Chapter 54 – Some Bad News

March 30th, 2211, 1346 hours – Aboard the SSV Excalibur — Deck 3, Mess Hall

Eagle Nebula, Amun System – Currently in Orbit above Anhur

Data Corruption… Automatic Reconstruction Failed…Data Corruption….Profile Reconstruction Required…

(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)

Present Day

"Cade? Cade!"

He still wasn't moving. I grabbed my friend on the shoulder and shook him roughly. That seemed to work. The glassy look in his eyes retreated and Cade finally began to stir.

Cade's mandibles twitched lightly as he started his gradual return to the land of the living. The bits of chocolate cake stuck to them had since dried into an unappetizing stain during his little sojourn. "Right," he said softly.

But then I saw him begin to drift off again, and so I shook him once more.

This time he lurched forward in his seat. "What? What happened?" he asked, dazed.

I glanced at Camilla. The engineer was looking at my friend with worry in her eyes.

I took a deep breath. "Camilla… found out about your birthday, buddy. Jay asked you about how you saved the Primarch's life and then you asked us if we had time for a flashback story—which was kind of a weird thing to say. Then you sat there without saying a word for about five minutes and so I shook you, and then you said 'right', and then we began to lose you again, and then I shook you again, and here we are," I spewed.

Cade looked around, confused. "Oh, well, thanks. Right. I'm good," he smiled, and I knew things were going be okay with him when he stabbed his fork back into his slice of cake to take another mouthful.

The color had returned to Camilla's cheeks and those in the crowd were starting to chatter amongst themselves again, wiping away the last of the tension. Soon they began to make light of the catatonic state my friend had been in.

Jay leaned in. "So, are you going to tell us what happened or what?"

Cade looked around at his audience and then shrugged. "Uh, I mean, it's not really much of a story. The Primarch pissed off alot of people and one of them tried to kill him at a peace summit during the rebellions."

The marine continued to watch Cade, expecting more to the story, but my friend just kept at his chocolate cake. "Wait, that's it?" Jay asked incredulously.

"Pretty much," mumbled Cade through a mouthful of half-chewed dessert. My friend pointed at the slice of cake on the marine's tray. "You going to eat that?"

Jay scowled but nonetheless slid the plate over to my friend. The rest of the people in the mess hall muttered discontentedly and began to disperse, heading back to their duty positions. Sucks for them. They can always read up on it on the extranet if they really wanted.

I sighed and gave Jay a slow, disapproving nod at his lack of tact. Cade was really not a fan of telling that story. I stood up from the table and was about to leave when a thought occurred to me. Why did Jay have cake as well?

"Hey Cade, today is Wednesday."

Cade looked up at me. "So?"

"The dessert isn't dextro."

"And?"

"So you're going to be in the bathroom for the rest of the day, dumbass."

The thanks I got for my service announcement was a punch in the groin. It was a very inconsiderate thing to do. Misery loves company I guess.

March 30th, 2211, 1821 hours – Aboard the SSV Excalibur — Deck 3, Medical Bay

(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)

I always hated the lights they had in Systems Alliance medical bays. They were always too fluorescent. Too bright. They were also always on, rending any sort of sleep impossible without a decent sedative. I had once been stuck in a cruiser's medical bay for three days once after a nasty head injury had left me concussed. The lights had driven me mad, and I'd have blown own brains out with my pistol had Percival not brought me a sleep mask from one of the other crew members.

I stalked my way through the bay, waving aside gurney curtains and peeking into the side-bays. There was not a single soul except Jaelen and I, save for a bed occupied by a dead scientist whom I had not been strong enough to save. I was trying to keep her out of my mind, for Cade's sake at least.

The salarian biologist was sitting at a desk in front of a microscope and a holo-display currently showing a number of different scans. He hadn't reacted to me one bit.

I walked over and leaned lightly against the desk beside his and crossed my arms. "What did you find?" I asked.

