(OOC: The character of Zee'Nah nar Fiyet doesn't belong to me, he belongs to another member of Mass Effect Universe by the name of Hipho)
Andrea and Drakus followed Shepard as he led them onto the Normandy, they had just gotten back from the mission and as promised Shepard, Jenny and Grunt had been paid, they followed Shepard to the armoury first where Jacob was inspecting the Destroyer.
"Jacob, mind if I show our new crewmembers around?" Shepard said, Jacob looked up before setting the gun aside.
"Sure, I'm Jacob Taylor." He introduced himself to the two mercs as he looked them over. "Let me guess, mercenaries?" Jacob said with annoyance.
"Aye, got a problem with that Jacob?" Andrea chimed in leaning against a table, Jacob simply shook his head.
"I just don't like mercenaries, nothing personal." Jacob answered as he turned towards the Destroyer. "I've been inspecting the gun you found at the Demoni's base, I knew something like this was in development but I had no idea that something like this was falling into the hands of mercenaries." Jacob said glancing towards the weapon.
"If it's any consolation it worked perfectly." Andrea added folding her arms. "Pretty much my only problem with that was that it was a one shot wonder." She added.
"That can be easily rectified with a few upgrades." Jacob replied. "I'm sorry; I don't think I caught your names?"
"Andrea McKenzie." Andrea said with a nod. "He's Urdnot Drakus."
"I can speak for myself." Drakus said stepping forward as he did. "And if I can be brutally honest I don't like Cerberus either, I guess that makes us even human."
"I guess it would, if I was still with Cerberus." Jacob responded folding his arms. "The mission that took us beyond the Omega 4 Relay showed me Cerberus' true colours." Andrea and Drakus blinked and looked towards the Commander.
"I heard a rumour about that; I thought it was just that, a rumour." Drakus said chuckling as he did, they heard the door to the CIC open a few seconds later but ignored it. "First you destroy a Reaper, and then you survive a trip through the Omega 4 Relay, what do you for an encore? Take on a Thrasher Maw on foot wearing ladies underwear?" Drakus chuckled.
"Yeah, I didn't need that mental image Drakus." Andrea said with a wince, at that point a male voice cleared his throat and everyone turned around and noticed that Marcus had entered the room whilst they were talking.
"Not only that but Shepard didn't destroy the Reaper by himself, it took the combined might of the Destiny Ascension and the Alliance Fleet to take down one Reaper and as someone who lost a close family member during that attack I'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind." Marcus said clearly addressing Drakus.
"Well...this conversation got awkward pretty quickly." Andrea said, Marcus shook his head before turning to her.
"Forget it, I came in here to meet the new crewmembers, not make things awkward between the three of us." Marcus said before turning to the Commander. "Shepard, Williams wants a word with you in private and she's waiting for you in the Captain's quarters, I can show these two around the rest of the ship if you want?" Marcus offered, Shepard nodded and left the armoury, once he left he turned to the two of them. "Sorry about that, touchy subject matter, I'm Major Marcus Resoltio."
Whilst Andrea and Drakus introduced themselves Shepard made his way to the Captain's Quarters via the elevator, once it arrived Shepard entered the quarters and saw Ashley feeding the fish. "Ash, Marcus told me you wanted to talk to me." Ashley looked up and walked up to him.
"Commander...Jason...whatever you call yourself nowadays." Ashley said shaking her head. "I...I wanted to apologize for my behaviour on Horizon, my emotions where running high and..." Shepard interrupted her with a kiss on the lips.
"Apology accepted Ash." Ashley grinned and motioned to the bed.
"Do you want to join me Skipper?" Ashley grinned, Shepard nodded and they locked lips again before making their way to the bed.
*about an hour later*
Shepard woke up naked in bed next to a sleeping Ashley who was also naked, the sex had been wild but now Shepard was considering calling off the relationship due to what happened on Horizon even if Ashley had apologized, he got up and got dressed and once his shirt was on Ashley woke up and looked towards the Commander using the bedsheets to cover up her breasts.
