"C'mon Stoll, just give up. There's no chance you'll make it." Yeah, you wish. I narrowly avoid collision with an asari and jump over a railing. It is a pretty high drop, but I soothe it with a nice roll. Without losing much speed I keep on running towards one of the small shops in front of me. My black vest is sweated after the long run, not to mention that I am running on fumes. As I run past them, aliens give me a surprised and sometimes even disapproval glare, but after spending two weeks on the Citadel, I got used to it.

"Of… cour… se… there… is," I pant out. Just a moment before colliding with the shop's wall I jump, bounce off the wall and pull myself on the roof. There are certain advantages of having everything made out of metal. For example you don't have to worry that you'll break something. Once on the rooftop I look around to orientate myself. I jump once again and grab the ledge of a nearby railing.

Ulah's face moves on my omni-tool display and he teases me: "Then you should speed up, because I am right in front of our apartment house." To prove his point he shifts his omni-tool, so I can see the elevator door. "I'll be waiting for you inside."

You wish.

Instead of a reply I valut over the railing, to find myself surrounded in a crowd of aliens. Quickly I choose the quickest path and start shoving the aliens away as I run by. One angered turian shouts at me something like "You stupid asshole", but most of the others reduce their protests to a yelp. I am so fucking close, I have to make it! My tired muscles start protesting when I climb on top of the tree branch and from there to the upper street.

Almost there! I can already see the apartment house. There is a metallic pipe on the right side of it which runs all the way to the roof and next to our apartment's balcony. With those ridiculously slow elevators I might be able to outrun Ulah if I climb my way up. Crossing the last few feet between me and the pipe I put my hands on it. In my current state climbing proves difficult and way to slow to my liking, but at least I don't have to worry about falling because my grip is still pretty solid.

"AAAND…," not yet! I am almost there. "I AMM…," shit I just have to get on the balcony! "IN!" Just as Ulah enters the apartment with a bright smile my feet touch the surface of the balcony. I swiftly push the door to open them and step in, but they are locked. Why I had to lock it?! Why? With a sigh of defeat and tiredness I sit down. As soon as I see Ulah walk in through the transparent glass door I am glad that I can't see his expression. It's a shame that I can realistically imagine his smug grin anyway. "Oh, you were THIS close," he walks right next to the balcony door. "So, who is sleeping on the couch today?" Asshole.

"Actually if you count the balcony as a part of our apartment…"

"Who is sleeping on the couch today?" Ulah repeats once more. Fine I'll let him have this one.

I sigh: "I am. Will you let me in?"

Since my close brush with death in the MarakasI've decided that it's about time to take my training more seriously. Instead of using a shuttle to get to my job I am now running the distance, thus it doesn't take fifteen minutes like before, but one hour. I was also thinking that when I am done in the work I might visit the c-sec gym. Then I found out that most of my colleagues had the exact same idea. And because I don't really fancy spending my time with staring aliens I retreated to the rooftop above my apartment. Pushups might not be as good as dumbbells, but I can manage.

When Ulah finally opens the door I immediately walk in, take off the red vest and head for the bathroom. "Hey Ulah, aren't quarians supposed to be unselfish? Can't you be unselfish tonight and go sleep on the couch?" That thing is rock hard and I like my spine as it is. Why I had to make the stupid bet? NO, why I didn't win the stupid bet?

"Well, I don't know… maybe. But who knows, it's been a while since I left the Flotilla. Things change I suppose." With a laugh I close the bathroom door behind me. Great, now Ulah is using sarcasm against me. What's next? Will he start stealing my jokes too? But truth to be told my pride wouldn't allow him to sleep on that couch even if he wanted to.

"SO HOW DOES IT LOOK LIKE WITH YOUR JOB? STILL NOTHING?" I yell through the closed door and the sound of flowing water. Obviously after what happened to the dock and Talis, he has to find something new. And I still can't shake the feeling that it's actually my fault he can't get anything. Maybe that's the reason why I've been asking him about it every single day for the last week, but his answer has always been the same so far: 'No one is looking for a quarian.'

