Opening Author's Notes: I discontinued Memories in favor of this story - same Shepard and essentially the same story, but I wanted to start fresh as Memories was an older style that didn't suit me anymore.

Special thanks to my beta readers Kassandra Black and TheRev28, and also to deadwitchwalking for being an amazing bouncing board for my ideas and keeping me on track. Also to Raven Studios for encouraging me to do what I needed to do and start over if that's what it takes, and for letting me throw ideas her way.

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or it's characters, I just like to play in BioWare's sandbox.

-O-

Crosshairs

-O-

Part One

"Delivery, sir."

Kaidan Alenko accepted the encrypted datapad while the Corporal hovered at the precipice between the hall and his apartment.

Alliance High Command. A datapad he'd expected ever since given the orders of his impending reassignment to a new post the day before. The Tacoma had swung by Arcturus to deposit his ass aboard the station before heading out to the edges of the Attican Traverse on standard patrol.

Fortune favored him, as his best friend Jake just so happened to be aboard, his ship on a pit-stop before heading out into deep space. His surprise visit had been a welcome distraction against the growing anticipation of a new post - especially since the transfer came without advance notice. He hadn't even put in a request despite more than a few ample opportunities.

Alenko dismissed the Corporal. The kid snapped off a quick salute, turned smartly on his heel, and left.

"This what brought you to Arcturus?" Jake asked.

Alenko swiped the button to shut the door to his apartment, eyes fixed on the datapad and the field currently awaiting his security clearance. That was… odd. The screen flashed, confirming his ID, accepting his code.

He flopped onto the sofa and accepted a beer from Jake. "Let's find out. Report to the SSV Normandy for duty at 0800 hours, docking bay D14. Assigned posting: head of marine detail…" He arched an eyebrow as he continued to scan the contents.

Head of marine detail. That was new. Certainly worth his pay grade and rank, and not a stretch of his abilities. Rather, it was the prejudice of an L2, despite the fact that the Alliance accepted biotics, that he'd suspected kept him off bigger leads such as that.

Of course, the moment the ships name was out of his mouth, Jake had lit up, boots slamming into the deck. "Shit, Kaidan! That's the new prototype turian-Alliance ship I was telling you about a few weeks ago!"

"I'll be damned," Alenko muttered.

He remembered Jake going on about the latest and greatest of the Alliance fleet. For a solid week, his messages had contained nothing but whatever information Jake could get his hands on, and it was clear if not from his words at the very least from his tone, that he'd put in for a transfer request.

Joint turian-alliance endeavor as a proverbial olive branch and sign of moving past old grudges, disguised as a high-tech ship. The Alliance displaying uncharacteristic humility by redesigning the prototype frigate with turian schematics, acting as an unvoiced acknowledgment of the prowess of the turian fleet. At the same time, turians tipped their heads by acknowledging that human renovations were worth not only their time but also their consideration.

New prototype warbirds had a way of rocketing a marine's career path forward. And if one had been stuck in rank at Second Lieutenant, the idea of rocketing forward became all the more appealing.

"You lucky sonofabitch," Jake blew air out between his lips, shaking his head.

He rolled his eyes when I glanced up at him. "You could apply for a transfer."

"I did," he slumped into the back of the sofa, balancing the beer on his knee as he contemplated its contents. "Request denied. When did you submit yours? Maybe I was just slow on the uptake."

"I didn't." Alenko scanned the contents of the pad, looking for who'd put in the recommendation or a list of circumstances that lead to his selection for the detail. "Looks like… Captain Anderson requested me."

"By name?"

He arched an eyebrow as he continued reading the paragraph glorifying his service record. "Yeah."

Jake simply sighed dramatically and took a swig from his bottle. "It's your golden record. Not to mention your brains. Probably only want smart people for this mission, what with it being a new high-tech ship and all. Who's the XO?"

Alenko skipped over reading the specs about the drive core, flagging the section for later perusal, and skimmed until he saw the crew manifest. Unsurprised by Captain Anderson listed as the Normandy's CO, considering he'd recommended Alenko in the first place and CO's tended to have first picks where applicable. The name for XO, however, caught his attention. "Lieutenant Commander Olivia J. Shepard."

Jake didn't even look over at him. "Stop fucking with me Kaidan, everyone knows Shepard's posted on the Singapore. Special ops. A journalist cornered her for a spot two weeks ago and there was no mention of a transfer."

