A/N I'm back! Kind of.

Feel free to Read, Review, and Enjoy!

The return to Thessia was uneventful, Keril and I talked most the time, it kept us from remembering what happened on Erica. She found my regiment of biotic meditations... weird. She said that it felt like I was pulling the energy around her in and out of the air, static dancing across her spine through my intentions. That became more than a little bit awkward so I just ended up avoiding my meditations for the rest of the trip.

I wonder if she has some biotic potential herself.

I offered Keril the guest bedroom back at the apartment, she took it, gladly. Rila was concerned about the stranger in our home, but after explaining a secret mission we were on in the Gamma, she calmed down, still suspicious, but no longer furious. Needless to say Ardania and I had a... discussion... involving the situation on Thessia as soon as we arrived.

I read through the datapad, noticing similarities in the incidents, subtle things many could dismiss as coincidences. I mentally log them and move onto the next report.

Something has been happening on Thessia. Something that even the Huntresses can't track. I don't understand why Ardania thinks I'll be able to figure it out, but alright.

I take a drink of my Winterblend Serrice-Ice brandy and wipe the viscous liquid that spills onto my chin with the back of my hand. The short sting from it seeping into a small cut I hadn't noticed is nothing compared to the after effects of its digestion. I don't drink it to numb any pain obviously, not anymore. The specialized concentrated alcoholic beverage has... a calming effect on my mind of a biotic. Something I definitely need once in a while. Especially when I don't meditate regularly. "Ah..." The sparks dancing up my spine dissipates into a bearable hum.

My coffee table is covered in reports, some barely a sentence, others paragraphs and paragraphs of nonsense. All of the last ten or so are from Illona, an Asari mining colony out in the ass-end of Asari space near the Attican Traverse. Strange disappearances, deaths that weren't explainable. Other occurrences have popped up on Illium and Nuin as well as ten other Asari fringe colonies at the edge of the territories.

I toss the datapad of gibberish onto the pile of discarded reports building on the floor next to me.

I'd be concerned about one report like this, but eight hundred? Either these officers aren't getting enough sleep or something extremely strange is happening all across Asari Space.

I finish my drink and smile at the sharp contrast of the freshly squeezed berries with the ice cold and sharp taste of century-old fermented wine. Keril grabs the empty glass out of my hand and I look up at her as she refills it for me. "How's it going? Any progress?"

I don't respond immediately as I watch my vision shift to the glass, her hip, the bottle, her mask, the surroundings, and back to her hands within microseconds. Paranoia always pushed me further on edge these days.

Especially so with Mein jumping through the Darion (Quarian name) Relay all by herself, no backup, no fall-back.

But all she sees is me taking the glass without answering her question and taking a small sip as I return to the next report.

She scoffs at my silence before hopping over the couch with relative grace and landing next to me with a dull thump.

I catch her looking over my shoulder at a massacre caused by an emergency re-entry of a cargo freighter that turned into an eezo-fueled environmental disaster.

I don't mind her trying to distract herself, waiting to be redeployed can be hell, especially after having to be psychologically evaluated after such an... event. I'd just like it if she wasn't using me as a distraction.

I close my eyes for a second, my mind drifting to her comforting me in the hanger bay and the conversation prior.

A small part of me doesn't mind her presence for some reason. Another part of me is questioning why the Goddess it's so easy for me to talk to her.

I take another sip.

With a galactic holiday coming up Rila was busier than ever. Coming home late at night and leaving before I wake up. It's been... a strain on our relationship definitely. A welcome challenge, but still a strain. I've started waking up at 2am and making her breakfast so we could talk for at least five minutes before she had to go.

I suppress a sigh as I remember how lonely it was waking up alone in a cold bed.

Coming back to it I put down a note in the datapad explaining it as a freak accident and toss it onto the pile on the floor before grabbing another and opening it up. "Huh, 'Twelve dead after high-powered energy-' blah blah blah."

Keril seems to laugh briefly at my dry humor.

I don't know why, but I feel a lot more like myself around Keril. My old self from before falling into this... place. I haven't thought about those days in a long time. Back when I could sit down and relax for an hour or two before going to bed, or finding a good game and excitedly sectioning off the next week to play through it completely. Now I'm lucky to get a lunch break.

Keril reaches down and picks up the last report, reading it over, "How do you know it was an accident? Could be a failed attack on Eion or even Oalan."

I dismiss her with a simple wave of the hand, "I don't have to explain myself to you Keril."

She pouts, quite convincingly, so I humor her.

"The maintenance schedule for a T-9 arc freighter is usually once every dozen ly, that ship hadn't completed the last eight maintenance checks scheduled on four runs into deep space. It was a ticking time bomb."

Only a complete idiot would do that, and knowing Terani Endeavor's glowing commendations for failed flight tests, this isn't a surprise. The most it'll do is finally bankrupt that piece of shit shipping company and make way for the Volus to pick up the slack. Two months of fallout tops.

She huffs and leans back, setting the report between us as I notice she's still in her combat armor, "You're so stubborn, but you know that." She crosses her arms with a huff.

"Mhm." I let a small smirk briefly cross my face and toss the next report into the pile. Its gone before I reach for the next.

Keril flat out refuses to walk around without her full body armor and weapons on her at all times. As far as I can see it's a way for her to gain a better awareness of her surroundings to avoid having another incident like Triton happen, but as we are inside of Council Space there is no real reason to do so. Still, whatever floats her boat. I'm not going to argue with a chick that likes perfecting the art of stealthy decapitations in her freetime. I may be arguably schizophrenic, suffering from multiple personality disorder, and constantly creating paranoid delusions, but even I know what time of day it is. Don't piss off Keril time.

"What the fuck Ardania, even I'm not this paranoid." I mutter just above a whisper.

So far I haven't found ANY connection beyond some simple things like dates and passengers that were just obscure enough to literally mean anything from terrorists to a classroom field-trip. I swear she's trying to punish me for ignoring her calls.

I take another sip.

Trying and failing. I needed a distraction from my routine.

I decide to let the last bit out, for Keril's sake. She wouldn't be able to hear my thoughts like Rila, or Jeilus. "I swear she's just punishing me for not answering her calls..."

Keril lightly giggles at my frustration in amusement before looking out the picture window at the Armali skyline. "Scorpio?"

I ignore the question as I'm distracted by what I could only describe as one hell of a weekend detailed in the next report. Alcohol poisoned with red sand leading to a joy-ride to a sushi bar where the two decided to bungee-jump off the roof... with no bungee. One died on impact with a patrol car, the other is in critical condition and flirting his head off in a dazed state.

Man do I have a sick sense of humor, but that's just hilarious.

I stifle a laugh and take another taste of some brandy, "Keril, I'm busy. I'm going to be busy for the next year or so at this rate..." I groan and toss another report into the pile as I rub my eyelids.

Two days without sleep is seriously getting to me.

She stands up slowly, "What did I say about seeing stars at midnight?"

I sigh in frustration and go back to the shuttle ride for a moment... listening to what she said before coming back, "'Songs of night sound so sweet when lit up by a galaxy.'"

I hear her step through the pile of datapads and frown at her as I open my eyes, "What the hell Keril?"

I watch her ignore me and slowly walk up to the picture window, "I just found something else just as beautiful." She steps out onto the balcony.

I follow her, stepping out into the mid-afternoon air as the sun sets in an array of thousands of hues. She leans forwards against the railing so I join her, watching her dark mask reflect the bright lights of the Thessian sunlight as it splits and refracted through thousands of years of pollutions that's only started stabilizing this century. I can just barely see the outline of her face in the contrast.

