Saturday Night's Alright for Refitting

We dropped in system right on time. Everything needed to be perfect. We weren't likely to ever get another opportunity like this, and we needed to be at the top of our game. The lottery for pulling this job had been a ruthless affair: bribes, fights, at least two seduction attempts, but in the end it was Jawa who came out on top.

We were going to be performing an in situ resupply of the SSV Normandy SR-01.

The brothers were whispering between each other, and Juan all but fidgeted in his seat while repeating his radio phraseology over and over.

I rolled my eyes. "You do realize it's likely to be Joker at the other end of the radio, right?" Everyone looked at me. I nodded out into space. "Yeah, they're famous to us, but you heard Schultz before we left; don't let on anything."

Everyone chuckled and looked chagrined. "Shut up, pendejo. Just because you're friends with GT Kingslayer-"

I shook my head. "Just with Nomad. I haven't met the rest of his team."

There was a beep on the console. Hans tapped a few keys. "Delphi just picked them up on the system's edge." He looked at Juan. "You're up, El Jefe."

He nodded, cleared his throat and opened the comm channel. "SSV Normandy, this is ISV Marvin requesting approach clearance. How copy, over?" There were several seconds of silence, then several more. Juan looked over to the brothers.

Frans just shrugged. "Maybe they didn't hear us?"

His brother huffed. "Or maybe they're a top-secret stealth ship that just got pinged by a freighter when even they didn't know they were going to be here?"

Juan scowled at the console for a moment, then looked over at me and unclipped from his seat. "Get over here."

"What?" I unclipped and drifted around Juan.

"You're the one with the celebrity connection, you talk to them."

I rolled my eyes and strapped into the radioman's seat. I thought about what to say, then just decided to pass along the message I had received from Earth the day of our departure. "Kingslayer Actual this is Marvin: Ziva says, 'call your daughter you deadbeat'. How copy, over?"

Our radio crackled to life. "You're still a sonofabitch, you know that? Remind me again why I didn't leave you on Illium?"

I snorted. "So I've been told; and you didn't leave me behind because you forgot how to dodge and were venting your spleen at the Civil Protection team. We've got a care package from Dr. Heliix. Permission to come alongside?"

There was another delay, then an unfamiliar woman's voice came on. "Marvin Actual, this is Normandy Actual. Who am I speaking with?"

It took me a moment to realize this was Shepard; the Jahenne Shepard. It took me a second or two to get my wits back. "Apologies ma'am, this is Sgt Hiram Abiff, GST Transport and Retrieval Team Jawa aboard the ISV Marvin with supplies and material. Over."

"Copy Marvin. We don't have you on our scopes."

I looked over at Juan, who nodded to Frans. I began unclipping from my seat and keyd the mic one last time before switching with Juan. "Standby Normandy, you will in a moment. Marvin out."

We got situated in our proper stations, and made the in-system jump to where the Normandy was holding.

What I remember of the game cutscenes, woefully paled next to the actual ship. Her sleek lines were complemented by her striking coloration, and even as the lightest of SA Naval Starships, she was nearly three times our own length. Whatever one thought of the 'Rule of Cool' philosophy that had informed her design in our home world, the SR-01 SSV Normandy was a sight to behold.

Juan rekeyed the com. "SSV Normandy, this is ISV Marvin. Permission to dock portside, over?"

There was some hesitancy in the voice that came on next. "Uh, roger; yeah, you can... where the fuck did you come from?!" We chuckled at the sound of a minor commotion from Normandy's bridge. "No seriously! That looks like a museum piece, how the hell-"

"Marvin you are cleared to dock, portside fore." Shepard was back on the radio, sounding exasperated, but also slightly curious.

We all chuckled as Frans brought our ship up to the lit and now uncovered docking port. "Copy Normandy. Standby for handshake."

Once we were locked in place, we all unclipped and got ready to meet legends in the making.

The airlock cycled open for us, opening onto a peculiar tableau.

