A/N: as always, leave a comment or review if you like the story, or have any constructive criticism to levy, or want to see some scenario in particular.

The Voyages of Nyxeris Crixus pt.1

Location: Attican Traverse, Eagle Nebula. The Walrus

As Nyxeris stood on the elevated command platform in the Walrus's combat information center, she let out a deep breath of relief. Everything was starting to come back to her; the familiar taste of the recycled air, the purr of the drive core, the feel of having 200,000 tons of star ship moving beneath her feet. Clutching the hilt of the sheathed saber attached to the hard point on her belt, it was as if for the first time, in a long time, Nyxeris felt whole.

As the stars slowly whirled past her ships bow, Nyxeris knew it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. Brown-red eyes gazing over the fifteen visible members of her twenty two man crew, the violet-blue Asari visibly noticed a two ton Elcor missing from her side. Nyxeris truly did feel torn up inside over abandoning Xeltan back on Omega; he was her lovable gray behemoth after all, but even though this was only a temporary setback, Crixus felt unmistakably vulnerable without him. It was like she was naked, or gone into battle without any armor.

She felt nervous. It was a good nervous though. At least she thought it was a good nervous. By the Goddess! Had it really been almost a decade since she last sailed? Where did hell the time go?

Mr. Featherstone came up behind her, breaking her from her reverie.

"We're in position twenty light days from the Imir mass relay," the human braced himself as the Walrus shook momentarily from a small ion cloud glancing her kinetic barriers, "should be right on schedule." he waited a long moment for her to respond, when she didn't he asked, "Captain?"

"Shhh," Nyxeris raised her hand, "do you hear that?..." her lips turned up in a small smile, "No whores."

He stood there staring at his captain in disbelief, wondering just what the hell was running through her mind. "Yes... Well, in any event. According to the whore, the True East should be here. According to the whore, the ship is insured up, down, and sideways so they should surrender the moment we laydar the black. Netting the crew a quick and painless score, and you, an auspicious debut." gripping the railing, "Now its just a matter whether or not the whores information proves accurate." a silence passed between them, "And uhh, if theirs anything you need assistance with today, please don't hesitate to ask me."

"Such as?"

"From what I've heard, the role you played on the Treasure was almost entirely a political one. Heard Captain Clint was the sailor among you." he caught her questioning gaze and leaned in close, whispering, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. You certainly won't be the first person to learn how to captain a ship, after being named captain."

"Ah, I see."

Mr. Featherstone suddenly dropped all formalities and looked her dead in the eyes, "Look, Nyxeris. I vouched for you. We are both invested in this, this, experiment working out."

"Blue shift! Eighty-five degrees off our port bow!" yelled out one of the men working a sensor console.

Nyxeris looked at the images coming in on her terminal from the long range laydar sensors. "It's the True East, right where she's supposed to be."

"Lets go take her gents!" Featherstone yelled. And Nyxeris shared the sentiment, giving a course heading to the helmsmen that should bring them right up along side their prey in due time.

Before they jumped into FTL, the same crewman yelled out, "Blue shift!"

"Heard you the first time." replied Nyxeris.

"Second vessel, bearing twenty-two degrees off our aft!"

"What?!" Nyxeris waved her hand over her terminal and spun the camera in the direction of the new ship. "Two prizes?"

"Not likely," said Mr. Featherstone as he took control of the command deck, earning the silent ire of his Captain. "It's pursuing ours, another hunter... It seems we have competition.

Thirty minutes later...

After maneuvering into position, the True East surrendered without so much as firing a photon from a chemical laser; just as Mr. Featherstone predicted. However, as the Walrus pulled up along side her prey's port side and extended the docking ramps and magnetic clamps, they faced a new problem.

The interloper.

However, Nyxeris was confident the situation wouldn't become too tenuous as the interloper had declined to fire upon her ship, or for that matter: the prize. As the interlopers Captain had opted for settling matters in person aboard the True East, rather than having their respective ships slug it out in open space, the Asari was reminded that all hunters favor their lives just as much as money. Though looking over the relatively small prize as her crew secured the ten prisoners with hard light cuffs, Nyxeris wondered if their was any profit to have.

Through the various porthole windows that littered the True Easts starboard side, Nyxeris saw their competition pull up and prepare to dock.

"You know, I never quite understood why these ships have so many bloody windows." said Mr. Feathertone. "Aesthetics? Combat claustrophobia perhaps?"