Instead of replying, he shoved the datapad in Jake's face and Jake's jaw dropped in astonishment, quickly followed by something not unlike awe, though Jake would deny that with his dying breath. He even forgot to finish taking a sip from his beer, the bottle perched at the edges of his lips.

Once the reality of the words on the pad hit him, he switched his gaze to Alenko and said, "You realize you'll be working with a legend, right? A real damn legend."

Alenko leaned forward as Jake started describing the 'Hero of the Blitz' in great detail, and scanned the rest of the contents of the pad. Only fifteen hours till he had to report for duty. Mostly preliminary meetings, familiarizing himself with the ship and the crew. Undoubtedly one-on-one meetings with Shepard as they discussed marine detail. While the duties of XO's were broader in scope than that of the head of marine detail, she'd also be leading the ground team operations. Her opinion was not without weight, and that was ignoring the fact that she'd made a career out of being indestructible.

Aside from that, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit intrigued by the specs of a prototype deep scout frigate the likes of which the Alliance hadn't seen before. Techs in R&D would probably shit themselves to get their hands on the pad Alenko had in his hands. Especially over the IES stealth technology combined with the Tantalus drive core.

The mission details were flagged as classified, only to be discussed once aboard ship. That was interesting.

"... veins with ice. One glance is enough to freeze you in your boots. She doesn't talk much, but man, she doesn't need to." Jake gestured emphatically at his eyes.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Commander Shepard," Jake shook his head as if Alenko were the idiot not keeping up. "You realize she held off an entire company of batarians and slavers on Elysium for twenty-six hours? Woman's made of cold, hard steel. If you weren't so picture perfect in your duties, I'd tell you to watch your ass with that one. Career breakers, N's. And she's an N7. Get your ass handed to you if you so much as breathe wrong."

"I highly doubt that." Alenko tossed the pad onto the table and checked the time. "You hungry? Thinking of heading out to Changs, get some curry."

"Sure. Do you think she's already aboard the station?"

"Are you looking for a date?"

Jake punched him in the arm as he grabbed his jacket. They might be aboard a space station, but the civilian sector with the restaurants tended towards the cool side. As he locked the door to the apartment, Jake said, "I want something warm in my bed."

That line of thinking wasn't something a head of marine detail should entertain concerning his XO, and Alenko shut it down immediately, which given the circumstances wasn't hard. "Have you checked out the latest Logic Arrest model?"

"You won't convert me to the darkside, Kaidan. Might as well throw in the towel."

"I've been thinking of getting one. CPU comes overclocked and it has better integration with standard Alliance armor shielding algorithms." He nudged Jake in the ribs as they turned down a corner that dumped them onto the main gangway in the civilian district of Arcturus. "Besides, I got you to say 'dark side' in a serious capacity. There's hope for you yet."

"Piss off." Jakes accompanying smile took the sting out of the words.

By the time they reached Changs, it was overflowing with the dinner crowd, so Alenko directed Jake towards the take-out counter he was too familiar with, having spent more time there than any other place in the restaurant combined. He'd even reached first name basis with the waitress on the other side, Hilda, an older lady who'd been crushing the counter for as long as he could remember. She greeted them with a warm smile, scooting down the line, and Alenko declined the proffered menu and rattled off his order. Like Hilda knew he would, yet she always offered the menu anyway because that was just who she was.

"Need to keep up those calories, or that handsome face will turn to bones! Girls don't like their men bony."

Jaked pushed up next to Alenko and said, "Girls don't like Kaidan."

Hilda sniffed. "Girls don't like their men pretty, either. You? Too pretty. Get a scar, then we'll talk."

The last sentence was punctuated with a wink and Jake stammered his way through his much smaller order before Hilda floated away, tossing in one last suggestive glance before swinging to the next customer.

After a few minutes, Jake turned to him and whispered, "She uh…"

Alenko coughed discreetly, interrupting Jake, as Hilda returned with their food and slid the containers onto the counter. "Extra cookie for you, pretty boy."

They found a bench outside the restaurant in the quad with a great view of incoming ships. Another marine occupied the bench, but as the others were full and career military were used to tight quarters, Alenko moved towards it without second thought.

Jake, on the other hand, with a newfound shyness undoubtedly introduced from his encounter with Hilda, hesitated, balancing a hot spring roll in his fingertips. "Mind if we sit?"

His question took the marine by surprise as she stared up at Jake, 'tool half raised and fingers poised over whatever she was working. Then she shrugged, "The bench is open."

