The word annoyed comes to my mind right now. We met with the guy or rather Turian that Parasini mentioned to us earlier. His name is Lorik Qui'in-which is actually a pretty cool name. However I can't help but feel like he is exploiting our need to get out of this place for his own benefit. When talking to him he was nice, hell he even acknowledge my existence for a few moments to ask about Kachi. Although the dog wasn't inclined to give Lorik a chance to pet him, he still behaved himself (and a bit smug at the compliments given to him). But with all the pleasantries out of the way, Mr. Qui'in semes to give us his own bargain to gain a way out of this place. He was more than willing to give it to us, on the condition that we help him out first. And what was this little favor he asked us to do? Was it refill his drink, buy him another one, help him with his paper work or even answer a few invasively personal questions about our species? No…his favor was in the form of a fetch quest. Apparently Anoleis isn't just giving us a hard time but Lorik as well. His office for Synthetic Insights was closed due to suspicion of corruption in Lorik's corner. Though after finding out a bit of informations from the esteemed turian, it sounds like Anoleis is trying to rope in more money…and not in the legal sense. Apparently Lorik has been busy but not in the sense that he is being accused of. He's got something on Anoleis and his underhanded schemes, a very hard something that could get the Salarian into a world…no a galaxy of trouble. I couldn't help but think,

I knew it.

When it came up. Lorik even noticed the smirk on my face asking if I knew.

"I know a snake when I see it." Was my reply. Needless to say, Lorik used our need to get out of the port and his handy dandy pass to his advantage. He'll give it to us…on the condition that we recover the evidence he obtained on Anoleis. Once he has that in his possession, Mr. Qui'in will be more than happy to give us his access pass, ergo a fetch quest… To her credit before agreeing to the deal, Shepard did ask a few questions. It was a bit suspicious that he still had a working pass. Though the turian did make a few good counter points that seemed to appease the commander. After that, a few more details and the specific location of where to find the evidence we set out for his office. While we are on our way in the elevator, I can't help but sigh,

"Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything…but why are we doing his dirty work right now?" Kachi gives a small yip of agreement.

"We need the pass to gain access to the garage." Shepard says

"Ok…but I feel somewhat…used?"

"Think of it as a transaction." Shepard explains, "we both benefit from it. He gets his dirt on Anoleis, he gives us his key to the garage."

And yet we're stuck doing all the heavy lifting… I keep that last thought to myself though I do nod understanding what she means by transaction. Looking at the bigger picture of the whole mission though, I guess one minor inconvenience isn't going to be too much to handle. We make our way over to the office. Occasionally, we have to stop and blend in or pretend we are minding our own business as some of the security is patrolling the facility. We pretend to have a conversation about what our next move should be. During these times I use my aura vision to covertly observe them as they pass by making sure they aren't about to try and make some sort of move or not. Thankfully none of them seem to bother with us. However I've never used my aura vision with so many individuals in one area, the multitude of colors causes my eyes to sting and make my head ache every so often. I make a mental not to practice in crowded areas as to get over that the next time I have a chance. Finally we make it into Lorik's office and no one seems to be around…that is until we get into his office. No sooner had we gone through the doors and we run right into a couple of guards. Kachi stands at the ready quietly but now growling. Shepard, Liara and I don't draw our weapons, but my arms feel hot as the instinct to use my claws. Of course they notice us right away.

"Freeze! Hanshan Security. This office is sealed." The human guard demands as the Turian by her raises their weapon. After a moment, Shepard answers,

"Lorik Qui'in gave me a pass in." Honestly I would have thought that would be the last thing you would want to say, considering he's being investigated for illegal activity anyways. But Shepard is the expert.

"Qui'in?" The guard's face contorts into hostile confusion. Maybe Shepard isn't an expert after all? "Are you working for him? He's under investigation." Of course we already know that's a lie, and Shepard calls her out on it,

"Anoleis is paying you to shake this place down. Does Captain Matsuo know you're here?" I check her for any lies she decides to tell. Apparently this particular human must not be very good at lying, she doesn't even attempt to hide the truth.

