AN: Thanks to everyone who has favourited, followed and reviewed and special thanks to my beta Spyke1985.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Three - Testing

Sarah trudged down to the main shop, knowing that it wasn't open yet. She arrived groggily to find her aunts both getting ready for opening.

"Coffee?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Good morning to you too." Her Aunt Lona said as she poured her a mug.

"Ha-ha. Funny." She groaned as she took the mug and turned to see a familiar figure standing in front of the counter.

"Red?" She asked, frowning. Was it just her or did he look embarrassed?

"Yeah. I walk by here on the way to work and figured I should come and pick you up." He said, his sub-harmonics trilling with nervousness. She frowned, trying to think past the sleepy haze as his eye flickered across her body.

Ah.

She looked down and realized that she was only wearing a tight vest top, a pair of short shorts and her holo-locket. She frowned as she looked back at him before shrugging.

"I'll be embarrassed when I wake up." She murmured sleepily as she headed upstairs to get changed, leaving her new partner more than a little confused. In his experience human women tended to be very shy about their bodies. Unless, of course, they had served in the military and were used to not having any privacy. He figured that Sarah was right and the only reason she wasn't bothered by it was that she simply hadn't woken up yet. Or, she simply didn't care. She hadn't cared about anything but those slaves so far, so he couldn't imagine her being bothered by this.

Although he had to admit that it bothered him a little and he couldn't quite figure out why... It was odd to see her in so little clothing. He wasn't used to seeing so much of a human female but he was sure that they were... softer. Sarah's bones seemed more pronounced, particularly her rib cage and... Collar bone? He really wasn't great with human physiology. He wondered if that would stop him from being able to patch her up in the field. Given what he had seen of her fighting style yesterday, he figured he should probably double up his field supply of medi-gel.

Sarah headed back upstairs, still in a sleepy daze, and started to get dressed. Her thoughts remained fogged by sleep until she caught herself reaching for her paint. The last thing she needed was to accidentally put her markings on, given that they lasted a whole week before needing to be re-applied. She had no idea if she could remove them earlier. She had never had cause to before.

She carefully looked over her face without her markings or any make-up and found it completely alien to her. This woman before her was almost human. But not quite. But she didn't want to be human. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be turian either. She was Sarah 'Angel' Shepard-Vakarian. Or was it Vakarian-Shepard? That argument was a very old, very tired one that she didn't have time for as she wiped foundation over her face to cover the very light outline left by years of painting her colony marks across her tough skin. She had known that this was the price of being 'normal' when she had left the Normandy. But knowing and seeing were two very different things.

By that point she was awake enough to feel embarrassed about Tiberius seeing her in her pajamas. Although, what concerned her most were the little things that she was currently taking comfort from. He probably hadn't noticed that her muscles twisted around her large bones much like a turian's under their plates instead of like a human's beneath their soft skin. She hoped that he didn't know enough about human anatomy to notice the difference. She was well aware of the prejudices that still existed between the two species, despite her parents' attempts to shield her from it.

But she couldn't focus on that right now. She needed her head clear. Her hand moved to trace the outline of her markings for a moment as she hoped that he hadn't seen the faint blue stain. She remembered that she wasn't wearing her visor either and cursed herself for being so careless, hoping that he attributed the dark skin around her eyes to smudged make-up. She wished that her aunts had had the sense to at least warn her, but that wish was answered as she finished getting dressed and activated her omni-tool, finding a message from her Aunt Kara, warning her. She sighed as she put her visor on and headed back downstairs. Tiberius was still there and looked unperturbed, so she figured that she was in the clear.

"You're a morning person, aren't you?" She asked him, narrowing her eyes a little as she poured herself another mug of coffee. He shrugged.

"It's one of the benefits of only sleeping for five hours a night." He reasoned but she shook her head.

"No, see I'm a light sleeper so I only need around six hours. That doesn't mean I'm all... Chipper at 0700." She told him, grumpily, and he noted her use of military time. She indicated to the mug in her hands as she downed the end of the mug. "That's what the coffee is for." She said as she put the mug away, waving to her aunts. "See you guys later." She said as they headed out of the door and made their way to work.

