Chapter 3

"What were you thinking Commander?" Admiral Hackett, less than a foot away from Davin as he stood at attention. Davin sighed; the conversation going about as well as he thought it would.

Admiral Hackett continued. "You went to an unknown planet, based of an emergency transmission from an unknown source, without asking if you were even able to, and then you bring back an unknown Quarian with research that is worth killing over. Have you lost your god damn mind?"

Davin didn't reply, and Admiral Hackett sighed. "Well, at least you saved one person and got information. Cerberus sending people in Blue Suns armor huh. Clever, but flawed. They must have been damn sure no one would disturb them." He paused, and then continued. "What about this Quarian?"

Davin spoke. "She claims to not know them in the slightest, and she didn't seem like she was lying. When I discovered what the research was about, it makes sense. They spent a lot of credits." Davin paused, then asked, "Do we know what they spent all of those credits on?"

Hackett didn't respond for a few seconds, then nodded. "It's not set in stone yet, but from my reports, I think they spent it on a project to revive Commander Shepard."

Davin blinked stupidly. "On…reviving Commander Shepard. THE Commander Shepard?"

Hackett nodded.

"But isn't he dead?"

Hackett shrugged. "I guess he wasn't dead enough for Cerberus. All we know is that they have his body. We don't have any more information at the moment, but that's what my sources tell me." He turned back to Davin. "Commander, I'm going to post you and your unit in Omega."

Davin blinked again. "Omega? Why?"

Hackett smiled. "That research is important. And if we help her finish it, we could have an alliance with the Quarians as a result for helping. So I'm going to supply her with all the money she needs, and send you somewhere no one would expect a scientist to go."

Davin nodded. It made sense; no scientist in their right mine would work on Omega, home to mercenaries and thugs. "So we protect her until she finishes her research. Sounds easy enough."

Hackett's face grew serious. "Not if Cerberus is really determined to get it. It won't be too long before they discover where we've hidden her. They will try to take it again."

Davin smiled, surprising the Admiral. "And they will fail, just like last time. My team can handle it sir."

Hackett smiled. "Then that is all. Good luck Commander." Davin saluted, and Hackett returned it. They lowered their arms, and Davin left, wondering how this new arrangement would go.

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"Omega?" Vara said, confused. Davin had brought them all into the lounge and announced they were going to Omega. "Why?" She asked.

Davin rubbed his chin. "Admiral Hackett wanted us to go somewhere you wouldn't really look for a scientist. He wants you to complete your research."

Normally, Vara would have been happy, but she had been proposed this before, and she was cautious. "And why would he want that?" She said, crossing her arms. Davin smiled at this, surprising his unit again. Vara could almost feel Dr. Alere seething behind her. "Honestly, he hopes that by helping you, it improves relations between humans and Quarians, even maybe an alliance. But he knows it's not set in stone; he just figures it's better for you to finish it then for Cerberus to get hold of it."

She thought about it, and then nodded. She wouldn't complain about help, especially sincere help. "So how many credits is he going to send?"

Davin smirked again. "His exact words were 'as many as she needs'."

Vara's eyes grew wide. "Are you serious?"

Davin raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like the joking type?"

"Point taken." She replied, smiling to herself. She was so happy she could have hugged him, but she resisted. Everyone would get the wrong idea. "Thank you, Commander Davin. This is exactly what I needed."

Davin waved away her thanks. "It was nothing. And don't call me Commander; you're not one of my soldiers." He looked at the rest of his team. "Ready to go to Omega?" They all said in unison, "Yes Commander!"

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"Soooo…" Davin heard Erik say, making him sigh. Davin could already see where this was going, but it was Erik so he humored him. "So what Erik?"

It was just him and Erik walking around to get away from the group for awhile. Out of the unit, Erik was the only one he knew prior, and his best friend. They always found some time to themselves to talk about recent events, and of course he was going to ask.

"You and Vara huh." He said simply, his eyes gleaming with humor. Davin growled. "There is no me and Vara. I'm helping her and it ends there."

"Don't bullshit me Davin." Erik said, seeing right through him as always. "You have not only smiled because of her, you even laughed. Then you go and get her full funding from the Alliance. Admit it; she is growing on her."

Davin growled again, feeling a slight blush on his cheeks betraying him. "Well…fine, a little. But it doesn't mean anything. You've heard her; she clearly isn't fond of humans."

"Yet she went on that little tour with you. Seeing all those beautiful sights….kind of like a date, dontcha think?"

