Author's Note: Sorry for the late update, but work's been a pain lately. I'm glad y'all are enjoying the story, and I figured I'd take the time to shout out to everyone who's following and having fun with me on this crazy ride. It's about to get crazier, because here's the Normandy!

Rob DS Zeta: When I saw your review, and your comment about Tali asking about the Reapers, I almost laughed, because TheRev28 actually asked me the exact same thing :) And I shall answer you with the same I did him:

The scene in Udina's office plays the following recording that Tali acquired, verbatim from the game:

Saren: "Eden Prime was a major victory...it has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit."
Benezia: "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers."

It doesn't actually explain what the Reapers are; as far as the squad goes, Shepard is the only one who can link the Reapers to the Protheans via the vision. No one else on the squad knows anything about them. All they know is that Saren and Benezia are working with the geth apparently to bring them back.

And there you have it, my reason for having Tali ask Shepard what the Reapers are :)

Chapter Seven

I'm really on board the Normandy! Finally! It seems like forever that I arrived in the Mass Effect universe, and the road hasn't been easy, but right now, I don't care! This is awesome! My inner geek is totally geeking out, because the ship's just like in the game. As we walk in through the airlock, Shepard waves to her left. Joker's sitting in his chair in the cockpit and doesn't even bother turning around. He just lazily waves over the back of his chair.

"Hey Commander," he greets. "Starting a collection?"

"They followed me home. Can I keep them?" she shoots back good naturedly. Turning to us, she actually walks backwards into the corridor leading from the cockpit to the CIC. "That's Joker, our pilot. He's one of the best."

"Just one of the best? I'm hurt, Commander!"

"I'm sure you'll recover." Shepard grins and walks us down to the CIC. "Deck One houses the combat information center, auxiliary engineering controls, and FTL sensor equipment. Pressly," she greets her new XO as we pass him. He just gives us all the evil eye. Oh yeah, now I remember, he was a bit of a stick in the mud until things really got going. It's too bad he goes down with the ship over Alchera in Mass Effect 2. Hmm...

We hit the stairs and descend down into Deck Two. "Here's the living quarters, mess hall, sleeping pods, and med bay. There's also a small storage unit in the back, which we mostly use for medical supplies. Doctor Chakwas is our CMO," Shepard explains. Yeah, I vaguely remember that storage room. It's been a while since I've played Mass Effect - I'm much more up to date on the last two games - but that's where Liara sets up, I think.

"You're free to use the mess hall at any time, just be aware that the food dispensers are only refilled at 0600 every morning. If you have a craving for a midnight snack, you may want to bring your own," she adds with a chuckle as we turn a corner and head into the elevator.

"Deck Three is mostly storage and engineering. It's also our staging area, as the main cargo doors are located at this deck, along with our M35 Mako support vehicle. Perfect for airdrops." She leads us past the Mako, and I can already see the gleam in Garrus's eyes. "If you need anything, talk to our requisitions officer at the back of the cargo hold. If it's within our budget, he'll pass the request on to me or Staff Lieutenant Alenko who doubles as our quartermaster, and we'll see what we can do. Over there is engineering. Chief Engineer Adams is in charge."

I can already see Tali's itching to get a look at the Tantalus drive core, so I decide to show off a bit and see if I can beat Shepard to it. Hey, I'm an engineer, I love this stuff! And Miranda had her Cerberus contacts pull all the technical specs on the Normandy. Prototype frigate she may be, but top secret clearance has never really stopped Cerberus before.

"The Tantalus Mk. IV drive core is a state-of-the-art Systems Alliance cruiser-sized eezo core capable of providing reactionless propulsion for ships weighing up to two-hundred and fifty thousand metric tonnes. Superconducting coils allow it to operate continuously without overheating for twenty-six hours without needing to discharge. The refined element zero recovered from Prothean ruins on Mars allow this drive core to exceed standard non-relativistic FTL speeds by fifty percent." I can just see Tali looking like a kid in a candy store when she sees that core.

Wrex has tuned me out, but Tali, Shepard, and Garrus are staring at me slack-jawed. Well, at least I think Tali's slack-jawed under her helmet - more to do with the actual specs of the engine, than my knowledge of it, I'm sure - and I'm no expert on turian facial expressions, but I think that's surprise. Shepard just grins at me.

"An engineer on top of everything else, Lieutenant?"

"I was an engineer before I joined SpecOps, Commander. Just because I now do something else for a living, doesn't mean I don't like to keep up on new developments."

