M-Angel: So nobody has guessed how Serena even got into the Mass Effect world, but a few of you have been close in your guesses.

Knight: She's lying! You guys are so off!

M-Angel: *whacks Knight* So summer is here, which means school is out and everybody is ready to start their vacations. I don't have plans as of yet, but that doesn't mean Knight doesn't...

Knight: I plan to earn some money, and get back into my beloved community college that kicked me out for being poor and having no financial aid.

M-Angel: What jerks!

Knights: Yes! It's their fault! And not mine at all. O.o

M-Angel: Ok… So while we can, we'll update!

Chapter 13: Fire

I looked over at Jeff, and saw him holding back a laugh. "You're kidding me." I said looking at the shared crew beds.

"Girls sleep on top, I swear!" He said, holding his hands out defensively.

I groaned. "I'm gonna kill Jeffrey for not telling me this detail!" I cried out with indignity. Joker laughed.

"Well I sleep there," He pointed to a bunk bed that had a side table next to it. "And nobody sleeps above me," He scratched his neck. "I think they're worried the bed'll give way and they'll squish me," He shrugged.

"Dan, the co-pilot and second shifter, sleeps way over there," He pointed to a bed at the far end of the room. "He snores pretty badly, though,"

I sighed. "Well, I've already slept with you. I know you're a quiet sleeper," I said, causing him to rub his left arm before pulling his hat over his eyes to hide his flushed face.

"Yep," He said, blushing slightly "Gotta go," He went to leave.

Just then a thought hit me. "How long 'til we leave?" I asked.

"Commander said two hours, but I gotta get things ready," He said.

I looked down at the new omni-tool John had given me. I typed in an hour and fifteen minutes into my timer so I didn't get left behind.

"Okay." I said with a grin. "I'll be back soon." And I went off clothing shopping with the credit chip that John had also given me. It had about a thousand credits on it.

As I was on my way back to the SSV Normandy, I spotted Garrus and Tali standing next to John. I watched as he turned away from them and headed off away from the Normandy, with Kaiden and Ashley flanking him. I walked up to the aliens, who were watching John walk away.

"Hi," I said, startling both. I looked at Garrus and smiled. So that's what he looked like before the accident, I mused.

"Hello," He said, "Can I help you?"

I shook my head. "You joining John on his mission?" I asked.

"Yes," Tali said, "But who-"

"I'm Serena Lavargus," I said and extended my hand out to them. "I'm with them."

"Oh!" Tali said excitedly.

"You're not like that other female, are you?" Garrus inquired.

"You mean Ashley?" I asked. "No,"

"Then we may get along," He said as he walked towards the docks.

I looked at Tali. "You want to help me?" I asked.

"Sure?" She said with an uncertain and cautious voice.

"Good," I said with a smile. "I need help with getting the dextro-amino food onboard.

I heard an intake of breath. "You're going to buy us food for the durration of the trip?" Tali asked.

"Yeah," I cocked my head. "Or do you want to eat paste for the next few months?"

"No-I mean yes-I mean I don't," She stumbled over her words. I laughed and led her towards one of the food districts.

When Tali and I walked aboard the Normandy, I saw one of the dock hands finish placing the boxes of dextro-amino foods down into the cargo bay. He practically ran off when he saw the huge Krogan Battlemaster. I chuckled when I saw Wrex just leaning against several boxes, with his gun hanging in his powerful arms and his head down, pretending to be asleep. I then spotted Garrus looking over the Mako with wide eyes. This was my first time seeing the old Mako that he had bragged about and told me that he'd fixed 'at least a million times'. Tali tugged on my shirt sleeve.

"Hmm?" I inquired.

"Where do I go?" She asked with a curious tone to her voice.

I smiled. "You're good with tech and stuff, right?" at this she nodded. "I'll take you to engineering."

"Oh, you don't have to bother." She said. "I can find it."

"Are you sure?" I inquired.
"Yes, thank you," She said and took off.

I heard a deep rumble of laughter behind me. "You're different, human,"

I turned and smiled at Wrex.

"Thanks," I said, smiling at his bemused look.

"Do you know who I am?" He inquired.

