A/N: Nothing much to say, so…

Responses to reviews are as follows:

AnarionRising27: Thanks as always for the encouragement! I'm very relieved the Shepard-Kasumi romance has added to the story for you, since I gave a lot of thought to making it work considering what they've both been through.

Guest: Um, it wasn't made from omni-gel. It's explicitly stated that the crystal was a standard green lightsaber crystal, no omni-gel involved in its creation, unlike the other lightsaber parts.

Chapter 25: Tension

As she walked through the dimly-lit corridors she had long since grown sick of, Mandalore admitted to herself that she had to give Balak some small amount of credit. The batarians he had gathered had all at one stage or another been a part of their race's military, which she understood had been all but wiped out by the Reapers during the galaxy-wide conflict that had come to an end prior to her arrival. That meant they at least had some semblance of organisation… even if they were little more than cannon fodder compared with her warriors.

Even before her wounds had been seen to, she had ordered an accounting be made of all those Commander Shepard had managed to kill. Simply thinking about the final tally caused the fingers of one of her hands to curl into a fist. She had assumed it would be bad, but never could she have predicted the final number was as large as it was.

Dozens of Mandalorians had been killed by the explosion that still seemed to ring in her ears whenever she thought about it. Almost double that had been injured, and more than a hundred batarians had been killed before their own wounded were factored in. When the Systems Alliance came to investigate why the area had gone dark, it would be all but impossible to oppose just their initial force now, even with all bar one of the batarian ships still available.

Which was why she had decided to change tactics.

Commander Shepard was a hero. If she were able to reacquire him, that opened up new possibilities. He was beloved and hated enough throughout the galaxy that he could prove to be a very useful pawn indeed. That meant she couldn't kill him. However, he still needed to suffer. While she cared little for the dead batarians, the loss of her own warriors was not something she could overlook.

So she would show him what that kind of loss was like.

Knowing your enemy was the key to defeating them, but she had found nothing on his three companions despite her best efforts. The Jedi, the quarian, and the human woman might as well have been ghosts by comparison with the commander. That meant they were expendable.

She had already decided on the order they would die, the order in which she would personally kill them in front of Shepard. Firstly, it would be the quarian. Secondly, the Jedi, since he had been supporting the commander when she had arrived at the hanger and so seemed to have a closer relationship with him than the suited alien. Finally, the human woman, who she had not failed to notice seemed to be the closest to the commander of the three, judging by their body language towards each other.

It was ironic when she really considered it. She had primarily addressed the Jedi when the four of them had attempted to escape, assuming he represented the greatest threat. In almost any other situation she would have been correct to do so, but the commander had revealed he was if anything even more deadly. She would not allow herself to be taken by surprise like that again.

The voice of someone trying to get her attention caused her to snap out of her thoughts and stop walking, still not at her destination despite having passed through several corridors since she had begun her musing. Mandalore turned slowly, crossing her arms as she recognised the younger Mandalorian as the latter came to a halt before her. "Yes?" she inquired coolly, tone detached as she addressed her sibling. It matched how she felt about her younger sister. They had the same mother and father… and it mattered not even slightly to her.

The other woman, seemingly having run to find her, panted slightly before replying. "The batarians… the last few ships have reported in and accept your terms as well. All of them have agreed to follow you until they've seen Shepard suffer. After that, though—"

"What they think they will choose to do after is irrelevant," she interrupted. "Once the commander is back in our hands and his friends are dead, they will continue their alliance with us."

"I don't think—"

"Are you questioning me?" she interrupted, voice barely more than a whisper.

"No, sist… No, Mandalore."

"Good," she smiled cruelly, not that the other woman could see it. "You are dismissed. Go and see if you can be of use to a better warrior than yourself. That way I might not regret bringing you here."

"There's something else," her younger sister blurted, causing Mandalore to sneer before the former clearly sensed her superior's ire and pressed on. "We might have a lead."

"Might?"

"There's a signal coming from a planet called Venture. It's very faint, might be a random glitch in the system or something to do with the small mining colony on the planet that was abandoned because of the Reapers. It could be worth investigating."

Mandalore glared at her. "Of course it's worth investigating," she spat. "We have several ships scouring Venture right now, if I remember correctly. Tell them to head to the location of the signal and investigate, but also to avoid any fighting. If they find our escaped guests, they are to inform me at once and wait for reinforcements."

"I… Yes, Mandalore."

