Chapter 6

Departure

"I'm ecstatic that you were able to make such an incredible recovery, Kevin," Doctor Chakwas said proudly. She had a datapad tucked under her arm as usual, but didn't bother accessing it for this visit.

Kevin, Liam, Maela, and the scientists were all standing outside the room Kevin called home for the last one and a half months, even if half of that was spent in a coma. They were arranged in a semi-circle around the doctor as she stood in the doorway. Several nurses had filed into the room just prior to her arrival to reset everything in preparation for new patients. Kevin was finally done with the hospital, and it seemed to him that most nurses were glad for such. After all, he'd essentially been using it as a convenient hotel room during his biotic therapy with how little medical attention he needed after the first week.

"You and me both, doc," Kevin replied as he shook the doctor's hand. "I can finally get out of your hair."

"And not a moment too soon, I'm afraid," she mentioned casually with a quick glance at some information on her datapad. "We've been getting reports of a lot of batarians arriving at the docks, most with injuries and some worse than others. If that keeps up, the clinics and lesser hospitals on the wards are going to up-shift their more privileged patients to better hospitals in order to take in more injured. If people keep flooding onto the station, hospitals everywhere are going to be packed to capacity."

"I wonder what's got the batarians so bloody shaken that they're all fleeing batarian space," Liam mentioned. "It's all rather ominous, if you ask me."

"Civil war, maybe?" Susume interjected. "I've heard the batarians arriving are more or less refugees."

"I had a drink with some dock workers last night," Gerald explained. "They said the ships the batarians were arriving on were beat to shit. Barely able to float in space and keep together."

"Yeah, sounds like you'll probably have your hands full soon, doc," Kevin agreed. "Best we not take up more of your time then. Soon as you guys have all the paperwork in order, feel free to kick me out."

Chakwas smiled that grandmotherly smile again. "If we intended on 'kicking you out', Kevin, we'd have done that by now." She sighed. "Still, I can't help but feel you may be right. I only hope our staff and supplies can hold up."

"Oh, before I forget again, where's my stuff at?" Kevin asked as they all started to move away from the room as a group.

The doctor gestured tenderly towards the Irishman. "Liam here has provided the address for his apartment in the Presidium Commons. We've moved all your effects—minus your weapons—to that location. Your weapons, if I recall, are stored in a secure locker at a C-Sec checkpoint outside the docks you arrived in."

Kevin nodded several times. "Alright." He looked to Liam. "Why not just leave it all on the ship? I'm told I wasn't wearing anything of that sort when I arrived." He noticed Allison give Maela a cool stare, but she left it at that.

Liam shrugged. "Seemed more courteous to take your stuff with us aboard the Citadel than to leave them to gather dust on the ship. Besides, this way you can get all your stuff whenever you want."

"I guess you have a point there," Kevin replied absentmindedly.

Maela's omni-tool lit up with a message, and Kevin couldn't help but notice it labeled as 'urgent'. She read the message quickly then shut her omni-tool down. "I have to run for a few. Don't wait up for me." Without waiting for any further words, she broke off from the group and headed for the nearest elevator.

Everyone watched her go and Doctor Chakwas continued once she was gone. "It looks like all of your outpatient processing has been handled, Kevin. You're free to go."

"Thanks, doc, I appreciate everything you and your staff have done for me."

"They're not my staff, but I'll let them know all the same." She smiled and offered him a hand.

Kevin took it and gave it a firm shake. "Good enough for me. Good luck with the, uh… the swarm of refugees."

"I'm sure we'll need it. Take care!" She turned, pulled up her datapad, and headed the opposite direction as she read up on a new patient.

"The galaxy needs more doctors like her," Allison declared. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Isn't that the doctor that served on that Normandy frigate?" asked Jeremy. "The one that led the attack on Sovereign?"

Liam nodded. "That's her. When we worked for Cerberus, there was a rumor going around that she'd been recruited for a while, but I can't get any confirmation."

Kevin shook his head. "That can't be true. She's too levelheaded to have worked for Cerberus." He waited for the looks and got them without fail. He grinned.

"Either way, she's not working for them now," Allison said. "And she did everything she could for you, didn't she?"

"True enough," Kevin replied with a nod. "Did someone find Targold? He'll want to know where we are."

Liam thought about it for a few seconds then activated his omni-tool. "Not that I'm aware of, but I can send him a message with the details."

Barely a minute later, Kevin got a reply message on his omni-tool and cracked a smile as he read it to himself.

apartments? on the wards? cant go, busy with some assholes down by the docks. talk later.

"Targold says he'll catch up with us later. He's uh… busy right now."

From there it was a trip to the rapid transit station and a flight over to the Zakera Ward apartment blocks where Liam's current residence was. The walk from the Zakera rapid transit station to the apartment blocks was long, but at least the sights were new. The apartment itself was part of a tall, hexagonal complex that ended just under the edge of the atmospheric maintenance field, judging by the sight of a few open windows near the top.

