Chapter 5
Friends Like These
"Nicely done, Kevin!" shouted Liam from the corner of the Field Lab, his hands cupped around his mouth.
Kevin nodded, smiled, and took a brief moment to observe his handiwork. A Systems Alliance fighter, which someone had taken the time to assemble inside the Field Lab, was slowly floating upward until it bumped lightly off of the ceiling. It wasn't a real fighter of course—it lacked all of the intricate electronics, weapons, and engines—but it had weighted metal inside to match its overall mass to the real deal.
"Clock's ticking, Folner! Get your ass in gear!" Maela shouted from somewhere off to the side.
Kevin's smile disappeared and he hunkered down his focus once more. He drew in another collection of dark energy and focused it into a high-mass field just outside the low-mass field that was lifting the fighter, and he used the natural pull of gravity to move the fighter from one end of the room to the other before he put it down and canceled any distortion fields still lingering.
"Alright, done!" he shouted to the air before running off towards a different end of the lab where a number of automated turrets stood ready.
"Barrier up!" T'Vess commanded. "These won't kill you if you fuck up, but you'll probably spend another week in bed getting the wounds tended! I'll get impatient!"
"Motivation enough for me," Kevin huffed to himself. He drew in more dark energy and, with a pair of outward-facing palms, put it all into a very dense high-mass field spread out in a wall in front of him.
Within a second of his barrier being deployed, three of the six turrets began to fire at two rounds per second. The persistent shimmer of light that stood between Kevin and the turrets rippled as the rounds impacted, but Kevin held fast. He didn't even seem to be putting a whole lot of effort into it. After about twenty seconds of sustained fire, the other three turrets followed suit, increasing the number of rounds that hit the barrier to a total of twelve per second. The barrier was alive with ripples and a pile of rounds made of some sort of firm ballistics gel began to pile up at its base.
After another twenty seconds or so, Maela called out again. "Good! Now destroy the turrets!"
"While under fire?" Kevin asked himself as he furrowed his brows. "Alright then." He drew in a breath and started a steady march forward. He had to focus a little harder to keep the barrier maintained, as he was effectively increasing the number and velocity of the hits it was taking just by moving towards the turrets.
When he got half-way to his destination, he stopped and drew in a second well of dark energy. How do I take out a collection of mechanical attackers without lowering my barrier? he wondered. He had to keep the second well of energy moderate or he'd lose control of the feed that maintained the barrier, which meant he couldn't afford anything grand or flashy. He then realized that the turrets were all placed close together, and he made a snap decision.
This was the hard part. Working two very different biotic moves at the same time with any sort of efficiency was always a challenging task, to the point where most biotics preferred not to try it in combat. It was too much a gamble for most. Maela insisted Kevin could do it easily. All that he needed was practice on properly splitting his concentration on the monumental multitasking requirements for each move.
He drew back his right hand and thrust it forward again with each finger curled half the way to a fist. That was his move for biotic warp distortion fields, and he placed a good sized one dead center of the turrets. He knew he could maintain his barrier as long as the number of turrets firing didn't increase dramatically, so he figured he could spend the extra few seconds it would take for the warp to cause mechanical failure.
Sure enough, the turrets began to fail in quick succession as their existence was torn to bits and he was relieved from the constant press of fire. Just as he was about to lower his barrier, however, a cannon typically seen atop all-terrain tanks rose up from a freshly uncovered slot in the ground and centered aim on him.
"What the hell!" Kevin shouted as he pushed some emergency energy into his field to make it as strong as he could. He knew he couldn't stop one of these dead—it took more energy than even he could muster to stop something with that much velocity—but Maela had taught him how to angle his barriers so that he could turn aside a shot rather than try to stop it dead.
"Like Cyclic Barrier Technology," he'd commented to Maela at the time. "Turn it into a grazing shot to reduce strain on the barrier and conserve energy. That makes so much sense that it hurts."
A quick mental adjustment was all that was required, and the wall of shimmer shifted accordingly. Just in time, too, as the cannon promptly fired with a deafening boom. The barrier in front of him rippled so hard it looked like it would pop, and the tank round ricocheted off into a much stronger kinetic barrier set up just in front of the lab's wall. Kevin grit his teeth and a great deal of his energy was spent in altering the velocity of the shot. He estimated he only worked off a fifth of the round's total kinetic energy, but his barrier was down by more than half. He worked hard and fast to restore as much strength to it as he could.
A few seconds later, the cannon fired again. The round was deflected once more and Kevin felt his feet push into the dirt under his shoes.
"Destroy it!" Maela shouted between ear-ringing blasts.
"This woman's trying to kill me!" Kevin said to his barrier as he fought to ready his barrier for a third shot. This time, though, he was counting. One. Two. Three. Four.
BAA-OOM!
Four point two five seconds… That's enough to drop my barrier and put it in a stasis field. Kevin felt the dirt shift under him again as the force from the cannon continued to push his shoes further back through the grassy ground, leaving a short trail of dirt skid marks in front of him.
Kevin dropped his barrier in favor of gathering dark energy faster. One. He heard someone yell warnings at him from somewhere behind him, but he wasn't really paying attention to the words. Two. He lifted his arms in preparation for performing the move. He was almost ready. Three. He just needed one more second to gather enough energy. A cannon is no small object…
Four. Now!
Kevin brought both hands together and released his energy around the cannon in its entirety. Where normally there would be another deafening boom, only silence prevailed. Well, aside from Allison and Susume's anxious yelps that echoed around the large room. Even Kevin had to let go of a breath when he didn't hear it fire, and he jogged over to the base of it as he gathered energy for one more strike.
Maela rested a fist on her hip. "Well, the orders were to destroy it, not just neutralize it, but—"
Kevin turned to Maela, grinned wide, and dropped the stasis field. The cannon began to turn towards him in a vain attempt to regain targeting on him, which had it aiming in the direction of Maela and the others further back. They all ducked in reflex and Kevin laughed as he released his dark energy with a biotic-powered fist right through the relatively narrow pivot pole that protruded from the ground. The lab echoed with a metallic crack and the cannon fell over backwards with two massive thuds.
"Destroyed," he announced, a cocky smile still overtaking his face.
