Chapter 7

The Sphelix Legion

"Here they come," Liam announced not more than a minute after dropping from FTL.

Telius stepped up behind Liam's pilot seat and leaned in over both chair and shoulder to get a look at the readings on the terminals. "It's a perimeter guard. A token squadron to screen passage to Taetrus. Just fly straight for the planet. I'll handle the exchange."

Liam nodded and adjusted the ship's course accordingly. Telius moved to the Irishman's side and pulled up a communication suite and sent a request to talk to the perimeter guard. It took around thirty seconds for them to finally open up a communication channel. Kevin watched on from the open doorframe just behind them both, leaning against the bulkhead with arms crossed.

"This is Vastrim Lonorus of Taetrus Aerospace Control squadron two," the turian crackled over the comms. "Please identify yourself."

Telius nodded and activated the comms. "This is First Lieutenant Telius Mettack of the Four Hundred and Fifty-First Shock Legion aboard the MSV Appalachian. We seek passage to the outskirts of Vallum."

"What is your business on Taetrus, Lieutenant Mettack?"

"Need-to-know classified. Commander Aeten Tensus should be made aware of my arrival."

"Understood. We'll pass it up the chain. You'll hear from the commander as soon as he has word for you. In the meantime, we'll escort you into orbit. Please remain with the escort at all times."

"Understood. Telius out."

"That was easy," Kevin commented with a shrug. "I could have done that myself."

"Not without military clearance you couldn't have," said the turian, smirking.

Kevin flicked his head towards the view of the planet through the viewports. "Outskirts of the capitol, eh? Unusual place to meet some quarians."

"I'll be meeting the quarians inside the city, but my escort has been commanded to wait outside the city limits. Primarch Fedorian didn't want to spook the citizens with a lot of high-profile military traffic, so they'll simply escort me in via vehicle. I'll make the exchange and they'll leave on the ships they arrived on. All going well, things will be said and done inside of a few hours."

"What sort of escort?" Liam asked.

Telius leaned against Liam's chair again and crossed his arms. "A cabal detachment."

Kevin raised both brows. "Cabals, huh? That should be interesting."

"I suspect they would disagree," Telius said flatly.

"Why's that?" Kevin inquired.

"Cabal squads are highly trained, easily as efficient as or better than the best Special Response Units and on par with any black ops squads the Hierarchy maintains. Some Cabal squads are specifically chosen to handle missions that even black ops won't touch."

Kevin nodded with understanding. "Ah, I get it. An escort mission must be like grunt work to them. Well below their pay grade."

Telius nodded back, but before he could say anything else, the comms blinked to life.

"This is Commander Aeten Tensus of Taetrus Aerospace Command. I understand there is a turian Lieutenant aboard this ship."

Telius straightened up reflexively and pressed on the comms. "First Lieutenant Telius Mettack of the Four Hundred and Fifty-First Shock Legion aboard the MSV Appalachian, sir."

"You're late. And on the wrong ship, Lieutenant."

"I understand that, sir. There were complications with my original escort and I was forced to find a replacement."

"Is the ship secure? How many crew?"

"Secured, sir. Crew is myself and four others; an asari, a krogan…" He glanced at Kevin for a moment. "… a human and a quarian."

"A krogan and a quarian, huh? That should make things interesting. I have no reason to believe you intentionally breached mission details to this crew, but I also can't assume they know nothing. Bring them with you into Vallum, I'll want to speak with them myself. And by the spirits, keep that krogan under control. If you want to piss me off, the best way to do that is to make me sit in Taetrus's Primarch's shiny new office and explain why I let a krogan into the city."

Telius cursed under his breath. "I assume you've been briefed on my mission, then?"

"I have. Second Sphelix Legion is awaiting your arrival as we speak in the hills west of Vallum's perimeter checkpoint. Have your pilot land the ship there. Is he here now?"

"Yes, commander." Telius gestured for Liam to speak up.

