Allegra was cursing herself silently as she walked quickly through the wards towards C-Sec. What in the world had possessed her to kiss Kaidan Alenko? He was her subordinate! There were regs about these kinds of things and for good reasons! Was she going crazy? She never did stuff like this.

She was hyper aware of him following her, even though he was hanging back about eight feet. It couldn't be avoided; they were going to the same place after all. She felt like all her senses were tuned into him and, surprisingly, it wasn't a bad feeling.

And kissing him had been fantastic. She didn't know if it was because he was off limits, the risk of being caught, or just the fact that Kaidan was an amazing kisser that made it so good. Maybe all three. Allegra's knees went a little weak remembering the feel of his lips on hers.

Well now what? They had a pretty huge task in front of them; they were obviously going to be in each other's presence for awhile. How was she supposed to act around him? Was she just supposed to pretend like the kiss never happened? Or did he expect more from her now?

He must have enjoyed it. He hadn't pushed her away. And he had admitted he thought she was beautiful. Maybe he liked her. Hopefully he liked her.

No, Allegra couldn't think like that. Hopefully he didn't like her. There was no need to make this situation any more difficult. They couldn't be together no matter what. Liking each other would only make that harder.

Weeeeell . . . maybe they could get together but keep it a secret. There really wasn't any need for anyone in the Alliance to find out if Kaidan and Allegra decided to have a little one on one training time.

Allegra risked a glance back at Kaidan. He was staring determinedly at the floor.

No. She had to stop this. She was trying to prove herself to be a good leader. How could she do that if she let some guy get in the way?

She would talk to him.

Later.

It was in the elevator on the way to the docking bay that Allegra noticed Kaidan looked a little green.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

"I'm fine. It's just a migraine. I get them sometimes from-"

"From your L2 implants," Allegra finished. At Kaidan's surprised look, she added, "Doctor Chakwas told me."

"I'll be fine. I just need to lie down for awhile."

When they reached the Normandy, Kaidan went ahead and boarded while Allegra stopped to talk to Udina and Anderson, who were waiting around for Cade.

She was surprised to learn Captain Anderson was stepping down from being the Normandy's commanding officer. She expressed her unhappiness to see him go.

"You'll watch out for your brother?" Anderson asked. "He's going to need your help."

"I'll take good care of him, sir," Allegra assured.

After another quick goodbye, Allegra disappeared into the Normandy.

Cade approached the Normandy, shocked to see Udina and Anderson standing on the docking platform. The two men noticed him at once.

"We've got big news for you, Shepard," Udina greeted. "The Normandy is yours now. Captain Anderson is stepping down at the commanding officer."

Anderson nodded. "She's perfect for a Spectre. Quick and quiet. And you know the crew. Treat her well, Commander."

"I'll take good care of her, sir," Cade promised.

"I know you will," Anderson replied quietly.

"Do we have any leads on Saren?" Cade asked.

"He's gone," Anderson said. "Don't even try to find him. However, we do know he's after the Conduit. He has the geth searching the Traverse for clues."

"There were reports of geth in the Feros system shortly before our communications with the colonies were cut," Udina said. "There have also been sightings near Noveria."

"You should find out what Saren was after on Feros and Noveria. There might be a chance you can figure out where the Conduit is before he does," Anderson added.

Cade nodded in understanding. "Anything else?" he asked.

"There is one more lead," Udina said. "Matriarch Benezia has a daughter. A scientist who specializes in the Protheans. We don't know if she is working with her mother and Saren, but it might be a good idea to find her, see if she knows anything. Her name is Dr. Liara T'Soni. She was exploring an archeological dig site on an uncharted world in the Artemis Tau cluster."

"I think I'll start by trying to find Dr. T'Soni," Cade decided.

"It's your decision, Commander. You're a Spectre now, you don't answer to us," Anderson said.

"But your actions do reflect on humanity as a whole," Udina spoke up. "If you make I mess, I get stuck cleaning it up."

"I'll try not to make things any harder on you, Ambassador," Cade replied diplomatically.

"I'm glad to hear that, Commander. You were a human long before you were a Spectre."

Udina excused himself and, after a quick chat with Anderson, Cade boarded the Normandy. It was now under his command. It was a strange feeling, but one that he enjoyed.

Cade walked up to Joker in the cockpit.

"I heard what happened to Captain Anderson," Joker greeted. "Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by backroom politics. Watch your back, Commander. If things go bad on this mission, you'll be next on their chopping block."

"It feels like I'm stealing the ship from Anderson," Cade replied. "He should be the one in charge."

"The captain got screwed, but no one is blaming you," Joker said. "This crew's behind you, one hundred percent."

"Well, let's make sure it stays that way. Give everyone the night off. We'll leave first thing in the morning for the Artemis Tau cluster," Cade said. "I think I'll head to Flux. Anyone interested can join me."

