Jane paused as she entered the Normandy and took a deep breath; her head was pounding as she watched everyone file past her and on to the ship. Not just any ship, she reminded herself, but a stolen Alliance ship with Turian, human and Asari on board. Not to mention the leader of the blue suns, an information broker and officers from the Turian military, herself included evidently.
As she focused her eyes she caught the look Kaidan was giving Marrus and then her. The look was accusing, and she knew what he was thinking, he had finally decided that she really was a spy that she had worked for the Turians the entire time. That there had never been a chance; even though she had told him she had wanted to be captured all those years ago, it was like he had never truly believed her, that someday she would just drop everything and not be 'the human-turian' but simply, Jane, human girl in love with human boy.
"Don't look at me like that, Kaidan I didn't do anything."
"Whatever, I'm not having this conversation in front of him." Kaidan's eyes turned to Marrus and then back to her and she sighed at his tone.
"How are we ever going to solve this if even you won't let go of grudges and the prejudice, that the Admiral has forced on the human population for years. Kaidan let it go."
"I thought I could, Jane I thought everything could be normal and that we could live with them. And maybe we can, but now I feel like they've taken everything from me."
"You're acting ridiculous, you didn't lose anything."
"Right, because I never had it. Thank you for pointing that out, you really can be a bitch."
"Kaidan, stop it," John had ignored the argument, used to their infighting until that moment, he saw Marrus turn and shove Kaidan against the wall in one swift movement, the warning he was about to yell was too late.
Marrus lowered his head and stared Kaidan right in the eye before growling, "I have hated you since the moment I watched you kill one of my best friends. Then I had to watch you pawing at my friends girl, I had to sit while we wondered if one of the best of us had turned away from everything and everyone she knew, because of you. If I was her, I would have killed you the moment I saw you. You've lived on borrowed time human."
Jane laid her hand gently on Marrus' forearm and she felt his muscles bunch beneath her hand.
"Marrus, spirits, leave it alone. Not now, we have much bigger issues. First of all why is the information broker here? Don't you have things to do?"
Jane was trying to draw the attention away from Marrus and Kaidan, and it seemed to work. Marrus growled one last time, shoved Kaidan hard and released him. Jane had turned away from them and was instead staring at Liara.
"Why are you here?"
"An interested party wants me to keep an eye on someone." Liara stared openly at Lillian.
Lillian in turn scoffed and shook her head. "You can run back and tell that pain in the ass that I'm fine, and don't need you to babysit me."
"It's not only Zaeed I've been paid well to keep an eye on your daughter as well. She's worth a lot of money to the right people."
Jane waved her hand and narrowed her eyes at John who seemed overly pleased by the presence of one Liara T'soni.
"Fine, it's not like I can tell you to get off of my ship. Considering it's not really mine."
She meant it to be funny, but it really just served as a reminder to everyone on board what they were doing, and the silence that fell around them was crushing.
After a moment Marrus stepped towards her; he noted the whiteness around her knuckles on her hands that were locked firmly behind her back. When she stood like this, she reminded him of the General, her father he reminded himself and the last of his anger began to drain away, and he spoke to her, gently this time.
"What do you want us to do, Commander?"
Jane's eyes opened wide and found his and the old kindness she found there seemed to melt the fear that was threatening to grip her heart.
"I think we need to go to Shanxi now, no more stalling, that's where not only my father and the Primarch are, but the Admiral as well."
Marrus' mandibles flicked open in the first real smile she had seen since finding him on Omega, and he leaned towards her, "Garrus is there too." He leaned back from her hearing the sound Kaidan had made, and glared at him, about to speak when John motioned towards Lillian.
"What about her? What's the plan? Get her in front of the Admiral and then what?"
"She's your mother you know, you can't just shove her to him you know what he's like he could kill her."
"Kaidan, I have a mother, one that the Admiral was sending this ship to kill. I care about that situation more than a woman I don't know, and I have a feeling has no need or want to know me."
"See, you're doing it again, you're shoving off anything that isn't your precious Turians. It looks like you have more in common with that woman there than you think."
Jane blinked, stunned and rounded on Kaidan. "Pardon me? I don't think I heard you correctly."
"Oh no, you heard me, Jane. You're doing the same thing she did; you're throwing everything and everyone away to run back to your Turian. It sounds like the same thing she did, the same thing that left John on earth and you in the care of Victus."