"Damnit, Kevin!" someone shouted in the distance.
Maela straightened herself up, adjusted her outfit, and cleared her throat. "Well. Alright then. Ahem… The examination is over now. You can come back here with the rest of us."
Kevin dropped his hands to his sides as he began to walk towards Maela and the rest. "No more surprise turrets? No spine-mounted cannon to defend against? Asteroids to redirect?"
"Shut the hell up and get over here already," the asari shot back far less angrily than the words suggested.
"How'd I do?" he asked when he got there. He stopped dead when he saw a turian with the group he hadn't seen before. His armor bore several military insignias he couldn't comprehend, though he still recognized them as military.
Maela referenced her datapad. "I noted several decision inefficiencies during the course of your run, but that's easily remedied. We're not here to test how horrible your decisions are anyways. Biotically, you performed in the top tier in terms of effectiveness. That's the result I was hoping to see." She allowed herself a smile.
"Good to hear the last three weeks have had some viable results," Kevin said while he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. Maela had pushed him to the brink of his limits nearly every day since that first training session. His physical therapy had only lasted five days, but Maela's 'biotic therapy' only got more intense when he was done with it. Each day, more or less, consisted of his usual checks with the nurses, a hearty meal, biotic therapy until he could hardly move, another meal, and then sleep. At least he can say he had seen significant improvement, though—he was better with biotics by the time this exam came along than he was back on Omega.
"Never doubt my results, Folner. Many may doubt my methods, but my results never disappoint."
"I'll hold you to that, given I'm included in that statistic." He spotted an unfamiliar turian in military attire standing quietly next to Liam and the others quietly watching with arms crossed.
Maela tapped on her datapad a few more times before she tucked it under her arm. "This is Lieu—"
"Lieutenant Telius Mettack of the Four Hundred and Fifty-First Shock Legion." The turian stepped forward and offered Kevin a hand after he cut Maela off. Handshakes were a human custom by nature, but it seemed that many of the races quickly picked up on the simple courtesy of the gesture.
Kevin looked at the hand for a moment before finally taking it and giving it a firm shake. "Hierarchy military coming to watch me punch turrets? Should I be worried?"
Telius laughed. "I wouldn't get too worked up about it. T'Vess and I go a ways back, and I thought I'd pay her a visit. Heard she was testing some new human biotic kid on Huntress-class exams, so, naturally, I was interested in seeing this for myself."
"Why?" was Kevin's simple question.
"Lieutenant Mettack is a liaison between the Hierarchy military and the Cabal units," Maela explained. "He sees how turian biotics perform on the field, so it stands to reason he'd want to see how you did. To be fair, I did give you a lot of attention these past few weeks."
"Turian biotics need liaisons to communicate with standard military detachments?" Kevin asked, rather unfamiliar with the Cabals.
Telius tilted his head for a moment as he considered what to say, then nodded. "Not always, but for the most part, yes. As I understand it, human biotics are also somewhat ostracized under normal social circumstances, and such is mostly true for us as well. Turian biotics are a bit more common due to our longer coexistence with element zero, but still uncommon enough that stigmas remain. Most of that lies on past use of biotic individuals in our military, but I'll let you look that history lesson up on your own time."
Kevin nodded thoughtfully and spread his hands out. "Fair enough. See anything you like, lieutenant?"
"That depends," he said, turning to Maela. "Is this one of the humans that you mentioned to me years ago that operated without enhancement?" When the asari nodded proudly, he looked back to Kevin. "Yes."
"That's a relief," Kevin replied with an overdramatic sigh.
"Let me get us some food," Maela announced as she activated her omni-tool. "Fenra, order us some food from that eatery up the street. Give me eight levo entrees and one dextro." When the order was acknowledged, she shut the omni-tool down. "It's such a pleasant day outside today, might as well enjoy it, hmm?"
Kevin was grateful for the notion. He was starving, and that biotic aptitude exam took a lot out of him. "I'm down for that."
The scientists all looked at each other and nodded in tandem. "Sounds wonderful," Susume declared for the group.
"I suppose I can stay for a while," the turian finally decided, crossing his arms.
Twenty minutes later they were all sitting in a loose circle in the middle of a grass field chowing down on some lunch. The nice thing about artificial environments like this was that there were no insects to get into your food and the ground was reasonably sterile enough to eat off of.
"So why are you here on the Citadel, Mettack?" Maela asked between bites.
Telius looked over at the swath of humans. "It's… not intel I generally share with strangers. No offense."
"Who, these bastards?" The asari flicked a hand dismissively. "They're trustworthy, Telius. They hold some of my best kept secrets as well." She briefly gave Kevin a sidelong glance.
"That's all well and good, Maela, but—"
"Just tell me."
"How are they aligned?"
"They're all independent. None have ties you should be worried about anymore. Now tell me or I'll put a chastity plate on you again."
Kevin almost choked on his food along with Liam, Su, Allison, and Ed.
"Damnit," Telius muttered under his breath and he acquiesced with a snicker as though it were some sort of game they played. "Alright, well… Chief of Information Daerus Terril, with Primarch Fedorian's go-ahead, brokered a deal with the Migrant Fleet. We give them some of our highly specialized combat software suites to distribute amongst their ships, and in return, they provide fleet support once they're done doing… whatever it is they're doing. I'm going to Taetrus to meet with them and hand over the package."
Kevin's interest was piqued immediately. "Quarians are capable programmers, why would they barter for software they could program themselves?"
Telius finished off the last of his meal and leaned back on his hands. "Quarians are excellent engineers both in hardware and software, it's true. Unfortunately, all the software experience in the galaxy doesn't automatically set you up with the most finely tuned and efficient targeting systems, scanning systems, real-time fleet monitors, and combat prediction modules. That's something we have that they don't."
Kevin still wasn't convinced. "What the hell do they need turian military-class combat suites for, anyway?"
Telius shrugged. "Hell if I know. I do know that they've spent a fortune in acquiring massive counts of huge ship-mountable cannons. The talk is they're essentially turning the entire Migrant Fleet into a combat-capable armada."
