A/N: So far this is the hardest chapter I've ever written. Not for lack of interest, but rather because of just how surprisingly difficult it turned out to be. While I am overall happy with it, as always please feel free to let me know what you thought.

I've also just changed the rating for this story to M. Given that in some ways this one is already darker than False Masks, it seemed the safe thing to do.

Reviews:

AnarionRising27: Thanks. This chapter was probably the hardest to write so far given there were so many different elements. Glad to hear that it turned out all right! More will come…

JustWriteAnon: It's always good to hear that I'm improving. I keep trying to get better, so naturally it means a lot when people notice. Thank you particularly for elaborating via PM as to what those improvements are. I do plan to go back to False Masks (and this story once it's done) and fix it up so to speak. I won't change anything major of course, but I will subject the whole thing to a thorough proof-reading now I have a bit more experience.

I completely agree with you that Kasumi rocks… if anyone else is reading this response (seabo76, I haven't forgotten that you like her too) then maybe let everyone else know if you like Kasumi via a review? *Coughs unsubtly*

Chapter 7: Discussion

"Gladly," Rassen nodded, "but I would rather you put away your weapon before I do." The mysterious newcomer stared at him in suspicion for a moment before she sighed and stowed the sub-machine gun at her hip, the weapon folding down to a more manageable size in the way Rassen had come to expect from the firearms of this galaxy. He used the woman's momentary distraction to examine her more closely. Whoever she was, the practised ease with which she handled her weapon indicated that she was as he had expected; experienced when it came to combat. Less important but still intriguing were what appeared to be a pair of tattoos, purple in colour, one on her lower lip and another just below it. Her eyes were almost invisible, but seemed to shine out of the dark confines of her hood as they bore into his own, gaze never wavering as she watched him with the same caution as he did her.

This one can certainly handle herself very well indeed. In all honesty though, there is one very entertaining way to find out just how well she can fight…

Rassen ignored Zaressh's musings as he continued to observe the stranger, who had now crossed her arms, obviously impatient for the promised explanation.

"I'm waiting."

"So am I," he replied.

The woman gave a short laugh at his response. "There's no way I'm going to promise you a lift when I don't know the first thing about you." Rassen could have sworn she smirked slightly, despite the seriousness of the situation. "If you tell me why I should believe you and what you know then maybe I will."

You could just kill her and take the ship. I can make it easier for you if you want.

The woman's form seemed to flicker before his eyes, switching rapidly between her and a significantly taller and infinitely more imposing figure. The second person wore a mask inscribed with runes of the dark side, black armour, and a familiar cylinder on their belt. Once again Rassen gave off no outward reaction.

No. Leave. Me. Alone.

The presence faded and he couldn't prevent himself from releasing a slight sigh of relief. The woman noticed instantly, hand twitching almost imperceptibly towards her hip. Rassen slowly raised both of his hands to show he meant no harm, looking over the woman's shoulder in the direction he had approached her ship from.

"I am unsure exactly how long ago, but Horizon was attacked by a group known as the Mandalorians." His voice cut out as he tried to find the words to continue. "The colonists have all been killed. I tried to save them, but there were too many and-"

Rassen scowled to himself. How many people dead? Hundreds? Thousands more likely and here he was making excuses. He had not been strong enough, that was the ultimate reason why everyone, even the turian and two children lay dead.

The strange woman evidently picked up on the pain he felt as she pressed for more information, her own voice softening as she gently prompted him.

"Who are the Mandalorians?"

Now that was a difficult question to answer.

She would never believe him. Force, Rassen still found it difficult to wrap his own head around it some days. Intelligent life in other galaxies? The ability to cross from one to another? It was something that had to be seen to be believed. An idea rose in his mind but he quickly dismissed it. He had connected his mind to Shaela's, shown the quarian the truth of his words when he had realised the reality of his own situation nearly three years ago. Potentially, he could do the same with this woman.

Despite the simplicity of the approach, he had rejected it for several reasons. The first time he had found himself in this situation, he had just saved Shaela's life, sided with her over a woman who had slandered her people, and healed a debilitating injury. The quarian had been willing to grant him a small amount of trust, though she had naturally been nervous and suspicious about his request. The situation now was very different. Worse still, Zaressh had revealed that his actions had created a Force bond between Shaela and himself. The Sith had even gone so far as to claim that all of Shaela's actions since meeting him had been the result of the connection between them. Knowing what he did now, he had no desire to affect the life of the woman who stood before him against her knowledge… nor did he have much desire for her to affect his own.

