A/N: Okay, so I barely remember where I want to go with this, and it's been a crazy couple months IRL for me, and then when I went to go post last month I couldn't log in for some reason. Oh well, what can you do?

I'll be returning to posting regularly (hopefully) now.

Thanks for sticking with me!


The musical notes of her alarm blasted her into consciousness. Shepard's eyes slowly opened, taking in the dark captain's room. At first, the alarm of such quiet and stillness had her tensing and ready to spring up, after all why would the ship not have the quiet hum of energy? Once her sense came back to her, she remembered she was docked and that she was going to have to get up fairly soon to be able to make sure all the crew was back on board and that they were all ready for the trip.

Then she would have to greet the Turians and show them about the ship.

With a groan, she threw her arms over her face. There was nothing she wanted to do more than lay in her bed and forget the day. It was going to be a long day, she could feel it already. Yet…she had her duties she needed to do. She was the Captain of the ship after all. She was responsible for countless lives, and making sure they were all fed, ready, and happy. Lying in bed was not a luxury she could have.

She jumped into the showers and, being efficient as always, was out within a couple minutes.

The crew were all well aware of the situation with the Turians, and everyone was a little cautious about the situation. No one was outright furious, but there was a low grumble and quiet words exchanged to each other. Yet, commands were commands, and if they came from higher up than their Captain there wasn't much they could do about it. There wasn't much she could do about it either, as much as she wanted to.

Sure, she could say fuck the Council, fuck the Turians, and fuck the Alliance, but would she? No. She couldn't, she worked too hard to get where she was.

Another sigh, she felt like she would be doing that more often than normal.

Time to face the day.

Her rounds went off without a hitch, everyone was in their places by the time she arrived at their station. She updated herself with everyone before heading to the cockpit. Her XO fell into step behind her.

"Captain, there is something that you should be informed about."

Her Omni-tool blipped alerting her to the time. There was only thirty minutes before the Turians arrived, and that meant thirty minutes or less. There was no way they would be late. Another blip and an email from Anderson popped up. "Give me just a moment, Pressly. Unless it is urgent."

"It's not urgent, per se."

The doors to the cockpit opened and Shepard stepped through. Pressly fell silent and the crew stood to salute their Captain.

"Will the ship be ready to fly by the time the Turians arrive, Dupuis?" Shepard asked, looking towards the pilot chair. She couldn't see any sign of the pilot. She paused and glanced towards Pressly.

The main pilot chair swiveled around, but instead of Cupreous, a thin white man sat in the chair. He grinned at her and dipped his head towards her. She stared at the man for a moment before remembering that there was a need to react to the situation.

"Who the hell are you and where is my pilot?"

Pressly cleared his throat, "Captain, this is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau. According to his dossier, he is one of Alliances best pilots-"

"Not one of the best, I'm the best damn helmsman in the Alliance, and that's not just being cocky," the man spoke up, then inclined his head towards Shepard and added, "Captain."

Pressly shot a glare at the pilot and continued, "and he will be replacing Dupuis. She was transferred to a civilian vassal."

"Why was I not informed when this occurred? I would like to know my pilot well in advance of launch," She demanded, turning to Pressly. "Who made this decision?"

"The Council-"

Shepard raised her hand and cut him off, "I'll discuss this later. There isn't time to do anything about the situation now," she sighed and turned towards Jeff. "Please answer my previous question, Flight Lieutenant."

"It's all ready, Captain, just need to do some of the pre-flight checks. She should be up and running by the time the Turians arrive."

"Thank you, I'll be back later after we're on our way and the Turians are situated," she dipped her head towards the pilot before turning on her heel and striding out of the cockpit. Irritated so early in the morning, was this how the trip was going to be? If so, she would need to make sure to visit the vehicle bay and see if she wasn't able to train her emotions out of herself.

Since when did the Alliance bow to what the Council wanted? Since when did they care whether or not the Council was happy? An alliance between the Turians and Alliance drawn up by the Council was one thing, but replacing people on her crew? That was another thing. They didn't have jurisdiction there.

Only the fact that the Turians were to arrive at any moment prevented her from sending a message to Udina to demand an explanation. She checked the time and exhaled. Any moment now.

The Iliad felt colder, and yet at the same time she felt hot and antsy. She wanted to pace, but her feet were lead. God, was this really happening? She was about to meet her future sister-in-law, and in a couple days time, she would be getting married. To someone she didn't even know.

