I'm really hoping that the alert system will work this time around. Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy this.

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Chapter Three

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Issuing out a citation to an illegal salarians food vendor, Vetara Calarian returned to the side of her patrol partner, Officer Aleena Ialania, who was trying not to smirk too obviously after watching Vetara keep her cool as the salarians rattled on endlessly about being harassed.

Aleena was a seventy-eight year veteran of C-Sec. That was still a concept hard to fathom for her, but that was asari longevity in action. She was still in her early to middle maiden stage and loved her low level position in Citadel Security with all her heart. According to her, her parents were well-to-do business operators on Thessia and Illium and wanted to rope her into it. This was something she didn't want to do in her youth so she ran off and joined C-Sec and hadn't looked back since.

Vetara did not have a lot of experience with asari. She did grow up on Palaven and while she learned the various strength and weaknesses of the races she would one day encounter, she was never prepared for the social and societal aspects of the interactions between the races.

Fear was a huge motivator in Hierarchy education. She was taught to fear the asari and their biotic abilities, honed over the centuries of their lifespans, she was taught to be weary of their arrogance and long term planning, but she never knew how kind they could be until she first met Aleena, who took her out for dinner on her first day on the force and helped find her an apartment, using her parental taught skills of haggling to get Vetara the best deal possible.

It was a nice that she had Aleena as a friend in the first days. She did wonders in getting Vetara used to living outside of Palaven. It certainly helped overcome the homesickness she felt in her first weeks.

As the two of them continued down their patrol route, Vetara felt the asari nudge her.

"Don't look now, but we're being followed…" she heard the Aleena say in a low whisper.

Vetara nodded her head. She was very well aware of this fact before Aleena apparently was.

"Human, taller then me, suit, green eyes, slight unevenness in walking pace caused by the concealed heavy pistol he has on his persons…" she muttered back at her fellow officer. She paused and lamely added. "A stupid… amused expression on his stupid smug face..."

Still not looking behind her to acknowledge the tail, she did however notice Aleena decided to lose all tact about the whole thing and turned to direct her attention to Jack Hansen, who was roaming about hundred feet behind the pair of them, a cigarette between his fingertips. He had been following the two of them for the better part of half an hour now. At least as far as she knew, it might have been longer. Perhaps only now he was looking to get spotted by her.

Next to her, Vetara heard Aleena emit a small whistle as though she had been impressed.

"You know, you're really good at this covert observation stuff," she returned to Vetara, a small grin on her face as she looked away at the human stalking the pair of them. "Now if only you'd learn to check your corners, you might get off the street."

It took all her effort not to strike her partner, but Vetara found it in her to restrain her annoyance. Honestly, she quite liked street patrol. It was quiet, it wasn't particularly taxing and until yesterday it wasn't physically violent. Exhaling, Vetara wrapped a talon on Aleena's shoulder and together the two of them came to a full stop. She couldn't keep pretending she wasn't being followed any longer. It was time to see just what it was that Hansen wanted.

As Vetara turned around and directly made eye contact with the human, Hansen took it as a cue. Dropping his cigarette -littering in front of to security officers, no less - he pushed by a salarian rather rudely and approached the two of them. He came to a stop in front of the pair of them. Vetara took in his smaller details she hadn't noticed. He was clean shaven now, and with that expression of amusement never vanishing off his face, he causally slipped his fingers into his trouser pockets.

"Hansen, what are you doing here following me around?" she decided to ask him, forgoing any standard salutations.

Hansen never blinked as he looked her over. He could only roll his shoulders back as though that explained everything to her. Vetara ignored the uncomfortable feeling bubbling in the pit of her stomach. Something about this man was off since the moment she first met him.

"I told you that you should expect me sooner than you think," Hansen reminded her.

He paused to look at the curious expression on Aleena's face. He returned back to an expression of stone silence, as though he was not willing to interact with her without minimum an introduction from Vetara. At least that was what she hoped was going on. Judging from her previous encounter with him, he wasn't exactly a fan of asari. It was a peculiar novelty to her considering human male fascination with the race.

"This is Officer Aleena Ialania, she's my patrol partner," Vetara made the introduction, attempting to remain civil in the face of her annoyance. "Aleena this is Jack Hansen, the mercenary… oh.. I apologize, Johannes... Jack... I mean, the respectable, totally innocent Private Military Contractor."

Aleena chuckled slightly and offered her hand out to the now very annoyed human.

"It's nice to meet you," she welcomed him.

The hand Aleena had offered remained untouched. Instead Hansen just stood there, unmoved by the introduction and unwilling to interact with her in the slightest.

"Likewise," Hansen finally returned. He turned back to Vetara and without missing a beat he added. "Can you tell her to leave us now?"

