A/N: Not as long a wait this time, since I found this chapter much easier to write than the last one. If anybody is interested, the first of those one-shots I mentioned is up, and I'd love to know what you all think. I will develop it into a full story at some point, but only after Spectre is complete. As always, I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

Responses to reviews are as follows:

Guest: But how would a small faction stand a chance against the Sith? Much better to simply break with the majority and go their own way than turn on the followers of the dark side and get wiped out.

AnarionRising27: Great to hear that you liked it! With there being a few different portrayals of the Mandalorians over the years (Clone Wars, Old Republic, etcetera) I was a little worried I would receive some complaints about how Mandalorians act. For me, I've always preferred the version in the KotOR games and SWTOR, where they value strength and battling worthy foes, but are not above committing horrors on innocents in order to draw said foes out. I don't know if you're familiar with the Mandalorian Wars from the old EU, but that's what happened there.

seabo76: Quite literally Chekov's Gun there, huh? I completely agree with you regarding it; it was a massive pain if you missed, or in my case blew yourself up over and over again.

I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed chapter 17; it proved very tricky to put together, as I've mentioned, so it's relieving to hear it worked for you.

SocietE: Hey, thanks!

By "good characters" I take it you are talking about both the ones I've made up and the ones that actually exist in the games? If so, that's awesome to hear, since I've honestly just tried to write the best stories possible at the end of the day. Also glad the actual crossover aspect has worked for you, since that always felt a bit forced to me while reading other people's stories, and as a result I really spent a lot of time thinking about how I would tackle that.

Chapter 18: Venture

As the door closed behind him and he began to make his way to where Shepard and Kasumi were, Rassen allowed a frown to overtake his features. Whatever it was Shaela wanted to tell him about, it clearly worried her a great deal. That alone was enough to worry him in return. For a moment he was tempted to go back and ask her about it, but the Jedi Knight quickly dismissed the idea. He needed to update the other two while the quarian hid them, then they could talk.

How do you think she will react when she hears about me, Rassen? Do you remember when I looked into your little alien lover's mind? Do you remember how she screamed?

Rassen snarled, his shock at the return of Zaressh's voice quickly overwhelmed by the anger he felt at its words. Still, he refused to answer, focusing his mind on the task at hand as he headed for the ship's bunkroom, which was both where Kasumi had recovered after her injuries on Watchman and where they had all been sleeping so far. The beds may have been surprisingly uncomfortable, but they were still much better than the floor.

Already forgetting about Zaressh's voice as he reached the room in question, Rassen felt a small smile appear on his face at the sight before him as he entered. Shepard was still lying on the same bed he had helped Kasumi get him to, and looked as though he would fall asleep at any moment. Next to him sat the thief, who hardly looked any better off. Despite not wanting to intrude, their voices still reached him as they argued quietly.

"You need to sleep," Kasumi insisted, her words ringing a little hollow given how drained she looked herself. "We had to help you the whole way out, Shep."

It took the man she was talking to a short while to respond. "I can't until we're safe," he muttered. "We might need to fight again at any moment."

"Rassen, help me out here."

The Jedi raised an eyebrow at that, having made no noise or even so much as shifted since stepping into the room. Kasumi, on her part, hadn't so much as looked in his direction, leaving him impressed she knew he was there, given her current state. He approached the pair of them, not speaking until he had lowered himself into one of the several free seats nearby.

"Shaela is currently choosing a planet for us to hide on," he began. "She will take us down as soon as she has, and then we can start looking for somewhere out of the way."

"Tell her we should turn off all systems except life-support when we can," Kasumi said instantly. "The more we have active, the easier we are to detect."

Rassen nodded. "Understood." He looked away from the thief at Shepard before returning his gaze to her. "All of us are exhausted, but both of you should sleep first." As the two of them were about to reply, he beat them to the punch.

"I understand neither of you want to," he said, "but you two need sleep the most out of the four of us. Commander," Rassen turned his gaze directly to Shepard, "recovering from floating in a kolto tank is only possible with rest." Then he looked at Kasumi. "You lost a lot of blood on Watchman. I can heal people, but I cannot replace that for you. You need to sleep almost as much as he does."