"That, and to discourage piracy, shipboard firefights, and keep casualties to a minimum."

"How the hell does a bloody window accomplish any of that?"

Nyxeris studied her surroundings, "Lot of things around here don't react well to bullets."

"You don't say." he replied sarcastically

"They remind everyone aboard that they're only a few inches of tempered glass away from a very unpleasant death." replied Nyxeris as she saw the ships name, "... Shanxi... Do you recognize it?"

"No, it's not an Omega crew."

Hearing the locking mechanisms of the starboard side activate, Nyxeris was flanked by two more armed men and waited to greet their competition. She didn't have to wait long as a moment later the starboard docking hatches spun and hissed opened. Immediately, a collection of two dozen or so burly human men spewed onto the True Easts flight deck with their weapons drawn. It was an intimidation tactic as well as an honest threat, and her own ten man boarding party did likewise.

The captured crew flinched in their restraints as they expected a firefight to break out at any minute. Immobilized with no where to run, they held no illusions that these pirates wouldn't hesitate to use their bodies as shields. Thankfully for them, it didn't. Well, not yet at least.

Unfortunately though for Nyxeris, it was readily evident that her crew was seriously outnumbered and outgunned. Though her face was stoic, a bead of sweat trickled down the back of her scalp crests.

A man with long greasy black hair and numerous tribal facial tattoos pushed his way passed his men, and eyed the violet-blue Asari up. "Lets get this underway, shall we?" the slur and boredom in his slick voice was unsettling, "My, my, my, what little piece of candy do we have here boys?" his men chuckled at their captains perverseness, "Shouldn't you be in some club somewhere, on yer back, spreading your legs for men like me?"

Nyxeris was disgusted, and as the other captain made a move to slap her ass, she quickly drew her sword and pressed the tip against the vile man's jugular. numerous clicking sounds erupted as everyone raised their guns again and prepared to fire.

"Easy love, asy. T'was only joke-in, srry to affend." the tattooed captain rose his hands in surrender, "I'll be civil, honest."

Nyxeris tilted her chin up and smirked. Lowering her blade, she sheathed it and both crews stood down. During all of this one of the prisoners, a young boy by the look of it, started pissing himself. And well, once the pirates noticed that they all shared a good laugh and calmed down.

"Captain Nyxeris Crixus, of the Walrus."

The other Captain placed his hands on his hips and huffed derogatorily, "Never herd of you."

Nyxeris tossed her heard to the side, "Perhaps you should get out more."

The man pursed his lips and gave her a menacing stare; his heavy black boots echoed on the deck-platting as he took several weighty steps foreword. Nyxeris prepared herself for the worst. But his gaze turned softer, "Good one... Captain Jack Lioness, of the Shanxi."

Nyxeris couldn't keep the skepticism from creeping into her voice, "Your ship is named, after the greatest disappointment in Alliance military history?"

Jack shrugged and leaned in, "What can I say, they like how it sounds... Pleasure to meet you."

She took his hand and shook it.

"You 'ever do one of these?"

"What? Split the baby, no, no I haven't."

Jack nodded, "We've had a few. One of three outcomes in my experience. One: Crews fight it out." He took a deep patronizing intake of breath, "Seeing our obvious advantage, strength in numbers and all that... You're wise enough to avoid all that." Nyxeris gaze slightly narrowed as he counted the numbers against her, "Option two: Cap'ins fight it out." he looked her slender frame and soft body over. It was a stark contrast to his muscled brawn, "I don't know about you, but this doesn't seem like a haul worth dying for now does it?"

Nyxeris tried to steel her resolve, but it wasn't really working. "Yeah and whats three?"

Jacks head became animated and danced like a serpent with a frown on his lips. Showing off the myriad of scars and tattoos on his bearded face. Suddenly a wide smile appeared, "Reasonable men agree." Nyxeris tucked in her lower lip and nibbled on it so rough it started to bleed.

Five minutes later...

Sitting on a small barrel with a crate standing in as a makeshift table in the central hold, Nyxeris and Jack went about splitting up the prize's cargo. As this matter was to be discussed civilly, both Captains had agreed to fork-over all their personal weapons. Though being pirates, Nyxeris knew they both had secret stashes somewhere on their persons. She herself stored a seven inch dagger in her right boot heel, and a Derringer pistol; a small piece favored by her whores, below her belt. The pistol was only accurate up to three yards, and it had a tiny thermal clip so it was only good for two or three shots, but at close range and in a skilled operators hands it was very lethal. Not to mention very easy to conceal and overlook during a pat down.

