SSV Warsaw

The private terminal on Aaron's desk chimed for a new message.

"Carson." She called, as she turned to the terminal. "ETA on the Citadel."

"Roger, we'll be docking within an hour." The pilot answered back over the system.

"Sounds good. We just got a reply from Alliance Command. They're going to let us recruit the vanguard. Stop listening to my quarters until we're ready to dock." Captain Brady stretched out her arms and put her feet up on her desk.

"But I'm always listening and watching. You knocked over your framed medal."

Aaron peeked over her feet and found that he was right. "I'll give you to the count of three."

"Understood, Captain."

2145 hours

Aaron sighed happily, feeling as if she could breathe so much easier in the Alliance casual uniform. Not quite civvies comfortable, but almost.

"Do we have everyone aboard?" She called as she leaned against the railing from the pulpit above the galaxy map.

"Roger that, Captain." Carson answered over the ship's communications systems. "Everyone is at their stations, and the engines are prepped to go."

"Let's leave this place and head for the mass relay. We'll be headed to Illium for intel and a recruit."

"Understood, Captain. Pulling away from the dock."

Barnes was in the med bay in his skivvies with Doctor George Madison receiving his "how d'you do" check up. The same old physical checks were livened up a bit with the standard biotic diagnostics he had to undergo, but given the nature of his implants, Barnes had raw power but little in the way of finesse. He could make things levitate, but he couldn't for the life of him put them down without breaking either the surface or the object.

Luckily the doctor was familiar with the Lt.Cmdr's line of implants and amps, so most of the biotic checks involved small discharges, the blue flashes illuminating the mess hall beyond.

"Good evening, crew." Aaron's voice sounded over the communication systems to every room in the ship. "This is your captain speaking. We've just left the Citadel dock, and we'll be setting our course for Illium. It'll be a little while before we reach our destination, so settle in at the lounge or observation deck or get some shut eye. Lt. Commander Barnes has joined our crew now, and he is bursting with enthusiastic joy to meet everyone. On that note, Barnes, when ever you're settled in go to deck two. Brady out."

"Absolutely amazing, Captain." Specialist Evans said in her normal tone. The kind of tone that lacked emotion and life in general. "The crew is now up to date for a second time."

"Thank you, specialist." Aaron shook her head. "Maybe later I'll update them for a third time if I like, and hopefully you'll have nothing to say about it."

Reporting to deck 2 as ordered and holding one of the energy drinks issued to all biotics in the military, a requirement to keep his blood sugar up, Barnes stepped out of the lift and took a loving gaze around the CIC. It was a while since he had been on a non-capital ship and the smirk on his face betrayed the fact that he felt at home here. He took another swig from the bottle.

Aaron turned to face Barnes from the galaxy map, standing straight with her hands behind her back.
"Lt. Commander, happy you could join us. Do you have a preferred name or do you like to keep things formal?" She walked down the few steps and extended her hand.

Barnes extended his free hand and gripped Brady's tightly. "Depends what you're comfortable with, sir. The lads under my command on the Orizaba used to call me Dex." His discomfort with being an officer was evident from this, he knew it. Barnes had always considered himself "one of the lads", biotic or not.

She nodded with a grin as she shook his hand and-

"SONOFABITCH!" She yelped and jumped as she tried to yank her hand free of his grasp. "Great flaming Christ wagons, biotics! I forgot." Those on the Combat Information Center deck were now looking at her.

Barnes was chuckling and rubbing his palm on the side of his trousers. Grinning and flexing his hand a few times he spoke up. "Heh, sorry about that, skip. I thought it'd be fine with the physical...You all right?"

"I've had worse." Aaron quickly gestured to her scars then shook out her arm. "The matter at hand. If Dex is what you want, then Dex you will be. I like to keep this thing flying efficiently and with the least amount of fights as possible. I want my crew to be able to be able to work well together, so we lay off the formalities on this ship. Still, we live and work in close quarters, and conflict cannot be avoided. Once a week we have a fight night in the shuttle bay to blow steam. No armor, no biotics, no tech. It's a bare fist brawl, but that's not the point. I called you up here to fill you in on the mission." The Captain motioned for Barnes to follow as she moved to the side of the display.

"Cerberus is rebuilding, but we're almost completely in the dark. We don't know who is behind them now, and we're not sure what means they'll go to to achieve their goals. However, we can assume that they'll go a good long way to see that their job is done. There have been small terrorist attacks across the galaxy, and we are being deployed to stop the threat at the source. Questions? Comments? Concerns?"

At the mention of the name "Cerberus" Barnes had mouthed "For the love of God." He was following the Captain round the central dais to observe whatever she was about to call up on the holograph.

"What are they rebuilding from? Last I heard they were wiped off the map altogether."

"I really wish I could believe that." Aaron said as she typed and called up a vid captured from Omega. "Unfortunately for us, Cerberus didn't die out that long ago. There are still plenty of human dominance nut jobs rallying to their cause."

The Captain started the shaky recording from above the street. A human stopped abruptly in the street, his shoulders slumped and he looked down. Within a few seconds a female human joined him, then another, and another until there were six standing exactly like the first one.
"Crazy, huh? Then the shit hits the fan." Every gathered human in the vid suddenly snapped out of whatever phase possessed them and began attacking everyone around them. A couple were armed with a pistol, and those that weren't began going berserk with just their feet and fists.

Dex muttered "Dawn of the Dead up in here..." Before speaking up; "Okay, glad I didn't walk away now." As the video ended he looked towards Brady. Then back at the freeze frame of the last second the video recorded...then back to Brady again.

"What's our first move, sir?"

"We're going to Illium to have a sit down with an information dealer and see what we can pick up regarding Cerberus and these attacks. We've also got another recruit to pick up for the mission there." Aaron closed the vid down and turned to Barnes. "Now that you know what we're doing you're free to settle in, but let me give you some survival tips. Don't make an ass out of yourself and insult the cook's food. Natasha, or we call her Natty, is an angry Russian woman and I wouldn't put it past her to dump laxatives into our food. You can call me Aaron, Captain, or Brady. I'm not picky so long as it isn't 'Ginger'. I may not have a soul, but I can take you down. Oh, and no Skip or Skipper. It just sounds silly. Anything else you need?"

"You're the boss." He said, his expression dropping when she commanded him not to call her any variation of Skipper. "Just a quick question, while we're on Illium will we have time to swing past
Gateway Personal Defence? I've been having a really hard time getting a military-grade Disciple imported to the Citadel, but I guarantee you that it'll improve my effectiveness over the M-27."

Aaron tapped her chin as she considered this carefully.
"When we get to Illium I'll go ahead to the intel broker, and you see about your Disciple." She paused a moment as if deep in thought. "They word I'm sure you're waiting for. Buuuuut... since we'll be on Illium and it's a large trading hub, I want you to find me something. You see if you can find me a Black Widow to replace my M-98 Widow. If you're in luck, let me know, reserve it, and I'll be over to pay. I haven't seen many floating around, and I'd really like to get my hands on one. If you actually find one I might label you my new best friend. Sound good?"

"You're askin' a lot, Sk- Captain, I've only come across one custom Widow in my time and that was owned by a crime lord orbiting an asteroid in the Atheton Cluster." He reminisced, drinking from the energy drink. "I'll keep an eye out for ya, just don't expect any miracles."

"It takes a lot to be my new best friend, Dex, but I don't hold high expectations on finding one. From what I've learned the easiest way to get your hands on one is to become a Spectre. Somehow I don't see that happening in my future. Just take a peek for me, and when you're done meet at the broker. Anything else I can help you with?"