NORMANDY SR-2

CRESCENT NEBULA

1 DAY AFTER HAESTROM OPERATION

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Miranda walked through the door into the communications room with her usual strut, masking all her emotions perfectly. And it was a good thing she could do that; the report she was about to give to the Illusive Man was likely going to upset him. She walked forward to the holo-pad, raised her chin and waited for the scanners to read her and project the Illusive Man's office.

A few moments later, she was looking at that familiar blue star, with her employer seated in his trademark chair, a drink in hand. As usual.

"Miranda, I'm glad to see the operation on Haestrom was a success. We don't need to lose any members of the team before we even get to hitting the Collectors. How was action against the Geth?

Miranda raised her arm, activating her Omni-tool to project information and statistics about the Geth they encountered on the planet. "It went very well, but I would have liked to have seen more of the fighting myself. Shepard and his squad were the only ones to actually move into the compound. I merely led the team at the LZ. And, of course, the Spartan did most of the work." Miranda now switched the feed on her Omni-tool to show footage of Noble Six on Haestrom. "I was able to recover some video feed from security cameras set up by the Quarians. I'm sure you'll be pleased to see it all yourself."

The leader of Cerberus stood up from his chair, walking towards Miranda and stopped as close as he could without interrupting the holo-feed. "I read your report on the actions of this Noble Six, and the only reason I didn't throw it all out is that I know you would never exaggerate on something so important. If your reports are accurate, and I believe them to be, we need to convince him to join Cerberus. Shepard won't use him to his full potential, not to mention the technology in his armor that we could use."

Miranda nodded her head in agreement. "Absolutely, but I don't think it will be so easy. We have virtually no knowledge of him: his motives, his desires, his origins. There isn't anything we can use against him as leverage. And attempting to capture him by force would only result in the loss of a team. After observing his combat capabilities, I have no doubt we must avoid any violent confrontation with him."

The mysterious man smiled at her, taking another sip of his drink. "Don't worry about that part, Miss Lawson. We've already seen that he is very social, with the right people. It won't be long before he develops some friendships aboard the Normandy. We'll wait until then, and if he still won't cooperate with us, we'll have our leverage. As for now, keep an eye on him and see what you can learn about his motives. Report back to me when you have learned anything of value." The Illusive Man walked back to his chair, switched the feed off, and Miranda walked out of the comm room with purpose.

She had a new task, and it was going to be easy.

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The Spartan was finally getting some of the rest he deserved. He was in his new quarters, comfortably sprawled out on the sofa he was given to act as his bed for the time being. The commander said he would get a chance to do some shopping on this next planet once they docked.

Shopping? Shepard obviously didn't pay attention to the fact that Six spent almost his entire life in the military. The Spartan had survived countless battles and campaigns, even Reach. None of them ever scared him, but this new task actually intimidated him a little…

He shook the idea out of his mind; no need to get wrapped up in it yet. He could enjoy himself for some time still. He stood up and walked over to the large observation window. The Normandy was in sub-light speed, and it gave him a nice view of the nebula they were in. They were also flying past a gas giant, and the Normandy's pilot must have been eager to see it. Six grabbed the codex he had spent the past day reading, and found that it was named Thail. "Thail is a typical hydrogen-helium gas giant. Well, no sense in looking at it then, heh. It's just a massive planet that supplies resources for entire worlds…" He turned around and walked back to the sofa, sitting down and putting his legs up on the table in front of him.

"Making yourself comfortable, lieutenant?" Leliana was 'sitting' on the table in front of him, her data chip projecting her image up. She was smirking, standing with her arms crossed at Six. "I don't remember ONI letting you settle down long enough to relax like this." She stretched arms and yawned to emphasize her new situation. "Even after Truth was killed, we spent a lot of time with the Sangheili hunting down Loyalist resistance. It's nice to relax…" Six looked at her, puzzled by her comments. "What? AIs need time to relax too. We can actually get bored helping you humans too much."

"Hmm, whatever you say, Leliana. And yes, it is nice to actually have time for more than sleeping and eating. I'm excited to spend some time on a mission that isn't a strict military op. Commander Shepard seems to give his crew a great deal of freedom; but they don't seem to take advantage of him. They obviously respect him even more for letting them relax without worrying about too many rules and regs." Six got up and walked to the corner of his room, looking at his armor, now mounted on a stand provided by Jacob from the armory. Six was surprised they had a stand that would hold his armor. Then again, it was for Krogan armor… "I'm glad we spent some extra time in the ONI armory before the portal test, Leliana. This whole mess could've been a lot worse if I hadn't installed the extra components on this new Mark VII."

