Chapter Twenty-one – Staying Hidden

Egret had been born after the war had ended. She had been raised on Earth, surrounded by more aliens than asari and a mismatched culture that favoured no one race more than the others. As a result, she had inherited none of the traits that asari from before the war seemed to display. The elegance, the patience, the bizarre ability not to fidget when waiting for something to happen.

It saddened her sometimes – that she seemed unable to imitate the people she most admired – but perhaps the thing she found most perplexing about older asari was how they managed to stay so outwardly calm in stressful situations.

Keeping a cool head was one thing but as the crew stood in the computer room and watched the unknown ship approach the freighter on the monitors, Egret couldn't stop herself from frowning in concern, or shifting her weight restlessly.

Liara, on the other hand, stood perfectly still with her arms folded, her face betraying no emotion. Her stance was mirrored by several of the others while those of Egret's generation exchanged worried looks, chewed on their nails and generally fidgeted in a very un-asari-like manner.

The tense silence continued as the ship slowly moved alongside the freighter before latching on to the airlock. Liara calmly moved forward to one of the consoles and activated the comm.

"Jules, they've docked. They've scanned the ship for life signs, they'll know you're on board."

"Understood," came Shepard's reply, "you know what to do."

"Stay safe," Liara said before shutting off the call and turning to the room. She'd called together all the analysts with Egret taking the place of one of those who'd been left behind at the HTA prison. Their job was to sift through all the scanner data that the ship collected and pick out anything relevant. A computer could technically do the job of course but a team of actual people had always been found to be more effective.

"I realise the computer systems aren't entirely up and running yet," Liara began, "but I want every ship within range scanned to see what cargo they're carrying and I want their courses extrapolated so we know where they came from and where they're headed. We need to start building up a picture of what's going on in this system," there was a series of murmurs and nods that Liara seemed to accept and the crew began to disperse around the room, leaving Egret wondering exactly where she should start.

She soon had other things to worry about however as she noticed that Liara was making a beeline for her. She felt herself unconsciously straighten up as the older asari approached, her face still unreadable.

"Come with me," she said simply as she reached her, "I need your help."

Without even slowing in her stride, Liara continued past her, apparently expecting Egret to follow. For a second Egret just blinked, then found herself hurrying to catch up. Liara led her to a pair of consoles in the far corner of the room, reams of code were scrolling along the screens as the computers finished their setup procedures – the ones that really should have been completed before the ship left dock.

Liara sat at one of them, tapping at the controls until the screen changed to a series of downloaded files. Egret found herself leaning in over Liara's shoulder, curiosity outweighing her natural awkwardness as she squinted at the screen.

"Jul- Shepard has sent us all of the freighter's logs," Liara explained, as though sensing the question on Egret's tongue, "she wants us to go through them for anything that might be useful. Sit down," she added, nodding to the chair next to her. Egret did as she was told.

"Some of the files are encrypted," Liara continued, "with your computer skills I thought you might be able to help."

"Right," Egret nodded. She was good at cracking encryptions, but that didn't make her any more confident about sitting next to Doctor Liara T'Soni. You would think that months of training alongside her might have made Egret get over being awestruck; but as she cleared her throat and tried to remember how it was she usually sat, she realised she was still as nervous and uncomfortable as she had been the first time they met. Probably more so, actually, since Liara had rarely done much socialising with the rest of the crew and had therefore remained something of an enigma.

She tried to put it out of her mind and focussed instead on the screen in front of her, she brought up the files and then frowned when the computer responded with a string of errors, "Hm," she muttered, "half the software is still installing."

"Yes," Liara agreed, "we'll just have to work around it. I hope you have the patience of a matriarch."

Egret sighed heavily, "I don't even have the patience of an asari."

The comment slipped thoughtlessly out of her mouth before she could catch it and she was surprised when she heard Liara chuckle. She turned to see the doctor was smiling at her, "Neither have I. It might be a long few hours for the two of us."

Egret smiled in return and turned back to her screen, "What are we hoping to find?"

"Information about the eezo mining on Thessia," Liara replied, "and who they were shipping it to."

"Is there likely to be anything about Thessia? If they've gone to the trouble of building a whole satellite network just to stop us scanning the planet, are they really going to let cargo freighters fly around with information on them?"

"Perhaps not," Liara admitted, "but there might be something, and they are heavily encrypted, more so than I'd expect. I hope you enjoy a challenge."