Sputtering Jane damn near had to pick her jaw up off the floor of the Normandy, but before she could find the words to answer Kaidan, Lillian answered and caused a normally stoic Jane to almost lose it.
"Kaidan, don't speak of things that you have no clue about. Your father and I did what we had to do. I left the Admiral, I tried to save Jane. I like to think I left her to a better fate then what would have awaited her. I had no choice."
Jane rounded on her wanting nothing more than to stop the words that were cutting into her.
"No choice, no choice? We always have a choice mother." The word was almost a curse.
"You left John with that man, how could you? Do you know or even care that he used you as a weapon against him? Do you care that he damn near destroyed him? That's the problem, you didn't care. And that's where you're wrong, Kaidan," she turned to him her eyes flashing.
"I didn't run, I could have at any time. But I wouldn't leave John or you with him. How dare you compare what I'm trying to do with what she did, how dare you use the fact that I care about you to abuse me, and the constant internal fight I have about you. I could have killed you, I could have walked away. I didn't, but you don't care about that, none of you care. So you know what, screw it, think what you want. I know who I am and what I have to do. You're with me or against me, but right now it doesn't matter."
She pulled up to her full height, threw her shoulders back and spoke firmly and loudly, "Joker, Shanxi if you will."
Joker, in a rare show of self-control had waited patiently for the drama to unfold before interrupting and causing a complete melt down, but it was now or never.
"Um' Commander, you have a call, it's the Admiral..."
*Orbit above Shanxi*
Anderson knew that the Admiral was losing it, hell he had been losing it ever since Anne had died. There had been rumors of course, that the Admiral had helped that situation along, that the Turians hadn't killed her. He shrugged the thought off, returning his train of thoughts to the present situation and finally turned and walked through the door to the ready room. The Admiral's eyes were glued to a screen that had a clear picture of the Talon which was in orbit just on the other side of the planet.
Anderson paused behind him waiting to be recognised, he could feel something very much like nausea build in the pit of his stomach.
"Anderson, good I trust you have news from earth? Are my children and my son-in law on the way?"
Hackett hadn't even turned from the screen when he walked in, his mind was focused on one thing only and that was seated firmly on the Talon.
"No, Sir I'm afraid they won't be joining us. I have just received word that the Normandy has gone missing, word is that it was taken by your children and Joker, my old pilot, bound for parts unknown."
Taking a deep breath Anderson steeled himself, but the expected reaction never came. The Admiral turned to him slowly, and in place of the rage that he expected to see there was a slight smile, more like a smirk, and it wasn't kind, but almost gloating.
"I tell you, Anne took the wrong child when she ran. That girl is more like me than she will ever admit. John would have never had the balls to defy me outright. She wants to play with force, I can play that way. Let's see if she can keep up. First open communication to the Talon. Tell them that I need to speak to General Vandrel, about his daughter."
The comm. was quiet as Admiral Hackett stood before General Vandrel, he could see Primarch Victus in the background but ignored him for the moment.
"General, we seem to be at a standoff, I propose a meeting, between myself you and the Primarch, I will be setting up a forward camp across from the field at Shanxi, you know where."
Ganis was almost shocked but it didn't show as he slowly shook his head. "Why would we agree to meet you anywhere, unless you're proposing peace talks?"
Hackett's voice went hard, "I'm proposing that unless you want me to turn my entire fleet against the Talon and then against your home planet and kill hundreds of thousands you will meet with me. Oh, and your daughter, she's missing in action now. If you would like me to make that permanent I will. Not to mention your lovely wife and child on Randiv if you don't meet with me, I will make sure they never see the light of day again. If you agree I won't touch them."
Ganis' controlled the rage he felt and nodded once, "fine we will meet with you. Within the hour, I suggest you have a plan Admiral, General Vandrel out." He had to disconnect before the rage he felt caused him to make a very poor Turian showing. He turned towards Victus and nodded, "you're right; it's going to be Shanxi."
Victus simply nodded as Garrus stepped forward, "Sir, you know it's a trap once you're down there, we have no control over the situation."
"It's the only choice at this point; we need to give Jane time to finish this."
Garrus growled, "You heard him, she's missing in action, what if she's..." he couldn't finish the thought and Ganis laid his hand on his shoulder.
