Sara, I'm sorry. I know I should have told you. I didn't know what you'd think, and I wanted to hold on to you as long as I could. You made everything better...you made me better. Please come back to me.
Thinking of you always.
Sara gunned the engine of the Nomad, accelerating over a crater on what should have been the turian homeworld. Normally the speed and air would have brought a smile to her face, but since she'd left Reyes in that fucking cave on Kadara she'd felt nothing but anger and shame.
She had wanted so desperately to be with someone that she was willing to overlook a shady past. She should have known better. Reyes was a smuggler, a criminal, an exile. It didn't matter that she'd felt more like herself with him than she had since coming to Andromeda, he'd lied to her about who he was. She wouldn't make that mistake again.
In the passenger seat, Vetra gripped the armrest in terror. "Ryder! Slow down before you kill us all!"
Sara ignored her, continuing toward the force dome that housed what she thought might be a mining station. She pulled into the airlock, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaping from the vehicle. Vetra and Liam followed her as she ran straight toward the exiles' camp, assault rifle drawn and tech powers crackling.
Cold fury pushed her onward, through broken shields and the sharp impacts of bullets on her armor. Lexi had given up cautioning her to be careful. The doctor knew a lost cause when she saw one.
She stood in the main lab of the mining camp, dirt-streaked and sweaty. No sign of the kidnapped settlers, just another fragment of code. She swore sharply and turned away from the console, bringing her face to face with Liam.
"Pathfinder, I never thought I'd be the one to say this, but you have got to get control of yourself." He reloaded his shotgun and looked directly at her for the first time in days. "Maybe you don't care if you die, but there are people out there who are counting on you."
"Do you think I don't know that?" she all but shouted, pushing past him and back to the airlock. "My problem is that I can't forget it!"
"Ryder!" Vetra's voice was sharp with worry. "You have to stop punishing yourself. You have to talk to someone. Maybe not us, but right now we're the best you've got."
Sara took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. None of this is your fault, either of you. I'm just…"
"Angry?" supplied Vetra.
"More ashamed." Sara's face crumpled. "Come on. We've got settlers to rescue, thanks to your sister."
Liam and Vetra glanced at each other, then followed her to the Nomad. "She is not getting away with this," Liam muttered. Vetra grunted in agreement.
Reyes knew she'd seen the email. A week had passed and still no word. He tried not to think too hard about it, and there was certainly plenty to distract him. If he wasn't stamping out pockets of Outcasts who were trying desperately to hold on, there were any number of men and women who were more than happy to flirt with one of the Charlatan's lieutenants. Power was attractive, after all.
He'd insisted on the extra layer of deception. Keema was a better face for Kadara than he could ever hope to be, and her presence reassured the angara that the Charlatan was looking out for them. As one of her advisors, no one questioned him when he came and went at his leisure. He still received all the reports. And most importantly, he could keep his room at Tartarus, rather than spending all his days on a dead woman's throne.
He still had to put in appearances, and so he found himself at a corner table, staring down a rather too friendly mercenary. The merc's eyes were lighter than Sara's, and his voice didn't carry the same musical quality. Reyes dismissed him with a few curt words, then noticed Keema's look of displeasure.
He downed the rest of his drink (an unremarkable gin something, not that he cared much these days) and made his way over to her.
"You look positively miserable to be here, Reyes."
Trust her not to mince words, he thought sourly. "Someone has to keep a weather eye."
"You're not keeping a weather eye, you're moping."
"I'm not moping," he snapped. "The woman I love is only god knows where, getting shot at by god knows what." Reyes realized what he'd just said. "Fuck. Don't start, Keema. She's gone and I don't think she's ever coming back."
Keema's expression softened. "You were patient for a year before anything happened here. I recommend you stay patient a little while longer."
"If my sister sent us on a wild-adhi chase, I swear I am going to drill her shin plates," Vetra grumbled.
Liam rubbed one foot behind his calf. "I don't know exactly how that works with turian anatomy, but it sounds painful."
"Not the time, Liam." Sara checked her spare magazines, then led the way into the abandoned complex. "Eyes sharp, everyone. This place is giving me the creeps."
No sooner had she said that than she heard a slow rumbling beneath her and the floor gave way. Sara tried to leap to safety, but without the floor to push off, only succeeded in flopping sideways and landing on Liam.
"Ow," he complained. "What the hell was that?"
"It was a trap," Vetra snapped, scrambling to her feet and looking up at the ceiling that had snapped shut over them. "We've got to find a way out of here."
"Don't waste your time, Vetra Nyx. That goes double for you, Pathfinder."
Vetra's head swiveled, looking for the source of the voice. "Who the fuck are you? And why did you kidnap a bunch of innocent settlers?"
"Innocent? Hardly. You stole these people from me, Nyx. I'm going to make you regret it."
Sara raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to guess whoever this whackjob is has you confused with someone else, Vetra."