"Day-um," Kevin let slip. They're going to attack the geth. Han'Gerrel, you're out of your mind…
Telius laughed. "Hah, yeah, an armada fifty-thousand strong is nothing to scoff at. It even puts our generals on edge. Chief of Information Terril thought that some friendly bartering would ensure that the quarians look on Palaven with favor when they gear up."
"That or they'll just sweep in with their new software and wipe us all clean off the galaxy," Maela added.
Telius laughed yet again. "Now now, Maela. Quarians? Win a military conflict against the rest of the galaxy? I think not. They can't even get even with the geth, and the geth have been beaten for years now."
Not quite as beaten as you think, lieutenant, Kevin thought as he recalled the geth fleet out in the An'Ramini Expanse.
The turian continued. "Not to say it wouldn't be bloody business, but I just don't see the quarians as any kind of powerhouse. No, I think the Hierarchy would much rather just have their fleet support. Some weird things have been happening lately."
"Like what?" Liam asked.
"You didn't hear this from me, but there are reports of unusually large convoys of batarians leaving batarian space. This stuff just crossed our intranet the other day. It's gotten Palaven's Primarch's attention, and at least half our forces are mobilized and ready for any possible incursion."
"That doesn't sound good," T'Vess added. "So the batarians finally got the balls to crawl back to the Citadel, huh?" She laughed once. "Right… Nobody's as stubbornly prideful as a batarian."
The turian shrugged and downed the rest of his drink. Some kind of turian ale. "Not my department anyways."
"Why are you heading to Taetrus?" Kevin asked. "Isn't that a turian colony world? Why would the quarians agree to meet there?"
"It is," Telius replied with a nod. "I'm not meeting any high officials there. Their admiralty board said I'd be handing the package off to a representative squad that they trust implicitly. That's utter nonsense in my book, but that's how they want to handle it. Not my place to argue."
"Quarian squad?" Maela asked, amused.
"Some elite unit with a ridiculously unpronounceable name. Spirits, what was it? Zeltersch or something?"
Kevin's head snapped towards the turian, eyes wide. "…Xelvas'taersh?"
Telius pointed at Kevin. "That's the one." He paused and grew instantly suspicious. "Wait, how did you know that?"
Kevin didn't respond. His head was filling with semi-logical explanations as to why the Xelvas'taersh was still in existence. If the first Xelvas'taersh was a catastrophic failure, then why would the admiralty board put more resources into that relic? How would they even know what sorts of people to bring aboard for the program if no one from the first squad made it? Why? What? How? How? Hooooow?
Memories of his old squad came bursting into his thoughts again, this time of the trek aboard the Migrant Fleet. He remembered the crowded corridors, the light haze in the big rooms, the many questions, the many quarians, and Siri'Kortel fending off the offended with wise words. He remembered Admiral Han'Gerrel vas Neema's speech and getting called up to stand with Siri and the others he'd helped. He remembered seeing a bunch of quarians fitting new GARDIAN laser emplacements on the Kellius. He remembered getting his Xelvas'taersh sigil from Admiral Han'Gerrel and agonizing over how to wear it.
He lifted a hand to his left arm where his emblem should have been hanging. It wasn't there.
"Kevin!" Allison called out, startling the human from his stupor.
"W-what?" he asked, his hand still on his left arm as if clutching an injury.
She tilted her head forward, looking a bit concerned. "The lieutenant asked you a question and you just stared off into space."
Kevin finally realized what she was talking about and he shook his head. "Oh. Ah, sorry about that. Uhm, it's a very long story, lieutenant. Frankly, I'm not really sure I want to recall the whole thing. Let me just say that I worked very closely with a number of quarians in the past and leave it at that."
Lieutenant Mettack stared at Kevin suspiciously. "No significant allegiances?"
Kevin shook his head. "Not anymore."
The turian continued to stare for a while but eventually let it go. "Very well then." He stood, stretched, and rotated both arms at the shoulder. They cracked audibly. "I shouldn't hang around too much longer. I might get comfortable and start divulging even more classified intel."
Maela frowned. "Scared you'll talk too much, Mettack? Lousy reason."
Telius smirked. "Actually, I have some preparation to take care of and I'm supposed to be getting contacted by my ride to Taetrus later today. It was a pleasure meeting you all. Maela, you know where I'll be if you want to chat while I prep."
"Fine, leave me here with all these humans," she said, disappointed.
"Oh get over yourself," Allison shot back.
Telius nodded to everyone in farewell and headed for the door. When he was gone, everyone started to chat about this and that, but Kevin was lost in thought again and missed all of the clashing conversations.
I need to get to Taetrus. I need to find out what's going on with the Xelvas'taersh, and getting in contact with the Migrant Fleet again might finally be possible. They need to know what happened out there.
He began to strategize a number of ways to get there. Going to a turian colony without reasonable cause had ways of deterring people at the last minute, and his reasonable cause was more like to get him kicked out than allowed in. Asking to go visit a hushed package swap between the nigh-unheard of elite quarian unit and a turian liaison for the Hierarchy military was more than just a little suspicious. Not only that, but with all the trouble with the separatists a year ago, Taetrus was far more… difficult to get into unannounced.
However, he knew someone who could help.
Someone finally saw fit to talk to Kevin amidst all the chatter. "Kevin, what's going on in that head of yours?" Susume asked. "Hearing about the quarian squad must be hard for you."
"Hard…" He looked off to the side. "Yeah, I guess. Especially since I never got the chance to tell the Migrant Fleet what really happened out there."
She tilted her head to the side, looking as innocent and gentle as she possibly could. "You look like you're concentrating hard on something. Mind if I pry a little?"
Kevin stared at her for a short while before answering, "Just… thinking about my old squad. It makes me want to go see the squad on Taetrus. Stupid, I know, but…"
"Hey, it's okay. I miss a lot of the people I worked with when we were raising you, too. If it weren't for Cerberus getting involved, I'd probably have gone to visit a few of them."
"I need some time to think," Kevin finally stated as he looked up to the asari in the group. "Maela, are we done with my training for today?"
She nodded and flicked a hand in the air. "We're done with your training forever, Kevin. The rest is merely personal improvement."
"Oh. Well, alright then. I'm going to go take a walk. Need some time to myself." He stood and brushed himself off.
"Where to?" Liam asked before thinking.
Kevin gave Liam a look. "Wherever I feel like walking. Why?"