"So beautiful..." She breathes, her accent clear as she rests the chin of her helmet in her palm.

I turn to the sunset and take in a deep, long, breath, letting it out slowly as my biotics naturally augment my senses, allowing a whole new layer to cover the sunset. A swirling layer of dark energy lightly drifting and flowing in it's natural form. Twisting here and there as eezo-powered skycars zip through the invisible sea of this universal energy... "It is..." I cross my arms and smile lightly at the first break I've taken in almost 96 hours.

«Невероятно красивая.»

I look over at Keril as I hear her speak fluid Russian and am about to ask 'what?' when I can literally feel my head twist around as I translate it to 'Incredibly Beautiful.' within a few second.

What the fuck... so I can translate Russian now? Is this some strange thing with my cybernetics glitching with my translators? Some sort of paradox? 'Oh yeah Scorpio you can translate some foreign language you haven't heard in over six years!' "Really? That's so cool!" 'Yeah! Tell me about it!' "Thanks random creature, entity, imagination from my past and or future that may or may not be trying to murder me!"

'No problem, just call me ~D'

…

I just realized I have a translator in my ear.

...

Yeah I'm going to ignore that outburst.

I burst out laughing for no reason what so ever and have to hold my breath to keep myself from falling to the floor. Keril just stares over at me strangely.

"Oh I so need a fucking break from all this bullshit. Wrecked ships, black holes, Mass Relays, some fucking alien invasion on a colony world I'm managing, Mein taking off... What a fucking disaster..." I shake my head at myself and go back to admiring the essence of the universe ignite as the last wisps of sunlight are hidden below the horizon.

"Wha- oh..." I shake off my sleep and look over at the coffee table still covered in reports, "Fuck." Pulling myself off the couch I stretch from the strangely nice night of sleep I had after passing out last night. I look over to where Keril was last I checked and find an empty seat. "Huh."

I rub the sleep from my eyes and look at my omni-tool, finding a message from Ardania, an audio file. "Scorpio, there's something that I require your... expertise to sort out. Meet me immediately in my office."

I look at the timestamp- "Fuck." I sprint across the room, grabbing my armor from where I tossed it into a heap. They barely seal properly in time for me to grab my rifle and pistol, running out the front door within two or three moments.

It takes no time with LIA's VI in control to reach the Atrium. "Protector, Ardania is waiting in her office, go right up."

I rush past the attendant and into the elevator as fast as I can without looking rushed, "Thank you." Is all I give her in return as the doors close.

Ok, so what else is she going to assign me? Every murder in the south districts of Illium?

The doors open and I almost step out when I stop my movement. I look down and stare at the floor there, it looks... slightly off. I scan it and find a pressure plate there. I sigh and take out my dagger, prying up the tile carefully before checking the mechanism and rearming it. "I swear she's just asking to get assassinated at this point. I placed these traps here for a reason."

Turning my blade I knock the tile back into place and jump from safe-zone to safe-zone as I make it up to the automatic turrets hidden in the walls and count out 5 seconds for the systems to realize it was it's creator. The doors open to her office for a split second, just enough for one person to barely get through.

I step up to her desk, noticing her left front drawer was slightly ajar. Instantly I turn to the balcony and step outside to find her lounging there with her stash of Ardat Yakshi wine half empty. This makes me stop. She's drinking straight from the bottle.

I step out and stand there, hands behind my back in respectful silence as I wait for her to address me.

She doesn't, not for ten full minutes before she turns to me and I see her puffy and swollen red eyes from probably crying all morning. It makes my brow knit with concern. I try not to react as she tosses her bottle at me as soon as she spots me.

I catch it easily and look at it, it was her comfort bottle. A reminder of her days of alcoholism before accepting a role as a spiritual acolyte in the Temple of Athame. It's a three century-old wine brewed in her home town of Arilia in the Eastern Republics.

It's so easy to find everything out about a person if you've had a full week to observe them.

I set it on the edge of the balcony and take my pistol out, aiming it at the bottle.

She watches me in surprise and is about to ask what I was doing when I fire, shattering the bottle into a thousand pieces. She gawks at me as the half-empty bottle's contents pour over her Adrenia bush down below.

"Get up, get over it, and tell me what needs to be done." I state forcefully, showing no emotion as I turn to her fully.

Her face turns dark as she swallows and stands out of her lounger, a shake in her step.

Nearly drunk. Not good.

She brushes off her dress and leans on the balcony, looking out over the entirety of Armali.

I let my pistol hang at my side, my finger still on the trigger. She visibly tenses as she senses it easily, even in this state.

"They're dead." She finally says. Her voice is cool, calm, collected, but her mind isn't. I can feel her emotions raging. Regret for old grudges, Sadness for the loss, Anger for immediately turning to the bottle again.

I frown at her as I holster my pistol and take two quick steps over to her, putting my mask in her face as I grip her shoulders tightly, forcing her to look at me. "People die all the time." I say it slowly, to let it sink in.

Her face instantly hardens, her rebellious nature warring with her temper as she finally snaps out of her sorrow fully and throws a biotic punch right at my face.

I activate my barrier, but let it hit, the impact pushing me back, skidding to a halt on my knees a few feet back from where I was before. I casually stand and cross my arms, "Who's dead." I ask it directly, not a question, a statement.

I learned after day three of coming back to Thessia and under Ardania's wing that she needs a seriously strong personality to butt heads with her own, keeps her focused. I insulted her and she tossed me into a wine cabinet, if I wasn't in my armor I'd be dead. Crazy bitch knows how to use the environment to her advantage I'll give her that.

She smiles darkly at me before going blank again, barely keeping her own mask straight. "Matriarch Wora T'Ani and Matriarch Yera T'Lerea, close friends of mine in the monastery."

And strong supporters of her political stances for a domestic and organized militia to stave off future invasions.

I let her pause, hearing every inflection drift by with the wind as she slowly describes what I need to do.

"There." She points out at the Partha towers, barely a block away.

"When?" I ask firmly.

She pauses, trying to hold herself steady, "Last night."

"Time."

She thinks for a moment, her voice wavering as she speaks out loud, "Wora: Ten minutes before midnight. Yera: three minutes after that."

I nod with her words, piecing together a timeline, "And the last at midnight."

She looks at me in confusion.

I subtly gesture inside, "The pressure plate at the elevator was tripped, whoever came here turned right the hell back around when they saw my traps."

She stares in surprise as she realizes how close it came.

"You're welcome." I state dryly.

She swallows and takes a deep breath, "Find who killed them, tried to kill me..." Her eyes pierce my own with the determination that nearly killed me four times this week already.

I incline my head in a small bow in deep respect, "It will be done."

Back at my skycar I call up Seila on my omni-tool as I head towards the Partha towers, "What's happening in the Gamma?" I ask immediately, the thought that Mein actually went through that relay without back up still weighing on my mind.

She scoffs, "Nice to see you too." I don't respond as she shakes her head, looking past her light blue mask at me with what I can tell is concern.

I'm getting better at reading her.

"We haven't heard anything from her for the last eighteen hours. Last report was some sort of asteroid field screwing with communications."

I grind my teeth with unease.

"What do you want to be done?"

That isn't good.

I think on it as the skycar parks on the street outside Partha tower one. "I'll have to get back to you on that. Contact me if anything changes."

I end the call, looking up at the tower as I close my skycar and lock it up. The skyline was as busy as ever. I step up to the entrance, alerting the two armored Asari in tech armor guarding the door. I can sense how nervous they are from my arrival.