Instead of saying 'hi' or offering any of the dozens of verbal greetings one might give a friend, Jaelen just turned his head and looked straight at me with a blank, indecipherable expression on his face. Seconds passed, but still he stayed silent. The lump in the pit of my stomach grew.

A full minute passed and still he just sat there, unblinking. I was about to lose it when he finally began to speak. "Cloud… I…. "

He started and stopped, and eventually settled on shaking his head in disbelief. The salarian scientist tapped a button on the holo-display and one of the body scans grew larger. It was my body scan. Whole parts of were covered in red.

His next sentence was tersely delivered in an out-of-character fashion.

"You're positive for the Cris'paii DNA. Bits of Reaper too."

I glanced at the readout. Well shit.

Jaelen looked at the scan and then at my face. His sharp mind quickly made the connection and his brows contracted. "You already knew," he said accusingly.

"I had suspected," I admitted wearily. "Dr. Anders said that not all of the subjects infected with Cris'paii DNA underwent the recombination process. You read my report. You watched my footage. All of the unconverted were biotics."

I hesitated then. Now came the hard part, the part that would make ninety-nine-point-nine-nine percent of the medical world believe that I was a delusional, certifiable lunatic. "But there's more, Jaelen. A lot more."

I started to tell him about the star-child, the dreams, and how I felt her inside me, sharing my consciousness. I told him that I had been able to view or relive memories and how she had been able to do the same with mine.

By the time I was done, all of the color had drained from Jaelen's face. His mouth gaped wordlessly as he tried to process the insanity of it all. After a few seconds he thrust himself from his chair, grabbed his own horns, and began to pace. The salarian's shoulders were quaking.

"This… This is... impossible! No— unlikely – Highly highly highly unlikely! A scientific, biological, and chemical unlikelihood that borders on impossibility in every ubiquitous sense of the word! The mind is nothing but neurons and electric signals. It's not… it doesn't…. DNA shouldn't be able to do that! It shouldn't!"

I gave a tired shrug, suddenly cognizant of just how worn out I really was after several weeks of hard fighting on Anhur and several mind-shattering revelations. "I don't get it either."

Jaelen paced back and forth a few more times before pointing a finger at me. He then closed the gap between us with surprising swiftness and began firing questions. "Is she there now? Do you feel her? Can you tell what she is thinking? Can she hear me?" he asked blisteringly fast.

I held up my hands. "No!" I replied. "Well, not really. I can… I can just feel her in the back of my mind, but she isn't saying anything—,"

"—Isn't saying anything? Can you hear her speak? What language does she communicate to you in?"

I scowled and batted his finger away. "Calm down man. She usually appears to me while I'm sleeping, but I've seen her when I was awake too," I answered, my mind trailing back to when she had appeared to me during the mission to rescue the engineer and when I had gone to investigate the Project on Anhur. "Sometimes I see her on the planet she came from, other times she's just there standing right in front of me. Everytime I see her it's like I'm in a dream or a hallucination. It's not like I can hear her voice in my ear."

Jaelen shook his head manically and resumed his frantic pacing. Now it sounded like he was hyperventilating too. Eventually I grew fed up with it. I walked over and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Jaelen – Hey! Stop it!" I ordered.

Jaelen finally stopped. He took a look at my hands and then twisted away. "Keep your distance! Your condition may be transmissible!" he barked.

"I think if I was contagious we'd know," I chuckled mirthlessly.

Jaelen sniffed and returned to his seat at the desk. He put his eye to the microscope again. "We cannot be sure. This alien DNA is virulent. Clearly it's been bio-engineered, and whoever the Cris'paii were their technology far outstrips ours. We cannot be sure of anything – not until I run some tests on cells from your infected tissue."

"Is there anything else we can do to be sure?"

Jaelen tilted his head. "I am guessing you don't want this getting out. It will be hard to convince the crew to submit to a full biopsy, but that would be one way. Actually… something else just occurred to me but I will get to that later. Quarantine likely not going to be helpful anymore. Have you had any intimate relations since the incident?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Good," Jaelen sighed. "I do not think you are infectious in the way viruses are, but we cannot be sure of anything at this time. However, one of the easiest ways to 'mix' your DNA into another individual is through physical intimacy, so I would refrain from that for now. Shouldn't be too hard."

