Chapter 24 - Love's Labour's Lost & Found

Illium Entertainment News Update - The galactic entertainment industry was split over drell actor Grelk Troylus slapping salarian comedian Kathar Saliak during a live awards show ceremony broadcast. The incident happened after Saliak made a joke about how Troylus' wife Massia, also a drell, had "shed her skin" just for the event. Saliak said afterwards he was unaware that Massia Troylus suffers from a rare condition that causes rapid skin shedding. While most at the awards show were quick to condemn the violence, several drell said the joke was so gross and offensive that Troylus' actions were understandable.

A bleary-eyed Linia T'Pala had to tap away at her omni-tool a half-dozen times before she finally hit the correct icon to turn off the device's alarm clock function. After several more seconds of blinking her drowsiness away, she realized with a start that it was now 7:20 a.m. She had a mere 40 minutes to get showered, dressed, find something for breakfast and get to the Blasto set in time for her first scene of the day.

Linia turned to apologize to Solik Vass for the alarm's noisiness only to discover that she was alone in their hotel bedroom. "Had to leave early to get some behind the scenes footage of the sets being constructed," declared a message from Solik on Linia's omni-tool. "You looked so tired, I didn't want to wake you. Meet for Lunch?"

'Behind the scenes footage' was Solik's code phrase for "I have to do something secret for the Special Tasks Group." The message was almost an hour and a half old. That her boyfriend, who worked at least as hard as she did, had managed to get up and get going that early was an awkward reminder of the differences between their species. Salarians could, among other things, get by on relatively little sleep. That he was able to slip out of the room without waking her was a reminder that he had become a pretty stealthy spy too. Linia, by contrast, knocked over the coffee table and a lamp as she stumbled her way to the bathroom.

One hot shower later, Linia was dressed and scurrying her way down to the hotel lobby. As she reached the queue to wait for the next skycab she was surprised to see Suzra'Bonah standing in the same line. "Hey!" Linia called out as she waived at her friend. The quarian turned and visibly shook when she spotted the asari actress. Linia was just about to ask the obvious question - "What are you doing at this hotel, especially this early in the morning?" – when she heard a familiar and deep voice call out to the quarian.

"I'm sorry, Luzveh, but the cafe was out of dextro-based tea, so I had to …" Tyruss Aklaysius declared as he strode towards the Suzra while carrying a pair of bottled beverages. His voice began to trail off the moment he spotted Linia. The asari began glancing back and forth between the turian and the quarian. Linia tried to prevent a smirk from appearing on her lips. She was not successful.

"Spirits, this is awkward," the turian sighed.

A hotel doorman announced that a skycab was waiting for Suzra. The quarian loudly mumbled something in her native language then gestured for Linia to follow her into the cab. "Well, c'mon, we might as well save a few credits by splitting the tab," the quarian declared. Linia nodded and entered. Suzra turned to Tyruss and took one of the bottles he was carrying, her hands lingering on his as they touched. "I'll see you later," Suzra promised the turian actor before hopping into the cab and instructing the driver to take them to the makeshift headquarters for 6th Dimension Vids.

The quarian sank into in her seat as the skycar sped off and began to cradle her head in her hands while softly groaning. "You're not actually the first person to catch us together," she eventually announced. "There was an even more embarassing moment when Jorgal Dreed walked in on us..."

"I wasn't going to pry," Linia insisted. "It's not really any of my business... That said, it does explain why you've been so distracted and anxious recently. If you do want to talk about it..."

"That... might help actually," Suzra replied. She gestured towards the skycab's driver to remind Linia they weren't alone. "Let's get to my trailer first so we can talk in private, ok?"

Linia was already running late for her next scene by the time she and Suzra arrived at the sprawling mass of tents and trailers that served as the headquarters for the Blasto vid shoot. She promised Suzra would stop by later in the day, then dashed to the set. Linia arrived to discover that things had been delayed anyway due to a technical snafu. Adria S'Voz, in her full Commander Shi'Paard costume, filled the time by chatting with Tyruss Aklaysius, who arrived shortly after Linia. The turian actor barely reacted to the young asari's presence, sipping his tea instead. He gave no outward indication that their awkward encounter earlier that morning had even happened. Linia took a chair not too far away and pretended to read from a script datapad while she eavesdropped on the other actors. 'Perhaps Adria will mention something about Aria T'Loak that the matriarchs would want to know,' Linia thought.

