Note: My apologies for the long wait on this, I was cruising along in the Relic so I just kept going but now we're back. As predicted, Andromeda did consume my life. 102 hours and my first play through later I'm on deck for a second. The next chapter here is nearly completed so it shouldn't be long until that is finished which will, in theory, end this part of the story and then I will move on to ME2. :)

Thank you for the review Peebee, if anything with Andromeda on the brain it should kick start my Mass Effect brain more. And I promise I will not be posting any new stories until I get this one further along, y'all have been plenty patient with me.

This chapter mostly wraps things up before my bombshell waiting in the wings so it's a bit shorter.

Please enjoy Chapter Sixteen: Hero of the Citadel.

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Sixteen: Hero of the Citadel

When the fighting was over, the Alliance swarmed the Citadel and helped C-Sec clear it; Victus sent both of his ground teams, himself, and Maridus to help. Victus made a bee line for the Council chamber and spent an enormous amount of time sifting through the rubble; a great piece of Sovereign all but destroyed the chamber and after hours of sifting through the calamity Kalvaris found Sidda. She was alive, but in rough shape.

Victus had spent much of it pacing around in Citadel Hospital worried about Sidda. She'd been in and out of surgery twice to mend internal bleeding suffered either in the Mako crash or when Sovereign exploded. The rest of the team had been treated, Garrus held for a leg injury, and released to join in the effort to clear the station.

Three days of being awake and laying in a hospital bed Sidda was becoming a terrible patient. She wanted out and was tired of being mothered. She was surprised to see that Victus was there every day, nearly all day.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" she asked and Victus simply snorted. "A ship to run or something?"

"No, the crew is helping with the Citadel and I am where I'm supposed to be." He replied casually, he didn't give up work entirely; he had a continuous stream of reports that were dropped off by various members of the crew.

"Watching me recover, slowly?" she asked and he set the pad down on the table.

"Protecting you." He clarified. She cocked her head to him and narrowed her eyes but he beat her to it. "Hospitals are a dangerous place for people…especially for people who have, up until recently, been targeted by assassins and indoctrinated rogue Spectres."

Sidda smiled to him flattered by his concern for her safety. "My knight in shining armor."

Victus looked up from the pad. "What?"

She chuckled. "Medieval Earth history; the noble warrior in a suit of armor always protected the damsel in distress." She explained and Victus snorted. Humans had some interesting tales.

"Well, if you're the damsel in this story than Kalvaris is your Knight…not me." He informed and Sidda chuckled making a mental note to thank him when she saw him next.

"So, what's been going on while I've been tied to bed?" she asked.

"Clean up. The Presidium and Zakera Ward took the most of it, the Council Chamber got crushed…I put the crew of the Warsaw in for the Star of Terra." He told her and Sidda's brow furrowed. "That ship saved us…took a hit for us with absolutely no barriers."

Sidda had gotten a lot of information thrown at her since she woke up, the number of ships lost was one of them and she nodded to him.

Part of Victus' self-appointed job was running interference; he was protecting her from though who would want to hurt her and from Udina, who'd shown up several time to talk to her and been kicked out each time by Victus and once by Hackett. He hadn't seen him in a while though but of course it didn't last long, Udina had circled back and was now pestering to get into the room to talk to Sidda.

"I wish to speak with Shepard." Udina said but Victus didn't move from the doorway.

Victus looked over his shoulder to Sidda finally feeling good enough to sit up. It wasn't like she couldn't hear who was at the door and knew that Victus had the same opinion about Udina that she did. Udina could kiss her ass and take a swan dive off of what's left of the Citadel Tower. She shook her head slightly and that was all he needed. "Nope." He said simply looking down at Udina.

"I beg your pardon?" Udina asked as Victus didn't move.

Victus' expression didn't change. "No." he repeated his tone clear and firm.

Udina straightened; he was the ambassador and shouldn't need to ask permission to see Earth's only Spectre. "I must speak with her."

