Chapter 14, in which things go wrong.

~0~


Citadel

Presidium

[TIME-STAMP CLASSIFIED PER STG ORDERS]

[DATA EXPUNGED]

STG Operative Rentola stood by the Councillor's side, his arms crossed behind his back. The Councillor was reviewing his written report of the research into the background events, radiation and noises coming from beyond the Terminus.

The account was a hundred and six pages long, the first sixty of which were details regarding his specific findings, the data pulled from listening stations and other, less publicly known points. The twenty pages after those were aimed at discussing the potential implications from these logs, varying from the Reaper phenomena that had gripped some of his fellow STG members to the idea of a new civilization.

The last twenty pages were basically arguments pertaining to the Mass Relay network, the Rachni and Lieutenant Commander "Jane" Shepard, aimed at convincing any readers that an undertaking to activating dormant Mass Relays should be funded.

Valern took ten minutes reading the dossier, u very long time for a salarian, but at long last he finished. "Hmm…this is highly disturbing, Rentola. If your case is true, there is an alien civilization waiting for us, beyond the Terminus System. One advanced enough to have caused a large quantity of signals over the past century. I am especially concerned with the notion that zero Mass Relays lead out of this region."

Rentola waited for the Councillor to finish, then calmly delivered the argument he had memorized flawlessly. "There are three major ideas explaining why this region of space -dubbed Section Zero for conversational purposes- lacks any noticeable Mass Relays. The first is the most likely: the Council simply did not encounter any yet. The second requires more historical basis: that the Protheans failed to finish the Mass Relay network before their mysterious disappearance. The third is more wild, as it assumes that the Relays there were destroyed in some catastrophe."

Valern nodded. "But all three warrant an investigation. The stigma on dormant Relays that the Rachni wars left behind is still noticeable, despite Shepard's claims to the contrary. "

"It is my personal opinion that we should seek out any Relay that might into Section Zero. The Relay's navigational logs should tell us where its connecting Relay rests."

The Councillor sighed. "I have been wondering about this. Uplifting another species to deal with the possible threat could be a disaster."

"But what we might find, will eventually make its way into our space as well. Had we not found the Rachni, the Rachni would have found us."

"Agreed. Thank you for your report, Operative Rentola. You may return to your station until further notice. This topic warrants…delicate handling."

The STG member nodded and quickly left the room, secretly hoping that there was a better way to convince Sparatus and Tevos than mere logic.

Although Tevos had seemed positively miserable today. He wondered why that was.

~0~


Terminus Systems

Batarian Frigate Pride of Kar'shan

In orbit around Omega

The batarian barely had the time to shout in alarm before Everheart reached out and enveloped it in a corona of dark-blue light, bypassed its shields and immobilized it. He allowed the creature to utter one last terrified scream before he increased the intensity of the mass-effect fields to separate its body from its head.

The blood went absolutely everywhere. It was a rather visceral scene, and Everheart wondered if this was why his mother had told him never to use his Biotics against other people. He regretted not having discovered it sooner; life would have been so much easier for him if he could just lift his problem and pull.

Its partner roared in anger and more bullets were sent downrange. Everheart grunted as the tiny slugs slammed into the high-gravity mass effect fields surrounding his body, and the dull pain that followed their impacts sent a spike through the field. He guided it with his will, and it erupted outwards, spiking the other batarian through his head. It too slumped to the ground, finally putting an end to the taxing fight.

The recently-freed slave stepped over the remains of the slavers, somewhat disgruntled at his lack of clothes. He left a literal trail of viscera behind him as he inadvertently had to wade through the gore, and he had no idea how to do this in a more subtle way, because the weapons he picked up always seemed to overheat and then refuse to continue firing.

Guns. So useless. Sure, they worked well for the aliens who would thunder down the hallway and try to cut him down at knee-level because they knew how the things worked. Everheart could only pin down his prey and try to figure out which barrel the actual fire came out of, before the aliens died of blood-loss or physical trauma.

As if eager to prove his point, a door opened and one of the bigger aliens rapidly marched towards him through the narrow hallways of the alien vessel, toting a gun that was bigger than most of Everheart's limbs. The big brute rumbled something about 'pets' that needed to get back to their 'cage' and then opened fire, uselessly splashing rounds against his powerful Walls without realizing it.

William Everheart had never seen this particular alien before, not even during the raid. Reptilian, with a big lump on his back, and annoyingly resilient. Like a big turtle, the ones in the biology books at school.

He reached out and increased the creature's mass, effectively pinning him down without having to bother with other, more tiring techniques. However, when he proceeded to fire his stolen pistol at the alien until the weapon overheated, the creature wasn't even bothered by it!

"Coward!" The alien spat at him. "Try a real man's weapon!"

Everheart thought the notion of assigning gender roles to guns somewhat silly, and remained silent while enveloping the alien's gun-wielding arm with a corona of mass-effect fields, before completely ripping the limb off.

As a young boy, he had always found the sound of things tearing to be interesting. Branches, plastic, metal, the sound of hard matter resisting for a split-second before yielding had something gratifying, and he quickly discovered that flesh wasn't any different. The alien howled in pain and clutched the ragged, bleeding stump under his shoulder, and Everheart had thought that enough to render the alien incapacitated.

He was wrong, in a spectacular way.

The alien's screams turned into a loud, boisterous bellow and then the turtle-thing started charging him, simply ignoring the fact that his body now weighed twice as much.

William watched the alien close in on him, puzzled at its sudden ferocity, and was about to demand the alien to explain what it thought it was doing, before it crashed into him with all the force of a speeding aircar and sent him skidding back through the blood-covered hallway.

Now he was no stranger to physical violence. Children were cruel, violent, sadistic little wretches. His scars that weren't caused by experimenting with Biotics, were pretty much the by-product of a little something that made children loathe him. What that something was, even his mother hadn't known.

So when Everheart clumsily crawled back to his feet, now covered in the blood that still coated the ground, he was shocked that the alien could have done that to him with one meagre strike. He was fairly sure that this alien would have killed him had it not been for his Walls.

It was a frightening thought, and the fear quickly turned into more anger. What was this thing? It wasn't one of the batarians. Was this their boss?

And just like that, his anger subsided somewhat. Finally, someone who could be of use to him!

"Where is my mother?" He demanded

The creature was not going to comply, if the way it snarled and resumed its charge was any indication.

Oh well. At least he could have some fun with this one.