"So, are you ready for your testing?" He asked and she sighed.

"You're not going to go easy on me, are you?" She asked and he shook his head. She could have sworn that she could see the ghost of a smile on his dark features.

"After yesterday? Not a chance." He said, enough humour in his voice to make her grin, although he noted once again that her eyes remained hardened and cold.

"Good. I've never had my skills officially tested before. I'm curious." She admitted and he frowned.

"Didn't you take your high school exams?" He asked.

"Of course. I graduated both human and turian high school about three years ago but they don't test the stuff I'm really good at." She admitted and he gave a little nod before changing the subject, as if noting some information for later. She wondered if she was being careful enough with her information. But she couldn't let herself seem too guarded. That was a sure way for him to know that there was anything to know.

"Are those dog tags?" He asked and she looked down at her holo-locket, realizing that it was above her vest. They were designed like a set of dog tags but if she touched them, holo-images of her family would appear. She let her mind wander to the night she had been given them.

Sarah sat cross-legged on her bed, Big Bear clutched to her chest. The teddy bear smelt of old, forgotten memories. Of her dad reading her bedtime stories and her mum singing softly as Sarah had clung to her, following the Commander everywhere as she did her work around the ship. When had she stopped? She wondered. Perhaps it was when Hillary had arrived on board. 'I'm trusting you to look after her', she remembered her mum telling her. For once she had someone else to look after, a sense of responsibility.

Not that that had stopped her from acting stupid. From making a near-fatal mistake...

And now she couldn't put it right.

She flicked her wrist a couple of times but her biotics wouldn't activate. She felt nothing but empty inside and she figured that she deserved to lose them. It was her punishment for failing.

"Can I come in?" Her mother's voice came from behind the door.

"Yeah." She said and her mum entered. She smiled at Sarah as she sat down next to her.

"You still missing Hillary?" She asked and Sarah nodded, eager to not reveal what was truly bothering her.

"Yeah." She said and her mum regarded her carefully.

"Your biotics still not working?" She asked and Sarah nodded. "Yeah, mine weren't exactly stable when I was younger, either. Don't worry, they'll be back. And in greater numbers." She quoted and Sarah smiled weakly.

"Are you... okay?" Her mother asked and Sarah narrowed her eyes a little. Did she know? No. How could she? Sarah wondered about the question. She had spent so long working towards fixing her mistake, even though it hadn't felt right those last few months...

Whatever her feelings, the opportunity had passed. And now she felt... Empty. Three years of anger and she no longer knew who she was without it.

"I... I will be." She said and her mother nodded, the look of understanding making Sarah wonder, once again, if she knew.

"We're not leaving for another week. You can still visit until then." She said and Sarah nodded. She probably wouldn't. Too many people. "So, where do you want to go next? I was thinking the beach. On Virmire, specifically. I haven't been back in a long time..." Her mother said, trailing off. Sarah smiled a little before biting her lip.

"I... I don't think I'm coming." She said and her mum raised her eyebrow, brushing a strand of blond-gray hair from her eyes.

"Are you going to return to your studies?" She asked and Sarah shook her head.

"No. I... I was thinking maybe C-Sec." She said and her mum frowned at her.

"Really? Why?" She asked and Sarah shrugged.

"A change, I guess. I think I need to start again." She admitted and her mum nodded.

"Yeah, I get that." She said before pulling out a small, flat box.

"When I left home, my mom gave me a holo-locket. It helped to remind me what I was fighting for. I... I lost it when... Just after Saren." She explained and Sarah's gaze fell on the wedding ring shaped holo-locket that her mother always wore. "Your father gave me this just before I... Returned to Earth. Anyway, I figured that I should give you the same. Think of it like a pilgrimage gift." Sarah smiled at the analogy. That was exactly what she was doing, after all, heading out to find her own way and prove herself to the galaxy, just like a quarian on pilgrimage.

She opened the box to find a set of dog tags. Her name wasn't inscribed in full, instead just her initials; SASV.

Her mum smiled a little sheepishly.

"I wasn't sure whether to put SV or VS." She admitted but Sarah just shook her head. It didn't matter to her, so long as both names were there. On the flip side there was the same angel/phoenix logo that was painted on the side of the ship's hull, causing Sarah to grin. It was a piece of home that she would carry with her, no matter how far she wandered.

