Twin Fates

By Belle & Tobias

Automatic Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the Mass Effect or any other referenced copy righted material. This is a work that askes the question what if?

Toby's Note: This story is came to me when I was browsing fanart for Mass Effect. It had a picture of Shepard with the colony origin killing the Batarians who tried to take her family. In the background there was a family, obviously hers. What really struck me was the identical twin in the group. From there it stewed in my mind and evolved into this story. Since we're talking about two Shepards, why not have two authors?

I hope you enjoy.

Belle's Note: I love the idea that all the Shepards exist, so multiple Shepard fictions make my day. Here's to all of us who love the idea of multiple Shepards floating around the galaxy kicking ass and taking names.

Prologue: The Shepards

Earth Date: June 6th, 2170 CE

Location: Mindoir Human Colony, Town of Meer, Café Capri

By Human standards, Mindoir was a relativaely young colony. People were still settling on the colony and it showed. The town of Meer was always bustling, day and night. The attached spaceport of Hale, named so by the colonists after the family who built it, was always a hive of activity. The Alliance had recently released a highly anticipated breakdown and consensus on which colonies were prospering. Unsurprisingly, Eden Prime was at the top of the list. What was surprising was that Mindoir was second on that list in terms of agriculture. Numerous other reports involving soil, population health, incidents with passing by species, and Mindoir was attracting much attention.

None of this mattered much however to John Shepard. What currently was occupying his mind was the woman sitting across from him. Elizabeth Dewitt had just crushed the dreams he had for his future on the colony.

"What do you mean no?!" John asked, genuinely shocked. He had been seeing Elizabeth since they had both been fourteen. For the last two years he thought she had felt the same way...

"John, I like you." Elizabeth said softly. She reached across the table in the cafe and took his numb right hand in hers, squeezing softly. "But I want to do more than just live here. I want to work on my painting, I want to travel. I just sent some samples of my work in a data packet to Rossignol Acadamey on Thessia. If they accept me I'll leave after this semester finishes. I want to see the worlds and paint things no one has ever seen before."

"You could still do that!" John insisted. "I'm not saying you'd have to give it up but-!"

"No John. I care for you but I'm won't marry you. I'm sorry but I was looking for the right moment to tell you about this and tell you it was over. I wanted to find the right time to say this but I think I waited too long." Elizabeth said. She shook her head sadly and John swallowed, hard. He slid his hand away from hers.

"You should go back." John said gruffly. "I think I'm going to take the rest of the day off." Elizabeth nodded and stood up.

"I'm sorry John." she said again. John watched her go and walk down the street to school. He scrubbed a hand across his face, squeezing his blue eyes shut. God, he was so stupid. What was he thinking anyway, proposing at sixteen? John took a ragged breath. He needed to take some time to think. He'd leave the hover bike for Jane to take back to the farm. He needed to go for walk. It's not like he hadn't skipped class before.

Pushing away from the table in the little cafe he'd snuck Elizabeth to during lunch, he headed over to the counter to pay the bill.

'Don't think about it,' Jane thought as she read her biology book, filling out her homework. The pressure was building in her head and she had a sinking feeling she knew what it was. Biotic blue ran over her wrist for a moment and her omnitool closed as she slapped her hand down over the energy, pushing it away. It had started a few months ago and Jane knew she should talk to a doctor, there was no denying what she was. She just didn't want to have to have an implant shoved into her skull. The special training that she would need would send her off Mindoir and while she did want to explore space, she didn't want to leave before she finished secondary school. There was no denying it, she would not be able to hide it for much longer.

"Jane Shepard please report to the dean's office." a voice called over her omnitool and Jane sighed. Her headache was getting worse, but this time it whispered one thing. John. Jane quickly took the shortest route to the office and entered, Dean Collins was sitting behind his desk and gave her a familiar look.

"When did he go missing?" Jane sighed.

"We believe he headed out with his girlfriend at lunch." Dean Collins said and Jane made a face.

"Is Elizabeth back?" Jane asked and the dean nodded. "I'll go get him." Jane headed out and was thankful to see their hover-bike was still in its parking spot. It was going to be much faster to catch him with the bike, no doubt he left it on purpose so he could wander. Jane's head throbbed and while most of it was because of anger at her brother, a small part, a small part that was continuing to grow, was biotically painful.

The thing that woke John up was the roar of a hover bike. He didn't even bother getting up from where he was laying. He heard the bike settle down with a dull thump on the other side of the hill where he had hidden himself. There were a few moments of silence before he heard a familiar female voice grumble his name. He kept his eyes closed as he heard a loud whistle, using a familiar tune taught to him by his father.

Olly olly oxen free.

Upon hearing it he whistled it back just as loud. Shortly after he heard stomping footsteps come over the hill.

"I should have known you'd be here. Do you know it took them two hours to realize you were gone, again!"

John opened his eyes and looked up to see his fraternal twin sister standing above him, her hands balled into fists and jammed onto her hips.

"Sorry I had to think." John said and Jane rolled her blue eyes at him.

"Hello to you too! Guess who got sent to find you, again?! By the time we get back I'll have missed book club!"

John smirked and closed his eyes. He heard Jane huff but felt her sit next to him.

Jane reclined on the hill, overlooking their family farm. She lay down on her back and looked up at the sky. Mindoir was a great planet, it looked like Earth with a blue sky and mostly green plant life. Jane wanted to see the galaxy, but at the same time, she wasn't ready at sixteen.

"Why did you run off?" she asked.

"I asked Elizabeth to marry me." he said and Jane sighed.

"Of course you did. Maybe you should try growing up before getting married, I hear marriages last much longer when you do that." she said.

"I know, it was impulsive and stupid, but I love her." John said and Jane nodded.

"Anyone with eyes knows how you feel about Elizabeth." she replied before turning to look at her brother. "I guess she broke up with you too."

"That obvious?" he asked, turning to look at her.

"You'd be following her around begging if she had only told you 'not yet,'" Jane explained and John nodded before looking up at the clouds.

"When did my baby sister get so smart?" he asked and Jane snorted.

"I'm only your baby sister by fourteen minutes." she replied.

"What are you going to do now?" Jane asked. John shrugged and sat up. He stared out over the small pond in the middle of the Shepard farm.

"Take everything a day at time I guess. My plans really don't change much, Jane. When I graduate I'll take some courses over the extranet but mostly I'll be staying here. Dad said if I did well he'd give me the back forty when I turn thirty." John said gesturing to area around them. "I've always liked it here. I could build a nice place to live here. What about you Jane? Ever thought about what you're going to do after we graduate?"

"John, that's a little over a year away." Jane replied. She was still lying on her back, cloud gazing.

