|Date: 3/20/2184|

|Location: Gemini Sigma/PODA-D7-77 System/Planet: PODA-S2|


Niamo'Keena vas Mulia stared exasperatedly at the crew served weapon being handled by the marine across from her. Having enough of how absurdly large the gun looked, she huffed and faced Kal.

"Kal? Is it absolutely necessary to bring that thing? We're not raiding a city, we're raiding plants and collecting dirt."

Kal shrugged without even bothering to look at the woman sitting next to him. "Dirt might kill you. It's my job to protect you from that."

She rolled her eyes at the apparent sarcasm. "You've brought enough fire power for all out war."

"Ma'am," He finally looked up and took a steady breath; one that meant he'd had about enough of her complaining, "It's called an S80; short for service model eight zero. This gun that you keep complaining about does nothing but provide you and my marines a more sustainable rate of fire. It's there to cover us from raids, pirates, geth, and fauna that eyes you for dinner. And if it so happens that the dirt fancies the idea of killing you as well, it'll churn all that up too."

Before Niamo could even bother arguing any further, Kal decided to speak up to everyone else in the ship.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen. When we land and move in, we set up camp, collect the samples the doctor and her team needs, and get out. Everyone travels with a buddy, and so help me god, do not go anywhere without prior approval from your superior. Remember the local fauna here isn't gonna like you. So keep your transponders on, and don't eat the dirt. How copy?"

"We copy." Thirty voices said.

"Attention hands, brace for turbulence, we're entering the atmosphere."

The ship started to jostle violently as if it were ready to rip apart. After thirty seconds of sharing worried stares, one of the men in the back worked up enough courage to voice his concern.

"Why the hell is the ride so damned shaky? Are we gonna die?"

"Milly's a tad old. Her suspension fields got cut out 80 years before you were born, lad!" The pilot laughed loudly as they descended, "We got about another minute of this! Keep your back straight!"

Tali didn't get to see much, but from what she could tell from the small little window beside her, was that the ground was covered in an unending canopy of trees, a sky full of scattered showers, and low altitude mountains. It was enough to tell her the planet was pretty beautiful.

"Found us a spot," The pilot said after about ten to fifteen minutes of searching, "This LZ looks about as good as any other."

"Pilot likes to talk a lot." Juel intoned to Tali with a laugh. She just rolled her eyes and waited for the ship to finally decelerate and land.

When the ship finally touched ground, everyone got out of their restraints and got to work.

"Alright. Let's do this." Tali murmured, standing up and retrieving her gear.

Juel sniffed as he shouldered his bag. "Excited?"

"Sure." She said before making her way down a level to the ramp. Several others had followed and waited. When the security advisor gave the all clear, he lowered the ramp and let the first team out.

Following after a security detail to check the surrounding vicinity, Tali stepped down the length of the ramp and graced the area around her with a long and studying stare. It wasn't long until the entire group huddled closely together to gape at the view.

Several seconds later, the entirety of the team got an update on their respective omni-tools.

"You've been sent your instructions," Dr. Niamo said, "Please go over them at your soonest availability after we set up camp."

Everyone acknowledged the operation and got to work.


-Hours later...

"Could you ever imagine living here...?" Juel spoke out loud to start a conversation as they both walk through the forest.

"Nope," She said after a moment, "I don't think I could, actually."

"I wonder what it's like. To just... strut around naked."

She gave him an odd look.

"Keelah, Tali, I meant with regular clothes on." He stammered awkwardly.

She nudged his shoulder. "I know, I'm just joking. Though I have to tell you from experience, it's amazing."

It was Juel's turn to stop and face her. "You've actually been outside? Like outside, outside?"

"Just the mask, actually." She said in a smug sounding tone.

"Wow. You're such a badass." He said sarcastically before giving her a mirthful smirk.

She rolled her eyes and knelt down next to a small flower.

"What's it like?" He asked.