Commander Shepard and her 'Band of Misfits' were all there, along with all the members of Kingslayer. Shepard, Alenko and Williams were all ready for a fight, while the Ghosts were all but bouncing in anticipation of the 'care packages' we had brought from the Spirit and GST HQ. The remainder of the people were the various aliens, all of whom looked on in curiosity at what could elicit such a divided reaction among their human counterparts.

Juan subtly took a calming breath and saluted the Commander. "Lt. Juan Rodriguez-Rivera and GST Retrieval Team Jawa, requesting permission to come aboard ma'am."

Jahenne eyed the four of us and the wheeled crates with us warily, planting her fists on her hips and throwing her pancho open. "Granted, but I'll want to inspect those," she pointed to the crates we were pulling, "before I'll let it onboard."

I shrugged. "Fair enough. It's just Supplies and Contraband." There was a round of choking noises from around the receiving area as I unlocked the case and opened it up. "Let's see, authentic Russian engine degreaser," I set out a bottle of St. Petersburg Alimov vodka while Phil fidgeted, "36 pack of Coca-Cola's inferior cousin," alongside a case of Pepsi as Colt grumbled under his breath, "three punnets of strawberries," Aya licked her lips, "and one 'Tony Montoya starter kit'." I set out a sealed box of Havana's, a Fedora, and a combo weapon I could only describe as an 'Ellen Rippley Special'. The other crates had been opened to show infantry armor-plate/shield carrier vests.

When I stood up, the various aliens only looked more confused, Chief Williams was gawping at the collection of items, Lt. Alenko was staring at the Ghosts, and Shepard was staring directly at me.

I'll admit, she was a very intense woman and it took a great deal to maintain eye-contact without flinching or gulping.

Finally she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Major Lee, get your shit off my deck." The Ghosts rushed over to collect their treasures. "Lt. Rodriguez, I'll want you to brief me on why we're having this little stop so soon after departure." Juan deflated and headed to follow her, while Hans and Frans stepped on board, looking around like a couple of tourists in Hollywood for the first time.

I stepped over to August. "Before I forget, there's a followup for the message from Ziva."

Lee stood up in expectation, at which point I punched him in the floating ribs. It was really just a tap rather than a killer body blow, but it was unexpected and the resulting 'oof' got everyone's attention. "Call. your. daughter. When she gets upset, it upsets Ziva, and since Ziva usually can't get ahold of you she gets ahold of Kara. Whatever those two are talking about has Kara making some very domestic suggestions, so call June."

Most everyone was laughing at this point except for Shepard, who looked resigned to serving on a ship of fools, and Wrex and Aethyta who were glaring daggers at Lee. The deck shook as the ancient pair stalked over.

My previous encounters with Wrex's species did nothing to prepare me for his raw presence. It also didn't prepare me for being shoved aside so he could loom over the Ghost while Aethyta stood next to him, glaring.

"What's this about you not keeping in contact with your daughter?!" Wrex's voice boomed in the small room. "Do you have any idea how precious a gift that is?"

I took the opportunity to make a hasty retreat back into the Marvin. Lee didn't miss my strategic retreat. "Hey! Get back here!" His voice was stern, but frantic.

I waved over my shoulder as I headed down the shipway. "Sorry Major, But I've got to get ready to get to work."

"You sonofabitch! I swear to God, I'll see you married before me!"

After the obligatory rounds of hand shaking and barely repressed fanboying from the remainder of Jawa, it was time to get to the overhaul. I made sure, once we had grudging clearance from Shepard, that we didn't start work until after Lee finished his phone call.

We divided into three work groups.

Juan oversaw the swap-out of the ships magazine for a full load out of Mass-Effected Hyper-Velocity Impactors (MEHVI, or Meh-Vee), while Jahenne, Garus and Ashley lurked nearby.

The Brothers, much to their grumbling, kept watch on the Marvin and flew the small re-supply tug from spot to spot.

