Elena Shepard and Breanna Williams Finding Love...

Bioware owns Mass Effect, these are characters I made up:  


Marine Base Praxus, Pragia:

The base was carved from the living wild jungle that covered the planet of Pragia.  Thick, lush, verdant foliage covered the expanse of the continent and pressed in from every direction on the sprawling Marine Base while the oppressive humidity and 100 degree heat pressed down from above.  Unaffectionately dubbed 'the green-ass-end-of- no-where', it served as home to a brigade of the galaxies' finest and was the training center for jungle survival school.

Lieutenant Elena T'soni, looking sharp in her dress blue uniform, strode into the Argent Company operations center with just the right amount of swagger, something she inadvertently learned while being raised by Sarah and Liara T'Soni-Shepard.  Enough to show that she should not be taken lightly, but not so much as to appear arrogant.  

Elena was tall and lithe, graceful and elegant.  She was one of only a few thousand Asari who served in the line units of the Galactic Marines, most preferred search, recon and commando duties.  At 42 years of age, she was much older than most lieutenants, and she had much more experience than they did too.  

To satisfy her mothers' wishes she first attended university and earned a degree from the University of Serrice on Thessia and an advanced degree in psychology at Oxford on Earth.  Within a week of graduation though, she enlisted in the Galactic Marines as an infantry private even though she could easily have been commissioned straight into the officer corps.  

Elena loved and adored her father and mother more than anything else in the galaxy, but the name Shepard cast a long shadow in the military.  Elena was determined to make her own mark without the Shepard influence.  Which was why she temporarily dropped the Shepard after T'Soni from her name.  She knew it hurt her father when they talked about it, but Admiral Shepard was an understanding woman.  She knew why it was necessary for her daughter.

So she rose through the ranks from Private to Gunnery Sergeant.  Her poise, skill and leadership earned the attention of her superiors everywhere she went.  As a gunny, she led half a platoon on a routine recon patrol in the Shrike Abyssal while her lieutenant took the other half of the platoon to Aphras in the next system.  After landing in a large clearing surrounded by jungle on a planet called Talis Fia, an old decommissioned destroyer, now operated by the Blood Pack, shot into the system and destroyed the small troop transport that brought them there.

Then a nearby tree line erupted in small arms fire and Elena lost half her sixteen Marines in the first thirty seconds.  They happened to land not three kilometers from a giant Blood Pack red-sand operation.  She gathered what remained of her forces and maneuvered them into the jungle opposite from the firing.  For the next twelve days Elena and her eight Marines stalked and ambushed their enemy whenever possible, eventually killing 132 Blood Pack and burning their facility to the ground.  

When the SSV Kursk finally found them twelve days later, Elena and her Marines were set up in the Blood Pack command post, guarding an additional 47 prisoners and relaxing in the air conditioned complex.  She had not lost another Marine after the initial ambush.  This event made her a bit of a celebrity in the ranks and got her a commission to lieutenant and a training slot in N7 school.  That was last year.

Now, the Galactic Marines' newest N7 graduate held her head high as she approached the senior non-com in the company.  He was 5'8, bald and ordinary looking as he stood there puffing on a fat cigar, until you read his eyes.  His eyes were cold, confident and flinty.  It was nearly the same look her father had when working.  This was not a man to be messed with.  The crusty old human regarded her with a cool, unimpressed expression on his face as she unslung her duffle and dropped it between them.

"Lieutenant T'Soni reporting for duty, First Sergeant."  She said as she handed him a data-pad with her orders on it.

"OK, Lieutenant," He managed to make her rank sound like a nasty word.  "You'll be taking over 3rd Platoon.  Good Marines, just need some guidance."  He looked at her critically.  "T'Soni, eh?  Seems to me I know that name."

Elena tilted her head and grinned, "Yeah, I get that a lot, First Sergeant.  It's a common one on Thessia.  Not just one T'Soni in the galaxy."  After years of practice, she could get by that question without even lying.  

He nodded slightly, "OK, report to the Skipper," He jerked a thump over his shoulder to an office door marked CO, "and I'll ring up your Gunny."

Elena nodded curtly and turned toward the door.

"By the way," the First Sergeant said over his shoulder, "nice job on Talis Fia."

Elena stopped and grinned a bit.  So that's what it was like to be recognized for your accomplishments in the Corps.  This was a small sampling of what it was like for her father all those years ago.

'''''

Five hours later, Elena had met her CO, talked to her new Gunnery Sergeant and found her tiny office at the very back end of the building where the air-conditioning would not reach.  She stripped off her blues jacket sat at the little desk dressed only in her blues slacks and a white t-shirt.  

Elena busied herself going over the performance records of her new Marines.  They certainly were an interesting group.  All told, she had 32 Marines, 11 Humans, 9 Turians, 5 Krogan, 5 Batarians, and 2 Drell.  Four used to be sergeants and were now privates for tearing up the NCO club and burning down the Officer's club.  Three others were in custody after fighting nine MPs-and winning.  Two were recovering red sand addicts, and there was a litany of lesser offenses to go with nearly every one of her Marines.  She let out a heavy sigh.  'This will be tough.'  She thought.