"Still, have you ever thought about it?" He asked, lying back down next to his sister again.

Jane looked at the clouds. Oh she was thinking about it a lot. Since the biotics had started she had been counting down to when she was found out. She knew she should see a doctor, but she already knew what would happen. First she would be rushed off world to get an implant installed. Then she would be sent to one of the military run training camps. This far out, she would have to be given to an Alliance training center, the private biotic training centers were still closer to Earth.

"Yeah, I think about it a lot. I have to go off world for medical school." she said, feeling the sorrow. There were no biotic doctors. All the human biotics were in military programs. Biotics were weapons as far as humanity was concerned. Jane knew when she was discovered, she was not going to become a doctor.

"Dr. Shepard." John said with a smile and Jane watched the clouds move. "Don't you want to get to book club?"

"Let's just watch the clouds a little longer." Jane said. The twins laid there for awhile longer, enjoying the day and each other's presence.

Then a slow feeling of dread began to fill Jane as the sound of engines began in the sky.

"What's that?" Jane said, pointing. John followed her finger to see a cluster of ships heading their way.

"Huh. I'm not sure. It looks like another group to setup another town. Remember how many came into port when they set up Cooper in the southern continent last year?" he noted.

"Yeah but they were announcing it months before hand. Look there's more! These ones are flying way to low. They could graze the tree tops if they're not c-" Jane was cut off as a ship did just that, blowing by the trees at the top of the hill they were lying on.

"What the hell?" John exclaimed. They both go up to look and Jane gasped as the ship turned back, opening a side door. There were people standing in the door way. It headed back their way, getting lower but also slowing down.

"John, those are Batarians." Jane said.

"What? No way."

"Look, they're getting closer too!"

They were getting closer and as the small ship passed by two Batarians in armor dropped out.

Jane grabbed John and pulled him into the foliage. She knelt down and thought about everything she knew about Batarian raids.

"They can't be raiding." John stated and Jane looked at him.

"They can...and they are...we can't let them take us." Jane stated and John stared at her a moment before they crouched down lower and inched further back. The two Batarians moved closer and closer. Their eyes flickering over the plants and field. This part of the farm was still natural, it wasn't going to be used, it was just property that was allowed to sit without development in the hopes that the property would become valuable later further in the future. Both twins slid down, but Jane couldn't stop shaking, it was a problem she noticed when the biotics started. She was always hungry and she would shake when trying to hold still. She fidgeted in class to keep it from happening at school, but here, she couldn't fidget so her body began to tremble.

"Come out!" The leader demanded. John tried to force Jane even deeper into the bushes next to him. He felt his sister shaking and he rubbed his hand along her back to calm her.

"Are you sure you saw humans here?" The other Batarian asked.

"Positive, a male and female! They looked young and healthy. If they're not related we can get that breeding pair the Captain wanted for his own stable. I want that bonus!" The first snapped. Jane whimpered and John felt his heart sink. They were slavers. Jane let out a cry of shock when the ground shook from an explosion. They both turned toward town where a large plume of smoke was starting to rise.

"Well, I'll be damned. There they are!" The second said, pointing to the bushes they were crouched in.

"Run." John hissed at her and lunged out of the bushes at the Batarians. They blinked in surprised as John charged them with a scream. He tackled the first one and they went tumbling down. John did his best to attack the Batarian but the second one came up behind him and struck him in the back of his head with the butt of his rifle. John went rolling, feeling dazed.

"He's a feisty one!" The second Batarian laughed. The first snarled and hopped to his feet.

"Find the female!"

Jane turned when she heard the sound of a solid impact. Rage filled her and the pain in her head grew as she plastered her back to a tree. Biotic blue flickered in her eyes as she heard the approaching footsteps. It was risky, so risky, but John was down and Batarians were monsters. She had done a project in government class about Batarian relations. She had mentioned raids in her project, she had seen images of human bodies recovered from Batarian raids. She knew what they would do. A biotic implant was not something she wanted, but a Batarian brain bomb was infinitely worse.

"Come out, human, we won't hurt you if you come out willingly." a rumbling voice purred. Jane's fury was massive as she turned from behind the tree and thought about the biotic blue. Biotics had power and right now, she had power.

"Biotic!" one cried before she lifted him up and slammed him into his companion. There was the crunch of bone. She then used her other hand to lift them both up, throwing them into the ground, this impact had more crunches. They bounced and she stared at one, all but one limb was twisted and two of his eyes were bloody holes, probably from impacting face first into his companion's armor.

"I'll kill you." one of them growled, fumbling for his knife.

"No...you won't." she screamed and watched as he head crunched under her biotic force. Jane stared at the mess that had been the Batarian's head and stepped back. She had killed him without even trying. She looked to see John getting up, he was blinking, recovering from the daze. He looked back at the Batarian who Jane had 'skipped' across the ground. He was in bad shape, not dead, but if they left him, he would be.

"What happened?" he asked and Jane felt moisture on her upper lip.

"Jane?" John questioned. Jane shook her head, her nose bleeding.

"John, are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine but your nose is bleeding." John said, limping over. He tried not to think about the Batarian behind him, moaning. Jane blinked in surprise and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. When she took it away she winced at the sight of the blood.

"My head is killing me." She muttered, rubbing her temples.

"Sit." John said. Jane sat. "Rest a minute, I'm going to see if I can use one of their guns. Were Mom and Dad in town today?"

"Yeah, I think so." Jane said softly. She winced and rubbed at her eyes.

"Okay we'll go there first. I'll go see if I can get anything from these guys then we'll take the bike back into town."

Jane's head throbbed, it felt so good letting her biotics go, it was the first time she really harnessed it and it was so easy. Too easy to kill. She clung to John's back as he flew. She was the better one on the bike, but he was worried, it was clear when he looked at her. John didn't know how she stopped them, but he got that she wasn't happy about stopping them that way. Her head wasn't feeling better, she had hoped that going all out would make her head stop hurting, but it wasn't. She had read about biotics when the signs started showing up, migraines were a regular problem for those with biotic skill. She closed her eyes and clung to John's back. She wished the guns had worked for them, but then had just made error noises when John touched them. John had said they were probably DNA encoded.

