At the end of this chapter I'll be providing little dossiers for the characters I've introduced so far as well as some structural and/or cultural details about my alternative human society that will be elaborated on in later chapters. The year currently in this story is 2145, but there will be a time skip that will get closer to first contact. First contact will still be with the Turians by the way. I was messaged by more than one person asking me to do another race "discover" humanity but I'd have to considerably change the lore even more and to me the Turians are the perfect introduction of my humanity(+Nav'i) into the galaxy at large. Most of the characters from the series will be making an appearance, but they may not fulfil the same role as they did originally. Don't worry though it won't be anything too drastic; Garrus won't be a gynecologist and Wrex won't be an STG agent lol. Anyway, I've talked enough now.

Onward to the story-

Shepard's House, 7:30pm

Tonight was the night. To say Ken was nervous would be an understatement. He'd thought about just about everything that could go wrong if he offends or embarrasses Ayalo.

'Scenario 124: They force me to eat traditional food and I can't hold in my disgust. Scenario 125: I accidentally tear a sacred piece of clothing and get an arrow in the back. Ok maybe that's a little racist' Ken thought realizing he probably just needed to relax. He remembered the kiss he shared with Ayalo earlier and it was almost as if his nerves were instantly calmed.

Right on que, his phone chimed with a message from his fiancé? He'd have to get used to telling people that. He picked up the paper thin communication device and looked at the screen.

"Hey Ken, are you on your way?" Ken started typing back.

"Yeah, leaving right now, my uber is here. See you there :)"

Ken then put the phone in his dress pant pocket on his way out the door. He'd dressed about as good as he thought he could with where he was going. He had no idea if him buying some Human clothes that had adopted aspects of Nav'i fashion would be seen as considerate or interpreted as a disrespectful form of cultural appropriation. He decided to just go with his own traditional wear that his dad had bought him the last time his father had visited Earth. It was an elegant longline edition of a traditional Comanche/Apache shirt with a maroon red coloration that had custom dyed Jacktooth chick feathers for the collar and cuffs of the sleeves in a slim fit shape that complemented his thin but slightly athletic physique. The pants were a streamlined and slim fit form of the classic Apache buckskin pants in black with marron feathered fringes, top off with black and maroon moccasins that were ridiculously comfortable. Why his people ever switched to wearing things like Air Force 3's he'll never understand. For his hair he decided to go with a more formal French type of braid. He also decided to adorn his ancestor's obsidian necklace for good luck. Sometimes he wondered if the stories of one of his ancestors fighting an invading Aztec force and acquiring this arraignment was actually true. Maybe one day the technology from the Assassin's Creed franchise could be real one day, hopefully without the Templars.

Ken grabbed his wallet and grabbed a bouquet of Pandoran flowers he'd bought on the extranet for a very large sum of money. Apparently they weren't even in high demand, it was just the feat of actually traveling the Pandoran rainforest to obtain them was difficult, even for armed personnel. He remember it having something to do with Ehwa, the spirit the Nav'i believe to be connecting all living things on the planet… and causing life there to have a hostile attitude to everything but the native species. But he had to impress today so he went all out, even if someone's ass got chewed off by a viper wolf billions of miles away.

He exited the door and walked out to the uber, opening the door and sitting down in a manner as to where his clothes wouldn't be terribly creased before hearing the uberman speak up.

"Where to Geronimo?" The slightly rough looking black man said without looking back, obviously looking to get this drive out of the way.

"It's Ken Shepard, N7 initiative to you asshole. And I need to go to 1405 Zheng He Avenue." Ken said sternly, really not in the mood to be antagonized by some thirty year old failure. Okay maybe being accepted into the N7 program was already getting to his head.

"Oh my bad dawg. Didn't know you were that guy's kid, heard tha man moves like a shadow, and you got it." The man said cranking up and heading to his destination.

About twenty minutes later Ken rolled up, exiting the uber and walking to the well-lit entrance.

"Hey HQ, was that the kid?" The "uberman" said in a hidden communicator up his jacket sleeve.

