I don't own Mass Effect, nor will I profit from this story.


Chapter 9: The Repetition

I sat in a chair and contemplated the strangeness of life, specifically the dichotomy of the rich and the poor. It's a strange thing to be thinking about when you're eating lunch, I know, but the damn chair had started it.

Put simply, it was the most uncomfortable chair I had ever had the displeasure to sit in.

And when you've sat on freezing, warped, and splintered bleachers at a football game in the middle of a midwestern blizzard, you know you've got some pretty good competition in that category. There was just enough padding to tease you without actually providing any softness, the seating part of it was.. rippled I suppose, in such a way that you had to adjust yourself every few moments. The armrests were too far apart for anyone but a Krogan to really use, and the back jutted forwards in such a way that you couldn't lean back unless you felt like suffering.

"You know.." I whispered quietly so that only Trena and Nynsi could hear me, not that there was anyone else there in either case."My couch cost me two hundred credits."

Trena made a strangled sound while Nynsi scowled, her voice prim. "That is not the point, Cieran."

"Uh huh. Would you rather be sitting on that chair, or on my couch?" I smirked in satisfaction when she didn't answer immediately, "That's what I thought."

We'd all arrived at Xerol's mansion-slash-palace-slash-fortress about an hour before noon after receiving messages to be there promptly for a lunch-time briefing of our first assignment. Xerol had politely welcomed us into his home, and then left us in a dining room the size of my entire apartment... where Trena and I had discovered the chairs.

"He has to be punishing us for something," Trena groused as her fingers tore apart a loaf of bread, sending crumbs flying over her, me, and everything in general. "What did you do ape?"

"Can't think of anything." I didn't think he'd be this petty really, after our talk at the shop. Of course, it was entirely possible that hey were simple fashionable, or that he somehow thought they were comfortable."I was sure you'd said something stupid. Again."

She rolled her eyes but focused on getting through her food before she spoke, "You're the one sleeping with his niece, ape."

"We have not been." Nynsi carefully cut open a fruit, every movement exact to rub in her superior manners. "He has insisted on sleeping on the couch."

I had to slap my boss, well, one of my bosses now, hard on the back to dislodge the bit of bread that she'd just inhaled.

"You.. what!?" She chocked out the moment she could.

"You know, you really look like a fish right now scales. With your mouth gaping like that. Maybe you shou-dammit!" I was cut off by a brief flash of blue light and the scent ozone as my chair rocketed out from under me. I managed to avoid banging anything onto the table by luck more than skill, but still managed to land right on my damn gun.

"Mother fucking..." I groaned from my new place on the floor, grabbing at the new knot of pain on my lower back. "Athame's ass, that fucking hurt you tit!"

Nynsi sighed heavily at the pair of us, calmly continuing to peel her fruit. "Must you both be so uncouth? I swear."

"Sorry we're not perfect like you princess." Trena diverted her attention for only a second before rounding back on me, "You've been sleeping on the couch? Here I was finally starting to respect you!"

My Batarian... I don't know what we really were to each other at this point, friends at least, probably more but I was still hesitant to go there in my head, came to my rescue. "He has also made me breakfast while I showered, though I am less sure of his fascination with opening doors for me."

Trena rolled her eyes, "It's a human thing, apparently pretty old fashioned. I knew a guy on the Citadel that was like that. He was ancient, by human standards at least, but was the most polite little thing. Kind of creeped me out to be honest."

"A human thing." Nynsi murmured. "Do you know what it means?"

I slowly got to my feet, eying the loathsome chair. "You know I'm still here right?"

Typically, they both ignored me. Which was probably better than refereeing to be fair. "That you're a lady or some shit. You'd have to look it up." More crumbs started flying, as she apparently got over her choking experience.

"A lady.." Her full lips pursed as I again tried to find a way to sit in the torture device disguised as a chair without hurting myself, "..how interesting."

