Jane found sleep elusive these days. Despite her best efforts, despite all the denial and ignoring and insisting that she was no longer powerless, reminding herself that the inhibitor was gone, the memories dogged her. The despair. The fear. The sinking so deeply into apathy, into playing the role of the living dead, that she could scarcely discern between herself and the chipped. How weak had she grown? How pathetic, to be haunted by the intangible? It grated on her, fueled her, hounded her.

Emptying herself, becoming what she feared most, had left invisible scars on her psyche. She woke each night covered in sweat, shivering, with Krapo's sneering face dancing before her eyes. Horrific moments looping, overlapping, causing her to grab fistfuls of hair, hands pressed against her temples, head shoved between her knees while memories of forcing herself not to react, to be nothing but a soulless doll no matter what he did to her body, cascaded over her. There was no escape from that which followed to the most intimate of mental spaces and she'd gasp desperately in the infinite seconds after waking, whispering he's dead he's dead he's dead into the twilight until the image of Garrus slowly choking the life out of him swam across her vision. Steel and fire clashing with black turpitude.

Jane dragged the covers beneath the bed, cocooning herself in a make-shift fort. Calm encircled her, lulling her inside the fuzzy cave, only to be replaced with guilt and shame. All the things she dreaded more than Krapo, more than those years aboard star ships. The look on Potok's face. The confusion as his eyes darted back and forth searching for an answer that would never come, blood dribbling down his chin. His last breaths. Her betrayal.

And to make matters worse, Garrus stuck her behind his assault line, if it could even be called that. The turian's plan of battle consisted of luring enemies into kill-zones and taking them out with surgical precision. He was a soldier. Trained. Methodical. Where she was a tornado of chaos and death, of hysteria and rage. Sure, every once in awhile she'd be called on to blast a crate apart, exposing some unsuspecting fool, or pull a target out of cover, but the exhilaration was fleeting.

She belonged in the front ranks, the only place she felt at ease. Fighting was the sole thing that forced her into the present so thoroughly that there was no room for any other thoughts. Her vision narrowed until there was nothing but the target, the fight for survival. Hadn't she proven herself in the Talon's base? Then again, maybe that was the issue – that she really was a monster and had given everyone a glimpse. After all, ripping apart living beings was the only thing that brought her any semblance of peace nowadays; yet a raging, dark part of her didn't care. The part that was still lost in the empty, unfeeling and vacant. And that too left its mark, driving her to recall thirty-three's cutting words. In her heart she understood this hell was deserved.

"I tried to house-break her, and look what she does!" She could almost hear Thirty-three's condemning shriek reaching across space and time. "You betrayed us all, you little freak. We're dead because of you."

Jane turned over, frustrated, exhausted, and spent. What was wrong with her? She was free, safe even. She had a better life than she'd ever dreamed of, and yet here she was at oh-two-hundred hiding like a child.

Having given up on rest, she pulled back the covers, crawled from beneath the bed-frame, and padded out to the living room. Sleep wouldn't revisit her tonight, and even if it did, she knew it wouldn't be the good type.

Ripper was there, whisper-screaming at some Galaxy of Fantasy boss that had apparently killed him one too many times. She enjoyed his company, he was the only other person on base that she could relate to, everyone (aside from Krul who she was avoiding like the plague) had an air of ignorance about them. They'd all killed before, yet only in the name of some unfathomable ideal or on 'the job.' Whatever The Job, a foreign concept capitalized in bold in her mind's eye, entailed she hadn't the faintest clue. After all, police were a source of great fear on Kar'Shan and served as the Hegemony's eyes and ears among the common folk. From what little she gleaned of their conversations, she understood that C-Sec and the NYPD were different beasts, but she couldn't say how or in what way, only that they were different. Ripper had never worked 'the job." But he understood what it took to survive the stark, grisly world of being used as a tool, a blunt instrument in the hands of dark wills. It colored a person, left them distinct from the pack. And she was grateful for the amity.

