This is my first shot at Mass Effect fanfiction. Hopefully, I didn't do too much of a bad job, not counting the spelling and grammar mistakes. Feedback would be much appreciated. And I'm sorry to say this but I'm a slow updater. Sorry. Really I am. Sorry, I mean. and a slow updater too. Sorry...

Alright, lets try this then and see how it goes.

1. Introductions

Shepard gave a deep sigh as she fiddled with her pack. She had been transferred to the turian-lead ship from the Normandy SR as a result of a good-will-project that the politicians had started in hopes of proving to the public that the relationship between them wasn't as bad as it seemed.

Her commanding officers hadn't been saddened by the news of her transfer. In fact, they were overjoyed to be rid of her. As an N7 soldier she didn't have a very good reputation to begin with, and she'd spent most of her two years on the Normandy SR alone and isolated. She was a good soldier, the best, in spite of her short height, but that had only further alienated her from her fellow soldiers, and her superiors had seen her as a problem rather than an asset.

She'd been used on the Normandy; as a tool and whatever else had been needed. Shepard didn't really mind, though. This life was paradise compared to her life on Earth, and to Shepard; being used meant being wanted, needed. She liked that.

Shepard was nervous about serving on a turian ship. The Normandy SR2, which the crew of the Normandy SR called "Big Sister", was supposedly bigger and better than her predecessor and the turians were supposed to be even stricter when it came to maintenance of their ships. She was hoping that her new commanding officer, a Spectre named Nihlus, would put her to good use on missions though, even if it was just to get rid of her. Shepard didn't care; she needed to be doing something.

She jerked in her seat as the shuttle made a sudden turn, the asari driver throwing a glance her way, and she took a couple of deep breaths as they stopped, trying in vein to calm the butterflies in her stomach. The door on her side opened and Shepard climbed out before she reached back inside to get her stuff.

"Good luck, you're going to need it." her driver said with a smirk on her face. When the asari had first set eyes on the human she had made a sound of disbelief at the short female human standing in front of her. Hardly believing she was an Alliance soldier and assigned to a turian ship.

Shepard watched the shuttle leave before she turned around and looked at her new home. She took a moment to take in the size of the SR2, it was almost twice the size of the SR, before she approached the turians standing on the bridge to the ship, approaching the one who stood out the most. A turian with blue armour, an eyepiece, blue markings across his cheeks and blue eyes. Shepard was surprised at the eye colour. Hers were a plain brown. Blue was an unusual eye colour, about the only thing humans and turians had in common.

It must have been a sight to see; a lone, short, human dressed in the standard official Alliance uniform consisting of dress pants and a high collared jacket, the most fancy thing she owned, with an Alliance bag tossed over her shoulder containing her armour, gun and other clothes, approaching a small squad of turians. All of them dressed in their armours with weapons holstered and watching the human with their unblinking predatory eyes. She stopped in front of the turian, him towering over her, and met his gaze head on, unflinching even though she felt like she might throw up. She was just about to announce her name when the turian on the right side of 'Blue eyes' stepped forward and Shepard turned her gaze to take him in. He was as big as 'Blue eyes', but his eyes were a clear green colour, his clans marking white instead of blue and looking like an exaggerated facial tattoo. His armour was also black with red highlights, and standing next to 'Blue eyes' they were an extraordinary sight to behold.

"Alexandra Shepard?" 'Green eyes' asked.

Shepard dropped her bag on the floor and saluted her commanding officers, standing straight and as tall as possible, just barely reaching up to 'Blue eyes' chest.

"At ease, soldier. I'm Nihlus..."

So he's the Spectre.

"...and this is my ship; the Normandy SR2. I'd give you the basic introduction but I believe you already know more than most given your two years on the Normandy SR."

She placed her hands behind her back to keep them from twitching nervously. "Yes, sir."

Nihlus's mandibles flared in an expression unreadable to Shepard, and then turned slightly towards 'Blue eyes'. "This is my second in command; Commander Garrus Vakarian. He will be your commanding officer and you'll be placed on his squad. I'd introduce you to the rest of the crew but we're running late, we were expecting you earlier."

Shepard took a quick glance past the Spectre and the Commander, and even though she couldn't read the expressions on the turians' faces she could clearly see that she was not welcomed. Fuck, nice first impression Shepard.

"I was ordered to report to the Normandy SR2 at 1400 hours, sir." A quick look at the time told everyone there that it was 14:03.

