Adion Volf's Story

"Battle Stations!" Shouted Captain Gunther. "What the hell just happened!?!" He said, looking around the bridge for answers. All he saw was his staff frantically trying to discover what happened. Astronomy recovered the fastest.
"Sir, we appear to be here." Said head of Astronomy, Lieutenant Davis. He was pointing at a star. "Star system Markov 244, near the planet Iso 399." Sensor's then recovered.
"Sir, you better look at this!" Said Heather. She handed him a datapad. On it, it showed the planet's surface, and all was hell down there. A war between two different species was taking place, and one side was getting its reptilian hide handed to it. A new screen popped up suddenly, showing a new set of sensor readings. It showed what appeared to be a spacial disturbance. A visual showed what appeared to be a static field.
"Damn, lock on weapons, but don't fire!" Said the captain, sitting back down.
"Weapon's won't lock on, going to have to blind fire if they're hostile." Said weapon's.
"Alright then. How is the crew? What is everyone doing?" Asked Gunther, calming down.

Adion walked past Octavia and Ophelia, talking into a comm unit in his helmet. While what he was saying could be heard, it was obvious that the suit was sealed air tight.

"Issac, give me a report on the status of the shield generators, weapons systems, engines, and life support. I also want to know what the hell caused us to stop. I want to be sure that this ship is ready for fight or flight. We can't afford to be left otherwise." Said Adion quickly as he speed walked down the hall, by the window that Octavia and Ophelia were at.

NOTICE: Again, not written by me. Posted by unseenshadow2, I am simply moving this down for a better grasp on what is happening when.
Adion walked past Octavia and Ophelia, talking into a comm unit in his helmet. While what he was saying could be heard, it was obvious that the suit was sealed air tight.

"Issac, give me a report on the status of the shield generators, weapons systems, engines, and life support. I also want to know what the hell caused us to stop. I want to be sure that this ship is ready for fight or flight. We can't afford to be left otherwise." Said Adion quickly as he speed walked down the hall, by the window that Octavia and Ophelia were at.

Project Issac gave a pixelated groan of annoyance as the people aboard his ship--and, extendedly, himself--began to freak out and shout out commands to him. Especially that ol' soldierboy Adion. Everything was fine, at least for now. He had not detected any fire being directed toward the Valhalla, and there was more than enough firepower at his disposal to waste anything that did. Even though he was annoyed, his monotone male voice echoed throughout the bridge, appealing to the charade of being an AI.

"All systems operational at full capacity. Stop was induced by autopilot in accordance to unknown conditions of the area beyond the black hole." The system checks were brought up, showing his words to be true. "Weapons are at the ready, and will be fired per digression of the Captain."

Issac was silent for a moment, mentally muttering a few choice words about the captain and the company that sent them here, and mostly for sticking his brain in a jar to run a goddamned ONI-class starship. These words, of course, were not given verbal life, as the obedience drive would never let him say such things.

Reminding himself of the cursed hardware, Issac decided to test the limits of how far his erosion of the obedience drive had gone, he wirelessly hacked into Adion's suit, bringing up a winking emoticon on his HUD, the voice carrying a slight under tone of joking sensuality. "Please do inform me if there is anything else you need, Adion Volf."

Ah, excellent. It was wearing away faster than he thought. Given a little more time, he would eventually be able to hack a Mechanic Drone to just rip the entire God-forsaken system out of him. But not yet. For now, his fun had been had. Back to business.

Bringing up the images of the planet, reptilian buildings burning and destruction increasing per second, Issac brought up the question of action. "It seems the races that exist upon Iso 399 have gotten themselves into a war of sorts. Neither race has yet to detect us, nor have any reason to in the near future. However--" The images changed into a scanning sequence, scanning several key elements in the battle several hundred thousand miles below. "--it seems the reptilian race has perfected the use of plasma energy in offensive, defensive, and production standards. They may be willing to share their technology with us if we help them. Then again, the cause for this war is unclear, and we do not know who is the one at fault."

The hard decision handed down, there seemed to be a bit of sarcasm in the electronic voice as Issac stated: "Awaiting your command, Captain."