Going deeper, she found the good side of them.  Each were top level experts in hand-to-hand combat, all had graduated easily from the jungle survival school here on Pragia.  She had four sniper teams, and five expert scouts.

Her Gunny seemed to be a good one.  Gunnery Sergeant Vicious was a big Turian who had been around the block a few times.  He seemed a common sense, strong, by the book kind of Marine.  He was assigned to the platoon only two days ago and was still getting a sense of the Marines, also.  

"So you're the new meat, huh?" a biting voice said from the door.  Elena turned and saw a human woman in work fatigues leaning against the door jam.  She was nearly as tall as Elena, with olive skin, her black hair tied up in a regulation bun, and her dark eyes burned with a fire Elena knew well.  "They say you're name is T'Soni," she continued.  "My grandma knew a T'Soni once.  Now she's T'Soni-Shepard.  Riding the easy train up the ranks?"

Elena stood, and fixed her with the normal 'not again' stare.  "T'Soni is a pretty common name on Thessia."  She looked the other woman from head to toe and twisted her lips into her best mocking smile, "You must be the old meat."  She smiled wider as the other woman's face grew red.  "Breanna Williams, right?  I heard they thought you were good until I got here."  She leaned forward with a challenging gleam in her eyes.

Breanna squared herself in the door frame with her hands on her hips.  "Oh, you think you and the misfit platoon can take me and my guys?"

Elena stepped forward.  "I don't care what they were before, but they are 'my' Marines now and nobody talks shit about them around me.  There are no bad Marines, Williams.  It's about leadership."  She twitched her lip up into the same mocking grin her father always had.  "Maybe you should do an extranet search and find out what that means."

Williams' eyes narrowed and her jaw set as she leaned forward.  "Listen here, newbie.  I'm fifth generation military.  My family has been fighting the good fight since we found the relays, and damn few know leadership better than us.  My grandmother fought at the Citadel and against the Reapers on Earth."

For a moment Elena was tempted to mention her father just to see the look on this bitch's face, but only a moment.  "Well, look who's really riding the easy train up the ranks."  She sneered.

The fist came out of no-where and caught Elena across the jaw, sending her falling back over the chair and onto the floor on her back.  Williams was on top of her in a flash. 'Goddess she's fast.'  Elena thought as she rolled them over and on top of the human and tried to put her into an arm-lock.

Williams was too good for that though, she slipped away and started to roll to her feet.  As she did, Elena twisted her legs through Breanna's and sent her flying into the desk.  Elena was up in a heartbeat and as Williams regained her feet, Elena hit her with a right cross that rocked the human, sending her stumbling back until her back hit the wall.

Breanna shook her head and wiped the blood from her lips as Elena stalked toward her.  "You little blue-skinned bitch!"  She hissed as she threw herself at the Asari.  She feinted a right jab to Elena's face and landed a solid punch to her ribs.

Elena grunted at the pain, but managed to slam an upper-cut to Breannas' jaw.  The dark-haired woman was thrown back against the wall again and Elena pressed her advantage.  She grabbed Williams' neck and pulled her forward then she twisted and sent the human woman flipping over her hip to crash on the floor on her back.

Williams felt the other woman land on top of her.  She opened her eyes to see that Elena was sitting on her, straddling her just below her breasts.  She tried to punch her but the Asari caught her hands together and using biotics for the first time, she bound her hands in her blue fist and pinned them to the floor above Breanna's head.

Breanna planted her feet and arched her back in an attempt to throw Elena off of her, but the Asari just stretched herself out to on Breanna's body to put more of her weight on the dark-eyed woman.  Then she locked her long legs around her waist and lowered her face until their eyes were only inches apart.  Williams tried to look away, but Elena grabbed her jaw and forced her face up.

"I don't know what your problem is, Williams."  Elena hissed.  "But we are going to have to work together."  The dark eyes just glared back at her.  "If we don't, then we risk the lives of the Marines who fight for us.  Agreed?"

The human woman nodded slightly as a shudder went through her body that brought an angry, confused look to her eyes.

"Ahem…"

Both women turned their heads to the door where Gunny Viscous leaned against the frame.  "If you two officers need some privacy, I'll just close the door…"

Both women were on their feet in an instant, dusting themselves off and awkwardly denying everything, anything.

The gunny just chortled at them and walked away.  

Breanna stalked out the door, "Next time, you're going down, T'Soni."  She said over her shoulder as she left.

Elena just stood and looked around at her ruined office for a moment, sweat drenching her t-shirt.  She thought about the human woman for a few minutes and tried to figure out how that got out of hand so fast.

Finally she righted her chair and sat at her desk again.  

"Well, this has been a hell of a first day."