New Start Plus: in spaaaaace!

by omaster43

Nick Walters and his merry band of misfits are back with a story about helping Shepard and crew fight giant eldritch robot abominations, most likely through Dumb magic and crazy shenanigans This is a continuation of my previous story, so reading that one first is recommended. but I'm not your nanny you wanna be confused that's your choice. Oc-insert, just came from Dragon age

6. Chapter 6 a prayer for the wicked

Chapter 6

A prayer for the wicked

-/-

Zura'Nul POV

The woman in front of me was terrifying, it was only thanks to Tali'Zorah's presence next to me that eased my worry. This would be the 3rd day on the new ship, The Normandy, we only got stories about this ship, about its advanced engine and stealth systems, but the inside was beyond anything I could have imagined. I've come to believe Nick when he called himself a space wizard, Space-Time manipulation, curing potions, Super-strength, Matter shifting, non-biotic telekinesis, all this was crazy, I thought curing my immune system was already a miracle, to learn that it was just a Monday to him was insane.

"Are you listening Ms. Nul?" the woman across from me asked, her voice was sharp, it felt like she had a blade to my throat. She didn't look any older than me, with blood-red glowing eyes, pale as myself, and hair as black as the night. She was wearing what Nick called, Hawaiian shirt, tan shorts, sandals, and a straw hat that somehow looked like they cost more than some of the ships in the Migrant Fleet, it didn't help that the two dragon women were dressing her up in gold. She looked like a vacationing business queen making me feel like a lowly retail peasant.

"Telsa~," Nick called out, as he hopped over to our table. "Oh gods~, you look so adorable!" He put down the food he had and took dozens of photos.

"Nick I'm working," she hissed.

"Working? This is your mandatory vacation. You can't work." he sounded shocked and confused, like the idea of someone working during their vacation to be something only crazies did.

"I just took my vacation," Ms. Telsa huffed.

"Yeah, 12 months ago, guess what my little workaholic~, it's vacation time again," he teased. "5 weeks of fun in the sun~."

"We give our full-time employees 3 weeks of fully paid vacation time and holidays off, I have no idea where you are getting 5 weeks from," she growled.

Nick looked even more confused, "That can't be right, what about summer? Aren't most of our employees part-time farmers? Don't they need to work out in the field or whatever."

"Most employees are more than happy to work in an air-conditioned room earning money hourly and have their golems work their family's farm."

"... that's a good thing, right?" Nick asked.

"Our turnover rate is extremely low, turns out money, healthcare, and free education tend to make people happy," Telsa drawled. "Now Ms. Nul, Ms. Zorah, and Ms. Vael have you read your contracts?"

"Oh, uh~." I looked at my contract. It was very detailed with bullet points showing me my duties, pay, healthcare, work hours, overtime, benefits, Vacation days, sick days, holidays, paid maternity leave, and many other smaller rules. I guess this is what it's like to work for a large company.

"I'm not working for Nick, why am I here?" Tali'Zorah asked.

"True, you're signing away your right to a Rule's lawyer," Ms. Telsa pointed out.

"I didn't think you would need a contract for that?" Tali'Zorah muttered.

"Most times you wouldn't, but according to you these 'ancient tablets' you've seen very keen on possessing are worth a substantial amount of money, and not wanting for future discord it was in my boss's best interest to have it in writing." she turned to the human AI, "Mrs. Moreau, I will be needing an office space in your ship for the next 3 weeks-"

"- 5 weeks!" Nick interrupted.

"3 weeks," she growled, "I'm willing to pay 25,000 for the space and time." She passed EDI a contract.

"HOLD ON!?" The Cerberus XO ordered. "You can't just walk in here and take lodging."

"Lawson," the look Ms. Telsa gave the XO froze my blood and she wasn't even looking at me! "Who the fade do you think you are?" She hissed, standing to her full height. She couldn't be much taller than me at about 5'4, but she felt like a giant. "EDI Moreau is the owner of this ship, she is the ship, she, out of her kindness of her soul, allows you to live here, she is putting her very life on the line for your cause. Don't treat her like a thing, don't pretend you have any right to what happens in her body."

"Walters does whatever he likes," The XO counters.

"UH!? Think again," Nick huffed, "I gave EDI a detailed plan on what I wanted to add to the Normandy. From expanded rooms, magic runes, furniture~," he pointed to a couch Ms. Goto was lying on with her feet up, "That couch belonged to the Queen of England."

Ms. Goto blinked at us, "What?"

"And let's not forget all the engine work and armor upgrades," Nick ignored Ms. Goto's question, who was now looking at the couch in reverence, before shrugging and laying back down. "Everything I'm doing has EDI's and Shepard's stamps of approval, and not only them, but I also need Tali's approval and supervision when I work on the engines, I need Garrus's approval and supervision to work on the main gun, and Jacob has to test any and every armor or weapon I want to give to the crew, I need Mordin's approval to use the Tech lab, and you better believe that if I'm working in the cockpit Joker is breathing down my neck so hard that EDI once accused me of trying to steal her man," He joked... I think.

"You expect me to believe that?" The XO huffed.

"I don't need you to believe anything, I have it in writing," he summoned thick booklets filled with stamps and in-and-out cards with Tali'Zorah's signature, along with others. "While I might like messing around and shooting the breeze, when it comes to the Normandy as a whole, I, DON'T, KNOW, WHAT, I, AM, DOING~. I don't know Eezo engines, I don't know about the Thanix cannon, I don't know your weapons, so you know what I do? I ask for help, Jacob taught me how to take apart a gun and what every piece is for, Tali taught me how Eezo affects matter and how you use it to go faster than light, Garrus taught me how the Main guns work, Mordin taught me alien biology. Lawson, I'm one cocky son of a bitch, I tend to be cheesy, annoying, and in your face, but I am an adult, if I don't know something, I'm going to swallow my pride and ask for help. And I always pay it back, I gave Tali a copy of the Hyperdrive engine design, I helped Garrus by enhancing the Thanix cannon, Chakwas and Mordin wanted a Cure-all potion to play with, I even oil Sky's abs so Kasy can happily gawk!" oh my~, Ms. Goto started coughing in shock.

"What!? I DON'T! Her abs!? NO! What!?" Ms. Goto stuttered, "... Thank you~," she whispered before she vanished.

"And why haven't you asked me anything?" The XO demanded.

"... Why would I do that?" he innocently asked, "You are the executive officer. You control the financial backing of Cerberus, and second in command, and since I don't need anything from Cerberus and I asked Shepard, the commanding officer, for approval, I don't need your input. If you were my friend, I would have asked for your advice and counseling, but you are not, at best you're a stranger, at worst an antagonist."

"... I enjoy romance novels." The room flat-lined, and everyone just looked at her.

Nick slammed a book on the table. The Paladin and the stable boy? "I'll take your olive branch, but just so you know, you have a long way ahead of you."

The XO took the book, "Don't destroy the ship," she huffed and walked away.

Ms. Telsa gave another huff, "Ms. Moreau, I hope the contract is in order." The AI, gave the contract a quick glance before nodding and signing, "Nick, pay the woman, I want my office Next to your room, and I want my own bedroom, my own 'sound-proof' bedroom, in your Quarters." she corrected. "I'll of course make myself useful and make sure your wealth is properly handled." She shivered, "I can only imagine what you have been doing with your money."

"I haven't even spent that much~," he huffed.

"Oh? So, you have just had it sitting there not making you more money? You haven't been buying stock and taking over other businesses in order for you to ramp up their production knowing that there will be an apocalyptic war at your doorstep? Have you been selling powerful magical weapons to your allies so that when the war starts, they have a chance to fight back?"

Nick seemed to wilt at every question asked, finally lying face down on the ground. "But, terrorists~."

"That doesn't matter, the end times are coming for these people, and you don't have the luxury of time." She sighed and patted his face, for the first time since she got here her face softened, "I know you don't want magic to fall into the wrong hands, but you can't baby people, and you shouldn't feel responsible for the actions of idiots."

Nick gave out a sigh, "I'll think about it. Here~," he gave her a Credit chit. "It has half my money; we can hit the Stock market tomorrow."

"Good." she turned to us, her face full business, "Are the contracts in order?" I gave my contract one last look, am I really about to sell my body? The tablet flashed through my memories. I picked up my pin and signed on the bottom line, joined by Lia'Vael and Tali'Zorah. Ms. Telsa gave them a quick glance and nodded, before waving her hand and getting a ding on my Omnitool. I watched my wallet skyrocket from zero to 200,000 creds, which was more than I had ever had, the fleet gave us 5,000 credits, a gun, and a lift to a planet of our choosing. This amount of money would easily prove that I could provide for the Fleet, but the money wasn't what I wanted.

"These belong to you~," Nick sang summoning the remaining Tablets. They were beautiful, some took their time picking out the stone and carving out the writing. I knew I shouldn't have but I needed to touch them with my real hands. Quickly releasing my hands from my suit, I dragged my fingers on one, It was smooth, and the limestone was mixed with something, it was almost like cement, maybe it's something that happens in Rannoch naturally? "And 2 of these~," he placed two glowing unmodified mini-arc reactors on the table. "And because I care," he placed a similar bag Tali'Zorah and Lia'Vael had. "This is your own Bag of Holding; it can hold up to 3 tons and suck things up to 100 feet."

"It's thought-operated!" Ms. Goto warned... from somewhere.

"Right~, it also thought operated," Nick added, "if what the thing you are trying to put in the bag is less than 3 tons and is 100 feet or less it will be sucked into the bag, and all you have to do after that is think of the thing you want and the bag will get it for you, be warned it can't store 'living' creatures. So be aware of that~."

I tested it out by shoving the Mini-arc reactors into the bag before pulling it back out multiple times, so cool. "Um, how do you know when it is full?" I asked.

"The bag will refuse to store any more stuff and the red gem will light up," he answered.

"Will things be safe inside of them?" I asked looking into the black Infinity that was the bag's inner lining.

"As long as the bag is safe so is everything inside of it, and I made the bag as sturdy as I possibly could, If a Tank Round does manage to hit it, everything inside will spill out," Nick explained. "I'm happy you're interested in Magic cuz we are starting your training tomorrow," he cheered.

"... Training? Do you mean that super Quarian thing? So, is it's some kind of training? I thought I was going to work more as a model, nurse, or Engineer?"

"You will, but you aren't an adult yet, Just because you have your pilgrimage gift doesn't mean you've suddenly become an adult, you still need to get this stuff to the fleet, I would recommend finding someone who is heading back to the fleet to deliver the goods and pick a ship when you get back, you are on a bit of a suicide mission," he left his warning hanging.

"I already called someone to meet us here," Tali interrupted, "They should be here by the end of the week."

Nick started giggling, "Man~, you were so certain you were going to get those tablets~."

"... I was going to get those tablets one way or another," Tali'Zorah muttered. She's amazing~.

"I respect your selflessness, even if I think it will be the death of you," he sighed.

"How can being selfless be bad? She saved me from Slavery," I pointed out.

"And that's all good and whatnot, but when does it stop?" he asked, "When do you, or Tali or Lia, get to be... you. Not a Quarian, not a fleet marine, not a hero... you. I was wrong trying to make it an ultimatum, you don't cure addiction in one move... well I can, but others can't, so how about this, slow and steady," he sighed, "How about some clothes, nothing too extreme, and you guys do need more clothes, I have no doubt you and Zura have much to wear, Lia why don't you go with them, I took you clothes shopping so you would have a good place to start, and if you don't want to buy clothes then just buy the cloth, Julee will find something to use it on." He gave us a wave and walked off with Ms. Telsa to make her new office, My omni tool beeped, and I watched as another 50,000 credits added themselves to my wallet.

