Authors Note: Okay...I give you chapter 14. It's a short one but kinda important. I guarantee the next chapter is gonna be huge...ton of stuff going on in that one. Garnet Saren: No you're not awful for wanting Sid to be with Nov and you're not alone in that either. As for the typos...generally when I'm done with it its 4am and my brain is gone and when my Beta gets her eyes go crossed...look at it this way: wouldn't be a chapter of mine without a typo or two ;). Dame LeeLee: Cerrus made that ending...had me cracking up while writing it. geminidragon76: I love fanning the flames of your shipping. hahaha. Sidda didn't really understand what gift meant but then again he didn't tell her. That gift comes back around later...big story...hang in there.

As always, please enjoy and comments, feedback, suggestions, all of it...it's all welcome. Thanks again for reading.

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Fourteen: Leave No One Behind

Maridus entered the Rec Room and saw Sidda sitting at the table with her feet up on it fiddling with a knife. There was one question about the knife she had, when Nov gave it to her she never asked about the different stamp on it. It wasn't the normal military stamp. He had told her the knife belonged to his father but also that he and his father didn't get along.

"Hey, Damar." She greeted with a smile as she wiped the blade off with a cloth.

"Sid." He replied while crossed the room to the cooler to get a drink, on his way he caught the gleam of the knife and glanced down at it. "Isn't that Nov's knife?" he asked recognizing it from when he took the nick out of the edge.

Sidda nodded as he pulled a bottle of water out along with his drink offering it to her. "Thank you." She said and leaned forward taking the bottle. "Cal gave this to me for my birthday."

Maridus paused looking down at her and blinked. "He did?" he asked a little surprised.

Sidda was oblivious to Maridus' tone; she too was a little surprised at his gift but knew enough to feel honored by it. "Yeah," she replied as she looked at the blade. "I like it…but I keep meaning to ask him why the stamp is different."

Maridus made a mental note to take a piece of out Nov's hide. "I can answer that." He stated sitting down. "That's a family knife. That's the colony sigil of Rylo."

Sidda grunted a response as she looked at the knife. "I still don't know why he gave it to me." She said. "If this belonged to my father, I'd never give it away."

Maridus scoffed. "I guarantee your relationship with your father was better than Nov's was with his." He stated.

Sidda's curiosity was peaked as she put the knife back in its sheath. Just then an alarm sounded through the ship. "Battle stations. All hands to battle stations. Maj. Maridus to CIC." The two of them shot to their feet as Maridus scurried to the lift. "Ground teams, prepare to board."

Maridus trotted onto the CIC just at the Lante completed a jump. The CIC was buzzing like a well-oiled machine. Crew members were at their stations and the ship was primed for a fight. "General?" he questioned and took his station. "What's going on?"

"A Volus refueling station is under attack by Raiders." Victus replied.

"Jump complete, Sir, ETA 2 minutes." Ruvio informed and Maridus' screen was flooded with data.

"Make it sooner, Lieutenant." Victus ordered.

"Got a reading." Maridus stated. "Two ships. Raider classification." He said and paused for a second. "Our secret's out, they know we're here and changing course to intercept."

It always boggled their minds when an obviously inferior ship tried to take on a ship built for nothing but combat like the Lante. Victus sighed. "Ready weapons. Open a channel." He ordered. "This is the PFS Lante to Raiding party; you are in violation of Volus territory, stand down and prepare to be boarded."

"No reply." Maridus said. "They're coming in on attack vector, lead ship is firing."

Victus sighed again. "That'll be a 'no'." he said and the ship shook at the impact of the Raiders weapons fire. "Return fire."

This was turning into a halfway decent dogfight. Ruvio rarely had the chance to put the Lante through her paces but every once in a while they came up against Batarians who'd lost their minds, Slavers and Raiders who thought they could handle a gunship like this Turian frigate, or Mercenary bands trying to make a name for themselves. Trying and failing, in the case. It was a two on one fight but the balance was still tipped in the Lante's favor. They out classed the Mercs in every way but Ruvio had to give credit where it was due. They didn't back off.

She was chasing the lead ship and actually having a good time with it. "Stay on him, Zara." Victus stated. "Weapons, fire when you get a lock."

"Second ship's trying to close in behind us." Maridus said quietly.

The weapons officer fired as soon as the system locked and the Merc ship was blown into a billion tiny bits. Ruvio was going so fast she flew through the debris field and banked the frigate to out maneuver the second ship that was tailing them.

