The Courier was quite surprised when he heard that the Normandy would not go to the next planet in the search for Saren but in fact would be going back to the Citadel instead. Though the Courier couldn't really blame them for doing something like that since food and water were running low and because the ground team needed some rest especially after the mission on Therum. The Courier thought back to the Wasteland and how he and whatever companions he had at the time would complete the mission and go straight onto the next one. Heck that's what he did after escaping the Sierra Madre and immediately going to the traveling caravan which led into Zion Canyon.

But another reason was because Shepard needed to see the Council again for something important. Though why face to face when video calls and holograms were available to use the Courier didn't know. Which also meant having nothing to do for a whole day. The Courier was used to at least being shot or attacked by something or someone everyday in the Mojave, but here? There was no need to pull out the ol' reliable and blast the enemies brains out while on route to the next location. Though he guessed if they were going to be at the Citadel while restocking supplies he would use this time to it's fullest. Stepping out of the elevator and into the crew deck the Courier was about to walk upstairs when he was stopped by Garrus who had ED-E following behind him.

"John, you gotta help me."

"Yeah sure what's wrong?"

Garrus pointed at ED-E. "ED-E won't stop following me around the ship. And he keeps trying to talk with me but I can't understand a single thing he is saying."

"*Beeping noises*"

The Courier couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Ah come on Garrus clearly ED-E has taken a liking to you! You must really remind him of Boone with those sharp shooting skills. It's fine he can probably help you with something, he does have a feature to craft something useful if you have the parts."

Garrus looked back at the hovering eyebot and scanned all over it but nothing about it looked like it could hold a workbench or a crafting table at all. Garrus looked back at the Courier and was going to say something when Wrex walked up to the three and interrupted Garrus before he could say anything.

"Hey you're going to be on the Citadel?"

The Courier nods. "Yeah, I thought I could kill some time, just so used to shooting my gun at least more than once a day back in the Wasteland."

Wrex chuckled. "Yeah I bet after all those stories you told me and that Quarian about."

The Courier smiled underneath his helmet as he remembered he, Tali, and Wrex sharing stories and information about themselves which he learned a lot more about them. He had learned exactly what it was like to be a Quarian, what freedoms they had to sacrifice living on ships for their lives, what they have to do with food just so they don't get sick and die from it, and the Courier had learnt that Tali was actually a daughter of an admiral. Once again the Courier had felt bad for what they had to go through but one thing he didn't agree with Tali on was the Quarian's reaction to AI's. He felt like they were defending themselves from being killed by the Quarians. Tali argued that if it was the Wasteland that created the AIs they would have done the exact same thing which the Courier couldn't argue against since there was the Institute and the Railroad and their actions involving Synths with the Institutes treatment to Synths being seen as slavery by the Railroad. The Courier felt like if Tali was suddenly dropped into the Wasteland by herself she really wouldn't last long, maye a day or two if food wasn't an issue.

Wrex on the other hand was definitely a Wastelander at heart. What life was like on Tuchanka from Wrex's view was definitely like the Wasteland, and the Courier learnt from Wrex that they had their own version of Death Claw's. A Thresher Maw, it was called, is a giant carnivorous violent creature that will attack just about anything that isn't one of it's kind. The Courier wondered what they tasted like and when asking Wrex he had just laughed and called him a crazy "Pyjak", he didn't know what that was but it must have been something from Wrex's world, and said that no one was crazy enough to fight one, and even then they did fight one no one was crazy enough to try and eat one. Wrex told him how he was the most recent Krogan in history to ever kill a Thresher Maw in his Rite of Passage. If Wrex was put into the Wasteland he knew that Wrex would definitely enjoy his time there, probably fight Death Claws for fun, and kill as many people in a single day.

"Do you want to come along?"

"Heh yeah I do. I want to try out some of the guns you showed, most of them seem perfect for a Krogan like me."

The Courier then began to think. Most if not all of them had guns that were vastly superior to the Courier's but Wrex wanted to try out some of his guns? Well it couldn't hurt for him to try some out.

"Can I come along too? I want to try out some of the energy weapons you have."

Wrex and Courier looked to see that it was Tali who had walked up to them. The Courier shrugged.

"Yeah sure why not. Besides I think we can also find you a holster for your new 10mm."

The three then began to walk upstairs while Garrus just stood there having been completely ignored while ED-E hovered next to the Turian before suddenly playing music making the Turian jump from surprise.

Tali would be lying to herself if she wasn't excited to at least use John's laser or plasma guns. She saw the type of damage they did to the Geth and was quite surprised at how strong the 10mm John gave to her was. Okay sure it wasn't as strong as any other weapon but it was surprisingly strong despite it being considered antique by many. Surprisingly Wrex was the one who had to lead the group to a gun shop as Tali didn't really know a lot of the areas in the Citadel save for a arcade in the Wards and a sushi shop that had floors made out of glass so you could see all the fish underneath you but she wasn't allowed in there due to them not allowing Quarians to enter the place. And John for the life of him couldn't understand the map from his Omni-Tool.