"Affirmative Sigma, he's the one Dr. Rakesh has his sights on. You may also want to know that he's scheduled to leave with your daughter on hat N7 trip. Be sure to record his interaction at the door. We payed off some Nav'i to give him some problems at the front. Not a hard thing to do with these traditionalists." The M.A.A.R.S operative replied.

"Copy that, vidcon starting now. Sigma Out" the spy signaled, turning on his recording device. Part of him wanted to see what this kid was made of anyway.

Everyone had heard of the legends of the Ken's father, aka "Turok" had single handedly taken down the main stronghold of the human supremacist hate group Terra Firma in less than an hour, equipped with only a three charge cloaking device, an N7 hurricane, and ten custom tomahawks with Omni blade edges. The news wanted in on the story but all footage of "Turok" or Shepard Sr. was suspiciously seized and erased. Sigma knew why they weren't going after him; he'd see them coming from a mile away.

"Time to see what he can do." -

It wasn't long until Ken reached a courtyard surrounded by perimeter fencing and lush, green, Pandoran vines. After walking on the sidewalk for a short while to the entrance he spotted two large Nav'i near the front. Ken reached down into his pocket to get his ticket while getting a glimpse of the two security guards. One had an almost cyan complexion, being a little leaner than his coworker to his left and dressed in very little clothing other than the typical old-school Nav'i wrist wrappings and undergarments. He had a pair of serrated short blades fastened at his hip as well as two smaller knives sheathed on two pouches around his ankles. Both had their hair up in some style of traditional braids. The one to the left was noticeably larger with a very royal blue hue to his skin. He adorned himself in what appeared to be some very old Ikran armor. On his back rested a large staff or club, that looked very expensive and largely ceremonial, but Ken was sure it could still do some damage. Nearly anything could when being swung by a Nav'i if he was being completely honest.

Upon his approach he saw the two of them turn and grimace. So he decided to break the air and get to the point.

"Hey gentlemen, I'm Ken Shepard and I should be on the list. If not I have my ticket right here as well." He said trying to grin despite the unwelcoming glare he was getting by these two Nav'i.

"Human should go away. This is a Nav'i gathering. You know. No humans." The cyan one said, trying to shew off Ken. Even though male humans grew to be slightly taller than the average Nav'i, he was only 14 and just over six feet tall. These two guys were easily over nine.

"Well there must be a mistake. I'm supposed to be here, see, a personal invitation from the princess herself!" Ken tried to explain while holding up the piece of paper but to no avail.

"Go away now human boy. The song of Ehwa is not for you. If you do not leave my staff will silence you." The bigger blue one said, placing a hand on his weapon of choice.

Ken didn't know why, but something inside him kept screaming that he could take this blueberry. Without thinking Ken just said what was on his mind.

"Fuck you. You guys could have let me in but now I think I want to beat your ass!" he yelled at both of them. The look of rage on their face developed in a manner of microseconds.

"How dare you!" / "HUMAN PREPARE TO FIGHT!" both of them yelled, gaining the attention of some of the gatherers in the party.

Before Ken knew it he could see the sight of a large club in his peripheral heading straight for his face. He didn't know how, but he leaned back right on time, narrowly dodging what would have probably been a fatal strike. There wasn't any time to rest. The lankier of the duo attempted to strike him from two directions at once with his dual blades. Thinking quickly, Ken leaned back on his hands and kicked upward right into the wrist of assailant, knocking the blades from his hands before regaining his balance.

This time Ken went on the offensive, not realizing that a small crowd had gathered near the now vacant entrance of the party, the observers looking rather amazed. He bolted straight forward toward the disarmed Nav'i neglecting the larger club swinging one. He had forgotten about this one's hidden blades however. In one swift movement a backhand slice whizzed past Ken's head, shearing through the hair piece keeping his braids together. In the midst of Ken's confusion the club wielding Nav'I raised his weapon high above the boy and swung down, attempting to end it while he was distracted. Just in the nick of time Ken tried to dodge the club, but didn't clear it fully. A spike at the end of the weapon tore into Ken's clothes straight down the middle.

Ken sighed outwardly before removing the rest of his tattered shirt, not noticing the group of blushing Nav'i girls squeal by upon seeing his bare chested and long haired image.