"Target locked." Weapons reported.

"Fire." Victus ordered and the second ship joined the first in the afterlife.

"Second ship destroyed." Maridus said and Victus nodded in approval over how his crew handled that.

"Well done." He stated. "Nice flying, Zara."

Ruvio chuckled as she put the ship back on course to the Volus refueling station. "Thank you, Sir."

"We're being hailed by the refueling station." Maridus stated as his console beeped. Victus said nothing, just nodded his head indicating that he wanted Maridus to proceed.

"Lante, I am Pashan Ell, thank you for your help." The Volus stated. "But I fear we have another problem. We're badly damaged, one of our fuel tanks has ruptured and our orbit is decaying rapidly."

"General, analysis of the giant, highly unstable hydrogen, if their orbit drops them too low they might burn up and ignite the giant's upper atmosphere." Maridus stated quickly and Victus nodded. "Or they'll blow up and produce the same outcome."

"How many people do you have?" he asked the Pashan.

"37." Pashan replied. "37 Turians, Volus, and Batarians."

Victus nodded. "We'll get you and your people out. Stand by."

The comm link ended and Victus turned to Maridus. "Shuttles?"

Maridus shook his head. "At the rate they're falling toward the planet, not enough time to get 37 people out." He said and Victus nodded heeding his first officer's advice and walked up to Ruvio in the cockpit.

"Zara, can you dock with them?" he asked.

"Orbit's unstable and there's a lot of turbulence, Adrien." She replied. "One wrong move and we're vaporized or damaged to badly to get home."

Victus grumbled. That wasn't what he asked. "Can you capture it and maintain the seal long enough for us to get 37 people off?"

Ruvio huffed. "I'll do my best…hopefully I don't blow us up in the process." She replied and Victus patted her shoulder.

"Do it." He said and walked by to his station. "Argo. Centar. Meet me at the airlock prepare to assist an evacuation." He announced into the comm. "Damar, you too."

What Ruvio was about to do was going to be extremely hairy. She'd practiced docking in extreme situations several times but the only time she actually performed it was under combat conditions. She'd never had to chase a refueling station that was falling into a gas giant threatening to explode.

"Alright everyone, hang onto something they didn't exactly teach this at the academy." Ruvio said and began her speedy approach to the station. "I'd stand clear of the airlock if I were you." She said into the open comm to the teams that started to gather. Victus paused and looked back to Maridus who couldn't hide the worry about docking in such a volatile situation. "If I don't do this right we'll spark an explosion and speed this disaster right along."

Her hands flew over the controls and she sighed. "Matching course and speed." She stated and angled the Lante toward the airlock. The crew near the airlock waited with bated breath for the go ahead from Ruvio. There was silence as the rest of the teams arrived, Sidda stuffed her long thick braid under her helmet and locked it in place. Nov stood to her left and Ruvvak to her right waiting quietly like the rest.

The ship shook as Ruvio came up on the station a little faster than she'd like but she got the hole in one of the first try. "Got it." She stated trying to hide the smile on her face. "Maintaining manual control, estimate 6 minutes before the orbit decays too low or the station explodes."

Maridus stepped forward and tapped the airlock door to test the seal. "Son of a bitch, she did it." He muttered and Victus scoffed.

"Zara, prepare a speech," Victus stated. "you're gonna get a medal." The airlock cycled and opened flooding the Lante's airlock smoke. Victus put his helmet on along with the rest of his people. "Alright, everyone comes off and goes to Medical."

Sidda stepped aboard letting about 10 of the stations people flood onto the ship. The station was filled with smoke and the fire caused by the fuel rupture was quickly consuming the rest of the station. The evacuation was organized as most of the workers had rallied to the airlock; the problem was it was so smoky and toxic it was disorienting even with the helmets on.

The cluster of commotion at the airlock was chaos to the outside observer but organized chaos to the Lante crew. The evacuation of the station had to happen fast, it was falling into a gas giant and threatening to explode…that was bad for all parties involved.

Ruvio had demonstrated her skills and precariously docked the ship with the station but it wasn't going to last forever, at any second she could lose the stations seal and then it was downhill from there.

"Where's Shepard?" Victus asked as Cerrus passed a Turian worker off to one of Holum's medical staff.

"Went off to find someone from the engineering section." He replied as Nov arrived handing his charge off to Rajin.

"Shepard, this is Victus, do you copy?" he asked and heard no response. "Shepard, do you copy?"