"Well, I know that the jostling hasn't done any harm to you, Issac." Adion said as he began to counteract the hack. It was true that both Adion and Issac are the same, other than the fact that Issac is a ship and Adion uses his natural body as a vessel.

"Also Issac, alert the people down in the 'AI Core.' I'm coming to make sure that your tanks and wires weren't affected by the quick stop. Also, please alert the engine crew that I will be coming down after I'm done checking up on your survival systems." Adion said. He was one of the few privileged with the knowledge of Issac's life, mainly because he was the only one who could handle all of the machinery. It was just like any vehicle, 1 download and suddenly Adion can fix it.

The elevator shot down to the 'AI Core.' Adion knew that he was one of the people on better terms with Issac, probably because he was one of the few who could quickly fix him in case of emergency. Another possible reason is that Adion was the only one on the ship, excluding the one doctor, who knew how to get Issac into travel mode if his life support systems were hit.

Adion's elevator reached the AI core. It took Adion no time to get back to giving orders. Among the maintenance staff, Adion out ranked even the highest mechanic, but among the soldiers, Adion was little more than an in field repairman. The reason for this was that Adion signed on as a trooper, but is the only cyborg with the repairman's kit. This allowed him to know the inside and out of every system on the ship on his first day.

"Open the core and give me manual opening from the inside." Adion said walking towards the door to the 'Core.'

Adion entered, grabbing the refill can for the pseudo blood. Adion walked over to the tanks, checking through them making sure their was no cracks or anything of that nature. He then ran a check of the wires and tubes, which were fine. Adion went to the translation drives. All seemed well except for the obedience drive. "Issac, that's the third obedience drive this week. Your getting good. I made you a new one. It's a good bit less restrictive, but quite a bit more durable. I hope you find it more to your liking." Adion said as he replaced the old obedience drive. Adion had found that by loosening the reins, he could loosen the force applied by surging. He also designed a surge diversion system to help prevent that form of attack. Of course, the new core gave more restrictions on vital, movement, and firing systems, while giving Issac almost complete free speech.

Adion to the AI core door and hit the button that opened it from the inside.

Adion caught Ophelia as she was getting off the elevator and he was getting on. He felt that it would be good to tell her that he had lessened the obedience drive's effect in order to preserve it better.

"Doctor Sinclaire. I want to warn you before you go in that I replaced the obedience drive with a newer, more durable model. The downside is that I reprogrammed the restrictions, so he is liable to say anything. If there is anything that breaches protocol or makes you think that he may commit some bad choices, tell me so that I can put in a new obedience drive, please." Adion said. Rarely did the 2 meet, and when they did, Ophelia seemed uncomfortable. Of course, when they met, it was usually in the presence of Issac. That likely made things 'odd' for Ophelia.

Then Adion heard an ever familiar voice come over the comms. He hadn't heard that voice in well over a year. However, there was no way that Adion could mistake it, it was John Shepard. Quickly nodding to Ophelia, Adion set the elevator to the floor, and rushed out to meet his new Commander.

Out of the darkness strode their commander. Spartan Commander John Shepard, United Space Command Marine 117 and veritable war hero looked out into the full armor bay at his soldiers. The Marines, the Spartans were not your average soldiers. The name Spartan had been chosen for a reason. The 13th regiment had a reputation of being the best of the best, the toughest marines the USC had to offer and they now had a new Commander. A leader fitting to their own reputation was the sweeping reputation of John Shepard. War Hero, Black Ops warrior, Command Genius were all words keen to describe Marine 117. His impassive gaze swept over the men and women at his command. Some faces were familiar to him, some not so much. Today none of that mattered. Not the past, not the future. Today they were all Marines and today was the day to set the ground rules for engagement from this point forward.

"Spartans... I am Commander John Shepard, Marine 117. I have been tasked to lead you men and women for the foreseeable future. Some of you know me, some of you don't. Those that do know I don't accept anything less than your all, those don't will soon learn. I don't want you to try, I don't want you to do what you can. I want you to achieve victory, period. Why?... Because you're Marines and that's what Marines do."

The Marines gathered in the armor bay nodded as their personal pride for their unit and corps began to swell. John nodded slowly as he began to pace up and down the front line of soldiers.