As they went back and fourth negotiating, all three crews looked down on the deliberating captains from the railings. Talks had been going on for the better part of an hour and both pirate crews were eager to get underway. They all knew the longer they stayed out here, the longer someone else had to discover them and intervene. The joint Human & Batarian colony on Anhur may have not been the most frequented travel destination in the Traverse, but it wasn't the badlands either.

They were in a well traveled shipping lane after all.

As Nyxeris cocked a boot onto the crate, Jack rose a pierced eyebrow as he dived up the cargo listed on the manifest. "First day as Captain is it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Little things, few looks from your men... Are they curious how you'll handle this?... Your banner... Something in the way your men reacted-"

"Something wrong with the banner?" Nyxeris became more than a little unhinged, creating that banner had been a loving and time consuming endeavor. To have this no name insult it was beyond infuriating. "What's a matter with it?"

Jack's blue green eyes looked into hers, face a picture of innocence, "Well it's new, lightly traveled." Nyxeris turned to look at the freshly painted banner on the Walrus's hull. Knowing he'd found a pressure point, he pushed her. "Why? What do you think is wrong with it?"

Nyxeris saw what he was doing and controlled herself, "Its fine."

Jack slightly smiled to himself as he passed over the pad, "There, what do you think?"

Taking it and giving it a once over, something was very, very, wrong. "Is this suppose to be a joke?"

"Wadd'ya mean?"

"This isn't even remotely an even split."

"But you get almost half the total tonnage." replied Jack, feigning surprise. His eyes though had faint sparkle of amusement.

"Yeah, "Nyxeris's jaw hung open, "the shit half... You get the Platinum and Palladium, and I get what? Blankets, pots and pans, a few crates of fruit, and oh look! Three broken Ymir mining mechs... Your half of the tonnage is worth nine tenths of the total value."

"Oh I think it's more like four fifths." said Jack with a wry smile, and Nyxeris chuckled in disbelief at his arrogance, "We agreed we would reach a reasonable settlement."

"Yes, as in an equitable result." Nyxeris bore her teeth.

"As in a result based in reason." Jack counter argued. "Had we come to blows over this measly prize, theirs no doubt my men would have won it all. I'm offering you a meaningful share, just for having got here first. It's the most I can spare without losing my men's faith in me... ... ... They know we have the advantage here, they can see your numbers, they can see... You."

Nyxeris glared at the other Captain for a moment, shooting daggers with her eyes at his snide insinuations. But she was more angry at herself for allowing wavering thoughts to enter her mind. Was she a good captain? Did the crew think she was a good captain? Or had she been fooling herself into believing her own silver tongued bullshit?

Closing her eyes, she took a calming breath and chased those thoughts away. "Give me a moment to discuss this with my quartermaster."

"Discuss away." replied Jack with merry confidence and an upturned friendly hand.

Standing up, Nyxeris took the pad and asked for Mr. Featherstone to join her in counsel. They stepped several paces out of the view of the crews so they could discuss this matter in some what of a private state.

After taking several minutes to look over the figures, Mr. Featherstone sighed, "You're right. This is no where's near an even split... ... ... My god, this is... This is really disappointing. You know the galaxy's comin' to an end when we start ripping each other off." handing the pad back to a cross-armed Crixus, "I say we take it."

"W-what?" she whispered so as to not be overheard and alarm her crew.

"What?"

Nyxeris turned her head slightly and glanced at the men with her eyes, "You're not concerned how the crew will receive this?"

Mr. Featherstone shook his head and whispered, "What other choice do we have?... Start a fight that gets our whole crew slaughtered?" he tilted his head, "Suppose you could always challenge him man to man, err, well Asari to man. But I think we'd both agree that wont end well for anyone."

Nyxeris squinted her eyes and pinched the brow of her nose with her fingers. How could something so simple as a fucking milk run turn so horribly upside down. This was suppose to be the easiest score of easiest scores.

"And at the end of the day, our crew can count... Well, most of them can count. They can all see that we're simply just outmatched... And, well, you know."

"They know what?" Nyxeris had to keep the tremble from creeping into her voice.

Behind them they saw Jack reach into his pocket to retrieve a brass case and sniff what looked like some sort of white powder. Probably cocaine.

