Hey guys! I know only a few people have read this, but I have a follow! Yay! Anyway, I'll try and post every few days, but sometimes I get distracted by another topic and might write about it. So, I apologize in advance. Thanks!

Ridley POV

Log Entry 66, 2183:

The Alliance knows how to make ships. I always knew the turians could, how else would they have the greatest military in the galaxy? But the Alliance? Never saw it coming. I have to say, this is a colorful crew, with a turian, quarian, and krogan in addition to a normal Alliance crew.

Tali's nice, tough, smart, I'd even go so far as spunky, but still a kid on her pilgrimage. She's figuring out who she is. The two days I've been on this ship, I've talked to her five times about everything, spanning omni-tools to practical applications of biotics in engineering. It was fascinating. Seriously. Quarians are brilliant as a race.

I also spent a lot of time with the turian, Garrus. He thinks the ends justifies the means. Though I disagree, he's an exemplary sharpshooter. And he doesn't like the way C-Sec operates. We agree on a lot of things, a lot of issues, but he can't get over his mentality that getting things done fast is better than getting things done right. He's still a great guy to have a drink with.

Wrex doesn't say much, but I can tell from his scars and his demeanor he was a leader on Tuchanka. He and I have a lot of things in common; we've both killed, we both don't like to talk about our pasts, and we both have scars. He's also a krogan. For some reason krogans have always liked me.

The pilot, Joker, is a riot. Our first conversation went from him asking who I'd killed to him asking me for a bottle of my 'special' whiskey from Meridia 9. That stuff will make you fall right over. I won't give it to him. He's one of those 'big talk, small action' guys.

Kaidan Alenko. A nice guy. A little folksy for my taste, but tells the best stories. He's Canadian, too. He's also the best judge of character. I'm not sure he knows what to make of me. He thinks he should be scared, but he also acknowledges I'm being friendly to the rest of the crew and have even gotten Joker to like me (A magnificent feat, by the way).

Then there's Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. There's something about her I undeniably respect. Her family is condemned in the Alliance because of Shanxi, but herself and her family have still stayed a part of it, resolutely and unfalteringly. There's something both admirable and stupid about that. They should be given a medal. But I like Ashley, regardless of her family. I really do. She's a true solider. Someone with a sense of honor you don't find anymore. Someone you can rely on.

And we come to Commander Shepard. He's an enigma. He's a soldier first, a leader secondly, and a friend thirdly. Men, soldiers, people, like Shepard don't exist anymore. I respect him. He's also very funny. Didn't expect that. But there's something about him… I don't know, I just don't get.

I was roused from my logging by a voice.

"Ridley?" It asked tentatively.

"Yeah, Shepard?"

"What happened to the procurement officer?"

"I didn't kill him or anything, if that's what you're asking. I just stole his desk." I stated, smug.

Shepard crossed his arms, looking extremely disapproving, "Where is he?"

"On the Citadel." Shepard looked like he was ready to strangle me.

"You just left him there?"

"No, I deferred him to Alliance Command. Honestly, I'm disappointed in your opinion of me. I didn't just leave him to the wolves."

"On who's authority did you boot him off the ship?"

"Yours." He looked like he was about to explode. It was quite funny. I shouldn't have been entertained by this conversation, but I so was.

"Are you serious?"

"Look, when you compare me, a professional assassin with contacts like the Shadow Broker, Asari councilor, turian government, STG, etc. etc., to an Alliance procurement officer, who do you think matches up better?"

"You, obviously." He replied, begrudgingly.

"Now you see my point. Besides, the guy reeked of rookie-hood. You don't want someone like that on a prototype warship."

"Is rookie-hood even a thing?"

"It is in my book."

"Okay…" He looked unsure of what to say next.

"What's it like, being a professional assassin?" He abruptly asked.

I sighed, not sure how to explain. "It's not what you'd think."

"Then what is it?" He wasn't going to go away, is he?

I tried to reason an answer, "People think that if a person kills for long enough, they grow numb to it. I've been doing this for thirteen years and I'm still not numb. I don't think I ever will be. Mercenaries are the ones forget who they kill. Assassins don't."

"Mercenaries and assassins are different?"

I scoffed, "Of course we're different. That's like asking 'what's the difference between an elcor and a batarian?' We're not the same at all. Mercenaries are usually the same, more brutes than anything else."

"Assassins aren't brutes, I know that. But you both kill for living-"

"Mercenaries do more than kill Shepard. They kidnap, smuggle, and enslave. Mercenaries are usually all of the same mold. Every assassin is different. We each have our own style, our own way of dealing with what we do. But you will never find a guiltless assassin." He was seriously getting on my nerves. I couldn't even stand to look at him anymore. I turned around to stare at my commandeered desk. You asked for this, I told myself, you knew he had a rock hard moral center.

"This is something you feel deeply about?" He asked after a tense few minutes of silence.

"Yes."

"Can I ask why?"

I whipped around, "Because I don't kill because I like it Shepard, I kill because it's what I'm best at. That's the difference."

"I'm sorry, but I don't believe the only thing you're good at is killing!" He challenged, pushing me to my breaking point.

"Maybe so, but I've been in this business far too long to back out and you know that. So just accept there's a difference between assassins and mercenaries and we can call this conversation a success." I retorted back, aggravated beyond measure. It was amazing that this man that I had only known for two days had already challenged my beliefs.

"You know, you're right. Assassins are different and do have their own style, because I can't imagine anyone in the universe ever being like you. You're in a league of you own."

He walked away after that, leaving me with the question of whether his remark was meant as a compliment or an insult.