"Oh no." John hissed and Jane quickly opened her eyes. The horror that she saw took the breath out of her lungs and threw the pain in her head out of her concern. Death and destruction marred the town. The familiar sights were destroyed. The people of Meer were not helpless but such a quick and effective attack limited the resistance. Bodies of both humans and Batarians littered the streets. The hoverbike landed and Jane got off, there was a familiar set of legs next to the agricultural center's entrance. She ran, remembering the bright pair of overalls their mother loved and Jane dropped to her knees. Her body shook, not from her condition but from the emotional trauma, as she stared at her mother's corpse. A large, charred hole rested in the center of her back and Jane knew if she turned her mother over, it would be just as ugly from the front. Jane closed her mother's eyes and took the gun out of her mother's hands. Jane looked around and saw a few bodies on fire. Batarian slavers tried not to use incendiary ammo but they often used what they had on hand. The bodies burned and she approached. Sure enough she could see the rifle their father loved to hunt with on the ground next to one. It had to be their father. Both parents gone, so quickly. Jane struggled to remember if she told them she loved them this morning. Did she hug them? Kiss them? Let them know that she adored them. She turned to see John on his knees next to another body. Who could...oh no. The outfit was familiar, Elizabeth favored a blue jacket and skirt ever since she had cut her hair a month ago, it truly made her look like an artist. Jane stood and looked at her brother as he looked at the corpse of the woman he loved.

"Looks like we missed some boys." a voice laughed and Jane turned her attention down the street. A band of Batarians were looking pleased with themselves. Rage came back, blue biotics burned in her head.

"John." she said but he said nothing. Jane stared as the Batarians raised their guns. She couldn't control her biotics well. She had no implant but Asari children could form barriers. She could do what Asari children could, couldn't she?

"John."

He felt numb.

"John."

He couldn't stop staring at her.

"John!"

He'd just spoken to her hours before. He'd held her hand, he kissed those lips this morning. He still lov-

"JOHN!"

He jerked as something snapped into place around him. It looked like shimmering bubble. It blocked the gunfire from the Batarians that had opened fire. If Jane hadn't been there...

Jane screamed, a sound of barely contained rage and the biotic bubble pulsed before dispersing. The pulse threw the Batarians back.

"RUN!" Jane screamed at him. John scrambled away from the scene towards his sister. Jane's nose was bleeding freely but the look in her eyes was pure fury.

"These humans are the last ones!" A Batarian screamed out, apparently the leader. "We need to hurry we can't keep the Alliance pinned forever."

John slammed into the ground, banging his head hard on the pavement as a Batarian tackled him from behind. John vision was swimming and then arms enclosed around his throat from behind. The Batarian tried to choke him but John slammed his head back. The Batarian let go, uttering an alien curse. John rolled under him, anger and rage driving him. He grabbed a piece of glass from nearby and jammed it into one of the Batarian's eyes. The alien screamed in pain before a field of blue energy picked him. The Batarian screamed again as he went flying, smashing into a street lamp.

"Over here!" Jane shouted. John scrambled to his feet and ran to his sister and felt his eyes widen in shock as two large pieces of concrete levitated before hurtling at the Batarians. They went scrambling for cover.

"You're using biotics!" John exclaimed, surprised. Jane winced and staggered. John caught her but his own head was pounding and he was sure he felt blood running down the side of his head. Pain and exhaustion caught up with him and they sank to the street.

"I was." Jane muttered. John felt a deeper fear lance threw him as Jane looked up at him. Her eyes were severely blood shot, her nose was bleeding freely and there was even a bit of blood leaking from the corners of her eyes.

"Impressive." John's head snapped up. The Batarians were standing in front of them and the leader was smirking. "You two will fetch a high price."

Jane moaned and clutched at his shirt. John ground his teeth. The leader took some collars from a subordinate and reached for them.

Then the Batarian's head jerked back as a rifle round hit directly between all four of his eyes. The Batarians began to cry out in panic and scrambled away for cover.

The last thing John heard was the roar of gunfire as he passed out.

Jane's head was pure agony, she wanted to close her eyes and just scream, scream until everything was forgotten. Mom and Dad were alive. The colony was whole. There weren't burnt corpses in the street.

"Shit! She's a biotic!" a voice cried. "Medic, we have a biotic."

"Is she implanted?" another voice asked.

"No...it just started..." Jane hissed as she opened her eyes. Alliance soldiers were looking down at her, a man and a woman.

"Your biotics just started?" the woman asked and Jane nodded. "Well honey, what you did today did you no favors. You probably hurt yourself. I'm going to have to sedate you to keep you from doing any more damage to your neural pathways. Do you understand?"

"Yes...just don't take me from my brother...we're...we're all we have now." Jane whispered and the woman nodded as she prepped a shot. Jane barely felt it enter her system but felt the soothing cool relief that began to make the world fade away.

"Shielding like that without an implant, I didn't think humans could do that." the man's voice followed Jane into unconsciousness.

John moaned and slowly opened his eyes. It was night now. He could see the stars and he realized he was still on Mindoir. He slowly sat up and saw a small camp fire. Sitting around it were humans in armor. Alliance armor. One saw him and stood.

"Corporal Larrey." The man said, moving towards him. Another man stood and moved to catch up. Both men knelt by him, and the man called Larrey opened a satchel on his hip to pull out some medical supplies.

"I'm Lt. Commander David Anderson. My squad was deployed with several others to help push the slavers off world. Can tell us your name, son?"

John nodded and as he glanced around he was relieved to see Jane lying not too far from him on his right.

"I'm John, John Shepard. That's my sister Jane."

"Well, John you're lucky we were in the area on a training mission with the SSV Einstein. Can you tell us how many lived in town and how many outlying farms there were on this continent?"

'Were?' John thought.

"I think they last had it at about eight thousand in and around town. That includes the farms on the northern continent. There are thirty-seven farms." John said, forcing his brain to cough up the information. "Mr. Anderson, what about the southern continent?"

At John's question he heard someone give a hard sob. He glanced at the fire light and saw a woman in Alliance armor crying.

"Corporal?" Anderson questioned.

"He's fine sir. I'd recommend he get some more rest. I'll keep his sister sedated till we get her back to the Einstein. First time biotic manifestations without implants can do some damage but nothing permanent. They'll fix her up onboard and fit her with a biotic suppressant until they can get her the proper training and implants."

"Very good, see to Lieutenant Zabaleta." Anderson said. He turned his attention back to John as the medic moved to check on the crying woman. "It's been a rough day son, are you sure you can handle some more bad news?"

"I just saw some people I care about get killed, sir. I can take it." John said fiercely. Anderson studied him for a moment and then nodded.

"The southern continent fared better than you folks did here. Only about half got taken and they only killed about a quarter of the remaining populace." Anderson said gently.

"And here?" John asked quietly. Anderson sighed.

"You and your sister are the only ones to make it out alive and free. If we hadn't broken through when we did you would have been taken as well."

John squeezed his eyes shut. Gone, they were all gone.

He felt Anderson pat him on the shoulder but he refused to look at the man.

"Get some rest son. We're going to be evaced soon."

As the man moved away, John laid back down and let the tears finally come.

