Dying hurt.

Sara hadn't realized it the first time it happened, but the second time, she had made the conscious choice to let SAM stop her heart. She knew what was coming, she knew there was a chance she wouldn't come back. Jaal and Vetra had attempted to dissuade her, but Sara could see that the only way out was through. She was willing to fling herself into the breach if it meant saving her team. If it meant saving the salarian ark. If it meant saving the Initiative.

And so she ordered SAM to do it, to stop her heart and cease all neural functions. But she wasn't prepared for the sheer agony of it. As pain crawled over her limbs and her vision went black, as she gasped for breath and tried to block out the shrieking in her ears, she was terrified.

Then nothing.


She was on the floor, SAM's voice oddly distant. Jaal and Vetra, she thought. Were they okay? Were they still trapped?

Her vision was blurred, and her arms and legs weren't responding as quickly as they should have been.

"Shit," Vetra breathed. "She's alive."

"Stars guide her way," Jaal murmured.

Sara sat up slowly, the room falling into focus. "How long was I out?"

"You were dead for nearly half a minute, Pathfinder," SAM informed her. "I was able to restart your heart, but you will want to be careful until we are sure you will suffer no lasting effects."

"Screw careful," Sara snarled. "That Archon bastard is going to pay for what he's done." She hauled herself to her feet, leaning heavily on the stock of her assault rifle as she did so. Ignoring the cramps in her legs, she rushed to the nearby console. "SAM, we need to get Jaal and Vetra free."

"A moment while I override the security protocols, Pathfinder."

She didn't have the patience, and paced back and forth between her two companions as she waited. As SAM broke through the encryptions, she grabbed Jaal's arm and helped him find his balance before she turned to Vetra.

The turian, though, landed nimbly and pulled her shotgun. "We'll talk about this later, Ryder," she warned. "But for now we've got a job to finish."


Sara's anger only built as they stole through the ship. The kett had been torturing salarians, cutting them open and dissecting them while they were still alive. She had retrieved the map of Meridian but what was a map compared to the lives they'd lost?

She didn't realize she had been building a charge of energy until they came upon a knot of kett attacking some krogan scouts. Before she was wholly aware of what she was doing, she unleashed a pair of fireballs that smacked into an Anointed, forcing it away from a fallen scout in blue armor. She then sent a jolt of electricity through the kett, causing the Anointed to explode and litter the ground with shards of bone and ash.

Sara was almost screaming in rage by the time the skirmish was over and a quick, nervous voice came over her comm.

"Pathfinder Ryder, this is Pathfinder Raeka. I'm pinned down near the exaltation labs. I'm not sure I can get out."

"Raeka, I've got wounded krogan here. I have to get them to safety, but I promise I will come back for you."

"Of course, Pathfinder. I'll hold the line as long as I can. Get the wounded out."


She hadn't been fast enough. She'd only just been able to see the Ascendant cut Raeka down before Vetra and Jaal had managed to stop her. She'd have thrown herself bodily on the kett, fought them with her bare hands if she'd needed to.

"We have to go, Ryder! We have less than two minutes until the charges blow!"

Someone was screaming, maybe it was her, she was struggling to tear free and run back to at least retrieve Raeka's body. Jaal had her arms pinned to her body, he was shouting in her ear.

"Pathfinder, you must not do this! You must leave before the kett kill you as well!"

They were aboard the Paarchero, the charges detonated. She half staggered back to the Tempest, supported by Vetra and Jaal. She couldn't think, couldn't speak, could only hear Raeka's voice tearing out as she died.

Sara was only dimly aware of Vetra ordering Kallo to escort the Paarchero to the Nexus, then of being taken down to the medical bay. She felt a needle, and for the second time that day, felt nothing at all.


Sara opened her eyes to the harsh light of the medical bay. A needle pierced her elbow, and a monitor was attached to her left hand. Lexi stood above her, holding a datapad and deep in thought. "I made it back again, huh?"

