AYA, THREE DAYS AGO / 2820

The journey to Aya was uneventful. To both Ryders' dismay, it was also a complete waste of time.

Sara's idea for diplomacy was stolen from the Council; the SSV Normandy was a project meant to ease tension between two formally warring races, and she thought a similar project would benefit both the Angarans and the Initiative- this time using the Tempest as a baseline blueprint.

The Moshae agreed with the idea, and put forward the name of Pathfinder Raeka as her choice to spearhead the project. The pair worked well on the Meridian, though Raeka herself remained unconvinced that she was needed; she thought her time would be best spent on a ruthless concentration in Pathfinding for her people, and not building ships.

The Asari Pathfinder was dismissed by both sides. Vederia was content to spend her days hunting down Kett trails, scouting for information. The burden of taking control fell to Avitus Rix, Turian Pathfinder; he would only accept the project if they would work around his schedule, coming only to ground when needed.

Rix was absent today, prioritising escape pod rescues in the Govorkam system over shuffling datapads. It was up to the Ryders to convince the Resistance and the Governor of Aya alone, while the Moshae remained on Meridian.

Even as Scott and Sara went through their negotiations -shaped to an Angaran's senses, thanks to Jaal's tinkering- disinterest was evident, and their pitch was failing. "Enough," said Evfra, looking at the table before Sara could speak again.

Scott grinned. "You haven't seen the vid yet- I'm hurt, Evfra. Thought it would get me extra credit this term."

The joke might not have been understood, but the intent was. "Ryder," Evfra said, then corrected himself. "Ryders, truly. If you are insistent on this monumental waste of time and resources, know you will be providing everything."

"I'm sure we could spare a few people for this, ah, proposal," Paaran said, smoothing the tension. "Provided, of course, we are compensated."

"I understand your hesitation," Sara replied. "But I do believe the Initiative should not be funding the entire project. This is a meeting of minds, after all."

"And wallets," Scott added, after a heavy swallow of juice. Sara kicked him under the table.

"What my brother means," she said, speaking up before he did, "is that we have to be equal on all footing, right across the board. We have to start as we mean to go on with this program, right down to the nuts and bolts." The disbelieving look Evfra flashed Sara made Scott smile; their approach to diplomacy was night and day in difference, and it showed barely five minutes into the meeting.

"You want this more," Evfra said, flicking up his omni-tool again with a grunt. "We will supply some materials, of course, perhaps even skilled workers. But do not expect the Resistance to take on more burdens than we are able to shoulder. How will this benefit our people? You propose that Pathfinder Rix will be in charge, and yet you speak of equality?"

"It's a start," replied Scott. "There's room for an Angaran Pathfinder too. I'm sure there's someone you can put forward from your team that would suit the role. Aya and Voeld are your worlds, but I know there's a need for more."

Efvra sighed, annoyed at obvious. Of course there was need, there was always a need. "I still fail to see the purpose."

"You've seen what we can do," and Sara tapped her head once, alluding to SAM. "Even without access to the Vaults and Meridian, Milky Way technology can -and will- benefit your people, generations to come. A combined Pathfinder project is a symbol, a sign of friendship between us. Think of all we can achieve in this galaxy, together."

Scott bit the inside of his cheek to stop the smile. Sara always could lay it on thick, but he knew it would work, it always did. "Those are lovely words," Evfra said, glowering down his nose. "But in practise, I find that life is not as fair as planned for. In reality, someone always shoulders the heavier burden."

"Then we can just take it in turns holding it." Scott shrugging at the problem. "Like buying drinks for each other. This is going to be an alliance we want for our children's children, no? So let's lay the foundations and go to the bar- figuratively speaking. But if you want to go for real, I won't say no- it's cocktail hour somewhere."

Everyone in the room looked at him. Sara pinched her nose. "How," she said after a beat, "how are you still alive? Why has no one shot you yet?" His sister planned everything down to the last millimetre; he damn well knew the jab was laid out to soothe Angaran tempers.