Davin glared at Erik, then smiled, giving up. "Fine, fine, I like the damn Quarian. Happy now?"

Erik cheered. "Hahaa! You can't keep anything from me Davin. I know you better than your own damn father. Happy? It's about time you get a damn woman. You need a woman to round your rough edges my friend."

"I've been with a woman before." Davin said as he punched him in the arm. They had walked into a small market, and Erik almost fell into a stall, saving himself at the last second and receiving a glare from a Salarian. "Sorry." Erik said, grinning, and went back to picking on Davin.

"No, you've slept with a woman before. Sleeping with one and dating one are 2 completely different things." Davin mulled this over, and slumped his soldiers.

"Fine, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. I never dated; my father never gave me the time too."

Erik grinned. "Well, first you need t-"But was cut off as a Krogan walked right into him, knocking Erik aside and making him stumble. "Hey, watch where the hell you're going ya big frog." Erik said. The Krogan turned around, another Krogan besides him doing the same. They walked over to Davin and Erik and got into Erik's face.

"Watch who you're talking to, meat sack, unless you want trouble with the Blood Pack." The Krogan said, pushing Erik. Erik was ready this time, and he only leaned back a little, and then returned the push, surprising the Krogan and making him stumble backwards a little.

"And watch who you're pushing, before I break that ugly thing you call a face, ya fucking toad." Erik replied, obviously trying to start a fight. He got one, as the Krogan roared and charged at Erik, catching him in the chest and knocking him back. Davin was about to go help him, when he saw the other Krogan rush at him. Davin waited until the Krogan was about to hit him, then jumped to the side, kicking out the Krogans legs as he passed by. The Krogan fell hard, and Davin didn't give him any time to recover. Davin went over and kicked the Krogan in the face, hard. The Krogan hit the ground and didn't move. Davin smiled and went to Erik.

Erik had gotten back up and was using his speed to out maneuver the big Krogan. Every time the Krogan swung, Erik would dodge and return the blow, easily dodging and repeating. After the Krogan took an elbow to the face, he jumped back. "That's enough!" The Krogan roared, and pulled a block off his back, which turned into a shotgun. But Davin was way ahead of him, pulling out his pistol twice as fast and firing, hitting the shotgun out of the Krogans hands. The Krogan turned towards him, glaring bloody murder at Davin, and completely forgot about Erik, who delivered a crushing elbow to the Krogans temple, knocking him to the ground out cold.

Panting, Erik turned towards Davin, smiling. "Jeeze, these ass holes, right?"

Davin shook his head. "We just got here, and you're already picking fights with merc groups. I can already see how these next few months are going to go." Erik smiled, until he saw that Davin's face didn't change. "When these guys wake up, they are going to go cry to there little friends. Now we are going to have a mercenary group with a grudge." Davin got into Erik's face. "Think for a god damn second man! We are supposed to attract as little attention as possible. And here you go and try to attract as much attention as you can."

Erik looked at the ground, feeling ashamed because Davin was right. "I'm sorry…Commander."

"Oh don't give me that bullshit." Davin growled, making Erik look back at him. Davin sighed, smiling a little and placing his hand on his best friends shoulder. "It's Davin when we aren't in a combat situation Erik."

That cheered him up a bit, and they started heading back to their new little home for the time being, with Erik saying, "Hey, you gotta admit, it was pretty funny. I called him a fucking toad."

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"Well, there is definitely enough space for me to finish my research." Vara said, impressed that the Admiral found such a big place for them in Omega. The living room was a good size itself. The spare room, where she will set up her temporary lab, was almost as big as her actual lab. She didn't see any problems with space in the near future…

But there was one problem. Including her, there were 9 of them in total…and only 7 rooms. Debra already claimed the living room, and no one else wanted to share rooms with anybody. She sighed, remembering her failed attempt at making 1 of them share a room. Most laughed, Jacob grunted, and Bennie giggled hysterically, which kinda scared her. The last 2 she could ask was Erik and Davin. Davin hasn't even picked a room yet; he walked off for some 'fresh air' the instant they moved all of the luggage into the new house.

"You should share a room with the Commander." Debra said behind her, making her jump. She turned towards Debra, getting annoyed at being surprised all the damn time. "Very funny Debra."

"Just call me Deb." The nearly bald woman replied, smiling mischievously. "And I'm serious. If you don't offer, then he might have to sleep on the ship all alone with Dr. Alere, and no one wants that." She winked at Vara.

