The man who had introduced all the new operatives to the program, Nullan Davids, had a pretty nice welcoming speech, but that meant nothing to Valentine. Speeches were fine, but they didn't do much. You want to pump some soldiers up for war? Show them the damage the creatures they were fighting caused. Speeches are nothing but talk. If you want to prove yourself, you have to walk the walk.

That's why fighting is so great. It solves so many problems in one person. It's a great stress-relief, for one. It can either help or hinder people, which can be both positive and negative depending on who you're fighting for. And it proves something. Strength. The weak don't deserve respect, only the strong do. Fighting was a great way to figure out who deserves that respect, and who doesn't.

So the second Nullan informed them what they would fighting against, training to kill, she was on board. Reapers and Cerberus. How could she not say yes to killing these bastards? She had reasons to hate both of them. The Reapers were killing humans, turians, quarians, everyone… and they were turning them against one another. Then there was Cerberus. She was never fond of them, even before they went crazy with power after that Commander Shepard blew up the Collector base, and ditched the terrorists.

Obviously, it was going to be easy, but she didn't really care about that. She's not really the type to worry. She always left that to her parents, or Feros. Worrying only hurt her game. Besides, her step-dad wouldn't put her in this program if he didn't think she could handle it.

However… with all good news, there's bad news. Always is, always has been. It was like some kind of life rule. So where the good news was she would get to kill both Reapers and Cerberus, the bad news was she was going to be in a team, under the leadership of a Turian flirt. She didn't know which of these other operatives were going to be in her team, she was just begging she wouldn't be stuck with someone that would get in her way.

"N7 Elite Leaders, stand in position." Nullan ordered. Immediately, Serelles and Achilles left her side, moving to the front of the room. Six people stood with Nullan, looking out into the crowd of operatives. One by one, Nullan introduced them.

"Leader of team Delta, Serelles T'riion." The asari bitch stood tall, her face absolutely stoic, as it had been all day.

"Leader of team Thannex, Achilles Sparatus." He grinned, his sharp teeth showing and causing his grin to look somewhat… crazy.

"Leader of team Chimera, Nectro Veros." A batarian. The left side of his face was completely burned, but to be honest, she barely even noticed a difference between him and a normal Batarian. Ugh, the one species Valentine loathed with her entire being. He stood proud, but he looked filthy, just like all of his kind. She couldn't believe one of them was an N7 leader, let alone allowed in the N7 program at all. They were murders, slavers, mercenaries, and criminals.

"Leader of team Thresher, Urdnot Axxe." The next leader was a Krogan, and a badass one at that. He smirked at the crowed, letting out a rough chuckle. He was covered in scars. Three, in particular, stood out to her. She recognized the shape and the depth as Turian talons. They ran over his dark grey crest, falling down and just barely managing to avoid his stark white eyes. She wondered at first if he was blind, but the pupils informed her they were just unusual white eyes. He wore bloodpack armor, but that didn't surprise her. The N7 was clearly desperate. They had been calling in batarians for Godsake. Mercenaries weren't a problem compared to those slimy bastards. Though she would have loved to be in team Thresher with the Krogan as her leader, she was just glad she wasn't stuck with that Batarian, Nectro.

"Leader of team Atlas, Rio Bilene." The next leader was a Salarian. She had seen a lot of Salarian's throughout the Citadel. They were smart. She wasn't surprised he was an N7 Special Ops Leader. Though she was surprised at how tall he was. Seriously, the guy stood at six'five, maybe even more. He was the tallest Salarian she had seen. And the pinkest. He was pink. That was a bit unusual. Valentine wasn't too sure if that was natural, or happened because he had been on some planet with a strong sun, but it was pretty… interesting. Certainly brought a smile to her lips. She couldn't imagine what Cerberus would think going up against a pink Salarian.

"And leader of team Optic, Misako T'Veer." The last leader was another Asari. She looked much more generic than Serelles, with blue skin (scales, whatever) and maroon markings. She definitely looked friendlier and more open than Serelles.

And that was it. Only six leaders. All aliens. To think that N7 used to be a pure human operation. Don't get her wrong, she liked aliens. Her mom, or rather, her dad's wife, was a turian. It was a good kind of different, but it was definitely showing that they were desperate.

"When I call your name, come up here and stand by your leader." God, what were they in, grade school? Valentine rolled her eyes at how the commander was handling this.