I'm in my classic armor, everyone on Thessia would easily recognize it, and me.

Their reaction instantly puts me on edge.

I step forward, clear intention to enter. They stop me at the door, "State your business."

I don't look at them directly, just let the silence waver as they reach for their weapons. I turn my head slowly to the one that spoke to me on my right, my empty emotionless mask burning into her. She watches me in slight fear, it poisons the air around her. I cringe at it, strengthening my passive mental barrier to filter it out. I'm impressed she never lets any of it show on her face.

"State your business." She repeats, now with a bit of force. Her face says 'no bullshit', her mind says 'I'm going to die'.

I allow it to bring a smile to my face.

The Asari behind me charges her rifle. Her mind is more on the former.

I let them make the first move.

I feel a small quirk in the air as I notice a waver in the Agent's step to the right of me.

She moves to disarm me.

My right hand meets her face, my pistol aiming at and firing into the other with absolute precision, kill shot, the force of the hammerhead-phasic round shattering her skull and tossing her head back before she falls against a shrub, dead. I wrap my right arm around the other Asari's neck and point my pistol against her temple. She's terrified at how quickly I just did that. "Who do you work for?" I demand calmly.

"Wha- what are you doing! Let me go!" She struggles to break free, her mind screaming 'I don't want to die!' louder than I can bare.

I push her head down and spot the edge of a tattoo I recognize. I immediately freeze as I feel the distinct edge of a High Vibrations Blade press against my collar. "She wishes to say hello Devil." I hear whispered into my helmet's right audio sensor.

Closing my eyes I hope to any god or goddess that I black out a-

CRACK!

"AH- ugh..."

I blink as I refocus as both their bodies hit the ground, dead. One with a broken neck, the other with the blade in their heart. "What the fuck..." I mutter quietly, instantly looking at my hands in shock. One of my arms are cut, long slice that's past bleeding and now healing neatly under the split ceramic plates the HVB blade managed to slice through. "Holy crap..."

Well, at least those Hunter instincts are paying off. Still creepy as hell though.

"HEY!"

The shout snaps me out of my self evaluation. I reach down and grab the blade as I turn to take cover inside. I crouch behind the receptionist's desk, the Salarian there cowering under his chair with wide eyes. I decide to try and comfort him, "Don't-" I'm cut off as a grenade goes off next to us, tossing me into the far wall across the room, giving me a nice shot of the unarmored Salarian's torso and head flying into the ceiling as the rest of him splatters against the far wall. I gulp at the horrific sight, "Oh by the-" I resist the urge to throw up, barely, as I hit the floor to dodge three troopers with sub-machine guns as they instantly open fire, trying to fill me with holes. "Fucking Eclipse!" I finally shout back as I quickly recover from the grenade and scoot into cover behind a conveniently placed pillar.

Concentrate.

I take a short breath and quickly peek into the web of dark energy to judge distance before leaning out of cover and whipping the deactivated HVB blade across the lobby and into the chest of a Turian engineer.

"Plugh!" He shouts as the blade buries itself deep within his chest.

I move back into cover just as I sense him hit the floor a second later. I take out my rifle. Always glad to have it with me when I go out.

Ok, ok...

I take another short breath and wait for two of them to reload at the same time before jumping out of cover, adrenaline coursing through my veins, my cybernetics dilating time ten-fold. A wave of my hand and my already charged biotics hit the floor under their feet, that entire side of the room flashing a bright biotic blue as a thought rips them off their feet. My lack of precise control of my powers shows as I also end up ripping a few terminals out of the far wall to join the floating Eclipse.

I Breathe.

In

I aim my rifle, the auto targeting system screwing with my vision too much. I deactivate the system and revert to "eye-balling" it.

Out

My shoulder stings with a familiar pain as I aim up the sights and take pod shots at each of the trooper's heads, my phasic-hammerhead rounds smashing through their shields and ripping through their heads one by one, killing all five of them with a drawn out but subtle Plunk as my rifle calibrates, shears, and accelerates each projectile within milliseconds.

Everything crashes to the ground a moment later as my focus goes back to normal and finally breaks my concentration, leaving me with a small ache I can easily content with as a result of using up but a fraction of my biotic energy. I look up from my rifle to watch the silence. My enhanced optic nerves observe each of them carefully for signs of life, watching thermal signatures, dark energy resonance, shifting body parts. I close down all thoughts as I see no indication of survival.

An avian creature tweets outside before fluttering away, the rustle of wings breaking the silence.

I holster my rifle, hearing the distinct metallic click of it snapping to my back. "Well, that went better than expected." I say quietly, a bit surprised that the only fire I took was from a rogue grenade.

I sigh as I look up and to my left at the splattered remains of that poor Salarian.

"Too many have died for the Eclipse's vanity." I mutter as a short eulogy to the civilian casualty.

I finally take a deep breath as the last traces of adrenaline are flushed out of my system.

Stepping over to the bodies, I flip over the dead Turian only to cringe at the surprised look on his face, "Come on, lets get that out of you..." I look down at the blade stuck in his chest and inspect the wound, "Huh, the blade went through his shields AND armor." I grip the blade and yank, it doesn't move, but the ribs it's caught on crack within the guy's chest. "I'll have to-" I wince at the feeling before remembering something Mein showed me. Taking my time I lighten my grip around the hilt and carefully pull it out. "-remember that." The blade slides right out this time. "Interesting." I look over the sharp edges and squeeze the hilt, small razor-sharp teeth pop out of both sides of the double-sided blade. Making it look like a small ferocious chainsaw. "Hmm." I flick off some blue blood and bits of flesh from the blade and reach around to a spare holster I keep for a shortblade if I ever found one. I sheath the blade there and let the hilt rest on my right shoulder along with the butt of my rifle.

At least I got a fancy new toy out of this. Mein never did work on a good blade schematic.

Stepping away from the line of dead bodies, I reach around the mangled reception's desk and feel around before flipping the switch to unlock the elevators that all these towers seem to have. "There we go." I look over and the metallic doors across the room have opened up to a cargo elevator.

A short trip to the top floor and I step out to nearly run right into police holo-tape. I frown at it and look at the pylon projecting the beam before looking past it, seeing two dead officers and a ransacked office. My right hand twitches a bit closer to my pistol, but I manage to suppress the reflex, turning my full attention to what I can analyze from this angle, "They were searching for something; from how they fought in the lobby they didn't find it." I mutter quietly, avoiding the tape as best I can as I look around the office from the entrance. "Open, used for the CEO of a company not a Matriarch. At least one not involved in business. Why would a Disciple from a Monastery be here?" I take another visual scan from the entryway before turning around and heading down a few floors to gain access to the catwalk and just as I suspected, it's open. I take one full step out from behind the building and am instantly hit by a good fifteen km/hr gust. "Woah!" I balance myself a second later and start walking across the tourist attraction.

Why someone would want to stay up here I have no clue.

Looking out over the railing I find, well, a pretty nice view of the sunrise to my right. I notice a few people already up here, civilians, most likely-

"Goddess! It's him!"

I whip around only to get nearly tackled to the ground as three Asari jump right into my personal space and quickly snap a few photos before asking for an autograph or two. I blink back into focus and... feel... really damn awkward as I politely turn them down, saying "I'm working at the moment" and point to my weapons.

"Aww..." They turn around and wave as they leave towards tower one.

Nice peop-

…

Oh shit!

"Wait!" I stop them, remembering the bodies in the lobby, "Maybe you should call a cab, I'll pay."