"Maybe. I heard there is a drell coming to the Citadel sometimes next week. He is rather famous among quarians because he studies geth. Who knows, maybe he could use an assistant or something like that." You kidding, despite Ulah's obvious hatred of the geth he seems to know awful lot about them. If the drell is not a complete asshole then Ulah should get the job without any problems.

"GOOD TO HEAR. I AM SURE HE'LL FIND SOMETHING FOR YOU."

For a while I keep showering in the silence, enjoying the hot droplets of water on my skin. Just as my muscles finally relax Ulah has to ruin it with a simple question: "So, how are things in your job?" Fucked up beyond all recognition.

"BAD. YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT THE SKINNER?" Mere days after we had finished the krogan's case the entire c-sec was turned upside down when the first body was found. I don't know many details, but the name mediagave the killer is accurate. The first body was soon joined by the other one and when the third came… God, my ears still hurt because of Tarrmal. Luckily the case wasn't handled to us because all dead were asari, but Tarrmal decided that it will be the best to give a long and loud lecture to everyone. Thinking about it, I don't even know who is handling the case, just that we all are a bunch of lazy incompetent idiots.

"Ouch, right. It must me a little bit crazy." I grab the towel and quickly drymyself before putting some clean clothes on.

"Are you kidding?! It's a complete madhouse. Even before I thought that those people don't have any sense of humor, but now it's like a nonstop funeral. I am so glad it's just Saturday… that reminds me, do you have time tomorrow? I could use another driving lesson." By the time Ulah answers I am already sitting on the couch next to him.

"Well, I don't know. I have to… there's… this thing I forgot to do," as he talks he keeps rubbing the back of his helmet and his gaze keeps wandering around the room never meeting my eyes.

It might have something to do with the way how our today's lesson ended. Everything was going fine and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that piloting a shuttle is not really a rocket science (at least with all the assistants turned on). But then it all went to hell. Only for a second I turned to Ulah to ask something, but it was enough and I did not notice a sharp left turn. "Hey Ulah, what do you loo…"

"Keelah, TURN TURN TURN!" Only Ulah's panicked yell made me realize that we were about to collide with a building. Luckily my reactions are pretty quick. Despite that, Ulah insisted I have to touch down and hand him the controls.

"Oh c'mon, we didn't hit that building. And if I want to get better I have to practice, right?" At first I wanted to attend a regular driving course, but when I found out that it lasts three months I decided I only need someone who could show me how to not crash. Who knows, it might come in handy one day.

"Fine! But you have to go SLOWLY and focus this time." YES! Win.

Sunday 10:26

Refreshed after my morning run and a quick shower I strap the omni-tool on my forearm. My palms are riddled with a bunch of half-healed wounds from the Marakas. The cuts turned out to be only shallow, but I can still feel the bite. At least it didn't get infected by any alien germs. Briefly I open the omni-tool to check for messages and luckily find none. I allow myself to relax. It actually looks like I'll be able to enjoy this weekend, unlike the last one which was filled with paperwork. It is not that I have to write any reports for C-sec, but a brief message from my asari guide Xantra stated that The Alliancewants me to send them detailed reports about my cases and my stay on the Citadel. With the first one, I can deal, but if they think I'll be writing some kind of a stupid diary for them they are wrong. So far I have only written one sentence to them: 'They don't have any coffee here.' I am really interested what they will write in response.

"So how it felt, sleeping on the couch for a change?" Ulah teases me from the door.

For some reason when I look at him I suddenly realize how alien he looks. With those cables running from his helmet his suit looks like something pulled out from an old sci-fi movie and the differences don't end with the suit. I've noticed many times before that his legs look… weird. It's like if they were broken just below the knees. Then there are his fingers, all THREE of them. I find it so fascinating that I have asked him about it a few times. Apparently just as I can't imagine life with only three fingers on each hand, he can't imagine having five of them. "Halooo, command center to Stoll, do you read me?"