"Sounds good, Commander," Joker smiled.

"But first, there are some things I need to discuss with my dear sister. Is she on board yet?"

"Down in the comm room, Commander," Joker answered. "She seems to be in a better mood."

"Good. Now get off this ship, Joker. You'll be stuck in that chair plenty once we leave." Cade turned and headed for the comm room.

Allegra stopped pacing the comm room to plop down into one of the seats against the wall. This was the first place she'd come to once she had boarded the Normandy. She just hadn't been in the mood to talk to anybody.

She was expecting Cade at any moment. Joker had told her he was back on the ship, looking for her. He had also told her that Cade had given the whole crew the night off to go drink with him at Flux. Allegra had to admit it was a good way to get the crew to like him, now that he was in complete charge of them.

"You don't want to go get some drinks with the rest of us?"

Allegra looked up to see Cade standing in the doorway with his arms crossed. Speak of the devil, she thought.

"It's the last chance you'll get before we leave," he continued.

Allegra shook her head. Kaidan was the only person Allegra wanted to hang out with, and he had taken refuge from his migraines in the medical bay.

Cade stepped into the room. "What are you doing in here anyway?" he asked.

"I wanted a quiet place to think," Allegra replied. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure." He sat down in one of the chairs and gave her his full attention.

"I'm sorry for behaving like I did after the Council meeting," Allegra began. "I was jealous you were made a Spectre. I had been hoping . . . I mean, the rational part of me knew it would never happen, but I had hoped that since I was the one to save Tali and everything, the Council might have chosen me instead of you. And when they chose you, I wasn't surprised, but I was angry. You get everything you've ever wanted, Cade. And now you're a Spectre. The first human Spectre. I was so jealous and it hurt so much and I should have just been proud of you. You're my brother, and you deserve the honor, and you'll make a wonderful Spectre. It's just . . . how could I ever compare to you, now that you're a Spectre? No matter what I do, you'll always be better than me."

Cade had listened to her silently, but now he spoke up. "Allegra, just because I'm a Spectre won't mean that your accomplishments will be any less impressive. I'll be proud of you, mom and dad will be proud of you, and this whole crew will be honored to have served under you. But to make that happen, we have to stop Saren. And I need you with me. I can't do this without you. If you hadn't been with me, I never would have gotten to Tali in time, and I never would have had the evidence against Saren. You and I are a team, and nothing can change that."

He stood up and pulled her into a hug. "You'll get a chance to be a hero, I can feel it," he whispered.

"Thanks, Cade."

They pulled away from each other. "You sure you don't want to come with us?" he asked.

"I just want to be alone for a while," Allegra replied.

Cade nodded. "Okay, but if you change your mind, we'll be at Flux." He spun on his heel and exited the comm room.

Allegra waited until she was sure everyone was off the Normandy before venturing out of the comm room and over to the medical bay. She slipped through the door and even though the lights were dimmed, she could see Kaidan stretched out on one of the beds, one of his arms thrown over his eyes. Be professional, be professional, she chanted in her head. She shuffled over to him, making some noise so as not to sneak up on him.

Kaidan lifted his arm and squinted over in her direction. "Shepard?" he croaked.

"Hi," she said. "How are you feeling?" That was professional; officers were allowed to care about the health of their soldiers.

Geez, now she was being defensive with herself!

"I'm better," Kaidan was saying. "My head still hurts, but it's not as bad as it was."

Don't call him Kaidan, do not call him Kaidan! "Kaidan . . ." Damn . . . "We need to talk about what happened earlier," Allegra began cautiously. "I shouldn't have kissed you. It was inappropriate and unprofessional."

"Ye-" Kaidan started, but Allegra quickly interrupted him.

"It can't happen again. And it won't. I don't even know why it happened. I don't like you! Uh, I mean, like that. You're just a friend. Not even a friend really, just a soldier in my command. Partly my command." Allegra was stumbling over her words. She flushed in frustration. "I hope I'm being clear."

"Very clear," Kaidan replied with a wince.

"Good." She turned to walk away, but stopped and faced him over her shoulder. "Let's not mention this. The kiss, I mean, not this conversation. Although I suppose if we aren't mentioning the kiss, there'd be no reason to mention this conversation."

"Shepard," Kaidan said over her. "It's all right. I'll just forget it ever happened."

"Thanks for taking this so well, Kaidan," Allegra smiled.

"You should probably stop calling me Kaidan," he pointed out.

"Whoops!" Allegra giggled. "I'll leave you alone, Lieutenant Alenko."

She quickly escaped the medical bay, hurrying to the cargo hold to find something, anything, to do.

