:Knock knock

Delta: Whose (looks around suspiciously, seeing no one outside) …there?

(A thick 7-foot tall block of embellished wood slams over the entryway, whacking Delta's face and knocking him on his ass.)

Door: THE DOOR!

Change of Living

What the-, How did-, When did-, Gahh!

Apparently my surprise, confusion and slight horror is clearly etched on my face because as the similarly emoted yell from earlier has awoken her she stares at me before relaxing again in understanding. Of course instead of doing something I'd deem sensible like putting on clothes and explaining, she does something much worse.

Oh my god this is bad! I think slowly as my brain witnesses her. Morinth says nothing, hardly reacting to my outburst except to lay back down, close her eyes, slide a bit closer and wrap her firm, soft toned legs around my own and, oh her breath kinda tickles my neck.

…Ok, maybe this isn't so bad…Wait, no, sex demon Delta! But she wouldn't hurt you… NO! Enemy! ENEMY! Go away remnants, you're her feelings, not mine!

Are we? I feel the odd emotions say. Wait, what? Gah! I pull my arm out of her grip and this obviously displeases her. She doesn't open her eyes, blindly grabbing for me. I avoid it by grabbing her wrists and pinning them to the bed.

"Let go Delta…" her reply is sleepy but its obvious she's waking up pretty quickly.

"Morinth, what are you doing in my bed?" I demand.

"Sleeping. Now let me." She responds.

I deadpan at that response. "Morinth…what are you doing here on the Normandy."

"Staying with you. Is that a better answer?" She responds, frowning at me a little. "Are you going to act like this every time I get in bed with you?"

I was caught off guard a little at her first comment. The second part just made me splutter for a few seconds. In that time she freed her arms, wrapped them around my chest and laid down while locking her legs more securely with mine. I only watched her as she did so, finishing the whole act by leaning into my side and finally closing her eyes with a soft muttering of "mine".

As I recover I growl out slightly and smack her shoulder. This wakes her up faster than before, but she's now much more irritated.

"Morinth, you do know that this is incredibly dangerous right? Soon as Samara sees you, she'll try to kill you."

"Mother wouldn't dare. She'd risk taking down herself and this whole ship if she did and she knows it."

"Wouldn't that restrict your own abilities? You can't use your biotics if that's the case. So what's to stop Shepard and a bunch of the others from throwing you out the airlock?"

"Easy, I join the crew for your suicide mission. Mother won't be able to object and judging from your discussion earlier it wouldn't interfere with her code. Plus, now I can make sure you don't die."

I raise my brow at her "How'd you find out about that? Did you mind meld with me in my sleep?!" Her answer is to merely look slightly bashful.

"…What the hell Morinth you mind-raped me!"

"It wasn't that serious! I only looked deep enough to see your conversation after you left! You were barely in any pain." She defends herself, at first it sounded angry though it took a softer more saddened undertone.

I watch her and we end up spending a few seconds just staring at each other. After the brief interlude to our argument I shake my head and sigh, pulling out of her grasp and getting out of my bed. Glancing up I note that the clock reads 2 am, so around now everyone is asleep except for the late night crew. "Jesus fuck Morinth, now is probably the worst time for Shepard to find out…" I mutter. I turn to her and point at the bed "Stay here." I turn back and quickly pull on a shirt and shorts, leave the Armory into the CIC, go up to Shepard's floor in the eleveator. At this hour, I don't even care about how fast it is, even if I did doze off for a half minute.

The elevator's stop jerks me out of my light snoozing and I blink my eyes once before stepping out and up to the door. I raise my fist to knock and let her know I'm here, but then I heard a muffled sound from the other side that sounded like talking. I press my ear against the metal and close my eyes, focusing on it and hear Shepard's voice, quite and muffled through the door.

"Why? Because I said so, that's why. Mhm sure you're in bed, and the sound of gunfire behind you is your alarm clock. Don't try and kid me Liara, I can hear the exhaustion in your voice. Get to bed already, alright? I'm about to go to sleep myself. Good. Goodnight Liara I…I'll call you again soon." I hear the beep of a disconnection and Shepard's sigh.

I knock on the door. A second later it opens and I see Shepard, small bags under her eyes.

"Shepard, I have girl problems." I immediately say.

"Good morning to you as well Delta." She immediately responds, turning around and walking in. Her arms lift in a quick stretch "Come in."

