A/N

Hi everyone! I have been able to stick with the upload schedule for now. The goal is to do one chapter of this and at least one chapter of another story per month. That's the goal, but we will see if I can stick with it.

If work picks up then I may drop down on the schedule. But that's why I have a pat-re-on, to be able to compensate for that. If you would like to support this, then please look me up as 'Bored Peasant's Written Works'.

Special thanks to Ranger and Kushtacah for their support.

On with the story!

CHAPTER 31 – SHIPBOARD MEETINGS

Jane marched through her ship, which was still a weird thing for her to think, her ship, looking forward to getting to know her ground team that were likely to be part of the next missions.

Well, looking forward to some of them. Others… she was going to reserve judgement on. At least until she had a talk with them. She may have had some biases but she was open to change if what she saw didn't match her preconceived notions.

Going past the row of crew members in their bridge chairs, she made her way into the cockpit to catch up with her pilot.

"Hey Commander," Jeff Moreau, pilot of the Normandy, greeted her from his chair as she walked in and stood behind him. "I heard what happened to Anderson. Survive a hundred battles and then gets taken down by backroom politics. Just watch your back, Commander. Things go bad on this mission and you're next on their chopping block."

She didn't really think that would be the case. Not now that she was a Spectre. The Alliance were likely to defend her to the hilt or it would look bad for humanity. But still, his warning was appreciated. It was a good reminder not to get complacent, because even heroes can get replaced.

"Don't worry," she affirmed. "Saren's out there somewhere and we'll find him."

"Well, everyone on the ship is behind, you. Intercom's open if you want to say something."

She leaned forward and one motivational speech later, ordered Joker to head out.

As she turned to leave the cockpit, Joker had one last thing to say. "Hey, can you see if the mega rich guy in the garage can get me a leather chair? Alliance designers tend to cheap out when they can."

She shook her head in amusement at the asinine request. Time for her to meet the crew.

The first thing she noticed as she walked up to Ashley Williams, was that she was listening to a message that she was getting from a civilian, a young woman that had clear familial resemblance to her fellow soldier.

"Commander," Williams said, standing at ease. At least she hadn't saluted.

"Williams," she greeted the younger woman. "Do you have a few minutes to talk, one on one?"

"Sure. I was just watching some mail from home," she replied. Just before she was interrupted by the speaker from her omni-tool.

"Oh, before I go, we saw that guy Kaiden in a news vid about the Normandy and they also mentioned that you have that rich guy Brock Nielson with you too. They're cute. Later sis."

"Hey Williams, she sounds cute, tell her I'm single," an accented voice called out from across the garage.

"In your dreams, Rich Boy!" Williams shouted back, her face twisting in displeasure. "Sorry Commander, that guy just rubs me the wrong way."

Shepard could completely empathise with the other woman but still, this was her mission and she needed to know that things were going to go well. "Is this going to be a problem in the field? I noticed you had… reservations with Vakarian and the krogan."

Williams winced. "You caught that huh?" she asked rhetorically, apparently not even bothering to hide it. "I'm not going to lie and say that I will trust them straight away, but I won't let it impact me in the field. Though I am not really sure they should have free run of the Normandy. It's the Alliance's most advanced ship and I don't think we should give them free range poke around. It's not racism, not really. Members of their own species will always be more important to them than humans are. But at the end of the day, the mission is more important than my concerns. If you trust them enough, then I will work with them."

Shepard held back her own wince. She couldn't really argue against the trust concerns, seeing as she wasn't sure that she fully trusted them all yet either. But she could trust in their skills, even Nielson, who while she hadn't seen him in combat directly, she had seen the results of his fighting at Eden Prime, which was lots of broken geth. However, comparing them to dogs… that was a little much.

"Glad to hear it," she said instead., moving on to the next topic. "Tell me about yourself, Williams."

And thus, she learned that her newest soldier, replacing Jenkins, was a hardcore patriot, a descendent of a nearly heretic general, a believer in God, and a bit of a gossip queen.