"Oh, uhm." Two of the Asari, clearly twins, shrug after a bit, "Alright." "Sure."

"This is so exciting!" Their friend, or sister, claps next to them as she hops on the balls of her feet a bit in elation.

I quickly use my omni-tool to call for a cab, which arrives five agonizingly slow minutes later. Five minutes filled with random questions and me cringing as I try to brush them off as they strongly imply... that they're all single. "Alright, have to go, bye!" I shove them into the shuttle and they wave to me as they take off.

"That... sigh ...was really strange." I rub my head through my helmet and take a moment to see if my growing headache would go away. It doesn't.

I sigh again at the fandom my elevated position has exacerbated in the years since I held a small role in the Eclipses defeat at the Battle for Armali.

Years, perhaps decades of planning broken down to a marginally narrow defeat costing billions of credits in damages... and even worse tens of thousands of civilians lost their lives in the process. I'm responsible for it because I caused it's rapid acceleration, but I did not instigate it. That's what I used to believe. My time dealing with the rapid decay of Thessia's political structure and constant threat of the bankruptcy my direct involvement in that particular event looming over Evron, have taught me to ignore my own feelings on certain matters... mostly. I never expected such madness to come about while I stayed here on Thessia, but here I am, dealing with the troubles of the spiritual leader of the Asari as she fights to keep Her species from falling to what she believes is the chaos of religious freedom. I lean forwards onto the railing and watch as the local star slowly lifts above the horizon. A new day was certainly dawning. Our recent losses at Erica have tipped the scales, our stocks on the Galactic market have plummeted, backers and private investors aren't as effected considering the official story states that an unexpected seismic shift caused our biodome to unexpectedly fail.

I sigh a third time as I remember how hard Keril fought to get the Quarians to help hunt down these Mystery attackers.

I don't blame the Quarians for not wanting to get involved, after all they barely number in the 16 million where the entirety of Evron's employment consists of one million and rising. Half of which are in our military sector. I'll have to schedule a meeting with the Board to alter our plans accordingly.

Moving to get back to the task at hand, I find no actual resistance as I make it to the other side of the catwalk. I look to my left as I cross into Tower 2 to see a shattered window and a few APC cruisers parked just outside the main penthouse. "There we go."

Inside the second tower I find no resistance, which is expected, but I also find the crime scene still being documented by the APC. They stop me before I even finish stepping into the room.

"I'm sorry sir, but you have to step back." The officer at the door states blankly, obviously not enthusiastic about being pulled in after her shift to report to a crime scene at 6 in the morning.

I look over her shoulder and spot someone I'm always happy to see, The dark purple and light blue of her uniform and skin creating a sharp contrast that isn't unpleasant to look at. "Commissioner!" I incline my head for her to come over.

She whips right around at my voice and I can tell she's trying to hide her tired but surprised smile from pulling another all-nighter. She quickly dismisses two officers to step directly up to the door, "Greetings Protector, I don't suppose you would have anything to do with this incident?" I instantly hear the exhaustion in her voice as I take her hand and shake it once, firmly.

Never the less I smile from behind my mask at seeing her, "No, although Ardania did order me to investigate, and there's also the eight Eclipse in the other tower that I ran into."

"Eclipse?" The officer asks worriedly as she finally snaps into the conversation. I roll my eyes at her.

The Eclipse have certainly frightened Thessia, and the Asari for that matter. First time in their history to be invaded. Even worse, an Alien was the one to put a stop to it. That reminds me, I have to pick up some more Ice-brandy on the way back.

"Yes," I cross my arms casually as I update them, "I had no problem taking them out by the way, wish I arrived sooner," I look at Commissioner Rila Aleena Tevos specifically,

Still surprised by her upbringing...

"They murdered two officers." I state apologetically.

"Fucking crap on a stick." Rila swears, which surprises the other officers into actually waking the hell up to listen to the rest of the conversation.

She's spending too much time around me I think.

I smile smugly, knowing no-one could see it behind my mask.

Or not enough...

She shakes her head and signals to her colleagues, "Isal, Ori, secure tower one, call the coroner, and set up a second barricade, we don't want any civilians from the catwalk walking through our crime scenes."

She turns back to me after the two she pointed to leave via the shattered window where a skycar was parked and take off, sirens blaring, "Any idea why they were there?" She asks me with some small relief in her voice.

I step through the tape and push past them, "That's what I'm here trying to figure out."

The officer catches my arm and before she can even say that 'I shouldn't be here', she's on the ground, disarmed, and staring up at me as I say, "I don't have any superior but the High Priestess herself, I go where I need to go." as I dismantle the Evron Striker Assault Rifle she was holding and drop it at her feet in pieces.

The young officer looks livid.

I catch Rila smiling at me fondly before catching herself just as the officer looks at her for permission to make an arrest. All she gets is a solid and dismissive expression, "Alright, we'll work together then." Rila holds out a hand to me.

I take her forearm instead, my mask in her face, her eyes widen just a bit at the action, "I run the operation, alone."

Her breath hitches from how much emphasis I put into my words.

"Understand... Commissioner?" I roll the word slowly, the sensors in my glove's fingertips telling me her heart-rate sped up at the action. Even though I could easily sense how lurid her thoughts were at the moment.

I just love teasing her.

She nods, her voice weak as she answers, "Understood."

I let go and walk into the apartment as the officers are hurried to the entrance to watch, some tired and pissed about being delayed, others shocked at my appearance and actually recording the event 'for records'.

I close my eyes, letting my heart-rate slow to a comfortable rest, then speeding up as I mentally access each of the parts of my brain that have been sectioned off for the higher-processes of my cybernetic tech...

...and open them again, watching the environment as I spot the sniper from the first building, firing through the window, no barrier, power outage from the transformer in the basement, struck her in the shoulder, dead on impact, force of the round blowing off her entire arm, gruesome, overkill, expecting the barrier, overpowered long-ranged rifle, armor piercing rounds, shattered window from the eclipse, not the assassin, too messy. Trained assassin. Spectre? Improbable. Huntress more like, special ops. Trained for a clean kill.

I let my mind rest from the intensity of the overclock and turn back from staring at the dismembered body of Matriarch Yera T'Lerea to look at the crowd of officers, "Who found them."

Rila answers, "Maintenance, came around 1:28 am to fix a power outage, blown transformer in the basement, we don't-"

"Powering the emergency barrier protection on the windows." I answer quickly.

She blinks, "That, actually makes sense."

I step up to the window, "Was the window shattered?"

"We found it like that just as we arrived this morning, why?" She watches me with a contemplative expression.

I look at the pieces of glass cracking under my feet, noticing the curved fractures, "This isn't tempered."

Rila adds to my assessment, "I know, we were trying to figure out why."

I pick up a piece and take a chip off with the force of my hands alone.

Melted, highly-pressurized silicate membrane inside. Thermite? No, no reason, this is glass not titanium. Concussion rifle? No, can't create this high a temperature difference...

"Who found the body again?" I ask quickly.

Rila frowns, "Maintenance, around 1-"

"What's the temperature settings for the apartment?" I interrupt her.

She scowls at me for the annoyance, but waves for an officer to go check it out. A moment later they shout back, "Negative 2 Torin."

I look at Rila and she's surprised. I think about the conversions and get an average of negative 13 degrees Celsius, and it was really hot last night, and humid.

"That's why the window blew open."

I nod at her assumption, "That severe of a temperature difference without a barrier in place melted the glass on impact when the round went through the window, making the glass brittle from the intensity of the energy transfer. It was tempered, just not against such severe transfer of energy.