"Hey I'm not the one who wants Qui'in. Anoleis has a varren up his ass about this guy." Her aura starts to sway and swirl like she's trying to decide something.

"Careful." I warn Shepard under my breath hoping she would hear. She flicks her eyes to me for only a moment acknowledging my warning.

"How about this?" The guard says, the blue flames around her still swaying. "You pretend you didn't see us, we'll pretend we didn't see you." My body tenses and my arms prick all over as the stand off continues. Her her aura snaps back into place the officer making her decision. Before the commander can answer though, the officer pushes passed running out of the room with her Turian counter part behind her. The door locks.

"Ok?" I say raising an eyebrow, "not the reaction I was expecting."

"I have to admit I wasn't anticipating it either." Liara notes. A faint high pitched ringing suddenly sounds in my ears and both Kachi and I grimace, the dog growling his displeasure as he shakes it off. My eyes widen at what I think just happened,

"Ru, are you alright?"

"I think they hit a silent alarm." Suddenly Kachi's growl becomes more menacing his fur standing up straight. I strain my ears hearing the distant footsteps, with my heightened senses "yep definitely hit the silent alarm! Here they come!" No sooner had we ducked for cover the bullets start flying. I stand with my back against the pillar, my heart racing, blood pumping in my ears. I suddenly think back to the time I've been hunted by the military, guns shooting at me. My body suddenly wants to force me to run like usual. But it takes everything in me to force myself not to run. I peek out taking a look. While Shepard and Liara shoot from their hiding spots, Kachi tries to distract others by either biting or mauling as best he can without turning. I hide back behind the pillar. Garrus' words suddenly play again in my head.

"You have all the skills now you just need to trust them, yourself, and your team."

Come on…move! Stop hiding with your tail between your legs. But still my body won't listen. COME ON! Move! They're counting on you to fight too! I force out all other sounds the only thing I allow myself to hear is my breathing. I close my eyes tightly.

"Trust your skills, trust yourself, trust your team…trust yourself." I open my eyes, immediately sensing movement to my right. I unholster my gun pointing it straight at the now wide eyed human guard. For one slowed second I remember Kaidan's words. A truth that I now find myself seeing right in front of me.

"Hate to break it to you Ru, but in this war that's going to be the only option…that's one of the brutal truths about war, someone's always gonna get killed." It's no war but the truth still rings even now. It's their them or us. Like every situation I've been in it's about survival. I swallow down my nerves as my arm shifts. I slice through the large gun in their hands before giving a roundhouse kick. With my enhanced reflexes I manage to hit him in a spot that causes a sickening pop to be heard by me. I have no time to think about it as I turn back to see Liara and Shepard trying to fight off the rest of the guards. I join them hiding behind a nearby pillar and shoot. Again I find myself thanking Ashley for all the lessons and tedious training. I try to provide support by aiming at the same ones Liara is aiming for. While she's a good shot she did mention she wasn't military. Kachi still weaves between the guards, his saber like teeth piercing the metal of their armor as he sinks his teeth into their legs or arms if he can reach them. He manages to leap into on gripping their arm and yank them to the ground. The canine shakes his head back and forth as if he has a chew toy. Shepard holds her own as the most experienced one as she aims for the right places, weaknesses in armor, the head, etc. taking down most of the guards. We seem to be winning until the real trouble starts. From above assault rifles suddenly start barraging us, forcing us to hide from the shower of bullets.

"Kachi!" I call to give him a heads up and he shows up at my side a few seconds later panting and mouth slightly bloody "good boy…!" In the brief pause, Liara stands and thrusts her hand out releasing a pulse of a familiar blue energy. A few of the guards go flyin-scratch that- floating into the air. Although I'm slightly confused I don't let it distract me as Shepard and I shoot at the floating guards picking them off. As soon as we take cover though, the barrage of bullets starts up again. "Um we need a plan here!"