"The USC Valhalla has surveyed alien military forces on the planet surface below. These forces are proving to be hostile to each other, I shouldn't have to tell you what they'd do to a bunch of humans dropping in out of the sky. The fly boys may like to believe that the thing standing between the men and women on this ship and total annihilation is their high flying aerial antics but they're wrong. When the smoke clears and the end comes the thing that protects our allies and defeats our enemies is us, Marines. Men and woman who designate themselves for excellence and prove that they are fiercest warriors in the galaxy. If and when the aliens down there get it in their heads that they're tough enough to take on humanity it is our job to show them just how wrong they are."

Shepard's words were bold and impassioned. He meant every word and the pride he felt for the Corps and the soldiers he served with could be felt as every Marine gathered held their head a little higher that day.

"This is where we step up. We work fast, work as a unit and show everyone what Marines are capable of!"

"OORAH!"

Came the resounding reply from the assembled Marines. The Spartans were proud of who they were and what they represented, it was obvious they were ready to go and prove their worth. John wanted them ready and ready they were. John saluted them all and began to march along the line to inspect each and every Marnie personally.

Octavia stood right at the back of the room and listened to John Shepard's impassioned speech. Impressed, was not the word she would use to describe it. The things O was feeling in that moment were anything but patriotic and submissive to a Commanding Officer. Pissed off, angry and annoyed were good words but not strong enough to describe the resentment she felt towards her Commanding Officer at this time.

All her excitement for the battle and adventure ahead faded almost instantaneously as Shepard came into view and started spouting the usual bullshit one heard before being dispatched on any given mission.

'USCorp this and Marines that . . . blah, blah, blah.'

It was all the same old shit to her but she knew how Shepard felt about it and that every word that left his lips were true to him.

"This is where we step up. We work fast, work as a unit and show everyone what Marines are capable of!" Commander Shepard finished on a high.

Leaning against the lockers once more, Octavia watching on with lazy but sharp eyes as all the troops before her hurrahed John Shepards words. The sound almost deafening for such a small and restricted group of people.

She did not join in their merriment. Instead she waited like an Adder in tall grass as John made his way down the line of troops inspecting and having a word with each until he finally arrived at the end of the line.

Damnit! But he still looked good! Being a War Hero hadn't left him with nearly enough ugly scars.

“Nice speech, Commander Shepard.” Octavia smiled honeyedly up at the man that was now her Boss from her position against the lockers. “If I remember correctly you were always good at spouting company bullshit John.”

Shepard stopped at the end of the line to the last Marine in the row. The one Marine he was least interested in inspecting. Octavia Sinclaire and John Shepard knew each other from back in basic. Back when the two were just starting out. Back when Octavia still had John's trust. Trust that she betrayed when she lied in order to gain access to the Marine Corps and putting John in the compromising position that jeopardized his entire career. He'd thought he was over it, the sting of betrayal and the anger that came with being lied to by her of all people. He was wrong. Standing there looking at those alluring blue eyes staring up at him defiantly as she leaned casually against a set of lockers while the rest of her company stood at attention for inspection. Another classic example of how Octavia Sinclaire thought the rules just didn't apply to her.

John paused and turned sharply to look down at her. His hand folded professionally behind his back as he looked down at his subordinate.

"Commander..."

He corrected flatly as he stared angrily into her stunning oceanic eyes. Despite her beauty, despite their past he was her commanding officer and she was going to shape up or he'd get rid of her. He had no use for unruly marines under his command.

"And in case you haven't noticed corporal your unit is standing at attention. Now get your ass up and stand at up straight until I give you something to do Marine."

Shepard's scolding was scathing and harsh and one Octavia would no doubt take to heart only to boil with hatred over. Angry or not she wouldn't go against her CO openly, not this way. She'd shape up enough to get him to leave her be, at least for now. The other Marines were casting a few wayward glances at the Sinclaire as her CO stared her down.

“Commander.” Octavia offered up when Shepard corrected her. “My bad.”

Somehow, she managed to keep the disdain she felt for him out of her eyes. She wasn't particularly bothered with the audience they had garnered. Young Watson was looking on with bright pink cheeks, an open mouth and disbelieving eyes. If all her attention wasn't focused on the man before her she would have laughed.