Quarian humor always has to do something with ships, doesn't it? "Yeah, sorry. I kind of got lost in my thoughts. To answer your question, it was amazing. Truly a spine-breaking experience which I don't want to repeat ever again. We have to get you some better bed." Curse the stupid bet. Next time I'll want to have a race against shuttle I'll have to think it through first. "Are we going?" I ask rhetorically and walk to Ulah.

"Sure, lead the way." We both get in the elevator and begin a slow ride down. The closer we get to the ground level, the more nervous I'm becoming. Usually I get down using the pipe or by jumping through the rooftops and I have a good reason for that. The reporter. She is THE MOST annoying person I've ever met in my life and I mean it. Yeah, I find her even more annoying than Vala. Kassy T'Reab, the name of a devil. When the elevator door opens I immediately tense and hope I won't see HER.

"Ahh, Daniel, how very nice to see you again." FUCK, I hate you God.

The asari is standing right in front of the elevator with her always present camera. That thing looks like a big black flying shoebox. Honestly I have no idea how it manages to stay above the ground, but I am sure it's permanently recording.

"Reab," I say as coldly as possible and try to walk past her. But instead of stepping away she starts to back keeping her eyes locked with mine. She's wearing a rather nice blue dress which fits nicely with her pale blue skin and dark blue eyes surrounded by purple facial marks. As much as I'd like to I can't call her ugly, simply because she's not. Her figure is nice and posture very appealing, not to mention her… okay she is sexy. But a HUGE bitch!

Her smile slightly fades when I call her by surname, but she soon recovers it: "How many times do I have to tell you to call me Kassy? All my friends call me Kassy."

Again she finishes the sentence with a smile, shoving me her perfect white teeth. For some reason I absolutely hate the sound of her voice. It's so friendly, but I also find it insincere and sly for some reason. Maybe it's because I hate everyone who has to do something with television. Those idiots have always managed to get in the way of my investigations.

"And how many times I've told you to call me Stoll? And we are NOT friends." The sad look on her face immediately makes me want to take my words back, but my brain fortunately shuts me up. She's just playing with you, you dumbass.

"No need to be so mean Daniel. Miss is just trying to be friendly," Ulah steps in and gives Reab an adoring look. I think. This is also something that has been pissing me off. For some reason Ulah seems to be taken aback by her. Why, I don't really understand. But to her credit she has been nice to him so far. Thinking about it, other than her sly expression she has never been wicked. That means I hate her because… she just one of those 'You are pissing me off, but I can't tell why' people.

She gives Ulah a smile: "Thank you Ural. You are very nice." Great, he's in love with her and she doesn't even know his name.

"It's Ulah, but thanks," I swear that he must be blushing under that mask.

"Oh, right sorry. Ulah, I'll remember it," she turns to me: "I know I have asked you many times, but please 'Stoll', are you really sure that you don't want to be in my talk show? I promise that it'll be fun and we can even pay you. Please, people want to, no they NEED to hear about humans." Finally I get to the shuttles.

"No thanks. I am too ugly to be in a TV, bye." I quickly grab Ulah and shove him into the shuttle. He doesn't protest much, but keeps staring at Reab all the time, even when I close the door. When I get to the pilot seat I do exactly what Ulah showed me the other day and soon we are flying. Before we get out of view Ulah waves at the sad looking asari and I could swear that she waves back.

"… All I am saying is that you didn't have to be so unfriendly to her. She just politely asked you…" can't he just stop already? We have been arguing about this for nearly half an hour.

"Give me a break, will you? If you like her, go and ask her for a date!" Silence sets in making me regret that I yelled. I sigh. This is exactly why I hate people from TV, they always fuck things up. To fill the dull silence I turn on the radio. There should also be television screen somewhere, but I think it's disabled when the autopilot is off. I can easily imagine why.

"… and this was Sunrise by Madeline T'Pau. This rising star is also famous because of her songs Run hanar and…" I stop listening to the turian moderator and instead focus fully on piloting the shuttle. Ulah next to me still seems pissed off, but I don't really feel like apologizing. The shuttle lightly shakes when it passes through a sharp turn. It will be probably for the best to touch down and go our separate ways. I can't shake the feeling that Ulah is glaring at me under that mask. Just as I am about to suggest it a distinctive sound coming from the radio makes me again focus on the moderator.

