"All right Bitz, lets suit up!"

Diana smirked as she leaned down to snap the tech collar around the tame silver verran. Bitz lovingly wiggled as a long purple tongue rolled out of the side of his toothy grin. Diana raised her omni-tool and keyed in the controls to test the tech armor she had specifically engineered for her loyal trained verran, a beep and hum, and the wiggling Bitz was encased in the orange glow of translucent armor. The light danced off the reflective walls of the small equipment room as he happily bounced around.

"Hmm" Diana gave a curt nod at her approval of the armor. The krogan and
batarians weren't the only ones who could train a verran, but it wasn't surprising that they had never thought to armor the creatures. Verran were pretty dispensable and easy to breed. No need to keep any particular one alive, but Bitz was different. He was a gift to Diana from her "uncle" Wrex, and Diana had raised him from a pup. Bitz was loyal to the teeth, smart and vicious, qualities remarkably similar to his master. Though Diana would never admit it, when the mood struck her, she too was prone to the occasional, excited bouncing that her companion was currently engaged in.

"Calm down Bitz, you are going to wiggle out of your skin." Diana snapped her fingers and pointed to the ground "Settle!" The varren gave a tentative whine and began to pace in a tight circle before flopping down with a dejected sigh.

Powering the armor down again Diana moved to her own gear. She slipped
into her armor suit and standard black military grade lace up boots. As she adjusted her gun belt, she caught a glimpse of herself in thin mirror mounted next to the equipment lockers. She ran her hands over her hips and studied her own features. *Just your typical asari*. Diana thought to herself. Well,except for a few unsightly differences. Her fingers poked at her lips. She had always felt they were too full and fleshy, not the simple elegant bowed lips of the asari standard. Her eyes were large and staggering. Instead of the cool blue or green that typically graced her species, her eyes were a vivid copper. A color that Diana felt clashed horribly against her pale blue skin. She had inherited the fiery color from her human mother. A woman she never met, and she feared would never live up to.

In reality the gleaming copper of her eyes seemed to glow like embers, and they would burn into the souls of all who gazed into their depths. Diana had never made the connection, and always assumed it wasn't the burn of her eyes that caused enemies to falter, but instead the burn of her guns.

Diana stretched her arms over her head and arched her back limbering up for what lay ahead. She twisted and flexed her muscles adjusting to the form fitting light armor she wore. Tight, black, covering her full body except for the flash of pale blue skin of her neck and chest, the zipper resting partially open just between her breasts. Diana reached for her pistols; she snapped the Quarian Arc onto her left hip and lifted her beloved M-82 Paladin to check the heat sink before it too clicked firmly at her right hip.

"Flashy and Sparkles, a girl's two best friends" Diana remarked as she lovingly patted the weapons. Bitz lifted his head and cocked it sideways releasing a throaty whine. "And Bitz, of course."

"Are you clear on the mission parameters?" Asked a melodic disembodied voice.

"Retrieve the ships logs and security vids." Diana stated dryly

"Correct. The volus ship was carrying an undisclosed quantity of Asari artifacts removed illegally from Thesia. My sources report that they were also smuggling 10 crates of red sand. Thesian officials are offering a handsome sum for any information on the whereabouts of the artifacts. Batarian pirates seized the ship and its cargo 17 hours ago. You are to access and retrieve the ships logs and security feeds. We need to discover the pirate's destination. I then want you to delete the local copy, no sense in leaving information lying about for someone else to discover. I never did like competition"

"Understood. Heading to the shuttle now"

Diana grabbed her supply of spare heat sinks and walked into the large hanger bay.

"I want this to be a clean extraction. No unnecessary explosions."

"Define unnecessary…" Diana said slyly.

"I mean it agent…
"Noted" Diana sighed

"One more thing Diana" the voice sounded terse "Zip up your damn suit, you are a T'soni, not some cheap Omega harlot!"

Diana scoffed and pulled the zipper up to the base of her throat. "That's better. Now I want you back on this ship at 1600 on the dot, which gives you 2 hours. I want you to improve your mission timing. In and out, fast and clean. Understood?"

"Yes mother"

"Good. I love you. Be careful".

"Love you too mom." Diana rolled her eyes and gave a lazy wave to the security camera mounted near the docked shuttle. "Come on Bitz"

With a hiss the shuttle door opened and Bitz bounded forward leaping onto the shuttle, his claws clacking against the metal floor as he scuttled to the cockpit's passenger seat. He knew the routine. Diana fastened Btiz into his specially tailored seat restraint.

"140 years old and she still treats me like a child" Diana deposited herself into the pilot's seat with a huff. She began to tap and flip the controls bringing the shuttle to life muttering to herself "…know what I'm doing…old enough...not a child…" Diana tugged her zipper down again, this time lower than before, stopping just under her sternum. She was grateful for the tightness of the suit keeping its shape close to her body and everything in its place.

Diana punched in the coordinates to the volus ship and piloted the shuttle out of the hanger bay. "Brace for FTL jump" Bitz turned his head toward Diana and blinked his glossy opalescent eyes, he shifted the weight on his front feet still wiggling with excitement.

"Who is the best co pilot ever?" Diana cooed as she reached over and scratched the varren under the chin. Bitz leaned into the scratch panting happily as the shuttle lurched into the sparkling black void.