"Shitshitshiiiiit."

Klin pounded across the chalky soil, the incline of the ground giving him some more accelerator. Ahead, there was a line where the ground seemed to not quite align - a steeper drop. A slender figure overtook him sprinting for the slope ahead. Teel'Shuran was uttering a long winded quarian epithet as he booked along. Klin pushed harder as something bellowed behind them. There was the sound of splintering stone and Klin heard the shrapnel bounce of his armour's cowl.

The pair dove over the lip of the incline and hit loose gravel. The half slid, half fell down the hill. A few moments later the slope-face above them exploded as a serpentine creature smashed out of the ground. Chalk dust and stone rained around the pair. Klin reached out and grabbed the smaller quarian and dragged him to the left, where the pair scrambled off. They didn't break pace as they hit the more level ground of the valley below.

Around them, the scenery was sparse, with just boulders and scrub to speak of as cover. They continued to run. Behind them, the dust cleared enough to show a worm like creature, all tendrils and gaping, flapped mouth, writhing from the hole it had created in the incline.

"Damn threshers. Whose idea was this?"

"Oh you know…."

Teel growled as he powered along, "I swear, she has a thing for big serpent like things. Why. Why did we think this was a good idea."

"Because it's FUN!" Klin roared with joy and dragged the protesting quarian along. The thresher made a warbling noise and opened its maw, drawing itself up to vomit a glob of corrosive spit. A sudden explosion to its flank made it shriek and writhe, before pulling back into its hole.

"Oh Keelah, there he is, right on time."

A small vehicle sat on a ridge a couple of hundred metres away - it was essentially a stripped down MAKO, open topped. The pair reached it in record time and clambered in. The human driver offered them a curt nod.

"Cutting it fine, boss man."

"Think I judged it fine, Klin. You can use the exercise. You alright Teel?"

"Yeah, thanks LT."

Dan Sharrocks nodded again then thumbed towards the turret, a pintle mounted rotary cannon and mass driver in one. Klin chuckled deep in his throat and took hold of the grips, swivelling the weapon to test it. Dan blinked and thumbed a switch in front of him to de-link the turret from his visor.

"All yours lad. Now, we've got a delivery to make."

He gunned the engine and spun the vehicle 180 degrees and slammed it forward. Teel sagged in his seat, then hefted his rifle, looking out. He gasped and pointed.

"Target 9 o'clock. Damn it's fast."

Sharrocks grunted and swerved. To their left, the thresher broke ground and spat. A stream of corrosive bile scorched the soil near them, but missed.

"Nay bad a specimen. Klin, keep the bugger off us as best you can. Within reason. Don't need to cause a mess."

The vehicle powered across the bumpy terrain, towards a low collection of artificial constructions - containers and a makeshift landing pad. The small encampment was set on a narrow sliver of land that jutted out from the plateau that the trio were currently across. In the distance, in the harsh light of the planet, similar mesa formations could be seen: the product of some ancient glacial movements. Another splash of noxious green sizzled through a boulder ahead of them. Sharrocks grimaced.

"Clever bugger. Trying to lead its shots."

"They never used to do that," growled Klin. He let out a rolling laugh and fired a blast from the cannon, rocking the MAKO with the recoil; a rock formation shattered into pieces, showering the surfaced thresher with sharp fragments. It squealed again and dove back into the ground, smashing into view again like a wave on their flank, before sinking back into the soil

"Steady Klin, let it keep pace."

The Krogan chuckled again, "'s why I hit the rock, boss."

Sharrocks squinted ahead of them and swore, then yanked hard on the steering column. The thresher erupted into view ahead of them, it's flanks rippling.

"Shit! Klin!"

Klin growled and swung the turret firing a mass rocket straight into the beast's' face. It shrieked again, but the acid sprayed mostly harmlessly into the air as it reared up. Droplets splashed against the hull, sizzling on the metal. Teel lunged forward, unhooking an extinguisher from a harness, blasting at the sizzling metal with a liberal amount of foam. it was laced with omnigel, to counter the various mucus and acids currently trying to digest their vehicle's armour. Sharrocks pulled the buggy in a large, juddering, loop around the thrashing beast and slammed the accelerator, barreling the MAKO towards the jutting escarpment of land.

The thresher wasn't so easily deterred and lunged into the ground after them. Teel stared, slack jawed.