"Breaking news, Skinner strikes again. The body was found ten minutes ago near the Zool apartment complex and apparently it is another victim of the Skinner. C-sec hasn't confirmed victim's identity yet, but most likely it is a young quarian female. " Oh God no! I don't want to go there! I am having a day off.

"This brings out the question, what is C-sec actually doing to protect the citizens of the Citadel? Just to remind you this is the THIRD body this week and C-sec still doesn't know who the mysterious Skinner is or why he murders his victims in such a brutal fashion. What is behin…," I turn off the radio before the turian can finish his what he said is true, then Vala is probably already on her way to this Zool complex. Once again I sigh and punch the name Zool into navigation.

"I have to…"

"Go there. Yes, I know." Ulah sadly shakes his head. "First those asari and now a quarian? Does he really… no I don't want to know," he turns to me: "How much does really C-sec know about him?"

"Wish I would know. But I definitely hope they have some sort of lead they are not telling me about, because this guy is totally nuts. I saw a picture of the victim from Friday and it's even worse than those reporters think." From the photo I had a hard time telling what I am exactly looking at. All I could see was blood, lots of it. The rest of the ride is silent, only occasionally Ulah says a comment about my driving skills. Considering that this is my second ride I think I am doing pretty well.

It takes me ten minutes to get to the location my navigation shows and my concerns that I won't notice the Zool building fade away. The building is shaped like a tall prism with a green sign Zool under its top. It definitely looks more expensive than my apartment.

Because I still don't really know how to land I turn on the autopilot and while we descend I try to look for something unusual. Something like three blue c-sec shuttles parked in a row next to a small building neighboring with the Zool. Unfortunately the autopilot can land only at the predesigned landing zone which, in this case, is pretty far away.

When we touch down I immediately open the door and walk out. Before I leave I once more turn to Ulah: "Hey, about that asari… I guess I can be a little bit friendlier next time if you want. But only a little bit," I finish with a smile.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," judging by the two dots representing his eyes I think he smiled too. Hey, I am getting the hang of it! Now I only have to learn how to understand turians.

7 minutes 32 seconds later

Getting to the parked shuttles proved to be a little bit trickier than I initially though, because the place is swarming with news reporters. Asari, salarians and couple of turians, most of them are standing aside and saying something into those flying cameras, occasionally pointing in the direction of a nearby alley. It seems that the c-sec officers are keeping them at bay. My best shot to get to that alley is to keep my head down and be as inconspicuous as possible. Taking my own advice I carefully plan my approach and quickly move while the reporters are looking the other way. I manage to get behind a turian and then swiftly behind a large flowerpot. From there I move to the parked shuttles. I can hear a nearby salarian whom is talking about how horrible job C-sec is doing. When I reach the last shuttle in line I find myself kneeling behind an asari talking into her omni-tool.

"No, still at work. I don't know maybe half an hour at most. Yeah I know, love you too sweetheart." She closes the omni-tool and moves forward, with me closely behind. I follow her all the way next to the alley hoping that none of the reporters will think about looking in this direction. Just a second before the asari turns around I slip past her and disappear into the alley.

To be immediately stopped by a turian.

He is wearing the same blue armor like every other patrol officer, but there is an assault rifle in his hands. Needless to say, he instantly points it at me. "Stop right there!" Oh boy, I can tell that this guy is one of THOUSE turians. "What do you want here?" Ehm, seriously?

"Well, I heard that there is a party somewhere around here with lots of horny human chicks. So here I am about to get laid." I just love the way turians react to this kind of approach. They are like 'What the fuck he just said?'.

It doesn't really come as a surprise that he's not very moved by my joke attempt. "I will ask once more," he makes a threating step closer. "What do you want here?" His mandibles flex and he gives me a hard look with his brown eyes.