She had been dreading this moment since she decided to get to know her new team. It had been a mixed bag so far, but overall positive. The Alliance staff were fine; having worked with Alenko before it made it easier to see where he was standing on certain issues. She had expected Pressley's concerns, but also knew that the guy basically loved her like his own niece so he would follow anything he was asked to do. And Joker seemed to be a decent guy and a great pilot. Somehow, she could see him being the comic relief in every situation as a way of helping everyone.

Wrex was a wall of anger in an oversized suit. She would have to work harder if she wanted to know what made him tick. All she knew at the moment was that the genophage was a sore spot for him. But hey, combat had a way of bringing a team closer together, so maybe he would open up if they fought together. It was already beginning to break down the barriers between Williams and turian and krogan residents, even if the Gunnery Chief had reservations.

She would get to the turian cop and the quarian later but for now, she had a cocky billionaire and his sidekick to deal with.

They were almost completely hidden at the door end of the garage, behind the mako. Not much room and out of the line of sight of most of the places on the deck. A good defensive position, or somewhere to work without having to be as careful as they would have to be in another spot. A requirement, she supposed, if he was going to be working on other things related to his businesses while he was on the ship.

Though if she was feeling sinister, it was also a good place to monitor the going-ons of the garage discreetly. She shook that thought out of her head. Just because she didn't particularly like the guy from first, and second, impressions, didn't mean she should automatically be looking at him as a spy and an enemy. He had helped at the Citadel, after all.

As she approached, she noticed the turian was using some form of headgear that she hadn't seen before, wearing some thin gloves and moving his hands as if he was using an omni-tool. Some type of gaming device, if she had to guess, considering that crazy popular game that came out recently. Nielson was sitting at a portable terminal that was pressed up against the wall and tapping away at something, looking at the display intensely.

"Be right with you, Spectre," he said, as he finished tapping a few moments later. "Sorry about that," he said, standing and turning to face her with a neutral smile on his face. "I have some work I had to do for my company if I wanted to hit a few deadlines."

"Not a problem," she said. "Do you have time to talk?"

"For you? Sure," he said cheerfully, leaning back against the wall. "What about?"

"I'm just trying to get to know my team," she said. "I want to know how everyone is going to work together."

"Sounds reasonable," he nodded. "Well, by all means, ask me and Torrin anything you'd like. I have no problems with a few questions."

"Very well," she said. "How did you know the asari and salarian Councillors would vote in our favour so easily?"

"I have had a few business deals with the asari, mostly in resources," Nielson replied. "I also have been able to return quite a few asari that we liberated during our raids in the Terminus and through batarian space so we work with their office to repatriate their people. Same with the salarians that we rescue, though there are not as many of them as you would hope. They tend to be more fragile, as seeing as they only live for about forty years total, they don't last long as slaves. But overall, the asari councillor and I have a decent working relationship

"As for the salarians, that was fairly recent. I earned the salarian councillors' favour when I found some information that was important to the Union and was able to put that forward to his office. He seemed really grateful that I was able to get it to him before it fell into less altruistic hands."

The turian snorted in amusement, but otherwise didn't comment. Shepard looked at him. "You know, I don't think I have ever heard you talk. Do you speak?"

The turian looked over her through his headset's display. "When I have something to say," he replied. "I'm not really much of a talker to people I don't know and trust."

Jane nodded slowly. "Is that going to be an issue on missions?"

He shook his head, his mandible twitching slightly. "No, in the field I won't stay quiet if something needs to be said. You don't need to worry about that."

"Torrin has a harder time trusting new people," Nielson explained. "I picked him up from a rough situation on the Citadel a couple of years ago. If anything, I think the only one on your crew that he might have reservations with would be Detective Vakarian, but I can assure you that it won't get in the way of his performance." Torrin nodded in agreement.

"Well, alright then," Jane said thoughtfully. She turned back to face Nielson. "Anderson said that you were experienced in ground combat. That's pretty unusual for a rich person."

Nielson smiled knowingly. "Let me guess," he said, "'Why is a rich guy like you fighting in a place like that?'"