Wrex eventually led the two to a gun shop he knew about and Tali could see the glowing sign words brightly saying Gunsmith Emporium with two guns behind the guns a bright blue neon light and the words being a red neon light. Entering into the store the trio could see many shoppers looking at different guns from the basic assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, and sniper rifles with many different armors and Omni-Tools being put on display as well.

"Hey I thought this was a gun store, why are they selling armors and Omni-Tools?"

John asked, clearly confused as was Tali. She did find it weird that a gun store would be selling armors alongside guns and Omni-Tools. Wrex just laughed at John's confusion.

"Are you kidding me? Everyone here on the Citadel that sells weapons also sells armor too. Or what, do the Wasteland merchants not sell armor alongside weapons?"

"Yeah they do, but I thought at least they would have a different store to sell armor and Omni-Tools. Though I guess armor makes sense I don't understand the Omni-Tools, they don't even come in different colors."

Tali giggled at John's cluelessness on Omni-Tools.

"John the Omni-Tool doesn't change color. The reason they are selling Omni-Tools is because they are mostly used in different areas. Say like hacking a machine or for combat. It can make people who use tech, like me, attack more efficiently."

John looked at Tali and while she couldn't really see underneath his helmet she was good at reading body language and the way he had moved his head she could tell that he was surprised to hear that information. Tali smiled at John's actions, if anything it was hilarious to see someone react the way he did when she and Wrex told them some of the information from their people and their own stories, though that was mostly Wrex. She also knew John must have had the same feeling she was having when he told her and Wrex about some of the stuff from the Wasteland. From a giant robot called Liberty Prime, rumors of a giant Gecko named Gojira to the legends of the Wastelands past like the Vault Dweller to the Lone Wanderer. She was quite surprised how despite the harshness of the Wasteland that there were those who had a main objective but actually took the time to help the citizens of the Wasteland was admirable.

"Really? So all this time I have been looking at ways to change my Omni-Tool's color, it doesn't exist? Man that sucks to hear. At least with my PipBoy it has a few color options like blue, green, amber, and white. Guess that gives a point up to the PipBoy to the Omni-Tool."

Tali shook her head with a smile at John's little boast to his Pip-Boy. Tali had to admit though that when John showed her the Pipboy she was fascinated by its design and the functions it had. It was definitely somewhat more useful than an Omni-Tool in certain categories like with it being able to take and store notes, a status tab, a radio, a geiger counter, and a light. Though it didn't have any combat capabilities like an Omni-Tool did, which gave the Omni-Tool a point as well. Tali wondered if there would be a way to blend the two in a perfect mix, the combat capabilities of an Omni-Tool and the Pip-Boy's usages. Tali had to put those thoughts away for now as Wrex led the two away from the Omni-Tools and armor to the counter where behind the counter stood a black human male wearing a blue suit with the color red going all the way from the shoulder to the end of his sleeves, and blue pants. The man noticed the three approaching him and spoke.

"Well a Krogan, Quarian, and a human walk into a gun store, now that's a group you don't see everyday," The man put his arms onto the counter and smiled. "So what can I do for your three?"

John pulled out his 10mm pistol and put it onto the counter in front of the man.

"I'm hoping you at least have a holster for my Quarian friend here."

The man went wide-eyed as he picked up the pistol and with caution examined it before taking out the magazine and examining the bullets and looking at John.

"This is a 10mm. I have never seen a pistol design like this before." The man then looked at Tali before looking at John again. "And you want a holster for your friend?"

"Do you have a problem with her?"

The man shook his head. "Oh no I don't! It's just… I mean this is considered an antique right here. And you want a holster for it?"

John nodded. "I do. Are you able to do it?"

"I can but it will cost you a lot."

"How much?"

The man put the magazine back into the pistol and set it back down onto the counter and brought up his Omni-Tool and typed in a few buttons. "Well, at minimum probably 50 credits. At maximum probably 300 or more credits."

Tali went wide-eyed when hearing this and looked at John.

"John, you don't have to pay it if you don't want to. I can always just carry it in my-"

However John had already pulled up his Omni-Tool and pressed a few buttons. "Alright, sure sounds easy enough."

The man nodded as a ding came from his Omni-Tool and he walked away from the counter and into another room and after a couple minutes came back with a holster and handed it to John.

"Thank you."

John then handed the holster to Tali who hesitated and looked at the holster before looking at John.

"Are you sure John? I mean you did spend 300 credits for something like that so I don't want you to feel like you have to do this or-"

"Tali, it's fine, really. Besides, I don't use the 10mm much compared to my other guns."

Tali hesitated again while looking at the holster before finally nodding and grabbing the holster from John's hands and attached it to her belt. She then put the 10mm pistol John had given her into the holster and to her relief it was a perfect fit for the gun. John then grabbed the 10mm pistol from the counter and put that away.

