Hey all! Thanks for all the views, favorites and follows! I think I am going to take a couple days break just so I don't burn out. I'll have a chapter up later in the week!

Induction

"Hey, Rebecca, time to get up," a taloned hand was shaking me awake a bit too vigorous for my liking, so I immediately swatted at the aggressor, inciting a laugh from my chaperone, who ignored my flippant gesture and continued to jostle me awake. "Come on, it's oh-eight-hundred hours. We're already getting a late start."

Eight o'clock in the morning? Fuck me. Can't a girl sleep in the first full day of her abduction for christ sakes? "Fuck off, Nihlus," I mumbled into my soft pillow.

"Wish I could, but I have a ship to run," the pride in his voice at the mention of his ship was almost adorable...almost. It was still too early for anything to be adorable. His hand retreated, so I snuggled into my cocoon further, but I should have known something was coming from the long beat of inactivity.

With no notice, the covers were snatched off of me and off the bed, leaving me lying on my stomach, and my pajama pants wedged in my ass crack from rolling around. Lovely, Shepard. I shivered at the sudden temperature change, moving only to turn my head and shoot daggers at Nihlus.

"I told you," was his only response as he threw the balled up sheet and comforter onto the shorter end of the love seat and began fixing the cuffs of what I could only describe as a tunic. It was similar to what Sencia was wearing just a bit more angular in cut, I guess to mimic how Male Turians were more angular than the females. The tunic itself was a rich dark black with silver fasteners across his chest. There was an blood red undershirt, that reminded me of a Human turtleneck that he wore under the main tunic, and his pants matched with red embellishments along the legs.

"Oh shut up," I groused and sat, immediately feeling cold on my breasts, where I shouldn't be feeling cold if I was- "Oh God!" I looked down and saw the peaks of my breasts poking out from under the raised hemline of my tank top. Immediately my hands shot to where the bottom of my shirt was, right beneath my armpits, and pulled the thin fabric back down to my waist. "Shit."

"What," Nihlus took a step forward, head tilted as he scrutinized me, "what just happened?"

"Well, you just saw me half naked," I drew my knees to my chest to block his intense that was zeroed in directly on my breasts. I was pretty sure that Nihlus was staring because he hadn't seen a pretty much toppless female Human before, and I was equally as sure that he wasn't turned on by seeing them either. Still, ingrained shame got the better of me and I had ended up calling more attention to it by freaking out.

"Oh...OH," he turned, head low to give me some semblance of privacy.

Too little too late, Nihlus, I took the opportunity to look down and make sure my nipples were no longer able to cut glass. Thankfully they had gone down, so I felt comfortable enough to swing my legs over to the side of the bed and stand.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize...I was...oh shit," Nihlus fumbling with his words was a hilarious thing to hear coming from someone who had seemed so cool and collected yesterday.

Bathroom, my eyes widened at the sight of the doorway off past the embarrassed Turian. I really needed to pee. I hadn't even thought about it last night due to being on such an adrenaline high, but now that I was calmer, bodily functions were taking back their normal schedules.

I padded over to where Nihlus was, standing in the perfect spot to be blocking the walkway to the bathroom, and shuffled between him and the dresser. The top of his dresser was lined with model ships, and I didn't want to jostle them, so I put a hand out on Nihlus' waist to steady myself as I moved between the Turian and the dresser.

I felt Nihlus still at my touch, and a large low rumble moved through him and up my arm as my hand moved around his waist. I thought it might have been surprise that I had initiated contact, seeing as how I hadn't done so yet, so I didn't bother to question him once I came out the other side and headed off quickly to the bathroom.

The bathroom was bare bones, a small lip to keep the shower water in a certain area of the tiled room, a toilet and a sink with a small cabinet. I took my time using the bathroom due to not having done so in a while. During the process, I heard Nihlus mumbling outside the closed door and wondered what was going on. Did I make him too late? Surely he can't get in trouble-it's his ship. I finished up and went to go wash my hands. Luckily he had soap.

I walked back out with a bit of pep in my step to find Nihlus pacing by the door. His pace was urgent and full of import. "What's up," I questioned as I quietly slid the bathroom door half closed behind me.

The Turian jumped a bit, probably not having heard me leave the solitude of the bathroom and turned to look at me, mandibles tight to his face. "Nothing," his commander voice was in full swing. "I just have to attend to some things. I'm going to have Plamus look after you today."