Mr. Featherstone leaned in closely, "That they chose you as a Captain to gain access to the whores leads. If they're honest with themselves they cant really expect you to do anything about this!"

Nyxeris glared, "Leads or no leads, if I accept these terms they'll vote me off before we return to Omega." he was quiet for a second and adverted his gaze, "You can't imagine what I've sacrificed to gain this captaincy. I may have lost the only person in the galaxy who I cared for, to gain this captaincy." rage fueling her emotions, her biotics momentarily flared, illuminating her in brilliant blue light, "I can not lose it! Not so soon. Not like this."

The two Walrus crew mates stared at each other for several long seconds before Nyxeris snatched the pad from Mr. Featherstone's hand, and strode back to talk to Jack. As she did, she looked up and studied the various eyes of the three crews. Her crew looked nervous, not ready for a fight, looking to her for strength.

By the Goddess, how the hell did Clint make it look so easy?

Yet she also noticed Jack's crew seemed to be less interested in fighting than she had been led on to believe. Perhaps they were disgruntled with their captains leadership of late?

Then it dawned on her.

The Shanxi was by every aspect a much more fearsome warship than the Walrus could ever be. 36 guns to the Walrus's 14, larger crew compliment, larger cargo hold, stronger kinetic barriers, bigger engines & drive core, it wan more than capable of hunting much more valuable prey. So why was it going after a small fry like the True East?

Then she remembered a conversation she had with Clint a while back after capturing a prize. He told her the only reason a Captain would ever hunt under his weight class was if he was in danger of losing his captaincy, and needed to reaffirm his abilities to his crew with a quick score. For all of Jacks insinuations, he was full of hot air!

Knowing she needed this prize, the whole prize, more than anything. Nyxeris knew what she had to do. She had to kill him.

Sitting back down, she angled her left hand by the pistol concealed in her belt and hung her right hand by her boot. "You're right. This is likely the most reasonable distribution given our relative strengths."

"Then can we consider ourselves in agreement?" Jack asked

"With one or two small adjustments," she paused, grabbed her mug of redrum from the table, and took a sip. "If you wouldn't mind hearing me out?"

"But of course!" he said with a smile and leaned in close, "For what little comfort it might mean now, I believe you've made the right decision." gazing into the contents of her mug, she watched the liquid as he continued to talk. "You must see the wisdom in-"

Nyxeris didn't give him a chance to finish and thew the contents of her mug into his face, temporarily stunning and blinding him. As the red liquid drenched his body, Nyxeris abruptly stood, drew the pistol from her waist band, and in one smooth motion fired three times at his torso.

*Bang! *Bang! *Bang!*

Jack didn't even flinch backwards as it felt like a child's closed fist had hit him.

The thermal clip sang as it ejected from the pistol with a high pitched ping and spun through the air. The AAA battery sized tube landed with a barely audible *clink!* on the floor and hissed as it rolled in a small semi circle. Nyxeris's eyes widened in fear as she saw that he wasn't going down, but instead standing up! She was a right-y! Why in Athames blue tits had she shot left handed! She stood their, stunned, with a now useless pistol in her hands.

Unsure of what just happened, Jack looked down and saw a trickle of liquid cascading down his side. Checking on it with his hand, he brought it to eye level and saw blood. "Oh you've done fucked up now, Missy."

Oh, fuck me!

Acting fast, Nyxeris threw the pistol at him and readied the blade she stored in her boot. As he swatted it away and charge her, she dodged to the right and struck; slicing his neck from ear to shoulder blade. Hand going to the fresh wound, Jacks eyes were filled with blood rage as he sprung at her and tackled Nyxeris to the ground.

"This face of yours was too pretty, let change that shall we!"

*Smack!* Thump!* Smack!* Thump!*

Pain blossomed throughout her body as she absorbed blow after blow from heavy fists to her face, ribs, and gut. He must have been a boxer in a previous life as he certainly knew how to work the body. The blows she did managed to block or dodge, impacted the deck platting with loud, resonating, thuds.

Both of them gasped, grunted, and heaved as they tussled on the floor. Jacks crew laughed and chuckled as they saw their Captain pummel the poor girl again and again.

Blood stains began coating their bodies, red on hers, and purple on his fists. The pain was so great that it drowned out any of Nyxeris's attempts to create constructs with her biotics.

Recalling the commando training she had centuries ago, she struggled, but was able to slash him across the gut with her knife. Unfortunately for her it wasn't a very deep cut. He glanced down to check his guts weren't hanging out; it was all room she needed to get the balls of her feet on his abdomen and throw him off her.