"So the power outage was what caused the temperature to lower?" She deduces.

I nod, "I suspect that was why Yera was up that late. The Assassin took the shot in a series of bad situations. Either we have the luckiest inexperienced assassin in the galaxy, or a hurried pro that took no time because they couldn't stay where they were for very long." I point at the catwalk, in clear view from the window. "Civilians cross that walkway constantly to get between building at all hours of the night. I'm guessing they'd only have a few seconds to line up the shot, take it, and keep walking before anyone notices. It would have to be a silent rifle meant for high penetration and low kickback." I indicate the dismembered corpse, "They were prepared for the barrier." I turn to her directly, "The only rifle in existence that could have been used and collapsed so quickly to be unnoticed by everyone around them is the Evron Ghost Rifle, using experimentally magnetized rounds." I smirk as Rila just stares at me in awe at my total assessment of what probably happened.

There are serious benefits to having a near-perfect memory and cybernetically enhanced senses working with an analytical mindset.

"You just pulled all that off the top of your head?" She asks in shock. She shakes herself out of it and asks, "Why only that gun?"

Pointing at the singed entry wound in the bicep of the severed arm, "The wound is cauterized, the round disintegrating on impact as it tunneled into and impacted bone. The intense force of the round was just enough to rip her arm out of it's socket, the perfect 77 degree entry allowed the bone to transfer the energy before shattering." I wave a hand over the splatter of blood and gore around the body. "Hence the wide blood splatter."

She frowns as she inspects the wound herself, the burnt flesh, striations on the interior of the rather large entry wound, "Why such a large entry wound?"

I can answer that one as well.

"Evron's experimentally magnetized rounds were... calibers."

She blinks at the word.

I take a deep breath and try to explain...

Mein is going to kill me for this...

...and unfortunately reveal a company secret as easily as I can, "Essentially the Ghost used a combination of munitions and Mass Effect technology to create... a gauss cannon with the ability to fire a precise round capable of tearing through two feet of solid lead to reach it's target with barely any sound emitted,"

Her mouth drops open.

"and disintegrate on impact, transferring all the potential energy into kinetic energy as the interior of the round is shattered, turning into a high-velocity incendiary grenade as the highly pressurized liquid zinc core exploded."

Her eyes widen as well and I look over at the crowd of officers and many of them are completely dumb-struck as well. "How is that legal?" Rila asks with a high-pitched voice.

I shake my head, "It actually isn't, this technology was built to be used against Krogan and other heavily armored targets. Used as a one-shot one-kill weapon... mostly against tanks." I nervously rub the back of my armored neck, "Unfortunately the incendiary grenade part of the round never worked, the rounds were way too expensive and difficult to mass produce, not to mention the Ghost rifle itself had a series of design flaws that made it nearly impossible to fire more than once without about a week of heavily expensive and dangerous maintenance." I shrug, "Which is why it and the rounds never made it past the experimental stages." I smile for the next part, "And why only five were ever built, two were functional."

Rila's face lights up at such a break, "So, where are they?"

I turn to her directly, "Nearly every model was confiscated and dismantled. All but the two functional models, One is in storage at Evron Industries Headquarters. Here in Armali."

She watches me carefully, "What about the last one?"

I look out at the walkway and then at the first building, "I have that model at home, sealed in a preservation case. I haven't opened it since the last test-fire my... specialist and I did back in 2174."

I can feel her eye twitching from that statement.

Oh... I haven't told her about the hidden weapons compartments in the bedroom. Yikes.

I suck in a breath and mutter, "Sorry." Just quiet enough for her to hear.

She just glares at me and mouths, "You are not getting away with this."

I nod to her, "I'll have my people check on both models, your people can finish up the clean-up and prepare a statement."

I start walking towards the exit and she catches my arm, "Oh no, you're going to come right with me."

I look directly into her eyes, her mind, and frown at the thought.

Rila stares right back, "I'm not going to try and explain why your guns are killing our people, Protector."

My frown deepens at her, but I comply with a small nod anyway, "Alright, I'll just finish my update with Ardania and get my people on it. I'll see you later... Commissioner." I sneer to reflect her faux racism.

The other officers watching the display seem conflicted to either side with the Protector of Thessia, the superior agent in all respects in the political spectrum on Thessia, or their own superior officer, Commissioner to the APC, the Police of Armali, Capital of Thessia.

I let them stay conflicted as I turn abruptly and storm past them and out of the crime scene. Seemingly angered by the derogatory statement of the leader of the APC. When in reality I'm extremely worried by the thought that someone, somehow, got into one of my caches and used one of MY weapons to kill someone close to Ardania.

Twenty minutes later I've finished updating Ardania, cleaned my weapons, polished my armor, donned my Lights of Athame, and left for the Atrium where the press conference was going to be held.

Now that I think about it, I've never actually been in one of these things before. Well, this should be interesting...

Parking was a nightmare with so many reporters and people shocked that the Protector of Thessia himself was going to show. An obvious ploy to catch me off guard. I sigh quietly as I wait inside the subsections of the Atrium as Rila introduces me.

"-and as the Protector, Scorpio has-"

I roll my eyes and step out, cutting her off as I walk up the set of steps and out onto the circular platform, "I'm sure everyone here knows what I've been doing for the past five years Commissioner."

I take a look around me at the spherical dome where booths are present at intervals all up the walls. The crowd is massive, at least ten thousand in attendance, only a few hundred reporters are allowed to ask the questions. They stood at the base of the stage with their crew already recording the encounter. I wave at them all, unease and trepidation forcing me to clench my jaw as I take Rila's place at the center of the political and spiritual heart of Asari Space. I look down at the speech Evron's Board gave me on the datapad in my hands and take a deep breath and frown at an apology and public announcement of new barrier-tech and blah blah blah.

If they want a press conference, then why don't they just fucking call the press and run this through them?

"You know what?" I toss the pad over my shoulder, "I'm not saying that." A few people in the crowd laugh as I solidify my stance. My helmet folds down into my collar as I refocus my eyes to get a better view of everyone.

Oh god...

A sharp spike of fear rushes up my spine as I see probably 20,000 eyes only on me, no-one else. This was after-all the first conference the Protector had ever attended. I take another second of silence as I contemplate the fact that probably a few billion people all around Thessia, hell, Asari space was probably watching this live at this very moment. It's beyond unsettling.

Fuck a duck...

I take in a breath and steel myself as best I can, remembering who I'm supposed to be. A warrior, a Hunter of injustice, the Defender of the Asari Homeworld, a man of extreme biotic precision and efficiency.

Oh god... my reputation makes me out to be a hero, and a hero is inspiring... charismatic... right? Here we go...

"Around midnight this morning, a highly trained individual in the art of Dagger and Shadow infiltrated the Partha towers, identified, and eliminated Matriarch Wora T'Ani and Matriarch Yera T'Lerea before fleeing the scene." Unrest settles with murmurs of discontent in the crowd. Both were respected and loved by the people behind them. "The Officers of the APC and myself have been assigned to find this individual, and either eliminate or capture them."

I pause, actually a bit frustrated at how blunt I was.

A reporter speaks up just as I finish, "Are there any leads to who this person actually is?"

"We have leads, yes." I reply quickly.

The Asarian reporter blinks at my lack of information before another speaks up, "Do they have any connection to the ongoing struggle against the terrorists within the Eclipse?"

I look at Rila and she seems annoyed by the statement, so I speak for her instead, "At this time we have reason to believe that they... do have connection to at the very least, a cell of the Eclipse mercenary company."