"That's why you're going to go down there, alone, set up watch from above, if it looks like Jane won't show and that the Primarch and I won't make it out, you alert the fleet, you tell them to move out from Shanxi, take the Admiral, take our fleet and destroy the Alliance fleet before they reach Palaven, if that doesn't stop it, use your best judgement, if you need to push towards Earth, you tell them that Victus and I agreed."
Garrus frowned but nodded accepting the orders and prepped for his solo assignment with a heavy heart.
Hackett watched the screen go dark and knew he had General Vandrel just where he wanted him and that Victus would follow right behind, like lambs to the slaughter. Anderson made to leave to ready the men and shuttle to the forward base camp, but just as the door opened he heard the Admirals voice, low and cold.
"Oh, Anderson, make sure there is another ship on the way to Randiv, destroy it."
Anderson nodded and backed into the hall, it was official, the Admiral had lost it what the hell was he going to do?
*About an hour later, near Shanxi.*
With one glance back towards where Garrus had gone above the field at Shanxi, Ganis tried to smile at Victus. "Well shall we, Sir?"
"So you know, Ganis if this is how it ends, it's been one of the great honors of my life to serve with you. And Jane, what you did, you accepted her I can never thank you enough for that, you helped me keep my promise to Anne."
Ganis smirked and shook his head, "No, Sir this isn't the end, trust in Jane, I always have, I may have forgotten lately but that little girl can surprise you, besides, I should be thanking you, she's the best thing to ever happen to me." He glanced to the sky and smiled again his mandibles flexing wide his sharp teeth glinting in the sun. "I guess she's not a girl anymore, I hope I get to see her again."
Hackett scoffed and caused the two Turians to spin on him. "I guess that will be up to her, I've had a little trouble with my daughter, she seems to think she gets to have a mind of her own."
"Jane is the perfect soldier, but then again what would you know about that." Victus lifted his chin as he finished leveling a perfect challenge at Hackett. Hackett just scoffed again and motioned for the men at his side to take the Turians inside.
"So we're captives then? You know the Turians won't bow to your wishes just because you have us. That's not how this works; we're here to see if we can solve this without the destruction of both of our fleets, and the loss of yet more men and women for nothing." Ganis quirked his head to the side, trying to figure out what Hackett was about.
"Captives, no you have me all wrong, you're simply bait so I can get back what is mine." His eyes narrowed on Victus.
"You took everything from me, it's your fault Anne is dead, and your fault that my daughter hates me, thinks of herself as a fucking Turian. I know you plotted it all, that you did this just to punish me for Anne. Taking the last thing I had of her, turning her against me."
In that moment Ganis understood, the man was not there, he was completely insane, he was paranoid and it had become a sickness, and he almost, almost felt sorry for him. Victus however did not share his sympathy, as he roared his answer.
"My fault that Anne is dead, how dare you, I know what you did, I know you had her followed, and my men took Jane from him. If you don't think I know you had Anne killed then you're a bigger fool than I thought. I took her to keep her safe from you, from the monster that you became, the man who murdered people, his own people to keep a war going to further his own career."
"Further my career?" Hackett's smile was brittle, the man looked close to cracking, "No, not to further my career, well maybe at first, I did have a family, but after Anne defiled herself by being with you it was this, need to keep creatures like you away from my family. I spent the last part of my life telling everyone how awful you are, all of you and then what, my daughter is one of you. How does that make me look, so I use it, to make it look like you're the kidnappers of innocent Alliance children the killer of mothers. Because she is my blood she has one last chance, come back and be Jane Hackett or she can watch her father and her whole Turian life be destroyed before I kill her for being her mother's daughter."
Hackett paused, "If she's smart she will agree, take my side again and I'll let you go General, I will sign whatever treaty you want and the war will be ended."
Ganis' mandibles twitched with nerves, Hackett caught the nervous twitch and grinned. "Right, my terms are him. No matter the choice Jane makes I will kill him."
"You can't expect the war to end with the murder of the Primarch." Ganis felt like laughing, though the laugh bubbling up felt a bit frantic.
Victus held up a finger silencing Ganis.
"It will work if you keep your mouth shut, General, you will tell them I was killed in a firefight. It is, what it is. I believe you're next in line Ganis. You'll do great, one for the many. Always remember that, it's what a good Turian does."
Hackett nodded and inside the small makeshift building walked towards the comm. as Ganis growled under his breath.
"You forget I've never been a very good Turian."