The normally stiff doctor sagged visibly. "Yes. Ms. Nyx is concerned that you allowed your SAM to kill you." Sara tried to sit up, but Lexi stopped her. "I'm afraid you'll have to stay down until I can be sure your vitals are steady. You were in a dissociative state when you came back and had to be sedated. In the meantime, I need to ask you some questions."

Sara put her head back down on the thin pillow. "Yes, SAM pointed out that the way out was for him to kill me. Can I get some water?"

Lexi handed her a bottle with a straw. "And you consented to that?"

"It was the only way." Sara drained half the bottle. "We were figuratively helpless. It was either die at the hands of the kett, or die trying to get out. I chose to try."

"I see." Lexi made a few swipes at the datapad. "Jaal says you were quite upset."

"They were torturing the salarians. Experimenting on them." Sara's voice was raw. "They were alive, Lexi. They felt everything."

Lexi hissed. "Goddess. Of course you were angry." She turned down the lights. "Stay put, Pathfinder. Try to sleep if you can. I'll be back with something for you to eat."

Sara didn't argue. She was still exhausted from whatever sedative she'd been given. She drifted in and out of a doze until Lexi's footsteps sounded again. The doctor set a mug on her work desk before picking up her datapad again. "Okay, Pathfinder, sit up. I'm just going to check you over quickly and then you can have the soup Jaal made."

She dutifully followed the light, stuck out her tongue, and breathed deeply. "Jaal made soup?"

"I think it's mostly nutrient paste with some angaran herbs. Suvi said it needed dumplings but was otherwise safe to eat."

"Jaal must have liked that." Sara sampled the broth (not bad). She was suddenly ravenous, and the soup did a little to ease the emptiness she felt.

"Last I saw, he was on the bridge asking Suvi what dumplings were."


"As requested, Vidal, you're on the list for Sloane's little get-together," Keema announced as she walked into the back room of Tartarus.

Reyes looked up from his datapad. "I didn't ask."

Keema made herself comfortable. "Ah, but now you can ask the Pathfinder."

"I'm not going to call her up and ask her to a party with you lurking in the room." Reyes motioned toward the door.

The angaran grumbled as she stood. "Just be sure you don't waste this chance."

As the door slid shut behind Keema, Reyes grinned to himself. A party would be enjoyable, but he could see an opportunity when it presented itself.

Dialing the Tempest on his omnitool, he sat back and waited for Sara's response. It took less time than he'd expected before Sara came up on the vidscreen, looking slightly unsteady and clutching a mug.

"To what do I owe this pleasure, Reyes?" Sara asked, only slightly suspicious.

"I've been thinking about you all day, Sara." He put a faint stress on her name, hoping she was alone.

Damn his luck. Someone else (a woman, he thought) cleared their throat, and Sara gave him a conspiratorial smile. "I'd love to hear more, but this isn't a private channel."

"Then I'll just go straight to business. Sloane Kelly is having something of a gathering tomorrow night. I was hoping you'd want to be my plus-one."

"Are you asking me on a date?" She clasped her hands behind her, rocking on the sides of her feet.

"I'll be a perfect gentleman," he assured her.

"Oh, I'm not sure that will be necessary. But it sounds like fun, and I never say no to free drinks."

"Especially not from Sloane's reserve. I'll meet you outside Outcast headquarters." He disconnected the call and only narrowly avoided bursting into triumphant laughter.


"Are you sure that a party in Kadara Port is the best idea, Pathfinder?" Lexi's mouth twisted in concern.

"I'll be fine," Sara said. "I don't plan on antagonizing Sloane Kelly, and no one else will be allowed to have a gun. And if it makes you feel any better, I promise not to drink anything that contains ryncol."

Lexi sighed. "Take it easy until then. Maybe try a little yoga tonight, if anything. And no arm wrestling turians when you get there, I just set Liam's shoulder after he dislocated it."


Reyes watched as Sara tried to bluff her way past the guard at Sloane's door. She might have been the Pathfinder, but she very clearly wasn't used to employing intimidation to get her way. Probably for the best, Reyes thought.