That tosses the entire atrium into a frenzy, thousands muttering their own concerns for their safety, the consequences of not doing anything, of doing something. Whether or not this is turning into another invasion. The reporters themselves use all this as their bait to make a fool out of the Alien in front of them.

"What is the reason behind this attack?"

"How long is it going to take before the APC finally root out the rest of these terrorists?"

"What do you say is the reason behind the murder of two of High Priestess Ardania's greatest supporters?"

Rila hold up her arms and tries to calm everyone down, "Please please, one at a time!"

I watch as civilization starts to revert, and I can't let that happen. Thousands of voices shouting out at once, the disarray of the populous... I take a deep breath and hope to any god watching that this works.

"Citizens of the Asari Republics!" My voice booms around the Atrium as my omni-tool amplifies it ten-fold. The whole arena quiets to hear what the Protector has to say, "The lives of each and every one of us must be protected, must be kept safe from the poison that fills are hearts at this very moment! The darkness that the enemies of this great civilization sow into this place will cause a cascade of terror that will be unstoppable if we let it!" I move around the stage, gesturing with my words as I go, "The Asari people are strong, resilient, compassionate, and loving. We are not the monsters that these terrorists have claimed us to be. WE are laborers, worker, bondmates, people worthy of the name Asari! We will work past this as we fought and won against the same evil years ago at the Battle of Armali."

Everyone is watching me as I pace the edge of the stage, no-one seems hell bent on starting a riot anymore, which is good.

"I swore to each and every citizen of these great Republics that I would protect them from ruin, and I will not go back on my word." I clench my fists and lean out over the reporters to speak to the cameras and room directly, "I will not rest until the instigators of this attack are put in the ground. There is no greater source of discipline, intelligence, and cooperation anywhere else in the Galaxy and I for one will not stand by and let it suffer. We will confront these cowards and bring them to the sword of our Goddess Athame for the justice that everyone who every suffered at their hands deserves. Steel your hearts, open your minds, and burn away the shadows so that no enemy of ours can hide.

I end the speech panting, staring out at the crowd as they all stare in shock at my fervor, my passion, the promise of justice I have no idea if I can fulfill. I almost wonder if I screwed up by pulling away from the facts.

Everyone seems confused for one moment, everything is silent around Rila and I.

Then, the entire Atrium, filled with representatives from every Republic and Colony in Asari Space, the press, and thousands of civilians, erupt in applause. Flashes from some people's omni-tools' cameras nearly blind me as I nod to them and turn around, pulling Rila with me off of the circular stage and back into the subsections of the Atrium. The large metal doors close behind us, closing off the roar of the crowd from bombarding us.

Rila turns to me, pulling on my arm with a sharp smile growing on her tilted lips, "You know there's a reason I don't make promises during a press conference."

I smile at her, this was the first moment we've been alone since I'd gotten back from outer Alliance Space. "Well..." I sigh as my smile shifts to a small frown, "I'll make sure this one is kept."

She reaches up and cups my furry jaw. I have a nice beard going from not shaving the entire week. Her fingers pull through the short scruffy hair and I can see she's still fascinated by it after so many years of watching me manage it.

We stand there for a while, our eyes watching each-other's for anything uncomfortable while she plays with my beard.

"Humans are so..." She pauses as she tries to find the right words.

I smile fully and attempt to finish it, "Dashing? Charming? Fascinating?"

"Weird." She watches my smile drop and laughs as she pulls her hand out of my beard, "Don't take it personal, Mammals are just so... strange. I really don't like them by the way, mammals."

I frown in confusion, "But you're dating one."

She sighs and kisses my cheek and cringes slightly as my beard brushes against her chin, "You're different, familiar. I can't really explain it."

I smirk at her words, "What was that? Don't like kissing the hairy mammal?"

She rolls eyes, "If you haven't noticed, Asari don't have... hair."

I nod, "You're such a lucky race, it takes forever to clean it out, and if you don't it gets filled with oil and dirt and it's just completely uncomfortable."

She cringes at the thought, "I'll keep that in mind." but leans in to kiss me fully as I do the same, wrapping ourselves around each other-

BLEEP

We stop just before leaning into it and she groans, smiling at me as she looks at her omni-tool, "I've got to take this." She says barely an inch from my face.

"Of course," I turn to walk away.

"Hold on," She grabs my face and pulls me into a deep kiss. She tastes like the wine she keeps in her office at work, she's been having more problems than usual. I make a mental note to help her relax later as our lips separate.

"I see we're into bestiality..." I tease.

She rolls her eyes, still smirking, "Fine, yes, I like fucking a disgusting hairy mammal, guilty as charged."

"So perverted today..." I hug her, fully, my larger stature from years of stressful and vigorous combat training and biotic endurance exercises making us quite the contrast from each other.

Her warm breath tickles my neck as she presses her lips to a scar there, below my jaw, from a sniper shot I took while my cybernetics were resetting during a raid on an Eclipse base after the Battle for Armali. I leaned out of cover like an idiot with my shields down and nearly lost my head.

I kiss the damaged ridge just below her 'ear' where she took a bit of shrapnel during a bar brawl turned shootout.

She hums in approval, sighing into my shoulder. I can feel her smile against my neck, "I needed this."

I keep holding her close, not wanting to let go, "So did I." drawing small circles with my fingertips just behind her shoulder blades to relieve some tension.

I manage to pull myself away as her omni-tool beeps again, smiling as my helmet folds back up, "I'll meet my contacts and see if we can't find our assassin before they disappear or jump off-world.

After a short drive across the city and a few annoying moments getting harassed by my own security, I was finally allowed to come before the board of my own company for an emergency meeting. The room consists of a large round table with a holo projector of the galaxy in the center, all six board members wore dark coverings that hid their faces to avoid any political fallout for being involved in anything sinister.

My company holds many secrets, some more dangerous to galactic stability than the Reapers themselves. Ok that's bullshit, but we take everything just as seriously here.

I stood before them, in my full armor, my feet shoulder-length apart, my hands clenched to my sides.

The speaker of the board of six raises her hand, "Ul Et. Sical Lo Alif?" (What is the silence of the Council?)

At her voice I kneel, my rifle pulled out of its holster to be set before them with my pistol, "Dir Et. Olik." (Death begins at the soul of the Empire)

She looks to her members for clarification and they all nod over time.

They're still getting used to this greeting. Mein found it in the shards of a memory crystal from the excavation of the ruins scattered around the Planet Quila, (formerly unknown and discovered by the Torniquen just before its destruction) She named it after the Quarian word for... a concept relating to life after death. She explained it like a purgatory where all souls go to watch over her people. After extensive geological surveys she determined the planet seismically inactive and the ecology to be Dextro-amino. A great find, if it wasn't deep within Alliance space. Colonization and rights to the planet's discovery have already been secured by Evron and many of the Turian settlers from Erica have been prompted to relocate for a better overall experience. Mein was smart to keep the discovery of the confirmed Prothean ruins a secret from the Council. I'm rambling inside my own head. Anyway, that's where the greeting came from so I'm using it as a special way to keep our overall security a priority. Coupled with my translation of the Prothean language, it's a perfect way to communicate without having to encrypt channels too heavily.

Barely a second has passed since I started and ended my monologue, the speaker sits back down, "You are welcome to us Scorpio."

I rise with my weapons and click them into their holsters, "I am here to get my update on Evron's assets and accomplishments."