Liam squinted at the air in front of him as he suddenly had to task himself with answering that question. "Err… It's just that lots of areas on the Citadel are more dangerous than they appear, and…" He trailed off while rubbing the back of his neck.
Kevin raised a brow and turned around to look at the broken cannon turret he'd punched in two earlier. He stared for a good few seconds to make his point before looking back to Liam.
The Irishman didn't seem to have a counter for that. "Right… Nevermind."
"I'll catch up with you all later. If you see Targold, tell him to take a nap or something. He's probably too busy pissing off the local C-Sec patrols to remember to do it himself." Without waiting for any replies, he turned and started for the door.
Outside in the hall, while waiting for the elevator to reach his floor, Maela caught up with him.
"Don't you know what 'time to myself' means, woman?" he asked with only mild irritation in his voice.
"Time spent alone is better spent with an asari on your arm, I always say," she said as she hooked an arm around his.
"Then you don't know what it means. Look, I just need—"
"You just need some time to mope about on the Citadel about your old squad and the good times you had?"
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Kevin and Maela shuffled inside, both actively aware of the many eyes of the lab's employees on their backs.
"Come on, Folner, cut the bullshit," she told him calmly as they began their descent. "I've been through your head. I know you, and you're not the mopey type. You're planning something, and I'm not sure I like it."
Damnit, I keep forgetting she knows what I know. "Oh really? There's only one way to find out, then."
"There's two ways. One way is you telling me your plan, either intentionally or unintentionally, and the other involves you, me, and that large bed of mine." She smirked.
My God, I should start keeping a tally of how many times she does this. "What makes you think I want you to know what this supposed plan of mine even is?" he asked with slight sarcasm as the door opened.
They stepped out onto the Presidium in unison. "Because confession through sex with an extremely attractive asari is the best way to tell all your plans." Her smirk turned into a grin.
I can't tell if she just finds this amusing or not. "I'm sure a lot of people who met their downfall thought that. Just look at Patriarch on Omega. He lost all his men to asari like you."
"Smart men," she declared with a sultry tone in her voice. "So are you going to tell me where you're really going or am I going to have to find out by clinging to your arm the whole way?"
Kevin sighed as he called for a rapid transit cab. "You're going to do that either way, so I don't see why it matters."
"You're a cruel man, Kevin Folner," she mocked. "Taking some sweet, innocent, harmless asari somewhere she doesn't even know to be lost and confused and under your sway until you decide to bring her back…"
The hell kind of fantasy is she playing at? "Sweet, innocent, and harmless?" He chuckled. "I'm sure a lot people who met their downfall thought that too. Some Cerberus woman getting shot through the neck immediately comes to mind." The rapid transit cab arrived and Kevin punched in the destination.
Maela, of course, couldn't help but peek around to see and she seemed curiously satisfied with his choice. "Edroki Plaza? Mmmm, I haven't been there in a while. I actually have a colleague of mine that frequents the plaza during her downtime. Maybe we'll bump into her along the way?"
"Wouldn't that be a surprise," Kevin commented flatly, fully expecting this 'bump' to happen regardless of his wishes. He stepped into the cab, helped Maela in, and off they flew to the Kithoi ward.
When he stepped out of the cab and was greeted by familiar sights, he stared more at the view than at his parasitic companion. The shine of the Widow nebula through the central ring of the Presidium, the long shadows of the tall buildings sprouting forth from the wards, the quietness of the vista compared to the hustle and bustle below, the sight of Edroki Plaza sprawling under the stairs down to the ground from the rapid transit station… All were good memories for him. Shards of some time long ago when he was less knowledgeable about the distant things of the galaxy. And quarian anatomy.
"You're awfully reminiscent today," Maela commented as she stepped out of the cab and once more hooked an arm around Kevin's left.
"Just remembering the last time I stood here," he admitted. This visit is long past due. "It was before I went off into deep space and got involved with the quarians."
Maela hummed in false interest and started tugging Kevin towards the stairs as a new cab was flying in to drop off more people. "Move your ass, we're blocking traffic."
Kevin let himself be pulled along for a bit, at least until they were at the bottom of the stairs. "I get the feeling you're taking me somewhere rather than the other way around."
The asari smirked innocently. That solidified Kevin's suspicions.
"Have you ever been into the grove at the center, Kevin?" she asked quietly.
"Yes. Why?"
"No reason. I was just wondering how well you remember the quiet nooks and places where people can relax unseen within the greenery for hours."
I'm pretty sure relaxing is not what's on your mind. Kevin started to tug away with the intent to break her lock on his arm. "Look, I have someone I have to talk to, so I'll be heading over there in a min—"
"Oh, there she is!" she exclaimed, pulling hard enough to cause him to stumble in her direction. "Senaris!"
Ahead of them amongst the busy gaggle of plaza-goers, a trio of asari were all conversing while watching some hobbyist performers at their craft. Upon hearing her name, the center one turned around and started visually searching the crowd for the source. When she spotted Maela, she smiled wide and moved away from the performers to give the geneticist a heartfelt hug. Kevin was free of Maela's tight grip for a few seconds, but it wasn't long enough to scoot away.
This other asari, who had to be just old enough to border her matron stage, had pale purple dots across her cheeks and a single purple line going down the center of her bottom lip. "Maela! Where have you been these last few years? I was beginning to think one of your experiments had gotten the better of you!" Her voice was soft, gentle on the ears, yet not lacking in confidence.
The other two asari rejoined Senaris and Maela nodded to each in turn. "Nice to see you again Rani, Neshara. As to that about the experiment, Senaris, you… may be partially right. I'll explain later."
"And who's this human you've been clinging to for dear life?" Senaris asked curiously. "Your latest pet?"
Kevin slowly turned his head to look at Maela with a raised brow. "Pet?"
Maela ignored Kevin. "You're funny, Sen. No, this is an accomplishment of mine. This was one of my hybrid genetics experiments from many, many years ago. His name is—"
Kevin bowled over her. "Kevin Folner. A pleasure." He offered a hand.
Senaris and the others stared at his hand for a short, but very awkward, few seconds. Finally Senaris smiled and took his hand for a delicate shake. "Not a pet, but a trophy. And he's courteous!" She breaks off the handshake and her hands return to being folded at her waist. "Not many can boast so much after spending more than a few days around Maela."