"How does it move like that? The rock around here is heavy calcium deposits. It's rock. I mean, soil, maybe, but small worms take ages to move through things. How is a fifty tonne worm doing that?"

"We live in a galaxy where you fought giant spaceships that wanted to eat you and turn you into mushy computer bits," Klin grinned at his friend, "And the child of Kalros bothers you?"

The quarian shrugged; he was still in a full enviro-suit, so his grimace wasn't exactly visible. Dan stayed silent and aimed for the edge of the camp, whilst keying the comms, the vehicle apaprently managing to find every pothold and divet in the ground.

"Rogila, hope you're ready. I got one shot."

"Shame it's not me down there then. You'd be certain."

"Rogila."

"You know you can rely on me, hun. Just… don't miss, ok?"

Klin looked ahead.

"Uh, boss. Where's the ship?"

"Well, we can't exactly have a ship sat whilst we bring our goods into the LZ now can we?"

Klin and Teel shared a glance, then both flung themselves to the deck of the vehicle and braced themselves.

Dan angled the vehicle towards the landing pad, which had not only a ramp leading up to it, but an apparent uplift to its edge. The sounds of splintering stone behind them indicated that the Thresher was gaining.

Klin grinned madly whilst Teel closed his eyes.

"Ohhh shiiiiiiiii-"

The buggy was suddenly airborne. There was a shriek as the thresher pursuing them ran smack into a buried plate of steel, concleaed in the centre of camp. Sharrocks triggered the mass effect thrusters to maintain, temporarily, their momentum as, suddenly, a ship rose in front of them, angling itself sharply to align an open cargo door. The buggy seemed to float for a moment, then gravity noticed what was happening and yanked hard. The vehicle dipped, but the thrusters and momentum meant they slid, almost neatly into the cargo hold of the ship. The buggy skidded and slammed, hard, into a bulkhead.

Sharrocks flicked his comm again.

"Aboard, punch it."

The ship lurched as it corrected itself, the cargo door sliding shut with a reassuring clang. Dan flicked up his omni tool and patched into the external cameras.

"C'mon… work."

On the small mesa below, things seemed still. The ship came around low to face the mini plateau. All seemed quiet, then with a fountain of dirt, the thresher erupted forth. It was clearly hurt, with traced lines of luminous blood leaking from numerous wounds. Dan grinned, almost wolfishly. As the creature waved from side to side, regarding this strange, floating metal beast, there were several flashes behind it. The arch earth bridge connecting the escarpment and the plateau practically dissolved in a series of explosions. Around the monster came the hum of fields coming to live, as a faint blue cylinder lit up around it, or rather, around a large area around it. Sharrocks sagged.

"Brilliant. Target secure. Let the boss lady know the package is ready for pickup."

"Nicely done hun. You sure that it can't just dig down?"

"Pretty sure. Watch."

The monster seemed aware that its options were limited and sunk from view. The fields rippled as they were clearly tested below the surface. Then the ground erupted again as the monster arose and shrieked.

"Nice. You said you had the cage set up, but a wall isn't doing that."

"Those sonic pulses - Kas sent them over with the briefing, remember? Good way to lure them in. Well, also a good way to keep them at bay, right Klin?"

"Yeah, certain frequencies make 'em happy, hungry or real upset."

"Got Teel to amp them up and the miners set them up at the base of the camp before they bugged out."

"Huh, stuck it in there with the shield emitters. And here was me thinking you'd just rigged it to blow in case the shields didn't hold."

"Oh I did that too. After London, no firepower is too much."

"Hell yeah".

Klin and Teel shared a glance.

"Hell yeah."

Sharrocks snorted, then with a groan unbuckled himself, "Right, de-kit, stow it and we'll RV in the briefing room in ten. Rogila, do a quick scan and set us down near the base. Just in case baby thresher there has a friend."

Teel paused, "That thing's a baby?"

"Juvenile, probably crashed here, maybe about fifty years ago. Yeah, why?"

"They get bigger?!"

Klin laughed, "Oh buddy, I got a story for you…"

The ship rumbled as Rogila brought it around to land. As the other two trudged towards the narrow hatch, Sharrocks gunned the buggy to life and reversed it into a better position, then engaged the docking clamps. Another mission down. Hopefully enough to pay for the fuel filter refit and some improvement on the stabilisers. He allowed himself a little grin. Capturing a thresher - that'd be one for the Regimental Association next time. With a wince for his bruised ribs, he hopped out of the buggy and trudged after his "lads".

