Mass Effect: To the Last Man/First Encounter

An Alliance UT-47 Kodiak shuttle began its final approach towards a landing pad on the outskirts of an Alliance colony on Terra Nova. Waiting on the landing pad was an eighteen-year-old human female and her family. The brown-haired girl was about to head out to basic training to join the Systems Alliance Navy. She was a bit on edge, with this being the first time that she'd left her home planet and her family, but she had always had a burning desire to serve in the military and to protect others.

As the shuttle landed and the hatch opened, the girl said a final goodbye to her parents and her seven-year-old brother before boarding the shuttle and leaving the only home she ever knew behind, if only for a few months.

The hatch closed, and the shuttle began its take off from the colony. The girl sat down on the opposite side facing the only other passenger, a human male who was about the same age as her. The boy with short jet-black hair was just a little taller than the girl and looked to be in great physical condition. What the girl found to be the most unusual about this boy was his eyes: they were two different colors. The girl could see that his right eye was blue, though his left eye was dark red and seemed rather unnatural, inhuman in appearance.

At first, there was a brief, somewhat awkward silence as the shuttle noisily left the colony's atmosphere. Once the volume quieted, the boy decided broke the silence.

"Hi, name's Gerard Keller," said the boy, smiling and extending a friendly hand towards the girl.

"Jess Nolan. Nice to meet you," she replied, shaking his hand.

"You, too," said Gerard. "So, er, what class are you? Infiltrator? Engineer?"

"Sentinel," she answered.

"Really? Well, good luck," said Keller. "I heard Sentinels are tough to become."

"Thanks," said Jessica. "What about you? What are you?" she asked, curiously.

"Actually, I want to be a Soldier," answered Gerard. "But everyone tells me that I should be an Infiltrator instead."

"Why?" she asked him.

"Well, because they think I'm a good sniper," said Gerard. "I think I'd do better as a soldier."

"What gun do you use?" asked Nolan.

"I like the M-92 Mantis rifle, but I really want to use one of those experimental rifles they're testing out now," he replied. "While I do love sniper rifles, I'm not so good at being stealthy or quiet or anything an Infiltrator does, to be honest. I can shoot, and...well, that's about it, actually," Keller joked.

Jessica laughed a little. "So, where are we headed again?" she asked him.

"I don't know," said Keller. "I think we're off to the Traverse for additional training."

"What? Why are we going to the Traverse?"

"They said something about some overcrowding at the bases closer to Earth, so they're sending us to one of their hostile environment camps. I hope that we get to shoot real guns this time," he finished with enthusiasm.

"Well, I hope you can handle some competition," challenged Jessica.

Keller grinned. "You're on."