Authors Note: Okay, this is the chapter that took FOREVER to write. As I said it began as one chapter with the one before this and then when the muse came to life things got out of hand and it just kept coming. Do enjoy, more chapters to come. Feedback is always welcome.

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Eight: Thanks a lot, Nov

Since Palaven was rather dangerous to a human she had to wear her full armor the whole time, helmet included, she also couldn't eat anything on the planet unless they pulled out the Asari food which to Sidda was almost as bad as Turian food. After visiting Cipritine she returned to the Lante. The ship was dry docked and being upgraded but it was a little safer than being on the planet where a multitude of things could go wrong and damage her. Meeting Tarquin was a major step in their relationship but she got the sense that it was a step that Victus didn't intend to take just yet.

After four days of being in dry dock the crew was enjoying a well-deserved leave Sidda was enjoying uninterrupted time with Victus. They were currently perfecting the technique of Turian/Human relations and getting pretty good at it. He was nuzzling his way up her body hovering over her. Things were progressing well but that was to be expected for the third night in a row Victus knew what he was doing. His quarters were dimly lit, smelled of the dinner they had finished, and there was a half a bottle of Brandy next to the bed. She giggled as he found a ticklish spot near her collar bone.

The light in the room was amplified as he Omni-tool lit up, beeping. There was an incoming comm. He simply ignored it pausing only to tap it to make it shut up then returned to pleasing his female. About a minute later the Omni-tool went off again but instead if him turning it off Sidda tapped it to shut it up making him chuckle.

He grabbed both wrists and pinned them to the bed as he continued to nuzzle and kiss the left side of her neck. The comm in his quarters beeped and a she heard him growl and practically punched the intercom button to shut it up, still not answering it.

"Maybe you should get that." Sidda commented but he didn't respond, he specifically gave the order not to be disturbed.

There was silence for a few minutes then another page was heard. "Do not disturb order overridden." He heard the ships VI state. "Gen. Victus, please respond."

Victus let out a long, pissed off growl and smacked the intercom. "What?" he snapped reiterating his new foul mood.

"Sorry to disturb you, General." Ruvio said. "Message coming in from Military Command."

Victus grumbled. The Turians had a sizable fleet, there had to be some other ship that Command could pick on. "Put it through to my quarters." He grumbled and snatched up his clothing. Sidda couldn't help but chuckle at his grumbling as he pulled his clothes on. He straightened his tunic and tapped the button on the terminal. The monitor changed to show the boss of bosses in the Turian Military. "Primarch Fedorian, there must be someone else in the fleet you can annoy." He stated, Victus had been in the military as long as Fedorian had and knew he could say that without too many repercussions.

Fedorian simply looked at him; Victus was not his first choice to take care of this due to his unorthodoxed style. "Not anymore." He replied in a tone that reflected a slight scold. "Sorry to disturb your leave, Adrien, but I have a mission for you."

Victus perked up and cocked his head slightly with a puzzled expression. "Sir, the Lante is in the middle of a refit." He stated and Fedorian nodded.

"The Dock master tells me that the bulk of the job is finished. Any loose ends can be handled by your crew in transit. You have four hours to recall your crew and proceed to Talas. A Batarian Terror cell has seized the Science Observatory, now the Hegemony assures us that they had nothing to do with this but refuse to act against them." He stated and Victus shook his head.

"I do hope you told the Hegemony that we will." He said and Fedorian nodded.

"I did indeed, Adrien, I believe the Hegemony doesn't want to invoke the full force of our fleet so they're leaving it to us." He informed and Victus couldn't blame the Batarians for that. Probably the only smart thing they've ever done. "Deal with the Batarians as you see fit but try not to start a war."

Victus nodded sharply. "Yes, Sir." He replied and expected that to be the end of the conversation.

"One more thing." He began. "I hope you can control your temporary crew member."

Victus straightened. "You mean Cdr. Shepard?"

"The Hero of Elysium, she killed a lot of Batarians that day. They still want her blood and from what I've heard she's not too fond of them either." He said voicing a concern that many had about her dealing with Batarians. "If you don't think you can control her I'd just as soon have you leave her on Palaven."

Sidda sat up in the bed hearing the conversation and looked toward Victus but said nothing. She couldn't see him but could hear Fedorians concern for the situation. She was curious to see what Victus would say. Hopefully she'd proved that she could be trusted in any situation and she knew better than to think he'd vouch for her based on their intimate relationship.

"Cdr. Shepard's a soldier, Primarch, and a damn good one. She'll follow my orders and if she compromises the mission I'll punish her just like any other member of my crew." He said and Fedorian was satisfied with that.

"Four hours, General, I want you there as soon as possible if not faster." He repeated and the screen went black.

He came back into Sidda's view and tapped a comm. "Zara, sound emergency recall. I want everyone back onboard in 2 hours anybody no back on board by then stays behind." He stated and heard the conformation from his Pilot/Comm officer. He looked down at Sidda who was simply eyeing him. "Don't make me regret bringing you along."

Sidda said nothing to that comment as she watched him grab the rest of his uniform and head out of the quarters.


The ship was a flurry of activity as the crew returned from Palaven, shuttle after shuttle dropped full loads of crewmembers to the point Zara had her hands full coordinating it all. Maridus was on his way to the CIC to figure out what the hell was going on. He'd found Nov and Rajin on the same transport up but didn't expect either one of them to know what the deal was. He spotted Sidda heading to the same lift as he.

"Sid," he called passing a pack of crewmembers and noticed tech work still going on at a console next to the lift. "what's going on?"

She patted his arm as the lift opened and they both stepped in. "Batarians seized a Science station."

Maridus narrowed his eyes. "Perfect." He muttered in an irritated tone while tapping the level they desired.

The lift stopped and both Sidda and Maridus could hear Victus talking. The CIC was a little less busy then the rest of the ship but Maridus could still see some tech work going on at a few non critical consoles. The ship wasn't finished.

"General." Maridus greeted and Victus turned to his first officer. "Have the Batarians completely lost their minds?" he asked indicating that Sidda told him what was going on.

"The Hegemony swears up and down they had nothing to do with it, but they refuse to do anything about it." He stated, that was the mission in a nutshell.

