[That photo is adorable! I'm totally locking it to my photo frame for at least a week. I told you how I've got the whole lot you gave me on shuffle right? I can't remember. Anyway, I did, now I don't because that picture is amazing.

In other news, I just finished chapter 12, you were right I'm really enjoying it. I think I've worked out who the murderer is. Well... I've narrowed it down to two people anyway. (Don't tell me!) I'm probably going to finish it this week, any other recommendations? Did the guy write anymore? Are all salarian crime writers this good?

Yeah I know, I could probably just look those questions up on the extranet. Anyway I best show my face around the ship, pretend to do some work, give my love to Little Nicky, Love you!]

Nikki hit send and made her way down to the mess; her good mood crashing down when she exited the elevator just in time to hear the end of what sounded suspiciously like the 'how many batarians does it take to change a lightbulb?' joke.

"-the ground team, one to implant a control chip and one to order the new slave to change the lightbulb." Shepard's jaw clenched at the casual display of racism. She was all prepared to march round the corner and deliver a verbal lashing when Torma spoke up with affected boredom. She decided to wait and see if he could handle it himself but she still moved closer, ready to provide instant backup if required.

"Maybe it's funnier if I know what a lightbulb is. I'm guessing it's a less efficient alternative to lighting strips?"

"Doesn't matter kid," added a flanged voice and Nikki felt her eyebrow raise. Kid? When did Garrus start calling people kid? "Not even humans use them anymore except in jokes. It's just their version of capacitor jokes."

"Ah, You mean like: how many councillors does it take to change a capacitor?" Shepard smiled, she remembered that joke and there was clear relish in Garrus' voice as he started to answer.

"All of them. The asari to insist the old capacitor always worked fine before and it doesn't need changing, the salarian to try and invent a new, better capacitor and the turian to pull his talon out and just change the damn thing before it explodes!"

There was a pregnant pause, then the mess erupted into noise as people pointed out humanity had a councillor too. Nikki strode purposefully round the corner just in time to catch the calculating look that passed between the two aliens.

"They've got a point Garrus." Torma insisted. "I think that joke might need updating."

"Hmm, true. Let's see now... The human to petition for the right to change the capacitor?"

"Nah," Shepard interrupted, delighting in the change that swept the mess as she made her presence known. "The human councillor would probably still be busy trying to explain to Parliament how an exploding capacitor is bad and it would look really good if we offered to change it. So... Everyone getting on ok?"

Most of the humans in the room were suddenly very interested in their food as she strode towards her turian friend. He glanced at the batarian before answering.

"Sure, we were just having a cultural exchange. Different styles of humour, that sort of thing." The commander's eyes briefly narrowed, practically threatening him to tell her the truth so she could dish out punishment to the culprits responsible, but nobody seemed to want to offer an alternative explanation. She bit back a sigh, instead nodding sagely, throwing her arms over their shoulders as she steered them both to the queue for food. Garrus going with her despite the half plate of dextro rations sat abandoned on his table.

"Humour's always a good starting point I find." Torma would already have had plenty exposure to human culture having grown up on Anhur, but she went along with their flimsy excuse. While her conversation appeared to be with the aliens, her voice was deliberately projected so everyone in the near silent mess could hear. "Although there's a very fine line between stereotype jokes and outright racism. The biggest difference is that racism gets you kicked off my ship." The uneasy shuffling behind her made it clear the message was received and understood, she lightened her tone: "You hear the one about how many Anhurians it takes to change a lightbulb?"

It was Torma's turn to shift uncomfortably. Interesting. Nikki filed the observation away for future reference. He takes potential slights to the colony more personally than slights to his species. She decided it was best not to pause too long.

"One human and one batarian, working together in perfect harmony."

...

The incident in the mess hall wasn't the only one. To say the crew were divided in their opinion of having a batarian onboard was something of an understatement. Suspicious silences preceded the commander wherever she walked on the ship, undeniable proof of the disgruntled whispers occurring behind her back.

"I hope you know what you're doing Shepard." Zaeed was the first to have the balls to say anything negative to her face, cornering her alone on deck 4. "I'll tell you the same thing I told Vido, they're a bunch of goddamn terrorists."

"This one ain't. There going to be a problem Massini?" Nikki stated cooly, somehow managing to keep her comment about the irony of someone paid by Cerberus disparaging terrorists to herself.

"He ever pulls a weapon on me I'm killing him, simple as that. He don't and we'll get on just fine."