Egret shrugged, "I've cracked harder codes, just takes an eye for detail and a dash of human stubbornness."

Liara paused, "Human stubbornness?"

Egret felt herself flush, "My father's joke," she explained, "he used to say I was more human than asari, picked that up from him I guess."

"Your father was human?"

"Yes. He raised me after my mother died. I outlived him too, of course. He died about twenty years ago," she was aware that she was dangerously close to babbling and decided to stop before she relayed any more of her life story. But apparently Liara was interested.

"Do you remember your mother?"

"Oh yes!" Egret agreed, more enthusiastically than she had planned, "She used to tell me stories when I was very little, mostly about you and Shepard," she flinched at her own words and hurriedly bit her lip before risking a glance at Liara to see her reaction. She was staring at her screen, her face unreadable.

"I… see," she replied.

"She lived through the war," Egret explained hurriedly. For some reason, when she was around Liara, she felt like she should be apologetic for having her as a childhood hero. Perhaps it was because the real Liara had turned out to be so different from the idea she had conjured up, "she was always talking about the crew of the Normandy and how they saved everyone, you in particular. Lots of young asari grow up with you as a sort of… role model."

Liara was still staring at her screen but a soft, almost sad smile seemed to flicker at her lips, "I… suppose I should be flattered."

The silence that fell after that was suddenly uncomfortable. Egret endured it for a while, trying to concentrate on her work until eventually she couldn't hold her tongue any longer, "She was on Thessia when the reapers attacked," she blurted out and Liara looked up at her blankly for a moment.

"Your mother?"

"Yes. She got out in the evacuation."

Liara seemed to think about that for a moment, "She was lucky, not many got out. The reapers attacked so quickly and there were no plans in place. The matriarchs were arrogant enough to think it would never happen. The reapers didn't even stop to enslave us like they did on other home worlds. They just levelled every city, bombarded every continent and then left. It was like they were determined to show us exactly how insignificant we were," a touch of bitterness had crept into Liara's voice and Egret saw her hand was clenched against her console. She seemed to make a conscious effort to relax herself before she continued, "most of the evacuation ships were destroyed before they even got out of the system. I remember watching it happen from the Normandy's war room. Our stealth drive was online and there was nothing we could have done anyway but still, to just stand there and watch…"

Egret was aware that her muscles had tensed. Behind them the room was full of the noise and bustle of the other analysts but it seemed a world away from this little corner. She felt the sudden pressure of having to say the right thing and having to say it soon before the conversation petered out.

"What did you do?" she asked.

Liara shrugged softly, "Got angry. Shouted at Javik. Ignored everyone else and locked myself away in my cabin. Jules found me there and…" she trailed off, frowning at some unspoken memory before seeming to shake herself out of it, "anyway," she said, looking Egret in the eye, "your mother was lucky."

"In some ways," Egret agreed, "they took her to the Citadel, she was still there when the reapers attacked it and when the Crucible fired. They dragged her out of the wreckage afterwards."

Liara was staring at her now, "Even fewer people made it out of the Citadel alive. She survived a lot."

"Yes. Only to get sick and die a few decades later."

Liara studied her quietly, "I'm sorry."

Egret smiled. Then a thought occurred to her. Liara hadn't opened up this much – or at all – since she'd joined the project. Egret had a-million-and-one questions she had wanted to ask since she had first met Liara and had soon been discouraged from asking any of them when it became apparent that Liara wasn't really the chatty kind. Now she felt like she had an opportunity.

"Your mother died when you were quite young, didn't she?"

Liara was back to looking at her screen now and her face didn't flicker, "I was a little older than you," she replied, "I didn't need her to look after me anymore."

Egret hesitated, "There's a lot of stories about her, rumours really, no one can seem to agree on what actually happened to her. The Crucible destroyed all the records and I think the truth has been forgotten in amongst the legends."

For a moment Liara didn't respond, still studying her console, "Good," she decided eventually, "if she were remembered accurately, it would not be in a good light."

"Can I ask? How did she die? Really?"

"Shepard killed her," Liara responded, without hesitation.

Egret felt her eyes widen and her jaw drop and when Liara looked up and saw her reaction, she sighed heavily, "It's a long story."

Egret might have tried to press further, but at that moment Ereba contacted Liara's omni-tool.

"Doctor T'Soni? The freighter's powered up its engines, they're moving away."

"Follow them," Liara told her decisively, "let's see where they end up."