At the opposite side of the set, a human woman sat surrounded by a semi-circle of the asari actresses playing Shi'Paard's commandos, all of them raptly listening as the woman related some anecdote. Linia quickly realized who the human was: Josephine Holden, S'Voz's co-star from the steamy romantic vid 'Vaenia'. The human had been an unknown prior to the vid, just another model aspiring to be an actress. After the vid's blockbuster success, she parlayed her fame into being the public face of several major marketing campaigns directed at Thessia and the asari colonies. The glamorous human largely gave up acting to instead sell everything from luxury skycars to frozen desserts. 'What is she doing here now?' Linia wondered.

As it happened, Adria and Tyruss were discussing the human as well. "So you really haven't seen each other since you filmed Vaenia?" Aklaysius asked with genuine curiosity.

"No, our paths have never crossed since," S'Voz confirmed, her bodily language and tone unusually awkward for the normally focused and in-control actress.

"And you had no idea that 6th Dimension Vids had hired her?" Aklaysius continued.

"Not until Orbal sprung it on me this morning," the asari revealed.

The turian chuckled. "Classic stunt casting. It'll be good for publicity," he mused. "Every director in the business has been trying to get you two back on screen together since Vaenia came out."

He wasn't wrong, Linia thought, and it wasn't just directors. Reuniting the screen couple was seemingly brought up every time S'Voz appeared on a chat show or gave an interview. Sometimes the actress could not hide her irritation at getting the question for the umpteenth time. S'Voz would explain that their schedules had never quite aligned to make it happen, then quickly try to change the subject.

"Who could have guessed that it would be the Blasto franchise of all things that would reunite you two?" Aklaysius laughed. "And how do you feel about seeing her again?"

S'Voz frowned. "How should I feel? She's just an actress I worked with once."

"Really? I always thought your natural chemistry came across on screen. I know the lasting impression some working partnerships can make, even short ones," the turian noted. "The fact that your co-star wasn't really an actress before and didn't remain one after the vid came out did lend creedence to the theory she wasn't really acting when she appeared in Vaenia..."

"Careful Tyruss," S'Voz warned. "You of all people should know the dangers of confusing fiction and reality."

He smiled at her innocently, eyes twinkling. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

S'Voz chuckled and shook her head. Across the set, the asari had dispersed and the human was standing alone. She caught S'Voz's eye and the asari actress felt herself straighten up a little. "She's coming over."

"Really?" Aklaysius asked, looking over his shoulder. "How exciting! I feel as though I'm about to witness history in the making."

"Oh, be quiet," S'Voz replied. She tried to sound nonchalant, but her voice betrayed her anxiousness as Josephine neared.

"Adria!" the human cheerfully shouted as she walked up to them. "I was hoping I'd get to see you before we're on set together." Before S'Voz could reply, Josephine turned and flashed a smile at her turian co-star. "Tyruss Aklaysius. It's an honor to meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, my dear," he responded smoothly. "Never thought I would have the privilege to work with the human who set hearts a-flutter throughout the galaxy in 'Vaenia'. By that I mean I'd read that you had retired from acting."

Linia supressed a giggle. Aklaysius was playing up the 'gallant aristocratic turian' routine even more than usual. Linia suspected he has having some fun at S'Voz's expense.

"It's true, I did retire," Josephine revealed. "To be honest, I wouldn't have been able to sustain a career even if I had tried. As an actress, I was never in a class with people as skilled as yourself or Adria here. Vaenia only worked because I had a co-star who could... coax the right emotions out of me."

Aklaysius flashed a quick smirk at S'Voz at the revelation. The actress gave a coy 'Who? Me?' gesture in reponse.

The human continued, "I just happened to be here at the Citadel on business and I was spotted by a Blasto executive producer. He requested I do a cameo. Seemed like fun, so I agreed," the human explained. "So, I'm told I'm playing the complex and demanding role of 'human damsel.' Is that correct?"

"Not so!" Aklaysius cheerfully declared. He began gesturing flamboyantly as he spoke. "As of the most recent script update, your part has been expanded to 'screaming human damsel'. Should be much more dramatic."

"Should suit you, Josie," S'Voz wryly commented. "You always were a good screamer."

Linia completely failed to suppress a giggle at that, drawing a sideways glance from S'Voz in the process. Aklaysius meanwhile nearly lost his current mouthful of tea and began coughing and chuckling at the same time.

Josephine slyly grinned. "I'm touched that you remember. Though in my defence, that particular scene was a challenge to film." She leaned over to Aklaysius who just beginning to recover and whispered conspiratorially, "We had terrible trouble working out were to put the microphone." That sent the turian into a second fit of coughing.