Earth Date: June 8th, 2170 CE

Location: SSV Einstein

Jane woke up slowly, the feeling of a hand on hers. She looked to see John and the tears in his eyes as he looked down at her.

"You woke up." he said and she nodded.

"My head hurts." Jane stated and he nodded.

"They only woke you up so that you would know what was happening. They're going to split us up." he said. "You...you're a..."

"I'm a biotic, John, I've known for a little while. I know what's going to happen to me." Jane said and he stared at her. "I was going to make an appointment with Dr. Hoffman, to make it official. I studied what would happen to me. They're going to take me to Elysium for implant surgery and training."

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked.

"I wasn't ready to accept it yet. I was getting my courage together to make the appointment." Jane whispered as she squeezed her brother's hand. "I have to get training. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"I forgive you, Jane." John said. "I won't be able to go with you to Elysium will I?" he asked and Jane shook her head.

"I'm sorry, we will keep track and meet up when we can." Jane said.

"We will, I can't let my baby sister think she's alone in the galaxy." John said.

"Only by fourteen minutes." Jane said.

"Okay, she needs to go back under." the medic stated and John looked at her.

"But you said that she could have biotic suppressants." he said and Jane stared at him for a moment before squeezing his hand.

"John, I'm a traumatized biotic, sometimes suppressants aren't enough." Jane said.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"John, I saw the same things you did. We are both traumatized, the difference is, you'll just be emotional, I'll be dangerous. The order probably came from above, no one wants an untrained biotic ripping a hole in the hull." Jane said and John gave her a look.

"I'll be here for the surgery, they can't deny me seeing you wake up." he said and Jane nodded.

"I'd feel better if you were there after I wake up from the implant surgery." she said, squeezing his hand.

"I wish I was a biotic too. Then you wouldn't have to go through this alone." he mumbled. Jane smiled softly.

"Don't know why you're not one, but if you're not showing signs you might not have been mutated by eezo." she whispered as the sedative entered her body.

"Hundreds of pregnant women have been exposed to eezo, but the number of biotics is incredibly small, not every child exposed prenatal to eezo even has any side effects. It's rather interesting that one twin developed biotics at all when the other didn't, but it is completely possible. I'll have to write a paper on this when we…" the medic prattled one as Jane returned to unconsciousness.

Earth Date: May 10th, 2172 CE

Location: Earth, Rio de Janeiro, Interplanetary Combative Academy

"Alright you maggots listen up! I am Senior Chief Petty Officer Mendez! Your CO's saw something they think is good enough for advanced training! Well I'm here to inform you that I'm going to be running each of you through the strainer to shift out the shit from the shinola! And if I think for one fraction of a second you're not giving me everything you have I will personally wash you out and give you a boot in the ass on the way out! Now when I call your service number and name you will present yourself. This will be done in groups of five. This will be your squad for the next six months. So if any of you can count that means we have only fours squads!"

John stood at attention under the hot sun and waited his turn. Ever since he heard about the N7s in boot he'd wanted to be one. After all the best way to protect people was have the training to do so. He' couldn't wait to write Jane and let her know he was in the program already. He had to wonder if she was still bouncing between assignments and crash courses on Elysium.

"Next is Delta Squad. Service number 5923-AC-2825! Shepard, John!" John quickly moved forward saluted and assumed the ready position. He almost staggered when Chief Mendez spoke again.

"Service number 5923-AC-2826! Shepard, Jane!"

Jane smirked as she moved beside John and gave him a look from the corner of her eye. She saluted. Her biotic training was done and there were whispers that her training regiment would be used in the new biotic school they were building. She was a little jealous that she missed out on Grissom Academy, but maybe she could go back one day and teach. Of course if she made herself too useful to the Alliance she might not have the time for something as mundane as teaching...even if she would be teaching biotics.

"Did you really think a biotic of my abilities wouldn't be here?" she whispered and John smirked.

John stood at attention with Jane by his side and couldn't help but smile as the other members of his squad were assembled. Maybe, just maybe they might make it through this training.

Earth Date: June 29th, 2172 CE

Location: Earth, Rio de Janeiro, Interplanetary Combative Academy, War Game Simulation Field Seven

The teams moved across the field. War games was a favorite of Jane's, it made her analytical mind overjoyed to use their opponents' weaknesses to their advantage.

"Sniper in position." Jane whispered into her communicator.

"Are you secure?" John's voice came into her ear.

"Ready to barrier in a moment's notice." she replied. "I got eyes on the field. Enemy is in two groups attempting to flank."

"How many guarding their flag?" John asked.

"One assault rifle and their sniper...oh, he should not be there." she purred.

"Can you take him out?" John asked.

"How many you want down?" she replied.

"Take out the guards. Go with plan Sierra Alpha first, follow with a Charlie Kilo, and then let's finish them with a Sierra Tango Tango." John ordered.

"Is this going to be another Shepard Show?" someone moaned.

"What is our rank in the war games?" John asked.

"I do believe this squad is undefeated, could that be due to us?" Jane replied.

"Don't remind me." Some else grumbled.

"Initiate Sierra Alpha!" John barked, cutting off the friendly banter and Jane quickly took out the leader of the other team before taking out their sniper. Both shots were headshots. The dummy rounds deactivated weapons of 'dead' players.

"Charlie Kilo!" John roared as he and the majority of the rest of the team charged the two waves that had paused. Jane was making head shots quickly before she activated her barrier, keeping herself safe from the assault rifle.

"Sierra Tango Tango!" John laughed and Jane dropped down a few branches and took out the assault rifle while John charged quickly stealing the opposing team's flag and running. She covered him before dropping to the ground as he reached their stage.

"A perfect War Game record for the team led by John Shepard." the announcer cried and Jane smirked as she slung her sniper rifle onto her back.

"You should be in charge." John said with a grin.

"Nah." Jane replied. "I prefer my sniper rifle to charging in without being aware of the situation."

Earth Date: August 26th, 2176 CE

Location: Elysium Colony, City: Illyria

If there was one thing Shepard treasured it was shore leave. He liked getting to see other planets, other cultures. Elysium wasn't too far from his last mission and he had requested for some R&R. His request had been granted.

"Lieutenant Shepard!"

Turning at the sound of his name being called, John smiled as he saw Agenia Lasia running up to him. The Asari matron reached him and immediately bent over panting. He had met Agenia shortly after his arrival. She was in charge of recovering a large stash of eezo that the colonists had discovered recently.

"Are you alright ma'am?" He asked. She waved a hand at him as she took in deep breaths.

"I've...been...looking...everywhere for you." The Asari gasped out.

"Is there a problem?" John asked. Agenia nodded and stood up, having finally caught her breath.

