Ariana Shepard is a Paragon Spacer Sole Survivor. Love it/ Hate it … If you want more you can always let me know... let see where we go...

This is a rescue?

Shepard was making her way up to the cockpit and to Joker. She resisted the urge to look up through what used to be the roof of her ship. The fuselage had been ripped to shreds by some unknown ship that attacked them without warning or provocation. She had just sent Kaidan off to make sure the crew that survived had made it into the escape pods and was on her way to get Joker. She really did it so he would be safe. She could see the kinetic barrier covering the cockpit just ahead of her. She proceeded through it.

"Joker come on it's time to go!" she told him coming up beside him.

"No, I can still save her!" He cried.

She grabbed his arm and lifted him out of his chair "Oh, I'm sorry did you think you had a choice, I should have made myself clear." She shoved him over her shoulder and made for the escape pod.

"Ouch, Commander, let me go." Joker yelled.

"That's not going to happen, Joker, I am not leaving you behind, we have no time."

She threw him into the pod and jumped in after him. She got him secure just as another beam hit the Normandy. She hit the release and the door slammed close then the pod was ejected and she was slammed into the closed door. Then there was darkness.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked around. She was in the escape pod and it seemed to be on the ground. She tried to raise her head but got dizzy and had to put it back down again. She groaned.

"Ah Commander, you're back with us." Dr. Chakwas came into view she had a breather mask on.

"You could say that." Shepard replied "What's happening here."

"Lieutenant Alenko has gotten the beacons up and we are waiting to be rescued. We lost Pressly and it looks like maybe twenty others, but I won't know for sure until I can get to my backup records. The planet is cold but Garrus and Kaidan have been able to put up heaters for those of us without environmental suits, and we have the breathers. Other than that, you broke Jokers arm getting him into the pod."

"Yeah well he didn't want to go, he is lucky that is all I broke." She growled trying to get up again. The dizziness returned "concussion right?" she asked as she lay back down.

"Afraid so, you're going to have to let Kaidan take care of everything."

"Yeah, well I'm not really into that sit by the side and wait thing Doc." She told her

"Yes, well this time you have no choice Commander, it's an order." Kaidan said as he walked up and sat down next to her.

The doctor left them alone because she could see where this was going and she wanted to give them some privacy.

"You think your going to give me an order mister?" she asked him.

"Well as I am acting Commander now, and you are my subordinate…"

"You are really pushing my buttons mister, you realize when this is over I will find ways to torture you repeatedly."

He grabbed her hand and held it to his chest "I look forward to it Shepard. You don't know how good it felt when I opened that pod saw you in there and saw you breathing… you can't imagine the relief I felt."

"Joker didn't want to leave. Did Doc tell you I broke his arm?" He nodded his head, she continued

"Well I wouldn't have had too if he would have cooperated. I had to grab him out of the chair and carry him to the pod. Isn't there some rule that says if the Captain of a ship gives an order for evacuation you have to follow it without question?"

"I think any order is expected to be followed. You can probably get him grounded for insubordination if you wanted to. But then who would fly your pretty ass around the galaxy."

"He is an excellent pilot. I will have to think of some appropriate punishment for him." she looked down at his chest where he still held her hand. He was wearing stark white armor with pink accents in flexible areas. She took her hand and banged it against his chest.

"Yeah, and about that armor, you know I hate you in that Phoenix armor." She told him.

"Yeah, Garrus thought it would be a good joke; he didn't know we were going to be attacked." He told her.

"Yeah well he is going to owe me big time, your regular armor is really expensive and now I have to replace it, along with all our weapons, and clothes, oh yeah and we need a ship." She closed her eyes and drifted off.

She opened her eyes and was no longer in the escape pod. She looked up and had a clear view of the sky which was really beautiful, full of stars and borealis lights. She felt pressure on her side so she looked down and Kaidan was sitting next to her. He must had fallen asleep. He was leaning on her using her stomach as a pillow. She could just barely make out his eyes through the electronic display in his face mask and they were closed. He looked so peaceful there. Well if he were sitting there then it was safe to say that they were still waiting to be rescued and he had gotten everything organized. Tease him as she might, she knew he wouldn't let her down.

She tried to lift her head to see if the dizziness had cleared. No stranger to concussions it was all a matter of time. The little bit she could lift her head without disturbing him gave her no feelings of dizziness so maybe she was healing, though she doubted the doctor would let her get up yet.

Speak of the devil the doctor came over to her and said softly, so not to disturb Kaidan "are you feeling any better Commander"

"Yes, I am actually, no more dizziness as far as I can tell." Kaidan started to stir as soon as he heard her voice.

"He is too attuned to you I think" The doctor laughed.

"Maybe" Shepard said to her, and then she looked down at him again and thought she saw his eyes open. "You're going to be sore you know." She told him

"I think we all are" he told her as he sat up and stretched.

"You know, I have been thinking. I wonder if having your ship blow up entitles us to more than a week's shore leave?" Shepard said and the doctor and Kaidan laughed.

It took the Alliance almost two days to send a rescue crew. Then there was all the paperwork and debriefs that they had to go through. They set up the crew in barracks at Jump zero for a while but then they were transferred to the Citadel because of Shepard's Spectre status. They still had them in several makeshift barracks, and there was no privacy. If this kept on she was going to see if she could find an apt or something to rent, she was missing her Kaidan time.