The alien bellowed and initiated what would be its last charge. Everheart created two lances of kinetic energy that spun towards the alien from two different directions. He guided their movements with his hands, and let them slam into the slaver's right knee. The two fields collapsed on impact and produced the effect of two obscenely large hands slamming into the aliens leg from two different directions.

*Crack*.

Stupidly oblivious to pain or not, the alien could not keep sprinting on one leg, and the creature fell face-first into the blood-smeared hallway where its companions had fallen before it.

It snarled, roared and reached for its leg, then lay there for a few moments.

"Calmed down yet?" William told the slaver. His heart was pounding, and the stench of blood was riling him up. He had to make a conscious effort to hold himself back. After a lifetime of bullying and ostracizing and obeying his mother in not indulging in bloody retaliation, he suddenly found himself without any reason to hold back. It was an interesting experience.

The alien screamed in response and then proceeded to drag himself towards Everheart with its remaining limbs, cursing and sputtering all the way.

Everheart rolled with his eyes. Fine, he told himself. One more.

He struck the alien's other leg with a fine, angled layer of mass effect fields, peeling away the layer of armor, then the skin, then the tendrils that connected the creature's tendrils to its bones. A most painful experience, no doubt. He had to commend the thing's ability of not dying. A lot of its comrades had bled like pigs in this ship. "Fine. Be that way. I could use a little…what do people call it? Self-indulgence? I'm still getting used to words…"

The big hump on the back of the alien's neck seemed to shiver, and its various wounds stopped bleeding.

Interesting. "Cowardly fuck…how did you escape the Metal-Whisperer?"

William took a hold of the alien's head, tethering his own hand to its body with a thin Biotic link.

Then he smiled. "Cowardly…that's humans. You forgot weak-willed and prone to self-victimizing."

He paused, wondering if that was the word he was looking for. He knew words, but sometimes the meaning of those words eluded him. "If that is the proper one…forgive me my mishaps, I did not even speak until I was seven years old. Where was I?"

The alien gurgled, and orange blood seeped from its lips. "Bah…you are a freak boy! You count on your Biotics to see you through!"

"Hmm…Biotics…guns…what difference does it make?" Everheart licked his blood-stained lips, still caked with batarian blood. "Now, I am going to ask you one question, so do try to be coherent. Where is my mother?"

The alien's response existed out of a mouthful of blood and saliva, spat at Everheart's face. "Human females don't last long here, boy! The womb that shat you out will be for the Void and-"

Rage took a hold of Williams heart and he brought his fist down hard, letting the Biotic link slam the alien's skull into the metal floor with enough force to dent it. Always, everyone insisted on making life as difficult as possible!

The slaver's head came down again with a wet crack, and trickles or orange blood stuck to the ground.

From the day father had left to the day the monsters had come to take mother and him away from their home, there hadn't been a single person who could just let it pass. Why couldn't they just let it go?

Another dull crack, and the alien's face was pulped against the warped metal. Pieces of flesh and skin stuck to the floor as Everheart raised it again.

Why couldn't anyone just let it go?

He smashed the alien's head against the floor again and again, until its skull had been reduced to splinters, its brain to grey-yellow paste.

It was long since dead by the time Everheart managed to gain control over himself again, and he found himself panting with exertion. Never before had he truly murdered someone for insulting his mother. Oh, he had tried, several times, but she had always stopped him.

"Be the bigger man," she would tell him, and he would ask her why his height was important, completely forgetting about the rage and homicidal feelings that the others had caused him.

And she would smile. And now she was gone, and the aliens had her.

He would get her back.

The human continued in his rampage through the batarian slave-ship, smearing the walls with their blood and guts until he came across something that distracted him from his disjointed and jumbled feelings.

It was a window, large and broad, displaying a most unusual sight. It was a massive, mushroom-shaped moon, glowing with red lights and surrounded by floating chunks of rocks and other ships.

For a moment, Everheart forgot that he was searching for the one person in the galaxy he cared about, and just stared at the looming form of the structure. That? He thought, fear and trepidation quickly creeping up on him. I have to traverse that?

He tore his gaze away from the menacing shape and banished the fear from his mind. He couldn't use it. The hesitation had to go as well. He stuffed those dark thoughts into little boxes and locked them away, to be pondered over another time.

There were more urgent problems to handle, anyway. The doors on the opposite end of the hallway opened, a trio of batarians barged inside and the slaughter continued.

~0~


Citadel

Factory District

"Damnit! Where did he get these guys?" Garrus exclaimed as yet another wave of the LOKI Mechs stepped out of a large container, soon followed by a group of Blue Suns mercenaries who had their egos bolstered by their robotic reinforcements.

Jane didn't know where Harkin got these chumps, and neither did she particularly care. She slapped one of the LOKI's with a Singularity, pulled it and two others into the air and then allowed the heavy gravitic forces to crush them, compressing them into a big metal ball which she then launched at the Blue Sun heavy who was about to fire off another missile.

The improvised projectile crashed into the soldier with the force of a charging krogan and threw him off the crane he had been using as a vantage point.

Next to her, Thane sighted in through his scope and put a round through the falling merc's head, before downing two more Blue Suns in quick succession.

"They are down," he told her.

The Commander watched as Garrus reproduced that same pearl of marksmanship and shrugged.

Garrus' complaints had been for administrative purposes only; the Blue Suns were unable to even slow them down, and the LOKI's that managed to crawl away from her Biotic onslaught were quickly finished off by Tali, who seemed that much more aggressive when fighting synthetics.

Garrus headed deeper into the Factory District, unfolding his assault rifle and suppressing a squad of mercs as they rounded the corner.

And not just mercs, either.

Garrus' reaction about summed up Jane's own feelings on the matter. "Aww, crap! Two heavy mechs, inbound!"

Thane Biotically Threw one of the mercenaries in front of the other, who accidentally gunned his buddy down.

"Timothy, noooooo!"

Shepard reached out and grabbed an hold of the remaining Blue Sun and threw him in front of the YMIR as it unloaded its mass accelerator chaingun, half expecting the same amusing reaction.

And she was sorely disappointed. The YMIR simply stepped over the dead merc's body without even acknowledging the unfriendly fire and continued peppering away at their shields and, in her case, Barriers.

The four of them hunkered down behind one of the metal crates, keeping their heads down as the two heavy mechs approached them.

"We can't lose Harkin!" Growled Garrus.

"Don't worry now, we won't," replied Jane.

