Marala and Ijar were under a constant barrage of weapons fire, hidden behind a massive, reinforced alloy crate at the centre of the wide rectangular opening connecting a short, brightly lit though featureless corridor and a circular room overlooking a bright stream of blue lightning; the Engine room of Llarn's cruiser. Upon their arrival at the engineering deck a team of technicians spotted them and ran for it, escaping the elevator room and leaving whatever maintenance they had previously been performing in favour of survival.

Claxons sounded and spinning red lights began to shine across the cruiser and within minutes they were surrounded by the ship's security teams - quick minded salarians set on taking them in. It wasn't easy but a spectre and a salarian STG captain aren't an easy match. They managed to push forwards towards the gaping aorta in the heart of Llarn's vessel - an aorta which would soon be severed.

Ijar jumped from behind the crate, and made a shot at one of the two remaining security crew. With the whirring thud, thud,thud of an assault rifle the Lystheni's kinetic barriers failed under the continued fire and he fell, blood pouring from a hole in his armour, just under his left collar bone. Ijar's rifle was much more accurate and elegant than any weapon any other soldier might have. His was a cutting edge, Glyna III gun. One of the best the salarian military had to offer.

Before the fallen man's ally had chance to act, the asari tapped into her energy reserves and diving out from behind the enormous crate knocked the amphibian over the protective railings and into the stream of blue dark energy running and pulsating across room, below the maintenance platform.

As Ijar placed his gun pack in its holster on his muscled arm, he looked up to see the soldier meet with the stream of energy. As he did, he was pulled apart by the unfocused beam of Mass Effect energy. His atoms cast across the circular room in a grim cascade of carbon and water molecules. The salarian walked forward into Engine room, which like the other parts of the ship, was clean and efficiently presented, with little concern for aesthetics. The floor was a metal grill, which extended half-way into the room and ended with an equally metallic safety railing preventing – or not preventing in the case of the dead crewman – people from falling to their deaths in the pulsating element zero core. The core was controlled from a semi-circular access terminal which was set into an break in the railing, Orange holographic panels glowed at the pair from a distance, displaying multiple runes unfamiliar to Marala, who was puzzled when Ijar walked over to the terminal and began hacking it:

"I've never seen this writing before. It's Lystheni?" the asari stood behind the spy, watching over his shoulder, trying to grasp what he was doing.

"Yes, the Lystheni were an honoured nation once. They had their own language and alphabet – like many clans. But they've always been distrustful of outsiders. It took all of the Union's might to get them to join in the first place…" His fingers began tapping a sequence into the screen "I'm disabling all Mass Effect fields – with the exception of anti-proton containment and gravity – Llarn won't have offensive weaponry, kinetic barriers, FTL drive or emergency containment."

As the man spoke, the energy beam reduced in size significantly, and the intervals between energy pulses increased. The orange light of the screens slowly faded into red as they were locked by Ijar.

"It's been encrypted. I'm in control of energy distribution - I've also disabled sensors." He looked at her as if asking her for orders,

"We should head for the CIC. That's the most likely place to look for-" a beeping sounded from her omni-tool. She activated the beeping object, covering her arm with the orange glow of the device.

"Mar… lar… do… receive… is transmis…" with the push of a button she boosted the power to the tool.

"This is Spectre Agent Marala Kylar, come in and identify."

Through an audible but permissible crackle of static a familiar voice sounded", It's me. Xirax. So much for a warm greeting." The turian bellowed bemusedly into the comm device,

"Sorry. I thought that you'd gone to the Cita-"

"Obviously not, asari; no, we were shot down, dead in the water. This damn ship pulled us in. I'm working on fixing the Barensix but it's gonna be a while yet. Marala," the turian's speech dropped in pitch and volume, he sounded ready to collapse", I left him. They've got Marcus." his guilt bled through the airwaves, thick like oil.

"Xirax, it's not your fault. You wouldn't have done it unless there wasn't a choice. Anyway they're not gonna to kill him. They need him to get go me – and to you. Is he injured?"

"The bastards nearly blew his leg off, he was bleeding badly. And his arm broke when the gravity failed… They knocked him out. I-"

"Turian," Xirax grunted at the sound of Ijar's high pitched voice", forget him. We'll find him; just fix your ship. That is more important right now."

The salarian grabbed Marala's hand and turned the omni-tool off, disabling the connection between Xirax and the asari. He looked at her with his massive eyes, his functioning one focusing on hers,

"You seem to regard the human highly. I suggest we hurry; we have a ship to take. We can find him afterwards, when we have Llarn. He'll be more than willing to divulge Marcus's location when I've finished with him."

Marala regarded the spy's abnormally dominating physique as he strode back towards the lift.

I just hope Llarn's not as flimsy as the average salarian. We need him. She thought to herself, turning to follow Ijar.

___

"Damn that ass-faced lizard!" Xirax punched the consol he was stood by, his fist passing through the blue hologram. "Shit!" The turian caressed his newly bruised knuckles, whilst clutching and stroking the consol, examining it for damage.

"They'd better find him…" the turian turned to walk back to his repairs, but as he did he spotted five shapes moving quickly towards the airlock from across the gangway, it was the same group that he was fighting before, "damn! They're all the same."

He moved back from the entrance and quickly began a new encryption sequence on the airlock door, and as they drew their weapons ready for the fight, the airlock sealed, leaving bullets to ricochet off the metal of the entryway.

"You ain't gettin' in this time you pesky bastards, but that won't last very long now will it?" And Xirax strode to the door, and bent down at the pneumatic piston which opened the sealed entrance. Scratching at the metal plate which covered the gaping hole in the side of his face, he unscrewed a small panel set into the base of the door. Reaching inside he grabbed onto a thick cylindrical object and twisted. Removing the object, whilst placing it on a surface he guffawed to himself", you definitely ain't getting' in without a fuse in the lock."