Things were tense. Sara could see that Scott was growing listless. No sooner had she made this mental observation than he jumped to his feet.
"Oh, I can't take anymore of this!" Scott exclaimed.
Nearly every wary eye aboard the drop shuttle regarded the younger Ryder apprehensively. Never one to shirk the limelight, he paced the limited length of space with outstretched arms and a mischievous grin. With enough sass to curb even the cheekiest of divas, he settled in front of the pair of eyes that were throwing him the deadliest of daggers.
Well? His posture demanded of her.
"Ryder, can it." Cora snapped irritably, "No one's in the mood."
Scott blew air out through his mouth in such a manner that the sound resembled a fart, which was apparently equal in worth to Cora's attitude. When the biotic gave him a particularly bloodthirsty glare, he shrugged and pivoted on his heel in order to better engage the rest of his captive audience.
"Alright," He began "Let's just discuss the elephant in the room: We all know that Habitat 7 didn't work out as well as we hoped it would—"
"It didn't work out at all!" Cora hissed behind him, "We couldn't even land on the damn thing."
"Alright, sure, that's true. But, so what? You guys- we did the impossible! We traveled six hundred years in dark space to get where we are today—are we really going to let one failure drag us all down? We can't give into despair—if we were the sort that did, we would have never left the Milky Way in the first place."
"But that's the thing, isn't it?" Liam asked, leaning forward, "One failure just leads to the next. If home isn't where we thought it was and we can't get our people out of cryo…"
Scott's voice took on a softer tone, "We'll get our people out, Liam. Just have faith."
"But…"
"No buts, no cuts, no coconuts." Scott chimed happily, "My da—I mean, the Pathfinder already found us another planet. Just look out the window—no floating mountains or electrical storms, what more could we ask for? All it needs is a swim-up bar, some daquiris, and lovely ladies in string bikinis and we can call this place home."
"Not only is this not a context you would use that phrase, you didn't even say it right." Cora barked, arms crossing over her chest.
"Shut up, Cora." Kirkland sighed, his large hand palming his face. "He's just trying to help."
"Yeah, Cora, shut up." Scott jumped in, his tone playfully obnoxious. "C'mon Sara, back me up here!"
Oh, God. Scott—WHY?
When the attention that had previously been on Scott shifted to Sara, her cheeks developed a rosy hue. Willing to say anything that would get her out of the spotlight, Sara licked her lips and stammered, "Uh—uhm. Yeah. I agree with Scott. After Habitat 7, I suppose we could all do with some cheering up."
Scott clucked his tongue and shot her dual finger guns, "See? Now that's what I'm talking about! Why don't we tell stories from back home? It'll get our minds off Habitat 7 and will surely beat sitting in this dark shuttle with our thumbs up our butts. Listen, I'll start. Did I ever tell you guys about the one time I was at a gas depot in the Attican Traverse and I watched some guy's pet pyjak beat the ever-living snot out of a rabid varren with a miniature baseball bat while smoking a Cuban cigar?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
"Yep."
"Eight times."
"Damn. That was my best story… Alright… well… uh… oh! Okay, I got another good one. How about the time that I was on an inter-planetary Asari cruise ship and my translator shorted out?"
"Go for it, kid." Greer encouraged.
Scott, eager to please the crowd, bent low and dropped into a dramatic stage whisper, "So— a long time ago… in a galaxy far, far away…"
Everyone groaned.
"Oh! For Pete's sake, quit the foreplay, Ryder, and get to the good stuff!" Kirkland complained loudly.
Scott pointed a finger at Kirkland, "See? Talk like that is exactly why Stacy broke up with you, man. No pizzazz."
At this, a round of laughter broke out at Kirkland's expense—even the cranky Cora could not help but crack a smile.
"Fuck off," Kirkland groused under his breath, "I got pizzazz shooting out from where the sun don't shine."
"Anyway," Scott continues, "So, for our birthday one year, I convinced Sara to go with me on a cruise…"
While Scott delved deeper into the meat of his tale, Sara's mind wandered aimlessly. Her gaze had been drawn from the dark compartment they had all been cramped in, to the window, where the fauna of the latest planet they had been exploring zoomed past. All things considered, it had been a miracle that they ever found this place.
Habitat 7 was just one massive, floating pile of "fuck that".
Pissed that the Hyperion had only narrowly avoided a gargantuan pocket of dark energy, Dad took one look at Habitat 7, with its continent-sized lightning storms, unbreathable argon—nitrogen atmosphere, floating rock formations and all but turned the human ark back to the Milky Way. But, it was no secret that her father had been bred to be a Pathfinder. Within the day, SAM had unearthed an unknown, artificial signal from a distant system that turned out to come from the planet known to the Andromeda Initiative as Habitat 3.
The brochures for Habitat 3 proclaimed it to be a lush jungle paradise- and while the reality was no where near as dissonant from the brochures as Habitat 7, it appeared that the astronomers in the Milky Way underestimated just how lush the planet really was. The density of the forests posed such a threat to the integrity of the Kodiak that the entire crew was forced to watch the planet from a bird's eye view.