Tali squirmed uneasily. "Shepard, please tell me you have a plan?"

The Commander shrugged again. "Not really-"

The YMIR's suddenly stopped firing as their internal mechanisms kicked in, preventing their chainguns from accidentally overheating.

"-but now I do!"

And with that, Shepard leapt over the metal crate and threw a Singularity field down between the two mech's, pulling both of them off-balance and against each other. Normally, Biotics weren't all that suited for breaking through shields. The conflicting mass effect fields normally cancelled each other out. It took an especially-powerful Biotic to break through and as luck would have it, the universe considered Jane as one.

As she went to work, the rest of her team emerged from their cover and cut loose as well. Tali overloaded several of the first YMIR's shield emitters, allowing Thane and Garrus to punch through with several successive sniper shots. With its rocket-arm now exposed, the YMIR could only rely on its armor to protect it and Shepard was free to mess it up.

So she did. She enveloped the mech's rocket-arm with several rapidly-shifting mass effect fields and then ripped its entire arm free, after which she whipped it around and ran her Biotics through its internal structure, silently hoping that it still carried some rockets.

It did; two of them. Good enough for her.

While Jane hit the YMIR in its face with two high-explosive rockets, completely downing its shields, Garrus lined up the perfect shot and let her fly.

A projectile the size of a piece of rice punched through the heavy mech's head, causing the funny metallic appendage to pop off.

"Nice shot!" shouted Tali. "Now it's reactors are going critical!"

"Exactly," countered Jane. "Get to cover!"

As the team ran for the high ground with their metaphorical tails between their legs, the second YMIR opened fire on them with its chaingun, seemingly oblivious to the impending doom that its buddy had become.

Jane scowled and in a reflex, thrust her hands towards the YMIR, creating a field of whirling mass effect fields that served to absorb the heavy machinegun fire until the rest of her team had gotten themselves behind cover. The impacts drained her energy reserves with each and every bullet that she caught, but she had plenty left, and by the time the YMIR had to cool its weapon down, the downed one was finished powering up.

The explosion that followed was enough to consume the second YMIR, the fallen bodies and a part of the floor. When the cloud of dust and smoke cleared up, all that was left was a smouldering wreckage lying on the ground.

"And that's how it's done," remarked Jane. Harkin, that corrupt asshat, was getting desperate. He raised six platforms in front of his little hidey hole, as if afraid that they would snipe him through the wall. A few LOKI's appeared atop the hallway to the left of the office, but Jane effortlessly crushed them into heaps of scrap with several devastating Biotic fields and then the coast was clear again.

"Your brutality is to be commended, Shepard," said Thane.

Jane smirked like a little child. "You haven't seen any true brutality yet, Thane."

And with that, the four of them were free to nail Harkin to the wall.

Figurately speaking, of course. The ex-C-Sec officer had some very important information for Garrus. The whereabouts of the turian who had betrayed him and his team to the gangs of Omega, namely.

Sidonis was responsible for a lot of grief.

Jane opened the door while Garrus circled around. Harkin had to know better than to run, but the moron still tried to flee upon sighting her. Not too surprising, considering she had broken his wrist at three different places during their first ever meeting on the Citadel.

Jenkins' death had left her in a foul mood, and his sexist remarks had been the last straw.

And perhaps it wasn't surprising that Garrus brutally intercepted him and smashed him against the wall, before throwing him back to the ground.

Thane and Tali kept their distance. There wouldn't be any mercy for Harkin today.

"Why, hello Fade," said Jane. "Stupid nickname, if you ask me. You didn't manage to "fade" away in time, didn't you?"

The man was probably going to raise his voice in protest, but Garrus stomping him in his stomach kind of put a lid to that.

"Princess twinkle-toes would have been a better name…" Jane trailed off, realizing that Garrus looked really pissy. "You know, you could just tell us what we want to know."

Playing nice got her a rude comment.

Making a rude comment got Harkin a turian foot on his throat.

Jane raised an eyebrow at that. "It's really easy. Set us up with a meeting for Sidonis and we're out of here."

Harkin grumbled something.

"I might even leave without breaking your other wrist."

Harkin choked out a garbled response.

"Perhaps just a bit."

Harkin turned purple.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Harkin turned blue.

"Ah…right. Ehm Garrus, we need him…not dead? Ease up, please?"

The turian scowled, but released the corrupt ex-cop before he could turn into a dead ex-cop.

After half a minute of sputtering and wheezing, Harkin staggered towards the nearby terminal. "Alright…fine...you don't need to break nothin'."

And just like that, an arrangement with Sidonis was arranged. Funny how easy some things could be solved with a healthy dose of violence.

"There, I did what you asked," Harkin said with noticeable desperation in his voice. "You can just…let me go now…right?"

"Ah ah ah…I didn't give you permission to leave yet," said Jane.

Harkin scowled at her. "What, want me to call you 'mistress' and bent over?"

Jane was pondering to make the man do just that, when Garrus suddenly pulled a gun on him.

"Wrong response," he said, before taking aim.

Jane sighed and gently lowered Vakarian's gun with a biotic nudge. "He doesn't need to become a literal asshole. No need to kill him."

"Kill him? No, but I don't mind slowing him down a bit…"

"Garrus, no shooting unarmed people. Let it go."

The turian grumbled something foul-tongued that the Commander was sure was aimed at the dirty cop at the ground, and he reluctantly placed his sidearm back at his holster

As Jane and her teammates turned to leave again however, Harkin still had something to say. "No shooting unarmed people eh? They must have taught you that after Elysium!"

Jane halted. Took a few moments to carefully think of the best approach, and fought to keep her Biotics suppressed. "Slow him down just a bit."

Harkin had just enough time to demand a rather panicked "what?" before Garrus whipped around, pulled his sidearm out and shot him in his leg in one smooth movement.

"Hmmm…" Tali mused as Jane walked past her. "He's lucky. I wouldn't have shot him in his leg."

Jane really appreciated the concern that her team had for her privacy and feelings regarding Elysium, and especially loathed it whenever people brought that little peculiar hell up.

As Shepard and her party moved to take a transport to the Orbital Lounge, Cortana suddenly popped up in her helmet, and the Commander was surprised to hear from her this soon. Had they reached Sha'ira already?

"Shepard?" Said the gravelly, inscrutable voice of the Master Chief.

Jane's krogan-vibes went off, and she immediately replied, "Chief."

