"Your name is just… Peebee?"

"Well, it's a shortened version of my name."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"That's the real mystery."

"Fine. And those things? They a mystery too?"

"Kett. At least, that's what the high-ups on the Nexus called them. Nobody's really gotten to talking with them."

Kania stared hollowly ahead, listening to Geta speaking to the asari. The blood on her armour and helmet had congealed quickly in the glare of the sun. Vespasian was dead. The three words were stuck in her head; it was all she could think about. He was a military hero – a charismatic leader on and off the battlefield. Kania, on the other hand, was worth shit in the eyes of most turians. She'd been promoted on account of her skill on the battlefield – and the fact that her predecessor had been shot in the head by a sniper. Not too different from this time around then, Kania thought bitterly. Except now, she had to play diplomat and explorer. Better practice some more lines beyond 'well, shit.' Maybe 'fuck me' would go down better. Kania glanced at the blood-smeared helmet in her hands. Knowing her luck, this would probably end up with someone else's blood spattered across her face.

"Does she do this a lot?"

"Have you ever had someone's head explode all over your face?"

"Well, once in the park."

"I actually don't know how to respond to that."

"We should find the others," Kania said, in a cracked voice. Peebee and Geta stopped talking, and stared at her. It was the first time she'd spoken in the half-hour since Vespasian had died. "We should link up with the rest of the team. Then…"

Kania sighed and ground her palms into her brow, trying to think.

"Then?" Peebee prompted.

"I don't fucking know," Kania snapped at the asari, throwing up her hands in exasperation. "I don't have a fucking plan right now! I don't have any knowledge of the area, the system, or the fucking galaxy! I can't… I can't fucking think!" Kania pushed herself to her feet and stalked back and forth, twisting her hands together. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way! This wasn't how it was supposed to go! I never expected… I never thought… fuck!" Kania slammed her fist into the wall of the building. Pain flared in her knuckles. She struck out again and again. The pain helped to externalise her rage. It made things easier to deal with - something she'd learned with the help of a razor blade in the aftermath of Taetrus. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Kania sank to her knees and leaned her head against the wall, breathing heavily. She could feel the blood trickling down her hand inside her gauntlet.

"Peebee, you've been here longer than us," Geta said quickly, turning to the asari. "Can you help?"

"Sure," she shrugged. "I will warn you though, I'm not much of a tour guide."

"We'll need transport," Kania glanced around, and her cold blue eyes settled on Peebee. "Do you have a ship?"

"I'm…" Peebee bit her lip and thought for a moment, shifting uncomfortably under Kania's gaze. "I'm borrowing one."

"What do you mean you borrowed a ship?" Kania asked irritably.

"You know," Peebee shrugged. "You take something then give it back later."

"I get the impression that this is something of a unilateral agreement," Geta said shrewdly, turning his piercing eyes on the asari.

"By all means," Peebee fluttered her eyelashes at Geta. "Keep your impressions to yourself." The asari turned to Kania. "I'll make you a deal."

Kania folded her arms and cocked her head. "I'm all ears."

"I lend you my shuttle, you lend me a few guns, some bodies to hold those guns, and a little help with a problem I've got."

"What's the problem?"

"I'll tell you later."

"We're not going anywhere until–" Geta began.

"Geta, you're flying," Kania interrupted him, standing up and walking away. Then she stopped, realising her mistake. "Peebee, where is this ship of yours?"

"I'll show you on one condition: I'm flying it."

"No," Geta said bluntly. "I'm trained in high-speed shuttle chases, mid-flight combat, and vehicle immobilisation techniques. I'm flying the ship."

"Not to be rude," the asari cocked her head. "But the last shuttle you flew is currently lying over there, on its roof, minus one thruster!"

"I will admit, that is not the best example of my abilities."

"Geta, just let her fly the fucking shuttle," Kania sighed.

"But –"

"Just fucking do it!" Kania screamed at him. "For fuck's sake, just follow a fucking order for once! Just do me that one fucking favour! No questions, no arguing, just fucking do what you're fucking told!"

A long silence followed this outburst. Geta eyed Kania warily. Finally, he nodded, and jerked his head at Peebee. "Lead the way."

The white shuttle soared over the dunes as if someone had tossed a giant, sun-bleached brick over the landscape. On one side there was a huge outcrop of dusty orange-brown cliffs, casting a long shadow across the sands. One other side lay a wide lake, reflecting the cloudless blue sky on its perfectly still surface. Time didn't seem to pass here, Kania thought. Nothing moved. It just was. Were they not probably about to head straight into a firefight, Kania would have liked to spend some time here. The vast emptiness and silence appealed to her. Everything seemed to just wash away under the sun.