"Eat my ass," I scoffed. Maybe things weren't looking too bad for me if my friend could joke about it. "Jaelen, do you have any idea why this is happening to me? Why I wasn't turned into one of those things?"

Jaelen looked up from his microscope. "The data is that some, but not all, biotics were unchanged physically. Why?" he asked rhetorically. At least, I hoped it was rhetorical.

He pulled up my medical charts. "Thankfully you requested a very thorough biopsy and not a random tissue sample from just a single part of your body. Something I noticed when I analyzed your tissue is that the Cris'paii DNA was not present in any of the cells around your element zero nodules along your nervous system. I thought this was strange given that we have seen transformed asari."

Jaelen fiddled with the holo-display again and my medical files came up. "I looked at your complete medical records Cloud. It says here you used to abuse biotic-enhancing chemicals such as Minagen X9, correct? As a result, your central nervous system suffered some damage. It's slight for now, but the long-term effects of biotic-enhancing chemicals are not yet completely known to us."

I nodded and pulled my arms tight across my chest. "You're correct. I get some headaches from time to time and a lot of insomnia. I used to use a lot before I became a Spectre, but I haven't really used since then," I lied. The last time I had used Minagen X9 it had been on the Hippocrates, and soon after I had found out that I could hear the Chimera.

Jaelen rubbed his horns wearily. "I think that however this Cris'paii DNA operates, it does something to or requires something of an individual's nervous system. I cannot know for certain unless you know of any Cris'paii bio-geneticists still alive somewhere with firsthand knowledge of this synthetic DNA, but I bet if I perform a biopsy on a few of the creatures with biotic hosts I could round out my hypothesis a bit better."

"Do it," I nodded. "And I'll order the crew to submit to some biopsies as well."

Jaelen nodded and went back to his microscope, but then suddenly let out a little laugh and threw his hands up into the air. "Not that any of what I do is likely going to matter! Somehow the Cris'paii engineered and implanted in themselves a synthetic DNA that not only survived Reaper harvesting but also managed to merge a consciousness with yours! It may as well be –,"

"Magic," I finished flatly. I knew my human literature fairly well. "That was Arthur C. Clarke."

"A visionary for sure," Jaelen chuckled. The smile dropped from his face shortly after. "My friend, I have nothing but theories right now. I do not know what this DNA will do to you. I do not know what further effects it might have, or if it can even be reversed…"

His optimism made me laugh. "Reversed? Jaelen I'm no scientist, but I get the feeling that that might not be in the cards for me."

The salarian gave a half-hearted shrug. "Hey, once can hope," he smiled sadly. "Anyways, based on what you've told me it sounds like her consciousness has further integrated with yours over the last few weeks. I do not know if that will slow down or accelerate or stop. I also do not know what further changes to your nervous system might have on whatever is going on inside of you. Therefore, I would recommend that you not take any more Minagen X9."

No sex and no drugs. That was reasonable. I thought for a moment that maybe I was free and clear, but then Jaelen began to open his mouth again. There was another shoe after all. "I would also recommend that you refrain from using your biotics," he finished.

A shiver ran down my spine and I immediately shook my head. "Jaelen, you know I can't do that. They need me. You've seen what I can do—"

"Cloud, we need you for your leadership and for your instincts," he returned immediately. Jaelen must have been anticipating a fight over this. "We don't need you because of your biotics."

I turned away, squeezed my eyes shut and counted to ten. When I was done, I let out a long-winded sigh. The entire time I could feel Jaelen's eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.

Finally, I turned back around. "I can't. The Minagen X9 – sure. But I can't do the other thing. If something happens in a fight, I—,"

The lights were ruthless in their ability to reveal. My jaw clenched up and I shook my head. "I can't let anyone die because of me— Because I wasn't able to fight," I finished.