While neither of the room's other occupants were happy, both seemed to accept his appraisal of the situation. Nodding to them, Rassen stood up and was about to leave before Shepard's voice stopped him short.

"Wake us in a few hours then. I'm still interested in finding out who you are."

He turned back to face the barely conscious figure on the bed. "I will," he nodded. Rassen once again turned to leave, only to pivot for a second time as Kasumi reached out and tugged on his arm.

"Look, big guy, since it's only going to be the two of you up, you better talk to Shaela about whatever you've been keeping from her." Rassen opened his mouth to speak, but the thief pressed on before he could. "She's really worried about you, Rassen. She cares about you a lot."

"And I her," he replied. "Which is why I have already agreed to tell her." Smirking as he noticed Kasumi's cheeks colour slightly, Rassen gently removed her hand from his arm before giving her a genuine smile. "Thank you," he said honestly.

"For what?" Kasumi looked completely confused. "If you've already decided then I didn't do anything."

"Thank you for caring about her," he elaborated. "That means a lot to me."

"No problem, Ras."

He glared in response, prompting Kasumi to smirk back at him as she saw his reaction to the nickname. He was about to remind her of her promise not to use it, only for the thief to let out a loud yawn before curling up in her chair and closing her eyes, Shepard shutting his own a second later. Shaking his head slightly, Rassen quietly left the room, smiling to himself. It hadn't gone unnoticed by him that Kasumi had decided to remain at the commander's bedside as opposed to choosing to sleep in one of the several vacant beds nearby.

The green planet slowly filled her vision as she guided the ship towards it, the world appearing almost serene after the events of the past few hours as it sat there surrounded by the blackness of space. Venture, as it was called, was the first planet in the Iera system, and it was home to a small colony and not much else. With a dense atmosphere that was overwhelmingly made up of nitrogen and punishing temperatures given its proximity to the system's sun, it was hardly surprising the world was so lightly populated.

Shaela had quickly ruled out Horizon as being a good place to hide. The rolling grasslands that made up most of the planet provided few locations to conceal a ship, and with the colony destroyed, they couldn't hide it in a hanger either. Watchman had been discarded soon after, the frozen world being an equally bad place to run to. It was certainly inhospitable enough to be one of the last places in the galaxy you would expect to find someone, but its undisturbed nature had Shaela worried. Any signs of their presence would easily be preserved by the ice and snow, thanks to the small planet's limited atmosphere, and she had no idea how thoroughly the Mandalorians and batarians would be willing to comb each world before moving onto the next. If they were to send down a squad equipped to deal with the temperature to the right area…

It didn't bear thinking about.

The third planet she had analysed, the second in the system, being situated after Venture and before Horizon and Watchman, was called Prospect. A gas giant, there was no way to land on its surface. By process of elimination then, the quarian had decided on Venture. While there were plenty of moons in the system as well, Shaela had reasoned that the larger the place they hid was, the harder they would be to find on it. The more time they had, the better.

Venture wasn't the most pleasant world she had ever set eyes on, but it would have to do.

"Any sign of trouble?"

She looked over her shoulder as Rassen approached, the door closing behind him as she shook her head in reply. "No, but I don't expect that to last. A small fleet of batarians and Mandalorians could come through the relay at any moment."

The human nodded once. "And this world is the best option we have?"

"I think so." Shaela pointed at the planet in question, the single shade of green it had been when she had chosen it now having given way to a wide variety of darker and lighter blotches. Squinting, the quarian could just about make out some of the more prominent features of its terrain, there being a number of what appeared to be valleys that were so large they could be seen from outside the planet's atmosphere.

"Do you see those?" she asked, continuing to point as Rassen walked directly behind her, leaning over her shoulder in order to get a better look. Her heart beat faster at his proximity, the effect he had on her greater than normal with so little distance between them. Shaela swallowed heavily as he turned to face her, suddenly aware only a few inches separated their faces now. Well, only a few inches… and her helmet.

"I see them," Rassen said softly, tone suggesting he had noticed just how close they were to one another as well. "Any of them would be a good place to hide, especially if they contain any caves. I may not be entirely familiar with how batarian scanners work, but they must have greater difficulty penetrating rock than air, right?"