Cade managed to rouse himself fairly early the next day. He had had a few drinks the previous night, but not enough to get drunk. Mostly, he had sat around chatting to Ashley and Joker all night, sharing war stories.

He headed up to the cockpit, not surprised to see Joker already in his seat, ready to go. "Everyone aboard, Joker?"

"Yes, sir. They all managed to make it. Though some aren't quite fit for duty yet," Joker smirked in reply.

"I'll be lenient on them this time," Cade smiled.

"Still want to head out to the Artemis Tau cluster?"

Cade nodded. "Yes, we need to find Benezia's daughter. Hopefully, she'll be able to help us."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"Open the intercom, Joker," Cade instructed. "I need to be honest with the crew before we leave." Joker fiddled with a few controls, then Cade leaned closer to the intercom mic and announced, "This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you, crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. For too long, our species has stood against the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy. Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them, too. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel Space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all . . . we will stop him!"

Joker looked up at Cade, respect shining in his eyes. "Well said, Commander. The Captain would be proud."

"The Captain gave up everything so I could have this chance. We can't fail."

"Yes, sir!" Joker replied, saluting. "Now that we got that touchy-feely part out of the way . . ."

"Get us out of here, Joker," Cade said with a chuckle.

Joker set about preparing the Normandy for takeoff as Cade headed towards the galaxy map. He was surprised to see Allegra there waiting for him.

"Nice speech," she commented.

"Thank you."

"It really put me in the mood to kick some ass," Allegra continued, smirking.

"You should have joined us last night," Cade said, changing the subject. "We had a lot of fun."

"I had some other important things I had to take care of," she replied. "So, do you know where we're heading in the Artemis Tau cluster? Or are we just going to cross our fingers and hope we pick right?"

"Well," Cade began, stepping up to the galaxy map and enlarging the view of the Artemis Tau cluster, "we know that Dr. T'Soni is at a Prothean dig site."

"Yeah, that helps," Allegra scoffed. "There are four systems in the cluster. That's a lot of planets to choose from."

"I heard about some Prothean ruins recovered in the Knossos System awhile ago," Cade mused. "Maybe we should start there. When we get closer we can scan the planets, see what there is."

Allegra clapped him on the back. "Good plan, Commander."

He gave her a half-smile. "We've got awhile until we get to the system. I'm headed down to get to know some of our crew better. You want to join me?"

"No, that's all right," Allegra replied, looking away from him. "I think I'll head down to the mess. I haven't had breakfast yet."

Cade and Allegra headed down the stairs together, Allegra heading to the mess, and Cade heading for the elevator. He hummed to himself on the way down to the cargo hold, counting the tiles on the wall as they slowly passed. When the elevator arrived on the lower deck, Cade stepped out, immediately saw Wrex and decided to go say hi.

After a nice chat with Wrex about the genophage and dying krogan population, Cade hurried over to Ashley.

She looked up from polishing weapons as he approached. She was grinning widely, and Cade guessed that she had overheard his conversation with Wrex. "Wipe that smile off your face, Chief," he groaned playfully.

"Sorry, skipper," Ashley laughed. "But the look on your face as you tried to work your way around that conversation was priceless!"

"Why don't you just get back to work," Cade laughed.

"Aye, aye, sir," Ashley replied, still laughing.

Cade shook his head as he headed across to Garrus, who was checking over the Mako. They spent a few minutes conversing about Garrus' time at C-Sec. Cade had a feeling he would grow to really like Garrus; he seemed like a really cool guy. Cade was glad to have him on the team.

Finally, Cade made his way into the engine room and to the person he had been looking forward to talking to the most.

Tali stood gazing at the drive core. She turned slightly towards Cade as he stepped up next to her. "Your ship's amazing, Shepard," Tali greeted. "I've never seen a drive core like this before. I can't believe you were able to fit it in a ship this small."

Cade found himself wishing Tali didn't have to wear that helmet all the time. He wanted to see her face. It was much easier to talk to someone when you could see their expressions.

"I'm starting to understand why you humans have been so successful," Tali continued. "I had no idea Alliance vessels were so advanced!" She sounded impressed.

"The Normandy is a prototype," Cade answered. "Cutting edge technology."

"A month ago I was patching a makeshift fuel line into a converted tug ship in the flotilla. Now I'm standing on board one of the most advanced vessels in Citadel Space. I have to thank you again for allowing me to come with you. Traveling on a vessel like this is a dream come true for me."

"I had no idea you found ship technology so interesting," Cade smiled at her. There was so much about Tali that was a mystery. Cade really didn't know much at all about the quarians; he found Tali simply amazing.

"It comes with being a quarian," Tali said. "The Migrant Fleet is the key to the survival of my people. Ships are our most valuable resource. But we don't have anything like this. We make do with castoffs and second hand equipment. We just try to keep them running for as long as we can. Some of the Fleet's larger vessels date all the way back to our original flight from the geth."

