didn't know how to describe it.

"It's a biotic. It's probably the senior of the group. Back it up, head back here. Don't get-"

A scream interrupted Shepard's instruction. Shepard ordered the rest of the team immediately to Marie's position. Izzy wasn't going to be much back up. Shepard had the feeling that Izzy wasn't going to have much of a military career.

The run there had been a nice warm up. Shepard could hear the gunfire from yards away. That was good. That meant there was something going on- someone was fighting. Shepard followed the marking on her omni-tool to Marie's beacon.

"Marie? Marie, are you here?"

"Shepard! Shepard, I'm over here!" A small waving arm in the dark signaled Marie's location.

Shepard approached her carefully, making sure to check her footing. She wasn't sure of the situation.

"What happened?"

"They started shooting, at first I thought at us. So I screamed. But I don't think they heard me. Izzy tried to help me, but he fell. He fell. And he hasn't...he isn't..."

"It's alright, I'm going to come closer. Don't move too much."

Shepard could already smell the blood. She wasn't sure what the rules are for injured people. Nobody was supposed to get hurt. All of their weapons were set to, for all intents and purposes, stun. There hadn't been any briefing on what to do. But maybe that was the point.

"Izzy? Izzy, if you can hear me, say something." Shepard said as she gingerly placed the boy on her knee, trying to elevate him. All she got was a small groan. She helped the boy sit up, quickly applying med-gel, sure to make sure no one saw how bad it had originally been. The gel healed most of it up instantly.

"Izzy? Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" Marie said. The look on her face was earnest.

"'M fine... just a small bump." He mumbled. Shepard's hand hadn't left his back. All of the kids couldn't see that Shepard was the only reason he was able to sit up right. It made the young, but older, woman feel like a puppeteer.

"If they weren't firing at you..." Shepard said with sudden realization.

"There was a.. I couldn't really see it. Something big? But it didn't..."

"They're still going at it. James, grab Izzy. Everyone else, shake it off, gear up."

"Where are we going?" James asked as he dipped to pick up the young boy off the ground. With a strain, James straightened out, taking care not to jostle Izzy too much.

"Down there. Something could go wrong. These tests are notorious for that." Shepard said, thinking of her previous tests. Was it 4 or 5 when that accident happened? They all blurred together when time passed so quickly.

"But they're the enemy." Mitch objected. Shepard wasn't sure if this was the first thing he'd said all night or not.

"I've been training with these same people since I was your age. They're aren't the enemy. This is a training exercise." Shepard said, giving her weapons a thorough once-over.

"It's them or us." Mitch stated without any guilt.

"No it isn't. What makes you think that?" Shepard was scanning the area, looking for a safe way down. It was pretty far down the hill- even though they'd all come far already.

"That's how it is for you, right? You pass, or they do." The young man challenged.

Everyone waited for an answer.

"If they're in real trouble, what does it matter?" Shepard countered, wondering why she was bothering. She was the commanding officer. She made the choices. It was her future. But then a thought crossed her mind- it was theirs, too. What she did effected them directly. Was it a risk she was willing to take? With a shake of her head, she dismissed it.

"Don't you want to pass?" Marie asked.

"Of course. But if I let myself sacrifice my comrades, I'm no better than the scum I'm supposed to be fighting." The team followed quietly behind her, each digesting her words as if she spoke in gold filigree.

…

Shepard looked at the mess before her. The camp had been raided. There were no traces, except a trail of destruction leading away. The good news was that she didn't smell any blood. She sent out a small ping, hoping someone would answer. It was doubtful. She wasn't much of a tech- she couldn't hack doors, but she could work an omni-tool and make it send out messages as well as hack low level drones-so she didn't really trust her results.

"Hey, Shepard!"

"What?" She asked, heading back to her group with a sigh. Searching in the dark was fruitless.

"There." Mitch was pointing at a dark spot on the ground. Near the middle of the pool- after coming closer, Shepard smelled the tale-tell tang of blood- was a pistol and an bit of fabric. Armor, military standard. It did not belong to the rookies.