…

Down in the depths of the freighter's lower decks, amidst walkways and service ducts, the walls of the ship began to vibrate and a series of unhealthy clunks and groans echoed through the metal interior. Concealed inside one of the service ducts, Jules hummed softly.

"Sounds like they've got the engines online," she muttered quietly.

"Sounds like they could blow up at any minute," Kyla added – less quietly.

"Shh," Jules prompted gently, she was on her stomach in the low duct, peering out through the grate into the corridor beyond. The boarding party who had come aboard the freighter had quickly realised that the life signs they were reading were not from any survivors and there were now several groups hunting them through the lower levels.

They'd had a few close calls but ultimately they hadn't been spotted yet. From the few glimpses they'd had of their pursuers, they looked like mercenaries – or thugs – which fitted with Kyla's gang war theory. Jules found it worrying. If people here were already killing each other over eezo she could only imagine what would happen if the rest of the galaxy got their hands on Thessia.

She had to admit, the asari of old had a damn good reason for keeping such tight control of their own power.

"Shepard," Kyla hissed impatiently, "how much longer are we going to keep playing hide-and-seek in these damn tunnels like a bunch of duct rats?"

"Duct rats?" Barbet questioned from behind her.

"Pre-war joke," Jules told him, "now be quiet, the pair of you."

She was sure she could hear footsteps, deliberately slow and light like someone was trying to make no sound as they moved. She strained her hearing and heard her own pulse quickening by her eardrums.

"I still don't understand why we're not just fighting them," Kyla grumbled, making Jules close her eyes briefly.

"They can't tell us anything if they're dead."

"Then why don't we talk to them?" Barbet asked.

"Because they might shoot us," Jules replied, "now please. Stop. Talking."

Through the grate she saw a shadow fall across the end of the corridor, it paused and then slowly began to move closer. Jules eased herself carefully away from the grate and fully into the shadows of the duct. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and waited. The soft sound of boots treading carefully on the metal grating got closer.

There was a slight intake of breath from Kyla, like she was going to speak and Jules moved swiftly, clamping a firm hand across her mouth. The action startled the asari and her eyes widened like she was going to protest until Jules threw her a warning glare.

They waited in silence as the shadow passed by and when Jules was sure the footsteps had faded, she released Kyla from the death grip she had her in.

"Dammit Shepard!" she cursed as she pulled away and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, "I was only breathing!"

"Then either stop or do it more quietly," Jules whispered, "either's fine with me."

Kyla scrunched up her face – not unlike a displeased two-year-old – but said nothing.

Jules edged back towards the grate, listened carefully for a while and when she was satisfied she gently lifted the grate free and moved it aside. She tentatively stuck her head out, looked both ways down the corridor and finally wriggled out of the duct, stretching her shoulders as she stood up fully.

Kyla followed her, grumbling lightly as she struggled out of the tight space and Barbet brought up the rear, emerging with more elegance than either of them had managed.

"Where to now?" he asked as he carefully replaced the grate.

"If we can stay hidden until they reach wherever it is they're going," Jules said, "then we can hopefully sneak out when they lower the landing ramp. But we'll have to be ready."

"Which means back to the cargo bay," Kyla sighed, "how's your sense of direction?"

Jules grinned, "This way."

The truth was, they'd been turned around so many times in those maintenance ducts that Jules didn't have a clue which way the cargo bay was. But looking confidant when you didn't have a clue was a skill all commanders needed. Even those who refused to be called commanders.

She led them away from the direction their pursuer had gone, sticking close to the wall and keeping her ears open. Behind her, Kyla was flexing her shoulders.

"Could they have made those ducts any more cramped?" she muttered, "Must have stripped them out of a salarian ship. I've always said those stick-insects are too skinny."

"I believe they're amphibian," Jules muttered dryly. Part of her was wishing she'd brought Liara instead of Kyla.

"My mother dated a few salarians you know," Kyla added matter-of-factly, "well, maybe dated is an overstatement. She said they were good for a bit of rough-and-tumble."

"Who'd have thought?" Barbet muttered, a trace of humour in his voice that Kyla seemed not to pick up on.

"Never saw the attraction myself," she continued, "but then mother was into aliens, I swear there were some days she had a whole fucking menagerie up there with her. I've never understood why so many asari go for other races. We're the most attractive race in the galaxy, why the hell would you want an alien in bed with you?"