Shepard gave herself a mental pat on the back for not turning into a blabbering fool.

Nihlus crossed his arms and if he'd had eyebrows Shepard was sure that one would have been raised by now. Commander Vakarian shook his head and the two shared a look.

Shit! I just fucked up, didn't I?

"Well then, Shepard, it appears that someone made a mistake somewhere. Nevertheless, I would suggest you board the Normandy now. Garrus will show you to your bunk."

Shepard saluted her commanders and then picked up her bag, shifting her attention to the Commander now, and once again meeting his eyes dead on as the Spectre turned and got on the ship.

Don't let them sense you're about to piss your pants. Turians can smell fear. Come on, Shepard. Grow a pair!

The rest of the turians followed the Spectre, and Shepard kept a respectable distance to her Commander as she followed him aboard the Normandy. Shepard had to restrain herself from moving her head back and forth taking in the interior of "Big Sister". It's so big!

They entered the elevator, and as the doors closed and it started to move Shepard almost sighed in annoyance as she discovered that it was as slow on the SR2 as it was on the SR. Millions of credits spent on the best technology in Citadel space, and they can't solve this problem?

"The Normandy SR2 has six decks. Top deck is Nihlus's private quarters, the second deck which we were just on is the Combat Information Centre or CIC which also contains an emergency infirmary and an armoury, third deck is crew deck and infirmary, fourth deck is the second armoury, labs and gym, fifth deck is cargo and engineering, and sixth deck is the garage." Commander Vakarian explained and Shepard memorized the new information. It wouldn't do to accidentally end up in Nihlus's private quarters or having to ask for directions. She noticed the commander glancing down at her and she gave a nod to show that she'd heard. The elevator stopped and the odd pair made their way to the females sleeping quarters. As they entered, a female turian, smaller and slimmer, and a bit less rough than the males but still a hell lot bigger than her, saluted and announced the presence of their commanding officer. The Commander led her down the rows of bunk beds and stopped in front of an empty one. Shepard noticed that it was located at the far back, surrounded by other unoccupied beds, and there was a low buzzing sound.

What is that?

Shepard looked around and placed her bag on the floor, it didn't look that different from the SR, just bigger. A hell lot bigger. Commander Vakarian moved besides her and she turned her attention back to him.

"Get comfortable and report to the CIC." the turian told her.

"Yes, sir." Shepard answered and once again stood straight with her hands behind her back.

"Any questions?"

"Not at the moment, sir."

Garrus nodded at her and then left. Shepard stood standing straight until she saw him disappear behind closed doors.

There were several turians on the crew deck, all of them which had stared at her without shame as she walked behind their commander to the sleeping quarters. Shepard had taken a moment to take in the turian in an apron over his armour, standing over a pot in a rather big kitchen, and the couple of turians seated at a table. It looked like they were waiting for dinner in what was obviously the mess hall. The kitchen on the SR wasn't even half the size of this one and there was no assigned cook, people had to worry about their own meals by themselves, and those not gifted with culinary skills relied on dried food provided by the Alliance and the restaurants on the various different stations they ported at, if and when they received permission for shore leave. The SR being a small ship didn't require a big crew so it worked out just fine.

Shepard turned back to her bag and pulled out her armour. It was black with the N7 logo on the breastplate, she also had a visor and a helmet, the later which she only used when the conditions on planets required it as she felt slightly claustrophobic with it on. She'd gotten several dirty looks over the logo on her armour over the years, and her commanding officer had even recommended to her that she have it removed. Shepard had politely declined, her armour the only thing she took pride in besides her gun, and had been ordered to cleaning duty for two weeks.

On the Normandy SR the crew didn't walk around the ship in their armour unless the situation required it. However, a soldier was supposed to be able to get their suit on in under two minutes and there were regular drills to make sure that they could. Shepard didn't think she would be told off for putting on her armour here but she didn't want to come off as hostile, even though there were several turians walking around dressed ready for action, including the cook, but there were also turians, males she supposed, walking around in nothing but pants on the crew deck. So she put away her armour and pulled out the standard uniform for the Normandy SR.

After she'd gotten redressed, and hopefully not done anything to offend her new crew mates, she made her way towards the slow, ever so slow, elevator. Arriving at CIC she quickly spotted Nihlus and Garrus and approached them. She stopped two meters away, standing straight with hands behind her back, waiting for her commanders' attention. Nihlus gave the order to head to the Terminus system and then turned towards Shepard, taking in her new appearance. The suit was snug, showing of her built, but comfortable and practical with its many pockets.