'Now it's time to get serious.' He thought, trying to formulate a quick strategy.

'The big slow one is easy to dodge when I'm focused on him, but if I take my eyes off for even a second I might meet my creators a little sooner than intended… If I can just get him to accidentally strike the other one wearing no armor I can probably take them both out.'

"Dumb Human thinks he can think up a strategy like one of their eastern cartoons, HA!" The dumb brutish one taunted, giving Ken just the time he needed to close the gap between them.

He lunged forward, delivering two quick jabs to the blue Nav'i gut before moving deliberately away from the knife wielding warrior.

'He'll try to stab me thinking I'm not paying attention' Ken summarized in his thoughts, catching the physically superior Nav'i by the wrist trying to buy time. Soon the larger being wretched his hands free from Ken's grip and delivered a gut turning Sparta kick to Ken's chest, knocking the wind out of him as he stumbled backward clutching his chest.

'C'mon, just a little more…" He thought stepping back slowly, feigning ignorance to the encroaching threat from behind. As if on cue both Nav'i lunged at him, one from the from and one from the back. Ken swiftly rolled sideways out of their paths.

The large Nav'i weapon was too large and heavy for him to stop once he realized his weapon was headed straight for his comrade's shoulder. Then a large crunch noise was heard.

"Ahhh! T'eloshani Ban Kuyo!" The Cyan one said in some something Ken's translator app couldn't decipher as he laid on the ground, clutching his dislocated or broken shoulder. His friend laid by his side trying to help but realized there was nothing he could do for now.

Before Ken could say anything he looked toward the entrance and noticed someone pushing through the crown at a quick pace while they yelled.

"Out of the way! Move all of you!" Ayalo's father yelled, making his way through to the entrance to see two of his best warriors on the ground in front of a half nude human boy. He would have been perplexed had it not been for his daughter rushing past him and straight at the boy in question.

"Ken, I'm glad you're okay! How are you even still standing right now?" Ayalo asked concerned while she held onto Ken tightly, a sight that did not go unnoticed by her father.

"What do you mean? These guys were just regular security guards right?" Ken said, making more than half of the Nav'i in the vicinity sweat drop.

"No you idiot. Those two are Kiyo and Kama, two of the best traditional hunters on Pandora. They earned their fame by hunting a Thanator without human weapons." She explained, while examining Ken for any wounds, shocked that she couldn't find any.

Ken had read about Thanators before. Apparently they were these massive super predators of Pandora that even killed a couple N7 operatives back in the days of the Beydamo wars. And those guys had grenades launchers…

"No way… I have to apologize."

"Apologize for what young one?" Ayalo's father interrupted, before continuing. "A warrior of our caliber need not apologize for your fortitude in battle! Do you forget that you defeated these two without a weapon?" He praised, earning a look of embarrassment from Ken.

"Well, thanks Mr. Masheo'i, still I think I have to atone for at least some of the problem here"

"Nonsense child, my daughter has spoken of you, but least she forget to mention that you are nothing short of soldier. Come, let us begin the feast. And you two, head to the clinic off of Mao Ze Dong Boulevard. They're probably the only ones on Shanxi who know how to put a Nav'i shoulder back together." Ayalo's father instructed in a commanding manner ushering everyone back inside the gates.

With Ayalo's hand intertwined with his, they walked into the gathering place, Ken's eyes growing wide at the extravagant display he saw. Food from all seven regions of Pandora had been brought to one central rectangular table that stretched for at least eighty feet. Various berries, fruits, pastes, fish, meats, and vegetables lined the surface. In truth it was almost overwhelming. Ayalo giggled at her boyfriend's drooling before getting his attention.

"Oh yeah Ken, what happened to your shirt? I thought Humans liked those." She asked, snapping him out of his food oriented thoughts.

"Oh sorry, it got lost in the fight. I had some flowers for you too, but uhm.." Ken explained as he looked at smashed flower pulp on the side walk.

"You don't have to apologize" she giggled, eyeing his rather lithe but chiseled frame. "I like you like this."