Liam swept a hand wide over the size of the building. "Ah, here we are. The largest apartment complex in block 8: Falaras Apartments."

"An apartment complex, huh?" Kevin noted, less than thrilled. "Eh, I stayed as far away from complexes as I could on Omega. Too accessible. Too many rules."

"You worry too much," Ed commented. "We're on the Citadel now, remember? It's a quieter life here. A place where someone can finally kick back and relax a little. I think we all deserve some much-needed rest. Don't you?"

There were several nods of agreement amongst the scientist team. He couldn't blame them, though. They were older than he was, and had paid their dues by working hard with and escaping from Cerberus. They wanted to settle down, and they had every right to.

Kevin, however, could not. Nor do I want to. A quiet, easy life on the Citadel after these past years… It's too simple. Too… easy. Like moving on to solid food and suddenly wanting to go back to milkshakes. No rest for the wicked, as they say, and I'm hardly a saint. Plus, I still have work to do. He said nothing as he followed everyone inside and took one of the many busy elevators to a floor somewhere in the midsection of the tall building. Their apartment was only four doors down from the elevator lobby and Liam unlocked the door to let everyone in.

Kevin was a little surprised by how nice the apartment was. The living room and kitchen were split in one large room, and there were probably three bedrooms, each with a door. A bathroom was plain to see off to the right, and the far wall had a large, curtained window that overlooked the ward towards the pointed tip and open space. It was well furnished and already had plenty of entertainment options.

"Not bad," Kevin admitted as he looked all over the place. "How are you guys affording this? I imagine Cerberus isn't cutting you a chit anymore."

Allison walked ahead of him and sat in the large plush couch that sat back against the invisible divider between the living room and kitchen. "The Alliance has promised to ensure all our needs are met here in exchange for a good deal of the data from our research projects and insider knowledge to Cerberus's operations."

"So you guys pretty much have it made here, don't you?" Kevin commented with a few rapid nods.

"Yes," Susume agreed. "Isn't it wonderful? We finally have a place in the galaxy. We have a home."

Kevin looked off to the side, unable to share their enjoyment. He still had no place in the galaxy. He was an anomaly, saved from the natural course of self-destruction by all of these wonderful people and an asari. He may not have wanted to settle down, but he still wished he had somewhere that was home to him. This apartment was far from that.

Kevin forced a smile. "Yeah… It's great. I'm happy for you guys."

Apparently his guise wasn't all that convincing, as brows furrowed on every face, most in concern.

"What's wrong?" Susume asked. "Don't you like the apartment?"

Kevin shook his head and loosely waved a hand towards Susume. "The apartment's fine. I'm actually quite surprised by how nice it is here."

"Then what?" she countered. Everyone was silently asking him the same thing with the way they all stared.

Kevin looked back at each stare and sighed. "I— I don't know. I'm glad you all feel at home here, I really am. But I don't. It's not that you guys have done anything wrong… I just don't know where my place in the galaxy is. Until I figure that out, I guess I won't have a home of my own."

Allison tilted her head and got up from the couch to embrace Kevin. "Oh Kevin… It's painful to hear you say that. But… I understand."

Kevin returned the hug, and when it broke, he held her shoulders at arm's length and looked her in the eye. "No, I'm afraid you don't. I don't expect any of you to, and that's for the better. I want you guys to have a place to settle in to."

"But we want you to settle in too, Kevin," Jeremy said. "It was our hope that being here with us would have given you some ground to stand on. You're like… You are family."

"And you have, Jeremy," replied Kevin. "I have a family now, something I couldn't say for twenty-six years. I always know that, no matter where in this galaxy I go, I can always come back here to find your love and invitation." He gestured towards everyone to include them all. "But this isn't a home for me. It's more like a parent's house I moved out of and can come back to visit, I suppose."

Liam sighed. "Alright, boyo, we get it. You can't stay here. It makes sense, after all. You're far too young to be thinking about settling in to a quiet life on the Citadel. But if you can't stay here, where will you go?"

Kevin scrunched up his face in thought. "I… don't know. I feel like there are things I still need to do. Some closure I still have to achieve."

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. All of the scientists looked at each other before Ed walked over and opened the door. Maela pushed into the room the very second the door had opened enough while Telius Mettack watched from outside. Once Ed recovered from the slight shove Maela had given him, he gestured for Telius to come in as well.

"Maela? What's wrong?" Susume wondered aloud.

Maela stopped in the middle of the room and crossed her arms, though she tried as best as she could appear amiable. Her body language spoke more of irritated desperation, however. "Liam, I— We need your ship."

"The MSV Appalachian?" His brows furrowed. "Why the hell do you need our ship?"

Maela looked ready to choke him, but Telius put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back fast enough that it caused her to stumble a bit. He ignored her looks of irritation. "I apologize for the sudden request, Liam. If you have a moment, I can explain the need further."