The Master Chief took a few moments to adjust, and then said, "Sha'ira is dead. We were too late."

Shepard felt something akin to a hand, squeezing her heart and not letting go. "I promised her…fuck." she muttered. The Consort had been panicked, absolutely freaked out, but the thought of Commander Shepard coming to her aid had soothed her fears. "Did you catch the killer?"

"Negative. The door was locked. No sign of a forced entry or struggle. The killer is gone."

That left Jane with a big, ugly problem. Two, in fact. How the hell had this murderer eluded a super-soldier and his incredibly-advanced AI? "That's just great. A murder mystery. Stay there, I'm on my way."

"Copy that," replied the Chief. "I'll…"

The man trailed off, and when Jane quickly signalled her team to double-time it to the transport, she realized that something was wrong. The Chief didn't just stop in the middle of verifying orders like that. Had someone spooked him?

"I'm belaying my previous comment," he then said, conforming Jane's suspicions. "I don't think the killer left just yet."

"What?" Shepard mentally berated herself for worrying about an augmented super-solder, but she would be damned if she lost him a second time. "Chief, be very careful! Your injuries haven't healed yet, and your shields won't protect you against anything that isn't gunfire!"

"Yes Commander."

And with that, he shut his comm off, leaving Jane guessing as to what he would be fighting there in the consort chambers. Now she had two teammembers who were maybe getting in over their heads. Well, she could only concentrate on one of them at once, and Garrus was fuming so badly that he was basically emitting radiation at this point. It was time to address the real problem here.

"Garrus," Jane started, but the turian didn't want to hear anything.

"I know what you are going to try, and no, I am not going to reconsider."

"Garrus, you will be murdering someone who can't defend himself. Is this really what you want?"

"It is what he would have wanted!" Garrus snapped at her. "When he allowed those mercs to butcher my team. Did they get a chance for mercy? Someone to try and talk them out of it? I don't think so."

"So you are putting yourself in the position of the mercenaries?" Shepard then quietly asked.

He didn't reply to that. "There. See that spot? I can keep a close eye on the situation from there. Ill set up and you lure him in."

Jane wondered what she would have done, had someone betrayed this team to the Collectors. She wouldn't have shown mercy either…would she?

Damnit, Sha'ira's death was still weighing down on her heart. She wanted justice, yes. Revenge, of course. But this wasn't how she did things. Not after Elysium. "What…what do you need me to do?"

"Keep him talking while I line up the shot. It'll be quick and easy, unlike what the rest of my team went through…"

Jane sighed. She knew what she would have done in his place, and she knew what she would do now.

~0~


Consort chambers

The Master Chief leapt through the shattering sheet of glass, bracing himself against the inevitable gunfire that splashed across his chest and helmet. The kinetic barriers worked perfectly and protected him against the blistering hail of bullets that the unseen assailant was firing at him.

He landed amidst a shower of broken glass, rolled over his shoulders to dissipate the momentum and immediately brought his assault rifle up, firing it one-handed at the rapidly-retreating form of the assassin. He quickly brought his other hand to his rifle, knelt down to one knee and shifted from a burst of rapid fire to a careful series of short, controlled bursts, taking care to avoid the screaming and running civilians that seemed determined to mess up his shots.

The few bullets that actually hit the hooded assassin were repulsed by some form of shielding and the Chief watched his quarry flee around the corner of a large, white building.

"Like hell," he muttered and quickly broke into a flat sprint, giving chase to the strangely-clothed hostile. This new suit was hardly his MJOLNIR though, and it took him a lot longer to reach his top speed, which now lay significantly lower.

Still, a Spartan sprinting without their armor was still a whole lot faster than the average sentient being, and he gained on the hostile within half a minute. He fired off pot-shots with his rifle, but in-between all the constant bobbing and weaving that the hostile performed to throw him off his aim, the panicking civilians and the hostile's absurdly-powerful shields, he wasn't getting anywhere.

"Chief," Cortana thankfully chimed in, displaying a map across his HUD. A crude map, but a map all the same. "If you hurry, you can cut them off at the following junction and let them take the brunt of the fall. Shepard is going to be elated, and we won't have to explain two dead bodies to the Citadel Security forces."

"Copy that," the Chief replied with a whisper, and then kicked his speed up a notch. Kelly would have chewed him out had she seen his performance, except he didn't know if Kelly or any of the others were still alive.

As they crossed through a large building filled with civilians, the hostile began fighting back, firing off Biotic attacks and spraying their six with gunfire, forcing the Chief to take a more careful approach. Judging by the screams behind him, they seemed to have hit the civilians with their idle attacks.

But he was getting closer with each thunderous step he took, and the hooded hostile was unable to shake him off, try as they might.

Then, right when they approached a balustrade and the assassin tried to take a sharp right, the Chief lunged. He kicked off and launched himself several meters forwards, crashing into the hostile's midsection and sending them plunging through the glass rail into a plummet of half a dozen meters.

Spartan time kicked in, and the Master Chief attempted to wrestle his opponent onto its back. The hood slid away, revealing a ghastly-pale, humanoid face with a row of razor-sharp teeth and red, unblinking eyes.

That was all the Spartan got to see before a field of Biotic energy erupted outwards from the alien, and he got knocked away from her falling frame as a result.

The Chief slammed into the ground and his rifle slipped from his grasp. A few meters away from him, the Biotic assassin gracefully landed on all fours and leapt backwards towards one of the several pillars that were spread out across the ground.

Slowly, the Master Chief rose back to his feet, clutching his bruised ribs. He caught a glimpse of a weapon in the alien's hands and immediately sought cover behind one of the white pillars as well, taking note of the odd appearance of the room.

"Shepard is on her way!" Said Cortana. "But so is C-Sec, so you need to wrap this up!"

The Spartan nodded and banished the dull ache of his bruised ribs and whatever other damage that fall had caused. He pulled out his sidearm and whirled around the marble pillar, ready to open fire on whatever part of the assassin was unlucky enough to be sticking out of her cover.

But the hostile wasn't at her old cover anymore, and the Spartan barely managed to catch the vague outlines of something blue before his own cover erupted into an explosion of debris, rubble and Biotic energy, reducing it to nothingness.

The Chief gritted his teeth and returned fire on the hostile, but she seemed to disappear in a wash of blue Biotics and reappeared safely behind another pillar, unharmed and ready to return fire. She forced him back towards a different spot, before disappearing and reappearing behind one of the more distant pillars again, after which she lashed out and reduced the Chief's cover to a pile of rocks again.