"Dismissed," she said carelessly, turning away from the other woman and leaving her standing there as she continued on her way as though she had never been interrupted, soon leaving her far behind.

Shepard and the others were dangerous, and it would be foolish to only send in a handful of her own people and batarians to capture them. Besides, she wanted to be there herself. The commander would watch his friends suffer and die for what he had done, and she would be the one to cut down each of his companions in front of him. Once that was dealt with, he would prove useful in dealing with the Systems Alliance vessels that might very well be preparing to set off at this very moment, since she doubted they would do anything to risk the life of their greatest hero if she had a blaster to his head.

Mandalore smiled cruelly for the second time that day as she finally reached the destination she had been heading towards since before she had been interrupted by her sister. The door to the armoury slid open, allowing her into its gloomy interior. Approaching one of the racks furthest from the door, she reached out and picked up the weapon she had been saving for a special occasion. It had been intended for a duel against a worthy opponent, but cutting down the commander's friends with it would be satisfying enough.

The weapon resembled a sword more than anything else, with a hilt long enough for two hands to grasp it connecting to a long blade that curved upwards at the end. It was barely adorned with any decoration whatsoever, only the leather grip which consisted of straps that crisscrossed one another being eye-catching in any way. Savouring how the vibrosword fit perfectly into her gauntleted hands, Mandalore set off for her private quarters, already savouring the confrontation to come.

Something very important had happened between them.

At least, that was the only conclusion Rassen had come up with so far. Shepard hid it well, but the fact he had managed to strike the commander several times so far without the superior fighter landing a blow on him in return made it obvious.

There had been a brief moment of panic after he had informed Shaela and Kasumi that the ship's other male occupant was missing, but the thief had quickly worked out he must have gone outside to place a number of proximity mines. He and Shaela had stared at her in disbelief before she had rolled her eyes and explained that Shepard had obtained them in much the same way Rassen had the lightsaber parts for Shaela. She had then gone to wait by the loading ramp, telling the two of them to keep training and leave her and Shepard to talk.

That had been an hour or so ago, and now Rassen found himself sparring against a completely exhausted yet happy looking Shepard, wondering both whether Venture truly was as unpleasant as it seemed based on the other man's state and also just what had occurred between him and Kasumi. It had clearly been a good thing, but given the thief had explained whatever was going on to only Shaela and not him, Rassen was feeling seriously out of the loop. Still, he and Shaela would be resuming the latter's training after the session with the commander was complete, so could ask her if everything was well then.

Anyway, he reasoned, easily ducking a punch that was much slower than he would have expected, it was none of his business, really. If either Shepard or Kasumi wanted him to know, they would tell him. If they didn't then that was their right. He merely wanted to make sure the rift between them he had sensed had healed at least somewhat, that neither would be too distracted and so in more danger than they would otherwise be once the Mandalorians and batarians discovered their location.

Shepard suddenly aimed a kick directly at the centre of his chest, causing Rassen to silently curse at how he had allowed himself to get lost in thought as he barely managed to sidestep the attack. Blocking the punch that followed, he jabbed to force the other man to retreat before backing away himself, leaving them several steps apart.

"You're distracted again."

The Jedi Knight shrugged slightly, not allowing himself to do any more than that lest it allow Shepard an opening. "True," he admitted. "Though, unlike last time, it seems I am not the only one with my thoughts elsewhere."

Shepard only grinned in reply before closing the gap between them, and they exchanged a few jabs each as they began to circle one another. "I'm in a good mood," he replied finally, though his eyes continued to look for any weakness in Rassen's form he could exploit. "This is just a one-off. For you, however, this is the second time in a row. I'm beginning to think this is a recurring problem as far as Jedi are concerned."

"It is one entirely unique to me, I'm afraid," Rassen said, faking a kick before just managing to graze the other man's jaw with a jab. "As far as one-offs go, though, it certainly seems to have left you slightly below par, Shepard. Clearly you and Kasumi found a non-platonic resolution to whatever upset you both."

Taking advantage of Shepard's look of surprise, Rassen charged him head-on, gambling that the directness of the attack would take him off-guard. His armoured shoulder collided with the commander's chestplate with an audible clang, knocking Shepard to the floor and causing Rassen to stagger heavily. He was about to smile victoriously, only for a gauntleted hand to grab onto one of his legs, Shepard pulling him down with unbelievable strength.

