8th October 2176

Petra Nebula, Elysium, Illyria

Shepard was on shore leave in Elysium after a year of training in Camp X. There he learned more about weapon use and modification, use of mass effect weapons, hacking and programming. Next year, he would learn driving land vehicles, fighters and even power suits. But now, he and the other lads got a well deserved break. Shepard, along with 2 of the remaining 35 candidates from the hunter division, went to the Illyria, the capital city of Elysium. Originally, the new batch of hunter candidates started with 110. Most of them dropped out after Hell's week and 5 died at live fire training. Even Shepard got a bullet at the shin. Luckily for him, it was just a flesh wound. Now, the ones who were still in training, just wanted to drink and relax for these 2 weeks of well deserved shore leave:

"OI barkeep! Get us 3 pints, me and the boys are thirsty!" Shepard called to the bartender, who happened to be a batarian. It almost felt like the Red Carp back to Earth, but with a few asari, turians, a couple salarians, 2 batarians and even 3 krogan in the mix. Shepard wasn't really fazed from seeing aliens, but he wanted to see if he could read their thoughts. There were no psychics in the vicinity, probably not even on the planet, so he let his psychic abilities loose. After making his presence as inconspicuous as possible, just another human sipping his beer, he delved into the minds of the aliens, learning their languages, names, occupations and even some of their skills and memories without anyone noticing. He would put his newly acquired knowledge to the test another time, know Shepard wanted to enjoy his time off:

"Hey Doug, you want us to play poker with these dudes over there?"

The question came from that giant of a man Darren Phillips, probably the best hand to hand combatant in the hunter division cadets, but completely unlucky in poker. Next to him was Jane Redding, skilled at hacking and engineering, resident biotic and problem solver:

"Come on now Darren, these clothes are army equipment and you are almost the size of a krogan. You will get us bankrupt at this rate." Shepard teased, earning a giggle from Jane and a laugh from Darren.

"Don't worry so much Shep, worst case scenario, you win like most times and return our money." Jane said. Shepard, thanks to his abilities and skill to reading facial expressions was the best at poker from everyone else. He got quite a fund set up from all the games:

"Well remind me, why couldn't I just play alone and keep all the winnings for myself?" Shepard asked.

"Come on now Dougie, I'll make it worth your while." Jane said with a seductive tone, putting her hands on the table and leaning towards Shepard. A seduction attempt. While Shepard enjoyed the view, he wasn't such an easy target:

"Heh, I am slightly tempted but not enough." Shepard refused.

"Hey, what if I made it worth your while?" Darren joked. Jane laughed at that and even Shepard was amused:

"If you even think about doing it, I will punch your teeth so far down yer bloody throat yer gonna need to stick a toothbrush up your ass to clean them." Shepard made another of his creative threats. He was using them for fun mostly, so Darren and Jane just laughed:

"Haha, that was a good one Shep! But seriously now, you will be the first from us to beat aliens in poker. This isn't a chance you want to pass up, is it?" Jane asked pointedly. She knew that Shepard always was up for challenges, the more difficult the better:

"Alright, I'm sold. Empty your pockets and watch how it's done." Shepard said as he stood up and drained his beer mug. The 2 fellow cadets put all their funds on the table and collected them. Earth and all terran colonies were still using the fund instead of the credit as the rest of citadel space. Its worth was slightly than that of the credit and, despite the fact it could be exchanged, it was only acceptable at terran territories. The volus especially were pretty pissed at that because this hindered the citadel stock exchange and made the coalition immune to having its companies claimed by aliens or becoming a target of economic warfare. Shepard headed to the poker table, his colleagues following close behind. At the table was a pile of credits and funds and 4 players, one asari, a batarian, a krogan and a salarian were currently playing:

"Hey humans, you look lost." The batarian quipped at them. Shepard just smirked and shot back:

"Oh right, I was looking for good poker players and only found a bunch of amateurs. Goodbye." He said and turned away, only to be called back:

"Hey, wait a minute kid. Show us how you play if you are so skilled." The salarian talked this time:

"Don't worry, we will go easy to you. Besides you are still young and inexperienced." The asari teased Shepard:

"Experience is overrated blue squid. Also, as you wish frog." Shepard said and saw the facial expressions of both the asari and salarian harden from anger. Shepard laughed inside him as he sat on the vacant chair. It was the turn of the krogan to deal. First, Shepard played defensively to gauge the facial expressions of his opponents. The asari was the easiest to read with her humanlike expression, the salarian twitched involuntarily when bluffing the krogan gulped everytime he had a good hand. The batarian was the hardest to read, but nothing that psychic abilities couldn't handle. After 8 turns, the asari quitted. 5 more rounds, the salarian. In the 21 round, only Shepard and the batarian remained. The pile became really tall and the whole pub was watching with bated breath. Shepard decided it was time to play a trick. He started doing a cyclone spin with one of his cards. The batarian immediately focused there, trying to see what the card was, allowing Shepard to trick the mind of the batarian into thinking he got the right number while, in fact, he was wrong. Shepard had a straight ready. The batarian went all in, believing that Shepard was bluffing. They both slapped their cards on the table. Shepard's hand was better:

"I win." he declared. The human spectators including Darren and Jane, went into a frenzy of hoots and applause.