I nod and walk in, grabbing her desk chair and plopping it by her couch. She sits in the couch and I sit in the chair, its back facing her so I can lean on it while we talk. "I'm kind of surprised to see you up Shepard. I was expecting to have to wake you myself."

"I doubt you would have. I don't sleep much." She mutters. "Tonight, Feron had called me to convince Liara to get in her bed and sleep. He seems to worry about her quite a bit."

"And you don't?" I ask.

"Liara can handle herself. Still, a whole shipful of mercs finding out she's not the real Shadow Broker, or at least their Shadow broker, I fear that happening."

I nod. "So, the other nights then?"

Shepard blinks then grimaces as I say this, looking to the side "The other nights are…different. Anyway, you said you had a problem? Girl problems?"

I look at her and nod. I doubt she wants to talk to me about whatever might be troubling her. At least tonight. "Yeah…really just one problem though."

"You've fallen in love with Morinth haven't you?" She asks.

I splutter for half a second and begin to say no, but Shepard's face is already set in a smug "Knew it, don't even try" look.

Told you… I pause and look at Shepard. Wow. I actually do love Morinth…not deeply, but enough to really care about her. She did have the impression we were soulmates or something though, considering our situation. Not entirely sure however, she used some weird asari word for it that my translator can't pick up.

I sigh. "Yeah it…it seems like it, Shepard. But that's not the real problem. I mean, yeah, it's a problem, for many reasons, but it's not the main problem." I say, my head hanging low.

"So what is the main problem then?" Shepard asks.

Welp here we go. "Well…remember the scenario I posed to you and Samara on the way to the Normandy? It seems like we might have to implement it."

Shepard's eyes widen and her mouth gapes slightly. She stands up suddenly "Are you telling me a dangerous Asari is onboard right now!"

I stand up as well, scooting the chair to the side and raising my hands toward her, palms out "She's not really dangerous Shepard, she's just lonely! Very, very lonely, and sad and scared and is now clinging onto the one rock of actual happiness she has seen in her new life with all her strength."

"Delta, she's dangerous. I don't trust her and I have no reason to start." Shepard says, beginning to turn and go find Morinth. "I'm kicking her off this ship now!"

"Wait!" I grab her arm and pull then rush back in front of her. "Shepard, you trust me though right?! Right? Well what if I say I trust her, would that be enough for you? We've already done the mind meld, I've seen her, I can tell its genuine and she just wants to be with me. It feels really weird to say that actually. But the gist of it is-"

Shepard holds up a hand "Alright alright, stop Delta." She stares at me with a critical eye for a good minute. I watch, her shifting from foot to foot nervously. I still can hardly believe this…. A little over a day ago I was ready to have her killed and now I'm actually arguing with Shepard to keep her alive… I look back to Shepard as she sighs, rubbing her forehead "Ok…I'll trust you on this Delta. But if she causes trouble, I'm tossing her out the airlock and dumping you on the first station we come to. Understood?"

I nod and surprise Shepard with a hug. "Understood Shep. Thanks."

I can feel her smile against my shoulder as she hugs me back "Don't get too happy about it Delta. You're the one telling Samara after all. You're dating her daughter."

I frown slightly "Ahhh crap Shepard…" I sigh breaking the hug apart. "Well I'd better get some sleep then… I do not want to step on that minefield while tired."

Shepard actually has the nerve to laugh while I walk towards her door, chair in hand to place back where it was. "Good luck Delta."

"Thanks Shepard. And get some sleep yeah?" I respond.

"I'll certainly try." She says, the door closing behind me. I step into the elevator and return to the CIC deck, stepping out, walking into the armory and pausing as I see Morinth lying down where I originally was. "Already taking my stuff…" I mutter, walking over and sliding in. One of my legs brush against hers and in a flash her eyes open, her arms snap out and I'm suddenly yanked headfirst into the bed and her. I roll my eyes and get back under the covers, her body starting to wrap itself around mine again already. With a sigh I lay back, close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

"This is not going to be fun at all…" I mutter with a sigh. Post-wakeup and usual morning routine, I had a little mental debate on whether I should eat first then tell Samara, or do the opposite. Almost immediately I opted to do the opposite because it was sure to suck, and I could use my breakfast and donuts as somewhat of an equalizer. And then maybe a pig will fly through the Omega 4 Relay and kill the Collectors before Shepard and the rest of us do. I shake my head and am about to open the door before I look back toward Gardner with a thought running through my head.