He looked his grey MJOLNIR armor over, impressed with it all: The operator shoulder pieces, HP/Parafoil chest piece, TACPAD wrist attachment, Commando helmet with UA/FC-I[2] attachments, and the soft case. The recent addition on the armor's right leg piece caught his attention. He had a sheath for the knife installed as soon as he got the new armor. The technicians kept questioning him on why he would want a combat knife when he had the new energy dagger.

They never would understand…

"You know what Six; I think Emile would be honored that you might get the chance to kill some more bad guys with his kukri." Leliana interrupted the Spartan's thought, almost psychically able to guess what he was thinking about. "That's why he gave it to you, on Reach…"

Six winced at the thought of his friend. He didn't like talking about Noble, and Leliana seemed to enjoy tormenting him with the topic whenever she had the chance. He simply tried ignoring the AI for the time being.

"You're ignoring me again, lieutenant."

"What do you want me to say? You know what happened and that I don't want to talk about them. Ever. Why do you even give a damn!" Obviously she hadn't been aware for the conversation with Kat, or that would've been brought up already.

Leliana's expressed shock at his comment, causing her to shift back slightly. Six also realized his outburst, shifting to the side and removing the look of anger from his face. He only shrugged at her now, unable to say any more. His silence gave her a chance to speak. "I give a damn because you're my Spartan, my friend. I guess my only friend. I care because I see how much it all torments you every day. If you really don't want to say anything about it, fine; I'll honor your wish. But don't try and pretend you can just deal with this alone." She smiled slightly at him, trying her best to console him, given her inability to ever physically interact with him. "Tell you what, Six. Why don't you put your armor on and let's have a look around this ship. I think we both could use some air… so to speak." She giggled a little, her girlish personality showing through the extensive ONI programming designs.

Six was trying to think of an excuse to fire back at her, but he realized that he couldn't stay mad at her for caring. "Alright, Leliana. You win. I'll get dressed and then we'll have a look around and talk to some of the crew.

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Six spent the next hour walking around the Normandy, with no apparent destination in mind. After leaving his quarters and making a lap around each level, the Spartan decided to stay on the crew deck and see what everyone on the Normandy did in their spare time. Mostly they just spent the hours in the mess hall, where Cerberus had plenty of seating for everyone to socialize and enjoy movies on the screens and their Omni-tools. Or vids, or whatever they liked to call them. He spent a few minutes with the mess sergeant, Gardner. Six found that even though they weren't on a true military op, he still would be 'rewarded' with standard military rations.

'Great, I finally get out of the hands of ONI and what do they feed me? Nutrient paste and MREs. Shouldn't have been so optimistic…'

Still, Six was happy to learn that the crew could get a meal in the mess hall whenever they weren't on duty. One benefit of the Normandy was its less-than strict funding, allowing Gardner to replenish food as often as he pleased.

Six saluted the Mess Sergeant, earning a lazy excuse of a salute in return. He didn't think it was Shepard's loose command though; Gardner appeared to be someone that would act that way even if the Illusive Man was present.

Continuing his stroll, he made his way into the forward battery to find Garrus hard at work on the Normandy's weapon systems. "Hey Garrus, got a minute to talk?"

The Turian, shrugged a bit, but turned to speak with Six. "Only for a bit Six, I'm in the middle of some calibrations." Garrus leaned back against his console, crossing his arms. "What's it been like on the Normandy so far?"

"Better than expected, I guess. But I really don't know what to expect. This is all pretty bizarre to me. I spend a few hours with you and Shepard, and everyone seems to trust me already. Can you tell me about that?"

Garrus chuckled a little at the Spartan, clearly amused at his confusion. "Yea, I had a feeling you'd ask one of us about that soon enough. Most of the crew members here trust the commander, and if he thinks you can be trusted, they believe in Shepard enough to go along with it. But don't think everyone you meet, especially some of the Cerberus loyal, will be so trusting. As for me, I spent my entire career at C-Sec. I've had a lot of time getting to know how to read people, and you seem alright. Heh, and it didn't hurt that you were so quick to help on the Haestrom mission. You sealed the deal with your rescue of Tali."

Six laughed a little at the Turian, smiling behind his visor. "Yea, I kind of got the feeling you and the commander are good friends with her. What's the story behind it all?"

Garrus stood up off his console at that question, waving his arm. "That's a long story Six, and I need to get back to work. Why don't you go up to the CIC and ask Shepard. He's usually just standing around the Galaxy Map anyways." Garrus laughed one more time at his own joke, and turned back to his calibrations, waving a hand over his shoulder without turning back to the Spartan.