"I can understand why," Kevin quipped. He got a jab in the side for it.
Surprisingly, she let go of his arm. "Kevin, go run along and find your little friend. Senaris and I have some discussing to do."
"Keep an eye on her for me," Kevin said to Senaris and her companions and he flicked a thumb towards the asari in question. "This 'sweet, innocent, and harmless' asari may get herself into trouble otherwise. I'll come find you when I'm done." He heard the trio chuckle and Maela draw in a long breath through her nose, and he knew he'd hit just the amount of sarcasm and lighthearted insult that Maela was so fond of dishing out. He grinned as he turned to leave and didn't look back.
It only took him a few minutes to locate and arrive at the particular shop he had come to Kithoi for in the first place; an information broker that must have seen some decent business lately. The building was well taken care of, and a number of security enhancements had been added to the entrance, he'd noticed. Seems he made out like a bandit. Good that he didn't waste any time putting that money to good use.
He entered through the front door and spotted two vaguely familiar salarians chatting with a volus off to the side. There wasn't a whole lot of space in this main room, as most of the business was conducted in special private rooms meant to keep snoopers out. There was a single long counter that opened on the left end to allow the employees access to the back, some lounging chairs arranged in loose circles, and not much else aside from gratuitous surveillance and security measures. The only things not present were weapons.
The salarians and the volus didn't even bother to grace him with a glance, but a third salarian with back-turned horns entered the room from the heavy door behind the counter and gave Kevin a curious glance.
"Don't look at me like that, Tarsil," Kevin said with a smile. "You look like you're sizing up a pyjack."
The alien continued to ponder heavily over Kevin's appearance. "I'm sorry, I just… I can't get over… What the hell are you wearing?"
Kevin laughed and clasped forearms with his best of friends. "It's good to see you again Tarsil. It's been too long."
The salarian smiled wide and nodded, then flicked a hand in a gesture to follow. "Yes. Yes it has. Come on back, we can talk over a cold drink." He then turned and headed back through the big door, holding it open for his human friend.
Kevin hopped the counter and entered into the back right behind Tarsil. Once the big door was shut, he felt he could finally actually talk with Tarsil. "I see the Shadow Broker jumped at your offer. The place certainly has a few upgrades that weren't here last time I was."
Tarsil smiled proudly. "Indeed. I knew he would try to haggle me out of business, so I started high. In the end, I came out ten thousand credits higher than expected."
"Nicely done, old friend," Kevin praised as he looked around and noticed that things had changed back here as well.
The old 'batarian information mining bunker' was closed off now, needing some kind of special access to gain entry. The recreational area was largely the same but got an all-around upgrade. The central table and chairs were of much higher-quality stuff, and had a more modern look with lots of grays, blacks and silvers. There was a holographic projector at the center of the table as well, which he suspected had been put to good use. The area where the drink container used to be was now a full-fledged kitchen, and there was an additional room further towards the back with the door cracked open. The only thing he could guess was some kind of 'VIP discussion' room with extra measures to get clients to feel more comfortable, and thus talk a little more freely.
"Drink preference?" Tarsil asked as he accessed the selection panel on the front of the cold storage.
"Anything without alcohol," he replied as he took his customary seat at the central table.
"Still gunning for that 'no alcohol' policy, eh?" the salarian asked with a sly grin. Two sealed bottles appeared behind a sliding door and Tarsil retrieved them before moving to the table to sit across from Kevin.
"You know I'm biotic," Kevin stated flatly. "Alcohol and biotics can be a bad mix."
Tarsil slid one of the bottles across to his human friend. "Biotics get drunk all the time. What makes you so special?"
"Yeah, they do. And the drunken brawls that follow often end up with one or both dead, not to mention the innocent bystanders. That or they just forget how to keep it under control and some 'small throw' meant to nudge an ill-parked skycar out of the way ends up in a 14-skycar pileup. Nah, it's not worth the risk." He popped open his drink and took a hearty sip. It had a watered-down tartness that made him frown. "What did you get me?"
"Some popular drink called Tupari. Won't touch the stuff myself, but it can't be all that bad, otherwise it would have never gotten into vending machines." He sipped his own beverage. "How is it?"
Kevin sipped again. "It's tart and tastes like ass."
Tarsil found the notion amusing. "What flavor would you say that is? Ass-tart?"
Kevin chuckled. "Now you're just being a 'tart-ass'."
Tarsil nearly choked on his drink, set it down, and pointed towards the entrance door, half-laughing as he used his other hand to wipe a bit of dribble from his chin. "Get out! Get out now, Folner! You know I hate terrible puns."
"Couldn't help myself, sorry," he said with a shrug, unable to contain a minor victorious grin. "So have you still been getting pinged by that false account?"
"The one using Ralik's name? It's funny you mention that, actually. The pings stopped shortly after I put that block on the account like I'd mentioned when you called from Omega. Hadn't had a ping on those credentials since, until yesterday." He sipped at his drink once more before setting it down so he could use his hands to gesture as he talked. Such was the Tarsil way. "I decided to try and trace the ping to find out where it came from, but the trace stopped after a few hops off of the Widow relay tightbeam. Curious as to whether or not the original ones from a few months back suffered from the same problem, I decided to pull them from the archives and trace them too. Those ones faired a little better."
Kevin raised a brow. "Yeah? Where did they lead?"
"That's just it, they led to nothing. The trail vanished somewhere in the Valhallan Threshold. I'm beginning to wonder if the unique radiation coming off some of the anomalous star configurations out there might have reflected some old signal or something, but that doesn't explain this new one."
Valhallan Threshold? The only thing I knew out there was the Migrant Fleet. The hell…? "Could be someone's just trying his luck at getting your attention again." Kevin shifted uneasily. Something about this was wrong. And unnervingly timed. Hearing this just off of the heels of finding out that the Migrant Fleet's Admiralty Board continued on with the Xelvas'taersh concept almost made it seem more than coincidence.
Tasril gave a long, single nod. "That was my logical conclusion as well. I left the account blocked to ensure that whoever is doing this knows I'm not easily swayed by the past."