"Impressive. You may want to check in with Engineer Adams to see if you can help out during your off-shift. We're running light on crew, so we'll need all hands on deck."

"Yes, ma'am."

She gives me a mock glare. "And don't call me ma'am. It makes me feel old."

"Yes, Commander."

"I'll leave you to it, then. We depart in one hour, you're free to go explore the ship and settle into your quarters. If there's anything that you want transported on board from the Citadel, let requisitions know. I need to speak to Lieutenant Alenko about our requisition for dextro-compatible provisions." She ambles away. I never really bought into that whole moving with catlike grace thing. I mean, I know martial artists and dancers back home who move very gracefully, but no one ever seemed like they were actually prowling.

But somehow, Shepard looks like she's on the hunt for prey even while showing us around. Dang, that's hella scary. I let out a quiet chuckle when I notice that Garrus has already taken off to look at the Mako, while Wrex and Ashley have retreated into their cubbyholes down here. That just leaves Tali. Who's still looking at me. I really wish I could see through her faceplate, because I have no idea what her expression is.

"What are you waiting for?" she asks suddenly, grabbing my arm and dragging me into engineering.

"Whoa, whoa, wait..."

"Who the hell are you people?" and that'd be Chief Engineer Adams.

I straighten up and pry Tali's hand off my arm. "Sorry about that. I'm Lieutenant Patrick Grayson, this is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya. We're with Commander Shepard's ground team. We were just looking around."

"Look at that core! How did they fit something that large in here?"

And there's Tali, going off into dream-space at the sight of the Tantalus core. I gotta admit, it does look rather impressive up close. I read up on the specs, sure, but still, seeing a piece of tech like this in person...let's just say that it must've been a heck of a job fitting that thing in here, because the Tantalus core takes up the majority of space in the cramped engineering bay. I mean, you can tell it was designed for a much larger ship.

"I see. Welcome aboard. Now, what're you doing in my engineering bay?"

Seeing that Tali's still staring off at the core like it was a piece of candy to be ravished - yeah, I let my imagination fill that in, sue me - I shrug and reply for us both. "I'm an engineer, and she's a mechanic. The Commander told us to report to you to see if we could help out."

"You're an engineer?" He looks me up and down. I know I don't particularly strike an engineer-y impression, what with my armor, gun, and all.

"Part time." Thank you, Harrison Ford, for that wonderful line.

"You any good, kid?"

"I'm decent. I kept up, but I haven't been an active engineer in years."

"Years?" Adams snorts in amusement. "You don't look old enough to have been out for years."

"I'm twenty-five," I supply helpfully. "I went into SpecOps right after school. Doctorate in aerospace engineering."

Adams cocks his head at Tali. "What about her?"

"She's a quarian. If she wasn't a genius with mechanics, I'd be worried." I know I'm stereotyping and that not all quarians are expert engineers, but I know Tali. And she's nothing if not a genius engineer.

"All right. I'm expecting Shepard's going to keep you both relatively busy, but I'll draw up schedules for your shifts. I'll be wanting you to run supervised duty only until I've got an idea of what you can do."

"Sounds good. Miss Zorah!" I bite my tongue, shit, I almost called her Tali. Well, nothing wrong with that, but it'd be kind of rude to just call her by her first name without being invited to do so. It's really weird, because I feel like I know her already. Her, Garrus, Wrex, hell, the entire crew, practically, but I can't actually show it. Yet.

She startles out of her reverie. Or maybe she was running calculations. Or something. I can just see her running the math on that drive core in her head. "Oh, please, just call me Tali, Lieutenant. Chief Adams, I'd be happy to help out. These systems are fascinating!" Now she's running back and forth between consoles, looking at drive output projections, temperature readings, and power flows. What did I say? Kid. Candy store. Yup.

"Well, come on then, Tali. You can always come look at the pretty Tantalus core later. We need to find quarters before we leave the Citadel, because I'm not sleeping in a shared pod if I can help it," I tell her. She doesn't seem too eager to leave, though, and I bet if it was up to her, she'd probably set up camp right here in engineering. Now that I think about it...isn't that exactly what she did in the game? It should be interesting to see where the crew actually goes and sleeps and spends their time when they're not statically fixed in the same positions.

Tali still isn't budging from her perch over a console as she looks at the core's readouts. "But there's so much to look at! Chief, how do you keep..." she continues chattering out questions as she turns to face him.