"Team Delta. Geralt Smith," A human male walked forth and joined the high-strung Asari. At first glance, Valentine figured he was almost as cold and prickly as Serelles. He had black hair that passed his ears by an inch, olive skin, and an N7 tattoo on his neck, only slightly covered by his hair. He had muscle, and looked tough, but something about the way he walked… Valentine knew he wasn't exactly friendly and overjoyed.

"Nathaniel Grove." The human that walked forth wasn't really human, actually. He was mostly cybernetic, which was something you don't see too often. His right eye was covered in a mechanical eyepatch, and his right arm was cybernetic. He had black dreadlocks that fell to his shoulders, a dark grey left eye, and dark skin.

"... and Varieie'Shoreh nar Raaya vas Allerai." Another Quarian, a female this time, with a stark white suit and matching visor. She didn't walk like the other two before her did, with determination and strength. She sort of… skipped. Well, hurried, really. She looked incredibly nervous.

"Team Thannex. Valentine Sanders-Bailey." She was wondering if she should walk up, or make a run for it. Sure, she had always wanted to be in the N7 program, but now that she was being forced to do it… the rebellious teenager inside her wanted to get the hell outta here. Of course, she wasn't a teenager anymore.

Even if she was going to run, she wouldn't be able to. Achilles had strutted down to her, and grabbed her forearm, pulling her back to the front. God, she hated being pulled around. She had half a mind not to toss him around the room. Unfortunately, he was definitely stronger than she was. She could tell just by his grip on her arm.

The thought even crossed her mind to simply go limp. To fall to the ground like she was dead, and make Achilles pull her unmoving body just to make things harder for him. Though she was entirely against being forced to do something, even if it was something she wanted to do, she wasn't stupid enough to embarrass herself like that. It'd probably be amusing, though.

As she stood at Achilles' side, she looked out onto the crowd of the operatives she would be fighting with. It was… well, it wasn't what she was expecting. Though to be honest, she had no clue what she was expecting. The N7 official program was just for humans. Then the Reapers came, and Cerberus starting attacking, and then the N7 Special Operations Task Force was started. It was unofficial, and thus allowed aliens to join in the fight… so she didn't know what she was expecting.

The crowd was mostly humans, but there were a few Asari, two more Quarians, another Krogan, another Salarian, a Drell, and a Turian. Surprisingly enough… there were also two geth. The entire crowd just looked like a big band of misfits. There were people of every personality and every class here. Those that stood tall and strong, those that fidgeted and bit their lips, and those that were barely containing themselves from jumping up and down with grins on their faces.

"Zarik'Korris vas Qwib-Qwib nar Shellen," Nullan continued calling names, and one of the Quarians of the crowd walked forth. His visor was black, with the gleam of his eyes striking in white, and his suit was blood red. He was unusually muscular for a Quarian, and he also seemed unfriendly. He moved to stand next to her, never even sparing her a glance.

"and Elias'Beraforte nar Raaya vas Rannock,"Another Quarian, though she figured as much from his name. Unlike the one that joined before him, he was lanky, with a green suit and white stripes on his hood. There wasn't really anything to differentiate him from any other Quarian, since their faces were always hidden by a tinted visor. It always puzzled her why they didn't use clear visors. Maybe it was some religious thing not to show their faces or something.

"Team Chimera. Rosalia Amaro," The first human woman, besides herself, stepped up and took her place by the Batarian. She was petite, but also seemed a bit muscular. She had short chocolate brown hair that fell just down to her shoulders, and bright blue eyes. She actually seemed kinda short, but she walked proudly enough that Valentine recognized she would do alright.

"Vincent King," Another human, a man this time, walked forth. He had dark, olive skin, and a shaved head that left a black stubble behind. His eyes were both dark brown, but upon closer examination, Valentine saw the tell-tale signs of a contact in his left eye. He looked much more laidback than the other men here.

"And Talon Karrde." The lone Drell of the crowd was the last to join the Batarian's team. She hadn't seen many Drell in her life, but he was definitely different than the others. His throat was wine red, which was normal… but the rest of his skin was a silver-green. It looked, well, strange to say the least. He was always wearing what seemed to be an antique duster.

"Team Thresher. Delta," One of the Geth moved quickly to stand near the Krogan. He was a standard Geth, with white plates and wires. The only thing she could see that differentiated him from the others was the green light that replaced what was normally red. It was shocking to find a Geth wanting to work with them. She had heard about Commander Shepard working with a Geth, but for the N7 to work with two of them… it just shouted that they were desperate even louder.