"Good old Batarians." Maridus muttered. "Count on them to ruin a well-deserved leave."

"Talas' emergency beacon was activated with an 'Intruder Detected' signal at 0322. That message was sent directly to the Turian Hierarchy." Victus explained. "Zara, status?"

"80% of the crew onboard, Sir." She responded and Victus nodded actually astonished that his crew that no doubt scattered all over the planet below was recalled that fast.

They had to get going and quick. "Alright, bring any incoming shuttles aboard ground anything that hasn't left the planet." He said. "Get us underway as soon as the last incoming shuttle is onboard. Sid, do a head count for both teams." He said and Sidda nodded to him.


By the time they reached the Talas Science Station the ship was squared away. Both teams were found to be whole as Cerrus barely made in just under the wire on the last shuttle. In anticipation of having to retake the station from the Batarians or anything else that could go wrong Argo and Centar Units changed into battle gear.

In the locker room Sidda quickly pulled on her gear but moved over to Rajin. "Hey, how'd it go?" she asked in a low tone referring to the 'date' she helped facilitate.

Rajin looked like she could barely contain herself. "Absolutely amazing." She said and Sidda laughed with glee. She played matchmaker with an alien species.

"Really? Yes!" she giggled.

Rajin fastened that last part of her chest piece. "Oh, yeah, Sid, he is really good." She stated the excited tone couldn't be masked. "I mean really good, Sidda."

Nov had good hearing like most Turian's did and heard their conversation; he shook his head with a cackle and turned to them putting a hand on both of their shoulders. "Ladies, I am right here."

"Yes, we know." Sidda droned with a smirk.

"Oh what, Commander, you wanna try a piece? There's plenty of me to go around." His tone was dripping with enough over confidence to make them sick.

Sidda glared at him sardonically. "Get outta here." She said shoving him away though his chuckling.

"Still it's nice to know that I'm 'really good', thanks Deliah." He said as he walked ahead of them.

"Ahh, shut up, Casanova." Sidda droned back hearing him chuckle.

"Ooo, Casanova, I like that." He replied although he really had no idea what that meant. His smug, inflated ego was going to get him shot.

"You just had to tell him how good he was out loud." She said and Rajin giggled.

"Yeah, I couldn't help it." She replied and Sidda chuckled trying to drown out the egotistical chuckling from Nov.

"Well, that's one thing I can scratch off my to-do list." Sidda said and tapped the button on the lift. "I played matchmaker with an alien species and was successful." She grinned.


On the CIC, Sidda and Cerrus stepped off the lift to be witness to what was found at Talas. The trademark black and yellow N7 armor was like a beacon, anyone could find her in a sea of Turians just by looking for her armor.

"We're geared and ready to go, Sir." Cerrus said and Victus nodded.

"Damar, what do you have?" he asked as Maridus hovered over a station to figure out what condition the station was in. The console he was working on beeped at him and he cocked his head. "Major?"

Maridus' face was colored in confusion. "Stand by." He said and started to trail off before looking at the crewman next to him. "Run that again." He ordered and the tech did so.

"Damar," Victus repeated indicating he was still waiting.

Maridus knew it was time to answer him. "I'm picking up and debris field, Sir." He said and Sidda's brow furrowed. "Scan says it's a Batarian in origin."

That was odd. Why would there be a debris field of something that supposed to be the cause of the reason they were sent. "Zara, any other ships in the area?" Victus asked and the pilot shook her head.

"Nothing's coming back on LADAR." She replied and Maridus and Victus looked at each other both perplexed.

"Did the station have any automated defenses?" Sidda asked and both Victus and Maridus shook their heads quickly with a unison 'No'. "Are you kidding? The one thing Turian's didn't strap a gun to?"

Victus turned to her with a sigh but Maridus beat him to the punch. "Talas is a Science station, low level research been online for 20 years nobodies' messed with it." Maridus said and Sidda still found that hard to swallow.

"Until now." Sidda replied. "Something must have been juicy enough to make the Batarians try to commit suicide."

She was not wrong, something about this whole thing was odd but Victus didn't know what. He'd heard of this station he'd never been there. As it was never bothered by anyone there was never a reason for him to go there.

"I'm not picking up any life signs. Nothing." Maridus said and looked back to Victus. "No response on hails either."

Victus leaned on the console. "Major, begin docking procedures." He said and stood up straight turning to Sidda and Cerrus. "Captain, Commander, I'll meet you and your teams by the airlock. I'm going with you."

Victus going on a mission was nothing new. Sidda had never been on a mission with him or anything that was off the ship but she mimicked Cerrus' response and headed off the CIC with no question.


Talas had a very simplistic design. It wasn't a big station, about the size of a common transport freighter, with three levels; engineering, labs, and crew quarters, not very big and designed to be efficient. At the moment the station had a very eerie feel about it and every member of the boarding party felt it. The low level emergency lighting gave the B-movie vid feel too it.

"Zara, talk to me." Victus said as he was the first one through the airlock followed by Sidda to the right and Cerrus to the left.

"I'm not picking up anything, Sir. No life signs; Turian, Batarian, or otherwise." Zara stated from the CIC as the team was on the station. "Looks like something's blocking the scan."

"Alright, deck by deck, room by room." He ordered and looked to the men waiting for orders. "Cerrus, take the upper level, Crew Quarters. Nov, Engineering, lower level. Cdr. Shepard and I will take the Research Lab." There were no questions, no ifs ands or buts when he was in charge. To question him was pretty much suicide, he'd earned that respect. "Balin, Pelonis, keep an eye on the airlock."

As the teams separated and headed their directions Sidda and Victus headed down the long hallway. They reached a threshold that transitioned the main hall into a long, wide catwalk leading to the Research Lab door. There was a railing on each side, dimly lit but Sidda could tell there was nothing on either side. She moved toward the railing and looked over the edge. There was red emergency lighting a good distance down and Sidda raised her eyebrows.

"That's a long way down." She said and Victus looked over the other side and grunted an agreement. "So, what? The Batarians show up, take the station in a way the whole Turian military sees and then what, blow themselves up?" she asked as she and Victus followed the signs for the research lab. "I mean, Batarians are inept at most things but I've seen there Terrorist skills at work first hand and they are definitely intact."

