That night I didn't sleep, no, I couldn't sleep. I just laid in bed staring at the ceiling of my slowly crumbling apartment. My mind was too busy thinking to actually let me sleep.
Thinking.
Why was I thinking? I mean, Shepard being on Akuze doesn't affect me, well, it indirectly it does-sorta-kinda. Other than that I don't know for sure if Shepard was even there. For all I know this would be one of those 'happens regardless' things in life.
With a click of my mandibles I lazily dragged myself out of my bed and, body still sore, shambled over to my mini fridge pulling out some Vita-Water and a piece of… I don't know what the fuck this is, it looked like Bologna but smelled like the Varren shit you would see littering the city streets. Or any other species waste now that I think about it...
"When the hell did I even buy this?"
With overwhelming disgust I threw the Bologna, no, shit in patty form, in the trash compactor. I was considering getting takeout before remembering that I had spent all of my money paying my medical bill.
Even the Gang's own doctors are corrupt.
So now I was officially broke, sore, and very hungry.
I hate this galaxy.
Dredge City, Rhesus.
New Haven Nightclub
Walking, no sorry, limping through the doors of the Gang's Nightclub I saw the Boss and another human sitting at the bar area talking, before I could make my way over there though one of the Turian guards -who knows where the hell he came from-grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back to stand next to him.
"Don't even think about it Chikte, wait till they're finished."
I stared at the guard for a moment trying to think about what Chikte meant before I looked at the unknown human and looked back at him.
"Yeah, yeah my bad. So who's the Human? Haven't seen him around before." And I was right, the armor our guest was wearing was really, really expensive. Even decent armor being something rare in the Terminus, but the stuff he was wearing? He had to be rolling in credit chits. I haven't even heard of the company it was made by.
The Turian next to me clicked his mandibles in displeasure. "I don't know… Just showed up unannounced. Drexas over there aims his gun at him and demands to know what he wants, blah blah blah, next thing you know Drexas arm is bent in an angle it's not supposed to be and poor Tarek…" He looks over to said Turian lying unconscious on the floor. "Poor kid didn't even get a chance to pull out his gun before that Human snapped his neck."
"Oh...he's dead." My statement went unanswered as the Turian started talking again.
"Anyway, Boss hears the commotion, comes out, looks at the guy and they start talking, and now they're drinking like they're old friends." The Turian shrugged his shoulders before motioning me to follow him with a flick of his head. As soon as we started walking down a corridor, he began to speak.
"So. You got a name?" He asked expectantly. "Yeah, it's Vadrien. And, you are?" The guard's eyes widened before he shook his head and chuckled lightly.
"Ah, spirits forgive me, I can't go around asking for names when I haven't given mine, now can I?" At the end of our walk he stopped in front a door with a passcode which he quickly put the codes in for before he went in, with me following behind him shortly.
The room he led me to was the the Club's break room. The room featured the basic necessities for staffing plus some, like the very dirty and old cotton candy machine resting on the marble counter. Since we were closed to the public at this hour, there was barely anyone occupying the room save for a Batarian who was looking at something on his omnitool.
Gonna have to try that cotton candy machine out later.
The Turian walked over to one of the empty tables and motioned for me to join him. I ended up sitting directly in front of him and took the chance to look more closely at his face.
The Turians skin was far lighter than mine, like the color of sand, and his eyes were a greenish-orange. His clan markings though were a mystery to me, as I have never seen them before, but his face also scored numerous light scars reaching from his crest to his collarbone. And I noticed whenever he talked the right side of his mouth would move much higher than the left side. It was almost as if he had some type of injury preventing full control of his face.
"Anyway Vadrien, where was I?" The nameless Turian did a mock thinking gesture with his head before looking at me again. "Ah, yes. We were discussing names, correct?" At my nod he gave a crooked smile before continuing. "Anyway, the name's Valentress. And I happen to be one of the unfortunate Chikte's shipping out with you and Pakon. And some other poor spirit."
That got my attention real quick, due to my lack of who was joining Pakon and my fear of dying a little too soon for my liking. I mean, you can call me a hypocrite seeing how I joined a gang in the Terminus, but I fail to see what qualified me to be included on Pakon's little Groupe de Fous.
"Well," I started, not really sure on where to begin. "I suppose you don't mind if I ask you some questions then?" Valentress seemed to scowl - I think, haven't seen that expression before on a Turian - before nodding his head.
"Ask away, not gonna say I know everything, but I'll see what I can answer."
Sweet.
"Ok, well for one thing, do you know anything about a Turian named Adrien Praximus? And his relation with Pakon?" Hell, the odds of this guy knowing how and why Pakon 'owed my dad a favor' is slim to none, but worth a try.
"Hmm, Adrien Praximus… Personally I've never heard of him, but I may have come across a few files with that name floating around in it."
"So my best chance would be to ask Pakon about it personally then…" I said disheartedly.
The Turian gave me a long stare before leaning on the table with his elbows. "So why do you want to know about Adrien Praximus? You got a vendetta or something?"
I looked at him for a second debating whether I should tell him or not, but decided to tell him since, well, If Pakon knew my dad then he more than most likely wouldn't- Wait a minute. Files?
"Sorry, but you said files? Correct?" Valentress tilted his head to the left in a quizzical fashion before grinning.
"Yeah, that's right. Files. Mostly about his dealings with the Gang. Stuff like that, you know." He said stiffly.
"Nothing else?" I asked slowly. Oh, I knew he was hiding something, that much was obvious, but I wasn't stupid enough to ask more about it. I absently recalled one of the rules the gang teaches its initiates back from my "re-education" with Pakon.
"Rule 3 of the Terminus; You don't give anything for free, and you sure as hell don't ask for anything for free. Everything comes with a price." Pakon recited as he paced around my bloodied and broken body lying on the floor. "I believe the Humans have a saying for that, uh, 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' or something like that. Now, Tell me the Rules again, this time if you get one wrong, a talon is going bye-bye..."
Good times. "Oh yeah, there were other stuff, but It's kinda fuzzy right now." Valentress said off-handedly. He definitely wanted something.
"Ok, cool. Thanks anyway." Valentress seemed to t=do a double take before sputtering incoherently. After a couple of seconds he managed to properly speak again.
"You mean you don't want to know more!? I actually know a lot! Hey look at that my memory isn't so fuzzy anymore!" Hook. Line. And sinker. Man, I should become a detective.
"Nah, I figured the best person to ask is Pakon himself." And I couldn't really ask my "Dad", since he upped and left shortly after I joined the Gang and Company. My "Mom" had died of a drug overdose somewhere down the line but I'm pretty sure there was some foul play involved.
"Ok, well. I guess I'll take my leave. It was, uh, nice meeting you Valentress." I said as I stood up from my chair. As I was almost through the door Valentress called shouted my name causing me to stop and look back.
"You can call me Val. Everyone calls me Val." Val said before giving me a shit-eating grin, well, the Turian equivalent….. I think.
"Sure thing… Val".
Now that that was done, it was time to talk to the Boss…
A/N: Ayooooooooo! Forgive me for the very, very long absence, Laziness and games aren't a very good mix for a person who has to do things. I believe that is called procrastination. Anyway, heres a brand new smackin' chapter for you guys, I will try to get the other chapter out soon.
I make no promises...
Actually, I think this chapter is short... Must be a desktop thing, everything looks bigger and longer on mobile...
Anyway this be Womanslayer, signing out.
~WS. WS? WS.