Vara shook her head. "I doubt he'd sleep on the ship."

"Do you now?" Debra responded, making Vara hesitate. "The Commander isn't going to force anyone to live in the same room as him. He's a hard ass, but not a jackass. He will give up and go back to the ship…where Dr. Alere is waiting to sink her claws into him."

Vara chuckled a little, imagining Dr. Alere actually grabbing Davin with claws, Then she felt herself get…jealous? She shook her head. She must be imagining it. "That wouldn't be too bad. She seems to want him badly."

"But he doesn't want her." Debra said, putting her hands on her hips. "Our commander is a very stubborn man at times. I've never seen him with a woman. I've seen him offered plenty of times, even a father offering his daughter once…which was a little weird, but he declined them all." Debra smiled. "But I bet if you offered to share rooms with him, he'd say yes."

Kara was about to argue when someone said, "Just do it." They both turned to see the only person there was Levie. "Levie…did you say something?" Debra asked. Levie turned towards them, was silent for a long time, than said "I said just do it. Commander has enough problems without being away from his unit with Dr. Alere who only annoys him." With that she turned back to watching T.V.

Debra laughed. "It's official now. The silent machine just spoke more to you than I've heard her speak in a year. Now you have to."

Dammit. Vara thought. She had never heard Levie speak until now. It was getting harder and harder to argue with them…

Her thoughts were interrupted by the door flying open, with Erik and Davin waltzing in with arms full of bags…full of food. Debra laughed when she saw them. "Well, we won't go hungry at least with out boy wonders over here." Vara giggled, and Erik laughed. "Well, someone has to be the boy wonders, because we are the only good looking guys here."

Debra snorted. "The Commander maybe, but definitely not you."

Erik flicked her off, smiling. "What would you know, you run the opposite way."

Debra flicked him back off. "I run both ways, as a matter of fact. I just don't run your way, and most women agree with me."

Erik's eyes grew wide. "Wait, you're a woman?" Vara heard Davin chuckle, a Debra started cracking her knuckles. Erik gestured at her to bring it. "Come at me then. I just took on a Krogan; you're small in comparison."

Both Debra and Vara looked at Davin for an explanation. Davin sighed, shaking his head. "A couple of Krogans bumped into Erik, and it went from there."

Debra laughed. "Fought a Krogan huh. Must have been fun."

Erik smiled, but Vara now noticed his knuckles were bloody and swollen. "Ya, though their skin is hard as hell. It was like punching a wall." Erik said.

Debra shook her head and turned to Davin. "Commander! We have a small problem."

Davin raised an eyebrow at her. "What kind of problem?"

Vara felt herself blushing, knowing exactly what problem Debra meant. "There are only 7 bedrooms, and I already called the living room." Debra continued, smiling and glancing at Kara.

Davin rubbed his chin, and just as Debra said he would, He answered, "Well…I guess I can sleep on the ship. I prefer to be closer, but-"

"Or." Vara said, more loudly than she intended, and blushed deeply when Davin looked at her. "….Or you can s-share a room with…me."

Erik smiled so wide Kara thought it would touch his ears, and she glared at him, even though he couldn't see it. Davin rubbed the back of his neck this time, looking embarrassed, which surprised Vara. "Really? Are you sure? I don't want to make you uncomfortable Vara…" was his reply.

Vara almost groaned, knowing she couldn't back out now. "No…It's fine Davin. The ship is too far away; if anything happened here, we would need our Commander here. Besides, I'm a Quarian; it's not like I'm going to change clothes often or anything."

Davin seemed to think about it for awhile, and then nodded, making Debra smirk at her. "Alright, we can share a room. But only bec-"

He was cut off when Han burst into the house, panting. They all turned to look at him, waiting in suspense. "Commander, The blood pack is beating up 2 unarmed Quarians. Yelling that they need their protection and to pay up for it."

Davin thought about it; Vara, on the other hand, did not. "Quarians?" She said. Han nodded, and she stormed off, walking out the door and ignoring Davin once again. Davin looked at Han, who shrugged. He sighed, and then said "If we are going to start trouble, let's do it in a smart way. You 3 go around and flank them. I want them to be at such a disadvantage that they don't even think about starting trouble." They nodded, and Davin jogged out after Vara, pulling his pistol out.

It wasn't vey hard to figure out where the commotion was coming from; the blood pack was loud enough for everyone on Omega to hear. Davin caught up with Vara just as the rest of the team did, all of them walking towards the blood pack.

