And… there. That should do it. Vetra thought, admiring her handywork. She quickly slid out from underneath the Nomad and wiped her hands clean of all the grime and other crap that had managed to get itself stuck down there the last time they were on Eos. With the way Scott sometimes drives, she was lucky it wasn't worse.
Vetra crossed another item off her mental to-do list, only to pause for a moment and realize something: she didn't have anything else to do. Nothing to repair, nothing to calibrate, and nothing else to keep her from thinking about that nightmare on Voeld.
Since they docked at the Nexus, Vetra's been trying to keep her head clear by doing just about 'd already calibrated everyone's weapons, even making sure to not do anything about the kick on Drack's shotgun. "It's fine the way it is." the old krogan always said. She'd also supplied the Tempest with a fresh stock of thermal clips, even managing to get a handful of Cobra RPGs that the Nexus wasn't usually willing to give up. In addition to that, she had re-organized the armory, managed to track down that filter for the drive core that Gil's been wanting, looked up a few popular human dishes just in case she wound up losing her bet with Scott, and now she had just finished up repairs on the Nomad.
Exaltation. That's what the Kett called it, like they were bestowing some gift upon those Angaran. The Kett didn't conquer or enslave - they changed literally everything about those they invade; their looks, their personality, even their genetic makeup.
If Vetra had known what that facility was doing the first time they were on Voeld, she wouldn't have let Ryder leave before they had shut the place down. But back then there were too many unknowns about the place. What it did, what the Kett defenses were like … it was all a mystery to both the Initiative and the Angara.
So Ryder had decided to instead try to stabilize the climate on Voeld so it would be easier for the Angaran to get around, and in turn get some better intel on the Kett facility. Once they'd managed to get the vault online, they left for Havarl and let the Angara go to work. Not long after, the Resistance requested assistance in taking down the facility, which Ryder was happy to oblige.
Everyone else on the ship was trying to keep their minds off the facility as well. Looking to her left, Vetra could see Liam and Cora tinkering with their jump-jets, which they've been doing for a solid two hours now. She knew that Drack and Peebee had already disembarked from the Tempest, for Drack to probably to go to one of the shooting ranges and let out some anger, and for Peebee to tinker with some more Remnant tech or whatever it was she did. Gil was in the process of making the drive core spotless, Kalo was running hundreds of flight sims, and Suvi was now quadruple checking her notes on the atmospheric changes on Havarl and Voeld.
But out of everyone in the crew, Jaal was definitely in the worst shape. He had barely left the tech lab since they got back from the kett facility, only stepping out for a bit when they dropped the Moshae off on Aya. Vetra couldn't imagine what he was going through, knowing that your worst enemy used to be your own people.
It was a lot to take in, and she still didn't really know how to process everything. She wanted to go and talk to Scott about it, but he was currently meeting with Nexus leadership.
I guess I could go see Sid. Vetra thought. It had been quite awhile since they'd spoken face to face. Seeing her sister could be nice, and maybe help distract her for a little bit.
Vetra opened up her omni-tool and sent a message to Sid.
Hey, you available soon? Realized it's been too long since I've hounded my little sister about something…
-V
To her surprise, it took no less than thirty seconds for Sid to reply.
Sure! Kesh just let me take a break, so I'm good for the next hour. Wanna meet up at my place? I promise it's not too messy.
-S
Vetra smiled and sent a response. She remembered how surprised she'd been when Sid got assigned her own apartment when the younger Nyx had gotten out of cryo. There weren't many minors out of cryo, and she was probably the only one to get her own place. But, Vetra had decided it would be a good chance to teach Sid some responsibility. Spirits knew Sid had been pining for some independence for years.
Walking down the cargo bay ramp and onto the landing pad, Vetra could help but feel like something was… off with the maintenance crew. It wasn't until she reached the commons area that she realized what it was; everyone was acting far too... normal.
Had the news about the kett facility on Voeld not reached them yet? Not likely, considering Ryder had briefed Nexus leadership via comms as soon as they'd gotten back to the Tempest. Leadership was probably trying to prevent the news to spread to the public, so as to not cause a panic. It did make a certain kind of sense, but Vetra couldn't help but think that everyone needed to know just how serious of a situation they're really in.
After taking the tram a few levels up, she was only a short walk away from Sids apartment. She approached and gave a the door a soft knock.
"Coming!" she heard Sid say from the inside.
Seconds later the door opened, revealing the younger Nyx.
"Vetra!" Sid said, smiling at her older sister.
"Hey, kiddo." Vetra replied, bringing Sid in for a brief hug. She released her sister and took a quick glance inside the apartment. "Huh. It's a lot cleaner than the last time I was here, I'll give you that."
"Yeah, I know. Trust me, it was a lot worse a minute ago." Sid joked, gesturing for Vetra to come inside.
Sid's apartment barely classified as one, just like Vetra's old place used to. It could be classified as a single room in it's entirety, with a kitchen - living room combo separated from a twin sized bed by nothing more than a corner and a thin divider. It wasn't much, but it was certainly better than some of the places the two of them had stayed before.
"So, how's life back on the Nexus? You getting used to your new job?" Vetra asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Sid.