"That handles that, I suppose," Kevin noted before taking a long swig. "Hey, I've got a favor to ask."
Tarsil gave Kevin a wary look. "You're a hard man to please, Kevin. All I do is give. At least tell me this doesn't involve Cerberus this time."
The human grinned. "Isn't that what friends are for? To leech favors off of?" His smile disappeared as he continued. "No, it has nothing to do with Cerberus. I'm done with all of that."
Tarsil nodded. "Good. The less involved you are with them, the better off you'll be."
"Trust me," he assured with hands up in front of him, "I've learned exactly how Cerberus treats its friends. I have a bunch of them with me here on the Citadel, actually."
The salarian's big eyes somehow got bigger with alarm. "Kevin! Are you out of your mind!? You don't want that sort following you around!"
Kevin put his hands up again, this time gesturing for his friend to calm down. "These ones have been on the run from Cerberus for quite a while now. They're part of the team that made me what I am, and they care a lot for me. They can be trusted, Tarsil."
Tarsil squinted his eyes at Kevin, not wholly satisfied. "I don't like it, but I trust your judgment. Just don't bring them around here, alright? Defectors or not, I'd rather they didn't snoop around my store."
Kevin sat back in his chair and crossed his legs at the ankles as his feet came up to rest on the edge of the table. "Deal. Now then, about that favor…"
Tarsil Dolannus set his drink down and leaned on the table with his fingers laced. "Ah yes, the favor. Alrght, let's hear it."
"I need a legit reason to go to Taetrus."
Tarsil didn't move or speak for a good twenty seconds or so. For a salarian, that's a very long time. "Okay, well… I'm not quite so worried about this request as much the last one, but probably more baffled than ever before. Why in the galaxy would you want to get onto Taetrus?"
Kevin paused to think about it a moment, as he'd just then realized that he'd never divulged his time with the Xelvas'taersh to his old friend. "Remember how, in the data collected that I sent to you, it mentioned a 'team'? This team was an ancient quarian elite unit that was originally discontinued when they fled their homeworld. They resurrected it and included me for helping them. The unit was called the Xelvas'taersh, and it was essentially their own kind of STG, back when they had the resources to maintain black ops squads. Long story short, we had a lot of camaraderie in our squad, but they all died before we could make it back."
Tarsil nodded, listening intently. "Alright, but what does that have to do with a troubled turian colony world?"
Kevin shifted to lean on the table with his elbows and steepled his fingers. "I'm sure you know who Maela T'Vess is."
Tarsil nodded again.
"She's part of the group that came with me here to the Citadel. She has a friend in the turian military, one Telius Mettack, who apparently is heading out to Taetrus soon. His mission is to go there and meet up with a squad of Migrant Fleet Marines calling themselves Xelvas'taersh."
Tarsil gave the table a light slap with the flat of his palm. "Ah, I think I see where you're going with this now."
"Right. I want to go talk to them to get back in contact with the Migrant Fleet and find out why the Xelvas'taersh was remade again when the first failed to return at all. It's unlike Admiral Han'Gerrel to waste precious marines on a doomed cause like that."
"Wait a minute. You know one of the quarian admirals?" Tarsil asked as he leaned in on one elbow.
"Well enough to know what he wouldn't do. We spent some time chatting when I'd visited the Migrant Fleet and—"
"You were aboard the Migrant Fleet?!" He gave Kevin a long stare. "You're going to have to tell me this story. It sounds ridiculous and thoroughly enjoyable."
"Some other time, old friend. It's a long story. Maybe we can do it over drinks at that place across the plaza. What's it called? Rocam Lounge?"
"Yes, and very well. So how do you propose we go about finding you a legitimate way to get onto Taetrus? The culture there is still in a pretty fragile state after what happened at Vallum."
"I know, and this is why I need help. Telius is expecting a call from his ride sometime soon, but if he were to never get his messages… Well, he'd be forced to find an alternative means of getting there without resorting to strangers. You know how turians are about their missions and all that, and he's already admitted to this being a classified affair."
Tarsil shook his head slightly. "I can't just magic up people a military turian might know, Kevin."
Kevin waved a hand dismissively. "I've got that covered. He knows Maela T'Vess, and Maela T'Vess knows the Cerberus defectors and myself. We have a ship. If he lost his default ride to Taetrus and can't find another he can trust, he'd be likely to ask Maela for some help, who in turn would bring the issue to Liam and the others in order to use the MSV Appalachian. I'd have a much, much easier time staying aboard the Appalachian than I would some turian military frigate."
Tarsil put a hand to his chin in thought. "So you want me to block messages to a turian working on clandestine objectives for the Hierarchy in order to derail his mission and force him to seek alternative means of travel? All the while hoping that the military doesn't come down on my head?"
Kevin smiled. "Come on, Tarsil. You make it sound like you're worried about it being a problem."
Tarsil briskly swept a hand out into the air. "Please. Try to remember who you're talking to, Kevin. It's more that I have reservations about tampering with high-risk military missions that I have no business getting in the middle of. These kinds of things tend to… what's that colloquial term you humans use… Ah. They tend to snowball catastrophically if even the slightest detail is off."
"That's never stopped you before," the human countered.
Tarsil removed the hand from his chin and looked over at his friend with a smile. "…You're damn right about that, Folner. Consider it done. I'll handle the interceptions myself."
"Thanks, man. I owe you one. Again."
"Six, by my recollection."
"I don't know about that," Kevin said as he squinted at the ceiling. "My memory's kind of fuzzy on those details."
Tarsil leaned onto the table and laced his fingers in front of his face. "Mine is not. Never doubt that."
It took a little over an hour and another round of Ass-tart before the two could consider themselves rightfully caught up. Kevin spent half of it laying down a shortened version of his time on Omega since they'd last talked and explained his time training with Maela. When it was his turn, Tarsil talked about some of the more interesting information sales he'd made and the long process of selling that exclusive data to the Shadow Broker. Kevin even went on to share more of the information Telius had confided in him and the others back at the lab, much to Tarsil's delight.
After they'd had some laughs and felt they'd been well and truly caught up with each other, a moment of silence followed before Tarsil stood from his chair. "I should get back to work, Kevin. I need to get monitoring the feeds to ensure I catch any messages to this turian of yours. My clerks are probably wondering where I've gotten to as well, since I usually check up on the front-end every hour."