"Thank you, Mum. I... I guess I wasn't expecting you to be so understanding about this." She admitted and her mum just smiled.

"I, erm... I figured this was coming. And I was concerned at first, but then your dad pointed out that we were both younger than you when we left home. Hell, he was fifteen when he went into the military. I agree with you on this one, Sarah. You have to figure out who you are outside of this crazy ship. We're not going anywhere, you have all the time in the world to figure out your place in the universe. And if you decide that it's away from here, then that's fine, and if you decide that it's back here, then that's fine too." She said and Sarah smiled.

"I lucked out on parents, didn't I?" She asked and her mum smiled a little awkwardly.

"No more than I lucked out with you."

Sarah pulled herself out of her memories as she placed her holo-locket back under her vest, glad that Tiberius was standing too far from her to see the logo or inscription properly.

"I'm a spacer, remember? From the Terminus at that. Home is run like a military ship." Because it is a military ship, she added in her mind, as he eyed the holo-locket but remained silent. She couldn't tell what he was thinking and was once again annoyed by his perfect poker face and total control of his sub-harmonics. She thought she was good at keeping to herself, but he made her look like a small child trying to lie to their parents.

They arrived at C-Sec at the same time as Philip and Tiala. Sarah smiled a little as she noticed that Tiala seemed wide awake but Philip looked as if he was about to drop off where he stood.

"Tia's a morning person too, I take it?" She asked him and he groaned, nodding.

"Yep. Smiley got you up?" He asked and she sighed.

"Yup. Thank the spirits for coffee, is all I can say." She joked as they moved into the building.

"So, you ready for your big day of exams?" He asked and she shrugged.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Wish me luck." She said as she moved away but he simply raised an eyebrow.

"Please, you don't need luck. Just mad skills." He said and she rolled her eyes at him as she followed Tiberius through to the examination room and prepared to spend the next few hours taking the exams.

She left the exam room feeling mentally drained. She had no idea what time it was, but her stomach told her that it was past lunch. She approached Tiberius's desk and saw that he had a box of mini-cans of her favorite dextro pop.

"Don't suppose you could spare a can? I forgot to take any water in with me." She told him and he turned to face her as she sat in the chair next to his.

"Yeah, but it's dextro." He warned.

"I know. I'm not dextro sensitive or anything, don't worry." She told him and he nodded, handing her a can.

"I was just checking that you weren't trying to get out of your exams this afternoon by claiming an allergic reaction." She grinned at that.

"Please, this afternoon is going to be a breeze compared to this morning. It's all of the stuff I'm good at." She admitted as he grabbed a datapad from his desk and Tiala and Philip approached.

"So, how'd you do?" He asked her and Sarah shrugged in response.

"Red was just about to tell me." She said and Tiberius nodded.

"Are you okay with me reading the results out in front of the other two?" He asked and she narrowed her eyes.

"Is that code for 'you've failed everything and it's super embarrassing'?" She asked and he shook his head.

"I don't think so. I can only pull up one result at a time." He said and she braced herself, not wanting to delay any more but also not really wanting to know the answer.

"It's fine, just tell me." She said and he nodded.

"You got a perfect score in xeno-linguistics." He said and they all looked a little shocked.

"How?!" Philip exclaimed. "You would have to be fluent in everything." He said and Tiala rolled her eyes.

"Stop exaggerating. But, yeah, you'd have to have a pretty good grasp of Human, Turian, Salarian and Asari Common along with basic skills in Quarian, Krogan, Volus and Elcor. I think there are even a couple of questions on Hanar bio-luminescence." She said and Sarah shrugged.

"My mum has this thing about not relying on translators. I've never actually used one since I grew up around aliens. I had to learn several languages in order to communicate with the entire crew. It's a pretty useful skill." She told them and Philip frowned a little.

"But you can't even speak Turian without a second voice-box." He pointed out and she shrugged.

"Vocal implants." She explained before turning back to Tiberius. "So, what's the next one?" She asked and he returned his gaze to the datapad in front of him.