Victus agreed. "I think they're still here." He said.

Sidda also go the distinct feeling that they weren't alone as well. "And they what, blew up their getaway car?" she asked and thought about that for a moment, Batarians tended to botch a lot of things. "Okay, that's actually possible."

Victus allowed a chuckle to that remark. "Yes it is."

"What kind of research goes on here?" she asked and he answered quickly.

"Classified." He said and she paused for a second looking at him. It was best not to ask since she knew damn well what he was going to say.

"Fine." She replied but her tone reflected some irritation. "Low level research my ass."

He simply glanced over to her as they both had weapons at the ready while walking down the halls. The emergency lighting made it darker than Sidda would have liked but she could still see well enough.

They reached the door for the Lab and Victus tapped the control to open it but the door was locked. He tapped his omni-tool and demonstrated his limited skill of hacking. However limited his ability was he still got the door open. Sidda had set herself up to cover him as the door opened. As soon as it opened she stepped in scanning the room, prepared for any threat.

"Clear." She said quietly as he scanned the other side of the room.

Victus took a moment to respond and then agreed. "Clear." He replied.

She didn't know what kind of research went on but the lab looked like it contained some groundbreaking, albeit classified, work. There were a few chambers inside the room with unidentified items in them. All guarded by individual mass effect fields, the fields must have had their own power source given that the power was minimal.


Nov edged down the steps to Engineering, something had his hackles up, there was something not right about this whole situation and the nagging feeling got worse as he headed down to Engineering. He was leading with Rajin, Zek, and Tobius bringing up the rear, with the exception of Balin this was Argo unit. His team but the team had bettered itself since being led by Sidda.

The red-faced Turian was very uneasy with this station, the fact that something was blocking their bio-scan made him even more uneasy. Anything could be lurking around the dark corners of Engineering and he'd just as soon not be caught off guard. They came to the door to main engineering without trouble. Zek remained a sentry looking any movement, Rajin and Tobius took up a position on either side of the door as Nov hacked it. No words were spoken as none needed to be, these four worked as a well-oiled machine and had for years.

The red lock turned green after a few moments of Nov working on it. He stepped to his right ending up next to Rajin as he did not want to be the poor schmoe standing out in the open. There was nothing, no movement at all as Tobius entered first then Nov, then Zek followed by Rajin a few seconds later. Engineering was a large room but dark and empty.

"Sir, Nov, Engineering is clear." He reported but couldn't shake the nagging feeling that something was about to go sideways in a spectacular fashion. "Something's not right here, Sir."

Victus had to agree with that. "Keep your guard up." He answered. "Try to get power back online."

Nov nodded. "Yes, Sir." He said and glanced over to Rajin who took up a guard position between him and the door.


Cerrus had much the same feeling that Nov did, that irritating nagging that something was about to go wrong. They walked along the upper catwalk of the station heading to the living quarters.

Kalvaris and Masso flanked him, unlike Argo, Centar only had four members. Cerrus was not only an almighty pain in the ass about humans but he was extremely hard on the members of his team. He was a good leader but expected a lot and if a member didn't meet his standards they didn't remain and Victus could respect that, Kalvaris, a barefaced Turian, and Masso, with the red paint seen often on the Citadel were the best weapon specialists on the ship.

There was an eerie silence with only the faint sounds of their boots on the deck, the red lighting added to the eeriness. "Anyone else getting that weird feeling?" Kalvaris asked.

Masso grunted a positive response and Cerrus remained quiet. The door to the crew quarters was ajar, open about 6 inches and Cerrus put himself in the gap as far as he could using his strength to push it apart. It opened far enough for them to pass through and that was good enough for him. Kalvaris and Masso checked the perimeter of the common area; it was so dark you couldn't see much of anything, flashlights barely cut through the curtain of darkness. Where was the emergency lighting? Cerrus wondered as his hackles stood and he froze.


Nov worked feverishly in Engineering to identify the problem and fix it. He tapped a few times on the main console and it beeped. A flashing orange light appeared on the upper left corner of the console. Underneath it read System Ready. He pushed it. The station hummed to life as lights came on. Once again Nov had proved his Engineering skills had not gone to waste.

The lights in the main Rec Room of the crew quarters flickered to life and Cerrus' suspicions were confirmed in a big way. To his left a Batarian, hidden by the darkness sprang up on him. He grunted as the force of the alien running into him almost knocked him off balance. More came out of the woodwork attacking Kalvaris and Masso. Soon the room was embroiled in a Close Quarters Battle.

Where was Nov when you needed him? Cerrus thought as he shoved the Batarian off him and rammed his fist into his throat. The soft tissue was no match for his forceful punch. The alien gagged as his windpipe collapsed.


Victus and Sidda looked up sharply as the lights coming on startled them for a moment. Now they could get a look at the room. Everything seemed to be in order with the exception of an examination table with a Mass Effect field protecting the contents. It was flickering, the field was failing. Alarms started to go off in the lab.

Victus grabbed Sidda's arm and pulled her back as the field failed. The contents sparked and sputtered as they scrambled away from it. Whatever that stuff was it reacted to not having the field protecting it and exploded with enough force to shove Victus and Sidda out the door they came in. Sidda toppled head over heels and Victus caught the railing with the right side of his head. The ball of fire that followed flashed upward and retreated back into the room. Victus' head felt like it was about to roll off, that was going to leave a mark for a while.

Sidda righted herself with a groan and looked over to Victus slowly getting to his feet. "Adrien?" she asked and he held up his left hand, waving her off. Inside the Research Lab the explosion set off a worse chain of events. The Mass effect field containing another experiment collapsed and the heat for the flames caused the device inside it to explode. A blue ball formed and collapsed in on itself then with a mighty bark exploded outward sending a blue shockwave out in all directions.

The catwalk they were standing on buckled and lurched downward sharply throwing them off their feet. They slid down the cockeyed catwalk until it disappeared from beneath them sending them down into the dark abyss below. It was about 20 to 30 feet down Sidda had guessed but the sudden stop at the end was going to hurt like a bitch. Her body glowed blue as the Biotics generated a biotic field to slow her down. She hit the ground gently but Victus landed hard, his armor protecting him from death.