Victus' posture straightened, he would have loved nothing more than to punch him in the face. Sidda had been right and trusted Udina to have her back; he didn't and instead stuck a knife in it. "Then you should have listened to her a week ago." He stated and Udina glared at him.

"General…-" he began and Victus' held up one hand silencing him with a gesture. It was a power that Victus had perfected over the years; with the exception of Fedorian he could silence anyone with a gesture…Udina was no different.

Victus' tone dropped reflecting the seriousness of mood. "She doesn't want to see you and you're not getting in." he said and Udina huffed grudgingly leaving. Victus was an imposing figure and even Udina saw that and decided not to press.

Sidda chuckled as Victus turned toward her; he was the best watchdog she'd ever had. When he turned back to her he noticed her smiling and gave her a curious expression. "That's worth an instant replay…do it again."

Victus snorted and sat back down in the chair next to her bed. "He's been hovering the whole time you were in and out of surgery."

"The Council wants my opinion on who the human Council member should be." She said. Anderson and Hackett dropped by and dropped that little gem on her when she first came out of surgery. "He's probably trying to figure out how to get me to recommend him after he threw me under the bus with the Council."

Victus sat back down. "Oh I wouldn't do that, Sid." He snorted; nothing good would come of that. "I can think of a thousand ways that would bite you in the ass."

She could too and chuckled. "Oh yes…" she replied then grumbled as she fidgeted in the bed. "Come on, Adrien, will you spring me from this joint…get me out of here."

"They don't want to release you yet." He replied sorting the datapads.

"Adrien…"

He held up his hand demonstrating his power. "You are not getting out of here, yet, not until they are certain that you're okay." He told her with a light tone.

"Adrien…"

"Rest."

"Ad…-"

"Rest."

Sidda's eyes narrowed and she grumbled. She didn't want to stare at the ceiling anymore, be poked and prodded. Victus was a good watchdog but apparently an even better Warden. There was silence as he started to scan through the report Maridus has dropped off. Her eyes drifted to him, the quiet Turian couldn't just sit and do nothing, he was always working. "Well, so long as I'm here and you're here," She started dropping her tone seductively and Victus stopped reading but his eyes met hers. "there's something you can do for me." He knew her flirting tone when he heard it and cocked his head.

"Precisely what did you have in mind, Sidda?" he purred setting the pad down and leaning in close to her.

Sidda's expression was sultry and she grinned, the smile that drove him crazy. "Hmmm…well," she started as he got closer. "you could get me a drink, Warden Adrien."

Vcitus groaned loudly and laughed, she played him. "You are a mean woman, Siddalee Shepard." He chuckled.

"Get me out of here, Adrien." She spat with no heat and he chuckled again, she was a terrible patient and clearly going stir crazy but he wasn't letting her go.

Sidda was reminding him of his son. "No. Now quit being a stubborn patient and heal…I'll be back with your drink, you tease."

The human doctor, who Sidda had seen more than Victus lately, pressed on her new incisions. She was healing well and he gauged her response as he pressed the tissue. Sidda hissed a few times but he found no infection. "You're healing well, Commander." He said. "The tenderness should pass soon just make sure you continue to take it easy for the next few weeks and you should be cleared for duty." He lifted the gown more to check her other major injury, the fractured sternum. "How's the breathing?"

"Better." She nodded, there was still some soreness but the bone healers worked well. "Still can't take a deep breath but it doesn't hurt as much."

"Good, we'll keep you for a few more days and then you can get out of here." He told her as the door opened. Nov didn't realize and averted his eyes from Sidda half-naked.

"I'm sorry." He said immediately. "I'll come back."

Sidda pulled the gown down. "No, Cal, it's fine. We're done." She said and the doctor nodded tapping furiously on her chart before clearing the room. Nov she hadn't seen at all since she had been trapped in the hospital.

"I'm sorry." He said again, it wasn't his intention to invade her privacy. "I didn't know."

Sidda waved him off as she stood up to stretch her legs. "Nah, don't worry about it." She told him with a smile. "What are you doing here?"