Six simply shrugged, turning to leave the room and proceed back to the lift. "Alright Leliana, you get to decide if we go see Shepard or not. I spend enough time making the decisions about what we do, it's time you had a chance. Just remember, I get to do all the talking if we visit him." He smiled a little, knowing the AI would be able to see him inside his helmet.

"Hmmm, I could let you go talk to Shepard, and enjoy yourself more. Then again, you did get pretty beat up on that last mission. Maybe we should just stay back in our quarters and take the day off…"

"Well now you're just insulting me. I barely drew any blood on Haestrom and you already sound like a worried field medic. You just blew your chance to decide; we're going to pay the commander a visit."

"Hmmph, and I thought we were friends!"

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The CIC reminded Six a lot of the command bridges on UNSC ships; it was relatively small, each crew member worked at his own station with holo interfaces, and the pilot was situated at the front of the ship. He also noticed the Galaxy Map had an unmistakable resemblance to a Sangheili ship… The projection of the ship's current location was all too familiar to the Separatist ship's he had spent the past five years travelling on hunting the Loyalists. And of the corvette he once captured…

"Lieutenant, it's good to see you out and about the ship. How have you settled in so far?" Shepard's voice snapped him back to reality, reminding him why he had gone to the command deck. "Have you talked to any of the crew?"

"Just Mess Sergeant Gardner, sir. I was happy to learn that we can have a meal any time we want on the Normandy. It's a nice change from the military operations I've spent my entire life with. Usually, I don't get much more freedom than the chance to sleep and to exercise."

"Speaking of what you're used to lieutenant, I'd like to learn a little more about you; if you don't mind. I know we had a short talk before the mission on Haestrom, and you told me a little about your life. But the combat capabilities you showed us on the mission… it just wasn't something I was expecting, even though you essentially told us. Tell me more about the Spartan program you're from. I know you said you want to leave your personal life closed off, I understand that. But considering the circumstances, I need to know a little about you, especially if I am going to place my full trust in you during a fire fight."

Six was still a newcomer to this galaxy, and he wasn't exactly comfortable telling anyone about his life. But Shepard had proven he trusted him enough, and deserved a little information on his background. Hell, Six knew he would be more skeptical if Shepard had been the one getting zapped into his home universe. "You're right, commander. And you've more than earned a few stories about me. I only ask you don't tell anyone else on the ship. At least for now." Shepard nodded in acknowledgement, obviously respectful of the Spartan's wishes. "Like I said to you before, in my galaxy humans were being hunted to extermination by an alien conglomerate known as the Covenant. The war began in 2525, on a colony world we called Harvest. The Covenant discovered the planet, and their leaders, three Prophets referred to as 'hierarchs' almost immediately declared humanity an affront to their gods. We fought the next 27 years against them, continually losing ground, or more specifically, planets. Because humanity was in such a desperate situation, Spartan IIIs were recruited from early childhood to help turn the tide of the war. I was only six when I was inducted. Some of the other candidates were older; my previous commander, Carter, was 11 when he was inducted. But it didn't really matter; we were all designed to stop the Covenant. And while we had a significant impact on the war, we didn't truly change the outcome until August, 2552, on a planet called Reach…"

Emotions swept over the Spartan at the thought, reminding him of all he lost on that God-forsaken hunk of rock. All the friends he lost.

"I got my current call sign during that campaign. In July of 2552, or five years ago for me, I was assigned as a replacement to Noble Team, as the sixth member. Originally, I was designated to help with the local insurrection. But the Covenant had discovered Reach almost as soon as I arrived. To fill you in on the importance of this, Reach was the main military outpost of the UNSC, even more so than Earth. It was almost as well kept a secret as Earth, too. We had hundreds of millions of military personnel on the planet, and it was the last significant defense for Earth and the Sol system. We spent over a month fighting, but eventually the Covenant overpowered us and won. The only reason we even survived that is because of a last-ditch effort by me and the surviving members of my team to deliver a data packet off-world. A data packet that eventually turned the war in our favor. About a month after Reach fell the Sangheili, and some of the other Covenant races, joined the UNSC in an alliance and helped us defeat the remaining Covenant, who had found Earth. Tensions still ran high, obviously, but I've spent the past five years conducting joint operations with the Separatists against the Covenant Loyalist forces. It was really just propaganda and good-will; Humans and Sangheili working together after so many years of killing each other. Jun, the only other member of Noble to survive Reach, has also been with me since. Well, until now, of course. And to put this war in perspective, the UNSC guesses about 23 billion humans were lost during those 28 years."

