A/N I own nothing. Mass Effect is owned by Bioware

Thanks for being patient. I still am running a bit behind on my writing. Took three weeks to get my laptop back. Even this is just done from the few spare moments I had at work.

That being said, an important milestone was reached. 100 followers has been well and truly passed! Thank you for the support. I am glad that you are all enjoying it and hope that I can continue keeping people interested. The response has been positive so far and I will do my best to keep things that way.

Comments:

frankieu, deadtrooper, zapper25 - Thank you all. And frankieu - well... guess he does.

brandonack96 - Don't worry, the crew will be expanded and more races will be part of it. I don't want to reveal too much yet but yes, there will be more races in the crew.

rfpizzle - Yeah, it can be hard to judge a story just from the first chapter so thanks for reading on and I am glad that you kept going and found yourself enjoying it. Good to know that my writing isn't too bad!

ErzherzogKarl - Yes, Cerberus weren't really a power to worry about prior to and during ME1, but they did exist ever since first contact, according to the canon. As the MC would have been able to access that information, he would have known about it. At this stage, I just wanted him to be able to show that he knows about them without actually naming specific groups. But you definitely do make a good point about Ashley and the aliens reactions to the war.

betapike - To be honest I was trying to think of a realistic price for that amount of eezo. I didn't want it to be too high but at the same time, it is considered the most valuable resource in the ME universe so it had to be worth something good.

Danen5 - Well, I wasn't wanting to make people feel depressed, sorry! But I guess it is good that some of the emotion I am trying to put across in the story is coming through to the reader. And I am glad that you were able to get ideas for yourself too, even if it was accidental.

...

CHAPTER 8 - LOYALTY

It didn't take long for the betrayal to happen.

In hindsight, I guess it was only a matter of time. As a result, I couldn't help but be grateful for some of the precautions I had set up. I felt like an untrusting jerk but it was safer to be untrusting with unknown people than to trust and be hurt. That was a lesson well learned.

I had been in the cockpit with Aleria. She was teaching me the controls of the Enterprise and I was doing my best to pilot. The ship itself was in FTL so I couldn't actually touch anything. I wasn't game enough to risk that. But it was useful to learn what the controls would do so that I would know later on.

The security cameras for the ship had all their controls routed to the cockpit. That way either Aleria or I were able to monitor any suspicious behaviour from here. And there was one person that the suspicious behaviour had been attributed to. Sel'Hara nar Fallir.

The cameras were locked on to his presence constantly. Actually they were following all three of the quarians, just to be sure. Only Sel had said anything about the eezo going to the Migrant Fleet, but silence from Ely and Hectar was something that needed to be supervised, at least as a precaution. I had no way of knowing how those two would react.

It had started coming to a head as I was learning about thrust stress on the engines. I was staring at the controls blankly, feeling a little out of my league, when Aleria alerted me that Sel was leaving his work station in engineering. I looked over and saw that he was moving down a corridor away from anything that might have explained why he was leaving. Then, when he reached an empty store room away from the others, he opened up his omni-tool and started tapping away at something.

"Captain Neilson, crewman Sel'Hara is attempting to access my navigation data," Holly's voice came calmly over the speakers.

I gave a grim look at Aleria, but even so I couldn't help feeling a little vindicated. "Do you know how to use stasis?" I asked her.

She nodded, her face serious.

"Alright, let's go have a chat with our quarian friend," I said.

She looked a little alarmed. "But he could get into the navigation data!"

I gave her a bittersweet smile. "Holly," I called out. "Did you delete all navigation data to the Argo system as per my order?" Aleria stared at me in surprise for a moment before her expression changed to a more neutral one.

"Affirmative, Captain Neilson. The only copy that exists is the one you have."

"Good." I started walking towards the lift, Aleria right behind me. "Please inform us if they move to a different part of the ship."

"Acknowledged, Captain Neilson."

