Simeon Juniper, Operations Chief, MD, looked down another empty corridor, cursing his sense of direction. In 11 years, 6 campaign stars and several moments of almost suicidal recklessness, Simeon had failed to pickup the Marine's unerring knowledge of where he was. He simply thought that he was where he should be, and the rest of the galaxy should get itself together and be where they should be. He sighed, checked the nearest display of directions, and ran off down a wards corridor. He came out in a cavernous dock, aliens and humans of all shapes and colors gathering around the gantry of a great vehicle, a colony ship. Simeon smiled. He'd made it. This massive ship, equipped with a large FTL drive, a relatively powerful drive core, and enough amenities to supply a small army. It was also the first 'multi-special colonial endeavor ever seen in Citadel space', as the newsvids said. In other words, it was a bloody big piece o' kit, with a crew of aliens, humans, and even some Geth, he'd hears. He hitched up his kit bag, and made his way into the CCS Council's Gambit, nodding cordially to an asari on guard duty. 'Mornin' sweet'eart. Pissy duty you've got, eh?' The asari smiled and nodded, motioning the doctor in. He strolled happily down a corridor lined with doors into bunkrooms, human designed, obviously. Moving along another corridor, over to a ladder, he noticed a set of large rooms, each with a single bunk. Krogan, territorial by instinct, would be housed here. A ladder and an elevator, both easily climbed by creatures with either frontward or rear facing knees. He climbed swiftly, eager to reach his destination. Yes, here it was... at the center of the third deck. He walked slowly into a small practice. His practice...
He grinned.

Zack was sitting on the baggage cart. He didn't feel like walking all the way to the ship. The dock was so long and crowded. The guy pushing the baggage cart would have normally made a fuss out of it, but Zack had his buster sword strapped to his back so the guy let it slide.

Zack jumped off the cart once he got to the ship. He walked up to the line to get on the ship and realized that the line started all the way at the beginning of the docks.

"Crap!" Zack shouted. Zack began his walk to the end of the line.

Zhanna was a sniper and had been one her whole life. When she was on the good end of a high powered scope, with an even higher powered rifle, there was nothing that she couldn't wait for, especially in her self-cleaning, waste-eradicating Titan Light Armor. She could use a spotter of equal skill, but she wasn't going to press the issue too badly.

However, despite her patience, this line was just taking too damn long.

"This is annoying." she muttered from behind her mask, her arms crossed beneath her ragged white cloak "Why do there have to be so many people? Hell, my stuff is already on the ship, yet here I am standing in line..."

She then noticed a man with a rather large sword heading towards the back of the line. Why the hell he had a sword instead of a nice, effective gun, she did not know. Still, if nothing else, it was someone with whom she could share her irritation with.

"You, guy with the sword, you're wanting in line right?" Zhanna said to the man, hoping he heard her "I'll let you in; I'm bored and need someone to talk to anyway."

Sha'ran was walking past the huge line of colonists waiting to get on board. Some people were having arguments and one managed to spill his drink onto her suit. Her heavily modified light Explorer suit had seen better days though so the stain was a minor point.

"Good grief, if this is how they are now, I hate to see the trip on the ship and then the actually colonising." she muttered to herself. Good thing she was actually hired by the council for this trip otherwise she would have had to get in line.

Her job was to be one of the surveyors and explorers for the actually colony. Jobs like searching for good locations, mining spots and herding up lost colonists. The side effect was two heavy bags of gear along with her personal bags. A minimalist, Sha'ran nonetheless still had some personal items which she needed.

She spotted a quarian and a human with a sword right next to her. "Hmm... I can use their help."

"You two." she called to them. "Give me a hand with the bags and I'll get you to the head of the queue."

The call from the Asari was music to Zhanna's ears. She couldn't help but smile as she gave the, seemingly young, Asari a once over that was hidden behind a mirrorshade lens.

"I'd be glad to help bea-... uh... ma'am." Zhanna said, having to still her tongue before she gave off a potentially bad greeting to a complete stranger.

