"Commander, arriving to Tuchanka in two minutes," EDI reported over the shuttle's speaker.

"Good," Shepard muttered.

Massani.

Shepard didn't like mercenaries. All it took was a big enough check, and they would shoot their best friend to the back. And the fact that he was hired by the Cerberus did not make Shepard feel any better.

He already had Miranda watching over him, reporting his every action to the Illusive Man. Shepard would have probably tossed her out of the airlock already, if he didn't need everyone for the mission.

"Shepard," Garrus spoke "Can we even trust this guy? He is a merc."

"You're voicing my thoughts," Shepard said quietly.

"But then again," he continued grimly "I don't actually trust anyone else on the team either. Except you two and Joker..."

"Thane seems pretty civil," Tali chimed in.

Shepard's frowned "You've talk to him?".

"Yes. I've seen him a couple of times in the mess hall. He's always eating alone," her head lowered slightly, and so did her tone "It made me sad, so I decided to go talk to him."

"What did you talk about?" Shepard asked, his eyes narrowing.

He felt something in his stomach, and it made him want to know about their exchange. He began to feel slight loathing towards Thane, which was weird, since he had started to like him.

"We traded stories. He was very interested about the Flotilla, and in return, he told me about Kahje," she now raised her head a little, and continued dreamily "It sounded beautiful."

"I see," Shepard said quietly.

'Beautiful'. 'Very interested'. Those two expressions kept ranging in his mind. Shepard felt his teeth pressing together. His loathing towards Thane intensified.

Was he jealous? The thought made him feel ridiculous. Why should he? It had just been innocent conversing.

The two expressions again rang in his mind. His brain told him, that they didn't mean anything. Merely words. But something in him wanted to punch Thane, to make him stay away from her. He felt even more ridiculous, and started to move nervously.

He would need to keep his feelings in check.

Garrus' eyes narrowed.

"You okay Shepard?" he asked.

His head lowered.

He trusted Tali. It disgusted him that he had doubted her.

He lifted his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Touching down on Tuchanka," EDI reported.

,,,

He was definitely not fine. Thoughts of doubt crept into his mind, but those were not about her, but about himself. Happiness. He doubted if he could provide her that. His ridiculous territoriality disgusted him.

He could get angry, or even could hurt her. The thought pained him.

Excuses. Were those just excuses to not even try?

"Are you coming Shepard?" Tali asked.

Garrus had just gotten out. and Tali was about to too.

"Yeah," he answered, but didn't move.

She tilted her head.

"Are you all right?"

Shepard got up.

"Yeah," he said quickly.

She didn't need to hear his pathetic problems. They were his, and he was gonna deal with them.

"John," she said quietly, and placed her hand on his.

But he was going to tell her anyway, so he sat back down, and she sat down next to him.

"I'm feeling territorial."

She tilted her head "What do you mean?"

"About you," he continued, then lowered his head "The talk with Thane."

She was puzzled for a moment, before it came to her.

"Oh," she gasped.

He was jealous...

She hadn't thought that she could make him jealous. Actually the other way around.

He was probably the most famous man in the galaxy. Women would line up before him. Tali couldn't understand why he thought of himself so lowly.

She took his hand with both of hers.

"We were just talking," she said quietly.

Shepard felt embarrassed about the whole situation already.

"I know, and I'm feeling ridiculous," he said quietly.

He sighed.

"I trust you, and I want to be with you, but I don't want to shackle you."

His head sunk even lower.

"You're not mine to keep, as much as I'd like to," he whispered.

He always punished himself. She did not know why.

But his words were charming, as they always were. She felt herself smiling. He always spoke to her so beautifully. His care shined through his words...

She moved her hand on his chin, and lifted his head. Their eyes met.

"I think that's romantic," she said quietly.

Shepard chuckled in surprise, and grinned.

"You really think so?"

He felt his mood rising.

She giggled quietly.