"Sir, head count update…one still out. A Volus." Maridus said and Victus got a bad feeling. Sidda wasn't answering.

"Alright, I'm going in there to get her." Victus stated and Maridus disagreed.

"Sir?" he began. "Any minute now we're gonna lose this seal not to mention the pending explosion that's gonna ignite the atmosphere." Maridus argued.

"I'm well aware of the situation, Major." He stated and put his helmet on.

Nov stepped up, overhearing the debate. "General, I'll go."

"Stand fast, Lieutenant." Victus replied. "I'll go." He stated quickly and Nov paused in his movement looking from him to Maridus. The ship shook as if it had been fired upon knocking Nov into the wall to his right; Victus grabbed the wall to steady himself quickly as Maridus did the same. "Report?" Victus ordered.

"The pressure's warping the seal, Adrien; I'm not going to be able to hold this much longer." Ruvio reported, she was doing a hell of a job as it was but she wasn't a miracle worker.

"Keep with it. I'm going aboard." He stated and turned away from Nov and Maridus.

"Sir, I can't allow that." Maridus stated. "We have to push off now and jump away."

"I am not leaving her behind, Major!" Victus barked.

It was CO versus XO. Maridus was right; to the Turians one loss was acceptable in the long run. Sacrifice was expected in the course of their duty, but Victus refused to blatantly leave Sidda on the station and he didn't care if he risked all 130 crew members and his ship. "She means as much to me as she does to you, Sir, but it's too big of a risk. I can't let you do this." Maridus snapped as his respectful tone went out the window.

"I will not lose another one, Major!" Victus roared as he took a step toward Maridus. His face may have been hidden behind his helmet but there was no question to Nov, Cerrus, or Maridus that he was pissed off. The Lante rocked again and alarms sounded at the airlock. "Return to your station, that's an order, Major." He growled and turned his attention to his suit comm. "Zara, time?"

"Four minutes, Sir." She replied and Maridus still didn't agree with this. "If we're lucky."

Maridus was fuming, while he'd never been hugely by the book and he didn't really want to leave Sidda behind, but the protocol was right. "You've got two, Sir." He growled as Victus disappeared into the smoke filled fueling station. He knew Maridus would do as he was trained to do and he expected nothing less.

As Maridus followed Victus' order and headed off for the CIC, Cerrus stepped toward to the airlock and closed it…just in case Ruvio lost the seal. He'd rather not be sucked out into the radiation of the gas giant. He turned to Nov who glanced at him and sighed. When Victus and Maridus fought it never boded well for the ship.

"Somehow I don't think he was talking about losing another crewmember." Cerrus stated and Nov shifted his weight but said nothing. "He's sleeping with her isn't he?" he stated and Nov, still hidden behind his helmet said nothing but looked down at the floor then away from Cerrus. Cerrus shook his head to the silence from Nov and paced by the airlock door waiting to see Victus return. "I had a feeling it was either him or you…disgusting either way." He muttered as Nov rolled his eyes to Cerrus' racism.

"With all due respect, Captain, but shut up." He stated and Cerrus looked at him, his crabby glower hidden behind his helmet. "I wouldn't leave her behind either and don't even begin to tell me you would."

Nov was correct. Since the botched mission with Blackwatch, Cerrus vowed to never lose anyone else under his command even if that included Sidda.

Victus had never pissed Maridus off this much. This was as drastic as a situation could be and Victus wasn't thinking clearly. He knew something like this was bound to happen with the growing relationship between the two. He couldn't blame him for not wanting to leave her but there was more at stake than the life of one person.

He was cursing more than he had in the past ten years as he made his way into the CIC still wearing his armor. "Fucking stubborn son of a bitch. Zara!" he barked. "Start the clock, two minutes!"

His tone made her narrow her eyes to him. Maridus was a calm person and hardly ever raised his voice, something was wrong and she knew it. "Sir?"

Maridus didn't want to repeat himself over this, the more the thought about it the more it pissed him off. "Two minutes, Lieutenant, start the clock. When it runs down push us off from the station and jump us away."

"What about the General and the Commander?" she asked and Maridus punched a few keys at his station reflecting how irritated he was.

"You have your orders, Lieutenant." He stated and saw her open her mouth to ask a question or protest. "Lieutenant, when this station blows it going to ignite the atmosphere of this giant…then we're screwed…start the clock." He snapped and Ruvio turned away from him.