"Oh," I frowned. I was kind of excited to spend the day pseudo running the ship with Nihlus, and pretending to be in charge. However, I guessed shooting the shit with a group of Turian soldiers would be kind of fun. I could always share some of my mom's stories from when she was enlisted. "Okay, I guess that'd be cool."

"Good, he'll be here in a moment," Nihlus' voice seemed tight and strained, and I began to slightly worry that something was wrong either with the ship or my actions that had caused the sudden change in demeanor. He wasn't pacing anymore, but standing a good distance away hands folded across his chest, looking briskly from the floor in front of him.

Something is wrong for sure, the corner of my mouth twitched down as I watched his mandibles flutter slightly against his face, though not in the free and loose way their smiling seemed to be. More constrained and controlled. Almost as if he was grinding his teeth.

I was about to cajole him into sharing what was wrong, when there was a knock at the door. Nihlus jumped again, and headed immediately over to the door to allowing it to open by his proximity. Standing there on the other side of the door was Plamus, who was also out of his armor and in casual dress.

"I am needed elsewhere," Nihlus looked at his subordinate, trading green stare for green stare. "Keep her safe," he ordered, walking out of the room briskly toward the elevator, not even sparing me a glance.

Well fuck you, too, buddy. The other corner of my mouth followed suit to complete the frown. Plamus looked at me with that same intense stare as from when I first saw him without his helmet. Eventually he blinked, and his mandibles fluttered into a smile. "So, how are you feeling today...Rebecca?"

"Yeah, you got it," I nodded and forced a grin though I was still a bit peeved by Nihlus' behavior. "I'm feeling okay...a bit hungry but not quite ready to eat yet. Too early."

"Okay, well we have a kitchen on deck three, just let me know when you're hungry," he motioned to for me to go through the door. "For now, I was going to take you to deck four to spend some time with the guys."

I headed through the door toward the elevator, socked feet patting lightly on the metal below me. I didn't think shoes would be necessary-being on this ship was just a very sci-fi version of being stuck at home. Plamus followed behind me, much in the same fashion Nihlus had. Two steps behind me to the right.

The button of the elevator clicked quietly as I pushed the down button. I looked over my shoulder at Plamus, his bone colored plates over the light tan of the skin on his neck was quite pleasing to look at, as was the blue markings painted around his eyes.

I wonder if its some sign of respect or something... I gave the green eyed Turian a smile and turned back around right as the doors opened. We piled into the elevator, and set course for the fourth floor.

"You wanna try sparing, Human," my eyes narrowed slightly at the fact that no matter how many times I had tried to tell Marter that my name was 'Rebecca' that he still decided to call me 'Human'. At the same time however, I was excited I was asked to join in on what seemed to be a very important part of Turian culture.

When we had arrived down on deck four, Faustis and Fadimia the engineers had been sparring with Desius and Voruns from the away team. It was fascinating to watch, the visual component was almost beautiful. It was like a very intense dance, the female favoring flexibility and reach over the power and speed minded males. The auditory component was the only thing slightly throwing me off. The roaring was equally as jarring from both male and female components, and added an element of ferocity that made me wonder if it was actual sparring.

After the engineers had had their fun, it was left to the soldiers to continue on and "show me how it's done". They went harder on each other than they had on the engineers. More punches thrown, more dirty hits made amidst curses and laughter. It was fun to watch, I'd give them that. A couple of hours had passed of me just watching them before Marter even broached the question.

"I don't know," I responded wringing my hands together nervously. "I'm squishy compared to you guys. I bruise." Marter laughed and clapped me on the back hard, causing me to lurch forward a bit.

"Oh...sorry...guess you're right." He quickly withdrew his hand as Plamus shot him a death stare. He had told me that Nihlus' orders were to keep me 'in the same condition he left me in', and I guess Marter's show of camaraderie was a bit too forceful for Plamus' liking.

"Well," I hopped off my spot on one of the supply crates and walked over to the sparring ring. If you go slow and like...halve the intensity you give the engineers, I think I'll be okay."

"Are you sure," Plamus' multi-tonal voice rang with doubt and worry. Probably because he was worried I'd get damaged and then Nihlus would take it out of his ass. I didn't want Plamus to get into trouble, but if Nihlus didn't want me anywhere near danger, danger is where I wanted to be. I was still irked about how he had treated me this morning.

"I'll be fine, whoever I fight just has to pull their punches and avoid my head, wound and all." Plamus' mandibles tightened to his face and I knew I had won.

"Alright, let's get to this," Voruns, the tallest one clapped his hands together, and pushed himself away from the crate he was leaning on. "Lady's choice. Who's it going to be, Rebecca?"