After inspecting the delicate petals, she looked up and tried to find the right words to describe it. Finding none, she reached for the flower and carefully stuffed it into a jar.

"I can't explain it. You'd have to experience it for yourself."

"Wow. And you didn't die either."

"I got sick of course. Helped that I did it when it was cold and windy."

"What I'd do to get some of that..." He murmured.

"Maybe someday Juel."

"Maybe someday..." He repeated.

"I've been wondering... what brought you to the Neema?"

Juel let out a long drawn sigh. "I was afraid you were going to ask that sooner or later... but I guess it's fair you know. I know a lot about you... and I suppose you should know more about me too."

She nodded silently.

They resumed their slow and aimless hike deeper into the forest.

"You know what the Neema actually means, right? What it stands for?"

"Remember thy past with reverent eyes; we must carry on." She murmured the verse from memory.

"Right... that's exactly what it means..." He stepped over a dead log and made sure Tali did too. "Five years ago, uh, I was in the marines. Pre-pilgrimage stuff."

Juel took a giant breath and continued.

"Well... one of my missions went to shit." His voice fell into a shrill whisper. It became apparent that Juel never touched on the subject. "I... I fell in love, you know? She was beautiful Tali... just... gorgeous... Her name was, uh, Samah'Meyann nar Gognimae." He stammered and Tali could see his eyes had closed, "She and I were in the same unit, actually. We worked together. It was the best. Did everything with each other."


|Approximately Five Years Ago|

|Location: Capital Class Cruiser: Gognimae.|

/:En-route to defense facility for rearmament as per Admiral Han'Gerrel's Orders:\


Juel marched hurriedly down a hallway with his squad.

Minutes ago, where he was enjoying a meal with the company of his friends, an announcement came over the PA from the captain himself alerting the crew that a fleet of ships were on a direct intercept course toward the Gognimae.

Ordinarily that wouldn't have been a problem... but the Gognimae was on its way back to the flotilla for resupply.

Which meant her guns were empty. It was a terrible coincidence actually. Heavy Fleet protocol never allowed ships to stretch past the point of needing resupply as critical as this. But their mission had been equally as critical, if not more so, to keep them until their last legs.

Topping that, her escorts didn't have the capability to take on three frigates and two corvettes.

And judging by the way the pirate ships flew, they knew that.

Juel and his team arrived at their objective: One of seven docking cradles they were tasked with defending.

"You know how this works. If we get overrun here, we withdraw to our second line of defense. You remember all six, correct?" Sergeant Kas'rie lectured as if it were just a simulation.

"Affirmative." They answered.

"Good. And if you do manage to get lost, you head to the where our militia is at to protect the captain and engineering crew. Copy?"

"Affirmative." They all repeated.

"If these deck stains want our ship... they're gonna have to pay a very hefty sales tax." He studied the bay floor for a small moment, "Adda. Chasuk. Take the S80 with you and get up on the ledge above us."

"Right away!"

"The rest of us are gonna stay here and hold them down to keep them from moving."

Juel and his other half, Samah, along with Kann, nodded.

"Yes, Sergeant."

"Assume your standard defensive positions. I want to keep them bottled for as long as possible. If we're lucky, we can take out this cradle and move on to help the others."

Samah grabbed Juel's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

"Stay safe, Juel."

"I will, hun. Do the same for me will you?" They kissed visors and prepared their weapons.

The ship's PA turned on.

"This is the Captain speaking. The enemy is on final approach. Remember your training everyone, we have faith in you. We have about 30 seconds before they start boarding. Prepare. Keelah'Selai."

"Stand ready, marines!" Sergeant Kas yelled.

"STAND READY." They screamed back in unison.

Six weapons train on the docking cradle's only airlock at the bay's far side.

Juel slowed his breathing and glanced at Samah.

He wasn't much of a believer, but praying was, in a small way, to give him some peace of mind over her safety.