Pulling the human, who's name she knew not, along with her, Zhanna grabbed hold of the two heaviest bags, lifting them with fairly little effort. It may not have been apparent in the sight of the Asari, but she could probably tell from Zhanna's voice as she spoke next that she was happy for some reason, though what was probably not so easy.

"So where will we be taking these, Miss..."

"Danaris. But you can call me Sha'ran." responded Sha'ran in a friendly manner. She arched an eyebrow at Zhanna's apparent lack of difficulties with the bags. "Oh my, you certainly keep fit. Good to see that, unlike the rest of this lot in all probability." She waved a hand at the milling line of aliens.

"The trip to the colony will be fine since it doesn't take much to keep the ship running but once we land and everyone has to pull their weight, well... put it this way. Some of us will be running around doing everyone else's jobs." Sha'ran rambled on. "Speaking of jobs, follow me."

She lead the two down along the line.

"Well, lucky for you, I can haul more than my fair share." Zhanna said with an unseen smile as she hauled the rather large bags with her to the ship ahead.

She could see that several of the people were pissed that she and the Asari could be seen 'cutting' in line, but Zhanna simply smirked: they all had no idea what her job on the ship was. Speaking of the ship, her own gear was already on it... yet here she was carrying Sha'ran's gear. Removing her eyes from the lower end of Sha'ran's figure, she tilted her head to the side as a means of noting her confusion.

"Miss Sha'ran? Why is it that your luggage has not already been brought on the ship?" she asked politely "All of my luggage is on the ship waiting for me, and I'm but one of the lowly security detail."

Sha'ran grinned at the curious quarian. "Please, Sha'ran is just fine. No Miss or anything. Anyway, to answer your question, I just got in off a transport from Argus Rho. Been prospecting for your people as well as some personal R'n'R. Only got the job a day ago, only because they couldn't find me. Actually, I haven't had time to really clean up."

She looked down at her suit and twisted this way and that trying to pick out all the marks. "Ah, I'm sorry. I hope your filters are working. Some of these stains just don't seem to come out." She pointed to one on her left butt cheek.

((Yes, I read your last post, Alex. ^_^ ))

"...all... filters are working fine, Sha'ran." Zhanna replied as her eyes once again locked onto the Asari's lower body "That's a very nice... stain you have there, but it should come out given enough time and effort." ((ROFL!))

She had stopped for a moment, still carrying the heavy bags, and made sure to act as normal as possible. Though her... 'interests' would be readily accepted amongst her fellow Quarians because of their focus on zero population growth, she was aware that such notions may not be shared by several of the members of other races. Unfortunately, the various other races weren't making her job any easier.

'I am so glad I"m wearin gthis helmet now.' she thought to herself as she waited for Sha'ran to continue leading the way.

((Any Errors Will Be Fixed In The Morning))

Simeon rubbed his hands together with glee, looking around his now fully stocked clinic. During Med-Coll, his prime tutor had a motto. 'Clean Clinic, Clean Medic.' Simeon now... still didn't understand that, but the point was, he had a brand new, spic and span, up-to-date Office and Clinic, plus, to his amusement, a VI secretary, programmed to look like a miniature thresher maw. The irony of a deadly creature aiding in healing seemed incredibly droll. He snatched up a chip from his counter, slotting it into his omnitool. Almost immediately, a roster of most of the crew and colonists popped up...
'Bom bo bom... a few quarian, that should be fun... some Asari... A shapload of humans... interesting.'
Skimming through the entries, Simeon committed each name and face to memory. Photographic memory, uncommon in L2s, had often manifested in L3s. It was also Simeon's favorite parlor trick. He ejected the cartridge, locking it away in his desk. He stretched, yawning, and decided to leave his little slice of medical heaven. Quickly stepping down the corridor, along a few stair flights and around an overzealous cleaner, he stopped at the main load-door, a throng of people blocking the entrance. Yes, Joey Lucas back there, Peter Kowalski in pink up front here... And... yes, the Asari maiden... what was it... Sha'ran? And a quarian, unrecognizable in her enviro-suit, along with a sword toting soldier. Yes... all of these people were accounted for in the roster, and this slow witted private was letting them in like it was a ship made of credit chips!
'Alright Private, you stand releived, anyone who asks, tell them Op-chief Juniper is speeding this up.' Simeon flashed a smile, took the Greenhorn's seat, and looked up. 'Ah, Jefferson Franklin? Welcom to the Gambit!' He marked him down, and another, and another, until he came to the maiden and her cohort. "Ah, Mistress Sha'Ran, may I say it is excellent to meet a colonist of your expertise." he held out a hand. "Simeon Juniper, Op chief and medical officer on this fine vessel."