"Yeah right, you just like seeing skin." Ken said causing them both to laugh. Some of the other Nav'i girls smiled at the coupled while other pouted about Ken being already taken.

It wasn't long before Ken, Ayalo, and her Father were seated at the royal dinner table, one separate from the buffet area, and got down to getting to know each other. After the three had awhile to eat ost of their meal, Mr. Masheo'I broke the silence.

"So Ken, my daughter has spoken of you, but clearly not enough." He chuckled before continuing, "Is there anything else I should know about someone who seems very close to my only daughter?" he asked, raising his rather hairless blue brow.

"Well as much as it pains me to admit, I've recently been accepted into the N7 program and -"

"Ayalo! First you don't tell me he's a warrior, and now you neglect to inform me that I'm standing in front of special ops!? I can't wait to tell the clan heads about this! And you and me Ken, I might finally have a hunting partner competent enough to go hunt the last shadow! I can't wait, this will be—"

"Dad…" Ayalo interrupted "Ken can't stay for long, he leaves tomorrow for his decade of training on Earth's moon." She stated the melancholy obvious in her tone.

"Ohhh I see… Ah well, I'm sure we can hunt when you return right Ken? Hone you skills and we can be on the cover of BIG HUNT DAILY." Mr. Masheo'i said while extending a hand to Ken, who eagerly accepted the gesture.

"Sure thing Mr. Masheo'i, maybe I can even ride it like Jake Sully did." Ken said, making the older hunter laugh.

"Maybe if you were Nav'i, you know even petting anything on Pandora while being a full human is near impossible."

"So I've heard, hopefully my service won't ever have me go there. Plus I've heard the alliance foreign legion has mastered the terrain." Ken replied, taking the final bite of some unknown but tasty meat on his large plate.

"That they have. Although Ayalo's grandmother didn't agree, my youngest brother joined the foreign legion at your age; spent his career fighting Terra Firma insurgents who had been behind hundreds of tail cuttings, link cuttings, and other hate crimes on Pandora. Apparently some lone human N7 was the guy who brought down the whole thing." The chieftain chronicled.

"Sounds like dad." Ken nonchalantly said before wiping the side of his mouth with the provided Pandoran leaf cloth at the table, unknowing of the jaw drops of Ayalo and her Dad.

"Your dad took down the biggest supremacist group in known space?" Ayalo inquired.

"Yeah, I'm not allowed to talk about it though. Technically it's a breach of the Alliance Espionage Act of 2000 to confirm or deny what happened. But yes my dad was the only one on scene and you can make the other connections I'm sure." Ken explained.

Ayalo for one was somewhat awestruck at the calmness he showed when discussing matters about his own father. She had asked about him before but soon reached a conversational wall that just couldn't be climbed, even while they were cuddling.

"Well you have some mighty shoes to fill then Ken. Tell me, before I discuss more pressing matters, what is your dream young man?" Mr. Masheo'i asked him in earnest, interested in the future Ken envisioned for himself.

"My dream… Well it's more of an ambition really. I want to find all of the relics of the old ones. To explain why our people are so alike and yet, so different. But above all else I want to reclaim the mantle of what our predecessors left us and defeat whatever lies in dark space once and for all. I know many Nav'i don't believe in our doomsday prophecies, but at least if they turn out to be false we'll all have nothing to worry about and I'll just go down in history as an explorer who wrote books on conspiracy theory and the end times." Ken said making the older man chuckle before he spoke.

"Well it seems you have everything planned out. I'm very impressed. So impressed that I have to ask… How would you feel about in a bondage to my daughter in a formal betrothal? You seem close already and I think that my mother will be fine with it as long as you prove to be even half the warrior as your father is fabled to be." He asked Ken chuckling, seeing the blush on both of the youngsters faces.

"I gladly accept." / "Of course!" Ayalo and Ken said simultaneously, grabbing each other's hands under the table.

"Then it is settled! Everyone, my daughter is to be married to none other than Ken Shepard, son of the man who destroyed Terra Firma for all Nav'i!" Mr. Masheo'i yelled to the entire party scene, before an ocean of cheers and traditional celebratory music began playing.