After a few attempts at pugging a world boss, they wound up in the basement sharing a blunt, Jane plucking idly on her violin. The weed swirled in her mind, giving birth to several creative renditions all at once – she had to strain in order to focus her mind on merely one. Even then, the tracks intertwined, music flowing through her, filling the empty spaces. She hit record on her omni-tool, methodically capturing each cadence, until the background chorus was complete. It was almost absent-minded, coming to her as naturally as breathing. And when she placed her bow on the strings, breezily following the main melody, she told her story between every note in perfect clarity.

"You's could make soooo much dough with that. Diyya jus come up with this?"

Jane shrugged. "I've been working on it for awhile. But I guess, tonight, I was inspired to fill in the rest." It was half a question to herself as much as an answer. She wasn't certain where the notes came from, often finding herself more familiar with the language of music than her own world. If only she could communicate using song over speech, she'd be a social savant. "Probably just the weed."

"In that case," Ripper held the blunt out for her.

"No thanks." Jane waved him off. "Anymore and I'll snuff out the music. It's a delicate balance."

"Prolly for the best. Think the boss is bringing you somewhere today."

"Wait, what?! I thought we were off duty. There are no jobs posted..." Jane trailed off, slightly panicked. Garrus, true to his Hierarchy roots, allowed his team the same liberties as turian society. So long as drug or alcohol use wasn't endangering themselves, others, or getting in the way of their duty, everything was allowed.

"Nahh no jobs 'e was jus..."

"Oh," Garrus interrupted from the entryway. "You never know, I could spring a last-minute mission plan on you guys, if only to keep you sharp."

Ripper practically stumbled over himself as he hastily snapped to attention. Jane, on the other hand, remained seated. Although she could feel her cheeks growing warm, like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

"At ease man. You're off duty, not that I could resist." He cleared his throat. "Anyhow, Jane, I was hoping we could continue our conversation that was so rudely interrupted at the creamery. The artificial lights won't be on for a few more hours and there's something I've been wanting to show you."

Bidding Ripper good-bye, she trotted after Garrus, curiosity buzzing. He lead her down the secret passageway, spilling out to the markets, which were eerily quiet in the early morning hours. They traveled in silence until arriving at Burja D'ali, a volus-run hostel and the tallest building on Omega. She stared up at the building that didn't know how to quit, wondering where all this was heading.

"This might be a tad too steep for you to launch yourself up. Not scared of heights are you?" Garrus teased while unraveling his climbing gear.

"Not even a little bit." Jane retorted. "But how are we going to make it up there? That thing looks like it goes on for miles."

"Not quite. It's one-thousand five-hundred and two feet high." Seeing her skeptical look, he added. "I come here all the time, halfway up there's some abandoned construction that's structurally sound. Once we reach that point, it's a simple climb from platform to platform."

"You have a five hundred foot rope? Seriously?"

"Nahh. The gear's for you. It's a safety harness that I'm attaching to my own. We're using a modified jet-pack to reach the platforms."

"Is there anything you don't modify? Guns, cannons, and now jet-packs?"

"Well, it could only jettison me a couple hundred feet and I wanted to climb this monolith. So, you game?"

"Oh I'm game."

After securing the harness, Garrus wrapped an arm around her, effortlessly pinning her against his side. "Comfortable?"

"Just go already!"

Half a breath later and they were soaring upwards. Wind howled in her ears as the surrounding buildings morphed into doll houses. And she couldn't help but squeal gleefully into the turbulent air, giddy and giggling. It was scarcely seconds before they were on solid ground again, Omega twinkling beneath them, the taillights of skycars melting into the orange haze.

There was no time to stop and admire the view however. The second she was harness-free, Garrus took off, scaling the make-shift steps four at a time – a clear challenge and a race. She sped after, not daring to use her biotics at such a lofty height, essentially handing him the win. But when she turned the final corner, her breath caught. Omega sprawled out at their feet, a glittering jewel nestled in the rock.

"It's," she gasped for air, "beautiful."