Jane tilted her head in concession. "Basically, yeah."

"Easy enough," he said. "Sometimes you come across a situation that you know could be made better, it just takes someone to stand up and do it. But most of us spend our whole lives waiting for someone else to do the standing. We wait, knowing that someone, somewhere, could make it better. And we spend so much of that time waiting that when no one stands up, it's almost too late for us to accomplish anything. Then our time is up and the cycle starts again.

"I saw all that and suddenly found myself in a place where I had the means and desire to help people, so I did. I hired trainers, bought weapons, got intel. I did anything I could, which opened up more options, allowing me to do more. So, my organisation has saved lots of people and helped them come home. As a result, I have fought in, probably sixty or so ground missions personally, either direct combat or stealth insertions or some variety. I still have teams going on operations out in the Terminus as we speak."

Jane's eyes widened involuntarily. Even experienced Alliance SpecOps would have maybe twenty missions to their name. N School graduates might have thirty, possibly more if they were N7. Granted some of them were months long deployments, but still. Sixty or more was almost ridiculous. "Any way to verify that?" she asked, trying to figure out if this was just bragging or if he was being completely straight with her.

He raised an eyebrow himself. "I mean, I could," he hedged. "But it would be your eyes only and you can copy none of it. I don't think I have to stress the importance of not leaking even past mission ops to groups like the Blue Suns or Blood Pack, let alone the Hegemony."

She nodded. "That sounds reasonable." And it did; she knew that she had a small bounty on her head for her actions in the Blitz. But it did lend credit to him being honest if he was willing to show her. "What are your specialties in combat?"

He considered for a moment. "I guess infiltration would be my main specialty," he said thoughtfully. "I wouldn't really consider myself a marksman but I can shoot accurate to five hundred metres without trouble. I usually take either an infiltration role or a shock trooper role, though I have a little experience in a main combat role. What do you think?" he turned to his turian friend and asked.

"I would say either infiltration, tactical planning, squad leader or shock trooper," Torrin replied immediately. "You do all of those on nearly every mission, unless Beau is on the team. Then you focus mostly on infiltration and shock troop roles, with squad leader if he is stepping aside to see how you go. And before you ask," he said turning to Jane, "I am a biotic shock trooper, with side training as an infiltrator."

"Huh, sounds right," Nielson said with a touch of amusement, turning back to Jane. "Does that help?"

"Actually, yes," Jane said, feeling more comfortable and a little surprised that the young turian was a biotic. "I should be able to figure out how to utilise the both of you. Do you have problems with not being on the same ground team?"

They shared a look and Torrin shrugged.

"Not really," Nielson said, looking back at her. "You can use us together if you want, but you can also use us separately if that works better for you."

"I can work with that," Jane said, feeling a little better about this. This is not how she was expecting him to be. She considered for a moment before adding. "I have to admit, you are not presenting the way I thought you would."

He gave a knowing smirk. "You thought I would be Cocky Rich Boy, coming to rub my wealth in your face and tell you how to run your show. Something like that?"

"Basically," Jane agreed.

Nielson just laughed. "I suppose that I can come across that way at times, but that's usually just how I act when there are politicians around. It's what they expect and believe it or not, acting that way means that it is easier for me to navigate around them. But I promise, when the armour goes on, it is strictly business."

"Good," Jane smiled. That made more sense to her. After all, there were a lot of jokers in the forces, but when the mission started, the jokes stopped and the action 'mask' came on. "That's all I can ask."

"Before you go, though," Nielson spoke up quickly, as Jane was turning to leave," I would like to request that I go on the ground team to retrieve Dr T'Soni."

Jane blinked and turned to face him. "Why's that?"

"Mostly, I want to show you what I can do early on so that we don't have issues later," he said. "Also, it is a prothean dig site. I am no expert but I have been around some prothean tech and might be able to lend a hand if needed. And honestly, I just want to get in on the action."

Jane considered him closely for a moment. "I'll think about it," was all she would promise.

He gave a nod. "I suppose that's all I can ask," he mused.