So he had to lie. Or at the very least avoid all of the truth.

"Mandalorians," he began, "are a warrior society that consists of members from many different races. They often find themselves employed as mercenaries or enforcers, given that they tend to be well-trained and equipped."

The woman went very still, clearly arriving at a conclusion he himself had not come to. "That would explain…" she breathed, voice barely audible she was so quiet.

Rassen tilted his head at her and frowned. "Explain what?"

The woman shook her head before refocusing her attention on him. "When I arrived in system," she explained, "there was a signature on the edge of my ship's sensors. It was only there for the briefest of moments, but then it vanished. I managed to recognise the type of vessel before it did though."

Rassen was now the one to cross his arms, posture calm but deadly serious. This was likely how the Mandalorians had managed to get off-world. Whoever she had detected, they were likely either assisting the Mandalorians on a one-off basis, or more likely considering they seemed to need whatever manpower they could get, a long-term one. For a moment his mind returned to the Mandalorian woman he had left unconscious hours away from the colony. In spite of everything her people had done, a part of him still hoped she had managed to link up with them and been sent home. Whoever she was, she didn't deserve to be so far from where she belonged.

"What kind of ship?" He asked, his voice seeming to echo off the destroyed buildings around them.

His blood seemed to boil as the woman opposite him gave her answer, arms dropping to her sides and voice soft as she looked at him.

"Batarian."

The woman slowly backed away from him, hands raised in a non-threatening manner, pleading softly in her unfamiliar language. There was a musical lilt present to her words, along with a slight distortion from speaking through a helmet.

Rassen nearly laughed in disbelief. The Force certainly had a sense of humour; batarians had attacked him and Shaela the first time he had found himself in this galaxy, why wouldn't they be involved now?

"That does not surprise me," he said, voice calm now only through tremendous effort. "In fact it makes perfect sense."

The woman stared at him in curiosity. "You've had trouble with batarians in the past?" She ventured.

Rassen felt some of his anger bleed through. "More than trouble," he confirmed. "I have not encountered any for quite some time however."

The woman nodded slowly, clearly interested but unwilling to pry for the moment. "How did they do all of this?" She asked, still suspicious as she gestured at the devastation around them. "Obviously they attacked and then left, but I don't recognise the kind of damage done to the buildings. The burn marks and type of structural damage are inconsistent with anything I've seen."

"They detonated a kind of explosive only they know how to produce within each building in turn in the case of most of the colony. Their firearms are likewise unique to them. One section came off far worse though; the buildings there have been almost completely levelled."

"Why?" The grey and black suited woman asked, her frown deepening.

Rassen felt his anger build again as he remembered. "The Mandalorians suspected that I was within the colony and had a rough idea as to my location. They decided to detonate more powerful explosives there in order to deal with me."

"It sounds like they're afraid of you."

Rassen snorted at that. "Afraid? No, they probably relished the idea of killing me. As far as I can tell, they believe they have succeeded. I was too close to one of the bombs when it detonated and was knocked unconscious by the blast. That is why I am unsure how long ago exactly it was when they first arrived. When I came to, all traces of them had vanished, including the bodies of the ones I managed to kill and all of their equipment. As far as I know, they have no ships of their own." He nodded to her. "Hence the batarian connection."

The woman opposite him crossed her arms before narrowing her eyes. "How do I know that you're telling me the truth then? How do I know that weren't involved in the attack?" She asked, voice soft but somehow also like steel as she questioned him. "You're telling me that I only have your word to go on."

Rassen nodded, but did not back down, meeting the woman's stare unflinchingly. "My word and the damage around us. A lot of innocent people have died and for all I know, this could happen again." He took a deep breath before continuing. "You came here to find out what happened, right?" At her nod, he continued. "What occurred here is an atrocity, but one I will not allow to be repeated. If telling you everything I know will help to prevent that then I gladly will." The Jedi barely managed to prevent himself from wincing at his lie.

The woman broke the stalemate first, glancing away from him to gaze sorrowfully at the devastation around them. "Say I believe you," she ventured, "since everything you've said so far is possible, though unlikely. Why do you think telling me will help anything? Why deliberately get my attention as you have?"

Rassen took a moment to consider his answer. "I have always been… rather good at judging people," he began. "You have come here alone, presumably as a scout since your ship is small and relatively defenceless. I take it that someone else is aware that something happened here but is unsure as to what?"

"Yes," the woman responded, "but why would guessing that convince you to tell me all of this?"