"I can't believe your fleet is still using ships that are three centuries old," Cade said in amazement.

"They're constantly being repaired, modified, and refitted," Tali explained. "They aren't pretty, but they work. Mostly. We've tried to make ourselves as independent as possible on the flotilla. Grow our own food, mine and process our own fuel. But some things we just can't make on our own. A patch to maintain the hull integrity requires raw materials we just don't have. That's why our Pilgrimages are so important."

Cade spent a little longer talking with Tali. She taught him a lot about the quarians and he found it all very interesting. Eventually, he decided he'd better go do some actual work and bid Tali goodbye for the moment. He walked away from the engine room with a smile on his face.

Allegra felt herself drawn to Kaidan. She knew she should just stay away from him, but she couldn't help herself. Besides, she just wanted to talk to him. There was nothing wrong with that.

Kaidan looked up from the monitor he was working at as she approached. "Anything you need, Commander?" he asked, silently appraising her.

Allegra's skin tingled where his gaze landed. It felt like he was gently caressing her, but he stood three feet away. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay," she answered him. "After last night."

"Do you mean the migraines or the conversation we're not supposed to mention?"

Allegra cleared her throat nervously. "The migraines of course. We're not mentioning the conversation."

"You're right, we're not. But my migraine is much better. Almost completely gone."

"That's good." Allegra realized she was staring at Kaidan's lips and quickly moved her gaze up to his eyes. He hadn't seemed to notice.

"So," Kaidan finally said, "we're heading to the Knossos System?"

"Yes," Allegra answered, pleased they were on a much easier conversation topic. "Cade wants to find Dr. T'Soni. He thinks she can help us."

"What if she's working for Saren?"

"Then we kill her," Allegra replied nonchalantly.

Kaidan grinned crookedly at her. Allegra sighed at the beautiful sight it made. Then she shook herself out of the sudden lust filled haze surrounding her.

"What planet is she on?" Kaidan asked.

"We don't know. I was going to go research the planets in the system and see which one was the most likely for her to be on." Her stomach suddenly growled very loudly. "And eat breakfast," she added, glaring down at her stomach.

Kaidan chuckled. "I'll join you . . . if that's all right. I haven't eaten yet either."

"Uh, sure," Allegra agreed. She didn't know if it was such a good idea to eat breakfast all alone with Kaidan. Really, she shouldn't be spending any time alone with him until she got over this silly crush she had seemed to develop on him. Honestly, it was like she had never seen an attractive man before. And she had. She'd seen plenty of attractive men. Maybe none quite as handsome or charming or cute as the lieutenant, but she had never gone all awkward and shy and giddy over them.

She only felt this way for Kaidan because she hadn't been with a man in a very long time, and Kaidan was there and single, if not necessarily available. Allegra could easily get over this feeling. Not having sex in more time than she cared to admit was no reason for her to lose her head like this.

Allegra was equally disappointed and relieved when Ashley appeared in the mess and joined them for breakfast. The Gunnery Chief was in a great mood, laughing over something about Cade and Wrex. As the three of them sat down for breakfast, Ashley filled them in on everything they had missed the night before.

"You should have come," Ashley said, her mouth full of food.

"Next time, I promise," Allegra replied.

After breakfast, Allegra disappeared into Captain Anderson's old quarters, which was now Cade's bedroom. She sat down at his computer, and started searching for information on the Knossos System. Cade showed up an hour later and helped her look for information.

Soon enough, Joker announced they would be arriving in the system shortly. Allegra followed Cade up to the command center where they accessed the galaxy map. They scanned a few of the planets and asteroids, but they had their sights set on Therum. Their research had found that many Prothean ruins had been found on Therum's surface, so it seemed a fitting place for a Prothean scientist to be.

Cade ordered Allegra and Kaidan to suit up and meet him in the Mako.

"Are you sure you want Alenko to join us?" Allegra asked Cade. "Why not Williams?"

"Either would be useful, but I figured Alenko would be good if we came across anything technical. Why are you being so weird about this?"

"I'm not," Allegra defended.

Cade gave her a disbelieving look. "If you don't like Alenko for some reason you better tell me now so I can make sure I don't have you two working together."

"No! It's not that!" Allegra said quickly.

Cade shook his head slowly. "I'll never understand you," he sighed. "Just get ready."

Allegra watched him walk off then quickly went to grab her weapons and armor. As she walked down the Mako, she tried to focus on the mission at hand and not on how well Kaidan looked in the new armor Cade had bought for him.

Allegra silently climbed aboard the Mako, sitting in the passenger seat while Cade sat in the driver's seat and Kaidan crawled into the back.

Joker brought them in to the planet and the Mako dropped down to the very toasty planet below.