He stumbled back from the force before yelling a mighty roar and charging the recovering Asari once more.

Oh come on! Just fucking die already!

She tried to slash him again but he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Grabbing her knife hand, he wretched her wrist and the blade was ripped out of her grasp. The blood stained steel clattered to the floor as he shrugged off a pitiful punch to the face, and delivered a mighty retort to the Asari's gut. Air and spittle spewed from her gasping, bleeding mouth as thick, callous, fingers clenched around her throat.

Nyxeris delivered weak blows to his arms as he easily lifted her into the air. Running, Jack smashed her back into a support beam and forced her to the ground. Grunting as he got on top of her, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Taking another punch to his face, his free hand grabbed the idle blade and thrust down at her throat. It took both of Nyxeris's hands and all her energy to stop him from just skewering her like a pig.

She was going to die. Nyxeris turned her head to the side to avoid having the last thing she saw in this life to be scraggly yellow rotten teeth and an ugly tattooed face. In the distance she saw Mr. Featherstone looking away, he knew the outcome as well as she, it was only a matter of time now.

But as the blade drew closer, she saw a trickle of dark, red, arterial blood coming from where she had slashed his neck. As if by Murphy's law, his barely fitting jacket collar was acting like a makeshift tourniquet on the wound. Mustering what little strength she had left, Nyxeris grasped the collar and ripped it off the wound.

Jack suddenly felt very woozy as several, long, spurts of blood splattered across Nyxeris's bruised and bloody face. She felt the strength leave his body with every beat of his raging pulse. A second later the burly man unceremoniously died and collapsed onto her.

For several long seconds, Nyxeris wasn't sure what just happened was real. But the readying of rifles above her rushed things back to reality. Everyone above her was gearing up for battle.

"W-wait!" she grunted and chocked out as she heaved herself from under the heavy corpse. "Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!" she repeated several times as she got up and stumbled to regain her balance. Thinking quick, Nyxeris leaned her weary body against a crate of goods and faced her crew. "Friends... I'm sorry friends."

*cough! *cough!*

"I hoped to find an outcome amenable to both our crews... But it seems that this man! This, this, this, animal!" she illustrated with thrusting her blade in his general direction, "Was unable to see any outcome, that saw a single member of this prize crew survive... And, that was an outcome I simply could not abide!... I can only hope that our new brothers,"

*cough! *cough!*

"will join us in the fight for their survival; Mr. Riggs remove their restraint please. Remove their restraints, now!" several members of her crew moved to do so. As the cuffs were removed, the prize crew took what weapons their captors could offer them, and moved to stand beside them. Nyxeris strode before the Shanxi's crew, looking up at them. Red blood smeared across her face and clothes, "Unless! Their's a man among'st this crew, who can sit down at this table and talk reasonably; Honorably!... To reach a resolution more favorable!" her arm extended, "In light of course of the now overwhelming odds in our favor." the other crew looked at each other, skeptical of their chances. "Anybody!" Nyxeris enjoyed the adrenaline rush she was experiencing and decided to play on it, "Anybody?...C'mon!... Anyone?"

Long, tense moment passed before another member of the Shanxi's crew looked to the rest of his men and descended down into the hold. As he stepped down the stairs to negotiate, he undid his buckle and placed all his weapons on the table, and sat down. Utterly flabbergasted that her ploy actually worked, Nyxeris tossed her blade onto the table and collapsed into the seat.

One hour later...

Standing in the washroom, Nyxeris looked herself over in the mirror. By the Goddess, she looked like fucking hell. Like she had gone ten rounds with a Krogan. Turning on the sink faucet to wash the dried blood off her face, she heard the door hiss open behind her.

"You know, I can't believe you actually won that fight."

"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Mr. Featherstone. Very reassuring." Nyxeris retorted as she whetted a rag and gently cleaned herself off. "How's the crew?"

"After that display, I'm pretty sure you bought yourself some good will."

"Ah!" Nyxeris winced in pain as she applied antiseptic and medigel to her wounds. "How long till we get back to Omega?"

"A few hours at least."

"Good. If you excuse me I'm going to go curl up in my bunk with a bottle of pain killers."

"Get some rest, you certainly earned it."

end.

A/N: I'm having to send my computer in for some repairs, long story short, this will be the last update for at least a week, maybe more.