With the turbulence providing a subtle rocking, Sara didn't realize that her head was drooping with fatigue until the muscles gave way completely and her face smacked the glass with a resounding THUMP!
It had truly been a testament to Scott's story that no one noticed that embarrassing stint.
"… Okay, so now I'm at the part of the story that if anyone has a weak stomach, they might want to turn their headsets off because it only goes downhill from here." Scott warned. Sara perked an eyebrow but said nothing. If he was at this point in the story, then that meant he already finished the part regarding the tuba player, the donkey, and the one-armed jockey.
Having forgotten her previous enmity entirely, even Cora was leaning in, "C'mon, Ryder! What happened next?"
"Alright so, my translator's gone to shit because of that stupid donkey, the tuba-player doesn't know where he is, and the one-armed jockey is so drunk that thinks she's the Queen of the Vorcha—"
The punchline to Scott's story, involving the Asari maid and the clogged toilet, disappeared into the ethereal as the dividing barrier between the soldiers and pilot slid away, revealing Alec Ryder.
Cora and Sara were the first to stand at attention.
The cold, calculating look that the senior Ryder possessed was enough to humble even Scott.
"That's enough horsing around. I'm disappointed in you, Scott. I had expected you to take your duty to the mission more seriously. Does it mean nothing that the fate of twenty-thousand colonists rests on your shoulders?" Though the question was directed at her brother, Sara felt Cora shrink with shame at the scolding. Her father stood at the entrance of the cockpit, hands righteously held behind his back as he gave the crew a sobering once-over, "Now, with that being said, we are nearing the coordinates of the tower that our sensors had picked up earlier. If we're able to keep up this speed, SAM predicts that ETA will be in 15 minutes."
"13." SAM corrected over the intercom. Alec didn't seem phased by the interruption.
"Seeing that only an ignoramus would not realize that this tower was constructed by intelligent life, I feel it is prudent we review first contact protocols. Now, if we are in a situation where we find intelligent alien lifeforms, the order is no use of deadly force unless hostile intent is clear. Be respectful. This is their galaxy—"
"Sir," SAM interrupted once again. Alec held up a hand.
"A second, SAM, just let me finish—"
"Alec," SAM continued, "There are several alien aircrafts approaching our position."
At this, everyone scrambled for a view outside. Rising above the thick purplish plumage and glowing phosphorus puffs was at least a dozen T-shaped, vomit-green alien aircraft. The intensity and direction of the unknown shuttles left no doubt in anyone's minds that the Pathfinding team had been spotted. With a nervous sensation in Sara's gut, she slipped her helmet on and fingered the grip of her gun.
"What can you tell us, SAM?" Alec demanded, his eyes never leaving the inbound ships.
"It appears that they are attempting to put a hold on the shuttle's navigation system." SAM warned. Sara detected a muscle twitch under her father's eye.
"Looks like they told us where to shove our first contact protocols and how," Scott uttered.
This earned him a reprimanding slap upside the head.
Then, everything turned to chaos as the crew watched the nearest ship's AA gun light up.
Though the experimental blow was weak enough for the shuttle's kinetic barrier to absorb, it didn't stop the entire crew from being thrown onto their asses. Sara landed atop her father, who unceremoniously shoved her from his person as he regained his bearings. Sara recovered deftly and used her increased speed to assist those that had been struggling to do the same.
Pretending that her father's routine disregard for her didn't take its toll, Sara used the handrails drilled into the roof to make her way towards him as the ship swerved uncontrollably.
"Sir, where are we needed?" She called over the commotion.
"SAM, I need you to open the hatch! Cora, Sara, I know you two want to leap into the fight, but this shuttle isn't equipped for combat. I want full barriers—all defense. For everyone else, anyone that shoots at us gets shot back. No hesitation."
With that, the shuttle's hatch lifted, and the crew got their first breath of Habitat 3. Cora and Sara took position on both the starboard and port hatches, their combined biotic power perfectly encapsulating the shuttle in a blue bubble. Behind them, the rest of the crew began firing their weapons, the whizzing of bullets a perfect symphony in Sara's ears.
In her headset, she could hear her father calling up towards the Hyperion, declaring the state of emergency. The immense expenditure of biotic power meant that she needed to use both hands to guide the mass effect field to do her bidding, leaving her helpless as she watched the orange tinge of gunfire aim directly at everything she held dear. She watched the projectiles flash against the blue of her barrier and bounce back towards the attackers. They were close enough to some of the ships that she could make out some of the aliens: putrid grey with bony protrusions jutting from their heads.
"That's my girl!" Her father called. Sara's heart warmed. She looked over her shoulder to reward him with a rare smile—
Oh. He had been talking to Cora.
Her father took a moment from shooting to address the rest of the crew, "Keep up the good work everyone! They're dropping like flies!"
He spoke too soon.
A particularly strong shot made its way through Cora's portion of the barrier and rammed into their kinetic defenses. Though this too was thankfully absorbed by the ship's kinetic shielding, the resulting jolt broke Sara's concentration and she lost her footing. Without anything to anchor her, Sara was tumbling forward out of the ship.
Just before all seemed lost, Scott caught her by the ankle.