"So... Basically you'll treat him the same as anyone else?"

"That's what I just said ain't it?" Treating people with equal contempt and distrust regardless of species wasn't exactly racism so Shepard let it go for now, she'd sure as hell be watching the battle scarred merc closely though. He was a tremendous fighter but she held no delusions about him being loyal to anything but his next paycheck, and Cerberus were paying his bills. Returning to her original reason for being down here, she crossed the hallway to check on Grunt.

"Shepard." He greeted her with a nod as she entered his room, but his attention stayed fixed on the terminal screen before him, typing away on a haptic interface keyboard.

"Grunt. Everything ok down here?"

"Yes."

"No problems?"

"No." He held down the delete button for several seconds before typing in something new.

"What do you think of our new batarian squadmate?"

"Don't know. Not had a chance to fight with him yet." He finally looked up at her accusingly.

"You're not still sulking about Neith are you?" The krogan had not been impressed when he heard about the seemingly never ending horde of mechs, it sounded fun and he'd missed out on it. Shepard's explanation that she had thought it was going to be boring was hardly good enough, especially when she couldn't even think of an answer when Garrus had jokingly asked when the last time she'd been on a boring mission was.

"Depends. You still going to take me with you next time?"

"Of course, I promised."

"Good." That seemed to be the end of the conversation, she waited a moment before turning to leave, only to be called back. "Shepard?"

"Yeah?"

"How do you spell tirana-... tyrano-soar-us wrex?" Her mind blanked out at the random question, brain firing several questions of her own but failing to provide an answer for his query. In the end she settled on:

"Just search for dinosaurs, it's normally the first one that pops up."

...

"Hey Commander, you going to recruit a raloi next?" At least Joker had been his usual irreverent self when she ran into him on her way back through the mess. Even if his comment resulted in a confused commander face and a half hour tangent about the latest spacefaring species to emerge during her brief hiatus from the galaxy.

By the end of it Nikki still wasn't entirely convinced the 'raloi' weren't just an elaborate prank. Sure there were photos but they could be fake, or publicity stills from a sci-fi vid she'd missed. Garrus confirming Joker's story certainly wasn't indubitable proof, not when she'd once walked in on the turian and Wrex playing buckaroo on a sleeping Ash Williams.

Shepard was half tempted to message Trish, but her wife had met her old crew before and was both smart and devious enough that: [Hey babe, are the raloi a real species?] would likely lead to a continuation of the joke rather than an explanation of which sci-fi franchise they were from.

Doctor Chakwas' insistence that: "yes they're real, but I'm not qualified to practice on them so please don't add one to your squad" should have been enough to end the debate, but the doc had uttered the words: 'this won't hurt a bit' too often to be accused of 100% honesty.

In the end it was Lawson's word that she took as gospel. She couldn't imagine the Cerberus ice queen ever taking part in something as frivolous as a prank. Although her presence brought the topic of conversation back to its starting point: the stupidity of having a batarian onboard.

Miranda claimed not to have a problem with him, while at the same time listing all the problems and friction it would cause with various members of the crew. Jacob took Shepard's side, at least verbally, she was convinced she'd seen him give Torma the stink eye several times since coming onboard. She raised a questioning eyebrow in Garrus' direction, the turian shrugging in response.

"My tech expert on Omega was a batarian, not the friendliest of guys but he could hack any system ever built. Torma's got potential and we need all the skilled help we can get. I've got no problem having him watch my back."

Nikki nodded in approval before her attention was caught by Mordin Solus weaving his way through the mess hall towards the self service counter. She dearly hoped he wasn't after coffee. The salarian was hyperactive enough as it was.

"Hey Professor! What are your thoughts?"

"Krogan have two hearts, humans only have one."

"Right..." Shepard blinked slowly, she probably should have been more specific. "I meant about having Torma aboard?"

"Batarian on a Cerberus ship? Interesting experiment. Look forward to results." Then he was off, humming a ditty under his breath as he made his way back towards the science labs. The whole table stared after him until EDI broke through their stupor announcing an hour's ETA to Capek.

...

"Grunt get your ass in cover!" Shepard shouted above the deafening fusillade that rang out between her team and an infinite production line of loki mechs as his shields flickered and failed.