There were 10 of them, 4 being Krogan, and 6 being Vorcha. Davin never liked Vorcha; not only is their appearance disturbing, they were known for selling anyone out without a second thought. He saw 2 Quarians, one a female and the other a male. They seemed like a couple, as she wrapped her arms around him when the Krogan threw him to the ground hard. The Quarian male coughed and the Krogan picked him up again, punching him in the ribs so hard Davin heard them crack as the woman screamed, beating at the Krogans legs and receiving a kick for it.

"What do you not understand, suit rat?" The Krogan asked as Davin and the rest started walking faster. "Either you pay for my protection, or I show you why you need it. If you don't cough up the credits soon, I'll break your stupid mask and watch you slowly-"

"Let him go." Davin said, finally making it over to them. Vara looked over; his time was completely different, as was his face. His eyes had grown cold, and his voice was that of a Commander again. The Krogan looked over at Davin and hesitated, seeing Davin's face. Then he growled, "Leave human, this is none of your business."

Vara had enough. Unable to control her anger any longer, she said, "You're right, it's my business." As she said it, she took her smg off her hip and pointed it straight at his face.

Everyone froze, not believing what they were seeing, then everyone sprang into action, the blood pack pointing their guns at her while Davin and the rest aimed their guns back. She didn't tell Davin or his group that she took a gun, but she was glad they reacted fast. The Krogan looked at the gun in her hand and sneered "Lower the gun, Quarian, or I'll break you too, dumb bitch." She kept her gun there, and jammed the muzzle into his head, wiping the sneer off of his face.

"You wouldn't get the chance, Krogan." Davin said, voice cold and hollow. "I would kill you before you even grazed her suit." The Krogan glared at Davin. "You are outnumbered. You only have 6 people; I have 10. Give up before we kill you."

"Really?" Erik said, smiling. "Check behind you, toad." A few of them turned and jumped at the sight of Han, Debra, and Levie standing their, guns aimed at the back of their heads. Now Vara saw the Krogan start get nervous.

"Now, not only are the numbers more even, you have enemies on both sides. It's not looking good for you." Davin said. The Krogan glared at him, then glared at Vara. She thought he was going to give up.

She was wrong. With a roar, The Krogan knocked her gun aside, moving faster than she believed he could, and swung at her. She thought she was done for, but just as his hand reached her, she saw his head explode as Davin kept his promise. Blood hit her mask, blinding her temporarily. She did the only thing she could think of; she ducked to the ground as the air exploded with gunshots, bullets, and screams. She wiped the blood off of her mask just in time to see a Vorcha's head disintegrated in a red mist from Debra's shotgun. All of a sudden the firing stopped, and after a few seconds she thought it was safe to stand up.

All of the blood pack was dead, barely any of them recognizable. Vara saw Han on the ground, clutching his side to stop the bleeding. Besides Han, it seemed only Adam had got hit; a bullet grazed his face, leaving a line across his cheek. She turned to Davin.

"Well, that went about how I expected it too." Davin said, sighing. Vara was amazed that he only had a pistol yet stood his ground in the face of assault rifles and shotguns. She was about to ask what he meant she gasped. "Davin, you're hit." She said, pointing at his hip. He looked down and saw his blood oozing out of the bullet wound. He looked at it for a bit and said, "Well look at that."

Vara just gawked at him. That's it? The man is insane. She shook her head and turned to the Quarians, walking towards them. "Hey, are you tw-"

"Stay away!" The male Quarian yelled, grabbing his wife and backing up, confusing Vara. "You're just as bad as they are." The Quarian continued. "Now they will be here with twice as many people and kill us. Just...go away."

Vara just stood there, dumbfounded by this, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked and saw Davin, his eyes full of sadness again. "Leave them be Vara. We stopped the blood pack; that's what we came to do."

"But we did it to save them!" Vara said, getting angry. "How can they say we are as bad as the blood pack?"

Davin didn't answer for a long time; he just looked into her eyes, trying to answer with just that. Then he said. "Because all they saw is us shooting them down. It doesn't matter that we did it on their behalf; people will believe what they want to believe, no matter the species. But right now we need to leave. This will reach the rest of the blood pack soon, and we don't want to be here when it does. Disappearing is the best idea right now."

She nodded slowly, understanding. She took one last look at the frightened Quarian couple, and then walked off with Davin and the rest of them.