"Keep still!" I snapped and Jack stilled. "Your entire body is covered in tattoos save for this one part and suddenly you can't keep still for it?" I asked. Jack rolled her eyes. "Fuck off."

"Great counter argument. Someone was the captain of their debate team."

"Fuck. Off."

Rolling my eyes, I bent down with the needle over Jack's shin and began to trace the outline of the drawing. Several days have gone by since I joined the crew and new people joined us. There was Kasumi, the cute little thief; Jack the incredibly tattooed psychotic criminal biotic and a vat grown young Krogan named Grunt. Jack and I hit it off pretty quickly.

By hitting it off I mean that I caught her trying to break into Serenity and I launched her to the other side of the hanger bay. She fought back and we wrecked the place. Shepard put a stop to it and had us both cleaning up the bay. That spawned another couple fights until Shepard again came down and that spiraled out into a three way brawl.

Best ninety minutes of my life so far.

Anyways, after we cleaned up the hanger bay, Jack and I got to talking and she was appreciative of my art and I liked her tattoos. More conversations followed as Shepard left with others to run some kind of mission with Zaheed (That both of them refuse to talk about) and some kind of adventure with Kasumi that involved some guy named Hock.

I had joined Shepard on the cluster that had been a recruitment mission for Okeer. I had heard of him, as my father had cursed his name for reasons that he refused to specify. We didn't get Okeer. Instead we came away with Grunt, supposedly the pinnacle of Krogan and Okeer's greatest work. Interesting guy for being a couple weeks old.

Anyways, to get back on track Jack had liked my art enough for me to help her come up with some designs for her and tattoo them on. Which has led me to here, underneath engineering in a little corner putting a tattoo on a pantsless Jack.

"You know that I only took my pants off for the tattoo right? Still don't want to fuck you." Jack said as I rolled my eyes for the upteenth time and didn't dignify it with a response. "I'm starting to color it in now." I said and switched needles. A simple design of interlocking daggers up the length of her shin, I alternated between coloring it in with dark ink and unique designs in each dagger.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I didn't look up from my work. "What's up Shepard?" Jack asked. "You almost finished Moira?" Shepard asked. "A couple more hours to go. Why?" I answered.

"We're on the way to Horizon. Illusive Man says that it might have just been hit by the Collectors." (Jack had twitched at the mention of TIM but stilled when I gave her a rather pointed look) "You'll be with myself and Grunt and Miranda. Garrus will be leading Jacob and Zaheed and Kasumi in another team. Jack and Mordin are staying behind to guard the ship."

"You're leaving me on your ship? You trust me with it?" Jack asked, slightly incredulous and I honestly agreed with her. I wouldn't trust her with anything, let alone a fancy stealth ship.

"Can you give me a reason that I shouldn't trust you?" Shepard asked, sounding genuinely confused. "Several probably." I quipped and then smacked Jack's other leg when she moved in either genuine or feigned outrage. "If you move one more goddamn time I'm leaving this half done." I snapped.

Jack stilled and I heard Shepard stifle a laugh behind me. "Be ready, expect things to be hot the moment we hit the ground."

"Roger that." I said and once more focused on the tattoo. Jack muttered something under her breath as I heard more footsteps coming down the stairs. "Oh there you are!" and I stopped to quickly give Kelly a smile. The ever perky and curvaceous red-head had started talking to me not long after I joined the crew and it didn't take long for her to end up in my bed.

We weren't dating, but made no secret that we were close. She gently kissed my crests and hummed appreciatively of either Jack's tattoo or the fact that her pants were off. Or both. "Everything alright?" I asked as I filled another part in. Shepard had left at some point after she had given a cheerful greeting to Kelly.

"Yes I'm fine, I was just checking up on you."

"I'm good. Just going to finish this up and then get ready."

"Mind if I stay?"

"I don't. Jack?"

"Whatever."

Kelly sat down next to me and we talked and even Jack joined in on the conversation! Granted it was usually a curse or something, but hey points for conversering like an actual person. Two hours later and Kelly was fast asleep with her head on my lap as I added the final touches.

"And we're done. What do you think?" I asked and Jack sat up and looked at the tattoo. "I like it. Ever thought about making a career out of this?"

"I did actually. I worked out of Serenity after I left Asari space for a bit in between mercenary work. I also did the tattoos for the crew I was apart of."

"Holy fuck you were a pirate?" Jack asked with what I like to think was grudging respect on her part. I shrugged and ran my fingers through Kelly's hair. "I did for a bit. We smuggled, hijacked a couple ships, did whatever we were paid to do."

"Should've stayed a pirate. Been a good career for you."

"Careful there, I think that might have been a compliment." I put away my equipment and gently woke Kelly up. "It was fun, but I was looking for a quick adventure that was different from my usual life. Probably going back to Thessia after this."

Jack scoffed. Kelly and I stood up and she bade Jack a sleepy goodbye and I shrugged. "You can scoff, but I prefer to be a part of something and doing something with my life. Something worthwhile."

Jack scoffed again and I chuckled. "Maybe one day you'll believe me. You're a lot better than you give yourself credit for. I have to go get ready. See you in a bit." Jack scoffed again and remained on the cot. I followed Kelly to the elevator and she fell into my arms. "I was hoping to have a quick-one before the mission." Kelly said, her head on my shoulder.