"That's all for now," Jane said, feeling the need to cut this meeting short. She could and would get more personal later. But for now, she could start planning on how to use him in the field, if she felt like risking her benefactor.

"You know where to find us," Nielson said, moving back to his workstation.

The last trip took her to engineering, but her mind was still full of the conversation she had with Nielson. The turian cop chafing under the red tape of bureaucracy was cool but not overly noteworthy yet.

Had she misjudged him? He seemed very open for a man who would probably have the largest bounty in history against him, if the batarians knew who he was. Was it all true or just a smoke trail? It seemed too good to be true. Jane was no stranger to the galaxy and she could not remember a time in all of history where someone was that altruistic without an agenda somewhere in the background.

A mystery for another time but one that would be unravelled as they continued the mission. And if nothing else, he seemed to have signed up for the long term.

A quick chat with Engineer Adams to let her know that the whole ships was running smoothly, better than any other Alliance vessel, all up and beyond specs. Then it was time to talk to her last new crew member.

The excitable little quarian was certainly a suited ball of energy. She was a tech specialist, something that was always handy to have in the field. She also had Adams' tick of approval so that made things a little easier. Tali was certainly extremely grateful just for the opportunity to be here on the off chance that she was able to pick up something for her Pilgrimage.

"… or maybe see if Brock Nielson could get me something," the quarian finished.

Jane blinked. "Why would Brock Nielson give you something?" she asked in confusion.

Tali chuckled shyly in reply, reaching up with a hand to rub her left arm with her right hand. "Well, Mr Nielson is sort of a legend to my people," she said sheepishly. "I'm not really allowed to say much but he has had some quarians work for him for a while and gave them some amazing Pilgrimage gifts. Like, brand new cruiser level gifts."

Jane's eyes widened again for a moment before she frowned in annoyance. She really had to stop feeling surprised at things. "That sounds generous," she said instead.

"It's more than that," Tali replied enthusiastically. "My people are confined to starships. Some of them are from the time that we were driven from Rannoch. New ships are crucial to us surviving. Many of our ships are in desperate need of replacing. You don't know how hard it is to wake up one day and learn that a ship's life support gave out, or a drive core had a massive sudden failure and know that another part of your people is gone. When Brock Nielson gave ships, cruisers of all things, as Pilgrimage gifts, it represented hope to us. Now, lots of Pilgrims have thought about asking him to take them on so that they can get a Pilgrim gift from him."

"So, he gives good gifts?" Jane asked in confusion. "That's it?"

"No, not just that," the reply was hesitant. "My people… are not looked at favourably by many in the galaxy. Some people see us as little more than scavengers and are quick to take advantage of us. But Mr Nielson has a good reputation for defending those of us that work with him and he has returned a few that were captured by slavers." She shrugged. "It has earned him a lot of goodwill with my people."

I can understand that," Jane said. "I won't lie, when I first saw you walking in to the embassy on his arm, I thought you were on a romantic stroll with him," she couldn't help but tease the younger girl.

"Oh!" Tali locked up and froze for a moment before waving her hands in front of her frantically. "Oh no! nothing like that I swear!"

"Easy there, Tali," she raised a calming hand. "It was a joke."

"Oh," Tali stammered. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to all this."

"You'll get there," Jane assured her. "I should go."

"Of course."

We had been travelling for more than twelve hours and I decided that I would head upstairs to the mess to grab some food. I had paid for the galley to be stocked with some premium goods instead of the standard rations that would be found on a military ship. I normally wouldn't splash out for such an expense, but I was going to be here for an unspecified length of time and I wanted food that didn't have a weird taste or slimy texture. Plus, I am pretty rich, so why not?

Torrin decided to stay in the garage to meditate with his biotics. He had been having some trouble with them recently that he couldn't explain so I was happy for him to get to work on it. I really didn't need my young turian friend to make mistakes in the field.

The elevator was slow. Just like the games. Actually, it felt even worse because at least in the games I could leave during the load scenes. This felt as slow as my original elevators on the Hidden Enterprise before I had Sel fix them up.