"Battlemaster Urdnot Wrex," I said, as if it was an everyday occurrence that I spoke to a Krogan. In fact. me and Grunt had become quite close friends when I took his dare to drink three glasses of Ryncol. I was out before number three, in Dr. Chakwas chastising care an hour later. He had laughed the next day and said I had a quad.

Wrex blinked at me. "And you're not frightened?"

"Nope," I said with a smile.

"A rare breed of human," He mused. "Either very brave or very stupid. Sometimes it's difficult to tell which,"

"Guess we'll have to see," I said as I walked off towards Garrus.

"Nice huh?" I asked him while looking at the Mako.

"Yes," He said, clearly amused. "You know, I have to agree with the Wrex,"

I laughed. "Never thought I'd see a turian agree with a krogan." This caused him to chuckle.

"Neither did I,"

"Miss Lavargus?" I turned to see a crewmember standing warily at the door with his eyes trained on the large krogan.

"Yeah?"

"Commander Shepard wants you in the debriefing room in ten," He said, practically running out of the cargo hold.

Wrex laughed. "Now that's how you were supposed to react to me, human," He said.

"My name is Serena,"

He grunted. "You're human, until I say so," He said, causing me to roll my eyes as I walked out of the room.

As I walked into the debriefing room, I saw I'd walked right in on Ashley going off.

"How can you have these aliens walking around an Alliance ship without keeping an eye on them!" She yelled.

"Remember who you're speaking to!" Kaiden shouted at her.

"So did I accidentally walk in on a PMS party?" I asked.

John looked up at me with relief, and mouthed thank you to me. Ashley looked at me with daggers in her eyes. John spoke.

"I've been given the assignment to bring Saren in," He said. "Nihlus told me to trust you, and listen to you. He seemed quite adamant that I keep you aboard my crew, and to heed your words,"

"Look, just because I know what happened with my Shepard, doesn't mean it'll happen to you the same way," I said. "I mean, I'm thankful you're taking me with you,"

"I've been given orders to find Liara T'Soni. She was last seen in the Artemis Tau Cluster,"

"That's a pretty big haystack, Skipper," Ashley complained.

"I know," John sighed heavily and looked at me.

"Ann said she found Dr. T'Soni on Therum," I said.

Kaiden lifted his head. "That's in the Knossos System," He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "It's also claimed by the System 's she there?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "She's an expert in Prothean archeology," I said. "She's at the new Prothean digsite near a volcano. She's trapped down there because she accidently activated a Prothean force-field thing, trying to run from the geth,"

They all looked at me with raised eyebrows. "That's where Ann told me she found her."

John nodded and got onto the comm system to Joker. "Joker."

"Yeah Commander?" Came his voice.

"Plot a course through the Artemis Tau Cluster, to the Knossos System, to Therum," He said.

"That's a mouthful," Joker commented. "Next time just say Therum,"

"Joker..," John warned.

"Aye, Aye, Commander," He said with a laugh.

John turned to us.

"Everybody dismissed, but Lavargus," Kaiden and Ashley left. "What am I to expect there?"

I sighed. "Ann said that she was attacked by a Geth dropship and several Armaments, then when she neared the towers she said that her team, including Tali, Garrus, and Wrex, were ambushed by dozens of Geth, which included snipers too; which is why she had Garrus, just in case of something like that. Liara is trapped in the force field and has been for a few days,"

"And nobody got suspicious when she didn't report in?" He asked.

"She went by herself," I said "She's pretty young, for an asari, but has already learned a lot. However nobody takes her seriously, because of her age,"

"Sounds...familiar," He mused.

I chuckled. "Yep." I looked down at my feet. "So you...believe me?"

"I haven't decided." He said. "You'll stay onboard. I'll take Garrus, Kaiden, and Tali with me."