The asari blinked, her mouth hanging open slightly at the dismissal. It took a moment longer for Vetara to comprehend what was happening. When she did, she felt a sudden surge of outrage at the human, which if Hansen noticed, he certainly didn't care in the slightest to alter his behaviour.

"Excuse me?" she asked, understandably upset by the dismissal. Hansen remained unmoved and unapologetic.

"I'm sorry... but kindly go," Hansen ordered Aleena, as though he was C-Sec as she was. "Call in for another partner to help keep an eye on traffic violations and arguments breaking the sound laws, make sure the frogs don't start spawning in the street… whatever you do. Just go away. Is that a more definitive elaboration?"

The silence was thick and uncomfortable between the three of them. Aleena and Vetara stared at the newcomer Hansen. Hansen remained locked in place, uncaring as to the mood he had created. It probably didn't help that her birth father had been a salarian.

Fuming, Aleena looked up to Vetara and pushed by Hansen and her, stalking off as she activated her communication set to radio in for a new patrol partner leaving Vetara and Hansen alone finally. Vetara rounded back and felt nothing short of rage for the human was standing there smiling as though he was proud of himself for doing what he had done.

"You didn't have to be like that to her!" she snapped at him, losing all control over the tone of her voice.

Vetara didn't care that civilians were watching the argument between the two of them curiously. She watched, fuming, as Hansen stepped forward and leaned in to close any gap between the two of them.

"We got work to do and my niceties for C-Sec extend only to you. I picked you because I see you doing bigger, better things. You're no patrol officer, and you're embarrassing yourself with every second you pretend you are," he reminded her, his voice steady and much more tolerant than it had been to Aleena. "You're a detective, and when I'm done with you, your bosses will be lining up to promote you. Detective Vetara Calarian, promoted for breaking up a crime syndicate, youngest detective on the force… and I fact checked that as well, you would be by turian standards at least…"

As Hansen pulled himself back, he left Vetara slightly… dazed… flattered even. She did not want to feel that way. It seemed wrong to her to derive praise from a legal criminal. However she could not deny the truth in his words. This was a major career boost in the making.

As Hansen started walking, his arm outstretched and waved her to follow. Hesitating for a moment longer, Vetara followed after him, catching up and maintaining with his relatively long strides.

"Speaking of which," Hansen pressed on. "I was under the impression you should be on Palaven in military service. You're pretty young, I imagine."

Slightly annoyed at him for calling out her age, but she was equally surprised he knew she was young, Vetara inclined her head, but Hansen wasn't looking to notice her acknowledgment.

"Twenty-four, and yes under most circumstances I would be still in the military," she confirmed, a little uncomfortable with telling him this. "I got marked for policing following adolescence testing and several interviews. In the Hierarchy military academy, those who show an aptitude for certain traits are placed in specialized training programs. I was narrowed down to Marksmen and policing. From there I selected the latter."

That caught Hansen's entire attention. He looked over to her as they continued to walk together, brushing by a group of asari's chatting. She supposed she should have expected this interest from a former soldier.

"Why?" he inquired sounding genuinely curious. "I imagine you would get more acclaim as a sniper."

Vetara's mandibles clicked slightly as she flared slightly open in mild embarrassment by the man's attention to a subject she really did not want to address any more than she already had. Why she had said it in the first place was completely unknown to her. Only two other people knew this, her test administrator and her father, whom she consulted the choice with. It was Father who helped her choose by talking her through the vastly different career paths that lain in front of her.

"I probably would," was all Vetara muttered back.

A silence returned between them, one which Vetara forced by tightening up her expression so that it told Hansen not to push the matter any further. Not that boundaries were something Hansen could abide to by the looks of things.

"So why policing?" Hansen broke the silence, still a genuinely curious as he had been before. "…or is that too personal a question?"

Vetara did not reply. Yes, it was a personal topic which she did not want to freely broach with a man she had only met a day ago. Her lack of response was enough to earn a nod of understanding from the human.

"Tell you what. Let's play a little trust building exercise game. I call it 'Two Truths'," Hansen suggested, his idea earning Vetara's turn of her head in his direction.

"The rules of the game are simple," he continued, offering her a small grin. "If there is something I want to know from you that is not related to our work, you will tell me what it is that I want to know, and you will be one hundred percent honest to me about it. In return you get to ask me anything you would like to know about me, and I will be just as honest as I ask you to be, and on top of it, I will have to answer your question first. Likewise, if you want to ask me a personal question, be prepared to offer up a personal answer first in return."

Vetara eyed the man suspiciously. It all seemed too well crafted to be a spontaneous idea, he probably had something like this in mind since it as decided she would work in conjunction with him.

"How do I know you're not attempting to deceive me?" she inquired after a moment of deliberating where she would go from here.