Man, that felt like a decade ago.

Still, it meant that I was going to have a word to Shepard and see if I can convince her to let Tali take a stab at it. I had a feeling that the excitable quarian girl would be only too happy to seem useful on this ship. Even if it did bring her out of Engineering, where she seems to have set up a nest. Funny kid.

Finally, the doors opened and I saw a bunch of crew members walking around the mess deck. Alenko was standing over to one side near the captain's quarters. The med station was on the opposite side, with Doctor Karin Chakwas visible through the windows. The lab that Liara would take residence in was beyond there.

Surprisingly, Garrus and Wrex had made their way up here to grab some food too. The crew members looked at them a little warily but didn't say anything. Probably because every time they looked like they were about to, Wrex would turn and glared right at them. With the scars on his face and his massive size, it was certainly enough to intimidate most people into being silent.

Luckily, I don't consider myself most people, as having been close to a krogan for the last two years, the fear factor was significantly diminished.

I headed over to the galley and grabbed myself some food and some cutlery. It was a chicken kiev, made from real chicken, and not that processed, factory-made chicken substitute that the military used. Loaded with proteins and nutrients that stuff might be, it would never make up for the real thing.

I could feel Alenko's eyes following me as I made my way over to the table and sat down. Garrus joined me a moment later and took a good whiff of the food in front of him.

"Hmmm," he blinked as he considered his plate. "This almost looks like it is real turian girselk with tubers."

I grinned at him. "That's because it is real girselk and tubers," I said cheerfully. "When I decided to come on board, I made a few quick calls and made sure that the entire galley was replaced with quality items, and not standard rations. I figured people would appreciate it more."

"Are you kidding?" Garrus exclaimed. "Replacing rations with real food? If this was a turian ship, the very ground you walked on would be worshiped. You would quickly become the most loved person of all time."

"He's not wrong," Alenko cut in, sitting down with a plate of his own; lasagne, by the looks of it. "I'm pretty sure I heard some of the male crew members saying that if he was going to stick around, they might try have his children."

Garrus blinked and his mandible twitched. "I wasn't aware that human males could get pregnant."

Alenko shot him a smirk. "They can't," he confirmed. "It was a joke."

"Yes, I'm familiar with jokes," Garrus rebutted drily. "I'm also familiar with bad ones. Alliance soldiers seem to be experts at them, from what I've witnessed."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. The conversation halted while we all took a bite of our food.

"Oh, Spirits," Garrus muttered. "I haven't had girselk this good in years. I may not be on board for childbearing but I will happily travel around the galaxy without my CSEC pay if I can eat like this."

"Well, just because we are on a dangerous, rogue Spectre hunting mission, doesn't mean we can't have something go our way, right?" I asked.

I got a couple of appreciative noises before we returned to eating, enjoying a silence that was now more companionable than it was before. I have to admit, after all that I had done over the last two years, there was a very small part of me that was marvelling that I was sitting at a table, enjoying a meal with Garrus Vakarian of all people. And Alenko too, I guess. Actually, note to self, find a way to make sure the lieutenant and Williams live through the death choice on Virmire, even if he seems a bit stiff and she seems like a banshee.

"I remember you, by the way," Garrus' flanging voice cuts into my thoughts. I look up to see him staring at me expectantly.

I swallowed my mouthful. "I remember you too," I replied, sitting up in my chair. "The CSEC agent on the scene when I collected my first bounty."

"You're a bounty hunter?" Alenko's voice interrupted us, his face pinched disapprovingly.

I levelled him a deadpanned look. "No, but in the course of my work, I have come across more slavers that have had bounties on them than I can poke a stick at. I have collected a couple dozen of them over the last couple of years." I turned back to Garrus. "How've you been since then?"

"Eh, can't complain," Garrus said. "There's enough variety of crime going on in the Citadel that there was always paperwork to do. But there were so many flaws there that the Council being willing to let someone like Saren go free until it was shoved in their faces was not unexpected. But that meant that something petty like gang wars was hardly given the time or the budget to take care of. Unless it threatened to spill onto the Presidium of course."