"Which was entirely your fault," S'Voz declared in a comically haughty tone. "The script didn't call for you to be naked."

"It made for a better scene that way!" Josephine shot back playfully, before turning to Aklaysius again. "Besides, we did a lot of things that weren't in the script. Vaenia required a lot of improv." She winked and the turian laughed in delight. The revelry was interrupted by director Bik Orbal's announcement thaat the technical issue had been resolved and they were ready to start shooting.

Adria S'Voz stood up and straightened herself. "Ready to start working together again, Josephine?" she inquired.

"Thought you'd never ask," the human replied.

The scene featuring Josephine turned out to be the same one that human reporter Khalisah al-Jilani had earlier helped to rehearse. S'voz's Commander Shi'Paard would spot a human woman being chased by geth to the edge of a high catwalk and then falling off. Shi'Paard would then rescue the human by using a biotic charge to catch her in mid-air. It was a brilliant idea by the producers to have the human being rescued played by S'Voz's Vaenia co-star, Linia realized. The reveal would be sure to cause audiences to whoop and cheer.

It was a tricky and technically demanding scene, made even harder by the fact that cinematographer Savara Korek was still on the mend. The assistant filling in for her lacked the turian's eccentric genius. The stunt went off properly - itself kind of a miracle for 6th Dimension Vids - but without Korek the resulting footage failed to capture the excitment of the scene. Several further attempts would all end with Orbal replaying the footage and declaring, "No, not good enough."

S'Voz would remain still and continue to carry Josephine in her arms until Orbal gave his declaration. "You've been working out!" Josephine told the asari after one take. It was a clear attempt to lighten the mood on the set.

"Yes, I've been building up my upper body strength and also my, umm, stamina," the asari explained. "Sometimes with these action vids you have to do the same physically taxing thing over and over again - and, uhh, do it without getting winded."

"I can see where that ability would be every useful," the human replied with a wink. "I've learned some therapeutic massage techniques if any muscle gets pulled. I could show them to you. Just come by my suite at the Andromeda Hotel. It's room 2107."

S'Voz glanced at Josephine, arching a single a brow as she did but otherwise remaining silent.

Linia didn't have much to do in the scene, her role essentially reduced to 'crewmate watching Shi'Paard's heroism' and as a consequence she was more frustrated than usual as they did take after take. Linia was eager to see the scene finished so she could sneak over to Suzra's trailer and get the the full story on what was going between the quarian and Aklaysius. Linia was also anxious for another reason: she had to report in to her handler, Matriarch Aethyta, that evening with any news she had gleaned regarding Aria T'Loak.

"Bored too, huh?" announced a voice behind Linia. She spun around and saw Lyle Jeddick, the human special effects director. "Personally, I don't see what the fuck was wrong with the last few takes. But whatever. We still get paid the same no matter what, right, blueberry?"

Jeddick was one of the relatively few humans working on the production. That should have made him stand out more but he had a low-key manner that caused him to vanish into the background. He was friendly enough when spoken to but this was the first time Linia could recall him actually initiating a conversation. She shrugged off his use of the word 'blueberry' instead of her name, seeing little harm in it.

"Yeah, something about this particular scene just seems to create bad luck for the Blasto vid," Linia noted.

"'This scene'? Whatcha mean, blueberry?" Jeddick responded.

"You don't recall?" Linia asked, mildly surpised. "Oh, yeah, that's right, you didn't join the production until afterwards. Well, this is the same scene that Khalisah al-Jilani participated in during reharsals. That was before the producers realized she was working on some sort of muckraking expose and banned her from the set."

"No, shit. Really?" Jeddick replied. "Well, as far as al-Jilani goes, I'm beginning to think the producers don't have much to worry about. If she really had a big, scandalous story to report, dontcha think it would have come out by now?"

Linia shrugged. "We can't know that, can we? She's broken some big stories in the past, I'm told."

Jeddick's easy-going manner faded as a hint of anger entered his voice. "Those 'big stories' were a while ago. She hasn't done shit lately. She's all hype now," he declared. "They say al-Jilani has inside sources but I haven't met one damn person on this vid set who'll cop to working with her. So fuck that lying, two-faced bitch. What good is she anyway?" He glanced at Linia and saw that his words had unsettled the young actress. An aw-shucks grin returned to his face. "Don't mind me, blueberry. Just spouting off. Don't mean nothing by it."