I was up on the triangular dorsal sensor tower with Skell Tech's new 2nd Gen "Delphi" sensor package and the software to integrate it with the ship. I was 'escorted' by the ships XO, Charles Pressly, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, as well as Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.

Of the three, I definitely prefered Tali. "What exactly does this do?" She looked at the new sensor unit as Adams and I disconnected the old ultra-high RF generator.

"It's the business end of a comm buoy." I drifted in the microgravity as we disconnected the last cable and set to work on the mounting brackets.

Pressly huffed. "This ship already has a state of the art Q-Comm. Why is command insisting on another communications system?"

There was a clunk and the old generator started to float free. "It's not for communications. It's for long range scanning."

Pressly was a good officer from what I could tell, but he was unimaginative; it showed in his confused expression, though Tali's eyes flashed behind her mask. "Wait, you're saying this projects a focused mass-effected channel in front of the ship-"

I nodded as Adams and I wrangled the multi-tonne generator out of the way. "Not just in front, but yes and then you fire a LIDAR, or RADAR or just look down the tunnel."

Pressley's eyebrows shot up at that. "Wait, this is a Real-Time Beyond C scanning system?! That isn't possible!"

Adams chuffed a laugh. "Of course it is; how do you think comm buoys work?"

Tali's head cocked to one side. "But, why has nobody else tried this before?"

I shrugged as we finished tying the old sensor down and uncrated the new one. "Institutional momentum, lack of imagination, dogmatic adherence to the Prothean Cargo Cult?" That did earn a barked laugh from Pressley. "Anyway, once this little darlin's installed, you should have 10 seconds passive range, one minute active and one AU point target discrimination in real time."

Adams whistled as we maneuvered the unit into place. "Wonder how the Council's gonna take you Spooks hiding this from them?"

"I can almost hear Udina lecturing them about how this is off the shelf tech, and we aren't responsible for educating them on how to apply tech they already have." We all paused and looked at Pressly. "Well you did describe it as 'the business end of a comm buoy'." He pointed at the new sensor unit. "There isn't a Council or Associate race that doesn't manufacture those."

My estimation of Pressly went up; whatever he lacked in technical imagination, he seemed to make up for in political savvy. It brought me up short to think what his fate was likely to be, and how we were forbidden from speaking about it. Adams' magnetic tool-retrieval yo-yo bounced off the top of my head, bringing me back to the here-&-now. "That's true, though the real game changer is down in the magazine right now."

"The new torpedoes? What about them?" Tali watched with eagle eyes as Adams and I worked.

"Well for one thing, they aren't put together backwards."

There was a general squawk from those gathered. The Lt. rallied first. "I've personally inspected every part of this ship and there is nothing wrong with our disruptor torpedoes! The SSM-72 Javelin is the Top-of-the-Line Systems Alliance Capital engagement munition in production!"

"Adams, shift it a little this...-click- that got it. Yeah, and like every other DT in production, it's designed backwards."

Adams peaked over the side at me. "How?"

We started on the connections. "Lt. Pressley, how do DT's work, and what is their primary weakness?"

The Lt. crossed his arms. "Disruptor torpedoes use a positive mass field to overcome a target's kinetic barriers, but that makes them very difficult to accelerate so they are easy for Guardian and other systems to intercept. They have to be volley launched very close to the target."

I nodded. "Good. Tali," I caught a glimpse of her through the cable bundle I was connecting, "how long does it take for a Mass Effect Field to propagate once the Eezo Core is energized?"

Tali's vox-mitter gave a screech I recognized from early conversations with Ziva as a Quarian snort. "The local speed of light. It is gravity after all."

"Also good." I drifted relative upright and looked at Adams. "Last question: how long does it take to energize an Eezo core from high mass to low mass, and vice-versa?"

Adams paused for a moment looking at me like I was asking a trick question. "The same as the propagation rate."

Charles had apparently had enough of '20-questions'. "Where is this going, sergeant?"

I turned to face him fully. "So why not make the torpedoes lighter so they have a better acceleration profile?"