The beats of tribal drums and 'wood sprites' filled the air, the tiny floating seed like animals providing extra light in the dimming part scene as the day approached night. Finally after what seemed like hours of alternating between chatting, eating, dancing, and singing hymns to songs he couldn't even understand, Ken and Ayalo had reached the end of the party. After Ken bid his farewell to Ayalo's extended family who he had the pleasure of meeting and answering their awkward questions about his intentions tonight, he was back with his love. They'd taken the opportunity of everyone leaving the scene to race each other to a nearby nature reserve, one of Shanxi's last that just happened to be nearby.

As they proceeded farther in the forest Ayalo was in the lead, her instincts giving her an advantage in the forested environment… or so she thought. It wasn't long before her skill couldn't compensate for her lack of stamina, and Ken started catching up.

"Told you I was faster!" shouted ken from behind her closing in. Ayalo tried to increase the lengths of her strides but one of her feet tripped over an exposed root. In the span of two seconds she was tumbling down a slight incline, Ken following suit after he tripped over her body. After several rotations down the hill they found themselves laid side by side in some type of natural clearing. Looking over Ken knew this is where he'd have to say goodbye- at least for now. He grabbed Ayalo's hand as they looked up at the stars in the grass field before he spoke.

"You know, I'll be thinking of you when I'm out there."

"You know if you're going to masturbate to me I would at least not want to know about it." Ayalo said making Ken burst out laughing.

"No seriously Ayalo *chuckle*, I won't forget about you. As soon as I finish my training let's get married" He said seriously with a smile on his kissable face. Ayalo leaned in and gave him a peck on the lips.

"You know Ken I know you'll be gone for a while and might have… urges. Whatever happens that I don't know about is fine."

"So we just got engaged and now were back to the friends with benefits stage? I'm pretty sure that's a demotion no matter what culture you come across." Ken said, a little perturbed by the suggestion that he could be so easily.

"That's not what I mean Ken. On Pandora, most traditional Nav'i husbands take one primary wife, but often have kept the practice of secondary or third short term lovers should they be in a war party or have to leave for long amounts of time. All I'm saying is that I understand if you have some relation outside of us." Ayalo said calmly, as if cheating was an unfamiliar term to her.

"Wow… well ok then I guess, although I'm pretty sure I'll be far too busy or tired to actually entertain any other girl." He said laughing before continuing "but I just wanted you to know that you and I is something permanent. Okay?" He said before wrapping his arms around her and kissing her head.

"Ok Ken. It's permanent." She replied, turning to her future husband and kissing his passionately under Shanxi's moonless sky.

Shanxi Intersystem Spaceport

Well here he was, about to embark on the first step in his journey to finding the lost relics on earth and possibly beyond. If only he didn't have to wait on Sloane to get her ass here on time. Their flight left in thirty minutes and he really wasn't sure if he was going to be at odds with her the entire shuttle ride.

After another ten minutes of waiting he saw Sloane with her carrying bag and luggage walking towards him.

"There you are Sloane, we better get moving. You, uh… need any help with your bags?" Ken asked. He himself had packed lightly as the N7 official introductory letter had requested, but he assumed Sloane didn't get the memo.

"No, I'm good. You're going to regret not packing more. I can almost guarantee they just sent that stuff in the letter to catch people off guard and ill prepared when we arrive. Also, don't forget that I still haven't forgiven you for stealing my first kiss. As soon as were allowed to spar I'm kicking your ass." Sloane said before she brushed past Ken with her shoulder harshly, walking past him to the boarding terminal.

'Here we go with this stuff again' Ken thought, not knowing the pain he would soon experience on Luna.

"Now Boarding Spaceflight seven-zero-three-B" The spaceport speaker rang, prompting Ken to scurry to the terminal and board the flight.

Upon entering he found that his seat was apparently reserved to sit right by Sloane who had, unsurprisingly taken the window seat and already had her head phones in, ignoring him completely. 'Okay, so much for getting to know one another.' He thought.

This was going to be a long forty eight hours.