The Spartan was surprised at the alien's level of Biotic control, and frustrated at her unwillingness to die. He opened fire on her wherever he caught her sight, but she always seemed to blur away after his bullets made contact with her nigh-impenetrable barrier

"Watch out!" Cortana cried as the Master Chief ducked low and emptied his clip into the hostile's flaring body. "She's-"

Too late. The hostile risked being nailed by his gunfire and in return, lashed out with a powerful Biotic attack that somehow managed to pull him away from his cover and dangle him out in the open. The ceiling and the floor changed positions as the Singularity pulled him in and he was busy reloading when he realized what would come next.

A compressed ball of shifting mass effect fields impacted on the Singularity and the entire field exploded in a white flash of blue light and overwhelming pressure waves. His shields collapsed, his body was flung through the room and the dull pain of old wounds turned into a more wrenching one as they turned into fresh wounds.

Grunting, the Spartan leapt back to his feet and raised his pistol again, forcing the hostile back behind her cover with a quick and accurate burst of armor-piercing high-exploding rounds.

"Enemy is an asari," Cortana quickly said. "But not one I have ever seen before. This must be a Matriarch, or a very skilled huntress. Don't let her hit you again -these Biotic explosions will shred your armor!"

Easier said than done, thought the Chief. He tried to find cover and allow his depleted shields the time they needed to recharge, but the asari was relentless. She blasted him with one Biotic attack after another, striking him from multiple direction and all but forcing him to pull the most taxing manoeuvres to throw her off. He leapt out of the way, rolled over his shoulders and was even forced to perform a backflip-sort of move to avoid a blast of blue energy that washed over his armour and caused his HUD to pop and hiss with static.

He realized that he needed to finish this fight soon, but he couldn't get close to the asari. Without his MJOLNIR enhancing his movements and flawlessly integrating his thoughts, he was unable to close to distance fast enough without getting hit with another Singularity field.

The Spartan ducked behind one of the few remaining pillars remaining on his side of the battlefield and grunted in discomfort when his joints ached in protest.

But as it turned out, the alien didn't even need to pull him away with a Singularity. He peered around the edge of the white pillar just in time to spot a flash of blue that arced around his cover and slammed into him with the power of a charging Chieftain. It was powerful enough to send him flying back through the room for a good six or seven meters, before he hit the ground and skidded to a halt.

"Chief!" Cried Cortana.

The Master Chief grunted in frustration and crawled back to his feet, searching for this elusive little alien SOB. His heartrate was spiking.

He didn't find her. Most of the pillars had been obliterated in the fight, but even those that remained were devoid of hostile contacts.

Where was she?

In an instant, the wall behind him exploded. He was pelted with dozens of pieces of rock, metal and debris, most of which his hardsuit blocked. Moving shapes barged into the room, screaming and shouting.

The Chief saw alien guns, and alien armor.

Spartan time kicked in.

"Chief!"

The Master Chief intercepted the first opponent before it could even raise its rifle and slammed his elbow against its chest, sending it staggering backwards. Not giving his opponent any quarter, the Chief followed up with a trio of lightning-fast jabs aimed at its helmet, which broke and shattered.

He immediately kicked the hostile that approached his left flank against the stomach, stepped closer and grabbed it by its flailing arm. He spun underneath the appendage, punched the hostile in the fork of its legs and then smashed its elbow joint.

"Chief, wait!"

His ears were ringing from the blast. Someone tried to grab him from behind, wrap their arms around his throat. John hunched his shoulders and tucked his chin to his chest, to keep them from choking him and then ducked to slip out of the unsuccessful headlock. He stomped on the hostile's foot, drove his elbow against their face and then lashed out with his leg to their side, breaking their ribs and pulping their organs.

Two left. The Spartan launched himself at the first, throwing his entire weight behind the first strike. His fist smashed into the angular turian visor. His left hand quickly followed, smashing into the hostile's throat.

"Stop!"

The alien staggered and reached for its throat. The Chief took his time to bring his feel down on the leg of his second opponent and grapple with it for a second, before shifting his weight and throwing them to the ground.

He knocked that enemy out with a quick stomp to its head and then shifted his focus to the first hostile again, throwing three quick punches to their turian waist.

The hostile fell to the wall and the Chief was about to finish it off with a hook to its face before he noticed the armour and the insignia stamped across its shoulders.

C-SEC.

John slowly lowered his arms, realizing what he had done. The trio of turians and the trio of humans lay crumpled on the ground, dead or unconscious. Looking at them gave him an odd feeling in his stomach. They had been a threat…they had attacked him.

But he had struck first.

The officers had breached this building because of the fighting that had been going on inside.

Why did they have to do that so close to him?

"The Commander is on her way, Chief," Cortana quietly said. "I suggest we move before C-SEC sends more men."

The Chief nodded, vaguely aware of fact that there were sirens going off in the distance. Would they have identified him as a hostile? Open fire first and ask questions later? Somewhere, a terrible mistake had been made in judgement, but he was unable to point the blame. Was it his? Or theirs?

"I didn't realize it," he softly told Cortana. Before anything happened, she needed to understand. He had to explain. "I didn't recognize them-"

"I know, John. I know. But you really, really shouldn't be here when the officers arrive. We…we should link up with Shepard and get out of here."

The Master Chief nodded and then moved out.

~0~


2 hours later

Normandy SR-2

Samara eyed the newscast with keen interest. Something was amiss. Thus far, reporters had declared that there had been an incident in the Embassies, but they had only released two details. The first had been disturbing enough; the Consort had been murdered.

The Justicar did not personally know the Consort, but she knew of her. The death of an inspiring individual such as her was most regretful.

The second incident had been of a different nature of disturbing. One of the more prestigious gathering halls had been destroyed and a team of Special-Responses Citadel Security had been brutally assaulted within it, leaving more than half of them dead. The two survivors had been hospitalized with grievous injuries.

And in the middle of it all was the human super-soldier, the Master Chief. He was standing at rapt attention as Miss Lawson debriefed him, unflinching and inscrutable.

Mister Taylor stood in the back of the debriefing room, holding the trigger of his shotgun with clear intent; if the Master Chief moved even one step out of line, there would be violence.

Samara had no doubt about that, but she knew it would not be the kind of violence Mister Taylor expected.

"So she was dead when you got to her?" Asked Miranda.