They heard a ship latch on to the Gognimae's dock and Juel's hands squeezed a little tighter on his gun.

He could hear dozens of footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Keelah... I can hear them." Kann hissed.

"Shhh." Sweat beaded across Juel's brow.

"They're going to breech the door. As soon as that thing opens, you open fire!"

"Yes Sergeant!"

In an instant, the charges exploded and sent the door blasting off its hinges. Sergeant Kas had to duck down to save his head from flying clean off.

Just as their leader ordered, they opened fire against the dozens of pirates forcing their way through. Whatever had consisted of the first landing party was killed seconds after stepping into the quarian ship. Juel was pretty sure none of the first wave had kinetic barriers.

They deserved nothing less than certain death for trying to invade their sovereign home.

Then it looked like the real threat came running through. Humans, batarians, salarians, and turians charging in with red gleaming armor.

Juel had actually smirked at the white skulls that plastered their chest plates.

They looked stupid, if he did say so himself.

When Juel was a recruit for basic, one of his first lessons was on repelling a ship's boarders. And part of that lesson covered the effects of psychological warfare.

It had taught him that 'intimidating' sets of armor was nothing else but that.

Intimidating.

Bullets went through intimidating. And when his instructor said that, it stuck with him ever since.

So when he fired a burst of fire from his rifle and saw a turian go down with a spray of blood, it only reaffirmed the statement.

"Sergeant!" Adda screamed as she fired her crew served weapon, "They're sending in a whole god damned company! Recommend tactical withdrawal!"

"Affirmative! Fall back! Suppressive fire! Now!"

"Copy that! Move! Go! Now." She pulled the charging handle back to eject her spent heat sink before holding down the trigger.

The group below ran up the stairs as fast as they could and sped past Chasuk and Adda until they were clear.

Adda's smoking barrel unleashed a steady staccato of tracer fire into a batarian who'd worked up the courage to stand and try and shoot back.

Terrible mistake.

The batarian's head turned to ribbons and flecks of bone went flying like confetti to shower his friends with.

"Eat this you rusty shit decked father fuckers! EAT IT!"

"Adda! Go! I'll be right behind you!" Chasuk barked.

Sparing no chance, she made her way to the exit to meet up with the others.

Before Chasuk could follow, a bullet whizzed right through his knee.

He fell down with a pained gasp and his rifle clattered on the floor.

When Adda turned around to try and help him, a bullet went through her thigh and paralyzed her left leg. She fell down in a crunched heap and screamed. Without skipping a beat, Chasuk yelled to her.

"Adda! Adda, listen to me! You need to get up and help me. Come on. We have to hold them off a little longer." Chasuk cooed as best he could as blood seeped from his leg. She grabbed his hand and squeezed.

"...Okay. I can't—fuck—feel my leg. Help me up."

He propped her at the door and did the same for himself. They nodded to each other before Chasuk called Sergeant Kas over the COM.

"Kas, you're going on have to go on without us. We're down... I'm sorry."

"Keelah'Selai, Chasuk. You give them nothing but hell." Came his reply.

Chasuk handed Adda two of his small 'quick-burn' incendiary grenades.

"Adda, when they turn that corner you throw it at the oxygen tank. got it?" He gestured toward the liquid/oxygen fuel can at the stairwell.

"Okay..." Her grip on the grenade was strong even though her voice whimpered in pain.

The first pirate turned the corner and was cut down by Chasuk's Avenger. She threw the grenade and watched the chemical reaction spread and ignite anyone running up the stairs into a fiery blaze.

Their screams were almost worth losing a knee, Chasuk thought to himself.

When the fire stopped, more pirates started charging up the stairs.

This time, Adda was half a second too late in throwing the second one. Two pirates ran up and gave the dying quarian woman a stomach full of lead when the grenade clattered near their feet.

Chasuk, who never got the chance to see Adda go, killed one of the pirates and watched the second try and kick away the explosive...

