"What about Ryder?" Nikki inquired as she sat in Anderson's office in the human embassy on the presidium; humanity had been granted much more floor space since joining the council proper. "Either Alec or the twins, I'm not fussed which."

"You'd really be willing to piss Alec off by recruiting one of his kids for a dangerous mission after he turns it down himself?"

"Well if one's going to be a problem then I'll happily take both." She tried to joke but her old mentor didn't seem amused. "Come on, you and I both know politics is the only reason they're not N's. Scott was mere months away from a Villa invite when Alec got the family blacklisted and Sara's interests may lay elsewhere, but I'm still willing to bet Alec trained her in our ways since she was old enough to hold a gun."

"Earlier if the stories I used to hear from Ellen are true." He admitted. "It's a moot point anyway, all three of them signed up to the Andromeda Initiative, they're not available."

Shepard groaned. "There's got to be someone!"

"N's rarely retire." The admiral shrugged apologetically, unknowingly echoing her thoughts from days before. "We die or we get medically discharged. In the past two decades Ryder and Leng got dishonourables, Schmidt got a desk job with the brass, Rodriguez went full time instructor at the Villa, that's it. Everyone else is on active duty or not fit to be."

"What about Akenzua? I heard he got out, right when I was chasing Saren." Anderson's face dropped slightly at the enquiry.

"Couldn't handle civilian life, then his family couldn't handle him... He committed suicide about a year ago, I'm sorry Shepard." She swallowed deeply, briefly closing her eyes as she took a moment to process the news. She knew how lucky she'd been after Akuze, that not everybody had the same level of support she did, but it still hurt to hear about a brother in arms losing the battle against their personal demons. Pushing emotions to the side she looked back up, focusing on the issue at hand.

"You could try Marcus Zhao." Anderson offered once he was sure she was ready for the conversation to continue.

"Who?" She didn't recognise the name and assumed he must have come through the Villa during her two year absence.

"You must remember him. From Anhur? He was leading the abolitionist forces."

"Oh I've never been to Anhur Sir." Nikki stated with a cheeky grin, even as her eyes showed recognition. "You must have me confused with some non-Alliance affiliated weapon smuggler."

"Of course." Anderson allowed with a chuckle. The details of that op were supposed to be classified after all. Only reason he'd mentioned it was because he'd done a security sweep for bugs just before she entered his office and knew it was clean. "Well he might not be an N but he's got the kind of skills and intelligence you're looking for."

"If I remember the Anhur files correctly, he didn't have any formal military training."

"No, but he's got experience and morals. Besides... neither Tali or Liara had much training before you got your hands on them, look how they turned out."

"True. Alright, no harm in asking I suppose. You got contact details for him?"

"No but I can find out. I'll let you know if I think of anyone else as well." A notification chime rang out from a vid projector and Anderson's eyes darted to the clock. "That will be the council."

"I'll leave you to it then." Nikki declared, standing to leave. "I appreciate the help."

"Not so fast Shepard, the council want to speak to you too. They asked me to let them know when you were next on the Citadel." She turned back in disbelief.

"You're kidding! You set me up?" The admiral's lips quirked at her accusation.

"They just want to talk Shepard. You've got to admit, getting your spectre status reinstated could probably come in handy."

"Fine. You could have warned me though." The commander grouched as she approached the holo projector. "Have I mentioned how much I hate you recently?"

He merely chuckled as she briefly attempted to find a way to smarten up the hoody and cargo pants combo she was wearing before giving up, shooting him a nod to accept the call.

"Commander, thank you for agreeing to this meeting..." Tevos' diplomatic tone kicked off proceedings.

...

Trish landed the skycar outside the house, checking the mirror to find Nicholas fast asleep in his baby chair. Quietly and cautiously she removed everything else she needed from the car first before returning to unstrap her son.

"Trish!" The call from behind made her jump, only narrowly avoiding hitting her head on the door frame and she turned to face Ben with a glare and a hissed: 'Shh!'

"Sorry." He whispered as he caught sight of sleeping beauty. "These came while you were at work, poor delivery guy didn't know what to do when you weren't in." She eyed the bouquet of flowers curiously, brain whirring as she considered possible reasons for them.

It wasn't her birthday or any other date of note. Her mother had developed a habit of sending flowers every few months in the wake of Nikki's death, but she'd received the latest just a couple of weeks ago. She hadn't heard from Melissa since their split and flowers was the kind of gesture she'd make. However while she hoped the other woman was ok, she wouldn't be impressed if this was an attempt to apologise and a request to reconsider. Not now after she'd finally made a decision.