"I'd take Wrex instead of Tali." I said, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "Just sayin', if ya wanna have Wrex fully trust you, ya gotta take him on ground missions, too,"

He nodded thoughtfully. "You're dismissed,"

As I walked down to the Mess Hall, I found myself lost in thoughts. What if John brings on some of Ann's crew? Could that have a major impact on this reality? Maybe I should stay quiet, but if I don't say anything, something may go wrong with me even being here. How about Zaeed? A mental image of Zaeed drunk and coming on to me popped into my mind. Maybe not. Jack? No she'd rip this John up and spit out pieces that smelled like sweat and shame. Jacob? He did say he was on Eden Prime during the attack, and didn't join Cerberus until after Ann's death. Okay, talk to John about finding Jacob Taylor. How about Kasumi? She's probably flirt with him. I shook my head. Samara? She could help Kaiden with his biotic problems. She's probably want to go after that Ardat Yakshi. I shook my head again. No way on Legion. Grunt's still being grown in that tube. and Miranda? No fucking way, she killed me. And if I see her here, I shoot that bitch's brains out. Thane? No, he's on his own mission right now. Kelly? Hmm, maybe. It'd be nice to have somebody to talk to besides Carolyn and Tali. Joker and I are on good terms, but how long can that la- My thoughts were interrupted when I bumped into somebody. I looked up to see it was Kaiden. I growled.

"Sorry,"

He raised an eyebrow. "You don't look sorry." I rolled my eyes and went to go around him, but he blocked me. Behind him, down the hall coming our way was Wrex, who stopped to watch.

"Move please," I said sweetly.

"Maybe." He teased. "For a kiss,"

My eyes narrowed. "I'd rather kiss a Krogan's butt," I growled. I heard Wrex's laughter a moment later. Kaiden smirked.

"What, you not into humans?" He asked.

"Actually, I am," I paused. "I'm just not into dickheads,"

His smile vanished. "Why don't you like me?" He asked.

"Because the Kaiden I know is total douchebag who called Shepard a traitor," I said.

"I would never-" He began.

"In two years, you will," I said coldly. "That is, if you survive Virmire,"

I went to walk around him again, when he grabbed my wrist. My eyes narrowed. There are two rules a guy needs to know about me. A) I like to snuggle and kiss. B) Never ever try to do A when you've pissed me off.

It happened so fast I couldn't even stop myself. My leg came up and slammed into the side his head, and I punched him in the stomach. As he went down, my other leg came up and hit him in the groin. When it was over and done with, Kaiden Alenko was on his back, clutching his manly pride in pure agony.

"Oh shit," I cursed.

I heard Wrex's laughter. "You're a tough little female, human." He said. "You surprised him,"

Chuckling, he walked into the Mess Hall just as everybody else came out to see what the noise was. I held a hand over my face in embarrassment. I really hadn't thought of hurting Alenko. Just happened.

I looked at Carolyn as she finished looking over Kaiden's injuries.

"How is he?" I asked nervously.

"If the lieutenant wanted children, you may have just made an enemy," She said snippily. I watched her put a bag of ice on his groin. "He's also not gonna be walking for the rest of the day, at least,"

John looked at me. "You did this?" He inquired.

"Guilty," I muttered.

He shook his head and began to laugh. "I've known Kaiden for years," He snorted. "Guess he finally found a woman that's tougher than he is."

"I'm not in trouble?" I asked.

He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "No. Just remind me to never piss you off," He burst out laughing. "Oh, man...,"

I heard Kaiden groan. "Come on Commander," He said pleadingly. "It's not funny,"

"Oh yes it is!" John yelled as he turned to leave.

"Ass," Kaiden muttered.

I then turned to leave and rushed for the Mess Hall, to find it abandoned except for Joker. He was sitting there with a smirk and two trays of food. Oh gosh, he's gonna torture me. I thought as I sat down to eat with him.

Knight: It's longer! Eh? Eh?

M-Angel: I know, it's not nearly as long as I wanted it to be, but the chapters are getting longer. So leave a review if you've enjoyed it.

Knight: Hell, leave a review even if you didn't enjoy it!

M-Angel: Hey!

Knight: *laughs*

M-Angel: Grunt! *Big Krogan appears* He's laughing at me. Sic him!

Knight: Dude, I was a defensive lineman for three years. I may not have liked it, but I was damn good at it!

Grunt: *charges at Knight* Don't laugh at my battlemaster!

Knight: Mwahahahaha! *charges*

Splat!

M-Angel: Should we call 911?

Grunt: Naw. *chuckles*