Okay, that's it. I look over her shoulder at Adams, who's just grinning like a madman. Figures he'd be happy with that. He just waves me off. "Go on, kid. Get settled. I'll make sure she has a place to bunk. If you turn out to be any good, I think we can work out some half-shift duties down here between the three of us for you two."

"Thanks." While I do love this part of the ship and the tech, I kind of want to explore the rest of the Normandy more. No, seriously, I'd happily spend days in engineering just learning about what makes the Tantalus core tick and how it ties into the ship's operations. After I've found a place to sleep. To be honest, just looking at engineering has left me feeling a little out of my depth. Miranda's tech briefings and training has prepared me for the theory of all this crap, but to actually apply all this?

Uh...yeah. It's a little overwhelming, to be honest. I'm used to dealing with, well, with 20th century tech. Or rather, 21st century. I mean, I can figure out the basics, but Adams is probably going to be ripping out his hair trying to teach me all the stuff I need to know before he lets me work on my own. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm actually really looking forward to working down there, but it's all...wow.

I'm rambling. Well, there's nothing better for me to do, really, while I wait for the damn elevator to take me up. Of all the things to be just like the game, it had to be the slow-ass elevator. Garrus is nowhere to be seen, but judging from the sound of things, he's probably somewhere inside or underneath the Mako. Ashley's not here, either, and Wrex...well, Wrex is in his corner. He had his back turned to me when I passed him, so I'm not going to disturb him for now. Should put up a sign. Disturb the krogan at your own peril, or something.

The elevator finally arrives with a ding, and I punch the button for Deck Two.

"Hello. New aboard?"

Holy crap, it's Kaidan! I almost didn't see him there as he comes up behind me and gets in the elevator. Man, he must've come from way back in the cargo bay, probably through the open bay doors. "Yeah. Staff Lieutenant Alenko, is it?"

"I see you did your homework," Kaidan has an easy smile, but he seems a little down. I guess seeing Jenkins get shot on Eden Prime hit him pretty hard. He seems friendly enough, though. I'm guessing as the man in charge of the ground team after Shepard he's got to get to know everyone pretty well.

I throw him a sloppy salute. "Lieutenant Patrick Grayson, Special Operations. I'm your new infil and tech specialist."

"So the Commander informed me. Welcome aboard." He actually reaches out to shake my hand. "So, have you been briefed on what we're getting ourselves into?"

"My CO at SpecOps gave me the rundown from your Eden Prime mission report. We're hunting down a rogue spectre who's in league with the geth, right?"

"Something to that effect."

"I'm guessing you're on your way to speak with the Commander?"

Kaidan nods and winces slightly. Oh, right, I forgot, his L2 implants tend to give him migraines. "Yes, with a little stop on the way."

The elevator stops on Deck Two, and we both head out. Me to the left to the crew quarters, him to the right towards the med bay.

I give him a little wave. "Good meeting you, Lieutenant. Hope the doc's got something for that migraine of yours."

He nods at me and heads through the med bay doors. All right, time to see where I can find me a spare bed. There's no one in the crew quarters right now, which doesn't really surprise me. There's not a lot of crew to begin with, and they're probably all at their stations making sure the ship is ready for departure. Two of the bunk beds are still unassigned, at least, they're not made and there's no bags or signs on them, so I drop my duffel on one.

Unpacking doesn't really take me long as I drop my meager belongings in the footlocker underneath. It's just a couple of changes of BDUs, spare boots, a spare omni-tool, a gun maintenance kit, and a picture that I mysteriously found in my desk at the apartment's tech lab a couple of days ago. It's of me and Miranda, after our mission to bust Kai Leng out of Bastion. She's got her arm around my shoulder and we're sitting on the floor of our appropriated Alliance supply ship.

I remembered the moment the instant I saw the picture. It's when she told me she knew I'd have her back. I think I have Q to thank for it; I immediately made a copy for my omni-tool. Not that I'm likely to forget, it's just...nice to have something to remind me. My armor and my pistol are probably going to have to go into the armory lockers back down on the engineering deck, so I use the opportunity to change before anyone else comes in.

Time to get back to that slow-ass elevator, I guess. It's just as slow coming up as it was the last time. The deck's still pretty deserted, although Kaidan's coming out of the med bay and heading into Shepard's quarters-slash-office. I give him a small wave as he passes by, which he returns. He looks a lot more chipper now, actually. Guess Doc Chakwas had something to make him feel better.