Giving up on her guessing game she nodded towards the open doorway, Ben taking the hint and walking ahead of her to deposit the flowers on the kitchen table before making his excuses to leave. Trish took a moment to settle the still slumbering Nicholas on his sleep mat before finally inspecting her gift, plucking out the accompanying card that her father always used to call 'the thanks and apologies slip'.

[Because I can. Love Nikki.] A smile graced her face at the simple reasoning, inhaling the pleasant fragrance and mentally composing a message of her own as she hunted for a vase to put them in.

[Thank you for the flowers. They're beautiful, the note too. Love you back.] She sent it quickly before she had a chance to start analysing her words and over-think them.

Next stop was the freezer. She managed to make a decision about what to have for tea and hold the packaging up to the scanner on the oven so it could automatically preset the necessary cooking times and settings before her omni-tool chimed with a notification. She slid the tray in and closed the oven door before opening the message.

[Oh good! The tracking site claimed they arrived hours ago and I was starting to worry I'd somehow messed up. Isn't there supposed to be some weird 'hidden language of flower sending' that someone came up with centuries ago on Earth? Cos I'll be honest, I just got the ones I thought looked nice and I was starting to think I'd accidentally told you "I'm going to kill your entire family and sorry for giving you flu" in secret flower code or something] Trish had barely started reading Nikki's rambling reply when her omni-tool pinged again, she finished reading the first message then jumped straight to the next.

[Mayday! Ignore that last! Can we pretty please pretend you didn't read that?]

[Too late!] Trish quickly typed with a chuckle. There was so little delay before the next notification that she just knew Nikki was still typing and sending the first thing that came into her head completely unfiltered.

[Nooo! Why do the designers of messaging apps put the delete arrow and send button so close together?!] The civilian was full on laughing now.

[Really? The mighty Commander Shepard can't handle a simple messaging app? I'm slightly concerned about the amount of high tech weaponry at your disposal right now. What if you try to launch a survey probe at a planet and unleash javelin missiles instead.]

[Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Like you've never pressed the wrong button by mistake before! Oh and for the record, survey probes run on a different operating system than the ship's weapons and javelin missiles have a post-launch self destruct code in case of accidents. It's almost as if they're trying to make it Shepard proof! Also, you're mean and this is all your fault.]

[How is it MY fault?} Trish started typing with a grin and an arched eyebrow. She could just imagine Nikki's pouting face in the last message and she was filled with a desire to not just imagine, but to actually be able to see her partner. {Bit of advice, if you're attempting to woo someone don't blame them for stuff.]

[I got you flowers! That's totally woo worthy. And it's your fault because I was rushing to send a message back quickly. Unlike someone who took hours to respond.]

[Oh, I'm sorry, I was at work. Ben accepted the delivery, I only just found out when I got home. Messages seem to be coming through pretty quickly right now so I assume you're still on the Citadel? Are you able to vid call?]

[Hmm, technically I'm in my cabin. Which is on my ship. Which is docked at the citadel. So yes, I suppose I am. And I'm pretty sure I can handle the technology required for a vid call...] Trish smiled at the latest response, she knew that Nikki knew she'd meant 'are you free/available to call' not 'are you capable' but the soldier rarely missed the opportunity to make a joke or pull a prank and she was unsurprised as the seconds ticked by.

There was only so long she was prepared to take a joke however, finally she gave in and started typing, [Are you sure about that? } Her omni-tool vibrated with an incoming call just before she could send her response.

"Hey." Nikki greeted with a grin as the image synced up. "Told you I can handle tech."

"Took you long enough. Don't tell me you ran into a reporter in your cabin?" Trish teased, thinking back to their last delayed impromptu vid call the day before.

"Ha, no." The timer went off on Trish's oven before anything else could be said. The civilian walking over to take the food out. "I didn't realise you wanted this call just so you could torture me."

"Sorry. Do you mind if I eat? I can always call back later." Trish looked apologetic enough so Nikki shook her head.

"No it's alright... Although now I'm trying to work out if ordering room service so we could eat together would count as an abuse of power. Especially after I kinda ordered all main meals had to be eaten in the mess."

"You don't expect me to believe that you don't have ANY food in your cabin do you?"

"True, I have snacky food to snack on, but what kind of example would that set for Nicky?"