Liam and the others were generally pleased by the turian's courtesies and they offered him a seat on the big couch. Once seated, he continued.

"Thank you. I may have a problem. Remember how I described the mission to Taetrus? My escort hasn't contacted me, and I'm afraid never will if he hasn't by now. My mission is time-sensitive, and I don't have any trustworthy liaisons—save for Maela. She mentioned you had a ship, and with such a short timeframe, I don't have the liberty of searching for secure transport."

"I see where this is going," Kevin interjected. "You want to borrow the Appalachian and use it to get to Taetrus so you can complete your objective as soon as possible."

Telius looked over to Kevin and nodded. "More or less, yes. I certainly don't expect you'd simply hand the ship over to me. Think of it as asking for a classified ride. As long as no one else knows about me or my mission, you'd be doing nothing wrong."

Kevin had to resist the urge to grin. That worked perfectly. Thanks Tarsil.

Liam looked at the other scientists, who seemed to grow more unsure by the second. "I—err… Well, we'd already unloaded most of the creature comforts, and… We've only just started to settle in, and…" He trailed off.

Kevin knew what was going on. The scientists had finally just settled in, they won't want to leave this soon. Especially on someone else's behalf. He hadn't even given consideration to the idea that Liam and the others wouldn't take Telius to Taetrus. How the crap did I miss that? That's such a crucial turning point. I should have had a backup plan. It was far too late for that now, but it wasn't too late for some improvisation, and he was sure as hell not going to let this plan die off now.

"I'll take him," Kevin announced, stepping forward. He could almost feel Gerald, Ed, and Allison all gave him dagger eyes, and rightfully so. It wasn't Kevin's ship, after all.

Liam looked around at everyone, then focused on the turian. "May we have a few minutes to discuss this?"

Telius nodded without hesitation. "Of course. I'll be just outside." He stood from the couch and promptly made an exit without a certain asari in tow. Maela broke off from Telius just before leaving, however, and stood just inside the door.

Once the door was shut, several people rounded on Kevin at once, making their concerns incomprehensible. He heard certain things, like 'Hierarchy' and 'not our business', and 'stupid'.

He suddenly grew furious. "Why not? Why can't I take him in the ship? You guys are busy looking forward to sitting here and getting fat off of other people's creds. You're not even going to need the ship anymore! When a turian doing special objectives for the Hierarchy comes asking for help, you don't sputter excuses as to why you'd rather not, you help!"

The others were taken aback some by Kevin's sudden fury and the conversation grinded to a frustrating halt for a while. Liam, the ever vigilant voice of the team, eventually spoke up. "Kevin, it's not that we don't want Telius to go. It's more that we…" He looks back to the others and makes a sweeping gesture over them all. "We're not all as spry as Su. We've had our time running about the galaxy tirelessly doing crazy things. Some of us don't any taste for that kind of adventure in the first place."

Kevin flicked a hand. "Then stay! I don't care! There's still no reason I can't take him to Taetrus myself!"

Most of the scientists looked hurt at that point, and Jeremy gave voice to their thoughts. "Kevin, we've spent so much time watching other lives that we've missed out on living our own. We just wanted to do that with you."

Liam spoke up again. "Besides, you need four people to crew the Appalachian, Kevin. You'd never make it to Taetrus without a pilot."

"I can fly a ship," Kevin shot back. He intentionally left out the 'how well' part.

"That's two people," Liam countered.

"Maela will go with us. Won't you Maela?" Kevin asked as he turned to look at the asari.

She smiled. "In a heartbeat."

"That's three," Kevin declared, "and we can wing the fourth."

Susume shifted in her seat, clearly becoming upset. "Why are you so adamant about this, Kevin? Why do you want to leave us so badly?!"

"Don't put words in my mouth, Su, you're better than that." He sighed quickly before continuing. "It's not that I want to leave you guys. You're the only family I've got. But I've got too many things I need to do before I even think about sitting down somewhere to relax. Once I feel like I've done all that, I'll have no trouble coming back here to stay a while."

Susume shook her head. "This is about those quarians, isn't it? You want to go to Taetrus to see them!"

Kevin glanced at Maela, who had been staring at him this whole time, before looking back to Susume. "Yes. I do. I have my reasons, and I'm not going to settle down anywhere until it's done."

Allison, who'd been fairly quiet for most of this and sitting with her eyes shut, stood sluggishly and looked at Kevin. She had tears welling up in her eyes. "We've only just begun to know you, Kevin… And now you're running off to handle unfinished business all over the galaxy." She walked over to him to place her hands on his shoulders. "It hurts to hear you want to keep moving when all we want is to finally have a seat, but at the same time, I can't help but feel… proud. It's not just us losing you; it's also you losing us, so that you can take care of due responsibilities."

The room fell moderately silent for a few short seconds and Allison leaned in to kiss Kevin on the cheek. "Always know… No matter where in this dark galaxy you need to go, we'll be praying for your safety. We love you, Kevin, and always will." A round of nods signaled everyone's solidarity.

