Chapter 3: Getting To Know the Normandy Ground Team, and Arriving on Edolus

Author's Note Part 1: Well, here's the third chapter. In this one, it's mainly going to take place on the Normandy, as the title suggests, with Mike getting acquainted with the other members of the ground team. I'll tell you one thing, I'm looking forwards to writing his meeting with Joker. As for upcoming missions, well, I told you before that I don't know that much, and I'm literally writing out these chapters, with no idea what's going to happen next. You could view it as, Mike is actually there and affecting situations as they play out, instead of me making sure everything goes along with canon 100%.

Now, this chapter is a bit small, because as I've said above, it's basically just Mike meeting the other ground team members. So, that's really the only thing that's going to show up in this chapter, as the next one will be the first actual mission, and I want it to have its own chapter, instead of putting it in with what could be considered a filler chapter. But, I'm pretty sure you guys just want to get to reading the filler, so that you can get to reading the mission chapter when it comes out. So, without further ado, here's Chapter 3!

Welcome back guys! Now, as you can see, I've gotten off on good footing with my new friends, and it didn't start with us aiming our guns at each other! This happens to be a first for me, so that was nice. Now, I get to go and talk to the red haired bombshell and her other friends, before going off and chasing a rogue Turian Spectre down across the Traverse… This will be fun!

Mike's POV:

I arrive outside the Normandy's entrance to find Shepard waiting outside with Kaidan, Garrus and Tali. When I land just in front of them, I realize that they're talking about me. "You're running out of time Turian." Kaidan says with a smug smirk, making the Turian in question click his mandibles… At least, I think they're mandibles.

"I'm telling you, he'll be here. Whenever he tells C-Sec about the next "job" he's taking on, it's done within a day! So getting here from wherever his "house" is will be easy." Garrus argues. Kaidan just shakes his head, and looks at his Omni-tool.

"You've got another five minutes, then I'm gonna be fifty credits richer." Kaidan says with a smirk. Shepard is shaking her head, but has a smile on her face none the less. After four and a half minutes, I decide to let myself be known, and deactivate my cloak. The reactions are hilarious. All three jump, and the two Alliance members immediately pull out their handguns, getting a chuckle out of me.

"You know LT, I've been standing here for the past five minutes. And I've got to say, even after hearing about what I could do, you still doubt me? That hurts my reputation." I say with mock hurt, placing my right hand over my heart as the LT stares at me with a slack jaw, Garrus bursts out laughing, and Shepard gives a small smirk as she holsters her gun. "Oh, and it's actually Garrus who's fifty credits richer." I say, making Shepard let off a chuckle of her own as Garrus' laughter gets louder, and Kaidan grumble indistinguishably as he types away at his Omni-tool, making Garrus' let off a beep to let him know the transfer had been made.

"If you three are done, we need to get aboard." Shepard says with the smirk still present on her gorgeous face.

Shut it Daniels. Get to know her, and then think about how gorgeous she is. I berate myself, mentally slapping myself into the present and following the three on board the Normandy. I have to force myself not to immediately hack into the system to get the layout, already knowing who the current pilot is, and assuming that he wouldn't like that too much. We step into the decontamination chamber, and the VI activates the systems to decontaminate us. Once that's done, and I no longer want to just hack it to shut it up after five minutes, we make our way inside the actual shuttle, and Shepard turns to look at us.

"Alright, you ladies go ahead to your rooms and get comfortable, I'm going to go ahead and check in with the pilot." She tells us, getting a salute from Kaidan, and a nod from Garrus, before the two go walking off.

"Sure thing Shepard. But, any specific place that I should drop off my stuff?" I ask, getting a smirk as she taps away at her Omni-tool, before my own beeps and shows me the schematics of the ship.

"That's the layout of the ship. Here are were the ground team gets to stay, better than the sleeping chambers in my opinion." She says, highlighting a hallway that had actual rooms on either side. "Just chose one for yourself, put your name on the door, and you can drop off your stuff there." She says, getting a nod from me in response.

"Thanks. I'll see you around the ship Shepard." I say with a wave, getting a nod in response before I go walking off. After a few minutes, I arrive at the ground team's hallway, and look at the doors. I can see that some were already chosen, the names "Tali", "Kaidan", "Garrus" and "Wrex" were already visible on the doors, before I reach the end, and find that one of the few left were by the captain's quarters. The world just loves teasing me about this kind of stuff, doesn't it? I ask myself with a mental sigh, before walking into the one closest to Shepard's cabin, across from Kaidan's, and placing my bags on the bed inside. Then, I get to work unpacking my stuff.