Half a minute later the door to Samara's deck opens and I walk through, arms folded behind my back.

"Delta. It is good to see you. What brings about this visit?" Samara says as soon as the door closes behind me. I walk over and sit down on the bench to her right, looking out the window while keeping my little surprise out of sight.

"Well, I have news." I start. "Good news is, I have some chocolates for you." I say, holding up a box of assorted chocolate treats and wiggling it slightly. Samara's reaction is less assuring than I had hoped. I hold the box out to her.

"I appreciate the gift Delta, but I sense this is more of a buffer to something else." She says, taking the box and placing it in her lap.

"Geez, you sound like my mother…" I mutter with a short sigh. "Alright, well, Morinth heard our conversation apparently. She approached Shepard and I last night about joining the crew."

Samara's eyes widen as she stares at me "What?"

I nod at her. "Yeah, Morinth's on the crew."

Samara blinks once then narrows her eyes "That's impossible. I haven't known Shepard for long but she wouldn't have sacrificed you for her assistance."

"Shepard's not the one who chose to sacrifice it. It'll hurt like hell every time, but I honestly see that as the only way to help her." I say, staring out the window.

"She is beyond help Delta. She is part of a disease that has plagued Asari families for millennia! Her only help is to be released into the embrace of the Goddess."

I sigh, leaning back into the bench. "Samara, I understand your position on this…but seriously, I can't just leave it at that. Maybe yeah, with a whole race of people aiming for your head it'd be best to just be dead sooner instead of waiting for a whole thousand years to kick the bucket but she's survived this long. I think she deserves a break. Funny how she only gets it on a suicide mission, but then maybe she'll leave with a smile instead."

"…Delta. I want you to know, I have always wanted only what's best for my daughters. When Morinth denied the option of exile I, I had to be the one to kill her. I couldn't bear the thought of anyone else doing it. She could have been caught by one of the many radical zealots I've encountered in my training and tortured gruesomely for months before being released. I couldn't let that happen to her, and I had hoped to end it early before this had carried on too long. My resolve will be steady when we attack the Collectors, and though I will be tired and weakened from the ordeal I will still kill her if they haven't already." Samara says, her voice quavering slightly during the middle of her speech but then growing strong once more at the end. I shiver a little as her biotics activate, with more energy radiating than usual when she's practicing. "Now please leave me. I need to meditate."

I nod, standing up and walking out. As I pass her, I glance down and widen my eyes upon seeing the box of chocolates crushed and floating slightly off her lap. The door closes behind me and turns red, locking everyone out of the room. I sigh and walk over to Gardner for breakfast, not at all enjoying the start of today. At least Samara hasn't expressed an uncontrollable urge to kill Morinth, and probably me for helping her. Just a strong urge to do so. Sighing I stand from the table, place my plate into the collection bin and enter the elevator, pressing the button for the cargo hold. Much as I'd like to enjoy the touch of a silky smooth Asari, I still have that project to work on. And hopefully verrry soon, a bunch of new sources to use.

I step out of the elevator as I reach the Cargo hold and walk towards Silver I've only taken about 5 steps before I'm standing froze and looking around. Hearing the soft click of heels I make a guess of who did and am somewhat pleased to see my assumption correct as the person rounds about to my front.

Miranda stops in front of me, hands on her hips and leaning on one leg. My eyes can't help but give her a once over before stopping at her face. "Ah. Miranda. How are you doing?"

She gestures behind herself at my projects. "What is this Delta?

"It's my super special secret projects for the final fight against the Collectors. Once these prototypes have had their field tests I'll be spreading the design plans between every governing body in the galaxy." I respond tiredly. "Miri, can we please not do this now? I still have a lot of fine-tuning and construction, testing program writing, limitation setting ahead. That's just stuff to do, that's not even considering what I intend to completely ignore like the parameters of basic Robo-ethics, some laws of applied physics, Quantum theory, and a healthy portion of the Geneve Convention."

She rolls her eyes, lifting me up slightly then dropping me out of the stasis field. I don't flop on my face but I do stumble a little as she steps to the side. "Delta, you said if you had anything useful you'd share."

"Yeah. I lied. In case you haven't noticed Miri, I don't trust Tim. Like, at all. Did you know he had videos of you showering? Well, he has videos of everyone showering actually. Lot more angles available in the women's restroom though." I say, speaking as I walk towards Silver and our work. Really, I need these things operational ASAP, and I don't have much time to make, test, fine-tune, test again and clear for use. It would just suck, massive, MASSIVE Donkey balls to send them out to guard the Normandy only to watch em shoot and crash into it in the middle of a suicide mission. That'd be the WORST fuckup, I'd ever see myself do. I'd never live it down I bet.