Hansen shrugged.

"Part of the trust exercise," he spoke with a casual inflection. "Do we have a deal?"

Silently, Vetara pondered a multitude of questions. All of them seemed to have an overarching theme which was: 'Why are you such a contemptible asshole?' Now, while she thought it was a perfectly good question and one she wanted to know for sure, but it did not seem like the right time to ask it. Besides, the question he wanted answer might have been more mundane compared to that. She might as well start lighter.

"Yesterday, at the bar…" she started, a small trace of humour entering her voice as she eyed the human. "You ordered a drink, and you didn't drink it. You didn't order another drink when you came to my table and bought me drinks. Why was that?"

Hansen remained silent for a moment as he seemed to contemplate his answer. Whatever the case, it had to be the truth.

"I don't drink-" he started, only for her to cut across him with a genuine laugh at his expense.

"Why do you waste credits on one then?" she demanded to know, her mandibles flayed open as she rounded on him, quickening her pace, she stepped out I front of in and turned, walking backwards in front of Hansen so she could get a full view of him as she added. "Is it part of your intimidation factor? Do you think it makes you look sophisticated or… what is that human phrase…Icy?"

To his credit, Hansen took her needling well. His were tightened together but were stretched upwards into a small smile.

"Cool?"

Vetara nodded, yes that was the word. What a ridiculous human phrase for a fashionable act

"Cool," she repeated sardonically continued to step away from his quick pace. "Does having a drink at hands reach make you look cool?"

Vetara watched as the man looked from side to side as though he was being overheard by others. He quickened his pace until he was nearly face to face with her. She could see that his amusement had sort of faded.

"I don't drink because I'm a recovering alcoholic…" he stated matter-of-factly.

Vetara stopped moving and in so doing, Hansen ploughed hard into her, causing the both of them to spill down onto the ground. Stunned by what he had admitted to, Vetara remained unmoving as she stared up Hansen as he recovered himself quickly and stood over her. Silently, he reached out and extended his hand to her for Vetara to take.

She did not take it.

Instead she twisted in place and stood up; her eyes remained locked onto his as she silently stewed in what had so causally admitted to. To his credit, Hansen remained completely causal about it. He even permitted that small grin back onto his face as he took in her expression of shock.

"Oh my…" he said, emitted a low exhale. "I think it just got a little too real for you, didn't it?"

Yes, perhaps it had gotten far too real, far too quickly. Her question was meant to be a light one, perhaps to be used to prod at his ego a little bit. She hadn't expected him to admit to a personal problem so voluntarily. While she never knew any alcoholic, or addict in general personally inside her own race, she doubted very much they would be so forthcoming about their dependency issues as Hansen had been.

"Are you… are you being serious?" she blurted out; she just had to be sure it wasn't a ruse. She did not want to belittle it if it was true, but she didn't want to come off as easily pacified either. There was still a chance it wasn't true. He was a mercenary after all. They were not to be trusted.

There was a flash in his expression. I was present for only for a second, but it was there nonetheless. It seemed to that in the brief window of vulnerability; Hansen was upset by the question she had asked. It was only brief however. As soon as it was on his face, it was gone, and that grin of his was back. She felt as he reached out and gripped her arm hard.

"That's how the game works, Calarian – honesty is a key rule," Hansen reminded her, seemingly unaffected in spite of his moment of vulnerability. "Like I said, if you ask a question, you better be prepared for anything; and that extends beyond our little game as well. We're wandering into a murky world. We may see things we're not ready to see. We may have to do things, we don't want to do... but I'll assure you right now that we'll have to."

Vetara nodded, her head bowed. She tried not to think too much about what was in store for them. Those sorts of things were too unimaginable to dwell on, so when they came up she would do so then. For now, she just wanted to focus on the present and what was present was how… bad she felt having making him reveal his problems to her.

"I…" she started, and then stopped. "I did not mean to delve into your personal affairs so soon, and so deeply. I am sorry, Hansen."

Chuckling lowly, the Human's head tilted slightly as his hand sort of pushed her back and pulled her towards him in a rocking sort of fashion.

"I invited the question," Hansen once again reminded her reassuringly. "Look, I've got three years sobriety to my name. I trust we're not going to have a problem with it. You're not going to get all weird around me, right? And for the record, I'm not some holier-than-thou dick about other people drinking around me; I'm not here to save you from your vices like a good little hypocrite, I'm not going to preach at you because I know exactly what we're doing is going to require some way to cope with it. So if you need a drink - and my money is on that being a distinct probability - we'll stop and get you one no problem for me… okay?"