By now I should probably just pull out my badge and get over with this, but I know God damn well that he knows who I am. It's not like there are thousands of other humans running around. He just wants to be cock, so be it.

"Fine, I am here for your sister." His reaction proves that I may have crossed the line a little.

He makes one more step closer and pushes me away with the butt of his rifle. In response I shove him with my hands. We keep staring at each other until another voice from behind the turian makes me look away. "Let him go, he's one of us."

I almost can't believe my eyes and ears when I realize that the one talking is actually a turian. That's right, a turian just helped me out. The patrol officer briefly looks behind himself to see who is talking and then reluctantly steps away giving me a look filled with contempt. As I walk by I resist the urge to wink at him.

"Sorry for the trouble. Not everyone is happy that a human is working with C-sec." No shit! A turian just APOLOGIZED to me? This day is getting weirder every second.

It doesn't take me much effort to figure out that this turian is somehow different. For the beginning, his facial marks are white and he's definitely not a patrol officer. Instead of the regular blue armor he is wearing a brown one with a white pattern, which kind of resembles military camouflage. And the differences don't end there, because he seems rather excited to see me. I could even say that I see… friendliness in his blue eyes. Then he does something truly unthinkable.

He extends his hand.

"My name is Tiber Wance, nice to finally meet you." WHAT THE FUCK? When I grab his hand and shake it I am sure that my jaw is somewhere near the floor. This is second friendly turian I've met and I've been here almost three weeks. And how does he know about handshake? He must have looked it up on the Extranet.

"Well,… hi. I am Stoll." That's it, I don't really know what else to say. He doesn't seem to care, because, as far as I can tell, he is pretty happy that he can stare at me without interruption. When this lasts almost twenty seconds I can't stand it anymore. I empty my throat: "Soo, will you tell me what's going on here?"

Finally he looks away. "Right, follow me." Grateful that the weird part is finally behind me I do as he says and follow him deeper into the alley. Every now and then he turns around to make sure I am still behind him. It doesn't take us long to reach the end of the alley. Without any hint of hesitation Tiber turns to the left and walks down a set of stairs, which lead to a maintenance door. At least that's what the sign above it says, because to me it looks just like any other door.

Tiber leans towards it and pushes some holographic buttons next to the lock. The door immediately opens with a hum revealing a narrow corridor. "The body was found only some half an hour ago," Tiber explains when we enter, "but if it wasn't for the daily maintenance of the Zool, Spirtits know how long would it stay here."

After a few feet the corridor splits into two more of the same size and we walk into the right one. Dull red lights on the ceiling are the only source of light around here and they cast long spiky shadows on everything around us. It wouldn't be right to say that the walls are riddled with pipes and cables, the pipes and cables ARE the walls. Even the usual smooth floor plates are missing and there is just a metallic grating under our feet. The only thing missing to make this place look like a scene from a horror movie are strange voices coming from the distance. Fortunately after two minutes of walking I can already hear them. They are a mixture of silent metallic clanging, whispers and a couple more unidentifiable sounds. We reach another crossroad and this time Tiber stops.

"Damn, I always get so lost in here. Give me a sec." With that he turns on his omni-tool and starts searching for something on a mini map. At first I think that he's just making fun of me, but after a while I genuinely start to believe that he really doesn't hear anything. Am I going nuts? To me it sounds obvious that the people are on our right. I brush past him walk into the right corridor.

"Hey, how did you know it?" he asks surprised. Nah, he's just faking it to make me feel awkward.

"I am an oracle. What about you? You haven't told me yet why you are here." I turn around to look at him and immediately I'm startled when I realize that his nose is just mere inches away from my hair. I jump away from him and at the same time he retracts, quickly looking down on the floor in obvious embarrassment. Hmm, not that it would make things any less weird, but I just realized how strange my hair must seem to him. But even that is still not a reason to stick his nose right into it.

Tiber coughs once and tries to continue the conversation: "Well, because there is no 'serial killers department', I and my partner are the lucky ones who have to deal with this Skinner. And as if it wasn't enough that we have Tarrmal breathing on our neck, there are also those reporters asking questions all the time."