Now she was sitting in Anderson's office waiting for the verdict on a new ship. They hadn't found out who had attacked the Normandy and those other ships that were missing, and she wanted to get out there and find out who it was.

Anderson walked in with Admiral Hackett and she stood to greet them.

"Captain, I mean Councilor, Admiral. She saluted and then shook their hands.

"Yes Shepard, we have a problem, with the destruction of the Normandy, you are without a ship, and as a Spectre you need to have a ship." Anderson started.

"Yes and the SSV Antietam will not be ready for another eight to ten weeks. She will be assigned to you and is the Normandy's sister ship built to her specifications. The Captain that was originally assigned to her is a little put out, but he will be getting a brand new cruiser so no harm done." The admiral advised her.

"Eight to ten weeks sir?" she asked. That was a long time to go without a ship.

"Yes I know it's a long time Shepard, the only thing we have available in the interim is a merchant ship we confiscated from some privateers. It's been renamed the SSV Salice. It's small, but most of your crew will be assigned to help complete the Antietam so you should be okay there. It has speed and some big guns, but no stealth of course. But it should get you out there gathering information while you wait for your new ship. You will have Joker and Adams and a skeleton crew and your team, at least those who still want to stay with you."

"Thank you sir" she said hoping they were including Kaidan in her team, but she wasn't going to ask.

That the Salice was small was an understatement. They were going to be on top of each other for a while. There were just three rooms, the large cargo area and two small rooms. The alliance put beds in one of the rooms and the eating area in the other. They bolted work tables and things like that in the cargo area. The used prefab walls on one side to make a med bay and clean area for the doctor. There was one bathroom and shower area in the rear of the ship that they would have to share. The mako they were assigned took up a good portion of the cargo area. They wouldn't be able to drop it like they had from the Normandy, but they could use it to get around on the planets once they landed. Adams told them they needed to do some work on the ship. The wiring needed to be changed. There were some questionable devices wired into some of the ship's systems.

Adams, Garrus, Tali and Kaidan with several other techs were inside the ship working on bringing it up to specifications. Shepard was feeling left out so she entered the ship and found a control panel in a corner behind the mako that she could look at. She liked to take things apart, she just wasn't really good at getting things back together again. She could see Kaidan from where she was so she was sure at some point he would see her on the step ladder fiddling around and come over to her.

She had just gotten started with her dismantling; okay so she had taken out some screws and was starting on untangling some wires when she heard "Shepard, what do you think your doing?"

She looked down into Kaidan's eyes a bit disappointed that she had been caught so quickly.

"I am helping." She said.

"Yeah, the last time you helped we didn't have coffee for a week." He said. "Get down from there."

"I'm not finished yet." She said knowing she was pushing it.

"Shepard, will you please come down from there, I will look at it later."

Later, no later wouldn't do. Shepard thought to herself, but said "well if you're going to look at it later, there is no reason for me not to finish taking it apart."

He came over to the ladder and was now hidden behind the mako with her, only her head and shoulders were in sight by anyone on the other side of the vehicle. She still had her hands in the panel and was still unraveling some wire.

"Okay, you come down and I will look at it now" he told her.

"Okay" and she came down the step ladder and stood between the ladder and the wall so that when Kaidan climbed it she was inside it, and under him.

She waited until he had both hands in the panel trying to undo the damage she had done, and she reached up and started rubbing his thighs moving up towards the top of his pants.

"Shepard, stop it." Kaidan said.

She ignored him and instead started to come closer to the front of his pants.

"Shepard, stop someone is going to see."

"Yes, I know and doesn't that make it all the more exciting." She was chuckling lightly at his discomfort, which was getting more obvious the closer she got to the front of his pants

"Shepard…" but he interrupted himself with a deep intake of breath as she had made it to the front of his pants and was still rubbing him. He wanted her to stop, but they hadn't been together for a while and he was having trouble forming the words.

"Shepard…" he closed his eyes to concentrate but that just made it worse. "You really need to stop that."

"Why, I am having fun. Aren't you having fun Kaidan." And she gave him a little squeeze.

A low soft moan came from his throat. Then he was able to free up one of his hands and he reached to bat her hands away. She stepped back so he couldn't reach her. He looked down at her and she looked up at him with a big innocent smile on her face.

"Just stop it" he told her.

"But Kaidan, you don't really want be to stop do you?' she asked in a conspiring whisper. "You would love for me to keep rubbing on you, wouldn't you? Knowing that they can see you but they can't see me, down here touching you." She smiled at him slyly.

"So you're in a naughty mood today, huh?" He said, but even thought she had stopped touching him she was still turning him on with her words.

She took a step towards him and said "Kaidan, you have no…" Adams had walked in the doorway by the mako and had heard Shepard's voice.

"Commander" he yelled coming around to the back of the mako "You're not touching anything back here are you. You remember the coffee incident don't you?"

Shepard schooled her expression to surprised innocents while Kaidan tried to hide what her playing had wrought.

"Well I was touching something but the Lieutenant made me stop," she told Adams as she turned towards Kaidan and gave him a sly look. He blushed and rolled his eyes.

"Well it's a good thing too, who knows what damage you could have caused."

"Oh on the contrary Adams" she said as she started to walk away then she turned and looked into Kaidan's eyes and with a big smile on her face "I know exactly what I could have caused." Then she turned and walked away.