"The General got called away; he still seems to think you're in danger, he didn't want you left alone so I volunteered." He explained.

Sidda tinged pink, the Turians cared so much for her and it made her smile. "You volunteered to protect me?"

He cocked his head to her, he do anything to protect her. "Of course I did, what kind of question is that?" he chuckled and Sidda did the same. "You had me worried, Sid." He said his tone serious now. When Kalvaris pulled her from the rubble they all thought she was dead, he barely held it together but the thought of her dead was nearly maddening. If she couldn't be his he'd rather have her in his life in come capacity than gone completely.

"I know." She replied with a meek smile, she knew he cared deeply for her. "I'm sorry."

Nov shrugged, she was going to be okay and that was enough for him. His eyes surveyed the room as she climed back into the bed carefully, there were two bouquets of Turian flowers and several arrangements he wasn't familiar with. He poked through the Turian Orchid's; the name on them said Victus. Nov never through to get her anything…Victus had. Victus broke almost every rule to help her, risked a court-martial, hell, it was possible he still could be. Nov could feel his heart sinking knowing that as long as Victus was with her he never had a chance. It was easy to see the affection they had for each other and Nov swallowed the confession he'd thinking about day and night. He needed to tell her but he feared her reaction and he feared the consequences from either response.

"Adrien brought those." She commented. "Said they're from-…"

"Palaven." Nov finished. "Hard to get out here. Expensive." He went on, Victus didn't skimp apparently. "We grow these on Rylo but they never come out quite as hardy as they are on Palaven…I like the Lily's better."

Sidda giggled. "You like flowers?"

Nov snorted and checked out the rest. "Yes, I like flowers." He laughed softly. "My mother's a Botanist."

Sidda didn't know that, in fact, she didn't know much about his family other than the fact that he hated his father on an extreme level. "I didn't know that."

Nov grunted, it wasn't important information to give out. He loved his mother and went to great lengths to keep her protected. "These are nice," he said sniffing an arrangement he wasn't familiar with. "where are these from?"

It was the bouquet that Chakwas brought. "Earth." She answered. "That's a Spring Mix."

Nov grunted again and turned away finding a seat. "So…I remember you did this for me…figured I'd return the favor." He said producing a deck of cards."

Sidda laughed. "Well, as much as I like five card draw, what you really could do for me is spring me."

Nov scoffed loudly as he shuffled the cards, Sidda was always amazed by the dexterity they had with those talons. "The General said you'd say that, told me to tell you: no."

She picked up the cards he was dealing out and organized them quickly. "And what else did my overprotective lover say?"

Nov tried to ignore that phrasing but part of his felt the sting of it. "To wait on you hand and foot but not let you escape."

She laughed. "Come on, Cal, I broke you out." She pressed, it was friendly banter, he'd never let her leave here if Victus told him to keep her and she knew she had to stay.

"No." he answered. "Cards?"

Sidda looked at her hand and shook her head. "Nah, I'll play these."

Nov froze, that was not a good sign in any card game, he sighed heavily and took three dreading what hand she'd been dealt. "Two pair." He announced cautiously. It wasn't the best hand ever and he knew that.

Sidda shrugged, for two people playing a two pair with threes and tens was respectable. "Spade flush."

Nov blinked. "What the fuck…" he muttered with a snort. "right off the bat I deal you a flush?" She chuckled to him and her smile nearly killed him. As much as he wanted, or needed, to let her go he just couldn't so he made the decision to distance himself, it was a good thing that Cerrus went on the assignment and not himself. He never thought he'd think that but there it was. She wasn't for him.

A week had passed and Sidda was finally released from the hospital, she wasn't free though, she had strict orders to take it easy and avoid anything strenuous. The Citadel was still a mess and Sidda wanted to go back to the Normandy or the Lante but she was ordered to remain on the Citadel until otherwise instructed by the doctor. It was surreal to think of just how close she came to death.