"Yeah, it's alright. Monitoring comms can be a little… dull at time, but you can sometimes hear some pretty interesting things. Last week two guys took a couple of shuttles and decided to race them from one end of the Nexus to another. That was fun to listen in on."
"I bet." Vetra chuckled. "How did leadership react to that one?"
"Fortunately, not with exiling them. A short stay in a holding cell, some community service, nothing too hard." Sid replied.
"Good to know. We need all the people we can get. How's Kesh treating you by the way?"
"She's nice… for a krogan. Says she sees a lot me you in me. It's like we're sisters or something..." Sid joked. "And honestly, the work's not that bad. Better than I was expecting. Hours aren't too bad either."
"Well, if you wanted to start working overtime, I could go have a chat with Kesh…"
"Spirits, no! I don't like it that much. Believe it or not, I don't really want to listen in on radio chatter for the rest of my life."
"Alright, alright. Enough about work." Vetra said. "How's everything else going for you?"
"Pretty good. They've started making anyone underage attend this weekly meeting-thing. There aren't many people there, but it's actually kinda nice. Just got a few new kids in last week. A human named Jacob and a salarian girl named… Matann, I think. Heh, it was kinda funny. This other girl, Linda, she walked in and…"
Vetra didn't know exactly when, but at some point she just sort of stopped listening to Sid. She wanted to listen, but she couldn't help but find what she was talking about to be… well, she didn't really know. Inconsequential? Like, the funniest thing ever could've happened in that meeting, but it wouldn't matter in the slightest if the Kett turned everyone in the Initiative into bone-faced monsters.
But really, it was a good thing that her sister was focusing on something small and somewhat meaningless. It let Vetra know that Sid was still Sid, and that all the stuff that had gone wrong since they arrived in Andromeda wasn't going to affect her. In a way, she was happy the news of the Kett exaltation wasn't commonly known. It let Sid keep the innocence that Vetra was never able to have growing up.
Vetra suddenly realised that Sid had gone silent, and she looked up to see the younger Nyx looking at her with a raised brow-plate.
"V? You okay?" she asked.
Vetra shook her head. "Yeah, sorry. Just… thinking about some repairs I need to make back on the Tempest.
"Ah! You know what? Enough about me." Sid began. "You're the one that get's to do all the fun stuff. Tell me some good stories!"
"Eh, I don't know, Sid. I don't that's really-"
"Oh, come on! Just one story. Like… what was the last thing you did before coming back to the Nexus?"
"We… assaulted a Kett facility on one of the old Angaran colonies."
"Really? Oh, that's so awesome! Ugh, stuff like that is why I wish I could be out there with you."
"I mean, it's not all sunshine and-" Vetra started before Sid interrupted.
"Like, you get to go out and actually make a difference while I have to sit around all day doing something so easy that anyone could do it!
"Sid, come on, you-"
"And you get to fly around Heleus with the Pathfinder and do… everything! Explore new worlds, beat up bad guys. Really V, you've gotta try and convince Ryder to let me do something on his ship."
"Sid!" Vetra snapped, causing her sister to jump. "What we do out there is not a game. It's serious, and it's dangerous."
"Vetra I… I just meant I could help on the ship, not go around shooting at things like-"
"No, you don't get it, Sid it's…" she paused for a moment, thinking about how to put this. "Remember that Kett facility I told you about? You know what those bastards were doing in there?"
They younger turian shook her head.
"They were turning Angaran into Kett. Not recruiting them to their side, not working them like slaves, literally changing everything - every limb, every inch of skin, everything down to the their very genetic makeup. Do you get how horrific that is? Our Angaran crewmate on the ship, Jaal … he can't help but see every Kett as one of his own that he has to put down now. And now, every time I think about it I can't help but wonder what if ..."
At this Vetra paused, mandibles splayed, the emotion thick in her voice.
"The further you are away from that the better, ok? I dragged us out here to keep you safe, not to see you turned into some … "
Vetra fell silent, and a long moment passed between the sisters before Sid spoke.
"Spirits, Vetra I… I had no idea…"
"No Sid, you didn't … Look, I'm sorry - I didn't mean to scare you. It's just, things have been rough. It all seems glamourous, I'm sure. But there's a very real possibility that one day I just … won't come back."
Vetra placed a hand on her sister's shoulder.
"I just want to know that you're going to be ok, alright?"
"It's okay, I just… didn't realize what things were really like out there."
"Hey, forget about it. I came over here to hang out, right? Not lecture you on the dangers of the universe. So, what do you want to do?"
Just as Vetra finished speaking, a ping came from her omni-tool. She looked down to see an new message from Ryder.
Just gone finished nearly being nagged to death by leadership, looking to let off a bit of steam. Meet me at the firing range in 10?
-Scott
"What's up?" Sid asked.
"Just Ryder. He just got out of a meeting and wants someone to shoot things with."
"Oh, in that case, you just forget I even exist and go have fun on your date." Sid joked.
"Har har." Vetra replied, giving her sister a brief hug before getting up making her way towards the tram.
A date with Scott. She thought. That'll be the day.