The Hidden Enterprise had six elevators. Four led into the cargo bay, one at each corner of the ship. They only had two stops below the crew decks. The first stop was a gangplank system that ran over the cargo bay proper, with the second stop being the cargo bay floor. The other two elevators were specifically for the crew decks.

The crew deck elevators were both about halfway along the width of the ship, but one was aft, near the engines, while the other one was in front of the cockpit towards the front of the ship. We took the one to near the cockpit and went down to the lower crew deck to get to engineering

The elevators in the ships had been like all other elevators I had come across so far in this universe: mind-numbingly slow. One of the first things I had made Sel do when he had got on board was to rework all the motors on the elevator drive shafts. Now they ran at least four times faster than they had before. It made going to the gym so much better, seeing as the gym was based in the cargo bay.

We made our way down to the third crew deck, which was the same level as engineering, and made our way through the hallways to where Sel was trying to hack the ship's computer.

As we reached the last door before we confronted Sel, the muffled sounds of raised voices stopped me short.

There was some sort of argument going on behind the door. I exchanged a look of bewilderment with Aleria but didn't approach any closer to the door. I didn't want to accidently hit the glowing green door open switch.

"Holly, can you play the audio of the next room over the speakers in this hallway?" Aleria said in a loud whisper. "Volume setting low."

A click came over a speaker about five meters back from the door and we went back to listen. It was Hectar and Sel yelling at each other.

"No, I won't help you find where Captain Neilson hid the navigation data for the eezo asteroid!" Hectar was yelling, which was a surprise in itself. Hectar had never yelled, so far as we knew.

"You know that the Fleet needs this eezo!" Sel yelled back. "It could keep the whole Fleet going for years. Think about how much our people could achieve if we didn't need to buy eezo at the inflated prices the Council races make us pay!"

"You think that stealing the eezo will help the Fleet?" Hectar demanded. "How will it help all of the thousands of future pilgrims? What you are doing will stop anyone trusting our people ever again! We already get labelled as suit rats and thieves. This is going to prove them right! No one will ever trust us again!"

"Of course they will!" Sel countered. "They need us too much! We are qualified cheap labour! This will get blown over. Ely would agree with me!"

"Hey don't bring me into this," Ely's voice came over the speaker for the first time. "Captain Neilson, Brock, has been nothing but nice to us since the first time we met. He has never treated us badly and he is paying us better than I have ever heard any pilgrim being paid before. He made sure that I got an apology from some salarian jerk on the Citadel and never asked for anything other than for me to do my job. He is a nice human and he doesn't deserve us betraying him like this!"

"Are you serious?" Sel screamed. "This is the benefit of the Fleet we are talking about! How can you honestly turn your back on the Fleet for a human?!"

"It's because I am doing this for the Fleet and whatever we have left as a reputation!" Hectar shouted back. "It's because of thieves like you that ruin everything for the rest of us that we are hated for more than just the geth! How are we going to really improve our standing with the galaxy if we steal from the people who help us? From our employers? From our friends?"

"He isn't our friend, he's our boss!" Sel scoffed. "He is only paying us for what he needs. If he didn't need us then he wouldn't even want anything to do with us!"

I started moving towards the door, Aleria in tow. I had heard enough by now. Just as I was about to open the door I heard one more reply from our resident female quarian.

"Like that makes it better!" Ely yelled. "I don't care what you say, taking this from Brock is wrong. He is a nice man and he treats us with respect. Do you know how many jobs I had to go through before I could even work without being sworn at by everyone else that I worked with? Not to mention the ones who were just trying to see my body under my suit? I am not going to stab the person that treats out people with respect over this. And I am not a thief!"

I palmed the door open and saw Sel with his back to me, Ely and Hectar facing me and Aleria. They both stiffened the moment they saw us. I guessed that Sel didn't notice either their reaction or hear the door hiss open behind him as he gave one more argument.

"How can you both be so naïve about this?" he shouted. "This would stop the need for us to rely on the Council races. We could buy new ships! We might even be able to take back Rannoch!"