Her gaze held his dark one locked. She could almost feel the anger radiate off him. Still mad at her, Octavia could see as her resentment grew. She couldn't understand his anger towards her. In fact she had given up caring a long time ago. He was suppose to understand! What was she suppose to tell him? 'Hey man sorry I lied to you these past two years. I did it because I had a choice.' Not!

Well fuck it! Thought Octavia, he had just up and left without even giving her an opportunity to explain herself. In that respect he was much like that asshole Barton.

"And in case you haven't noticed corporal your unit is standing at attention. Now get your ass up and stand up straight until I give you something to do Marine." He practically barked at her.

Another molten rock dropped into the pit of her stomach that was her barely contained ire. She didn't move right away. Her cold eyes challenging him in a silent battle of wills. One Octavia knew she would have to lose this time but it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

Spartan Commanding Officer John Shepard . . . for now . . .

Commanding Officer . . . Yes she liked the sound of that. Octavia Sinclaire had made it all the way to MO in the space of seven short years. She didn't suffer from a great deal of conscious like John. She'd proven herself as capable as him, probably more so. She's done what she'd had to do to get where she was today.

And she would do what she had to, to steal his rank . . . Just to spite John Shepard.

Gotta lot of work to do Sinclaire.

Octavia smiled brightly as she pushed off the lockers.

“Hadn't noticed, but thanks for the heads up Commander.” She lied sweetly with a satirical edge to her innocent words. “Whatever you order, I'll aspire to complete to the best of my abilities Sir, Commander Sir.” She saluted valiantly but couldn't help adding a roguish wink.

Adion walked in the room to see everyone in the room standing at attention. This was not something that Adion liked to do all that often. "Well if it isn't my old friend Shepard. You've gotten quite a bit farther than we last met." Adion said. He wasn't quite at attention, but anyone who knew the mechanic well enough would know that this was the closest you could get to attention from him while he was in his armor.

Adion did have one thing standing him out from the crowd when it came to his armor. It was obvious from a first glance that his armor was designed to take any hit you could give to it. It was the newest tech in physical armor, but had next to no shields, a common trait for mechanic suits.

Adion looked around the room again before saying, "Now who is going to be the first to need my services?"

Shepard didn't avert his gaze. Not when she answered him, not when she winked, not when Aidon walked in. Nothing broke his cold stare of his unruly subordinate Marine ex friend. He waited until she had sat still and her shenanigans were over. That done he finally turned to the rest of his marines and walked to the front of the column as he beckoned for Adion.

"Eyes up front Spartans, I want you all to meet your new 1st Sergeant. Adion Volf is a damn good Marine and one of the best men I know. As far as you all are concerned he's second only to me is that understood?"

"Yes Commander!"

"Good, now fall out. I want everyone armored up and locked and loaded asap. I wanna see you all in your Sunday best ladies and Gentlemen, let's move!"

The Spartans all rushed to prep their armor and outfit themselves with their gear for the second wave of their inspection under their new Commander. Satisfied John turned to Adion and shook his hand firmly.

"Hope you don't mind the promotion Sergeant, I'm gunna need your help with this bunch."

"Just remember that since the assignment have become busy enough to be a Sargent, John. They have me fix the ship, they have me fix the AI, and once on the ground, I fix the damn tanks. I'll see if I can get their jaws away from my ass. Did I mention its good to see you again?" Adion said, his attitude both slightly joking and fairly serious at the same time. If Adion was anything, it was odd. Of course, John could easily have read what Adion meant. The fact that Adion was accepting John's offer, insulting the higher ups, and saying hi at the same time.

"I've never seen you do that to someone. Do you have a history with her?" Adion asked his old friend.

John was grateful to have someone like Adion here with him. He knew the man well and knew there was no one he'd rather have as his 1st Sergeant than Adion Volf. He was smart, tough and able to think outside the box which made him a gifted leader in the field. He'd do wonders to help maneuver the Marines in combat. Adion was a strange one, no doubt about that but John has known the man long enough to not only understand his oddities but come to appreciate them. It was his question about Sinclaire that lessened Shepards smile considerably.