Liam performed a double-take at Telius then cleared his throat. "Uh. This is Liam McRoilie, pilot and owner of the MSV Appalachian."

"My apologies, Liam McRoilie, but I'll have to ground your ship until further notice."

Liam's face scrunched up. "Damnit. Er, I mean… Understood. Uh, sir."

"Good. Telius, Kebalim Senik Corvallus has further details on where you will meet the quarian squad and their captain. I'll be present there to oversee the meeting. Tensus out."

The comms cut and Telius turned to Liam. "I owe you an apology as well, Liam. I had a feeling they'd ground your vessel once we made contact."

Liam shook his head. "Ah, that's alright, Telius. We did volunteer for this." He piloted the ship to follow the escort fighters into the planet's atmosphere.

"Guess we'll get to see Vallum first-hand," Kevin said with a smile. This couldn't have gone any smoother. He didn't even have to make an excuse to come along.

"And you'll get to meet your first cabal squad." He leaned on Liam's chair again and look at the ceiling wistfully. "Senik Corvallus. Spirits, that's a name I haven't heard in a while."

"You know him?" Kevin asked.

Telius nodded, tilted his head, shrugged. "Not directly, no. He retired from the military a number of years ago before I took up the secondary position of cabal liaison. I heard about him all the time, though. He was the kebalim over one of the most successful cabal squads to exist in recent years, the Sphelix Legion. They were one of those squads that handled missions black ops wouldn't touch. From what I'm told, he's a hard man with a harder carapace than most turians can hope for." He pauses to think a moment and his browplates press together. "I wonder what has the Hierarchy so spooked that they'd pull retired kebalim back to active duty."

Kevin liked this 'Senik' already. He grew more curious. "Why did he retire?"

Telius looked at Kevin and glanced passed him as he attempted to recall the details. "I don't quite remember what the listed reason was, but I'd heard several stories. One is that he's just grown old. Makes sense, he's into his eighties by now and was running military since he was a fledgling recruit. Another had something to do with biotic complications. Another story said that he'd gotten unruly and had been given a choice to retire or be dishonorably discharged."

Liam raised a brow and brought the ship around to make the starting approach towards the hills they were to land in. Luckily for Liam, the ship wasn't so large that it required extra-fine maneuvering just to land. "All these stories. The man certainly has created an image for himself, hasn't he?"

Telius nodded in agreement. "Most kebalim grow to some sort of legendary status amongst the cabal squads by the time they die or retire. Senik has just outlived and outclassed them all. Being a cabalist, however, means his name isn't mentioned much in the general ranks. Most officers know him, but…" He shrugged to show just how much that meant.

Kevin stood up straight just then. "I'll go kick the others awake. We should be gearing up if your commander wants to see us."

Telius nodded to Kevin and turned to stare out the fore viewports to monitor Liam's progress on approaching the landing site. They were heading east, and the capitol city, Vallum, could just be seen in the distance above the high hills ahead. It looked like a magnificent city, especially given how much had been destroyed in the separatist attack early last year. That explosion, dubbed "The Vallum Blast" when it went all over the press, put a crater a five-kilometer wide at the heart of the city, centered on the city's parliamentary Radiatum building. Some turian separatist group, calling themselves 'Facinus' sent a small ship into FTL right outside the planet's atmosphere and drove it straight into the ground. The effects were so powerful that some buildings eleven kilometers away were destroyed.

The turian response from that had lasted for months, but the dust had since settled. Reconstruction was well underway, and while they didn't fill in the crater, they had already rebuilt a large percentage of the buildings that were lost to the terrorist attack. The replacement for the Radiatum building was almost done now, and it stood out tall amongst the nearly-identical-to-the-original replacement for the Executor's office building, Sigis. Between those and the other rebuilt structures in the crater, they had made an effective testament to turian resilience and relentlessness. Kevin had to guess that was where they were going to meet the Xelvas'taersh.