Once the dust settled from all the fighting and debris everyone wanted a piece of her. Reporters, military, diplomats, and of course the Council, Victus had kept anyone unwanted at bay as Hackett and Anderson did the rest. She had still stolen an Alliance ship, disobeyed orders, and wrecked half the Citadel…she had some things to answer for. Victus was in hot water as well, for someone who wasn't supposed to be there he was certainly highly visible in the defense of the station. It didn't take long for the Hierarchy to figure it out and pounce on him.

Sidda observed herself in the mirror, with her shirt lifted up she was fixated on the three new surgical scars she'd acquired over the past week and a half. Two of them were to repair the damage that caused internal bleeding the third was to fix her punctured lung. Crashing the Mako nearly killed her but it did so slowly. She'd overheard the doctor telling Hackett and Anderson that if Kalvaris hadn't have found her when he did she would have died. They nearly lost her during the first round of surgery and then again afterward which prompted the second surgery.

"Doctor said the scars would fade in time." Victus said from the door to the bedroom. She didn't hear him come in and was startled a little more than she felt she should have been by his sudden appearance. She was still a bit jumpy.

She scoffed and let her shirt down turning toward him. "And what's one more scar, or three, in the grand scheme of things?" she asked gesturing to the shrapnel scar on the left side of her face.

To be perfectly honest Victus didn't care, she was a soldier and soldiers acquired scars, it didn't diminish her in the slightest. "Doesn't matter." He shrugged as she moved toward him. "I like your scars…you're still beautiful.

She blushed and felt butterflies in her stomach, he was so very sweet, you wouldn't think it to look at the battle tested Turian but he was as soft hearted and romantic as they came when he wanted to be. She giggled but said nothing to his statement, nothing needed to be said, he wasn't looking for a reply he was simply speaking the truth. "So, how'd it go?"

"Oh, I'm in trouble…again." He answered bluntly. "I misused a military asset and was not where I was ordered to be. Sparatus helped smooth everything down though…I think he realized how close we all came to annihilation because of stubbornness." He explained and sat down in the chair to his left. "Then Hackett asked to speak,"

"Hackett?"

"Yeah…he said that without Maridus' tactical analysis ahead of the battle the outcome might not have been as efficient…he had more but I was more stunned by the idea that a human Admiral who I probably shot at during 314 would step up and put in a good word for me." Fedorian was pissed, that he was aware of, but having the Council and the Alliance behind him would definitely help, he counted his blessings that the Hierarchy didn't know about the Rothla intelligence that was passed on…he'd be court-martialed for that and Desala would be jailed. He grabbed her arm and pulled her onto his lap. "And you?"

Sidda giggled as he gently cradled her careful to avoid the tender spots. "Oh, I stole a warship…they're saving my ass chewing until I get to Arcturus. Both of us…me and Anderson."

"Seems I've rubbed off on you." Victus purred and traced his right index finger down her temple and cheek. He was a wild card, played fast and loose with what was accepted and it worked for him.

Sidda chuckled; it was odd how alike they really were, the similarity wasn't something people usually saw but the reality was that Humans and Turians were more alike than people thought. "I was a hellion long before you, Baby." She took in a breath as Victus growled and raked his teeth on the left side of her neck.

The Normandy sustained damage during the fight but it was relatively minor, in the grand scheme of things the Lante took more damage trying to protect them and ensure that they found their target. Cerrus was just now getting around to moving his gear from the Normandy to the Lante. Working on sweeping the Citadel had taken up so much of his time but now was time to prepare for a return to his ship.

He was methodical, like everything he did, first he packed the armor away in crates, then he moved onto his weapons; he cleared his weapons and stored them safely with the armor, next were the modification and demolitions he brought along, and then went to his personal items. Or a personal item in his case, he only brought one thing from the Lante. He looked at the picture and he wasn't sure how long he'd been standing there until voice caught his attention.

"Hey," Tali greeted, it was more like announcing her presence than anything else. Cerrus was career military…not someone you just snuck up on.

He snapped from his trance and looked down at the little Quarian that had appeared by him. "Hey," he replied in kind as he resumed packing up the clothes and personal items. "what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you." She replied quietly and picked up the picture from open bag he was packing everything into. "She was really pretty, Tyr."