Considering the smiles and muted chuckles from the table, it worked. "Believe me, they've tried," said Scott. "I got the scars."

Evfra shook his head. "I often wonder the same, Sara Ryder," he said, using her full name in an attempt to separate her from her brother. "How is the Pathfinder still alive? You brother is an infuriating presence in my life; somehow the universe itself is complicit in his survival, despite the manner he conducts himself."

If Sara wanted him to act the fool, then she got for it. Scott gave Evfra a mock toast before he finished his drink. "I'll drink to that- can't help that I'm born charming," he said.

"Charm gets you so far," Paraan said, amused. "Actions take you further."

"We have proven ourselves to you," replied Sara, happy to take the conversation back on track. "And will again. Pathfinder Rix, though not present, has already said he is willing to co-lead this, and I think you'll find his track record interesting."

The negotiation went in circles, as these meetings often did. Scott was still content to let his sister lead, despite having the lack of experience. As he pondered his escape, his omni-tool vibrated with several notifications of unread messages.

-They appear to be from Ms. Sidera Nyx, Pathfinder.

Even if was just a vid about cats he would take it, making his mind up to leave. "Important call about security," he said. The meeting was winding down, anyway. "Sorry." He found a quiet space outside the armoury before he spoke. "Hey Sid. Anything wrong?"

"I can't get through to Vetra," came out in a rush.

Scott shook his head. "That's it?"

"Don't say it like that," Sid's shrill tone made Scott pause. "I can't get through on any of her channels. Any of them, Ryder."

He bit down his laughter. "That's all? She's meeting with some buyers at the docks. She mutes her comms when she's working."

Static bubbled through the speaker, and he knew she was pacing. "Something is weird."

"Define weird?" While he was glad to leave the Resistance meeting, dealing with a hysterical teenager wasn't exactly the bonus to playing hooky he expected.

"Look, this is going to sounds stupid- but she didn't call me Sid. She always calls me that when she messages me. The email was really weird, Ryder. No one calls me Sidera." She was aware of how small it sounded. "I know this is overkill, but just check for me."

"She sent me a message a few hours ago, I'll check." Scott pulled up the email Vetra sent him an hour ago about requisitions. Nothing seemed out of tone- not every message they sent to each other was covered in hearts, after all. "Seems fine to me. But Vetra's literally ten minutes from my location. I can check for you and eyeball her myself, if you want."

"Ugh! That's what I've been saying," she said, like he was the biggest idiot alive. "Her tracker says she's in Aya with you, but-"

"You track your own sister?" Scott asked, frowning at his omni-tool.

"You don't?"

Scott tried not to snort. "We have suit readouts for missions. Let me just pull them up, if it makes you feel better. Just need to connect us to the Tempest. Suvi, SAM- where's Vetra?"

Suvi cleared her throat before speaking. "Sorry, mouthful of tea. Readout says Aya port, of course. Have you lost her?" Her tone was warm, teasing her commander over his errant girlfriend. "I can poke my head out the window and wave, if you want. SAM?"

-Ms. Anwar is correct. Ms. Nyx's vitals are normal, and she appears to be located in Aya's docks. Accessing the Tempest's camera feeds now.

"Something's not right," Sid grumbled. "I know it's not."

"Oh, hello!" Suvi said, and all of them heard the smile in her voice. "Is this Sid? Nice to hear from you again."

Sid ignored the greeting. "I know you think I'm being a drama queen."

"Oh no," Scott said, in a tone that very much suggested he did. "Never that. And not at all something to tell Vetra about when she comes back from her supply run."

"Ugh. Fine," Sid said, voice muffled as she put her head in her hands. "Call me back when you reach her, okay?"

SAM spoke after Sid closed her comm. -If I may add: Ms. Nyx's suit readout appears to be set in a looping algorithm. Searching: there is no visual presence of her through the Tempest's cameras. Should I access Aya's security network to confirm, Pathfinder?

"That would be sensible- yes," said Suvi, seconds before Scott could.

Scott's stomach flipped. "Do it subtly, SAM. don't piss off our friends."