Once the city, twinkling bright from the light of the local sun, was out of sight due to the upcoming hills, Kevin finally saw fit to actually leave for the bunks. He wasn't exactly looking forward to talking to Maela right now—she wasn't the happiest of people under normal circumstances, and she was hardly in a good mood at the moment.

Their little escapade in the cargo bay didn't end the way she had hoped. It started out fine; Kevin's foray into rough foreplay was apparently the perfect approach to push Maela's sexual buttons. The problem was that Telius had overheard the rough play and came to investigate under the impression that a fight had broken out. It was a good thing he showed before any clothes came off—it was awkward enough to begin with. Maela had cursed Telius pretty harshly in her embarrassment, and stuck with pent up frustrations, went straight for her bunk promising Kevin that he wasn't getting off the hook so easily. That was a few hours ago.

Hope she's cooled off by now, Kevin mused. The last thing we need is a monumentally horny asari following me around in the middle of Vallum. When he walked into the bunk room, he saw Maela sitting on the edge of her bed. She didn't acknowledge his entrance and seemed lost in thought, so he decided that waking Targold would be his first order of business. He moved over to the amusing makeshift bed and put a foot on the krogan's armored shoulder, kicking hard. He only succeeded in rolling his massive friend back and forth, but it worked.

"The hell…" complained Targold. "Can't a krogan get some sleep around here?"

Kevin grinned. "We're here, you lazy bastard."

"Damn, already?" He sat up, stretched, and growled in a yawn. "Fine, fine. I'll get up. Eventually."

"Good. We're about to go for a walk."

The krogan's big, reptilian eyes focused on his human friend for a moment as if he were being challenged. "You want me to take a walk on a turian planet? How badly do you want all of us to die, Folner?"

Kevin crossed his arms. "Keep it in your pants, man. The commander of their aerospace control wants to have a word with us."

"Why?" Targold asked with a disinterested shrug.

"Hell if I know," Kevin said with a likewise shrug. "I'm guessing it has something to do with us accompanying Telius on his mission. Just don't do anything I'll regret later, yeah?"

Targold laughed, stood, then slapped Kevin on the back and sent him lurching. "Long as the turians keep those grubby talons to themselves, I'll do my best." He picked up his shotgun, holstered it, and walked out.

Kevin turned to go alert Maela next, but she was already halfway to him. She walked right up to him to lay her palms on his chest and moved her head in so close that he thought she was going to kiss him again. She probably wanted to, but Kevin didn't lean in to meet her and she got the hint for once.

Maela looked right into his eyes. "I'm sorry. You know, about what happened earlier. I should have chained that damn turian to his bed. Do you think we have time to—"

Kevin found the would-be inquiry amusing and he chuckled. "No, Maela. We're going to land any second. It'll take longer than that just to get my suit undone."

"Fuck." She sighed and looked off to the side for a moment before looking up at him again. "One more, then? To hold me over until we have a room to ourselves?"

Kevin didn't need to ask to know what she wanted one more of. He debated internally for a while before giving her a smiling nod. Everything aside, she was a hell of a kisser. "Just one."

Maela almost didn't let him finish his two short words before she put a hand around the back of his neck under the cables and tubes to pull his head in. Their lips met, tingled. Their tongues met, and tingled even more. It quickly became apparent to Kevin that she hadn't completely cooled off yet. Her kiss was a hungry one, and he could tell that she was having a hard time restraining herself. The ship shook under their feet right in the middle of the kiss as it came to land on turian soil.

As endearing as it was to have someone in the galaxy want him this badly, Kevin had to break it off. He flicked his head towards the door once she'd opened her eyes. "We, uh. We should gear up and head out to meet the squad that'll be escorting us into Vallum."

Maela moved to the side of the room and opened up a locker, pulling out a jacket. "Wait, what? Why the hell are we going into the city?"