Both Jules and Barbet stopped simultaneously to frown at her. She seemed to suddenly realise she'd been talking out loud and chuckled awkwardly, "Er, no offence, guys."

Jules exchanged a look with Barbet before shaking her head and continuing.

They reached the end of the corridor and found themselves at a junction, "Left or right?" Kyla muttered, chewing on her bottom lip.

"Left," Jules replied.

"You seem very sure."

"I am."

"Shh!" Barbet hissed suddenly, holding out his hand to stop them. The three of them tensed and listened and Jules heard what he had: distant voices coming from the left, and getting closer.

"C'mon!" Jules pulled the two of them back into the shadows of the corridor until they reached a narrow alcove where they crouched.

"If they come this way…" Barbet began.

"We'll deal with it," Jules replied. As the voices got closer it sounded like there were only two of them.

"What makes you so sure they're intruders?" a woman was demanding loudly – possibly an asari.

"They're not survivors," a man – definitely human – replied, "otherwise why would they be hiding?"

"There were no ships in the area, Connor. Whoever attacked was already long gone," two figures emerged at the junction where the corridors intersected and stopped to face each other. Jules saw that it was an asari and she had stopped with her hands on her hips.

"So maybe they left someone behind!" the human, Connor, snapped back.

"What for?"

"I don't know Paige! You know what the Thessian Order are like, nothing they do seems to make sense."

"And what makes you think it was the Order who attacked the freighter?"

"Why? You think they wouldn't?"

"I think that if they'd found out we were stealing eezo from them, we'd all be dead! You saw the state of the bodies in the cargo bay!" she gestured wildly down the corridor with her arm, "The Order wasn't responsible for that, they do things quickly and cleanly. And if it wasn't them, well, that only leaves one other person doesn't it?"

Connor paused, Jules could only see half of his face in the dim light but he looked like he wanted to argue. He also looked like he knew Paige was right, and that seemed to make him uncomfortable. Paige waited a moment for her words to sink in and then turned and began to walk away from him.

"Hey, where are you going?" he asked.

"To the cargo bay, those bodies should be given a bit of dignity before we land."

"But the intruders-"

"There are no intruders!" she snapped, turning on him angrily, "Our equipment is ancient, it's probably just throwing up false readings! Now are you coming or not?"

He hesitated briefly, then nodded and followed her out of sight. Jules and the others waited until their footsteps disappeared then Kyla breathed out slowly.

"They're going to the cargo bay," she said softly.

"Yes," Jules agreed.

"They're going the opposite way to the way you were going to go."

"Yes, thank you, Kyla," Jules threw her a look before edging out of their hiding place and gesturing for the others to follow.

"Did I hear right?" Barbet asked as they reached the end of the corridor and turned right, "Did she say the Thessian Order?"

"Doesn't sound at all creepy or sinister does it?" Kyla muttered grimly, adjusting her grip on her shotgun as though readying herself for trouble.

Jules didn't comment. She was actually more interested in this 'other person' the asari had eluded to who – from Connor's reaction – was apparently worse. She resisted a heavy sigh, it seemed they'd fallen out of one political mess and right into another one.

They snuck silently through the corridors, following the distant echo of footsteps until they came to a part of the ship they recognised.

"The cargo bay's just down there, isn't it?" Barbet asked, pointing to a set of double doors. Jules nodded and led them over. The doors were standing open and they slipped quietly inside.

They ducked behind a few overturned crates and peered out. Connor and Paige were in the middle of the room, most of the bodies had been pulled down from the chains or walls that they were hanging from and were now lying neatly side-by-side. Jules wouldn't really have called it dignified – not considering how many of them were missing limbs – but it was better than the sight that had first greeted them when they'd entered the ship.

"Are we seriously just going to wait until they land and then sneak out?" Kyla muttered, "Then what?"

"We figure out where we are," Jules answered, "and find out what we can. Liara's tracking the freighter, she'll be able to get us out if anything goes wrong."

Kyla snorted, "Providing she looks up from her datapad long enough to remember that people are more important than work."

Jules frowned softly and looked at her, she noticed that Barbet's three good eyes were closed and he was shaking his head, like an older brother embarrassed by his little sister, "Have you got some sort of problem with Liara?" she asked Kyla calmly. It wasn't the first time she'd picked up on the bitterness in Kyla's voice when Liara's name came up.

