The Terran long range shuttle dropped out of the high velocity it had been in, shot from one mass relay slowing now in front of another mass relay. Firing its braking thrusters it decreased its speed further pulling back around skimming over and coming to a halt directly above the up fork of the relay itself. Once there it held position as if waiting for something.

Inside at the primary of the dual helm positions Dani'Breizh Vas Yaska powered down the controls and looked over to the drone floating above the secondary helm position. Below the drone she could see legs poking out from beneath the console.

"You done screwing around with that thing? We're at the final relay." She asked with less than her normal bubbling enthusiasm.

"Bos'tet!" Zen'Ratha Vas Honorata cursed before his hand shot out from under the console throwing a circuit card like a flying star.

"What was that?" Dani asked.

"Hoo-man technology at its finest." Zen called back. "Hoo-mans build everything with double redundancy systems in mind. But when the redundant system burns out before the primary it doesn't allow the primary to work. I'm just going to hard patch the primary system to the motivator. After that this console should work again."

She could hear him dicking around with something under the console and then virtual interface for the other piloting console came online. Zen's hands appeared on the edge of the console as he pulled himself out and back on his feet.

"Won't that burnout the console if we get a major surge?"

Zen sighed, "Won't matter. The redundant system was already bad. So if the primary were to go out it wouldn't be functional anyway." He answered as he align the controls to his preferences.

"Whatever." Dani responded, "We're here. You can take us in from here."

"Why? You're just a good as pilot as me." He asked

"Because I'm in charge." She laughed. "Besides I want to catch a nap before we get on objective."

"Whatever," Zen scoffed. "You just want to finish watching 'Fleet and Flotilla'. Just turn the karaoke mode off this time."

"Says the man who finds a different tune from every damn race and sings them incessantly for weeks on end. What was it last week? Turian Punk, I believe? And now its Hoo-man music."

"It's called the Blues thank you very much. It's not my fault this craft came with a full media drive of Hoo-man entertainment. Besides, if it helps me get to know the culture, it will help me figure out their engineering." Zen began to explain.

Dani got up from her chair, "Oh no, I've heard this rhetoric before. Culture leads to scientific understanding, scientific understanding leads to understanding what their engineering is supposed to do. It's old Zen."

"Fine." Zen gave up in defeat. "I found this in the media drive." He called up his multi tool on his arm and activated a download to Dani's quarters. "It a vid about star crossed lovers. They're both Hoo-mans but the synopsis made me think of you. Written by some guy named Shake-a-spear or something."

"Okay. You going to be all right up here?"

"Yeah, I'm still getting to know this ship. I can understand why they didn't want us bringing one of our own vessels into the Veil, but the conversions they made on this boat were fast, and not quite all the way. They got the scrubber system installed and fixed the quarters for sanitization, but that's about it."

"That's why you're the engineer Zen." She told him.

Zen had his nose back in the console and waved over his shoulder. "Yeah, yeah."

Dani just laughed and headed off the small bridge of the long range shuttle. Just before the hatch slid shut behind her, she heard Zen call out. "And tell those two to 'disconnect their suits'. We are in Geth space after all."

Normally Dani would let her crew do what they wanted, but Zen had a point. As she made her way back Terran music started to play over the ship's intercom system. The twang of a guitar started which wasn't completely unpleasant, and it was much better than the Turian music Zen has been into only a few weeks before.

The long range shuttle the fleet had assigned them wasn't much to look at. Terran design, the cockpit led into an open area which then led back into the six passenger rooms which weren't much more than a bunk, a desk, and a waste disposal unit. Beyond that was the main drive. The shuttle could easily tolerate a mass relay jump and interstellar travel, but had no Eezo core of its own. So after it left the jump it was all under its own power.

The scrubbers were working fine destroying any germs or bacteria in the breathing air so the suits didn't have to put any effort into cleaning the air, and the quarters had all been wiped making them sterile spaces so that you could remove your suit in a safe environment.

As she passed the door to Uli's quarters she activate the door chime. After a few moments had gone by she chimed again still receiving no answer. Finally Dani pounded on the outer door of the quarters "Zip it up you two. We're in Geth space. Time to get your game face on."

With that she turned taking the one step across the corridor and opened the outer door to her own room. Each of the quarters had been fitted with internal and external doors. Once between the doors you would receive a bio scan and you would be scrubbed with and energy filter. After that the inner door would open and you could enter your quarters.

With her scrubbing complete Dani climbed into her bunk and pulled up the Vid display. Frozen on the screen was Fleet and Flotilla. Like so many it was secret passion. She closed the vid and brought up the new one Zen had recommended. As the title came on the screen she wondered what the hell Zen had found. "Romeo and Juliet? Well let's give it a shot."