...Only for the guy to get a face full of burning phosphorus.

Chasuk's smirk quickly ended when the pirate who tried to avoid the fiery blaze barreled through the foggy fire with his face charred and bleeding like a ripe fruit who'd just been stepped on. His hands landed on Chasuk's neck and squeezed as hard as he could.

Chasuk wasn't fazed in the least.

The stupid idiot didn't know the quarian had metal plates braced around his neck. Chasuk grabbed the man's head and pushed him over the catwalk down a story below. It was only a nine-foot drop... but it put the point across not to ever do that again.

"Eat me you low life scum!" Chasuk screamed. He would have spit on the bastard if he could have. Chasuk reached for Adda's weapon.

He knew he wouldn't last much longer.

It was nothing but a mathematical certainty.

But Chasuk was a marine; mathematics be damned.

He awkwardly flopped onto his belly, extended the bipod, and waited for death to welcome him.


-30 seconds ago...

When the incendiary grenade's fuse erupted into Captain Erer Jolak's face, he was pissed.

His armor protected him from most of the burns, thankfully.

Until now, he never regretted not wearing a helmet.

Now it felt like a terrible and very naïve mistake. The pain was monumental.

Which only served to make him angrier.

He barreled through the 'hot-as-shit' cloud of fire and saw the quarian sitting against the doorstep with his Avenger and dead friend.

Before the surprised quarian could react, the first instinctual thing Jolak did was wrap his armored fingers around the little shit's neck.

He'd killed a lot of people like that before. And it never ceased to be anything but effective.

Though it'd be the first time doing it to a quarian.

When he felt his hands wrap around the fucker's neck, he squeezed as hard as he could before forcing the quarian marine onto his back. Jolak suddenly realized the quarian's neck wasn't collapsing.

It should have been easier than this.

Jolak's head was suddenly engulfed by the quarian's six large stubby fingers that wrapped around the sides of his bleeding head. In a matter of what had to be a second, he was thrown to the side before being kicked right off the catwalk nine feet above the ground below.

"Oh fuck!"

When he hit the ground, he reeled in pain and squeezed his eyes shut before gritting his teeth.

Fuck. Me. That hurt.

When he was approached by his underlings, he waved them off to show that he was okay and told them they needed to continue the raid. They tossed him an ample supply of medi-gel and continued up the ramp.

He let out a long breath and let his head rest.

He'd admit it.

These guys were tough as shit.

He really didn't expect a fight as hard as this.


-Present Time...

Juel eventually heard Chasuk and his crew served weapon fall silent.

Juel hoped that their deaths had been quick. Chasuk and Adda certainly delivered.

They both managed to hold down that point for a good five minutes before the gun fire finally stopped.

Juel and Samah had to stop Kann from trying to run back to them multiple times.

Kas gave them a quick pep talk as he handed them more heat sinks.

"Keep your head's straight. We lost two of our men... but you cannot let that discourage you. We have over four hundred lives depending on us. We must keep fighting. Am I understood?"

"Yes sergeant!"

"That's exactly what I want to hear. You know what to do! Get moving!"

A precious thirty seconds pass before Juel caught wind of movement.

"Contact! Contact!"

It seemed like the pirates were adapting to their defensive tactic. Every raider that ran through held their gun at a hip firing their guns to cover their advance.
There simply was too many of them. There had to be twenty or more pirates rushing through. This time, the quarian's didn't have the high ground. They were on an even playing field... and it'd only be a matter of time before they'd get overrun.

Kann was the first to go down. He fired his sub-machine gun into some salarian before taking several slugs straight to the head. He was dead before he even hit the floor.

Before Juel could avenge his fallen friend, he was tackled and pinned to the floor. As was Samah.

Sergeant Kas, however, continued fighting.

By now, the gunfire had ceased completely.

Kas took on two pirates in hand-to-hand combat and broke in both their faces before taking a third as a hostage and kissing the hot tip of his pistol against the man's temple.