"Good to see you're still as good as the last time we dropped down and gave each other 20." Ashley grinned but noticed the uncertainty on his face. "You don't think this relationship will work either, do you?"
"No Ash, you where amazing but...after what happened on Horizon..." Shepard trailed off and Ashley looked down sadly.
"I understand Commander, as far as the rest of the crew is concerned?" Ashley asks and Shepard folded his arms.
"What happened here never leaves this room." Shepard nodded as he looked out the window, he could clearly see Omega from here and it made him wonder how Andrea and Drakus could stand to live there, his thoughts were interrupted by EDI'S avatar popping up.
"Commander, the council just sent a new dossier." EDI said before logging off, Shepard shook his head with a laugh.
"AIS, they are always a mood killer." Shepard chuckled before going to the elevator. "I'll let you get dressed; I'll read the dossiers in the CIC." Shepard said before entering the elevator, when the elevator reached the CIC he approached his console slowly and read the new dossiers.
Zee'Nah nar Fiyet
-Combat strategist
-Experienced in both short and long range weaponry
-Improvised weapon specialist
Zee'Nah nar Fiyet is a freelance mercenary that is known for his use of a wide variety of weapons. From improvised explosives to shotguns to the geth sniper rifle he is commonly seen with, Zee is a jack of all trades. Our sources indicate that Zee is on a job on a uncharted world in the Hawking Eta Cluster
"Another Quarian, I'm sure Tali would appreciate the company." Shepard thought as he archived it, the next one caught him by surprise.
Dsrondo B'Tallic
-Batarian mercenary
-Excellent shot
-Good relationship with humans
A Batarian combat veteran and former Blue Suns member, we were just as surprised when he contacted us but we're not about to turn down help, he was last seen on Ilium.
"A Batarian? After I wiped out one of their colonies?" Shepard thought before archiving it, undoubtedly this was going to be incredibly awkward, that seemed to be the last of the dossiers so he went up to the Galaxy Map and set a course for the Shadow Broker base.
"Got the coordinates Commander." Joker called out from the cockpit. "Should be at the base in a few hours." Shepard said nothing and walked away from the Galaxy map deciding to check on the new crew members, he turned to EDI.
"EDI, where's Drakus and Andrea?" Shepard asked.
"Crewmember Andrea McKenzie is on the crew deck; Crewmember Urdnot Drakus is on the engineering deck." Shepard nodded and went up to the elevator, the doors opened and he passed a fully clothed Ashley on her way out, they looked at each other once before Ashley made her way to the Armoury, the elevator travelled down stopping at the crew deck and Shepard looked around before going to Andrea's room, the mercenary now had her hair down revealing it to be shoulder length but she was still in her armour. "Andrea, got a minute?" Andrea looked up.
"Oh Commander." She said sitting down on the bed. "Just getting settled in, finally moved all my stuff from my apartment to the Normandy." Andrea said, Shepard looked around seeing a laptop, an onmi-tool, numerous outfits and a black bag marked "do not open". "I had plenty of time to do so whilst you and Ashley went at it like rabbits."
"How did..." Shepard started.
"I didn't but I learned that you two used to be an item on the original Normandy from Garrus, we figured out the rest for ourselves once I mentioned that Ashley wanted to meet you in the crew's quarters." Andrea answered.
"If you must know we called it off." Shepard told her and she nodded in understanding. "We agreed that it would be for the best."
"Aye, I can understand that." Andrea said brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I've never been interested in a relationship anyway, didn't seem that fair with my line of work." Andrea added.
"What about Jenny's brother?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.
"Different time different place, I dated him when I was 18, besides I broke it off a few days before I left Earth." Andrea said crossing a leg over the other. "Besides since moving to Omega I've grown to accustomed to using my feminine charms to get guys, and girls occasionally, to help with the mission."
"In other words you slept with them." Shepard pointed out.