M.A.A.R.S Research Facility, Sol System

"Excellent footage sigma. Clearly the Shepard bloodline has some kind of ingrained talent. Once I crack the genome the Illusive Man may not even need to try and recruit this boy to his cause." Dr. Rakesh stated, suppressing his urge to giggle into maniacal laughter.

"Understood sir. I will say his combat abilities and adaptation seem to be far above normal capacities for a human of his age with no training. I fear his father's influence will make it impossible for him to fully understand Cerberus's end goal, but perhaps if something traumatic occurs he will fins reason." Sigma ominously notes.

"Ooh.. Interesting proposition Sigma. Keep watching him and your daughter closely every now and then. Should an opportunity like you mentioned arise I shall see if we can take it. But we can't let him know we had something to do with any of this. We'll need an enemy he can hate that isn't us. I'll be in touch. ta ta."

"Over and Out" Sigma said, watching through binoculars at Sloane and ken's leaving shuttle on his way to board his own flight to Earth's moon.

./DOSSIERS/.

Ken Shepard

Race: Human (Native American sub grouping)

Age: 14

Family: Cochise Shepard aka 'Turok'. Other family members are either deceased, or have been strategically removed from discovery by the Alliance Cyber Security Force for safety concerns.

Training: None formal, has not begun initiate N7 training.

Skills: Innate ability to memorize relic history, inscriptions, and scientific theories related to hundreds of uncovered artifacts. Unusual combat prowess against superior and more numerous enemies.

Interest: Relic history, artifacts, dig sites, xenobiology, archeology, and Ayalo Masheo'i.

Threat Level: Minimal. Increase in threat highly probable.

Sloane Kelly

Race: Human (of Afro Caribbean and Gaelic ancestry)

Age:14

Family: Commander Ava Kelly of the Alliance Navy, captain of the destroyer class ship the ASA Wallace. Father is unknown affiliate of M.A.A.R.S Research Facility who goes by the code name of Sigma. Suspected to be ex Special Forces.

Training: Basic conditioning at Alliance Institute for Military Girls. Trained in both Judo and Krav Maga, but no formal weapons training.

Skills: Superb ability to analyze weak points in opponents possesses strategic prowess in battlefield formation simulations, and a comprehensive understanding of military history.

Interest: Ken Shepard, Ava Kelly, finding her father, military chronicles, weapons technology, ship technology, and the N7 program.

Threat level: Low. Increase in threat extremely likely.

Ayalo Masheo'i

Race: To'lokan (Nav'i and Human Hybrid)

Age:14

Family: Jutse Masheo'I, chief of a smaller hunting tribe of Pandora. Other family identification limited by the Reservation Privacy Initiative of 1918.

Training: Extreme prowess with bows of multiple varieties. Trained Ikran rider from an early age. Also skilled in climbing in most environments.

Interest: Ken Shepard, hunting, mastering the bow, learning, biology, and traditional Nav'i customs and spirituality.

Threat Level: Low to Moderate, depending on where the subject is located. Subject considerably dangerous in native jungle environment.

Well okay guys that's it for this chapter. Next chapter will be Ken and Sloane's N7 training. Let me know through a review if anyone would prefer I get their training out of the way in one huge chapter (13,000 words or so by Sunday) or if I should split it up into refreshing chunks? We're getting closer to first contact, but before that Sloane and Ken have to become a deadly duo. After all, who else will be able to stop two badasses named Saren and Nihlus? :.)

Also btw, To'lokans in my story are not dream walkers or Avatars like in the James Cameron film. F1 To'lokans have what are typically more human features in most regards. This is because most human genes are naturally dominant over Nav'i genes in my fic. So if you're still wondering what Ayalo looks like she's more like a pale, whitish bluish Nav'i without stripes, has retained the Nav'i large eyes with greenish irises, has retained her tail, has retained her hair that allows her to "link" with Pandoran wildlife as seen in the avatar film, and will grow slightly taller than her female Nav'i counterparts in the long run. She has also gained five fingers and toes on her appendages, and has female anatomical parts (such as breasts) in greater abundance than typical Nav'i females.

haha, anyway be sure to favorite, follow, and review! Could always use more of those. Even if you don't have much to sya just leave one. It makes my story look more important lol. Until next time then.