"Er…" Kyla's plum eyes flinched guilty and she sighed, "I just don't like her type, privileged, academic, more bothered about theories and knowledge than actual people. It's nothing personal."

"You sure about that?" Jules pressed, "You didn't know her from before the war or anything?" after the war, Liara's role as the Shadow Broker had become more widely known and she had rapidly picked up new enemies. Over the years they had encountered and killed several of them and had now outlived most of the others. But there was always the chance there were some left, lurking in the shadows, and Jules was always aware of it.

Kyla just scoffed, "I don't think me and her moved in the same circles."

The ship rocked slightly, cutting the conversation short as the walls juddered, "Feels like we've entered the atmosphere," Barbet muttered.

…

Liara and Egret hadn't made much progress on the encryption when Ereba contacted Liara again, "Doctor T'Soni," she began, an ominous quiver in her voice, "you might want to come up here."

Liara told Egret to carry on without her and then headed for the cockpit. She didn't know how, but without Jules on board everyone seemed to consider her to be in command. She was sure that had never been officially decided but it surprised her more that she had willingly stepped into the role without really thinking about it.

Now the crew was turning to her for their orders without question. She thought about what Egret had said, about her being an asari role model; perhaps that's why they were so willing to follow her. She decided it was better not to dwell on it and shook the thought off with a shudder.

When she arrived at the cockpit, she was greeted by the sight of Piares, dominating the view through the windows. It had been a long time since she had seen the planet, named – perhaps appropriately – for the asari goddess of death.

Piares' atmosphere was toxic, a swirling mass of orange and brown cloud through which she could just catch glimpses of the surface. Back before the war, there had been nothing but a few mining colonies down there; she could see the skeletons of the old domed settlements but she could also see new, larger ones built off from them, vast domed cities that looked to be bustling with life.

The thing of more immediate concern to her, however, was the mismatched fleet of ships and satellites that was standing between them and the surface.

"Goddess," she breathed softly, "that's quite the defence network."

Ereba hummed in agreement, "The freighter passed through it a few minutes ago."

"Can you tell where they landed?"

She shook her head, "The satellites are similar to the ones in orbit around Thessia, nowhere near as advanced but enough to keep me from tracking specific ships once they've passed through."

"Can the stealth drive get us through without being detected?"

"I think so," Ereba agreed, "but somehow I think they'll notice if we actually touch down on one of their landing pads. They seem to have very strict protocols for who gets through and who doesn't. If they find out a ship's managed to pass through their defences undetected, there could be a lot of awkward questions."

Liara frowned thoughtfully, "Can you get a scan of the surface?"

"Only a basic one," Ereba said, bringing up the scans she had managed to take. They weren't much better than the long range ones they'd taken but there was something that caught Liara's eye.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to one of the domes that seemed to have no life signs in it.

Ereba shrugged, "Abandoned section maybe? I can't tell if it's habitable."

Liara weighed up their options for a moment and quickly came to the conclusion that it was their best bet, "Take us down," she decided.

…

Jules, Kyla and Barbet had slowly edged around the perimeter of the cargo bay until they were near the ramp. They had definitely landed and the bay had filled with the other members of the boarding party, the landing ramp was lowered and the bay was flooded with light. The babble of hundreds of voices reached Jules' ears and she peered out to see a bustling docking port and beyond it, a vast city filled with people.

A wide main street was lined with shops, cafes and bars and a constantly moving crowd filled it like a choppy, multi-coloured sea. Their voices echoed off the high dome, intensifying the noise as the obviously thriving settlement bustled by.

"Well," Kyla muttered, blinking against the light, "I wasn't expecting that."

"Cover up the bodies," Connor was saying to his crew, Jules got the sense that he was in command, "we need to get them back to the base."

Jules cursed softly, "I was kinda hoping we were going to land at their base."

"What are we going to do now?" Barbet asked, "It's going to be hard to sneak out without being noticed."

Jules looked at the landing ramp, it seemed they'd had backup waiting for them at the docking port and there were several thugs standing guard there. She really wanted to learn more about what was going on here before trying to escape.

"I'll distract them," she decided, "you two make a run for it. Make contact with the Janiri and tell them what's going on. I'll be in touch when I can."

"Wait, hang on!" Kyla exclaimed, grabbing her elbow before she could move, "How are you going to distract them?"

"By getting captured." she replied simply, "Can you think of a better way to find out where their base is?"

Kyla blinked, "They're right about you, aren't they? Two hundred years of living has sent you round the fucking bend!"

