'New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.' -Lao Tzu

"Two-hundred."

"Two-hundred? That's it?"

"Two-hundred thousand, Narl. You didn't let me finish."

"Heh…I call your bluff girl."

The woman leaned forward, harsh tangerine lighting dancing across her sienna skin. Her lip curled with an amused smirk, the scar on her full lips suddenly becoming noticeable. With ebony hair spiked into a Mohawk, and pearl white daggers shimmering, she looked about ready to kill someone. Those slate grey—near silver—eyes and shrunken black pupils didn't help with bringing out her 'innocent' side.

Narl, after sighing and rolling his four eyes, sat back into his chair as he mulled over the offer made to him. It was hard to figure this female out. Being human had nothing to do with it; he knew her for years now and even when they worked together it was hard to tell when she bluffed. But there was something about Shepard that made taking the chance worth the while. Even if it did cost him two-hundred thousand credits. Well…shit. No real man backs down from a challenge like that, now does he?

The batarian rolled his shoulder, desperately trying to get rid of the ache seeping in. "Alright…I'm putting in," a large gust of air went into his lungs. "Two-hundred fifty."

"Thousand?" Caen confirmed with a tilt of her head.

"Thousand," Narl growled as he narrowed his eyes. "Now show your fucking cards."

The human raised one eyebrow before turning her head to study him in a side-long glance. He hated it when she did this; toying with him. She knew it got his blood pressure rising. "Okay, I'm going to show my cards, verrry carefully….In three…two…two and hallfff—"

"Damn it, Caen! I have fucking trades to make!"

And suddenly, they were flipped over. And suddenly, he could feel himself getting pretty fucking angry. And suddenly, he wanted to punch that little smirk on her face in. But all Narl could do was sigh and nod, flicking his wrist towards her. His credit chit skidded across the table, landing in front of the smirking female. He stood, securing his weapons to the seals on his back.

"Same time next year, Narls?"

"Narl; yeah, same time. Don't forget your next appointment with me either. We all know you can't take care of that crop of fur on your head."

Siobhan pouted as she ran her fingers through the shaved hair near her ears. "It just doesn't like me," she mumbled, arms crossed over her chest. The batarian chuckled turned and flashed a grin her way.

"Can you blame it, Jay?" He snickered. "You're kind of a pain in the ass."

That was all it took to make those slate grey—near silver—eyes shine. "'Kind of', huh? Is it safe to say that I've grown on you, little man?"

"Don't let your panties set on fire just yet, kid. You've got a long way to go before I actually want to be around you." Yeah, he thought with an unreadable expression. Maybe just a little, Jay.

The dark-skinned woman propped her feet onto the used poker table, watching the batarian take his leave. There were no goodbyes, or friendly smiles. Just competition, racist remarks, money, information, and a bottle of batarian ale. Nothing complicated ever happened.

But then…nothing was ever simple either. Not for Shepard.

. . .

"Welcome aboard the Normandy, Commander."

Shepard nodded and flashed a small smile at the man. What was his name again? Aiden? Kelly..? K…K… Um… Anderson appeared by her side, face blank. "Commander, I see you've met Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko." She raised a brow as her eyes widened.

"I knew it was a K!" She hissed under her breath. A victorious grin stretched on her face. As she looked up, the two men regarded her with confused expressions. "Uh—Nice to meet you Lieutenant," her hand moved towards the biotic. Kaidan took it in his own, his hand easily covering hers. Really? She thought.

Anderson chose this time to clear his throat. "Commander, might I have a word with you in private?" Shepard tilted her head as Alenko saluted and ran off to…somewhere. The Captain gestured to the elevator behind them. They moved together, two deadly soldiers with powerful gazes. Once on the elevator, Shepard leaned against the railing. "I'm guessing this will be more than just the average chit-chat, Captain."

"Actually, this will be pretty short, but I need you to hear me out on this one. Our mission is to take the Normandy on a test run, put her through her pacers. The Alliance and the Council wants to see if the human and turian engineering is something really worth pushing for. Now, before you—"

"Wait, wait!" She held up both hands; this was getting wayward too quickly. "The Council? What the hell does the Council—"

"I would tell you if let me finish," the Captain growled. Shepard huffed defeat. "Ahem, as I was saying. The Council wanted to make sure that what the human and turian engineers did is worth pushing for. So they sent someone to make sure the process works out fine."

He smiled a little as the elevator opened. "Ah, here he is now."

There was nothing that made Shepard pissed like height. People who were taller than her were automatic enemies. And this guy was definitely taller than her. She scowled at the turian with white markings. "Commander Shepard, this is Spectre Nihlus Kyrik." The turian raised his chin, the let it drop to his cowl.

"A pleasure, Commander," his three-fingered hand was held out expectantly.

The commander fumed as she stepped out of the elevator and shook his hand. Oh fucking shit! He's a whole head taller than me! Maybe two! Slowly she inhaled as the hand-shake ended. They should be leaving the Sol System in a few days, but apparently Anderson had some loose ties to take care of. More like hooker appointments to cancel, she thought with a snicker. "If you'll excuse me," Anderson said, taking his leave.

Her mouth dropped to the floor. She had to be left alone? With slim-jim?! Fucking shit, fucking shit. Okay Caen, just handle this verrryyy delicately.

"Okay, well….I've got shit I gotta' do so uh…Yeah." The human disappeared down the hall, leaving a very amused Nihlus behind.

"Commander Caen Shepard," he murmured under his breath. "She's the perfect candidate for our cause."

. . .