-

When they heard Dani give her orders neither Uli nor Myls cared. Myls'Stanis Vas Qwib Qwib Was kissing his lovers neck, their bodies entangled on the tight bunk. He barely registered the voice beyond the door. Uli'Narah Nar Yaska on the other hand had heard the voice but was coming down from a very intense orgasm she had just received, her legs still wrapped tightly around the waist of the man on top of her. She could feel Mils' breathing slowing back down to normal as he had stopped thrusting and now just rested inside her. She caressed his back watching her light purple skin move up and down his purple-grey skin. For the moment she was content, but she had heard Dani. It was time to prepare.

"Myls. Myls, baby, we have to get up." She told him softly. Myls grunted the affirmative but didn't move. "Myls," she said a bit louder now unwrapping herself from him, "Myls, get up."

"But I like it here." He protested.

"I know baby, but its time."

"I know what time it is." He said coyly and began slowly thrusting inside her again with the rigidity he had left from his own release.

"Myls, you got to stop. Myls'Stanis!" As much as she enjoyed him they had to get ready.

One moment Myls was on his lover, the next he was flung against the wall, pinned there as if defying gravity. Uli leisurely crawl out of her bunk. Reaching across the small cabin she traced the lines of the abdomen muscles of her lover. He was strong, exceptionally so for a Quarian, and she loved his body. But in situations like these, behind closed doors, she was in control. Her finger traced along his torso where she grabbed his chin. "What. Did. I. Say?"

Myls looked over toward "You said stop."

"I said Stop." She spoke with control, as if she was correcting a subordinate, or a child. "Now I love what you do to my body Myls'Stanis, but when a woman says stop, it means stop."

"Yes my love." Myls was a strong man, good at what he did. But Under Uli's spell he was completely powerless.

She let go his chin dragging her finger nails back down his body to his manhood where she cupped him gently. "It's time to get ready. Now clean up and we can relax together until we're on station."

He let out a groan of disappointment. She truly did love him, she planned on marrying him one day, but it was time to get ready for work. Gently she lowered him down on to the deck with her mind and helped him up. He stood up and pulled her close kissing her once again. Their bodies had long ago adapted to each other.

Separating she moved over and handed Myls his suit. "You seem awfully energized today. Any particular reason why?"

Pulling on the top of his enviro-suit he answered "I just haven't seen you in a week. I missed you." In some ways he was very simple, it was one of the reasons she loved him.

"Four days doesn't quite make a week." Then with a quick kiss she pulled up her own enviro-suit pants. "But if that's after a few days, I'd love to see what a full week provided." She purred.

Myls hit the intercom. "Zen, how long do we have before we're on station?"

Zen's voice could be easily heard over the music playing in the background. "We have about two hours, big guy. Maybe a little more."

"Thanks." Myls responded and slipped his finger off the button. He gave Uli a sly look.

"No!" She answered by crossing her arms across her bare chest. "Go prep your weapons and go get some rest. I know you expended more energy than you think you did." With that she pointed her arm toward the door.

"All right, all right." Myls ducked in getting one more kiss and then connected his faceplate. "See you in a bit." He smiled behind the faceplate and turned to leave.

-

Zen slipped his hand off the Intercom and continued his inspection. Currently he was standing in the cargo area against the bulkhead with his drone scanning the interior for weakened circuit and any structural weaknesses. Making notes whenever he found anything he wanted to fix or upgrade.

The shuttle was old. And this was their first solo mission with it. Normally they would be dropped in with a marine task force and given special orders. But the Admiralty had wanted something a lot more low key this time. Long range sensors had seen a major increase in Geth activity over the last cycle. Unexplainable increase in activity. Several raids recently had taken out new Geth outposts, but it had definitely come at a cost.

The Council's refusal to acknowledge Citadel laws and their ideas of how to proceed with the ongoing war with the Geth had forced the Migrant Fleet from ever becoming a member. So like many races that didn't quite follow Citadel rules, the Quarians were on their own. Which is where they are today.

So the Admiralty sent out Echo team to find out what happened out here. It seemed like some kind of a buildup but then a huge dispersal of forces. But something was still here. And they wanted to know what that was. As it was they didn't want to send a Quarian craft so this Terran Long Range Shuttle seemed to be a simple enough distraction tactic. If they got close they had a few cloned Geth IDC codes which might help them if confronted. The crafts name was the Mustang, some sort of quadruped animal on the Terran home world. So no with just over an hour to kill Zen continued his run down and inspection of this crafts capabilities.