"Adrien!" she exclaimed as the Turian lay face down on the metal floor. A painful groan escaped his lips as he tried to remember how to breathe. She got to his side and rolled him over. He was conscious and moving around. "My god you are a tough bastard." She stated. "Are you okay?"

She helped him sit up as he took in a few deep breaths. "I'm fine." He growled finally. "Just let me get my breath back." He said sharply, he never liked being mothered but he had to admit her concern for him was a nice feeling.


The station felt as if it were going to implode. The blue shockwave ripped through the station damaging or destroying everything in its path. Balin and Pelonius heard the first explosion and hit the button to close the airlock before trotting toward the research lab. By the time the two of them saw the blue wave coming at them it was too late. Both turned to run but got caught by the menacing force. It tossed them back the direction they had come much like a biotic throw. Balin was thrown into a wall and Pelonius tumbled down the corridor for a few dozen feet before coming to an unconscious halt.

The Lante too had detected the initial blast which caused a concern on the CIC. The VI quickly pinpointed the location of the blast and in the seconds that followed detected the energy blast also. "Mass Effect shockwave detected." The VI stated.

The Lante shook and the sound a contorting metal sent crew members scrambling. "Major, docking cradles' buckling." Ruvio reported.

Maridus didn't think he reacted. "Shove off. Now!" he barked. The cradle to damage the airlock and the ship and there was still that damnable energy wave to contend with.

In the span of a few seconds they had reacted to the threat, Ruvio hit the emergency release for the airlock and sudden powerful blast shoved the ship away from the cradle just as it contorted again.


The wave continued it path of destruction through the station to the bitter fight going on with Cerrus' team. The blue wave did not discriminate and blasted them all into the far wall rendering Masso and Cerrus unconscious on impact as Kalvaris was flung into the wall left side first hard enough to make him yelp. The Batarians followed but aside from the wincing pain of Kalvaris, no one moved.

Nov and company didn't know what hit them. The station shook violently shortly after Nov flipped the switch and a few moments after that he and his entire team picked up and tossed backward, sideways, or forward into the far wall. Rajin impacted the console hard and fell where she encountered it while Nov, Zek, and Tobius landed in an undignified heap together.

The Lante was a flurry of commotion as the CIC witnessed the blue wave spread through the entire station and then dissipate. "Get me the boarding party, now, I don't care who." Maridus ordered, he just needed to know who was alive, who was dead, or some scrap of news.

"Lante to boarding party, respond." Ruvio said. "Boarding party, this is the Lante, please respond."

The call went unanswered by Nov's team, as they were all unconscious. Kalvaris was in no position to answer as he could barely move with the damage done to his left side. Both shuttle pilots were unconscious in the main corridor and Sidda and Victus took the brunt of the blast which probably knocked out their comms.

After another few tries Ruvio turned to Maridus. "Major, it's highly possible that blast knocked out the suit comms." She said and Maridus shot her a glower.

"Then try the Omni-tools, but please tell me I didn't just lose two whole teams over there to whatever the hell that was." He stated and she turned to do as he asked.


Sidda used the light from her Omni-tool to examine the noticeable bruise and subsequent lump forming on the right side of his forehead as he caught the wind that had been knocked out of him. Anything that was bad enough to damage the tough Turian skin plating was a cause for concern, in her mind at least; to him it was another whack to the head. One that hurt like hell, but it would take way more than that to keep the veteran General down.

"Oh, wow, that looks like it hurts." She commented and he glanced at her quickly.

"Only when I think." He replied quickly and Sidda blinked.

She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. "Did you just crack a joke?" she asked and he shot her a look of 'really?'

"No, I just cracked my head open." He responded and slowly got to his feet.

"Shepard, to Lante." She said trying her comms. There was no response after a few moments and she tried again. Still nothing.

Victus' head was throbbing, a hangover felt better than this but his military training kicked in and he pushed the discomfort out tapping his Omni-tool. "Victus, to Maridus do you copy?" he asked and his Omni-tool sprang to life.

"Sir," Maridus replied and his face appeared on the holo screen on the Omni-tool. "are you okay?"

"More or less." He replied. "Status?"

"We had to shove off. Whatever that was probably would have ripped the airlock right off the ship." Maridus replied as Sidda moved around to Victus' right side looking over his arm at the screen.


Cerrus' swam out of the blackness and his eyes shot open, startled. What the hell happened? He could hear something moving around. Multiple somethings. He could see his Phaeston lying on the floor a few feet from his right hand. He mustered the energy to move toward it and when his hand got to it a foot stepped on the gun. It was not a Turian foot. The size said Batarian and the smell confirmed it. He looked up catching the sight of the Batarian.

"Damn." He thought, now he had to fight for it. He got a hand on the Phaeston as the Batarian issued his threat aiming a pistol at him. He yanked the Phaeston away from his foot causing the aim to falter. A single shot discharged past Cerrus' head, in hindsight a risky as hell move, and he grabbed the gun with his left hand twisting it away and pulled the Talon from his right boot and rose to his full height ramming the blade into the Batarian's throat, under his chin. The Batarian let out a gargled scream and spit blood everywhere.

Two more Batarians converged on him as their comrade slumped to the floor. Cerrus turned and found them pouring out of a room that they hadn't gotten to. They rushed him and he returned the favor charging into the fray. There was a reason Victus put up with his attitude, he was a tenacious fighter. Brutal tactics served him well and he used his speed and height to his advantage. Despite his height he could get low, harder target to hit especially for a Batarian. He always thought they were poor fighters; they only fought against those who couldn't defend themselves. If there was one thing he hated more than humans it was Slave Traders.

He charged the one on the left leaping in the air and coming down practically on top of him driving the Talon down into the right side of his target's neck and spun quickly slashing the other one across the face and throat severing an artery. Blood spurted out as Cerrus was hit with something that knocked him backward. He lay there on his back, dazed, armor smoldering.

"Fucking incinerate." He thought to himself, had to be some kind of biotic power mixed in there too for it to knock him on his ass. He started to get up and rolled onto his stomach raising to his knees looking in the direction of where the hit had apparently come from.

"Behave yourself." A deep voice warned, he saw a Batarian approaching flanked by three more. "Or your people die." He continued aiming his pistol at someone Cerrus identified as Masso.