"Thank you John…"

John nodded and looked at the man again.

"Is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"Yeah I was wondering if you happen to know a shooting range to be at?"

"Oh yeah we actually do have a shooting range in the back of the building. Are you and your friends wanting to shoot a few guns?"

"Yeah we are."

The man smiled and nodded. "Okay great, just follow the signs and you'll find the shooting range. If that is all, have a good day."

"You too." John said as he backed away from the counter and the group walked towards the shooting range. Inside the range was the basic stuff you would find in one. There were the controls, the firing lanes, and the targets. There weren't many people using the gun range, only two Turians and a human were there using the lanes at the farthest end of the range. Approaching one in the middle Wrex came up first as he then looked at John, who was also looking down at his Pip-Boy.

"Alright Wrex, what kind of gun do you want to use?"

"The minigun."

This surprised Tali as well as John who looked at the Krogan. "Are you serious?"

Wrex eagerly nodded. "Oh I'm serious alright. Always wanted to shoot one but no one had the guts or balls to give a Krogan one, and making one with mass accelerator technology is almost impossible because of the heat. But you got one and I want to shoot one."

John looked at Wrex for a couple more seconds before shrugging and looked back at his Pip-Boy and the minigun in question dropped onto the ground. Wrex smiled as he picked up the minigun with ease and aimed it at one of the targets.

"So Tali what gun did you say you wanted to use?"

Wrex pulled the trigger as the minigun barrel started to whirl before unleashing a hail of bullets onto the target shredding it to pieces and making Tali flinch a bit. She had never seen or been in close distance with a minigun. Wrex was correct on the part about the minigun never being brought into the mass accelerator world. It would constantly overheat only firing after a few seconds and force you to go behind cover, whereas a normal assault rifle could do the exact same thing but way more effectively. She still could remember when John had used his minigun on the hitmen Saren had sent after them, how they had been easily torn to shreds from the bullets and how much ease John had wielded it despite his wounds.

"O-oh um I said I wanted to use one of your energy weapons…"

Tali said while beginning to wring her hands again. She wasn't used to asking so much from someone, especially one who was willing to buy them something expensive and willing to let them use their weapon. Especially ones that never existed. John nods and looks down at his Pip-Boy before pulling out a pistol similar to a mass accelerator pistol and handing it to her.

"Here, try out the laser pistol for a start."

Tali nodded and grabbed the laser pistol and walked to the lane on the right of Wrex's and aimed the pistol at the target. Taking a breath Tali pulled the trigger of the pistol and a red beam came out and to her surprise had more kick to it than she expected and the laser missed the target. Tali aimed again and fired again but just like last time she had missed again. She could hear John chuckle as she silently groaned and fired again and missed. Tali fired again and again but each time she kept missing until finally a clicking was her telling her that the gun was out of ammo. Wrex had finally stopped firing the minigun and was watching Tali getting slowly frustrated at missing her shots, chuckling at her poor aim. Tali was blushing underneath her visor as both men were laughing at her poor aim.

"Hah! Even a baby pyjak with a gun has better aim than you."

Tali was flustered when Wrex had said that and was about to say something but John just patted her shoulder and took the laser pistol and ejected the now empty ammo which was three batteries and inserted a new one into the pistol.

"Just ignore Wrex, no one's aim is perfect on the first try with new guns. Especially energy and ballistic guns, those are two different types of guns to use. Here let me show you."

John put the laser pistol back in Tali's hands and held her arms as she aimed the pistol at the target again with him slightly moving her arms and changing her posture slightly as well.

"Okay posture is good, hands are steady, you ready?"

Tali nodded her head as John gently moved her arms slightly before nodding and stepping right behind her. Tali took a breath before pulling the trigger and shooting a laser. To her joy the first shot was able to land closer to the target instead of completely missing it.

"Now that's better. Just keep doing that while I give Wrex more ammo."

Tali smiled at John's words as he went over to Wrex to give the Krogan more ammo to the minigun. She then stayed in the position John had left her and she continued to fire the laser pistol at the target. And to her absolute joy she was slowly getting better with her aim at the pistol as she was landing more shots at the target and with the final shot she had accidently turned the target into dust.

Wrex had laughed loudly when seeing what had happened to the target Tali was shooting at.

"HA! Now that's a weapon I could get behind! You got anything like it in my size?"

John sighed and shook his head as he picked up the minigun and had reloaded more ammo into it before putting it away.

"I do, but for now let's just get out of here. I don't really like the stares we're getting now."

Tali had completely forgotten about the other people in the range with them as she looked over to the other group and could see that they were staring at them with wide eyes and mouths agape. Tali quickly nodded as she handed the laser pistol back to John as he put it away and all three walked out of the range, much to Wrex not wanting to go just yet but John convincing him with a drink, they walked past the counter and were about to leave when they were stopped by the worker from before.