Pressly huffed again. "Because our targeting software and...systems..." He trailed off and stared at the new sensor. "Beyond-C real time targeting!"

I nodded as everyone's eyes lit up. "With terminal engagement speeds measured in whole number percentages of C, each torpedo now hits with a force that starts at four times the power of a Dreadnaught's Main Battery."

Pressly glanced at me. "Let me guess; ten seconds to max-terminal attack velocity?"

I squinted. "Closer to 30 seconds. Eezo shenanigans or not, it takes a lot for a non-FTL engine to run up to .9 C."

Tali sounded like she was hyperventilating. "But that means-"

"Naval warfare doctrine as we know it is obsolete." Pressley finished for her.

I nodded as Adams and I boxed up the old sensor unit. "Yup. Every frigate and every fighter in the SA fleet is going to be a Dreadnaught killer by the time fleetwide rollout is finished. Hey Tali," she looked at me in shock, "don't you also have a phone call to make?" She shivered for a moment, then rushed back to the personnel section.

We were all gathered in the CIC behind the cockpit, and I do mean all. The room was cramped, as it was wall to wall personnel. Williams had to actively corral people away from the work stations. Even the group of Quarian refugees from the EA's attack were here, gathered around Tali and chattering excitedly amongst themselves.

The only true island of calm was Commander Shepard.

She stood with her fists planted on her hips as she looked at the holographic display that normally showed a strategic map of the galaxy. "Alright Jawa," she glanced at Juan, "you've crawled all over my ship, swapped out parts and munitions and loaded your software. Time to convince me this was worth it. Pressley, bring it online."

The crew tensed and looked around as if expecting the sound of machinery spinning up.

All that happened was a wire-frame image being projected by the hologram. It showed a simple animatic of the Normandy, surrounded by a globe of orange lines. There was a single repeating ping from halfway through the globe on the starboard side. "What's that?" Pressley enhanced the area she was pointing at. A series of numbers and an identifier of, 'Anomaly' were displayed, along with a range indicator of '2.281 C'

Juan nodded and keyed in the Marvin. "Frans, point our Delphi at something else." The anomaly shifted rapidly and was soon gone from the sensor. "That's how sensor apertures look to the scanner; it knows it's an ME emission, but it can't classify it."

"Alright, but what about active emitters?" Pressley asked. "Can it differentiate those?"

"Unless there's a glitch in the software, sure. That's one of the things we're here for." Juan keyed his mic again. "Marvin, standby to detach." He turned to Shepard. "By your leave ma'am?"

She nodded, and several crew members began tapping their controls. There was a slight shift as the Normandy's gravity control compensated for the loss of Marvin's mass.

"Marvin away."

Juan nodded and faced Shepard again and pulled a sealed envelope from his pocket. "We have some maneuvers laid out. This is a list of them and their times. Once you switch to active scan, we can begin running your Delphi through its paces."

That we did, for the next four hours. After the first ten minutes of playing hide and seek with the Marvin, most of the crew and away teams wandered back to where they were supposed to be. All that were eventually left were Juan and myself, Shepard's Command Cadre, and Tali who was enraptured by the whole process. By the end of the exercise, Shepard no longer looked like she wanted to throw me and Juan out an airlock.

"This is a damn impressive system your people have developed." Garrus leaned back against a bulkhead. "This would... no, this will change warfare. How well does this scale?" He and Shepard looked between Juan and I.

As Juan was chatting with Frans about the next stage in the drill, I opted to answer. "I don't know the actual math to calculate core size and effective scanning range, but the unit we installed here is a little over eight cubic meters. The one we lug around on the Marvin is about 250 cubic meters, and we can track point targets out to about four light hours."

Shepard shook her head. "There really won't be a need Dreadnaughts ever again, if the missiles work as advertised."

"Sure there will." I turned back to the monitor. "You just replace it's guns with frigate sized sensors and dare someone to move without you seeing it, then reconfigure your cruisers into carriers or arsenal ships."