Victus made his way through the smoke filled corridors. The damage caused by the Merc Raiders was extreme and what began as several small fires had spread beyond the stations ability to handle. The fuel rupture was literally adding fuel to the fire and causing more problems that would soon engulf the station in flames. There was no doubt that Maridus would follow his training and he didn't relish the idea of being incinerated.

"Sid!" he called, his visibility hindered by all the smoke. He followed the signs for the Engineering level and came around the corner to see two bodies at the bottom of the staircase with structural debris on and around them. He panicked for a second but controlled himself. "Sidda!" he called and rushed to her side dropping down to one knee looking over her. It seemed that the conduit they had passed exploded and caused a support to collapse onto them. He looked behind him to see if the Volus was still alive but noticed that half of the helmet was missing, blown away by the explosion. He moved the debris from her unsure if Sidda was still breathing, with all the smoke and noise he couldn't tell. The station shook violently enough to knock him on his ass. It was time to go. He gathered Sidda up in his arms and carried her back the way he came.

Maridus gripped the console as the ship was hit by the giant's gravitational turbulence, alarms sounded off to the annoyance of Ruvio. A stress indicator came up for the docking collar.

Ruvio let out a Turian curse. "Major…" she stated in a tone of warning.

"Time?" Maridus asked.

"30 seconds…"she replied quickly. Best case scenario was the docking collar they had would be ripped off causing a ton of damage to the hull of the ship and to the airlock. Worst case was that the collar would give, rupture the hull, and send the frigate tumbling right into the massive explosion that was about to take place. She didn't like either one of those options.

"Release the station." Maridus ordered knowing full well what that order carried with it. "All hands stand clear of the airlock, emergency release in 5-…" he announced into the intercom.

"Hold! Hold!" Cerrus barked into the comm. "Victus is at the airlock…cycling him through now."

Cerrus and Nov wished the outer airlock door would open just a little bit faster. As soon as Victus saw an opening he could fit through he ducked in and Cerrus hit the emergency close button which stopped it immediately and closed it in seconds.

"Got em!" Nov stated loudly into the comm. "Go!"

That was all the encouragement that Ruvio needed. She hit the flashing button on her screen and the ship jerked sharply to the side as she hit max thrust to clear the giant's atmosphere before engaging the mass effect core. It truly was a spectacular sight as the forward section of the refueling station exploded. The flammable upper atmosphere of the giant ignited in a brilliant celestial display vaporizing the station and sending a wave of flames out in all directions.

"Engaging mass effect core." Ruvio stated and the frigate jumped away to safety.

Holum was getting tired of seeing his most loyal customer. Once again, Sidda was in Medical for an injury sustained on a mission, nothing serious, just a concussion bad enough to knock her out. When the conduit exploded it sent her into the bulkhead and it was enough to render her unconscious.

She'd heard a few things about what had transpired during the evacuation and that Maridus and Victus clashed like rams over protocol. Victus was nowhere to be found, no one had seen him since he brought her into Medical. No doubt he was preoccupied with the people they had rescued.

"I'm gonna issue you a challenge, Commander." Holum stated as Sidda zipped up her blue uniform. "I don't want to see you in this bay as a patient for the four months."

Sidda scoffed to his comment. "How about you let Cerrus, Batarians, and any other person we come across in on that little challenge." She stated. "Might increase my odds."

Holum snorted. "I'll give you one thing, Commander; you're tougher than everyone else on this ship."

Sidda walked toward him and patted his left arm. "I guess I have to be, Doc…you just keep patching me up and I'll keep coming up with new and amazing reasons for you to do so." She said with a chuckle and headed out.

A day later the Lante had dropped the workers off at Turian and Volus run waypoint. Rescuing 36 of 37 was truly amazing given the issues but Sidda didn't like the fact that she failed to rescue the 37th crew member. Honestly she wanted to know what happened that made the crew whisper in the corners and feed the already active rumor mill.

Sidda tapped on the door and waited for it to open. When it did she looked up at Maridus looking down at her.

"Sidda." He greeted with a hint of surprise in his voice. "Come in." he added after a moment and was curious to see how this was going to play out. "How..uhh…how are you?" he asked and she snorted.

"I've been hit harder, Damar." She stated and he cackled slightly.

"I know." He said. "What…what can I do for you?"

Sidda had heard several rumors as to what happened while she was unconscious. "What happened between you and Victus?" she asked, not bothering to beat around the bush.

Maridus groaned, this was going to go one of two ways. Either she'd understand and everything would be fine or she'd get pissed and storm out. "What have you heard?"

"You and Victus had it out at the airlock over me." She stated bluntly.