"This is my favorite spot and the highest point on Omega." Garrus wasn't even out of breath, having legs that long was practically cheating on an evolutionary scale as far as she was concerned. "I come here to remind myself that this asteroid isn't a total shit heap."

Having settled on the rooftop's ledge, legs dangling over the threshold, they sat quietly drinking in the view. Jane's eyes shone and darted about, pouring over every detail, committing to memory that which she couldn't carry in her pocket. Garrus had a feeling that this would later be depicted in that notebook of hers. One thing was certain, Jane loved this spot as much as he did. He let her bask in it for a time, before opting to speak again. "I'll make you a deal, if you spend more time in the common areas and out of seclusion, I'll bring you here at least once a week."

"Really?" When she turned to him, her eyes lit up with no small amount of excitement.

"Yeah. . . I . . . uh.." Garrus fumbled for words. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you about what happened after our little ice-cream escapade."

Her response was instantaneous and automatic, an ingrained habit. "Sorry…"

"No! You didn't do anything. But I ordered you to stand down for good reason, I wouldn't have asked that of you if I thought we could duo it."

"It was the right call." Jane interrupted blithely. "I have no doubts, if that's what you're worried about."

Garrus, caught off guard, sputtered a bit. "You have a knack for surprising me, I'll say that much."

"I don't see how. It's pretty obvious I don't make the best calls in the heat of the moment. You found me living as a ship slave, clearly my decisions call for a bit of scrutiny."

"You were a child when you were taken, how could you possibly have... Listen, none of it was your fault, you realize that right?"

"How little you know." Her voice was acrid, bitter and she winced at the sound. "That… came out wrong.

For a time, she was silent and Garrus sat quietly beside her, patiently waiting as she studied the perpetual, orange glow peeking over Omega's outer rim. Beads of light glinted off a multitude of windows, like a pack of smoldering embers, choking in the damp. At some point, the weed had hit her hard, loosening her tongue, giving her the feeling that everything was far away – a distant dream that she was merely observing. "I mentioned that we lived in the wilds right? I was free… For years, I was free, just me and the kid. The fact that it was an accident, a freak accident, is what got me. Sciffy was perched above a patrol, well out of sight. We'd been living in an abandoned resistance base, our hut was carved into the cliff-side, and very well hidden. It's how we eluded them for so long. But we were out hunting at the time. I was teaching her how to track roth-dashi, small, easy prey – something she could handle, when a patrol passed through. They were rare, but they did happen. We scurried up separate trees, and she impressed me. She really did. The lessons I taught her stuck but… she... shifted and the branch snapped. She managed to break her fall, grabbed onto some low hanging vines yet the men spotted her. I watched them grab her by the hair … the way she screamed for me as they dragged her off... I just ... I ... I couldn't... I went back to our little hut and..." She gasped, trembling. "Living there? Without her? Knowing what she faced? I couldn't live with myself and I couldn't end it either, too much of a coward I guess. So I did something insane. Never stopped to think, I knew I'd lose my nerve if I did. I grabbed a hunting knife, a mirror, and the most recent-looking control chip from a weird bin of them, maybe the resistance was pulling them out of peoples' heads, hell if I know. They even had a surgical grade staple gun and antibiotics. I knew I was gonna die, or worse, but I wouldn't let them have my mind on top of it all. If that was the only thing I could keep, then so be it." She trailed off, rambling, not entirely certain if each sentence connected with the other, the words just tumbled out as if they'd been straining to escape for years. "My point is, I went to the auction block willingly and they sold us as a set." Jane shook as a dark, sour laugh escaped. "So if you're asking if I'll make a sane member of the team, obviously not. I still don't know what I was thinking. It's not like my presence did her much good, they did horrible things to her, to us both, and then they sold me off, so she was alone in the end anyway. Some plan. But I can fight, it's the one thing I'm good for. And it's… it's the only time I feel like myself, even just a little bit."

Garrus stared at her for a long moment, caught somewhere between shock and awe. "Jane... what you did."

"Stupid I know."

"No! It's incredible..."