"Let's confirm the missiles work before we rewrite the book. Lt.?" She looked at Juan.

He was about to speak when Pressley pointed at something. "What's that? It's in the Number 1 Aft Quadrant. It wasn't on the scope a moment ago." There was a ping about eight seconds above and behind us.

Juan looked over the data tags. "Hm. 'Unknown', about 100 meters across and... 50 tonnes? That can't be right." He glanced at Pressley. "Give it a fixed scan."

The hologram zoomed in as the Normandy brought the new sensor's full power to bear. We had a glimpse of a shape just before there was a flash of light and every alarm in the CIC went off.

"Joker, evasive now! All hands, this is the Commander; set Condition One!" Shepard moved to the cockpit while Juan and I clung to the railing. The sensor was still set for point observation, so I hit an icon on the Hologram and reset it to active area scan. There was a glimpse of something leaving our detection sphere, and a solid track on something heading towards us; something flagged as 'Radiological Warning'.

Pressley flashed me a look of annoyance, though he did nod in thanks. "Commander, one missile inbound; profile reads as a Fission Warhead equipped Torch Drive. Intercept in T minus five sec-" The sensor feed went white a half second before the whole ship bucked and a new set of alarms went off.

"XO, report!"

Pressley went over to one of the Damage Control monitoring stations. "We were clipped by a Casaba-Howitzer warhead. Barriers took the worst of it, but it still punched through two armor layers above the portside wing root. No hull breach detected."

"Where's the Bogey?" Shepard stalked in, just as the commanders of the various ground teams and specialists rushed in.

Pressley manipulated the sensor controls to sweep the point sensors across the last known trajectory of the unknown. "They rabitted just after launching. They're outside our scanning range now." He looked hopefully at Juan.

Our Lt. shook his head. "Our Delphi was out of position. I just ordered Hans and Frans to lie Doggo in the moons of the second gas giant." He tapped some controls on the Hologram projector, and a small sub-holo popped up in the corner. "I also had them point our Delphi at the Mass Relay; if they try to run, we'll know it."

Lee looked around. "What the hell just happened?"

I gave a sidelong glance at the Ghost. "A conveniently timed attack just as we were prepping for the live fire drills."

"Well they're not drills anymore." Shepard leaned against the projector. "I wanted to know what your new systems would do in combat; looks like we'll get our chance." Lee's jaw clicked shut as we shared a tense stare, while Juan's back went rigid for a moment.

This was a little too on the nose for us.

"Alright people," everyone looked back at Shepard, "anyone not directly connected to the new sensors or weapons, the operation of the ship, or contributing ideas on how to help needs to clear the CIC." Everyone stood still for a moment. "That's not a suggestion."

The ground teams filed out, though Tali was still staring at the hologram. "Can we backtrack them?" There was confusion, but also curiosity. Tali looked around hesitantly. Lee, Juan and myself all looked at her in anticipation. "I mean, I'll... just-"

Lee was at the door to the CIC and held up a hand. "You have a thought?" Shepard and Pressly were about to send her out, I'm sure, but they saw something and hesitated.

"Well, I know the sensor has limited range, and they've probably left that already, but we know where they were, so I thought..."

She looked about to fold in on herself when Garrus spoke up. "You want to go on a Spirit Hunt?"

Jahenne looked at him oddly. "What's a spiritual retreat supposed to do?"

His mandibles and frills all flared in confusion. "Huh? No, a 'Spirit Hunt' is an old Naval tracking tactic. If you know where and when a target ship was somewhere-"

The XO's eyes lit up. "You can move to a position ahead of their information wave!" He tapped the controls and pulled up navigational data and time. "Commander?" He looked at Shepard expectantly.

She gave a sharp nod, and he fed the coordinates to Joker. While Pressley was away, she went over to Tali and said something that caused the young girl to sag in relief. Lee led Tali out as Shepard walked back and the ship made a micro jump. It was the work of moments for Pressley to find the right 'time', and soon we had a perfect image of our attacker.