"Agreed," Liam said with fervor as he stepped up to stand beside Allison. "Which is why we'll let you take Telius to Taetrus." He placed a firm hand on Kevin's shoulder. "And why I'm going with you."

"Wait, what?" Allison gasped as her head spun to look at him, auburn hair flying outward behind her. "Liam, no! We need you here! I need you here!"

Liam turned around to look Allison in the eye and he placed his hands at her waist. "I know you do, love. But Kevin needs me more, I think. He's been without a family for so long, let's not tear that away from him now when he's just found us. Besides, it's my ship, and someone has to keep an eye on Kevin's biotics."

"Maela can do that!" Allison shot back, her brows creased in despair.

Liam raised a brow. "Is that really what you want, Allison?"

She didn't reply, but simply looked off to the side.

"I'm only going to be gone a short while, alright? We're just going to Taetrus and coming right back. A few days, tops. I'll even bring you a souvenir." His hands move to her shoulders and he gives her a gentle, reassuring shake. "Stay here, settle in, relax. I'll be back before you know it."

Allison sulked visually, defeated. "Just… Don't do anything stupid, okay? We finally have a chance to enjoy our lives like normal people."

"No heroic duels with the turians. I understand."

Kevin chuckled and turned for the door. "I'll get Telius." The turian was patiently waiting outside as if guarding the door. Kevin nodded when Telius turned to look at him and they both shuffled back inside.

Liam turned from Allison to address the newcomer. "A decision has been made. Kevin, Maela, and I will take you to Taetrus in the Appalachian. We'll do whatever you need us to do in order to keep things on the down-low."

Telius nodded deeply. "I am in your debt. Thank you. I'll go prepare immediately."

"The ship is on the F-level docks. We'll meet you there once we've finished getting ready ourselves." Liam shook hands with the turian and Telius parted to get ready.

Maela unfolded her arms and headed for the door after the turian. "I'm going to go grab a few things from my labs. I'll catch you all at the docks."

After they had left, Kevin turned to the other scientists. "So. Where's my stuff?"

Jeremy stood. "Right over here. Follow me."

Kevin followed him over to a wardrobe backed into a corner. The main compartment had his quarian environmental suit, and the armor pieces had been stacked on the bottom. It was open as expected, and it looked like some of the clasps had been damaged by being forcibly pulled open. Damnit. I'll need to get those fixed, but I'll need to find a quarian to do it. He reached in and played with the damaged clasps. Hmm. They'll hold, but I'll still need them repaired at some point.

Jeremy spotted Kevin playing with the clasps. "Yeah, sorry about that. Maela needed you out of your suit in a hurry and we didn't really know what we were doing."

Kevin shook his head. "No, that's alright. You guys did what you needed to do. They'll still work, but I'll need to get them fixed sooner or later." He pulled the suit down as Jeremy opened up a drawer on the side where all his other things were, including his Xelvas'taersh sigil. He gathered everything except the armor up and headed for the bathroom. "I'll be right back."

"Why?" Jeremy asked. "We can get you a new hardsuit in less than an hour. Why hold on to that thing?"

As Kevin turned around to shut the door, he gave Jeremy a brief confident stare. "It's a part of who I am now."

"You're not a quarian, Kevin."

Kevin smiled. "I'm not trying to be. But this suit has had more of an influence on my life than any other singular object in this galaxy. I'm not going to drop it for something extra shiny when I already know the uses and limits of what I have now. Besides, it's flexible and I prefer the greater range of motion this allows."

Kevin shut the door before Jeremy could reply, though it didn't really look he had a reply to use. He put his effects down and held the suit up in front of him. It's been a while, old friend. The helmet and all its tubes weighed the suit down on one side just as the boots weighed down the other as he slung it over the top of the glass door to the shower so he could strip off his boring civilian's clothes. Having mastered the unsung art of putting on a quarian environmental suit, it only took him fifteen minutes to get the suit on and booted up. Last, but not least, he set the helmet's visor in place to once more seal himself in.

He felt a strange sense of comfort returning to being within the protected confines of the suit. Maybe this suit was his own little slice of home. Maybe he was finally getting to the point where the suit was his second skin. He took a moment to empty the contained waste from the suit into the toilet, wrapped the emblem around his left bicep, covered it up with the material the others had seen fit to save for him, and stopped to take a quick look in the mirror.

"I wonder what the other quarians will think of me," he said to the quarian looking back at him. His mind flashed back to the moment he stepped aboard the Neema and was immediately surrounded by curious quarians that Siri'Kortel had to fight off. All the questions, all the accusations, all the uncertainty… Would he have to face that all over again? "Probably." All he had left to gather up at this point were his armor pieces and his weapons, so he exited the bathroom to armor up and join the others once more.

"The hell? Not that suit again," Gerald complained. "Why don't you get a human hardsuit, boy?"

