E.T., a quarian, and I were standing outside of the security checkpoint that the Normandy would be docking at in a few minutes. He had vanished from the face of the facility until a few minutes ago, when he sent me a message telling me to meet him at this docking bay. E.T. introduced his quarian companion as 2nd lieutenant Karis Vorak nar Lawkar. Part of his business on Noveria was meeting the Karis, who's pilgrimage was to be the first Quarian enlisted in the Alliance Navy, bringing the Quarians and Systems Alliance closer. As an act of good faith, Karis would be added onto the mission to hunt for Saren which meant that we would be seeing a lot of each other form here on out.

For the past five minutes, we've been standing in silence as we wait for Shepard to arrive. In the distance I could see a small black speck appear in the sky. I activate the Omni-Helm installed on my armor, and use the magnification function. Sure enough the Normandy was coming in to dock, and I took a deep breath of relief breaking the silence, "The Normandy is only a few kilometers away," I announce as I deactivate the helmet, and it disappears into the band on the back of my head.

"It'll be good to be back on a ship for an extended period of time," Karis says in an overly optimistic voice, "Kyon, I've heard that you were on the Normandy, what will the commanding officer be like?"

"Commander Shepard?" I say as I fold my arm, "It's best that I don't influence your opinion, thinking back on our interactions, I can say that she cares about the people under her command, but you don't want to get on her bad side."

"Oh, is that all you have to say Señor Salgrens?" E.T. interjected as he chuckled lightly, "As I understand it, the Comandante is just as likely to throw you out the airlock as she would a stowaway."

"Commander? Is the commanding officer not a Captain?"

"No, she is a SpecTRE, she still belongs to the Alliance Navy, but hasn't received promotion. She received the ship to be used in the hunt for Saren, I apologize for not being able to give you all the details prior to bringing you to Noveria," E.T. explained as he put his hand on Karis's shoulder.

Observing the two of them, they seemed more familiar than mere acquaintances, but judging from E.T.'s behavior, he's been immersed in the Quarian society for many years, maybe that's why he became the ambassador to the Migrant Fleet. He seemed to care for every single quarian, if Tali's reaction to Michael dropping E.T.'s name was anything to go by it. Now that I thought about it, I still needed to figure out what Tali calls him "Uncle."

"Ambassador, something I just remembered to ask, why does Tali Zorah call you 'Uncle?'"

"Tali? Oh, right she is on the Normandy. Her father Rael Zorah and I are good friends, you could say I helped raised her after joining the Migrant fleet, the same is with many children who lost their mothers in childbirth," he looked at Karis and took a deep breath, "I've known Tali since she was ten, and Karis here, I basically raised him since he was six, we haven't been to the flotilla in years. Karis himself has been training for the past year in an Alliance facility on earth."

"I lost both of my parents when a part of the hull on the Lawkar was breached by high velocity debris, and they were flushed into the void. Father took me under his wing, and the admiralty board thought that I was to perfect person to become the first Quarian in the Alliance military."

"Much to my distain for violence," E.T. added as he took his hand off of Karis's shoulder, "At least I was able to convince them that you would be more effective as a field medic than a front line soldier."

"Field medic, nice, means your order supersedes the commander's if the safety of the team is on the line," I state as a gust of air blows by us.

I look up to see the Normandy finishing its docking procedure, and start walking towards the airlock. I wonder how Shepard is going to react to me being here, maybe Michael was able to get her to loosen up. I stand by with my briefcase carrying the prototype gun in it, and watch the airlock doors begin to cycle. When it opens I see the familiar faces of Shepard, Ashley, Kaiden, Tali, and to my surprise Liara. I raise my eyebrow at her presence here, but decided that I would ask Tali later when we had time to catch up.

From the confused look on everyone's face, minus Tali, her head was directed more towards E.T. and Karis. From how she was struggling to contain her excitement at seeing the ambassador, I don't think she had the time to be surprised by my sudden appearance.

I took a deep breath and waved at everyone with my free hand, but before we could say a word Karis stepped forward and saluted, "2nd lieutenant Karis Vorak, reporting for duty after reassignment," he announced in a clear and dignified voice, "Military vocational code R2, rescue and recovery."