"Yes," replied the Chief. His voice was heavy and, though Samara was certain that nobody else would notice it, laced with exhaustion and a hint of regret. However, even she doubted whether she truly interpreted it correctly. A life that lasted for a thousand years and still some people eluded her.

"And this assassin you talked about…what did they look like?"

"It was an asari. Pale skin, red eyes. She wore a cloak with a hood."

Miranda snorted. "Rather strange description of an asari, wouldn't you agree? I wonder why nobody else noticed her."

"Individuals like that don't just walk into the Embassies, soldier," said Jacob. "Only reason you got past the sky blockades was because of Shepard."

The Chief remained silent. He had yet to remove his helmet, which Samara found odd.

"And the C-SEC Special Responses team that was dispatched, only recognized one hostile at the scene," continued Miranda. "And that was you, shortly before you proceeded to engage them in close quarters fighting. Do you know how many survived, Master Chief?"

The Master Chief remained silent still.

"Two. The rest was declared dead on scene from their injuries. They didn't even make it to the hospital, and were given a subsequent one-way ticket to the morgue-"

"I have clashed multiple times with security forces in the past," interrupted Samara. "And so has Cerberus. I know of your Illusive Man's long crusade for peace, and the deeds he has committed for them."

"The thing the Illusive Man were for the greater good," countered Miranda. "And they always yielded clear and profitable outcomes."

"The deaths of the security officers are a regrettable outcome," said the Master Chief. "However, they breached the scene in the immediate aftermath of a drawn-out engagement. There was friendly fire on both sides."

"Regardless of who shot who, we still have a problem at our hand," said Jacob. "Cops look out for each other and now, one of the Commander's subordinates killed off four of their members."

"My actions should not reflect on Shepard's status with C-SEC."

Miranda scowled. "But they do. Now, one of the most powerful arms of the Citadel regards Shepard as responsible for the deaths of four of their best and brightest. It is flagrant-"

The doors to the Comm room soundlessly slid open and Samara felt the commanding presence of Jane Shepard flood the room, instantly silencing everyone inside. It was odd how a piece of civilian clothing like a black "hoodie" did nothing to diminish that effect. However, the Commander was visibly exhausted and she looked like the last thing she needed was an argument.

"Heeeey…" she slowly said as Jacob and the Chief saluted. "So I talked to Bailey. That was fun. He had mail to write to grieving wives, camera footage to check…I got good news and bad news."

Nobody said a thing.

Shepard raised her left eyebrow. "At this point, someone has to pick which news I share first."

"I'll bite," Jacob slowly said. "Good news first?"

"I managed to convince Bailey that the Chief did not murder the Consort."

Miranda and Jacob exchanged a look. "And the bad news?"

The Commander flexed her spine and grunted. "They still want to charge you with either first-degree murder or manslaughter, Chief."

While the Master Chief did not in any way respond to that comment, Samara could feel the tension in the room rise.

"They can do that?" Said Jacob. "Charge an unaffiliated soldier with Citadel laws?"

"That's the power of C-SEC's love for their own, Jacob. You mess with one of them, you mess with all. As the Chief's commanding officer, they want me to bring him in."

The Master Chief slowly raised his head. "I don't want a diplomatic incident," he said. "However, you are not officially my commanding officer."

"That's that I told Bailey," Shepard said as she crossed her arms. "But he proceeded to give zero fucks. The man wants justice, and who can blame him?"

The Master Chief's matter-of-factness on this situation, compared to how any other human might have taken it, was oddly distracting. "After the Reapers have been dealt with, the Citadel can take file their demands with the UNSC."

Samara caught her Commander slightly lowering her head and took it as a signal of her patience running out. "Miranda, I think you have a report to write."

"Shepard-"

"And take Jacob too. You know him; he likes writing reports."

Mister Taylor was much sharper than Miranda. He smartly saluted and said, "Of course Commander. Come Miranda, I'll…hold your screen…"

And with that, the two Cerberus officers left the room, leaving Samara to contend with a frustrated Shepard and an inscrutable Master Chief. Still, she wondered why she was still here. After all, she had only visited this room to help keep the peace between an infuriated Miranda and an exasperated Jacob, in Shepard's absence.

Jane sighed and sat down on one of the chairs, not even bothering to swing her legs over the seat like she usually did. Whenever matters turned serious, so did she. "What happened down there, Chief? I know you wouldn't hurt Sha'ira, but how did you and those C-SEC officers butt heads like that?"

"They breached the room immediately after the assassin got away. With the wall exploding a few feet away from me, I expected more hostiles." The Master Chief didn't move an inch as he gave his reply, but Samara could see that he was not in the best of shapes. His armour, new and rarely-used, was badly-damaged and Samara could still feel the Biotic residue it emanated in the wake of a Biotic detonation.

"So you didn't recognize the obvious good guys?" Inquired Jane.

"Not until halfway through the conflict. It happened too fast."

Jane rested her head, on her hands, atop the table. "Talk about being too fast for your own good…unless, of course, it's not as much your reaction time as your reflexes and instincts."

"Commander?"

"I wouldn't react well to someone exploding a wall next to my head…but it did happen. And nobody died. How long have you been fighting the Covenant, Chief?"

Samara thought that leap of logic somewhat strange. The Covenant? Who was that?

"I fail to see the relevance, Commander."

Shepard sighed again and buried her head in her arms. "Ain't no shrinks for veterans, Anderson always said…you're dismissed, Chief. Get yourself checked out in the medbay, switch suits and await further orders."

The super-soldier saluted. "Ma'am," he said, before taking his leave.

Samara watched him go, wondering how one Biotic had taken him on in a direct fight and won. Had his suit really made that much of a difference?

"He allowed EDI to pull the helmet footage from his helmet," Jane quietly said. "It helped build a case for him, clarifying that he didn't plan to murder those officers. The worst they can slap him with is manslaughter…fourfold."

"What of this assassin, Commander? The one who murdered the Consort?"

"A Biotic powerhouse alright. At least as powerful as you are, I suspect. I think his powered armour makes a real difference there."

At least, there was a small form of solace to be found in the knowledge that Samara might have defeated the Master Chief had he not worn that special armour. However, such lines of thinking were in the past and she merely regretted that he was unable to bring the culprit to justice. "Few Asari on the Citadel can match the potential of a Justicar, Shepard. I can contact the Order and inquire as to the presence of such an individual."

