This will be a short series, maybe between five to ten chapters. Daro has always been this laid back character that really interested me. Cold and ruthless but, maybe she has a good side, or maybe she is like that for something that happened in her life. I was the one who requested the name of Daro to be on the search list by the way :P

The galaxy was… amazing. For a spacer like Shepard, raised by military parents, he had always been thrilled by its dark beauty. He would find himself, looking through a window of his parent's assigned ship, wondering what was behind those countless stars. He wanted to find himself, to have a purpose in such a big place, to make something different.

A student with very high grades, Shepard attracted the attention of military recruiters at the tender age of seventeen. His parents, being military officers themselves, encouraged him to pursue his own dreams, and so John Arthur Shepard joined the Alliance Military straight out of high school. Not long after, he was selected to join the N7 Commandoes due to his high intelligence and great amount of skills in the battlefield. Not only that… John was an exceptional strategist and tactical genius, so the N7 was the perfect academy for someone like him.

Throughout his years in the prestigious school of the Alliance Military, he gained medal after medal. He was praised and held on high regard by some of the most renowned military officers on Earth. The poster boy, Shepard was simply the most promising soldier in the army. He then went on to repel a huge assault of slavers on Elysium, gaining yet more medals and the Star of Terra, the most prestigious prize for any soldier in the Alliance Military.

Shepard was simply…. the best example humanity had to offer. A disciplined, hard working, intelligent and skillful man, John found himself in the "tip of the iceberg." However, there was an incident, not too long before Elysium, where he made a name for himself with another species long forgotten by the species of the Citadel, a race that was looked down upon and ignored at best. And met a very interesting woman in the process…

During the pirate incident at Caleston, John Arthur Shepard became famous to the mysterious and ignored quarians. This is the story.

March 17, 2175. Celeston, Systems Alliance Colony, Molke System.

For Lieutenant John Shepard, Celeston was simply the worst planet in the whole galaxy. A heat that could rival Therum, a desert that would make even scorpions from the Sahara back on Earth frightful and, the cherry on top of the cake, pirates…

"You know sir; this is probably the time where Bear Gryll would say 'let's survive.'" Private Smith said out loud, gaining the chuckle of his fellow officers.

John chuckled too. "I know, the heat is unbearable and now we have to patrol this… place to protect those miners."

"Miners? Sounds like they discovered something awesome and now everyone was a piece of it." Corporal Steiner was the soldier in the platoon known for being a conspiracy theorist and coming up with the best nonsense anyone could muster.

Smith shook his head. "Ah here we go…"

"Hey, I am your corporal! Respect me you…" Both stared at each other, but laughing then echoed throughout the small room where they were located.

John shook his head and smiled. "Whatever the reason, at least we got some AC here boys."

Private Ramirez the groaned. "Ah but come on, why send a platoon of special forces to guard this goddamn place? Seriously, the Alliance is full of pendejos."

"Cool it Ram." Smith countered.

John laughed and simply took a deck of cards from his pack. "And seriously, thanks to you Ramirez, I have been learning the best Spanish has to offer for the past six months."

"Yeah, now we all know bad words in German, Mexican and English." Smith said, chuckling while smoking a cigarette.

"Jesus Christ man, it's Spanish, not Mexican! Your ignorance amazes me." Steiner was also the 'smartass' of the group. One of the few who actually knew about other races, the other one being John.

After a few hours, the group was talking amiably about the different species that called most of their attention.

"I saw an asari back in basics; she was the biotic expert for the garrison. Pretty hot if you ask me." Smith was now passing the cards for like their sixteenth poker game.

"Yah, they are hot, but my girlfriend is hotter than all of them put together." Ramirez was not a racist, but he was more of a "my girlfriend, my girl blah blah blah" kind of guy.

Steiner then turned his face to see their officer, and best friend, wondering his next move on the game. "Yo sir, what do you think? Asari or Human?"

The lieutenant smiled. "As long as she makes me happy, I am good."

Laughter echoed in the room. "Awww you sound so fairy tale-ish sir, no offense." Ramirez quickly held his hands up, as if he was surrendering to the enemy.

"As long as women do it good on bed and cook for you, they are good." Smith said while picking up some cards from the deck.

"I've always been a feminist, so I must disagree with your views Damon." Shepard countered.

Steiner nodded. "Yeah, you are so ignorant. However, I won't hold it against you, since your IQ must be below kindergarten children."

In one swift motion, Smith got up and pointed his finger at the man of German ancestry. "I…I.. I beat you on poker last time!"

"And I just beat you all…" Then the man from Germany showed his cards. "Epic Full House ladies." His comment received groans from both Smith and Ramirez.

As he was going for the prize, a couple of packs of cigarettes and a credit chit that contained over one hundred creds, John shook his head and grinned. "Oh you are mistaken corporal, here." The lieutenant then showed his cards, four aces…

"Oh god…" Steiner uttered in amazement while Ramirez and Smith chuckled.