"We lost the other shuttle around here," Geta said over the noise of the engine. "We hit one of those structures."

Kania looked outside, and saw three tall, angular pillars rising out of the sand. They reminded her unnervingly of the dorsal fins on a shark.

"Pathfinder Team," Kania called into her radio's emergency frequency. "This is Kania Felix. Respond if you can hear us. Over."

She listened intently, but there was no reply. Just static.

"Pathfinder Team, respond!" Kania repeated. "Alexia? Lucia? Proximo? Marcus? Anyone out there?"

Again, she listened, again, there was no reply. Just static. Kania sighed. Then, there was a bubble of static.

"This is Kania Felix!" Kania was almost shouting into her microphone. "If there is anyone out there, respond now!"

"Th…. Ale… tur… Pi… wn… ease…"

"Geta, can you clean up that signal?" Kania said, her voice frantic, her head swivelling to face him. The technician nodded, and began to type furiously on his omnitool. After several tense moments, the message came through clearly.

"This is Lieutenant Alexia Verus of the turian Ark Natanus. We are pinned down and require assistance! Anyone out there, please respond!"

"Alexia!" Kania's guts filled with ice. "This is Kania! What's your position? What's your status?"

"Kania? Shit, I'm happy to hear your voice." Alexia sighed with relief. In the background, Kania could hear bursts of gunfire and dull explosions. "Transferring our coordinates now. We're pinned down, lost our shuttle, but everyone's more or less in one piece. For n– MARCUS COVER THAT FUCKING LEFT FLANK!"

"Coordinates received," Kania nodded, and switched her radio to contact Peebee in the pilot's cabin. "Peebee, get us to these coordinates on the fucking double."

"You know this is as fast as this thing goes, right?" The asari replied bemusedly.

"We could paint it red," Geta suggested.

"What would that do?" Kania frowned.

"Make it go faster," the engineer shrugged.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would it go faster? Colour has no impact on speed. In fact, the added weight of painting the shuttle would marginally decrease the speed."

"I was joking." Geta said slowly, putting an unnecessary amount of emphasis on each word.

"It wasn't a very good joke then," Kania snorted.

"Ehhh, guys!" Peebee said hesitantly. "There's a lot of kett down there. Like, a lot of them. Like, more than twenty."

Kania spun to face the window. In the shadows of another of the strange, angular, grey constructs, Kania could see bursts of gunfire briefly illuminating several clearly turian figures. Nearby, the smoke plumed from the smouldering wreckage of a shuttle. The flames still licked at the blackened frame. Further out, several squads of the bone-encrusted aliens approached cautiously. Here and there, a body slumped to the ground, minus its head.

"Peebee, bring me right over one of those squads," Kania said, cracking her neck. "I'm in the mood to hit something really, really hard."

"This seems like a terrible idea," the asari replied mildly. "But sure. Why not."

"Kania," Geta growled, grabbing her by the arm. "You're the Pathfinder now. You can't be reckless like this."

"Get the fuck off me," Kania snapped, wrenching her arm out of his grip and hitting the door release. "And don't fucking tell me how to act."

Kania stepped out into the empty space. Air whipped at her blood-streaked face. Kania bared her teeth in a grim smile and snapped out her dual omniblades, casting an intense orange glow onto her upper body. As the ground loomed up, Kania flared her jetpack and slowed her descent. She hovered some twenty metres above the squad for a moment, picking a target. They were so focussed on the turians in the structure that they hadn't noticed Kania above them. Kania cut off her jetpack and dropped. For a few seconds, there was silence. Nothingness. Emptiness. Then the two blades each sliced through the back of her target from shoulder to opposite hip in a fiery cross. The alien didn't even have time to scream before his body split into four clean-cut parts. As the remaining five turned to face her, Kania shrieked a battlecry and propelled herself forwards, letting out all of her anguish in a bloodcurdling howl.