"Shepard. I take it you've settled in?"

"Yes, sir. Commander Vakarian assigned me a bunk, sir."

"And it's to your liking?" Shepard looked confused for a moment and had Nihlus not spent as much time studying humans as he had, he would have missed it.

"Yes, sir. It is to my liking." it wasn't a question, not really, but the look in her eyes showed uncertainty. Was she being tested?

"Good, now come with me. I'll introduce you to the crew." Nihlus didn't hesitate.

Nihlus showed her around the CIC, he introduced her to navigator Calar, an older turian but apparently a living map, and to helmsman Tallur, a small female turian who appeared to be young, though Shepard couldn't tell, she was taking a guess based on the turians juvenile energy. She was surprised to know that Nihlus had an assistant, Yeohman Verk, which was short for Verkaskusler. The Captain on SR hadn't had an assistant, none of her commanding officers had ever had one to the extend of her knowledge.

Nihlus was nothing if not thorough as he introduced Shepard to every member of the skeletoncrew of the Normandy SR2. She was surprised to learn that in the lab there was a salarian, a Dr. Mordin Solus; she was going to have to look him up later. There was also a quarian in engineering, Tali'Zorah was Nema, who was apparently there as a favour to Commander Vakarian and with full access to the ship's systems. Does the Alliance know about this?

In the armoury on the CIC there was another big turian like the Commander and the Spectre; Haron, a young sergeant who had been recruited by Nihlus from C-Sec. He didn't appear to be as openly hostile towards her as the other turians had been and Shepard wondered if maybe she could spend her time in the there. She was curious about some of the weapons, not all of them appeared to be according to regulation.

Nihlus is a Spectre; of course he can have whatever weapons he wants. Shepard had never worked with a Spectre before, never even meet one, and a turian Spectre at that.

The armoury was the last stop of the tour and Nihlus indicated for the sergeant to leave. When the doors sealed behind him the Spectre turned his undivided attention to Shepard. He leaned back against one of the tables, relaxed. Shepard knew not to let her guard down and got ready to bolt if necesarry. There was no chance of her even being the slightest challenge to a turian Spectre on his own ship out in space. If he wanted her dead, she was dead. And being a Spectre he'll get away with it.

"What am I going to do with you?"

The question didn't catch her off guard. The Captain of the Normandy SR had asked her the same. "I have been assigned to the Normandy SR2 and am here to follow your orders, sir."

"The Council order you here. I can't really go against the Council. But I have no use of you; and I don't have the time to evaluate your skills nor to teach you anything."

Shepard shifted her weight from one foot to the other, hands behind her back, back straight. "My profile holds information on my qualifi..."

"I know about your qualifications. But those qualifications are for the Alliance, Shepard. This is a turian ship. What makes you qualified for a turian ship?"

Shepard didn't say anything and just looked at him. Tried to read him. Nothing.

"I will follow your orders, sir." she repeated.

Nihlus' mandibles flared, Shepard had no idea if that was a good thing or bad. What does he want me to say? Shit! Shitshitshit! I'm dead.

Nonetheless, despite her fight or flight instincts telling her to high tail it out of there, Alexandra Shepard didn't move a muscle. No sudden movements and you might just survive this.

They stood there for what felt like hours and then suddenly, Nihlus moved. Towards her. He stepped up close to her, into her personal space, forcing her to look up, and up, towering over her like something out of a nightmare.

And she didn't move.

His mandibles flared and then he backed off. "Glad to have you with us, Shepard."

"Sir?" to say that Shepard was confused would be an understatement. Her eyes grew comically big as she knew that something big had just transpired, and she had no idea what it was.

Nihlus didn't acknowledge her and instead called out for Vakarian to enter. He meet him halfway through the armoury.

"She's all yours, Garrus." Nihlus said with a friendlier tone.

What the hell just happened?

"Why am I always the babysitter?" Vakarian asked and sighed dramatically.

Nihlus laughed, and Shepard noticed the soft underlying growl in the turian's voice rising. "You're good at it. Don't worry about Garrus, Shepard. He doesn't bite."

"Nice, make me sound like a weakling. Thank you, Nihlus."

Alexandra Shepard had no idea what was going on. She was alone, lost and confused on a ship full of turians, most of which seemed to not like having her on board, but somehow a tiny bit of hope ignited inside of her.