"Well," I said, cutting into the conversation. The reaction was almost comical as Sel nearly jumped out of his suit with shock, before whirling around with his omni-tool raised. Before he could do anything with it he was encased in the tell-tale blue light of a stasis field, preventing all movement. I looked to my left and saw Aleria glowing with biotic output. Her face was hard as she glared at the treasonous engineer. It was the first time I had ever seen her angry. I turned back to face the group of quarians.

"Well, this has been most enlightening," I continued. I walked forward and stood right in front of the immobilised Sel. "How disappointing. You are a damn good engineer. I don't know how long it would have taken me before I went crazy, had you not managed to increase the speed of the elevators. I would have preferred to keep you on board. Sadly, I think it goes without saying that when we reach the Citadel you can look for new employment."

I stepped past him and faced the two, suddenly very nervous, remaining quarians. Ely was rubbing the side of her facemask and Hectar was rubbing his hands together. Neither of them were looking at me. Apparently there was a spot on the floor that they were both very interested in.

"On the other hand, I should really thank you both for the honesty, loyalty and friendship you have shown me by not trying to help him steal for me. So, thank you. And I am going to make sure that you two have some damn good gifts to take back to the Fleet, regardless of how long you stay with me."

Ely looked up at me and her eyes narrowed on the outside a little. It was the look that I had learned to associate with her smiling. Hectar also looked up and stood taller than I had ever seen him stand. I had the feeling that he was feeling a sense of pride, but I wasn't entirely sure.

I looked back at Sel, still stuck in stasis, arm raised from his attempt to assault where I had been standing me. "Hectar," I continued, "could you be a pal and disable his omni-tool. I would hate for my pretty purple pilot to be attacked when the stasis wears off."

"Thanks boss," Aleria growled. She still hadn't looked up from glaring at Sel. She had seemed to be angrier about this than I was.

"Uh… sure," Hectar said. He activated his omni-tool and fiddled around with it for a few moments. Sel's omni-tool shut off. A strange choked-off sound came from behind Sel's visor.

"Thank you kindly," I said. I stepped back in front of Sel and looked him square in the visor. His eye narrowed into what I guessed was a glare. "Just so you know, I would have helped the Fleet later, but on my terms. You are lucky that I was prepared for something like this, and that this hadn't happened on a military vessel. Otherwise, things could have been ugly for you."

Aleria had taken him to an unused sleeping room that we were going to confine him in, far away from anything that he might be able to use to his advantage. Ely had stripped him of his omni-tool and everything from the pouches in his enviro suit that wasn't antibiotics. Then we left him there in the makeshift brig, disabling the door lock behind us.

The whole event had left a sour mood among the crew and I had to call a team meeting. Aleria was still looking at the other quarians suspiciously and I didn't want to have any dissension with my remaining crew.

"OK," I said, beginning the meeting, "I just want to thank you again for standing by me. Aleria, I wouldn't have been able to control that situation if it wasn't for you. Ely and Hectar, what you said in support of me, I really appreciate it. It lets me know that I can trust you both. And despite the ugliness of what just happened, I want to say that I am grateful to have you all on my crew and I hope you will all stay with me for a long time yet. A crew needs to have each other's backs. Today you have shown me that you all have mine. Maybe for differing reasons, but you are honest and trustworthy. That means I want you to stay with me."

I was earnest with my words. Finding people that I could trust in this galaxy was invaluable. I needed them to be able to work with. Not to mention, I… I was enjoying having people near me again now. I was feeling better than I had in months and I knew that having these people with me, despite Sel's actions, was part of the reason. I was befriending them. I was still stiff in the way I spoke and I wasn't back to being a normal conversationalist, but I was improving every day, thanks to the people at the table with me.

"I'm in," Aleria said straight away. "I signed up for the long run and I am not leaving you so soon."

"Same here," Ely spoke up. "I don't know how long I can stay overall but I will at least make it to a year with you."

