Shepard reached the crew's quarters and glanced around in search of Jenny, it had been two hours since they had left the serpent nebula and he had spent most of it going over the upgrades with Mordin, he found the young red head at the cafeteria handing an empty plate over to Rupert and he approached her.
"Jenny, can we talk?" Shepard asked as he approached her, she turned around and grinned.
"Sure, what about?" Jenny asks as Rupert starts cleaning her plate, seeing the look on Shepard's face however made her grin disappear. "This is about how I acted towards Garrus earlier isn't it?" Jenny asked and Shepard nodded. "Can we talk about this somewhere more private?" Shepard turned to Rupert.
"Anyone in the crew's quarters?" Shepard asked Rupert who shook his head.
"Nah, its empty last I checked." Rupert said putting Jenny's clean plate aside, Shepard said nothing and lead Jenny to the crew's quarters, once they were in the quarters Shepard locked the door.
"Let me guess, Garrus said I was being hostile towards him right?" Jenny asked and Shepard nodded. "Look that's just a big misunderstanding on his part, okay not big because I've always been uneasy around Turians but you know what I mean."
"Is that because of First Contact?" Shepard asked, he knew Jenny was too young to be a First Contact veteran so he suspected that a family member had been involved with the war, Jenny confirmed it with a nod.
"Aye, my grandfather was in First Contact, once the war was over he was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he never gave any details but all he said was that he saw a lot of friends die that day and that he still heard their screams at night." Jenny shook her head sadly. "Ever since then my family hasn't had the best relationship with the Turian race, me and my siblings have tried getting along with a few of them but our dad didn't exactly approve." Jenny added.
"You have siblings? How many?" Shepard asked curiously.
"Three, Sophie and Kate are my twin sisters and Zach's the oldest, last I heard my sisters are still in bootcamp and Zach...it's complicated." She trailed off, her eyes narrowing to the floor as a quiet sigh escaped her lips, it was obvious to Shepard that Jenny was recalling painful childhood memories and he was curious to find out.
"Something happened between you and your brother?" Shepard asked though he had a feeling that Jenny didn't want to talk about it.
"Aye, and if you don't mind I'd rather not talk about it." Jenny said confirming what Shepard thought. "Can we get back on track?"
"Sure, if that was the case why where you ignoring Garrus?" Shepard asked and Jenny facepalmed clearly embarrassed.
"Is that how my actions came off to him? Jesus Christ, tell him I'm sorry okay I wasn't ignoring him, I just wanted some privacy after Roberts' death." Jenny said and Shepard raised an eyebrow at that.
"You and Roberts where close?" Shepard asked, Jenny nodded and Shepard folded his arms. "Last I checked fraternisation was against the rules." Jenny blushed furiously at that.
"Not THAT close." Jenny said barely able to contain her embarrassment at that point. "We had been friends since Bootcamp, it never got any further than that, besides even if we where that close Marcus would've called us out on it, he has a knack for finding something like that out."
"I'll take your word for it." Shepard said unlocking the door to the crew's quarters though he did plan on asking about her brother if he ended up being involved in a mission. "Our next destination is Omega, you'll be on the ground team alongside Grunt, be ready by then."
"Got it Commander." Jenny nodded as Shepard left, Shepard started considering what he was going to do next when Marcus approached him.
"She a feisty one huh Commander?" Marcus asks rhetorically as he approached him, the Major looked like he had just enjoyed a good meal based on his mannerisms.
"That she is." Shepard agreed before leaning against the wall. "Did you know about her grandfather?"
"Yeah, I didn't even need to ask her about it as I was in First Contact myself, never talked with McKansa's grandfather to much but he seemed like a good soldier...until Shanxi happened, he was an emotional wreck even after the war ended." Marcus sighed leaning against the wall. "I don't have any issues with the Turians, they were just trying to prevent a possible repeat of the Rachni Wars, but it's not like we knew better at the time."
"True enough." Shepard agreed. "Does Jenny know that you knew her grandfather?" Shepard asked and Marcus nodded.
"First thing I mentioned to her when she signed up for my unit, it helped me with keeping her temper under control though from what I remember her grandfather was just as hot headed, must run in the family or something." Marcus chuckled but turned serious almost as if he sensed Shepard's next question, he shook his head. "I don't know what the deal if with her brother Commander, I did ask about it several times prior to coming to the Normandy to take you to your trial but she kept avoiding the question."
"Thanks anyway." Shepard said before Joker's voice came in over the intercom.
"Commander, we've docked on Omega." Joker announced over the intercom, Shepard turned to EDI and "her" avatar popped up.
"Tell Grunt to meet me at the airlock." Shepard commanded, he didn't give EDI a chance to respond as he made his way towards the elevator, before Shepard could press the button for the CIC Jenny came running in hurriedly putting on her armour.
"You know, when you said "be ready by then" I didn't think you meant five seconds after our conversation." Jenny said as she put on the top part of her armour ignoring the amused look on Shepard's face.
"Sorry, didn't realize how close we where to Omega." Shepard confessed before pressing the button for the CIC, the elevator doors closed and the elevator started it's ascent.
"Apology accepted." Jenny muttered clearly still annoyed at Shepard. "Who are we picking up on Omega anyway?"
"Two mercenaries, Andrea McKenzie and Urdnot Drakus." Shepard answered but he noticed that Jenny's expression darkened at the mention of Andrea. "You know her?"
"Knew her, she was Zach's ex girlfriend before she left Earth for Omega." Jenny said, Shepard wanted to enquire further but he knew that this would just bring up the subject of her brother so he dropped it, as Jenny straightened out her armour Shepard wondered if the issue between Andrea and Jenny would come up at some point.