"Asallia Rehearted," Another Asari dashed over. As she stood next to Axxe and Delta, she avoided eye contact with the crowd, instead choosing to stare at her feet and fidget. She had dark purple skin, with bright pink markings swirling around her eyes, and falling in artistic curves down her cheeks. She was very lanky, and unusually flat-chested for an Asari. From the side, she practically looked thin as a datapad.

"And T.J Montgomery." Another human male. He had messy, raven black hair that was swept behind his ears, out of his face, and dark chocolate brown eyes with tan skin. Unlike some of the other men, he was a bit lankier, though still muscular.

"Team Atlas. Eons," The second Geth, much larger than the first, moved to stand by the unusually tall Salarian. Seeing the two of them standing next to each other was almost hilarious. Though the Salarian, Rio, was tall for his kind, Eons stood much taller and much wider. There was about a two foot height difference. This Geth's plates were blood red, and his eye optical was pure white.

"Thomas Fedrill," Yet another human guy. This one was awkwardly pale, with short, black hair and hazel eyes. Other than his paleness that made him look like he was dying, he looked pretty normal. He was muscular, and stood tall. Relatively average.

"And Michael Bauer." Another human male stepped forth to stand next to Rio and his team. He looked slightly similar to other guy; pale skin, but not as pale as Thomas, and shaggy black hair. Though Thomas was muscular, this guy was lean. Though he seemed to be the only one to be growing a beard, he was pretty average.

"Lastly, Team Optic. Kassus," The Turian moved to stand next to the more pleasant Asari, but there was something about him that had Valentine on edge. The way he walked was more like a stalk, like an animal stalking it's prey. He also had black plates, something she had only seen on two turians in her entire life. His face was left bare of any markings, though he did have strange blue lines flowing throughout his body. They weren't very visible on his plates, just a glazed blue glow, but they were brighter and more profound on the skin of his neck. Even his grey eyes showed some small blue lines wondering within the iris.

Something about him was different. Not unsettling, necessarily… it was exciting in a way. He was grinning like a maniac, and the vibe he gave off was… some sort of psychopathic joy. He reminded her of an old Krogan friend, which was weird to say about a Turian.

"Urdnot Rackam," The Krogan followed behind the Turian. He looked tough, as all Krogan did. His midnight blue crest was covered in scars, but none of them hit his face. His eyes were a dull orange. He was much bigger than the other Krogan in the room, Axxe.

"And Selion Zorhent." The last one standing was a Salarian. He was incredibly white, with light blue surrounding his eyes, though his eyes were grey. He was much shorter than Rio, and much lankier, as well.

That was it. There were no other operatives. Valentine was a little shocked by the lack of human females, but to be honest, she wasn't really expecting more. From what she could tell, this N7 Special Ops Squad was full of outcasts. Maybe that wasn't quite the right word, but none of the humans were really Alliance material, and all the aliens were working for what used to be an all-human program.

"Alright. You will all return to your homes and pack only what you absolutely need. In exactly one hour, report to docking bay D6. You will be boarding the Rebellion." Nullan explained, moving so he was standing where the crowd of operatives once stood, looking out to the newly placed teams.

"You will be training with your squad on the Rebellion, where there is a full level with a training ground. Aboard the ship will be your advisor and captain, Deraan Jones. Missions will be given to him for him to assign. These missions may be against Geth, Reapers, Cerberus, or even standard mercenaries. Your job is to follow Captain Jones' orders to the smallest detail. Should you ignore these orders, you will be kicked out on the next shore leave and not assigned another mission until then. It is up to Captain Jones to decide how to dispatch the missions." The way he dulled through this speech was like he was reciting instructions he had read a million times before. Valentine idly wondered if he wrote a script and memorized it.

"Now, go get your absolute necessities. Report to docking bay D6 in exactly sixty minutes or you will suffer the consequences." Nullan finished.

Thanking God that it was finally over, Valentine let out a sigh, before setting off to the doors she came through. Unfortunately, though not unexpected, Achilles followed her. The second she was out the door, she turned around to face him with a raised eyebrow and a frown.

"Sorry, Val. Anderson's orders." Achilles apologized, though he didn't seem very sorry.