"Is that a good idea?" Barbet added, more diplomatically, "Like you said, they might shoot you."

She threw him a careless grin, "I've died before. And I need to get information out of them, so get ready."

She didn't give them another chance to protest before she stood and marched out into the docking bay. It took a moment for anyone to notice her, even as she made a beeline for Connor. He only saw her at the last second before she reached him, briefly glancing over his shoulder before suddenly recoiling at the sight of her and reaching for his rifle. He lit up with biotics and a barrier sprang up around him.

"What the- who the hell are you?" his exclamation drew the attention of the others and she soon had several thugs on her. She allowed herself to be grabbed and pushed to her knees as her weapons were stripped from her.

"Careful with that," she told a turian who ripped her shotgun from its holster, "it was a present from a friend, he'll be very annoyed if I damage it."

"Who are you?" Connor demanded again, she had a thug either side of her now and gun pointed at the back of her head, she was considering suitable responses when Paige appeared around Connor's shoulder and her eyes widened in disbelief.

"Goddess," she breathed, "that's not possible."

Connor looked at her, "Do you know her?"

"Know her?" she repeated, gazing at him incredulously, "That's Commander Shepard."

…

The Janiri descended steadily through the atmosphere towards the abandoned dome. The closer they got, the less inspiring it looked. It was in complete darkness and Liara could see cracks and holes in the exterior, like it had been victim of an orbital bombardment.

"I think this is one of the original settlements," Ereba mused softly, "it must have been attacked by the reapers."

"Yes," Liara agreed, leaning over Ereba's shoulder to get a better look, "is there breathable air in there?"

"No. But I can reach one of the landing pads."

"Set us down, and tell Egret and Maia to suit up."

…

"Don't talk daft," Connor was looking at Paige like she had gone mad. Every one of Jules' muscles had tensed as she waited to see what would happen next. Tevos' order of 'don't tell anyone who you are' already seemed to be going out the window, "if Shepard was alive today she'd be over two hundred years old."

"I know," Paige agreed, "but her face was everywhere during the war, I watched interviews with her, saw news footage of her fighting the reapers, trust me, it's not a face I'm ever going to forget."

"So this is someone who looks like her."

"Oh c'mon Connor!" she snapped, "How many humans look like her?"

Jules didn't know whether that was a compliment or not so she just frowned and stayed quiet. Connor blinked at the asari, clearly trying to think of some kind of answer.

"This can't be Shepard," he said again, making Paige huff impatiently and bring up her omni-tool. She did a scan and paused, before laughing in amazement.

"Well, whoever she is, the boss is going to want to see her. Look at this," she showed Connor the scans and he frowned sharply.

"Are those… implants? I've never seen anything like them?"

"If you're thinking of cutting me open to profit from them, I should warn you what happened to the last person who tried," Jules spoke up, smiling pleasantly.

Connor's head snapped round to glare at her but Paige was still looking at the scans, "It gets weirder," she muttered, "look at this," she pointed something out to him, "that's a biotic implant."

For some reason, this made Connor's frown deepen. Frankly, of all of her implants, Jules would have thought her biotic one was the least surprising. Apparently Connor disagreed.

"Can't be, no one has biotic implants anymore, not on this side of the relay anyway."

"What?" it was Jules' turn to frown now, "No one in asari space has a biotic implant? But you have biotics, I saw them, how can you use them without an implant?" she eyed the barrier that was still glowing softly around him. She knew that asari could use their biotics without an implant but no other races could, their bodies just weren't designed that way.

Connor breathed in a laugh and moved over to crouch in front of her. She noticed suddenly how young he was, perhaps not even twenty though he acted older. He smelled unexpectedly of soap and aftershave and his pale eyes were watery as he studied her curiously, "You really aren't from this side of the relay, are you? What are you doing here?"

She held his gaze as she tried to think of what to say, the truth was too long and complicated to go through with a gun pointed at her and nothing else occurred to her so she stayed silent. Eventually Connor just snorted and stood, "Bring her back to the base," he decided, "the boss will get answers out of her. And check the rest of the ship, see if there's any more of them."

Two hands grabbed her beneath her shoulders and she was hauled to her feet and dragged towards the exit. She cast a glace towards the crates where she had left Kyla and Barbet and thankfully saw no sign of them. At least they had managed to escape and the rest of the crew would find them soon enough.

She was sure everything would be fine.