As I'm putting my casual clothes in the closet, the intercom opens up, and I look at the speaker present in my room. "This is Commander Shepard speaking. We have our orders: Find Saren before he finds the Conduit. I won't lie to you crew. This mission isn't going to be easy. This began with an attack on a human settlement in the Traverse. But we know Saren won't stop there. His geth armies aren't going to stay on the far fringes of Citadel space. Our enemy knows we're coming. Wherever he searches for the Conduit, we'll be there. We will hunt him to the very ends of the galaxy and bring him down. Humanity needs to do this. Not just for our own sake, but for the sake of every other species in Citadel space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all… We will stop him!" As the intercom shuts off, I give a small smile.

"Well said Shepard… Well said." I say, before turning to the weapons bag that I had resting on my bed. "…Guess I should go ahead and get those things ready. I'm not entirely sure when our first mission is gonna be, but I'd rather be ready." I say to myself, before slinging the bag over my shoulder, typing a command into my door, and walking away. A name popping up on the front of the door as I do so.

"Shade"

I arrive at the cargo hold just as the intercom activates again. "Now leaving the Citadel, make sure to keep your hands and feet inside the Normandy at all times kiddos, don't want the whole thing depressurizing because some stupid member of the crew opened a window. I've got enough health issues as it is." A voice announces, just as the tethers on the side of the ship disengage, and the ship leaves the Citadel. I let out a quiet chuckle as I reach an unmarked locker, inputting my name and sitting down on a bench in front of it. Then, I pull out a few of my weapons to start working on them.

The first I pull out is the MA5C Assault Rifle. Needless to say, I don't need to describe this one since it's the standard rifle that Master Chief uses. I look it over, disassembling it and cleaning it of any grime, making sure to look over every millimeter of the thing for any defects, before reassembling it, and putting it carefully into the locker. I check my M6C Handgun the same way, before holstering it. Then, I take my favorite toy off my waist, look it over for any cracks that may leak the material inside, grime that may affect the way it works, and then place it back on my waist. Once this is done, I take out another weapon, this one the M90 CAWS, a shotgun. I look it over the same way as all the others, before pumping the barrel, and letting a smile show behind my mask. I've always had a thing for pump shotguns, after all, when you're in range and you hear someone pump a shotgun, you're thoughts usually change to "Shit!" in a heartbeat.

When I've gotten all those weapons cleaned, I finally look up and notice that others from the ground team were in the cargo hold with me, looking over their own equipment. Ashley is looking over her assault rifle, Kaidan is looking over his handgun, the krogan, whom I know is a bounty hunter named Wrex, is looking over his own shotgun, and Garrus is cleaning his sniper. I give a small smile, knowing that I'm amongst friends, and decide to go over and get to know them better. I place my bag, which has a few other guns in it, in my locker, and make my way over to Garrus. When I get near him, he puts down his sniper, and gives a small Turian smile.

"Well if it isn't the man who's helped me and C-Sec more times than I can count." He says with a small smile. I just let off a chuckle as I sit across from him on a chair that I pulled over.

"Hey, just doing my own to help out the citizens of the Citadel. After all, red tape is a bitch." I say, getting a laugh out of the former C-Sec officer in front of me.

"Isn't that the truth? Spirits, it got me angry every time we'd have illegal activity, but we couldn't do anything because the people running the thing had contacts within the higher ups." He says, getting me to nod in agreement.

"Yeah, no shit. And nothing against C-Sec, but they definitely could have done better at patrolling the city, what with the number of muggings and rapes that I had to stop." I say, getting a sigh and a nod from Garrus.

"Yeah, I tried to push for that, but Pallin wouldn't listen. He said we were doing as good as we could. Anything that happened that we didn't stop, we couldn't do anything about no matter how hard we tried." He tells me, making me glare at nothing in particular.

"That bastard. He just didn't want to waste any more money on the officers." I growl out, getting a tired sigh and nod from the former C-Sec officer.

"Yeah… But besides that, I'd like to at least know who it is that was helping us. And none of that "Shade" stuff either." Garrus says, getting an actual laugh out of me.

"Well, I suppose it's only fair." I admit, before lowering my hood so that he can see my pitch black hair and cobalt eyes clearly, and then lower my bandana-mask, allowing my American accent to let itself known. "The name's Michael Daniels, though I prefer just Mike." I tell him, holding out my hand to shake, which he takes before raising one of his eyebrows.

"Michael Daniels? I didn't see that name on the Citadel database." He says, making me flinch as I rub the back of my neck sheepishly.