"That's… that's true," Shaela managed, thoughts increasingly drifting away from what they were discussing as her mind began to focus on him instead. "Venture's atmosphere is pretty thick, though, which means any sensor technology will be less effective here than on most other planets anyway."

Rassen smiled gently. "A very good choice then, Shaela."

"I thought so." She then remembered why he had left. "So, how are Kasumi and Shepard?"

"Exhausted, but then I think we all are. I managed to persuade them they needed to sleep, and they agreed, albeit a little begrudgingly."

"You need sleep, too." Shaela frowned at the shadows under his eyes. She couldn't remember seeing them before, but she vaguely remembered hearing once that humans could get them when they were very tired.

"As do you," Rassen muttered softly. "I told them I would wake them in a few hours, then we can both rest. For now that gives us enough time to talk."

"Ah," there was a lump in her throat now, "right, yes… talk." She turned her attention back to the planet as the ship vibrated heavily, the dense atmosphere causing more turbulence than was normal. "We should land first," she said as she looked back at Rassen. "Once we're hidden and there's much less chance of us being attacked, I mean."

"All right." The Jedi nodded calmly, but Shaela knew him well enough to pick up on the fact he was deeply relieved there would be a short while until they could properly speak. She was about to ask right there and then what it was he wanted to tell her out of sheer curiosity, only to jump an inch off the chair she was sitting on as a second bout of turbulence struck the ship.

Later, she thought. Land first and then we can talk.

Every part of her body hurt.

Snarling as she tried to rise, only to lift herself a few inches off the floor before collapsing back down, Mandalore's eyes moved over the unbelievable amount of slaughter around her. Mandalorians and batarians alike had been vaporised or blasted to pieces, the unmistakable stench of blood hanging in the air like a cloud. Gritting her teeth and trying again to stand up, only to once more fall back down after barely moving, she noticed something was resting across her back. Something heavy.

Groaning as she did so, Mandalore twisted round so her front was now beneath the object, which revealed itself to be a batarian corpse. Manoeuvring her hands underneath it as best she could, the armoured woman let out a roar as she lifted the body up several inches, muscles trembling, and threw it to the side, freeing herself. Panting heavily, she rolled back onto her front and finally managed to stand, gaze now moving to the area of the hanger where the ship had been.

Before her sat an empty area of metal flooring, unblemished save for its cobbled together nature, its relatively pristine condition causing it to stand out against the dents and pockmarks that now dotted the rest of the area. Glancing behind her, Mandalore saw that a massive chunk of the far wall had been obliterated by whatever had been fired, the crater that stared back at her the result of several feet of solid metal having being removed from existence at its deepest point. The edges of the crater had melted from the sheer heat of the explosion before hardening as they cooled, thick streams of metal having run down much of the wall before turning solid.

Taking a step closer to the impact site, she hissed at an intense stabbing pain in her waist, glancing down to stare at the fragment of metal protruding from the area in surprise. The piece of debris had smashed into the armour that covered her torso with such immense velocity it had actually managed to penetrate it, though given the fact she wasn't bleeding to death, clearly it hadn't got very far into her body despite how painful it was.

The sound of footsteps nearby caused her hand to drop to her side, only to find no weapon there. Grunting at the agony that resulted, she bent down and grabbed the first gun she spotted, a batarian assault rifle, and twisted round, barely able to stop herself from firing at the sight of the other Mandalorian, who stopped advancing and held up a hand. Scanning the figure before her, who had their other hand pressed firmly against a profusely bleeding thigh, she nodded once before lowering her weapon, turning her attention to her wrist, only for the device there to flicker weakly as she attempted to activate it.

"Is your omni-tool still working?" Mandalore asked as she returned her attention to the newcomer, unable to keep the fingers of her free hand from curling into a fist as the number of dead around her began to sink in. As the other Mandalorian muttered an affirmative, she allowed the corners of her mouth to curl upwards just slightly.

"Notify everyone who's still alive and not severely injured to take the ships from the other hangers to the Iera system. Contact every vessel currently away from base and tell them to do the same." Mandalore looked around again at the sheer number of bodies before continuing.

"And tell them all that once we've tracked down the four of them, none of them die quickly."