"And that is why I win." The main officer then grabbed his prize with his right hand and put it on his bag.

Within a few seconds, laughter once again reined in the room.

It was already twelve am, and John was already preparing to go to sleep. He was tired of doing nothing. They had been stationed in that small room or barracks as they called it amusingly, for the past two weeks. A waste of time as Ramirez had put it; they were simply on guard to protect the miners in close proximity. However, their role was to simply lead the security guards in case of attack. That was it, nothing more nothing less.

As the officer prepared to join his pillow to have some well deserved sleep, the radio in the table where they were playing less than two hours ago, beeped. A voice was then heard.

"Is anyone picking this up? Is anyone out there?"

John quickly rose up from bed and rushed to the main room, which was basically a small space of less than ten meters square, but good enough for four marines. The other men had already gotten up and were already at the lieutenant's side, waiting for him to answer.

"That voice is… weird." Ramirez said out loud.

Steiner shrugged. "Not blink by the looks of it."

"Looks?" Smith teased.

John held his hands. "Alright cool it down people."

The radio then beeped once again. "Please help us! We are under attack by pirates."

It was highly probable that pirates could be the ones behind this. The voice, however, had a heavy accented voice, Eastern European to be exact, like that except with a little touch of unknown. Smith was already tracing the signal, while Steiner and Ramirez were busy getting their equipment.

"It's less than twenty miles from here sir." Smith said while moving up his omni tool back and forth.

John scratched his chin and thought carefully. "Could be a trap to gain a foothold here, then to take over the mine. That voice, though, is weird."

The man with black skin nodded, "Yeah sir, it's not a blink or cuttle bone voice; pretty sure it's a human from Europe or something, sounds too human."

"That is the problem, sounds too human." Shepard replied. He then got an idea. "Make sure the radio is protected from encryption, I want to talk to them."

Smith nodded and went to work. Shepard paced around the room, thinking about what to do. His thoughts went to his soldiers… Ramirez was a brute, he was good in combat, so he would be on the squad if he was to go and scout. Steiner was a very good all round soldier, so he was on the list. Smith, on the other hand, was a technological genius bastard, who would be indispensable if the fight could take on mechs. However, two soldiers had to say behind and lead. Steiner was the corporal, so he would stay with… the other brute. 'Ramirez.'

"Got it sir." Smith's voice interrupted Shepard's thoughts. Quickly, the commander grabbed the small mic and began.

"Who are we talking to? Identify yourself."

Silence was all they got for about three seconds, then a heavy accented voice broke in, this time they could tell that it was feminine. "We are under attack by pirates and slavers, our ship is down on this planet and we need help! Please give us assistance!"

John sighed. "I said identify yourself."

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, and then it turned into a minute. Finally, the same feminine voice answered.

"I am a captain of a ship, we've taken heavy casualties and most of my crew is dead and I need your help!"

Shepard paced the room with the device on his hands. "Alright fine, hold tight, we will go get you."

"Thank you… oh keelah, hurry! They are already on their way!" A few gunshots were then heard and the signal was lost. 'Keelah? What the hell is that?' Shepard wondered.

Ramirez chuckled. "Sounds like fun! Finally after so many days bored."

"Not so fast." John said. "You and Steiner will stay here in case they try to attack the mine. Me and Smith will go and check this out."

The Hispanic soldier groaned while Steiner just nodded. "You got it sir."

"Alright. Smith, with me." And with that, both equipped themselves with their armor. John quickly grabbed his assault rifle and sniper while Smith got his heavy pistol and sub machine gun. "You guys stay for anything. We will have contact before we engage."

Both soldiers nodded.

"If you don't hear from us for more than an hour, start making preparations for possible raid." Shepard then got out of the room, alongside Smith.

Nights on Caleston were deadly cold. The surface temperature could go down all the way to -10 degrees. All of these traits made Shepard miss Brazil and his training back in basics.

It was a full desert, with a few alien like shrubs. Kind of like savannah from earth, but these were way smaller. There were some hills that could provide them good cover in case things got real bad.

"We are five miles from objective." Smith said as he looked at his omni tool. Shepard was driving the Mako, one of the best jack of all trades vehicles the Alliance had. A 155 mm cannon and a good, heavy machine gun, but they could not show up guns blazing with the vehicle, as they will alert the enemy and injure the victims with their fire.

"Good, tell me when we are two miles so we can drop off and go on foot." Shepard answered.

A few minutes passed, and just as they got out of the vehicle, gunshots were heard from over the hill in front of them. As far as they could tell, assault rifles and grenades were being used.

John then stopped and looked at Smith. "We will take cover by the hill, get a good glimpse of what is going on and then deduce what would be best to do."

"Roger."

Crawling on the ground, both men eventually made it up the hill. As soon as they reached it, they saw a ship surrounded by batarians, all taking cover behind different types of ship parts. Shepard took his binoculars out and zoomed into the ship being shot at.