"You tell me, there is this insufferable asari always asking me to… This actually reminds me that I should call Vala, my partner. She'd probably kill me if I didn't."

A glimmer of understanding blisses in the turian's eyes: "Turian, black armor, black facial marks and cute green eyes?"

"Ehm, I don't know about that cute, but yes. I seriously can't understand how she always manages to get everywhere so quickly."

The turian answers with a cocky smile just as a horrible smell of fresh blood hits my nostrils and I realize that we have reached the body. Other than us two, there are three more people thronging in the narrow corridor twenty feet ahead. Two of them are asari and the other one I instantly recognize as Vala. One of the asari, probably a coroner, is kneeling down next to something what looks like a giant rubber cocoon and sticking out of it is... Oh God, that's… I quickly look away and try to hold back nausea. Usually deep breaths help, but the air here is heavy and filled with the smell of death.

C'mon you've seen… well you haven't seen worse, but that can't stop you, can it? I make myself look back.

The cocoon has a zipper which is now unfortunately only half way up, partially opening the view inside. I don't really want to take in much detail, but despite that I make a few steps closer. The body looks like someone run it through a mixer and then slapped together what came out. To say that it's covered in blood would be a very accurate description if it wasn't for one thing, there is no skin on the body. Under all that blood muscles are clearly visible and the injuries are so severe that I can't even tell if it's a male or a female. And the face… I just can't bring myself to look at it for more than a few seconds. Skinner somehow managed to completely strip it of all the skin, but left the eyeballs which are now looking right at me. And the red lightning makes the entire… thing look even more disgusting, if that's even possible.

Tiber puts his hand on my shoulder and I immediately shake it down. I hate when someone does that. "Sorry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just didn't think it would be this bad." I tear my eyes away from the body and try to get the scene out of my head by inspecting the asari standing next to Vala. Something about her feels familiar. Where have I seen her? She meets my gaze making me instantly remember wherefrom I know her. Yellow armor, green markings, cold look… it's the asari I've been avoiding since I ruined her couch. Just when I was thinking that things can't get any worse.

I approach the group, but with the skinless quarian in my way I stay next to coroner instead of walking to Vala. "I was just about to call you," Vala says. "With the Skinner now targeting also non-councils we will have to help with the case."

"Yeah, I figured as much. So what do we have here?" at least I managed to keep my voice calm if not brain.

Instead of Vala it's the asari coroner who answers: "A quarian female, somewhere between nineteen and twenty five years. Like the last two victims she had been stripped off her clothes, or suit in this case and… skinned. I can't tell if she was alive or not when it happened, but there doesn't seem to be any drugs in her bloodstream. Also," she looks inside the cocoon, "I think I can see her suit inside. As far as I can tell she has been dead for ten hours, maybe slightly more. For sure I can only say that she hasn't been killed here and that whoever did this knew what he was doing. I think you are looking for a doctor or maybe lab assistant." With that she stands up and then slowly closes the cocoon. It's hard to see it in the dim lights, but I think that she's shaking. After muttering something about a stretcher she brushes past me without a second glance. I am still impressed that she managed to look at the body for so long.

With the asari gone I carefully walk around the body and to Vala. "I hope that she was dead before this happened. It must be a real psycho if he does something like that."

"We have to get him. And if we don't manage to do it today I am sure that tomorrow there'll be another body," the asari states darkly giving me the hard look. She doesn't seem very happy with my presence, but at least she hasn't been openly hostile yet.

The moment of tensed silence is abruptly interrupted by my omni-tool. I turn away from the body and open the new message.

From: Ulah Kalsah nar Hereditas

Daniel, there is something I need to talk with you. It is REALLY important so call me as soon as possible. Thanks.

P.S.: You might not like what I'm going tell you.