Rassen smiled sadly, gesturing once more to the destroyed colony. "The obvious answer is that I am stranded here with no way off-planet," he admitted. "But I think the real reason as to why I'm telling you all of this is because like I said, I am a good judge of character. The way you look at what happened here… it horrifies you as much as it does me."

"Very perceptive," the woman took a few steps closer, causing Rassen to blink in surprise. She stood only a few metres away from him now and the height difference between them had become more obvious as a result. Her head barely came up to his chest. Shaela was noticeably taller than her, possibly by a few inches in fact. She stared into his eyes once more, seeming to examine him like some kind of logic puzzle she was trying to work out the solution to.

"A friend asked me to investigate what happened here," she continued, only the lower half of her face and her eyes visible beneath her hood despite the short distance that separated them. "For the moment I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say I don't think you're lying to me."

Rassen nodded slowly. "Good to know."

"That being said, I still need to take a proper look around myself." One hand went to her left forearm as her omni-tool activated, the familiar orange light appearing.

"Of course," Rassen pushed down the small amount of frustration that had risen. Of course she needed to see it all for herself; she had not been on Horizon for nearly as long as he had. He also had the advantage of being able to sense no malice from her and so knew she could be trusted. As far as she was concerned though, he could be hiding ill intentions beneath his normally calm exterior. "I would like to help you if that is acceptable."

The woman paused as she gave him a calculating look. Rassen frowned as he felt a pang of loss from her before it vanished so quickly he almost thought he had imagined it. He raised an eyebrow in surprise as she looked away in thought before turning back to face him, a subtle smile pulling at her lips. "I had a friend once who never turned down help, even when it came from the unlikeliest of sources," she explained. "Do you have a name, big guy?"

Rassen allowed a small smile to take over. "Rassen. Rassen Voratt."

The hood still did nothing to hide the woman's smile as it widened, now closer to a grin than a smirk. "Nice to meet you, Rassen. I'm Kasumi Goto." Kasumi inclined her head in the direction he had first approached her ship from. "Shall we?"

She could still feel him.

Shaela frowned to herself as she concentrated on the sensation right at the edge of her perceptions. Rassen still felt… off, for lack of a better term. That being said, the human did seem calmer than before, which she hoped meant whatever was troubling him had gone for the moment. The quarian shook her head slightly to clear it, the case which she had hung by a convenient strap on her shoulder swinging gently as the words of the asari next to her filtered through to her consciousness.

"Thinking about him again?"

Shaela groaned quietly, prompting a laugh from Wessa as the asari gestured for them to go right. They had been walking for only a few minutes so far, the hastily constructed homes of the makeshift town on each side as they proceeded away from the hospital. The two of them had lapsed into a comfortable silence after first setting off and that had endured. Well, until now that is.

"Is it really that obvious?"

"Yes."

"Great."

"It is." Shaela blinked and looked over at the asari in surprise at how serious the latter's voice had become. Wessa stared back at her impassively before slowly cracking a smile. She then turned her gaze back in the direction they were going, the first rays of the sun lighting their way. The younger woman was about to ask what the older had meant before the asari chuckled and elaborated.

"It's good because it means hopefully you will treat the Falsha with due deference. You won't be able to make it to your boyfriend if you damage the mass effect core."

Shaela groaned again before raising a hand to her forehead. "Don't mention the word 'boyfriend'. That particular word brings up bad memories."

"Would you prefer me to call him your bondmate?"

The quarian blushed so fiercely she feared for a moment that her visor would catch fire. "Keelah, no!" She trailed off for a moment as she looked at her feet awkwardly. "We… we never discussed bonding."

Wessa was grinning now; the asari's smile reminding Shaela unpleasantly of a krogan who had just been challenged to a wrestling match by a far smaller opponent. "So how far along did the two of you get?" She asked, turning her gaze back to the quarian.

"Matriarch!"

"Come now, Shaela. You told me the two of you spent almost every waking moment together for... what was it? Two months or so? Obviously you weren't together for all of that time, but something juicy must have happened between the two of you."

"How much longer?" Shaela blurted out, desperate to change the subject.

"Another couple of minutes. Now, did anything interesting happen? Kissing would have been difficult of course… though that will hopefully be a little easier in the future." At this the asari winked, causing Shaela to blush again. One of the main concerns the quarians had begun tackling after colonisation had started on Rannoch was improving their immune systems. They had met with a little success so far, but were still years away from being able to consign their environment suits to the annals of history. Wessa, clearly enjoying the younger woman's discomfort, pushed on. "That being said," she smirked, "tell me you displayed some form of affection towards each other."