"Guilty as charged." Andrea admitted. "I don't care what you call me Shepard but let my clarify some points, I always wore a condom and I stopped by Mordin's clinic once every six months to get checked for STDS" She said reaching behind her and grabbing a piece of paper. "This is the test results from my last test which was done about six months ago, read it if you want." Shepard took it and read it, he recognised Mordin's handwriting almost immediately as Mordin had helped him write the report on the Mealon mission and he doubted Andrea had the ability to forge handwriting.
"STD free, that's good to know." Shepard said before pausing. "Not that I'm interested in you or anything."
"Why not?" She asked raising an eyebrow, "I mean yeah we've only known each other for a few hours...I just answered my own question haven't I?" Andrea said with a blush. "Forget I said anything, I don't think we'd make that good a couple anyway."
"That we can agree with." Shepard nodded. "I'd ask her myself but Jenny doesn't like talking about him, what can you tell me about her brother?"
"You want the brutally honest version?" Shepard shrugged and she locked the door with her onmi-tool. "He was a money grubbing jackass who'd do anything for a quick buck, even steal from his own sisters' bank accounts, I wish I was joking, he was what got me into thievery in the first place as he somehow convinced me that robbing an antiques store would be a fun idea, it went about as well as you'd expect."
"Is that why Jenny doesn't like talking about him?" Shepard asked and Andrea shook her head.
"Quite the contrary, for some reason she stood by him no matter what, she was always a bit on the naive side but back then she made a Vorcha look like a rocket scientist due to her loyalty, based on the fact that she doesn't like talking about him I'd say it started going downhill between them when I fled from Earth." Andrea answered brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "He didn't exactly take the breakup well."
"So why did you break up? You could've stayed together and maybe even go to the Terminus Systems together?" Shepard pointed out.
"I did entertain that idea but he was too loyal to his youngest sibling, Sophie, to even consider that." Andrea said. "Not even that stopped him though, last I heard he cleared his sister's accounts and fled from Earth, he hasn't been seen since." Andrea said before pausing. "I wouldn't be surprised if Zach emptying their accounts was one of the reasons the McKansa sisters joined the Alliance in the first place."
"Certainly makes sense." Shepard agreed. "I don't want to upset Jenny so..."
"This conversation never leaves this room." Andrea nodded as Shepard stood up. "I've dealt with my fair share of paranoid freelancer contractors to be used to that by now."
"Right." Shepard nodded before he unlocked the door. "You should know that we're picking up a Batarian soon, a mercenary called Dsrondo." Shepard and Andrea looked at him like he had just declared himself to be the love child of the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause.
"A Batarian, you blew up one of their systems and they want you to pick up a Batarian? Sure why not? Why don't we pick up a Collector whilst we're at it?" Andrea shrugged and Shepard had to laugh at that one, he exited the room and saw that Jenny was enjoying a snack at the cafeteria and realized that he was hungry so he walked over to the table and sat down opposite Jenny.
"Rupert, can you get me something to drink?" Shepard said, Jenny looked up and looked at the Commander strangely. "What? The Commander isn't allowed to sit here?" He asked.
"No it's not that, it's just that Marcus rarely sat with the other crewmembers back on the Colony." Jenny answered. "Look if you want to tell me off for how I acted towards Andrea back on Omega than go ahead." Jenny said but Shepard shook his head.
"Don't worry about it, I know you two have a history and if it results in an argument between you two we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Shepard said as Rupert brought over a drink, he took it and took a sip. "So how are you finding the Normandy?"
"For a bunch of guys who used to be Cerberus members they are decent guys, then again my only exposure to Cerberus was when I stumbled across a Cerberus cell on my first day of patrol and for some reason thought I could take them on alone due to my biotics." Jenny said shaking her head. "I eventually got my head out of my ass long enough to call for backup, Marcus gave me an earful for not doing that to begin with."