*Back on board the Normandy*
"Commander," Joker's voice was a bit panicked as Jane had gone completely silent.
Shaking her head Jane frowned trying to collect her thoughts before nodding to herself. "Yeah okay, Joker put him through."
"Jane, sweetheart, maybe we need to have a conversation about borrowing my ships for your gallivanting around the Galaxy without my permission. Please tell me it was just an impromptu honeymoon with my Son-in law."
His voice was tense and Jane felt it, her eyes found Kaidan's and he shrugged rolling his eyes. As much as Kaidan had issues with Turians and unresolved feelings about their relationship, he didn't like the Admiral anymore than the rest of them. Further sweeping the room everyone but she Kaidan and John had disappeared.
"I had business of my own to attend to, Admiral."
She could tell by the silence that he did not care for her vague answer and she bit her lip, she didn't need to piss him off more. Not yet.
"Well, Jane you've put me in a bit of a spot. I need you at Shanxi immediately."
"And if I decline your invitation?"
"It wasn't an invitation, but if you want to play that game, then by all means let's play."
The video feed kicked in and her eyes scanned the screen quickly, catching sight of not only her father but Victus and she sucked in a quick breath, praying he hadn't heard her. Her luck wasn't that good, he heard her and she saw the smirk pull at the corner of his mouth.
"Right I thought this might get your attention. You will listen to me, you will get here post-haste, Jane or I will not be responsible for the choice I will be forced to make. I assume you know what the ship you're standing on was for. Since you deprived me of that one, you've forced my hand, and I have moved out one of my destroyers."
The screen flashed again and Jane was staring at Randiv, her heart sank as she watched the red spread across the screen, the red that had once been her home, where her mother and sister had lived in peace. Until him, until the man in front of her had taken and destroyed everything she cared about.
She could feel her eyes filling with tears but she fought them and would muse later that it was the only battle she had won all day.
"Yes I can see you now take me seriously. It's your own fault you know, I asked very little of you. Obey me, be what you were meant to be, you now know how serious I was. You will now listen to me and join me or I will find Garrus and add him to this little group and their blood will be on your hands. The choice is yours my darling. Don't make the same choice your mother did, I found her, and I will find you."
With that last warning the feed went dead and Jane hit her knees.
Lillian watched Jane fall, it took every bit of self-control she had to not run to her. She watched John and Kaidan go to her and she turned, feeling like an intruder on a life she had no place in and again, walked away.
Jane's hand was fisted and pressed against her mouth to control the sob she felt building in her chest, she bit down on her knuckle and forced her body to stand, forced her hands to stop shaking as she turned towards the bridge, leaving John and Kaidan staring after her.
John almost jumped at the soft voice by his side. "She really is more Turian than human, it's like all those emotions bubble up and then vanish. It's amazing, kind of answers that question about Nature vs. Nurture."
John nodded at Liara, "Yeah, she's different, though all those emotions are down there somewhere, and it's only a matter of time before, boom."
"Yes, but it's how she deals with the, boom as you put it that matters. Not that it will happen."
"Wow, that was deep, any deeper and we'd need a space suit."
Liara chuckled softly, though she looked confused.
"I'm John by the way, and might I say, you're beautiful."
Kaidan snorted, "That shit actually works? Most eligible bachelor on earth my left foot, more like biggest cheese ball," John turned eyes wide and eyebrows arched in warning at Kaidan.
"Shouldn't you be following my sister, annoying her?"
"Right and risk having my heart ripped out, no thank you. I'll go check on the Turians, Victus is here you know, I'm sure he's confused. Oh and maybe someone should check on your mother, sure I'll do that too since you're too busy, doing whatever, this is."
"Thanks, Kaidan." John hadn't really heard him and had turned back to Liara already lost in his own world, the issues at hand seemingly lost on him.
Shaking his head Kaidan turned from the room and almost smacked right into Lillian.
"He's not really shallow, I've seen it before in men I mean, it's just his way of dealing with a situation he has no control over."
"You don't know John; he might actually be that shallow."
"You're right, I don't know either of them." Her eyes shadowed and for the first time Kaidan saw what might be real emotion in this hard woman's oddly expressive blue eyes. Blue eyes, black hair, what the hell? He motion to her hair, eyes and face. She shrugged.
"I had to hide, that meant hair and eyes had to change, our red hair, green eyes kind of stand out."