"Oh greetings, Simeon." Sha'ran replied, shaking his hand. "I don't believe we've met personally but since you're the op-chief, you must have a file on me. Got a good memory there, you have. And some good hands, glad to see we have a good doctor on board."

"Can't stay to chat though. You have a line waiting and I have a room to find. We'll bump into each other later, I'm sure. Gotta go!" Sha'ran walked on dragging the others with her. They came to an intersection and nearby was a map detailing the ship's layout. She pulled up here accommodation details on her omni-tool.

"Huh, who would have thought, I'm right next to the quarian section." She turned to Zhanna. "So, your room or mine? Nah! I'm just teasing you. We'll drop the bags off at my room then explore the ship, how 's that? Great? Good. This way!" She walked on again, not pausing for an answer.

Heather walked down the halls of the ship, trying to find the medical deck. She had left to go to the cafeteria, since she had been on the ship for a couple hours unpacking medical supplies and doing inventory.

She noticed Dr. Juniper, and knew he could help her find her way back. She walked up, trying to get Simeons attention.

"Dr. Juniper, can you please give me directions back to medical, this ships so large im lost" She asked the op. cheif

Juniper looked up from the last colonist, a woman. A doctor. 'Umm, Heather, isn't it? Welcome aboard sweetheart.' Juniper bowed, a flourish added for effect. "Op chief Dr Simeon Juniper, head medical officer.' He rose up, a huge grin plastered across his face. "Well, Dr Locklear, if you'd follow me, I'd be glad to show you to the practice, and your quarters.' He spun on his heel, beckoning her onwards. As he held the elevator door open for her, he smiled again. 'So Heather, if I may call you that, how did you come to be aboard this fine vessel? Your files said you had a rather successful practice here in Citadel station.'

"I got bored with it, so i took an offer from the Alliance when they were looking for doctors. I just was transfered from the Normandy, i dont know why i was put on this mission though" she said.

The doors closed, the elevator starting to go up. She was glad it was way faster than the ones on the Citadel. She didnt really like or dislike this project also, it was alright for her tastes.

Simeon Nodded. Not nodded, an impersonal tilt up and down of the head, but Nodded, a knowing smile and personable demeanor capitalizing it. "Well Heather, I have a feeling it might be a lot more boring here.' The elevator ground to a halt, doors opening. "not much farther now, Sweetheart, just.... here!" He slid in quickly, before Heather, and activated Thresher, his VI, just to see its possible effect on patients. 'Doctor's suites are in here too, Dr Locklear' Simeon called behind him, "Feel free to personalize as you see fit.'

Heather was startled as she saw the holographic Thresher Maw. She froze, staring at it. Her fathers unit had died when Thresher Maws attacked their convoy, and last year she was almost killed when 3 appeared on the colony she was working on.

She closed her eyes, regaining some composure.

"Why is that here?"

Simeon shut it off quickly at Heathers look. "Aw god, I'm sorry, I didn't even... Sorry, itw as kind of a joke, part irony, part psychological study. Essentially, I wanted to study the reaction of creatures who were being healed through the efforts of a killing creature. Its based on my graduating paper, involving sentient reaction to... I'm rambling aren't I? Look, I'll change it... Sorry about that...' Simeon was now blushing full force, tapping hurriedly at his omnitool, replacing the thresher maw as fast as possible, with a human, an Asari, a krogan, and finally, a Geth juggernaut. 'umm, is that ok? It allows the experiment to continue...'

She nodded, thinking of what a study like that could even do. She decided that she just needed to grab the paperwork she had left before lunch and head to her room. She had opted not to get a Doctors Suite, not wanting any special privliges.