Jaelen and I were both quiet for a bit after that. The medical bay was silent save for the hum of those damned lights.

It was Jaelen who broke the silence first. "Cloud. I'm not a doctor."

"I know," I grunted.

"I'm just your friend," Jaelen finished. "And as your friend, I'm telling you that if you push yourself too hard with your biotics… there's no telling what effect that will have on the Cris'paii DNA. We don't even completely understand what the DNA does."

"I know," I repeated. "And I'm telling you, as your friend, that I can't or won't let that stop me from doing whatever it takes to finish this mission. Whatever we're wrapped up in, it's bigger than any one of us. You know that."

That was all I wanted to say. I turned on my heel and made my way towards the exit. I wasn't going to let anyone else important to me die because I wasn't strong enough.

"And if you begin to turn?" Jaelen called out. "What then?"

I didn't stop and I didn't turn back. I just tapped a finger on my holster.

March 31st, 2211, 1246 hours – Aboard the SSV Excalibur — Deck 4, Officer's Lounge

(Spectre Operative 04272182-Cloud)

"My friends. You bow to no one."

I quite nearly lost it at that. Jay began to cry again for what was probably the eighth time since we started this movie series, with Percival and Cade trying each other for second with three times a piece. It had been pretty distracting for the other watchers as both of them were very ugly criers, but I didn't mind it. I loved hearing the two of them cry.

"This is really, really good," Elektra whispered from my left.

"I know," I agreed. "Worth the nine hours."

"I still can't believe you two have never watched this series. It's a classic," Val chimed in from my right.

"Never had the chance to. Thanks for recommending it," I whispered back.

The flight lieutenant smiled. Her eyes were bright, shining like diamonds in spite of the darkness of the room. She must have cried at one point too.

A pillow came whistling pass my head. "Can you guys shut up?" Cade grumbled from the couch to our left, "We're not done yet." From beside the turian, Camilla nodded vigorously in agreement. Both of our couches received a barrage of dirty glares from Accer's team, who were currently occupying a third couch and a pair of chairs.

Val and I settled back down and continued watching the movie. We were all currently crammed in the officer's lounge watching on a projector that she had brought from home. Val and I had started the movie in her room after she had made some sort of movie reference about a 'Precious' and I had told her I had no idea what movie she was referencing, and then Cade and Camilla had found us. Elektra had barged in next threatening to kill Cade for some reason, but had soon found herself engrossed in the movie as well. That was when I had decided to take this to the officer's lounge. Percival and Accer's team came together after Cade messaged them and the rest was history. Judging from the enthusiastic and knowing comments everyone else was making they had all seen this series before.

It was truly a fantastic series. This was Elektra and I's first time watching it and we were both floored. The battle scenes were incredible and the writing was unmatched. More amazing was the fact that it had come out nearly two hundred years ago. I really liked the gardener hobbit in particular. The only times I had come close to shedding a tear were during his inspirational speeches.

The movie was about to wrap up when my omni-tool buzzed. I glanced down, cupping the screen so that it wouldn't interrupt the other movie-goers. It was a heavily-encrypted call request from the Office of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance.

The party was over. Calls made from the Office rarely contained good news. I nudged Elektra, tilting the omni-tool towards her. She glanced at it, then nodded at me. I signaled to Cade and Percival as well.

The hobbits were now boarding the ship. The four of us rose and began to move to the door. Accer caught my eyes as we were leaving and gave me a knowing nod. The marine was perceptive; he could tell something was up. I could feel Val's eyes on me as well.

We retreated into the room Elektra and I shared and then I accepted the call. I was met with a familiar, friendly visage.

"Lanto? What's up," I greeted my fellow Spectre.

"Cloud, Percival, Cade, Elektra, it's good to see that you are all still alive," the salarian Spectre replied. I was taken back by how tired my friend looked. The sheen was missing from his eyes, rendering them a dull black, and his green skin was less vibrant than it had been three weeks ago when I last saw him on the Citadel.