I notice that Ashley's face turns from one of surprise to one of respect for Karis, while Shepard eyed Karis with a more appraising look. I take this oppertunity to turn to Karis and examine him myself, since I haven't really had the chance to myself. Comparing him to Tali, he was a good three inches taller. His environment suit was the standard Alliance blue, with some gold highlights along seams. His mask was a sterile white, while his eyes were pale blue. Unlike E.T.'s and Tali's environment suits though, Karis's suit didn't have a cowl integrated into the suit. Instead it resembled a Geth head to offer additional protection from gunfire in the back. His suit was noticeably bulkier than Tali's, most of it could be attributed to a well toned male physic, but the unnatural curves in the shoulder blades and calves of his suit indicated additional functionality that Tali's suit didn't have.

"R2? Impressive, rescue and recovery is said to be second only to the N program in terms of difficulty," Shepard commented as she saluted Karis, and then went back to her normal stance, "At ease soldier," she crossed her arms and looked towards E.T., "And you are?"

"Ambassador Edward Torres-Ochoa," he answered as he stepped forward to shake Shepard's hand, "More or less the middle man for the Flotilla and the Alliance. Congratulations on becoming a SpecTRE Comandante."

Shepard shook Edward's hand in a respectful manner, one I thought was befitting of her character up to now, "A pleasure to meet you Ambassador, is there a particular reason you are handing me Lieutenant Vorak yourself?"

"Two reasons in fact, I wanted to see my son off to his first deployment and for the next stage of his pilgrimage to begin. Second, it was an opportunity for me to see my niece, who I haven't seen since she started hers." He let go of Shepard's hand and walked towards Tali, wrapping her up in a big hug, "How you've grown little bird. I was afraid I was going to have to wait until you finished your pilgrimage to see you again."

"I'm glad to see you too, uncle," she said hugging him back, after he released the hug, he held her shoulders and nodded, "You are remarkable, I'm glad it was your father who saved me all those years ago. If only violence wasn't necessary to end this conflict."

"Uncle, we both know that your conviction is your weapon, but the sword must be kept for when the pen fails," she replied moving his hands off her shoulders and tilting her head, "I'm glad that of all the things changing in this galaxy, you are one of the constants."

"I must go for now, but if Shepard will permit it, I would like to speak to you later," Edward steps back and stands next to Karis, who had stopped saluting earlier, "Comandante, I hope you take care of Karis, he is my world." He turned to Karis, and pressed their helmets together, "Keelah se'lai.

"Que Dios esté contigo, Padre," he replied in fluent spanish, "Good travels."

"I will do my best to ensure he comes home safe," she replied, nodding slightly before E.T. turned and walked away from the group.

"Welcome to the team, second lieutenant," Shepard said taking a step forward to shake his hand, "

Now that the ambassador was gone and Karis's introduction was over, everyone standing in the airlock turned their attention to me, and the first to say anything was Shepard, "How the hell did you get here before we did?" Her eyes still held disdain for me, but it wasn't nearly as much as it was before the mission to Therum, "Eres sent me a message, stating that he had additional forces waiting for me at Noveria, but I didn't think you were going to be a part of them."

"Eres has a few tricks up his sleeve," I reply as I take a deep breath, "Kyon Salgrens, AMMO security requesting permission to come aboard."

"Resilient son of a bitch, I haven't forgiven you for taking the Krogan on Therum, but you proved your worth in there." She took a deep breath before nodding at me, "Permission granted."

"Thank you, Shepard," the mood between the two of us wasn't as tense as it was before, and I felt Michael had something to do with that, "If you will please, I've been arranging for a MAKO to take us to the Peak 15 facility. Let me tell you, it was not easy getting the damn garage pass, but some things are best left unsaid near security guards."

I turn and motion for them to follow me up to the security checkpoint, I wave my badge in front of the scanner, disabling the weapons scanners, the Gianna Parasini buzzes the intercom, "Security chief Salgrens," she calls looking through the glass, "I want to thank you for your help in this past week, I thought I would have to wait for the SpecTRE to arrive to deal with Anoleis. AMMO gives their employees a lot of independence to operate it seems."

"I'm a special case," I reply, "just remember I'm holding you to that drink."

"Absolutely, you earned it with how you dealt with my little problem."

I wave goodbye, before I turn and lead the group to the garage. when we get to the security guard, I show him the digital pass to let us into the garage. The moment we walk over the threshold, my prosthetic arm starts beeping, "Geth signatures detected, estimated combat strength: 25 platforms. Recommend cover." And before anyone can question it, a hail of pulse rounds fly in our direction.