"Seventy three percent in mathematics." He said and she nodded. She was good with numbers. Maybe not gifted with them like her mother but she was still good. Tiberius continued on.

"Ninety three percent on the field skills test. You aced the medic section apparently. Are you a qualified medic?" He asked and she shook her head.

"I have studied xeno-biology, specifically genetics, but I decided to come here instead of going to university." She told them. She had found xeno-biology (it was all xeno-biology to her) fascinating but she had learned that the evil of the world extended far beyond the medical.

"Well, so long as you can patch yourself up if you pull another stunt like yesterday, I'm happy." He said and she grinned a little.

"Don't worry. I prefer tending to my own wounds." She told him and he returned his gaze to the datapad.

"So, that just leaves the tech exam..." Sarah bit the inside of her lip at that, cursing silently as purple blood ran into her mouth. Every time she drew blood through the nervous habit, she was thankful of her fast healing. The last thing she needed was anyone seeing her blood. That would result in some unanswerable questions.

"So, how'd she do?" Philip asked and Tiberius looked at Sarah, his sub-harmonics warning her before asking for her permission. She let her own sound with resignation before giving it. She didn't really care what they thought of her but she didn't like being reminded of her failings.

"38%." He told them and they all gave her sympathetic looks, causing her sub-harmonics to rile up with defiance, despite the fact that only Tiberius could hear them.

"It's fine. Everyone is bad at something." She told them, a little warning in her voice telling them not to pity her.

"It's fine, Blue. Your scores average at over seventy so you've passed and it's high enough to keep the Executor off your back." He told her and she nodded, thankful for small mercies.

"Okay, so can we get some lunch before we do the other tests? I'm starving." She told them, hoping change the subject.

"Sounds good." He said and she turned to Philip and Tiala.

"You guys in?" She asked and they nodded.

"Lunch with Smiles and the Rookie? Sounds good." Philip said and Tiala and Sarah both rolled their eyes at him as they headed off.

After lunch they headed to the training room to test her hand-to-hand skills.

"So, think you can take me, Red?" She said and he raised a brow-plate.

"There is no way you're fighting me. The last thing we need is to spend the rest of the afternoon in the med-clinic if I catch you with a talon or something. You'll be fighting Tiala." Every instinct Sarah had was telling her to smack him as hard as she could. She knew that she would have no problem taking him down. But a normal, human eighteen year old girl would struggle with an almost full-grown turian. So she had to play nice.

But she didn't have to like it.

"You might want to get changed." Tiala observed and Sarah realized that she couldn't really fight her in jeans and a jacket, even if it was what she would normally wear in the field. She nodded before heading to the locker room to change into her workout clothes.

Sarah returned in joggers and a t-shirt and headed towards the sound system on the wall. She synced it up to her visor and Tiberius's sub-harmonics trilled in question.

"Look, if we're going to fight then we're going to do it to a badass soundtrack." She told him and he shrugged, allowing it as the room flooded with music. His sub-harmonics voiced question again and she shook her head.

"Old Earth music. Blame my gran-gran." She told him as she and Tiala got ready to fight.

"Revvin' up your engine,

Listen to her howlin' roar,

Metal under tension,

Beggin' you to touch and go,

Highway to the danger zone,

Ride into the danger zone,

Headin' into twilight,

Spreadin' out her wings tonight,

She got you jumpin' off the track,

And shovin' into overdrive,

Highway to the danger zone,

I'll take you, Ridin' into the danger zone."

"You know, it occurs to me that we don't hang around enough." Philip said and Tiberius let his sub-harmonics ring with question despite the fact that the human couldn't hear them. "I mean, if you always have great ideas like this then I may have underestimated you." He said and Tiberius fixed him with a glare.

"I chose Tiala to test her skills because she's an expert at hand-to-hand." He said and Philip frowned.

"She is?" He asked and Tiberius raised a brow plate.

"Yeah. It's the only combat area where she excels. Shouldn't you know this?" He asked and Philip kept frowning.

"She told me that she didn't have the combat skills to qualify for anything other than lab work. She said that's why she's not taking patrol jobs." Tiberius shook his head at that, his gaze remaining on Sarah and Tiala as Sarah blocked all the asari's attempts to hit her.