The last order caused the other Mandalorian to freeze, omni-tool already activated and one hand raised above it. "M-Mandalore," they stammered, their voice revealing they were female, "wouldn't just killing them be enough? I mean," she gestured at the destruction around them, "it would be safer just to shoot them, wouldn't it?"

Mandalore snarled, closing the distance between the two of them before seizing the other woman by the throat. As her subordinate tried to remove the hand with both of her own, she tightened her grip, cutting off the other Mandalorian's air supply as she leaned so close in their visors were almost touching.

"They die begging for mercy for this," she snarled. "Do as I say or you can join them." She released her grip, causing the other woman to inhale deep lungfuls of air as she massaged her throat as best she could despite her armour. Surveying her coldly, Mandalore sneered before speaking again.

"You're weak. Twice now the Jedi has knocked you unconscious. Against any other enemy you would be dead already. Now you are questioning my decisions. I'm beginning to think I made a mistake bringing you to this galaxy with me, little sister."

The other woman glared back at her, body trembling with rage. Slowly, however, she returned her attention to her omni-tool and did as she had been ordered. Looking away from her now she was complying, Mandalore walked back over to the body she had lifted off herself, tilting her head curiously at it. Rolling the corpse over with one foot, she allowed a smirk to overtake her features.

"You should have worn some better armour, Balak."

As Shaela gently guided the ship through the valley they had chosen to explore, Rassen watched her carefully. The quarian's shoulders were hunched, one of her feet was gently tapping against the floor, and she kept shooting looks in his direction. Everything about the way she was acting was making him more and more worried. He had thought he was the one with the terrible secret, but he was starting to seriously wonder if what Shaela wanted to tell him could be as bad or even somehow more disturbing. Quite frankly, he had no idea how that was possible, but that didn't stop him from shooting looks of his own right back at her despite trying to do his best not to make her any more apprehensive than she already was.

Eventually forcing himself to keep his gaze focused on what could be seen from the ship, the sloping green walls of the valley only interesting because of their colour, Rassen frowned as he noticed a discolouration ahead of them, though it was currently too far away for him to make out properly. As they drew closer to it, the patch of darker green revealed itself to be the mouth of a tunnel, the roughly circular entrance clearly the work of centuries or even millennia of erosion by water that no longer flowed through the valley and perhaps hadn't for an unfathomable amount of time. Pointing to his discovery and feeling Shaela's eyes follow his outstretched finger, Rassen noticed the size of the entrance looked just large enough for their ship to pass through cleanly.

"What do you think?" he asked, rocking forwards slightly on his feet as the quarian slowed their speed down. "Will they be able to detect us if we hide in there for the time being?"

Shaela nodded slowly in approval as she surveyed the dozens of feet of rock that stretched above the tunnel entrance before reaching the same height as the land around the valley. "I don't think so," she said, "but we'll need to shut down every system we don't need. If we're only giving out a small number of signals, the rock should be enough to stop the Mandalorians and batarians from picking up on them."

"Kasumi mentioned we should do that," Rassen muttered, narrowing his eyes as they began to carefully enter the tunnel, the darkness within making it difficult to see. He was about to ask the quarian if she could see where they were going, only to stop himself as their craft began to slowly rotate to face back towards the entrance. As it then began to lower to the ground, he nodded in understanding. They were currently far enough back from the way out as not to be easily visible from the outside, while being close enough and facing the right way so if they were found they could escape as fast as possible. He didn't know how much difference the foresight would make in the long run if they were detected, but they needed every advantage they could get.

"Good thinking," Rassen said as they gently touched down, causing Shaela to glance in his direction. From the way her eyes changed shape, he could tell she was smiling.

Glancing away and rolling his shoulders slightly, the Jedi Knight winced as both protested, a spike of pain shooting through each of them, reminding him he was still wearing the Mandalorian armour, even if he had removed the helmet. Trying to hide his discomfort, Rassen looked back at Shaela to see her staring at him, eyes now slightly narrowed as she noticed the look on his face. Shrugging to try and reassure her nothing was wrong proved to be a bad idea, causing him to grunt quietly as his shoulders complained again.

"Rassen?"