The elevator finally arrives, and, after yet another excruciatingly long wait in it - thank god it's not playing any elevator music, or I'd be about ready to slit my wrists, Reapers be damned - I finally arrive back on Deck Three. Huh. There's already a locker with my name on it. Guess these people work fast. The armor's stowed away and secured, so I'm left with pretty much nothing to do until the ship sets sail, so to speak. I think I'll go see how the rest of the crew is doing. Crap, that means another ride on the elevator of bore-doom.

No seriously. Deck One to Deck Two had stairs. They couldn't have added them in to Deck Three, as well? What the hell? Garrus is still messing with the Mako, at least I think he is, considering his feet are sticking out from underneath. Either that, or he's taking a nap down there. Ashley isn't by her workbench, though. And Wrex...

Yeah, about Wrex. You know, for a giant, half-ton mountain of krogan muscle and armor, he can be really sneaky. And quiet. Because I don't hear him at all until one of his hands crashes down on my shoulder and nearly causes my legs to buckle. What the hell is it with people sneaking up on me today? Holy crap, if that was his equivalent of a friendly slap, then I don't think I want to be his enemy.

"I don't like people sneaking around me," he rumbles from right next to me. It's really all I can do to not just stand there and tremble in abject terror, because close-up, even without his shotgun, he's just that freaking intimidating. Don't believe me? You try standing right there as he stares you down next time. I mean, I love Wrex and all, and he's one of my favorite characters from Mass Effect, but holy flying squirrel on a nutcase is he scary. And his scar, is it...is it...

Twitching?

What the crap? How does it even...it's a solid plate...how can it...

"To be honest, I don't think I like sneaking around you, either. It's bad for my health," I mutter back, but he still hears it.

And, to my surprise, he starts gargling with laughter. "Oh, you're a sharp one. You weren't just in that bar by accident, were you?"

I shrug. Guess it can't hurt to admit that much. "Not really. SpecOps tracked down Tali the same way you did. I was there to make sure her deal with Fist didn't go south."

"I see. Good reflexes on that turian. Barely heard your gun cycle before you put that round in him."

Did he just...?

"Almost makes up for the fact that you skulk around like a vorcha."

Ah, there we go. I shrug, now somewhat comfortable in the knowledge that he isn't going to rip my head off. I'm not exactly going to argue the point. I mean, would you? "Think of it this way. More kills for you."

He stares at me for a long moment, then lets out a last, rumbling chuckle, and ambles off into his corner. "Just try not to get in my way, human."

"I'll try not to," I mutter and head off to the elevator to head up to the CIC.

T

"This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of. Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all...we will stop him."

That speech was epic in the game. I still remember it, and the score in the background, and it was like, hell yeah, time to kick Saren's ass. But you know, watching it on your computer screen doesn't really compare to standing there, in the CIC, right behind Shepard as she addresses her crew. I mean, in the games Shepard always was charismatic, but the extent of her leadership was always kind of dulled by the fact that it was a game, that it's lines of codes and sequences of scripted events.

Here, now, watching her, listening to her, for the first time I truly understand why Anderson put his faith in her. Why it has to be Shepard who stop Saren, why it has to be Shepard who leads the fight against the Reapers. Because no one else could have inspired and led such an endeavor and marshaled the loyalty of all the different factions of the galaxy. No one else could've begged, bribed, and blackmailed every single faction in the galaxy, from the quarians to the geth, from the salarians to the krogan, from the turians to the Terminus mercs to work together to take the fight to the Reapers.

It's not really something that can be described easily in words. You'd have to have been there to fully understand the extent of that woman's sheer charisma. It's just a few words, but the way she says them, it's something that can't be conveyed easily without witnessing it first-hand.

"Well said, Commander. The Captain would be proud." Joker's right on cue.

Just like in the game, Shepard turns around and heads from the cockpit to the CIC. "The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance. We can't fail."

The ship shudders briefly as we make the transition through the mass relay, and we're underway to Therum. Now that the ship's actually moving, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Tali's still down in engineering with Adams - I think he's so taken with her affinity for mechanics that he's forgotten all about me - and all the other crew members are, well, doing whatever they're doing. There's nothing really for me to do other than stand awkwardly around the CIC and wait for shit to happen, at least until we get to our destination.

Pressly brushes past me without so much as an acknowledgement of my presence as I stand at one of the consoles surrounding the galaxy map, idly checking up on systems with geth activity and trying to draw up a map of the Reaper invasion from Mass Effect 3 to keep me occupied when Shepard suddenly stops next to me.

"Lieutenant. A word, if you would."

"Of course, Commander." I transfer the map files to my omni-tool and shut down the terminal before heading over to the elevator. "Where are we going?"

