Vetra suppressed another angry huff as she paced around the empty armory of the Tempest. Fists clenched, she muttered another curse under her breath as she walked. Reaching the end of the bay, she turned on her heels and cleared her throat. It was hoarse from a few hours of yelling and lecturing Sid, an endeavor that had proved both frustrating and fruitless. Vetra cursed her luck that the Nyx family stubbornness extended to her wayward sister.
She moved over to the window overlooking the cargo bay, glaring over at Sid who was sitting on a group of supply crates stacked next to the Nomad. The younger Nyx sent a quick glare to her older sister before crossing her arms and turning her head, causing Vetra's brow plates to furrow in annoyance.
That stupid little… doesn't she release how much danger she'd put herself in?
Vetra moved away from the window, collapsing onto the chair at her desk. Her thoughts whirled around angrily in her head, but began to coalesce into a single terrifying thought:
She had come close to losing Sid.
The turian hadn't noticed anything unusual about Sid when she contacted the Tempest three days ago. Sid had given them useful leads on a few things out in Heleus before, so Ryder had been more than willing to follow another one.
But Vetra' could sense that something was off the minute they had arrived at H-047c. Scott had gotten on comms with Sid to see if she had gotten any more info on a group of missing settlers that were allegedly somewhere on that ruin of a planet. Sid had been much more subdued than usual, and Vetra hadn't heard any of the ambient noise of Nexus chatter that could usually be heard in the background. It hadn't sat right with Vetra, but she hadn't been able to articulate why.
They'd approached the facility where the colonists were being held at, only to stumble into a raider trap that left them imprisoned with the colonists they'd come to find. Nothing that unusual for Vetra's line of work.
But then the colonists (who revealed themselves to actually exiles) started praising Vetra like she'd been helping them for months. Something Vetra knew for certain she hadn't been doing. Working with Exiles was a sure fire way to get into trouble with both the Nexus and Sloan - too risky.
But as it would turn out, Sid had been the one in contact with the exiles. She'd impersonated Vetra , using Vetra's contacts to make deals and promises in her sister's name. Deals that Vetra wasn't even sure she could make.
It did explain a number of strange reactions and conversations Vetra had had with some of her associates. Vetra was sure she could find a way out of a few of the more outlandish deals, even if that meant making a few more. It was annoying, but Vetra could forgive Sid for causing all that trouble.
But what Vetra couldn't forgive was Sid taking a damned shuttle from the Nexus, piloting it all the way to the facility, and putting herself quite literally into the gunsights of a group of Red Sand crazed smugglers from Kadara.
Vetra knew that she'd taught Sid better than that, but apparently the message hadn't stuck. Sid had ended up having a psychopath take her hostage with a live grenade, and Vetra had no doubt the smuggler would've pulled the pin and taken out both themselves and Sid if there were no other options.
But the Spirits had been looking out for her; Ryder was there to help pull Sid's ass out of the fire. Vetra had watched in surprise as Scott had taken a crack shot to kill the smuggler, dashed forward to tackle Sid, and used his biotics to charge backwards as the grenade detonated. Sid had come away without a scratch because of Ryder. Vetra knew that without Ryder she would have lost her sister.
But now the crisis was over; Sid was safe, and they were all comfortably aboard the Tempest on their way back to the were still a few days out from the Nexus, and Vetra had taken the opportunity to tear Sid a new one. Afterwards, the two turians weren't on speaking terms with one another. Every conversation just ended in a shouting match that left Vetra pacing in frustration in the armory.
Vetra sure as hell wasn't going to let anything like this happen again. She'd get in contact with Kesh soon, tell her to relieve Sid of duty for a while. Maybe pull a few favors to get someone from security to watch her and make sure she doesn't try anything that idiotic again. Of course, that was assuming she had any favors left to pull after what Sid did.
Vetra's brooding was cut short by the sound of the door to the armory opening. The turian turned her head sharply, half expecting another argument with Sid, but was relieved to see Scott standing in the doorway.
"Oh, hey," Vetra muttered before turning back to her console.
"Hey yourself," Scott said, moving further into the room so that the doors shut behind him. He glanced around the room for a second before leaning nonchalantly against the wall.
"So, I've got a problem I think you can help me out with."
"Yeah? What's that?" Vetra asked with a sigh, already seeing where this was going.
"Well ... I've these two turians on board my ship who are at each other's throats, and I'd like to at least get them to not scream and holler like a pair of vorcha every time they talk. Otherwise it's going to be a long trip back to the Nexus."
"Look Scott, I appreciate it, but-"
"Nope," Ryder interrupted forcefully, his voice raised. "I'm not hearing it. I know damn well that you don't care about anything in this whole galaxy more than Sid. I've heard nothing but shouting for the past couple of days, so you two are clearly getting nowhere. I'm here doing my duty as your captain to make sure you're in ship shape, because right now you're not. You're distracted, and don't get me started about ship morale."
Ryder paused, before continuing in a more relaxed tone.
"So just… you know, talk to me before I have to order you to. Because if I do that, it'll probably get you mad at me, making me mad at you, and then you've got a cranky Pathfinder to worry abou-"
"Alright, alright!" Vetra said. "Just… don't blame me if you don't understand, alright?"