"What happened here?" Shepard asked aloud as she picked up the items carefully. She recognized the color, an orange that belonged to some strange girl she'd gotten along with rather well. Her heart was filled with worry.

"It's not a good idea to set up a camp here. Obviously something's wrong here. So, pop quiz. Where's the best place to hole up?" She asked. There were a few answers, but she wanted the kids to think.

"Up in the hills?"Izzy asked from the ground where he'd been dumped.

"Too far, but a good guess." Shepard said, happy that someone was talking.

"In the direction opposite the destruction trail?" Lara asked.

"If we needed confrontation, of either good or bad. We need rest." She said encouragingly.

"So, we need to move... away." Mitch said.

"Alright, best place would be north. Why?"

For a few moments, it was silent. Suddenly, someone guessed correctly, "We came from south. There wasn't any water."

"Bingo. Let's go!" She said excitedly.

…

At first light, she'd woken everybody. They were groggy, and hungry. She'd split what little food she'd been given among them, taking none for herself. She pretended to eat so the kids didn't worry. They, hopefully, wouldn't be out long enough to worry. After everyone's brain was working properly, they'd followed the chaos into what resembled a mine shaft.

"I really...really hate shafts." Shepard said, chagrin filling her voice. She knew that whoever survived was in there. She had to go check on them. She had to do it, and no one else. There would be no more broken bodies on her watch. Izzy aside, of course.

"I'll go in." Lara offered.

"No." Shepard said rather harshly. Stronger than intended but it worked, "I'm going in there, you guys are staying out here. Keep it clear, don't panic. If I'm not out in two hours, call to be picked up."

"What? You need to take at least one of-"

"Stay here. Two hours if you don't hear from me."

"Shepard..." One of them said sadly. They knew what it meant- Shepard would fail and they wouldn't.

…

Traumatized. The last time she was in anything resembling a mine, half her body was crippled. Going back inside was not a good thing to do so soon.

"Izetta! Are you in here?" Shepard said. Her voice didn't carry. A curse escaped under her breath. Damn this quiet voice.

When she looked down, by chance, she saw a score mark. One, tiny burn on the stone walls. She recognized it very well. It had happened when she tried to fix or calibrate her omni-tool. It shorted, causing a small electrical shock. The wall was proof enough.

"Izetta!"

Shepard quickly came to a fork. She couldn't be sure. Left, right. Right, left. She knew she didn't have time to sit around and debate. Closing her eyes, she began to twirl in place with her arm extended. She spun around three times. Her finger was pointing in the dead center. Really useful, Shepard thought to herself.

Before she went down the left path, echoes bolted through the alternate path. She abandoned her route and ran with renewed speed. Lives could be depending on it.

When she got close enough to the students, they parted like they had been waiting for her. Maybe they had been.

Her eyes saw her comrade, her friend.

"Izetta!" Shepard said.

"Shepard. Thank God. Where are your kids?"

"Outside. I didn't know what the situation was. I've been in here for...an hour and a half trying to find you. I need to call them. I told them two hours before calling for extraction."

"You'll need to hurry and get out. We're fine. We killed whatever it was, I think. It's just...safer in here. You know how notoriously faulty these tests tend to be..."

"I'll just use my omni-tool."

"It doesn't work. We've been trying to get out signals since last night. I can't move with my leg all banged up. Two of my kids have broken arms. A third hasn't woken up. I'm scared, Shepard. If...if something happens..." Izetta's voice cut out.

"Don't worry. I'll... be right back. We'll call for you."

…

Shepard had to make an hour's journey in twenty five minutes. Biotics were being used in a new way, at least for Shepard, today. She was Pulling herself, doing whatever she could to move faster.

She knew, when she passed the scoring, that she was close enough. If she could just belt one scream- one good yell, she could still be in the running. She didn't have to sacrifice her future- her standing... there was no reason to anymore.

Realizing what she had to do, Shepard took a deep breath...

...

And the rest is history.

A/N: I'm sorry about the length. It took a while to get to my point.