"Commander Velasquez asked to see you at the communications building." She responded. Commander Velasquez was the one in charge of security for Illyria.

"Thank you ma'am. You have a good day at the dig site." John said, heading for the communication building at a jog. When he got there he was surprised to find a Private Wheeler outside the door standing guard.

"Sir, the CO is waiting for you inside with Lance Corporal Yoder." Prvt. Wheeler said after snapping off a crisp salute which John returned.

"Thank you Private." John said, entering. There he found the aforementioned officers standing behind a civilian who was seated at the communications console. Commander Velasquez looked up and waved John over to them.

"Good, you're hear just in time too. We might have a problem."

"What is it sir?" John asked. The Commander point satellite radar image. It was showing multiple cruisers entering orbit.

"They refuse all hails and their IFFs have been scrubbed blank. We have no idea if they're stopping by for supplies or if it's the Seventh. They were supposed to be stopping by for a supply drop and more colonists. If it's the Seventh fleet, they were supposed to be passing by an electrical storm on the way here. That might have scrambled their IFF signatures and communications. I know you have experience and knowledge of raids. Do any of the formations look familiar to you?"

John studied the read out for a moment and understood the Commander's confusion. The format was close to an Alliance formation. Enough that it might be the Seventh after a communications break down or mercenaries who were trying to imitate Alliance formations. After what had happened on Mindoir, John had studied extensively every report on how slaves and mercenary raids operated.

John scowled. Damn it was hard to tell. Just before he was going to say he had no idea he saw it.

"There, can you scan that sector in more detail?" John asked the civilian. The man nodded and tapped away at the console for a few minutes. The sector filled in with dozens of smaller dots.

"What is that, space debris?" LCpl Yoder asked. John snarled.

"No, those are drop ship signatures. They show up when they're launched at high speeds. For snatch and grabs they drop the ships while still de-accelerating into a steady orbit. It gives us less time to identify them before they hit ground. It's a raiding party." John declared.

"Damn, they have the worst timing." Commander Velasquez grumbled. "We're in the middle of rotations and supply drops here. We have little man power and supplies."

"I bet they've been monitoring communications and that's why they hit now. They know that." John said. "Sir, with all do respect we need to signal the Alliance and then get the civilians to safety."

"And where exactly would be safe?" LCpl Yoder snarked.

"The excavation caves. Agenia Lasia and her team have been tunneling for eezo ever since the colonists found those samples. The caves are big and deep enough to provide cover and protection. Not to mention the air scrubbers on the inside will recycle our air just as easily as removing eezo dust while they mine. We could set up choke points and even collapse the entrances to keep them out as a last resort." John exclaimed. Commander Velasquez smiled.

"Good thinking, Shepard." The Commander turned to the civilian in the chair. "Jackson, signal the Alliance and inform them of our situation. If you can't raise them, record a message and set it for continuous broadcast. Then get yourself to the caves."

The Commander turned and headed for the door, unholstering his assault rifle. "Let's get these people to safety."

"Sir, where's the armory? I want to help." John requested. Commander Velasquez smirked and nodded.

"Two blocks up. It's in Alliance HQ. You grab the few personnel there and gear up. The code is 0117Alpha2Tango." Commander Velasquez said heading out.

Earth Date: August 27th, 2176 CE

Location: SSV Cairo

"Shepard!" Captain O'Donnell called and Jane quickly stood up and saluted.

"Captain."

"You have a brother...John?" he asked and Jane nodded, her heart fluttered up to her throat, that horrible dread came, like that day on Mindoir. Since they were both in the Alliance, Jane had accepted that she might one day receive a notification of death. She kept her face calm and clamped down on her biotics.

"Yes, sir." she stated.

"You need to come with me." he said and she quickly followed him up to the command deck. A comm message showed several commanding officers waiting for her. She was puzzled but took a ready stance.

'John, I swear you better not have gotten yourself killed,' Jane thought as she stood facing the grim-faced men.

"Operations Chief Jane Shepard." Jane said, saluting.

"Shepard, have you heard about the current situation on Elysium?" one of the men asked and she shook her head.

"No, sirs." Jane responded and felt terror rising again at their looks.

"We need your help. Your brother is helping to fight off the largest raider force ever recorded." one of the men said and Jane fought a smirk. If there were slavers, she felt no pity for them and just a little jealousy that she wouldn't be there to help kill them.

"John's the best man you could have on Elysium then." Jane replied. "My brother and I have extensively studied the various methods that mercs and slavers take when attacking a colony."

"That's why we are contacting you. You have published several safety guidelines for how colonies should prepare for raids. You also know how your brother thinks, what do you think your brother is doing, so we can help him as soon as we enter the system." one man said and Jane looked at Captain O'Donnell.

"Here's the current data on Elysium." he said, handing her a data tablet. Jane quickly read.

"I cannot tell you what he is doing offensively, but he would have gotten all of the civilians someplace safe. The slavers don't want the Alliance soldiers, they'll kill the military and take the civilians. If you see people fighting the mercs and slavers on the ground they will either be Alliance soldiers or dressed up to look like Alliance soldiers." Jane said. "John will probably put the civilians in the mines."

"That's an easy defense." one man nodded.

"It makes it hard to capture people who only have one entrance to reach. The attackers could even destroy the openings to the mines, but with all the scrubbers for eezo located down there, those people could be down there for a few years before they ran out of air. As long as they have enough food supplies, it is the best fortress." Jane said.

"How should we approach the planet?" another man asked and Jane stood at the ready.

"If it flies and it is not responding to Alliance hails with the proper response, it should be shot out of the sky. Extreme prejudice should be used the second they are spotted." she stated.

"What if the colonists are trying to escape?" another man asked.

"The slavers will have hit the airfields first, they don't want any air born combatants. Alliance fighters are tough, they'll have destroyed most of the colony's vessels. Beyond that, John will have already told them that trying to escape is foolish, most slavers have one or two vessels in space hidden just to catch any who might try." Jane reported. "John won't let them risk it."

"Are you so sure?" the first man asked and Jane nodded.

"John and I survived Mindoir, we joined the Alliance to protect all people from such a fate. I published my reports and safety measures to make sure things like this, don't go in the favor of the mercs and slavers." she said. "John would rather die, than let the slavers take a single colonist off that planet."

"You heard the Operations Chief, all vessels go in ready for combat. All ships in the air should be considered enemy combatants and should be taken down with extreme prejudice." the calmest man on screen stated before the screens began to blink off. The man looked at Jane. "You're going to go far, Shepard."

"Could I make a request, Sir?" Jane asked and the man looked at her.

"Proceed." he said.

"I want to be there." she said and the man chuckled.