Ten minutes later, they were assembled in the supposed briefing room. Truth told, it was the rec room. Which was also the kitchen. Through a hatch were the "living" quarters, two rooms with bunks, along with the shower facilities and a private terminal room. All these were arrayed along a spinal corridor that led into the rec room and up to the cockpit. The rec room had the culinary bits on one side, with a bolted in table a wall-mounted bench on one side and a few chairs on the other.

The ship itself was an old Turian and Salarian design, mainly for civilian use by prospectors. The cargo hold below them held the buggy and enough room for several supplies. They had kept the gunmetal grey decor. A monitor was mounted on the wall adjacent to the hatch to the cockpit.

Rogila was lounging on one of the sofas, smoking a cigarette. She'd taken to the human habit, For a Batarian, she was remarkably relaxed or at least gave the appearance of being.

Klin was preparing something large and probably primarily meat based at the cooking station. Teel was hunched in one of the chairs, lost in thought. Dan emerged from the quarters area and looked at them.

"Good job guys. Just got a ping from ' Sumi that the client is moving to retrieve. We got a twofer this time - the mining team for clearing the site and Sirta wants the Thresher to study."

Rogila frowned with her upper brows, "They're going to dice the thing up?"

"Well, it's that or we throw it back where we found it."

She shrugged, "Not a good way to go, being poked by needles. It didn't ask to land here."

"Impression I got was they wanted to do a bit more in depth study of the lifecycle. Something about not knowing enough about the species."

Teel looked up and laughed. He had changed into his "indoor" suit - looser and with just a face mask, "Because taking an incredibly hostile species and sticking it in a small container in a nice place will surely not backfire in any way." He saw their expressions, "What? It never does. Do you guys not watch movies?"

Dan shook his head, "Well, if it does, it means another job potentially. We aren't here to solve the galaxy's problems, not all the time. But we can help out and keep a roof over our heads."

Urdnot Klin turned around , holding what looked like a large sausage in his hands. He chomped down on the lump of meaty gristle and made a contented noise, "Hey, keeping busy, that's what we do. So what's the take sir?"

Dan still felt a little bit uncomfortable with the ranking, but then again he was the registered Captain. He didn't hold an Alliance rank anymore. Strange, he'd always thought he'd be career military and now look at him. Gentleman of fortune or something.

"With repairs and ammo, and factoring in the target, we're up 95,000 from the colony and 100,000 from Sirta for live capture of a Thresher. So not too bad. Factoring in 'Sumi's cut, and after we split pay we've got about an extra 75k to play with. Agree contractual split, we'll factor Sirta in as a bonus, plus use it to cover berthing fees and maybe an upgrade."

The other three shared grins. Not a bad haul. But it was feast and famine - they didn't take the nastier jobs and were definitely avoiding the usual bodyguarding duty. But the market was tightening as things were improving across the sectors.

"Good news as well, Kasumi has an update for us on something else, so could keep us busy. So, get some rack time. We'll be spaceborne in a few hours, whilst we sort comms and finalise things with the colonists and guarantee pickup from Sirta. Well done everyone. Again, ye make me proud."

Teel stood and headed back towards the cabins, whilst Klin continued munching. Dan climbed the steep stairway into the cockpit and sunk into the communication chair. The "bridge" wasn't huge, but had enough space for three positions - at the fore the pilot's chair, with haptic and holo displays, set a little lower in the cockpit. Set to the right and a little back was the co-pilot chair and gunnery position. And at the rear, at a ninety degree angle was the comm station, The entry to the cockpit was adjacent to the comm station, and directly behind the co-pilot chair. it was a little cosy. but still with enough room to manoeuvre around.

The former Lieutenant plonked himself into the comm chair and picked up the visor that was plugged into the terminal. As soon as he lifted it from its cradle, the terminal sprang to life, streaming data through the headset and onto the projected screens in front of him - transactions, confirmation details and co-ordinates. He'd gotten the initial data on his personal terminal but this felt more like his "office". He felt something behind him and glanced up. Rogila grinned down at him, her sharp teeth glinting in the orange light. She leaned down and rested her arms on the back of the chair.

"One of the weirder missions."