The ship was a very familiar one, to a Traveler.

"What the hell is that thing?" Garrus' sentiment was reflected by the rest of the bridge crew, though I could see recognition in Juan's eyes. The discus shaped center body had a flat, boxy aft and was flanked by two cylindrical devices on up-swept wings, each as long as the main saucer. However where I would normally expect to see a stylized bird of prey, this ship instead was decorated with graceful Arabic script forming the image of a lion.

"Ma'am." Shepard looked at me, "I suggest we get Major Lee back up here."

She nodded sharply at one of the seated crew and I heard August being paged. "What do you know?"

I locked eyes on the aggressor ship. "That marking is a very specific Calligram belonging to the Nizari Isma'ili." Lee came in and immediately started swearing the moment he saw the ship. "Specifically, it's associated with the Asasiyun. We're being hunted by EA Assassins."

We spent another four hours tracking the movements of the EA hunter/killer. Whatever we might have called it, most of the crew adopted Wrex's name for it based on the Calligram: The Varren. It had initially jumped towards the system's only rocky planet, but it made one course break to throw off possible pursuit and headed towards the third Super-Jovian. The enormous proto-star had an equally massive ring and satellite network.

"Well this should be fun." The Battlemaster groused.

Shiala, the ship's only other Asari, smirked at the massive Krogan. "What, is the great and mighty Urdnot Wrex afraid of a tiny Human ship?"

Wrex didn't even bother looking at her. "Yes, and you should be too." He nodded at the display. "That's not a warrior out there, seeking honor and glory. That's a murder machine. Stealth ships like that are first strike weapons meant to kill, nothing more." He turned one baleful eye towards the startled Commando. "I guarantee that if we chase it into that pyjak nest, we will come out bloody, if we come out at all."

"Then we don't." Shepard looked at Juan. "Transmit to your ship, and have them drop off our old magazine at these points." She indicated the 'dark' sides of several of the moons. "Once they're done, have them meet us here, in case we need someone to pick up survivors." It was left unsaid whose survivors she thought might need picking up. "We'll remote activate the torpedoes and fire them into the ring in sequence; make it look like we're orbiting the ring. Then, when they try to pounce 'us', we fire from our current One-Light-Minute zenith position."

I could tell Juan was uncomfortable with involving the Marvin in this operation, but we both recognized the soundness of the plan. The fact that Shepard was taking steps to keep Hans and Frans out of the actual fighting was mollifying. We continued monitoring the planet as the Marvin laid the torpedoes like depth charges. Lee rested a hand on Juan's shoulder as my Lt. sagged in relief once the Marvin joined us.

Pressly looked to his commander. At a nod from her, he ordered the weapons officers to activate the 24 torpedoes, one at a time, and fire them into the planet's ring. The warheads activated at preset distances, causing gravity shockwaves that created 100 km bubbles to form and pop. After the seventh torpedo, The Varren made her move, firing a missile at our supposed position.

Pressley barked out. "Target on scope ma'am!"

"Lock on." The hologram shifted as our sensors went to point target mode.

"Aspect change ma'am; she's running for it!"

"Weaps?"

"Locked!"

"Fire."

The Normandy bucked slightly as two MEHVI's were launched. There was a split second where the missiles were just hovering relative to our position, then the flashed out. The clock and acceleration counters both crawling as the Varren wove it's way clear of the network of moons towards the Mass Relay. The clock reached zero just as she made it past the last moon. One missile flew wide, but the second struck the starboard pylon. Her kinetic barriers had no appreciable effect as the missile sheared the nacelle clean off. Everyone in the CIC whooped and started patting each other on the back as the enemy tumbled. Shepard looked to be ready to issue orders when the Varren's port drive lit up, and she flashed away towards the safety of the relay network.

The cleanup and after action was very tense, and very edifying. Garrus had buried himself in the new sensor system. "Our launchers aren't calibrated to the new missiles, that's why the second one went wide." He gave a grin to Jahenne. "Once I'm done, you'll be able to poke that Varren in the eye if you want."