Grunting as he fell onto his front, Rassen tried to put some distance between them by rolling away, only to feel an arm circle his neck. Pushing down the frustration that arose at having nearly won the bout only to lose anyway, he tapped the ground as Shepard tightened the hold slightly, admitting defeat and causing the older man to release him.

"Not bad, kid," Shepard acknowledged as he clambered to his feet and held out a hand, causing Rassen to once again marvel at how he was pulled up with no difficulty at all. "Your guard is still a bit low, but you managed to prevent me from using that against you this time."

Rassen nodded, shaking out his limbs as he did so. "How are you so strong?" he asked curiously. "When you pulled me over I thought my stance was solid. I am surprised you were able to do it."

"Strength isn't everything."

"I'm aware of that, but I get the feeling there is something else I am not aware of."

A shadow passed over Shepard's face for a fleeting second, causing Rassen to wonder if he had said something to offend him. "That would be the Lazarus Project," the commander said after a moment.

"The what?" Rassen asked in confusion. "I have never heard of it."

"It's not too widely known." Shepard seemed to survey him for a second as though debating whether to tell him any more before deciding he might as well. "Back before Kasumi and I met, I was… killed in action by a race called the Collectors. I didn't know it was them at the time, but they were working with the Reapers, so they attacked my ship and destroyed it. Some of the crew made it out safely, some of them didn't. I was one of the latter."

"Wait," Rassen managed, unable to believe what he was being told. "How could you have been killed? When a person dies, there is no coming back from that aside from in the form of a Force ghost or perhaps through the use of the Dark Side, to my knowledge. You are not Force sensitive, though."

Shepard shook his head, seeming as though he had aged considerably since they had begun this topic of conversation. "I don't pretend to understand it," he admitted. "Suffice to say that a great deal of time, money, and effort went into my… into my resurrection. The organisation responsible, Cerberus, decided that while they wanted me largely the same, a few improvements could be made. They thought a greater level of toughness and physical strength than I had before would prove useful."

Rassen frowned at how the mood in the room had soured considerably. Feeling a small amount of guilt at the obvious discomfort Shepard was in, he decided to change tactics. "Regardless," he admitted, "you are still better than me. If not for whatever happened between you and Kasumi, you would likely have bested me very quickly for a second time in a row instead of almost being defeated yourself."

The slight smirk he got in reply told him his attempt had worked at least somewhat. "I can make up for that, if you have time to lose again."

Rassen allowed himself to raise an eyebrow. "I know now to avoid a direct test of my strength against yours, Shepard. I think you will find I will be victorious this time."

Shepard began moving in, and Rassen did likewise, though he prepared to move sideways at the first sign of an incoming attack. He barely heard the commander's reply he was so concentrated on the other man's movements, though it did cause him to smirk in return.

"Bring it on, Voratt."

"So did it go well?" Shaela asked as the door closed behind her.

She watched with a small amount of worry but mostly with amusement as Rassen turned his head to face her, though he remained kneeling, likely having chosen to mediate after his sparring session with Shepard, which had gone on for the better part of two hours. The quarian couldn't help a small laugh as the Jedi didn't reply for a moment, instead gesturing for her to kneel opposite him. She did so, laughing again as Rassen shook his head before giving her a slightly irritated look.

"I almost had him at one point," he shrugged. "Almost. Unfortunately, he still managed to get the better of me."

Shaela shrugged back. "But do you think you're learning anything? Becoming better at hand to hand combat?"

"It is hard to say this early on," the human replied thoughtfully. "The only way to know for sure is to participate in a real fight, though I fear that opportunity will come soon enough. Still, Shepard has pointed out a couple of things for me to work on, and he seems to be recovering his strength very quickly indeed."

"That's good," she nodded. Allowing her eyes to wander around the room for a moment, Shaela then turned her gaze back to Rassen to see him raise an eyebrow at her.

"You want to ask me something."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Only with you. You shift your weight around as though you cannot get comfortable when something troubles you." The human smiled at her reassuringly. "What is it, Shaela?"

"It's just that I've been wondering…" she trailed off as she thought about how best to phrase what she wanted to ask. "Obviously I need to know how to use a lightsaber properly, but could you teach me how to heal someone using the Force?"

She watched as Rassen frowned in confusion. "Yes, if you would like," he replied after a moment. "But why?"