He looked up from where he had just begun examining his left shoulder, which hurt the worst of the two of them, eyes returning to meet Shaela's own. "How bad is it?" the quarian continued, giving him a concerned look as she rose from where she had been sitting in order to get a closer look.

He shook his head slightly. "Not too bad," he replied gently. "I am just a bit sore from helping Shepard through the base, I think. I should probably change out of this armour; wearing it for as long as I have is beginning to take its toll."

Shaela crossed her arms, causing him to give her a serious look. "I'm fine," he said honestly. "I will be back in just a few moments." Rassen glanced around the cockpit. "Can you power down everything we do not need on your own?"

The quarian relaxed slightly at his words. "I should be able to," she said confidently. "There's nothing too complicated about the ship's systems. To be honest, it will probably only take a minute or two."

Rassen smiled. "I will be back shortly," he promised, reaching out to take one of her hands in his own. Squeezing gently before releasing it, he looked into her eyes, feeling his smile falter. "I… We can talk then," he managed with difficulty.

Rassen turned and left the cockpit before Shaela could respond, wincing as his shoulders continued to protest. He hadn't been lying when he had told her he was well; his shoulders had certainly been heavily overworked, but he didn't think he had damaged them in any way. Even so, the pain was great enough that he didn't notice the quarian open her bag before removing a syringe, Shaela placing it on the pilot's console as she returned to her chair, staring at the object as one of her feet began tapping and the door of the cockpit once again closed between them.

Jedi were not supposed to become too attached to material objects, but as he began to don his armour, having removed the Mandalorian set, he couldn't deny just how pleasant the feeling was. Faded white replaced blue as lighter pieces took the place of much heavier ones, weight and protection giving way to flexibility and speed. There was also the fact that it was his armour, not a Mandalorian's. Despite its necessity, wearing a suit that had belonged to one of them, an individual who could have participated in the slaughter on Horizon for all he knew, had felt, well… wrong. There really was no other word for it.

Gingerly securing each piece of armour, the simple brown shirt and trousers he preferred to wear underneath to avoid chafing mostly vanishing beneath the plates as they always did, Rassen gently rotated his shoulders again, noting with approval that moving them hurt noticeably less than before. Supporting Shepard along would have proved difficult enough on its own, but wearing heavy armour was not something he was used to. The much lighter protection he now wore rendered his discomfort almost unnoticeable he had become so used to it.

Finally, he put on his hooded cloak, the dark brown material that made many associate the item with the Jedi like an old friend as it covered his back, arms, and the backs of his legs, though he kept the hood down for the moment. Running a gloved hand along his jaw, Rassen frowned at the short beard he was now sporting. Pushing the small amount of annoyance it caused from his mind, he started to head back to Shaela, taking a deep breath to steady himself. They had a lot to discuss and continuing to procrastinate would accomplish nothing.

Making his way back to the cockpit, each step seemed to take far longer than normal. He eventually reached it, however, and entered the small room, staring out of the cave through the viewport ahead and between the walls of the valley beyond, unable to see its end, as it stretched for potentially hundreds of miles. His eyes traced over the uneven surface of both walls, the green rock suddenly much more interesting than it had been earlier. He felt the room's other occupant staring at him gently as he avoided making eye contact with her, the quarian allowing him to figure out how to begin without rushing him.

Sighing as he did so, Rassen slowly lowered himself down to the floor, leaning his back against the wall just to the right of the door. A minute or so passed before he finally looked up at Shaela, who had remained where she was, the quarian for once taller than him given she was still sitting in the pilot's chair.

"This is going to take a while," he began. "A lot happened between Querra and Horizon… including a few things I am not proud of." He continued to look directly into the two silver orbs that waited patiently. "One last time, are you sure you want to hear all of this?"

Shaela didn't answer at first, rising from her chair before joining him on the ground, leaning against his side with her back pressed to the door as she gently rested her head on his shoulder. Instinctively, Rassen put an arm around her shoulders, drawing a noise of approval from the quarian as she looked up at him. "I want to hear everything, Rassen," she murmured softly. "But like I said before, if you don't want to tell me—"

"I do."

Shaela propped herself up slightly, taking some of the strain off his shoulder. Her eyes never wavered as he returned her gaze before beginning.

"It would probably be best to start just after we were separated."