"Yes, you can. Still…I feel like something doesn't add up."

Samara didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"Just a hunch…call it a feeling. C-SEC isn't known for its glorious timing...and the Chief is fast."

"How fast?"

"Very fast."

Samara nodded, seeing where her Commander wanted to go. "How much time did the chase take?"

"At least a minute from the initial contact, all the way towards the Amended Gathering."

"So how did C-SEC know where to strike?" Asked Samara

"And that is the question of the day. I feel like I'm missing something…something very important."

"You should rest, Commander. It will come to you on its own."

Jane mumbled something in return. "Guess so. I'll tell Joker to take get us out of here before they decide to ground the Normandy again and Anderson has to punch Udina in the face some more. We didn't want him to risk getting shot by C-SEC, you see?"

Samara blinked, tried to make sense of the Commander's rather special way of thinking, failed to do so and simply nodded. "I will be in the Observation post if you need me, Shepard."

"Thanks Sam…watch out for Garrus though. He is grumpy. Best let him calibrate."

Samara decided against pursuing that subject. "Anytime, Shepard."

~0~


08:34 Hours, December 23th, 2553 (UNSC Military Calendar)/

Aboard UNSC Corvette New Dawn

It was to the sound of screaming students that doctor David Ortyal woke, thus proving his hypothesis that he was not going to get rid of that particular burden anytime soon. He reached for his datapad, saw that he had overslept and sighed. "Great…Walker's going to kill me…"

And then, much to the doctor's growing frustration, he heard the increasingly-familiar voice of the Artificial Intelligence that had been tasked to be his shadow respond.

"Good morning doctor Ortyal. I was just about to wake you."

"Ooooor I might just kill myself." David glanced at the datapad again. "Wake me at half past eight in the morning?"

"Depending on your perception of the meaning of the words "just about". You were not required on the bridge."

"I disrespectfully disagree," replied the doctor. He whipped his legs out of bed, jumped to his feet and started getting dressed. "I'm always needed. Things go very bad when I'm not there."

"Your file mentioned something like that…"

David was on her in an instant. "Rule number four: never mention my files. It sours our working relationship and you don't want to see me throw a tantrum."

The AI materialized her avatar from the ceiling-mounted projectors and she crossed her arms. "Rule number four?" She asked. "What are the other three?"

Ortyal finished suiting up, stuffed a scalpel down his boot for good measure and then ran a hair through his brown hair, noticing that it was getting a bit too long for regulations now. "You'll find out about them eventually. Now shoo; you're spoiling my morning."

The AI smirked and brushed a strand of burning hair from her face. "The remains of your morning, remember?"

"Oh, go analyse Halo or something."

"Already did that; I spent my morning properly."

And so, with most of his morning properly spoiled, David made his way to the Corvette's bridge. He hadn't bothered to familiarize himself with most of the crew, as that would only increase the risks of social interaction. There were a few people he was willing to risk a conversation with however, mostly because they were of the same intellectual level as him.

Whenever he could muster it, of course.

Still, Yin wouldn't leave him alone. He loathed her for it, but there was no avoiding that. Parangosky simply didn't trust him and she would be a fool if she did. She hadn't stayed top-dog at ONI precisely because of her paranoia.

David was confused by her. He wasn't sure what his opinion on her was and what his opinion on her ought to be. Perhaps that was why he didn't bother and just focused on what had to be done.

The bridge of the New Dawn was a hive of activity as the various officers went about their daily business. They checked screens, dealt with transmissions and categorized other important things.

For a biologist like David Ortyal, there wasn't really a place here. So why the Captain kept insisting on seeing all staff members in the morning was somewhat beyond him. Still, it wasn't his position to complain, so on to the mess hall it was.

The staff of the New Dawn was already sitting here, eating breakfast and drinking coffee…

He could use some coffee.

"Morning," said the engineer sitting closest to him.

David muttered something in return and made his way to the coffee machine. He spotted Captain Walker sitting at the table, reading something on his own datapad.

"So you decided to join us, Ortyal?" Said the Captain.

"Damn AI woke me up too late," he replied, before making himself a cup of the liquid wake-up.

He liked his coffee.

"Strange. Waking the crew is not one of Yin's responsibilities."

"Someone should have told her that. The thing won't leave me alone."

The Captain took a sip of his own coffee. "Well, she was assigned to keep a close eye on you. You should have expected this before mouthing off in front of the Admiral, Ortyal."

"Yeah yeah…"

"So David, can you tell me what a biologist is doing aboard a reconnaissance vessel like this?" One of the other officers then asked him. One of the Marines attached to the Prowler as a security detail, most likely.

Ortyal found himself imagining how he would have liked to respond at this moment.

Listen here you little shit! That's none of your damn business. I'm going to be skating scientific circles around your greased behind, you bare-boned, sock-thumping sack of soup-chicken!

He stuck to that thought and stayed polite however. No need to show off his extensive vocabular at this very moment. "If you can spare a moment, sure…even though I don't recall my presence actually concerning you… I was assigned to process any and all matters pertaining to biology. Good sir."

The man frowned. "That…doesn't remotely make sense."

He should have gone with the more difficult words.

Still, David shrugged. "Yup. To the uninitiated, it certainly appears that way." He tried to ignore any further thinly-veiled jabs at someone as young as him being aboard a vessel as important as this one, but it appeared they just couldn't let him drink his coffee in peace.

"The purpose of this Prowler is to chart new territory, search for our missing ships and perhaps verify the existence of an alien civilization different from the Covenant," said that same officer. "I fail to see why a scientific screw-up such as yourself is actually required for an operation of such magnitude. Or is this your punishment division, Ortyal?"

The other people sitting at the table broke into laugher and David quietly took another sip of coffee. This was why he hated dealing with people. "In a way, I suppose it is."

The Captain finished chuckling. "Parangosky has an eye for intelligent workers. She had her eyes on Halsey before the good doctor ever worked with ONI."

The officer snorted. "Halsey? With respect sir, that hardly places doctor Ortyal in a good light."

Again, the people in that frustratingly-tight mess hall started laughing, though there was an obvious distinction between the loud laughter of the military personnel and the quiet, unenthusiastic chuckles from the more scientifically-literate crewmembers.

Ortyal sighed and decided that this was where he drew his borders. "Ah yes, so amusing. Tell me, mister….?"

The officer faced him with an arrogant, if subtle smirk. "Lieutenant Wallard, doctor."

