As the anesthesia lightened, Jane's dreams became fragmented. Little pieces of time, fractured windows to her past, ebbed and flowed. Balya was so close it was as if she could reach out and touch her. For years, they shared a cell, growing and fighting side by side. They were more than friends. They were family. And one brooked no threat to the other.
Jane was twelve the first time she killed a man. Initially, when they had him cornered, she thought he was a pathetic thing retching in the thick Kar'Shani mud. Already beaten. Balya by her side, an enemy directly in front, she didn't hesitate. Blue surged, whipping around her entire form, when he sent out a shock of electricity. It cut off her biotics in an instant. Her knees buckled. A knife, skillfully thrown, hit her square in the shoulder, sinking deeply into the tender flesh.
Then he was flipping above her, beyond her – honing in for his own kill. Balya tossed him to the ground like a rag doll. And Jane lashed out, snapping his neck with her blue.
The pair stared absently at the body for a moment. It was the first time they'd killed something with more than animal intelligence.
Jane couldn't help but realize how easy it had been, this thing she dreaded.
Blood formed rivulets down her arm, dripping into the soil. Red and brown. Muck and plasma.
Balya pointed at her wounded side, grinning the way she did when one of her weird ideas popped up. She brought a switch-blade to her palm, pressing it into her thick, brown skin. "Gimme your hand."
When Jane obliged, reaching toward her, Balya brought their palms together. "We're blood sisters now. Bonded in battle."
The image suddenly grew fuzzy, as if she were looking through a far-away lens. Light filtered through eyelids. Voices carried across the empty space.
"I'm not leaving!"
"Please Nalah. Too emotional. Can't be her nurse."
"Then I won't stay as her nurse."
There was a scraping sound. In her mind's eye, Jane could almost see a metal chair being dragged to her bedside. But then it muffled, grew distant, and she drifted back to sleep.
"Which one are you gonna pick?" Balya sat cross legged on the floor directly in front of her, thumbing through a stack of pamphlets. Instruments of various sizes were depicted on colorful parchment.
"Something loud." Jane leaned forward, peering at the selections.
"You would. Although, I suppose, we should choose something that meshes together well."
"Maybe. They said it doesn't matter much so long as we practice. We could probably pick drums and they wouldn't bat an eye."
"That's what they say." Balya punctuated the last word for emphasis. "But if it doesn't create mind connections or whatever."
"I know. I know. Always look for an edge." Jane sighed. "Guess I should pick a complicated one then."
"Something with strings, yeah. Think you could sing and play one of these at the same time?" She passed her pamphlets with human string instruments depicted on the front. "Might give you a leg up."
They'd spent the entire day running the obstacle course, honing their blue to the ring leaders' satisfaction. Bruised knuckles, skinned knees, and exhaustion hung over their room like a cloud. A few, scant photos were taped to cement walls. Jane's drawings, embellished by Balya's knack for paint, decorated every inch of the otherwise desolate room.
Most of the pictures were of animals observed during their ground-side missions to clear out pests. Of course, 'pests' on Kar'Shan were nothing like what Jane was used to. She expected rats, maybe a few wild dogs and steeled herself against the possibility of having to kill them. A man was easier to butcher than a dog. She'd never witnessed that cruel glint in an animal's eyes. Their tendency towards violence was knowable. They hunted for food and only attacked when their pack was threatened. It was a sentiment she could relate to.
As it turned out, Kar'Shan was filled with abundant wildlife. There were snails the size of lions with sharp horns they'd use like a battering ram. And unlike the slugs she was accustomed to, these things moved like the wind, leaving a train of sickly goo in their wake. They also had enormous spiders. The batarians called them aleanakib. Jane really didn't care what word they used for the creatures. Spiders the size of a house was an accurate enough description for her.
"The violin sounds good. I don't want to play something huge." Jane pointed to the pamphlet depicting a cello. "I'd have to lug it all the way to the gym for practice. And some of the violin vids have people plucking the strings while singing. I could trade off."
"Hmm. Yeah. I see your point. In that case, I'm picking the tagelharpa. It's a traditional batarian instrument. My dad had one."
"Nice and spooky."
Balya sucked in the air, a sly smile spread across her face as she dropped her voice to a mere whisper. "One day, I'm gonna scare the hell out of them."