"Including the slog through the London underground?"

"That I refuse to count - nothing counts against that. Clean slate now we're out here. So what's the sneak-thief got for us?"

"Looks like a bit of a search op. Strange though - not flush on details and just a set of co-ordinates for an initial meet."

Rogila huffed, "Not like her to keep us in the dark. She gives us all the angles."

"Well, no rush, we've got five hours before Sirta rock up. Then dust off and we'll head for the system waystation, then relay it to… the Caleston Rift. RV co-ordinates indicate we're heading to the Typhon system. Even after that, we'll need prep time at one of the Terminus stations."

"Omega?"

"Nah, we can probably head to a refuel and resupply station in Hawking Eta. We'll see what Kasumi has first, as that will impact the choice. Gotta watch out fuel though."

"Ah, the quarian drives Teel got us seem to be holding up well."

"Yeah, gotta hand it to the lad, he knows how to squeeze the juice out of every bit of that core."

"So, we've got some time to spare?"

He glanced up at her and grinned, "Oh aye. And what did you have in mind?"

The batarian woman shrugged nonchalantly, "Weapon cleaning. Your gear needs some maintenance."

He chuckled and deactivated the terminal, wincing slightly as he rose. She arched her upper brows, but he waved away her concern, "Just a bruised rib. My parking could do with some improvement."

"Oh, so you are learning to tell jokes? Never thought I'd see the day."

"Ach, away an bile yer heid, ya wee Herry,"

Rogila snorted again and shook her head, then headed back down into the bowels of their ship. But not before making a rather suggestive gesture. He checked the system was idling and then followed. Squad leader he may be, but he was only human...

Ten hours later their Corvette, aptly named the Chancer, was drifting in orbit of Aite. Rogila was in the pilot's seat and Klin firmly planted in the gunner position. Teel was in the engine room, below them - the drive was, weirdly, set beneath the cabin deck, accessible via the cargo bay and an access hatch set into an alcove in the stairway to the cockpit.

The Corvette itself was a private human design - the engine core filtering up to a pair of nacelles that stuck out like wings from amidships, which could be independently angled, along with a pair of fixed propulsion jets to the rear, just above and to the side of the cargo access hatch.. Two turrets, mounted on the dorsal and belly of the vessel, coupled with a small missile pod a fore-facing cannon made it a bit of a bantam fighter. They'd never had to get into a straight up ship fight, but the gear was useful for ground support.

The ship itself was fairly squat and looked more turian in design than human, but still resembled some sort of drop ship from the old style science fiction movies that Dan remembered watching with his grandfather.

Sharrocks himself was at the comm terminal, which also doubled as the navigation station. So far, he could see the usual trade traffic and odd military patrol - this far out, things weren't too busy. That said, Aite was becoming a bit more of a hub. During the war, the Reapers had forcibly moved one of the planet's moons - notably, the one that was in chronic descent - and had re-stabilised its orbit. Clearly, they had planned on using the world for something, potentially post-harvest. Whatever that plan had been was now lost.

With the imminent (Or rather, century forecast) threat of planetary loss gone, Aite had re-opened as a viable colonisation and research destination. Several areas of the planet were marked as restricted by the Council for reasons unknown. All the public knew was that the geth had taken a particular interest in ensuring those sites were sealed. Now, the capital had been re-established at Adrasteia and a functional planetary council had been formed. It was more a trade body than anything else, but Aite was no longer quite the wild frontier it had once been, especially now that the quarian and geth were operating as the main landlords of this part of space.

They'd been sat in orbit at the designated lagrange coordinates for forty minutes now, waiting for confirmation of the beacon ping they'd been told to send out. Rogila flexed her arms into a stretch and Dan caught himself admiring the curve of her shoulders. Their gear maintenance session had been very productive. They'd certainly got it all sorted in record time.

Strange how things changed - from squad leader to… whatever he was now. The pilot turned and looked at him.

"Anything boss?"

He leaned back in the chair and ran a hand through his cropped hair, "Not yet. Wait..."

He frowned at his display then turned to Klin, "Got some contacts, three ships, just heading into range. Sensors indicate probably fighter class."

The Krogan checked his own readouts to corroborate the readings and gave a thumbs up "Yeah boss, three ships, geth fighters by the look of it. they're on line toward us."