"He-he, well… Funny story actually. And no, it doesn't involve me deleting myself off the servers." I tell him when he opens his mouth to talk. "Let's just say it's a long story, that I'll tell you when everyone's present. That way I don't have to worry about repeating myself." I tell him, getting a reluctant nod from him, before I throw my hood back on, and cover my mouth with my bandana-mask. "Well, I'm gonna go ahead and meet with the other members of the ground team. I look forwards to working with you more in the near future Garrus.

"And you, Mike." He says, using my real name instead of my "nickname". I give a nod to him, before walking off. I'd already met with Kaidan twice now, so that leaves Ashley and Wrex. And from Tali's personality, I'm going to assume… Yup, she's in the engine room. A quick glance at my Omni-tool tells me that much, as I was able to get the position of everyone on the ground team on the ship by following the frequencies of their Omni-tools. Hey, what did I say about my hacking skills? Anyways, I figure that I might as well meet with the krogan first, seeing as he would probably be the toughest to get on a friendly basis with. As I make my way over, I notice that he watches me get closer out of the corner of his eyes, before speaking up as I get within a few yards.

"What do you want Pyjak?" He asks, making me narrow my eyes. I already knew that krogans would treat you depending on how you acted, so I was determined not to show any fear. I also removed my hood and bandana-mask, so that he wouldn't be able to accuse me of hiding myself.

"I figured I'd get to know the other members of the ground team before our first mission. After all, I'd like to know that no one is going to shoot me in the back." I tell him with crossed arms. "And I'd also like to figure out if I'm going to need to do that shooting myself to someone else." I tell him. He regards me for a moment, before a smile makes its way onto his face. Good, I've managed to get on his good side with a comment like that. Need to store that away for future reference.

"Urdnot Wrex." He greets, myself nodding as I can tell that Wrex is the kind of Krogan that hardly speaks, and yet when he does, it's usually blunt and to the point… Meaning that I'm not gonna get much out of him at the moment.

"Michael Daniels. I look forwards to blasting off some heads with you Wrex. And I can see that you like shotguns as much as I do… Meaning that do I have a weapon to show you." I tell him, a large smile growing on my face as a smaller one appears on Wrex's face. He lets out a deep chuckle that would probably make others shake in their boots.

"From the look in your eyes, it must be a good one." He says, making me let out my own dark chuckle.

"Oh, you have no idea." I tell him, before looking in his eyes and sharing a smirk. Then I give a nod, which he returns, before I walk off. Well, that's Garrus and Wrex down, I've already talked to Kaidan, that leaves Tali who's in engineering, and Ashley, who's just finished cleaning her assault rifle. Meaning that I can talk to her and not risk her messing up with her cleaning. I think to myself, opting to just keep my hood and bandana-mask off for now, since it will be better if the members of the ground team know what I look like. As I get nearer, Ashley looks up, before getting a confused look on her face.

"Who are you?" She asks, quite bluntly I might add. But, I guess that my outfit might be the cause for that. I just give a small smile as I hold out my hand.

"The name's Michael Daniels, though I prefer Mike. Though, you may know me better as "The Shadow of the Citadel"." I say, putting quotation marks around my "title". "Though, I prefer Shade." I tell her with a shrug, making her mouth gape.

"Wait, wait, wait. You're Shade?" She asks, getting a nod from me and a whistle in response from her. "Wow, and here I was thinking that you would be a Salarian or something with how sneaky you're rumored for being." She says, getting a laugh from me.

"No, nothing like that. Heck, the only reason that C-Sec had a hard time getting me was because of two reasons. One is because of the 24 years of practice that I've had because of being a street rat, and also because of my hacking skills, which has made it so that they can't catch me outside of visual sight. So, I've effectively made it so that they can't catch me what-so-ever." I tell her with a smirk. She just stares at me, before shaking her head slowly as she looks at the floor.

"Wow… Just, wow. How is it that the Alliance hasn't offered you a chance to join in the spec ops yet?" She asks, making me laugh.

"Oh believe me, if they could catch me, I'm almost certain that they would do just that. Though, after bad mouthing Udina a bit, he might want me arrested instead." I tell her, my smirk growing as her mouth gapes.

