Hopelessly Blue: Ah, Rissara. Yeah, she's like that. You'll find out more about her sometime as well, but I can't be sure whether or not it'll be able to make you hate her more than you already do. But thank you for the compliment, it made me smile. With Joker, I thought to keep him on his toes with a rival of sorts. What better one than one from another galaxy? If both of them are the best in their respective military affiliations, I suppose that would make cause for greater concern. For Shepard and Raega, of course. ;) I loved the hair tentacle scene too, it was ridiculously funny. And, my dear, thank you for the applause! XD Lots a love.

Hound Akragth: I missed you, buddy! Curse those classes… But really, I'm glad you're still with me. And I'm sorry for the confusion; it seems I got rather careless and lost in it while I was writing… XP

Bluemarlin: Thanks. I'm glad I could do something right for once. XP But for serious, I'm sorry for taking so long to update. I know I'm an ass…

A/N: So…

"Ashley!" Ayldrik shouted, leaping at said woman with a giant smile. I, unable to travel at light speed, watched the event unfold.

As originally intended, he managed to wrap his arms around the woman. In mid-air. Following suit in his monkey-ish stupidity, his momentum ended up flopping the both of them to the ground. Paying no heed to her struggling on instinct, he pulled her up to stand once more, still holding her tight. I wanted to say something but her screaming and his childish grin was funny. Especially looking at everyone's faces around them.

"Hey Raega!" I turned and paused, seeing a quite familiar person walking up to me with a smile. "I didn't know you'd come so fast, I thought…" she trailed off as she looked behind me and saw Ayldrik hug/strangling her sister.

"Hey Ash…" I smiled apologetically, seeing the look on her face.

"Get off!" Ash's sister (she actually looked like her) wheezed, her face muffled in his chest. He turned, still grinning, and opened his eyes to see Ashley standing there with a bewildered look on her face. There was a long pause as his mind processed the information.

He looked between the woman he was squeezing and Ash several times before blushing heavily.

"Ash?" he asked meekly. She then, quite promptly I might add, exploded.

"Of course I am! What are you doing, strangling my little sister?!" she shouted, stomping up to him. He immediately released the girl and held her out to arm's reach, blushing but examining her all the same.

"She is your sister!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide. Ashley grabbed her sister back and punched him in the stomach. Hard enough to make him hold it and groan in pain. I had to wince at the scene but it was still hilarious from my position.

"Of course she is!" she snapped. "Hey, are you alright Abby?" she asked, looking down at her sister. Abby, huh? Wonder if she was the swords one or the nervous one. Looking at her ren faire clothes though, I figured she was the swords one. The second oldest, I believed.

"Assuming I'm still alive." She muttered, making me smirk.

"What were you hugging her so tight for anyway?" Ash demanded, looking back at the now thoroughly embarrassed Ayldrik.

"Her back was toward me and I was so excited to see you, I just… lost myself…" he muttered sadly, looking away. Ash sighed, finding a small smirk on her face from his cute behavior and shook her head. He looked down at Abby then and offered his hand, palm up, bowing slightly. He was tall, after all. She looked up at him with a confused frown for a moment but set her hand in his. He took it and bowed lower.
"I apologize for my inappropriate behavior, miss. I must ask for your forgiveness." I'd been showing him too many old movies from Earth. Of course, it worked like a charm on the ren faire girl and she blushed. She only offered a distracted nod.

"Alright, alright, fine, now stop touching." Ash grumbled, pulling their hands apart. Ayldrik looked at Ash only long enough for a tick of a clock to go by. That is, until he crushed her in a giant hug, getting emotional again.

"I missed you so much, I can't believe it! You're finally here and it's not a faraway call and I can hug you and I can-"

"Okay! TMI, genius." she interrupted. "Now put me down." she ordered. I saw the tearful expression on his face before he let her slide out of his grip. The hesitation was there, I could feel it from where I stood. He looked down at Ashley with a faltering smile, no longer blushing.
"I may have volunteered but I was assigned to watch you and the rest of the crew throughout the mission or ordered otherwise. My job comes first, flyboy." She declared. I literally heard Ayl's heart shatter at the lack of love.

"O-okay. Raega, it's your turn now." He muttered, looking to me. I let him walk over to me, heading back toward the door already. I guess he didn't want to stay and watch the show. I gripped his shoulder momentarily, offering him a smile. The sad puppy eyes got me every time with him.

"Go and get some breakfast little brother. We'll speak later." I muttered. "And ask Iravina to join me out here would you?" he nodded, giving me one of his masking smiles. I could recognize the type because I was the one who taught him.

Once he left, walking tall as a future sovereign should, I turned to the on looking group.

"Alright everyone, listen up and listen good…" I began, staring at the group of thirty people. I had little time before the Runners got back with our things. "I'm going to call names from the roster to make sure everyone's here. From there…" Iravina walked up to my side then. Perfect timing.
"You'll group up with the ship's main pilot, Panzer specialist Iravina. She'll take you all up to the ship and organize posting." I announced, looking to all of them. None seemed to have any questions so I nodded to myself, flicking the roster screen up with my gauntlet.

"Smith." How boring.

"Here."

"Williams, Ashley."

"Present." Ash replied.

"Williams, Abigail." She was on the roster?

"It's Abby, ma'am." She corrected, causing me to pause and look up. I saw the warning look Ash gave her and the blush that instantly spread on her cheeks was genuine. I guess she just said it on reflex.

"Johnson."

"Present." He managed.

"Martinez."

"I'm here." a female voice clipped.

"Baker…

…

After going through all of the names, I found everyone to be present and accounted for. They grouped with Iravina and she nodded to me once before leading them toward the ship. It was only ten in the morning and already it had been such an eventful day. With a sigh, I sat on a nearby bench to wait for any stragglers that didn't answer my roster checking. In case you didn't know, 'accounted for' normally means 'I know where they are but they're not here'.

In the military, anyway…

Bloop. "Thuru'k ae mukkaeru lluran yui, Raeura. Id'ak ul ael ilkudriun dhaellur bid khaerr I dulludd yui?" I looked down at my gauntlet, realizing I hadn't tinkered with the setting yet. I hadn't thought to, considering it was my own language.

"A message on an unsecured channel, huh…?" I pondered, looking off to the side for a moment. Strange… it wasn't military or my people; both used secure channels on a regular basis. Looking back down at my waiting message, I shrugged. Why not?
"Ophon aik." I said, telling it to open. It did so and I waited as the connection was established and scanned for any possible threats. It showed green and then opened up as requested.

For more than a few seconds, I stared at the woman (head and the upper parts of her shoulders) in front of me.

"Is this Raegas?" she asked, far too… well, she wasn't a civilian. What I saw of her clothing said she was in some kind of uniform. If I wasn't mistaken, I felt as if I heard her voice somewhere before. It was difficult to tell with the hazy connection.

"-Yes." I said, coming back to myself with that nagging feeling in the back of my head. "Who might you be?" I asked.

"I am Captain Hannah Shepard." She replied, sighing to herself. I tensed, feeling my eyes widen. This lady birthed Shepard. Whoa. Magical loins for the win, I suppose… "I have been trying to contact you ever since I saw you on the monitor." She informed, and I raised a brow.

"You have? I am sorry if I haven't replied, I…"

"Perish the thought, dear. But I do have a bone to pick with you."

A/N: Ooh, Shepard's mom already jumping right in. Mine would too if she heard I came back to life. Or was alive after being presumed dead… you get the picture. I wonder 'bone' she has to pick with Raegas. I mean, they've never even met… right?