"Hey wait a moment."

The group stopped and looked at the man.

"Is there something you need?"

"I do actually. I heard the noise from the gun range and when looking from the security camera I saw the Krogan using that minigun."

Wrex smiled, clearly still happy having used the minigun. "Yeah I did. What about it?"

"W-well I also heard from the footage about there not being a mass accelerator equivalent for one."

"Okay, where are you going with this?"

"Well I know someone that could definitely help make a mass accelerator equivalent to one for you and your friend. If you could say, give us the minigun, we could study it and make one for you and your friend."

This had gotten the three's attention as John crossed his arms. "Okay that does sound good, but I feel like you want something in return."

The man nodded. "Well we do yes, we can make the blueprints and models for it. But it won't come cheap at all. But I also saw from the footage that pistol the Quarian was using. That was actual lasers that were coming out of that thing. If you could also give us that we could speed up the process by a huge margin."

John sighed before looking down at his Pip-Boy before pulling out a gun, not the laser pistol like she was expecting but instead he had just handed the man a Geth pulse rifle!

"Yeah I'm not handing anyone my energy weapons. But a Geth's? Yeah I can definitely do that."

Tali was wide eyed when John had just casually handed the man a Geth pulse rifle! She didn't knew when he had the time to take the Geth's guns but the fact that he had some and was willing to give it to the man made Tali wonder what else Geth related he had with him? She knew he was willing to use Geth parts to fix things, especially after he told her and Wrex how many times he used parts from a robot he had just killed to fix something. The man was definitely surprised when John had handed him the rifle but he just shook his head and blinked and looked at John.

"Oh this will definitely work too! Just hand us the minigun and we'll get straight to work."

John shrugged and walked over to the counter and looked at his Pip-Boy before laying the minigun onto the counter.

"So you'll just contact me whenever you have it ready?"

"Yes sir we will! No doubt the next time you come over to the Citadel we'll have it ready!"

John nodded and along with Tali and Wrex walked out Gunsmith Emporium. As they exited Wrex asked John a question.

"Won't you miss your minigun? It'll be some time before we'll come back here."

John shrugged. "Eh, I don't mind. I have plenty of spares."

"Good to hear. But I want to use the new toy first though when we come back."

"Oh yeah sure, go ahead."

"So what do we do now?"

Tali asked as the three continued walking. They got a few stares here and there from everyone else walking past them, the guy back in the gun store was right, when have you ever seen a group like this before? She then wondered how Garrus was doing with ED-E?

"Oh come on, that's not how the Palavan military would have done it!"

Garrus said after ED-E finished playing the recording. He didn't want to admit it but he was secretly enjoying these recordings of a show ED-E was playing, RALPHIE the Robot's Incredible Odyssey!. Earlier he was just calibrating on the Mako when ED-E had come over and tried to talk with him. But Garrus couldn't really understand a single thing ED-E was saying at all with the only person being John and maybe Shepard too since John was teaching the Commander how to understand what the eyebot was saying. But what got Garrus to stop calibrating was when ED-E had played a recording of a show he had never seen or heard of before.

He knew ED-E was able to record things, like when he presented the recording of Saren to the Council, but he didn't expect the eyebot to have recordings of a tv show on him. Garrus tried to look it up but when he saw that it was a show that didn't exist he immediately knew it was from where John and ED-E came from. Garrus of course tried to continue calibrating the Mako but ED-E just continued to play the show while he worked and after a while Garrus had found himself stop working and giving ED-E his full attention as he listened to the show. It gave him a slight idea what the military of John's world was like before this Great War, and possibly how they would have reacted to the Council races if they ever came to earth. He remembers what happened to the Geth back on Therum when ED-E and John used their energy weapons on the Geth. Safe to say it wouldn't have been pretty on the ground for some Turian soldiers. Garrus shuddered at the thought of what it would even feel like to be hit by them, and John had told him that he was hit multiple times by lasers and plasma shots multiple times, before and after finding something called a power armor. If the people of the Wasteland were used to something like laser and plasma then he wondered how they would react to mass accelerator technology?

Garrus put those thoughts away when ED-E began to play the next episode. He wanted to know what will happen next and how RALPHIE will avoid the evil General Winters.

What was there to do when you had nothing else to do? Well the Courier thought to go back to the Normandy and just wait until Shepard was finally done. But Wrex had brought Courier and Tali to the Wards section of the Citadel and brought them to a place called Flux. Why? Wrex just wanted to get a drink before going back to the Normandy, why did he bring Tali and Courier with him? Wrex wanted to see how the Courier would react to some of the alcoholic beverages here. Stepping into Flux the Courier was greeted with what he could only assume to be music. It was… certainly something to say the least. To the right there was a dance floor with humans, a few Turians, a Salarian, and a lot of Asari. While to the left of the Courier was a couple of tables with a wall of glass looking out to the Citadel. The view itself put anything from the Wasteland to shame. The Wasteland… The Courier thought about it again, no doubt many of his companions would love the Citadel, for different reasons, but most definitely it would be the views it had. The Courier was silently hoping in the back of his mind for something at least remotely from home to just suddenly pop up for the Courier to deal with. He would even raise a Deathclaw just for something familiar to come along.