Trena grunted around another mouthful of food, "Seriously though, he's not bad for a human. Why haven't you just jumped him yet?"

"That is not something I am willing to discuss with you."

The Asari's expressive eyes rolled backwards, "Oh please. You've been all over the ape since he didn't fall for your attempt at murder. Just rip your clothes off in front of him and say you're making up for the trouble."

My cheeks started to heat up at that, and I very pointedly kept my gaze on my own fruit slices.

"It is not about that." Nynsi practically spat back, "He has already forgiven me for my.. lapse in judgment."

"He's an idiot sometimes." Her head tilted with a shoulder rising, "Case in point, he hasn't ravished you yet. I'm not hearing you deny that you'd be willing."

"As I said, I will not talk about my sex life with you!"

"Athame's ass you're uptight!" A half eaten bit of bread bounced off her plate, "Fine, I'll drop it, whatever. There are days when I just don't get you ape."

The rest of our light snacking passed quietly. Or at least, what passed for quietly with both women sniping at each other every couple of minutes, mostly thanks to Trena's eating habits.

Thankfully Xerol returned before either of them felt like drawing a weapon. To Nynsi's hastily suppressed annoyance he didn't comment, or even glance at, the mess we left behind, instead leading us out into the hall. After guiding us past several pieces of hideous art that probably cost more each than most skycars, we were led into a small conference room.

Aethyta and Ghai were already there, the former pacing while the later sat as quietly as ever.

"Sit your asses down." the Matriarch jerked her chin at the strangely simple table. Though the chairs proved to be generic and mass manufactured, I couldn't help but sigh almost in contentment as I sat. "We don't have much of a window here, so I'm not going to bother with the flowery shit. You're hitting a True Sons warehouse in two days, along with whatever else Xerol can spare. I've got word that they're moving illegal goods through there, and that the buyer will be on sight."'

I frowned, puzzling over that. Illegal goods? What the hell is illegal on Illium? Drugs are legal with the right permit, same for guns smaller than cruise missiles, they've got their own slaves in their indentured servitude system... wait..

"Kean, you figured out what we're hitting?" Aethyta fixed me with a hard look.

My tongue ran over my dry lips before I spoke, "This is Illium. Almost everything is legal for a price... but not open slavery. Indentured Servitude is bullshit, but you have to willingly sign a contract to be stuck in it. They're bringing in slaves from somewhere else on the cheap and selling them as indentured persons for a profit, aren't they?"

Trena sucked in a long breath, her eyes going hard. Nynsi and Xerol seemed far less affected, though how much of that was because of their culture, or them just being more jaded about this kind of thing, I wasn't sure.

"Not bad kid. They're bringing them in from the Terminus somewhere. While you lot are dealing with them here, I'll be following up on that."

"Alone?" Nynsi's upper eyes blinked furiously.

Aethyta's muscled arms flexed slightly as her mouth twitched, "I'll have armor, credits, and food. Athame's ass this won't even compare to tracking down a warlord on Tuchanka with nothing but an overheated pistol... bah, those were the days."

There was a deep chuckle before Xerol spoke, "Don't worry Nynsi, that old hag won't die on you right when you've managed to get away from me." Her teal skin flushed to a deep maroon, but she kept her mouth firmly closed as her uncle continued on. "The setup for this is simple. Thanks to a few well placed sources, the warehouse in question will be transferred to my name a few minutes before we move in."

Which means we suddenly have legal rights to kill everyone inside for using his property for... nefarious purposes. Still though...

"Won't that tip them off about... well, us being against them?" I frowned. "Or you at least?"

"I'm sure they're already aware of your actions at Forever by now. If not, they're more incompetent than even I gave them credit for." His expensive suit's shoulders rose and fell, "And where my niece is involved, I am."

Nynsi grumbled something too quiet for me to hear.