-Of course. Accessing Aya's camera network now, bypassing security protocols. After a beat, SAM spoke again. There is no evidence of Vetra Nyx anywhere on Aya port, or the city itself. Should I widen my search beyond Aya City?

Scott pulled out the team wide comm. "All of you, to the docks now. SAM, pull up the location for the suit readout- coordinate here. Give me the entire feed of the place since our arrival."

At least two of the team were tipsy, with Peebee sliding into drunk if she wasn't careful. Drack still held his flask in his hand and stared at him. All of them stood around a waist high crate, where the signal pulsed from. "You're all seeing this? This is meant to be Vetra."

"Where is she?" Peebee asked. The crate held Vetra's armour attached to what she recognised as a medical scanner, with Vetra's omni-tool on top. "If this is a joke, then-"

"It's not," and Scott scanned around them.

-There appears to be fragments of blood on the armour, Pathfinder. It matches the profile of Ms. Vetra Nyx, and is appropriately two hours old. A sodium hypochlorite solution has been poured in the area; I hypothesise it was used to cover evidence of a struggle. It is possible, however, to trace a signature of the solution from here.

"So, someone dumped a bleach bomb to cover their tracks," Cora said. "And we're following the bleach. Thank God for SAM."

Liam ran a hand through his curls. "You know I never made it to detective, but doesn't this strike you all as suspicious? A big box of: 'look at me, I'm evidence,' and a trail leading out of it? Someone must've noticed something going on around here."

"No shit." Drack pocketed his flask into the depths of his armour. "Vetra wouldn't up and leave. Not her style."

Ryder followed the trail SAM could track, past the Tempest to one of the ships he recognised as one of the cargo runners used by colonists. "When did this ship dock?"

-Half an hour ago, Pathfinder. The trail ends here; I believe this ship is unrelated to Ms. Nyx's disappearance.

"We should go to Efvra," Jaal suggested. "He would have access to the docking schedule."

"Right. Jaal, Sara, with me. Cora- talk to the guards posted nearby, see if you can find a witness. Drack, Liam- sniff around the docks, see if you can dig something up. Peebee, take the crate to the Tempest and see what you can find with SAM- there has to be something we can trace from it."

As they walked back to the headquarters, Scott found himself getting angry. How did this happen? How was it allowed to happen, for one. How did Vetra get taken in the middle of the day in the middle of a busy, working dock?

Efvra took one look at Scott marching though the headquarters and carefully put down his datapad. "You have returned about the project?" He asked, aware of rumbling anger that followed.

"Fuck the project," Scott said. "A member of my crew has been kidnapped. Under the nose of your security. If we were allowed guns on the port, maybe it wouldn't have happened."

Jaal, flicked his eyes between them both, a hand held between them. "Scott Ryder's taoshae has been taken, Evfra. He will stop at nothing until she is safe."

A hand on his shoulder squeezed him once. "You should calm down," Sara said quietly.

"You're mistaken there, Sara Ryder," said Evfra, looking Scott up and down. "Keep that anger in your heart, Pathfinder." He pulled out his omni-tool, and pointed at the monitors opposite them. "We had three ships from your settlements looking to dock today, and one unknown- we scanned it as coming from Kadara. It might be connected- I shall give you all we have on them."

Scott stabbed a finger in the air, centimetres from Efvra's chest. "Not good enough."

"I've also paged our head of security to speak to you. I believe your Second is already dockside, do you trust her to deal with the matter?"

"Yes." Before things could escalate, Scott's omni-tool rang for a vid-call request from a signal he recognised as the Charlatan's mouthpiece. Did they know something? "I'm taking this," he told the room, not asking for permission.

A blue holo of an Angaran flashed in front of them, and the sender bowed. "Pathfinder. I wish I were calling with good news, but I have a message to give you."

"Keema Dohrgun." Efvra said, tilting his head. "Interesting allies you have," he said to Scott.

"I can say the same to you, Efvra De Tershaav," she replied, purring at the man. "Long time no see, my dear."