"Sorry. Jack's tattoo took longer than I thought. We can have a night when I get back." A thought suddenly occurred to me. "Shouldn't you be at work on the bridge?" I asked. "Shepard gave me a few hours off to say good-bye to you and a break before Horizon."

"I'll have to make it up to you then."

Kelly smiled as the elevator opened. "Yes you will, but I did need that nap."

I led the way onto Serenity and tossed aside my clothes and slipped into my armor. Joker's voice came through the intercom and he said "Teams to the shuttles. Coming up on Horizon in ten minutes."

Huh. No sarcasm or crappy jokes? Talk about a surprise. "I better get to the bridge." Kelly said and she gave me a kiss and I nipped her lip. "When you're back." She said, her voice husky with promise.

Kelly skipped off and I stared long enough to admire the movement of her hips and ass before walking over to the shuttle. "I thought that we'd have to pry you two a part." Shepard said as I climbed into the shuttle. Her N7 armor gleamed in the shuttle-bay light and I shrugged. "Would have if Jack's tattoo hadn't taken longer than I thought."

Shepard looked around and nodded. "Okay. We're all here. Mission's simple. Stop the Collectors and rescue the colonists. Team two, can you hear me?"

"We can." Garrus said over the radio.

The shuttle doors closed and both shuttles lifted off. Shepard pulled up a holo-map of the colony and she pointed at a red dot. "Team one will land here. Team two will land over here. Team one will push directly into the center of the colony. Team two will move around the perimeter and keep it secure. Garrus? You're in charge."

"Understood Shepard." Garrus said. "Actually, I'd like to go ahead and land ahead of you."

Shepard was quiet for a couple seconds as she thought. "Granted. You see anything, say something."

"Understood. Team two out."

I leaned back and closed my eyes. I always grabbed as much sleep as I could before a mission. You never know how it might go. I also found that it helped to calm my nerves. No matter how old I'll get or however many missions that I do, I won't ever escape the nerves that come from right before a mission.

I don't know if it's from being nervous about what could go wrong, or the thrill of the fact that I'm about to get into a fight. I grinned to myself and my fangs peeked through. "Something funny?" Miranda asked and I opened my eyes to look at her. "Nope. Actually yes. One is judged by their enemies. Shepard is hunted by the Reapers. Humanity has fought the Geth and now the Collectors!" I laughed. "The new kids in space have the greatest enemies. It's unexpected and interesting."

Grunt laughed. "She's right. This'll be fun."

Miranda scoffed. "Krogan." She said as if it was a kind of judgment. "Oh don't be like that. Didn't Augustine Kroso say that very thing? That people demonstrate their strengths and abilities by overcoming powerful enemies?"

"Who?" Grunt asked.

"A human philosopher. Known for his nihilistic and war-monger work. Died of old age shortly before the First Contact War." Miranda answered. She turned back to me and said "Augustine was also a warmonger that said humanity should conquer the stars figuratively and literally."

"What? And you don't agree with him?" I challenged.

"Not at all. I want humanity to advance and be better. It's a dangerous universe out there and humanity has to be better for it. Didn't Matriarch Shayltha say that it's the duty of the people to stand up and lead their civilization to the future?"

"She also was one of the people who laughed my purple ass off Thessia when I pointed out that the Asari need a standing army and have to change. For someone who's all about leading the way to the future she's pretty allergic to any idea of change."

"Are you two going to keep quoting various people as you argue?" Shepard asked.

"Yes." We both answered at the same time. The shuttle bucked and the pilot announced that we were entering the atmosphere. We both turned back to each other "People have a duty to lead their society to the future but I don't think joining a terrorist organization is the way to do it." I said cooly.

"And being a mercenary is the way for you?"

"Hey I served loyally for decades before I decided to go travel. And I sent whatever information I could when I could."

"You just said that your purple ass was laughed off Thessia." Shepard put in.

I glared at her and muttered "So I had multiple reasons for leaving. Fuck off."

"You think that the Asari should have an army?" Grunt asked. "My people live for about a thousand years. Every generation there's at least one war. The Turians can't do the heavy lifting for us all of the time. Commandos can't win a war against Reapers or whatever else is out there." I answered.

"Five minutes to LZ." The pilot announced. We all stood up and Shepard's and my helmets opened up and covered our faces. "Weapons check. Everyone ready?" Shepard asked as she stepped up to the front.

One by one we called out that we were ready. "Miranda." I said and she looked at me. "Shayltha had a couple good points. But I don't think Cerberus is the way to do it. You quoted an Asari matriarch. You're a lot better than that organization."

"I don't think that I believe you. But thank you." Miranda's voice was warm, a far cry from her normal frigid tones. "One day, I think you will." I replied and Miranda's smile grew an inch or so larger.

"Landing now!" The pilot announced and the shuttle bay doors slid open. With Shepard leading the way, we stepped out and fanned out. Guns at the ready for whatever the Collectors had.

Decided to split this chapter up so that I could upload it a bit sooner. The Horizon mission will be pretty long so please be patient. Hope you all enjoyed.

-C.H.