"Status report Shepard."

"I have secured the package, we are on our way back to Omega."

"Excellent. The credits will be forwarded to your account upon arrival, and safe retrieval."

"Safe retrieval? Since when does the great Aria care?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sending her away as a slave Shepard, if that's what you think. Just know it is a favor for a very old friend of mine." Shepard paused a moment, trying to figure out who Aria could have been talking about then began to speak.

"Well this package is living. I have no intent to let harm come onto her-it." Shepard compensated her words.

" Shepard" Aria let out with a devilish smile. "Still got a thing for my people I see?" Aria laughed as the words rolled off her tongue and Shepard's face began to flood red. "No, I just take my job seriously is all." Shepard cut back defensively, crossing her arms over her chest to suffocate some of her embarrassment away.

"Cut the bullshit Shepard you're trying to get some blue ass tonight. Good luck, she hasn't been with anyone yet so she's fresh meat." Shepard wondered how Aria knew so much about the obviously young Asari.

"In any event, I have a proposition for you."

"I'm listening."

"Good it can be quite hard to get you humans attention at times."

"Just spit it out Aria."

"Unlike most of the, "packages" I have you bring to me. like I stated earlier, She won't be sent to a slaver once we're done. No, quite the opposite. She will be taken back to Thessia at a prediscloed location. I figured since you retrieved her, why don't you take command over this "project", she is your full responsibility. In turn, the amount of credits for the job will increase, how do you humans say? Tenfold."

How could Shepard say no? All those credits, Shepard wouldn't have to take a job for months. However there was something more pulling Shepard to take the job. Something she didn't quite understand, not that she wanted to. "Alright, I'll take." Shepard cut the comm, and peered back into the room of the sleeping asari.

A few hours later, Liara woke up and stretched, she began to get out the bed and walk to the door when she heard a voice leering beside her. "Going somewhere T'soni?" The voice sent a small shock down Liara's spine, not a bad one in fact, she turned and began to flare her biotics.

'Don't bother, it's not going to work." Shepard replied back with a smirk and nonchalantly pointed to the asari's wrist. Liara stared for a second, contemplating before being seated on the cot once more.

Shepard's voice turned from slightly malice to gently firm as the next words poured out her mouth as nonchalantly as she could make them sound. "Are you hungry? I could grab you something from the mess if you want?"

Liara stared hesitantly, there was no point of trying to rebel against her captive, she knew that much. If anything the more she obeyed, the less she thought they'd bother her. The mess? That is human military slang for a cafeteria. She began to wonder how much of Shepard's story from earlier was true. Maybe she is military? Maybe she went rogue? Liara wanted to know more but she couldn't tell why. Perhaps because she knew so little of the human species, or maybe because she found this one particular human intriguing. She tried to shake the thought from her head but she had to admit it true no matter the circumstances the human had put her in. before she could answer, Shepard turned and headed for the door. "So im guessing that would be a yes." Short shaggy jet black hair, slicked back cooly, but naturally. The intensity of her jawline and facial expression made her intimidating, but the softness her deep marine blue eyes displayed, showed something else. Her olive skin complexion bathing in the artificial light. The toned, thick, pronounced muscles that had just been covered by armor. She was gorg-

"Uhh, hello. Here's your food." Shepard stared at the asari with an intense, concerned stare in her eyes; or at least what Liara though was concern. Liara nodded, and Shepard sat the tray on the desk next to her. How could she think of Shepard in such a way, after all this woman has her enslaved against her will, and more importantly how long did she. She pushed the prior thoughts in the back of her mind. Liara had never found herself attracted to anyone, and she surely wouldn't allow herself to be attracted to a thug like Shepard.

"Uhm, yea, well anyways, I have work to do I'll be back to check on you later." Liara began to protest but decided to let her captive leave. Once Shepard resided through the door attached to hers, Liara treaded over to the table. Some type of human food meat along with a liquid and an energy bar. Along side the tray was a book with a note on top. "Liara, something to do if you get bored, which I'm pretty sure you will." Liara read out loud, then turned the pages and began to sift through as she chewed into the energy bar. Maybe the human wasn't all bad, even though she certainly wasn't good.

"Shepard, we're about three hours out from Omega."

Shepard almost jumped out of her chair, she had dozed off at her terminal while searching through some data feeds. "Thanks, make sure to dock at the docking bay closest to Afterlife."

"Got it."