Sara was screaming, making more noise now than she probably ever had in her entire mousy existence. The whipping of the wind tossed her flailing body about haphazardly while her brother fiercely struggled to maintain his hold. With each attempt to contract her abdominals and lift herself back into the shuttle, she felt her position slip downward just a smidge.
"DAD!" Scott called, his voice frantic. With one hand around her ankle and the other around a supportive structure, she could feel Scott attempting to lift her up and into the shuttle, but incapable of summoning an appropriately amount of strength. "We need your help! It's Sara—she's!"
Without Sara's biotic power to assist in its protection, the ship rocked under the wrath of yet another blow.
Sara jerked sloppily forward.
Scott lost his grip-
And then, Sara began to plummet.
Her last view of the shuttle was from behind her outstretched hands, as she watched Scott on his hands and knees at the edge of the hangar, reaching for her.
"SCOTT!"
"SARA!" His voice was cracking under the weight of his anguish. "DAD! We have to go back! We need to get Sara. We need to get her! I tried to save her but—"
The wind and suddenness of her descent had Sara tumbling end over end, making it near impossible to keep her line of sight on the shuttle and hostile aliens. When she finally got her bearings enough to assume the position she had been trained to hold, she was astonished to see how close the ground had gotten in just a manner of seconds.
Her father's grave tone in her headpiece turned her blood to pure ice, "There's nothing we can do for her, Scott. We have to keep moving."
"Pathfinder, I believe I should remind you that Sara is still patched into the comm frequency." SAM warned.
"Dad!" She screamed, "Don't leave me!"
There was a static-filled pause before her comm chimed, "I am so sorry, Sara."
"Please!" Tears of betrayal threatened to leak out.
"Moving to private channel: Sara, I have taken a manual override of your suit's hardware. I will use the optics from your helmet to deploy the jump-jet at the most opportune moment. However, I suggest preparing for impact."
Her heart was too broken for words.
"Deploying jump-jet in 3…2…1…."
Though SAM did everything in its (or rather, her suit's) power to cushion the blow from her landing, her first contact with solid ground was on an outcropping of solid rock. The momentum from her fall propelled her forward and she was thrown several feet. After the second impact, she heard her helmet crack. She flailed, attempting to find and cling to any surface she could manage, but instead, kept rolling down the hard face of rock.
She didn't stop until gravity, not her, decided it was appropriate.
"Fuck!"
She put every ounce of hurt, rage and shock into that one expletive as she laid on her back, staring up at a sky obstructed by luminous mushrooms, impressive fronds, and thick branches. While the expletive's vowel was drawn out with her frenzy, her limbs thrashed about furiously. She kicked and beat the wet dirt with every droplet of energy she had. When she had exhausted herself, her entire body went limp in the dirt.
She activated her mic, "Pathfinding team, this is Sara. I'm alive."
Not that the wonderful Pathfinder cares, she thought bitterly.
She waited.
Nothing.
"Pathfinding team?"
Nothing.
"SAM?"
Nothing.
With a growl, she unlocked her irreparable helmet and tossed it as hard as she could. A nearby thunk told her it had collided into a tree trunk.
She huffed a great mouthful of moist air.
There was no point in wallowing in self-pity. What was done was done. Right? Yeah… right.
She would have preferred to remain rooted in the spot for just a few moments longer, but the prickling sensation of a tentacle-like object creeping across her ankle and up her calf had her jumping high into the air. She sputtered, rapidly ridding her body of whatever creature had crawled up her leg.
It had been a vine.
Thoroughly creeped out, she edged towards her helmet.
The vine followed her.
"Stop that." She told it.
Dear god. She was talking to a vine. Perhaps she had hit her head harder than she had thought.
When it continued to follow her, she withdrew her pistol and shot at it, rending it in two.
The portion still connected to the greater part of the tree, recoiled in response and hissed at her.
She repeated the information in her head, the vine had actually hissed at her. Sentient vines. What had her dad gotten her into?
She made her way to the shattered helmet and removed the heads-up display. Unsurprisingly, the on-board sensors lit up like a beacon from the abundant flora and fauna around her, but what really caught her attention was a massive source of artificial energy to the west. She followed it, eventually finding herself on a platform with gargantuan, metal… thumb-like structures?
Cautiously, she neared a console in the center of the platform. She pressed her hand on a pulsating wave of metal rods. It reacted to her touch, interfacing with the nodes in her gloves. She continued touching, willing something to happen as figures and symbols flew across her visor's display.
Victory!
A grinding overhead and the emission of a beam of light revealed that she had accomplished… well, no one would ever be able to argue that she did something.
However, before she could celebrate this fact, a sound in the distance caught her attention and she cocked an ear to better listen.
Someone was screaming… and headed right for her.
Sara turned towards the noise, fingering her gun in preparation for yet another fight with the grey aliens. And yet, as her fingers closed around the holster, a figure broke through the line of trees that was purple and not at all grey.
It clutched something to its chest as it ran right towards Sara, the scream never ending.