"No, she's been offered other positions numerous times. She keeps on turning them down for work at HQ. I think she just prefers tech jobs." He said and Philip frowned.

"How do you know all of this, anyway? You two aren't super friendly or anything." He observed and Tiberius shrugged.

"It's all in her file." He said simply as he kept watching the match, noting the different techniques Sarah used.

"How did you see her file?" He asked and Tiberius shrugged once again.

"The Executor tried to pair me up with her once." He explained and Philip gave him a questioning look.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked and Tiberius nodded, still keeping track of the match in front of them.

"Why Rookie? You could be paired with anyone in this place, hell you could be partnered with someone older and get real work if you wanted, and you've turned them all down. Why her?" He asked and Tiberius shrugged.

"No use in a partner who can't keep up with my skills." He said but Philip gave him a look that said 'I'm not buying it'.

"I would have thought she would annoy the hell out of you after what happened yesterday." He said and Tiberius nodded.

"She does. But at least I don't have to worry about her skills in the field." He said as Sarah quickly took down Tiala and finished the match. They had appeared to be evenly matched right up until the last minute when Tiala had grabbed Sarah and caught her off-guard. After that Sarah had narrowed her eyes before her ability seemed to increase ten-fold as she took down a shocked Tiala in under a minute.

Tiberius quickly reviewed all of the techniques he had just seen her use; turian military hand-to-hand, asari martial arts (specifically moves favored by Justicars), a couple of moves that he had only ever seen Krogan use, and a few that he wasn't sure about given his unfamiliarity with them but that resembled moves used by Alliance N7 operatives...

"Damn, Sarah. You got me with your nails there. They're like fucking talons..." Tiala said, tending to a fairly deep scratch wound on her arm, pulling Sarah from her thoughts. She hadn't been careful enough. The stress of moving away from home and dealing with a new job in an unfamiliar place had started to make her a little unwell. She coped with stress the same way all turians did; badly. Once she got that stressed it would take some form of physical release to stop herself from getting sick, like sparring.

She often found it funny that although she looked more human than turian, she was still, physiologically speaking, more like a turian. So, she had been too busy enjoying a good fight against a competent opponent, surprising for such a small asari, and had let her normal act slip. She just hoped that no one noticed.

"Are you okay?" Tiala asked at her lack of response, causing Sarah to mentally shake herself.

"Yeah. Sorry about that I guess I really need to cut them huh?" She said as Tiala applied some medi-gel. As she spoke Tiberius and Philip approached.

"You okay, Blue?" Tiberius asked her an she realized that she still must look a little shell-shocked.

"Yeah, fine. So, what's next?" She asked and he consulted his datapad.

"We need to test your... sword skills?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Yeah, swords are cool." She explained and his sub-harmonics chimed with a little disbelief. Philip simply nodded in agreement.

"Yeah! Commander Shepard has a sword." He told them, causing Tiala to raise an eyebrow.

"I've read enough of your comics to know that she doesn't." She said but he shook his head.

"Not in the comics but she does in real life. She used them against husks and Cerberus Phantoms during the Reaper war. She had one in those kids cartoon vids, remember?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No. That was what, ten/fifteen years ago? I wasn't a kid." She reminded him and he rolled his eyes.

"Right, asari lifespan. I forgot." He said as he turned to Sarah. "You remember Normandy Spectres, right Rookie?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No, my parents never liked me watching those shows." She explained, careful not to mention why they didn't like them, and he looked at her incredulously.

"Neither did mine but I still watched them." He told her and she shrugged as he turned to Tiberius. "Come on, Smiley. You watched it, right?" He asked and the turian simply shrugged.

"Not really. I've seen a couple of episodes but not a lot." He said and Philip shook his head as everyone else rolled their eyes at him.

"After that we'll test your biotic field strength." Tiberius continued and Sarah froze.

"What part of 'I no longer have my biotics' do you not understand?" She asked and he frowned.

"The part where you used your biotics perfectly yesterday." He said and she sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't... I don't have control over them anymore. I don't know why they activated yesterday but I can't do it on command." She admitted, her gaze lowering from his. She sounded tired and his sub-harmonics trilled with reassurance.