"Okay, no. No, no, no. Do not call me 'Val'." Valentine demanded, emerald eyes narrowing into a glare at the name, "Only friends call me that. Not my superior-slash-parole officer." She added with a growl.

"'Superior-slash-parole officer'… hm…" He grinned again, sharp and pointy teeth on display, "Sounds kinda hot."

After staring at him for a long moment, she sighed and turned around, already heading back towards the elevator. She didn't think there would be perverts in this program. It was a relatively strict program from what she had heard, and from the soldiers she had seen. It was a wonder how this dirty-minded Turian became an elite.

"You're a whore." She muttered as she continued walking, hoping he wouldn't respond or pull rank on her. She always had to have the last word, and that usually got her in trouble. Despite all her arrests and fights it caused, this little urge to have the last word never left.

Luckily for her, Achilles just let out a chuckle, and they continued on to her apartment in silence. It wasn't until she was at the door of her apartment inside the complex, her omnitool raised to unlock the door, that a question popped into mind.

"How did you and that asari bitch get in my room this morning?" She asked as she unlocked the door. She had pretty damn good security; a perk of being the daughter of the entire security of the Citadel. No one ever broke in, and only one even tried. It was some nameless batarian that wanted to kill her in her sleep. He couldn't get past her door.

A quarian friend of hers had personally set up her security system. Her dad was always worried someone would break in, so he had to make sure it was top notch. The door lock would electrocute anyone trying to hack into it. And that's exactly what happened to the batarian. He was fried.

Upon hearing her question, Achilles gave her a look that just seethed 'are you serious?' and let out a chuckle.

"We're N7 Elites for a reason you know. We could have hacked the system or asked a comrade to hack it." He told her, entering her room, this time some-what invited. She would still prefer he wasn't here, but at least he didn't break in this time.

"Could have?" Valentine inquired, questioning his choice of words as she walked upstairs, Achilles remaining in the living room.

"Admiral Anderson gave us the codes for our omnitools." He answered, examining the apartment.

It didn't really look like she was the stepdaughter of an Alliance admiral. There was nothing here to indicate she had any relation to the Alliance. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't posters hanging all over the walls. A few he recognized as movie posters for the 'Blasto' films, 'Fleet and Flotilla', and 'Whatever Suits You'- some romantic comedy about a Quarian and a Volus. The others he didn't recognize, but knew they were old human movies. Those ones were strange to him. A flying woman called 'Wonder Woman', a man dressed as a bat, and a guy wearing his underwear over tights. Humans were odd.

"Figures." Valentine snorted.

She had been digging through a pile of stuff she had pushed under her bed, and finally found what she was looking for; her pack. Once she had the bag, she began to cram stuff in it. Nulles and Serelles said the bare minimum of necessities. So she packed some clothes and duct tape, before rushing to her bathroom to shove what she considered necessities in. This included a little bit of makeup, toothbrush and toothpaste, a handheld mirror, and some girly-female-woman things. There was no way she was leaving without makeup and a mirror. She wasn't the most feminine person, but she looked dead without a little makeup.

Once she had everything she needed, she zipped the bag, tossed it over her shoulder, and headed back downstairs. Achilles was still staring at the old human movie posters with a puzzled expression. His eyes were currently roaming over a twenty-first century television poster of two guys kissing. He had a raised plate just above his left eye, a similar movement of a raised eyebrow, signaling his confusion.

"That's a poster for an old show that was on over a hundred years ago. I paid a shitload for that thing." Valentine informed him, moving to stand next to the confused Turian. She looked upon the old poster with awe.

"What is it for?" Achilles asked, wondering what the show was called. The title wasn't on the poster. She grinned at the question, as the show was a favorite of hers.

"'Supernatural'," She responded with a smile, "The hot guy on the left is a hunter that kills monsters and ghosts. The hot guy he's making out with is a fallen angel. This poster was expensive not only because it's nearly two hundred years old, but also because it's signed by the actors, and it was a limited edition poster." She grinned, seeming proud of the large piece of paper that hung on her wall.

"Ah," Achilles hummed, noticing how she gleamed up at the posters on the wall, "Anyway, are you packed? We only have twenty minutes to get there." He asked.

"Yeah. Ready to go." Valentine answered, gesturing to the pack she had slung over her shoulder. He nodded, then they turned to leave, the door locking behind them.