Sara's head tracked the movement as the alien looked at the structure, saw Sara, made a confused expression, stumbled clumsily, picked itself up and continued running—all while shrieking at the top of its lungs. The figure disappeared behind the set of trees that Sara had entered from as quickly as it appeared.
Sara's eyebrows furrowed. Though she tried to suppress it, she couldn't help but beg the question, "What the hell?"
She noticed a gleam in the corner of her eye.
It looked like a metal carving. Sara picked it up. Was this ceremonial? A personal affect? Just as Sara was pocketing it in her pack for Initiative inspection, she heard an earth-shaking roar.
If the screaming alien was worthy of a "what the hell" than the monstrosity before her was almost certainly a "what the flying shitballs?"
Reminiscent of the grey aliens that had attacked her shuttle, the animal was as tall as an elephant and at least twice as thick. When it spotted her with the beady little eyes positioned behind thick, cartilaginous plates, it roared again and prepared to charge.
Suddenly, running like a bloody fool and screaming at the top of her lungs did not seem like such a strange idea.
With the monstrosity in hot pursuit, she ran as fast as her tired little legs and jump jet would allow. Her progress was constantly hampered by obtrusive boulders, trunks the size of skyscrapers and curious vines that would snag her ankles. Her lungs burn with the effort and she dared not change course until her heads-up display revealed that there were seven alien signatures up ahead lying in wait. She made a hard left towards the face of yet another cliff, glancing over her shoulder to check her pursuers.
Screw these aliens!
Screw her stupid dad for abandoning her!
Screw this stupid planet!
Screw this stupid, inhospitable galaxy!
Screw-
BAM!
The collision from running head-on into the purple alien literally knocked the wind from Sara's lungs. The two of them tumbled atop one another, scrambling to regain their footing. The purple alien managed to get up first and was prepared to take off running when Sara caught its arm. It looked dismayed and attempted to wriggle free.
"Bad ones," Sara attempted to say, pointing in the direction that the alien was planning to flee to.
The alien froze, pointed behind Sara (where she had anticipated running off to herself) and repeated in a feminine voice, "bad ones."
Sara's heads-up display was going mental with all the lifeforms approaching. With the cliff behind them, there was no where for either of them to go.
"Son of a—" Sara saw the stirring of flora and knew she wouldn't be able to complete her sentence. She got up, only to promptly tackle the purple alien behind the waist, rolling the two of them behind the safety of an immense rock.
The purple alien went to fight her, to get away from what must have seemed like hostile intent.
It stilled when the first bullets battered the rock that it now realized Sara had used to protect them.
Sara popped from cover, using a shockwave to unearth all the entrenched hostiles that attempted to flank them. They flew into the air like flies after a storm and single singularity ensured that they remained easy prey to pick off with her Phalanx. A massive blast from a grey alien wielding a heavier weapon whizzed by Sara's head and singed a few hairs. She used a quick pull that lifted him off his feet and tossed him at several of his compatriots, knocking them down like pins before a big, ugly bowling ball.
Just then, the massive beast entered the clearing.
Well, shit.
Her Phalanx clicked empty and she knew she needed to reload. She ducked beneath the cover of the rock and faced the cowering alien beside her.
"Can you fight?" She shouted over the hail of bullets ramming into the rock.
Expressive, cerulean blue eyes widened with fear, "No!"
"Crap." She commented out loud. The gun hissed violently as she ejected the heat sink. When she prepared to get back to her feet, she told the alien, "When I give the command, I'll need you to hold onto me. Understand?"
It nodded.
Sara popped back up and began filling the fiend up with bullets. It pawed the ground and prepared to charge.
"Now!" Sara yelled. The alien's arms wrapped around her midriff just as the beast rammed into the rock, tossing them both off the face of the cliff. Just before Sara and the alien disappeared down the side, Sara unclipped three plasma grenades from her belt and lobbed them into the heart of the battle field. As the two descended, Sara heard them detonate and watched the subsequent dismembered limbs of both alien and animal soar through the air above them.
The continued shriek of the purple alien in Sara's ears brought her back to reality. They were falling and fast. Without the enemies to contend with, Sara was able to wind one arm around the alien's waist and pull it closer. They were about to plunge into a lake. She knew that attempting to break the surface tension of the water from that high of a fall would be the near equivalent of jumping off a building into a flat slab of cement. So, when they reached just the right height, Sara deployed her jump-jet, and encircled the two of them in a glowing ball of biotics.
They entered the water with approximately the same force as a drunk, overweight uncle cannonballing into the pool at the annual backyard barbecue would. Sara rotated the two of them so that she entered the water first, breaking the surface tension first with her biotic backlash and then her back.
Water rushed into Sara's armor, weighing her down and dragging her quickly below the water's surface. Right as she began to sink, she felt the large hand of the alien grip her wrist and yank her towards the surface. The moment Sara took her first mouthful of air, she swore she would never again taste anything so sweet. Together, the two of them swam for the shore, eventually coming to crawl onto the beach with sputtering coughs and trembling limbs.
When they were far enough from the rippling waves, they collapsed side-by-side, both far too exhausted to continue for the time being.
Sara gazed at the alien, whose roving orbs returned the look.