"Apparently the aerospace control commander wants to 'have a word' with us. They're grounding the ship, too. We're going to be escorted into Vallum with Telius, and we'll meet him at the heart of the city."

She grimaced, already not liking the situation. She took one look at the jacket, threw it back into the locker, and then pulled out a light hardsuit. "Ugh, fine. But if they're going to make me go in there, then I'm taking this. There's no way in hell I'm going in just a jacket."

Kevin smirked as she started putting it on. "Guess that means I'm going to have to work twice as hard. Hardsuits are so much harder to rip off."

The asari gave him a frustrated stare. "Don't tease. It's not fair."

Kevin walked over to her as she was wriggling into the top half of her armor. As soon as he was in range, he grabbed the tips of her head ridges and pulled her head backward until she was forced to stare at the ceiling. He leaned in and placed a single, gentle kiss on the nape of her neck and heard a sharp breath leave her mouth. He let go and she immediately whirled to give him a violent shove.

"I said no teasing, you piece of shit!" Her tone was harsh, but she had a smile on her face.

"I know," Kevin replied as he turned and made his way over to his bunk to retrieve his weapons and his visor. He holstered the pistol and knife, and the visor hissed quietly as it clicked back into place. Once more the image of a malformed quarian, he moved out of the room to let Maela finish dressing in relative peace. Outside the door, he saw Liam, Targold, and Telius heading for the airlock.

"Where's Maela?" Telius asked.

"She's putting her pants back on," Kevin said nonchalantly. The looks he got were quite amusing, especially from Telius. "I'm kidding. She's just putting on a hardsuit. She'll be out in a minute."

"Not like we'll be going anywhere anytime soon," Liam grumbled under his breath.

Telius shook his head. "I understand the concern, but the issues with the separatists ended over a year ago. She won't need a hardsuit."

"Good luck convincing her otherwise," Kevin said with an amused smile as they stepped through the first door.

They all pushed into the airlock and Maela came running just as the door was about to shut. Her hardsuit gleamed and was a soft turquoise trimmed with silver and black. The others stared at her and she crossed her arms as the door shut behind her and the airlock cycle began.

"What?" the asari questioned the onlookers.

"You intending on getting into a firefight?" Telius asked. Apparently the concept of everyone wanting to get on a suit of armor before following him onto Taetrus was a little grating.

"Are you kidding me? This is a turian city. Everyone has a fucking gun in a turian city. I'm not taking any chances."

Telius shrugged it off this time. "Suit yourself. I can't imagine it'll be all that comfortable on the ride in."

The airlock cycle finished and Liam pressed down on a lever that activated a walk-down ramp so they could reach the ground from the airlock. Once it had been fully extended, the door opened and the dim room flooded with sunlight bright enough to make everyone shield their eyes with an arm or a hand. Telius was the first one out.

At the bottom of the ramp, a hard-looking turian in black armor with red and gold detailing waited for them. Behind him was a quickly thrown together camp in the cleft of huge rock populated by more turians, male and female, all in military armor. A few were sparring in hand-to-hand duels off to the right in the middle of an arena drawn into the dirt and some were checking stocks and keeping inventory in the center. Off to the left were four armored hover transports. Their pilots, apparently also part of Sphelix Legion, were chatting and checking a few mechanical parts in the vehicles.

"Welcome to Taetrus, Lieutenant Mettack," said the turian at the base of the ramp. His voice was deep, and the trademark flange that made his voice classically turian was so strong it almost vibrated the air.

When Telius made it to the bottom of the ramp, he saluted and grasped forearms as if he were a friend. "Well met, kebalim. Had a few bumps along the way, but glad to be able to finally get things moving."