"And there is a level of protection. The building itself is owned by the Asari government, I am merely going to be leasing it to store my products. Your arrival will be a fortuitous event." He gave another shrug as the rest of us stared disbelievingly at him. "Flimsy, I know. But it may be enough for them to elect to simply make a punitive move, rather than attempt open fighting."

"Here's to hoping." I muttered, shaking my head as the magnitude of what we were walking into hit me.

"You'll be going in with three of my teams, it should give us more than enough personnel to deal with them."

"If the pyjaks there are as poorly equipped as the rest of the idiots were, it'll be overkill." Aethyta sort of shrugged in her people's way, hardly seeming to be concerned. "Reminds me, those old bitches on Thessia came through, finally. I want you all to get some armor and upgrades. Xero'll get you the preliminaries, be back here by this time day of."

Trena grunted, already opening up her omni-tool. "Deal's at night then?"

"Around eight. Figure two hour transit."

"Figure an hour to get everyone loaded up, another one to go over the plan, two hours to get us there," My boss nodded slowly, "We know who the buyers are?"

"If I did I'd have Illium Security doing this." Aethyta didn't have to work hard to sound disgusted, "But I can't risk sending them in to have someone there who can order them to turn their blue asses back around."

"Fucking Illium." The mutter was practically reflex. Three months here.. ugh.. all it takes apparently. "Who's in command?" I tried to make it clear that I didn't want it to be me. If Aethyta was suspicious of me, and I didn't doubt for a moment that she was, the worst thing I could do was try to angle to be put in any sort of leadership role.

"Trena's leading this." My friend blinked rapidly as her mouth twitched open before shutting with an audible click. "Little Shaaryak, you're running the three of you if she has to divert."

Nynsi's black eyes flickered slightly at the nickname, but inclined her head respectfully all the same. "Uncle, who are you sending with us?"

"Marn and Re'hat. You'll have a dozen guns between their teams." His cane thumped once onto the floor, "Trena, I'll get you the particulars in a few hours."

"Thanks." There was a long sigh as she frowned at what was already scrolling on her wrist, "You just had to put me in charge, didn't you?"

"It was you or Ghai." Xerol's voice turned dry as he gave his guard a slight nod, "And as much as I adore you my dear, you've made your feelings on leading others abundantly clear."

Ghai gave him a little smile, apparently quite satisfied with herself.

"Right." Trena chuckled, "Ape, you and your girl can go ahead and get out of here. You need some actual armor, and find a tech mine launcher for your omni-tool while you're at it."

"Already on my list." I reminded her patiently, rising up and tucking my chair in. "I'd rather not have to use both of my hands to throw the damn things."

Nynsi patted my arm, "You did quite well, but I would rather you be able to shoot at the same time as well."

We both nodded respectfully to Aethyta and Xerol before leaving. I took half a step after the door closed, stopped, backed up, and offered her my arm. She gave me a long look before almost casually accepting it, guiding me through the place until we reached the reinforced patio where her car was resting.

"So, where are we going?" I asked after we'd gotten in, and I'd gotten another look for opening and closing her door for her.

"Nos Astra." We both settled back after she finished programming in our destination, "Did you check how much we received?"

"Nope. Think I should? ...You have very pretty eyes." Her glare, if anything, intensified until I threw up my hands in defeat and brought up my omni-tool. "Let's see, recent payment of ten... ten..."

"Say it with me, ten.. thousand." Nynsi's voice was teasing, "Though I would recommend we try and save most of that for work on your actual armor."

"I... ah... yeah, right." Ten thousand freaking credits.. Athame's sacred ass.. "Didn't... she say this was a stipend?"

"I highly doubt that we will receive additional payments of ten thousand."

I gave her a slight glare, "Yes, I've never had this much money to my name before. Rub it in."

Her right hand reached across to pat me gently on the leg, which was probably the closest I'd get to an apology. "I know a few places where we can get a slight discount. And you already have a weapon, so that will save you a few credits. Have you thought about upgrades?"