Shepard calmly looked at the lieutenant, very understanding of his situation. "I won't pretend I know exactly what you mean, Six, but I've been a soldier since I was 18, and I've seen close friends die too. It isn't easy, and it never gets easy." Shepard chuckled a little and formed a weak smile, obviously reminiscing about those he just referred to. "But I want to ask you this: did you do everything you could to save the other members of your team?"

Six pulled his head back a little, being surprised Shepard was more interested in asking about a few dead soldiers he never met, rather than the Great War. "Absolutely, Spartans always give their all."

The commander smiled at him, and placed his arm up on the Spartan's shoulder. "Then you have nothing to be ashamed of Six. I may have only just met you, but I already know you will always give everything you can for your companions. And that's all that can be asked of a soldier… Now, why don't you ask me something about myself, and the mission we're on? I bet you like being prepared."

The Spartan contemplated what Shepard had said for several moments, secretly thankful his face was masked at the moment. Hearing his commanding officers say Reach was never his fault was one thing; they simply wanted to keep his morale up to ensure his combat abilities. But Shepard was different, he was new. He didn't have the same motivations, and hearing that from him made it all the more different. And better.

"Umm yes sir. Forget the Reapers and Collectors for now; I'm sure I'll get up to speed on them soon. Can you tell me about this planet we're going to now? Illium, right?"

"That's correct, Six. It's an Asari world, one of the most dominant alien races in the galaxy. It's an all-female race… well, sort of. Technically they are mono-gender, but their looks and personality scream female. Heh, you'll see soon enough. But they are the oldest space-faring race in the galaxy, and command a great deal of respect from most other races. Don't let their looks fool you; they are all extremely dangerous, with natural biotic abilities. As for Illium, I've never been there before, so we're in the same boat for that part. We'll be stopping to recruit a couple members for the team. I don't know much about either, other than what the Illusive Man's dossiers have on them. I'll forward them to your Omni-tool. You can read them if you like. Once we dock, I want you to come on the shore party; I'll be taking one team to locate the Asari Justicar, and Garrus is taking the second team to recruit an assassin. I thought you two would work well together; Tali will go as well to help with any technical problems you come across. We'll be arriving in Nos Astra, the port, in about 6 hours. Why don't we cut this conversation short so you have time to rearm and rest?"

"That would be just fine, sir. Jacob is going to be pretty upset I trashed a few of his new guns on my first mission, heh heh." He shrugged a little, knowing Shepard understood the wear and tear in normal combat. Even if jumping out of a starship isn't actually normal combat.

"Good. Meet us at the forward airlock at 1900, and you, Garrus and Tali will be on your own from there."

Six nodded in agreement, and turned back to the elevator to return to his room, but before he could hit the button, Shepard had one more thing to say.

"Oh, by the way lieutenant; why don't you head down to engineering and speak with Tali. It would be good if you two talked a little to just to get to know each other. And I know Tali will want to thank you again for everything you did on Haestrom."

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Ever since she had arrived on the Normandy, she had been doing nothing but working in the engine room. The other Quarians from her mission were all treated by Chakwas and a few other crewmembers, and they refused to let Tali help.

'You need your rest, Tali. Go to the crew quarters and relax.' She could her Chakwas as if she were next to her now.

They should have known it was in vain. While they barred her from entering the med bay, she couldn't just lounge around when there was something she could do. And thanks to Shepard's command, she was given all the access she needed to engineering; even it meant that the Cerberus officer onboard wasn't happy about it. She smiled a little. Knowing that Shepard was still in charge, and wasn't going to bend to the Illusive Man made her terrible day just a little better.

Besides, the Normandy engineers could use some help with the drive core. While Ken and Gabby were more than capable engineers, they had very little real experience with the type of drive core on the Normandy. Tali's past experience on the original Normandy was already proving invaluable as she had optimized the engine another 5%.

'Keelah, I missed this…' Tali thought to herself, still uncomfortable around the other engineers. 'I wish Adams was still on the ship.'

While she missed the old faces, she reminded herself that she still had Shepard to share time with. And Garrus, of course. Even though he constantly teased her, she wouldn't change it ever. The two had developed a relationship like two close siblings, and she was happy he was back like the past two years hadn't happened. And then the new one, Noble Six. He wasn't a Cerberus operative, and Shepard and Garrus barely could tell her anything about him, either.

'Noble Six obviously isn't his real name. I wonder where he's from. Maybe from some country back on Earth? I'll have to ask him sometime we get a chance to talk.'

Before she could continue thinking to herself, Tali heard the door behind her slide open. Expecting Ken or Gabby and not turning around, she noticed they were both working to her right, at their designated stations. Now deciding to face the newcomer, she spun around and was surprised she had to look up. Noble Six, in his full combat armor, was standing right in front of her.