Cerrus felt the uncomfortableness and then swallowed. "Yeah she was." He said finally trying to work through how he felt. Tali returned the picture to the bag, folded her arms across her chest, and leaned on Shepard's locker.

Tali felt a little nervous, Cerrus made her happy but now that he was leaving she wasn't sure how it would impact them. "So…" she began nervously then found a bout of courage. "what is next for us?" she asked bluntly and Cerrus looked back down at her.

"What?"

"Well, you're going back to the Lante and as soon as Shepard is done investigating a lead for me, I'll be back on my pilgrimage."

"What lead?" he asked as he closed the locker.

"I found something on the Geth when I was searching through the data nodes, I asked Shepard to help me look into it and she said she would."

"Going after the Geth, Tali, that's dangerous?" he commented but all Tali did was scoff.

"So was chasing after Saren." She replied and Cerrus couldn't argue with her there.

There was a moment of silence before Cerrus circled back to her initial question. "Tali, just because I'm moving from the Normandy to the Lante doesn't mean I'm not going to be interested in you anymore. I'll always be interested, and if you ever need me…for anything at all…you call me."

Tali blushed under her suit and felt her stomach flutter. Cerrus was sweet under all that pain and anger and she was happy to have him. "You mean that?"

Cerrus put his right hand on her cheek. "Of course I mean it, Tali…I'm not like Nov or most others, I don't love them and leave them." Tali's smile could be heard, he didn't need to see it and he smiled too.

"You want to help me take this over?" he asked after a long moment and Tali nodded happily.

On the way out they saw Sidda, Cerrus merely brushed off her presence but Tali was happy to see her. "Shepard," she began happily. It was good to see her up and walking around. Everyone had been so worried about her but she was now on her feet and seemed none the worse for wear. "it's good to see you up."

Sidda smiled. "Thanks, Tali." She said and nodded to Cerrus. "Cerrus."

"Commander." He replied plainly.

Sidda noticed his gear packed away and snorted, as much a pain in the ass as he was she was sorry to see him go. Cerrus was effective; he was extremely effective, despite his more disagreeable aspects. "Sure you don't want to stick around, Captain?"

Cerrus harrumphed, not even maybe, being around Tali was one thing…being stuck on a ship with this many humans was something else. "Pass." He said and started moving from her.

Sidda was compelled to stop him and spoke up. "Cerrus," Sidda began and the Turian stopped. "I know you didn't have a choice in this assignment, but I'm glad you were there for it. Thank you."

Cerrus wasn't going to pretend he liked the assignment, he met Kaidan who'd turned out to be a very good friend and then there was Tali…Tali was different. "Next time take Nov." he said straightening his posture, a tick that she'd noticed when he was uncomfortable. "You'll have more fun."

Sidda chuckled. "Nonsense…you're a barrel of laughs."

Cerrus chuckled slightly. Sidda was as annoying to him as they came, always managed to get into trouble and drag them all along, with Sidda, the easiest mission could go awry in the blink of an eye. "Only compared to you."

Sidda laughed. "Oh, he cracks a joke." She chuckled as Cerrus started walking again.

The Citadel was still heavily damaged in some areas but life on the station was slowly returning to normal. The Normandy and the Lante were both docked for repairs and everyone had been called to meet up in the VIP section of the Nightshade Bar in the section of the Zakera Ward that wasn't damaged. It was a large room with a big table, lots of chairs, and couches. It honestly looked like it was a conference room; Garrus helpfully informed them that a lot of illegal insider trading went on in rooms like this and a lot of legal conferences too.

It was the first time Sidda had seen Kalvaris and by all accounts he was the one that found her under all that rubble. Now, she took the time to thank the barefaced Turian by giving him a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek. Nov she'd seen already, he visited her in the hospital, but he seemed to be keeping his distance…less familiar with her it seemed.