"Put the gun down. Now." Captain Jolak bellowed with his bloody lips drooling.

Kas pressed the gun harder on the man's head and gave the captain that stood atop a crate a glare.

"You come to my home... you kill my people... and you want me to put the fucking gun down?" Kas paused, "Go fuck yourself."

Jolak unholstered his pistol and took aim at Kas.

The hostage whimpered. "Boss? Your aim still good?"

"Yes, Brad. My aim's still good." Jolak lied. His aim was certainly not good after getting a thermo detonated load of blazing fire in the face. "I'm giving you one last chance, quarian. Put the gun down."

"I've got everything to lose if I do." Kas replied.

Juel, having listened to the whole thing, screamed out. "Kas! Run! Just run! You've got to stop them!"

Kas came to the same conclusion. If they all died here... the pirates would get straight access to the main hall... And if they did? They could outflank all the other teams throughout the ship.

It'd be a slaughter.

That couldn't happen.

"I'm sorry Juel... I'm so sorry—I know you understand..." Kas cried out to them.

Kas fired his sidearm through Brad's temple and hoped their kinetic barriers combined would be enough to let him escape to the next defensive point.

"Fuck!" Jolak watched Kas kill Brad and escape down to the corridor. He gave dead-Brad a frustrated sigh and shook his head.

"Sir, what should we do with our prisoners?"

He gave Juel and Samah a weary look.

"We can sell them to slavers. They pull any weird tricks up your sleeve, you kill them. Got it? Take your team, Bolin."

"Right, boss."

"The rest of you! Let's fucking go! We're wasting time!"

Jolak motioned forward with his hand, put his recently acquired helmet back on, and followed his men through the corridor Kas escaped in. The six tasked to bring Juel and Samah back aboard hoisted the two to their feet and slowly made their way back to their ship.

"So how many of my fucking friends do you think you killed?" The pirate kicked Juel's back hard enough to make him fall on his knees. He got back up and continued walking before giving Samah a long glance.

"Hopefully all of them." Juel sneered, "What do you expect when you attack someone's home?"

"You know, I should just fucking kill you and take your girl. How'd you like that?" The pirate tried to kick him again. This time Juel whirled around and took the kick in the stomach.

But not before grabbing his ankle and twisting as hard as he could with all of his weight. They both crashed to the floor with the pirate's rifle clattering away from them both. A sick sounding pop came from the foot.

"Guys! Bolin! Help! Fucking help!"

"Nah, man." Said the first pirate as he grabbed Samah forcefully by the arm to keep her from struggling, "I hope that quarian fucking kills you. I know you've been trying hook up with my girl back home. So. fuck. you." Bolin gave the broken ankled man the bird, "Good luck, asshole." The other four pirates agreed and started walking away with Samah in hand.

The man with the broken foot started panicking. "Guys! NO! Get off of me! I fucking surrender! Please!" Juel punched the asshole's face in until he stopped resisting. Then Juel took the bandit's knife from a sheath on his belt and ran after the five men in the hallway that had disappeared behind the corridor.

He'd have picked up the gun the guy had dropped... but he couldn't find it... and he didn't have the time.

As soon as he reared the corner, he was struck across the head with a baton and fell onto his back.

"Shit, you killed the son of a bitch already? That was fast. Thanks, bud." Juel tried to get up but was delivered another crippling blow to the head. Soon after, Bolin pierced Juel's suit with tiny prods to taze him.

His body convulsed violently.

Samah screamed and fought harder against the men holding her down. "Stop it! Please! I beg of you!"

"Hurry the hell up up and put her in the ship, guys. Come on."

Bolin stopped tazing him And Juel groaned through gritted teeth.

"Samah..."

"Dude, Bolin, just kill the guy, alright? Let's go!" The pirate yelled as he pushed Samah to his other three friends.