"Come on John, you gotta try out some of the stuff here." Wrex said, bringing the Courier out of his thoughts. Wrex led the two to the bar of Flux and standing behind the counter was a human woman with red hair and green eyes wearing a red dress and black detached sleeves that went all the way down to her hands, leaving only her fingers exposed. Wrex sat onto one of the stools and the Courier could have sworn that he heard it groan from the Krogan's weight. Tali and the Courier followed suit as they sat on both sides of the Krogan as the woman looked at the trio.

"So what can I do for you?"

"A shot of Ryncol. And make it an extra strong shot."

The woman nodded as she grabbed a shot glass and put it in front of Wrex and went under before popping up with a white bottle and poured out a green colored liquid into it and stopped right as it looked like it was going to spill out. She put away the Ryncol and looked at Tali.

"And what about you?"

"Nothing for me, I'm good."

"Ah right sorry forgot you were Quarian."

The woman then looked at the Courier and asked the same question. He didn't know a single drink name or what to pick. And he doubted that they had any of the drinks he knew of here. Cass made sure to teach him what was some of the good stuff to always bring whenever he had her in the party. But she wasn't here to probably out drink everyone here or to give the Courier advice on what to pick so he decided to pick one that looked the most interesting. Looking at the shelf behind the woman his eyes saw one bottle that had the name Turian brandy and decided to pick that one. Pointing at the bottle the woman looked at where he was pointing and looked back at him with a look.

"Are you sure?"

The Courier nods. He didn't know why she gave him that look but it couldn't be that bad. Unless Turians made terrible alcoholic drinks then maybe, but with the way that bottle was designed it must have been pretty good. The woman slowly nodded and gave the Courier a shot glass and grabbed the bottle and slowly poured it into the glass as the same amount as Wrex's glass and put the bottle back on the shelf. The Courier took off his helmet and put it on the counter and grabbed the shot glass.

"John, are you sure you want to drink that? That's Turian brandy you're about to drink."

Tali asked the Courier with worry in her voice. He didn't know why she would be worried about him drinking brandy but it couldn't be that bad. Right? Wrex chuckled at this.

"Ignore Tali John, go on drink the brandy."

Okay now John was worried about the drink. If Tali and the woman were worried while Wrex wasn't there must be something up with the drink he doesn't know about. It couldn't be as bad as any of the irradiated drinks he had in the Wasteland and it couldn't be as bad as the Sierra Madre martini dean showed him how to make back at the Sierra Madre. Gulping the Courier slowly raised the brandy up to his lips and slowly drank the brandy. He could feel it warming his throat as he slowly drank it and before finally placing the shot glass down back onto the counter. He could see both Wrex and Tali looking at him, Tali with worry in her eyes, while Wrex had a look on his face as if expecting something funny to happen. The Courier expected something to happen to him as well, he looked at his Pip-Boy to see if he had gotten any negative effects from the brandy but to his surprise he saw that there were no negative effects at all! The Courier thought it would be delayed so he waited for a few minutes but nothing happened. The Courier looked back at Wrex and Tali who had surprised looks on their faces.

"...So uh was something supposed to happen?"

Wrex continued to look at the Courier with surprise before bursting out laughing and even slapping his knee.

"HAH! I knew you were a tough bastard but I didn't expect you to be THAT tough!"

Wrex continued to laugh while only making the Courier even more confused, making him look at Tali for answers.

"John, you just drank Turian brandy. Those are meant for only species that have dextro DNA. Turians and Quarians have dextro DNA so it is safe for us to drink it, though Quarians have to filter it enough for it to be safe for us to drink them. Every other race is a levo DNA so drinking or eating anything dextro is unsafe. Usually means getting sick or possibly worse."

This new information surprised the Courier. So basically he just drank something that could have made him sick or worse, could have possibly killed him. So basically any irradiated drink one would find in the Wasteland.

"How are you not even showing any signs of sickness?"

The Courier just shrugged. He was just as confused as she was. He doubted even drinking irradiated liquids could have affected him to the point of being able to handle dextro alcohol. So what could have possibl- The Courier then remembered when the Think Tank had experimented on him after he had returned back from the Zetans space ship. Rubbing his neck he answered Tali.

"I may or may not have been experimented genetically on by a bunch of brains in a jar scientist with screens for a face after recovering DNA samples from an alien race..?"

This news had shocked both Tali and Wrex as well who had stopped laughing and looked at the Courier as if he was crazy, he wasn't but the adventures he had outside of the Mojave definitely would make people not from the Wasteland call him one.