"I wanted to leave you behind." Maridus answered bluntly. "I'm the first officer, Sid; my duty is to protect this ship and crew. Victus was willing to risk everyone on ship with the very real possibility of it being destroyed to save you." He babbled and began to sound as defensive as ever. "I…I couldn't do that. I couldn't risk 130 people to save one, not even you." Sidda listened to his honesty and found a hard time disagreeing with him but she couldn't agree with him fully. "A few years ago there was an officer onboard named Sellix. Good officer, good friend. We had to leave him behind on planet during a covert raid. Things went sideways, units got separated and we lost contact with Sellix. Victus ordered us to leave him behind. When I questioned him about it he simply said 'victory at any cost, including one of our own'."

Sidda listened to him and got the sense that he was frustrated with having to explain his actions. "You followed your training."

Maridus nodded. "And I suppose you don't agree."

Sidda leaned against the locker. "No. No, but that's the difference in our training. 'Victory at any cost' for Turians, but it is 'Leave no man behind' for humans." She stated and Maridus looked to her a little surprised she wasn't angry with him. "I'd have done the same thing. I'm not worth 130 people and a ship no matter how much you like me."

Maridus scoffed. "Tell that to Victus."

Sidda chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it." She stated. "You've been his first officer for years…a little disagreement like that shouldn't be a problem."

"I know." He replied. "It just never feels right being on opposite sides…he's my mentor, he's taught me everything that I know. I hope you realize just how he feels about you…he wouldn't have done that for just anyone."

"How do you know it was about me?" she asked and Maridus sighed rubbing his face with his left hand.

"Because when I told him we had to leave he said he wasn't going to lose another…" he stated. "and he wasn't talking about a crew member."

Sidda felt a flutter of butterflies in her stomach, she could guess what he meant by 'another' but wasn't going to assume the wrong thing. That would have been embarrassing.

Maridus wasn't looking forward to chatting with Victus, it wasn't the first time they'd disagreed but it was the first time it was about something as important as this. His feelings for Sidda compromised the ship and Victus knew that. For Maridus' part, he hoped that Victus wouldn't eject him from his command for this.

Victus poured two glasses of Brandy as Maridus stood quietly waiting for his commanding officer to say something. "Do you know how many times Palaven Command has tried to reassign you away from me?" he asked and Maridus shook his head taking the glass that was offered to him. "Quite a few, each time I told them no." Maridus was silent as he let him talk. "I expect you to disagree with me, Damar, that's why I won't let you go. Do you know why?"

Maridus took a drink of the Brandy as Victus took a swig of his. "Because you trained me to speak my mind."

Victus nodded. "Because you're not afraid to. I'm not perfect and I'm not always right. You were right, Damar, protocol and standard procedure…you were right." He said again and set his glass down walking up to stand face to face with his first officer. "But let me make one thing perfectly clear, Major, I would sacrifice every member of this crew, this ship, and myself to save Sidda. You can put that in your report; note it in your log, whatever you wish. Clear?"

Maridus gave him a nod. "Understood, Sir." He replied. His suspicions about how much their relationship had grown were confirmed.

Grumbling as he moved through the ship, Maridus was aggravated. He really couldn't blame Victus as he would do the same damn thing if it saved Solana. What irritated him was the disregard for everything Victus taught him. It was complex and frustrating as hell.

Nov was seated at the Rec Room's long table reading a letter from his mother. "Hey, I see you survived." Nov stated and Maridus glowered down at him. "How's it feel going toe to toe with the boss?"

Maridus wasn't in the mood. "Lieutenant, not now."

Nov blinked and nodded. "Sorry." He replied and went back to reading his mother's letter.

"Did you tell your mother you gave your family knife to a human?" he asked and Nov stopped reading looking up at Maridus puzzled by the statement.

"First of all, it was mine to give. Second, what business is that of yours?" he asked and Maridus scoffed.

"You're playing with fire, Cal, back off." He stated, this really wasn't the time to tell Nov to steer clear of Sidda. "Giving her your family knife can only be seen in one light."

Nov knew his feelings for Sidda were genuine but were complicated by his own honor and that he didn't want to ruin a relationship that was working. He didn't want to listen to Maridus' opinion and didn't want to argue with him either. He stood and started to walk out.

Maridus knew his mood had translated into a desire to protect Nov, Sidda, and Victus from an explosive situation that could ruin lives in this standoffish confrontation. "Cal." He began making Nov stop and turn to look at him. "Be careful. If the General finds out how you feel about Sid he'll probably kill you."