Jake grinned, having regained some of his composure, as they sat down. The marine - officer, judging by the pips on her collar, though he hadn't gotten a close look - had already turned back to her 'tool, tucking her boots beneath her as if to occupy less space.

He was just about to bite into his own spring roll when he felt an elbow in his ribs and Jake spoke quietly, "Bet you can't guess what model she's using."

Alenko sighed then leaned forward just enough to peer around Jake and get a good look at the 'tool. Alliance standard orange, nothing new. Most marines went with the base color, even engineers and they were the most likely to break free. He couldn't see her wrist as she was sitting left of them, therefore the actual mechanical part of the 'tool wasn't visible, but Alenko didn't need to see it to know what gear she was sporting. "Savant."

"You just pulled that out of your ass." Despite his declaration, Jake glanced at the 'tool.

"You wouldn't know the difference between a Savant and the Bluewire you still use if they were shoved in your face."

"Doesn't mean you didn't make it up."

"It's a tech-based omni-tool, designed specifically around remote hacking. Also designed with quick application of tech attacks, specifically engineered with sabotage in mind. The fab unit is off the charts, fastest production rate currently on market if you get the X. You can tell by the style of the outer modal dial. Consumes a lot of power, but if you know how to use it, it's worth it."

Jake stared at him. "No wonder you got reassigned. Must be serving with a crew of geeks."

"Mmm," he grunted around a mouthful of curry, "Geeks united."

They sat in silence for a bit as they finished eating their food. The curry was to die for and the spring rolls were even better, delivering mouth-watering aromas only Changs was truly capable of inducing. He stuffed the last one in his mouth long before Jake finished making his way through his teriyaki, so Alenko opened up his 'tool to peruse his messages.

He missed Jake twisting to look at the marine once he'd finished eating, but didn't miss him ask, "Is that a Savant?"

Alenko looked at Jake and then the woman, their eyes connecting for a split second. Long enough for him to shrug apologetically.

"Yes."

"Damn," Jake sighed, "Thanks."

She hadn't waited for Jake's response to fling herself back and he didn't blame her. If it'd been him with his face shoved into his 'tool like that, he wouldn't have wanted to be disturbed either.

"Guess you win that one, mate."

Kaidan grunted. "Geeks united."

According to a message from Captain Anderson, the launch ceremony for the Normandy's first flight was tomorrow, eighteen hundred hours. Dress blues required.

He received another message while reading the details of the ceremony. From the XO. Requesting a meeting with the ground team once everyone was aboard and situated, to go over tactics and strategy. Perhaps they'd finally be given details for the mission. An extra note at the bottom directed to him concerning HoMD*, with a separate note saying she wasn't trying to step on his toes. She just liked detail and familiarizing herself with the headspace of her officers.

"What time is it?"

Alenko exited the messaging system and shoved his omni-tool in Jake's face for a reply. When Jake shoved his arm away, he booted up a console and checked on the progress of some numbers he'd been running earlier that day and grinned. They'd completed, which meant he could finally make some headway on a project he'd shoved to the backburner a few months ago.

"I've got to run, soon. Agincourt leaves for patrol at nineteen hundred hours."

Alenko nodded. Time for hanging out was few and far between, especially between career military friends. Grab downtime where you could and hope your buddies stuck around long enough for a meal.

"Not in port long this time," he replied.

"Personnel transfer, refueling, and resupplying. Got a new armory specialist coming aboard, bringing in a new line of guns. CO didn't want to lollygag, only gave us a couple hours station-side." Jake glanced at him. "Don't tell me you're gonna shut yourself in your apartment with your omni-tool after I leave."

Alenko shifted on the bench. "I'll leave the door open."

"It's your last night before heading out on a new posting. You should enjoy yourself, not be a shut in."

"Going out is overrated."

"Hit the courts, then."

"Unless the wall offers up some conversation, I think I'd rather not."

He stabbed his thumb behind him while looking at Alenko with a mock serious expression. "Do like our friend here and at least geek out outside."

Alenko's eyes slid to the marine completely absorbed in her 'tool, fingers whizzing through the display. When Jake tapped him on the shoulder, he sighed and nodded.

Jake broke out in a grin, clearly believing he'd won and that maybe the girl had something to do with it. Rather, Alenko knew Jake wouldn't back down even if it made him late and got his ass landed in hot water. Even off duty, the officer in him couldn't quite stand for that flagrant disregard for timeliness.