"Shit…" He uttered.

John Arthur Shepard was shocked. While his companion was preparing his omni tool to start hacking, Shepard saw people in enviro suits fighting toe to toe with the pirates. The strange people were taking cover behind the main doors to the ship, firing back with bursts of assault rifles.

The lieutenant then looked at his soldier. "These are quarians."

"Really?" Smith's eyes widened. "Quarians here in Caleston? In the devil's belly?"

Shepard nodded. "Yeah, let me see if I can find these pirates's ship."

"Over there." Smith pointed with his finger. "I can see their ship, stupidly outdated but dangerous."

John nodded and radioed his other soldiers. "Steiner, do we still have that small mobile artillery?"

"Affirmative sir, it's good and clean." The corporal answered.

The lieutenant nodded. "Alright, we need it right now. I want an artillery strike on a small pirate ship, think you can take it?"

"Hell yeah sir, just give the word."

"How long until you can have it ready?"

"Give me and Ramirez one minute and we will have it ready."

Shepard smiled. "Excellent."

He then turned to Smith. "Coordinates of the ship?"

"Charlie 4, 3, 7, 2, 6 Echo 3."

"You heard him Steiner?" Shepard asked with a grin.

"See for yourself, brace for it!"

Smith then put his hands on his head and whispered. "Get ready sir!"

When they put their hands on their heads, they heard a deep hissing sound. Then it turned into a rough one. Finally, they saw the shells landing ruthlessly on the pirate's ship, causing them to turn and look at what had happened. The explosion rocked the ground. Using their night vision, they could see pirates on fire running amok.

The quarians, taking the initiative, gunned down several of them, leaving only two. Shepard then got his sniper and shot three pirates close to the ship, who were confused and running towards cover.

Smith launched a combat drone and distracted one of the pirates below them. Shepard, seeing this as a good distraction, ran down the hill and biotically charged at the other pirate. Landing on him by surprise, Shepard punched him on the gut, sending the batarian to the floor unconscious. The other pirate, seeing his whole crew on the ground and his ship destroyed, quickly threw his weapon to the ground and surrendered.

"Mercy! I surrender!" The rough voice of the batarian was heard. Just as that happened, Smith was running towards Shepard, radioing Steiner to cease fire and to stand by.

The other soldier got there and pointed his guns at the batarians, nodding at Shepard.

Shepard turned to see the quarians aiming their weapons at him. Well, only two quarians, one of them a female. 'Thought there were more…'

"I just saved your asses, and now you aim your weapons at me?" He said coldly. 'So much for helping them, wow.'

The quarians looked at each other, then nodded and put their weapons down. "Sorry, we are too worked up with what happened."

The female then began to approach Shepard. He could not help but stare at her body. Curvy, feminine, big breasts and nice hips. 'Never thought quarians could have attractive females…'

"Thank you for your assistance human." She said as John stared at her with wide eyes. "What? You've never seen a quarian before?"

He shook his head. "Nope, never."

"Expected." She huffed. "Everyone ignores us and forgets about us. We were wiped out from the history books three centuries ago."

Smith tied the two prisoners and went to the hill, probably to get the Mako.

Shepard then saw a small body, right below the vessel's door. He quickly walked towards it, ignoring the quarian female and stared. It was a she. Her body had a suit, but she was small, very small compared to the other two. It caused John's blood to evaporate.

"How old was she?" He asked the quarian next to him, a male by the looks of it.

"She was… fifteen, she was here to see some probes launched." The male quarian answered quietly, probably mourning the young girl's loss.

John clenched his fists and his eyes narrowed. He turned and walked stiffly towards one of the batarians, grabbed him by the throat and said, "Look what you've done you damn blink, you killed a child!" He then made the batarian face the small quarian girl, on the floor, lifeless. The other two quarians were just staring at him with wide eyes.

"Karma is a bitch." Shepard growled as he pulled a knife from his foot and slit the throat of the batarian, who duly went to the ground, gurgling and drowning on his own blood.

The other batarian's eyes widened and began to scream for help as the human turned beast was already looking at him. John smirked and approached dead slowly, making the batarian scream louder, and it was to no avail.

For the quarians, the loss of the child was a really hard blow, but the human was doing what they were not. He was getting even with the murderers. The female quarian could not help but stare at him while he approached the next batarian. Smith was busy with the Mako, getting it ready to pick up the other two soldiers, so the batarian screams were duly ignored.

As the last batarian fell down, John started to feel good. He felt as if he had revenged several people, including the child; by killing those blink bastards and making them suffer for it. However, he started seeing patches…. 'What the hell is going on?' He saw the female quarian rushing towards him.

By the time the quarian made it to his position, everything went blank…

So what do you think? Awesome, good, fair or bad? Give me your opinion! Tali will be involved in this story, could play a key role, depending on reviews, so let them come!