"Jenny, before I recruit her I need to know, is there any issues between you and Andrea that might come up during the mission?" Shepard asked remembering the confrontations between Tali and Legion and Jack and Miranda, Jenny thought for a moment before shrugging.
"I have no clue; as long as she doesn't bring it up when we find her I don't think they'll be an issue." Jenny answered, Shepard wasn't satisfied with her answer but chose to make do for now as the Elevator doors opened and they exited the elevator, they waited for Grunt to arrive and a few minutes later Grunt stepped out of the elevator.
"Humph, she's one of the new recruits? She doesn't look like much." Grunt commented and Jenny grunted in response.
"Behave you two." Shepard said leading the two of them out of the ship and onto Omega. "We're heading to Afterlife, if anyone can find Drakus and Andrea its Aria." Shepard told them as he made his way to the entrance, as the doors opened he turned to one of the Batarians by the door. "Is Aria in?"
"No, she had business off world." The Batarian answered. "Patriarch's running the show in her place." Shepard frowned at that.
"Something wrong?" Jenny asked Shepard who turned to her.
"I don't think Patriarch knows as much about Omega as Aria does." Shepard commented and the Batarian looked up.
"He doesn't but I know someone who may help." The Batarian said. "Speak to Urdnot Krak, he's a bartender at Afterlife, if anyone knows almost as much about Omega as Aria does it's him." Shepard turned to the Batarian and nodded in thanks.
"Where does this Krak work?" Shepard asked.
"Lower levels, apparently he prefers the peace and quiet down there." The Batarian shrugged as he noticed the surprised looks on Shepard's, Grunt's and Jenny's faces. "Yeah, I know how weird that is."
"Got it thanks." Shepard nodded as he lead the trio to the lower levels, once they where there they spotted the Krogan behind the bar, he was short for a Krogan and looked fairly old, Shepard approached him. "Urdnot Krak?"
"If you're looking for an autograph don't bother, I'm on duty human." Krak dismissed him, Grunt stepped forward.
"Show Shepard the respect he deserves." Grunt said bluntly catching Krak's attention.
"The tank bred has a quad, wait Commander Shepard?" Krak said turning around. "My apologies Commander, this shift has been hectic for me." Krak said grabbing a glass. "What can I get you?"
"Information, I'm looking for two mercenaries and I was told you could help me with that." Shepard responded and Krak set the glass down.
"Are you now? What's that human expression? Finding a needle in a haystack?" Shepard nodded. "You may as well try doing that unless you have their names; Omega is a popular destination for mercenaries." Krak commented as he started pouring a drink for another customer.
"Andrea McKenzie and Urdnot Drakus." Jenny chimed in and Krak chuckled.
"I didn't realize the human military allowed whelps like her into their ranks." Krak chuckled as he handed the drink to the customer. "I can help you find Andrea but not Drakus; he hasn't been in for a few days now." Krak said but before Shepard could enquire further Krak turned his back to him. "Hey Andrea, someone wants to see you." A few minutes later a young woman approached them, she had long black hair in a ponytail and blue eyes, she was wearing colossus armour.
"Andrea McKenzie?" Shepard asked hardly believing his luck.
"Aye, how can I?" Andrea began but she stopped when she saw Jenny. "Jenny McKansa? Holy shit, I haven't seen you since..."
"Since you left Earth and broke my brother's heart." Jenny interrupted her narrowing her eyes at the older woman who winced.
"Still sore over that huh?" Andrea asked taking a sip of her drink. "Look as far as I'm concerned Zach's ancient history, along with any ideas I had about being in a serious relationship, so why did you want to talk to me." Andrea asks turning to Shepard taking a sip of her drink.
"I'm Commander Shepard, this is Urdnot Grunt and you already know Jenny, I'm here to recruit you for a mission." Shepard said, as he said that Andrea ended up spitting out the rest in surprise clearly not expecting that.
"I wasn't aware that Spectres recruited mercenaries." Andrea said once her surprise wore off. "You want to recruit me? Fine but I need your help first."
"I knew this was too easy." Shepard grumbled. "What do you need help with?"
"A job." Andrea said activating her onmi-tool. "Before Krak called me over I had just been contracted for a job that's too big for me to handle." Andrea said before Jenny scoffed.
"I would've thought you'd be used to handling big things." Jenny scoffed and Andrea chuckled.
"Cute, the little kid thinks she can use adult insults." Andrea rolled her eyes and Shepard gave Jenny a look that said "drop it" and she did, somewhat reluctantly. "As I was saying, a minor merc group has pissed off someone with deep pockets; he's offered me a lot of money to eliminate the group."
"What's in it for us?" Shepard asked her.
"Apart from having me on my team? I'll add the three of you to the mission roster; this basically means that we will get an equal share of the profits from this mission once it's over on the condition that there's no civilian casualties." Andrea said standing up. "Sound like a deal?"
"Do I have a choice?" Shepard shook his head. "Where is this mission taking place?" Shepard asked once Andrea added them to the roster.
"Lower levels of Omega, I have a car that can take us there." Andrea said turning off her onmi-tool. "So, are we good to go?"
"There's one more thing actually, we're picking up a second mercenary, Urdnot Drakus, have you seen him?" Andrea thought for a moment before shaking her head.
"Sorry, can't help ya." Andrea shook her head. "I worked with him on a job two weeks ago but I haven't seen him since." Shepard sighed in annoyance.
"Yes, we're good to go." Shepard told Andrea who led the three of them out of Afterlife ready for the upcoming mission.