"I gotta agree with him there, you suffer any injuries?" Shepard asked Jenny.
"Got shot in the shoulder and leg shortly after I picked up my radio to call for backup, so whoever was on the other end heard me scream several variants of "fuck" and "shit" before sending backup." Jenny laughed. "Wasn't the least bit fun but at least I got a few weeks off and that was when I met Roberts to boot."
"It was love at first sight." Marcus said walking off, Jenny was now blushing like a madwoman.
"I said it once and I'll say it again, WE WEREN'T AN ITEM!" Jenny said getting herself some odd looks from the other crewmembers. "Are you two on a secret mission to embarrass me to death or something?"
"If they where the Commander would be working A LOT harder than that." Rupert chimed in, Jenny groaned before double facepalming. "What about you Marcus?"
"Eh, I make do, being on the same ship as a Justicar, two Krogan, two mercs and a dying assassin will take some getting used to and DON'T get me started on Jack." Marcus sighed. "At least I'm making a difference for once, so any more dossiers?"
"Two, a Quarian and a Batarian." Shepard said at which point Jenny and Marcus looked at him funny. "Yeah Andrea had the same reaction."
"Sometimes I'll never understand what goes on in the minds of politicians." Marcus said shaking his head.
"I'll drink to that." Shepard agreed before finishing his drink. "I'm off to the Engineering Deck, if you want to chat with me you can find me down there." Shepard said before heading to the Elevator, he went down to the engineering deck and saw Drakus approaching Grunt's area of the ship. "Hey Drakus." Drakus turned around.
"Shepard." Drakus nodded. "Just getting accustomed to the ship, that male engineer nearly pissed himself when we sure me."
"I'm not surprised." Shepard shook his head. "May I talk to you for a minute?" Shepard asked. Drakus shrugged.
I
"I suppose you want to hear all about my adventures over the years." Drakus grumbled. "Well I nearly died several times during the Krogan Rebellions, that was fun, and then there was the time I was sterilized by the Turians, that was great..."
"Actually I wanted to get to know you better." Shepard interrupted him; Drakus looked at Shepard funny before shrugging.
"Why the hell not?" Drakus shrugged. "I've been a merc ever since the Rebellions, I have a son and an Asari daughter, my son works in the Blood Pack, the Asari works for C-Sec, yes I realize how odd that is, and my biotics can tear out a bulkhead in seconds." Drakus said bluntly.
"You're not very talkative." Shepard observed.
"Not used to chatting with people I work with outside of Andrea, and that's because she drank several Krogan under the table in a row." Drakus said and Shepard blinked.
"Wait, you expect me to believe that Andrea size drank several Krogan under the table?" Shepard asked.
"You'd have to see it to believe it." Drakus grumbled. "What else do you want to know?" Drakus asked.
"Tell me about your offspring." Shepard said and Drakus folded his arms.
"Hrasus, my son, doesn't share my biotic ability but he's a damn good soldier, as far as I'm concerned though his talent's being wasted in the Blood Pack, he could make ten times as much money as a freelancer." Drakus shook his head. "Korah's the offspring of a one night stand, I didn't meet her until she was well into her Maiden years, she's smart but she's a recovering drug addict, I had to call in a lot of favours to get her to stay as a C-Sec officer when that came to light, I paid for her to have a stint in rehab but time will tell if it works." Drakus said leaning against the wall. "I take care of my kids Shepard, and I'm not above looking out for people younger than me."
"That's most of the ship though." Shepard pointed out. "I included." When he realized that Drakus chuckled.
"I guess it is." Drakus grinned. "Tell you what, I'll keep an ear out for any issues that might affect the mission, I'm a people person who happens to be a Krogan Battlemaster so that will be easy."
"Thanks for the offer." Shepard nodded.
"Commander, we've almost arrived at the Shadow Broker base." Joker called out, Drakus blinked.
"The what?" Drakus deadpanned.
"Come on, I'll explain on the way." Shepard said leading him to the elevator.