Kevin ignored him and attached the armor pieces one by one. "Alright, I'm pretty much ready to go. I, uh… I don't exactly have a lot to pack."

"Good, neither do I," Liam called out from a room somewhere off to Kevin's right. "Just… need to… pack this… last thing…"

Kevin heard grunts and most of the scientists snickered. "Isn't anyone helping him?" he asked, amused.

"Why? This is hilarious!" Ed commented between chuckles as he gestured towards the door.

Kevin raised a brow and moved so he could see through the doorway what Liam was working on. The sight was amusing. Liam was trying to stuff some kind of hardsuit into a case that clearly wasn't meant to be used for transporting armor, judging by the small size. The hardsuit looked to be a slightly older design, but it had been cleaned and polished recently.

"McRoilie, what are you doing?" Kevin asked, trying not to laugh.

"What does it bloody look like? I'm prepping for…" He grunted loudly as he tried again to make the collapsed hardsuit fit. It wasn't happening. "…our trip!"

"Where's the case you brought it in?"

"In the kitchen!" He tried using his weight to pack the suit in by jumping up and coming down on it on his side. It looked painful.

Kevin leaned back and looked over into the kitchen, spotting the case on the floor with the open side up. It was full of discarded packing materials from when they moved in. "Why are you even packing a hardsuit? We're just going there and coming right back, remember?"

Liam looked up from his impossible task and gave Kevin a reproachful glare. Or maybe it was someone behind him. It was hard to tell.

The answer came when Allison spoke up. "I'm making him bring it, just in case."

"But there—" Kevin started to explain.

"Just. In. Case," Allison repeated sternly, her tone marking the decision as final. The other scientists were chuckling like birds now.

Kevin nodded once, slowly. "Ah. Well then, Liam, try just wearing the damn thing. You can stuff it in a closet when we get aboard."

Liam stopped his efforts to take a breather, looked up to Kevin, then nodded. "Yes… I think I'll… give that a try." The Irishman took up that task immediately, and it was equally amusing. He was having more success at this than his previous objective, but watching this man try and slip into a hardsuit was almost painful. The other scientists were in all out laughter by now.

"Bugger the lot of you! You know how long it's been since I've had to wear one of these bloody things?"

They all nodded, unable to speak their answers.

Once the room had calmed down, Liam and Kevin made a round of hugs, goodbyes, and we'll-be-backs with everyone before they left and headed for the F-level docks. They made a quick stop at the C-Sec checkpoint on the way out to gather up Kevin's knife, modified Phalanx, and a wary look from the human officer who just couldn't see why a quarian would have a blade on his person at all. The wary look was twice as evident when Kevin used his human credentials to get the equipment and everything checked out.

On the docks, an increasingly impatient Maela waited with an ever-patient turian across from the umbilical corridor that spanned the gap between docks and ship. Targold seemed to have found them of his own accord and was leaning against a massive shipping container just beyond. As they moved along, they couldn't help but look around at the unusual scene that had grown since they'd arrived.

"Doctor Chakwas wasn't kidding," Kevin said in low tones to Liam. "Look at all these batarians just milling about on the docks."

Liam flicked his head towards a particular group. "Look, they're outfitted for long travel. I get the feeling they don't think they'll be going home any time soon."

The air was abuzz with talk of massive ships of some unknown faction flying into Hegemony space and wreaking pure havoc. Entire fleets, even worlds completely ended in such a short time that it would have been laughable if it were only a few making the claim. The sheer number of batarian refugees that had started to fill the docks gave credit to the story, however. On top of that, these refugees were beaten so thoroughly that even their stubborn batarian pride had suffered losses. Only a few amongst the many Kevin could see here bothered to put up any sort of fight when human doctors or nurses offered help.

"And this is just one of the first waves," Kevin mentioned as they passed a small circle of injured-but-standing batarians. "Just think how many more there will be when the rest of them show up."

"I'd rather not," Liam whispered as they finally reached the asari and turian.

Maela unfolded her arms and closed the last bit of distance. "About time you little shits got here. All these batarians here are beginning to chafe my personal space."

"Maela, please," beckoned Telius. "These are clearly refugees. They're here for help."

"I don't care what fucked up mess they've gotten themselves into this time," she spat back. "They're in my line of sight and therefore in my way."

"I like the way she thinks," Targold grumbled as he stepped up beside the comparatively miniscule asari.

Kevin looked to Telius and shrugged, wordlessly urging him to just let it go. The turian rolled his eyes at Maela and started for the MSV Appalachian. Everyone followed after him.

Once across the umbilical corridor, the group stepped onto the ship and suffered a brief decontamination process before they entered the ship proper. Just like every other Kowloon-class freighter, this ship was essentially a collection of cube room modules all thrown together. It looked about as well taken care of as any ship of this type could be, and even lacked any significant damage on the hull as far as he had seen when he was outside.