"My office."

Uh-oh.

Her expression the entire elevator ride is neutral, but she's not saying a word, which is kind of freaking me out. Maybe she isn't all that happy to have me on board, after all. One utterly uncomfortable elevator ride later, I'm sitting in her office-slash-quarters on Deck Two while she's behind her desk, staring at something on her terminal.

"So..." I begin awkwardly.

"You follow best."

"Pardon me?" What the hell?

"You follow best," she repeats, finally looking up at me.

What is she talking about...? She's not saying anything else, just sitting across from me, staring at me with a perfect poker face. Wait, you follow best, that sounds familiar...Where have I heard that before?

"You follow best, by following from in front. Thus your prey never knows that he is not actually the predator." I can't help it, I just say the first thing that comes to mind. Okay, calm down. Look her in the eyes. Don't let her see you sweat. Just think of her like a krogan. A human-sized, hurricane-speed force of utter destruction if you get on her bad side. Okay, that didn't help. At all.

Finally, she breaks the silence. "You're pretty slow with something that should be second nature to Special Operations. That creed is drilled into every single SpecOps operative I've ever met from day one of basic training."

Shit, what the hell? Q, if this is your doing, I'm so going to strangle you when I see you next. I almost laugh, because despite the situation, the sheer...impossibility of a line from Aaron Allston's Wraith Squadron having found its way into this universe is pure absurdity. Finally, I just settle on a shrug, and the truth, from a certain point of view. "My training officer isn't exactly standard SpecOps. She's got...unique methods."

Shepard quirks an eyebrow at that. "Does she, now? Lieutenant, if you're not up to this mission, I need to know right now, because I'm not jeopardizing the mission or the lives of my crew because someone under my command couldn't cut it."

I straighten up at that. I may not be a soldier - well, after the last six months, maybe I'm a little bit of a soldier - but I'll be damned if I'm not giving it everything I've got to stop the Reapers. And no one, not even Shepard, is going to question that. Between the last six months and the knowledge of what's coming and that I'm stuck in this reality, there's no damn way she's moving me off this fucking boat until the Reapers are gone or she spaces my cold, dead corpse.

"Commander," I start, and lean forward so I can prop my elbows up on her desk. Intimidating or not, I'm not backing down on this one. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear. What you're going up against is not only Saren, or the geth. Those Reapers you mentioned...they're a threat to the entire galaxy. And right now, aside from you, and me, and my CO in SpecOps, and perhaps certain members of your crew, no one is going to believe in the existence of the Reapers. I'm here to help you, whether you like it or not, because I believe the Reapers are a real threat. The real threat. This is bigger than you and me, bigger than the Alliance, and I have a feeling it's even bigger than the entirety of the Citadel races."

There's that stare of her again, so much like Miranda's, that seems like she's looking straight through me, trying to find something...maybe something to make her believe in me, something to convince her I'm for real. I stare right back at here, because this is the one thing I won't budge on.

"All right, Lieutenant," she finally says, leaning back into her chair, her stern expression melting away to something a little more...well, not exactly relaxed, but more casual. There's a knowing, almost amused smirk on her lips as she settles back. "You're not really here because Rear Admiral Mikhailovich requested SpecOps presence for the Normandy, are you?"

"Oh, he actually did." After a little helpful and suggestive editing by his Cerberus secretary, anyway. "But you're right, he didn't request me, specifically. I'm here because as I mentioned, my CO and I believe that there's bigger stakes than just a rogue spectre. And if we're right in our assumptions, then...well, let's just say we figured you could use all the help you can get."

"Why?"

"Excuse me?"

Shepard's eyes wander all over the room, before settling back on me, before she repeats, "Why? Why are you so convinced of this? I admit, if I hadn't experienced the vision myself, I would be skeptical of my own claims. What do you know that I don't? That the Council doesn't?"

"Know?" I chuckle slightly at that. "We know nothing for certain, Commander. If we knew and had proof, your ship wouldn't be the only one going after Saren. No, we don't know anything for certain. But there's certain things that don't add up, things that only make sense if the existence of the Reapers is taken into account. Much like you had to convince the Council of Saren's treason, it's my job to convince my superiors at SpecOps as to the reality of the Reaper threat."

"That still doesn't tell me why, Lieutenant."