Kaidan' nodded, his heart hurting at the thought of Jane's eyes and the way they had just been drowning in pain, a pain she wouldn't let him help. Lillian saw it and frowned.
"Kaidan, you know how we're told when we're young, to never give up?"
He nodded and she continued, "Sometimes, we need to give up, sometimes things aren't meant to be and we move on."
"Oh for sure, like you moved on from your own children, like you walked away from your life, how you gave up? I can't do that, I won't give up on her, I love her, and that means not giving up, that means being there when she needs me. I'm sorry, Lillian I don't think you're the best person to be giving advice on this."
His words hurt more than she thought they would and she relented and to her own surprise nodded.
"You're right I did, I ran, I gave up, I thought there was no other way, I regret that I didn't try to find another way, every day of my life I live with that regret. So there is one thing I am very qualified to give advice on, regret. Don't push her away, you'll regret it if you're no long a part of her life, you're going to have to figure out how to love her and let her go. Remain her friend at her side or you will lose her forever. Think about that."
Kaidan fell silent and sank to a seat in the mess hall, Lillian followed him and they sat in silence until Jane entered the room. Kaidan could tell her back was bugging her, causing her limp to be more pronounced. He watched as she froze her eyes sliding over the two of them at the table. She frowned but kept the peace. "Do you want coffee? I figure I'm not the only one who needs it."
"Sure, that would be great." Lillian motioned to a seat as Jane poured herself coffee. She glanced at the seat and then between the two at the table and shook her head.
"I'm not ready for that one, coffee is over there. I've got a lot to think about." She hurried out of the room and Kaidan sighed.
"Time, give it time." Lillian nodded as she poured them coffee.
"That's the problem, I'm not sure we have time."
OOoOO
Jane was running through every possible scenario as the shuttle touched down about five miles from where the Admiral had told them to meet. She couldn't just launch over there, she needed time to think, time to figure out a plan, if there could be a plan, maybe it was time to just throw in the towel, few for the many, give the Admiral what he wants, end all of this. Life with Kaidan and John wouldn't be all that bad. She could get used to it, knowing that her dad and Garrus were alive and out there somewhere. She swallowed the lump growing in her throat before she choked on it.
Looking up from her hands she caught Marrus' stare and she looked away ashamed.
"Set us down, Joker and take it back to the Normandy. No matter what I'll make sure you're cleared in this and you get your wings back, I should have that much pull at least."
"Don't worry about it, Commander, you've got bigger issues. Just end this war, for all of us."
"Yeah, I plan to no matter what, don't worry."
John's head snapped up to hers as he stowed his weapon and stepped clear of the shuttle.
"What the hell does that mean, Jane?"
He was answered by silence and he took a step forward, Liara laid a hand on his arm to hold him back.
"Don't push her, she's close, 'boom', remember?"
He nodded and looked about them; they were sheltered by trees here, though there were cliffs around them that were cause for worry.
"Perfect place for snipers, let's move back until we have a movement plan." Motioning them back they took shelter out of line of sight. But not before someone else noticed.
OOoOO
Catching movement out of the corner of his eye Garrus snapped his rifled to the left and focused his scope, someone was going towards the tree line and he would have sworn it was Turian, Marrus? What was he doing here? Hadn't he been sent after Tarquin? Without another though Garrus stowed his rifle and made his way around the ridge and down towards the trees.
Jane couldn't stop moving, it had to be now, she had made her choice, and she had to do it now before she lost her nerve. Clearing her throat she began slowly, trying as hard as she could to stay calm.
"I've decided, to do as the Admiral wishes. This isn't worth the fight, it's only my pride and own wants keeping this war from ending the quickest way possible. I'm no better than he is if I keep at this, pushing for nothing but more deaths, and I will not watch my father die because of me, not like my mom and sister, I won't, I won't ever let that happen again, not when I can stop it."
There was stunned silence before John stepped forward.
"Jane, no, that's not how this is going to happen, we're not going back to him, we're not going to play this sick game. We're not going to let him win."
"Win, John? There is no winning anymore, this is getting out as many as we can alive this is a recovery mission now. We need to pick up the pieces and let this end, one for the many."
Marrus chuckled, "Jane I guarantee you that is what those two Turians in there are thinking too."
"Yes but at least my way no one dies."