It was well after lunch when Linia was finally able to catch up with Suzra'Bonah. The quarian shut and locked the door to her makeup trailer as soon as the actress entered. "The reason why I have been distracted and anxious lately is because I've been staying up way late every night reading everything I can on turian customs and social etiquette. Tyruss was helping me with that last night and, um, I ended up staying over," she explained. "Keelah, I've been trying to cram a lifetime's worth of cultural knowledge into the last few weeks. I have to do it if I'm going to be Tyruss' mistress."

Linia frowned and shook her head. "Okay, but I'm still confused. Why is Tyruss making you do this?"

"No, no, no! Tyruss isn't making me do it. In fact, he'd rather I didn't have to," Suzra explained. "It's his wife! Mrs. Aklaysius is demanding it. Well, not precisely 'demanding' it. But she is insisting that I become a 'pallaca' and the only way for me to do that is through study."

The more Suzra talked the more confused Linia got. "Wait, wait. Back up. His wife? She's involved in this? And what's a 'pallaca'?"

"The best translation I can come up with is 'publicly-acknowledged mistress.' It would mean I would be an almost official member of the Aklaysius family," Suzra said. "Mrs. Aklaysius would still be the female head of the house, of course, but it would mean Tyruss and I could be together without having to sneak around and without creating any drama. Until I can achieve pallaca status, however, we have to be discreet."

The quarian caught the puzzled look on her friends' face. "Ok, Tyruss comes from a part of Palaven where wealthy or otherwise prominent men are expected to have mistresses. Apparently, not having any results in people whispering all sorts of nasty rumors about your... virility. Turian men can just cheat on their wives, of course, but the much more socially-acceptable thing to do is to have a mistress that the wife has approved."

"Approved?" asked Linia. "You mean she could 'veto' you being with Tyruss?"

"Yes," Suzra confirmed. "And Tyruss would be obliged to go along with her decision and break up with me. It would be extremely scandalous for him to cross his wife on this matter. That's where I was going that day we first arrived on the Citadel: to meet with Tyruss and Mrs. Aklaysius so she could evaluate me."

Linia thought back. "Yes, I recall that you said that day that it was super-important that you make a 'good first impression.' How, uhh, did it go?"

"Good, I think," Suzra replied. "She gave me a tentative approval, in fact, but said I would have to appear at a public event later this year before she could give me a full approval. The event will be a trial by fire. I'll be watched by other families and all manner of V.I.P.s. Turians have so, so many social rules and customs relating to this and some of them are incredibly complex! If you grow up on Palaven, you learn most of this stuff naturally. As a quarian, I don't have that advantage. That's why I've been staying up every night studying everything I can find. Keelah, one mistake on my part could screw everything up. But if I prove I understand and respect their culture, then I'm in!"

The asari actress had never had much interest in turians, whose culture she found too uptight for her tastes. Suzra's story reinforced that impression and she worried that her friend was acting too impulsively. Linia muttered a "hmm..." and hestitantly asked, "Do you think that maybe, by making you do it this way, Mrs. Aklaysius is setting you up to fail?"

The quarian animatedly shook her head no. "She's been nice to me and she's helping with my training. Mrs. Aklaysius even arranged a special video conference with Consort Sha'ira so the asari could give me lessons in mistress etiquette. And a few other, ahem, pointers relating to turian men and their, uhh, needs," she sheepishly added. "Tutoring like that doesn't come cheap, you know."

Linia's mind briefly tried to imagine that tutoring session. "Is that unusual? The wives helping out the mistresses?" the asari inquired. "I mean, why wouldn't Mrs. Aklaysius be jealous of you since you're, you know, the 'other woman'?"

"It's not like that. At least not in Tyruss' part of Palaven," Suzra insisted. "Mistresses are just accepted as normal by the wives. In fact, we're even kind of status symbols. See, the female head runs the house and the quality of the mistresses is considered as much of a reflection on her as it is on her husband. Beautiful, glamorous ones will elevate the house's status. On the other hand, if your husband's mistress was, say, a drug-addicted wreck, that would reflect just as badly on you. It'd be a 'What kind of a house are you running?' scenario."

Suzra relaxed a bit in chair and her tone became more girlish and playful. "Keelah, in one sense being a quarian is actually a big advantage for me! The majority of mistresses are other turians, with you asari making up most of the rest. There are even a few human mistresses now, believe it or not! But quarians? We're the rarest of all since most of us return to the migrant fleet as soon as we finish our pilgrimage. By turian standards, I'm quite exotic," Suzra declared while using a comically-exaggerated posh accent. "So Mrs. Aklaysius doesn't want to lose me if I can achieve 'pallaca' status."

The quarian continued, "And, uhh, there's one last thing in my favor: I'm going to be replacing one of Tyruss' current mistresses. That one and Mrs. Aklaysius apparently do not get along any more. Not at all," Suzra revealed. She dropped her voice to near-whisper. "Jorgal Dreed says that mistress used to be okay but now she's just a straight-up bitch."

Suzra spoke with such animation and passion that Linia at times felt almost as swept up as her friend. The asari found herself torn between the impulse to be supportive of her friend and the impulse to be protective. "Are you... sure that being Tyruss' mistress is what you really want to do?" Linia softly asked. "Especially given the sweat and the strain you're going through to do it?"

The quarian crossed her arms and spoke with steely determination. "Yes, absolutely," she declared, her voice rising. "I have the opportunity to be with the man I adore and to do it without creating a scandal or breaking up his marriage. Opportunities like this only happen once in a lifetime," she announced. "And I will succeed at this. No matter how much effort it takes. Suzra'Bonah vas Marketa is NOT a quitter."

Linia had rehearsed four times what she would tell Matriarch Aethyta that evening before she realized it was a waste of effort. There were, after all, only so many ways to say, "I don't really have anything new to report, sorry."

The young maiden approached the bar the matriarch tended with trepidation. Aethyta, by contrast, was casual to the point of indifference. "Oh, yeah. It's you," the matriarch half-muttered as she finished cleaning some glasses. "Well, what can I get you?" she asked as Linia took a seat.

"Just a glass of the house wine," the younger asari requested. She dropped her voice to a near-whisper, "I don't believe S'Voz and T'Loak have had any contact since the night they were at this bar together. I have no evidence of any falling out between them, so..."

Aethyta curtly interrupted her, not bothering to lower her voice to match the maiden's. "You're saying you got nuthin' then, right?" Linia gulped and nodded yes. Aethyta merely shrugged in response. "It happens. Alright, just come back later when you do have something to report. And no need to bother visiting here again until you do, got it?"

"That's it?" Linia warily asked. She had expected the matriarch to be upset that she wasn't providing better intel. Instead the elder asari seemed to be reacting as if she'd been told that the bar was out of salted snacks for patrons.

"Yup, that's it," the matriarch replied. Linia reached for her credit chit, prompting the matriarch to add, "Don't bother. Drink's on the house."

"Umm, okay," Linia announced. She took a final sip of her wine, hopped off her seat and headed for the door. She had almost reached it when the matriarch called out to her from across the room. "Maiden, get back over here!" Her tone was now suddenly testy and impatient.

Linia did a quick about face and returned to the bar. "Yes...?" she anxiously inquired.

The matriarch poured Linia a shot of an obscure brand of hard liquor and then poured a second one for herself. "I was about to let you go when I remembered that the whole point of being a matriarch is that I'm supposed to impart my millennia of wisdom and life experiences and all that other crap to youngsters like yourself," Aethyta declared, then downed her shot in a single gulp. "So park your butt for a while, Miss Linia T'Pala. I have some things to tell you."

Linia took a sip of the liquor and instantly realized why the matriach's voice was so raspy. The liquor's burn felt like molten plasma. Linia coughed and motioned for Aethyta to continue.

"First off, you're done spying for the matriarchs," Aethyta declared. "To be blunt, you botched the job and we don't need you anymore. That stunt you arranged where you brought S'Voz and T'Loak to this bar was the deal-breaker."

The young actress was dumbfounded. "The deal-breaker?! But-but how? I got them both to come here so you could overhear them directly. I mean, that's gotta better than me telling you, 'Here's what I can remember S'Voz saying about the exiled gangster,' right?"

The matriarch rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guessed that you were thinking something like that. Well, let me explain Spycraft 101 to you, sweetie: When you hire someone to observe a third party for you it's because you yourself cannot do the observing without the person being watched knowing that you are watching them. And you don't want them to know."

Perspiration began to dot Linia's brow. "Okay, but I don't understand how-"

Aethyta slapped both of her hands down on the bar countertop and gave Linia an icy glare. She lowered her voice but spoke with a sneer. "T'Loak wasn't supposed to know she was being watched by us, you twit! Instead you led her directly to your handler, me. Well, guess what? She & I traveled in the same circles back in the day. T'Loak not only recognized me but knows me well enough that she figured out immediately that I was working on behalf of the matriarchs and that we must be watching her. The whole operation was compromised!"

The younger asari gulped hard and tried fight the rising sense of panic she was feeling. "I'm sorry," she softly muttered.

The matriarch took a moment to simmer down, then continued, "It's not a crisis, at least. I was able to talk to T'Loak and we were able to reach an understanding. Things are okay for the moment. But you are done as an agent of the matriarchs, got it?"

"Yes, I understand," the actress replied. "But why didn't you let me know I had made this mistake earlier?"

Aethyta poured herself a second shot of liquor. "I did. That is, I grabbed that salarian boyfriend of yours as he was leaving that night - you know he's a Special Tasks Group agent, right? - and told it to him with the instruction to pass it on to you. But he never did, did he?"

Linia shook her head no.

"Yeah, I learned that last night when you boyfriend dropped by this bar and requested a favor from me," the elder asari revealed. "He wanted me to pretend that you were still an agent of the matriarchs but to give you an assignment other than spying on T'Loak 'cause he was worried that that was still potentially dangerous. I told him to buzz off. I said I got enough real shit to do as it is. I don't have the time to dream up make-believe assignments."

Linia was now confused in addition to being anxious. "Solik did that? Really? Why? He doesn't even know that you recruited me. I never told him-"

"Your boyfriend knows. He's a STG agent, remember?" Aethyta knocked back her second shot of liquor. "Goddess, not only did he meet with me last night, but early this morning he tracked me down and gave me this datapad." The matriarch reached under the bar, produced the device and shoved it in front of Linia. "See, when I told him I didn't have the time to 'dream up make-believe assignments,' his response was to spend last night doing all of that work for me. He concocted a whole list of phony spy assignments that I could send you on and scripted out how I could present them to you. 'You just need to read them to her!' he told me. Goddess, he even went so far as to create multiple versions of the presentations since he didn't know precisely how I talked to you. The first versions are all friendly and positive, but each assignment also has a harsher, edgier presentation as well as a third, more neutral option. I took the device but didn't make any promises."

Linia picked up the datapad and scanned through it. It was exactly as the matriarch described. She realized Solik's claim that he left early that morning on STG business must have been a cover story for him delivering the datapad to the matriarch. "Wait, are you saying he did all of this just to spare my feelings?"

"Gold star, maiden!" Aethyta declared. "That's exactly what I'm saying: he put in all of that effort on your behalf, without expecting any reward or even recognition. I could have gone along with it, but I'm still kind of ticked off at you, so no. But I do think you deserve to know what your salarian boyfriend has been up to," she declared, then leaned in towards the maiden. "Speaking of which: one of things you learn after a millenium is that your time with the good ones is limited. Salarians even more so. So you fucking well better make the time with him that you do have count, you understand me?"

"Yes, matriarch. I will," Linia affirmed.

"Good," Aethyta rasped. "Now get to him."

It was late in the evening when Linia returned to the hotel room. Solik was still up, seated at the room's desk and editing his documentary footage. "Welcome back!" he declared as she entered. "How, umm, did your day go...?"

Linia sat on the bed and kicked her shoes off. "Come over here, Solik. I have something I need tell you."

He sat next to her at the bed. Linia reached over and took his hands into hers. She took a deep breath and began speaking. "I should have told you this earlier, but the matriarchs recruited me to spy for them here on the Citadel."

"Really?! Wow?! That's amazing! I never would have guessed," Solik remarked. "How, umm, has it been going...?"

Linia stroked Solik's hand. "Well. At least, I think so. I met with my handler tonight and she gave me a new assignment. She said this took precedence over what I had been doing previously. So it must be highly important."

Solik nodded thoughtfully. "I may only be a rookie spy myself, but I can attest that that probably means they think you're the only one that can do that mission for them," he explained.

Linia nodded back in the same thoughtful manner. "Well, I am even more of a rookie than you! I'm really nervous about it. I don't suppose you could ... help me do the assignment? I'd feel much better if I knew you were there to watch my back. Assuming, of course, that's not a problem for your work with the STG."

Solik scratched his chin. "I... don't think me assisting you would be an issue. Our races are allies and fellow Council members, after all... Unless the major pulls me away with some urgent business, sure... Yes, I can help you with your mission." Solik began smiling at the thought. "Yes, this could be a lot of fun." Linia squeezed Solik's hands in hers.

"Just out of curiosity," he added, "How exactly did your handler explain the mission to you?"