A smile formed on the mauve lips as the cat-like eyes searched Sara's face.
A nervous bubble of laughter escaped Sara's lips and soon, the alien was laughing with her, both too disbelieving at the strange twist in fate that life had just taken. Who knew that of all the traits to be universal, nervous laughter would be one of them?
The human's laughter died immediately when her heads-up display chirped, alerting her to the fact that they were not alone. She immediately rolled on top of the soaking wet alien, tucking its unprotected head under her chin as she whipped up a protective biotic aegis that shielded them from a rain of bullets. At that moment, she saw a lone hostile, clearly a lost straggler, emerging from the brush.
Sara unsteadily got to her feet, making sure to maintain the barrier. Had she enough energy to produce another backlash, she could have deflected the bullets rather than absorb them, but her stamina was nearly depleted.
"I need to drop the shield to fight," She shouted over her shoulder, "Run."
She waited for the alien struggle to get to its feet and dropped the shield. She watched it run behind a rock as she had made it do earlier, leaving Sara free to fight.
With one hand, she yanked the creature off its feet with a powerful pull. With the other hand, she released a throw, all while maintaining her original attack. The resulting difference in forces damn near ripped the thing in two.
Upon completion, she felt the last of her reserves deplete and she stumbled forward, her knee digging into the soft sand.
There was a rustling in the trees that caught her attention. With her biotic reserves annihilated, she whipped her gun out and shot without looking.
What she didn't expect was for it to be alive long enough to shoot back.
POW!
A bullet tore right through her shields and slammed into her wrist. Her gun went spinning high into the air, only to land in the water with a gut-wrenching BLOOP!
She reached in herself, willing her biotics to surface, but nothing took hold. Desperately, she stared about, hoping to spot the bastard that had managed to shoot down her shields and almost definitely broke her wrist.
And then, a fist collided with her face, knocking her into the ground.
Suddenly, another alien, resembling the one she had rescued, materialized before her very eyes, straddling her waist and wrapping a gigantic hand around the pale column of her throat.
The first alien scrambled to its feet from behind the boulder in attempt to wrench the pinker and more masculine of the two off of the human.
"Jaal! What are you doing? This alien saved my life!" The feminine one cried, her hands wrapping about the masculine one's considerable bicep.
The alien known as Jaal fended off Ryder's ward with one hand, while maintaining his stranglehold on Sara. She was sputtering, unable to make any noise as the hand clamped tighter about her trachea. Her legs kicked in helpless, pitiful spurts and the pressure in her head began to build as the blood pooled towards the surface. Had she any use of her arms, she would have wrenched him from her, but as it was, he had her pinned with his muscular thighs.
"It shot me, Avela." Jaal answered in a deep baritone, his sapphire eyes burning into Sara's reddening hazel ones. Though he was fending off Avela, he was looming over Sara menacingly, dripping his hot, blue blood all over Sara's skin. She realized that the blood originated from a wound that she must have inflicted to his neck flap.
"Jaal, please! It must have been a mistake. It—she, I believe it is a she- just saved me from at least a dozen kett—and a fiend! You must not do this."
The hand loosened just enough for Ryder to take a breath. It was a disgusting croak of a thing.
"You mean to tell me…" Jaal took a moment to gather his thoughts, "that this tiny creature fought off an entire unit of kett by itself?"
"Yes!" Avela insisted, continuing to tug on Jaal's shoulder. If he was exerting any energy in ignoring Avela's attempts, he did a good job at disguising it. "With her blue magic. She was absolutely incredible!"
Sara wheezed, "Bi-o-tics."
Avela and Jaal stared down at the human. Jaal released his hand from her throat entirely but did not remove himself from her.
"What did you say?" He asked
Sara attempted to inhale a huge gulp of air that dissolved into a coughing fit. When she finally had enough breath to answer, she hoarsely responded, "Not blue magic. Biotics."
Jaal leaned in close enough that he could have kissed her. Sara could only wish that it was lust that he saw in his eyes.
Rage. Mistrust. Vengeance.
"What are you?" He gripped her chin between his thumb and forefinger, twisting her head this way and that.
"Human. I'm human. From Milky Way."
"And what…" he asked, "Do you want?"
"A place to call home." She answered honestly.
Jaal snorted, but the amusement did not reach his eyes, "We have heard that before. If what Avela says is true, then you have already met the previous perpetrators."
"And what do we have here?" A third voice interrupted. Everyone, Jaal included, jumped at the sound.
"Akksul…" Jaal responded slowly. It might have been a trick of the strangulation, but Ryder could almost swear she saw him shrink a little, "I have caught an alien. Avela claims it saved her from an entire unit of kett. I… personally watched it rend one in two with just its… boy-yo-teeks."
The third alien came into view, clearly just as male as the one on top of her. He prowled in predatory circle around Sara, Jaal, and Avela.
"Boy-yo-teeks?"
Avela cleared her throat, coming to a stand between Sara and Akksul. "Biotics. Blue magic. It is what she used to protect me not only from the kett, but from the fall down the cliff. Had it not been for her, I would be dead. Please, I would not see her harmed."