"Yes," she said softly.

Giggling. He did not hear that often. He thought it was...cute. It made him glad. He thought it weird that a man like him would use such a word. Cute...

They wrapped their arms around each other, and she rested her head on his shoulder. They pulled away from each other, still holding hands for a moment. Shepard moved his hand on the side of her helmet, stroking it.

"I like your laugh," he whispered, now smiling.

His words were innocent, but they made her think of something. She didn't laugh very often. She wondered if her life was unhappy, but it wasn't. Most of her happiness just weren't the laughing kind.

She touched his hand on her cheek, and stood up, beginning to walk towards the door.

When she reached it, she spoke.

"You are wrong about one thing, John," she said quietly.

Shepard looked towards her, frowning, and she turned her head towards him in return.

"I'm yours to keep," she whispered.

She stepped out of the shuttle.

Shepard chuckled quietly, and a wide smile appeared on his face.

Maybe she was.

His girl.

…

Garrus was leaning against the shuttle, arms crossed.

Again on Tuchanka. If one word were only allowed to describe it, it would be post-apocalyptic. That, or depressing.

He could be the first turian to visit this ruin of a planet twice. And survive, that is. The thought didn't actually comfort him, and the fact that several krogan were staring at him, added to his discomfort. His eyes kept glancing around, drawing up a plan in his mind, in case of an attack.

It was both weird, and very natural to him, that when he looked at something, he immediately thought about the object's usefulness in combat. Most people would look at a table, and go 'nice color', but he would immediately wonder if it could stop a bullet. The dossier on Archangel had called him a tactical genius. Garrus would call himself aware.

One of the krogan took a step towards him, but immediately took it back, since Tali stepped out of the shuttle, followed by Shepard. Guess they respected Wrex's authority.

Tali and Shepard had been in the shuttle for a while, so Garrus guessed that they had been talking about his jealousy. Garrus had noticed that immediately after Shepard's mood-swing. But he seemed to be better now, which was good, since his brooding was annoying. Garrus snorted. He was the best to talk. The guilt in him still persevered, and it dragged him down with it. Garrus realized that, but couldn't help it. Life was crap. He wasn't saying that because he was depressed, but rather because that was the truth. Positive attitude and a few jokes wouldn't help anyone.

A bullet to the head would.

…

"Let's go then," Shepard said to Garrus, and wove him to follow.

The three walked towards the gate with the grumpy guard of last time.

The guard's face wrinkled with dislike, when he noticed Shepard and his companions.

"Stop, aliens," he snapped.

Shepard rubbed his nose in annoyance, and sighed.

"We're here to see Wrex," he answered.

The guard growled quietly.

"Let them pass," he said, but it was clear that he didn't like it.

The door opened, and the three stepped in. They again walked through the zigzagging corridor, and arrived to the opening. They walked towards Wrex, who signaled his guards to let them pass.

"Shepard," Wrex greeted, with his deep voice.

"Wrex."

"Here to kill another of my enemies?" Wrex chuckled.

Shepard grinned, and chuckled in return.

"Probably. Doesn't like the half of the krogan here hate you?"

Wrex chuckled louder.

"More like two thirds, but they'll learn..." he said ominously.

Shepard crossed his arms.

"Expecting more bloodshed?"

Now Wrex laughed.

"Always..." he said, still ominously.

He leaned on the arm of his throne.

"The krogan warlords have always climbed on top of those who were before. It's the krogan way," he continued, his voice now more matter-of-factly.

"It's just who we are, I won't change that," he concluded, shrugging.

Shepard nodded to him, and Wrex leaned backwards again.

"But, you're not here to talk about krogan politics..."

Shepard would have enjoyed to wisecrack more with Wrex, but he was right. He had something to do.

"Well, I'm looking for a mercenary. Zaeed Massani."

Wrex nodded.