"Look, just try, okay? If nothing happens then we'll just call it void." He said and she sighed before nodding. It couldn't hurt to try, she figured.

After they had tested her biotic field strength (as she had predicted, nothing had happened. She wondered if her control of them would ever return or if she would just gradually lose all biotic ability over time...) and her sword skills (she had ended up having to test those skills against a VI) they moved onto weapons proficiency.

Sarah was careful to keep her scores below her ability, knowing that it was better for people to underestimate her. Especially for her cover. It was a trick she had learned from her mother and it had kept her out of trouble more times than she could count. Although she was still fuming over Tiberius's comment during the hand-to-hand test. She knew that he hadn't meant anything by it, but that somehow made it worse.

However, despite her attempts to hide her ability, she still aced every exam and broke all of the records for new recruits. Not really surprising given that most had never had military training before, but she still wondered if she was subconsciously trying to make up for her lack of biotics...

For the most part it was just her and Red but Philip often wandered over, avoiding his work at the front desk, and Tiala dropped by a few times since she was currently working in data analysis. Sarah was wondering why Tiala would stick herself with such a boring task since she could have her pick of assignments but Tiberius explained that wherever Philip went, Tiala went, and vice versa so she had taken a job that kept her at HQ. It made Sarah wonder why they weren't dating...

They weren't both present until she was about to start with the sniper rifle. By this point she was struggling to not show off and prove herself to Red. Not that she wasn't doing brilliantly, but she wasn't showing off.

"Just sniper left?" Tiala asked and Sarah nodded.

"Good luck with that, Rookie. No one beats Smiley's sniper score." He said and Sarah frowned a little before checking the leader-board. She looked up at Tiberius who just shrugged, his sub-harmonics quiet and nonchalant. She let hers trill back to tell him that she didn't care.

Which she didn't.

Mostly.

But she couldn't help but think of how satisfying it would be to best his score. She knew that she shouldn't, that she needed to keep a low profile, but she knew that she could beat him and, although she often took deliberate measures to have people underestimate her, when he did it she couldn't help but want to prove him wrong.

She smiled as she walked into the firing range and lined up her rifle. Thankfully, she had inherited her father's sniping ability. Her mum with a sniper rifle was one of the funniest things she had ever seen.

She walked out several minutes later and checked the leaderboard.

She had come in second.

Huh. She thought to herself. She didn't really care but she was impressed. And a little annoyed at how arrogant she had acted. Had she not learned her lesson?

"Don't worry, Rookie. No one beats Red's score." Philip told her and she shrugged.

"Apparently. Its all good. If anything it makes me feel better having him on my six." She said and Tiberius raised a brow plate.

"Wait, I'm on your six?" He asked and she shrugged.

"Yeah. And I'm on yours. Team, remember?" She told him and he nodded. This might take some getting used to...

"So, are you done now?" Philip asked and she turned to Tiberius.

"Yeah, that's it." He said, shrugging, as Philip grinned enthusiastically.

"Just in time. Tiala and I are done for the day so we're headed to the bakery. You in?" He asked and Sarah nodded.

"Yeah. What about you Red? You coming?" She asked and he sighed in response.

"I... Yeah, sure." He was going to use his work as an excuse to get out of going but had decided against it. If he was going to work with Sarah, he might as well try to be her friend.

"Geez, I thought Smiley only called you blue because of your hair." Philip said, indicating to Sarah's hands. She immediately pulled her sleeves down over them, shrugging and trying to look nonchalant. Her hybrid biology was a curse as often as it was a blessing.

She had quad DNA strands like a prothean which allowed her DNA to double up. Meaning that she was both levo and dextro and , subsequently, could process both, but beyond that her traits had to be either turian or human.

So, she had a mostly human bone structure, a mostly turian muscle structure, human fingers and turian eyes. The main exception being her blood. Blue and red. Which gave her purple blood.

Thankfully her skin was thick and dark enough that it wasn't too noticeable in most places. But occasionally her body would produce too many blue blood cells for whatever reason and it became a bit more evident.

"Bad circulation." She explained and Philip nodded.

"So, did you ace the tests enough for any special training?" He asked and Sarah shrugged.