Miranda looked irritated at me for saying I lied and don't trust Tim but now she looks kind of surprised. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah, loads of videos. Of you and pretty much every other female on the ship who uses the restroom. I mean some are obviously surveillance, some are sketchy surveillance and some are downright pornographic. And I don't mean cute lips, smooth shoulders, soft back, "softcore" pornographic; I mean thick ass, stiff nippled, we're talkin TSA Hands-on Full Cavity search images here." I sit down and almost break out laughing at the face Miranda makes, a wonderful mix of horror, betrayal and disgust.

"How do you know this?!" Miranda practically screeches, whirling on me. Oh crap…

"I hacked his cameras around the ship. Didn't get the shower one until recently." I'm in another stasis field suddenly.

"You're lying. When did you find out?" she demands, pointing an accusing finger at me. The field around my head dissipates enough for me to breathe and speak.

"A month ago!" I say. She raises a brow at me.

"4 months ago, during the Tuchanka missions!" I say, the field constricts tighter around me.

"What?! Delta and you left it?!"

"I only saw one video and got several concussions during that mission, I totally forgot about it for most of that time!" I defend myself. It's pathetic, and I'm screwed anyway but fuck it. Seriously and I only saw midshipman Joan too, she wasn't even that hot compared to Miranda. Mmmm, that bubble butt. Jacob had a good thing goin I bet.

"OW!" I try to raise my hand to rub my cheek but I'm still bound. Miranda folds her arms while glaring at me. "What was that for?"

"For being perverted, what else!" She snaps. "I want the locations of each camera in the restroom, now!" She storms away, practically punching the elevator button and looks inside briefly as she steps in. The field drops, and I do along with it, falling to the floor this time.

"Ouch...That went well." I mutter. I feel someone grab my shoulder and arm, tugging slightly. I look up as I pull my feet beneath me and stand while being pulled, popping back up to full height and seeing the sleek black of a near-skintight padded Asari Commando suit. And of course in that suit, is none other than Morinth.

My girlfriend. I shiver slightly as that thought runs through me. Man, this is nice but it's still kind of weird. The shiver returns with a vengeance though when I feel her lace her fingers through mine.

"So, who is she and what made her so mad at you?" Morinth asks. I walk and pull her over toward Silver who I get the impression has been observing everything in silence and will continue to do so until called upon.

"That was Miranda, Cerberus' strongest influence on this ship, Executive officer, and likely the sanest person on the ship. Aside from Tali I believe."

Morinth raises a brow.

"No, we're insane too." I say to her.

"Correct. For I have also equipped the Sentinel prototypes with the capabilities of serving as fully functional sub-orbital drop pods. After reviewing the schematics, we have concluded that with some rearrangement and new power routes, the Sentinels have enough space in their main bodies to hold a curled up human." Silver says, turning around to look at the two of us while patting the body of our Sentinel prototype. I walk around to inspect it, my hand coming loose from Morinth's as I crouch and touch, open panels, inspect wiring.

It's not compact, by far. It's central body is about the size of the Cyclops laser orbs that attack the Normandy past the Omega-4 Relay. Instead of a true sphere though its circular body is more like 3 different sized, foot thick-discs. Across the front is a silver 'X' with 4 red optics surrounding the center meeting point. The X's lines stretch over the top and bottom to the back, making the same symbol without the optics. At its side, are 4 pillar-like arms with 3 metal triangles at the tips closed like a prism, the front 2 generating a reddish yellow light while the back two shine a bright blue similar to the exhaust from the Kodiak's engines.

"Well done Silver! Wow! And it's a drop pod too?" I ask, turning to him briefly while inspecting it.

He nods. "Yes. We had surmised that it would be useful in case we were to accomplish any special quick infiltration missions."

"Dude, you made it because it'd be fun as hell."

He pauses for a second "Yes."

I chuckle "I swear, you're going to return and everyone will be wondering just what the fuck happened to you…"

"We eagerly await the exchange of data." Silver responds, making me laugh. Morinth sits on nearby box as I step away from our prototype and pull up a few Geth scouters and 2 rocket drones taken from the wreckage of our battle with Vasir. I immediately set them on top of a long box and pull out my tools from our shared storage, dissecting the hardware.