"Miss Zorah, I'm glad to see you are settled in to the Normandy. I heard from a few people earlier that you spend almost all your time down here. I hope that doesn't mean you can't talk for a bit." Six crossed his arms sarcastically, hoping Tali would pick up on his body language.

Giggling a little while she answered him "Heh, of course I can talk to you, Six. You did just save me and my teams' lives. I was actually hoping we could talk a little. I still have a lot of questions for you, and I'd be happy to answer anything you want to know about me or Quarians. Shepard told me your story mostly. If anyone besides Shepard or Garrus told me, I would never believe it. But after what you did on Haestrom, I can't think of any other explanation."

"Well I'm glad that part's out of the way. Right after we got back on the Normandy yesterday, I had to listen to Joker ramble on about how I'm a spy for some 'Shadow Broker.' I still have no idea what that is. And even though Shepard and Garrus have been nice, I still get some weird stares around the ship; I don't blame anyone, but it doesn't mean I have to like it."

Tali, now especially excited at the thought's Six has, threw her arms slightly in the air while talking. "You have no idea how nice it is to talk with someone that thinks that, Six! I'm sure you know enough about Quarians now that we aren't exactly welcome everywhere." He nodded a yes to her, keeping her on the same topic. "And being stuck in these suits is one of the reasons. No one ever sees our faces; not even when we are among ourselves can we do that. It's too much of a risk. Now that I'm thinking about it, why are you still wearing all your armor? Isn't it really heavy?"

"Heh, well technically it is Tali. It weighs 1,000 pounds. But it's completely powered, and it actually makes me a lot stronger. I could punch a hole through the ship's bulkhead if I really needed to. But don't worry, I'm usually can control my temper…" They both laughed a little, happy they each could talk to someone after a long day. "To answer your other question, I just like wearing it. Even though I can take it off, I wear it so much that I feel a little uncomfortable without it on. I sort of like keeping my face hidden from people I don't know well." He shrugged a little, adding one more thing. "But you and Garrus seem like good people, err, aliens. Not that I think of you as some weird alien, I mean… I'm happy I at least met you. And Garrus of course." Six rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly finding himself in an awkward situation.

"Heh, you're pretty funny Six. And yes, I'm excited for the next few months when we work together. I'm not too happy being around so many Cerberus people. At least you, Garrus and I can keep each other company. And Shepard, of course. He isn't one of them. But I really should clean up this engine more, though. We'll talk later?"

"Yea, plan on it Tali. We'll have to go to the mess hall later with Garrus and all three of us can more. I can tell you both more about me then."

"Great! We'll have a lot of fun Six. See you later!"

With that, Tali waved a little and turned back to her console, typing as though she hadn't even spent a second talking to Six. With no reason to stay now, the lieutenant turned around and headed back to the elevator.

'I'm happy I at least met you?' What the hell were you saying Six, you met her one day ago!'

"Well you managed to make yourself look like a complete dork, lieutenant. Maybe you can ask her out to go get ice cream after the school dance tonight."

"Hey, I didn't nearly sound that bad! And I don't know what came over me; I just felt out of place for a moment. I'm sure it was just a one-time thing. You just make sure not to join in on a conversation with her. I don't think Shepard talked to her yet about you."

"Well, considering she didn't ignore you or try and put a bullet in your head, I'd say he hasn't felt a strong urge to mention anything yet. That's fine anyways; I'm happy just watching you make a fool of yourself. Come on; let's go back to our room before you completely blow your chances with your crush. Oh, and you didn't even ask about the mission tomorrow."

"Come on Leliana, I just made a mistake. And it's not like I have some crush on a girl I just met. And an alien one on top of that. We have a mission to focus on, that's where my head is now."

Six hit the side of his head, a symbolic slap to Leliana, and hit the up arrow on the elevator.

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Well I know this chapter was short, but I wanted to start Nos Astra in its own chapter. And I also realize it has been exactly three months since I updated this. And for those of you still bored enough to read, thanks. It's really nice to know someone thinks this stuff is fun.

As always, please leave comments in the review page. I'm always happy to have criticism, just please don't be an ass about it.

I realize I made up the part of Spartans working with the Separatists after the war in clean up duty. But I have a purpose for putting Six and Jun in that, so don't get too upset. Remember, it's a fan fic and I just want to change a little bit.

Any suggestions on recruiting Thane, let me know!

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Just as an edit note, I changed Six's helmet to the Commando with UA/FC-I[2] attachments. Just the helmet I use in Halo: Reach, so I figured I could make a quick change here too.