The first kett fell to the ground, decapitated, greenish blood spurting from his severed neck. A moment later, his head followed, the sand coating the open wound in a fine dusting of particles. The second warrior tried to raise his weapon, but Kania activated her jetpack, and darted into the space next to him, omniblade raised. She met almost no resistance as the momentum carried the blade through skin, flesh, and bone. The third kett as quicker than his comrades. He snapped off a shot at Kania, who simply let her kinetic barriers deflect the blow. A faint blue bubble appeared around Kania as the shield flared into life. Retracting one of her omniblades, Kania snatched her pistol from her thigh and fired a string of shots into the alien's chest, sending it staggering backwards, acid-green blood oozing from the wounds. It slumped to the ground, not completely dead, but struggling to breath. Kania had seen plenty of injuries. She knew the difference between one that would draw out the death and make it as painful as possible, and one that would end the life quickly. Indifferent to the kett's suffering, Kania turned to search for a new target, breathing heavily from the exertion.

Unfortunately, Kania's new target found her first.

Kania was thrown from her feet as one of the three remaining kett – one that stood taller than his comrades, and was considerably broader – barrelled into her with the force of a small tank. Kania tumbled across the dune, spraying sand in all directions. She heard the unmistakable whine of a minigun spinning up, and her heart skipped a beat. Kania scrambled to her feet as the large kett and his two smaller companions opened fire. Sand kicked up around her feet as she darted back and forth, closing the distance with bursts from her jetpack. The minigun raked across her kinetic barrier, which flared bright as the sky above her. It was close to breaking. Kania surged forwards, and leaped the last few metres onto the chest of the large kett, catching hold of one of the bony growths on its shoulder.

The alien bore her weight remarkably well, barely struggling under the weight of a fully-armoured turian and a rather large minigun. Kania stared into the pale, unfeeling eyes for a fraction of a second, then thrust her omniblade into its chest. With a howl of pain, the kett dropped its minigun and closed its arms around Kania, crushing her into a bear hug and pinning arms to her sides. The omniblade continued to grind into the kett's chest, but Kania couldn't move it to cut herself free. She struggled to breathe, gasping soundlessly as the kett continued to squeeze her tighter and tighter. The noise of the battle beyond them was growing fainter and fainter. Her vision began to darken. The kett's cold, pale eyes simply watched as Kania was crushed beneath the thick bone-covered arms.

Then they were thrown apart with a burst of purple-blue energy. Kania fell to the ground, sucking in air. Sound rushed back in like a tidal wave, colours sharpened painfully. Looking up through her blurred vision, Kania saw the large kett floating in the air, its body shimmering with purple-blue energy. Just past it, the other, smaller kett were swiping at a white drone that was buzzing around their heads like a wasp, periodically knocking into their heads. Kania heard a grunt of effort, and the tall kett was hurled into his two comrades. Kania staggered to her feet, aimed in the vague direction of the kett on the ground, and fired off a handful of shots.

"Stop shooting at My Dick!" Geta shouted at her, slotting a fresh thermal clip into his shotgun.

"What?" Kania stopped and stared at the engineer through her slightly blurred vision. "You called a turret 'My Dick'?"

"I like to make it knock into people's heads," Geta shrugged. He wandered lazily over to the trio of kett tangled on the ground, and placed the barrel of his shotgun against the leathery grey skin of the large alien. "Then I can say I smacked them in the head with My Dick."

The shotgun boomed, the sound of shattering bone filling the air.

"You're weird," Kania shook her head. An intense, painful ache flared in her skull. Kania rested her hands on her knees, bending over in preparation for the vomit that was likely about to end up in the sand at her feet. The shotgun boomed again, then once more. Bone cracked. Blood splattered the engineer's boots.

"You doing okay there?"

Kania glanced up into Peebee's curious blue eyes. She nodded curtly, and quickly stepped away from her. She kept her distance, taking deep breaths. "I'm fine. We should… we should help the others."

"Maybe no running in headfirst this time," Geta shot her a glare, but he was smiling nonetheless, surveying the field ahead of them.

"What are you grinning at?" Kania snapped at him.

"New worlds, a new galaxy, new races," Geta shrugged. "Even if Vespasian got blown all over your chest and face –"

"Really?" Kania sighed. "Now?"

"Too soon?" Geta chuckled. He saw the icy glint in her eyes, and immediately stopped. "People die. Get over it."

"Just fucking move out," Kania shoved the engineer aside.

The kett had been considerably thinned out. Only eight of the original twenty remained, but they were still putting the team under pressure. They had split into three groups – two teams of two pushed around the flanks, while a team of four pressed up the centre. Without a word, Kania sprinted across the sands towards the nearest flanking group. Her boots sank deep into the soft dunes, and she pumped her legs furiously, fighting through the pain in her muscles.

"Why run when you can fly," Geta laughed in her earpiece. Kania glanced up, and saw him feathering the thruster on his back as he drifted back down to the ground ten metres ahead of her. "These things are awesome!"

