Lilith and Alenko were riding their Raptors to lead a platoon of 20 soldiers on their settlement patrol. A standard thing for the Scaled Fang. They couldn't have everyone in one settlement. The resource consumption would be too much for them to handle, and there were resource nodes that they could exploit with a permanent settlement. The settlement of Ironton was the first stop on their list.

The name was unimaginative, but it suited the nature of the place. An iron and coal mine next to a riverbank that made it a major production centre for the scaled fang. The place was where all the metal for the nation was made. James, Abby, Lynn, Traynor and Reeger along with Sarah and Oriana were riding in one of the two carts while 10 soldiers were riding raptors. 4 at the front, 4 at the back and two in the middle. All of them armed with a shotgun or rifle and a pike which they had attached to a strap behind them for ease of access.

Despite being in friendly territory, the soldiers kept their heads up and open in case of unfriendly animals, or bandits. Such were the problems of living in a dino infested world.

"Why does it have to be so bumpy?" Oriana complained as she tried to write something on a clipboard.

"It's a cart, not a hovercar," Lynn said as she checked her rifle. "There's going to be some bumps,"

Oriana sighed with annoyance. "Whyyyyyy?" she asked to no one in particular.

Outside, Lilith smiled as she listened in. "Sounds like they are having fun," she muttered.

"Well, that's to be expected," Alenko said with a smile before he looked up. "Hold!" he ordered.

It took a moment for the convoy to fully stop, given that they were riding predators. Eyes then quickly darted around before looking up and spotting the smoke off in the distances.

"Is that…." One of the soldiers asked.

Lilith said nothing as she looked to Alenko, who nodded. With a hya, Lilith's Raptor accelerated forward, bobbing as it ran though across the man-made path towards the smoke. As they proceeded at speed to the objective, Lilith reached over to grab her rifle and readied it for combat. Her raptor, Blaze, was one of the fastest raptors within the Scaled Fang and she personally raised from a hatchling. Because of that, the two had a connection that few understood and allowed the two to operate in a way that few others could.

They burst out of the forest and into a clearing were yellow and white armoured soldiers were attacking civilians. Reacting quickly, Lilith jumped off of Blaze and rolled on the ground before coming up firing at a couple of the unidentified soldiers. They charged at her with pistols and swords in hand. Aiming quickly, Lilith let off a few shots, taking out a couple of the closest bandits before spinning and blocking an axe of a bandit who was coming up from behind.

The blade cut though her weapon indicating its sharpness and material. Jumping away she drew her sword and readied herself. One of the bandits charged at her from the side, yelling as he did. Lilith side-stepped the bandit and slashed at him, cutting into the ribcage cutting up the insides. She then focused her sights on the axe welding bandit in front of her and pushed herself at him. He tired to do the same what she did, but she was quicker on the uptake and redirected herself slamming into the bandit. He grunted but grabbed onto her arm and threw her to one side.

She skidded but quickly recovered and dispatched another bandit who decided to try her luck. But her head bounced and rolled before ending up eaten by Blaze. Lilith gave the raptor and unimpressed look before turning to the axe welding bandit who charged at her. His large frame making it seem that he was a bolder coming at her at top speed. Cursing, Lilith jumped away avoiding the attack only for the bandit to grab her leg and throw her into a wall. She runted and spat out a gobbet of blood as the massive bandit approached her.

"You are a strong woman," he boomed. "I think I'll claim you as mine,"

Lilith spat another gobbet of blood to the side. "Go to hell,"

"I think not," he laughed as he approached before his head exploded and he fell down dead.

Lilith looked over to see Lynn smile with a smoking sniper rifle in hand as the rest of the mounted platoon moved out of the forest, targeting the yellow-clad bandits. The commander rolled her eyes as the red scales of Blaze, along with his head, came up and licked her.

"Eewwww grosss…." The Shepard moaned as she felt some asari blood paint her face from the tongue. "Keep that tongue to yourself headeater…." She said lightly pushing him away.

The raptor chirped as he nudged her, helping her up. "Ok, ok… owwww….." she moaned as she draped her arm over the raptor's neck. "Who's a good raptor?" she asked stroking his head lovingly.

"I thought raptors were supposed to be vicious," Oriana said as she approached the two carefully.

"Oh, they are. This ass will bite my head off if I'm not too careful. But it helps if you give them a loving touch as they grow up," as she spoke the raptor chirped like a bird.

Oriana nodded, if unconvinced before moving to help the commander and eased her over to the carriage. The others had moved into the settlement to clear the area and take out any bandits. While that was going on Alenko move across the village looking at the bandits who lay dead. Something about them felt wrong. While bandit raids in Scaled Fang territory weren't uncommon, but a raid on this scale wasn't just unusual, it was rare.