She walked behind the desk, ignoring the VI. She grabbed a clipboard and walked back to the elevator.

"Page me if you need me" she said as the doors opened and she walked into the elevator.

Simeon nodded, waving at her as she left. "Goddamnit, flirtations fail" He dropped into his office chair, knocking his computer into life. "Open file, psych exp. 8998, paragraph 27." He watched as a long document opened up, and he started tapping away. "The irony may be lost on..." He typed for a while, unknowing of the amount of time passing, and eventually became lost in his work. It wasn't particularly galaxy changing, but hell, it was a way of keeping his hand in. It was also going to help him into an understanding of traumatic experiences among military personnel., He hadn't been entirely honest with Heather, but then, he wasn't entirely honest with most of his friends and patients.

Though it would go unseen in her visor, Zhanna quirked an eyebrow. Either the Asari, Sha'ran, was teasing her perpetually, or the Maiden was ALWAYS so... hyper and outgoing. It was odd for an Asari; most Asari are calm and content, and even the Asari in more 'sensual' occupations were still calm and seemingly all knowing and wise. This one actually appeared... fun.

"Are you always this... energetic?" Zhanna asked Sha'ran with a smile that would go unseen "It's a nice change of pace really; a lot of Asari are too... stuffy for my tastes."

Though she didn't vocalize it at all, she did note that the 'Quarian Section' was basically going to be occupied by her and her alone... which was more or less expected. Quarians were a race that valued family above all else. Well... most did, unless you were an exile like Zhanna.

((I just realized: Sha'ran doesn't know Zhanna's name XD))

((Sha'ran hasn't actually mentioned Zhanna's name yet. She doesn't know. But it makes it easier than saying "the quarian" all the time. ^_^ ))

"Really? Thanks! Most others tend to get annoyed, the stuffy lot of them. Matrons, researchers, all those book-types that usually go on exploration for Prothean relics. Me? I just love the outdoors, I just can't sit still and wait, talking about small things. Kinda like my father, or so my mother says."

They managed to find Sha'ran's room, which was a bit on the small side. There was barely enough room to fit in both them and the bags.

"Huh, it's a bit snug. Oh, hey, I'll take those." Sha'ran grabbed her bags off the quarian. The only shelf space up high so Sha'ran stand with the bags over her head and lean in with her chest pressing against Zhanna.

"Okay, there we go. All settled in. So, what do you want to do now. Go find your rooms or explore the ship? Oh, hey, you never told me your name! Well, c'mon, spill already!"

'DAMN THIS SUIT!!!' was Zhanna's only thought when the more interesting portions of Sha'ran's figure pressed up against Zhanna 'I CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING!'

On a more positive note: the suit did hide the brilliant blush on Zhanna's face... and the line of sight that her eyes held. Sha'ran then proceeded to let loose a flurry of words that appeared to be a couple of sentences. Still, Zhanna found herself bringing her hand up in a 'halt' gesture.

"First off, I know I said I appreciated the energetic Asari bit, but that doesn't mean you have to speed up." she managed with a light chuckle through the voice modulator in her suit "Second, my name is Zhanna xel Tar'asov, and I'm part of the security detail both on the ship and on the planet."

"Lastly, I would like to find my room if you don't mind. I'd like to make sure that all of my gear got in here alright." Zhanna said, once more with an unseen smile "Follow me; it shouldn't be too far from here."

Leading the two didn't take very long; Sha'ran was rather close to the 'Quarian Section' after all. Opening up her room, she noticed that it was neither larger than, nor small than, Sha'ran's room. It was more spartan though; only having a toolkit and a small case that held spare environment suits, cloth, cloaks, and equipment.

"Hm... looks to be everything." Zhanna said before turning back to Sha'ran and smiling, though she knew it would go unseen "Now that we know where each other is staying, shall we visit the rest of the ship? Or did you come up with something else to do?"

"You don't have much stuff, do you? Kinda like me in a way. Only keeping the stuff you need." Sha'ran commented after seeing Zhanna's room. "Let's walk around a bit and talk."