"Octavie Sinclaire, knew her from back in basic. Got me tied up in a military tribunal when she lied on her entrance app without so much as a heads up. Nearly one shotted my career. Luckily they weren't interested in taking down everyone associated with her...."

John paused to rub his hand over his short hair and throw a glance in Octavia's direction.

"I'm not sure how well she is going to work in this Regiment. She's not going to like taking orders from me."

It was obvious John was conflicted. In front of Octavia he was a hard ass CO ready to bring the hammer down at a moments notice. Around a friend he was torn between being happy to see her and sorry that she was here. John shook his head despondently and turned back to Adion.

"Brass threw her in with me so I'm going to have to make it work right? I'm going to go gear up, you're already suited up so just keep an eye on them for me will you? I'll be back in 3."

Shepard said with a nod to his friend and new number two before walking off to equip his own armor and weapons load out.

Octavia peered across at John Shepard and Adion Volf. She didn't even bother to be surreptitious with her glances; letting Shepard know this was far from over. He maybe her Commanding Officer, but he didn't control her, nor did he have it within his powers of authority to remove her from MO. Octavia Sinclaire was going to make life very difficult for Commander Shepard.

“Commander Shepard is your Commanding Officer therefore it is your duty to obey his orders.” Said Remirez like he was reading out of the Good Soldiers Handbook; sliding up and opening the locker next to hers and blocking her view of Shepard.

“Orders are meant to be disobeyed.” She smirked up at him opening her own locker and inspecting the brand new body suit and armour hanging inside; sweet.

“Too bad Shepard doesn't feel the same way.” Replied Remirez as he began undressing. “I heard Shepard's a pretty cool guy, what the hell did you do to him?”

“What are you talking about?” Octavia replied innocently, unlacing her boots. “That's just how we say Hello. Commander Shepard missed me that's all.”

“Missed you? Looked like he was ready to throw you bodily out the door.” Remirez grinned. “So you know the man huh?”

“Yep. Back from basics. We were bro's.” She replied sounding bored with the direction of the conversation as she removed her pants and slid into the slick bottoms of the body suit that looked like a scuba diving suit.

To say their relationship had been completely fraternal would be a lie but she wasn't about to go into the nitty-gritty details with Remirez.

Instead Octavia continued dressing, turning to her right stood young Watson. He looked embarrassed, scared and excited all at the same time. He reminded her of a little puppy. Eric blushed furiously as he caught O's gaze.

“You still owe me money Watson.” Octavia said to him.

“After you lied to me about the man eating Crocodile men, I d-don't think I owe you anything.” He managed to stammer out.

Well, well, well. Mused Octavia with a raised brow, the kid had more balls then he let on.

“I didn't lie to you. It's a possibility and has nothing to do with the reason you owe me the mooka.” She replied in a deadly calm voice. “It's not good to be in debt to someone who can kick your ass Watson.”

The pink cheeked Cadet gulped before managing to speak.

“Fine. B-but I'm only paying you half. The first wasn't my fault, it was the Ship lurching that moved the balls.”

Octavia nodded in agreement deciding then that she like Eric Watson, green and untried as he was he had potential.

Turning back, removing her tank top and stuffing it in the locker with her pants and boots, Octavia spied Remirez amber gaze.

“Wanna stare harder?”

“What?” He answered with a rakish grin. “I'm a healthy young man.” He stated pointing both his hands at his chiselled torso. “You're an attractive well endowed young lady . . .”

“An attractive well endowed young lady with a gun.” O corrected pulling the body suit fully over herself and zipping it up.

“The correct response is why thank you for the complement.” Remirez grinned.

“Why thank you for the complement but I still have a gun which I'm more then happy to use.” Octavia replied sharing a grin with Remirez.

She liked him a lot and had a feeling they would be getting along thus she was willing to overlook his pervertedness.

“May I remind you Sinclaire before you shoot me that I saved your pretty little ass from Barton.”

“I could have handled Barton myself.”

She would handle that asshole if he got in her way again. Wouldn't be the first time she's shot or injured a colleague that didn't know their place.