We spent the remainder of the trip debating about the best way to modify my gun. Much like the Tempest, the little Watcher Twenty-Four was full auto only, and we both agreed that a recoil dampener was a must. After that though, we couldn't really agree. She thought I should look into a high performance barrel, I was leaning more towards putting in an upgraded heat sink.

I didn't end up deciding until we were at the kiosk, the poor Salarian teller monstrously confused at the notion of a human and a Batarian shopping together.

"Are you sure?" She asked for what seemed like the tenth time.

Long fingered hands quickly pushed my purchases across the counter. A Thessian made dampener and a pair of extended heat sinks from Elanus Risk Control didn't even come out to five hundred, so I'd topped it off with a few ammo blocks of inferno rounds.

"Yup." I thanked him politely, trying not to smile as he tried to subtly shoo us out. "I don't want to go all out. Like you said, I've got to save up for my actual project. It's not like I can even hold the Watcher with it on."

She chuckled, wrapping one arm around my waist as I did the same for her, though I was careful not to touch her spine. She'd quietly admonished me for doing so when we'd gotten out of the car, her slight flush making it clear that that part of her back was... sensitive.

In less embarrassing news, I'd picked up on the fact that she found the crowd's reaction to us highly amusing, though she of course affected to not notice. For the most part, the Asari dominated crowd was content to chuckle in bemusement, maybe stare a bit, and then move on. The few Batarians we encountered typically looked as though they were about to charge over and murder me for my presumptuousness, only to draw up short on seeing Nynsi giving them a death glare. Even out here in Nos Astra, it seemed, the face of Xerol's niece was known.

That or Batarians just have some way of telling who is from what caste at a glance.. they probably do, come to think of it.

It wasn't all amusing though, and it was my own species that was to blame for that. And unlike Nyn I couldn't just stare them down to make them back off.

The first had been funny enough. The overweight businessman had had to be frantically grabbed my an Asari matron before he'd walked right into the thin rail at the end of a platform. She'd saved him from very long fall, but he'd barely even stammered out an apology to the annoyed woman before resuming gaping at us as we passed. After that, we'd hit the first few shops, mostly picking up a few little things that seemed to amuse her (She, after all, was hardly on a budget, though she avoided touching the money Aethyta had sent).

On the way to the stall where I'd bought my equipment had been where I'd gotten my first taste of outright bigotry.

A young Caucasian man, a Maiden hanging off his side, had sneered at us, very loudly praising how beautiful his date's eyes were. The vapid little thing had giggled her head off, though her smile faded a bit after Nynsi openly regarded her dress, what little of it she was wearing, before pointedly turning away. It had to have been a female thing, because they pair quickly departed.

Unfortunately, not everyone was so easily dissuaded. Most of them just paused and stared, a few muttered things I was happier not to hear. In that the Asari dominated crowd was likely working in my favor, the few humans that might have said something far more loudly if we'd been on Earth or even the Citadel were far more nervous about trying to start anything when surrounded by aliens.

Not all of the taunting was verbal though. While we were eating at a cafe, one particularly annoying woman had kept trying to get my attention. Continuously tossing her long hair and leaning heavily forwards whenever I so much as turned in that direction.

"Seriously... two other human men here, both with Asari." I muttered, my fork and knife viciously slicing into my cut of fish, "And she picks me to irritate."

Nynsi casually swirled her drink in its glass, "Are you regretting being here with me?"

I gave her a long look before standing up, letting my chair skid back loudly, before pointedly walking around the table to stand next to her. She regarded me levelly, but there was a hint of a grin on her mouth when I took her chin firmly in between my thumb and forefinger before bending down to press my lips to hers. It wasn't a long one, but it made my point while my other hand rose up to flip off the cat-callers. There as a very satisfied smirk on my face as I headed back to my own chair, which only grew wider at the green tinge on the human woman's face.