"Don't think so. I don't think I'd want any, anyway." She said and he frowned.

"Why not? It's about the only interesting thing to do in your first couple of years on the job. They don't give you anything more exciting than basic patrol work until they think you have enough experience." He said and Sarah shrugged again.

"I like patrolling." She lied. She didn't mind it, just as long as the wards weren't too crowded. Philip shrugged.

"We don't patrol often, anyway." Tiberius told her and she raised an eyebrow.

"So, what do we do?" She asked and Tiala leaned forward a little.

"Wait, are you pulling Sarah into your project?" She asked and he rolled his eyes at her before turning to Sarah.

"I noticed some... irregularities in the shipping records. Specifically for tech. I suspect that someone is shipping restricted medical tech through the Citadel. But I still don't know who or why..." He said and Sarah grinned in response.

"Sounds like my kind of puzzle." She said, excited at the idea of the challenge. Tiberius smiled back at her.

"I was hoping you would say that." He said but Philip rolled his eyes.

"So, you'd rather chase illegal tech with Smiley than get spec ops training?" He asked, incredulously and she nodded.

"Yep." She said and Tiberius's sub-harmonics trilled in agreement.

"I'm with Blue on this one." Tiberius said and Philip scowled at him.

"Well, that's because you're crazy." He said before turning to Sarah. "This idiot turned down Spectre training." He said and Sarah raised her eyebrows, her sub-harmonics trilling with question.

"Come on guys, you know he doesn't like to talk about it." Tiala said which earned her a glare from Tiberius before he sighed.

"Being a Spectre is dangerous." He said simply and Philip frowned at that.

"It's not that bad. I mean, it's no worse than the military or anything." He reasoned but Tiberius shook his head at that.

"You don't know anything beyond those comics and cartoons you're so obsessed with. The Normandy is the exception, not the rule. Actually, that's not true. Commander Shepard died years back. She was just lucky enough to be worth bringing back." He said and Philip shook his head in disbelief. "Spectres die. It's pretty much their job description." He said. Sarah figured the other two couldn't hear the bitterness in his sub-harmonics but she left it alone, noting it but not asking.

"He's right." Sarah said quietly, earning her confused looks from Tiala and Philip but a grateful one from Tiberius. It was strange for her to think about how close to death her parents had come on so many different occasions, the story of violence told across their skin with scars.

Sarah would always appreciate living in peacetime. She could see the horror left by the Reaper war in the faces of those closest to her and she had no wish to experience it for herself. But even in peacetime her parents often get a call from either the Council or the Alliance or the Hierarchy before leaving the ship only to return bloody and disheveled. Sarah knew full well that, while she had seen action, her parents shielded her from the nastier aspects of their jobs. They had made sure that she had never been pushed anywhere close to the limit of her abilities or seen the sorts of horrors that would leave her with nightmares.

Of course, they couldn't protect her from the things they didn't know about...

"Didn't you say you lived on a ship in the Terminus, Sarah? Isn't that dangerous?" Tiala asked and Sarah shrugged.

"I guess." She said and Tiala frowned a little.

"I never understood spacer kids. I mean, isn't it better to live on a colony somewhere? Especially when growing up." She said and Sarah shrugged once more.

"Yeah, I guess, but colonial life is just as dangerous. My mum lost most of her family to batarian slavers when she was a teenager. She lived on ships with my grandparents so they were fine but her aunt and cousins all died. Plus, it's not that weird. I stayed ground-side with family friends for months at a time." She reasoned and Tiala nodded.

"Fair enough." She said before Tiberius spoke up.

"I might not want to be a Spectre but if you took those tests properly you could probably qualify, Blue." He told her and she sighed. She would be lying if she said that she had never considered it before. But she didn't know what she wanted. She had given up on ideas of following in her parents footsteps in order to focus on her studies but she had returned to that path when she had finally seen the horrors for herself. Which had lead her to C-Sec.

She was sure that Spectre training would only lead her back to the Normandy.

"Nah. C-Sec's too much fun." She said and Philip rolled his eyes.

"Sure, if you like paperwork." He said, causing Sarah to shake her head, smiling. She was happy right where she was. At least for now.