When Shepard entered the armory, it was to find Crow puzzling over a avenger rifle with Jacob sitting out it's parts on the table in front of him, a rifle of unknown make having been set to the side. They both looked up when the door opened.

"Hope I'm not interrupting something." She strode up to the table. It was about time Crow learned about their weapons, just as well. She didn't know what kind of ammo that silver gun of him took, and in all likelihood it could be useless before long.

"Just showing him the ropes." Jacob explained, gesturing to the strange rifle on the table. "He broke out one of his for comparison."

"I figured it might help me learn better if I could compare their functions. A gun is still a gun, but, you build them strange." Crow supplemented. Thinking about the conversation she'd just had with Joker, Shepard steeled herself and addressed Jacob.

"I want you to put together another drill, maybe two days from now?" She asked. "Thane has a family issue on the Citadel, if all goes well we'll be back by 2100 tomorrow. I don't care about objective, just surprise me."

"What kind of drill?" Crow inquired, looking one part weary one part interested.

"Unit cohesion. You've seen the folks we've got for this mission, getting them to work well together is half the war." She told him. "If you're feeling up for it, ask Chakwas if she thinks you're ready for that kind of thing."

"I did well enough on Eden Prime, a little training exercise won't kill me." He responded, showing just a hint of sass in his tone(hopefully that touch of bravery was a good sign for his mental health, and not just Joker rubbing off on him)"W-will it?"

"No, it won't." Jacob rolled his eyes. "We use butterfly rounds in our weapons instead of ammo blocks. They pack enough of a punch to sting at best, and they break up into statically-charged particles on impact. They're made of a compound that makes them change color as a reaction to the combination, and whatever they hit get marked."

"Oh..." was all Crow said, looking down at the avenger. Glint appeared over his shoulder. "I suppose you have to take all the guns you use in training apart, to modify them to fire something other than metal shavings?"

"And why are they called butterfly rounds?" Glint added. Jacob forced a smile when he looked at the Ghost.

"'Cuz the streaks they leave behind to mark you as hit make you look like you rode a motorcycle through a bunch of butterflies-got the wing dust all over you." He explained.

"Okay." Glint chirped, settling on Crow's shoulder. Jacob took a breath to speak again when the Ghost interrupted. "What's a motorcycle?

"That aside," Shepard broke in before the conversation could veer off track, "I want you to at least observe and get a feel for how our unit works."

"I'll talk to Chakwas and try to learn my way around these weapons." Crow gestured to the avenger's parts. "Is, um, is Thane alright? If it's okay to ask, I mean."

"His son's having troubles, let's leave it at that." She told him. "That being said, I'm doing what I can to make sure it goes smoothly. Thane will be fine."

"Okay." He huffed, then fixed the gun parts with a determined gaze. "Better get back to it, where were we, Jacob?"

"Forward assist; it isn't as necessary with mass accelerator tech, but things still happen." The Cerberus operative pointed out the part in question, and Shepard took a seat next to Crow. She had a little time before she had to hear up, might as well help out where she could. Glint dipped closer in her direction, and addressed her in a whisper.

"But really, what's a motorcycle?"

When Thane came out interrogation, he was, thankfully, smiling. Things for Kolyat would still be complicated; he'd shot a krogan and held a notorious politician hostage. But as things wound back down at the precinct, Thane expressed confidence that he could turn things around. That his son could turn things around; that it wasn't too late, and Kolyat wasn't too far gone.

His certainty and hope undid a knot in her chest that she hadn't realized was there. Perhaps it was because this felt like a win. Nobody had died, nothing had gone wrong, Thane had been given a chance to ease his regrets-was taking that chance firmly in both hands...and her actions hadn't alienated her from a friend. It felt good. After what happened with Garrus, after the incident with the Hive and the grim possibilities of Crow's past, this outcome felt like a balm to the soul.

Leaning against the wall outside the precinct as Thane finished hammering out details with Captain Bailey, Shepard couldn't help but smile. Their task had been successful, they were way ahead of schedule, and it was around her lunch shift. Where's Joker and his secret infinity snack bars when you need him? Come to think of it, she and Thane could probably get away with grabbing lunch, since things had gone so quickly.

The doors opened, and she pushed off the wall as Thane strode out. "Well?"

"Bailey says there may be trouble with the politician; he has wasted no time in pressing charges. But he will be rather busy, considering that Kolyat has agreed to testify as a witness to the shakedowns we saw." Thane explained. "He was keeping tabs on their movements while he laid in wait, and saw the same things we did via his omni-tool. Though the footage on the cameras he used have likely been wiped by now, Kolyat's footage still exists. I have offered to stand as another witness."