Of course, after we'd had to deal with giggling and whispering Asari shooting us continuous looks, but that was a lot easier to ignore.

After lunch we'd stopped by another kiosk to pick up a tech mine launcher for my omni-tool, which had turned out to be a simple box of a device that hooked onto my belt. It would hold several dozen of the little mines and was already loaded with the software to link to the smaller device on my wrist. Not that I wasn't about to start messing with it the moment I got to the shop tomorrow morning, but it was at least a place to start.

"Now, all that is left is your armor." Her hand squeezed my arm gently by way of reproof, and I sheepishly stopped flicking through the manual of my newest purchase. "Have you put any thought into it?"

"It's going to have be fairly light." I winced slightly at the idea. I'd rather have the heaviest armor I could carry, but unfortunately... well, for one I still wasn't really built enough to manage that. And for another, "I'm going to have to be able to wear it while I'm in the exoskeleton."

"That will rather limit your options." She guided me into a small mall that reminded me of Zakera ward, even some of the shops looked to be the same. Her head inclined towards two of them in particular,"Hahne-Kador or Elanus?"

"Hahne-Kador's not supposed to be half bad when it comes to armor."

Less than an hour later I was awkwardly carrying out a case containing a full Mantis pattern set of armor, along with a pair of shielding upgrades. It had cost me more than I'd hoped, but less than I'd feared. Overall though, it still left me hoping that real life wasn't like the first game when it came to having to constantly upgrade.

"What about you?"

My companion shrugged as we slowly started heading back towards the parking zone where we'd left her skycar. "Did you really think that I did not already have suitable equipment?"

"Well I figured you'd have armor, and your tooled up guns, but didn't know if you needed anything else."

"I could do with a home cooked meal... possibly served to me by a handsome and noble human."

I let my lips twitch into a smile while my cheeks burned a bit at the compliment. "Well, I don't know about the handsome and noble part, but I can handle the home cooked meal."

She chuckled, "Well then, let us be on our way."

A day and a half later found me getting suited up with everyone else, trying not to show how nervous I was. Nobody else seemed all that bothered by what was coming later in the day, which only painfully reinforced just how new I was at this whole fighting thing.

We were setup in one of the garage's at Xerol's mansion, a small flotilla of skycars being inspected by his own mechanics while the rest of us ran our last minute checks.

Trena was standing next to Xerol, Aethyta had apparently already headed off world, going over the building's plans for the hundredth time. A good dozen plus Batarians, men and women, were all present. Their medium and heavy armor did make me a bit jealous, especially given that pretty much all of it looked far sturdier than my own slim plating. Only Ghai and Trena were also in light armor, but theirs was obviously higher end gear, and I idly wondered where they'd gotten it. Nynsi had proven true to her statements, wearing what she said was the Batarian knock-off of the Alliance's Titan pattern.

Thankfully I'd been able to handle the modifications on my own, which did a little bit to alleviate my worries about being useless. Trena had even trusted me enough, and I'm sure it was over Xerol's objections, to go over most of the team's weapons to make sure there weren't any problems.

Of course, it would have helped if someone hadn't told a few of them to obviously make some mistakes. I let out a long sigh as I triple checked that my omni-tool had a firm connection to both my armor and the tech launcher. Wonder how many tests like that I'm going to have to go through... let's just hope there wasn't something that I missed. I'm sure someone in this crowd has orders to keep an eye on me...

"All right you lot," Trena's strong voice cut through the quiet chatter, and did wonders to distract me from the paranoid thoughts that had begun to snowball. "Get your asses over here."

I managed to get close enough to lean on the holographic table, Ghai and Nynsi moving to flank me while everyone else crowded in.

"True Sons warehouse is the usual Illium pattern. Big, but not many ways in an out." her eyes hit Nynsi and the other two squad leaders, "Now, we don't want these fuckers getting away, or even getting a transmission out. The jammers are in the cars, so we're going to have to land like so."