All she wanted to do was tell the Council and Alliance to fuck off and then take the Iliad and escape. Maybe become a pirate, which might be fun.

"The Turians are on the docking bay, Captain," Pressly announced grimly, "We should go and greet them, unless we want to offend them."

"We wouldn't want that, would we?" she muttered under her breath but nodded. The airlock was opened, and they waited as the ship equalized the pressure. Each moment Shepard worked on calming herself, and got her face into a neutral set before the outer door lock released and opened.

There were twelve Turians waiting docking outside, and Shepard's eyes glanced over all of them. Two more than was promised. She stepped off the ship, and the Turians regarded her with their expressionless faces.

"Captain Shepard," a female Turian stepped forwards, "I am Solana Vakarian, and it is a pleasure to meet you."

Shepard doubted her sincerity but held out her hand, the female took it and gave a firm hand shake. "The pleasure is mine, Vakarian," she replied and gave a slight smile. No need to be hostile. Her eyes flickered over the other soldiers, "I was under the impression that only ten Turians would be boarding my ship, why is there twelve of you?"

One of the males stepped forwards, "Forgot your fiancé already, Shepard?"

Shepard smoothed her face, burying her irritation beneath a façade of icy calm. "Not at all, Vakarian, I am just questioning your presence here. You were not including in the roster."

"I was not about to let my sister go off on a human ship without being insured of her safety by the Captain," he placed a hand on Solana's shoulder, "So, Shepard, do I have your word?"

Shepard regarded him calmly, yet feeling her irritation build with each word he said. "I won't let any harm come upon your sister or any other Turian that sets foot onto my ship for the duration of our journey. Are you saying that I am not trustworthy, Vakarian?"

She thought she saw shift in his expression, but who could tell, "Not you…"

Pressly stiffened slightly, and Shepard nodded her head, "Well then, Pressly will you make sure that all of their belongings are properly brought upon the ship. I will show our guests the ship."

The XO seemed to be about to say something but Shepard narrowed her eyes slightly and he snapped his jaw shut. "Of course, Captain."

Garrus turned to his sister, and exhaled, "Be sure to message us, Solana, if anything goes wrong-"

"Nothing will go wrong, Garrus, I don't think the Captain will risk war with the Turians again if we're all murdered on her ship. Trust me," she shook her head, "God, you're worse than Dad!"

"What is so bad about me?" her father asked, linking his fingers behind his back, "We are just concerned about you, Solana."

Solana grunted and took a moment to say something quickly to one of the humans carrying their belongings. The human didn't look too pleased to have been spoken to by the Turian, but he nodded and continued on. She exhaled and stole a quick glance at the Captain.

She had read a dossier on the woman, and could tell that she was brutal, but she was loyal. If she gave her word, she would keep it. Solana wouldn't trust the woman completely, but she would also not expect a bullet to her brain in the middle of the night.

"I understand your concern, but I'm a grown woman. She," Solana turned her attention back to her family, "is my future sister-in-law, and she needs to be prepared for her wedding to Garrus." Garrus hissed slightly at this and their father gave him a sharp look. "We can't be looking down at her if she is to be part of our family. Now, come here." She pulled her brother closer and head butted him gently, and repeated the movement with her father. "Now, your own ship is leaving soon. Go."

Garrus mock saluted her, and got another sharp look from their father. Their father opened his mouth to add something when Shepard called out to Solana.

Solana nodded to her father before turning and heading towards the woman. The other Turians were waiting for Solana before they could head into the ship.

Garrus stared after his sister as she and the other Turians boarded the ship. He idly wondered if that was the last time he would see his sister, but then mentally shook his head. No. He would see her again. He couldn't doubt that he would. The humans had too much at risk for Shepard to do something so brutal as to murder ten Turians that she had sworn protection to. What happened during the War was one thing, this was something completely different. Peace time forced people to act civilized, as much as they didn't want to.

"Come, Garrus, your sister is right. We need to catch our ship," his father nodded towards the Iliad and turned away.

"How long do we have till departure?"

"It departs in two hours."

"I'll catch up with you, I want to see the Iliad away first," Garrus explained, turning his attention to the ship. His father sighed.

"Don't be late, Garrus."