The first on the Board, a Salarian, speaks, "There have been issues with the rebuilding process of Triton, many of our efforts have remained futile in the stabilizing of the planetary crust near that location. What are you're thoughts?"

I cross my arms, "Rebuilding at the site of so much death will cause unease, make it a mass grave to mourn who we lost and move Triton onto the Crater just east of the original location. Our surveys of the area indicate rich deposits of minerals and metals we can extract during the rebuilding process, the selling of these resources will pay for the reconstruction and bring in even more income to the planet."

He nods in agreement and the next board member starts their appeal.

I sometimes hate that I'm the only person that can deal with these situations, but someone else might have gotten it wrong. Mordin would like it here.

The Turian clears his throat, "Our fleets have taken a hit with the absence of the Endeavor and I propose bolstering our defenses ground-side to off-set the potential fallout."

I bring up our numbers on the holo, ten frigates, two cruisers, a couple dozen gunships, a few dozen squads on active duty around the galaxy protecting our assets, recruitment numbers are way up after the attacks on Erica, one active shipyard and another being constructed and finished by the end of the galactic year...

"Impressive, but not enough to hold out against a full invading force. Even with our advancements to barrier and ship-wide armaments." I declare more to myself then any of them.

The Turian nods, "We must use Quila's mass of resources to our advantage. I've already drawn up a new military base we can use to train our troops in the harshest conditions imaginable. We will have the strongest fighting force in the galaxy by the decade's end."

The female Turian, third board member, scoffs, "And what about our agricultural needs? The education of our populous, and not to mention the sanitation problems." I incline my head to the speaker and she in turn allows the third to speak, "There have been an array of problems building a colony on a dead world. Water recycling processes, sanitation issues, not to mention the millions of credits in lost assets around Triton."

I stand up straighter, "What do you propose?"

She look directly at me, "I propose we instead use our assets to relocate ALL of our populous to Quila. A mass exodus to a new world where life is already thriving."

"What about the non-dextro species? That might be fine for perhaps a third of our population, but what about the rest?" The fourth, an Asari, speaks up.

I nod to her assessment, as the speaker she had the floor.

She looks back to her neighboring member for answers, which she gives with a blueprint that goes on holo, "A mega structure capable of housing and sustaining a population of over eight million using both levo and dextro amino green houses would do us good."

I look at the cost to build such a structure, it nearly matches the cost required of the military base, but only took five years to construct. "And what do the scientific branches of this board say of this plan?" I address the fifth and sixth members directly.

Both Quarians, directly from Mein's department, speak in turn, "A research lab branching together with each of the Military and Civilian branches on Quila sounds effective." They toss their plans onto the holo, shocking everyone as the plan overlays with the locations of the civilian and military sectors proposed. "Innovative technologies refined from the archives we have located on the surface will allow us to minimize the cost of all building structures and allow this mega city to be constructed within the next six to nine galactic years." A trifecta of Science, Civilian, and Military sectors branching out from the central defense systems housed into the walls of the ground-side shipyard would allow us the ability to increase overall output from all sources 900%

"By the Spirits..." The Third member breathes in shock and awe at the masterpiece of colonization efforts. "Look! It even has live training simulations for fighter pilots!"

I stare at both Quarians for a moment and notice they're just as astounded. I nearly burst out laughing as I realize it was Mein's plan all along.

That mentally unstable bosh'tet, you really out-did yourself this time Mein.

"This is magnificent, and costly." The speaker states as she looks up at me for confirmation.

I smile from behind my mask, "Is everyone in agreement? We shift focus onto Quila and use Erica as a base for our outer-system mining operations in the Traverse."

They all nod in turn.

I sign off for the operation and invest a good 90% of my income for the next five years into the project. Putting the cost at just under 5 billion credits, not including wages for the workers actually building the damn thing. "Alright, what's next?"

The speaker brings up another blueprint and we start the process all over again.

Eight hours later I leave the building with a report confirming that the Ghost prototype in storage was not stolen and hasn't been used. "Well that's just great."

If the assassin somehow got their hands on my copy of the rifle...

I immediately hop into my skycar and fly home, the future disaster bouncing around in my head with no end in sight.

As I open my apartment back up in the mid-afternoon I nearly run right into Keril who's about to leave, "Scorpio, I was just about to come find you. There's been an... incident that you should take a look at." She says hurriedly.

I frown at her in confusion but follow her regardless.

She rushes over to the bedroom with me hot on her heels.

The door opens, "Son of a bitch!" I toss her aside and run into the still smoking room as I take in the destruction. The bed is smoldering, wooden furniture nothing but ashes, holes in the floor from where my weapon cases used to be. I step forwards and jump back as the floor gives out and crashes down into the apartment below us. I look through to find an array of pylons lined up and coordinated for breaching the hull of a ship. I crack my knuckles and hop through the hole, landing awkwardly on the debris before balancing myself and stepping over to one of the pylons, "Fuck me."

"What did you find?!" Keril shouts from the floor above.

I shake my head as I feel my blood start to boil, my mind rapidly trying to make sense of what the hell happened. I brush the thumb of my glove over the scorched cylinder and uncover an upside down triangle with a circle inside, an Italicized E inside the circle.

The universal symbol of Evron Industries found among the ruins of my armory, the only possible murder weapon now gone along with a whole set of dangerous technology all coded to my biometrics.

"Oh god..." I try and see how this could get any better, or even worse, but I'm numb. At any moment, at any time, for any reason, whoever stole my armory could put the deaths of innocents on my head.

My hand shoots to my comm, "LIA, trace the- the-" I hold my head as a wave of dizziness comes over me. "tra-" I wince as my head pounds, my breathing rapidly increases, I can't catch my breath. "I-" I collapse to the still smoldering debris, my mind going blank as my vision blackens.

A cool breeze crosses my cheek, the sound of rushing water fills my ears as I curl my fists around clumps of grass. "What?" I slowly open my eyes to find lush and vibrant maple tree branches shading me from the harsh sun. I take in a deep breath of fresh air and nearly cry at the peace I feel in that moment. I take in another deep breath, trying to remember the last time I even saw a maple tree let alone laid under it to escape the hot summer sun. "10 years, perhaps more..." My voice cracks as I sniffle at finally getting a moment to just fucking calm down and relax. Five- no, six entire years of just fighting and developing and studying... six damn years caught up to me in that moment and I was tired, so tired I felt like passing out, but I don't. I just lay there for a while and enjoy it while it lasts. I don't even think about if it was real or not.

I just need a moment...

After what felt like hours of just laying there, relaxing, not thinking about Thessia, Evron, Erica, the state of the Galaxy, Mein's disappearance... it was nice, but eventually the sun began to set and I had to start moving again.

Sitting up I looked at my surroundings to find it... pretty bland actually. Grass and trees, vibrant and alive. I sit there and finally notice that there weren't any animals here, no sounds of birds chirping, no rabbits bouncing, for some reason I wish there were some there to keep me company. I smile at how relaxed I felt and stand up onto my own two feet. As soon as I do a rush of wind chills my spine, leafs rush into my face causing me to shield it with my arms. When I open my eyes again, the forest is dark, the trees barren, the grass dead. A violent sun is pulling up over the horizon, casting a frightful array of shadows that engulf everything. I turn on me heels and run, I don't know from what, I just run, pounding my bare feet against the hard dead grass, ejecting myself over bushes of spurs. As I run I hear a wicked laugh echo through the plain and my heart fills with dread. I stop.

"You are worthless, a sick puppy that needs to be put down!"