Kevin likewise stood. "Yeah, I should get going too. There's a crazy asari out in Edroki Plaza somewhere plotting my demise. I need to go reel her in before she gets in too much trouble."
"That crazy asari wouldn't happen to be Maela herself, would it?" Tarsil asked with a wry smile.
"It might be," Kevin admitted as he pushed his empty chair back into place "Since my biotic training with her began, she's been following me everywhere. It's creeping me out."
"I wasn't aware anything could creep you out, Kevin." He reached the door to the front room and opened it a crack.
"Neither was I," was Kevin's simple reply as he followed the salarian out into the front room again. It was vacant now, save for the two clerks—Jolaar and Deramus—who were talking to each other in low tones at the end of the counter. They looked his way to give him a nod of acknowledgement and little else.
"Don't be a stranger now," Tarsil said as he moved towards the other two. "I'm always here, so feel free to contact me if you need someone brilliant to chat with."
"Duly noted," Kevin said with a chuckle as he vaulted over the counter. "Catch you guys later." He gave the salarian trio a wave before opening the door and heading out into the plaza.
Despite the high number of asari casually strolling about the plaza, Kevin had little trouble spotting Maela and her entourage just two minutes after leaving Tarsil's place. He looked over at the stairs that went up to the rapid transit station and immediately debated just going there and heading back to his home away from home, the hospital room. He hesitated, though, as he knew he'd get hassled about it later if he simply left without Maela. The hesitation turned out to be a mistake, as the group he was wary of had spotted him and was already heading his way.
"Dolannus Information Services, hmm? What are you hoping to dig up, Folner?" Maela asked suspiciously.
"Wouldn't you like to know," Kevin jibed, crossing his arms.
Maela huffed. "Fine, don't tell me. It'll just give me more incentive."
"Incentive to what?" Kevin asked, almost dreading the answer.
"Nevermind about that," Senaris said as she took a step closer to Kevin. "You know, Kevin, it seems to me you've been under a lot of stress lately, judging by what T'Vess here has told me. As it turns out, Rani, Neshara, and I are licensed consorts and massage specialists. We help those who can't afford Sha'ira's… incredibly premium services."
She then reached forward to grab the top of Kevin's shoulders and test the tension there with a few firm strokes of her fingers. He felt a slight tingle where her hands gripped him, and it felt amazing. He drew in a breath and held it while she 'tested' a little longer, and he almost closed his eyes. When Senaris nodded to her two cohorts to get a feel of his shoulders as well, they both did likewise, one on each shoulder. This time, his eyes did shut without his telling them to. When they broke off, he opened them again.
Senaris raised both of her brows and smiled gently. "See? Goddess, there's a lot to work on. I recommend you come by our clinic whenever you feel comfortable, but sooner rather than later. You've got years built up in those shoulders of yours. It's not good to let that collect for so long." She glanced at Maela and smiled. "Since it's my colleague's fault that you're in this condition in the first place, I think I'll just waive the session fee." She opened her omni-tool and sent Kevin the location of her clinic—and a residential address. "Maela, please stop working this man so hard. He's been through enough, don't you think?"
Maela clearly had little care for the several minutes that had just passed. "Whatever, Sen. Are you done showboating yet? Don't you have a lab to run?"
Senaris and her sidekicks all smiled at that. "I have no idea what you're talking about. And yes, we should be getting back to work. I'll contact you later, Maela." She turned to leave, but stopped mid-turn and doubled back to face Kevin. "Oh, and Kevin? We hope to see you soon. I—we're eager to relieve your stress." She gave him a half-lidded smirk and then finally turned and left with the two silent asari at her side.
After they'd disappeared beyond the many plaza-goers, Kevin turned to Maela and stared. "What the hell was that?"
Maela hooked his arm again and they started for the rapid transit station. "What, Senaris? She's always been a horny tease," she claimed, looking straight ahead and flicking a hand in dismissal.
Kevin broke loose and took a single step away. "My God. You told them, didn't you? You told them about my… my condition?!"
The asari rolled her eyes and let out a short, angst-ridden sigh. "Please, Kevin, you make it sound like you're fucking diseased. You'll be a whole lot better off if you just accept it and move on."
Kevin pointed right in her face. "That's a yes. That's a damn yes. What the hell is wrong with you?"
"It's not like I came here just to talk to them about you. Don't be so damn selfish." She hooked his arm again, this time with an iron grip. "I might have let it slip, sure." Her face darkened faintly. "I didn't think she was going to go and do that. She didn't even invite me, that bitch."
Kevin sighed to let off his steam and kept pace with her in silence for a short while. "Actually, I might just take her up on her offer."
Her head snapped to look at his face, aghast. "Like hell you will!"
"Hey, she at least had the decency to use double entendres and some courtesy." Even if she called me a pet and a trophy. "And let's not forget the math, Maela."
"What math?" she asked, getting more and more irritated by the second.
He grinned so hard it almost hurt his face. "Three is more than one."
He found that his arm had begun to ache as she started to wring it. "She didn't save your fucking life, Folner!"
She has me there. I do owe her. "No, but she can help me 'relax' with a wonderful 'massage' session. What did you suggest? Getting busy in a quiet bush in the center of the plaza."
"Damnit, Folner! I—" She cut herself off, blinked, then smiled. "You almost got me to punch you in public. Real fucking classy."
Kevin started up the steps with her and let out a healthy laugh. "The more time I spend with you, the more I know how to push your buttons. Just think how much better I'll be at it if you somehow managed to get me in bed."
His asari companion thought about that for a moment, absentmindedly nibbling at her bottom lip all the while. "It might be worth it, as long as I can rub it in Sen's bitchy face." She beamed at the thought.
Kevin gazed at her through the corner of his eyes. "I get the vibe you two have some kind of history."
"She and I grew up together on Thessia. We were the 'competitive' type of friends, always trying to one-up the other in some fashion. We both tried our shot at being Huntresses, and we both failed. That was the only draw we ever agreed on. We then moved onto fields of science. I've been beating her in that yearly ever since."