"He's asleep."

"Oh, well in that case." The spectre smirked and disappeared from frame, returning a moment later with a packet of crisps, two packs of biscuits and a small iced coffee madeira cake. Trish said nothing, simply shook her head with a grin as her partner arranged it all on the desk, finding a way to balance her omni-tool so they could pretend they were simply sat at opposite ends of a table instead of in different solar systems.

"So, how was your day?" Trish asked as she cut up her food, Nikki busy opening the various packaging on hers.

"Mostly not too bad, but I had to talk with the council to officially get my spectre codes reinstated."

"How did that go?"

"Oh you know: 'It's good to have you back Commander. We look forward to working with you in the future. Thanks once again for saving our lives during the Battle of the Citadel'."

"You're using your sarcastic voice."

"Am I? No!" Came the oh so predictable response before Nikki's voice finally became serious. "At least Councillor Inara seems decent enough, for a politician I mean."

"A lot of people can't seem to make their minds up about her." Trish revealed. "I think they were just surprised that Udina didn't get the job after being Ambassador on the Citadel."

"Yeah well, I may have had something to do with that." Trish snorted in disbelief.

"Oh really? And just how do you think you influenced the selection of humanity's most powerful politician?"

"Councillor Tevos asked for my opinion after the Battle of the Citadel." Nikki stated nonchalantly.

"And you suggested Inara?"

"Well, no. I hadn't even heard of her. I just told them that humans might not be too good at it but we like to at least pretend we're part of a democracy and so the decision really aught to rest with the S.A parliament. Then I reminded them that if I hadn't disobeyed Udina they'd all be dead. I think that kinda killed his chances."

The soldier victoriously popped a biscuit into her mouth, a brief silence overcoming them as they were both chewing their food, the Spectre swallowed first and resumed the conversation: "Mhmm, so... enough politics, how was your day? I can't believe you're back at work already, I thought civilians had that thing called maternity leave."

"We do, it's only a year though."

"That sucks, who looks after Nicky?"

"There's a creche on the second floor."

"He likes it there?"

"I wouldn't leave him there if he didn't." Trish answered a touch reproachfully forcing the Spectre to grimace apologetically.

"Sorr-" Trish waved the apology off.

"They wear him out much better than I can manage on my days off, if I didn't see him playing when I pick him up I'd think they tranquillised him!" Nicola chuckled dutifully, before a message notification chime made her reach for her omni-tool.

It was from Anderson. Apparently Marcus Zhao's private security contract with Elanus Risk Control was up at the end of his current posting on the MSV Corsica. The admiral had included the ship's flight plans as well as making overtures to check the former militiaman was even interested in joining her mission. He was. Now she just needed to decide whether to wait for him at the ship's final destination or intercept the vessel along the way.

"Let me guess, duty calls?" Her partner's resigned voice interrupted the spectre's musings.

"Hmm? No!" Nikki quickly protested, knowing how those words were usually a prelude to the end of their conversations. "Well... yeah, but not right now." She admitted a second later, minimising the message from Anderson and returning her omni-tool to its perch. "I've just received my next travel destination but half my crew are still on shore leave so there's no rush to hang up."

"Don't you still have to get things ready though?" Trish queried, Nikki glancing towards her before holding up a finger.

"One moment... EDI?"

"Yes Commander?" A synthetic voice intoned.

"Please inform Joker, Miss Lawson and all department heads that we'll be shipping out for the Amun system tonight. If anybody is late returning from shore leave inform Miss Lawson and begin getting us underway the moment all crew are aboard."

"Of course Commander."

"See." Shepard declared with a grin back to camera. "All taken care of. Now, are you going to let us enjoy our last night of non-laggy vid calls or not?"

"Hmm..." Trish pretended to think about it. "I suppose so."

...

Author's note: Sorry, I got distracted again. Yes Inara is a Firefly reference, no it won't make as much difference as you might expect to the next game. I just hate having to make Udina as Councillor but don't believe Anderson would be given that role when he's career military and not a politician (and doesn't even like it). Hence Anderson was promoted to Admiral and made military advisory to the human councillor, and a different politician was made councillor (In my head canon Inara was previously the human ambassador to Palaven, meaning she's been exposed to a culture where politicians actually listen to their military advisors).

Next chapter will see the first OC squadmate recruited and one of the side missions from the game taken care of. I hope you're all still enjoying and thank you to everyone who's left a review.