"Me too," Hectar said after a few moments. "You have already been the fairest boss I have ever had and I have only worked with you for a couple of weeks. I can't tell you how much I needed this job and you have been the nicest person, human or otherwise, that I have worked for outside the Fleet. Not that you aren't nice Aleria," he added hurriedly. "But I just meant as an actual boss. I know you are number two but he is the nicest number one. I mean, uh…"

"It's ok Hectar," I interrupted. "I understand. And I thank all of you. I want everyone here to know that I trust you all. And as a result of our find I am going to give you all nice bonuses once we get the money from the Asari Republics."

That basically concluded the situation until we got back into contact with a comm beacon. As soon as that happened, I asked Aleria, who had wired a communications terminal through her command console, to send a message to the office of Councillor Tevos. It took her a few minutes to get the contact information from the extranet but she finally looked at me expectantly.

"Dear Councillor Tevos," I dictated. "My company has discovered information that will have a significant impact on the economy of the Asari Republics. I request a meeting with you to discuss this information further. Signed, Brock Neilson, President of Shieldstar Corp."

That had been more than a day ago. Now I stood in the cockpit behind her with Hectar next to me. Aleria had just informed me that she had a response and I had wanted to be in the cockpit when she read it out for me. Hectar was already up there scrubbing the data on the asteroid to prevent any chance of anyone accidentally finding any information on the system other than what I wanted them to find: namely none. The only thing that I wanted was the data on the asteroid itself to be on an OSD. That and the small piece that we had retrieved to get a minerology report on. We were only about three hours from the Citadel and I was looking forward to meeting with the Councillor. I wanted to be able to move on to the next part of the plan. While the other two in the cockpit were working, I was finalising the last bits for more jobs that I was seeking. I really had to think about hiring a human resources manager to do this for me. Huh, I stopped and thought to myself for a moment. Is it still even called 'human resources'?

"OK," Aleria's voice cut into my thoughts. "The message from the office of Citadel Councillor Tevos reads: 'Dear Mr Neilson, I thank you for your message. Please know that your information will be taken seriously. You now have an appointment set for the third day of Anastas, on the Thessian calendar, or the 15th of September on the Systems Alliance calendar. I anticipate our meeting then. With Athame's blessings, Councillor Tevos T'."

I frowned as I let the contents of the message wash over me. I brought up the date on my omni-tool. Still in the first week of August. She set the meeting for nearly six weeks away. I wasn't planning on sitting around doing nothing for that long.

I guess that Aleria had caught on to my mood. That or she had been paying attention to me when I had told her that there is a lot of work to do. Most likely that, now that I think about it. Either way she was looking at me with a curious expression.

"Well, you have your appointment," she said, her voice entirely too innocent for it to be real. She was guessing that I was going to say something.

Better not disappoint her then.

"Indeed we do," I said evenly. "Could you please reply for me?"

She gave a small sly grin and turned back to her console. "Whenever you are ready."

"Dear Councillor Tevos, I thank you for your reply. It is gratifying to know that you considered my previous message significant enough to arrange a meeting. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I am unable to wait that long for an appointment. Due to the urgency of this matter, if I am unable to meet you within… uh." I turned to Hectar. "How long would this asteroid be able to keep the Migrant Fleet flying?"

"Oh," he said, startled that I would call on him. "Uh…" he turned his head as he considered the question. "I am not sure. That amount of eezo among the fifty thousand ships… maybe twenty years. Possibly thirty."

"Good to know," I said turning back to Aleria. "Four days. If we are unable to meet with you in four days then this matter will need to be moved on. As such, I apologise in advance to yourself and the Council of Matriarchs on Thessia for losing the entirety of business from the Salarian Union for the next fifty years or so. I trust that if no reply is forthcoming, it means that the Republics economy will be able to weather such an issue. I await your decision. Kind regards, Brock Neilson. CEO of Shieldstar Corp."