"You'll die, Jane a little more every day. Trust me, I know." Lillian let herself walk forward laying a hand on her daughter's shoulder. Jane pulled back as if she had been struck.
"Don't, don't you ever talk to me like you know me." And with that she broke and ran.
Liara nudged John and lifted her chin towards where Jane had run and he nodded, "Boom."
Garrus heard the pounding of someone running towards him; he heard the clanking of their armor, their breathing through a helmet respirator. Human, Alliance and they are in a damn hurry he thought as he hit the dirt and waited. Just as he did black and red armor flashed in front of where he hid, the human ran well but limped, that was his in. He stuck out his hand and caught the injured leg, throwing the marine off-balance and sending them to the ground.
The marine was off the ground almost before Garrus was, their reactions were fast, but he was confident he was faster. He noticed that the marine had dropped to a ready stance and not gone for a weapon and he countered. Their movements were swift, well-trained almost Turian.
A strange feeling hit him, had this Marine been trained by Jane, like he had seen on the video? The thought threw him off and he missed a counter, a booted foot caught him in the stomach throwing him off-balance, they followed with a swift kick to the jaw and set him right on his ass, pushing forward the Marine stomped him to the ground placing a knee at his throat. The Marine, was screaming at him asking him if he surrendered, but there was something wrong she was screaming at him in Turian and he knew that voice.
He let his mind wrap around what had just happened and he chuckled low in his chest. Jane faltered and he rolled her to the side coming up on his knees next to her and removed her helmet; red hair flowed into his hand as he stared into green eyes that haunted his dreams. He quickly tossed his helmet to the side and smiled.
"Jane, love I'll always surrender to you, you don't have to scream."
Her face was wet with tears as he cupped her face and ran a talon over her cheek and pressed his head to hers, breathing deeply, she smelled, like Jane and his mind and senses rejoiced with the realness of her.
"I was starting to think I'd never see you again. What are you doing with Marrus and why are you crying? Not every day you see that, unless you've become more human, I mean your Turian is pretty rough."
Jane hiccupped and choked back a sob. "Oh spirits, Garrus, don't joke, you have no idea. It's been, I thought maybe you would have," She couldn't wrap her head around what she wanted to say and he chuckled.
"No love you're the only one for me, I know it might not be the same for you but I'm here."
"No, it's not what you think, we lied, Kaidan and I lied to try to trick the Admiral, it's a really long story, but I love you, it's never changed."
"You mean until now, when you decided to throw away all that work and do whatever the Admiral wanted, remember? That includes marrying Kaidan and having Kaidan babies." John's voice echoed in the small clearing and Garrus looked up to the very odd group that now surrounded them.
The Asari at John's left elbowed him, "Don't make this worse."
Kaidan groaned as Garrus' eyes found his, but rather than the anger and hate he thought he would see, instead he saw a smile.
"Now that I know you're not sleeping with my girlfriend I can thank you for saving her life. Thank you, Kaidan I mean it. You saved the most important thing in my life. The thing that showed me what being a Turian is really about. Now, start at the beginning and let's see if there isn't a way my rifle and yours can solve this without me having to give you up again."
The evening had grown still, thanks to the Normandy and her stealth fields they still had time, John had secured the perimeter and Garrus with Jane by his side had started a small makeshift camp, and the story of the last years came pouring out, Kaidan sat, his heart at war with his head, watching how happy Jane was with Garrus, every ounce of stress had melted away as the Turian had taken her in his arms and promised to see this through together. He wished he could have had that effect. Lillian looked almost as lost as he did until Garrus turned to her with a wide smile on his face.
"Victus still talks about you, you have no idea what you being alive will do. That is, if you want him to know it's you, I'm not sure he would recognise you."
Lillian frowned, "Yes, I haven't been Anne in some time. I'm not sure that ghost needs life breathed into her. I'm just here to right an old wrong."
Garrus nodded and Kaidan exscused himself from the group for a moment, begging a headache. He wandered through the darkness trying to let the pain in his heart ease with the thought that Jane was happy and that this would all be over soon, and that maybe there was life after this war, even for him. When his omni-tool flashed, he lifted it without thinking and the Admiral grinned back at him.
"Hello, Kaidan, I have one last offer for you. Are you listening because I'll only say this once," Kaidan paused, he glanced behind him and then back towards his arm and answered in as neutral a tone as possible. "Yes, I'm listening."
*Will he or wont he...*