Lasaras head throbbed. Everything was black. It took her a moment to realise that was because her eyes were still closed. She slowly opened them and found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. The memories were coming flooding back down. After she had sent her report on the Batarian attack on Earth to the council, they had tasked her and her small crew to get closer to the planet and study the local species further before the council would decide how best to proceed. Things had gone wrong quickly. Despite their supposed state of the art stealth tech, a Batarian fighter had clocked them and shot them down . Her ship has crashed down to Earth in seconds.

Then the rest of the memories came back. The darkness and the smoke. The flames. The screaming.

"Goddess." She cried to herself in anguish. She hadn't been able to save her crew.

She looked around, her neck pained her to move but it was bearable. She was in a room. Definitely no longer her ship. It was...alien. the furniture, the gadgets. All completely different to things found in the known galaxy though strangely similar.

Her first thought was that she was in a human dwelling or perhaps even a prison. That thought was interrupted as she realised she had something on her forehead. Some kind of towel. Whoever has found her had obviously made some kind of effort to treat her wounds , even if it was rudimentary.

She was lying on a couch but she forced herself to sit up. She had to be ready for a thing if her captors came back. Or perhaps rescuers ? Her head hurt too much to think straight.

She got the fright of her life when a Human walked into the room carrying some kind of container. Evidently the feeling was mutual as he dropped the container and water splilled all over the floor.

"Holy shit, you're awake !" The human said. She had no idea what it was saying. Their translation software had been destroyed with her ship and her mind felt too frail at that moment to meld with his so they could understand eachother.

She looked at the Human curiously. Just like in the photos taken from their local extranet. They stood more or less similar height to an Asari, with remarkably similar facial features though they possessed mounds of fur on their heads. The one that had just walked in appeared to be the female of the species, judging by the apparent breasts under her clothing.

They stared at eachother for a moment , unsure as to what to say with no way to communicate. The Human female picked up the water container she had dropped and offered it to Lasara, who took it and examined it. Definitely water. She gulped it down and thanked her in her own language, mentally kicking herself as she remembered the language barrier.

"Hazel." The Human pointed to herself. The she said "Human." She recognised that word at least from her limited studies of Human archive's. This human must have been a speaker of the English language , one of the more common languages on the planet. Lasara only recognised a handful of words from the language however so communication would be somewhat awkward until she was fit enough to meld with the human.

"Lasara." She stood up slowly, pointing to herself before saying "Asari." The Human , "Hazel" appeared to grasp what she meant. Hazel disapeared for a few moment and returned with another human, which she assumed to be a male. He had much shorter hair than the female, perhaps a cultural norm?

He introduced himself as "Rick" and smiled at her, or at least what appeared to be a smile. Who was to say Human facial expressions were the same as Asari? She had not had the time to do thorough investigation of the species unfortunately.

"Rick", which she assumed to be his name, went to another room and returned with a plastic model of the planet. She recognised it as Earth judging by the continents.

"Earth." He said, spinning the model planet around on its base. He repeated it till she got the idea.

"Thessia." She responded , pointed out the window and towards blue sky.

That was pretty much going to be the extent of their ability to communicate unless she melted with one of them. She was exhausted but it was the only option. Gingerly stepping towards the female, she slowly reached her hands out to either side of her head and waited for the female to allow her to proceed before touching her head.

Memories, thoughts , information. All transferred rapidly. It left Hazel feeling nauseous and with a pretty bad heachache. It left lasara feeling even worse.

"What the hell was that ?" Hazel panted, taking a deep breath.

"I am sorry. This was the best way for us to communicate." Lasara replied.

"Whoa you speak English?" Rick said in shock.

"My species can meld with others and transfer memories. It's an exhaustive process but now we can speak." She said. "Thank you for saving my life. Did any of my crew survive"

"No. I dont think so anyway. There was too much smoke and fire was everywhere. We had to get out. Then the Batarian fighters started combing the area. Probably looking for you." Rick said, still stunned he was conversing with an alien.

"Batarians." She spat "They have gone too far this time."

"So," Hazel started unsure as to how to do to go on "you're like, on our side ?"

"There's a huge universe out there full of life. In addition to Batarian and Asari there are the Turians, Salarians, Volus, Quarians, Drell, Hanar, Elcor amongst others. Most are peaceful. The Batarians are a rogue species and are fond of slavery. Think of Galactic equivalent of your North Korea. They are looked down upon by the rest of the galaxy. Currently the galaxy is overseen by the Citadel Council made up of the Salarians, Asari and Turians, who maintain peace and order in our galaxy. This unprovoked attack on your homeworld is seen as unacceptable by the Galactic community."

"So they're gonna help us?" Rick asked.

"Perhaps. They are discussing it now as far as I am aware but I'm out of contact with them now. I'm in the dark same as you unfortunately." She said , struggling to get the words out. The effort was taking its toll on her. Her head still hurt. She felt light headed and felt her feet give way under her. The human male rushed over and caught her before she could hit the ground. He lay her glently back on the couch where she fell asleep.

These humans don't seem so bad, was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep.