"Strux tells me you you went to get the drive core from my Remnant ship."

"That's true."

"And that you sold it offworld to scavengers."

In her head, SAM was screaming. It was the closest to offended that Sara had ever heard the AI. She blinked at the two krogan. "That's got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard," she said.

Behind her, Sara could hear Peebee choke on a laugh. In front of them, Morda's eyes narrowed to points. Sara ignored the overlord as she stared at Jorgal Strux. "Think about it, Morda. If I had a drive core, would I sell it to scavengers on Kadara for credits- that are functionally useless- or would I deliver it to the Nexus where it would be of some value?"

"I don't care what you did with it-"

"What about Strux?" Sara asked. "Do you care about what he did with it?"

Morda exhaled an angry puff of air from her nostrils. "What are you talking about? Spit it out or shut your mouth-"

"Clan Nakmor is a joke!" Strux interrupted. He stepped in front of Morda and raised his voice to address all of the surrounding clans. "The losers of Tuchanka are now the losers of Heleus! Overlord Morda has lost the drive core and our colony is doomed."

Without a second thought, Morda cracked her front plate across the side of Strux's skull and dropped him to his knees. "You're all talk, Jorgal Strux. I made this colony!"

Sara glanced to Drack, who nodded approvingly. Peebee had grown wide-eyed and silent as she took in all the mounting drama, and Jaal just appeared confused. Sara crossed her arms. The dull thud of that headbutt still echoed in her ears and made her want to rub her own forehead in sympathy.

"If there's an overlord, they should be from the oldest krogan blood, Clan Jorgal!" Strux bellowed as he forced himself back up to his feet. "Watch! I'll rescue the drive core and make us so powerful that the Nexus will bow down to us!"

"Except you can't, because we have it." There was that patented Nakmor Drack laugh.

"Aw, Drack," Peebee giggled back

"I wanted to see how long before he hung himself."

No one in Sara's little group had an ear for drama, it seemed. Or restraint. She could feel her mouth thin.

"What do you mean you have it?" Morda demanded.

"I'll let the Pathfinder answer that," Drack replied, giving Sara a nod.

Finally! Sara decided to play it cool and shrugged. "Strux played us both. He told me you were going to use the drive core to make a bomb, but had already secured it offsite before I got there. Next time, he should keep it in its casing so it doesn't leave a traceable radioactive trail."

Morda absorbed all that without a thank you or even a tiny, appreciative nod. Her attention snapped to Strux. "I'm impressed, Strux," she said. "You're more cunning than most Clan Jorgal. Smarter even."

"Nakmor arrogance," he spat. "My father lowered himself to join your clan because he admired your grandfather. He was laughed at. Called 'not worth killing.'" His voice stayed low and even as he stalked circles around the unmoving overlord. "But now I've bested you, Morda and Clan Nakmor will pay with blood."

That was all the invitation Morda needed. As Strux rushed her, she swayed to the left and let her fist drive him into the ground with his own momentum. He scrambled to push himself up and she brought her foot down across his back just as he reached his knees. Morda continued to kick him, again and again, driving her foot down into his spine with the cold, professional repetition of a jackhammer.

"You put the colony at risk over a grudge you carried across dark space?" And there it was, the heart of it all, what separated a real leader from a pretender. Morda stopped her stomping to wedge her foot beneath his belly and flip Stux onto his back. She leaned forward and gripped the other krogan by both shoulders, but just as Sara anticipated another headbutt, the overlord spoke. "You really aren't worth killing, Jorgal Strux. Get out. Take your goons with you."

And there was the second headbutt! Morda allowed him to crawl away into the crowd of dispersing krogan who stepped around Strux as if he was beneath their attentions. Morda dusted her hands clean and turned her gaze back to Sara. "Now where is the drive core? Hand it over."

It was dumbfounding and took quite the effort for Sara to do more than blink. "...Just like that?"

"It's incredibly powerful," Morda replied. "We'll use it to power the colony. It will put us ahead by decades."

Or, it could do the same for Prodromos.

"If you keep that drive core," the overlord continued, noting Sara's silence, "it's over between the krogan and the Nexus forever."

Clear-cut, to the point, with no diplomatic song and dance. It made the decision obvious. Sara filed that away as yet another reason among the endless as to why she loved krogans. She had to admit, using the drive core to power a colony was exponentially better than turning it into a bomb- regardless of SAM's recitation of the history of the Krogan Rebellions in her head.

Before she could extend her hand to the overlord, Drack was scoffing. "You have to give us something for it. It's only right."

While Sara gaped, Peebee chimed in, "We did get shot at."

"A lot," Jaal added.

Sara turned her eyes back to Morda and shrugged. If the krogan overlord wished to sweeten the deal, what kind of Pathfinder would she be to stop her?

"What about joining our colony with your outpost?" Morda suggested. "Give us the drive core and we'll be friends- New Tuchanka and Nexus. Keep it and you've created a sovereign nation. We don't abide by Nexus laws or owe you anything- even peace."

"I do like new outposts," Sara agreed. "That's kind of my thing, second to only reactivating vaults. Speaking of, I should see about Elaaden's vault. Drack can upload the coordinates to the warehouse the drive core's being stored in."

"I think we're going to get along just fine, Nexus." Finally, Morda rewarded her with a nod. "I won't keep you from your work, but I'm going to borrow Drack for a bit to discuss a clan issue."

Sara let the overlord walk away with Drack. It wasn't like Morda respected her enough to ask permission, anyway.

Vault work was repetitive, but honest. It was a relief to be out of the heat, even though Sara knew it would inevitably end with them running for their lives. It was time away to prep for any arguments, real or imagined, that could arise over the decision to gift the drive core and it felt good to be useful. Elaaden would always be a desert, but even SAM's tentative readings after reactivating the vault were promising. It would be nice to not have to seek out shade just to prevent death.

If Cora noticed the air cooling to less than boiling, she didn't mention it. She was never one to celebrate any minute feats and accomplishments when there were still other chores that needed to be completed. It was why Sara needed to swallow a groan when the lieutenant chased her down in the meeting room and interrupted her deliberations.

"Did the Tempest swing around and collect Drack from the colony before we got back?" Sara asked before the other woman could go off on her.

Cora made a face. "Were we supposed to? Did you really just hand a piece of priceless tech over to a tribe of krogan exiles?"

Sara hoped she just stared back blandly from her chair and didn't give the satisfaction of a reaction. "It was a drive core, and yeah. It was the best option."

"And why do you think that?" Cora was still attempting that polite veneer. With a little prodding, perhaps she'd say what she really felt, but for now she settled on clasping and unclasping her hands behind her back.

"Did you want to keep it?" Sara asked slowly.

"Maybe. I don't know!" Cora threw her hands up. "I don't know anything, because you run off and make split second decisions that effect everyone without consulting anyone!"

"That is literally part of my job."

"Part of your job is to do whatever you want in the moment, disregarding all the other lives it could impact?"

"In a manner of speaking, yeah." Sara narrowed her eyes and waited for the shock to ricochet across Cora's features. "Pathfinders were tasked with finding golden worlds. They were a bust; now I have to try to make them golden. You need to start trusting me."

"Trust you? It's not that I don't trust you-"

"Then why are you arguing?" Sara pushed herself away from the table. "I don't need that from you, Tann or anyone else! SAM is in my head, doing multiple calculations far beyond the scope of your knowledge and expertise, so when I do something, rest assured that there is a damn good reason for it-!"

"Pardon me for thinking that someone smelling nice or smiling prettily at you might not be the damn good reason we need!" Cora snarled. She unclasped her hands long enough to swipe at her hair. "What happened with the krogan?" she wanted to know. "Did they growl and threaten you into submission or just ask nicely?"