They passed the rooms along the corridor and Sha'ran noticed something odd about them.

"You know, these rooms don't look too occupied. Guess there aren't many quarians on board. If you ever feel lonely, just look me up and we'll go out and have some fun. You always need a buddy for long trips in space."

Walking brought them to another intersection with a map and a doorway to the ship's shuttle system, a series of automated carriages that lead to different parts of the ship. They all piled in and Sha'ran selected the stop for the entertainment centre which was right next to the security centre for obvious reasons.

Sha'ran was fidgeting since she wasn't doing anything active. So she decided to play around a bit.

"So you're security, huh? Do I get a request for you to arrest me if I do something wrong?" Sha'ran asked Zhanna with a cheeky smile. "I can tell you're blushing, I've spent enough times around quarians to tell the body language. They do this cute thing with their feet." Sha'ran giggled a bit then calmed down enough to control her energy. She let out a long sigh.

"I'm sorry, I get hyperactive at times if I'm doing nothing. If I've offended you, I apologise. I'll stop it now."

'Good lord... I have never met an Asari that was so hyper...' Zhanna thought as the woman seemed to not only drag her along, but also talk at a rate.

Zhanna was only able to get in a 'I'll remember that', or 'sure' or 'that's fine' throughout the conversation. Normally she'd be irritated at being 'pushed around' like that, but Sha'ran was just too damn cute to get mad at like that. After getting in the rapid transit, in which Zhanna was careful to not let her cloak get caught in the system, it appeared that the young Asari couldn't not be doing anything, judging by the fidgeting she was doing.

'Wait? 'Special request to arrest me'? Is she hitti-' Zhanna was thinking, but faltered in that process when she heard Sha'ran explain that she could read Quarian body language quite well '...shit...'

After hiding her feet with her cloak, she glanced back over at Sha'ran, whom seemed to be attempting to calm down. Then the rather defeated sounding apology came, and Zhanna let out a sigh of her own.

'So much for the 'hitting on me' theory...' Zhanna thought before she reactivated her voice modulator "It's alright; you have not offended me, and you don't need to stop. Slowing down might help though."

A short chuckle escaped her lips as she leaned back in the rapid transit and turned her head to Sha'ran with a smile that the woman could, hopefully, read.

"I'm curious though; just how much time have you spent around my people?"

Sha'ran paused to gather her thoughts. Which was a complete 180 to her behaviour beforehand.

"Pretty much my whole life, well... in a sense. My father was a quarian, Zaten Ta'Noreshko. He and my mother met about 270 years ago. My mother always enjoyed those with restless souls while my father was an explorer on his pilgrimage. She fell in love with his wandering ways."

"My mother helped him on his pilgrimage, helping him create a better way to scan systems for resources. He left not long before I was born. He couldn't really bring another mouth to feed back to the fleet but I think he truly did feel as though he left a part of his life behind with us."

"My mother said I was a restless child. I was energetic and could never master the meditations or teachings of the Matriarchs. Too much like my father she said. So I did what he did and went exploring."

"When my father died of old age, my mother informed me. I never really knew him but I wanted to know more. So I joined up with the Migrant Fleet. They were a bit wary at first. I think I might've been the only asari in a while to follow the father, but they let me stay on and learn about your culture while I helped out with their problems."

"So since then, I've been doing my father's job of exploration and prospecting for the quarians and the council until I built up my reputation to get hired for this trip."

Sha'ran paused and blushed at having let her life story out. "Oh dear! I've let my tongue loose and now I'm blushing like a 40-year-old maiden!"

"I'm s-sorry!" she stammered. "You probably didn't want to hear my life story. You're the first person to really ask."

"It's not a problem; as you probably know, we Quarians hold stories and their subsequent telling of them in high regard." Zhanna said with a smile "The only difference is that your story is more personal and was more informative than entertaining, but interesting nonetheless."

Thinking it over though, it did piss her off a bit to hear that she had traveled with the Migrant Fleet, yet she had lived outside her ships her whole life. She also noticed how cute the Asari was when she blushed, but that didn't take precedence.