Aleria stared at me, open mouthed in stunned disbelief. "You are extorting a Councillor?" she whispered, as if Tevos herself would overhear. Even Hectar stood stiff in what I assumed was surprise or possibly fear.

I gave her my best innocent smile. "Not at all," I declared. "I am merely warning the Councillor of the consequences of this eezo hitting the open market. In fact, just giving the Asari Republics first preference might almost be considered insider trading by giving them an unfair advantage. I am sure that Councillor Tevos would prefer to not risk damaging the reputation of the Republics that way, would she?"

Aleria's laugh was both somehow ecstatically playful and incredulous. It was an odd combination, but she seemed to pull it off as far as I was concerned. She turned back to her console and tapped out the message. "And sent!" she declared, tapping the final icon with a flourish. She turned around and her face lost most of her amusement. "I hope you know what you're doing," her tone was as serious as when she helped me confine Sel. She actually looked a little scared. "You are challenging one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. She didn't become a Councillor on her good looks. She is a politician at her core and she can be ruthless when she needs to and is manipulative by her very nature. The calm friendly face and understanding nature she gives off are really just a front."

I took in what she said. I had never really met any high level politicians directly, so I could only go on the assumptions of what I had seen of politicians on Earth and what the games had shown. It gave me an idea of what to expect but in reality I was stepping into the unknown here. I had planned what I would have said if I had been in this situation before I came out here and I had been thinking about it ever since we had found the eezo. I just hoped that it would go according to plan.

"I know what I am doing," I replied, as casually as I could. "The question is: whether or not it will pay off. And there are a few things I know about Councillor Tevos. And the main one is that first and foremost, she cares about the Republics more than she cares about the Council. If we do this right, then I think that I can not only sell our eezo, but maybe even gain a powerful ally."

The worry didn't leave my asari pilot's face as she turned back to her console. "I hope you are right."

I walked over and put my hand on her shoulder, squeezing it in what I hope is a reassuring gesture to the asari. To my surprise, she reached up a hand and gripped mine tightly. I admit that I froze. I had no idea what her return gesture meant; was it comfort. I decided to try continue my reassuring pep talk.

"Don't worry, my pretty blue pilot," I said softly. "I have a plan to make sure that nothing bad happens to us."

Aleria didn't say anything to that but she just tightened the squeeze on my hand for a moment before dropping her hand.

I walked back to my station and sat in my navigator's chair. "Hectar," I said, looking at my techie. "How's that sensor data going?"

He looked over at me. "I am just finishing it now," he replied confidently. Ever since the run in with Sel he had lost most of his nervousness. It was good. He needed to have confidence in himself. More than that; he needed to believe in himself. I think he was starting to do that. "Everything as you asked. No stars in the background for astro identification, no coordinates, no planets or anything that could lead to the location of the asteroid being given away. The only thing that will be seen is the data on the asteroid itself. That combined with the sample that you had me get should be enough to prove that you are genuine."

I nodded in satisfaction.

"Hectar," Aleria cut in without turning around. "Could you give us a moment, please? In private?"

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow. This was unexpected. Did she want to talk about meeting with Tevos again?

Hectar looked a little uncertain. "Uh, yeah. I mean, sure. I will be back in a few minutes." I watched as he got up and walked over to the elevator, closing the door behind him with a soft hiss.

I turned back to Aleria to see her looking at me, a little nervous. I wondered if she was about to just get to what she had been dancing around and just proposition me.

"I was wondering," she began slowly, "if you had given any thought to speaking with my aunt."

I paused, surprised at the topic. Clearly I still had no idea what to expect with women. But then, considering how I got into the mess I had gone through, that wasn't all that surprising.

"I have thought about it," I murmured. And truthfully I had. The idea terrified me. I didn't really want to live through it all again.