"You look like shit, Lan. Are things okay?" Cade said. My friend had noticed it too. "How's it going over there? Are you still operating from the Citadel?"

Lanto looked over his shoulder and then back at us. "No time, just listen. Since your meeting with the Council, Corribus and I have been investigating the Project as well. Your report on what happened on Anhur was particularly enlightening… and very unsettling."

My report had read like a shitty sci-fi, full of what I was afraid would be utter nonsense that no one would believe. It was a relief to hear that it was being taken seriously by other Spectres. "Do you have something for us?" I asked.

"Yes. My intelligence network just picked up a certain ship entering the Legatia System. Its drive signatures and hull profile matched the Exeter."

"The Legatia system? That's in the Apien Crest," Cade said with a disbelieving shake of his head. "That's just a few hours away from Trebia. There's no way the Ninth can withstand the turian home fleets. What the hell is the Project thinking?"

The Project had managed to jump several of their ships out of the Amun system after sacrificing a significant amount of their naval and land forces to Anhur, leading us to do the same and deceiving us into thinking that the Reaper Core was strategically significant. With most of his troops planetside and a treaty that forbade firing on fleeing ships, the Primarch had chosen not to pursue and instead had decided to retake Anhur instead. It had been a good, strategic decision on the Project's part, but they had followed it up with an incursion into the turian home cluster. Why? The turians had the firepower to destroy their fleet ten times over.

Was this an attack force? That didn't make any sense. "How many ships did you pick up Lanto?" I asked.

Lanto rubbed a horn, a perplexed look on his face. "This is the strange part. It was just the one, Cloud. Just the Exeter."

We all looked at one another, confused. What was the Project trying to pull here? "Just one ship..." Percival mused. "And their flagship nonetheless. Cade, what's out there in the Legatia system?"

Cade thought about it for a few seconds. "Nothing significant to my knowledge. A couple of gas giants, a few moons, and only one habitable planet. It's a small one – Latibulum. It's a classified location, but not 'classified-classified'. There's no permanent settlements or labs on it that I know of though, just a small, military base. We use the planet to run training scenarios for our special forces. I trained there for a while."

"They must be after something then, an objective that we don't know about," Elektra added.

"I concur," Lanto agreed. "They must have intel currently unknown to us, but there's more. I gave the same news to the Primarch just before I contacted you, seeing as Legatia is under turian jurisdiction. When I asked him if he needed our assistance he declined and said he'd handle it. He hasn't replied to my further requests for information. He may have that same intel."

I felt a familiar current of rage course through every cell in my body. It was the same one that would run through me every time some higher-up clammed up and got all secretive and withdrawn after we gave them some bad news.

Cade rested a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure Garrus has a good reason," my friend reminded me. "He's not a bad guy. At least give him a chance to explain himself."

That didn't placate me one bit. I shook my friends hand off. "He's a politician, Cade. We need to have a chat with the Primarch and then get to Legatia. Immediately," I said. "If it's just the Exeter then they're probably not looking to stay very long."

"Corribus is already in the system," Lanto added. "He described the Legatia System much as how Cade did. I expect a report from him in a few hours. I'll keep my eye on our network and I'll let you know if anything else comes up."

"Great, thanks Lanto."

I closed the channel. Before my friends could even blink I was already out the room and on my way to the command deck, leaving them scrambling to catch up. I was feeling strange. I felt as if I was possessed— filled with this unshakeable urge to get to Legatia. It was a bit frightening, this urge. It burned in my chest and stomach like wildfire.

As I walked I tried to brainstorm about what the Project might be after in Legatia, but a woman's face kept intruding upon my upon thoughts. It was a face that just a short time ago had been nothing more than a decades-old memory, faded and tattered. An old and painful dream. Now I could see her as clear as day.

The sound of my omni-tool chased the image out of my mind. Another incoming communication. It was Val.

I opened it. "It's me, what do you need?"

"Cloud, we have a single dropship inbound, requesting clearance to land. It's registered to… the Archangel's Wrath."