"Nah... The guy did me a huge favor. I'm going to let him live. Maybe he can kill some others and get us a bigger cut of the ship. How does that sound, bud?" He pushed the baton harder into his chest and Juel wailed in pain.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Bolin? Jolak is going to find out?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" He mocked his friend, "They all look the same you dipshit."

Samah by now was screaming. "Stop! Please! Stop, just stop!"

"Guys, I'm not going to ask you again! Put her on the fucking ship. Now." He turned to her. "It's fine, sweetheart, I'm not going to kill him. I swear." he gave off his best toothy smile.

"You fucking bastards..." She was roughly pushed to the docking bay as she resisted, "Juel! Juel I love you! Always remember that! Please, Juel!" Her hands, cuffed at the wrists, twist and turn in a desperate attempt to free her hands.

Juel never got the chance to reply. The last thing he remembered was Bolin's hard-pressed frown as he slipped from reality.


-30 Minutes Later...

Sergeant Kas walked briskly back down the hall with several others in tow to where he left Juel, Kann, and Samah.

The first body he came across was Kann's.

He gave the fallen marine a long look before paying his respects, laying him down into an honorable position, and putting his dropped rifle atop his hands.

When he tried to look for Juel's and Samah's bodies, he couldn't find them. So he sighed and surveyed the firefight's aftermath.

Kas had found out, much to his dismay, that his team had faced the biggest part of the attack. His team of six men managed to hold off an entire company of raiders... whereas the other squads were only facing parties of only a dozen or so pirates at the most.

He had learned that when running back up to third line of defense...

...Only to find that his entire unit was there to back him up after wiping out the smaller boarding attempts.

Everyone under Captain Jolak's command started second guessing their orders at taking the quarian vessel when they realized they had to face an entire quarian detachment of very pissed off marines who had all but decimated their colleagues. At their first available opportunity, the surviving raiders hightailed it to back their ship to make a quick escape.

Kas looked down to find Brad lying in the same spot he had killed him.

He kicked over the dead man, picked up the rifle he lay on, the one that belonged to Kas, and huffed before continuing his inspection further down the hall that lead to the docking bay. He came across Adda's and Chasuk's bodies next.

He lay Adda on the floor the same way he did Kann's before giving Chasuk a long and distant stare.

The man still lay prone with both his hands wrapped around the gun's grip with his head still resting along the stock.

If you didn't pay attention to the clean hole through his visor, It looked as if he were still alive aiming down the sights of his light machine gun.

It was haunting to look at.

As respectfully as possible, Kas carefully removed the machine gun from Chasuk's hands and lay him next to Adda before giving them both soft pats on the shoulder as tribute for their sacrifice. Right after he did so, he heard the soft sounds of weeping at the far end of the bay.

He turned to see Juel kneeling at the airlock crying out Samah's name in a futile attempt to will her back with just his voice alone.

Kas slowly approached him from behind.

"Juel... what happened to Samah? ...Where is she?"

Juel was silent for another long minute as he wept.

"She's gone," He murmured through a choked sob, "They took her away."


|Present time|

|Date: 3/20/2184|

|Location: Gemini Sigma/System: PODA-D7-77/Planet: PODA-S2|


"I don't know what's worse..." Juel murmured distantly and quietly, "Knowing somewhere out there... that Samah could still be alive? Or dead?"

She opened her mouth to offer her condolences... but the words never left her tongue.

What good would it even do?

There was nothing that could make her feel any better about John's passing.

And she was sure the same applied for the man sitting next to her.

So she did the only thing she could do. Put a hand around his shoulder and squeeze.

Right now, this wasn't a time for words, Tali decided. It was time for silence.

And, as they stared distantly into the forest around them, Tali felt the burden she'd been carrying with her all this time could be shouldered together.

"Thanks Tali." Juel murmured finally as he tried to compose himself, "It sucks."

"I know, Juel." Tali whispered before nodding to him, "I know."