Dan nodded, noting the three contacts, just angling across the planetary terminal. He nodded to Rogila, "Best warm the thrusters up."

Klin growled, "We've been lased."

Dan sighed - the risks of staying static plus potentially tangling with an opponent which had reaction times down to milliseconds. And no need to worry about things like user / machine interfaces. The ship vibrated as Rogila gunned the engines and angled the ship to face the three interceptors.

A ping chimed on the comm - Sharrocks flicked the comm-link to live. A stream of data sprawled across the terminal then set to a simulacra of a face - well, the flashlight head of a geth.

"Welcome, Dan Sharrocks, Lieutenant, Retired. Please form up with Sigma flight and proceed to co-ordinates designated. A landing pad has been prepared. Do not deviate from the path - we do not wish unwarranted attention."

Dan noted that other signals were being transmitted on a wide band , but not at them. But the messages seemed addressed to them - orders to stand down, surrender their vessel, not to resist.

"And if we refuse?"

"Then Vakarian Agent will be upset that we were unable to secure you passage and will likely refuse payment."

"You've got Kasumi?"

"We do not understand your query. We have been asked to bring you to a designated point. Vakarian Agent…. Kasumi will meet you there."

"Then why the mixed messages."

"For protection."

Like talking to a bundle of knots. Dan sighed, then turned to Rogila, "It's alright lass. The geth should be transmitting coordinates to the us. Patch them into the computer and we'll form up."

"Understood… sir."

She was uneasy. They'd been rescued by the geth on Earth, after encountering what was left of a Reaper. It was still strange though, meeting with the machine-people. They were like children in some ways - straightforward and interested, but also frighteningly perceptive. He heard Klin shift in his seat.

"Don't worry big man. I'm sure if it all goes wrong, you'll be able to take a few of the buggers with ye."

The Krogan chuckled, his purple crested head bobbing with the laugh, "You know me boss."

On the holo-display he saw the three insect like fighters take station around their ship. So, protection. But from who? The vessel vibrated again as the engines roared to life and they began their descent. Teel's head appeared at the hatch way. He looked non-plussed.

"Oh good. Geth. We in trouble?"

"Not yet. You still got some EMP grenades stashed though?"

"Does a Varren eat its own dead packmates?"

"Umm."

Klin looked over, "Only if they can't find a Vorcha first."

"Well, good. Keep 'em to hand, Teel. In a mo. Just. In. Case."

The ships rattled through the atmosphere, exploding through the clouds above a verdant plateau, replete with vast cascading waterfalls and large winged beasts soaring between the huge green mountains. Rogila, letting the ship fly according to the pre-destined path, gawped at the sight. She turned to Dan.

"Ok, after this, we're coming back here for shore-leave."

"Like the scenery?"

"By the ancestors, those mountains! You are getting dragged up one of those."

Klin was also staring, but was also trying to act aloof, "Seen one green planet, seen 'em all."

Teel looked a little queasy, "Ugh. Bugs. Pollen. Great."

"Nothing positive?"

The quarian mused, then shrugged, "I suppose the boyfriend wouldn't mind a visit. He does like the hiking side of things. Bit of a homebody myself."

The other three regarded him, then as one, cracked up. Dan even managed a wry grin. Teel sighed and folded his arms, "If you're quite done, looks like we're here."

The geth fighters were peeling off, disappearing into the distance into a different valley. The corvette was descending towards a landing pad set up near the edge of one of the plateaus - there was a facility set up here, with a few hover cars parked nearby. It looked more like a resort than anything, with many of the buildings looking fairly opulent. There were still several pre-fabbed buildings, stretching towards a sheer cliff the jutted up from the middle of the plateau and formed a second tiered spire, like a large rocky cake. A large lake dominated the other half of the plateau, but it too had a few floating pre-fabs anchored on it, with a connecting bridge between them and the main facility.

The landing pad was one of three, and the others were occupied with several shuttles and a single Mantis gunship. Their corvette dwarfed the other ships as it set down with a "thunk". Through the canopy, Dan spotted a familiar figure descending the steps from the main building which was set in front of the landing zones.

"Right all, let's go. Minimal gear. I think we're expected."

The four of them filed out of the cockpit - they were already fairly tooled up - combat fatigues and sidearms, but no armour. The quartet stood in the cargo bay while the doors hissed open, revealing their host.