"They'll soon call reinforcements, Shepard!" Liara says. Shepard says nothing as she tries to think of a plan. Then out of nowhere,

"Ru you and Kachi take care of the guards up top shooting at us."

"Say what?!"

"Liara and I will take care of the rest down here."

"But-but there's still so many!" I protest, looking at the guards around us down on the first floor. I almost feel like I would be making a mistake if I don't stay with them.

"We'll be sitting ducks if we can't get rid of them. You and the mutt are the fastest out of all of us. We can handle it. Now go."

"Shepard…" I hesitate again, hell I almost protest but I remember those same words.

trust your team

Shepard suddenly locks eyes with me, a sharp look that only a seasoned fighter could have,

"Go!" I nod, forgetting all my doubts and focusing on getting to the second floor. Kachi, as always is right beside me. I dodge one guard, sliding under them between their legs while hooking my fingers around their leg. As I stand they go crashing to the ground helmet first. As I continue to run, Kachi jumps another guard, his saber like canines digging into the softer part of the armor on the neck. That same guard becomes a stepping stone for me as I launch myself onto the stairway, halfway up to the second floor. I pull out my pistol and finish off the guard Kachi has a hold off so he can catch up. However it gets the attention of one of the other guards and I have to take cover. Kachi comes racing forward and passes me.

"Let loose." I tell him signaling the dog to change forms. By the time we reach the top he's already facing off the two human guards at the top. Leaving me to charge at the Turian who is still shooting. He turns to see me coming and I just manage to grab ahold of the assault ricin his hands causing us to start a tug of war. His strength though wins out and he starts dragging me back with him. Letting go I crouch down swinging my leg out to trip him up. It misses though as he stumbles over my leg and into the wall. At least he drops his gun. I try to take advantage of his lack of attention and raise a fist to punch at his face. However, the turian catches my fist at the last moment and tries to slam me into the wall behind him. I bring my feet up to the wall keeping that from happening and spring forward. My legs swing up carrying me over his head and my arm out of his grip. I land and immediately look back at him glaring. Although he's taken a fighting stance, it's clear he wasn't expecting that from a human.

Don't let it go to your head. I warn myself before spinning and taking my own stance. This time I wait for him to make the first move and honestly I almost don't see it coming. His moves are so fast that it take me a moment to get my sharp eyes to adjust to the movements. He even nearly lands a fist to my face as well. I move to the side and swipe his arm away from me before we go into a deadly dance of punches and kicks. I praise Garrus for his intense and harsh training in refining my fighting skills and how to incorporate turian fighting as I notice the turian duck under my round house kick. Taking advantage of the moment I spin just as he stands back up and slam my clenched fist into the side of his face as hard as I can. He staggers backwards as he checks his right mandible and cheek. He stares at me slightly in awe. He stares at my fighting stance, more than likely noticing the familiarity to it. Once again I wait but not for long as he charges at me. At first he seems to be going for another punch but as I ready myself to block or dodge it he switches last minute and holds my shoulders in a vice like grip. With a gasp escaping me he yanks me forward and into his knee, the wind leaving my lungs in a split second. I try to recover even though I'm seeing double. I manage to block another knee jab but not the head but. The pain shoots through my cranium like a bolt of lightning and my aura vision even starts to flash and flicker.

Holy shit Turians hit hard…!

I realize that Garrus hadn't been using his full strength on me when we fought. His skills yes but he avoided all out strength to avoid injuries. This guy is not messing around. He doesn't let up and I'm suddenly left trying to block and defend most of the time trying to find an opening. I manage to jab an elbow into his face in an attempt to give me some breathing room but he takes the hit and pulls on my offered arm. I suddenly find myself in a very familiar position with my self pinned to the Turian guard. One arm wraps around my torso locking my arms in place while the other is around my neck. He squeezes, tightening his grip on my neck, trying to make me lose consciousness. I struggle realizing the seriousness of the situation. This isn't a sparring match. I can't just tap out and lose the round. If I lose, he'll shoot me first then the others and everything will go to…well shit. My struggling becomes less as I feel the beginnings of unconsciousness take hold, everything is going blurry. With my mind in a fuzzy state, I try to think of something- anything. A thought suddenly occurs to me, I need something sharp, something really sharp. I grit my teeth fighting to stay awake as I hear the guard growl something in my ear, probably ordering me to just go to sleep already. I bring my hands up to the arm around my torso and with the last will of my mind force them to change. He suddenly lets me go wailing in pain holding his severed arm like it will stop the geyser of blue blood. He stares at me in horror as I hold up a bloody claw,