"Jaal. You are wounded. I am to assume that it is its work from the position you are in?" Akksul continued. He brushed past Avela, shoving her aside with his shoulder.
"Yes, though it tells me that it was an accident." Jaal answered. He shifted off of her. She went to sit up, but Akksul's booted foot shoved her back down into the dirt. She raised her hands by her head, a universal symbol of submission.
"You will stay down like a good, obedient adhi, or I will put a bullet in your brain myself." Akksul warned, "Jaal, you should have known better than to allow an alien to live. They cannot be trusted. But, since it is you that got wounded, I will grant you the honor of disposing of it."
"I am unsure if that is something I wish to do." Jaal answered honestly. "I have many questions."
"Now is not the time for curiosity." Akksul warned, "It is clearly dangerous. The clear choice is to neutralize it before it attacks."
"Is my opinion worth nothing?" Avela shouted. She seemed surprised by her own boldness. When Akksul turned his gaze upon her, she flinched momentarily, but then squared her shoulders. "Is this what the Angara are to be reduced to? Bullies and murderers?"
The former insult was directed at Jaal, the ladder clearly aimed at Akksul.
"You are overstepping your boundaries, civilian. It is not your duty to concern yourself with the affairs of the Resistance." Akksul reprimanded. He took a few commanding strides towards Avela, towering over her in a clear attempt to intimidate her into deference. Avela glared at him, unphased "Unless, of course, you wish to be arrested."
"Akksul." Jaal warned, "That is not necessary. No crime has been committed."
Akksul opened his arms wide, "Is treason not a crime?"
Jaal did not answer. Avela opened her moth to protest further, but Sara had had enough.
"Avela," She called, testing the name on her tongue. The female glanced down in her direction, expression softening. Sara shook her head, "Not for me. Thank you, but not for me."
"Avela! Thank the stars that you are unharmed. After the ambush in Mivataan and your separation, we had-" There was a single gasp, only to be followed by several more in unison.
"Is that an alien?"
"Stars above, look at its face!"
"Oh, how hideous, why have they not killed it?"
"Look at the stuff on its head!"
"It has caused Jaal harm!"
"I hope they let me study it!"
From her spot, spread eagle in the soft dirt, Sara could discern about two dozen more of the colorful species Avela referred to as the Angara. The crowd clothed in civilian garments reminiscent of Avela's outfit were being contained by much scarier, armored and armed Angara.
Akksul grunted, clearly unamused by the lack of order, "I shall deal with the scientists and contact Evfra. In the meantime, I suggest you make your decision. If you're not going to kill it right away, at least shackle it so that it does not pose a risk to our people. Avela, I expect you to remain here as well. I am not through with you."
As Akksul left to bark orders at the aliens in armor, who in turn barked orders at the aliens in civilian clothing, Avela and Sara simultaneously turned their attentions to Jaal, whose furious glare was reserved solely for Akksul. She knew the look. She had given it to her father just moments before she had been ejected from the shuttle. Dismissed. Talked down to. Unworthy.
It was only when Jaal was certain that Akksul's attentions were elsewhere that he returned his focus to her. Before Sara could utter a single word, she was being rolled roughly onto her face with her hands being yanked behind her back. He bound her forearms together with a length of rope and Sara fought a whimper as he manhandled her broken wrist carelessly. When he was finished, he stood up abruptly and abandoned her there without a single word.
Without the men to interfere, Avela was free to rush to Sara's side, rolling her off of her face. She lifted Sara by the shoulders, dragging her to a nearby patch of shade and propping her up along a tree.
"You poor thing, you poor, poor thing." Avela cooed. She kneeled over Sara's legs, clasping her hand on either side of Sara's cheeks. The sudden intimate contact forced a blush to bloom beneath the woman's purple fingers and Sara glanced away. Avela jerked her hands away as though she had been burned, "Oh no! I hope I did not offend. I didn't stop to think that your species might not like touching. Angara are free with their emotions, it only seemed natural."
"You did not offend me." Sara began, but faltered. Her gaze was still over Avela's shoulders where Jaal had taken residence on a stump overlooking the lake.
"Does your species not touch frequently? I do not wish to overstep my bounds with my savior." Avela pressed eagerly, her curious eyes mapping ever ridge and crevice of Sara's face.
"No, I mean… I suppose my species… touch—but, I- my father—distant" Sara took in a shuddering breath. She was not going to discuss her abandonment issues with this complete stranger, "I personally am not accustomed to it. But, it doesn't make me uncomfortable. I'm not used to this much attention."
Avela smiled and wrapped Sara into a warm embrace. Sara tensed momentarily, having long since forgotten when someone that wasn't Scott hugged her. She realized that she was being rude and melted into the woman's embrace. Without arms, she could do little more than rest her forehead on the woman's wet shoulder. When the purple alien pulled away, "Proper introductions are in order, I believe. I'm Avela Kjar, curator for the Repository of History on Aya."
"Is that what you call this place? Aya?" Sara asked.
"Goodness, no. This is Havarl, the birthplace of my people. I'm here with the rest of my colleagues hunting for relics of our past—piecing together what my people lost in the Scourge."