"You bad mouthed the ambassador?" She asks, making me nod, and getting a chuckle out of her. "You've done what most of the people in the Alliance has wanted to do for a while now." She says,

"Oh, I don't doubt people have wanted to bad mouth "Mister Sunshine" for a while now." I tell her, getting another chuckle as she nods her head in agreement. "Anyways, the reason that I came over here was because I figured that I'd at least get to know the members of the ground team before the first mission." I tell her, getting a nod in response. So, we go on to converse about little things, and when I learn about her xenophobia, I decide to try and rectify that. "Ashley, I can understand why it is that you dislike them. But in my eyes, and I'm almost certain that in everyone else's eyes besides the Alliance, your grandfather did the right thing. Think about what might have happened if he didn't surrender." I tell her, making her seem to zone out as she does just that. "I'm telling you right now, no one is to blame. And if anyone is, it's the Alliance for blacklisting your family." I tell her, before placing my hand on her shoulder. "Take some time to think about that." I say, patting her shoulder before getting up and walking over to my locker… Only to find a red haired bombshell standing there. "Shepard." I greet with a nod, getting one in return, before she smiles.

"So there is a man under all that clothing." She says with a teasing smirk, myself giving a smirk of my own in return.

"Hey, I like to stay in the shadows and keep people from knowing who I really am. Imagine the people that would constantly hound me to join them if they found out the truth about me. Heck have a feeling the Cerberus has already had people attempt to find me and find out if I'm human." I tell her, letting my disdain for Cerberus show as I spit out their name. She seems to think about it for a minute, before she nods in response.

"Yeah, I guess you have a point there." She agrees, before I notice that she's dressed in her armor.

"New mission?" I ask her, getting a nod in response.

"Yeah, a beacon was set up on Edolus, the planet we're heading towards. I want you, Garrus and Tali on the ground with me. Think you're up for it?" She asks. My response is to smirk, open my locker, and bring out my MA5C and M90.

"Do these answer your question?" I ask her, getting a smirk in response, before she makes her way over to the Mako to get Garrus, as I'm sure that she's already called Tali up via her Omni-tool. And a quick glance at my own solidifies that fact when I see Tali's signature moving towards the cargo hold. As I continue towards the Mako and follow Shepard, I force myself to keep my gaze away from her ass, already knowing that there are two possible outcomes from that. Keep your gaze on her back, or head, until you're sure that she won't bitch slap you for it. And if she's the kind that's flirtatious and likes to be admired… Bonus. I think to myself, allowing a smirk to show beneath my bandana-mask as I throw my hood back over my head, shrouding it in shadows once again.

When we arrive at the Mako, I give a nod to Garrus, and then to Tali when she shows up. Shepard gets into the driver's seat, with myself next to her so that I can watch for any incoming projectiles, as well as look over the terrain. "Joker, open the cargo doors." He says, everyone else having already left the cargo hold when the announcement of the Mako being released was told.

"Sure thing Commander. Opening cargo hold doors now." Joker's voice says over the coms, just before the doors in front of us open up. As soon as this happens, Shepard floors it, and we go flying out of the ship into a free-fall, Tali and Garrus swearing in their respective languages in the back. Meanwhile, me and Shepard…

"Wooooohooooo!"

"Fuck yes! Ahahahahahahaaaaa!"

We're having the time of our life. Unfortunately, it comes to an end too soon, as Shepard activates the thrusters on the bottom of the Mako, and slows our decent onto the planet, before we touch down. "Shade. Are you getting a reading on the beacon?" She asks me, making me look at the holo-screen in front of me, before zeroing in on the beacon in question.

"Yup, got it right here Shepard. Head about three clicks north-west, and we should arrive at the sight. Although, I'm also picking up a few crashed probes if you want to raid them, and see what we can't pick up." I say, getting a nod in response, before she looks over her shoulder at the others.

"Buckle up ladies, things might get a little rough." She says, before looking back at the terrain with a gleam in her eyes. I buckle up with the others, but instead of being apprehensive like them, I have a large grin on my face.

"Please tell me you plan on hitting all the rocks that can act as jumps as you can." I say, making her turn to look at me with the smile still in place.

"Of course." She says, making my grin grow to match hers.

"Perfect."

Author's Note Part 2: Well, that's about it for this chapter. I know that it's a small one, but I want to have it so that the Edolus mission takes up its own chapter. So, this was more of a filler chapter. Don't worry, the filler chapters that are to come will be longer, but this filler one was basically just "meet some of the crew members and get to know them". So, others will most likely be more along the lines of events taking place aboard the ship, day to day things, stuff that shows up in other Mass Effect fanfictions.

Now, as for the Femshep x Mike romance. As I've already told you, I'm practically going into this blind, since I only have other fanfictions to go off of. So, I'm not entirely sure when it is that the two will get together. However, I do have plans for the Noveria mission, involving the Rachni. So, you can look forwards to slight changes made during the parts that they go through the labs.

I think that's about all I have to say for now, so thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this filler, and I hope to see you all next time!