My mouth went dry, "5-50,000?" I wheezed, "For clothes!?" I looked over to Lia who shrugged like that didn't matter. This isn't normal. Impossible magic bags, frigates that are bigger on the inside, extremely thirsty AI, dimensional wizards. I have to remember that this isn't normal.

-/-

"That's it! One, two, one, two, keep those legs up!" Nick the sadist called out as he jogged next to me. My lungs were on fire and all I wanted to do was flop on the ground and die. Quarians weren't made for this, we were ambush hunters! Stupid humans and their endurance hunting! What kind of creature evolves like that!? Running is horrible! "Alright! A quick 5-minute break!"

I flopped to the floor, "Thank the ancestors!"

Someone sat next to me, peeking, I found Princess Aeducan smiling down at me passed me a water skin. "I'm guessing this is your first time long-distance human running?" she gently fed me water. I drank it greedily, but she cut me off, "Easy~, If you drink too much, you'll throw it back up."

"Thank you, your highness."

She blew me a raspberry, "I'm not a princess here silly~, I'm barely a princess back home. Just call me Sereda."

"Uhm, thank you Sereda."

Her smile grew at my words. "So, how are you feeling? Nick tends to run his training rather harshly the first time, he wants to know what your best score is." She pointed over to Nick who was writing down something on a clipboard talking with Dr. Solus, his dog at his side.

"Uhm, okay I think, my lungs are on fire and my muscles are about to mutiny, but okay," I joked, Sereda gave a giggle.

"Yeah~, it took me a bit to handle human exercise, we dwarves are more muscle than humans. Pound for pound we can take any human, but they have endurance. I learned rather quick that if you can't take down a human within the first 5 minutes they will outpace you, I'm not saying they can't pack a wallop, but normal humans don't match up to a normal Dwarf when it comes to strength. Elves like Lyna, Ava, and Telsa are far more agile and have a higher chance to be a sorcerer than any dwarf and most humans, but don't have the strength we do."

"What about Ms. Qina? Isn't she an Elf?"

"Ms. Qina? You're a bit formal ain't ya~," she teased, "Ayla's a Half-elf, or Half-Human if you want, her father was an elf, giving her better agility and a larger mana core, and her mother was human, Giving her human endurance and muscle mass, best of both worlds."

"Wait, I thought Humans and elves were two different races?"

"They are, but magic tends to bridge the gap between races, Nick will go into detail when that lesson comes up in your training."

"Childbirth is going to be in my training?" I've been taught about babies and where they come from, thank you very much~.

"You'll be taught everything, from Sex Ed to assassination to shoemaking to singing, Nick tends to take his teaching very seriously, and since you're under his care that makes you his apprentice... well, maybe more Dagna's apprentice, you're his grand apprentice," she hummed. I looked over to Ms. Dagna who was leading the krogan and Lia'Vael in stretches. "That means he's going to help teach you the Basics before you enter a more specific school of magic."

"School of magic?" I didn't know about any of that.

"Yep~, magic is as broad as it is crazy, there is Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Illusion, Restoration, Abjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Necromancy, Transmutation, Arcane, Arcane Warrior, Shapeshifter, Spirit, and Entropy. There are probably more but I didn't really get into any of them, you don't have to worry about it too much since you're just getting started," Sereda explained.

"Oh, okay, can you tell me why we are all wearing... this~?" I gestured to the Gym clothes that were way too... form fitting. They hugged me like my suit, but my suit was made for me, I just got this.

Sereda looked down at her own outfit, she didn't even wear a shirt, just blue short-shorts, and a sports bra. She filled it very well. "You mean other than the fact that Nick's a bit of a perv?" I nodded. "First, uniformity, we are all wearing the same thing, minus the sports bras, Nick thought that if we looked the same, we would feel like a team, making working out a team effort. Second, the clothes have Magic runes that help heal muscle tears faster and are self-cleaning. Third, it gives you a positive body image, it's not perfect, and working out isn't easy, looking at Joker," she pointed over to the pilot who was being helped by the AI to stretch out his legs. He didn't look like the other human men in the room, most of them were made for combat, their skin was tight with muscles, and had a sense of confidence in themselves, Mr. Moreau didn't match up. Human gene therapy helped, he wasn't too big or too skinny, but he wasn't made for combat, but that didn't stop him from lifting weights. "Nick wanted this place to be an area without judgment and if everyone had to look foolish to feel comfortable, he would. Give it a week, you won't care what you're wearing, only that it helps you get the job done."

"Alright, Ladies! Breaktime is over! Lia, you're with me! Zura, Sereda's going to run you through the gauntlet, get ready for your first day of boot camp," Nick called out.

Everything hurt~, even my pride. Lia'Vael was running laps around me carrying my body weight in barbells, jumping nearly 10 feet all over the place, unleashing small balls of light every 20 seconds, and making it look easy. I guess that's what a super Quarian is like.

"Please... kill me~," I begged.

"You're fine, breathe in through the nose, and out your mouth," Sereda ordered.

"My lungs... has taken... your words into... Consideration... and as kindly asked... for you to suck on eggs..." I wheezed. Sereda just laughed at my plight. The bosh'tet.

"Alright, ladies! Morning training has come to an end!" Nick called out, Thank the ancestors~. "Let's do some cool-down stretches before I give up some gifts!" The XO took that moment to walk into the Shuttle Bay.

Sereda led me through the cool-down stretches, looking around I found myself to be the only one bone dead tired. "Don't worry about keeping up," she sighed, "Today is probably the hardest day you are going to go through, Nick ran his test so now it's all about slow build-up. Nick doesn't like heavy workouts, slow and steady wins the race."

"Lia'Vael didn't seem to be going slow and steady?" I pointed out, as she helped me with my stretches.

"That's because she was also being tested, She got her powers not too long ago, everything she is doing is brand new and Nick is testing everything under the sun, not wanting her new power to hurt her somehow. So far, she's been fine, better than ever, Magic, Chi, strength, speed, faster thought process, we just don't know if that's just because of who Lia is or because she's Quarian."

"I'm guessing I'll be helping with that?" I didn't know I could bend this way.

She shrugged, "I guess, personally I think Nick does too many tests, some things can only be known just by doing, you know? Most things that happen in tests don't really match reality, like, when will you need to balance a ball on your head while lifting weights and solving a math problem. It's over the top. Still, I knew what I was getting into~," she sighed. "Alright, that should have you nice and loose. How's your breathing?"

I took a deep breath, my lungs no longer protested, and my muscles were relaxed, "Good~."

"Good to hear, come on, Nick is handing out gifts, if you're lucky you might get something." She led me over to Nick who was talking with the XO.

"... don't know the rune for Biotic power so you're going to have to wait until Mordin, Julee, Lyna, Dagna, and I do some tests on Eezo and its effects on the mortal body." he shrugged.

"How long do you think that would take?" The XO asked.

"Mmm, it's hard to tell, creating new runes is extremely dangerous and tends to take a long time, we might be able to ask a powerful elder being, like a god, or maybe a celestial like a devil, but that comes with a cost, and you better believe that's going to come with a hefty fine."

"What are we talking about? Tiefling children?"

"HA!" Nick laughed, "I already have Tiefling children in my future, so I don't have to worry about something so benign, No, I'm worried about generational cost. Some beings are more into the idea of a long-term debt that follows the family. Like a timeshare scheme, and I'm not putting any of my children with that."

The XO hummed, "But will we get the rune?"

"More than likely, why? You wanna gamble? I can make some calls," Nick offered.

The XO scrunched up her nose, "No, not yet anyway, I think I'll let you and the others try and figure it out first."

"Probably for the best." he gave a clap, "Alright you babies time for gifts!" By now everyone was already moving toward Nick. "Alright let's see here. John," he tossed the captain what seemed to be a chest piece, which melted onto his body the moment he caught it.

"WHOA!?" the captain shouted as the armor molded around him. It took a moment but when it was fully formed, it had a shoulder cannon and glowing runes running up and down the armor.

"Yes-yes, it is very nice~," Nick nodded before passing Shepard a stack of papers, "This is all it can do and how it all works, read through it. All of it~, and just in case you feel lazy, the way to take it off is on one of these pages."

"What? Hold on!" Captain Shepard looked through his user's manual, "Oh cool I have super strength, sorry 'superior' Strength, I guess there's a difference." He walked over to some weights and lifted over 200 pounds with a single hand. "Damn!" he gently put it down and took a seat on one of the chairs Nick put for us to relax on, "I really should read this." He started going over the user's manual.

"Kasumi," Nick called out. It kept passing out armor to the ground crew before finally reaching me. "Zura, here you go." It tickled as it molded up my body. I didn't really feel any different, "Here you go," my user's manual was far smaller than the ground crew, "Your armor is a bit more basic, not really specialized, it's meant to give you a well-rounded power-up, but not much else." I reached out and lifted a barbell that gave me trouble before and lifted it with ease. Whoa~.

"Why is Shepard's armor powered by a mini arc reactor?" the XO asked. Unlike the Captain and some of the ground crew, her armor didn't have a mini-arc reactor on her chest.

"Cerberus," Nick huffed, "I did promise Telsa that I'll be more 'pragmatic' about the whole Magic thing, but come on, do you really think I'm going to give you anything that will get back to TIM. There is easing up and then there's being stupid. But make no mistake your armor still has the good shit, superior strength, speed, health regen, Jet pack and enhanced magical protection, all without a boob window! All's well that ends well."

"How come Kasumi's armor has the ability to morph into anything she wants?" she pointed out. Ms. Goto's armor was morphing, changing into different outfits with no trouble.

"Because that's the real deal, where your armor is basic, her armor is made just for her. I added things she might enhance her power output. Super strength, speed, sound dampeners, invisibility cloak, smell remover, expanded pockets, a helmet that allows her to breathe underwater and space, three overpowered shields, Mana and health enhancers and regen runes, comfort runes, built-in bathroom, self-cleaning, stick'em powers, Badassium nano weave mesh, and has a Jet pack. Of course, there are other things but that just comes with every armor I make," he tapped her user's manual, "Read up, cuz I'm not taking it off,"

"Keelah~," I muttered. Who would create something like that, not even my enviro-suit was that well made. I began reading my user's manual.

-/-

Nick POV

"I... have no idea what I'm looking at," I pointed out looking at the numbers flashing by on the screen, while I had a level of understanding, my Int and Wis level was high enough for that, but it was kind of like reading a poorly written sentence correctly without knowing you corrected it in your mind.

"Don't worry, that's why you hired me." Telsa patted my hand like I was a child. She took to this like a fish to water. Her Omni-tool was going crazy, buying and selling stock as quick as she could think the thought, and her bank account was falling and rising like crazy, I don't think that's normal, but she seemed to know what she was doing.

"Is this what we are going to do all day~," Dagna sighed through her smoothie straw.

"You wanted to come along~," I teased. We have been on Illium for about a week now. According to Liara, Nassana's been hopping from safe house to safe house, each safe house being torched behind her. Thane was closing in, I'd give it 3 to 4 days before Nassana makes a mistake, maybe less before we finally meet. At the moment, we were at one of Illium's many Stock market cafes, yeah it sounded as stupid as you might think it was, who in their right mind gives a bunch of hyped-up stockbrokers coffee? Since I've been here, I've seen 4 people break out into tears, crying about some kind of loss or whatever.