"Scourge?" Sara asked, nose crinkled.
"Its… difficult to explain. Perhaps later when everyone has calmed down, I can get one of the scientists to tell you. It's a massive strand of dark energy, it destroys our ships and—"
"I've encountered it." Sara nodded sagely.
"Ah, then you know how devastating it can be. This was meant to be a quick mission, protected by the military, but there was an ambush and I got separated while in the ruins." Avela confessed. A lightbulb dinged in Sara's head.
"You had dropped something. When we first met, I mean. I picked it up. If you go through my pack, it's yours. I wouldn't feel right taking it." Sara stammered, hoping her curiosity would not be mistaken for thievery. She was already sure she had done enough diplomatic damage as it was. With furrowed brows, Avela reached into the pack at Sara's side and fished through the contents. When she retrieved the metallic figurine, she released a shuddering breath.
"Stars above," Avela exclaimed. "It seems you have saved more than just my life, friend. Please, visitor for the Milky Way, may I know your name?"
"Ryder. Sara Ryder… but, if you want, you can just call me Sara."
"Well, Sara." Avela pressed her forehead to Sara's own. Though the gesture was foreign to her, she realized that it must have been symbolic for Angara for, a few of the remaining onlookers gasped in shock, "I will be eternally grateful for not only what have you done for me, but my people's history. I am so sorry that you are in this position because of me and your good heart. I must ask that you find it within this amazing heart of yours to forgive my people. We are naturally distrustful of all aliens after the kett."
"They don't seem too friendly. They shot down my ship."
"That seems very much like them. My people and theirs have been at war for nearly eighty years. They have destroyed our government, slaughtered our children and abducted our people. It is not an excuse for anyone's treatment of you, but it is the explanation."
"I would never do any of that!" Sara exclaimed, "I would—that is—"
Avela silenced her with a look, "I know. But, we must convince them of that."
"What's going to happen to me? I… don't want to die. Not now." She said slowly. Avela glanced over her shoulder. "How do I get on everyone's good side?"
Jaal had yet to move from his position on his stump. Meanwhile, Akksul had taken to the far side of the limited clearing, his position denoting that he was clearly speaking to someone through his comms. The rest of the Angara, both civilian and military alike, had begun to prepare the camp, apparently unwilling to risk venturing far now that night was approaching.
"It… would be for the best if you do not think of it in terms of good side or bad side—that is how the kett think… but, your best chance at…" Avela swallowed hard, thinking of the implications, "survival would be through Jaal. He is hurting now, but he has a good heart. He is a good man. If you can get him to see reason, he will spare your life."
"And what of Akksul?" Sara investigated further. The last thing she needed was to cozy up to Jaal, the calmer of the two, and end up eating a pound of Akksul's lead… or whatever their bullets were made out of.
"Though they do not act like it, Jaal and Akksul are equal in rank. If Jaal makes a decision, Akksul would have to go through Evfra to countermand it." Avela answered. Her tone had soured with the discussion of Sara's outcome.
Sara gave the amicable alien a weak smile to ease the look of worry that now marred her mauve features, "Akksul comes off as a major dick."
"A what now?"
Oh. She hadn't stopped to think that perhaps this species did not possess penises, "A… uh… phallic object?" she ventured.
"Oh!" A laugh, "Yes, he is very much a phallic object. To everyone."
They settled into an uncomfortable silence.
Sara chewed on her lip and anxiously watched the man that now held the fate of her life entirely in his hands. He seemed to be deep in meditation, his back straight and chest thrusted forward as he watched the bulge of the waves wash upon the shore at his feet. At least he appeared to be taking the weight of her life into consideration. Her throat pulsed with the reminder of how deadly it would be to underestimate him.
Underestimate.
"Avela?" Sara asked. The purple alien looked up, "Can you help me get to my feet? I think I know what I will say to Jaal."
"Do you wish for me to come with you?" Avela asked helpfully, hoisting Sara to her feet.
"No, thank you. But, I will keep your advice in mind." Sara told her.
She made her way over to the orchid colored alien, her boots sinking slightly into the soft ground with each step. When she was behind him, he did not look up, too entranced by the beauty of the water in front of him. She was unsure where got the confidence from, but she knew that she could handle him.
That's a lie. She thought to herself, you're confident because he is in the same position you were.
She cleared her throat, "It is gorgeous here."
Jaal did not look at her. Instead he grunted. "What is it that you want, alien?"
She made her way around him, stepping into ankle deep water so that he was forced to look at her face-to-face. With him on the trunk and her standing up, she was able to look him directly in the eye. "I have something I wish to show you."
He perked what would have been an eyebrow.
"I… thought—at first—I would try to use words to convince you to spare my life, but Avela told me of your species' struggle with the kett." Sara began, jerking her chin towards the woman.
"Did she now?" Jaal cocked his head, a new trail of blood was created from the shift in gravity, "She should not have."
Sara stepped closer, bolder, "I'm not the kett. I won't use pretty words to trick you. I see your interactions with Akksul… and, well I have something to offer you."
"You mean to bribe my species?" His voice was rising. Angry.