Xerol, as impressive a figure as ever in his immaculately white suit, carefully manipulated the holographic emitters. A wire-frame of the warehouse and surrounding area popped into place above the table, six red boxes glowing dimly where we'd apparently be putting down.

"Once we set down we're going to have to haul our asses, they'd have to be total morons not to have somebody on lookout. Re'hat, I want your sharpshooters split up and put here, and here." She gestured at a pair of taller buildings that probably had good line of sight. "Anyone not us trying to get in or out, take them down." Said sharpshooters both revealed their sharpened teeth, one of them practically caressing his weapon. "Since you'll be down two men, you're on door duty once we get inside. The main gate is yours, keep it shut."

"Just don't hog them all to yourself." Re'hat Shaaryak, apparently one of Xerol's much younger cousins, spoke up. His voice was gravelly even by Batarian standards, and when he tilted his head to the left slightly I could see a few thin scars on his throat. "Herd a few our way would you?"

"No promises. Marn," An unlovely Batarian woman with thick scars crisscrossing her face glanced up, "You're on search and destroy. The True Sons inside are yours. Sweep right from the main entrance and make sure that these doors are shut and sealed," said doors highlighted themselves at Xerol's command, "After that, stick together."

Marn nodded with a soft grunt. "Prisoners?"

"Not interested." I bit my tongue slightly to avoid twitching. I was all for taking these guys down, but that didn't mean I thought I was ready to execute anyone we didn't kill in combat. "Shaaryak, our team is going after the buyer. If we take them alive, great, we can interrogate them later. If not, I'm not going to be broken up about it. Once we've dropped everyone, we'll detail a few guys to get the... captives back here. Aethyta's already has transports ready to get them off world."

I felt my shoulders relax slightly. Well.. at least we're doing something good today.

The Batarians, naturally, hardly seemed concerned, though Ghai's lips did curve into a small smile.

"We still have no word on the buyer?" I risked interjecting once she'd finished.

"Sorry ape, still no word on that. Whatever sources Aethyta has haven't given us anything since she lit out for the deep Terminus." She paused to check her omni-tool, "Anything else? No? Good. Let's go kick those bastards in the quad, last one to get a kill is buying the first round tonight."

There was a rumble of laughter as the meeting broke apart, most of our team good naturedly slapping one another on the back or loudly offering bets on just who would be the luckless individual. Unsurprisingly, I was quickly identified as the leading candidate there.

I just rolled my eyes and laughed it off before following Nynsi and Ghai towards our car. Trena would apparently be taking a separate one to avoid having both her and our backup squad leader in the same one. Though I did have to frown when my Batarian friend surreptitiously opened and closed her omni-tool.

My eyes narrowed. "Tell me you didn't just bet that I'd be the one buying drinks tonight."

"Of course not." She even managed a credible job of sounding hurt, though her upper pair of eyes wouldn't quite focus on me.

"You did." I almost jumped when Ghai actually spoke in her raspy whisper of a voice, and Nynsi started badly as well. "Two hundred credits."

"I see, thank you Ghai." The Asari bashfully nodded her head in return before opening the back door. I regarded Nynsi for a long moment as we approached the driver's side, before pointedly turning away without opening the door for her. She stared, mouth dropping open for a moment before she jerkily opened it on her own.

I said nothing after climbing in, joining Ghai in quietly observing the other teams clambering into their own vehicles. The loading process completed within a few minutes, giving me plenty of time to ignore the glances out of the corners of her eyes.

She waited until we were airborne, our small convoy merging into the northbound traffic high above the city. "You.. are actually upset with me?"

My arms crossed my chest as I tried to settle back. It was much harder to do with the armor on, though thankfully the full suit was far more comfortable than the civilian quality half plates I'd had to make due with before. "Why would I be upset about you betting that I would be the most useless of our team?"