"How effective of a deal will that be?" She asked, raising a brow.

"Bailey isn't certain, it depends on how many victims step forward. Circumstances and good behavior willing, they may be able to whittle it down to a strict probation." The drell took a deep breath. "As for me and Kolyat, I will try to keep in contact so long as our mission allows."

"Good to hear." She was glad he had someone off the Normandy to connect with. When they met on Illium, he'd been ready to die, hopefully this could give him something to live for. Unless you lead him to his death. There went her brain betraying her again. She forced herself to keep smiling. "It's lunch, and I daresay you could use something other than freeze-dried space food after today."

"I must admit, I wouldn't say no to something not grown in a lab an subsequently burnt by Sergeant Gardner." The assassin admitted.

"Joker swears up and down he found a pub that serves real cow." More like he wouldn't shut up about it.

"I'm afraid I've never tried real cow before. I wouldn't object to trying something new, however."

Joker, honey, I need to promote you. She hadn't had a burger like this since her last shore leave on earth. She'd forgotten the difference in taste to the lab-grown stuff, the way the flavors mixed and burst through. A good, old-fashioned burger with fries and a soda. She hadn't known she needed this until she took the first bite.

Thane seemed to approve of his first real burger as well. They were halfway through their respective meals and hadn't said a word to one another. She swallowed and took a long gulp of soda.

"Joker needs a promotion." She declared.

"Lieutenant Moreau has deceptively good taste." Thane agreed.

"That thrift store across the way probably has old band shirts." In space, you rarely got treated to modern music. Old radio waves were all you got, depending how close you were to certain worlds, so sometimes all you got was old music. This meant there was a market for new shirts featuring old bands among spacers and navies... and this old music was something Joker frequently complained about, even though she had a sneaking suspicion he actually enjoyed some of it.

It would also give her an excuse to get something other than Cerberus junk to wear. She felt slimy every time she put that uniform on, and career Alliance like Chakwas and Joker looked wrong in it. Chakwas had a set of generic scrubs she would wear sometimes, and for some reason every pilot Shepard had ever met had some kind of snazzy jacket, Joker included, but it couldn't hurt to have some more none-Cerberus day apparel on the ship.

In space, you wanted at least three outfits in rotation. In the alliance this consisted of two uniforms, one civilian set for shore leave and as backup. Some people, mostly engineers who knew their clothes would need washing more frequently, went with four or five sets. The clothes worn under armor to keep it from chafing didn't really count.

"It would be an amusing gift." Thane grunted. "Our latest addition needs clothes of his own."

"Damn, you're right." Crow had been alternating between his scruffy armor and one of Donnelly's extra sets. The engineer had been somewhat complacent about this.

This was how Commander Shepard found herself walking up to the checkout of a thrift store in full armor, armed to the teeth, with an armful of clothes.

The cashier, amazingly, had seen weirder. This Ward had a reputation for attracting the odd.

This chapter is a bit of a munchkin, but hopefully it's a good munchkin. Thane and Shepard deserve a bit of a break. I got super busy today, so that's why this is a bit late; between getting a shot and a Vault of Glass run, as well as the return of my Legend of Zelda addiction, things were a bit wild. I'm replaying Skyward Sword, and I'll probably break out the wii to play Twilight Princess next.

Ebuc: Hmmmm... Yes, but the Forest and the Vex network are technically 'places', not 'entities'. We haven't seen any Splicers hack a Vex mind. I think they can influence non-sentient tech, though. But Reapers are technically 'entities' not 'places' that a Splicer can cut into, and I don't think anyone has any business getting into a Reaper's headspace, unless they're Cerberus. Maybe there is a 'place' that Reapers share data across within the Citadel? I don't think Splicing Reapers would be on the table, but the Geth consensus network is a 'place'. That would be possible.

edboy4926:as always, thank you.

Guest: That a good 'wow' or a 'I'm not sure about this' wow?

MystiYew: Glad to be a source of pleasant surprise! Glad I'm managing to capture things well, and that the pacing is coming out well. It's a difficult balance of wanting to move on in the story, but trying to cover all my bases while I'm at it in a way that doesn't seem too rushed or flow poorly.

So, over a 100 Followers, that's a bit insane. At least by my standards. This is becoming shockingly popular, despite the obscure niche it fills. Here's to a hundred more(maybe)!

And I think I forgot to mention this before but this series is cross-posted on Archive of Our Own, so if you enjoy their formatting more than this site, it's available there, as well. I usually update Ao3 after , though, and if my computer is acting up it can be up to a day later, so just be aware of that.

Fare Thee Well!