Shaela lifted her hands from where they had been resting on her knees to take those of the human opposite her. "I know it won't make any difference as far as my immune system goes," she replied. "But if you get hurt, Rassen, and no medi-gel is nearby, then who heals you? On Watchman I was only able to help you and Kasumi because I had plenty of medi-gel to hand, but that might not be the case in the future if we're unlucky."

Rassen gave her an understanding look. "I see your point. Someone else being able to use the Force to heal would certainly be to our advantage, though healing was not the ability I planned to teach you next."

"And what was that?" Shaela asked, feeling a spark of excitement. "More lightsaber moves?"

The human gave her a knowing smile. "After a fashion. Specifically, I thought we should move on to deflection training. To blocking blaster and mass accelerator fire with a lightsaber, given that is one of its greatest advantages compared with other weapons."

Shaela nodded. "That does sound extremely important," she admitted. "But, if it's okay, could we go over Force healing first?"

"Very well," Rassen said slowly. "But only briefly. I know how vulnerable you are if your suit gets breached, Shaela. I want to make sure we go over some of the basics of blaster deflection before we run out of time. We can look at Force healing today, then protecting oneself from ranged attacks tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Shaela nodded, the world suddenly moving up and down of seemingly its own accord. Blushing as she realised she had begun bouncing with excitement as Rassen arched an eyebrow, she allowed him to remove his hands from hers. The human then pulled off both of his gloves, exposing his hands—including their completely unnecessary number of fingers—to her gaze.

She jumped as Rassen suddenly slammed one of his hands against the metal floor beneath them, the banging noise taking her completely off-guard before he then held it back up alongside its twin. She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, only to notice that his hand had slightly reddened in response to the impact, the paler colour of the human's other one allowing her to see the change easily.

"I'm sorry," Rassen said apologetically. "We have very little time, so we are going to have to get right to work. Close your eyes and open yourself up to the Force, Shaela."

She nodded, allowing her eyes to begin to drift shut, only to open them again before they had completely closed. "Do I, um, need to remove mine?" she asked, glancing in the direction of the human's gloves before looking back at him.

"No," Rassen replied, shaking his head once. "I just took mine off to make this a little easier, since you can see the difference between them. As you will be the one doing the healing, yours can remain on."

Shaela swallowed heavily. "I think," she began, "I should take mine off as well."

She blushed again as Rassen stared at her in confusion. "Shaela, you really do not need to," he said gently. "Besides, the risk of infection—"

"It's much safer than taking off my mask again," she interrupted quickly. "I'm a lot better than I was anyway, and the material at my wrists can tighten against my skin to limit how many pathogens I'm exposed to. I'll only be uncovering my hands, Rassen. On top of that, my body will have already started to get used to the microbes yours carries. This won't make me worse, I promise."

"But why—"

"I just," she took a moment to push down the small amount of frustration she felt. Rassen was just worried about her, getting angry at him for something outside of his control wasn't fair. "I just need to take them off, Rassen."

Clearly picking up on the fact she wasn't going to change her mind, the human nodded once. "Okay," he relented. "Just… You know I worry about you."

The quarian smiled at him. "I know," she whispered, leaning closer so he could hear her. "I worry about you, too."

Her stomach churning slightly despite the knowledge that what she was doing was much safer than removing her mask again, Shaela started on her left glove by activating her omni-tool. Keying into her suit's VI, she issued a command for the material that covered her hand to unseal from that which covered her wrist. That was one of the advantages of quarian envirosuits consisting of many different interlocked components rather than a single large one. Individual parts could be removed without the need to take the entire thing off, meaning it was much easier and safer to replace something should it become damaged.

There was no visible change as the process completed, but she could easily visualise the countless microbes that even now were filtering into her suit, so she quickly gave a command for it to seal at the wrist. Repeating the whole process for her other glove, Shaela then deactivated her omni-tool, breathing shakily. It was silly to be nervous after she had shown Rassen her face. That had been the big one. Even so, her hands were still parts of her he had only ever seen covered and that was enough to make her tremble slightly with excitement and nervousness.

She gently pinched the material over the forefinger of her left hand before carefully tugging on it. Slowly, a patch of grey skin appeared, pale on account of it never having been exposed to the sun of any planet. Swallowing, Shaela kept going, not stopping until the entire glove had been removed, leaving her hand on full display. Not looking at Rassen all the while, she then did the same with her right glove, staring in wonder at her uncovered hands for a moment before looking over at the human's.