Who indeed? I started running through my options. Plamus would be the safest choice as he'd go easiest on me to avoid trouble with Nihlus. Voruns would be difficult because I barely came up to his mid chest, and his arms were freakishly long. Brutter, or Peeps as I had started calling him much to his dismay, was my second choice as he had the slowest reaction time, though he hit the hardest. Marter I just wanted to punch for calling me 'Human', but he was the best fighter, and Desius, the quietest one was all reflex, and I knew I probably wouldn't get a single hit in.

After weighing my options for a moment I pointed at Brutter. "Come on, Peeps, you're up."

"Stop calling me that," his voice betrayed his embarrassment at the nickname.

"Not until Marter stops calling me 'Human'."

"Not a chance," Marter laughed. Brutter groaned and rose, heading into the makeshift ring of supply crates and boxes, and stood opposite me.

"Remember," I pointed at him, and then at my wound. "No hitting my head."

"No hitting at all, preferably," Plamus offered from ringside. Brutter shook his head at him, and then locked his yellow eyes with me, nodding that he understood.

"Game on," Marter called out and immediately Brutter's stance changed, his shoulders rolled forward, and his weight shifted to his toes, looking almost like a cat starting to arch it's back.

I brought my fists up into boxing stance, my right fist guarding my face, and my left one out ready to strike. I had been in my fair share of fights back at home, and nine times out of ten I came out the victor. My only loss had been from fighting a kid two grades above me that had about a hundred pounds on me as well.

Brutter cracked his neck, roared, and advanced, doing a straight up monster walk out of an eighties slasher flick. I nearly pissed myself but I managed to keep control of my bladder, and began shifting my weight from foot to foot, hoping that keeping my momentum going would make it easier to dodge him.

The black plated Turian reached out at throat hight going for the immediate put down. I bent my knees, put my weight on my toes and leaned back as far as I could go, doing my best recreation of Neo in the Matrix. When I was nearly parallel with the floor I rolled my left shoulder forward, rotating my torso to the side and popped up on the other side of his arm. I took both my hands to the back of his shoulder and shoved with every ounce of my strength, hoping to move him along with his momentum.

Brutter stumbled forward a couple of steps causing our audience to let out various exclamations of surprise. Brutter himself grumbled, turned and headed my way again this time keeping low and weaving from side to side.

Still guarding my face, I hunched myself down and did my best to circle around to his side, but he wasn't having it. He knew I couldn't beat him standing, and my game was to get him on the floor. His dark mandibles flickered into a smile, he knew he had me, but I wasn't going to make it easy for him.

The only thing I could think to do, was surprise him enough that I could get a hit in-just one. That's all I wanted and after that, fuck it. We were still circling each other, getting further from the center of the circle, and I was at the point that I was nearly backed into the shipping boxes. So, I made my move:

I screamed. A full on 'R Lee Ermey-Show-Me-Your-War-Face' battle cry, no inhibitions, no fear of looking stupid. My war cry echoed throughout the hanger, in an impressive show of the force behind it.

Brutter paused at the unexpected display, and that was the only shot I needed. I lunged forward, left arm cocked back and and swung as hard as I could, making sure to keep my thumb tucked in as to try and not break anything. Though, even if I did, it would be worth it to be a legend.

My fist connected with his right eye, boney knuckles making a dull thud against the hard plate there. However it was my follow-through that was truly impressive. His head snapped back, unprepared for the amount of force I had thrown into my punch.

However I wasn't looking at what his hands were doing, and at the same time as I was leaning into the follow-through of my hit, Brutter's taloned hand was coming up and grabbing for my wrist. I was too far into my forward momentum to retract before he made contact and clamped down on my forearm. His arm pulled mine down and swung it behind my back, turning me from him in the process.

Brutter continued forward and ended up pinning me against the storage box so that my chest pressed painfully against the edge. I felt a deep rumble emanating from Brutter's chest as he pressed me into the crate, and his hot breath in my ear as he spoke:

"Nice shot."

"Thanks," I fidgeted slightly against my captor. My arm was only slightly uncomfortable which would please Plamus, but the wooden edge of the crate felt like it was cutting my tits in half. "Could you let me go, now? My boobs hurt."

The dark plated Turian let go immediately at the mention of my pain and stepped back a couple paces. "Boobs?"

I turned around and pointed to my chest, "boobs." Despite mixed company I rubbed my hands briefly over my breasts to make the soreness go away, and to get rid of the divot in my tank top from the edge of the crate.

"What do they do?" Voruns tilted his head as he watched me.