The airlock opened up into the cube that simply acted as a hallway between the cramped, two-seat bridge to the left and the rest of the ship. To the right, behind a door, was a four-way hallway pod that had rooms on either sides and a door into the next section of the ship. On the left was the bunk room, where beds, lockers, and personal terminals were arranged in a symmetrical grid. To the right was the kitchen and entertainment room, all packed into one. Straight ahead went off into the main cargo space for the ship, which still had bundled collections of lab equipment and crates that Liam and the rest had taken with them when they fled Cerberus. Beyond that, Kevin guessed, was engineering, where eezo drive core, thrusters, and other mechanical things tended to sit.

"I had forgotten how cramped Kowloon-class freighters are," Kevin mentioned off-hand. "Last time I was aboard one of these, it was to smuggle myself out of a system while the Blue Suns were on the hunt."

"I'll get her warmed up," Liam announced as he turned left to sit in the pilot's seat. Right away he opened up the large collection of haptic screens dedicated to flying the ship.

"And… I'll go claim a bed," Kevin verbally decided as he turned right with the others. Through the door and to the left, he quickly picked out a bed—a top-bunk closest to the door, slightly off to the left. "Claimed!" With a smile, he ran over to it and climbed up at once to lie down and get a feel for it. It was surprisingly comfortable, and everything smelled divine. Hanging over the side of the frame was a sack full of datapads. He pulled one out and turned it on. It happened to be a book; some twenty-first century romance novel.

Maela and Telius found beds for themselves as well, albeit with a lot less childish flair. Targold took one look at the bunks and shook his head, laughing. There was no way any of those were going to support him. His solution was to completely rip apart two bunks, frame and all, and stacked the four mattresses two by two on the floor. Liam was sure to be less than pleased with the sudden reconfiguration, but you don't argue with a krogan. There were far more beds than there were crew at the moment anyways, so Kevin figured he'd let it go.

"That was Susume's bed, Kevin," Liam pointed out as he walked into the room. "Sorry about the datapads. She knew she wouldn't need those anymore once she had access to the Citadel's literature archives. She's read all of those at least five times through."

Kevin placed the datapad back into the sack and had another look at how many were in there. He had counted up to twenty-seven before he started accidentally counting some of them twice. "Had no idea she was such a book worm," he said as he unholstered his pistol and removed the scabbard holding his knife to place them in the sack on top of the datapads.

The Irishman nodded and looked over at the aliens. "That was Jeremy's bed, Telius. You might want to find one less… Ermh… worn. Maela, you've found Alex's. He's not been with us for a long time, so you'll probably have to dust it off. Targold… Bloody krogan. That first was Allison's and my bunk, and that other was Gerald and Ed's."

"And now it's mine," Targold declared with a mocking grin as he hopped onto it to lie down.

Telius nodded and decided to relocate. Maela simply picked up the comforter by the corners, pulled it from the bed, and gave it a violent shake. That whole side of the room was suddenly engulfed by a rapidly expanding cloud of dust, which had set her to coughing and Telius to decidedly finding a bed on the opposite side of the room.

"Damnit, McRoilie! Don't you people ever clean these things?" Maela asked between coughs as she covered her mouth with her forearm and squinted hard to keep the dust at bay. "How do you even get this much fucking dust on a ship anyhow?"

Liam rolled his eyes, not really in the mood to answer those questions. "The engines should be warmed by now so I'll go set our course. It'll take us several hours before we get there, since Taetrus is not in the relay system. I'll probably take a nap on the bridge and let the auto-pilot handle things while we're in FTL and buzz you guys when we're almost there."

"A nap sounds good," Targold mentioned. "I'll get on that right away."

Kevin nodded and pulled off his visor. He had no need to play quarian here, though he left the rest of the suit on for convenience. "Sleeping in a hardsuit? You're a brave man, Liam. Me? I think I'm going to peruse your cargo bay for hidden treasures." He set his visor into the sack with his other effects, hopped down off of the bunk, and started for the door.

Liam only briefly looked back. "Don't think you'll find much back there, Kevin, but you're welcome to have a peek." The door shut behind Liam then and cut any further conversation.

Maela and Telius began to chat about something markedly irrelevant to Kevin and he decided to leave those two alone for now. Some quiet time was just what he needed. Heading aft, he soon found himself in a large room that was three modules wide by five long. The only walls here were the ones separating him from space, and it was littered with crates both empty and full as well some leftover lab equipment the scientists couldn't get cleared to bring aboard the Citadel.

A quarter of the way back, Kevin heard the muffled clangs of the umbilical corridor detaching from the side of the ship, followed closely by a subtle jolt as the magnetic clamps disengaged. Other than that and the soft hum of the ship's active systems, the room was silent. It was nice having the quiet to himself once again. He hadn't had that since before the scientists came to his apartment, and even then he could still hear loud noises from adjacent apartments and the all too frequent gunshots out on the streets.

