Nekros was breathing hard and couldn't think. Even with his eyes open, he could only see the darkness, sometimes dotted by brilliant stars of white. His legs, though battle-hardened, were having trouble supporting his weight. Leaning heavily against the crate next to him, Nekros wheezed as the pain in his chest subsided.

"Seven minutes and sixteen seconds. Great! How are you feeling?" A voice behind him asked.

He merely shook his head, coughing as he did so. The tip of his helmet brushed annoyingly against his armour. After a few more seconds, he regained his sight. Nekros stood up, arching his back and stretching his arms. His head hurt and muscles around his body flared up in pleasant pain.

It's been… years… since I… felt like this… His thoughts were muddled somewhat from the lack of oxygen. To think… that he used to… act like a Quarian… Ha! … Jackson's worse… than Sergeant Plonian… Nekros took in a deep breath and very slowly let it out. His heart started to slow.

"Alright, great. We're done. Great work everyone! I am impressed. Very impressed. Let's pack up. Nakamura! Turn off the Gravitizers will you?" Jackson called out towards Emi, who was standing the closest to the two monoliths.

The twin pair of machines that has been giving him hell for the past four hours finally fell silent, making the Mako tank groan. The vehicle, whose weight fluctuated dramatically during their training, seemed to have taken the pressure quite well, unlike the organics that trained nearby. All the crew were tested - only six lasted to the very end: he, Thea, Captain Jackson and Sergeant Hemmingway were the not-so-surprising four. But the two surprising finishers were Kem and Alli.

Nekros personally wasn't surprised at Kem and Shema's performance – he had worked closely with a Quarian spec-ops team before, and had actually met them both, albeit briefly, during their missions. He had always thought that the Quarians trained harder to overcome the weakness of their suits. But Alli's accomplishment did surprise Nekros. That man was more combat-ready than anybody had previously thought. He was definitely going to get the much needed respect from the crew.

In order to actually "fail" the physical tests, one had to be called off by Jackson… or faint – no resignations were allowed. Although every single one on the ship Horizon were combat-prepared, harshness of their training only selected the best of the best. And sure as hell it did.

Most of the non-combat personnel were called off by Jackson after the first hour, which was just Physical Training and Target Practise. Although many of them could probably continue further, Jackson said that he just wanted them "in-shape, for now." The last of the non-combatants were also called off in the second hour, where they did a virtual, 1.5-Gee obstacle course.

Nobody went out for the next two hours, where they did variety of tests including a mock skirmish in 1.2G. Among the combat crewmen, Kisa was the first to be taken out, having collapsed during the 2.5G obstacle course at the beginning of the fifth hour. She looked much bluer than normal and Jackson personally carried her off the Gravitizer fields. Nekros noticed the delicate care that Jackson showed, though it was very brief.

Most of the others fell out soon after in the dreadful zero-gravity combat. Dressed in their full battle-gear, gravity completely removed, they had to survive the various waves of holographic enemies. Normally, it would be easy, but the artificial zero-gee seemed to work differently inside a fast-moving ship. Or Jackson fiddled with the controls. Either way, it slowed their movements, each swing of the arm requiring incredible amounts of force. Biotics didn't work, no jump-packs, or even magnetic boots, it was a hellish training. Five people collapsed, and two were called off by the Captain. Shema was called off, but she rejected, claiming that she had little more energy left.

She fainted immediately during their last training – a harrowing 3G obstacle course with full gear. She wasn't alone – two others also collapsed during their run. Out of those that completed the whole thing, Nekros was second best, closely followed by Hemmingway and Thea, both whom virtually recorded the same time. Alli was noticeably slower, but he still did it under ten minutes. Nekros was shocked at Jackson's performance – under six minutes. His movements were precise and mechanical, almost as if he had done it hundred times before. But every lap was randomised by the computer – nobody could have created such movement sequences, let alone memorise them. But that wasn't all; after finishing the course, he seemed to be quite comfortable. Nekros could barely hear his breath through his helmet. When he spoke again, his tone hadn't changed, still keeping the cold, commanding voice… as if nothing had happened. The Lone Wolf had lived up to his reputation.

Nekros, who's strength fully returned, quickly joined the crowd of people as they made their way to the mess (Jackson had changed his mind about cleaning). Every combat crew (almost half of the ship) had waited for them, in their full combat gear, in the hangers, cheering them on. Even the alien-weary humans on the ship congratulated him – sharing smiles, giving friendly punches and even some high-fives.

Jackson collected everyone's helmets and placed them in a neat stack at the corner, waiting at the back of the line with a grin. Nekros was too busy thinking about the food to notice Kisa falling back and joining the Captain.

…

"Officer Coutts, the dextro-noodles are ready."

"Good! I just hope you did it right."

"I do too. I followed what was written, so I hope its right. Do you need a hand?"