"Well," the pain had lessened considerably so I stopped and straightened out my shirt. "I guess the main use is for feeding our babies. The other is a sex thing. Men like to look at them, women like to have them touched. Only thing is, they're super sensitive, so pressure like the crate hurts."

"You don't have some sort of armor for them?" Desius inquired.

"Well, there's an undergarment called a 'bra' that women wear to make them look better, and does kind of help with things like pressure and knocking into things." My hands pressed into the wood of the box beside me. I pushed up and backward, bringing myself on a seated position ontop of the box.

"Sounds like a weak spot," Voruns sounded mildly perturbed at the idea.

"Shoulda gone for the boobs, Canion," Marter jabbed. Brutter laughed and shook his head.

"Not my type, but thanks. That'd be like her going for my waist." The others nodded in agreement.

Wait what? Going for the...Oh. My. God. My face flamed up with heat as I recalled my passing between Nihlus and the dresser, specifically my hand sliding across the soft fabric covering his waist. "So the waist is a thing for your species?" I tried to sound as nonchalant as possible as I tried to figure out how much I had fucked up.

"Yeah, we have a couple uhh...spots," Plamus sounded a bit embarrassed.

Voruns pointed to his waist, and then lifted a hand and pointed to the spikes coming off the back of his head. "Waist and fringe."

"Oh God," I buried my face in my hands as the heat worsened. I could hear the others murmuring in confusion at my reaction. I had been here less than twenty-four hours and had already accidentally made sexual advances on the captain of the ship I was on.

I drew my knees up to my chest, the bottom of my feet resting on the edge of the crate and rocked back and forth, wondering how badly I had fucked up, and all the while the Turians in the room watched with interest.

Eventually after a few minutes of silently freaking out on my own, Plamus spoke:

"What happened to make you...weird," the others rose up in a chorus of 'yeah's and 'what happened's.

Do I tell them that I hit on their CO? I squeezed my eyes shot as I thought of the pros and cons. Pros being that I would have an idea of how badly I had shot myself in the foot, and Cons being mercilessly made fun of. In the end I decided to throw caution to the wind.

"I uhh, touched Nihlus' waist this morning," I muttered. They Turian men got real quiet and looked between each other, mandibles close to their faces. "I didn't know it was a...a uh...thing, and I was just trying to get by him without breaking the models on the dresser nearby. Then he started acting weird, and suddenly Plamus is there, and I..." I began to get teary eyed as I recounted the events of the morning. I liked Nihlus, he had been good to me ever since we had gotten here. He was caring, easy to talk to, and he was willing to give me a chance. "How bad did I fuck up?"

"Not sure," Desius piped up after a beat. "There's uhh..a lot about Nihlus you don't know, and I'm not sure it's our place to tell you."

"Why not, he told us," Voruns shot back. "Look at her, she's almost doing that crying thing again. I don't like the crying thing." Voruns side eyed me for a moment before looking to Plamus for help.

Plamus locked his green eyes with Voruns' blue ones for a moment before sighing and lightly placing a hand to his face. "Fine." He pushed away from the box he was leaning on and strode over to me, standing just out of my arms reach, almost like he thought I was the 'Mad-Waist-Toucher' or something. "Look, Nihlus had a life mate. They were good together, but she was a different MOS, so they rarely saw each other. She died a few months ago when she was fighting Batarians. The waist thing...that's only for life mates, or someone you really want to get to know in the Spiritual sense if you know what I mean."

Plamus had been fidgeting with his claws the entire time. The tension in the room was palpable as he told the story, and I noticed Marter and Brutter both checking the direction of the elevator to make sure no one walked in.

Nihlus' story was heartbreaking. I couldn't imagine if I had lost someone I had only been dating. I felt horrible touching him in that manner, even on accident when he was still probably grieving for her. It must have brought up memories for him that were painful.

"Shit," all the air left me as I sighed. "I feel like the world's worst person."

"You didn't know, Desius offered, giving me a small smile.

"Thanks, Desius," I dropped my legs back down so they dangled over the edge of the box and looked to my companions. "So what now?"

"Now we eat," Voruns clapped his hands together, the sound echoing in the cavernous room.

"Sweet," Marter headed off toward the elevator, while Plamus held out a taloned hand to me to help me get down. I took the offer, and hopped off the box. I was less hungry than I had been before I knew I had felt up Nihlus, but I knew I needed food.

"Can I even eat what you eat," I wondered out loud to Plamus as we headed to the elevator.

"Only one way to find out," he shrugged and we all piled in, headed for deck three.