"...That says a lot about my value to them though..." she muttered aloud as she slightly hung her head "I'm technically an exile, you see. During a mining operation, when I was seventeen, a creature flanked me through the bushes while I was on guard duty, and he ripped a hole in my suit. Since the area was rather hostile in terms of bacteria and toxins, I was left to die by the crew there... the standard procedure to prevent contamination of the Migrant Vessels."

Lifting her head back up, she let out another sigh.

"If it weren't for my father..." she mused aloud, right about the time that the transport arrived at the entertainment center and opened the doors.

((Remember: they have an atrophied immune system, so she technically shouldn't be alive without the implants she received that noone besides her knows about))

"Oh, we're here. Let's check it out!" Sha'ran went through the door. She fell into step next to Zhanna and leaned in close to the quarian.

"Look, you don't have to tell me anything if you're uncomfortable about it." she said quietly. "But I want you to know I don't think any less of you. The opposite in fact."

"I admire you. They left you for dead and you still kept going. Whatever your father did to help, it's nothing without a will to live. I like that, your inner strength. So if someone gives you crap, just remember that I'll stick up for you." She gave Zhanna's arm a squeeze.

"Hah, I've only known you for an hour and I'm already making promises. That's better than my last few boyfriends!" she grinned. "C'mon, I'll buy you a drink at the bar."

'Wow... this woman has more sides to her than I thought.' Zhanna thought, albeit quite happily, as Sha'ran squeezed her arm in a comforting manner after her words of praise.

The promise was a rather uplifting concept though; already so 'devoted' after only knowing her for so little time. Then Zhanna's mood fell once more at the mention of a few specific words: 'my last few boyfriends.'

'Well... even Asari have certain physiological preferences...' Zhanna reasoned in her mind '...she'll still make a good friend though.'

"Yeah, a drink sounds nice right about now." she said, sounding realistically happy as the two of them approached the bar.

The 'Entertainment Center' was, well, rather quiet. That was to be expected though; most everyone hadn't gotten on the ship yet. However, it meant they'd have free reign over the various sources of entertainment, and it appeared they had a barkeep who was almost done unpacking, whom also appeared to see them approaching.

"Well, I wasn't expecting anyone to show up yet." the human bartender said with a smile "I haven't unpacked everything yet; the D-Safe ((Dextroamino acids Safe Drinks)) drinks aren't even out yet Miss."

"Well, I can wait I guess, but at least get Sha'ran something to drink." Zhanna responded as she took a seat at the bar.

"Can do Miss." the human replied as he pulled out a couple of bottles "What'll it be Miss Sha'ran?"

Zack had been walking behind the asari and quarian for a while. They were talking about their lives, what they like and other random things. Zack heard that the quarian was part of the security detail so he figured he would get a chance to talk to her later. The two girls seemed to be really wrapped up in their conversation.

Zack went to his room and dropped off all his things except his sword. He left the room and headed to the lobby. He looked outside one of the giant windows and saw the harbor and he noticed how beautiful it looked from inside the ship.

Zack had been on the Citadel for several years and hadn't left for a long time. He was excited because this was a chance to show the entire galaxy that all the different species can co-exist. The Citadel was one of the few places where the species were so mixed. Soon the entire galaxy would be like this.

Sha'ran sat at the bar with Zhanna scanning the selections.

"Oh boy, a fully stocked bar! Um... I've got a cocktail mix that you haven't heard of before. Do you think you could make it for me if I told you how?"

"Sure," replied the bartender. "Go for it."

"Okay, first you need some bourbon..."

The bartender started pulling out bottles as Sha'ran listed the ingredients.

"...and you add the lemon slice at the end."

"Impressive. This reminds me of an Alliance drink." remarked the bartender.

"Yeah, I picked it up from a bunch of marines stationed on Lionel when it was starting out. 398th Armoured Division or something. Pretty fun bunch of guys, weird humour as well. The engineer who made the recipe, she called it an "Exploding Motor". She was pretty hot for a human as well."

Sha'ran lifted the glass and raised in a toast to Zhanna. "To good times and hot-looking people!" She tipped it back and drained it in one go. She came back up coughing a bit.