"Brains in a jar? Hah you still got more tales to tell?"

Wrex asked as he took his Ryncol shot and drank it in one gulp. The Courier couldn't help but smile.

"With screens for a face. Yeah I still have a bunch of other stories. Last time I just told you stories while I was in the Mojave, you should hear about the ones I had outside of the Mojave."

"Everytime you tell us a story from your Wasteland it always seems to get more crazy than the last one. What's next you talked to your brain?"

Tali asked while shaking her head. If she only knew how correct she was on that last part. He then wondered how ED-E was doing with Garrus, hopefully the eyebot wasn't giving the Turian any trouble.

"HAHA YES GO RALPHIE GO!"

Garrus yelled out after hearing RALPHIE had escaped General Winters once again devious plot to capture the eyebot. Garrus had to admit this pre-war world John had come from was interesting. Especially with the story as well. This then made Garrus wonder if any television were like this back on Palavan or any other of the homeworlds. DId they have something similar to what humans had? Garrus didn't know but he was just really curious now. The sound of the comms system came to life as the Normandy's pilot came through talking to Garrus.

"Geez Garrus I know calibrating must be entertaining for you but do you really have to yell it out? I could hear it from the cockpit, you know."

Garrus then remembered that he was in fact not alone and that he was in fact on the Normandy ship. His face turned a shade of blue as he blushed when Joker had said that. Garrus cleared his throat as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"R-right I'll remember that…"

"HAHA YES GO RALPHIE GO!"

Garrus' head went down when ED-E had just replayed the recording. Hopefully the eyebot didn't replay that recording when anyone was around…

"Yes thank you ED-E for reminding me of what I just said…"

"*Beeping noises*"

Garrus sighed. He wondered if John had to deal with something like this back in the Wasteland?

Receiving a message from Shepard that it was time to head back onto the Courier, Tali, and Wrex came back onto the ship and saw that Shepard was already there at the galaxy map choosing the next location. The trio were about to walk past the Commander when he stopped them.

"John, Wrex, Tali I need you to get ready for a mission we're about to do."

This had gotten the Courier excited, finally some action! Hopefully it won't be boring.

"What kind of mission Commander? Is it another planet involved with Saren?"

Shepard had shook his head, confusing the Courier. If it wasn't that then what was it?

"No not that. We're taking a slight detour. I was contacted by an Asari diplomat on the Citadel, Nassana Dantius, to save her sister from pirates in the Artemis

a group of mercenaries attacked a freighter where her sister was on and kidnapped her for ransom money since her family is well known. Nassana paid the ransom money they wanted but they haven't released her sister and she can't take it to C-Sec because of a law that says she should have reported it to them first before paying ransom. She's asking us to head to the planet located in the Artemis Tau system and get her sister out of there."

So a hostage situation? The Courier remembered something similar back in Boulder City where he had to convince both Jessup, a Great Khan member, to release two NCR troopers and then had to convince Monroe to honor the deal and not kill the Great Khans. But he guessed the Courier won't be able to talk his way into them, releasing the hostage and having to deal with a shootout. The Courier nodded his head when hearing this.

"Yes Commander."

"And one more thing. The planet where Nassana's sister is on doesn't have a breathable atmosphere so unless you have a space suit you may need to borrow one of ours."

Ah. The Courier never thought about it before but the Commander was right. He was going to need a suit for something like this. The Courier really didn't want to use one of the armors the Alliance had. Sure they looked cool, especially the helmet, but he doubted they had one in his size and he didn't want to wear an armor that could sacrifice something useful. The Courier then had an idea.

"I do have a spacesuit Commander. But I'll need to modify it first before landing down on the planet."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at this.

"Do you think you can do it in time?"

The Courier nodded. "Yes Commander, I believe I can."

Shepard looked at the galaxy map then back at the Courier and nodded. "Alright we'll be there in a day or two so get to work."

"Yes Commander."

The group walked down through the quarter deck and down into the engineering deck whereupon the elevator door opening and the group exiting ED-E had immediately hovered over to the Courier and beeped.

"*Beeping noises*"

"Uh-huh…"

"What is ED-E saying?"

Tali asked, confused. He keeps forgetting that almost no one understood ED-E, well maybe except Shepard who was slowly learning how to but still had a long way to go.

"He's just happy to see I'm back. And apparently Garrus is a good eyebot sitter."

"*Beeping noises*"

"Wait how were you able to get all of that from a few beeps?"

"Actually pretty simple stuff Tali. But no time to explain now, ED-E? We got armor to upgrade."

The Courier then walked away with ED-E to begin their work.

