MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA HOLLOW WORLDS:
CHAPTER 20
Startled murmurs were heard from Liam and Jaal as Ryder abruptly abandoned them now in the vacant facility to pursue Reyes. The man was dragging Zia's corpse towards his makeshift angaran shuttle that he parked a few meters out. Anger and jealousy fueled her from the lack of explanation he was giving her about the history between he and the red-head woman. The whole mission was a setup and it seemed like Zia arranged it all for payback even though she packaged it as a smugglers' coup.
Zia spoke ill about Reyes and called Torvi a fool to be standing along his side in defense. This infuriated Reyes and his appearance almost frightened Ryder. The room exploded into gunfire and Reyes was the one who took Zia down. There was no remorse in eyes even if their relationship at one point was intimate. Betrayal overtook him and Ryder wondered if the pain was on both ends of the spectrum. He was still hurting as he dragged his ex's corpse out back into the badlands and guilt consumed Torvi. There was no elucidation why it should, but the feeling was present. "Reyes!" She choked his name as tears filled her eyes.
The man stopped as he backed along with Zia's arms and his hazel colored eyes looked her way, a scowl remained firm on his face like stone. "I know you want to discuss this, Ryder. I need to handle Zia's body first. Tartarus?"
Torvi scanned her surroundings. "You going to bury her here?" Her voice skeptical. Rocks and hard dirt were much of what she could see. She doubted that he bothered to carry any digging tools.
"No. Kadara's…exotic wildlife will feast on her remains. As much as she was a pain in the ass, she deserves better." He continued to move up the small ramp that led into the shuttle.
Torvi jogged over to the ramp's entrance and looked up into the barely lit interior. "You sure you got this?" She pressed.
There was no response and she could hear him moving boxes around inside. Minutes later, he came back down, wiping the blood from his hands onto his pants with a look of disgust. "Such a messy job." His composure cooler.
Ryder tilted her head in the change. "Just a bad deal?"
He gave an indifferent shrug. "Seems that way."
Torvi glared at the dark-haired man in disbelief. "That's it?" Her voice rose in disproval.
"Why not? She's out of the picture," He nonchalantly explained. "Thought you would be happy."
"Does it matter that your life can still be in danger? You heard what she said in there. The smugglers are getting together to take you down." Torvi persisted. Her mind thought back to Sloane. What if the leader of Kadara was in on this? She didn't seem to really trust him and maybe he was aiding the Charlatan a bit too much.
"I can handle it," Reyes tossed out a smug wink at her.
Torvi gaped at him in exasperation. "You know what…" A beat. "You're not the man I thought you were on Earth." A sour taste remained her mouth as the words left her.
Her comment unmoved him. Strangely, he seemed almost seemed furious with her. "No, Torvi." His response curt. "You're not the woman I met. What kind of fool do you play me for? Huh?"
"Uh-oh," Jaal uttered commentary as he and Drack stayed at the doorway, listening intently to the exchange.
"Here it comes," The krogan pitched in his two cents.
Ryder snapped her head towards them in irritation. "Privacy, hmm?"
Clearing his throat, Jaal nervously glanced around and then walked towards the Nomad. "I better go check on our vehicle. Make sure it's ready to go."
Drack stood there unmoved. He observed her carefully with his old yellow eyes. "This is a good part. I'm not missing out."
"Back off, Drack," Torvi growled through clenched teeth. "You want me to give Kesh any dirt on Lexi's check-up?" She was serious in her blackmail. If Dr. T'Perro's report got back to Kesh on how her grandfather's implants were failing, the superintendent of the Nexus may call him back to the station to avoid any unwanted fights.
"You wouldn't," The krogan called her bluff as his feet stayed planted.
"Try me," She sized him up.
"Fine." He gave in as he thundered away towards the Nomad.
Seeing that they were no longer listening in, she returned her focus on Reyes with a questioning look. "You care to explain your remark," She crossed her arms.
"Better," Reyes walked into his shuttle and minute later returned with a black piece of clothing tucked away under his right armpit. As the man neared, she recognized the fabric and her heart stopped beating in her chest. Folded up was her torn coat that she discarded through the trash chute on the port. Vidal bitterly casted the jacket down on the dirt ground at her boots.
"Where did you…" Torvi asked as her voice trembled. Her admittance was guilt enough for the midnight black-haired man.
"From a friend," Reyes kept his reply short. Masking all the details. "Seems you are working your way to Sloane's approval for the outpost. I must say your method is quite…" A pause. "Interesting."
Ryder didn't bother to kneel down to scoop up the article of clothing. Her mind rewound to her time with Kaetus. She was sure that no one followed her. Sloane's guard couldn't have been in on it. Why would anyone just blab to Reyes? He was just a smuggler. She remembered the male angaran who took note of her whereabouts as she was heading to the Tempest. Then the female angaran that Reyes introduced to her at the party. Was his influence much more than he was letting on? "What all do you-. "
"Everything," He hissed. "Are you playing both sides?"
"I didn't know you had a side," Torvi defended herself.
"I don't. Sloane is dangerous, Ryder."
"This is coming from you?" She glared at him. "You work both angles too. You told me so."
"I'm careful. I don't sleep around."