I turn my head slowly, finding a familiar figure appearing behind me. "Wha-?" A sharp pain wracks my brain, forcing my vision to blur as I scream, falling to my knees in pain. Whispers suffocate my thoughts.

"They're coming..."

"What are you going to do...?"

"WE are finite without law..."

"Nations will crumble before us..."

"Ash will bury you..."

"Fire will smother you..."

"WE are coming..."

They all bleed into a harsh white noise that I shake my head at, "LIES! THEY'RE ALL LIES!"

Everything stops. No more whispers, no more words, just silence. I hesitate before I open my eyes to see the face of a woman barely an inch from my face. My heart jumps to my throat as I see her smirk, her dark and menacing features betraying the natural beauty that her entire species seems to possess, "I am already here."

Her hand grips my throat and I can't breathe, "No" I cough as I see the darkness crawling into my vision. Panic rips through my mind as I start kicking her while I'm raised off the ground. I hit nothing but air. Closing my eyes I try and focus my biotics but feel too faint as I finally start to black out, a simple word crossing my lips that I cannot only recognize, but understand all too well... "Vera..."

Then I hit the ground, coughing, gasping for breathe, laying on my side and trying to figure out what just happened as that word echoes in my head.

Vera...

Vera...

Vera...

Vera...

"Vera..." I breathe out as I finally catch my breath.

"My god! Scorpio! Scorpio can you hear me?!" Keril ask desperately, her Russian accent making it a bit difficult for me to understand her.

"Vera..." I close my eyes as Keril hops down into the debris to join me.

I feel her small, although strong, hands gripping my armor and pulling me to my feet. "Be more careful, these floors are covered in ash and soot. Easy to lose your footing."

I nod to her as I open my eyes, the terror finally leaving me, "Betrayal..." I mutter.

She tilts her helmet at me in confusion, "What did you say?"

I take a deep breath, my mind finally focusing after my little ordeal, "I know what happened."

She stares at me for a moment, "Uh... how?"

I gather myself and steel my resolve, pointing to the artillery pylons with Evron's symbol stamped into them, "Those are anti-tank security pylons, Evron developed them to better protect a fortification from ground vehicle attacks. They never made it out of the experimental stage either."

"Either?"

I nod to her, forgetting that she hasn't been properly updated yet, "Those two Matriarchs that were murdered last night? They were killed using the Evron Ghost, another piece of dangerous experimental tech we never mass produced." I look over the rubble that was my personal armory and sigh, "I had one, which you can see is missing, and the only other in existence is safely locked away at Evron HQ."

I think for a moment. "LIA, were there any security alerts in the Apartment last night?"

I slept on the couch, so did Keril, and Rila was still on the job last night so none of us were in the bedroom when it happened, but why didn't we hear it?

"Only one." She responds, "A level four ventilation error that was quickly able to be corrected two minutes afterwards."

I frown while sharing a look with Keril, "What vent was it?"

"Sending location data now."

I bring up my omni-tool and frown even deeper as I find the signal was right over the living room couch, "They knew..." I whisper quietly.

"What?" Keril looks over my shoulder, trying to see.

I whip around and biotically launch myself up a floor and back into the bedroom, grabbing onto the ledge and pulling myself back into the apartment before turning and reaching down to catch Keril's forearm as she vaults up the scorched wall after me. "Got ya."

"What is all this about?" She asks while I pull her up.

"There's a reason we couldn't hear this place getting raided last night." I explain as I march down the hall and into the living room. I scan the ceiling until I find my target.

"What?"

Reaching up, I grab the metal grate and rip it off with my biotics, a canister falls out of it and lands at out feet. "Just as I suspected." I pick it up and do a basic scan of the compound. "LIA, what is this?"

"From what I can tell, this is a canister of knockout gas, half-empty with a cracked seal, purposefully tampered. It seems whoever stole your armory also knew enough about your apartment to incapacitate both of you without trouble."

A shiver runs down my spine as I turn the can over and find Evron's symbol again.

"This is not good." Keril gives voice to all our thoughts while I try and think about who would be either informed enough to hit me, or stupid enough to be hired by someone to hit me.

The Shadow Broker wouldn't have let me live, he's too... direct. Cerberus has the ability, but no motive. If anything I'm furthering Humanity's stance with the other races. Eclipse doesn't have the pull, not anymore, unless Aria herself finally took an interest in her home planet's politics which I doubt. Ardania is too upset about losing her friends to give a shit, and her political rivals are all clamoring over the political shitstorm the death of two highly respected Matriarchs will have on the population. Rival corporations like Armali Armories might have tried something, but why would they kill two Matriarchs that supported raising the military budget? And every single one of them don't even have the necessary access to Evron's archives to use our technology! It had to have been an inside job, which is... problematic considering the only two people alive that have access to experimental weapons are myself and Mein, and she's off getting lost in the Hades Gamma cluster chasing after Aliens that like sabotaging Atmospheric pressure domes. So that means I am the only suspect with the ability, capability, and if you want to speculate; motive to actually kill those two Matriarchs. Which I didn't! I don't even know how they knew how to run the Ghost Rifle anyway! You can't even use any of the experimental tech without my expressed consent! Which is given via- Oh fuck me they hijacked my biometric data! How the fuck did they do that? God I wish Mein was here... wait, Mein!

"LIA, run a trace on both the compound and the Artillery Pylons, I've got a lead to follow." I call up my Omni-tool and immediately set the coordinates for downtown Armali.

"Understood, a report will be ready by the time you return." LIA announces.

Keril watches as I turn towards the front door, "Wait!"

"I won't, just send it to me when you can." I pause and turn to look at her as my helmet seals itself up.

"Can I come with? I am itching for some action and I have not heard about my next assignment yet." She looks restless, fidgeting in her full armor.

I think about it and figure having a fellow member of the company with me could be better than the Leader of the APC; sworn protector of Armali, Thessia and all her colonies, and of course my girlfriend. Less things to explain... and cover up if this all goes to hell. "Alright, gear up."

She looks around the apartment dramatically, "Uh... I already have all my gear. What exactly am I 'gearing up'?"

I sigh in exasperation, but with a smile, "Just come on." I turn and dash out of the apartment, a mountain of questions still haunting my mind and a city filled with potential assassins I still have to sort through. Not to mention hunting down my stolen, biometrically calibrated, set of dangerous weapons before someone or something uses them to murder innocents in my name. I set my armor to combat mode and charge my weapons as we wait in the elevator.

Just another seriously fucked up day at the office...

A/N I really have no idea how often I'm going to update any of my stories. I found a good blend of personal motivation and urge to create over the last few months so I've been thinking for a while about why I write stories. It's a hobby that I love, but needs to stay a hobby I enjoy doing. I'm used to sitting down and typing for hours and hours on end, just getting lost in my stories.

I stopped writing completely a year ago to try and focus on college, and I lost my motivation as I stopped caring about my classes. It's a rude awakening that I never really took it seriously. I needed to take it like a job I need to work my hardest at. Not something you want to say three years into a four year degree.

I'm motivated and going to work on my stories when I want to instead of pushing myself to get it done because it's been two and a half years since I started posting, almost three since I started. I'm excited to try and make a great adventure out of Scorpio's Legacy and Drifter's Journey and maybe do some smaller one-offs along the way. Needless to say this is going to be sporadic, uncoordinated, and I'm going to hop around a bit. Change a few things here and there. Some months I'll update two or three times, others I won't at all. What I can promise you all is this: I am not dead, these stories are not dead, and I'm finishing these things before I'm 24... hopefully. (I'm 22 this October.)

Have a great day everyone!