Hmm, how cryptic. Why can't he just tell me right away? Now I will be wondering what he wants. I reach to close the omni-tool, but a turian hand roughly grabs my arm and twists it in a rather painful manner. When I manage to turn around I know what to expect. Vala quickly reads the message then looks at me and then again at the omni-tool. My hearth skips a beat. There is no doubt that she still remembers Ulah's name. Fuck. She squeezes my arm even more and shows it away afterwards. It doesn't require extensive knowledge of turian expressions to tell that she is pissed. And I mean PISSED! I barely manage to sidestep when she extends her hands trying to shove me away.

Here we go: "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU DID? HE COULD HAVE DIED! AND YOU AGAIN HAVEN'T TOL…"

"ENOUGH!" The asari standing behind Vala snaps at her and gives her a disapproving glance. "I don't know what the hell HE did," she shifts her attention to me, "but do you really want to argue here?" With that she points at the dead body. Vala's anger lessens for a second, but I am sure that it's still boiling inside her.

She catches me off guard by grabbing the collar of my t-shirt. "Fine!" With that she starts dragging me away. If I wanted I think I could easily make her let go of me, but that would only worsen my situation. It's bad enough as it is and I don't think that starting a fight would help. Once the body is out of sight she pins me against the pipes, so strongly, that I have a hard time trying to catch my breath. The pipes are hardly pressing onto my spine making this position very uncomfortable. Not to mention Vala's talons mere inches away from my neck.

"Now talk!" she hisses through her teeth and for some reason I find it way scarier than when she was yelling. Maybe it has something to do with the way her face looks in the red light… or with the fact that her sharp teeth are mere inches away from my face. To sum it all up I am getting really nervous.

"Well, uh truth to be told, I kind of… know Ulah. Actually, he's my roommate." Whatever Vala was expecting, judging by her stunned expression it wasn't this. I continue before she can say anything: "To my defense, he wanted to help." Before I finish the sentence she lets go of me and I finally step away from the pipes. My relief is unfortunately short lived.

"So he just happened to work for Talis and you decided to trust him? And not even tell me or anyone else?!" She is not yelling, yet, but she's definitely getting there.

I keep my voice down and try to calm her: "Look Vala, I…"

"And that 'malfunction' in their systems that was you too?!" Damn, she's fast.

"Well, yes. But…," she lets out a sarcastic laugh.

"BUT WHAT?" Shit. "You broke like every single regulation, not to mention that you broke LAWS too. And I haven't even mentioned the quarian! If he wasn't working for them they could have KILLED HIM or worse! ..."

"They didn't."

"… TORTUE, BEAT,…"

"They didn't!" This time it's harder to hold my temper.

"…AND IF SOMEOE SAW YOU THE C-SEC WOULD…"

"No one fucking saw me!" the anger which has been slowly building up manages to get the upper hand. "Why is it such a problem? Ulah wanted to help even after I explained him what are the stakes. Without him we would be still jerking around trying to find something on Talis."

Vala growls: "The problem is that you BROKE THE LAWS! You can't just do whatever you want and expect that there won't be any consequences! "

I angrily walk to Vala: "Laws and regulations! Can't you see what are we doing here? When I joined the police I sworn that I will do all I can to protect people. All I can! But you don't know what I am talking about, do you? You are just another mindless idiot whom can only follow orders, but can't think for himself!" By the time I finish I am half yelling.

Vala closes the remaining distance between us and I can feel a punch coming. "THOSE RULES EXIST FOR A REASON!"

"YEAH? WELL TELL THAT TO YOUR DRELL INFORMER! THOSE RULES HAVEN'T HELPED HIM MUCH." I regret the words the moment I say them, but the punch I was expecting doesn't happen. Instead a deadly silence sets in and Vala looks into my eyes. The anger is still there, but it's overshadowed by… compunction. With that single short sentence I took all her arguments… and made her hate me. She turns around and quickly starts walking away. "Vala, wait! I am sorry, I didn't mean to..."

She doesn't even flinch.

Author note:

Thank you guys for all the reviews, I REALLY appreciate that. Just like before I'd like to know what you think about this case. Complains, ideas, … pretty much anything. Now with that said, I hope you like this chapter and sorry for mistakes and typos. See you soon.