Vetara exhaled and looked up into his green eyes. As Hansen released his hand on her shoulder; slowly, reluctantly she nodded her head. She didn't drink beyond a social manner, but it was good he left room for her to do so. Silently she accepted what he had said that he was fine with it on face value in spite of her logic demanding her to be more critical of the man and what he had confessed to. It just felt clear to Vetara that Hansen he wasn't lying about a subject like this.

The man was a total… well… a total asshole… but he seemed to be an honest asshole so far.

"So…" she said, finding her voice. "Why order the drink then if you're managing alcoholism?"

The small grin on Hansen's face turned into a wider grin. He shook his head dismissively.

"Well now, that's a second question in itself, and you're now in the red for an answer, aren't you?" he refuted easily. "I think one exchange in this game is enough for today… for both of our benefits I think."

The two of them remained standing still in the shadow of Hansen's confession. Another wave of discomfort washed over Vetara for a new reason. It was her turn to open up, to be as honest to Hansen as he had been to her. His question of her… well… it felt like sort of insignificant compared to admitting a dependency issue to her only a day after they first met. It was worse than insignificant… It felt so incredibly childish.

Still, he asked the question, so he had to accept the answer. It just so happened that today he had to admit far more than she did.

"I chose policing… because… well… because I don't think I could take a life," she confessed, blurting it out as though she was dumping antiseptic on an open wound as quickly as she could. "It's as if… as if I don't think I have it in me to kill another person. … Kind of a silly thing compared to what you said, I know. But that's why I'm not a designated sniper in the military. It's stupid, really."

Vetara had most certainly expected the man to laugh at her. Who could blame him really? Hansen was a soldier at one point after all. Spirits, he still technically was one without the allegiance to a people. He probably had to take life on more than one occasion. Such a concept of a turian with a killing phobia must have seemed like a real turnabout. If her hypothesis on him was correct, he probably was involved in the Relay 314 incident in some way or another to garner a mistrust of aliens.

But Hansen did not laugh. He did not crack a grin or look even slightly amused. He appeared thoughtful, even possibly understanding to her dilemma. His mouth turned down forming a frown, but it was not directed at her in any sort of incriminating way.

"The truth shouldn't be marginalized," he lightly chastised her for her attempt to downplay her own confession. "But this killing thing… is it regardless of species?"

Vetara felt her eyes bulge out at the foolish question.

"Yes! Regardless of species! Spirits… what statement is that?" she managed to sputter out, her voice shaking with anger and annoyance that he would say something like that. "I don't want to kill anyone, and that would make me bad for combat services, so I chose policing because there's at least a shot at me not being placed in that situation. I just… just… I don't… want to kill anyone… Are we clear?"

Hansen held his hands up. The frown vanished off his face. He did not seem unimpressed or judgemental to her. He just looked at her with a strange indefinable expression flowing freely over his soft looking face.

"We're clear…and you know what? I respect the hell out of you for that," he admitted to her plainly, without any sort of irony in his words. "It's kind of… well, it's kind of noble that you feel like that. I honestly hope that your parents are proud of you for feeling that way."

Vetara blinked at his innocent statement he made that had pierced through her very plates. They weren't. They could say whatever they liked to appease her and her shame, but Vetara just knew that they couldn't have been.

"So what are we doing today, Hansen?" Vetara broke their silence. The game was over for the time being, it was time to get back to the business at hand.

Taking her cue to heart, Hansen cleared his throat.

"We are going to the medical coroner's office to get whatever information we can get off the stiff… corpse," Hansen stated, amending his words as Vetara appeared confused by the euphemism. "We'll figure out where he was residing when we get any sort of identification off him and then we'll execute a search on his residence… come along I got my car waiting for us."

As Hansen started walking in the direction of the line of cars parked in the ward parking lot, Vetara followed after him, remaining a step behind him as he took the lead.

"That requires a search warrant," she mumbled to him, deciding to remind him that they had to remain in the bounds of the law if they were going to do this thing.

The very idea of that was enough to make Hansen laugh as though it was the funniest thing he had heard in a while.

"Well now, good thing one of us is in C-Sec, I suppose," he shot back in her direction. He activated his omni-tool and with a beep, a blue and black hover car flashed its headlights, the clicking of the doors unlocking answered as well.

"I've never gotten a search warrant before," she admitted to him.

Hansen opened the sliding doors of the cars and turned back to face her.

"Then it will be good practice for your promotion, Junior Detective," Hansen reminded her. He took a seat in the driver's side and patted the seat next to him. "Now come along Junior Detective Calarian, we've got an autopsy to bear witness to!"

Vetara closed her eyes and tried not to grumble openly as she took her seat and felt the car engine turn over with a hum. She hoped beyond hope that the title Hansen had bestowed on her would not stick to her. That it would just be a one-off thing

She could not have been more wrong.

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