Drinks were ordered and the servers kept them coming, no one was quite sure who was paying for all this but they were told that the tab was covered so they drank. They shared stories and laughed…it was good to see them all unwind.

Kaidan was a subtle flirt and was once again flirting with one of the Asari servers; Nov was flirting too with all the female servers, Asari and Human. Cerrus sat quietly across the table from Sidda and Victus with Tali and enjoyed his drinks ignoring Kaidan's flirting going on to his left. Liara was a little more relaxed and seemed to have struck up a friendship…maybe more…with the big Turian Ruvvak. Sidda's eyes narrowed, they would have made an interesting pair, she liked Ruvvak, he was a good man who enjoy blowing things up. The two Turian females, Desala and Rajin bracketed Garrus and the cop was flustered when Desala leveled flirts toward him. Rajin didn't flirt with him, Sidda was surprised to see her even, and still she hadn't said anything to Sidda. The Medic still blamed her for Nihlus' death, as she should since Sidda still blamed herself. Kalvaris and Masso, long time buddies and squad mates, sat together with their feet propped up tossing jabs across the table at anyone that perked their interest. Mostly to Wrex, the big Krogan just laughed, and Cerrus, teasing him about his newfound relationship with Tali. Cerrus promised to kill them later.

Sidda was sandwiched between two Turians, Maridus to her right and Victus to her left. Maridus was being a poor wingman to Garrus as it seemed the Desala was interesting in testing her limits with Garrus only flustering him more. Victus wasn't helping, the General may have been the boss but there was a reason why his troops loved him. He could be one of them in moment's notice, drink, fight, and crack jokes. He was still the boss but he was one of them.

"Shepard, you broke a Mako…a Mako…how does someone do that?" Joker laughed, the fact Sidda did what most crash test designers couldn't do was feat. Not an altogether proud one either. She simply shrugged and sipped her beer.

"Crash it through a Relay, apparently." Garrus replied, dryly. He had firsthand knowledge what it was like when the safety features broke as the tank nosedived into the Presidium. "You know when I signed on to help catch Saren, crashing a Mako onto the Citadel through a mini Mass Relay was not in the brochure."

"But those things are supposed to be indestructible. Indestructible." Joker went on; of all the things that had taken place trying to get a wrecked Mako out of the Presidium was one for the highlight reel.

"That's what happens when you let Shepard drive." Kaidan quipped and the Normandy members all looked at him trying to stifle laughs.

"Says the person who got the Mako so stuck it took the Normandy to get it unstuck?" Joker laughed as Kaidan turned three shades of pink and tried to hide behind his drink.

"Yes, Flight Lieutenant, I got it stuck but she destroyed it." He hissed with no heat in return.

"Hey, no rank, Kaidan." Sidda reminded, they'd agreed to leave the rank at the door this evening, they all needed a break and unwind.

Servers came by and replenished the drinks and Nov rose to his feet attracting the attention in the room. "I'd like to take this moment to recognize the illustrious Commander," Nov began and Sidda groaned nothing good could come from this. "who never fails to rope us all into something extremely shitty."

" 'Us all'? Cal, you weren't even there for half of it." Cerrus commented with a snorted as he swirled the glass in his had making the blue liquid move like a world pool.

Nov held up and finger with an embellished movement. "Which brings me to my next gripe," He continued, "I, the king of tech and the Commander's undisputed favorite," there was a pause as Victus made a face, harmless mostly but the General still felt Nov's familiarity with Sidda was unsettling. "well…slightly undisputed, gets sidelined and she takes her definitely undisputed least favorite. What gives?"

Sidda chuckled, taking Nov certainly would have eliminated half her headaches but Cerrus was the one she needed despite his daily bitter scowl. "I needed fearless tactician, Cal, that ain't you."

Nov put his right hand over his heart and feigned an insult. "That hurts, Sid." He replied, his sincerity was practiced and dead on.

Cerrus scoffed, he would have paid Nov to go in his place. "So you picked me against my will?" Cerrus asked and Sidda smirked.