Sometimes Joker wonders why he took this job. Or why, exactly, he hasn't tripped and shattered his face on this ship yet. Damn turians and their angular schemes! He shifted in his seat, uneasy with the pair of eyes trained on him. She was right there in the left co-pilot seat just...watching him. Shepard jolted slightly as he lifted his hand to cough into it. Jeff finally turned to look at her, his emotionless face meeting hers.

"Uh...Everything alright, Commander?"

Shepard narrowed her eyes, bared the fangs in her mouth as she snarled, "Just fine, Lieutenant."

He expected that, really. But did she have to walk around with those monsters in her skull? "Okay, then-"

"How come you never leave the seat?"

His green eyes snapped to her in shock. "What?"

Shepard shifted in her chair, turning her entire body to him as she continued. "You never leave your seat, not even when commanding officers are on board. You're supposed to get up and salute. Yet you didn't."

Joker blinked momentarily, ultimately just choosing to shrug this one off. "Brittle bones don't exactly allow for much room to move," he sounded bristled by the topic when in all honestly he felt that this wasn't a reprimand.

"Oh."

"'Oh?' That's it? You sure you don't want me to recite my file? Call in a list of recommendations? Hey, maybe a blood test if you're feeling fancy." Now he's just fucking around and they both knew it.

The Commander snorted opening her omni-tool to send him a ping. In return, Joker's omni-tool lit up like neon signs in the night and he turned a raised brow on her. Mimicking him from earlier, Shepard just shrugged. This time she stood though, stretching her limbs. "Save my seat, yeah?"

Joker flicked a hand in her general direction. "Sure, whatever."

"I mean it! You're the first real friend I've made on this ship! Well, besides Anderson and... Nope, you're the only one. With a Council Spectre aboard, it leaves me very little wiggle room to get around."

"Speaking of which, what do you think he's doing here?"

"Meh, hell if I know. Anderson is being pretty stoic on this one."

Joker snorted, "I bet."

"I guess I better get back to it. Thanks for the talk, Lieutenant Moreau."

He winced, feigning a painful hiss. "Joker, actually."

She turned last minute to flash a bright smile. "From Batman! I like it."

Shepard vacated the premises, leaving Joker to ponder his chances of flinging himself off the hull of the ship and surviving. Slim to none, he realized, since he could just hit the dock below it. And anyway, he probably would just die from the exhaustion of all the shattered bones shifting around. Wait, could he even get to the hull of the Normandy? Joker decided this would need some rethinking.

Meanwhile, Shepard burrowed into a make-shift home in the darkest corner of the ship. She pulled a palm-sized cube from her duffel bag and sat down on her cot to stare at it. It glowed as she brushed her fingers over a small indent marked around the corners. The metal cube glowed angelic white as it played the audio recording.

"This is Commander S-S-Shepard, A-alliance Nav-vy! Requesting immediate extraction of civilians from Elysium. I repeat, immediate extraction from Elysium-m! Confirmed Batarian raiders a-are ground s-side. My team...d-didn't make it. Please, if anyone can hear this, send for the A-alliance."

Shepard stared at the cube's form until her eyes began to burn from the intensity of the light. She eventually shut it off, murmuring the words as she drifted into a thirty minute slumber.

This is Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy.

Requesting immediate extraction of civilians from planet Elysium.

Confirmed Batarian raiders are ground side.

. . .

Nihlus studied the vague profile in front of him with a sense of mystery. How could one woman- dare he say, child- hold off a hundred batarians? On official record, Commander Shepard had been listed as a formidable N7 Vanguard. If he knew anything about Vanguards, they enjoyed working in close quarters. They had the tendency to carry around shotguns and not much else. He analyzed the circumstances; she couldn't have eliminated the resistance on close combat alone, she would have died. And it wasn't likely that she had many weapons or a lot of ammo on her either; she and her team were on shore leave.

The Spectre directed his attention to the enemy at the time. They were well equipped, those batarians, since they were apart of the Blue Suns. At least seven ships dropped off an average of fifteen strike teams a pop. Each strike team consisted of eight men. He sighed as he skimmed through file after file. Even before his interests in Shepard, he'd never crossed a file as vague as hers (when he left Saren out of the count). Nihlus couldn't even imagine how the situation down there must have been. Losing your team to a rigged transport in the first fifteen minutes of the assault. Attempting to secure thousands of civilians who had no military training whatsoever.

Spirits, Shepard. I don't even know your entire story- hell I don't even really know you and I already want to drown myself in a bottle.

He supposed he could ask her, but that would raise suspicion. And Caen Shepard tended to be awfully suspicious. I'll have another look at these files. Maybe take a word with Captain Anderson. He knows her better than her mother does, I bet.

Even amidst the unnerving reports and several recommendations, he found himself reconsidering a few things. Not exactly about Shepard, just Humanity as a whole.

Nihlus leaned back in his chair, turned in his omni-tool and pinged someone he hadn't spoke to in several long years. She answered on the third dial. Probably dealing with Eclipse.

"What." Tone curt, edged, though not in nervousness. Just the overall irritation. Ah yes, Eclipse indeed.

"Aria, I have a prospect for you. You might actually take a liking to this one."

Author's Note: Just to clarify, Caen is pronounced like 'sane'. Shepard is indeed a Vanguard who went through the Skyllian Verge shit-storm and is an official space brat. A paragon diplomat when it counts, but has the rare occasion to shoot people for the fun of it. And this story gets very AU, not in a crazy way, but still. It still sticks to the main storyline, but I wanted to mix this up and make it its own unique story.

Thank you for reading and constructive criticism is always welcomed! Especially with establishment of characters through tone and voice. Thanks a bunch!