Kasumi Vakarian grinned at them, her purple chin mark now coupled with a set of blue facial markings.

"Better late than never."

Dan walked up to her and grinned thrusting a hand out, "Good to see you Kas. And we were on time, thank you."

"Good point. But we had to make it look believable - loitering pirates, sudden security ambush, escorted to parts unknown. All very cloak and dagger, but hey, we do what we need to. And I know we sorted the contract already, but well done with the Thresher."

Rogila stepped forward and grinned, "What is it with you and giant snake things? Seriously?"

Kasumi let out a little squeal and hugged the batarian, "Hey you, still keeping him honest?"

"As if. Couldn't bend his rules if you tried, you know that. And I've tried."

"Using all your talents?" Kas winked.

Rogila grinned, "Ok… most of his rules."

Klin and Teel followed through, the former practically crushing the slight human in a Krogan-hug, "Shadow girl! Good to see you! No Reapers this time?"

Kas caught her breath after being deposited back down and managed to shake her head, then grabbed Teel for a hug, "So, how's the boy?"

The quarian blushed, "Oh, y'know. Settled in. Met the parents…" Rogila leaned forwards and chimed in:

"He's a homebody apparently."

Kasumi laughed and patted Teel on his shoulder, before threading her arm through the quarians, "Can't wait to hear about it. It's good to see you guys in the flesh, not via some checking account. Now, let's get inside. Got food all set up."

The ground headed up the steps, Dan glancing around, "What is this place Kas?"

"Old colony and resort, built then pretty much abandoned. Cerberus reclaimed it whilst they were running a few nasty little tests around here. An associate took possession recently and it's being renovated and re-opened. Right now, it's pretty secure and off the radar. probably not for long, but it's a good base of operations. Got a few people around, new residents, some staff and maintenance people. All vouched for. This planet's getting busier. Mainly though, it's my better half's security detail. We're setting this up as one of our actual offices!"

As if on cue, the wiry form a turian appeared at the main doors to the building, flanked by a human soldier. The scarred turian nodded to the small company.

"Welcome to Casa Vakarian. We're set up in the conference room, got you guys some billets set up here for after the briefing. Nice to see you again Dan."

Sharrocks nodded, "General Vakarian. Weren't expecting to see you, sir."

The Turian flared his mandibles, then chuckled, "Eh, you know how it is. You set up a security business with your wife, thinking it'll run itself while you sit on a driving range, but no, you get dragged from toe to tail feather of the galaxy…"

Kasumi swatted her husband and tutted, "Yeah, like you hate it. Ignore him. So, let's get this sorted."

"Why couldn't you just send us the details direct, Kas?" that was Teel, who was still alternating between checking his stripped down suit's settings and gawking at the planet. The former thief gestured for the group to head into a long room with a table set up in the middle, with a small buffet setup to one side.

"We're still monitoring the buoys and we can't be sure we wouldn't tip our hand. Even with some of the resources we can draw on, there are elements of uncertainty and we wanted to keep an element of control. Plus it looks less suspicious us meeting up on a cursory inspection."

"So… then why bother with the 'arrest' in orbit?"

Garrus followed the group in then nodded to the soldier accompanying him, "Thanks Sterling. Keep the boys on their toes, just in case. Oh, uh, that's easy - keeps anyone who might be watching, guessing. Are you here meeting us? Have we ticked off the geth? Plenty of false trails for them to chase down. And the geth are surprisingly up for these sort of things."

Kasumi shrugged, "They like messing with us."

Teel nodded glumly, "Until it gets out of hand." The Krogan snorted next to him and slapped his back. Kasumi took a seat in the chair at the head of the table, with Garrus leaning against a mini-bar to one side. She gestured for them to help themselves to the buffet and bar.

"So, first order, thank you for coming. We'll keep it brief, so you guys can actually, y'know, fuel up, get sorted and everything. I wanted you guys involved in this as you are the most reliable crew we have. Plus I can personally vouch for you. And that's important for our client."

Dan had poured himself a small scotch and sat down, "And who is the client this time? Seems a bit cloak and dagger for a colony op?"

Kasumi glanced at her husband who rolled his eyes, then punched a code into his omni tool. The lights dimmed and a holographic image appeared in the seat at the other end of the table - a man sitting down. The figure nodded to them.

"Good evening everyone. I'm Admiral Shepard."