"Try me. You forget, I've got a sister too. I know exactly how infuriating they are," Scott said, taking a seat on a nearby crate.
"Look, I…" Vetra began, thinking of how exactly she was going to phrase this. "I told that I brought Sid here for a fresh start. To get away from all the bad shit back home, right?"
"Right."
"Well, part of that was not wanting her to end up like me. Smuggling, mercenary work, all that stuff. The only reason I did that is because it was all I knew how to do. It was all I was good at. But I wasn't proud of it, and I sure as hell didn't want Sid to have to do that to survive."
Vetra looked briefly up at Ryder, who was leaning forward and listening intently.
"I thought a new galaxy would be the perfect place to get away from it all. A nice, fresh start for Sid where she wouldn't need to do any of the shit I did to make a living. But then we got here and everything went to hell, and… I still wanted her to be safe more than anything."
"Right, but how would I not understand that? I want to keep Sara safe too."
"Yeah, but Sara's… like you, at least from what I hear. Hell, she'd probably have wound up as the Pathfinder if it'd been your pod that malfunctioned."
"Huh, now there's a scary thought!" Ryder quipped.
"But with Sid it's different. She's not like me, and I don't want her to be. She should do whatever she wants to do with her life, not just follow in my footsteps. I didn't have a choice, but she does."
Ryder nodded thoughtfully, and there was a pause before he responded.
"Well ... have you ever considered that maybe that's what Sid wants? To do what you do?"
"No. Not happening!" Vetra growled, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms.
"And why not? You saw some of the things she did at that place. She was able to infiltrate the facility, hack right into their network, and she helped us get through anything in our way. We'd have been screwed without her."
"Only because I was able to walk her through it. And she was hacking into doors without checking for safeguards! That's help we don't need. Not there, not anywhere."
"So, then help her out! Teach her how to do some of the ins and outs of what you do. You've got to admit, she's got talent ..."
"Oh yeah that'll really help things!" Vetra shouted and stood up from her chair, polyphonic overtones emanating from her subharmonics. "Hey Sid! You nearly got yourself killed! Congrats! Why don't come work with your big sister? That way when something goes wrong not only are you dead, but I'm responsible!"
"Vetra, I'm not saying you should-"
"Look, Scott… I'm sorry I yelled… she's just... she's not a fighter, alright? I mean you heard her back there. She was getting upset that we had to kill those raiders, acting like they weren't throwing everything they had our way to try and kill us. She doesn't get that you can't have excitement and adventure without pain and blood. If she gets herself into trouble and I'm not there to protect her, then… well, like I said. She's not like Sara."
Ryder didn't respond for a moment, only lowering his head as if thinking over his response.
"Well, you're right Vetra. Sid's not like Sara. But the difference is, you can do something to help her right now. With Sara, I can do nothing. It doesn't matter if I'm halfway across Heleus or sitting right next to her. If something happens while she's in that coma I can't do a damned thing to help her except scream for someone else to try and fix her. But you can do something. You can help her prepare for anything that might happen, or give her some training so she won't need you to walk her through things. Help her not make mistakes."
Vetra turned her head away briefly before looking back at Ryder.
"But what if she gets herself into another mess? What if she gets hurt?" she asked.
"That might happen. But I'm certain that Sid is wondering what she'd do if you got hurt. That's why she risked everything to help; she's scared too. You can't just keep saying 'what if' to yourself and not let Sid reach her full potential." Ryder said before standing up and moving over towards her. "And if anything does happen, then I'm here for the both of you."
His hands reached out, grabbing onto Vetra's shoulders and softly rubbing up and down her arms.
"I care about Sid because I care about you."
She could feel her heart wanting to pound its way out of her chest, but she felt frozen in place, save for her twitching mandibles. Why was she liking this so much?
"Scott, I… I don't know what to say…"
Neither of them spoke for several seconds. They just stood there, staring into each other's eyes, not wanting to move a muscle.
"Hey, you don't have to saying anything…" he replied, moving closer and wrapping his arms around her in a soft hug.
She could again feel that pounding in her chest, and with Scott this close she could feel the pounding in his as well.
Suddenly, Vetra found her arms wrapping themselves around Ryders shorter frame, her right hand lightly rubbing at his back. To her it felt like they were standing there for an eternity, but in reality it had only been a few seconds before Ryder pulled away, leaving Vetra almost… disappointed.
"Anyway, I should let you get back to work. Just think about what I said, alright? I really don't want to see you two fighting the whole trip back."
"I'll… think it over. Thanks Scott,"
Vetra blinked in surprise as she heard the subharmonic trill she'd added when she'd said 'Scott.' Was she seriously flirting with her captain?
But before she could ponder this development Ryder continued.
"Good. I want my normal, everyday, running-headstrong-into-danger turian back." he said with a smile before moving through the doorway.
There was a deafening silence as the door slammed shut, leaving Vetra alone with just her thoughts.
Did...did that just happen?
I mean, I didn't think he'd…
Spirits, his touch…
Vetra slumped back down into her chair and turned to face her desk, her mandibles twitching and her mind racing..
She shook her head and looked back down to the cargo bay to where her sister sat.
First things first. Patch things up with Sid, worry about your … attraction to Ryder later.
Vetra brought up her omni tool.
"Hey, Sid? Can we talk a sec? No yelling this time, I promise."