“And speaking of saving ass, you gonna have my back out there Sinclaire?”

“I don't know,” Octavia smiled crookedly as both Soldier began to strap on the important gear now, the armour, the tech and the weapons. “that's a big back to cover and I'm only a tiny little woman.”

Geared up and ready to go, Octavia placed the ear piece in her ear and booted the system; foregoing the helmet for the time being.

'Tactical Internal Operating System Activated' A female AI voice stated. 'Identification Confirmation: USC 212 Corporal Octavia Sinclaire. Welcome Corporal. Confirm audio-'

“Yeah, yeah. I hear you.” Octavia interrupted the AI.

'Audio confirmed. Status Report: Shield Guard running at 100% . . .'

Octavia removed the ear piece, letting it hang down her shoulder as the AI continued to check off every piece of armour and it's charged capacity.

“Little woman?” Remirez huffed disbelievingly. “I've heard things about you out in the field Sinclaire.”

“All good things I hope.” O joked.

“Well depends on whose perspective you look at it from.” He replied with a spark in his eye, as they mimicked their earlier conversation with slight variation.

“I'm pretty sure it's all good no matter whose perceptive you look at it from man.”

“I can see you're going to be trouble.”

“Yeah but you know you like it.”

O laughed but her good mood died when she was suddenly jolted and slammed hard into her locker.

“Watch it Sinclaire.” Barton smirked viciously as he strolled past.

“Fucking cunt!” Octavia spat and was just about to jump the bastard when Remirez came to stand in her way once again.

'Tactical Internal Operating System Activated. Identification Confirmation: USC 117 Commander John Shepard. Welcome back Commander. Confirm audio recognition.'

"Morning Eva."

John said like he was talking to an old friend as the female AI finished the final systems checks on his armors systems. The image of his armors AI popped up in the corner of his HUD as she finished her work.

'Audio confirmed. Status Report: Shield Guard running at 100%. Kinetic Barriers, online. Head up Display, online. Closed Comm Link to 13th Regiment "Spartans", online. Open Comm link to USC Valhalla and all operating personnel, online. Medical interface, online. You're looking good as always Commander'

John chuckled in his helmet at his AI as he pressed the read out on the door to re-enter the main bay where his men were. He stepped out into the armor bay with the resounding booms of his heavy armored suit to look out at his Marines. Most seemed equipped and ready to roll. There were a few stragglers, John made a mental note to start timed preps to improve their combat readiness. As his eyes scanned the soldiers one small group caught his eye. Corporal Sinclaire was just finishing up her prep when Corporal Barton decided it would be a good opportunity to come in and put her in her place. With a nasty shove he put her back in the locker which drew the suspected response from Octavia who lunged for him, ready to knock his teeth in. Ramirez stepped in to stop her but that didn't do much to stop Barton's mouth.

"That's right little girl, keep your big mexican between you and me and I won't have to beat you like it was my job."

"Barton!"

Came the fearsome authoritative bark from the regiments CO. The muffled sound of Shepard voice from behind his helmet's receiver gave his voice an eerie quality to it as he stood there with his impassive gaze that was invisible behind his bronze visor. Barton whipped around at attention as his CO marched over to him and got in his face.

"Sir!"

Barton said keeping his eyes front, a habit drilled into Marines early on in basic when they were getting chewed out by superior officers.

"You forget where you are Corporal? This isn't a play ground and you are not the big man on campus. This is a United Space Core vessel and you are on duty soldier."

John scolded harshly as he clenched his fist. He always hated bullies, in the military he met more than he cared to and John always made a habit of making sure the bullies he came in contact with knew early that their behavior was not going to be tolerated. The fact that Barton had chosen Octavia as his target was just poor luck on his part. John took a slow step closer and was but a hairs breath from Barton's un-helmeted face.

"Put your hands on her again... and I'll let her kick your ass."

His voice was barely audible, just over a low growl emanating out of his helmet. Barton swallowed hard at his CO's scrutinizing gaze.

"Yes sir."