Buildings destroyed, the bodies of men and children littered the floor, dead dinos, resource crates tipped over, the contents spilled and trodden into the ground. This was too planned out, to methodical. Only the women were taken, but it seemed only the civilians who didn't fight back as there were bodies of the female members of the militia and local forces. He squatted down to look at one of the bodies. The bullet holes weren't consistent with regular entrance and exit wounds.

Moving the armour to one side, he looked and nearly threw up as he spotted a bullet made from bone. Crude, but effective with the added benefit of transferring viruses and dieses to the target. A bioweapon, it was clear that whoever these bandits were, they were vicious. But it was clear that whoever was in charge had some kind of military experience. Alenko then shifted over to the body of a bandit and looked him over.

Scars and tattoos were common place for bandits, all nations on Ark in fact. Either due to war, scrapes with dinosaurs or rights of passage. Just about any reason. But there was one tattoo that caught his attention because it glowed with a dull blue light.

"Biotics?" he frowned.

OOOOO

Jack stood on the deck looking out at the fields of green as the airship flew over the land. She just needed to get away from her room, from the confines of the box. She rarely felt comfortable inside small boxes like her room. They always remined her of the days when she was younger. The tightness, the limited pace, the confining feel never felt right. Open spaces, like the hole she found herself in the Normandy was better. A space to call her own. She could deal with small spaces for a while.

Taking a deep breath, she tasted the fresh air. Nothing on a ship could compare to the pleasing taste of fresh air. Maybe Shepard had the best idea, living here wasn't so bad. You just needed a farm and live a good life. Maybe she could do the same? She looked down at her tattoos, a reminder on how many she killed. A mark of her sins, not that she didn't have a whole lifetime of them. But there was something about marking her body with kills that just felt like a mark of shame and pride. But more of the latter.

With a sigh, she turned and almost ran into Tali. "Hey," Jack said. "Getting used to have so suit?"

"Somewhat, it feels weird having the wind on my skin, the touch of someone," she shrugged. "Just weird and new,"

Jack nodded at the before an evil smile spread across her face. "So, have you told Shepard?"

Tali blushed. "Huh? N… no. Why would I?"

"Keep denying those feelings," Jack said as she walked past. "And you lose both of them,"

"Like how you are denying your feelings for Miranda?" Tali shot, but Jack just continued on, ignoring the comment.

The convict made her way into the mess hall to see Sonja cooking up food. The commander didn't seem the type to cook. Her muscular frame and sometimes aggressive temperament just seemed at odds with her at the stove cooking meats and vegetables to serve up on a platter. Butchering and cutting parts up, that she could see. But being neat with her cuts just seemed off from her personality.

Heading to one of the side rooms, she walked inside and began to look at the books available. Sonja had practically stocked one of the storerooms with nothing but books. Given that there was little entertainment outside of reading and listening to the radio, the commander had done her best to find all the interesting books she could. One thing she did prioritise was books about ark, engineering, food, dinos and combat books. Jack picked out one of the books about dinosaurs and took it into the mess for a light read.

"Food's not going to be ready for a while," Sonja said as Jack exited the makeshift library. "If you need a sandwich I can make something quick,"

"Please," Jack said as she found a spot to sit at to read.

Kelly soon joined her with a book of her own about history of the Ark. "Hey Jack," she smiled as she sat. "Commander, can I get something?"

"Sure, two T-rex stake sandwiches coming up," the commander called as the telltale sounds of chopping could be heard.

"So, how have you been?" Kelly asked, the question directed at Jack.

"Fine," the convict hissed.

Kelly's eyes narrowed, seeing a point of stress and pounced. "I know it's not easy to accept one's feelings, let alone those who bully,"

"Don't go there," the convict warned as Sonja placed plates next to the two women.

Kelly tapped her finger on the table, thinking about what to say next. During her talks with the convict, she needed to get her out of her shell, she took a careful rote of finding commonalties with regular people and started from there. But the side of relationships was tricky to get through. The few that Jack had either died or ended up betraying her.

She had learned to shield herself from that. But that equally made it hard for her to make relationships and especially with people around her. She felt as if she couldn't trust anyone, that people were only looking out to betray or kill her. And for that reason, she shoves them away. For the people she fancied, she turned on the aggression to push them even more away from her.

Kelly needed Jack to stop that, to open her up even more and let her love and be loved. A fear of attachments. That was what Kelly needed to fix. She was about to open her mouth before a siren blared and joker's voice came over the speakers.

"GOT SOMETHING BIG OUT HERE!" he yelled and everyone ran out and up onto the deck looking around, trying to see what Joker had seen.

"There!" Garrus pointed out as something big dripped out of the clouds. "What is that?"

"That…." Ashley gulped. "That is a fucking dragon,"