"Yes, could you finish up for me? Just the sauces left. I have to check out the vitamins."

Stewart passed the pot to Davies (who loved cooking and pretty much resided in the Kitchen), and washed his hand in the sink. Quickly running his omni-tool over the spaghetti, he made his way to the cupboard which stored the various nutrient supplements. The program matched the various deficiencies in the food with each of the crew's medical profiles. It had trouble doing it with the non-human crewmembers (the two Hidinors, two Soracs, Ghanovan and Aigus, if he remembered their names correctly), and only finished loading after he had filled everyone else's pills into tiny cups. The crew didn't seem to like eating these bitter supplements very much, but then again, it was either this plus nice food, or army rations.

The crew voted the nice food minus vitamins. The Captain ordered the vitamins.

So it goes.

Most of the crew, being biotics, had above-then-normal requirements in intakes of glucose, but he didn't need to worry about that: they ate a lot. Everyone (even the non-biotic crew) was given a chocolate bar a day, and Stewart had to cook with the expectation that each person would eat two serves.

The dextro-amino foods were always a worry to him, since he didn't know much about them. Although the Hidinors had insisted that they would eat protein bars, Stewart wanted them to eat real food. Only problem was that he didn't know how to cook dextro, and even when he did cook some, he didn't know how it tasted. Davies didn't know either, though he said that his food "feels right". He tried asking the Quarians, but they told him that his food was really good – which only made him more nervous. They were Quarians after all – they will say that they love the food even if they can't possibly stand it. Who knew? Maybe they had a separate part in their helmet which grinds the food that they throw up.

Now though, a Turian was here. Finally, he was going to get a real critic to his (and Davies') dextro food. He finished his work by adding sodium pills (he didn't even know he had those until now) to everyone's cups. People had already come in, eagerly digging into the noodles that he made. They were clearly hungry (and justifiably so – he knew how hard the Gravity-based PTs were), and also delighted to not to see the medical cups.

Stewart walked around the table, giving out the vitamins to everyone, who thanked him for the food (and sarcastically commented on how they missed the pills). Aigus was amongst the first to grab his plate, happily munching on the dextro version of spaghettis next to the Hidinors.

"Hello Aigus, how's the food?"

The Turian looked up at him, swallowed his mouthful and quickly swiped his mouth with the tissue before replying.

"Very, very good, Officer Coutts! When did you learn to cook dextro? This is indeed a fine plate of… spaghetti… I think it's called?"

Stewart nodded with a smile. "Dextro was done by the Flight Officer, so thank him instead."

Nekros nodded, walked over to Davies, and gave him a passionate handshake. Davies seemed surprised, but took his handshake, returning his thanks. Nekros returned to his seat.

"Food's always best after PT." He declared.

"Aye!" Everyone replied loudly. Rallel, sitting on top of a small extrusion on the wall (she made it clear that this was her eating chair since her first meal) also joined in. Thea was on the other end of the mess, this time eating with the flight crew (she didn't seem to care about the fact that Nicole seemed uncomfortable near her). Shema also nodded in agreement, waiting for her steriliser to process the current mouthful.

Quarians have incredible patience, one that everyone should learn from. Stewart noted.

Kem, on the other hand, was busy swallowing the pills first before eating the food, a habit which he found rather funny.

Cap, always last to take the food, walked over towards them and took the seat opposite to Aigus. The Turian gave him a nod before resuming with his meal. Kem, having finished his pills, gave Cap a full salute, while Shema did a quick, half-salute. Remembering his work, Stewart gave Cap his pill cup. He took it with mock frustration.

"Thank you! Damn it. I really shouldn't have allowed you to do this." Cap said with a smile.

"Just doing my work, sir!" Stewart replied and walked towards Kisa. She usually sat next to the Cap, always on his left side. He gave her the last of the cups, which she took with a tired graciousness.

Now, he had more work to do. After a training like that, where one had to collapse to finish, the bodies were going to show where it needed the most help. That was the reason why he suggested a full-ship physical training. Ignoring his empty stomach, he did few laps around the mess, scanning everyone with his omni-tool.

…

A small circular lump jutted out unusually from the outer hull of the SSV Horizon, coloured in simplistic grey. The ship itself soon existed out of FLT drive, its hull flashing in brilliant blue due to Cherenkov radiation. A small brown planet loomed into view, silhouetted by the star which it silently orbited. Israfil.

A light at the top of the lump suddenly flashed white, as in response to the sudden change in the speed. Soon, its outer shell popped, revealing a camera within. The drone took some time to initialise, the camera itself flexing its joints. It would soon orientate itself based on the star databases, transmitting its location to its owner in Omega.

An emblem was painted on the camera's side – a hollow circle with flailed edges, with three lines cutting horizontally inside the circle, coloured in yellow.