The Primarch's dreadnought? "Let them in. We'll intercept them at the hangar."

"Roger that. Good luck."

I told my friends and we changed course. The shuttle crossed into the bay just as we arrived. Accer and his team were already there, waiting to receive the occupants.

The Jaegers were arranged in a semi-circle around the ship. Their weapons were holstered but their body language told me that they were wary and more than a bit nervous. First the communication and now a visitor from the flagship of the Turian Navy. They knew something was up.

The shuttle doors opened with a hiss and a single figure materialized from the darkness within, hovering just over that threshold. It was a turian clad in heavy blue and silver armor and a one-piece visor.

Garrus dipped his head in greeting to the Jaegers. "I need to see Captain Murgen, Lieutenant. Where is he?"

Accer was about to reply when I pushed past him. My forearm went across the turian Primarch's chestplate and I shoved him back into the dropship. He hit the side of the shuttle with a grunt.

"Cloud, hey!" Cade objected, but Percival held him back with a gentle hand.

Garrus wasn't fazed by my little tantrum and he didn't so much as blink when I produced one of my knives and pressed it beneath his mandible. "The Legatia System. What's there?" I asked abruptly.

That little move may have been a bit much, but I wasn't exactly in my right mind after learning that I was infected with whatever kept pumping out space-zombies and having my dead mother's face shown to me by some alien girl that shared my brain. I was also in no mood to get jerked around here. "Cloud, what do you think you're doing?" Percival asked.

But Garrus took it all in stride, even though I was sure he could have blown my hand off before I had even reached him if he had actually wanted to. "I'm sorry, Operative. I can't tell you," he said apologetically. I wanted to actually knife him then. "I need to see Captain Murgen."

My fingers tightened around my knife. "Cloud, stop!" Elektra begged. She grabbed my arm and I finally relented. I sheathed my weapon and released the Primarch, a little taken back by my own reaction. When had my fuse gotten so damn short?

I backed off and Garrus regained his footing. To his credit, he took it all in stride. The Primarch wasn't the least bit fazed at my outburst.

Garrus rubbed his mandible. "I understand what you might be feeling right now – trust me. There's nothing worse than when the higher-ups are all tight-lipped about something you probably need to know."

"Yes," I agreed. "So level with us then. We received a message from one of our colleagues. They said the Exeter was spotted in the Apien Crest. They also said that you declined his help and you've been cold-shouldering him since. Why? What is the Project after there?"

A crack appeared in the cool veneer that the turian Primarch always seemed to be encased in and I could feel a bit of anxiety leak out. The Primarch looked at the four of us. His mandibles twitched.

"I don't know for sure, that's why I'm headed there to find out myself," Garrus finally said. He didn't seem like he was lying, but it still seemed incredibly odd. "I told Operative Brulan that I would handle it and that's what I'm going to do. And I have to do it myself. There are things hidden in Legatia – artifacts from the Reaper War – that I do not want getting out. That's all I can tell you for now."

I gritted my teeth and behind me I heard Elektra sigh. We both hated state authorities for this exact reason. Our top priority as Spectre Operatives was always the same: Solve the problem as quickly and as efficiently as possible, let nothing stand in your way, and try not to do any too messed up. That was what the Council said they wanted. That was what state authorities said they wanted. However, these politicians always seemed to act in ways that were counter-productive to that. When it came to information we needed to carry out our missions, they'd lie to us, cajole, manipulate, and hide things to protect their own interests. It was infuriating. Cade and Percival were more inclined to play the game, but that was because they were soldier boys before they became Spectres.

Reaper artifacts then. Great. More damned Reaper artifacts. This whole mess started because people couldn't leave a couple of old Reaper cores well enough alone and because of that we now have cyber-zombies and mind-sharing dead aliens. Now the Project was out to filch some more from Garrus' backyard. What was next? A goddamn plague? Some cosmic, lovecraftian, cthulhu-looking horror?

Or would the Project succeed and actually resurrect the dead?