Agreeing got Jake off the bench and stretching. "So long, mate. Might be a while before we make our way back."

Alenko shut off his 'tool and looked up at Jake. He offered his hand, and Jake accepted it. "Take care of yourself

Jake mock saluted as he started to step away then glanced over at the marine, his eyes glinting mischievously. Alenko barely resisted the urge to groan. "See you 'round, soldier. Make sure my friend stays on the bench for at least five minutes, yeah?"

She looked up at Jake, much differently than she had the previous times. Eyes critical as she glanced him over with the proficiency of a drill sergeant in their element and for a second, Alenko almost felt as if he were witnessing a drill sergeant preparing to dress down a marine. He nearly straightened in his seat.

"It's Commander, Second Lieutenant. And your friend looks like a big boy. I think he can take care of himself."

Jake paled under the scrutiny and started walking backwards away from them half-moving towards a real salute before catching himself. "Aye, ma'am."

Alenko waved at him to move his ass before re-opening his omni-tool, remembering the message he'd gotten from his XO and figuring he should probably respond in the affirmative. Not that he'd say no to his XO. It was only a 'request' out of respect. Still, he liked being prompt and regardless of whether or not his XO was a war hero with 'veins of ice' as Jake so candidly spout off. Though Alenko rather doubted that's what he believed; rather he wouldn't put it past Jake to get her autograph, provided he could actually recognize her on site. Hell, Alenko had only ever seen the promo shot of her from the Blitz and that was years ago.

If that's what Jake was expecting to see, he was in for disappointment.

Enough ruminating about his XO. He rolled his shoulders, glanced over his response for typos or anything idiotic that might have slipped past his foot-to-mouth barrier, and sent it off.

Then he deactivated his 'tool and glanced around the quad, wondering if he wouldn't actually like to stick around after all. Perhaps get a coffee from his favorite shop just around the corner. Maybe find himself in an omni-tool store and drool over the Logic Arrest, debating whether or not it was worth the credits. His 'tool was getting a little old…

"Huh, prompt." When the Commander realized she'd inadvertently captured his attention, she shrugged apologetically and said, "You don't have to stick around. I won't tell."

"Thanks," he said, "I might hold you to that."

She ducked her head and he reopened his 'tool, still undecided as to what exactly he wanted to do. So in lieu of action, he switched to dev mode and started working on his program, crunching numbers and formulating code. Code which would see many revisions in the future, but which only needed to be functional now. It was more an experiment in methodology, flexing his technical muscles.

A part of him thought what he should be doing was reading up on the data back on the pad in his apartment, but he still had plenty of time to do that. After twenty minutes of dicking around with his program and getting something that could potentially stand a chance of compiling, the responsible side of him won out and he shut down his omni-tool and stood up.

Feeling like he should say something before leaving as they'd built up a semblance of rapport - and, if he admitted it to himself, she was rather pretty in a tough sort of way, not to mention the tech thing really caught his attention - against Jake's ever-glowing outgoing nature, he said, "Take care."

She looked up at him in surprise, recovering so fast he could have imagined it and he wasn't so sure he hadn't as she gave him a small lopsided half-small and said, "Not saying your friend is right, but being outside really isn't that bad."

He shrugged. "No guarantees, but I'll try to stave off the desire to sequester myself like a hermit for at least an hour."

"If you ship out tomorrow, should make it two."

"That why you're out here?" Alenko asked.

He considered sitting back down as he hadn't been aware how small of stature she was, but with him towering over her as he stood next to the bench, it was painfully obvious.

Fortunately, if she noticed the height discrepancy, she didn't seem bothered by it in the least. "Ship leaves dock day after tomorrow, but I gotta report for duty bright and early. You?"

"Something similar, I think. Haven't read all the details yet."

She waved her free hand dismissively. "Details are for XO's and CO's to worry over. Everyone else should catch a break on leave."

He chuckled. "Well, I like to be prepared."

"You'll make your XO happy, then. Go be a hermit for the both of us."

He grinned again and she mirrored it back. "Aye aye, ma'am. Good hunting."

"Right back at ya'."

He glanced at his 'tool as he left, checking the time. He just might be able to make it to the docks in time to see the Tacoma launch and mentally salute his old ship. And his favorite coffee shop just so happened to be along the way.

-O-

*HoMD: Head of Marine Detail, military shorthand