"Janey wait up!" Kiara shouted to her best friend as she tried to keep with the other girl's speed. Kiara could hear Bobby counting down as the rest of the kids scattered to find the best hiding spot.

"Ki over here!" Jane pointed to an empty crate and helped Kiara in before climbing in herself. The wooden walls echoed Kiara's giggles and Jane's shushing as they tried to listen for Bobby looking for them. Both girls couldn't hear anything for a few minutes until the sound of gunfire and screaming suddenly reached their ears.

"Kiara, stay here, I'm going to find Bobby." Jane said as she climbed out of the crate. Kiara tried to climb out after her but couldn't reach the top of the crate.

"Janey wait! Don't leave me here!" Kiara cried, banging on the walls of the crate.

"I'll be right back! I won't leave you alone Ki!" Kiara heard Jane promise her before the sound of her footsteps faded into the distance. Kiara whimpered, sitting down in a corner of the box and covered her ears to muffle the sound of screams. She didn't know if it was a few minutes or an hour but suddenly Kiara felt a tug on the back of her shirt as she was lifted into the air. Instead of one of her parents or her neighbors; she was staring into the eyes of a smirking batarian.

"Found another one. Add this one with the rest of the kids."

Kiara jerked awake with a shriek as her arm swung out and hit someone in the dark. With a curse she quickly turned on the light to see a pissed off guy glaring at her with a quickly forming black eye. It took Kiara a minute to remember that he was the guy she brought home from the bar last night.

"Jesus, you weren't kidding when you said I shouldn't stay over. How am I supposed to explain this shiner when I go to work?" The guy complained, rolling out of bed to get dressed. Kiara tuned out his complaining as she buried her face in her knees and tried to calm her beating heart. She flinched when she heard her bedroom door slam as the guy left her room.

"Miss O'Dell, sensors indicate a sudden spike in your heart rate. Shall I alert Doctor Summers of this incident?" A calm voice rang through the room making Kiara sigh.

"No Luna, it was just a nightmare." Kiara told the VI as she climbed out of bed.

"Very well then shall I contact Jane Shepard as per your request when you experience a nightmare?" Luna asked as Kiara dressed and checked her unread messages on her omni-tool.

"Please do."

"Connecting to Jane Shepard." Kiara listened for a connection as she walked into her kitchen to grab an orange and sit on her counter.

"Hey Ki, have another nightmare?" Hearing Jane's voice calemed Kiara's nerves as she popped an orange slice into her mouth.

"Yeah, Mindoir again. Forgot I had someone over and ended up punching last night's lay."

"You let someone stay over?" Jane asked which made Kiara scoff.

"No, I was either too drunk or too tired after getting nailed to kick him out. Apparently I did warn him not to stay over but apparently he didn't listen."

Kiara's omni-tool notified her of a new message and cursed when she saw who the message was from.

"Sorry Janey I gotta go, Milu just messaged me that Tommy is harassing her again." Kiara shoved the rest of the orange in her mouth as she grabbed her keys and ran out of her apartment.

"For the last time, I don't know any Mila or Hun or whatever she calls herself, I just want her to either buy something or get lost. This is the third time this week I've seen her here and she doesn't buy anything." Tomas gestured to the quarian standing next to a c-sec officer.

"My name is Milu'Honn nar Calypso and I was invited here by Kiara O'Dell because she's helping me get a ship for my pilgrimage!" Milu explained to the officer who scoffed at her explanation.

"You want me to believe that someone is going to buy you a ship? Lady, do you think I'm stupid?" Tomas asked as he scoffed at her explanation.

"You must be since it's the truth." Kiara huffed as she ran up to the group and glared at the officer before giving Milu a grin. "Sorry Milu, I forgot to set my alarm and overslept."

"O'Dell! You're twenty minutes late! I told you I needed you here for a showing today!"

"And I told you that I gave that shift to Jaru. Honestly Tommy, have you ever look at your omni-tool?" Kiara rolled her eyes and apologized to the c-sec officer before leading Milu into the dealership. Kiara waved over to one of the volus salesmen and gestured to Milu to sit down.

"Hey Paalo, do you have the paperwork for the Skaadi that I asked for?"

"Of course, I just sent it to your omni-tool."

Kiara looked over the paperwork and ownership agreements before signing and sending the information to Milu's omni-tool.

"Alright, I'm signing as the buyer for the ship but the ship will be owned by the quarian migrant fleet." Kiara explained as she sent copies of the paperwork back to Paalo. She could hear Milu trying to muffle her sniffles and Kiara placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you Kiara, this will be a great gift to the fleet."

Kiara smiled as Milu stood up to hug her. "It's no problem at all. The ship is pretty old so if you can't use it as An addition to the fleet then at least you got a lot of salvage now."

Milu chuckled as Kiara led her out of the dealership. "Either way thank you. I'll miss you when I return to the fleet."

"You got my number so just hit me up whenever you get connected to a comm buoy." Kiara reassured her as she gave her a pat on the back before heading back to her car. She was surprised when she saw a familiar redhead leaning against her car with a smirk on her face.

"Janey!"

Jane chuckled as Kiara launched herself into Jane's arms for a tight hug. "Hey Ki, were you able to get everything settled?"

Kiara nodded, letting Jane go so they could climb into her car. "Yeah, just finished helping Milu get that old ship that has been sitting in dock for years." The drive back to Kiara's apartment was quick and soon Jane was sitting in Kiara's living room with Kiara's head in her lap.

"I don't understand why you still work at that place, you know Tommy hates aliens. I'm pretty sure the only reason he lets volus work there is because he looks like one."

Kiara snickered at the image before sighing. "Honestly I want to leave but there aren't any open positions for a mechanic right now."

Jane smirked and sent a file to Kiara's omni-tool. "Actually that's a reason I stopped by. The Alliance is looking for some mechanics and technicians for an upcoming project."

Kiara sat up to read the file. "A ship designed by both turians and humans? Do you think this would work?"

"You're the mechanic, what do you think?"

Kiara flipped through the file, reading over preliminary blueprints and suggestions from technicians already on the project. "It's ambitious but the turian suggestions could be useful."

Kiara paused when she reached the page on the proposed stealth drive system. "Wait, they want to try making this a stealth ship?"

Kiara could almost hear the grin on Jane's face. "I thought that might interest you. Engineers are developing an experimental drive core right now for the ship and could use some assistance."

Kiara was silent as she read over the proposed drive core. It had been years since she worked on any Alliance ship and she couldn't help but admit the idea of working on experimental tech was tempting.

"Luna, send my resignation letter to Tommy."

"Sending file "go fuck yourself Tommy" to Tomas Wright."