"I'm not leaving you with that money succubus," Dagna hissed looking over to Telsa, who just flipped her off not looking away from the screens. "... And everyone was busy getting used to their new armor or adding the new armor to the ship."

"Gasp~, are you sure you're not just here to go on a date with your girlfriend~," I teased.

She gave me a blank look before patting me on the face, "You're lucky you're cute."

"Gasp! You think I'm cute~." I played coy, "You have such a way with words~," I fanned myself with my hand.

"Damn straight toots~, how about me and you get out of here and~," she bounced her eyebrows at me.

"Gasp! Ms. Dagna! What kind of man do you take me for?" I gasped dramatically covering my chest.

She started walking her finger up my left arm, "I think you're a man who needs to relax~."

"You're in public, have some shame you wild animal," hissed Telsa.

Dagna huffed, "It's called flirting~, Maybe if you knew how you won't be such a stick in the mud."

"I know how to use my feminine wilds to my advantage," Telsa huffed.

"'Feminine wilds'? Seriously~, I once considered you a threat, you're making me look bad. If you want this frenemy thing to continue, I need you to seduce Nick, right now," Dagna ordered.

"And I want that because?" Telsa huffed.

"Because I've known you for over a year now, I'm your only real friend."

I point to myself, "Umm, excuse me~. I'm her best friend~."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Please, I love you Nick but you're her sugar daddy-"

"What~… I'm more of a sugar boss~," I joked.

"Would you two be quiet, I'm taking over the galaxy over here," Telsa huffed. "And if anything, I'm his sugar mama. I make the money, if it wasn't for me, you idiots would be broke within the month."

"That makes it worse~, Nick is at your beck and call, and instead of having him clean your pipes, you're doing it yourself," Dagna huffed, am I being pimped out right now?

"It would be extremely unprofessional to sleep with my boss," Telsa deadpanned.

"So? I'm his student and I have him discipline me every other night~. You can't live by other people's rules all the time! Look at me! I'm a dwarf who left home to be a wizard! I fought the blight! Traveled the world! I helped build a city! What do I care for what society wants!? I love who I love! I love as many people as I want! If society has a problem with that then it can kiss my ass!" she crossed her arms and laid back.

"But... Dwarf society is polygamist," Telsa pointed out.

Dagna scoffed, "That's not the point! The point is that I live my life by my rules! Are you just going to live your life or are you going to take what you want!"

"I... well."

"And let's not forget we're going to fight giant robots that want to destroy the galaxy! Which they have never failed to do before! We can die, and there's no flying island to take us to safety, I doubt Ayla is going to run, so we are in this for the long run. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." When did my little Dagna become so wise?

"I expect to be wined and dined," I spoke up.

Telsa rolled her, "Please~, I already have you wrapped around my little finger, if I wanted to, I could have you pounding me on this very table at the snap of my fingers, If I'm breaking my rules I might as well go big."

"YESSSS~," Dagna hissed like a supervillain would to a hero who walked into her trap. "What are we looking at, Sky? Astral? What about Ava? She's scared of you, that can open a lot of naughty doors~." Huh~, look at that, she's as pervy as I am.

"No, they will come in time, I'm aiming for the top. I want Ayla."

"The holy maiden?" Dagna muttered, "I should warn you, while I love Ayla, she isn't the innocent type, well not anymore, she likes being a top and in control. If you're looking for innocent, you want Lyna or Astral."

Telsa huffed and adjusted her glasses, "I don't find innocence sexy; I enjoy a challenge, you guys might not see it because you love her and spend all your time with her, but Ayla's the crown jewel of Ferelden. Sure, we have you as heroes, but Ayla is proof that the Maker is still with us. I can't tell you how many countries want her to visit them, others want to abduct her," A bit of my anger slipped out at that, "But they know you Nick, the Tamer of Dragons, Earthshaker, Sky lord, Artificer. Do you have any idea who you are Nick?"

"I... knew I had a bit of a reputation." I didn't really think about it, I always had something more important to do, houses to build, farms to set up, laws to sign.

Telsa just shook her head. "Ferelden owes you more than you might think, Queen Anora might not say it, but Ferelden was in a real bad spot, even before the blight we were barely holding ourselves up, we had no army, the scars of war were still fresh, Farms were hit hard, the blight only made things worse. With the Train system, the money you fed into small businesses, and giving every farmer Anora sent your way good farmland and golem helpers, Ferelden bounced back faster than anyone thought possible. I know you tend to be a goof and kind to the people around you, but Thedas doesn't know that, you're everything the chantry feared, a mage that cares, someone with great overwhelming power who uses it to help others, and the fact that King Cailan made you a noble made people hold there lords and ladies to higher standards."

"Is that why Bann Eremon sent me passive-aggressive letters?" she has been a pain in my ass for half a year.

"More than likely, but after we connected to the train system to the Walking Sea, she calmed down." Telsa huffed, even though we all worked for Ferelden some noble could still be petty, sending junk mail to annoy us.

"Who cares about any of that?" Dagna interrupted our business talk, "We are here to get this frumpy virgin laid."

"Actually, we are here to control the Galaxy's economic system," I pointed out.

"We have been doing that for the last four days and nothing has come from it."

Telsa blinked at her, "We control 17 material processing mines, 8 refineries, 6 weapon companies that are now creating Thanix Cannons at an accelerated rate, and 4 spaceship companies creating as many fighters, corvettes, and frigates as possible and with fitting them Thanix cannons and 3 restaurants that many politicians enjoy going to."

"Holy shit!? Really?" I asked.

"... Yessss~," she hissed, "What do you think I've been doing?"

"Having fun with numbers~?" I shrugged sheepishly.

"I can do two things at once," she sighed, "If I were to be honest the way the market system works is rather simple, I guess no matter what dimension you might be at, money talks, and people listen. I won't bore you with the details but suffice it to say we are pumping ships out at record speed, things would go easier if the council wasn't in the way, but I've been using the commander's spectre codes to cut through a lot of red tape, which reminds me, Commander Shepard co-owns most of your businesses, and remind me to tell Ms. Zorah thank you for the Quarian labor, turns out if you pay Quarians with Ships and material they are more than happy to work for lower wages."

"Please tell me you're paying them a living wage," I begged, Tali would kill me if she wasn't.

"Don't worry, the money might be lower than average, but they have free lodging and food," she waved away my concern. Thank God~, Tali has a mean mule kick.

"ENOUGH~! No more talk about money or business! We are talking about love! Hot, passionate, love!" Dagna roared, getting some of the people's attention.

"I have no idea why you're acting this way, I'm just going to give her a contract for coitus, like an adult." We just looked at her like she was crazy.

"... what?" we asked.

She gave me a confused look, "A contract." She pulled out a premade contract passing it to us. It was rather detailed, with things you can do, and can't do, and things open to debate, as well as location, time, and snacks. I was not surprised she's into roleplaying but was surprised she didn't enjoy bondage, those damn slavers hurt my precious CFO. It also had a nondisclosure agreement in the event that the lovemaking wasn't up to satisfactory levels, which was crazy, no one is good at sex the first time, half the time it's just learning about your lover, you need to do it at least 3 to 4 times before you get a handle on it.

Dagna tore up the contract and lit it on fire, "Are you an idiot? Is my best enemy an idiot? This is making me very upset."

"HEY! I worked hard on that!"

"That makes me angry," she deadpanned, "The woman I hated, which I grew to respect due to her hard work and effort, and then to have minor sexual fantasies about, turns out to be an idiot."

"Called it~," I muttered.

"I will not have an idiot nemesis," Dagna ignored me. "A foolish lover? Maybe. But not an idiot Nemesis."

"I can trounce you in any science," Telsa countered.

"But can you beat me in the matters of the heart!?" Dagna hissed, "Can you seduce a man with nothing but a batting of your eyelashes? A saucy smirk? A wink!? Can a single kiss have your lover begging for more?" she whispered. "Does the very sound of your voice make them shiver in pleasure?"

"Can yours?" I teased.

She slapped me on the shoulder, "Shush you! I know what leaves you a stuttering mess... Master~," she smirked, sticking out her tongue at me.

I coughed a bit, "Right, sorry, I love you... so very much~." We all have our weaknesses.

"Are you saying you'll help me?" Telsa interrupted.

"Duh~, I love Ayla from one end of the multiverse to the other, we all do, so helping her get laid is the least I can do. Make no mistake though, by having your way with our star, Julee and Sky will hold nothing back, there is a good chance that you won't leave the ship for the next week. Trust me, I'm not the only one with fantasies~, Julee has had an eye on you since Denerim and the moment Sky and Astral knew you brought in the most gold, you were on their radar."

"This seems like a montage moment~," I muttered.

"Play that funky music!" Dagna ordered.

We had a fun afternoon, we took Telsa clothes shopping, practiced flirting, makeup, snack break, a bit of liquid courage, and ended with us walking back to the Normandy.

"-And remember, Ayla tends to be a bit airheaded, so you have to make it clear that you're looking for a relationship." Dagna pointed out.

"Yes, I know, you already told me that," Telsa deadpanned, her hair was loose, and her glasses were off, and she was ready to mingle, which was weird because she only had a single bottle of beer. Either she got drunk off the ambiance or she was a real lightweight.

"Just making sure," I answered, "I'm just worried, I don't want you to be hurt."

"To love, is to open yourself to pain," Telsa answered, "I know the risks Nick, but thank you." she smiled and patted my face. "I like your stubble; makes you look rough."

"Heads up," Dagna called out. Walking into the Docking Bay we found most of the crew moving around the ship placing pieces of Silaris armor over the Mimic Alloy I coated the ship with. Things were moving smoothly. Ayla was front and center helping a couple of golems work on the belly of the Normandy.

"Alright, remember, keep a cool- and you're gone~," I looked over to find her walking boldly toward Ayla.

"Hey!" she pointed straight at Ayla, causing her to jump a little.

"Telsa? What's wrong? Nice hair," Ayla smiled.

"You got a lot of nerve~," Telsa huffed.

"uhm, What?"

"You think you can just walk around, with them hips, and them lips, and them... face!?" oh boy~, I think she might have had a bit too much to drink... somehow.

"Telsa... are you drunk?"

"Drunk on love!"

We need to save her. I took a single step before Dagna stopped me. "Dagna?"

"Let her cook," she answered.

"Telsa, maybe I should-" Ayla walked over to Telsa trying to help her stand.

"-I agree!" Before anyone got to do anything, Telsa grabbed Ayla's face and shoved her tongue down her throat. That got some attention, poor Richard tripped over his own feet. "Wow~," Telsa gasped.

Ayla was a blushing mess, "Yeah~."

"Kissing is great!" Sky called out quickly walking over.

"Oh, hey good loo-" Telsa didn't get to finish before Sky's tongue greeted her tonsils.

"You've been drinking, no drinking and kissing!" Sky lectured, tapping Telsa's lips, "Bravery should come from the heart, not the drink. Bedtime."

"I'm not sleepy~," Telsa huffed like a child, "I wanna kiss, and hug, and love."

"Sleep now, tomorrow you can kiss, and hug, and love. But with your own strength." She lifted the tipsy Telsa and walked back to the ship.

"Wait! I have a contract for Ayla!" Telsa waved around a piece of paper.

"... why didn't we think she wouldn't have copies?" I asked Dagna.

"... because, we're idiots?" she shrugged.

Ayla took the piece of paper reading over it, her face growing rosy, She quickly folded it and put it away.

"I WAS RIGHT~!" Telsa yelled at us. Ayla raised her eyebrow at us.