Yeek! This was not going the way she had hoped. "No, not your species. Just… you. Which, I know doesn't sound better. But, I see you and…"
At this she looked away.
"I see myself."
Jaal frowned, "We are nothing alike."
"That's not true. You and I—we're both soldiers." She hedged.
His lips tightened for just a moment, "I suppose that is true."
"And we're both soldiers that are clearly unhappy in the positions we are in." She continued. This time, it was his turn to look away and she knew that she had just slipped her foot through the door. "But, I also realize what discovering me means to your people. I can offer you something—something that will impress your superiors very much if you keep me around."
"And what is that?" He asked, leaning towards her.
"Information. You see my visor?" She asked. He nodded, "It's constantly taking footage and storing it in a database in a devise embedded in my arm. I can grant you access to declassified videos of my people, our mission, our goals. Undoctored—from my view."
"Or, I could just kill you and take the videos for myself—both declassified and classified." He warned hotly.
"You could kill me. But the footage is attached to my omni-tool. Without my memories to prompt it, the videos will die with me."
Jaal frowned. He looked at his people fretfully, and she realized he was wondering if he was making a deal with the devil. She chose to sit down on the limited space remaining on the trunk. Jaal seemed taken aback by her sudden boldness, but she stared up into his tired eyes.
"Hey," she said softly, "I already told you: I'm not trying to trick you or hide my intentions. My end goal right now is to convince you to let me live. I fought too hard for things to end now, like this. I don't want to die and more important to you, I don't want to cause your people any harm."
He peered down at her, a scowl on his face. For a few heartbeats, she feared she had pushed too hard and he would reject her offer. But, then. He smirked, "It seems I may have… underestimated you."
When she gave him a brief smile, he halted her with his hand.
"It does not mean I trust you. At all. Do not forget that I watched you. You are dangerous. Very dangerous." He rumbled, "And you still shot me."
Sara frowned, "I didn't know it was one of Avela's people."
"That is not possible. I was not far, and I only activated my cloak after I had been shot."
She was just about to open her mouth to say that she couldn't prove her innocence when she remembered her offer. She audibly gave her omni-tool the command to display her videos on his wrist device and they both watched the footage blip into life.
He watched in silence as the clip began with Sara meeting Avela for the first time when she broke through the line of trees screaming at the top of her lungs. He snorts, somewhat disdainfully, when the camera reveals that Sara had done much the same. For a good minute, the footage is nothing but blurry navy and amethyst shapes as she hurtles through the forest, the sound obfuscated by her labored breathing and wind. He made a displeased rumble, deep in his chest, when he watched Sara tackle Avela roughly, only to silence it when he realized that the roughhousing saved the historian's life.
When it cut to Sara fighting, his lips parted. She said nothing, choosing to watch him rather than the events she had only recently partaken in. When she heard Avela's laughter, she scrutinized his face more intently, knowing what was about to come.
When he saw her roll atop Avela without a moment's hesitation, shielding the civilian's body with her own, his jaw damn near unhinged from the socket. With the kett dead, Sara had been staring at her knees the moment she heard a rustling. The camera remained aimed at the ground, only seeing her hand reach into the holster and pull the trigger without glancing up.
At this, Jaal finally turned to face her, "I… so, you truly did not see me."
"No," She answered, "I thought you were another kett."
"You managed to hit a target without looking with just a single sound." He puffed out a huge gust of air, "I am… your prowess. You are truly extraordinary."
She was reddening at the compliment. She looked away, "Thank you… That's too much. Thank you."
"You claimed that you are not happy with your position as a soldier." Jaal said. She frowned at the reminder, but remained silent, curious to see where this would go, "Are you not the best fighter of your species?"
"No," She couldn't help but keep the bitterness from her voice, "I'm not even the best fighter in my family."
It seemed like Jaal was about to say something further, but they were interrupted by the computerized drone of her VI.
"Clip ended. Starting previous video."
Sara's heart stopped, "Shit! Shit! Stop autoplay!"
Jaal's expression darkened as he restarted the video despite her protests, "What is it that you are trying to hide from me?"
Sara's heart was now in her throat, thumping erratically, "Nothing. At least, not from you."
"Then why are you suddenly so… this? He gestured vaguely to her now flustered state.
Her voice was desperate, pleading, "Please, I really don't—"
The clip started, and she was forced to relive possibly one of the worst moments she experienced for the second time that day.
It began with her father complimenting Cora, shortly followed by the blast that knocked her off the shuttle entirely. This time, it was her turn to make small noises as she watched her leg being held precariously by her brother as he pleaded with their father to help hoist Sara back to safety. The camera flares red with the next explosion and suddenly, she's plummeting- Scott and safety getting smaller and smaller.
"Dad! Don't leave me!"
"I am so sorry, Sara."
Her eyes were glistening with fat, wet tears that threatened to spill.
Jaal was the first to speak, "I take it… that it is… not common for your species to abandon their children like that."
The first of her tears spilled down her cheeks, "Not for my species, no."
Abruptly, Jaal took to his feet. He was striding purposefully towards the encampment. He spared a glance over his shoulder at her tear-streaked face. "I have made my decision."