Efvra raised a brow. "This is not a social call."

"Quite. I have a vid message to show you, Pathfinder. Sending it now."

If he was in better place, Scott would've welcomed Keema's flirts and used them to rile Evfra. Instead he pinched his noise. "SAM, play the vid."

An image of a Turian he recognised sat in front of a camera, the room bare behind him. A window with a nondescript background framed it, and Scott tried to work out where it was being sent from. "You know who I am. You know what I want," Kaetus said, brusque and to the point. "I know who you are, Charlatan. Your time is coming, but not today. You might like to play in the shadows, but I will pull you into the sun."

Scott frowned over the drama. His last memory of the speaker wasn't pleasant, guilt rolling in his stomach over his duplicity in Reyes's power play. Kaetus was the very definition of the unwavering soldier, protective of Sloane and their cause. It seemed the broken man who called for his head was living up to his threats.

"He is Kaetus, formally of the Outcasts," Jaal said to a thoughtful Efvra. "Turian loyalty is infamous in the Milky Way."

"If you don't give me what I want, I will do more," the message continued. "Get me Scott Ryder, or Hercules goes to the mountains. You have six standard hours after this message, to sent him dead or alive to these coordinates."

"Where is that?" murmured Efvra, eyeballing the scrolling numbers.

"Somewhere in the Dar'hegah system," Sara replied, the first to pull up the information from her tool. "There's nothing there but Scourge and over-mined planets."

"Oh, and Ryder," the message continued, "if you're watching this- your pet smuggler is safe. For now. I'll let her live if you come to me willing." A image of Vetra flashed on the screens, lying on some filthy floor, shivering into a blanket. Scott gripped the table, furious. Kaetus laughed, once. "We could even settle it with a duel. You like those, don't you?" His face appeared closer into the camera, smirking as he switched it off.

"Hercules goes to the mountains?" Sara quoted back, looking at her angry brother and his quiet team. "What does that mean?"

"Not important," replied Keema over the comms, implying that it was. "The message was sent via a scrambler. Most of my associates of a certain frequency have seen this, which I assume was the point. We are still trying to trace the sender."

His omni-tool lit up. Sid, again. He closed it off with a snap. "SAM, Suvi- can you find the source?"

"If Keema would be willing to send her frequency channel and the original message, I can try," Suvi replied. Or we hack them, was the silent addendum.

"I'll ask it if he won't," said Sara, looking at Keema's holo. "Is this associate of yours going to sell my brother out?"

"Of course not. You should check your email, Pathfinder. Our mutual friend has a few things to say on the matter. Keema out." The holo flickered before it closed, and all of them stared at Scott.

It occurred to Scott that it was perhaps best to move out of the headquarters of the Resistance, since Efvra was still watching him. "Reconvene on the Tempest. Jaal, please check the security footage here, which I'm sure Efvra will allow."

"I willing to help with all that I can," came the reply. "Good luck, Scott Ryder," and Efvra held out a hand in the Angaran way. Scott mirrored it, turning on his heel to leave in silence.

Sara squeezed his shoulder again. Before she could even try to say something else, he ignored her and called Sid back. "Hey, sorry you got cut off."

"If you ignore me again I am flooding the servers of the Tempest with Blasto cartoons," she said. "The really shitty Hanar ones too."

"Sorry Sid," he said, wondering how to explain Vetra's disappearance to her own sister. "There was a message and-"

"I know," she said. "Shit's on the Nexus too, but it's being hushed up. Some toolbag sent a video to Operations, demanding your head. Said there was six hours to give it, or bombs would go off in colonies and here in the Nexus. Kandros has security everywhere; this place is on lock down. Tann's tried to cover it up as a training exercise, but no one believes it."

"Was the sender from a Turian named Kaetus? We got one too. He's part of the Outcasts. Or was."

The static almost made her words inaudible, and Scott wondered what scramblers Sid used to get through to him. "That's the one. Please kill him."