Before the guard could get too annoyed, he stepped in, putting an arm around Sara's shoulders. "She's with me. Reyes Vidal."

The guard snorted. "Go on in. Don't cause any more trouble."

Sara leaned against him for a moment before looking around uncertainly. "After you."

Reyes led the way into Sloane's throne room, where he was promptly accosted by Keema. "Reyes Vidal. You finally showed up! I was beginning to think you wouldn't show."

"Of course I came. I just had to be fashionably late." He gestured to Sara. "Keema, this is my friend Sara Ryder."

Keema took the bait and ran with it. "The Pathfinder, of course. I was hoping he'd bring you along, you're all he talks about lately."

Sara's smile was a dangerous thing. "Is that so?" She offered a hand, which Keema shook.

"Keema Dohrgun. A pleasure to meet you, Sara."

Reyes coughed. "Excuse me for a moment. There is some business I need to attend to."

"Do you ditch all your dates in the first five minutes, or am I special?" Sara's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise."


His survey of the headquarters security complete (tight, but not impenetrable), Reyes let himself into a storeroom on the first floor. He referenced an intercepted message on his omnitool, then began methodically searching crates.

"Shit," he muttered. "Why can't the serial numbers all be in the same place?" He peered inside the second to last crate. Nothing.

He'd been so engrossed in his search, he hadn't heard the doors open. But he did hear Sara.

"I should have known you were up to something."

"I'm not up to anything! Okay, I'm up to something, but I promise, it's for both our benefits." He gave her his most innocent smile, which apparently did not fool Sara.

"You've been making an awful lot of promises…"

He spotted movement through the open door behind her. "Someone's coming!" he whispered. "Quick, we need a distraction."

Sara didn't hesitate. She grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him to her, her lips insistently seeking his. Reyes was too surprised to be aware of what he was doing, but by the time she stopped for breath his arms had circled her waist.

He lifted his head. "I think we're safe."

Sara didn't move. "Maybe another kiss, just to be sure?" Her voice was smoky, pitched low. Her eyes were still fixed on his mouth.

"Now you're just teasing me." He chuckled to cover his ragged breath and climbed onto a crate to open the last box. "Here we go." He drew out a silver bottle and leapt down lightly.

"This was about whiskey?" Sara hissed.

"This is triple-distilled Mount Milgrom. Nearly six hundred and fifty years old. The only bottle in Heleus. It isn't just whiskey, it's priceless. Come on." Reyes grabbed her hand.

A surprised laugh bubbled out of her as she ran with him and he marveled at the sound. "You'd better be willing to share!"


An hour later, Reyes and Sara sat atop one of the roofs of Kadara Port, passing the bottle back and forth.

"It's beautiful," she said quietly, gazing at the neon lights in dusk.

"I forget that sometimes," Reyes agreed. "It's too easy to get caught up in the struggle to survive here. Has Andromeda been what you hoped, Sara?"

She fell silent, something weighing heavily on her. "It's been rough. I...there's no easy way to say this." She swung her legs around so that she was sitting by his side, rather than back to back. "I was technically dead for about twenty seconds. Twice. The last was two days ago. I chose to do it, I did it to escape a trap...but I wasn't sure I'd come back."

He turned to look at her. Her profile was carved in stone, but he could see tears glittering on her eyelashes. "But you did come back." He took her hand gently. "And I'm glad you did. You're a bright spot in this mess, Sara."

She looked at her feet dangling from the roof, trying to hide the tears that fell. "What about you, Reyes? Why did you come here?"

He took a deep breath. "To be somebody."

Sara lifted her face to him, a steady light burning in her eyes. "You're somebody to me."

Reyes cupped her face in both hands. "I'm starting to think you meant that kiss to be something more."

He bent to her as she curved to him, all light and warmth. Their lips met again and again, Reyes hoping that she could feel the words he couldn't say to her.

He didn't know how long they sat there, silently holding each other. But he finally broke the spell. "Always come back to me, Sara."

"Always be here for me, Reyes."