He headed towards a dense cluster of tall crates surrounded by equipment bundled up for shipping. He paced up and down through the stubby metal forest, just staring at nothing and enjoying the company of ancient machines. Indeed, the lab equipment he was walking amongst had to have been bleeding edge when it was procured, but now, more than twenty years later, it served no sufficient purpose and was condemned to a life of seclusion and layers upon layers of settling dust.

These had to be the things they used to monitor us when we were infants back on that clandestine space station. If junk could talk, what would it say about us? He imagined there would be many stories to tell, good, bad, and ugly. I wonder if any of these could be powered up. There might be old data I can peruse… Kevin suddenly found himself reminiscing of Ralik and his precious lab that he had set up in the Kellius's engineering lower deck. It took so long to complete. Son of a bitch took up half the engineering room to build it only to have it blow up in his face. Twice.

Smiling at old memories, he walked up to a collection of terminals built into a long desk that was directly connected to some machine as tall as he was. It had multiple doors, all kinds of screens to show data on, and some kind of slide-out drawer on the side. He had absolutely no idea what any of it was for, but he still looked for the cords to plug it into a power source. They must have been bundled in tight, as he couldn't find them. It seemed he was not going to find out what this set was meant for today.

Ralik would have known. He'd have reconfigured the stupid thing to be four times as useful as it was in its original state. Bet that'd impress Liam. He chuckled quietly and leaned onto the tall blocky equipment with one hand.

"I miss that salarian prick."

He missed all of them. It was then that he recalled what Maela had implored of him. Let her go. She specifically meant Arla, but she wanted him to let all of them go. He knew he had to sooner or later, but… Why is it so damn hard to let go of something you don't even have?

He began to pace around again, looking for a distraction. Out of the quiet hum of the ship's engines, he heard footsteps in the room. Not just in the room, but somewhere close by. He recognized the type of footfall; soft, as though the individual was trying to be very quiet but the material of the boot or shoe couldn't be silenced. This was almost always associated with ambush in his past experience. Had the room been anything less than marginally silent, he might not have heard it.

He stopped walking and slowly turned in place as he tried to discern the location of the would-be sneak. It wasn't easy—all of the flat surfaces from the ancient equipment did peculiar things to sound as it reverberated through the room and determining the source of a quiet echo was difficult. On one final turn, he heard the reverberations centralize and he realized the sound of boots was coming from behind him. The sneak must have just rounded a final corner.

He had the individual's location, but how to react? Who was it? Was it Telius, come to test his awareness? Liam come to talk despite wanting a nap? Maela looking for God-knows-what? There shouldn't have been anyone else aboard. Shouldn't, however, is a term based in assumptions. If one thing was true, however, it's that the approaching individual wasn't hostile or he'd have found out by now. That decided, he figured he'd just turn around and see who it was rather than put on a dangerous show. He quickly spun one hundred and eighty degrees, expecting a gun in his face.

He saw blue, felt hands grappling his suit at the chest, and then he felt lips on his.

Maela! he'd intended on saying, but his mouth was quickly too occupied to form anything intelligible. She wasn't simply kissing him, she was kissing him hard. Her lips tingled with some form of inexplicable energy that only made the kiss that much more stimulating. His eyes were wide, hers were shut. He had placed his hands on her shoulders with the intent to push her away, but he couldn't help but notice his lips melting with delightful sensation. As she continued, his will to shove her away fled him.

Unbidden, memories of past kisses flooded his mind, though there weren't many. The first kiss he'd ever managed, back in his last few weeks at the Ascension program, was the first one to surface. Gabriella Rivera was her name, a biotic girl a year older than him in her senior year at the academy. She told him the kiss was on a bet, but she asked him if he was taken the following week. He had his first NCI only a few days after that, and was pulled out of the program before he could even see her again.

The second was her. Arla'Tavval. Her visor still in his hand, her beautiful pale face exposed just for him. There was nothing in the entire galaxy he wanted more than that kiss then. Her lips were the most luscious thing he'd ever tasted in his entire life. He knew right then that there would never again be another set of lips that could hope to match hers, nor a body that could hope to equal. Never again. Never. Again.

Never again. He found himself returning Maela's kiss with a passion that was entirely eclipsed by her own. He couldn't continue very long. Arla's face, the taste of her lips, the feel of her hair… it was there in front of him, and this asari was not Arla. Finally, his will found him again and he pushed her away.

Maela stepped back, panting and staring at the human. She said nothing, but simply watched him, waiting, listening. She was gauging his response, and likely expected him to push her away.

Kevin wiped the copious amount of mixed saliva from his lips with the back of his glove and stared at the asari wide-eyed. "What… What the hell…?"

"Don't look at me like that, Folner," she said as she licked the sheen from her lips. "You should have known that was coming."

Kevin was having a hard time believing how straightforward she was about it. "Doesn't this all seem just a little… I don't know, incestuous to you?"

"What? Why?" She put her hands on her hips.