"Worked out for you in the end." She teased; the Turian either blushed from embarrassment or rage. She couldn't tell which but Tali only giggled to the bantering.

Kaidan's snort drew some attention, his idea of how this mission would play out was similar to Garrus', 'not in the brochure'. "Yeah because those of us who were obligated by uniform to follow her lead had a picnic." Kaidan muttered, in all his time in the military he'd never been put into that much peril that often…the Commander certainly wasn't dull.

Nov laughed and Sidda gave him a mock glare. "There goes your promotion, Lieutenant."

Victus chuckled deeply. "Rank, Sidda." He reminded.

"Come on, Shepard, I got shot…twice." He replied and Cerrus, next to him, scoffed.

Cerrus was used to the daily peril and being shot. "So did I…and burned, smashed by a Krogan, and tossed around in a Mako that careened through a Mass Relay." He snorted. To that last part, he paused, that sounded crazy and no one but this crowd would ever believe it if he told them.

Sidda grinned tipping her glass to her rival. "And you took it like a trooper, Captain." That wasn't her using rank; she called him either Cerrus or Captain. That was it.

"I got shot too…" Garrus chimed in as Cerrus scoffed. "don't see me complaining."

Most would think that two Turians on a human vessel would gravitate toward each other…not in this case; they couldn't be more different. Sure, they figured out how to work with each other but Garrus was of the firm opinion that Cerrus was an ass. "That wouldn't have happened if you'd had better armor than that C-Sec crap."

Garrus didn't like to admit that the Captain was right but in this case he was. The heavy armor Cerrus lent him was easily ten times better than his C-Sec armor, it also reminded him to put in the requisition for heavy armor of the same type.

As amusing as this was to listen to, the topic had strayed from Nov and he corrected that. "And I survived, along with the rest of you, being dropped into an asteroid field, in a Mako onto the remains of an urban legend planet…thank you, Sidda, for the memories."

Sidda laughed as she finished another beer. "And you wanted to come along for the full ride." Nov shrugged, he wouldn't have cared what they did.

Wrex had so far been unimpressed with the drinks; Ryncol was had to come by so they brought him the strongest stuff they could find. He was on his second bottle of a Human drink called Absinthe. Sidda's stomach turned, she'd only had that once and would never try it again. Wrex seemed to love it. "You couldn't have handled it all, Buttercup…still want to sit on my lap?" Wrex chimed in.

Nov paused and looked at the big Krogan with a cocked head as those who had been in the Mako that day just laughed. "Really, Wrex…you like me that much?"

"Well that just got awkward." Masso commented. "What the hell happened on that ship?"

Kalvaris took his feet off the table and snorted. "Something tells me I don't want to know." He muttered to him but loud enough the table heard. "Don't think Shepard's appalling bad luck is restricted to you guys…we had her first and in all my years on the Lante I've never seen that much crazy."

Sidda's brow furrowed. "Come on, Rik, it wasn't that bad." She said as her drink was replaced.

Victus disagreed; Sidda did attract interesting missions that much he knew. "He's not wrong, Sid." Victus commented ignoring her amusing look of betrayal.

"There was the Batarian slaver-…" Kalvaris began but was abruptly cut off by Cerrus of all people.

"Run of the mill. Doesn't count." He said plainly. He was right; slavers were the most common assignments they received.

Kalvaris scowled to his, once again, commanding officer. "That was the first time she threatened to shoot you too." He said to Cerrus and Sidda snorted.

"Not nearly the last." Sidda muttered. Victus elbowed her, as much as Cerrus antagonized her she returned it in kind. Cerrus and Sidda simply glared at each other across the table.

"Then there was her and the Major sliding down a platform on a recently stable planet until they got there, then the science station…" Kalvaris paused to the glare from Victus. "that will remain classified…the Alliance team that lead to a catastrophic blow out between these two." He said gesturing to Cerrus and Sidda, to this day he'd never seen a fight more brutal than that one.

"And Oriso." Rajin commented quietly as she was beginning to enjoy herself a bit more.