It was a pain but both Courier and ED-E were able to do it. The Courier had to modify a T-51b Power Armor and blend it in together with a space suit from a space suit from the REPCONN test site. The Courier of course asked help from Tali and Garrus with the armor but it was finally done. Was it perfect? Not fully but no armor was perfect and no doubt the Courier would have to keep modifying and upgrading the armor but for now it will do. Shepard had notified everyone going that they had reached the planet that the Asari diplomat's sister was being held hostage and had all gone into the Mako to prepare for the drop. The Courier sat near the door like last time with ED-E, Tali, and Wrex on his side of the Mako while on the other was Garrus and Liara with Shepard of course at the driver seat and Garrus handling the cannon just like on Therum. The Courier heard the hangar doors open and Shepard stepping on the pedal as the Mako zoomed out of the Normandy and towards the ground. The Courier could feel himself become weightless again, just like he did back on Therum but unlike last time he was at least prepared for it. Though he couldn't say the same to Liara who looked absolutely terrified out of her mind from the drop. The Courier couldn't help but grin at the sight in front of him, he could even see her grip onto the seats for dear life too. He wondered if this is what he looked like when dropping onto Therum? A thud was felt throughout the Mako signaling that they had landed on the planet and could feel the Mako begin to move.

"First time?"

The Courier asked Liara who was still clinging onto the seat. Liara looked at the Courier shakily and nodded her head quickly.

"Y-yes I am! I just never felt such an experience like this before!"

The Courier couldn't help but chuckle now seeing this is probably how he reacted to first landing in the Mako. Though he did wonder if there was a better way to land on a planet, maybe like pods dropping from the sky or even orbit? That could probably be safer than dropping in this thing. He remembered Garrus calibrating it and talking about how much damage it got from Therum, most of which definitely didn't come from Shepard's terrible driving surprisingly, but instead was from how light it was compared to other vehicles. Which meant any rocky terrain could make it flip over, the handling of the vehicle was also pretty bad too since steering away from a fight can be difficult, it had slow shields, and while the wheels were useful it meant it couldn't cross any large bodies like water. Everyone felt the bump from inside the vehicle and Liara began to grip onto the seats harder. ED-E saw this and began to play a song from one of his recordings. The Courier instantly recognized it was the "Big Iron" song he heard played on the radio. This actually seemed to calm Liara down slightly as she looked at ED-E with curiosity.

"How is your robot playing music right now? Are we not far from any radio frequencies to play earth music?"

"Nah just a recording from Mojave Music Radio, I usually had it playing whenever traveling the Mojave."

"Fascinating how many songs does your robot have recorded?"

The Courier shrugged. He never kept count, especially when he had to travel outside the Mojave to check out the Zetan ship. The Wasteland had a ton of songs from the Pre War, many probably lost time but thankfully many still around and listen to while shooting a .357 at a raider's head and making it explode into bloody gory bits.

"In the Mojave I think 15. In the whole Wasteland? Uh I know there's Galaxy New Radio I think it has 20 songs. I heard a place called Diamond City has a radio station with 42 songs but I never really bothered to go there. No one seemed to want things delivered there."

Liara looked at the Courier curiously.

"Delivered? Forgive me asking but what did you do before joining Commander Shepard?"

Ah right he forgot that he never told Liara ever since she joined the crew. Might as well now since they were there now.

"Well before joining I was a Courier, basically a messenger. I used to deliver mail and packages."

"Fascinating. And how did a, and forgive me saying this, but how did a mailman like you join the Normandy?"

"Just like you and everyone else on the crew, Saren and a pretty damn good fighter."

The Mako's cannon fired, letting everyone know that they had reached their objective. Everyone prepared themselves for the fight while the Courier was ready to test out his new suit. If it didn't work then oh well and just quickly switch to the space suit from REPCONN. It was a good suit for sure but it was on the lighter side and didn't want a puncture in his suit so he'd rather have something medium or on the heavy side protecting him. After a few minutes of Shepard driving and Garrus firing the cannon and gun the Mako had stopped and its door opened, and surprisingly Liara bolted out of her seat and out into the open as she knelt onto the ground as if she never was on the ground in the first place.

"Thank the goddess! I-i mean thank goodness we're here! Let's quickly get the hostage!"

Liara quickly corrected herself as Shepard and everyone stepped out of the Mako. The Courier saw the damage the Mako had done to the pirates, or what was left of them really. They looked like they were hit by a Red Glare and their pieces everywhere. However something caught his eye. He noticed the barriers weren't facing outwards like one would expect pirates to do to protect their base. It was instead facing towards the base itself, as if something was inside of it. The Courier looked at Shepard to say something but he could see it in the Commander's eyes, he saw it too. Shepard brought out his weapon as did everyone else.

"Be careful everyone, I have a bad feeling about this…"

Shepard then motioned at the entrance. "Everyone inside the building. John once inside, you Tali, ED-E and Wrex go on the right side of the door while me, Liara and Garrus go on the left."