Cerrus looked around the room to find Kalvaris and found him against the same wall he woke up on and not too far from him. He was at least visibly moving watched by a Batarian with a shotgun. He weighed his options and, tactically, he had none that were good. He tossed the Talon toward the Batarian.

It clattered to the ground and he cursed to himself.


Nov groaned as he woke up and started to move around, he sat up and promptly regretted it as his head told him all about impacting the wall. Someone else was moving too. "Zek? Tobius? Deliah?"

"Yeah." A voice answered. That deep raspy voice was Zek's end of story.

On the other side of him someone else moved, Tobius. Nov sat himself up and he scanned the area. Zek and Tobius landed with him but where was Rajin. His eyes fell on a figure about 10 feet from him on the other side of the console he had been working on. The black Barristin hand print on her face was a dead giveaway to who it was. "Deliah?" he asked. His mind raced when she didn't answer and he started to panic. "Oh, no, Deliah?" he said out loud and scrambled over to her damning the pain he body told him.

He rolled her over carefully and looked her over. Her armor was intact and she didn't look too worse for wear. "Deliah?" he started. "Deliah, can you hear me?" this was why he didn't date squad mates. He was panicking right now, learning that she liked him and then spending the leave with her was a bad idea and now he was kicking himself for it.

She gasped after a moment and her eyes shot opened.

"Oh, thank Spirits." He breathed out. "You okay?"

Rajin's chest and abdomen hurt, something was broken. Breathing hurt, it really hurt but she nodded putting on the tough face. Nov stood and carefully helped her to her feet. She winced and let out a squeak of pain. Nov eyed his medic and didn't have to say anything.

"I'm fine." She breathed out through a few quick shallow breaths.

"Just take a minute." He said and she didn't argue with that leaning against the console that had been so cruel to her. "Lante, this is Nov. Do you copy?" he asked.

A few seconds later his Omni-tool chirped to life. "Nov, this is Shepard, what's your status?"

Nov looked around and really couldn't complain much. "Well, we're whole…kind of. What was that?" he asked looking at the little screen his Omni-tool produced. Sidda looked fine but the location they were in was dark with an orange hue to it.

"Good question." She replied. "Did you turn the power back on?"

Nov nodded. "Yeah. Something tripped the stations' VI to place it in Failsafe mode, minimal power use. Then the VI was locked down. Took me a minute to crack the Failsafe and the VI." He explained quickly

"Well, it worked. You turned the power back on and the lab exploded." She stated and Victus' visibly bruised face appeared on the screen. "Maybe those Failsafes were in for a reason." She said, she wasn't accusing him of anything but Nov couldn't help but shoulder the burden of this being his fault.

"Wait. Wait. Wait. You're telling me I did this? The explosion, all of it, this is my fault?" he asked quickly, now kicking himself for rushing through his repair of the system.

"Lieutenant, focus." Victus snapped, his tone wasn't meant to blame it was meant to snap his engineer back on course. "We're stuck in a damn hole and can't raise Cerrus' team, Balin, or Pelonis. Take someone and go find them." He ordered and Nov nodded.

Nov blinked a few times to get ahold of himself. "Yes, Sir, do you two need assistance?" he asked before they disconnected.

Victus shook his head. "No. Not yet. We're fine, go find them first."

Nov gave him a sharp nod as the Omni-tool communication closed and turned to his team. "Rajin, Tobius stay here. Zek with me." He ordered decisively.

Rajin stood up straight curious as to why he didn't have the medic come along. "I'll go, they could be injured."

Nov said nothing and looked her up and down. She was visibly in pain but it was best not to argue with her. She was a tough as they came and had a valid point. He simply gave her a slight nod and looked to Zek and Tobius. "Keep your guard up." He said to which they nodded as Rajin and Nov left.


The CIC was still buzzing, the ship got lucky, they sustained no damage because of the emergency release but the problem now was the docking cradle. It was warped and contorted to the point even if it could be used it was too dangerous. Maridus was talking to a group of engineers trying to figure out what to do next. The sensors read that the stations airlock had been closed so all they needed to do was get around the damaged docking cradle. They had also deduced that the big blue blast was similar to Warp, hence the damage. Maridus had ordered the stations files unlocked to find out exactly what was on the station. He was probably going to pay for the decision to declassify classified information but at this point he didn't care.

As Maridus left Ruvio in charge he headed toward the lift to get into his armor. He was going to lead the team to collect the rest. "Uhh, Major," Ruvio said before he got there. He turned to look at her, her tone catching his interest. "we're being hailed."

Maridus didn't see the concern. "Are comms back up?" he asked.

"Negative, it's from the station." She said he walked back over to the communications station.

"Put it on." He said and the face of a Batarian showed up.

"Turian vessel, you may like to know that I am no holding 12 scientists and 3 of your boarding party. You are to cease and desist and vacate the area or I will kill the prisoners." He stated. Maridus didn't take threats lightly, especially those from Batarians.

He narrowed his gaze at the Batarian. "You attacked a Turian station inside Turian space, if you kill them I will destroy that station and then I will personally lead the empire in destroying that despicable planet you come from." He growled. It was not an idle threat; the Empire was likely to take this as an act of war no matter what the Hegemony said anyway.

The Batarian, however, simply brushed off his threat. "I think not." He replied simply. "You have one hour." The screen when black and Ruvio looked to him.

"Get me Victus." He said and turned to the team who was looking over the stations experiments. "Do you have anything yet?" he asked referring to anything of value that the Batarians would want. He shook his head and Ruvio got Victus on her Omni-tool. "General, we have a problem." He stated.

Victus and Sidda were in the process of trying to dig themselves out of their hole, checking for access panels and other passages out. So far nothing. His Omni-tool beeped incessantly until he tapped it revealing Maridus and his message. Victus scoffed to Maridus' comment. "Just one?" he replied.

Maridus quickly rattled off the new problem and Sidda cursed. "I don't know who's unaccounted for." He said and the officer he had working on the classified information scurried over to him handing him a data pad. "Stand by." He quickly read the screen and cackled in disbelief, this was going from bad to worse. "Sir, you're not going to believe this…along with that wonderfully destructive Warp field, this station had two other main experiments, a Mass effect field to block any and all life signs which obviously works and Black Hole Device. If I blow up that station like I just threatened too I'd take the entire damn galaxy with it."