"I thought you said not to act recklessly?" Kania glowered at him, flaring her own jetpack into life and skimming across the dunes. To her left, Peebee skipped along with her biotics.

"I told you not to act recklessly," Geta reminded her, somersaulting through the air and landing with the grace of a dancer. "I'm free to be me."

"Take Peebee and deal with the four in the centre. I'll get these two."

"Your call, Pathfinder."

"Don't call me that," Kania snapped at the engineer as he jumped away, whooping with laughter.

Kania pulled her rifle from her shoulder – a customised Phaeston, the standard weapon of the turian military. She thumbed a button on the side of the rifle, and the weapon began to slide out of its compacted state. Panels sprang out and clicked into place as Kania feathered her jetpack to slow her fall. She darted towards the two kett pressing towards the left side of the enormous angular pillars. They were advancing slowly, but surely. One laid down covering fire while the other darted for cover amongst the wreckage. By the corner of a pillar, Kania could faintly see the scarred visage of Pertinax peering out. However, as soon as so much as a mandible peeked into view, the kett sent a hail of fire in his direction, forcing Pertinax back into cover. Kania leaped forwards, her jumpjet bursting into life and closing the distance. Ignoring the rifle in her hand, Kania dropped down onto the nearest kett boot first, grinding its windpipe into the ground. As the other twisted around in surprise, Kania levelled her rifle at it. Before she could pull the trigger, however, a small, dark object the size of a small rock struck the kett in the head and stuck there. The alien staggered to one side, swiping at the object.

Then it exploded.

Venomous green blood splattered the ground, dripping from what remained of the kett's torso. Bone fragments blasted through the air like shrapnel, vaporising on Kania's shields. The kett's head, left arm, and most of the left side of its chest and abdomen had simply disappeared in the blast. Kania gasped as a sharp pain burst into life in her thigh, and she staggered away from the kett under her boot. The hilt of a short dagger protruded from her leg. Kania wrenched the dagger out of her leg, then stalked back to the kett, adrenaline coursing through her like fire. She swung the rifle around, the barrel connecting hard with the kett's head as it tried to get to its feet. The kett was flipped onto its back, a deep crack in the bony growth by its temple. She dropped to her knees by the kett, bringing the sharp edge of the rifle butt down on the kett's face, letting out her rage and pain.

"Fuck you!" Kania screamed, smashing the rifle butt into the kett again and again, pulping those cold, pale, emotionless eyes and the tough, leathery skin into a mush of green, grey, and white, littered liberally with chips of bone. "Fucking fuck you! Fucking piece of fucking shit!"

"I think it's dead." Kania's head snapped up. Peebee was standing over her.

"You're supposed to be helping Geta," Kania growled at her.

The asari shrugged. "He seems fine."

Kania glanced over to the middle of the battlefield, where Geta's drone was bouncing between the three remaining kett taking cover in the wreckage of the Pathfinder Team's shuttle. Every now and then, a crack echoed around them as Alexia's rifle pumped a heavy, anti-materiel shell into the twisted black metal. Pinned down by Alexia, and distracted by his turret, Geta was casually picking off the kett with blasts from his M-77 Paladin pistol. Kania could see the red dot from his laser sight flashing on the leathery skin of the kett. As she watched, the torso of one alien exploded. Geta looked, astounded, at his pistol. Then Pertinax tapped him on the shoulder, shouldering his M-37 Falcon as he did so.

Kania made for the opposite flank, but the injured leg collapsed underneath her, the pain too unbearable to walk on. Kania's hands struck the soft sand, sinking a few inches deep. Peebee reached for the turian, intending to help her up, but Kania slapped the asari's hands away with a snarl.

"Not much of a people-person, are you?" Peebee cocked her head at Kania, as the turian grit her teeth and pushed herself up.

"I get that a lot," Kania grimaced, staggering forwards and ignoring the pain in her leg. "Come on."

"Hey, you need medical attention!" Peebee called after her.

"My medic is currently getting shot at," Kania growled. "This counts as going to see her. Happy?"

"Well, no, not really!"