I hear a ping and check my Omni-tool.

'Delta.

We've received a message from a nearby Alliance ship. An enclave of Geth was engaged recently and both sides have retreated. The Geth forces are holed up on a nearby planet and they're requesting reinforcements to help deal with them. We're answering the call.

-Shepard'

I smirk and turn back to my work when I'm finished reading. "Well well well, seems we get some excitement. And lucky for us, we get some Geth bodies to salvage too."

Silver looks at me briefly "Through salvage, we are able to construct 1 new Sentinel platform for every 2 Geth Prime platforms captured."

"Alright. Well, let's hope they have at least a few Primes still active then, and see if the Alliance boys saved any of the bodies from their original skirmish." I say, rubbing my hands together briefly before fashioning the drones and scouters together.

Opting for a simple design I decide to use the rocket drones for the main chassis of the sentinel guards I plan to make, and dissect the Geth scouters to get their plasma guns for transplant. Starting with the first rocket drone I take off its tripod legs and check the main body, adding the scouters to it and significantly increasing the size. Now it looks like a flying football with a micro-flashlight face. Hah, so funny. After some configuration with the legs I managed to fashion them into jointed legs that fold back over the body.

30 minutes of fine-tuning and programming later, obviously with Silver's assistance because I can't write code as fast as he can, I mean damn that dude makes code faster than a hamster shits. The final product is rough, slightly bulky but functional and looks like a football with an upside down T across its nose and extending down its body. Not bad I think. With a triumphant smile I pull up a nearby empty crate and pack the machine inside, spending a second to name it the Sentry Orbitar. Ooh, I like that name. Before I can even start building my new Orbitars twin, EDI's voice comes over the loudspeaker.

"Delta, Morinth, Shepard wishes you both to assist her on this mission." She says, cutting off before waiting for our reactions. I sigh and stand, Silver taking my place to finish the project while we go to hopefully get materials for our next one. Morinth walks beside me and our shoulders brush occasionally as we walk and stand in the elevator.

"...I think this elevator is designed to always take 5 minutes each trip…its like no matter where you ride to it takes the same amount of time." I mutter, folding my arms and looking at the ceiling. "I should get Silver to check that out actually."

Morinth looks at me sideways "I assume you'll be able to provide me with better equipment? I only have a shuriken pistol."

"Hm?" I look at her briefly before nodding "Ah, right, you would be packing light."

She nods and the elevator doors open onto the CIC. I step out, avoid Kelly who seems kind of jumpy, and walk into the Armory with Morinth nearby. I step by the Weapons locker and key up a new loadout screen. I start her off with a Locus SMG and then open a wheel of Assault rifles.

"So, which one would you like?" I ask her, stepping to the side slightly as she comes closer. Morinth stands still for a second, tapping her chin softly before scrolling down. "Wow you guys have a Revenant too hm?"

I blink and look at the holographic wheel "Oh…Oh yeah. And the katana too."

She looks at me "You looted my room?"

I raise my hands in defense "Hey, it's a suicide mission, we didn't have a Revenant and it's a good gun. The katana was really cool though."

"Did you at least take my crystal chess set?" She says, turning to me with arms folded.

"You have a crystal chess set?" Man, I totally would've taken that too. That would have been so cool to have, even if I'm crap at Chess. Still, would've been nice to have something nice to play it with at least. Maybe Shepard sucks too. Or I could convince Garrus to play it.

Morinth's fingers snap in front of my face and I look at her. "Right, weapons. Anyway, So Locust and Revenant?"

"Yes. Where's my katana" She asks. I stare at her for a few seconds before turning and walking away, quickly leaving the Armory. "Delta!"

"Nope! It's mine now! Entirely mine, you no can have!" I hurry down to the Cargo Hold through the vents, losing her at the entrance to one. I see a frown on her face as I disappear and pop out behind the Kodiak. I drop to the ground and roll, walking over to the side where armors are usually stored and take mine out to equip.

Hehe, this is going to be a fun mission.

Me: You okay? What happened to you? (he crouches by Delta who is nursing a broken nose)

Delta: The doh hib be om mah bose! (He says, words distorted by the broken nasal cavity)

Me: It did what? That's imposs-(Gets whacked by the door, falling back as well)

Door: (Stands out of its frame, blood spatter across two points of its body) Knock knock Motherfuckers!