"Yeah, I can do that." I say before shifting my hands back to normal and run right at him. In his daze, I land hit after hit, aiming for any weak points in his armor. He tries blocking or dodging but now he can't seem to think straight. I finish this fight quickly as I use the railing to swing my body around landing a nasty kick to his face, sending him flying over the rail and to the first floor. Perched on the railing I watch as he falls to the floor and not get back up. I can't really help but flip him off as I say, "that's what you get for man handling me." Behind me I can hear Kachi still playing with one of the guards like a chew toy. I turn around to see him with the guard in his mouth shaking them like he's having fun. The guard squeals in terror probably wondering if he's gonna be eaten or crushed or both. I roll my eyes, "stop playing around Kachi, we gotta go." He shakes the guard once then twice before swinging around and letting him fly into the air and right into a pillar. Their screams stop after hitting the pillar and they fall to the ground. From my perch on the railing I drop down to meet the others. Kachi leaping with was joins me before his form reverts back to the misleading tiny terrier. I no longer hear the annoying ring in my ears indicating that they took care of the silent alarm.

"Impressive fighting Ru." Liara says with a small smile, "He never stood a chance against you." I can't help but blush slightly. Shepard looks around while holstering her gun,

"Not bad, kid. Still need a bit of polish here and there but not bad at all." She smirks, happy with my contribution to the fight.

"Thanks. Now can we please finish this fetch quest for Lorik and get back to why we're really here please? You know before something else goes wrong?" As we make our way up the stairs, Liara asks,

"I'm sorry. Fetch quest?"

"Yeah…like in order for us to get what we need on our main mission, we've been sent to go and fetch something for someone else. Lorik is kinda like a pet owner telling us to go and retrieve his important information. Like a dog getting a stick after an owner throws if for them… it's called fetch, ergo 'fetch quest'." She thinks for a moment,

"It's a bit confusing but I think I can understand the symbolism behind it. Though I'm not sure how I feel about being compared to a dog-no offense Kachi." The dog gives a snort of assurance.

"It's not the phrase I would use but it's definitely a good way to describe it." Shepard says as we make our way into a large but rather plain looking office. There just a bunch of tech in here,

"Does anyone here even know the meaning of the word decor? I mean seriously, I know in my time we had hardly any way to make a place feel like home in a shabby ruin but at least we tried to make a shabby ruin look somewhat homey." I say looking at a very vacant wall. When I look down at Kachi, his head is tilted as he looks as well then walks off to where Liara and Shepard are. Shepard is in the middle of downloading the data using her Omnitool. Liara watches Shepard and the computer for the time being and I try and keep watch in case there are any other roadblocks headed our way. Soon though Shepard has finished,

"Got it."

"Then we should head back to Lorik Qui'in as soon as possible." Liara states, "there's no telling if they sent out any message or signal for reinforcements."

"Not to mention the silent alarm could have tipped someone else off too." I remind.

"So long as we're quick we should just miss everyone." Shepard says walking and reloading her gun at the same time. We follow behind at a quick pace. Rounding a corner however, we all stop in our tracks and Kachi takes a guarded position as he snarls at the the people in front of us. My mind goes blank as we've been caught red handed and out handy work is behind us not that far off. I recognize the leader from earlier, as we fist entered the complex and of course it had to be the one officer who didn't seem to like us very much.

"I don't think you're supposed to be in here, Shepard." I stare at Stirling my mind going a mile a minute as to what to do and the only thought that keeps repeating every other thought is:

We are so totally screwed…and dead…we are so royally screwed and dead!