"Captain O'Donnell, the Cairo is heading to the nearest mass relay correct?" the man asked.

"Yes, sir, Rear-Admiral Hackett." he said.

"Make sure, Chief Shepard is on the first ship down to the colony when you get there." Hackett said.

"Thank you, Rear-Admiral." Jane said, saluting.

"No, thank you, Shepard." Hackett replied.

Earth Date: August 28th, 2176 CE

Location: Elysium Colony, Sixty-Three klicks south of the city of Illyria, 23:07 hrs

"Damn."

"What is it?"

"I see another five ships heading for them. They'll have at least seventy men on the field after this drop."

"I think you made them mad, Shepard."

John stayed silent, watching the men unload through the night vision binoculars they had managed to scrounge up. Shortly in the first day of fighting, mercenary troops had started shooting anyone who fought back. Now only the Batarians and Krogan were taking prisoners. The Turian and human mercenaries were now shooting anything that wasn't theirs. John had even seen them shoot a Batarian who had to strip out of his armor after it caught fire. They didn't trust anything that didn't have a merc tag.

"Well they wised up after we blew up their makos." Tonus Keros said, chuckling. John glanced at the turian crouched next to him. Tonus was a soldier from the Turian Hierarchy and he said that he'd retired to Elysium for the quiet. John had to respect the man. He walked with a strong limp, but he'd saved John's life numerous times during the Blitz.

"They're spreading out and moving in on foot. They keep getting reinforced while our defenses keep wearing down." John said looking back threw his binoculars. What he said was true. When this had started two days ago they had about twenty-five soldiers. They had been comprised of soldiers either on leave or scattered about the city and a handful of civilian volunteers. They had taken heavy pounding the past two days. The mercs and slavers hadn't even bothered to code their comm chatter. From what John and his rag-tag team had ease dropped into, they were focusing all their efforts here. The mercs knew that if they took Illyria and the surrounding area they would be entrenched when help finally came. Too bad Shepard and the others hadn't let that happen. Yet his men were all starting to wear out. After the last day of fighting all that was left was himself, Tonus, Yoder, and Jackson. John had also left small teams of two guard the mine entrances. John had assumed command early in the first day Commander Velasquez had been killed trying to save Privete Wheeler. Neither had made it.

John heard a soft click behind him and felt his blood run cold. He slowly turned around and saw Yoder lighting a cigarette.

"Put that out!" he hissed to the Lance Corporal.

"Why it's not like they can see it from there. Besides I'm behind the hill." He grumbled.

"No but the heat can give away our position if they have thermal detectors up. Our armor will scatter any readings from our bodies but a heat flare from any burning narcotic will register as a heat spike." Tonus chided.

"Oh come on they haven't used anything like that yet. Not everyone is like you, a stuck up-"

"INCOMING!" Jackson screamed. John reacted on instinct, tackling Tonus and sending them down the hill. They hit the bottom in time to look back up. Yoder was trying to get down the hill fast but he tripped as he was running. In the next moment John saw the man get vaporized in a barrage of grenade explosions.

"Go, head back to the caves! Arm the charges and head inside." John snapped to Jackson and Tonus. "Hand me your grenades before you go. I'm going to hold them off."

"But Shepard-"

"NOW!"

The two men scrambled to their feet. They handed John their grenades and hurried off. As they ran John turned to the left and ran.

He didn't know how long he ran. He ran for what felt like hours. When he was sure he was far enough away, he turned north. He pushed, trying to keep his pace hard and fast. When he couldn't keep running at full tilt he slowed to a jog. He kept jogging till the sun came up. Then he turned east. Then he slowed to a brisk walk. Finally he reached the merc shuttles and he saw them.

Just as he had planned the platoon of mercs had begun marching towards the caves, and left their rear guard completely exposed. John quickly went from spot to spot, planting a few grenades, in a bush, behind a hill, or in a ditch. Then, he took a deep breath and tossed his last few grenades under the shuttles.

The shuttles exploded in a large fire ball. As the mercs rushed back to check on their burning ships, John opened fire. The mercs cried out in panic. They began to scramble about as they realized they themselves were under attack. John lobbed a grenade into the mess of them. As the explosion rang out he ran for the next spot. The mercs were converging on where he had been when he opened fire again, this time from a ditch. Again, the mercs began to panic, he tossed another grenade and ran to the next spot after it went off.

This went on for hours. Shepard would zip from cover to cover, laying down fire, tossing grenades, sowing confusion and bringing the mercs to a dead stop. He had a close call once, when a vorcha pyro had exploded near his position. The shrapnel had narrowly missed his left eye but had left a jagged wound from his left temple to the left side of his chin. He'd slapped some medi gel on it and kept moving.

And then as the sun began to set the firing slowed to trickle and then stopped. John watched and waited. Then slowly, he stood and gazed about at the field. Everything smoked. It covered the area in a haze. There were a few fires burning and craters all over.

Not one merc or slaver was left alive.

With a rasping breath exhaustion hit John like a boulder. He fell back onto his ass and stared at the ruin he had caused. Then the roar of shuttle engines filled the air. John looked up wildly trying to find the source. When he did he began to laugh.

The Alliance had finally come.

Jane was the first one off her shuttle and she ran for the mines. She climbed the largest hill and looked through her scope. Dead mercs of almost every flavor littered the ground. She glared at the human corpses in merc armor, traitors to their own kind, their deaths weren't slow enough for her liking. She looked around before whistling a familiar tune.

Olly Olly Oxen Free

A replying whistle carried and she ran. Repeating the tune twice before finding her brother sitting on the ground. He looked like shit.

"You've had better days." she stated as she helped him up, her hand moved to the wound on his face. It looked like he had let it go untreated. It would probably scar. "You okay?"

"Just tired. Give me a rest, baby sister, I feel my years today." he said.

"Only fourteen minutes older." she chided as she helped him. Her brother...the hero.

Earth Date: October 12th, 2177 CE

Location: Akuze Colony

"Sir, is this another bug hunt." Daniels asked and Jane gave him a withering glare.

"This is the usual issue with colonies. We lost contact and are going in to make sure that it wasn't another raid." Major Matsumoto growled as he looked over his crew. "You are expected to treat this with the greatest respect."

"Hey, LT, didn't you survive a raid attack." Corporal Hicks asked and Jane nodded.

"Less than twenty percent of my entire planet survived that attack alive and free. The northern continent only had two non-enslaved survivors." Jane stated as she checked her pistols and sniper rifle.

"Wow, do you know them?" Hicks asked and she gave him a look before smirking.

"It was my twin brother and myself." she stated and the men went silent.