I've got to choose my words very carefully here. It's a perfect opening to prepare her for what's coming, but if she think in any way that I'm playing her...it won't be pretty. "There's intelligence sources that have picked up chatter. The higher-ups dismiss it as mercs banding together for a coup in the Terminus systems, but they've so far been unable to crack their encryption." Okay, that's the truth. I just conveniently didn't tell her that it was Ceberus intelligence, instead of Alliance intelligence that picked it up. And that no one but me and Miranda knows why they're even listening in on it.

"It's geth in origin, that's all they can tell, but it's not geth. It's more advanced than anything the geth have, more advanced than anything the quarians know the geth to possess," I press on. "Maybe it's just mercs playing with some new tech, but I don't buy that. I think there's something out there. I think Saren has something out there, something big, something more advanced than anything we've ever seen before. A warship, a station, a base, something that he's basing his power on. That he's controlling the geth from. Think about it, Commander. He's not at all concerned about having all his assets frozen and his spectre status being revoked in Citadel space."

The signals that Cerberus picked up...well, Miranda doesn't have a clue what they are, and while I don't know how to crack them, I know where they came from and what their purpose is. They're Sovereign's communications with Saren and the geth forces in Citadel space. I think that went a long ways to help convince Miranda that I'm not bat-shit crazy, because even Tim had no clue as to how to approach breaking Reaper encryption. But needless to say, she agrees something is out there.

I wonder if she's going to keep her word and not report this to Tim. It was a hell of a fight to get her to agree to that, and I finally backed down, leaving her to make that call. I still haven't talked to the guy in person, and, to be honest, I don't think I ever want to. I don't know how he started out. Maybe he really did believe in doing the right thing for humanity from the beginning. Or maybe he was being indoctrinated from the moment he came into contact with that artifact on Palaven. But I couldn't very well mention my concerns to Miranda without revealing a hell of a lot more than I intend to for the foreseeable future. I just hope he isn't going to like, warn Saren or anything. But even so, he seems pretty set against the Reapers until he goes bonkers with trying to control them at the end of Mass Effect 2.

"I see." Shepard sighs and shuts down her terminal. Maybe we're done with the grilling? I sure hope so, because this isn't exactly how I'd hoped my first real conversation with Shepard would go. "I'm guessing you're wondering why you're in here, Lieutenant?"

"The thought had crossed my mind, yes."

"I don't know you. I don't know why you're here. Everyone else..." she runs a hand through her hair and shakes her head ruefully, "everyone else here is easy to figure out. Wrex is here because it's a personal matter. He's a mercenary hired by the Shadow Broker to find out who sold him out, and he's doing exactly that. Officer Vakarian is here because he's been chasing Saren for months now. Miss Zorah is here because of her pilgrimage. Everyone else is part of my assigned crew. But you..."

"You don't know my motivations. My allegiances." It finally dawns on me what she's doing. Why she's doing it. Just like Miranda, she needs to figure out where I stand.

Shepard nods in confirmation. "I need to know what makes my crew tick. What motivates them, what brought them here, because in the end, that's what'll determine the difference between them staying alive and dying. I need to trust my ground team. I need to know that I can trust them under any circumstances. It's easy to know what to expect when you're dealing with mercs, or law enforcement officers, or idealistic young women trying to make their mark. Intelligence operatives, on the other hand..."

"I'm not exactly your standard, cookie-cutter intel operative, Commander," I chuckle at that. Michael Weston, I'm not. Although if I was, would that make Wrex Fiona? And Garrus Sam Axe? Hell, maybe that'd make Tali Jesse. Wow, that's kind of...funny, actually. I can't help it, this stupid grin's sneaking past my ability to control.

"Something funny, Lieutenant?"

"Just...just something I remembered. When you called me an intelligence agent. I'm...yeah, let's just say that I'm not exactly the subtle type."

That brings an amused smile to her face. "Really, Lieutenant? You were advertised to me as an infiltration specialist."

"If your infiltration involves shaped charges to blow holes in doors, I can do that real inconspicuously, Commander," I half-joke, and she actually chuckles at that.

"My kind of infiltration job, then."

"In all seriousness, I do have some hacking and stealth op expertise, and I'm pretty handy with a sniper rifle." Well, I am, now that I've been told the trick to acquiring targets quickly is to keep both eyes open on the scope. It was a little disorienting at first to try and combine one magnified image with one that's not, but once I got used to keeping the two images somewhat separated, it got a whole lot easier to find my next target than taking my eye off the scope. I'm still shit with any automatic weapon, though. Recoil control? Not exactly my strength.

"Good. We'll see just how good you are when we deploy on Therum. Get some rest, Lieutenant. You're going to need it. Briefing at 0700."