Cerrus squirmed. Oriso was a mission he rather just forget. "I thought we agreed to never talk about that again." He said with a bit of growl in his voice.

Sidda also squirmed, she didn't remember what happened but the blanks had been filled in. The thought of coming on to Cerrus and Nov was as unsettling as it came. "Agreed."

Joker gave Kaidan a look and cackled, they both thought the same thing. "Oh you can't stop there." Joker chuckled.

"Oh yes we can." Cerrus replied sharply as Sidda whole heartedly agreed.

"Some stories will never be told, Joker." Sidda said and Nov remained silent as he was replaying that moment, however brief it was, in his mind. Like it or not for the rest of them, that was one of his fondest memories.

"The fuel station." Ruvvak went on.

Maridus groaned that one he hated…he didn't like disagreeing with Victus and that one was big one. "Oh, Spirits, don't remind me of that." Maridus muttered.

"Then there was the mission to rescue Nihlus." Kalvaris said. Getting Nihlus off of Ihm'shal was one of the most elaborate stunts they'd pulled. The only one injured was Nov, shot by a sniper that shattered his shoulder.

At the mention of Nihlus' name the room fell silent. There fallen comrade…murdered by his mentor.

"At least you avenged him, Commander."

"Don't forget my first actual mission with her." Maridus added, he never would he had a headache for a week after what they did to him. "Nearly got Nihlus and I killed but he talked about it for weeks…never been so damn irritated with the way a mission played out."

"To Nihlus Kryik." Maridus said raising his glass, the mood now solemn. Rajin looked at him but she wasn't angry, more like grateful for the salute to her mate and raised her own glass.

"And Chief Williams." Cerrus added, the Normandy crew did a double take. Cerrus hated Ashley but here he was honoring her. The Lante crew knew better, they knew the story and how much Cerrus hated losing people and weren't surprised by his words.

The ass chewing on Arcturus didn't disappoint, the brass was pissed that she and Anderson actually stole a warship from the locked down Citadel docks. Of course they had been correct and did the right thing by pursuing the leads so that had gone a long way in keeping them both out of the brig. Anderson had apparently also assaulted Udina in the course of his role to steal the ship and was fairly bitter that he'd been passed over as Councilor for Anderson on Sidda's suggestion. Hackett had actually convinced the brass to let Sidda retain full command of the Normandy and continue as her role of Spectre and making sure the Geth in the Traverse stayed under control. It was a lot of smooth talking and Hackett turned out to be a tremendous ally, the legendary officer vouched for her and she walked away with a slap on the wrists. Now she was assigned to sniff out Geth in the Armstrong Nebula with Tali.

"Admiral," she called jogging to catch up to him. He paused long enough for her to pace him and kept walking. "I wanted to thank you for your support, Sir."

Hackett gave her a slight nod as he kept walking. "You were right, Commander, no matter what anyone thought. You save a lot of lives, figured going to bat for you was the least I could do." Sidda paused for a second, she thought Anderson was her best ally, but Hackett was proving to be even better. "Just don't steal any more ships, Commander, and for the love of god…while you're out there hunting Geth remember that you are still in the Alliance, no more going off book."

Sidda nodded as she kept pace with him, sticking to the Alliance playbook was never really her strong suit. "Yes, Sir, and I wanted to also thank you for helping Adrien…Gen. Victus."

Hackett responded with a single nod. "The General was an honorable ally, Commander, he and his crew fought bravely, they saved an Alliance ship which in turned sacrificed themselves to same them." He explained and then changed the subject. "Find out what's going on the Armstrong Nebula, Commander, and do it quickly."

Sidda saluted him. "Yes, sir." She said and the Admiral left. All things considered, she was lucky to leave Arcturus without a trip to the brig or a demotion; she got to keep her ship and crew and received an assignment. Tali had presented her findings about the Geth to Hackett and he agreed they needed to investigate. So, now she was bound with ship and crew, minus Liara, Cerrus, and Wrex for the Armstrong Nebula in the Skyllian Verge.