"Still think this wasn't sanctioned by the Hegemony?" Sidda asked and Victus had to agree.

"Who is unaccounted for?" Maridus asked.

"Balin, Pelonis, and Cerrus' team." He replied. "Nov's on his way to find them, keep me apprised. Victus out." He said quickly and brought up Nov telling him exactly what Maridus just told him.


Nov and Rajin had found Balin and Pelonis and starting to render aid when Victus called them with the new problem, or rather, same problem just with a twist. They were the only ones free to find Cerrus since Sidda and Victus were still stuck. They checked pulses and headed off.

"God damn, fucking, four-eyed, big headed, ugly fucking Batarians." Sidda bitched and Victus cocked his head to her. She was irritated and he knew that. The Batarians had been the bane of her existence for a long time, today was no different.

"Well, if it's any consolation I don't think they like you either." He replied and she gave him a glare.

There was no way out of this pit. Why was it even here? The flooring didn't come up, the access points were ventilation points that neither of them could squeeze into the only thing that opened a possibility was the way they came down, the broken, cockeyed, catwalk. She saw Victus looking at it and could see the wheels turning in the seasoned General's mind. "What are you looking at?" she asked standing next to him.

"Our way out." He said and she looked at the gap of 20 plus feet from them to the jagged grate.

That wasn't a way out, not without a rope, latter, spring board, whatever. "Yeah, Honey, I can't jump that high." She stated and he smirked.

"Well without a running start, neither can I." he stated and Sidda fell off his thought train.

"So if neither one of us can reach that, how is that our way out, oh Fearless Leader?" she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

"Bring it down with something." He replied.

"With what? My good looks?" she asked rising her tone slightly.

Victus huffed and scowled at her. "You're the biotic, do something."

Leave it to him to remind her that she was a biotic. In her frustration, she forgot that she might have something of use. She said nothing due to her embarrassment to which Victus simply chuckled. He could think of worse things than being stuck down here with her. Too bad they had pressing matters or he'd finish what he started earlier.

Sidda surveyed the catwalk thinking of what to use. She'd give her right arm for Pull right about now, that was one she didn't have and until now had no desire for. Her most powerful power was Warp but she didn't know what it was going to do, if anything. "Alright stand clear." She said and Victus moved over to stand near her, probably the safest place. She stood off to the left of the catwalk under the upper part. She mustered the blue ball in her right hand and released it at the base that was still attached hoping to weaken it slightly. Nothing happened and she cursed. She thought of something else and didn't change her position mustering a Singularity and sending it to meet the other mass effect field. There was a bright blue explosion as the unstable fields touched. The damaged catwalk shook and dropped a few feet.

"Hit it again." Victus said and she turned to look to look at him.

"You sure? If that thing comes down we're screwed." She replied but his order remained. He didn't have to say anything and she turned back to the inanimate target. She repeated the process, the catwalk shoot again, violently and dropped down more with the sound of scraping and contorting metal.

Victus got closer to judge the height and decided that was close enough at around 10 feet. It had to do because anymore and they risked bringing the thing down on their heads. "Alright, come on." He said and crouched down as she put her left hand on his right shoulder placing her left foot in his hands. She got a grip on the carapace of his armor and he stood to his full height with like she wasn't even there. She grabbed the grate and he pushed her up onto it.

The metal creaked and whined painfully as she crawled up it locking her fingers in the holes. When she got far enough up Victus demonstrated that Turians could just a good distance from a standstill. With the prowess of a cat he leapt up grabbing the grate with his claws and hauled the rest of himself up. The catwalk swayed with his weight and creaked and scraped. He lingered for a moment hoping it would hold a little longer, Sidda scurried up the weakened metal reaching above her head to grab the relatively undamaged portion of the walkway near the opposite door she pulled herself to something solid as Victus came up as quick as he could without bringing the whole thing down. She offered him her hand bit he didn't take it.

The lab was still burning and she hoped the Black Hole Device was shielded and unaffected by the catastrophic explosion that put them in this mess otherwise this whole thing was moot. The weakened, half broken walkway separated them from reaching the lost Phaeston, Victus', lost when he did a header into the railing.


Rajin blocked the pain out of her mind, she broke something probably a rib or two or three. Nov was worried about her but kept it to himself, now was not the time or place and he knew her, she wouldn't let pain stop her.

Victus and Sidda made their way through the now lit station corridor. They sped up to a trot when they saw two men down. Victus went to Pelonis and Sidda knelt down next to Balin. Balin stirred and let out a groan of pain. There was blood coming from his nose and he didn't look too well.

"Easy, easy." Sidda said and stopped him from moving too much beyond laying him on his back.

"Sergeant?" Victus asked seeing if Pelonis was able to come to. Pelonis startled and immediately regretted the sharp movements. "You alright, Soldier?" he asked helping him sit up.

Pelonis groaned and collected his thoughts. "Yes, Sir."

The Omni-tool beeped to life and Victus grumbled tapping it. "Go ahead."

"Sir, you might want to get up here." Nov stated quickly.

Sidda looked up from assessing Balin, Nov's tone said it all. "Go." She said and Victus didn't question it. "I'll stay with them."

"No." Pelonis stated scooting over to lean against the wall. "You two go I'll stay with him." He said and Sidda looked at him concerned for his injuries also. "I'm fine, Commander, go."

With that Sidda and Victus headed up to the next level finding Nov and Rajin holding position outside.

"Rajin, get back down to Balin and Pelonis." Victus ordered and she looked at him not too happy with his decision. She opened her mouth to protest then remembered who she was talking to. Victus gave an order and that was the end of it. She nodded her response and headed back down to the previous level.

"It's locked and I haven't come across Tyr and or anyone else so I'm assuming they're in there." Nov said and Victus took in the report from Nov.

Victus was silent for a moment. "Think you can hack it?" he asked and Nov blinked, of course he could.

"Uhh, yeah, but don't we risk them killing everyone in there?" he clarified and Sidda looked to Victus then to Nov

"Well, if we don't and they get their hands on that Black Hole Device this end of the galaxy is in some serious fucking shit." She stated and that was it in a nutshell.