"Smile and wave?" Dagna asked me.

"Smile and wave." I began smiling as we walked into the Normandy, only for our ears to be caught by a tan hand. "Ouchy~!"

"You idiots have some explaining to do," Jak huffed.

"... Love should be free~." I got a chop for that.

-/-

"Why am I doing this again?" I asked, using my Construction skill on the Quarian transport, watching as a piece of welded on metal merge into the rest of the ship as if it was never patched in the first place. With The Normandy's new armor nearly in place and the Puma X-7 needing fewer hands not more, I was a few docks down working on the Quarian ship under the supervision of Ayla, Jak, Lia, Tali, and Zura.

"Cuz you got a young woman drunk and had her molest your girlfriend," Lia answered petting Dogmeat, that traitor. She was looking over my work.

"It was one kiss, and Ayla liked it," I huffed.

"That's not the point," Ayla huffed, spanking my bottom. "Poor Telsa is embarrassed to death; she can't even look me in the eye!"

I giggled, "She's fine, just a bit too much to drink, more importantly, I saw you pocket that contract~. Did something strike your fancy~," I teased.

Ayla's cheeks grew a light blush, "And what if it did?"

I pulled her in close and kissed her forehead, "Please go gentle on her~," I whispered for her ears only, "I didn't think Telsa has a lot of friends or crushes, I'm 90% certain you were her first kiss yesterday. If something does happen, please be there if Julee or Sky get handsy."

She tsked, "Who do you take me for~, of course, I'll be there for her, what about you?"

"Pish, of course, I'll be there, but you're her crush~, and you don't need me flexing all over the place." I teased flexing my pecs, She gave me a giggle at my overacting and gave me a smooch.

"You're an idiot~," I smiled.

"Your idiot?" I asked.

She patted my cheek, "my idiot," she confirmed.

"Our idiot~," Jak interrupted, "Now get back to work~, you're still in a lot of trouble."

"Come on~," I groaned, "How was I supposed to know she would have gotten drunk on a single bottle?"

"It's not that she got drunk, it's that you didn't stop her, her first kiss was a drunken mess."

"Actually, she was pretty good~," Ayla countered.

"That's because you were sober and got to enjoy it, poor Telsa is fuzzy on the details," Jak huffed. "Lia, sweety? Can you get this man inside to heal the Quarians on the ship? Dogmeat be a dear and make sure he doesn't cause any more problems~."

"Meat!" Dogmeat barked in confirmation, I'm this close to creating a dog translation collar that was shown in the movie UP. I understand it was an animated kids' movie but I'm in space, fighting space cuttlefish, I can make a damn translation dog collar. The only problem was that it only said meat, I'm not sure where I'm going wrong, I think it's the difference in brain activity, dogs aren't exactly sentient, but I knew Dogmeat is smarter than your average bear, I just have to adjust it until I get it right. At this moment he coming across as a Pokémon. Which was weird, cause Pancake, Nat's mabari, could talk normally, kinda~, she had an extremely heavy cockney accent, I could barely understand half the things she said, Nat, Lyna, and Ava seemed to understand her fine though.

"Yes ma'am!" Lia saluted and began shoving me toward the ship.

"Whoa~! Watch those hands!" Lia was a bit of a squeezer, "I love you~," I waved goodbye to the ladies.

"Love you too~," they waved back, "And no more Quarians! I don't care how much you love their hips!" Jak yelled back.

I snapped my fingers, "She knows me too well~," I smirked over to a blushing Lia.

"Do you have an off button?" I smirked at her question, "Don't answer that."

I gave a hearty chuckle, "All you have to do is ask, what kind of naughty ideas flashed through that mind of yours~." her blush grew, and punched me on the shoulder. I smirked at her, "How did that feel?"

She released a shaky breath, as if trying to hold back a moan, "It felt... better than it should have, violence isn't a good start to a working friendship."

"Mmm, I don't know, Nat loved it," I pointed out.

"Yes, and she told me she fell in love with a crazy person," she huffed.

"Sounds like a win-win," I joked.

"Uh-huh, forgive me if I don't believe you~," she drawled.

I gave a look around, "Where is everyone?" We've been walking for a bit and haven't walked by anyone, I know frigates aren't the biggest Ships, but we should have run into someone.

"The Waterloo is more of a mission ship; they usually have selected crew that leaves the Migrant fleet on the regular, so unlike normal ships they tend to have a small crew, for emergency pick-ups," Lia explained, "most of the crew is downstairs, most of them are trying to get a glimpse of the Tablets, it's not every day we get to see something from the home world."

"I guess. How many crew members does the ship have?" I asked.

"Mmm, for a human ship this big? Maybe, 300?"

"300!? That's way too many!" The Normandy had 119 crew members and that sometimes felt like it was too many.

Lia shrugged, "It could be less, but this is a pretty large ship."

"Maybe for a Quarian but I like my space~," I touched the hallway we were walking and placed a few dozen rune sentences, expanding the hallways space, durability, and a CO2 scrubber, that last one took me and Julee 2 weeks to make, it took great inspiration from plants ability to photosynthesize.

"Whoa~," Lia looked around the hallway, "Amazing~. Hey, do you think I'll be able to do this?"

"With time and training, rune crafting is a hard skill to use but when you have it, the galaxy opens up to you." We continued walking, the hallway was significantly longer and big enough to have 10 Quarian side to side without bumping into each other, "I might have to do this to every room here, I believe people should have the right to some level of privacy. Do you have any idea how long the Waterloo is going to be docked?"

"Mmm, I'm not sure, Illium isn't really a place where Pilgrims start their journey or get picked up after they get their gift, usually they tend to get picked up at the Citadel or a small colony at the edges of council space, but more and more pilgrims are being picked-up in human space lately. Apparently, humans are more accepting of Quarians than most Council races."

"Is it really that surprising?" I asked, "Quarians and humans tend to have some nasty reputations, the human bullies and the Quarian thieves~, and the fact that it pisses off the Council races the better, the Turians didn't make a lot of human friends."

"So, humans like Quarians, because it annoys the other races? That seems... petty."

I shrugged, "It's a win-win for humans, they get hard-working Quarians who are grateful for the chance to prove themselves and get to tell the Council to kiss their ass, if the Krogan weren't so headstrong you better believe humans would have welcomed them with open arms," I joked.

"Humans are crazy~."

"And the Quarians seem happy with that~," we laughed at the madness that was humanity.

"KEELAH! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?" a Quarian screamed from the end of the hallway. That only made me laugh harder. Lia slapped my shoulder rushing to the end of the hallway to explain what was going on.

"Women~," I joked to Dogmeat.

"Meat!" You said it buddy.

I of course wasn't going to sit around and wait for the Quarian to believe in magic, I just cured his immune system and continued to the med bay. This of course only confused the Quarian more, but I had full confidence Lia could explain it.

The Med lab was slightly bigger than the one on the Normandy, and some of the equipment seemed older, but the Normandy was one of the most advanced ships in the Galaxy, so that didn't mean much.

"I'm guessing you're the 'space wizard'," drawled an older Quarian sitting in her chair looking over some paperwork, well I guessed she was an older Quarian, the mask made it difficult to tell, and most Quarian kept it tight.

Quarian Doctor

Yifu'Tema vas Waterloo Nar Zeca

Lvl: 19

Age: 67

HP: 250/250

Aliments:

Weak immune system (500 MP)

Yifu'Tema was born in 2118, She became a doctor in 2147. She jumped from ship to ship teaching other Quarians medical skills, and she finally retired on The Waterloo wanting to be able to help young Quarians before and after their pilgrimage.

She's heard rumors of how dirty humans are.

"The very same~, names Nick Walters, fully vaccinated, takes daily showers, and eat with my hands." She gave me a long look, "Like a savage," I added.

"... you think it's funny to make fun of an old lady's fears," she huffed.

"Old!? You don't look a day over 25... I'm guessing," I teased.

"... You're a bit of an asshole, aren't you?"

"Meat!" Dogmeat nodded.

"A bit, yeah, but that's just who I am, I'm still trying to be a good guy, but damn is it hard sometimes," I took a seat across from her, "I mean, how do I become a good person? By doing good? But if I'm doing good to feel good, is that good, or do I do it for validation?"

"Meat~," Dogmeat patted my foot in comfort.

"... Do I look like your God damn therapist?"

"I don't know, maybe~, you have this whole mask thing going on~."

"Yeah, I have this 'whole mask thing going on' for years now~," she drawled.

"And you're a bit cantankerous~."

"I'm surprised you even know such a big word."

"I ate a dictionary to gain all its power."

"That would explain why you have such a large mouth for a little shitty brat. I saw Tali'zorah come by here without her suit, she told me that you cured her immune system, is that right?" she huffed, I'm pretty sure the only thing this granny was missing was a cigar, I think she's Zaeed's perfect woman.

"Yes ma'am~, I've done goofed and the ladies in my life aren't happy with my tomfoolery, so I'm here to help. You want me to cure you first?" I asked.

"Do you know the side effects of your little cure?" she huffed.

I sent her all the omni tool data I was able to collect since I cured the Quarians on the Normandy, "I also cured some Quarians from the Janna, but I'm not sure about them, I fear they might be some Quarian Doctor's test subjects back on the fleet."

"Those dumbasses could barely buckle their suits correctly, I wouldn't be surprised if they were just poking them with sticks," she muttered, looking through my notes. "Solus? Mordin Solus?" she asked looking at Mordin's side notes.

"You know him?"

"He was some little shit that thought he was some big shot back when I was working in the Citadel, I thought he would have turned mad scientist by now," she muttered, looking at his notes.

"Well, 'Mad' is a bit much, we like to think of it as 'quirky'."

"Potato, tomato."

"Actually it's-"

"I don't care, you damn humans have a million freaking idioms," she interrupted me, "it seems like your notes are in order, you just don't have a large test group. Cure me," she ordered. Grabbing some equipment to scan herself to see what changes would happen during the process.

"Just like that?"

"I'm 67, and I've only taken off my suit to fuck my man and give birth to my boy, I wanna drink my water without an emergency induction port. So, cure me and stop wasting my time."

"... you know... you're kinda cool... for a crazy old lady~." I grabbed her shoulder and lit up the room in healing light. It took a moment, but the light faded returning the room to normal.

"Was the light show really needed?" she huffed looking at her omni tool.

"Does anything faze you? And yes, the light show was needed. It makes me feel special," I joked.

She rolled her eyes, "Why any woman fucks you is a question for the ages~."

"Nick, are you in here?" Lia came rushing around the door.

"Yo~," I gave her a peace sign.

"Hey," Doc pointed to Lia, "Is this your idiot?"

"Uh, well, uhm, I guess."

"GASP! You do love me~," I teased.

"Shut up!" Lia hissed, "I hope he hasn't caused you any trouble Doctor Tema," she bowed.

"Baa~, My grandchild causes me more trouble than this bag of shitty jokes, but you should keep an eye on him. He's the type of idiot that's going to cause an interspecies incident," she huffed reaching for her mask, I quickly turned around making sure I didn't look at her. The hissing of the mask clamps releasing was heard throughout the room. "Well, isn't that adorable~, scared of an old lady's face?"

"I thought it was different for older Quarians," I shrugged, looking at the wall, "Tali, Lia, and Zura, are young, and they were happy to remove their mask, but I thought older Quarians made a much bigger deal out of showing their face to others?"

"We don't show our face because there is a good chance we'll die, but since I'm not going to die, I'm not going to live with this stupid thing on, so turn around when I'm talking to you, you dunderhead."