"He came by, asking for my permission to stay here. Said that he was gonna work for you, which was the only reason I let him stay. Aliens make most krogan nervous."

He leaned forwards again.

"And nervous krogan...doesn't leave much for imagination."

"You know anything about him?"

"I know his reputation, every merc does. Tough for a human and holds his end of the bargain. Maybe the most famous merc there is, in addition to me."

Honorable merc? Shepard found that pretty hard to believe. Then again, Wrex was pretty honorable. He had even given Shepard his bounty money for killing Fist. Shepard smiled at the thought.

"Know where he's at?"

Wrex nodded again.

"At the varren fighting pit," Wrex said, then pointed towards the pit.

Shepard could see one human at the pit, tapping at the betting console.

"Thanks, Wrex." Shepard said, without turning to him again.

"Shepard."

…

The trio was now approaching the human they saw before. The human was glad in a battle armor, that reminded Shepard of a ancient battle outfit of gladiators. Shepard tapped him on the shoulder three times, he turned his head.

"Massani?" Shepard asked.

"Yeah, that's me. You're Shepard?" Massani asked.

Massani's face was horribly scarred, and his right eye looked like it was blind. Shepard's eyes narrowed at the sight of it. Massani had obviously been through a lot.

His voice also mirrored his face. Raspy tone, with a strong English working class accent. Pretty fitting.

"Yep."

"Hold a sec, gonna see how the match goes."

The two varren had just jumped to the pit, and were snarling at each other.

"Which one are you betting for?" Shepard asked.

The game actually repulsed him, since animals couldn't say no. However, the match was not till death, and they received pretty good medical care after the fight. The varren actually seemed to enjoy it. It still sort of repulsed him.

"The white dumb-looking one. Stupid ones always fight the hardest."

The white one seemed to be pretty stupid. It charged towards the blue varren, who immediately attacked it's neck. The krogan hurried to separate them, and it was over.

Massani shrugged.

"Can't win 'em all."

The mercenary now turned towards Shepard completely.

"I heard we have a galaxy to save," he said.

"You do know about the mission, right?"

Massani took a step forward, his eyes narrowed and brow wrinkled. He looked to be annoyed at the question.

"Don't take a job without knowing it. I'm not stupid. Wouldn't have gotten this far if I were."

Shepard's arms crossed.

"A suicide mission is a pretty bad career move."

Massani shrugged.

"Is not if you get payed a lot," he said simply.

Shepard chuckled, he was starting to like the merc. For now. He offered Massani his hand, and Massani took it.

"Well, welcome to a multi-species, multi-racial team of misfits," Shepard said, grinning slightly.

Zaeed nodded to him. He tilted his head slightly, and narrowed his eyes.

"You know about our arrangement?"

Shepard scowled. The Illusive Man. The bastard had left him another damn surprise. If Shepard ever met the guy, he might surprise him. With a knee to the groin.

"Guess the Illusive Man didn't deem it important enough to notify me," Shepard said, still scowling.

Zaeed didn't seem surprised.

"Good thing I asked. Have learned not to trust my employers too much."

He crossed his arms again.

"Picked up a mission while back. The Blue Suns have captured an Eldfell-Ashland refinery. They've been using the workers as slave labor. The company wants it dealt with."

Shepard's eyes narrowed.

"Eldfell-Ashland is a big company. Pretty stupid to attack it."

Zaeed nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Guess Vido needs funds pretty desperately."

"Vido. I've heard the name."

"Not a big surprise. He's the leader of the Blue Suns, runs the entire organization," Zaeed replied, shrugging.

Shepard's eyes narrowed even more.

"The head cheese himself..." he muttered.

The mission seemed to be a win-win. Shepard could clear get Massani's head cleared for the mission, and kill the mercenary boss with one blow.

"We'll get that done. I appreciate you at least being honest with me."

Zaeed grinned slightly. The grin distorted his scarred face, making it look even more grotesque.

"Glad to hear it."