Whatever fight Cora was looking for, Sara didn't want to give it. She took a breath and bit down on her frustrations. "You know as well as I do, if my dad was still here he wouldn't be checking in with you for every little thing and you know you wouldn't be having the snit you're having now."

"And you know that's because your father was Alec Ryder and he earned it!"

Cora appeared almost surprised by her admission. The words clung to the air, deafening against the hum of the ship's filtration system.

"My father chose me," Sara said as evenly as her white-knuckled fists would allow.

"And why is that?" All the cordial saccharin manners and motherly needling was gone. All of Cora's frustration and resentment exposed would have stung if Sara hadn't felt so vindicated to finally hear it.

"He chose me-"

"To save your life!" Cora Harper told her. "That prickly, old bastard had one weakness and no one blames him for saving his daughter's life, but you're out of your mind if you think anyone is just going to blindly follow some twenty-two year old upstart with zero training."

"I know what needs to be done, but I can't get it done without your support-"

"Do you?" The laugh hurt. "Then why aren't you doing it? You go off galavanting in vaults and bounce from planet to planet and don't even realize that I'm literally doing your day-to-day job. Provisions for the ship. Communications with the Nexus. Fuel. Do you even know how any of that's acquired? What about your crew? Do you even know who they are?"

"I know who I work with!"

"I don't mean who you traipse across planets with. What about your ship's crew? You know, the ones you should be leading. What's the name of your ship's science officer? Our pilot?"

"The science officer? Her name-"

"No!" Cora snapped, the green in her eyes glinting dangerously. "I asked Sara Ryder what her name was- don't you dare use SAM to pull it out of some database."

Sara threw her hands up. "If the answer's still right, does how I got it matter?"

"You know it does!" Cora exploded. With a shake of her head she lowered her voice to a mutter. "I prepped for years as your dad's second, then he chooses you? An untrained Pathfinder in all this mess to fix? What the hell was he thinking?"

"Apparently, he wasn't," Sara muttered back at her.

"Maybe you're right and you're doing everything for a reason." Cora sighed and began to rein in any legitimate emotion with strokes to her hair. "But if no one knows why you're doing what you're doing, they can't help you. They won't believe in you and they won't follow you."

"I have literally terraformed three planets." Sara raised a brow. "You're telling me that's not enough?"

"Have you ever played cards with Gil?" Cora asked. "Did you even know he liked poker? What about Suvi? Were you around to take her to the med bay when she licked the wrong rock? Did you know Kallo was part of the team that actually built the Tempest?"

Sara fought the urge to bring up Drack's age or Vetra's sister or Peebee's elcor father- any other shred of proof that she knew her people. Instead, she shrugged. "You know I don't. It's why you're bringing it up."

"Reach out," Cora said. "If you let them know you, they'll have a reason to trust your decisions."

"That go for you, too?" Sara raised a brow at her.

Cora breathed a small laugh and straightened her back. "We'll have to see, won't we? But yeah. Probably. So what were you saying about Drack?"

"He was meeting with Overlord Morda," Sara replied. "Something about clan business. Suvi licks rocks? Does she have pica?"

"Scientists," Cora snorted. "The flaw to the lick test is it only distinguishes fossils from rocks, not poisons or allergens."

"How did the pamphlets sell the Andromeda Initiative?" Sara drawled. "The Milky Way's finest? Only the best of the best would be suitable for such an endeavor."

She'd eaten it up, too. Dad and his AI work was genius. Illegal and got him dishonorably discharged, but genius. It made sense at the time that everyone else would be just as smart, just as much a visionary as Dad. But now? After meeting Tann, meeting Sloane Kelly, Sara wondered that if everyone was so great, why wouldn't the Milky Way want to keep them?

Cora gave her a polite laugh. "Let's go pick up Drack. SAM should hopefully have a lock on the Leusinia's trajectory soon."