Turning around I saw the doctor's face, like every other Quarian so far, She was extremely pale lavender, near white, with short, peppered hair, and bio-enhancers on her cheeks, but the most striking thing I saw was how youthful she looked, she really didn't look a day over 35. "How are you 67?"

"HA!" she laughed, "These things aren't for show, Ya shitty brat~," she pointed to her Bio-enhancers, "they help better distribute nutrients and medicine throughout the body. There is no 'retirement' in the Migrant Fleet, these things allow us to live longer and work harder with less."

"Looks painful," I muttered.

She shrugged, "We got it down to a science, some of us need more than others, but we all have them and it only itches for the first day, that medi-gel you humans made makes it far safer." That explains why Lia has more than Tali, and Zura has less than both.

"Mmm, you learn something new every day~. Anyway, I need to use the Medi bay as a base to start curing the Crew, so I'm going to have to... Redecorate a bit," I wasn't asking.

She tsked, "You break anything, and you're paying to replace it, and I'm not looking for any hand-me-downs, I want top-of-the-line equipment."

"What~!? That's not fair! Everything in here looks ready to turn to dust!"

She shrugged, "That sounds like a you problem~."

I tsked, "I think you're the first evil Quarian I have ever met~." She just smirked at me, "... there's something already broken in here isn't there~." She just kept smirking. "Take your money you ancient vulture." I transferred over 250,000 credits.

She looked wide-eyed at the amount before coughing, "This will do, try and keep my home in one piece," she huffed and walked out of the room.

"How much did you give her? She was skipping out of here," Lia pointed out.

"250,000 creds."

She just gave me a long look, "Telsa was right, you have no concept of money, do you? Nothing in this room is worth that much to replace, and can't you just fix anything you 'break'?"

I gave her a shrug, "Telsa's my money Guru, and I liked the old bag of bones, Let her buy some new toys, it gives me plenty of time to get this lab to my preferred luxury."

"... you're a little crazy, aren't you?" she asked.

"A little, yeah, but if it makes you feel better, you're a little crazy too," I smirked at her.

She blinked at me, "... yeah, I guess I am," she sighed.

"I'm happy you've come to terms with your madness," I patted her on the back, "Now if you could help by giving me time to fix this place up a bit by keeping the crew at bay unless they're injured of course, Daddy has some work to do~."

"... Please never call yourself Daddy again."

"Noted!" I shooed her away.

I started by expanding the room, giving me enough space to have over 3 dozen beds side to side with enough room to walk around in, curtains for privacy, and polished white floors, I fixed every wonky machine to its maximum durability but didn't make more, Doc was probably buying new ones and the Quarian people recycle everything, some these might just be moved to a new ship. I removed her old desk and replaced it with a new stained Magical red wood desk nearly twice the size, brand new cabinets, and new chairs with comfort runes. Speaking of runes, I placed minor healing runes under each bed to speed up the healing process. All and all it only took me less than an hour, Magic was amazing~, and I'm looking forward to healing the Quarians, it will be a good chunk of Exp, I've been stuck at level 71 for some time.

Gamer Human

Nick Walters

Lvl: 71

Exp: 38470/72000

HP 2290/2290 (5495/5495 armor)

MP 1830/1830 (4875/4875 armor)

CP 2290/2290 (5495/5495 armor)

Str: Superhuman

Vit: you cough vitamins

Dex: Spidey reflexes

Int: It's important to be a well-rounded individual

Wis: A little paranoia goes a long way

Cha: You have a trustworthy face

Luk: You tend to find yourself in the right place at the right time

Stat points: 29

Money:

72583G 94S 29C

454,948,857 credits

While I was still getting EXP from my golems killing Darkspawn in the deep roads everything was split 11 ways through my party, I didn't really mind, my level was high enough for me, it was my skills that I wanted to level up, any EXP for my skills are separate for the Party share. My Healing Hands skill was at Master Rank, and I had a way to go before I reached Grandmaster Rank, but curing the Quarian gave me a massive EXP to that skill due to it being costly and rare.

"Nick are you- Whoa~," Lia gawked at the new Med Bay.

"Nice right~? You can send in my first patient!" I ordered.

"MEAT!" Dogmeat agreed.

237, that was how many Quarians were stationed in this frigate, Most frigates need a crew of about 100 or so people depending on the size, the Waterloo being a human ship it was on the rather large size being just larger than the Normandy, it still left everything cramped.

The MP needed to cure a Quarian's immune system was about 500, which lowered 5 MP every 10th person I healed because my Skill was getting the hang of it after repeated use, so by the time I got to the last person it only took 380 MP to cure. Every person cured gave me 150 EXP but began to lower as the MP needed to cure them lowered, leaving me with a nice 22,130 Exp divided 11 ways giving me a decent 2,011 EXP and some change. While not a lot for my next level up, it was great for my Healing Hands skill taking me one large step closer to my Grandmaster Rank.

"Hey ya shitty brat, what did you do to my office!?" Doc Tema huffed walking into the Med Bay.

"Yo Granny~, your old office was way too small for my liking, so I made it a bit bigger," I huffed, putting my feet up on the desk and leaning back on the chair. She tsked and yanked the chair back causing me to teeter, "Holy-" I waved my arms like a mad man steading myself. "Have you lost your mind you old hag!? My life flashed before my eyes!"

"Don't put your feet on my desk, where did you put everything?" she asked looking around the room.

"I asked Lia to label everything," I huffed, I'm not perfect but messing up a medical professional's working area is just way too evil even for me, so I'd made sure everything went back to its original spot.

"Did you restock?"

"Hell no~," I huffed, "Restock your own shit, that's what the money was for."

She tsked, "The nerve of some people, making the elderly do all the work." she muttered, checking every cabinet making sure everything was in its place. "Are you going to do this to every room on the ship?"

I gave a shrug, "maybe. if I have the time. It's one thing to do it on the Normandy, I live there, I'm just visiting The Waterloo."

"Should I worry about the room shrinking on me?" she huffed.

"No, the Runes are stable, and the ship is strong... for the most part, the only time you need to worry is if the ship is blowing up, and my cute apprentice is already working on that," I waved away her worry. "Now if you don't mind I have a date with a b-e-a-uuuutiful woman, and Neria's a woman you don't keep waiting, If you have any questions, please ask Lia, or Jak, or Dagna, or Tali, you know what there are a lot of people you can ask, bye~," I waved goodbye.

I should hurry, Neria wanted to check out the local library, apparently, Nos Astra had a real library with real books, in a galaxy where everything was digital, paper books were considered rare, and luxurious, which was another way the city showed off their wealth. I had no idea why Neria wanted to go, everything was written in the Asari's native language but whatever, I was just planning a picnic, followed by some shopping, and seeing where the night would take us.

-/-

Neria POV

I stacked a couple of pancakes on my plate.

"Well, someone is hungry~," Lyna teased.

I blew her a raspberry as I sat next to her, "I... had a hard 'workout' last night~." Across from me was Ayla and Ava with Lyna next to me.

"Yeah, I know~, poor Ayla was hot and bothered by your... calls of exhaustion~," Lyna joked.

"No I wasn't!" Ayla hissed, her cheeks burning like a campfire, "You watch one time and people label you for life, Maker~."

"Once~," Ava teased, "as in once a week?"

"... I don't kink shame you," Ayla huffed.

"I'm not shaming you, in all honesty, I find your gaze rather flattering," Ava answered, "It makes me feel... desirable." Ayla's been trying to get rid of her voyeur status for a while, but since we lived together without others, we tend to... go at it like rabbits when the time strikes, and we've noticed that Ayla tends to stick around and watch. So, to mess with her we purposely leave doors open or do it somewhere where she could see us. It's so cute watching her peek through doors and behind corners.

"Desirable? Is that a joke? Have you seen yourself?" Ayla sighed. "You're built like a superhero... please don't tell me it's about your arm~," Ayla groaned, she reached out to Ava gingerly grabbing her mechanical hand, and slowly kissed up her arm. "You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met. I love your smile, I love your humor, I love how you argue, I love how you sleep, I love how you laze around, I love how you punch, I love how you scrunch your nose when you have to eat your vegetables, I love how when you read you wear fake glasses to look smart, I love how after a long passionate night you walk around naked most of the morning, I love-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, you love me," she giggled pushing Ayla away stopping her from leaving any more lipstick marks on her face.

"And don't you ever forget it!" Ayla huffed. "I got Nicky tomorrow night," she pokes her in the arm, "You will, join me and Dagna."

"Dagna?" I asked through a mouthful of pancakes. Being in a polyamorous relationship can be a bit tricky at times, as a group we come up with group dates, solo dates, outings, and yes, nights of lovemaking, it was rather odd at first but after our sixth orgy we had to have a system, otherwise Nick would have died, turns out men can't pump out orgasm after orgasm like women could, even with magic, that didn't stop the occasional rump or surprise date, but the group calendar made it easy for us to keep track and have private time with one another, for Ayla to share her private time is very generous and kind.

"I... may have lost a bet. She was definitely cheating in that card game last night," she hissed. Sometimes we use our time as gambling chips or sell it for a favor, that time would then go from solo to group time.

"She wasn't, you just weren't paying attention," Lyna rolled her eyes. "80% of the time you were trying to get a peek at Nick's bedroom."

Ayla blushed before glaring at me, "I blame you~."

"Me~?" I gasped.

"Yeah, you! I thought you were being stabbed!"

"Uh-huh ~," I drawled, "I guess I was being... stabbed plenty~," I joked.

"Excuse me," EDI interrupted coming over with a stack of food half her size.

"EDI~!" We cheered.

"Sit-sit!" I called out, patting the seat next to me.

"Thank you." EDI quickly became the ship's mascot, and everyone loved her, she was like all our little sister, well, everyone's sister but Joker's, she was his Girlfriend~. It wasn't official or anything, but those two idiots kept pawing at each other, sooner or later they were going to tear off their clothes.

"So, EDI what are your plans for today?" Lyna asked.

EDI took a huge bite of a pancake looking like a chipmunk before swallowing, she's lucky she doesn't need air, any food she ate landed in her heavily runic stomach that was converted into energy that kept her body in top condition. It worked a lot like the Chalice of Convergence in the J-family mansion, but nowhere as powerful. "We should be finished with the Armor today, and begin work on the Cyclonic Barrier, which should be highly effective with the large arc reactor Nick will be installing with the help of the engineering crew," she answered eating another pancake.

"Not for the ship, for you~, Joker has been taking quick peeks at your buns~," Lyna teased, bouncing her eyebrows. Joker has lasted longer than most people thought he would, especially with a woman like EDI after him, but lately, he has been giving her longing looks whenever she wasn't paying attention.

EDI just looked deeply at the pancake in her hands, before swallowing it whole. "How did you seduce Walters?" she asked. Nick? I gave it a moment of thought.

"The Naked Woman," Ava answered. "I snuck into his bed naked," she gave EDI a thumbs up. "It was easy, Ayla was there, she'll vouch for me." Ayla covered her face in embarrassment but still nodded.

"That does seem straightforward," EDI hummed.

"Don't listen to her~," Lyna huffed, "She's missing the part where they were going into a life and death battle the next day, hormones were flying high."

Ava huffed, "It also worked the day after, and the day after that, and the week after that, and look at me now."

Lyna gave her sister a deadpan look, "That's fair, I guess, but unless you want to wait until a life-and-death battle, I would choose another plan."

"How did you do it?" EDI asked her.