The laughing krogan ducked back behind a stack of shipping containers, changing heatsinks on his shotgun and she took the opportunity to fire several bursts of her assault rifle downrange. One of the mechs exploded, wiping out its surrounding allies and Torma instantly took advantage of the temporary gap in the enemy forces, running for the next available crate in their painstakingly slow advance through the factory.

"This is fun!" Grunt bellowed as he followed the batarian, his shields only recharged to 60%. She could yell at him for recklessness later, for now she focused on providing cover fire until both teammates were in position and it was her turn to sprint ahead.

The sharp retort of a sniper rifle ringing out above and behind was the only proof that Garrus and Zaeed still had line of sight on them from their position securing the entrance. At least until a chuckle came over a private comm frequency.

"Grunt's like... what's that human phrase? A Shepard in a cake shop?" The commander groaned.

"Kid, Garrus. The saying is supposed to be 'a kid in a candy store', no matter what Trish told you. And now I just feel old. And like a parent trying to hold back a demented child running around on a sugar high. Thanks man."

"You're welcome. Oh, and you are a parent Shepard."

"Oh yeah!" Nikki beamed happily at the reminder, whole face lighting up with joy behind her helmet's visor, before suddenly crashing back down. "Nicky is never getting to do this!"

"You don't want him to follow in your footsteps? Become Spectre Shepard the Second?"

"Hell no! He is going to stay young and innocent and cute and adorable forever! He doesn't get to grow up."

"Don't think you get a choice in the matter Shepard." Garrus laughed, the commander frowning at the sound, even as she triggered an overload with her omni-tool and continued to push forward. Why the hell companies insisted on placing magic, emergency, production halting, override buttons in the middle of their facilities instead of near the entrances she'd never understand.

...

Nikki's email had arrived about two hours after Trish started work and five minutes before she was due to present a report to her boss so, despite her overwhelming curiosity, she resolved to hold off reading it until she had time to reply at lunch.

That was the sole boon about messages taking so long to arrive when Nikki was in deep space, she knew the soldier wouldn't be sat waiting for a response so didn't feel pressured to reply straight away. She could take her time and work out what she really wanted to say. Of course, the flip side was that she usually ended up over thinking things.

She reread Nikki's message, silently resolving to send even more photos of Nicholas to the soldier in an attempt to make her break her word about keeping the last one locked for a week. Then looked over her reply, making sure she'd answered everything.

[If you're on chapter 12 then I guarantee you're wrong. There's two more books in the series (same detective, different murder) and a couple more he wrote. Not all salarian authors are good but there's quite a few. Have you read 'A Varren's Defence of Asteroid 12'? Completely different from what you're reading at the moment mind but I think you'd like it.}

She glanced at the time on her omni-tool and sighed, it was amazing how some seconds, minutes and hours seemed to pass at completely different speeds to others of their kind. She hurriedly typed out another couple of sentences.

{Speaking of work... lunch break's nearly over, I'll send you a proper message later when I'm done for the day and I'll try to work out some more recommendations for you while I'm at it. Love you too, stay safe.]

She hit the send button, consumed the last two forkfuls of her pasta salad, activated her credit chit to pay for the bill and stood, ready to head back to work. She barely made three paces before her omni-tool buzzed on her wrist. There was no way her message had reached Nikki yet but it hadn't been unusual in the past to have more than one conversation going on between them at once, random ideas being shared as soon as they were thought of rather than waiting until it was their 'turn'.

Trish's smile quickly turned to a frown as she noticed the priority flag attached to the message, Nikki never used that feature for what she dubbed 'civilian comms'. The frown only grew as she opened the email, eyes rapidly devouring the words on screen.

[IMPORTANT! Read now even if you're at work. Especially if you're at work!

Please tell me the OPUs Kassa use aren't the Mx 7552-4A? Check for me right now! If anyone at work's using them get them switched off, don't ask why just do it! Don't let any of your VI's interface with anything that contains those parts, if you find somebody's just ordered a whole batch then get the cargo ship carrying it quarantined right now.

Expect a recall notice on those parts but you know how long it takes for those sort of notices to filter round the galaxy, get ahead of the game, check now. Please let me know when it's done.]

Trish frowned. Her partner was constantly joking around and, before she was forced into the responsibilities of being an officer (ok and quite often afterwards), loved a good prank. She'd never make a joke out of something this big and serious though. She cycled through the contacts on her omni-tool and hit the call button.

"Matthias are you still at the office? Good, stop whatever you're doing, I need you to run checks on some parts. Yes it's important, I just received a spectre tip off."