"You will not be the most useless, but Cieran," She kept her left hand on the controls before reaching across and brushing her right across my arm, "You will be the most distracted. You are our only technical support, and we will need you using your mines to help with Ghai and Trena's biotics to control the fight. It is entirely possible you will not fire more than a few bursts with your weapon the entire time."

I felt my lips twitch, "You were practicing that explanation while we were waiting to take off, weren't you?"

Behind us, Ghai gave a barely audible sigh before firmly settling back and closing her eyes, apparently quite ready to ignore the pair of us altogether.

"What? No.. of course no... I rushed it, did I rush it?" She had the good grace to look a bit abashed.

"A bit." My left arm stretched out to tap her cheek, "The odds have to have been terrible."

"One to two." It came out as a mumble.

I snorted, "Good to know that my pride is only worth a hundred credits."

"You... will you please stop teasing me? I was genuinely worried about you."

"Only if you give me your winnings." I didn't really like the idea of betting on me being the last person to kill somebody, but I suppose it was one of their ways of dealing with what we were doing. I hoped. "And make me dinner, even if you don't win the bet."

"By the Pillars... all right, fine." She grumbled a bit after, but still smiled when I ran a finger along the cartilage on her cheek.

The pair of us talked quietly, mostly about whatever random things we could think of. I was pretty sure she was doing it just to keep my mind off of what was coming... which I was thankful for. Ghai remained quietly in the back, apparently sleeping through our discussions, though her eyes snapped open when the alert came through that we were approaching the target.

"All right," Nynsi murmured, "Are you ready Cieran?"

I flicked open my omni-tool to make sure that both my incinerate and overload mines were still loaded, and nodded before reaching down to grab our helmets from where we'd left them in between us. "As ready as I'll ever be."

"Just stay close to me." She gave me a small smile, "I have enough armor for both of us."

The chuckle came out before I could stop it, "I'm the noble one remember? I should be offering to stand in front of you and let you use my shields to keep you safe."

"Maybe when you are in your power armor I will consider it." Her hands locked in our final approach before taking her helmet and firmly putting it on.

"This is Trena, we're on final approach.. hit the ground running and let's kill these jack-asses."

I blew out a long breath as our speeder swooped down below the surrounding rooftops, the imposing form of the warehouse looming ahead. The sun slowly setting on the other side of it didn't help, the halo of light making it seem to glow ominously against the darkening sky.

Well shit.. Here we go again.


Next up is Chapter 10: The Mistake

Not sure I like this chapter as much.. probably because I'm a bit overworked right now. As of the time I'm posting this I'm well past my fiftieth work hour this week with little end in sight.

In slightly better news I've finished my adjustments to the outline, and can confidently state there are only a few chapters left to go in this act. After which we'll have a short time-skip before launching into Act 2, which will be extremely action-oriented. I did try to pick up the pace a little bit here, I removed several scenes that would have delayed the approach to the warehouse until the next chapter, and I'd rather have it here as a minor cliff hanger than as a lead-up to what's going to happen there.

Hopefully everyone is still enjoying the fic despite the slow build up and unusual choice in romantic interests. Things should get pretty fun in the next few chapters, so even if you're not sure about this story please at least give it through Act 1.

Please read and review, criticism is welcome, flames not so much, as usual. Reviews are my lifeblood as a writer.. every-time my email goes off with a review it makes me want to write more, so please take the time to leave one. Guests can leave them as well, and it only takes a minute, so please. Even if it's as simple as "I enjoyed it, please continue."

Thanks, Kat


Random Facts from the Author:

I chose Batarians to go along with Asari as the main two races because they don't really get much time as anything besides enemies, even in other fanfics. I wanted to try and portray them from the perspective of a human who took the time to understand what to do, and not to do around them.. and then enjoy the interactions as they tried to figure out how to deal with a human that did things like be utterly polite and respectful in ways they understood.


Review Responses:

Ari989 – You know, that's actually a title in my notes for a scene that's supposed to take place in the next story.