"You're the one that ditched me and going behind my back first!" Torvi placed her hands on her hips in annoyance. "I have every right to- "
The man groaned loudly as he threw up his hands in defeat. "I told you it was complicated right now. Kadara Port is in turmoil and I'm dealing with the Roekaar too."
"Your business is far more important." Ryder shook her head. "There was nothing between us so why are we at each other's throats?"
Pain glossed over his eyes from her words. "There was something." The words struck like her a bullet to the chest plate of her armor. Her mouth remained open. Nothing would come out. The man shook his head as he stepped towards her, cupped the back of her head with his hand, pulling her closer. His lips found her cheek and he planted a sweet kiss on her skin. "Till next time." He turned to move to the shuttle once more.
Her body was distant like she was having an out of body experience. She begged herself to go to him, but her legs wouldn't budge. Suddenly, there was a ping as a bullet struck the shuttle's side, followed by several more that buzzed just inches past her. Ducking down, Ryder found herself out in the open and dove behind a rock. Turning her head around, she saw a small group of Kett chosen approaching with their weapons firing. More rounds hit the shuttle's exterior. If the beating continued, the craft would be rendered useless. Vidal moved quickly inside and crouched with his rifle at the ready, positioned right above the ramp. He looked down at her worriedly. Drack and Jaal dashed over to where Ryder was. "Ryder!" Reyes called to her.
Noticing the pocket of kett only contained five soldiers, Torvi was confident that her team would be able to take them out. A scouting party none the less. They had to. If any escaped, another larger force could be closer. The vicinity needed to be vacated. "I got this!" She yelled to him over the cacophony. "Just go on!" She dispatched her turret and triggered it towards the kett. The mini assault turret began to open fire causing the enemy to dash apart to take cover themselves. That would give Reyes more time to leave.
"Don't be absurd! I'm not leaving you!" The man stood up to storm down the ramp, but Ryder shot at the metal flooring, causing him to jump back.
He looked at her in confusion, finally realizing that she was the one who fired at him and not the kett. "Go!" She yelled.
Drack roared as he charged at one of the kett with his shotgun blasting away. Jaal switched to his sniper rifle, taking out one that managed to poke his head out a little too far into view. Seeing Reyes finally going into the shuttle to take off, Torvi stormed ahead with her team, nailing one kett with cryo rounds. The exalted angaran's body froze and then shattered into thousand pieces as Jaal sniped the form. Three down. The two remaining were foolish enough to run at them with their rifles blasting. Leaping up, Torvi initiated her jump jet and hovered fifteen feet in the air. She squeezed the trigger and allowed her rounds to rain down on the approaching kett. Drack was on their frozen forms within seconds and used his fists to strike through their bodies, shattering them everywhere. "Did we get them all?" Torvi desperately looked around to make sure her count was accurate.
"All eliminated." Jaal confirmed.
Drack thumbed towards Reyes' departing shuttle that was now fading away into the horizon. "He's gone, Ryder."
"Yeah, so should we. I don't want to be this far out when night falls," Ryder lowered her weapon and moved back to the Nomad.
"Why not?" Drack tossed back casually. "You scared of the dark?"
"No," She snapped back defensively. "I'm just saying…what if more creatures come out at dark? You know nocturnal ones." She put the safety on her weapon before locking it in place near the controls.
"Scared?" The krogan chided. Jaal chuckled.
"Just get in," Ryder rolled her eyes.
"Where we going now? My butt can't take all this riding in the Nomad," The krogan complained as he took his seat behind her.
"The Hyperion. I need to see what the memory fragments are that I found." She explained as she began to initiate the controls to summon the Tempest from orbit to their current location for pickup. "First, I thought you were going to see the Nexus." Drack grumbled.
"We could go there first. Let you come with me to check-in with Tann," Ryder teased.
He was not moved. "By mighty quads, I'd rather ride around with my butt falling asleep for hours then deal with his shit again."
"Quads?" Jaal picked up on the terminology. "Forgive me for asking, what is the meaning behind that word? Is it your religion? Like a deity?"
Ryder stifled her laughter and waited for the old relic of Clan Nakmor to respond. This was going to be good. Drack looked his way and remained still as he seemed to utterly debate on how to answer. "You're serious?"
Jaal was confused. "Uh, yes?"
"Answer him, Drack," Torvi could not resist to not be involved any longer.
"My nuts. Krogan have four of them. Hence, the word quad." The krogan explained.
This didn't satisfy the angaran and he seemed even more confused. "Your? Nuts?" He glanced over at Ryder for further explanation, but Torvi grinned and shrugged.
Drack stared at the confused resident of Heleus incredulously. "You really have no idea?"
"No, I do not."
"His genitalia, Jaal." Torvi slowly explained to prevent herself from busting out laughing about how their conversation changed.
The purple angaran's eyes became wide as he processed it. "Uh…oh…so I have noticed that Vetra says 'spirits' and the asari say, 'by the goddess.' Do the krogan- "
"You're going to say if we worship our genitalia?" Drack stretched out in the back as he wiggled his butt to get more comfortable in the seat. His legs spread comfortably. "That it?"
"Is that offensive?" Jaal questioned.
"Thanks to Salarians and the Turians, my kind lost the rate to reproduce because of the genophage. If the krogan sit around and worship their nuts, then they are praying to a false god."
"I see. Who do the krogan worship then?"
"Threshermaws."