"Whoa... I forgot that it had a strong kick. They kept saying that the real kick comes later."

'Good lord... that drink would knock a normal person on their ass...' Zhanna thought, wide eyed as she watched Sha'ran take the drink.

Seven words caught Zhanna's attention though: 'She was pretty hot for a human...' Unless she heard right, that meant the Asari was one of the more common ones; open to either gender of another species. Zhanna had hoped that Sha'ran was not one of the 'odd' Asari who only went for only male or female mates, and it seemed that her hoping was accurate this time. At the toast, Zhanna simply smiled as she stared at the beautiful Asari.

'Amen to that...' she thought as the Asari downed the drink, only to come up coughing.

"...Barkeep?" Zhanna said aloud.

"Yes Miss?"

"Fix me one of those... using the D-Safe stuff of course."

"Well... it won't be exact, but I can give it a shot. And I'll have to pull the D-Safe drinks out."

"That's good enough; I'm in no hurry." Zhanna finally replied as the barkeep nodded and took his leave, leaving her and Sha'ran alone "Well, you can drink better than I thought. Must have been your run in with the humans, given that... concoction you just downed."

Sha'ran waved a hand dismissively. "Just you wait. It hasn't "exploded" yet. The real kick comes later when the alcohol reaches your head. The first time I tried it, they gave me the "moonshine" version and that was a lot rougher.

The alcohol made Sha'ran calm down a bit and more thoughtful. She took the time to study Zhanna up and down appraisingly.

"I've mention this before but you really do keep in shape. You have that look of someone who gets out a lot, someone a bit... experienced, in life. Not many quarians are like that after they return to the Fleet."

"Hm... well, most Quarian's aren't exiles either." Zhanna said bitterly "... but thanks for the compliment; you don't get too many in my normal line of work. You know what a skiptrace is, right? A bounty hunter? Well, that's my job, but I also work various security jobs as well... like this one here on the ship. I'm a trained sniper too, so I occasionally do those jobs as well."

Seeing as how she had basically been given the 'ok' by Sha'ran, Zhanna gave her the once over as well, though there was not alcohol to loosen her tongue.

"I'd have to say though, Sha'ran: you've got quite the figure yourself, you know?" Zhanna said in all honesty "I'm guessing all your travels have done well for you."

The barkeep finally wandered back into the bar hosting several D-Safe drinks, and also holding a small glass of an oddly colored liquid.

"There you go Miss, one D-Safe Exploding Motor." the man said with a smile "Did the best I could on it."

"I'm sure it works perfectly fine." Zhanna responded, as a hand and arm extended from her cloak to begin unscrewing part of the mask in front.

That was how Quarian's ate in hostile environments. If there was no 'sanitary' room around, the Quarian's would simply open up a small portion of their suits and consume as quickly as possible, making sure to take large amounts of medigel, antibiotics, and etc. to protect themselves in it ASAP. So, that's what Zhanna did; opened up the mouthpiece and taking a deep, and loud gasp.

"It's been a while since I've breathed only through my longs and mouth." she said, her voice loosing most of it's synthesized quality, though now her speech was reminiscent of a very feminie Turian's "Bottoms up."

She overturned and downed the drink, noticing that it felt as if her throat was on fire immediately. She was coughing quite well when she closed her suit back up, it's 'emergency protocols' seemingly working in overtime as they were supposed to.

"Damn... and I thought Krogan drinks could be strong..." Zhanna mused amidst her coughing.

Sha'ran leaned over and rubbed Zhanna's back while she was coughing.

"I think we better stick to the mild stuff. It's a bit early to get drunk and start singing crude songs about other species." she giggled. "Though I wouldn't mind hearing you sing without the vocabulator, your tone is quite soothing."

Sha'ran stretched her arms up and writhed around to loosen her muscles. "Damn, that was good. You want to keep drinking or see what else there is to do? I was thinking something active to get the blood pumping. Maybe the gym?"

"...the gym?" Zhanna asked, mildly confused as the alcohol was already working it's way into her bloodstream "After drinking? That's not exactly safe..."