Lyna blinked, "Me? We were in the Rune Lab, working on a new rune that would mimic Nick's ability to change clothes instantaneously, there was a small accident, which ended with us both naked. There may have been an explosion~, my life flashed before my eyes, my heart was pounding, and I decided that I wasn't going to wait anymore, we did it right there, on the floor." she gave out a longing sigh, "It was a bit embarrassing when everyone rushed into the room, but it was still one of the most amazing feelings in the world. I still get goosebumps when I hear an explosion. I can't even watch action movies anymore," she joked. "While it was amazing, I wouldn't recommend nearly dying to tell someone you love them."

EDI took another moment and ate another pancake, before looking over at me.

"Me?" I gave a hum, "We were in Mother Base's Library, there were no explosions or Death battles the next day, in fact, it was a normal day, if you consider flying islands normal. We just finished helping the Grey Wardens at Weisshaupt and we were putting away some of the books Nick copied, there wasn't much to it, one minute, we were putting away some books, joking, laughing, and the next, my back was up against the shelves, tearing off his shirt." I gave an embarrassed laugh, "We knew we had something going on, but something always got in the way, The blight, rebuilding, experiments~, it wasn't until we left the Grey Warden HQ, that we realized that there was nothing getting in the way. We kinda became animals after that, every second we got a moment of free time we couldn't keep our hands to ourselves." I lifted my hand up to show off my Ring of Love, "I'm lucky Julee gave me this, otherwise Jak Jr. Would have been born by now," I joked. "So, unless you have the patience to wait for the end of the Reaper war to be over, I wouldn't recommend following my lead."

EDI let out a sigh, before eating another pancake.

"I think you should go with a contract; Telsa made a lot of good points in hers~," Ayla spoke up, passing EDI the piece of paper, it took EDI less than a second to read it before humming.

"A contract? Isn't this a bit unorthodox? In the movies (read: Porn) and books (read: Smut) I watched and read; it tends to be spontaneous," EDI muttered.

"I'm not saying it can't be a spur-of-the-moment thing, but having a contract gives you that extra protection," Ayla explained taking the contract back, "And it gives the other person time to research some of the things you might be into and know what to not do."

"A contract?" EDI hummed before nodding, "Yes, I will try this!" she stood up, ate her last pancake, and bowed," Thank you for your help!" she ran off.

"I think we did good today ladies," Ava nodded, "we are Trail Blazers~."

I shrugged, "Yep~, either we just made women history, or burned the world around us."

-/-

Tali POV

"Easy~, easy~, EASY!" I yelled.

"Would you stop screaming, I'm half a step away~," Nick muttered, pulling out the Eezo core. "It's not even on!" he huffed.

I rolled my eyes at the caveman, "Eezo engines are very sensitive, if the drive is broken it might leak out Eezo radiation, which could be very bad for us."

"That would explain why we are the only ones in here~," he muttered, looking up at the 4th floor where the rest of the engineering crew was watching us from. Leaving only me and Nick to take out the tiny engine. Technically you would be fine, the engine was rather small, and we were wearing top of the line enviro-suits, that had powerful shields, but I wasn't going to tell Nick that, I would rather have him believe we were in real danger so he could be extra cautious. Whoever made this thing was a mad scientist, this drive engine was crazy, fighters like the Puma, weren't really made for FTL, it was way too small, ships this size were usually fitted with helium-3 engines and a small Eezo core for fast but short close combat. The fact that someone had the Quads to shove a miniature FTL engine in here is crazy. "So, it will only leak and not explode... right?"

"Yes, Eezo tends to get dangerous when power is running through it, as long as it is off, we don't have to worry about it blowing up," I huffed, "Put it over here," I pointed to the premade desk. Nick carefully followed my instructions. "Okay~, let's pop this bad boy open." this was one of the most beautiful and sturdy engines I have ever seen, I can understand why there was only a hundred and fifty of these were made, they must have cost millions of credits each, and I'll be damned if they didn't put their blood, sweat, and tears into their design.

It was a slow job, but we were able to remove the Eezo from the engine and place it in a sealed container. Nick then made a quick Magical copy, before I added the Eezo back, and carefully put the engine back into its power core. Keelah, I was a sweaty mess, I always hate working on engine repair, at least we weren't doing it in zero gravity.

Nick patted me on the back, "That's what I'm talking about!" He cheered, I had no idea why he was so happy we had to put it back together, but still~, we did it, I looked up to the rest of the engineering crew who were also cheering.

Putting it back together went far faster than before, everything just slotted back into place rather easily, whoever made this ship wanted it to be easy to replace any broken object quickly and efficiently, no fuss, no muss. Joker was crying, seeing his baby back in one piece, the baby. He even started up the ship making sure everything was okay. EDI ripped him a new one, turns out that starting up a spaceship in the Shuttle Bay without running the proper tests tends to make people very upset. Joker was in the doghouse, she even demoted him to co-pilot for a week, I didn't even know she could do that, I think this is what people call 'being whipped'.

With the Puma back in one piece, and Joker properly chastised, we moved on to the Cyclonic Barrier, which compared to the new armor was far easier to install due to it enhancing the shields we already had and thanks to Nick's large arc reactor we had more than enough power to swat away a dreadnought Main gun, well according to my readings anyway. I just don't want to be here if it happens. I believe the Normandy itself is a dreadnought in a Frigates chasse, better even, her speed, her power, her durability, she might be the most dangerous ship in the galaxy.

"Alright people~," Nick drawled, "it's quitting time~, Dinner's in half an hour, and the Night shift is on their way~."

"Ugh~," Gabby sighed stretching out her limbs, "Today's been too long~."

"Don't even get me started, installing the FBA Couplings was a mess," Donney groaned.

"I'm just happy we did it before Nick expanded the room," Lia'Vael sighed.

"Otherwise, you would have crawled for over 100 meters," Zura'Nul pointed out.

"ugh~, that would have sucked~," Donney huffed, "EDI, How is the ship handling the new power source?"

"The ship is functioning at 100% efficiency, Engineer Donnelly, The Arc reactor has taken well and has become the ship's main battery, the Fusion plant and the H-fuel cells have been placed as emergency axillary power," EDI came over the comms.

"Have you calculated in the Hyperspace engine?" I asked.

"I have run millions of hypothetical scenarios of the power needed for the hyperspace engine, but physical testing is required for an accurate assessment."

"Don't worry too much about it EDI," Nick waved away her worry, "We have the blueprints for the Puma, and have been talking with Anderson about testing in Alliance Space."

"What kind of tests?" Zura'Nul asked.

Nick shrugged, "Nothing too crazy, The Ship will use the Hyperdrive to circle Alliance space dropping FTL Comm buoys and satellites in locations faraway Star systems that aren't connected to the Mass relays."

"How much did that cost you?" Gabby asked.

Nick just shrugged, "He just wanted a copy of the Hyperspace engine design, It doesn't mean much without the Refined Coaxium~."

Wait a tick, "I need Refined Coaxium," this Bosh'tet only gave me the Blueprints but nothing to power the engine! He just smirked at me. That Bosh'tet! "What do you want for the Coaxium?" I hissed.

"Mmm, that's a good question, what do you have that I want? I have money, a model for Julee, I live in a sweet ship," he blinked, "I need someone to teach me how to use an Omni tool correctly. At the moment I am using Miranda's old one, but I don't know how to use it."

"You're using Miranda's Omni tool? Are you an idiot?" I huffed.

"I had Mordin scrub it, and then I had Jenny scrub it, don't let her gruff attitude fool you, she's pretty decent with technology. You can scrub it if you want, I only use it for making my Animated series, games, and emails, haven't used it for much else," he shrugged as his omni tool came to life and hopped into my wrist.

"Whoa ~," I looked at it in shock, it must be one of Nick's golems.

"It's thought-operated," he explained. I quickly flew through his omni tool, the moment I thought about something it immediately jumped to it, no lag or having to press any buttons.

Digging through his Omni tool I found not that would show any spyware or virus, I also looked through some of the cartoons he was making, Garrus Vakarian: A Turian Story, was due to come out in two days, and Commander Shepard: Race against time was due 3 days after that, but there was also other titles, David E. Anderson: The call of duty, Jeff Moreau: He who laughed last, Zaeed Massani: Burning Vengeance, and Justicar Samara: Heavy justice. Nick seemed to have a full plate.

"You're fine," his omni tool jumped from my wrist and back onto his, I stuck my hand out at him, "Coaxium for lessons?"

"Deal~." We shook on it.

"Hey, ya guys wanna play some poker!" Donney called out, waving a deck of cards.

"Sounds like fun," Shepard came through the doors.

"C-commander!" Donney gave a sloppy salute, causing Gabby to giggle.

"At ease Donney, I'm technically not part of the alliance at the moment so you don't have to salute me. So, what's this about poker."

"Oh uh, I just," Donney fumbled waving his cards around, "You wanna join?"

"I'm a bit rusty," Shepard lied.

"I don't trust that face at all~," Nick whispered to me.

"I guess being crazy doesn't mean being dumb~," I whispered back.

He just laughed.

-/-

Nick POV

Quest: Hunting a Hunter's prey.

Thane Krios, legendary master assassin, is a hard man to find, so, unable to find him, find what he's hunting. Track and find Nassana Dantius and Thane will come to you.

Reward: 50,000 EXP, 30,000 credits, 1 gold loot box, 1 gacha token, new recruit: Thane Krios

"Eagle is in the nest," Garrus came over the comms.

"Rhino ready to charge," Miranda called out next.

I looked over to Shepard, "Hold steady, our ride is almost here," he called out looking out into the city, "Everyone, get ready to jump."

"You know, Nos Astra is beautiful at night," I complimented, the neon lights, hover cars, advertisements, it all looked like a cyberpunk dream.

"Eyes on the prize Nicky~," Kasumi teased.

"Is that why your eyes are glued to Sky's ass?" I teased back.

"On her 'wings'." she corrected, I couldn't see her face with her new helmet, but I could tell she was blushing. "They are very beautiful."

"Uh-huh~, I believe you~," I teased.

"Shut up~," she hissed, tapping me with her elbow.

"Here it comes," Shepard called out. "Get ready we have one chance at this." At the moment, Shepard, Kasumi, Sky, Jak, Ava, Jacob, Mordin, and I were standing in a very high skyscraper, overlooking the metropolis that was Nos Astra. Looking down I saw our prey.

-/-

Nassana has finally stopped running... kinda. "A train?" I asked. That's not right, wasn't she hiding in one of her buildings?

"Yes," Liara answered, showing us a hologram of a very big train along with some video footage. "Nassana bought this air train some time ago to transport her goods through Illium, but recently it has been making random stops in specific heavily guarded locations, picking up food and eclipse mercs before flying off." At the moment the ground crew was in Liara's new magically expanded office looking at our next mission.

"She's using the train as a mobile base," Shepard huffed.

"I believe so, Mr. Krios has her scared to stay in one place for too long, it is a top-of-the-line air train, with powerful shields and heavy armor," Liara answered.

"Who cares about some Asari broad?" Zaeed huffed, "Aren't we here for some assassin?"

"Do you know where he is?" Tali rhetorically asked.

"Thane Krios is rumored to be the best assassin in the galaxy," Miranda huffed, "If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be, so if we want a meeting-"

"-We are going to need his target," Jacob answered, "I doubt she's going to come in easily."

"Good," Grunt grinned, "More fun that way."

"I doubt we can just storm the train," Garrus pointed out.

"No. The train will leave the first sign of fighting. Need stealth," Mordin added.