She snorted. "Seriously? Did you miss the part where I went to the most dreaded place on Kar'Shan of my own free will? Crazy. Dumb. The definition of insanity? I can think of a lot of words to describe it but incredible isn't one."

"That may be the bravest thing I've ever heard. And I fought a reaper." He paused. "You must've known her for awhile."

"I found her when… gods I must've been fifteen? Somewhere around there. I'm pretty sure she was a toddler, maybe. It was hard to tell. She was emaciated, digging through the trash in the back of… where I, um, the place I was working." A slight, sideways glance. A subtle, nervous shift in position. "I hid her under my bed for months. Hard to believe none of the overseers found her, well not for a long time anyway. I came up with several nifty hiding places for her to stow away in. My little secret. Every time I was off shift, I'd return to my quarters and she'd peek out from her hidey-hole. I still remember the first time she reached for me, talk about a victory … before that she was… I dunno almost feral. She only came out for food, and even then she ate like a wild animal. I had to tape up her fingers at times because she kept gnawing on them. The other girls thought I was crazy, washed their hands of us, but… she was like… my last scrap of humanity. And I had to hang onto that, y'know?" She chuckled as a tender smile drifted across her face. "Sometimes, I'm not sure who saved who."

Garrus stared, stunned. "You raised her."

"I guess." Jane shrugged. "Mostly I just tried to keep her alive. That was all she knew when she was with me, survival, survival, survival."

"I can hunt down her contact info, you know. You could talk to her… I had no idea..."

In an instant, Jane tensed, every muscle in her body snapped as if she'd been struck. Her demeanor was almost fearful. Garrus had never seen her react like that. "N-n-no. I don't want to confuse her. She has a family now … and it's… I'm from a terrible time in her life. I'd rather she move on, forget me."

Given her visceral response, he allowed the matter to drop, not wanting to push too far. They were silent for a long while, laying back, gazing at the luminescent sky as dawn crept over them. She seemed to relax after a time, and Garrus watched, ever so subtly, as her shadowed eyelids grew heavy, eventually closing.

Threads of flame-red hair caught in the light, moving slightly with every breath. It gave the dots covering her face an other-worldly element, as if he could see a galaxy of stars reflected in her delicate features. Was this fierce, devoted creature really the same broken girl he pulled from the Ubralle? He shuddered to think of how close he came to never finding this extraordinary person. Stumbling on Krul was pure chance. A slightly different course of events and he'd never have found her, never have ended her enslavement. His fist clenched thinking of her enduring those conditions, how crude a galaxy to try and reduce someone like this to nothing more than a mech made of meat and living flesh. And it said something about their so-called civilization, that it was allowed at all. The council could've put an end to the Hegemony and instead chose to turn a blind eye.

His omni-tool pinged, a quick glance told him it was Krul reaching out on messenger. The batarian had been disturbed ever since their first job with Jane, insisting that something was wrong with her biotics. And while he listened, it was difficult to see where Krul was coming from. As far as he could tell, Jane was one of the most powerful biotics he ever met. Perhaps not as skilled as say, Liara, but she was human. It made sense to him. And the biotic bleed off seemed minor at best. If her powers had diminished over time, perhaps it was simply a reaction to them lying dormant for so long. After all, the brain was a muscle. The fact that it, too, could waste away like the muscles in one's arms and legs was a logical assertion.

UpYours: Ask her about what we discussed?

GV: Didn't have a chance man. She's sleeping and from the looks of it, it's needed.

UY: I'm telling you, something's wrong. Maybe send her to the salarian, have him figure it out.

GV: She's been poked and prodded enough. If it gets worse, we'll deal with it.

UY: I'm no biotic. I have no idea what's going on, but I know it ain't right.

GV: She's probably just out of practice or exhausted or both. It's nothing I can't handle.

UY: You're gonna eat those words one day. Hope you're damn ready.

This chapter is named after David Chappell - This Quiet Violence

The song Jane was composing/playing is Nicholas Yee- Interstellar. It also describes, perfectly, what Jane is going through.