The quarian crossed her arms as she kicked a small rock out of her path, the object skittering across the ground for several metres and leaving a trail of dust in its wake before stopping. "We hugged. Satisfied?"

"No, hugs are something you can just as easily give to friends or family. I am letting you borrow my ship, Shaela. I expect something a bit more interesting in return."

Shaela glared at the asari before returning her gaze to her feet. "Like you said, kissing wasn't an option… not properly anyway. We sort of, um, made up for it by trying to do it with my helmet on."

"Anything else?"

"We slept together a few times."

There was a moment of silence before Shaela realised how her response could have been interpreted.

"N-not like that! We slept in the same bed and there may have been some hugging and-" The quarian was cut off as Wessa burst into laughter, the asari practically bent double as she stopped walking. Shaela buried her face in her hands as tears began to run down her teacher's face, the asari sinking to her knees as she continued to laugh.

Eventually Wessa calmed down enough to unsteadily rise to her feet. "You-your voice, Shaela. Y-you sounded so worried, like you had committed some kind of crime." The asari eventually managed to gain complete control over her voice, though she still grinned at the younger woman.

The quarian slowly removed her hands from her visor, now convinced it was in serious danger of catching fire. "Please tell me you know enough for now," she begged.

Wessa nodded, chuckling to herself as she pointed to a series of huge metal buildings just beyond the last few houses that Shaela would have already noticed, had she not been too busy looking downwards and hiding her face. "No, but we have almost arrived, so I'll drop it for the moment."

The quarian and asari entered the nearest section of the spaceport, which like everything that had been built on Rannoch over the last few years had been thrown together. As a result, the different parts resembled huge metal boxes, functionality having taken priority over aesthetic quality. Shaela followed Wessa as the latter made her way to a desk opposite them, passing a dozen different hallways before greeting the receptionist and activating her omni-tool. The male quarian nodded from where he sat and Wessa turned towards a hallway to their immediate left before the two of them began to walk down it. The hallway itself was as basic as the exterior of the structure, bare metal walls with no decoration of any kind on each side leading to a door at the other end. The asari matriarch waved her omni-tool again and the door slid open. Wessa turned back to the quarian and beckoned for the younger woman to follow her in.

The two of them entered the tiny hanger and Shaela felt her jaw drop at the sight before her. A small ship sat in the centre of the room, its elegant curved design contrasting sharply with the utilitarian and boxy of shape of where it was housed. The vessel was coloured a gentle blue, like the oceans of Thessia. Shaela blinked as she realised that they may well have served as inspiration. The quarian slowly walked around the vessel, examining it in awe. The craft was of an older design, one which was no longer in production as far as she was aware, but had clearly been lovingly maintained. The paint lacked any noticeable blemishes, but as far as she could tell, the vessel had seen frequent use over the years. Between its beauty and obvious functionality, it was obvious the ship was extremely important to someone.

Shaela slowly turned to look over at her teacher, who had not moved since the two of them had entered the hanger, the latter's attention fixed on the ship. As if sensing that Shaela's eyes were on her, Wessa turned to meet the quarian's gaze. Shaela swallowed as she noticed that the asari had tears in her eyes.

"Bring it back in one piece," Wessa croaked, the normally soothing voice of the centuries old asari for once hoarse.

Shaela nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Nothing needed to be said, she could tell just from her examination of the ship what it meant to the matriarch.

The Falsha was as Wessa had said, the last thing she had left of her quarian bondmate. The design of the ship was unmistakeably asari, the smooth contours and elegant design leaving no doubt as to which race the vessel owned its origins to. The name though was quarian. Falsha was an old word, out of use, much like the ship itself. It was a name which had once been used to describe one of Rannoch's major rivers, though the river itself had been renamed many times even before the geth had rebelled and driven the quarians from their homeworld. The ship represented the union between Wessa and her bondmate, between asari and quarian. The design and colour represented the asari, but the name and presumably maintenance of the vessel when Wessa's bondmate was still alive had come from a quarian.

"What was their name?" Shaela asked quietly, her question being the first thing to disturb a silence that had lasted for more than a minute.

Wessa swallowed heavily before gathering the strength to respond. "Her name was Neraio'Hase. The two of us met when we both stupidly ended up joining a mercenary group. This was centuries before the Morning War, so of course there was no Pilgrimage back then. Her parents had kicked her out for causing trouble, while I honestly just wanted to get away from home and explore the galaxy."