The Courier nodded and the group quickly moved towards the entrance first with Shepards group following behind. The group reached the entrance and opened it and everyone quickly filed inside the building as the entrance doors closed behind them. The Courier quickly moved to the right side of the door followed by Tali, ED-E and Wrex while Shepard moved to the left side with Liara and Garrus right behind him. Opening the door Courier and his group moved in first followed by Shepard and his. Inside the building the Courier expected to hear the sounds of yelling and gunfire the moment they had stepped foot inside but no, there was nothing. The Courier was confused. Where were the pirates? The Courier glanced behind him to look at Shepard who looked back at him and nodded as well. Both knew something was wrong and that it may be a trap. Slowly moving forward Courier's group walked past the boxes and into the more open part of the building. But in the corner of his eye the Courier thought he saw something, a shimme-

The Courier's eyes widened as he quickly pushed his team members back as the sound of a minigun whirring came to life before a hail of bullets fired at where he and his group previously were.

"WE'RE GOING TO EAT YOU!"

The Courier heard a voice yell out as everyone heard more yells of agreement. The Courier pulled out The Smitty Special, a special type of Plasma Caster he had gotten at Gun Runners Association as he then also pulled out a flash bang and took a chance as he glanced from his cover and could see multiple big hulking figures in the open, green and blue. The Courier then looked at everyone else.

"Super Mutants and Nightkin! Big dumb and hard to kill! There's a few snipers so everyone be careful! Especially if they have-"

A rocket flew past them and impacted against the wall causing an explosion destroying multiple crates that were close.

"SHIT they got a rocket launcher too!? Fucking hell everyone get ready to fire!"

ED-E played his battle music as the Courier quickly popped out of cover and threw the flash bang out towards the mutants and quickly got behind cover again as a loud deafening bang was heard and multiple screams as ED-E and Courier quickly charged out from their cover and fired at the mutants. Firing the Smitty Special at the Super Mutant with the minigun the Courier pulled the trigger as green plasma bolts shot out from its claws and at the blinded mutant and was struck multiple times by it before finally getting hit in the head by a bolt causing the mutants head to fly off its body and into the wall behind the now dead mutant. ED-E had fired lasers at the sniping Nightkin and was having success and finally snapping out of their shock and or surprise everyone else quickly joined in firing at the mutants as well but the Super Mutants and Nightkin snapped out of it as well and quickly began to fight back. Liara hid behind one crate and was using her biotics on any Mutants that happened to get too close, Garrus was in the back firing his sniper rifle dueling the other Nightkin snipers ED-E hasn't killed yet, Shepard and Courier had moved forward pushing the Mutant forces back but had to quickly move back when another Mutant had fired a rocket launcher at the two. Tali used Sabotage on the Mutants weapons and while some were using non mass accelerator guns most actually were and surprisingly the Mutants also had shields as well making them even more difficult to take down.

The Courier switched the Plasma Caster for a grenade launcher as he shot one towards the Mutants at the back. The Courier was about to fire one again but he was hit by a Nightkin he didn't notice in time and sent into one of the crates.

"KILL YOU! FEED US FOR DAYS HAHAHA!"

He heard the invisible Nightkin yell out but thankfully the nightkins' invisibility wore off revealing the Nightkin to everyone, but the Courier thought that the Nightkin looked weird, more different than any he had seen. But Wrex had seen the Nightkin and it aiming its weapon at the Courier quickly charged at the now visible and slammed his shoulder into the Mutant, breaking it's shields and unloaded fire from his shotgun into the Nightkin until it his shotgun had overheated. The Nightkin flopped onto it's back dead.

"Come on mailman you're going down this easily!"

Wrex said as he picked up the Courier who nodded and both rejoined the firefight. Slowly but surely the group was pushing and killing each Super Mutant and Nightkin until finally Shepard had unleashed fire onto the last Super Mutant killing the bastard as…green blood?, splattered from the Mutants back onto the ground behind and the Mutant flopping to the floor.

"All clear!"

Shepard had yelled out. Allowing everyone to finally catch their breaths and for the Courier to look around the area now. The building itself had crates everywhere giving enough cover for the Mutants to use, but he also saw the telltale sign of Mutants, Gore Bags. Hanging in different areas or even just laying in corners were makeshift bags full of bloody remains of the victims. The Courier then walked up to the Super Mutant that Shepard had killed and to his surprise instead of a human, the Super Mutant's head was a

"Salarian?"

The Courier then looked around the area even more closely and could see that not only was there green blood, but also red, blue, and purple blood as well. He then began to check out the other Super Mutant and Nightkin corpses as well and saw that each one was a different race. Turian, Asari, Salarian, and then human. But the human Super Mutants were far lesser in numbers compared to their alien Mutant allies. This made no sense. Super Mutants shouldn't even be here. The way that they were made was lost to time thanks to the Vault Dweller, but the fact that there were Super Mutants right here and now meant someone had not only found a way to recreate the FEV, but had also used it on Citadel species and just dropped them here.

"John, how are Super Mutants here? I thought you said it was impossible for anything from your world to be here?"

Shepard asked. The Courier looked at the Commander.

"I thought so too."