The most obvious difference between them, of course, was the number of digits. With two more fingers on each than she had and their being smaller, she had always found Rassen's hands strange. Not bad strange just… different. The human also had… fingernails, she believed they were called, as well as several lines on the skin of each of his fingers' joints. Glancing back at her own hands, Shaela noted her own fingers were comparatively a little simpler, lacking the 'joint lines' and nails Rassen's had, their most distinguishing feature being their greater size compared with his.

Teeth grazing her lower lip, she looked up at the human's face, noticing with relief that he didn't appear troubled with the appearance of her hands in any way, just interested like she was. Smiling happily, she reached out, taking both of his in her own properly for the first time. His hands were warm, their skin rougher than her own but still soft in its own way. Her smile widened as Rassen returned it, the human interlocking his fingers with hers, the act a little awkward on account of them both having a different number to the other but still possible.

"This will have to do," she whispered, a sudden feeling of sadness overtaking her. "We can't take the chance… I mean we can't afford the risk that comes with me taking my mask off again. We don't know exactly when we'll be found, and we need everyone to be ready to fight."

"This is enough," Rassen smiled back at her gently. "I know just this is a lot for you, Shaela. I am always amazed when I remember you trust me this much."

"I want more, though," she blurted out, pulse suddenly racing. "I want to kiss you again. I want you to kiss me. I want…" she cut herself off, swallowing fearfully and looking away. Her stomach was now churning so badly she thought she might be sick. Her trembling was now so strong she was surprised Rassen wasn't shaking as well.

Change the subject! Think of something else to say before he asks—

"What do you want, Shaela?" Rassen asked, interrupting her thoughts, reassuring smile still in place.

"I… I want…" Her tongue didn't want to obey her. It was moving without her permission. She was feeling lightheaded. She couldn't breathe properly. "I just… If we survive, I…"

"Yes?"

"I want you," Shaela whispered so quietly her voice was barely audible. For a moment she was convinced the human hadn't heard her as she closed her eyes and tried to pretend she hadn't just said that, only to open them as Rassen removed one of his hands from her own to gently tilt her chin up.

"I am afraid I do not understand. You have me, Shaela, you know that."

Oh, Ancestors!

"That's not what I… not what I m-mean," she stammered, voice breaking towards the end. "I… I want you to see me, Rassen." Seeing he was about to interrupt, she continued before he could. "I want you to see all of me. And… I want to see all of you. If you feel the same way… um, do you feel the same way?"

Rassen opened his mouth to respond, only to close it a moment later. He opened it again, only to close it once more. In any other circumstances it would have been funny, but Shaela only felt a growing sense of dread as he continued to stare at her in shock.

"Forget it," she managed. "It's too soon for you, isn't it? I should never… We were talking about Force healing. How do I—"

"I want that, too."

Her mouth had never felt this dry before. "You… Rassen, I'm talking about—"

Rassen gave her a small smile. "I grew up in a temple, Shaela, but I understand what you are saying. If we can make the right preparations to stop you from getting too sick, then yes. It will give us another reason to survive, to keep going for each other." He squeezed the hand he still held, causing her to return the smile. "But for now we should worry about actually making it that far."

Clearly reluctant as he did so, the human took her other hand back into his free one before speaking again. "Now, open your mind to the Force. Let it flow through you unobstructed, then reach out…"

She lost track of time as the comforting warmth of the Force filled her, Shaela barely hearing Rassen's instructions as she did as he said, slowly channelling the energy that seemed to suffuse every fibre of her being into the human's slightly injured hand. At his instruction, she looked for the healing process his body was already undergoing and augmented it, willing it to speed up just a little. Opening her eyes after however long she had kept them shut, Shaela felt a spark of excitement as she saw Rassen's hand was much less red than it had been, the skin very close in hue to that of his other hand than it had been when she had started.

Eventually, after however long it was, both hands matched. Shaela felt… strange. Mentally exhausted, like the act had taken a tremendous amount out of her, yet physically she felt fine. Barely any more tired than she had been when they had begun. Looking up from the hands she still held to Rassen's face, her stomach flipped as he gave her that same gentle smile from before, the look of pride in his eyes causing her to grin back at him.

The door then suddenly opened, causing both of their gazes to snap round to it as Kasumi staggered into the room. Shaela blushed as she realised her hands were still uncovered, but if the thief noticed she paid them no mind. Instead, Kasumi looked between her and Rassen, the look in her eyes telling Shaela exactly what was happening even before the thief spoke.

"We have incoming ships. It's them."