At the same time, after my talk with Aleria I felt better. I had even had a couple of nights where I hadn't had any nightmares. Compared to the two weeks before that, and to be honest most of the snippets of sleep in the dungeon, it was a massive improvement. Even the severity of my dreams had decreased a little. So I had been debating about if doing the therapy session would be more painful than to learn to live with it.

"And?" she pressed quietly.

I gave a heavy sigh and rubbed my eyes. "I don't know," I admitted. "Part of me thinks it would be a good idea. Another part of me doesn't want to go through it again."

She looked at me oddly, prompting me to speak up again. "What?"

She just shook her head. "It's just one of those things I have noticed you humans do, how you seem to be able to annunciate split desires as if it was different parts of your body wanting different things. Such as, my legs say yes but my hands so no."

I give a small lopsided smile. "Yeah, we humans are certainly unusual that way."

"Yes," she agreed. "But back on meeting with my aunt; I honestly really do think that it would be better for you to talk with her. She might be able to help you… heal from this."

I stay quiet, thinking it through some more.

"Please do it," Aleria cut into my thoughts. "For me?" She gave me some of the most pleading sad eyes I have ever seen before. Like watching a puppy that wants food.

I gave another sigh. Dammit. "Fine. If she is on the Citadel then I will meet with her."

"OK," she said. She doesn't say anything else but I can see the obvious relief in her eyes.

The conversation has started to make me feel agitated. I needed to burn it off before I said or did something that I would regret. Especially to the person that was doing her best to try and help me.

"I am going to the gym," I tell her shortly. "Let me know when we hear back from Councillor Tevos."

I had been in the gym for a while now but I still faced the punching the bag, hitting it with tired hands. My mind wasn't focussed on the punching, the sweat running into my eyes or the pain that the repetitive collision of bag with gloves has projected into my fists. No, I was reliving moments in the dungeon. More specifically, the escape. every time I felt tired, I relived it to drive myself on.

The door opens and the first guy runs in, knife in his hand. He doesn't see me hiding behind the door and that's all it takes for me to throw a jab to his throat. He throws his hands up to his neck. The idiot doesn't drop the knife and cuts himself on the chin and cheek badly. I kick him in the groin, feeling a spike of pain going through my leg as I hit a damaged spot but he drops to the ground instantly anyway. Using the knife I had taken from the man in the room behind me I stab him in the eye and turn back to the doorway, moving into the corridor beyond.

I feel the rage building in me again, adrenaline coursing through my limbs. The pains and weakness I had been feeling now easier to ignore as I use the memories to push me onwards in my assault on the punching bag.

The second guy comes at me with a familiar steel pole. I hate that pole. The damage it did to my feet is horrendous. I jump forward to meet him. The guy throws an overhead shot at me, the only type possible in the narrow confines of the hallway. I duck beneath it but even with the adrenaline pumping through me I am not fast enough. The steel weapon collides with my left shoulder and I see stars for a moment. I throw my hands out to ward my attacker way without any real conscious thought. I feel the point of the knife make contact and hear a yell. The stars fade and I see that my blind strike has slashed through the nose of the man in front of me and his hands are trying to hold what's left together. I step forward and stab him savagely in his stomach. He drops with a groan.

I can't move my left shoulder without pain now. Not good. I need to finish this quick or I am not going to make it. I step over the man on the floor, moving on to find the next one. Pain explodes in my lower back and I collapse to my knees.

I punch the bag harder with a flurry of right-handed power hits as the memory of the pain sends faint echoes through my back.

The near-noseless man on the ground tried to rise and swing the steel pole again. I threw myself on top of him and used my only good hand to slam his head against the ground, finally silencing him. I stood up, taking two attempts before I could rise to my feet, because my back was killing me. I stumbled forward. There were at least two more to go…

"Mr Neilson!" Ely shouted behind me. I yell, jump and turn around, fists up ready to attack. I stop before I actually throw a punch but Ely had already leapt back out of range anyway. I stare at her for a moment, breathing heavily. It takes me a long minute before I realise where I am and what's going on. Sweat is pouring into my eyes and the long sleeves of the under armour exercise shirt are clinging to me and drenched from the perspiration.