"Oh, of course," I agreed whole-heartedly. I had seen how governments work. Nothing's a problem until it involved the boss's boss. Then it was everyone's problem and we were all at fault. "I know exactly what you mean. I saw plenty of that in the prisons."

Garrus blinked and Alenko tensed slightly. "You were in prison?" Alenko asked stiffly, his tone almost demanding.

"Worked in the prisons," I clarified. This guy seemed determined to take whatever I said at its worst possible meaning. "I was a guard in Australia for a while. Though that feels like a lifetime ago."

Alenko relaxed from his tense posture as Garrus hummed in that multi-tonal way.

"I'd ask if that's where you got shot," Garrus asked. "But that bullet wound wasn't there when we first met and I don't think you would have had time to work in the prisons since then."

I blinked as my mind faulted for a sec, wondering what he was talking about. He gestured to my left hand and I looked down to see the old bullet wound I picked up on Camala still visible as a scar. Huh, I hadn't thought about that in ages. It felt like a lifetime ago.

"You have a very good memory," I complimented. "But no, that didn't happen until after we met. Don't worry. It was self-inflicted."

I froze for a moment as what I said was processed in my head and Garrus and Alenko both looked alarmed. I raised a finger to hold them off. "Which, as I say out loud, sounds really bad without context," I amended, causing them to relax slightly.

By this point I realised that there were a large number of crew standing around listening in. Oh well, story time was about to have a lot more spectators. I could deal with that. Can't really fault them for being curious. Plenty of people never got to meet the ultra-rich tier that I belated realised that I was a part of, and it was possible that some of the crew members had never really been close to aliens before. It made for curious minds.

"I actually got this the first time I infiltrated a batarian slave market," I continued, striving to keep my voice casual and not sound like I was bragging.

Ah, the dumbfounded looks that I got from the large group of people, which now apparently included Wrex who stomped over to the table while I was talking.

"How the hell'd you manage that?" he growled as the crew around us continued to mutter to each other.

I smirked. "I posed as a slave of a wealthy merchant," I explained. "We were able to secure a letter of introduction from a Terminus crime lord who knew the right people. Unfortunately, I got bumped into a minor noble during the event and had to do some form of penance. I had planned for it but wasn't overly happy that I had to go through with it."

Wrex grunted and stepped back to lean against the wall, but stayed near the table to still be part of the conversation.

"Still, we managed to get about forty slaves out that day, including a few children that we were able to place back with their families," I finished. "It was a risk, but one that I don't have regrets about."

"That's impressive," Garrus said. "Almost like the time I went undercover to the Blue Suns to investigate an assassination threat against a Primarch who was visiting the Kithoi Wards. I spent nearly a week as a new initiate before I was able to get access to the plans that they had. I can still see their faces as I placed them in restraints and shipped them off for processing. I almost got burned from a pyro trooper during the arrest but we freed nearly seventy kids that were being held at their hideout to be taken to the slave markets. Good times."

I smiled as I realised what we were really about to do. It was one-upmanship time 'Brock vs Garrus'. Time for some fun. "Well then, let me tell you about the time…"

Jane walked down the steps from the CIC to the crew deck, looking forward to getting a meal into her. The mental stress of being in charge of such a high-priority mission was getting to her a little and she wanted nothing more than to get some food in her belly before she made her way to her quarters and got some shut-eye. And truthfully, she was looking forward sleeping in her new quarters, even though she still felt put out by Anderson's forced departure.

The sound of voices hit her about halfway down the stairs. A few stairs later and she could tell it was Nielson, but it wasn't until she got to the bottom and rounded the corner that she could hear what was being said.

"… then he stood up, sucked his gut in and his pants fell to the ground and goes, 'well you're not going to like Sundays. Off you go.'"

The large amount of crew gathered around the sole crew table roared with laughter at the joke that she walked in late to. She could even see Alenko chuckling along with the rest. Hell, even Wrex was grunting in amusement, though it sounded more like his chest was rumbling.