"What's stopping her from just detaching the train, shoot, what's stopping her from getting on a ship and flying into the darkness of space?" Jak asked.

"This isn't the first planet she's run off to, Mr. Krios is persistent, she did try a few months ago," Liara pulled up some images of the scattered remains of a blown-up ship. "She hasn't tried that again. As for the train, it can only disconnect until it reaches a checkpoint, this way if the train stops nothing can fall to any building below."

"Is it on some sort of track?" Sereda asked, "What is stopping it from just flying away?"

"Illium police. Illium is a beast of ill moral repute and bureaucracy, and it will bring down the hammer on anyone and anything that gets in the way of its efficiency, rich CEO or not, and you better believe a train moving out of its designated airspace is going to get every officer in the city to be there to arrest and fine her every last credit she has left," Liara answered. "Let's just say Nassana has a lot of enemies."

"Do we even know where she's going to stop?" Ayla asked.

"As I said, she has a lot of enemies, some of those enemies are disgruntled employees, there is a large shipment of food to be delivered to one of Nassana's Private ports, here in Nos Astra in the Warehouse district." Liara showed us a large open holographic warehouse. "I give you 10 to 20 minutes before the train takes off again."

"What are the chances Thane is in the train when it takes off?" I asked, everyone looked over at me, "What?" I shrugged, "If you know this information chances are he does too, he's been chasing her longer than us."

"Mmm, the chances aren't zero~," Liara pointed out, "If he were on the train, I would suggest you get to Nassana first, I doubt he's going to stick around for long after his job is done."

Shepard squinted, "Can you expand this?" Liara pressed a few buttons showing off skyscrapers, "There aren't any air cars."

Liara shook her head, "Nassana owns the area and only her ships are allowed, Anyone who tries is fined, but she's skipped the fine and is blowing up any ship that gets too close."

Shepard gave a smirk that made me shiver, "I got a plan."

-/-

"Jump-jump-jump!" Shepard called out diving off the skyscraper and toward the train that just pulled up to the warehouse. We played follow the leader with Shepard taking the lead. Let me tell you something, skydiving is one of the most heart-pounding experiences I have ever had, I can understand why some people get addicted, adrenaline is a hell of a drug. We fell for four seconds, about 250 feet, before Shepard's jetpack activated blasting him forward, we followed suit, trying to stay in one line, using the night and the neon light to hide our approach. "Rhino, charge!" Shepard called out over the radio.

There was a huge explosion in the front of the warehouse causing the mercs to scramble and run for the entrance, making our landing nearly quiet, I say 'nearly' because a guard on the train spotted us, only for his head to explode.

"Scoped and dropped!" Garrus called over the comms.

"Sky!" Shepard pointed to the head cart, but before she got to do anything the train started moving, Not wasting another second, she grabbed the top of the control cart and pealed the top off like a soda can, allowing us entry.

"Thane's on the train," I said, pointing to the sleeping Train conductor, he didn't have anything too serious, Thane must have drugged him with some sort of sleeping agent because he had a timer over his head with a 2-hour time limit.

"Train locked. Can't be changed. Stopping near a police station. 2 hours," Mordin pointed out tapping on the controls.

"That's fine, that was our plan to start with," Shepard nodded. The plan was straightforward, Garrus was our sniper giving us cover and an outside detail, Rhino, which was everyone else, was the distraction, getting the mercs to look away as we landed on the train, and we were the infiltrators, get to Nassana and get her out, but with Thane here we needed to get to Nassana before Thane vanished again. With the train unable to stop, we only had to worry about the Mercs in the train, all 100 carts of them, well, whatever Thane leaves for us anyway. "Rhino, scatter, I repeat, scatter."

"We hear you commander," Miranda called out, "Light them out!" was the last thing we heard was Grunt laughing before a large explosion cut them off. Sounded like they were having fun.

"Alright, everyone, with me," Shepard ordered taking the lead with his new runic M-96 Mattock, it hit with the rage of a stampeding elephant, with his shoulder cannons giving him covering support. "Nassana should be at the back of the train."

Carefully entering the first cart we found a merc with his neck at a very... uncomfortable angle. He was probably making sure the conductor didn't run off, and after seeing the controls I kinda understood, that shit was confusing, I'm pretty sure you needed a college degree to use it.

I won't lie, the train was beautiful, each cart was around 50 feet wide by 70 feet long, everything was clean, it was made with comfort in mind, the seats were some kind of velvet, there were paintings and tapestries, clearly someone was very rich and wasn't shy about showing off.

"Did you just steal that booth?" Kasumi asked.

"Kleptomania tends to come with being an adventurer, we just can't not take something. How do you think I furbish my castle? Half the things I own come from ancient crips, castles, and dungeons, is it my fault that the bad guys have all the cool stuff?" I shrugged, taking a painting.

"You got a problem~," she teased, also taking a painting.

"Where is everyone?" Jacob asked out loud. He had a point, 4 carts in and the only two people we'd come across were the conductor and a corpse.

"Maybe, they were in the middle of shift change, and the explosion may have led more out of the train before it took off?" I suggested, keeping my Gauss Rifle pointed down the aisles, the place was empty. "I don't hear any gun fighting," how could Thane hide in a place like this? Maybe a cloak suit like Kasumi? He is an assassin, maybe he was able to buy one before he changed his ways?

3 more carts and a bunch of furniture looted, later we came across our first living person.

Carefully walking into the cart, we found 5 dead mercs, and the cries of someone in a bathroom, opening the door we came face to face with a terrified Asari. She was half naked and scared, I quickly draped her in one of my large coats.

"Go towards the front, no one is up there but the unconscious conductor, The train is already heading to the police station, lock the door behind you," I ordered. She just nodded and ran away not saying a word.

"Stab wounds, right through the jugular, bled out in seconds," Jacob called out looking at the bodies, "Except this one," he turned over a batarian, his eyes gouged out, a horrified expression etched on his face.

"I'm guessing that means something," Ava spoke up.

"Batarians believe eyes are where the soul exits to the afterlife. heavy insult if damaged. Sending a message. Scaring the rest of the batarians," Mordin explained.

"Commander are we still going silent?" I asked.

He gave me a long look.

-/-

Thane Krios POV

The infiltration was a success, the bottom panels were loose just like the builders said they would. Note to self, If I ask someone to build something for me make sure to pay them in full. I have no idea what that explosion was, I know Nassana had enemies but to just attack her head-on? A bit amateurish and a lot foolhardy, still they got rid of a good deal of the crew.

These eclipse mercs weren't exactly at their best, but to their credit I've been starving them for the last 3 days, hitting Dantius's docks made her extra paranoid. Most didn't even see me coming so sneaking around them was simple and those who did were sloppy with hunger, so I made quick work of them and stuffed them in a closet, trains aren't a great place to stash bodies. Getting to the back was fast work, occasionally I would run into a mistreated worker who I would lock behind a room with some nutrient paste, I counted eight so far. Unfortunately, it would seem Nassana kept heavy hitters in the back carts, and they were being fed, both food and stems. They were wide awake and ready for a fight, getting past them was going to be difficult, especially with the krogan blocking the door.

That was until a huge racket came from the carts behind me, sticking to the shadows, I waited for what was making all that noise. One of the mercs made an executive decision to check out the noise only to come face to face with a huge steal fist launching him across the cart, as a giant mech came running through the other cart not slowing down in the least, ramming into the Krogan guarding the back door, still not slowing down, using the krogan as a battering ram. All hell broke loose, most of the mercs turned to the behemoth shooting it not caring about friendly fire. The mech didn't seem to care about the damage, slamming through door after door.

The merc's confusion left them open to a surprise attack from a group of heavily armed weirdos making their presents known by making enough noise to drown out a herd of stampeding Elcor.

"Smite." A golden bolt of energy came from the cart behind me piercing through a merc but it didn't stop, It bounced off the wall hitting another merc and another and another and another filling the room in bright light before it faded, leaving most of the room's occupants on the floor, some got lucky and were able to escape the death bolt, me being one of them.

Following that a bolt of living lightning in the vague appearance of a woman unleashed heavy electrical damage, causing any remaining mercs to seize up, twitching uncontrollably, this is why I insulated my armor long ago, you only had to be shocked once to learn you never want that to happen again. A large woman with horns and a tail that didn't seem to have a weapon, if you don't count her fists, came behind her crushing the head of any Merc that wasn't fast enough to get out of the way, on her back was a human woman with a pistol that must have had some sort of armor-piercing mod, because it pierced clean through any armor or shield it came up against.

Behind them came a Salarian and 2 human males all wearing similar armor, double tapping any merc and rushing forward, Before I moved after them, one last human male came through the door, watching the dead in case they got back up. He suddenly turned to me looking me dead in the eye. 1, 2, 3 seconds before he looked away looking at the other corners and shadows, he was looking for something.

"Nick?" one of the men called out.

"No civilians, I'm guessing Nassana didn't want her men to get distracted. Also, I think we may have passed Thane at some point, or he's using the vents or something," 'Nick' shrugged, jogging out of the room. Leaving me in a very quiet room.

I guess they're looking for me. I looked back at the bodies; I'm also guessing subtlety isn't one of their strong suits.

-/-

Shepard POV

"We passed him?" I asked, following our heavy hitters clearing out whole rooms, Ava was really dangerous in enclosed areas.

"There is a good chance that he's using us as a distraction or maybe even as his battering ram, not a lot of places someone could hide in an enclosed space like this," Nick explained.

"Can't you find him with magic?" I asked.

He shook his head, "Magic could do just about anything, If I had his blood or his favorite gun, maybe, but something is blocking me from seeing him, he might have a patron watching out for him."

"A god?" I asked.

"More than likely, I wouldn't call him a Paladin or Cleric, but he might have a boon, someone doesn't just become a legendary assassin by accident, his skills and grit must have caught someone's attention," Nick explained.

"Even though we aren't here to hurt him?" Jacob asked.

"Just because we don't wanna cause him injury doesn't mean we're not gonna hurt him, We are asking him to go on a suicide mission after all, maybe his patron doesn't want him to be hurt, maybe Thane doesn't trust us so his skills hid him from our sight, or maybe he's just so good that we can't even see him. Not the first rogue to get the drop on me," Nick shrugged. "How many mercs does one woman need~?" he sighed, stepping over a dead krogan, and taking his weapon.

"Thane must have had her scared," Jacob answered, shooting a groaning Merc.

We continued heading to the back of the ship one cart at a time, We had to stop for a moment due to Nick's golem finally reaching its breaking point, Nick just stuffed it back into his hammerspace and summoned another mech golem which took up its fallen brother's duty and continued the charge through the train, by the time we reached the 80th cart there weren't many Mercs left.

Occasionally we reached some sort of checkpoint where a large group of mercs would be waiting, but a quick smite from Ava tended to cut that number down dramatically, and Nick's magical armor was terrifyingly efficient, everything was connected through thought and a protection VI, anytime my Mattock had to cool one of my shoulder guns would pick up the slack, I wasn't not shooting something at any given time. I was a walking tank, with two gunners on my shoulders covering my blind sides.

"We got a problem," Ava spoke up. The door leading to the back carts was shielded.

"I can see the shield, is that normal?" Nick pointed out.

"Those are some powerful shields," Kasumi answered. "There must be a generator behind the door."

Sky tapped the shield with her finger, checking its strength, before unleashing a terrifying right hook shaking the train a little, but the shield held, "Tough."

"Does it go all the way around?" Jak asked.