When they arrived at the docking bay, nearly everyone was there, looking out the windows to see the ship they would be boarding. When there was only five minutes left, everyone was there. At the end of the sixty minutes, the doors to the ship opened. Achilles left her side, and he and the other elites walked forth, into the ship. The rest of the operatives following.

Entering the ship, they found themselves in what appeared to be the training grounds. It was a large floor, and a dirt covered section at the very end of the room, blocked off by glass. She could assume that was the sparring grounds. There was workout equipment and dummies, as well as a small shooting range in the corner. It looked like a good training ground. Much better than the ones she had used in the C-Sec academy.

Though she never actually attended the academy, she often snuck in and sparred with some of the officers on their grounds. She was kind of excited to train here, though she didn't quite know what training entailed. They only said they would be sent on missions and have training when they weren't on missions. They never mentioned what training would be.

It was then that a man stepped up, clad in the Alliance soldier uniform.

"I am Deraan Jones, Captain of the Rebellion. I will be assigning you missions, and nothing else. Your training will be regulated by your team leaders." The man spoke, standing in front of the crowd, "There are only three levels you are allowed on, unless given permission by your leader or myself. These levels are the shuttle bay, where you will suit up and arm up for your mission; the training ground, where we are now; and the crew deck, where you will find the cafeteria, your beds, and the restrooms. Report to the crew deck now and get settled in. Your leaders will instruct you from there. Dismissed." With that, he walked into the elevator, heading up to the CIC.

With a sigh, everyone made their way to the stairs, some moving to wait for the elevator to return. They made their way up to the next floor, the crew deck.

"Womens quarters are on the left. Males on the right. The restrooms are directly across your quarters. The Geth will be residing in the males quarters if they so please." Serelles stated once they were all in the cafeteria of the crew deck.

"Pick a bed and put your stuff in the locker." Misako added.

"When you're done, report to the training grounds." Achilles continued.

"Then the fun will start." Axxe grinned.

After being dismissed, the elite leaders heading down to the training grounds, the operatives made their way to their respective quarters. Valentine was the first the in the women's quarters, and made haste to claim the top bunk nearest the window. Asalia claimed the bunk just below hers. Rosalia took the top on the bed next to hers, with Varieie'Shoreh, who had asked they just call her Varie, taking the bed under Rosalia. The last bunkbed set was left for Serelles and Misako.

Once they had claimed their beds, they opened the lockers that were placed in front of them. Some of them took their time to neatly shash their stuff, others just crammed it in, shut the door, and left. Valentine was one of the others.

She hurried down to the training grounds, grinning from ear to ear when she saw Achilles was standing in front of the sparring zone. She quickly walked over to him, hoping to god that her team would be sparring against one another. Today wasn't so bad after all, it seems.

So please forgive me for any errors! I have some very unfortunately super-feminine friends that decided to do something to me while I was sleeping. They didn't draw on my face. They glued fake-nails on my fingernails. This makes typing a little weird, as they are nearly a damn inch long and wont cut or break.

So let me know of any errors and I'll try to fix them~

Also, here's the squad sheet:

Team Chimera-

Leader: Nectro Veros (Sentinel)

Squad:

-Rosalia Amaro (Vanguard)

-Vincent King (Infiltrator)

-Talon Karrde (Adept)

Team Delta-

Leader: Serelles T'riion (Adept)

Squad:

-Geralt Smith (Soldier)

-Nathaniel Grove (Infiltrator)

-Varieie'Shoreh nar Raaya vas Allerai (Engineer)

Team Thresher-

Leader: Urdnot Axxe (Adept)

Squad:

-Project Delta (Soldier)

-Asallia Rehearted (Adept)

-T.J Montgomery (Vanguard)

Team Thannex-

Leader: Achilles Sparatus (Soldier)

Squad:

-Valentine Sanders-Bailey (Adept)

-Zarik'Korris vas Qwib-Qwib nar Shellen (Engineer)

-Elias'Beraforte nar Raaya vas Rannock (Infiltrator)

Team Atlas-

Leader: Rio Bilene (Infiltrator)

Squad:

-Michael Bauer (Engineer)

-Thomas Fedrill (Vanguard)

-Eons (Soldier)

Team Optic-

Leader: Misako T'Veer (Adept)

Squad:

-Kassus (Adept)

-Urdnot Rackam (Soldier)

-Selion Zorent (Sentinel)