"Yes?" I ask dumbly, lowering my arms.

"Uh, Aleria asked me to come find you," she said, clearly still very nervous. "She said you hadn't been answering the intercom for the last ten minutes. Keelah, it took me five tries before you even responded."

"Oh," I said, a little perturbed at how focussed I had been on the punching bag. How long had I been punching the thing? "Well, thanks for coming to get me. And, uh, sorry for scaring you."

"It's ok," she said, heading back towards the closest elevator. "I know you wouldn't hurt me."

She is already gone before I realise what she has said. She knows I wouldn't hurt her? When did I ever gain that level of trust? From the Citadel? From how I dealt with Sel? I shook my head and grabbed my towel, trying to wipe my face dry. For some reason I am having a little trouble getting my arms up high enough to do that now as the adrenaline is starting to wear off. I needed to stretch them out soon or there would be hell to pay.

"Intercom to the bridge," I call out towards the wall. It was where the nearest terminal and speaker was. "Aleria, you were calling me?"

"Yeah, for like ten minutes," she came back instantly, her voice clearly concerned. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just working out some tension," I reply, brushing it off and starting my post-exercise arm stretches. It was harder to twist my arms than I expected.

Clearly it didn't work. "You sure? Because you were working it out for more than an hour."

I stop in surprise. An hour on the bag? As she says it the last of the adrenaline finally leaves my system and I realise how heavy my arms are. A wave of exhaustion suddenly threatens to overwhelm me and I take a seat on the closest chair. Well, collapse is probably more accurate.

"I guess I had more to work off than I thought," I admit out loud. I had really lost track of time there.

"I see," came a stoic reply. "Well, you wanted to know when the office of Councillor Tevos sent a reply and they just did. They said that they will meet with us in two days. I set the appointment up in your schedule and sent it to your omni-tool."

"Oh, well that was very thoughtful, thank you so much." I meant it. I wouldn't have forgotten but it was still a really considerate thing to do.

"You're welcome." There was a short pause. "I also called sent a message to my aunt and asked her to meet up with you. I will let you know when I get a reply."

Oh, right. I had set up the delay through Holly. Aleria didn't know about that. "Right," I said shortly, feeling tension building in my chest a little. "Thanks."

"Of course." Another pause. "By the way," she continued, her voice starting to sound like her normal cheerful self, "you might want to read the reply from Councillor herself. If I didn't know better, I would say that it was the most polite angry letter I have ever seen. I actually laughed at it."

"Oh really," I say, feeling a nugget of amusement building in my chest, already burrowing through the tension. "Do you think that someway, somehow, the Councillor or her staff may have felt as if I slighted them and their mothers or something?"

A rich and most welcome giggle came through the speaker. "Honestly, it almost kinda makes me think you did somehow insult them all personally. They set the appointment, but they were clearly not happy about it. I don't think anyone short of the batarian ambassador has probably been that audacious to Tevos. Ever."

I feel the smile tugging at my lips. "I don't know about that. From what I have heard, I think that Ambassador Udina could probably give ol' four eyes a run for his money."

The happy laugh through the intercom took away the last of the heavy mood I had hanging over me from my workout. "I will leave that to you to be the judge. Just so you know we will be docking at the Citadel in less than an hour."

"Great. Pass the word along that you and Ely have shore leave for the next day, but when we go for our meeting with the councillor I want everyone there. Except for Sel, obviously. And I want Hectar to come see me before we dock."

"Will do, boss." The intercom clicked off.

Satisfied that my face is sufficiently dried out by now, I awkwardly sling my towel over my shoulder with rather uncooperative arms and head up to take a shower. "Holly," I call out as I reach the elevator. "Send Aleria's message on now." Time to get help. Dammit.

...

A/N Please Follow/Favourite/Review as you like. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Trolls are ignored.