The asari nodded to the ship opposite her. "When you're an asari," she murmured, tears beginning to slide down her cheeks, "it's easy to think of a span of one-hundred or two-hundred years as relatively little time. A part of me thought we would be together indefinitely." She shook her head, beginning to sob now, and Shaela quickly moved to hug the older woman, who clung to her desperately.

"Eventually though things began to go wrong," the matriarch whispered, "I loved her no matter how old she got, but as the decades passed I stayed more or less the same while she began to get weaker and weaker. Eventually she passed on. Natural causes and she had lived a good life. She… she told me she had no regrets. I asked her if perhaps we should have had children. Neraio just smiled and told me that I had always been enough for her." At this Wessa pulled away from Shaela, who had begun crying just as much as the asari towards the end of the latter's story.

The matriarch patted the quarian's shoulder before looking back at the Falsha. "I never… never was quite able to move on. Most asari always remember those they loved who died long before them and treasure them. Eventually though, they find new love with someone else. After Neraio though, I simply had no interest in finding another bondmate." Wessa turned back to Shaela, raw pain still exposed as she spoke. "Just bring my ship back, Shaela."

The quarian nodded again, not trusting herself to speak as tears ran down the inside of her visor. Wessa smiled sadly before pointing to the vessel in question. "Come on then," the asari announced. "While I don't doubt your ability to pilot a ship, I know you're not familiar with this particular model. I'll show you how it works. It was only designed for one person, so your human will probably have to sit on the floor of the cockpit."

"So… how did you first bump into these Mandalorians then?"

Rassen shook himself from his thoughts in order to respond to Kasumi's question. Glancing from the piece of warped metal he had been carefully examining in order to fix his gaze on the woman who currently stood about ten metres away, he returned it to where it had previously been sitting on the ground before responding.

"An old acquaintance told me they were up to something. I knew of them by reputation, but only encountered them for the first time very recently." He watched as Kasumi ran a scan on a nearby house, the orange light of the omni-tool washing over the grey metal of the building. "That was enough of a reason for me to stow aboard their ship in order to see where they were going."

The grey and black clad woman turned away from the building before beginning to walk down the narrow street they were currently in. Rassen easily caught up with her, silently impressed by how even if he strained to listen, Kasumi's steps were completely silent. He himself could be quiet when the situation called for it, but the petite woman was like a ghost as she casually made her way around pieces of rubble with seemingly no effort and without paying attention.

When Kasumi hummed in interest, he continued. "I was discovered when we arrived here on Horizon and so had to distance myself from the main force." He swallowed heavily, Kasumi glancing over at him with a sympathetic expression on her features. "I didn't realise what was happening until it had already begun. I managed to kill several Mandalorians and thought I had managed to save three colonists, like I mentioned earlier. I was wounded during the process though and had to hide in order to heal myself. I didn't realise until it was too late that the place I had picked to hide was somewhere they had hidden a bomb."

Kasumi nodded as she scanned another building, this one a storage facility uncannily like the one he had hidden in. Although her attention was elsewhere, the strange woman's voice was still soft as she moved closer to the building in order to peer through its blown-out windows. "That's the point when you were knocked unconscious?"

"Yes."

She nodded before cutting off the scan and continuing on. The two of them walked for another couple of minutes before both turned a corner and stopped at the sight about twenty metres away from them. Even from that distance, both of them recognised a corpse when they saw one. Truth be told, they had been fortunate to get this far without finding a body, probably as a result of the Mandalorians preferring to kill the colonists within their homes rather than dragging them outside and shooting them.

Silently, the two of them approached the body, which Rassen recognised as once belonging to a middle aged human woman. He crouched down upon reaching her. Two burn marks were present on the back of her clothing where she had been shot. The Jedi couldn't prevent his hands tightening into fists. "Shot in the back," he muttered, before glancing away in the direction of the nearest building, a small pre-fabricated home. He looked back at the body. She had probably had children, a family. All of them were dead now, dead because he hadn't been able to save them.

We can agree on that at least, Rassen.

"That's enough." He looked over at Kasumi in surprise, having momentarily forgotten the woman who stood next to where he crouched. His companion's face was ashen. She slowly turned to meet his questioning glance. "The injuries don't match the kind of damage inflicted by any weapon I've ever seen. The current situation being what it is, I doubt this was the result of one of the main players, and very few pirate operations would be so organised as to wipe out a colony so efficiently." She nodded to herself. "I need to let my friend know what happened here immediately, and I want to get as far away from this planet as possible. You can tell me anything else you know once we've cleared the atmosphere."