"Doubtful," Mordin answered, "Powerful shield. Uses a lot of energy. would need multiple generators to cover the back half of the train. Generators will get hot."

"We've seen the rest of the train, money isn't an issue for Nassana," Ava pointed out, "If she wanted the cover her cart with shields, where would she put the generators to keep cool?"

"Outside, air would keep the train cool. minimum armor, would need the generators to take in air," Mordin explained.

"Okay ~," Nick nodded slowly, "so we make a small opening, shoot the generators, and the shields drop, seems straightforward."

"Where are the generators?" Jak asked, stumping Nick.

"Uhhh~, outside?" Nick guessed.

"Yeah, but where out-" before Jak asked again the Shield shimmered before going dead.

We just looked at the door for a moment before Sky tapped it again, getting a metal ting, "It's off."

"Kasy?" Nick asked.

Kasumi shrugged, "Don't look at me."

"Do you think the universe is finally showing us some pity?" Nick asked.

"No," everyone said at the same time.

"Most likely Assassin," Mordin answered.

"Nick," I nodded to the door.

He gave me a nod in confirmation and summoned two more mech golems, making them charge the last cart, the panicked screams and gunfire of desperate mercs filled the room.

"... so, what are we doing after this?" Nick asked.

"OH GOD!" one of the mercs screamed.

"Like in the grand scheme of things? We are still hunting the collectors, for the immediate future there is still some stuff we need to do here in Illium," I answered.

"MY LEG!"

"Do you think we might be able to craft my Puma X-8?" he asked.

"SHOOT IT! SHOOOOOOT IT!"

"Puma X-8?" I huffed, "You can't just name something a number higher."

"OH GOD IT JUST RIPPED OFF SATOR'S ARM!"

"Then how does it work?" Nick huffed.

"Mmm, from my understanding, you need at least 20 people to sit around in a room pretending to do work for 3 months and then come up with something 10 minutes before they need to present it to the top brass, and then the Top brass needs to think about it for 3 more months, only to reject it, starting the process all over again. This continues for years taking taxpayer money and only coming to a decision when someone threatens them with a budget cut," I shrugged.

"NO! STEVE! I LOVED YOU STEVE! I LOVE-AHHHHH!"

"We don't have that sort of time! I'ma just call it the Puma X-8," Nick huffed, "What's Anderson going to do? Sue me? I have diplomatic immunity."

"THE GODS HAVE FORSAKEN US!"

"How does that work? Don't you need some kind of embassy?" Kasumi asked.

"I am the embassy," he hissed.

Hold on a second, "Nick, do you know Star Wars?" I asked.

"What? Of course I know Star Wars, Shep, we live in the multiverse, you know gods exist, you don't think the merchant gods have come together to sell things to dimensional travelers like me? I have all kinds of ridiculous things, I have a movie that stars Anderson in a sci-fi horror film about an alien species that assimilates all living things, it's terrifying, and I love it, I think I'm going to send it to Anderson just to freak him out," Nick laughed, "Where did you think I got the Hyperspace design? My people haven't even made it to space. We sort of just skipped to dimensional travel."

"Can you buy something that could destroy the Reapers?" I asked, What the hell, we could just buy something to fix all our problems! Think the God for capitalism!

"Like what? A deathstar?"

"That would be perfect!" I nodded.

"I only need about 19 quadrillion gold pieces, converting that into credits would be~," he did a quick money exchange, "about one sextillion credits," I just gave him a deadpanned look, "What? Isn't the Citadel council a large conglomerate of thousands of different planets?"

"No," I answered.

"Council made of 8 species, with a collection of over 100 planets, some colonies, outposts in others, would take hundreds of years to get that sort of money," Mordin spoke up, "then you would have to convince the council to buy it, impossible."

"Hey~," Jak called out, getting our attention, "the screaming's stopped."

We peeked into the last cart finding over 15 dead or dying guards, 3 golems covered in multicolored blood, and one mentally scared Asari, being held up by said golems, who was staring out into nothing.

"Good job boys~," Nick called out summoning water from his palm, Cleaning the mechs, and dosing Nassana at the same time, causing her to scream, breaking whatever shock she was in. He then put the golems back into his hammerspace.

"Who are you?" Nassana hissed, her body gave off the blue glow of biotic power.

"Hey~," Nick waved at her, "Do you really think that's a good idea? We just killed a train filled with your mooks. Do you really think we can't kill you?" Nick asked.

Nassana's blue glow simmered out, "You would have killed me by now, what do you want? Who sent you?"

"We're not here for you," I answered, my helmet molding away showing my face.

"Shepard? but you're dead," she muttered in shock.

"I got better."

"Is this about tricking you?" she whispered in disbelief, I would also find it crazy to hold a grudge over something I didn't mind.

I shook my head, "I keep telling you people that I don't care about that, I'm happy to kill slaving scum any day of the week, I mean you're not a good person, I've seen what you've done to your workers, so I won't shed any tears at your death."

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" she screamed, her biotics flaring up again.

With her attention solely focused on us, she didn't notice Thane slowly rise behind her as if he spawned out of her shadow, rising to his full high towering over her. He didn't make a show of it, didn't drag it out, or say some witty one-liners, he just reached out and snapped her neck before she even knew what happened, he even gently lowered her to the ground.

He bowed his head clapping his hands together in a form of prayer, just for a moment the world warped around him, it wasn't biotics, none of the tell-tell signs were there, but I had seen it before, plenty of time even.

"Gods~," Ava answered, her poker face now visible as her helmet retracted. She tapped her eyes, I funneled holy energy into my eyes, behind Thane was a naked ethereal glowing Drell woman hugging him close, one hand on his chest and another on his cheek. Another male Drell who was wearing some kind of tribal hunting outfit and spear in hand was standing over Nassana, and one more female Drell standing not a foot away from Nick wearing mom jeans and a loose T-shirt that said 'Thanks for not swallowing us, Happy mother's day', trying to get his attention but Nick was having none of it, his eyes were shut, and he had his hands over his ears.

hearing snickering, I turned to Ava, I found a woman with hair made of stars with glowing horns. She was the first God I have ever seen, Andruil, leaning on Ava's shoulder like they were old friends, laughing at the Drell woman trying to get Nick's attention. The Drell god turned to us with a look that said, 'I was up to here with your nonsense'. I made the mistake of flinching, catching her attention, she eyeballed me, before taking a step towards me only to vanish.

"Thank you for letting me pray," Thane spoke out getting my attention, the other Drell were also gone. Thane's soul was... strange, it looked like a flame trapped within a display box, meant to be seen, not touched.

I released my magic, "I've seen what Nassana does to her workers, to her own family, I'm not sure her goddess is going to be kind to her."

He gave a small sigh, "The prayer was not for her. For me. The measure of an individual can be difficult to discern by actions alone, take you for instance, all this... destruction... this... chaos. I was curious to see how far you go to find me, well... here I am." he was remarkably calm for a man who just snapped the neck of an angry Asari like it was a Kit Kat bar.

I raised my eyebrow at him, "I do want to talk to you, but how did you know I was here?" I asked.

He gave me a long look. "There was, a lot of gunfire and explosions, I prefer to work quietly, if I have to fight through guards I've made a mistake, and I rarely make mistakes. You disrupted my plan, but your distraction eventually proved valuable." Huh~, would you look at that, Nick was right.

"Right~," I sighed, "let's cut to the chase, I need you for a mission."

"Indeed~." I'm not 100% on Drell mannerisms, but that sounds a lot like sarcasm.

"Are you familiar with the collectors?" I asked.

He shrugged, "By reputation, not many are eager to meet the boogeymen of the galaxy."

"They're abducting entire human colonies, Freedom's progress, Horizon, Fehl Prime. their handiwork," I continued, laying out the truth.

He gave a hum, "I see."

"And we're going after them."

That caught his attention, "Attacking the collectors would require passing through the Omega 4 relay, no ship has ever returned from doing so," he warned, the idea that anyone had the quad to do so seemed to throw him for a loop.

I scoffed, "They told me it was impossible to get to Ilos too."

He gave me a small respectful shrug, "A fair point, you built a career on performing the impossible..." he took a deep breath looking out of the huge bulletproof window that showed the city outside, "This was to be my last job, I'm dying. Low survival odds don't concern me, the abduction of your colonists does."

What!? "You're dying? Do you need help? I have someone in my crew that can-"

He raised his hand to stop me, "If you're interested, we could discuss it on your ship, The problem isn't contagious, and it won't affect my work. giving me this opportunity is-"

"WHAT!?" Nick interrupted, his eyes shut, and ears covered. "IS HE DONE PRAYING!?" Ava patted him on the shoulder, getting him to look around the room. "Oh, they're gone, good. THANE!" Nick cheered like he was greeting an old friend, "Damn bud, you're not looking very cash money right now~. You want me to do something about that Kepral's Syndrome?"

He squinted his eyes at Nick, "Do I know you?"

"Names Nick Walters, the guy your wife said not to worry about, beloved by Quarians, and... Multimillionaire?" He looked over at me, I just shrugged. Technically yeah, we're multi-millionaires... what a weird thing to think about, most of the time my bank account fluctuates between having a large amount of money and being flat broke. This is a nice change of pace~.

"... the same Nick Walters that burned down an entire government, the man worth 3 million Credits?" Thane drawled.

"That is capital 'N', Nonsense!" Nick huffed, "My bounty should be way higher!" Great, this again~.

"Nick, you got to let that go~," Jacob sighed.

"NEVER! You can't just say I destroyed a government and then slap me with a tiny reward, it's gonna make every two-bit good for nothing think they have a chance," Nick growled.

"3 million isn't tiny," Kasumi corrected.

"I'm going to send a strongly written letter to whoever made that bounty," Nick huffed, "But that's for another time, Thane come over here so I can cure you," he sighed, clearly still annoyed at his bounty, waving Thane over.

"I've been to many Doctors, Mr. Walters, they made it very clear that my disease wasn't going away anytime soon, and I've made peace with that."

"That's nice, but I haven't made peace with anyone! Especially no God damn disease! So come over here and accept your healing and another 50 years of life, so you can suffer with the rest of us!" Nick ordered, sticking his hand for Thane to shake.

Thane just looked questioningly at me, no doubt second-guessing his decision to come along with us, I just shrugged. Looking back to Nick, he reached out and shook his hand. It took a second but like always a bright light flooded the room, this time my armor was ready, morphing back my helmet, blocking the light.

"Oof, you had some serious arthritis, do you do anything other but pull triggers?" Nick joked, patting him on the shoulder, "I'll give you a book on breathing exercises-"

Nick continued talking but Thane was a million miles away, just taking in deep breaths like it was the most amazing thing in the world.

Nick dusted off his hands, "Alright~, let's loot the place and get out of here."

I gave the room a once over, "everything is covered in blood."

"It's called magic, John~," he sighed, stuffing what seemed like a wall safe into his Hammerspace, much to Thane's shock.

This time the look he gave me was clearly confused, "Who are you people?"

-/-

A/N: Thane in the house!

I had like four different locations for this mission, the train, duh, a space station, the tower, and a mad hunt in a public place where everyone is trying to take each other out without causing a scene.

I chose the train, mostly because that's something I would have used if I was rich and a legendary master assassin was hunting me.

Now I get to think about Loyalty missions, the collector ship, the reaper corpse, and legion.

I already have some ideas bouncing around in my head

As always sorry for any grammar mistakes

Review if ya want, or don't, no one is making you, the fact that you read this is amazing enough for me.

I also have a DeviantArt page link in my Bio.