"Commander on deck!" someone shouted, clearly having seen her. All the Alliance personnel leaped to their feet to stand at attention.

"At ease!" she called. "And no need to shout it going forward. Just a stand at attention is good enough for me." No need to let discipline slip too much, after all. This was still an Alliance vessel and she had standards.

"Have you come to join us, Spectre?" Nielson called, gesturing to himself, Alenko and the turian, Garrus. "Care to contribute to story time?"

"Not this time, Nielson," she denied, not really wanting to spend time with the man, even after their chat earlier. This time it was nothing personal, she just wanted to eat alone in her cabin. "I came for food and then will move on."

Clearly, he had picked up on more than she had intended to put out because he waved her off. "Oh, don't worry," he said dismissively. "I won't take any more of your crew's time." He turned slightly to focus on the crowed. "Story time's over for now, everyone," he called as he stood up. "Time for me to get back to work."

Jane blinked as she heard the grumbles and groans of some of the crew as they walked away to do whatever else they wanted to do in their off time. Maybe they were a little in awe of the man's status as a billionaire, or maybe he was genuinely entertaining, but more than a handful of people seemed put out by the sudden ending to their little hangout.

The businessman disappeared around the corner and a moment later the sound of the elevator descending could be heard throughout the deck. The crew members wandered off to do whatever and Garrus walked off to the med bay with Wrex stomping after him. Good thing too, Doctor Chakwas was wanting them to get their records on file.

Eventually, it was just her and Alenko who was still sitting at the table, looking up at her expectantly. She slid into the seat opposite him. "What do you think?" she asked.

"Honestly, I don't know," he admitted. "He seems to be pretty open about some things, but he never gave names, dates, locations or anything that was too revealing. He did share about a couple of operations he had done. Including infiltrating a slave market."

She felt her brows rising in shock. "Really? He said that?"

"Yeah, first thing," came the reply. "He has a bullet wound on his hand that he claims came from that. Said he had to shoot himself to keep cover. Not sure if it's legitimate or just a story though. Not like we can check it out."

Hmmm, another piece of information that revealed that she didn't know enough about her resident bill-payer. This was either one of the more elaborate hoaxes she had ever come across, or there was more than a sprinkling of truth in his claims. That being said, with how many boasts she had from soldiers in bars over the years, and from any civilian brave enough to hit on her, it could be just made up from other people's stories.

"Do you think we can trust them?" she asked. It was an important question, especially when choosing people to watch her back in the field. She was keeping Brock's request in mind for this next mission, so needed to make sure that things were all above board.

Alenko gave a small sigh as he wiped off a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. "Honestly, I don't fully know. I think we can trust them in combat, going by what we saw on Eden Prime. But something about the man doesn't add up. Why would a billionaire spend his days fighting slavers in the Terminus with a crew of freed slaves? Unless he was one, it doesn't make sense, which then begs the question of how he became a billionaire in the first place. And he just happened to be on Eden Prime and comes along to save the day with the perfect evidence to make sure that we got everything the Alliance wanted and more? I don't know, Commander, but something smells off."

Jane hummed in acknowledgement. There were a lot of dots not connecting here and until they did, she wouldn't have a complete picture on whether she could trust the man fully.

Then again, she was willing to take a gamble on a turian cop who had been stuck on the Citadel, a krogan who could be a loose cannon going by how he had been with Fist, and a quarian Pilgrim she had never met before. Maybe she could extend a little good faith to the businessman too.

"Thanks for your opinion," she said, standing up and moving to the galley. "I'll see you around, LT."

"Here if you need me, Commander."

A/N Please Review and Follow/Favourite as you please.

It just wouldn't have felt right to be on the Normandy but not have a 'Shepard meets the crew' moment. I didn't do all the crew because it would just have made this whole chapter blow out more than it needed to and their was no need for me to just quote the games completely.

If you want to read ahead, the next chapter is already live on my pat-re-on. Just look up Bored Peasant's Written Works.