James was furious. How could they leave Anderson like that? And why did he let a relieved officer take charge of the Normandy? Sure, Shepard was a hero, but this all seemed out of wack. Anderson was a nobel man. Hell, he'd tracked him down just to watch over Shepard after Vega had left the service of the Alliance from his prior mission. But this?

This was loco. But that wasn't the only thing on his mind.

So were the Reapers. Who'd have thought the very creatures Command Jane Shepard had all warned them about were in fact real? They looked like enormous parasites, especially after seeing all the destruction they had caused just after they landed. And now they had to defeat them?

Loco. Just plain loco.

And now they were heading to Mars for the Prothean Archives to meet up with an Asari doctor named T'soni for something that might destroy the Reapers.

"I should have never left Earth..." James muttered under his breath

"You should just focus on the mission ahead." Kaiden commented

James knew that Major Alenko ran a Biotics division in the Alliance, but other than that, this guy was a bit of a mystery.

"How can you stay so calm at a time like this?" James yelled

"We've been trying to warn everyone about them for the past four years; we know they're a huge threat, but we have to focus on one task at a time. We can't do this alone."

"We? You said you use to know her: how well?"

"Well enough to know that the Reapers are going to wipe out everyone in the galaxy unless we work together to stop them!"

James could sense there was more.

"No, you knew her more than that..."

"Fine, she was my commanding officer, and I was with her when Saren and the Geth attacked. Satified?"

He seemed pretty annoyed. James smirked. He was beginning to enjoy this.

"Nope. You must have known her more than as a superior. You were closer than that, weren't you?"

Major Alenko blushed.

"N-no... it wasn't like that..."

"Oh really, amigo? Cuz your face tells me otherwise."

"No, the Commander and I were never... an item."

"But you like her, don't you?"

"Why does this matter right now? We're going to Mars after a Reaper attack, and you wanna interrogate me about my love life?"

"Calm down, culo. I was trying to lighten up the situation."

"Well, you suck at it."

James gave a small chuckle. One point for James, none for Alenko.

Shepard returned in her armor. She looked pretty hot in it, he couldn't lie. He wondered if this had been one reason Major Alenko had fallen for her.

"Alright, guys. Let's head out."