The turian shook her head. "I'm as lost as you, Pathfinder."
"It's okay, Vetra. You don't have to cover for us." A handful of settlers walked into the room, looking pale but otherwise healthy.
"Cover for you?" Vetra's hands twitched toward her shotgun. "I don't know who any of you are."
The man in coveralls turned to Sara. "I'm Thad Galloway. It's an honor to meet you, Pathfinder...even like this. That woman, her name is Meriweather. She ran a smuggling ring on Kadara. Vetra helped us escape, find new places in the outposts." Sara could only blink in surprise.
"I didn't do anything!" Vetra stalked over to the door and began to examine it. "I have no idea who you people are, or why the hell this Meriweather has it in for me. All I know right now is that I want to get out of here."
"Can't argue with that." Sara shrugged and brought up her scanner. "Looks like the power to these doors has been cut. I can probably find a way to reroute power and at least get us moving." She sorted through a pile of conduits, finding one that was relatively undamaged. "This should help. Hang on, everyone, it might get dark in here for a few minutes while I tap into the lights."
Liam pulled out his flashlight. "Everyone get behind me. Ryder's good with zappy things, but let's just be safe."
"When you restore power, Pathfinder, I can override the security on the door."
"Sidera Nyx!" Vetra growled. "You're supposed to be safe on the Nexus, not this rock."
"Relax, Vetra. I'm patched in from outside and my shuttle is well hidden. Trust me, I'll be fine."
Vetra muttered something Sara didn't quite hear, but sounded an awful lot like an unlikely vorcha anatomical configuration. "You do this smart. Get in, crack the security, and get out. I don't want them tracing you."
As they fought their way through the underground complex, Sara wisely refrained from mentioning how lucky they were that Sid had tagged along. Between the exploding generator and the deactivated mech, Vetra's sister had saved them a lot of trouble.
Only the workshop and hangar bay stood between them and the exit. Sara tapped the console next to the door when an uneasy thought began to nag at her. "Sid hasn't contacted us in a while, Vetra."
"Oh, shit," Liam breathed.
"Sid? Sidera Nyx!" Vetra shouted.
"Vetra…" Sid sounded scared. Like a kid, Sara realized. Sid wasn't even eighteen yet. "Vetra, I think someone found my shuttle."
"Stay quiet, Sid, and don't move. We're coming." Vetra didn't wait to see what was on the other side, and rushed through the door. Sara followed, noting that she was down to one spare magazine for her Avenger. She'd have to make every bullet count.
Meriweather had Sid. They'd fought past a dozen outlaws and a fiend, but it all came down to a hand grenade, Sara's empty assault rifle, and a teenage turian held hostage.
The outlaw leader held Sid in front of her, arm twisted back to keep her from running. Sid must have been in pain but her face didn't betray her. She looked almost exactly like Vetra, terrified but defiant.
"Put your weapons down," Meriweather ordered. Vetra laid down her shotgun, and Liam followed suit. Sara, however, watched Sid's eyes flit to the Carnifex on her hip, then saw her nod decidedly. Sara didn't waste any time.
She drew the pistol and put a bullet through Meriweather's shoulder, who shrieked and dropped both the grenade and Sid. Vetra darted forward quicker than thought, grabbed the grenade, and flung it into the shuttle that had brought reinforcements.
Liam followed with a grenade of his own, and Sara sent a jolt of energy at Meriweather. Vetra scooped up her shotgun, kicked the stunned outlaw in the chest, and snarled, "You don't ever touch my sister."
Meriweather's lip curled as she spat on the ground near Vetra's boots. "Fucking Initiative lackeys."
"If I ever see you again," Vetra said quietly, "I will end you myself." She kicked Meriweather in the ribs once more, then turned to her sister. "Come on, let's get you out of here."
Sara turned off the vidcom and sighed with relief. The exiles turned settlers were safely back on Voeld. Beside her, Vetra sank onto a chair. "Sid was right about one thing, Pathfinder."
"What was that?" Sara inquired, leaning on the railing overlooking the research station.
"Those exiles. They were good people who made a couple of bad decisions. We can't just leave people cut off out there for a couple of bad decisions." Sara tensed. "And we can't keep punishing ourselves for small mistakes."
"I'm the Pathfinder, Vetra. No mistake is a small mistake."
"Maybe. But you can't keep beating yourself up for it. Forgiving yourself is as important as forgiving others. Probably more so, when it comes to you."
"Are we still talking about Sid?"
Vetra huffed out a sigh. "Listen, I know why you're ashamed. But I saw how Vidal looked at you, and I know you cared for him. The whole crew noticed how happy you were after that night on Kadara. I think he was just trying to protect you in the same way I tried to protect Sid. Just...talk to him."
Some of the tension left Sara's shoulders. "I'll talk to him. But first, tell me more about you and Sid."