"Well, I mean… You made me, I'm essentially your non-blood kid… you spent years watching me grow… You're like my mo—"

She quickly waved a hand between them as she cut him off. "No, don't fucking say it! I'm not anyone's 'mother', especially not yours."

"But you—"

Maela rolled her eyes. "There isn't an ounce of my blood or DNA in you, Kevin. Stop making excuses like a nervous child." She returned to standing just in front of him and ran an index finger along his jawline. "I want more."

Kevin's eyes went just a little wider and he nearly choked on a huge swallow he was trying to take. Good God, she's crazy! Nobody ever wants me, why should she be any different?! "M-more? Of what?"

"Goddess… I don't know whether to find you cute as hell or irritating when you're this thick." She smiled a dangerous smile and grasped his suit as she leaned in, this time placing tender kisses on his cheek before latching onto his mouth again.

The sparking tingle returned immediately along with her lips, and once more Kevin felt his body beginning to acquiesce to the intoxicating pull of Maela's touch. He felt her tongue between his lips and relented enough to let his own tongue meet hers to dance.

But the moment he felt his tongue slide intimately against Maela's, Arla's face appeared in the forefront of his mind yet again. Her eyes were closed, mouth open, he could almost hear the moans of sexual ecstasy his quarian lover let out with each breath. He blinked as the vision fell away and pushed Maela back again. She resisted, tried to hold on and keep their tongues entwined, but couldn't contend with Kevin's furious shoves.

She stepped back once or twice and licked her lips again. She was so calm about Kevin's resistance that it was confounding. "Goddess, she's still in your head, isn't she? Didn't I tell you to let her go?"

Kevin was breathing heavy now, and his head hurt with all the painful memories and their incredibly conflicting timing. He reached up to place a hand over his forehead as if he had a massive headache. "I told you already! I… I can't!"

She grinned deviously and once more closed the distance to start fiddling with his suit. "Why don't you take that ugly suit off? I'll help you forget all about her. I'll help you forget about everything, at least for a few hours~."

Kevin's brows creased together. "No, damnit!" He scowled at Maela, both frustrated with her as well as himself. What was he doing? This attractive asari was literally throwing herself at him and he was denying her? When did it ever make sense for a man to deny such from a beautiful, eager woman just because of some bad memories? It didn't make any sense to him, but he was doing it all the same.

The asari realized he was puzzling himself out and she simply stared at him with her arms crossed, waiting for him to get his internal conflictions sorted.

Kevin drew in a deep breath and immediately let it go nice and slow to calm his demeanor. "I'm sorry, I just… I don't know. Too many conflictions. I feel like I'd be betraying the closest of friends."

Maela tilted her head and eyed him up and down. "They're dead, Kevin." She let out a small sigh. "I know it sounds like I'm just pushing you to let go, and I might be, but I really can help you move on, you know. I don't mean to block or erase memories, just show you that moving on is better for you than staying stuck in this pit you've fallen into."

Kevin had to admit to himself, the simple act of having sex would probably do wonders for his mental state. Everything in his head was a maelstrom right now, especially with the anxiety of meeting the reformed Xelvas'taersh on the horizon. It's not that he didn't want it. More that he couldn't seem to get over the past long enough to just do it. Nor never haunted me like this. Then again, I never made Nor cry out in bliss.

Maela walked up to Kevin and laid her hands on his armored chest. "Wanting to keep the memory of your old squad alive may be admirable to some, but as far as I'm concerned, it's got you locked in a box and slowly suffocating you. I'm not going to pretend I'm only doing this for your sake, but at least let me share your burden."

Kevin gave her an odd stare. "I liked you better when you were abrasive and crass."

Maela raised a brow to that and smiled. "How's this then? Quit your bitching and fuck me silly already. You can handle that, right? You're not going to get me to beg, Folner, but I'll annoy the shit out of you until you do."

Hah. Well, I guess I asked for that. "I don't know, I sort of like the idea of you begging for it." He smirked when she huffed through her nose.

The asari grit her teeth, gripped his suit, and pushed him back until he was up against a large metal crate. "I'm going to have you, Folner. I don't care how much I have to fight for it."

Kevin used his hand-to-hand combat experience to instantly dislodge her hands from his suit, catch her in a takedown grapple, work her arms behind her back, spin around and press her chest-first into the crate she'd smacked him into. He leaned into her back and slid the tip of his nose up the side of her neck until his mouth was by her ear. Something about this moment sparked desire in him, and it manifested with a vengeance. "Then you best start fighting me, T'Vess."

Maela let out a sudden gasp of arousal and she smiled wickedly while attempting to look at his face despite being forced against the cold, unyielding metal. "Alright then. Now we're fucking getting somewhere."

Targold's rumbling advice to him back on Omega echoed in his head as he pressed the asari into the crate a little harder and laid his teeth onto the nape of her neck. "Make her squeal nice and good, kid. She looks like she needs it."

Arla… Forgive me.