"Bitter friends now, I'm guessing?" Kevin asked as they stopped at the top of the stairs to admire the view over the ward again.
"Not as bitter as you'd think, given how long we've been going at it. Turns out we're both better at certain things. She's better at everything social, as I'm sure you've noticed. I'm better at everything… not social."
Kevin chuckled. "I did notice that. Right out of the gate. So was all that back there just part of another contest? See who can get the asari pleasure toy into bed first?"
Maela looked away again. "Ugh. So embarrassingly predictable of her."
"Predictable of you." He grunted from the jab in the ribs. "Come on, you didn't think I was seriously that thick, did you?"
Maela sighed. "No, I don't. I've seen how you tick, Folner. You notice things most people don't. Those tiny, infinitesimal details that help you do what you do. You see critical opportunity in the smallest of windows and shoot for them, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. That little show you put on as the quarian on Omega when you first spoke to me wasn't just some jerk-ass show meant to piss me off like I thought. It was a series of calculated choices meant to get as complete an image of who you were dealing with as you could in as little time as possible."
Kevin raised a brow. "Wow. Didn't realize how granular the detail of memory exchange during bonding was."
She broke her gaze from the awesome sight of the vista to look at Kevin's face. "You go to great lengths to mask everything you do and feel, Folner. Why? What gain do you have in being so damn deceptive all the time?"
"Don't you know what my answer's going to be?"
She shook her head. "I know the hows, not the whys."
Kevin thought a moment and stroked his chin as he formulated an answer. "Guess it's in how I survived these past several years. The less people know about you, the less they can use against you. The less predictable you are. The less likely you are to be an easy target. Surely you know about how I have to constantly dodge the big gangs out there; staying as vague a personality as I can helps me slip under their radar more often."
Maela nodded. "Makes sense, given what you had to avoid. You didn't put up such hard barriers against Ralik and the others, if I recall correctly."
"No. They were… different. Strangers, sure, but strangers that were either close to my best of friends or in my debt with nothing to hide. I didn't have any reason to deflect as much with them and I realized that such a tactic isn't always best. They all became close friends and brothers in arms as a result."
"Especially Arla."
Kevin felt like he'd just been punched in the stomach. Instantly he knew where this conversation was going to head and he stiffened, untangling his arm from hers. "This conversation is over." He turned away and promptly proceeded to call a rapid transit cab.
"Kevin, stop. Stop, damnit!" She grabbed his arm again.
Kevin whirled around and threw her hand off, brows furrowed and voice tense. "Stop?! You knew about Arla the entire time, and you still went out of your way to invite me into bed? What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Maela must have noticed a small group staring at them, as she gestured to board the cab when it arrived. She waited until they boarded and were away before continuing. "She's dead, Kevin! You need to let her go!"
Kevin grit his teeth. Her voice was the most grating thing in the galaxy right now, and he could hardly stand it. "I don't have to do anything. Especially anything you tell me to. I'm grateful that you save my life, Maela, but that doesn't give you a free pass to violate my past! Arla is—" He stopped to draw in a long breath and bring a fist to his forehead.
She half-turned in her seat to face him better. "Was, Kevin. You need to let her go. It's eating you alive! I know!"
Kevin glared at her, incredulous. "What do you know? You pulled some images from my head and suddenly you have the whole picture? Do you even know what Arla was to me? Truly?"
"I do," she replied quietly. "Don't get all fucking uppity with me, Folner. I know. I know, damnit! That quarian has been dominating your thoughts for months, don't you think I got more than I bargained for when I tapped into that same pool? I. Know."
Kevin suddenly felt emotionally exhausted and he leaned hard against his side of the cab. He didn't have much else to say on the subject.
"Arla was everything to you, stolen away just as you two were discovering that. I feel the warmth that filled you whenever you looked at her. I sense the tingles that covered you when you saw her true face. I feel the ever-crushing reality of her being torn away by… by a fucking Reaper of all things. It's a black hole in you, Kevin, and you're getting pulled in little by little." She furrowed her brows and attempted to lay a hand on Kevin's shoulder. He didn't stop her. "You can't see it because you're living in it. I can see it, though. I feel like it's going to pull me in too if I don't watch myself. You need to let her go, Kevin, or it'll destroy you."
The rapid transit cab came to a stop, but neither moved to open the door to get out.
Kevin stared into the palms of his hands and he came to a startling realization. "I… I can't. Or maybe I don't know how. I don't know. It feels like she's still out there, like I can find her again and take her into my arms and look forward to the day when I can wake up beside her." He presses fingers to his forehead and massages as if he could rub away the memories.
"You'll never find closure staring at her through the abyss, Kevin. If talking about it helps, then talk."
"Who can I even talk to about this that would underst—" He looks at Maela who is staring back with both brows raised high. Oh. Right. He paused a while, letting silence ring their ears for a short time. "Why the hell do you care so much?"
Maela resorted to looking out of the cab's side viewport to search for her answer. The hospital was busy today, and there was a lot of foot traffic. When she finally spoke, her voice was unusually tender. "I know it doesn't quite seem like it, but you're a lot more than just an experiment to me. When I look at you, I don't see data, numbers, potential or potential for failure like usual. I see… a man. A human I helped shape at one point."
She looked back to Kevin and stared into his eyes. "I've helped create a lot of experimental persons over the years I've worked in the field. You're the first I've come to give a shit about as a person. I'm… still trying to figure out why. The bonding probably had a lot to do with it, but it seeded before that. Something else, though… No asari in this galaxy can say they made a man. Not just a male, but a man. I can, even though I wasn't the host body during gestation. Maybe that's part of it too; you're an accomplishment. Not a trophy like that bitch suggested, but a grand event in my life I can be proud of. That said, I have no intention of letting your past destroy you, Kevin. Not now, after how far everything has come."
Kevin let that sit for a while. To hear that the great ethical gray line, Maela T'Vess, gave a damn about anyone was astonishing. After a minute or so, he hit the button for the doors to lift so they could get out. When they did, she tried to latch onto his arm again as if nothing happened. He thought about pulling her off but… he didn't.
As they started back for Huerta Memorial, he looked at her sidelong. "So should I start calling you 'mom'?"
She smiled. "Don't you fucking dare."