"So you won't be involving the Blackwatch then, sir?" Cade asked.

Garrus shook his head. "I don't need them. Your team and the Jaegers will suffice. The Excalibur is the closest stealth ship we have to Legatia, we can get there in a few hours. Now – where's Captain Murgen?"

"I've already asked him to meet us at the command deck," Percival replied. "Sir, the Excalibur's a heavy stealth frigate, built for stealth recon and special forces insertions. We're not going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the Exeter in a fight. She's been modified with XM28 T-cannons. She's a match for any dreadnought."

"I'm not looking for a straight-up fight," Garrus assured my friend. "The Excalibur can get us in close. One good shot and we can disable their drive core – leave them stranded. We can then board, capture any Project leadership."

"But why even bother trying to capture their leadership?" Elektra queried. "Why not just bring the fleet in and take 'em out?"

"We still need to find out exactly just how far they've spread and what else they're going to do. There's still a lot we don't know. We don't even know if the Project leaders are on the Exeter right now. We can't let something like Anhur happen again."

"We do need to find out just exactly how much influence they have, or else even if we do manage to take out the leadership someone else might just pick the Project back up," Cade agreed. "We know they managed to turn most of the Ninth Fleet and even win over a few salarian and asari ships. Do you think they've got anyone in the upper Heirarchy?"

"I can't say for sure," Garrus admitted sadly. "Based on your mission reports the Project has mainly garnered human sympathizers. That's probably because of the relationship that Dr. Anders and the N7 has with your former-admiral Octavian. But, they did manage to attract Severus Tyrannus and his commandos to their cause. If they can pull a turian mercenary outfit like that, then we can't rule out that they may have won others over from within our ranks."

Elektra jabbed an elbow into Cade's ribs. "Hey butthead, isn't that Severus kid basically a better and improved version of you? Didn't he kick your scaly ass on the Hippocrates?"

The fake smile Elektra had plastered over her face was wide, designed to incense to inflame. It grew even wider when she saw my friend's scales begin to rise. I groaned inwardly. Unending combat on Anhur had kept the two cordial to one another, but now that we were out of the woods the old habits had returned. A part of me was hoping Cade wouldn't rise to the obvious bait, but that was a pipe dream.

Cade turned his head very, very slowly, at her. He had a deadly look in his eyes that he typically reserved only for the most heinous of the bad guys we usually went after.

And of course all it did was make Elektra laugh, but her peals of laughter quickly became squeals of pain as Cade reached over and pressed his talons into her still-healing wounds. The squeals of pain morphed into angry growls as Elektra raised a fist filled with blue light. Cade's other hand went to his Carnifex.

Finally Percival got in between the two. "Guys please. Don't make me spank the both of you."

Cade and Elektra both gave him separate looks. There was a sultry grin here and a lip bite there, but otherwise the two broke off from one another. I shook my head.

Garrus crossed his arms. I had half-expected the Primarch to jump in and reprimand the two Spectres into line but all he ended up doing was just stare at them with a bemused expression on his face. He looked like he was reminiscing. I wonder if the crew of the Normandy had been this dysfunctional as well. Probably weren't, but they didn't have a turian man-child and a traumatized orphan. Two traumatized orphans I should say.

The Primarch took all of this in stride as well without so much as batting a mandible. "I expect that we will arrive in Legatia in just under two hours. That means the Project has had a two-hour head-start on whatever they went there to accomplish. While we may not have the firepower to take them head-on, we do have the element of surprise. If the spirits are with us, we'll take out their engines with our surprise salvo— leave them helpless to a little visit."

Garrus ended his little speech by producing a Predator pistol out of thin air and casually checking the heatsink. His tone indicated that our meeting was done and that we should all bugger off and get prepared, and that was exactly what we did. Garrus himself left to go find Murgen. He walked with airy confidence through the hangar bay towards the elevator, not giving so much as a glance to all the techs in the bay pointing fingers at him and whispering among themselves. It was pretty damn suave. I wish I was as cool as he was.