David nodded. "Lieutenant then. Good. Let me ask you, what did you do during the Human-Covenant war?"

The man chuckled and looked at his colleagues. "What any man was supposed to do, doctor. Fighting the Covenant wherever they appeared. I survived ten engagements with the Covenant fleets, including the one at Earth. I have been fighting the Covenant for twenty years. Tell me doctor, what did you do?"

Ortyal finished his coffee. "Funny how those ten engagements didn't really matter in the end, isn't it?"

It grew very quiet at the table.

"Excuse me?" Growled the officer.

"Well…the Covenant had thousands of warships at their disposal, easy. We destroy one ship, they replenish it with two more. I know of eight major naval victories before Earth and Wallard doesn't ring any bells. So your CO must have jumped every time things got hairy. Not that he was wrong. There was no victory through strength to be found in space."

Wallard slowly stood up from his seat, glaring daggers at David. "What are you saying, doctor Ortyal?"

David was unfazed. He looked the officer in his eyes and said, "Doctor Halsey made the Spartans, made their suits and made. It. Work. Catherine saved humanity, Lieutenant Wallard. What did you do, compared to her? No, I will stand idly by while you insult her."

"Do you agree with her methods then, doctor Ortyal?" Said Captain Walker. "Do you think she was justified?"

Again, so much silence at the table. Had David known that breaching a controversial subject would cause everyone to fall still, he would have done it before. "Was it moral? No. Neither was the bombing of Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but hey! It did help end the war!"

"Need I remind you that most, if not all of those pilots committed suicide in shame and guilt?" Said Wallard.

Ortyal leant back in his chair. "You know, I used to think the exact same thing when I was seven. As it turned out, it's an dishonest rumour with no solid basis. Only one of the pilots did commit suicide, in 1947. One of the others even declared they would do it again!" He paused. "Look it up."

One of the Marines scoffed. "Where did you pull that trivia from?"

"I read a lot. I also know a lot; it's what makes me useful."

"Are you comparing Halsey to the aces of World War II?" Asked one of the engineers.

"Well, I'm actually comparing Halsey to the atom bomb…or her Spartans to the atom bomb…basically I'm saying that the position of head of Xenobiology about compensates for the rank of Lieutenant, mister Wallard."

The Captain crossed his arms. "Hero or not, Parangosky and Halsey don't have a stable working relationship, doctor. I would advise you not to follow in Catherine's footsteps."

"I couldn't even if I wanted to. I would need larger shoes…"

The Captain stared at him for several long moments, then, he simply shrugged. "You're a smart man, Ortyal. Just don't expect any of us to pull your ass out of the fire when you sit down on the stove."

Ortyal gave him a thumb's-up.

Thankfully, things became loud again after that. The same engineer that David had seen at the beginning -the bald one with wrinkles- gave him an appreciative nod, before returning to his own business.

After that, doctor Ortyal picked up his things and left again. This ship would prove to be a very frustrating working environment if things continued like this.

"Hello David. How was breakfast?"

The doctor sighed and started unlocking the door to his office. Just what he needed. "Don't call me that. You didn't earn the right."

"Oh, I DO beg your pardon. Did you make any friends today, doctor?"

Ortyal rolled with his eyes. Talking with a smart AI -especially the ones that were too smart for their own good- was like walking in a minefield. While not as difficult as talking with actual persons, it was still a haggle with their social-analysis software. Smart AI's could tell when people were speaking truthfully or not and that clashed with the rule that basically defined who he was. "I don't make friends."

"I saw that."

"Right. Cameras and the like. Is there any place where you can't watch me do my thing?"

"Hmm…the men's bathroom perhaps? Why, are you planning on doing something nasty during alone-time?"

The door finally slid open and Ortyal wordlessly closed it behind him.

And then Yin materialized herself in his office again. "Don't be like that. Everybody needs a friend."

David reached for his datapad and booted up several files. "That's a dishonest generalization. Not everybody needs friends, least of all me."

"I'll just refer to rule number four. May I ask why you hold Halsey in such a high esteem?"

Ortyal started reading his files. At the same time. "Wasn't your eavesdropping enough to answer that question?"

The AI crossed her holographic arms. "You and I both know that there is a lot more to that problem than you stated. Are you going to answer the question?"

"No."

Yin sighed. Or did the digital equivalent, because AI's weren't alive. They didn't have lungs to breathe with. "You are the most bitter man-child I have ever seen in my short career, did you know that?"

"Hmm…I suspected it."

"Good enough. Admiral Parangosky sent you a few files. I shall patch them through to your datapad."

David immediately saw an incoming data-stream, was in the middle of wondering how the crafty little thing had bypassed his security password, remembered that his password was password and vowed to add a few numbers to said password. "Oh goodie. Wait, this is just-"

"Yeah, she basically repeated the objective from the previous debriefing."

Ortyal could see that. Objective number one: verify the presence of an alien civilization that did not belong to the Covenant. Fair enough.

The secondary objectives were awfully specific. "If possible, locate the Master Chief? That'd be goal of the century, right there. The man could be anywhere. Locate the UNSC Wayfarer? Did they pinpoint its position already?"

"They did, but the signal was vague at best. We have a lot of space to explore."

"Right…tertiary objective"

"Just read the file…"

It was a complete analysis of the body of a Sangheili. Flow charts, slideshows, even tissue samples and their cellular makeup. And at the bottom…"The genomic sequence of a Sangheili?"

The AI smirked. "Yup. The Office worked hard to get that baby unfolded. Should be enough to keep you busy, right?"

Doctor Ortyal didn't like the tone of eagerness that crept into the AI's voice. "What does she want me to do with this?"

"That should be obvious enough, should it not? Find a weakness and exploit it. A weapon, a virus, bacteria, whatever. Build something that can kill a Sangheili when exposed. Should be easy enough, right? When we get the Jiralhanae genome, we'll be set."

David turned to look at the AI. Her smile had something…vicious to it. It made him feel very uneasy. "A biological weapon based on the genome of an Elite? I thought we had a truce?"

"Oh, we do. But it never hurts to be prepared, right?"

It was that moment that David remembered that the Cortana-model had been based on Halsey, making that AI the smartest and craftiest little hacker the UNSC could produce. "Yin, whose brain were you built from?"

The AI smirked, but it was devoid of friendliness. It looked downright cruel. "I do not believe you earned the right to ask me that question, doctor Ortyal."

"Are you going to answer me?"

"No."