Scott laughed, though wasn't exactly sure what he found funny. "Working on it. If you want to help, pull up everything you can on the bastard. Give me every known associate he has- access Vetra's contacts if you need to. She can yell at us later."

"Already sent everything I got so far to Suvi, who -unlike you- answers her comms," and her tone seethed in the same tempered rage he heard so rarely in Vetra. "Please get my sister," followed after, bravado silent in her subvocals.

"I will, and keep in touch with whatever you'll find. Ryder out."

Information dripped in slowly, and most of the team gathered in the meeting room of the Tempest. The vid feeds from the Docks were missing Vetra's kidnapping, suggesting either a clever hack or bribery.

Cora had interviewed all the guards, but they saw nothing- which in itself was suspicious. Liam cornered one that apparently made his "cop senses tingle," and permission was given by Efvra to interrogate her, should the need arise.

"What's the plan, Ryder?" Cora asked him, a hand on his elbow. "There's a vid request from Tann incoming. Nice of someone to finally notice."

Scott chewed a thumbnail. "Need to check over what we have, I'll deal with Tann later." He knew exactly what the Director would say, and Scott didn't trust his own judgement in diplomacy.

News of another video ransom note surfaced from the Ama Daravs on Havarl, who had intercepted a message to the Roekarr. That made it the third video sent within the hour, and Scott wondered if there were more sent to other parties. "Can you make anything of that?" He asked Suvi, looking at the data.

Suvi bit her lip before answering. "So far, all these videos have a similarity," she said. "They've been send through several scramblers. The more information we have, the easier it is to narrow down, so if you can get access to the Roekarr servers, it'll help. SAM can't narrow it down to even one system at moment, it keeps on bouncing."

Peebee's poking of the crate also amounted to nothing. The equipment matched the serial numbers of a stolen medical scanner destined for Prodromos, and was jury-rigged to mimic a breathing, functioning Turian. "Waste of expensive tech," she said. "Might be able to salvage something else- I'll check out who's capable of even hacking it, these things have tight fail safes."

"I might have an idea," Jaal said, gesturing to the screen. "I recognised something from the first vid." He pulled it up on screen, forwarding it to look at a large plant poking through the window. "That is immisha. It only grows in Havarl, and is highly toxic. The message must be sent from there."

Kallo blinked. "You suggest we go to the Faroang system over a leaf? It could be faked."

"But why fake a leaf?" Gil replied. "That's one hell of a bluff."

"There's also the matter with the Roekarr," Cora said. "We need access to their network to establish when and where their message was received. We could send in a team to retrieve the data."

Jaal chuffed. "You are mistaken if you believe the Roekarr will hand over the information to us- we will be shot on sight. My Mothers tell me Scott has quite the bounty on him."

"So we steal it," Scott said, making his mind up. "Kallo, prepare a course to Havarl. I need to go speak to the guard Liam found before we go." His remembered his sister then, pleased she was here. "You can deal with Director Tann, Sara. He wants a Ryder, but he didn't specify which. If I speak to him, I might regret something."

The quiet laughter from the others at least lightened the mood a little. "Best job ever," Sara replied. "Thanks."

Scott nodded at them. "All right, we all know what we're doing. Give me half an hour to speak to this guard," he said.

Drack pulled him aside before he left. "You look like you want to kill something," he said. "I know the feeling, but keep your head in the game, kid. Do what you do best, and let me charge in face first. We'll get Vetra back that way."

"Fucking politics," he said, leaning against the railings to calm down, slumped over the edge.

"Morda got a similar message earlier," Drack said. "Dealing with her now to cough up the goods for Suvi." Scott mumbled something he could hear. "Vetra ain't gonna be happy if you lose your quad over this," Drack said, looking down at him. "So screw your head back on."

Scott finally looked up from his slump. "Still want to kill something."

At that Drack chuckled. "Vetra's tough. She can deal with the hand dealt to her- I've known her longer than you. She's going to be there with a gun in her hands and selling them back their teeth, I know it. And you do too."

The image was enough to almost make him smile. "Then let's go find her."