However, like many things: the more the alcohol that was added to the bloodstream...

"Eh, what the hell? We'll be fine if we go." Zhanna said with a smirk that could only be 'read' and not ever 'seen' "That drink was strong enough... and with what it's made of..."

Zhanna shook her head, which was beginning to feel comparatively light, as she thought about what was in the 'Exploding Motor'.

"...what liquor could be drank next that wouldn't cause 'problems'?"

Sha'ran frowned at the quarian. Zhanna was swaying that tiny bit, but it was bad enough after one drink.

"Um... scratch the gym, I think. You've only had one drink and already the alcohol is kicking in. You're not heading anywhere until I'm sure you'll be fine." She crossed her arms stubbornly. "The first time I tried that cocktail, the human marines said I took ten steps before falling over. Though I reckon you could handle it better than I did. But no-one goes anywhere until- whoa!"

Sha'ran had to hold onto her seat as the alcohol finally made it to her head. Like a rusty motor, she could feel it slowly build up before the dizziness "exploded" out of nowhere. She shook her head which improved things a bit but thinking was still fuzzy and her cheeks were flushed.

"Oh, that hit the spot. Must be the human vodka in it, that stuff really hits hard." Sha'ran then remembered that there was no dextro-protein equivalent for vodka, nothing else in the galaxy came close to the pure Earth drink. "Oh, she's lucky." she thought. "I'm drunk after the first glass and she's had the weaker drink. So much for my drinking prowess."

"...are you sure I'm the one who needs to be okay before we do anything?" Zhanna asked, halfway jokingly and 50% concerned "You're flushed... which I honestly didn't think Asari were capable of till today..."

Albeit Sha'ran was probably the stronger drinker of the two, but it appeared that the woman had had something a bit stronger than she herself did. It was interesting though; Sha'ran's blush was a light purple color on her cheeks, rather than a deeper blue.

'Well... I guess they have the same blood as humans...' Zhanna thought to herself 'I haven't exactly had to shoot an Asari to see what blood color they have.'

"So... you wanna head somewhere else besides the gym then?" Zhanna asked the rather tipsy Asari "You seem to be more familiar with the ship than I am after all."

"Hmm...? Oh right, somewhere else. Umm..." Sha'ran tried to think clearly but it was all warm and fuzzy in her head. "I suppose we could check out the security centre. It's just across from here, not too far to walk in my state."

She stood up and made to walk a few steps before the blood rushed from her head and she bumped into Zhanna's back.

"Oh damn! Sorry, I probably shouldn't have tried to impress you with that drink. I guess I wanted to make an impression."

Her chest was pressed against the quarian's back and Sha'ran had to put her hands on Zhanna's shoulder and hip to get herself upright. She stood still for a moment getting used to the change of blood pressure.

"Alright, I think I'm good now. Shall we continue or head somewhere else?"

"Yeah, the security center's probably a pretty good idea." Zhanna said as she made to stand "I'll probably have to report-"

She was then forced back down into the seat, something soft pressed against her back. Given how close Sha'ran's voice was, and the current placement of the woman's hand on her shoulder and hip, she could only assume it was one of the more 'obvious' parts of Sha'ran's anatomy.

'Damn... and I still can't feel them properly...' the little voice in Zhanna's wide-eyed head continued until Sha'ran was back on her feet.

"Um... yeah, I probably need to check in at the security center." Zhanna said, trying to be as calm as possible as she began to lead Sha'ran to the sec-center, one of the places she knew how to get to.

Zhanna took the lead, navigating for both of them, and Sha'ran fell into step. She couldn't help but notice that she felt tingly pressed up against Zhanna.

"Wow, that really was nice and warm leaning agai-" She cut her thoughts short as her brain finally registered them. She hoped Zhanna wouldn't turn around to see the furious blush on her face.

"Damn alcohol! It's making my mind wander. Although it really was nice- Damnit! Say something to take your mind off her bod- I mean her!"

"S-so, um, you said you worked security. Can you tell me what it's like? I've never really had much knowledge about it, what with the lone traveling and everything."