The batarian was completely lost:

"Bu... but, you had a 6." he said. Shepard grabbed the card, that actually wrote 9, and started spinning:

"It's called an optical illusion lad, look it up." He then turned to the other players:

"Don't feel bad, you were beaten by the best, me." Shepard said and showed himself at the last word. He and his friends gathered all the money. The batarian then started screaming:

"YOU CHEATED! GIVE ME MY MONEY BACK!" The guy looked ready to brawl and the 3 krogan immediately stood up. Talk about sore losers:

"Calm down lad, you lost fair and square. No need to make a ruckus out of it, right?"

Shepard knew he could easily use his powers to calm the batarian down, but seeing a batarian awoke bad memories. The very night he decided to become a soldier after nearly losing his family. So, he instead used his powers to agitate the batarian, causing him to launch into Shepard and thus triggering a full-blown...:

"BARFIGHT!" screamed one of the human

patrons before being slugged on the face by another human. The asari poker player used her biotics to throw a chair wielding turian through the window, a salarian broke a bottle at the head of the second batarian, while Darren was trying to fight against a krogan. Shepard managed to knock the batarian aggressor out cold and went to help Jane fend of a charging krogan by lifting and throwing a table. The hit actually made the krogan stumble and clutch his head in pain. Shepard immediately put the krogan down to stop the blood rage from kicking in. Darren, at the same time, was beating the other krogan senseless, successfully pining him down and using him as a punching bag.

Looks like even a krogan couldn't stop Darren when he was angry. The fight abruptly stopped when an alarm sounded. It was neither police sirens nor a fire alarm, it was an invasion alarm:

"ALL CIVILIANS HEAD TO THE UNDERGROUND BUNKERS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! ALL ARMED PERSONNEL MOVE TO YOUR ASSIGNED POSITIONS!

The announcement made everyone in the bar stop dead on their tracks. An invasion?

Who would be stupid enough to invade terran territory? Shepard was almost certain who it was:

"Come on lads, it's open season." he ordered, offering his hand to help Darren, who looked surprisingly well for wear after his scrap with the krogan, get up:

"This day turns better and better Shep." Darren said as he stood back on his feet again:

"Hey guys, have a look at that." Jane said and showed them surveillance footage on her wrist tablet. It showed batarians, turians and even asari, capturing and loading up people in transports while another video showed a vicious firefight between 2 squads of SMACC troopers who were holding against a whole platoon of enemies. Only one kind of criminal was in this kind of trafficking business:

"Fucking slavers, just when this was supposed to be a relaxing time." Shepard said while grinding his teeth from anger:

"Wait boss, we have to get weapons and armor first." Darren reminded. Shepard showed him his now trademark revolver, knife and ammo forge:

"Just wait till they drop and scoop their hardware." Douglas said and went to the area where the SMACC were engaged. He sneaked behind the enemy's position. They were unaware of his presence, a perfect chance to strike. One by one, Shepard started by killing, first a lone turian sniper with a stab on the throat, then a heavily armed batarian. Now Jane had a rifle and Darren a grenade launcher.

They positioned themselves and waited for Shepard to lure some enemies for an explosive ambush:

"Shepard, we are in position, we could really use some target practice." Jane said first:

"Same here boss, primed and ready." Darren answered next. Shepard sent his acknowledgement and moved to the bigger group of enemy soldiers. He took his revolver and shot one, seemingly their leader, to the head. He saw him collapse and the bewildered slavers looked for the shooter. They immediately started barking orders and shooting their weapons. Shepard shot 7 more enemies at rapid succession and then retreated to lure the other 12 in the trap. When the time was right, Shepard shouted:

"NOW, SIC THESE BASTARDS!" And Shepard's companions opened fire. The slavers, except 2, were completely decimated, some tossed by biotics, others

turned into bloody splatters and the rest shot. Shepard grabbed the injured survivor, an injured turian mercenary. The uninjured one, an asari in her early maiden years, was watching with fear and uncertainty:

"Listen up you worthless wanker. You will tell me where the prisoners are and I'll let you live, so start talking." Shepard threatened. The merc didn't really look fazed, despite his injuries covering part of his face:

"Fuck off human!" he said with a raspy voice. Shepard pulled out his knife and shouted:

"WRONG ANSWER!" He then started stabbing the stubborn turian repeatedly, earning a gasp from his compatriots and a terrorised scream from the asari. Shepard had to show cruelty and brutality to get the information he wanted without using his powers. After turning the turian into a pincushion, he turned to the asari, face and hands covered in blue blood. He pounced on her, held his knife on her throat and said in a menacing tone:

"Same question. If you don't answer it..." Shepard showed the corpse of the turian.

The poor asari was now scared out of her wits. Between sobs, she gave the coordinates of the rally point. Shepard however wasn't done yet:

"Thank you for the information. I will let you live, but you should consider choosing a better career path." And he proceeded with carving a scar on the poor asari's face, her protests and screams not fazing Shepard one bit. When he was done, she now donned a long bloody scar, going from her forehead over the eye and down to the chin:

"A little reminder of your day in Elysium." Shepard said and left along with Darren and Jane, who were shocked at his brutality. Sure, Douglas could be violent and aggressive in sparring, but he never showed such cruelty before:

"Hey boss, weren't you a bit too hard back there?" Darren asked worriedly:

"We didn't have enough time for an interrogation lad, so I scared the asari shitless to make her squeal. As for her keepsake, maybe it will help her put her shit together and do something about her current life choices." Shepard answered.

The 3 moved towards the now relieved SMACC troopers. Their leader, a female staff sergeant, came forward to greet them:

"Staff sergeant Zofia Grunyev, thanks for saving our asses. Are you 3 in the armed forces?" She asked, noticing that see was looking at 3 unarmored humans who looked barely 20 years old:

"My name is Douglas Shepard. These are fellow hunter cadets Darren Phillips and Jane Redding. You're welcome." Shepard answered without bothering himself with protocol. The other troopers started murmuring between themselves at the mention of hunters. Their murmurs were quickly silenced by Grunyev as she received new orders:

"Troopers, new assignment. We have to reinforce the north garrison. We move out in 5 minutes." she ordered:

"Whoa, whoa, hold on a bit. What about the ones who were captured by the slavers?" Darren asked, moving forward with his hands raised at chest level:

"Sorry, but I can't provide any assistance. However, a squad of 6 went dark around that area. Here, let me send you their frequency." Zofia said and used her wrist tablet to send the data to Shepard's omni-pad:

"3 hunters against a shitload of slavers. What could possibly go wrong?" Jane sarcastically said.

"There is plenty of wrong in this place already. This mess needs to be cleaned and we are the best for it. The slavers think they are big shots because they dared to attack a terran colony. Wait till they get a load of us." Shepard tried to rouse the spirit of his 2 companions.

"Alright, let's get this party started." Darren said, more jovially than before.

"So, we have a plan or we go in guns blazing?" Jane provided a valid point.

"Step one, we scout their positions." Shepard stated. The 3 reached their destination. There were about 40 enemies, plus 5 who were loading the captured civilians. To make matters worse, among the captured civilians were also the 6 SMACC troopers Zofia told them about. They were currently being loaded into a mobile platform filled with cages. Shepard borrowed Jane's sniper rifle and watched through the scope:

"Alright, the transport isn't filled yet. If me and Darren can cause a big enough distraction, you could sneak in there and free the prisoners. You up for the task Jane?" Shepard asked. Jane smiled and answered:

"Of course baby, just please make the distraction big enough, I don't want my ass shot or hauled into one of these cages." Jane said half jokingly. The 3 split up, Douglas took cover behind a piece of rubble, Darren garrisoned a nearby 3 story building, grenade launcher at the ready and Jane went around the target location, opposite of her companions, and waited for the show to start. She didn't have to wait long, Shepard started by picking a few stranglers and disposing of them quietly. He really was a master of stealth, killing more than a dozen of slavers without being seen or heard, Jane was almost mesmerized by the show:

"Showoff" Jane monologued and moved closer now that the outer perimeter was clear. Closer to the transport, the enemies where more numerous and there wasn't enough cover for Shepard to employ stealth, so he just waltzed in the front, revolver in hand, and started shouted:

"WELCOME TO ELYSIUM YE BLOODY WANKERS! SAY HELLO TO MY FRIEND RUGER!" He emptied the 8 shot revolver in less than 2 seconds on the surprised enemies and dived back to cover to avoid the retaliatory gunfire and reload. Having the rest of the slavers in hot pursuit, Shepard hopped from cover to cover and straight to the ambush point. Jane now had her chance to free the captives. She disabled the locking mechanisms of the cages and more than 50 prisoners went out. The 6 SMACC troopers got some guns and went outside to meet their rescuer:

"Lance corporal Daniels, how can we repay the favor ma'am?" The head trooper asked. The answer was distant gunfire and explosions:

"Arm yourselves and move! We will hit the slavers from behind!" Jane ordered and ran towards the firefight, the troopers following close by. Meanwhile, Douglas and Darren were holding against at least 20 angry slavers armed with automatic weapons:

"TERRIFIC PLAN SHEPARD FOR GETTING US SHOT!" Darren shouted as he shot another grenade:

"QUIT YER WHINING! JANE IS COMING WITH REINFORCEMENTS! JUST KEEP SHOOTING UNTIL THEY COME!" Shepard answered back:

"I ONLY HAVE 2 GRENADES LEFT!"

"THEN STOP USING THE LAUNCHER UNTIL THEY GET OUT OF COVER!" Shepard ordered. True to his word, less than half a minute after Darren swapped to using his assault rifle, the slavers, who thought he ran out of grenades, charged forward, only for Darren to swap back to his grenade launcher and blow up more than a dozen of them, making a few fly away from the force of the explosions. Shepard took the chance and finished of the rest just as Jane arrived with the reinforcements:

"Aww, you didn't leave anyone for us?" she teased:

"What can I say? First come, first serve. Anyway, what's the situation in the other sectors?" Shepard asked lance corporal Daniels:

"Well, the bunkers are secure and you 3 destroyed the last slave processing point. Most of the ships they used for the attack have been neutralised and the rest of the slavers are still holding around their transports, probably to escape. Nothing to worry about, last I heard, our boys are pounding them hard, we will get them within..." Daniels was interrupted by the sound of an afterburner engine. Soon, 2 Mantis gunships arrived:

"GUNSHIPS! TAKE COVER!" Shepard shouted. Before anyone could react, the gunships opened fire. Darren pushed Shepard away at the last second and was turned into swiss cheese, along with Jane and the troopers:

"NO!" Douglas shouted in anguish. He just laid down for a bit, all his sadness washed away by one emotion. Rage. Shepard's grey eyes became blue and shiny as he started levitating above the ground. The gunships didn't fire, they were shocked stiff from what they saw. Shepard looked at the gunships and raised his hands towards them:

"DIE!" He shouted, his voice amplified by his powers, which were now completely unleashed. He grabbed the 2 gunships, in his invisible grip, before they could escape and slammed them violently on the ground. Still seething with hate, he collected the dog tags of the fallen and checked the wrist tablet of lance corporal Daniels. He got the locations where the fighting was still heavy, armed himself and went to the first location. He charged right to the ranks of the slavers with such speed and ferocity that they barely managed to hear his last words:

"YOU WILL DIE SCREAMING!" With his revolver and an automatic shotgun, he killed 25 pirates in less than 10 seconds while dual wielding, much to the astonishment of the SMACC troopers who were fighting for at least 10 minutes:

"Follow me, there are more slavers to kill." Shepard ordered. Among the troopers was also Grunyev's unit. Everyone, thanks to Shepard's aura of influence followed him. Unknown to Douglas, his current feelings actually influenced the troopers, making even the troopers angry:

"Perfect" he thought. With renewed aggression, Shepard and his team of SMACC troopers relieved the other Elysium defense squads one at the time.

Douglas was always at the front, rousing the troopers and mercilessly slaughtering the slavers. In the end, only one enemy stronghold remained. Nearly the whole Elysium defence force was now under Shepard's temporary command:

"FORWARD! TAKE NO PRISONERS, SHOW NO MERCY!" Douglas ordered the troopers, his powers making them more submissive, while his rage was awakening a combat fury, like that of the ancient Norse berserkers, that put even the krogan blood rage to shame. Shepard charged forward again, the bullets seemingly unable to hit him. He stabbed a krogan until death and went inside the, still landed, transport spacecraft, the last hope for the slavers to escape the rampaging hunter and his pack of madmen. Shepard killed everyone inside the craft, except the captain of the transport, a batarian:

"Who organised this invasion?" Shepard asked without raising his voice. He could delve in the mind of the batarian, but he preferred the old fashioned interrogation this time:

"Fuck you humaAAAAAHHHH! he didn't manage to finish his sentence and Shepard ripped the batarian's right upper eye:

"Who organised this invasion?" He asked again with a raised voice:

"Is that all you goAAAAHHH!" The upper left was out now:

"WHO. ORGANISED. THIS. INVASION?" This time he almost screamed, the batarian was in a lot of pain, but answered:

"E..Elanos Ha..Haliat. Pleas..e let me g..go." The batarian pleaded with a weak voice:

"Of course." Shepard said with an uncharacteristically soothing voice. One quick thrust through the skull later and the last slaver was dead. Shepard spit on the corpse, got out of the ship and saw every trooper cheering and hollering for their victory. Unlike them, he just left and went back to the pub. He poured a generous dose of whiskey and drank it in one gulp. He refilled, then sat on the first intact chair he could find and stayed quiet, recounting the events of tonight. His stupor was interrupted by someone Shepard recognised. It was an asari with light purple shin and a fresh scar across her face, the one Shepard made:

"Bad day?" She asked nervously. Shepard just grunted. She however pressed on:

"Are you ok?" She asked again. The asari didn't know why she was actually talking to that monster, she just felt like it. At least, this time she earned an answer from the man responsible for massacring so many slavers, the butcher covered in blood of so many different colours, the monster who gave her the scar:

"Do I look okay?" He asked in a hoarse voice. Shepard really didn't care. The battle was over and he didn't have a reason to kill the annoying asari:

"What happened to the others who were with you? She asked and pulled another chair for herself. Now Shepard felt a rush of anger, but he kept it in check. He took another swig and answered:

"Dead. A couple of gunships killed them." He still said in a monotone. The asari really felt bad about Shepard and tried to console him:

"I'm sorry for your loss." She said and put her hand on Shepard's shoulder. Instead of pushing her away or telling her to leave, Douglas started laughing. It was aloud, almost insane laugh, but a laugh nonetheless:

"Hahaha, you know what's funny? The lads I rallied to fight against the slavers didn't even think of asking me if I am okay. And here you are, asking me that exact thing. Not only that, you also feel sorry. Tell me, did the scare I gave to you harm your brain?" Shepard laughed again:

"My brain is fine, I just wanted to thank you. You could have killed me, like you killed all the others, but you didn't. You actually gave me a chance for a better life. Maybe I can work in a bar instead?" The asari answered, slightly insulted at Shepard's remark:

"If you really want to work in a bar, can you get me a whiskey refill please?" Shepard said and waved his empty glass. The asari just brought him the whole bottle and got another glass for herself, much to Shepard's amusement:

"You are a quick learner lass. There's still hope for you it seems. By the way, Douglas Shepard." Douglas said and extended his hand for a handshake, which the asari took:

"Niralya B'sern pleased to make your acquaintance. Where and for how long did you train to become such a fighter? Even asari commandos would find it difficult to beat you." she asked.

"About 5 years. I can't tell you where, but I am a cadet for the hunter division." Shepard answered. Niralya was shocked at the revelation:

"Hunter division? THE hunter division? You are part of the military cadre that even the spectres eye with envy?" Now it was Shepard's turn to be confused:

"What? The citadel spectres look up to us? I thought they are the elite of the galaxy." he asked.

"My mother is involved in military politics. She was always telling me about the hunters, how they make the spectres look like amateurs, how they get the job done and disappear without a trace. She really wants to see a hunter in action. She knows so much, yet so little..." Niralya's enthusiasm deflated and then she continued:

"...I miss her. I was looking for adventure and got stuck with a slaver gang instead. She must be so ashamed for me." She also drank a bit to calm herself, but grimaced as the hard liquor hit her stomach. Total lightweight:

"Hey, how old are you?" Shepard asked.

"Only 87, still a baby by asari standards." she answered.

"That's great, you still have time to fix things with your mother and also become a better person. Trust me, age and experience isn't the same. I am barely 20 and already have a shitload of experience. Remember, in life, you must be able to stand your ground and fight." Shepard advised.

"You are right. Oh, if you know how to play poker, I have a deck of human cards with me." She asked and showed an expensive and well designed poker deck. Shepard showed her a fat stack of credits and funds he won at the game he played at the same pub just ten hours ago:

"And I have the chips." Niralya was again astonished:

"Whoa, where did you get all that money?"

she asked:

"From a bunch of amateurs who I played with at that table over there..." Douglas said and showed the battered poker table:

"They were pretty reluctant to take the defeat graciously." He added with a laugh, making even the asari laugh. They clinked glasses and shared more stories and laughs while playing cards...

AN

Sorry for killing Darren and Jane, but this is war. Full of chance and anarchy. So cherish what you have because you never know what the next day might bring.