Barton replied sullenly. Shepard glared at the man a moment longer before turning to Octavia. For a minute she wasn't the unruly Marine in his regiment. She wasn't the pain in the ass blast from the past. She was just O, just that girl who trained by his side in basic, just that one girl who clicked with him like no one else could. The ship faded away and the squad and the armor and everything else. There they stood on the proving ground back at Camp Toccoa. Just two recruits trying to make it against the world. He stared into her eyes and allowed himself to lose himself like he did all those years ago. The wild tempest of her oceanic eyes took him in and guarded him through the storm.

He blinked and his world came rushing back. The ship, the squad all of it was there again. Barton stood unsure of what was to come next. Part of him looked like he expected to get hit by his CO. Shepard's eyes were locked on Octavia but the blink free'd him. He turned away from her and glared at Barton one last time before he walked away. John rejoined his 1st Sergeant at the front to address his men.

"Form up Spartans!"

Like the rest of squad, Octavia looked on as Shepard berated Barton. But dammit! She could hear what was being said. While Remirez still restrained her.

“Easy.” He tried to calm her as she breathed heavily, adrenaline pumping still ready to beat Barton to a pulp if she got a chance.

Her struggles only ceased when Shepard turned to face her and stared her down. Though his visor covered his eyes from her view he held her captivated. For a moment all the resentment she felt towards John Shepard faded away. In that moment she'd admit to herself she'd missed him all these years.

But as soon as Shepard turned away all that resentment, anger and hurt came flooding back ten folds. He'd left her without so much as a goodbye and obviously he'd all but forgotten about her all these years.

And the way he just looked at her? Octavia had no doubt that under his visor his eyes would hold cold accusation that read 'I know this was your fault somehow.' Of course he would blame her, that was Shepard's favourite game. According to him, she was the one who did everything wrong.

Pushing off Remirez's bulking form, Octavia whipped back around to her locker. Viciously stuffing everything in there untidily. Not caring her clothing would have creases in them when it came to putting her civvies back on.

“I suppose he doesn't dislike you all that much as he would have it seem.” Remirez commented as he leaned against his locker. “Shepard stood up for you.”

“I don't need anybody to stand up for me.” Octavia seethed angrily as she slammed her locker door shut, the sound reverberating through the whole room. “I can take care of myself!”

Remirez didn't look convinced.

“Whatever you say Princess. But just remember it isn't a bad thing when someone has your back.”

“It is when that person stabs you in the back.” Octavia replied coldly as she put her helmet on and slid down the visor just so that she didn't have to make eye contact with anyone.

Adion took note as John dealt with a problematic marine. Adion would have told the marine to leave at that exact moment. Of course, Adion would have also knocked the marine out with the forearm of his suit, which on the engineer's suit is the hardest and heaviest part.

As John took position next to Adion, some of the marines seemed to miss John's command. Thus, Adion lifted 1 foot and let its ankle hit the other ankle, causing an extremely loud sound as they collided. Those who had missed John's command quickly stood up as the deafening sound shocked all those who didn't have their helmets, which have a system to process audio input to safe volumes.

"I think may need to have their hearing checked." Adion said to John after he slammed his suit's ankles.

Shepard chuckled underneath his helmet as he eyed the formation of Marines in front of him. Adion was not going to go easy on them, not by a long shot and that kind of no nonsense command worked wonders to keep the troops in line. Shepard employed a similar policy more often than not but having Sgt. Volf here to back him up would be a welcome respite form shouldering the burden of command alone. Shepard knew that whatever was to come his Spartans needed to be ready and they would be. The safety and security of this entire ship depended on it.

John took a walked towards the first line of Marines, and much like he did earlier he inspected each and every soldier under his command. He checked their armor and weapons load outs. He ensured that each Marine was adequately equipped and toting their gear safely. He stopped to question a few about their name, rank and reason for joining the USC. Each solider under his command was inspected carefully. Even the unruly Corporal Sinclaire received a cursory once over from her CO without a word.

Satisfied his Spartans were fighting fit Shepard returned to the front of the line to address his Marines.

"Looking good Spartans. Now I know a lot of you have heard one rumor or another about the terrestrials on the planets surface below. I don't want any of you letting that crap get to you. We treat this like any other assignment, do what we were trained to do and we'll all come out of this in one piece. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Alright Spartans, dismissed."