Her first assignment after graduating from the Academy was the USS Dakota as a Junior Command officer where she served alongside another Cadet from her year, Jack Sheppard. Whilst she was on the path towards command, Sheppard was assigned to the helm. As they had graduated together and were now serving on the same vessel, they formed a strong friendship.
By now the Dominion-Cardassian war was coming to a close and in 2374 Sheppard was re-assigned as a replacement Helm Officer on the USS Cape Town which included a field promotion, whilst Alice remained on the Dakota until 2376. During her time on the Dakota ALice was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) and it was the Captain's recommendation that earned her the position of Senior Command officer on the newly launched USS Atlantis, a Sovereign class vessel. After two year on the Atlantis, the Captain recommended that she return to Starfleet and go through the Advance Command school programme.
Alice returned to Earth in 2378 and found herself reunited with Sheppard, who was going through the Advanced pilot school programme. During the time they had spent on the various vessels they had served on, they never lost with each other and the relationship had moved on from being just close friends to one of mutual attraction. Now in the same place for the next year, that attraction grew into a loving relationship and the two of them took every opportunity they had to be together.
Just before Sheppard was assigned to Gold Wing of the USS Prowler, he proposed to Alice. By now Alice was a Lieutenant Commander whilst Sheppard was still a Lieutenant, and therefore her sub-ordinate. Sheppard's proposal would have caused problems with Starfleet Command, even though they were known to "bend" the rules occasionally. Alice instead made a promise that as soon as they were of equal rank, then they would get married. However, it wasn't until 2383 that Alice could keep that promise.
They continued to keep in touch, with Alice returning to the Atlantis as third officer. Then in 2382 Alice was offered a transfer to the USS Prowler as their third officer. In 2383, Sheppard was promoted to the position of CAG for the USS Prowler fighter wings & Wing Commander of Gold Wing. His promotion also brought with it finally the rank of Lieutenant Commander and the two lovers were married within a month.
In 2385, Alice was promoted to the rank of Commander and offered the position of XO, which she accepted once again outranking her husband. In August 2386, the Captain of the USS Prowler retired, leaving Alice the seat of Captain. Promoted to the rank of Captain, she needed an XO, but got the surprise of her life when she met her new XO, who turned out to be Sheppard. He had infact applied for the position in total secrecy, so as not to suffer the cries of nepotism should he get the position.
The two worked well together, with Sheppard retaining his position as CAG and Wing Commander of Gold Wing.