Nov was getting tired of people telling him what to do about his feelings for the one person he wanted to be with. He wasn't going to force the issue but he would like to be left alone about it. "Major, permission to speak?" he asked and Maridus nodded to him. "Stay the fuck out of my personal life." He said and walked out leaving Maridus there to ponder that.

The Lante was pretty much home for Sidda now. You could say her mission was a complete success, proving to the Turians that humans were not weak and could handle the trials of life in space. Not all Humans were like Sidda though and they knew that. She'd done more to further relations between the species in the past year than any Ambassador in the past 10 years. Her one year tour was almost over, for her it was bittersweet, more bitter than sweet. She'd grown to think of the Turian crew as family, Maridus and Nov especially. She'd also fallen in love with Victus and the entire ship knew it. He let that cat out of the bag by sheer accident but if he hadn't she'd be dead. He saved her life on that station, an action that showed his devotion to her. According to Maridus, if it had been anyone else he would have cut his losses because the risk versus reward was too great. He abandoned his training and went with his heart.

She stood looking at the artwork in Victus' quarters, she wasn't one for art but the pieces he had were nice, subtle, mostly panoramic painting or drawings of various planets. Now that he'd announced their relationship, or rather his feelings for Sidda, so spectacularly to everyone near the airlock things had changed. The news spread like wildfire on Lante and now everyone knew. "You wanna tell me what happened?" she asked and heard Victus sigh. "What did you mean by you didn't want to lose another? Another what?"

He remained silent to her question and as she observed the paintings he was pouring two glasses of Turian Brandy. The drink didn't affect him much anymore since he'd been drinking it for years but its effect on Sidda was somewhat more drastic. Being a Dextro drink she found it sweet but more than two glasses gave her the worst hangover in the universe.

He made his way over to her and handed her the glass. "I've, umm," he said trying to be open with her, that was hard for him since he was a private, soft spoken man. "I've never told you about my mate have I."

Sidda took a sip of the Brandy and shook her head. "No. I figured you'd tell me when you were ready." She said and he nodded. Sidda had met Tarquin on Palaven but Victus was quiet about Tarquin's mother and she wasn't about to push.

"I appreciate your patience." He said and gestured for her to sit down on the sofa. "Her name was Miral. She was an artist." He explained gesturing to the paintings on the wall. "She did these."

Sidda had no idea they were hers and was actually surprised. "She was fantastic." She said with a smile and he nodded. He didn't seem uncomfortable about the topic but she got the sense that it still hurt to talk about.

"I met her on Palaven, she was painting a sunset and I got in her light." He said and chuckled. "In some ways you are a lot like her but you're more of a pain in the ass."

Sidda laughed out loud to that. "I try." She snickered and observed his body language. "What happened to her?"

This story wasn't the clichéd tragedy that most people expected, it was nature. Cruel nature but he had accepted it to a point long ago but that didn't mean he didn't miss her. "She got sick about 15 years ago. Doctors tried everything but they couldn't help her."

"I'm sorry." She offered quietly and he waved it off, he wasn't looking for pity or comfort. He'd already accepted this and come to terms with it. He was telling her this for a different reason. Since his entire crew could connect the dots thanks to the rumors that spread like a brushfire he might as well tell the woman he now loved. His nerves made him get up and start pacing back and forth.

"You asked me why I said I couldn't lose another." He said and she nodded looking up at him, the words he used at the airlock when he made the unpopular decision to stick around long enough to save her, risking more than just the ship but the whole crew. "I couldn't lose another mate." He said bluntly and she paused in mid drink looking at him. He said mate. For a Turian that was as good as saying wife.

Her heart beat faster and faster, she loved him more than anything else and hearing him say mate made her feel like a giddy little school girl again. "Mate?" she asked clearing her throat sounding more surprised than anything else.

He was the element of cool as he stopped and stood still looking down at her, Victus best quality was an impossible to read poker face. "I'll never bond to someone else again. I can't do that even after all this time, but I've become very, very fond of you. I love you." He stated. "If you'll have me…I want to be with you for however long it lasts."

Sidda didn't need to hear anything else. She'd found love in only one man, him. She put the glass down and got up quickly walking the few steps to him. "Until the day I die, Adrien." She said barely able to contain it anymore and got close to his body putting her left hand on his chest and her right hand on his cheek stroking his mandible. Victus smiled and leaned his head forward touching her forehead.