Without the need to collect survivors, Hans and Frans were free to retrieve the remaining torpedoes. They also picked up the sheared nacelle. Juan shook Shepard's hand. "We'll get this to our R&D section. They'll tell us everything there is to know about it. Maybe we can figure out where they have their shipyard hidden and send a little work your way."

I was busy in the cargo hold getting the old RF generator stowed away, in the event they needed to reinstall it.

"Sergeant."

I snapped upright and spun to find myself alone with nothing until the Commander threw her poncho open, disrupting its camouflage. She wasn't intentionally menacing, but the woman had an intensity that could be very disconcerting, especially when you were alone with her in a confined space and she appeared out of nowhere. "Yes ma'am."

"How did you know?"

I was caught off guard by the seeming non sequitur. "Know... what, ma'am?"

"In the CIC; I was about to send Tali away, but you, Lt. Rodriguez and Major Lee all knew she was onto something. How?"

It was now apparent that she had used the ambush to put me off guard so she could interrogate me; I'll admit, it was pretty damn effective. But then, as far as I was concerned that was the worst question she could have asked. Every member of the old GST was under orders not to reveal what we knew or how we knew it. I stood at parade rest and looked her in the eye. "I can't say ma'am."

Her intensity shot up to 11 as she stalked towards me. "Can't, or won't?"

"Is there a difference when you're under orders?"

That brought her up short as she stared me in the eyes. "Under orders?" I nodded, not really trusting my voice at that moment. "Of the three of you, only Lee personally knows Tali, though his familiarity is somewhat frightening at times. You and Juan though? You met her yesterday and you can somehow intuit that she has something useful to contribute from a glance. Tell me why I should trust any of you GST spooks?"

"Because we trust you, ma'am." Her jaw clicked shut as she rocked back slightly. "If you give the order, any member of our organization, from the lowliest Goffer," I pointed to myself, "to our senior most operatives will follow through without hesitation."

She squinted and snorted. "Really? So If I order you to blow up an orphanage, you'll just merrily plant charges?"

"No ma'am, because we know you'd never give such an order."

She worked her jaw for a few seconds. -Commander Shepard, Arcturus is on the comm; you're needed on the CIC.-

She gritted her teeth in clear frustration. "I should go."

It was all I could do not to bark out a laugh; it was like having the Queen of England declaring, "We are not amused!"

Shepard must have seen the sudden tension in my posture, as her eyes lit up with barely contained fire. "Get off my ship before I decide to do a more thorough interrogation!"

I snapped a salute and made my way to the nearest gangway to climb up to the ship-way. I arrived just as August waved off Juan. "Ah, Hiram! I wanted to catch you before you left and let you know there's no hard feelings. I even got you something!" His smile was pure smarm, but in his hand was a Normandy Service Cap.

I smirked, took the hat and shook his hand. "I call bullshit, but I need to get going." I put the hat on and my grin slipped. "Shepard noticed us on the CIC with Tali. She suspects something but doesn't know what."

His own grin slipped at that, replaced by a tired look that I imagined a lot of us wore when we dwelled on what was going to happen to the galaxy in the near future. "I'll think of something to say. Also," his grin returned a little, "Ziva said in my last call that she'd sponsored Kalla. She's coming to Earth to attend Xenobiology classes at Johns Hopkins." He turned on his heel and headed deeper into the ship. "I expect they'll have plenty of time to talk, and plan."

My eye twitched as the hatch closed behind him. I scratched a nervous itch on the cap's sweat band, then headed into the Marvin so we could get underway.

-three days later-

I desperately scrubbed my hair in the shower on the Spirit. "Seriously, itching powder in the cap? What is he, 12?"

A/N: Big thanks as usual to Ian the Mechanic.

Not much to say, beyond the fact that the main story is now being posted on Ao3.

Hope you all enjoyed, stay safe out there.

And I will see ya when I see ya.