"I guess I won't make that joke about rescuing colonists' daughters from their virginity." Jennings muttered.

"Yeah, might not fly." Jane chuckled, Hicks was hovering close again. The marine was her age and she had noticed how he looked at her. Most men were put off by biotics, but it seemed the Hicks didn't seem to care. Jane fought a blush, most men didn't seem attracted to a woman as skilled as her with biotics and a sniper rifle. Though, she smirked, the sniper rifle was a little scary.

The shuttle landed and the group quickly moved out. Jane quickly found a large rock formation. With some biotic help, she reached the top and pulled out her sniper rifle.

"Shepard, I want a report." Major Matsumoto growled.

"Sir...this is a ghost town. I don't see anything. Not a person, not a body, it's empty." Jane whispered, a sinking feeling of danger rushed her, making her feel like that moment on Mindoir when the ships approached. "I don't like this, Major, I got a bad feeling."

"You always say that, Shepard, I got a bad feeling about this drop." Daniels chuckled.

"She's usually right, idiot." Hicks stated and Jane smiled at that.

"I want a walk through, every building checked, every stone unturned, do you hear me?" Major Matsumoto ordered, he sounded unhappy, he was feeling the same wrongness that Jane was.

"Sir, yes, sir!" came the reply.

"Empty." Hicks said and Jane looked around. "This a raid?"

"No, too clean, there's not a person or a body, or even a drop of blood." Jane said. "This isn't right."

"What do raids usually look like?" Hicks asked and Jane looked at him.

"Read my manual, it's being used by the Alliance to help train marines." she growled. Hicks was usually better about being informed, he didn't read the manual that Jane had written about raids. He chuckled.

"I read the manual, but it was analytical, professional, there was no soul in it." he said. "I want you, Jane Shepard, to tell me what a raid would have looked like." She stared at him for a moment. His brown eyes were light, like a shade of tan. He was sincere and Jane fought a blush which made him smile slightly.

"It smells like fear. The coppery smell of blood. The harsh smell of burning flesh and hair. Hot metal from impacts. It isn't this quiet either. There is the sound of fire burning. Water running from pipes ruptured by gunfire. You can smell and hear the signs, it's not just bodies. This wasn't a raid. I don't know what this was." Jane said and Hicks looked at her for a moment.

"When we get back, let me buy you dinner." he said and Jane blinked.

"Are you asking me out, Corporal?" she asked.

"No, ma'am, First Lieutenant, I am asking out a woman who I find fascinating." he said. Jane stared, her last date had been at biotic training. Biotics seemed doomed to finding relationship only amongst themselves sometimes. None of hers progressed beyond a first date. It couldn't hurt dating a non-biotic male.

"A free meal sounds good." she said as she moved toward the next building, the hospital. She noticed that the building seemed lower than usual. "Do these structures look level to you?"

"Now that you mention it, no." he said.

"I'm starting to think there might have been seismic activity, the colonists may have evaced to a secondary site." Jane muttered, activating her communicator. She missed the grin on Hicks face as he mentally congratulated himself on getting a date with his LT. "Major Matsumoto, I think there might have been earthquakes, most of the buildings I'm seeing aren't level. There may have been a mass evac to a second location."

"Damn if I wasn't thinking the same thing, Shepard. I want eyes in the sky looking for that evac point." the Major ordered.

"Yes, sir." came the reply.

Jane entered the town hall and looked at the command center Major Matsumoto had set up. The man looked angry and turned to her.

"How did it look to the east?" he asked and Jane looked at her small group. The team had broken up into five teams of ten. One group went in each cardinal direction before returning back to the command center.

"More of the same, sir. Empty buildings, no sign of a struggle, but a few of the houses did have something suspicious," Jane stated and Matsumoto gave her a look.

"What did you find?" he asked.

"Tables that were set for dinner," Hicks answered. "Looked like a few of the families left mid-meal."

"Maybe there were tremors," Matsumoto stated before the West team approached. "Report, Daniels."

"We found a few of the prefab homes on their sides, looked like dominoes that fell," Daniels stated and Jane looked at the map of the colony.

"Could give merit to our earthquake theory," Matsumoto muttered. "But there is no record of a secondary site for emergency evac."

"Ma'am?" Hicks asked and Jane looked at him.

"I don't see an obvious meeting point. This is just too, weird," Jane confessed.

Jane ate her MRE cautiously, watching the darkness around the colony. The empty buildings were nothing like Mindoir, these were arid structures, massive climate control units sat on the roof, obscuring her from view.

"Shepard, you didn't have to give me eyes until 20:00 hours." Major Matsumoto stated over her ear piece.

"I don't like sitting in someone's empty house. I feel more at ease on duty." she stated as she finished her meal.

"If Shepard is already on duty can I come down for dinner?" Toombs asked.

"Might as well, give me a regular report LT." Matsumoto growled.

"Can do, Major." Jane replied.

The night was cold, colder than the day. It was weird to be in a more arid colony, but somehow still familiar. Jane walked the top of the housing unit. Slow, quiet, blending into the night as she looked around. There was a low rumble, like a small tremor. She had felt this on Elysium, areas near mines felt like this. She blinked as she looked around. Akuze had popped up with a few very good mineral samples. Could there be a mine nearby, a place where colonists might have gone during an emergency?

"Major...I'm getting tremors." Jane reported and there was some chatter as people woke up.

"I'm feeling some tremors too." Hicks stated and Jane looked for his position in the town square. He was looking around with Daniels. Suddenly there was more tremors and Jane dropped to one knee, pushing her shoulder into a rooftop unit to stabilize her body.

"Oh my God!" a voice screamed and there was an ungodly noise, something non-mammalian, big, and hungry. A purring noise and then screams.

"Who was that?" Matsumoto roared over the comms and Jane pulled her sniper rifle up, peering through the scope, she couldn't make out all the teams.

"Shepard, I'm solo, East boundary, rooftop," Jane called.

"Hicks with Daniels, town square, ground," Hicks reported. One by one groups began reporting until there was another rumble and one of the buildings on the southern boundary fell over.

"What the...oh sweet Buddha!" a voice screamed and there was more of that hideous purring noise.

"Activity at the southern boundary, I can't see anything," Jane reported.

"Damn it, that's Jennings and Chow. Report! Jennings! Chow!" Major Matsumoto cried before there was more rumbling and Jane looked around.

"What is it?" someone cried, clearly panicked and there was a more horrid scream. A mortal scream. The scream of someone who was not expecting death and finding it waiting for them. Jane's blood chilled at the sound.

"It's coming from under the ground! It's coming from out of the goddamned ground!" a voice cried in horror before the screams of agony began.