Shepard stared down her terminal, reading the written contract to be Liara's 'watch'. Aria might've been a thug, but she was a glorified one, making sure everything was in 'writing' before she went through. As she got to the end and closed the terminal down, she couldn't help but wonder why she had been bothered to retrieve the scientist at all. What was the point of all that was going on. She fought the urge to go check on the asari in the other room. No, I can't show any sympathy towards her, she'll exploit it for weakness. She had wondered why her mind was so trailed to this asari, afterall she had been with a few other asari, so the excitement of 'exploring' a new species had long worn out. She started to chalk it up to kidnapping her, Shepard hated when she had to kidnap people, even if they were evil, Aria knew that if there was no justification as to why Shepard wouldn't do it. However Liara wasn't evil, not that she could see at least, Aria had even said she wouldn't be sent to slavers. Shepard wanted to know so bad as to what was going on. She made a note of it to be on her top list of questions when she docked. Shepard began to shake the thoughts from her head. She was beginning to turn back to the terminal when she heard a loud thud come from the bathroom. With an instance shepard flipped around her chair and ran to the door that connected her room to the bathroom.

Shepard began to laugh, but when she saw the flash of embarrassment and anger pull into Liara's face in the form of purple shade, she straightened her face out and began to maneuver closer. Liara pulled away trying to cover her body up. Shepard began to turn a shade of pink before she realized why the asari was so embarrassed. The asari was naked, apparently trying to exit the shower. "I slipped and fell, probably because of these restraints around my ankle." She sounded far away and almost like a little kid. Shepard reassured her. "Don't worry I won't peak, promise." Shepard smirked, then headed back through her jointed side of the bathroom. "I would prefer that you exit." However Shepard didn't budge, just turned around so that the asari could put on some clothes. Liara felt a bit disconcerted that she had kind of wanted Shepard to peak. She didn't have to peak though, when she walked back in with a towel, she caught all of the asari's body, and couldn't pull her eyes away. Liara blushed feeling Shepard's eyes searing her body. Shepard threw the towel downto her and turned away rushing out the room.

"Shepard wait!" She bellowed,her face wiped with embarrassment, Liara now securely wrapped inside of her towel. "Would it be too much to ask for something clean at least until I can get my uniform cleaned, if that is possible?" Her voice faltered a bit, she hated having to ask such a pitiful thing. Shepard, stone-faced trying her best not to sympathize with the captive.

"Sure."

"Thank you." But before Shepard could even hear her she had already grabbed the scientist jumpsuit and took it to wash.

She sat there, naked and a little cold, however before the feeling could set in Shepard had came back with a shirt and some pants.

"I hope you like alliance military clothing."

"These are yours?"

Shepard shrugged, "Yea, the shirt might be a little loose but you should feel those pants out just nice." Liara's eyes widened and so did Shepard after realizing what she had said. They stood there, staring at each other for a moment until Liara decided to speak, her face still not completely void of the blush that had occurred.

"Shepard… Do you mind?" Shepard jolted back to life. "Oh yea, sorry 'bout that." She mumbled then turned for the door, turning her shoulder slightly. "We'll be at Omega in about two hours, you can have your uniform back then."

"Thank you Shepard."

Shepard nodded and turned for the door.

For an hour Shepard laid on her bed contemplating everything her eyes and mind had absorbed. She couldn't understand why she was so sympathetic towards the captive; she had captured many people for Aria, but none of them quite this intelligence, or even worth capturing Shepard had to admit to herself. They were all some scum that someone had a bounty on. But this was different. This was matriarch Benezia's daughter, or at least that's what she had heard from some of the crew on the vessel, and Aria herself. Shepard wondered what this was all about, but she began to think about not asking; she knew the less she knew later, the better it would be on her. She also couldn't help but feel the more she knew, the more she would probably talk herself into 'doing the morally sound thing'. Shepard wasn't as bad as everyone had thought of her, she had a past that was marked with heroism even in her darkest light. But those days were over, Sheaprd shook the thoughts from her head, she hated feeling this way. Weak. She hated the thought.

Liara couldn't help but wonder how Shepard could have procured the clothing. "Could it be that, that woman in there had actually been part of the Alliance. No surely not." Liara sat, trying to piece what little she could about the vague character of Shepard. She felt a bit weird realizing she was spending so much time trying to figure out who her captor was, instead of trying to find a way to escape. Her captor just seemed to make everything feel so.. comforting. Liara wrinkled her nose up in disgust of her thoughts.

Eventually the ship edged closer to docking, Shepard headed for Liara's room. "Here, you should put these back on." She threw the simple white and green uniform to her. Liara bounced out of her thoughtful daze.

"Have we reached Omega?"

"Just get dressed." Shepard was mindful of Liara's biotics this time, putting another biotic barrier clamp around her other wrist, then shackles on her wrists and ankles. Shepard shrugged as Liara evaluated the chafing cuffs. "Boss's protocol." Liara rolled her eyes and they headed into the doors of afterlife, and instead of upstairs where Shepard usually took her packages back to Aria, she headed off to a small office, tucked away in the main level of the club.