"If it even works." Nov replied and Sidda gave him a huff.

"Well, how about we assume that it does, do you really want to risk the Batarians getting it?" she asked and Nov understood her point.

"Point taken." Nov conceded. "So, exactly how do we do this without losing everyone in there?"

Sidda looked over at Victus. "The floor is open."

"Maintenance shaft." Victus said after a long quiet moment then got up quietly heading back down the way they came with Sidda and Nov in tow. He led them back to the opening off the side of the walkway and gestured to it. Sidda missed it on the way in; lucky for them Victus was on the ball.

"But where does it lead?" Nov pondered out loud the same question the rest were wondering. It did them no good if the shaft exposed them or lead them astray.


Maridus left the CIC long enough to put his armor on, he treated it like a Combat drop and had his armor on in under a minute. "Major." His comm beeped.

It was Ruvio, what was it now? This mission was starting to suck on countless levels. "What is it, Zara?" he asked arming himself, if they got the opportunity to get on the station he wanted to lead it and not waste time prepping himself later.

"We picked up a LADAR ping on the edge of our sense horizon." She said and he hoped it was one of theirs.

"Turian?"

"I wish." She replied reflecting the same irritation he was feeling. "VI paints it as a Batarian Frigate."

Maridus knew that was coming and shook his head. "I'm on my way back up. Have them keep working on the comms." He said and slammed the locker shut heading out and getting back up the CIC as quick as he could. "Spirits, what next?" he mumbled.

"All hands to battle stations." He heard Ruvio's voice say over the intercom.

Maridus headed up to the CIC and heaved a sigh. "Zara, range?"

Ruvio looked over her shoulder. "Almost within weapons range." She replied. "They seem to holding back."

"Holding position outside weapons range…sounds like they're not sure if they want to take us on." Maridus added. "This doesn't make sense, damnit, they gotta know we're not going to cut and run."

His Omni-tool beeped to life and he tapped it quickly. "Go ahead."

"Damar, we need a sematic of the station, more specifically a secondary way into the living quarters." Victus said and Maridus took his eyes away from the monitor showing the Batarian vessel approaching.

He moved over to a station and tapped a few keys on the console bringing up a detailed image of the science station. Whatever Victus needed would be in there. "I'm sending it to your Omni-tool, General, I can't help you right now." Maridus stated. "I'm about to have my hands full with Batarian Frigate."

Victus paused and looked down at his omni-tool. "Frigate? Is it flying Hegemony colors?"

Maridus didn't know that, at least not yet. "I don't know, Sir, I'll have to ask them but I'm going to have to let you go because I'm about become very busy." He said and tapped the comm off.

"Sir, I've got comms up." An engineer said quickly. Finally some good news, not like it would help this situation too much.

"Send a message to Palaven Command. Apprise them of the situation and request aid." Maridus babbled out quickly while heading up look over the shoulder of Ruvio.

"Batarian vessel within weapons range." Ruvio stated.

"Hail them." He said. "Batarian vessel, this is the PFS Lante, you are in violation of Turian space and on direct approach to a Hierarchy station. Alter course and leave our space immediately or you will be fired on. I repeat, do not approach the station. Stand down and return to your space."

Alarms went off after a few moments of tense silence. "They're increasing speed, Major, and charging weapons." Ruvio informed.

Maridus shook his head at the stupidity of the Batarians. They were so eager to wage war against the Humans they were going to spark a conflict with the Turians. "Stupid bastards." He hissed. "Target their drive core. Do not let them reach that station."


With Maridus busy with a space battle, Victus, Sidda, and Nov had to move quickly. They hovered over Victus' Omni-tool getting a look at where that particular shaft led. The device they were after, one of them anyway, was still working and blocking all life signs. The best they could do was guess.

"Look at that, come out right here, under the floor." Nov said.

Sidda noticed a large room to the rear of the living quarters. "It's still a huge risk. Look at that room," she said pointing to the open space. "that's where I'd be, hard to get to without being seen."

"It's a chance we have to take, Sid, we can't wait around all day for this." Victus said and she heaved a sigh. "We're going to have to be quick, very quick no misses." They watched as Victus tapped his Omni-tool. "Rajin, get up here."

After a minute or two Rajin appeared, gingerly walking but she tried her damnedest to hide it. "Yes, Sir?" There was a moment as Victus looked the Lieutenant up and down, her demeanor was pained but he knew the medic well enough to know she wouldn't sit it out. He explained his plan to the three of them. It was simple. Sneak in and get into position then snipe the bad guys.

"Deliah, are you up for this?" Sidda asked also noticing the same pained look that the others noticed.

"The next person who asks me that is going to get shot." She replied annoyed and Nov let out a chuckle. "Let's get this done."

The four of them headed down the ever narrowing maintenance shaft, when it stopped Victus looked up. There was nothing above them but without a better look he couldn't be sure where everyone else was. The grate covering the shaft lifted straight off. That was going to be a bitch to do so silently. He gestured to Nov to lift the opposite side so they could get the cover off.

Not even a peep was heard as Nov and Victus demonstrated the definition of stealth. They carefully removed the access grate. No sound was heard, the metal was very gently set off to the side by Victus and he was the first out of the access shaft. Nov gestured for Sidda to go next; Sidda lifted herself out of the shaft and quickly and quietly rolled off to the side taking cover behind a wall near Victus. She peered around the corner to see into the room she had been so worried about.

Victus noticed she had been right; there were exactly where she had said they were. Rajin followed Nov out of the shaft lifting her broken body out feeling shooting pain through her body. She stifled a painful yelp and Nov looked down at her, he noticed her pained look and helped get her out of the shaft and over to the cover across from Victus without making noise.

Nov looked from her Victus across the hall. Nothing needed to be said but Victus was concerned for how this would play out if Rajin gave it all away. Rajin caught Victus' gaze and nodded as the pain subsided within her.

The four of them surveyed the other room. There were about 6 Batarians and three dead ones, they could see Cerrus on his knees in the middle of the room, they could see blood on his armor and could see what could have been Masso and Kalvaris. Victus gestured to Rajin and Nov to take the Batarians on their side. If somebody missed this could get hairy. The four of them readied their weapons and on Victus' count ambushed the pirates bent on starting a war.