Jane quickly ran, getting a clear view of the main camp. Thresher maw. It was just two words but seeing the creature in action. It looked like a massive centipede, waving like a snake to music, the hideous mouth was stained red.

A biotic blast knocked the monster's head to the side as it went to strike. Jane barely recognized that she threw the blast before she was running. The creature sunk into the ground faster than a kid sucking a noodle into their mouth. The Southern part of town sprouted a Thresher Maw, it was not possible that the one she fired on was that fast. They were dealing with two. She used a biotic push to throw herself onto the next building. She slid behind the climate unit just as the structure she had been on went air born. It was thrown blocks away and Jane stared in awe. Thresher maw, there could be nothing in nature more horrifying than this. She took aim and shot out one of its eyes quickly. It roared and there were more shots.

"Cease fire! Cease fire! Retreat, get to the LZ get to the LZ!" she hissed.

"Where's the Major?" a terror filled voice howled.

"The Major's dead! That fucking thing ate him!" another panicked voice screamed.

"There isn't just one! There are at least three!" Toombs voice gasped and Jane looked around. Men were running around, it was chaos. The Major was silent, he probably was dead.

"This is first Lieutenant Jane Shepard! You will listen to me. Get to the LZ. Stop firing, I will draw its attention, get to the LZ, I repeat, get to the LZ!" Jane roared as she lifted her rifle and shot the monster several times. She saw the flashes in the darkness of her men running and she followed suit on the roof, just in case it hit the building she was on. There had been at least five deaths. She watched as a Maw rose up, swallowing four men in one quick attack up out of the ground and back down.

A few biotic bursts sent her on. The rumbling grew, one was coming up. "Come and get me." She looked around. The building next to her erupted, it didn't throw this building, it ripped right through it. Jane felt the slice of metal through her skin and quickly pulled up a barrier, sliding under a major ventilation duct, out of sight. She didn't know how good the Thresher Maws could see, but she wasn't going to play games. The Maw in front of her roared before retreating into the ground. She stood up and felt a little dizzy, she touched the side of her face. Debris had sliced up her left cheek. A quick dab of medigel to stop the bleeding was necessary, she couldn't have blood in her eyes.

Jane got up, she turned to see a collection of men circled around. They were firing at two Maws, one spat at them and the goop covered them. One began to scream, clutching at his eyes, blood seeping between his fingers. It was enough for the second Maw to start attacking.

"Get to the LZ! This is first Lieutenant Jane Shepard, I repeat, get to the Landing Zone!" she cried as she took pop shots at the Thresher Maws, she might as well have been using bad language to fight them. She jumped along, she was almost out of colony and a rumble sounded. It was too far. She looked at the incline, her remaining men were almost to the bedrock. A squad of fifty, a small group of eight. She dropped to the ground and began to run after them. The thresher maw appeared, Daniels screamed as he was lifted up, one of the massive spikes speared him through the torso, pushing him into the hideous abyss of a mouth.

"No!" Jane screamed as she ran, shooting at the thing. It dropped its torso down, crushing several men she couldn't identify and never would be able to given the bloody smear decorating its belly.

She watched as Hicks turned, firing his weapons into the maw's belly. It roared, slamming its body down. He didn't scream but there was a gasp. The maw returned underground and Jane could see random arms, legs, pieces of flesh from each and every one of her men, and Hicks head, staring up at her, shocked in death about how he got there. She wanted to stop, to pick up the pieces, to hold Hicks head and apologize for the date that they would never have now. She couldn't stop, the monsters weren't dead and they were gluttons.

The colony probably felt the tremors and thought it was an earthquake. They evacuated away from the town. Colony structures aren't the best for earthquakes and with massive climate units on the top, most people probably went to the large field outside of the town, nothing to fall on them there. The maws came up, taking people out in one massive attack. It would have left no evidence and a completely empty colony.

Jane ran, pushing her body, she was almost there and she forced her body to move faster. The ground began to shake and she shoved at the ground with her biotics, throwing her body up and over the bedrock. She watched a Maw erupt from the ground, waving its massive body around, close enough that she could see the blood soaking its mouth, but far enough that it wouldn't catch her. She landed and ran. All dead. Major Matsumoto...probably one of the first. Hicks the last. She ran for the LZ, a shuttle was arriving and she ran, her lungs on fire, her eyes wide with fear, and blood staining her face and armor.

Earth Date: October 15th, 2177 CE

Location: Earth Moon: Luna, Armstrong City, Military Hospital

"Where is she?" John demanded as he stormed onto the floor. A doctor looked up from the nurses' station with a jerk, paper work forgotten.

"I'm sorry?" She asked. John frowned at her.

"Where is Jane Shepard?" He demanded. The doctor swallowed, hard.

"Room 1492." She squeaked. John stormed past her and headed for his sister's room. As soon as he heard about Akuze he'd immediately asked for shore leave. Ever since the Blitz and his promotion to N7 he'd been kept informed on his sister. And it figured, on her first assignment as an N7 she got sucked into a Thresher Maw nest.

Not even bothering to knock John stormed into the room of the last person left alive that he cared about. His sister Jane...the sole survivor.

"Jane..." John said, his eyes wide and his face reading concern. She looked at him, she was fine, just minor sprains from throwing herself with her biotics and running on strained joints.

"I'm alive, John." she said calmly. The drugs in her system made it easy to compartmentalize what had happened.

"I'm glad." he said as he quickly took her hand. She squeezed it as she looked back out the window. "What the hell happened?"

"Colony didn't know about the thresher maws. Thought the vibrations were an earthquake. Standard procedure for arid colony structures is to evac to empty field. Maws probably didn't have to attack more than once to get the whole colony. One attack and they were gone. We didn't evac, we stayed in town, they ripped through the structures like it was tissue paper." Jane pondered. "I had a bad feeling about that one."

"I'm sorry, you had a good team." he said.

"Not good enough." she muttered as she gave in to the drugs and slept.

Earth Date: April 25, 2183 CE

Location: The Citadel, Earth Ambassador's Office

"Well, what about one of the Shepards? They both grew up in the colonies."

"They both do know how tough life can be out there. Their parents were killed when slavers attacked Mindoir."

"Picking one of them is the difficult part. John proved himself during the Blitz. He held off enemy forces on the ground till reinforcements could arrive. Jane however saw her whole unit die on Akuze. She could have some serious emotional scars."

"John is the reason Elysium is still standing and as for Jane every soldier has scars. She and her brother have both proven they're survivors."

"We can't question John's courage but is Jane really the kind of person we want protecting the galaxy?"

"Humanity needs a hero and the Shepards are the best we've got. Both of them are exactly the kind of people we want protecting the galaxy."

"Then I'll make the call Anderson."

End Prologue