After a few more steps, the pain proved too much. Kania collapsed to the ground, blood oozing from the gap in her armour the kett had managed to hit. So she began to crawl, the blood dripping from her leg leaving a dark trail behind her. In spite of the turian's snarls, Peebee ducked under Kania's arm, the thin asari proving surprisingly capable of supporting a turian in full armour. Across the battlefield, Kania saw Lucia drag one of the encroaching kett out of cover with her biotics. The alien kicked and flailed as the biotic field tugged and twisted it around as if the alien was a puppet on a string. Proximo popped up from behind a low hexagonal-shaped wall, his rifle levelled at the floating. There was a dull thud, and the alien was sent flying through the air as the concussive round struck it squarely in the chest. It landed some fifty metres away on its neck. The crack was audible even from Kania's position on the other side of the structure. The final kett popped its head out of cover, and was greeted with a veritable hailstorm. Wreathed in a blue-purple sheen, the kett floated up into the air by his ankle, as though an invisible hand had plucked him from the earth. A small, dark object struck the kett in its face, causing him to spin around lazily, just as another concussive shot blasted the alien through the air. There was a deep, booming gunshot, and then the kett simply vanished, leaving behind an acidic green mist.

Peebee dragged Kania over to the strange place where the team had taken cover. Salvaged crates lay scattered around the area, most of them broken open for ammunition, grenades, and rations. Peebee laid her down against a triangular protrusion, then stepped back and rested on her haunches, a wide smile on her face.

"What's so funny?" Kania grimaced. Lucia swept over, scowling at Proximo.

"If my gamble on you guys pays off," Peebee grinned. Kania hissed in pain as medigel flooded into her wound. "I'm going to make the biggest find in… like, ever!"

"Where's Vespasian?" Alexia stepped over to Kania, ignoring Peebee. Her visor was shattered, exposing one eye that swept over Kania like a searchlight.

"Dead," Kania grunted. She indicated the congealed blood on her breastplate. "Suffice to say, it was messy."

"Shit," Proximo growled, shouldering his rifle.

Lucia's head twitched, a shadow of a smile on her face. The news seemed no surprise to Pertinax, however. No doubt he had already learned from Geta. The pair were already stockpiling supplies, laying out thermal clips, weapons, grenades, rations, water, and scientific equipment. Peebee reached out to grab something, but Geta slapped her hand away with a reproving glare.

"So that means…" Alexia glared at Kania. "You're the Pathfinder."

"I don't want to be the Pathfinder!" Kania snapped back at her. "I don't want that responsibility!"

"But you're the XO," Proximo grunted. "You had to at least… expect this."

"This?" Kania laughed hollowly. "How the fuck could I expect this?"

"Well what were you expecting?" Alexia snarled at her. "An easy ride, like in the hastatim? Well fucking heads-up, I don't think there are any fucking babies to kill out here!"

"You watch your fucking mouth!" Kania shouted at Alexia.

"Or what?" Alexia laughed. "What the fuck are you going to do?"

"Rip your fucking mandibles off!" Kania spat, making to stand up.

"Just fucking –"

A trio of gunshots drowned Alexia out. Everyone looked at Geta, who slotted a fresh thermal clip into his pistol.

"Can the pair of you please," Geta said with a great deal of forced calm. "Just find a room, and fuck these issues out."

"I actually don't know how to respond to that," Kania shook her head.

"Besides, we're all fucked anyway," Alexia sighed. "No Pathfinder, no Nexus, no Golden World, no fucking plan!" Alexia wrenched off her helmet, and hurled it across the platform. The helmet slid across the smooth surface, rattling each time it struck a groove between the hexagonal plates. "Let's face it, we're fucking fucked!"

Kania felt the ground shake beneath her. In the centre of the large, hexagonal slab that sat between the pillars, a triangular pillar rose up, much like the one Kania lay against. The painkillers in the medigel dulled the ache in Kania's leg, but it still hurt to put any serious pressure on it as she pushed herself to her feet and limped towards to pillar. Peebee raced forwards, hands and eyes flitting over every inch of the pillar, her face lit up with joy and unbridled curiosity.

"Peebee, be careful," Kania grunted, reaching out a hand.

Unbidden, her omnitool burst into life. An excruciating pain burst, searing, into life in Kania's head. She screamed in pain, dropping to her knees and holding her head between her hands, shaking violently. Blood dripped down her face from her nose, splattering the ground. Kania tipped backwards, her eyeballs rolling in their sockets. A pair of hands caught her beneath her arms, lowering her gently to the ground. All she could hear was intense, crackling static. The last thing she saw was Peebee's face drawn taut in concern, as a bright, white light burst into life high above the asari's head. Then Kania's eyes rolled back into her skull. Darkness consumed her. From the empty blackness, a cool, collected voice spoke.

"Hello, Pathfinder Felix. My name is SAM."