Precise shots rang out of their weapons taking heads off. It was head shots or nothing; put them down fast and permanently. The captured scientists let out a scream as they ducked for cover. There was actually eight hostage takers and Nov took down one as Rajin hit two in rapid succession.

Victus and Sidda took out the first ones that crossed their path and Sidda saw what was probably the lead Pirate turn his gun on Cerrus, she aimed her Phaeston tightly and fired twice. The Batarians head disappeared and the room fell silent as the last man fell.

"Clear?" they heard Rajin asked. Despite her obviously injured state she actually made it further into the living quarters than anyone one else.

"Clear." Victus replied. "Nov, get the door."

Cerrus locked eyes with Sidda, she saved him. He took his eyes away from her and looked at the body still unconscious by the wall. "Check on Masso. Kalvaris, are you okay?" he said getting to his feet. His hands were bound behind his back but Nov paused at him before heading to the door. He placed his Omni-tool on the link for the cuffs and let his cipher do its thing. After a second or two the cuffs unlocked and dropped to the floor. Cerrus patted his friends arm and Nov headed toward the door.

Rajin made her way over to the still unconscious body of Masso, Kalvaris was awake and seemed to be okay but something was amiss with Masso.

"Tyr, you okay?" Victus asked as the Taetrus native looked to Victus.

"Yes, Sir." He replied and looked down as Sidda who was tending the dead Batarians collecting their weapons. "Commander." He said and she looked up at him. "Thank you."

Sidda replied with a slight nod. It was strange getting a compliment or a thank you from him; it was like hell freezing over.


The Lante shook as the Batarian frigate returned fire and connected with the Mass Effect barriers. This fight wasn't going to be very long, they may have both been frigates but the Lante definitely outclassed the Batarian one.

"Hail them." Maridus said, he was giving the frigate one last chance to bug out. "Batarian Frigate, stand down or you will be destroyed." The ship shook again as the Batarians fired on them again. It took a few more shots from the Lante to bring down the defenses on the Batarian Frigate. The Turians built ships to kick ass and the Lante was one of best frigates in the fleet, second to the aging Ramora. The drive core was hit and the Batarian frigate was left as vulnerable as could be.

"Frigates drive core's hit all weapons and barriers off line." Ruvio said and looked to Maridus.

"Hail them again." He said. "Batarian vessel, surrender your vessel and prepare to be boarded or you will be dest-…" his transmission was cut off as the ship that had defeated exploded. The frigate exploded and the Lante rocked from the shockwave and caused a few alarms to go off. "I said hail them, not shoot them."

Ruvio was innocent and held up her hands. "It wasn't us, Major, it self-destructed." She said and flipped a few buttons then looked up at him.


The station didn't escape the shockwave from the ship, it shook enough to unbalance everyone and Victus steadied Sidda as she fell into him. "Always safe in his arms." Sidda thought to herself and allowed a smile.

"Maridus, what's going on?" Victus asked his hands still on Sidda.

"The Frigate destroyed itself, Sir, rather than be taken." He replied and Victus was surprised to hear his voice coming from the comms not the Omni-tool. "How are things going over there?" he asked.

"Station's secure." Victus replied. "We need medics and engineers over here." He said and turned his attention to the scientists they just rescued.

"Doctor…" he began and realized he didn't know the lead Turian scientists name.

"Paigius." She said and approached the General, relieved to see them. She was average height with what looked like the same markings that Victus had.

"Dr. Paigius, my name is Gen. Victus, I'm afraid we made a mess of your station." Victus said and small Turian female could see that but hardly blamed it all on Victus and his rescue party.

"Oh I hardly think this is all your fault, Gen. Victus." She replied to him and shook the General's hand. "Thank you."

"No, it's all his…" Sidda stated gesturing to Nov. "he flipped the switch."

Nov stood up straight and glowered at his friend. "Yes…I knew exactly what was going to happen when I pressed that button, and in spite of that I did it anyway." He sniped.

"Yes…thanks a lot Nov." Cerrus added and Nov rolled his eyes to their teasing.

"What happened here, anyway?" Sidda asked and the Turian female looked to Victus. Victus nodded to her, whatever classified information was already out of the bag and that was something he was going to punished dearly for.

"The Batarians breached the station with a small shuttle. They were very well coordinated and took the station pretty quickly. But they tripped the failsafe when they tried to hack the VI with their shuttle." She said and Nov cocked his head to her.

"Failsafe?" he asked.

"When the VI detected the hack it sent a feedback into their system causing a chain reaction in their shuttles system. Originally, the feedback is designed to short out Omni-tools and computers to prevent tampering. Apparently the shuttle couldn't handle it." She explained and Nov closed his eyes dropping his head.

"And when they tripped the failsafe the VI put the entire station into secure mode focusing on life support and protecting the lab." Nov said finally realizing what had happened. "I should have seen it; I should have brought the power back up one system at a time instead of all at once. I caused a power surge that destabilized the safety protocols in the lab." He said and Dr. Paigius cocked her head to him.

"You bypassed the system and brought it back online?" she asked and Nov nodded.

"Yeah. See told ya." Sidda said. "His fault."

Paigius shook her head looking the red faced Turian up and down. "No. No. I'm impressed. For a Combat Engineer you're good." She said and Sidda narrowed her eyes. It sounded like she was flirting with him.

Nov caught the tone along with everyone else and looked to Sidda and Rajin. "See that. I'm good and I'm impressive." He smirked and they both narrowed their eyes to him.

"Get outta here." Sidda said in the same tone as she did in the locker room earlier. "I'll punch him for ya, Deliah, if you're not feeling up to it."

"No, I'll just shoot him." She replied as her Omni-tool hovered over Masso. "Vehl's gonna be okay. Just a concussion, he'll be fine but we should get back to Holum just in case."

Victus' head was pounding, between going head first into the deck railing and then a 40 foot fall he was beginning to feel his age. "Yep…concussions all around." He said. "Thorrin is gonna be a very busy man very soon." He added, and scanned the room deciding now was the time to get back to giving orders and getting the hell off this station so he could camp in Holum's bay until his brain stopped pounding.

He wasn't looking forward to the debriefing with Command, allowing Sidda access to classified data was going to royally piss off the Primarch.