Kevin followed Telius down and got a closer look at this kebalim. His appearance met every expectation Kevin had for a turian so well spoken of in the field. He was older, but age clearly hadn't been slowing him down; the bulk of his armor denoted a well-toned and chiseled body structure. The armor itself was beaten to hell and re-polished to keep a certain presentable shine. It was covered in chips, dents, scratches, and other telling battle scars. His face was the same way; the plates on his face showed obvious signs of numerous close-calls, and though the blocky orange clan colors had to have been repainted numerous times, it was still somewhat faded. To top everything off, the left-most of the three fringes jutting off the top of his head had been broken off some years ago. If anything was clear just by looking at this guy, it was that he'd seen a hell of a lot of action and his stories were etched into both his armor and himself.

The only thing that seemed out of place for a man of this caliber was that his sole visible weapon was just a mere M-4 Shuriken machine pistol holstered at his hip.

Steely cyan eyes moved their gaze from Telius to Kevin, then the rest of the aliens walking down the ramp. "I'd heard you had picked up some dead weight along the way. I assume these are the ones Commander Tensus instructed us to bring with you into Vallum?"

Telius nodded. "This is Liam McRoilie, Maela T'Vess, Targold, and…" He gestured towards Kevin, but had no idea what his quarian persona's name was.

"Kev'Renlof vas Del'Kellius," Kevin said for Telius, offering a hand in greeting to the kebalim.

The turian stared at Kevin's hand for a good few seconds, and then ignored it by folding his behind his back. "Senik Corvallus. Kebalim to the Second Sphelix Legion." He turned a brisk one hundred and eighty degrees and started walking back to the camp with a simple gesture for everyone to follow. "Pull up a rock and have a seat. We've been instructed to wait for Commander Tensus's orders to move, but we've gotten no word from him yet."

Telius tilted his head. "Odd… He contacted us not more than a few minutes ago."

Senik growled in irritation. "I had suspicions something would hold this up. No offense to you or your… friends, Mettack, but I didn't exactly get called back to service to be put on fledgling watch."

Telius suppressed a chuckle and shook his head. "Understandable, kebalim."

They entered the camp with little fanfare, but the stares were all too easy to spot—and feel. Things had gotten significantly quieter all of a sudden and the cabalists watched with looks ranging from irritation to amusement, disgust, confusion, and angst. Targold easily got most of the negative attention, of course. Kevin could tell he noted it, but he was glad he was glad that this krogan had some restraint. Slowly, as their group moved into the camp, the turians around them returned to their activities and the atmospheric chatter resumed.

Kevin counted at least twenty-five turians, likely more. That's way more than squad strength. No wonder that kebalim's pissed he's on guard duty. There's a lot of wasted strength here, unless the Hierarchy knows something we don't…

Telius seemed to come to the same conclusion. He was simply bold enough to ask. "There's a lot of turians here for a cabal squad."

The leader spoke without turning to look at anyone. "Thirty cabalists, four pilots to be exact. Thirty-five if you include me. Apparently finding cabalists that have the makings to be commanders are getting hard to come by. You can blame that on turian culture. We're not very forthcoming with promotions." He grunted loudly to make audible what he thought of that. "Primarch Fedorian thought I'd be better utilized by taking a cabal company rather than a squad or two. Not my preference, but it does give me a sizable selection of tactical approaches due to the increased number of specialties."

Senik moved to the central area where a number of portable pieces of equipment had been set up—a range for cooking, a communications terminal and broadcast dish, a fold-out workbench for maintaining gear and weapons, and a first-aid station to treat superficial wounds caused by the sparring in the ring. It was in the shadow of a tall, jagged outcropping of rock that shielded it from the sun and constant breeze pushing up from the lower hills.

Kevin gave Targold's left arm a backhanded slap. "Targold, mind having a seat? Might be a good time to finish that nap of yours."

Targold gave Kevin a sidelong glance. "No way in hell I'm getting any sleep here, Folner. I'll try to keep a low profile, though. I don't like it, but I'm not stupid enough to start something here like some other krogan I could easily name." The hulking beast stomped his way over to the base of the tall rock and sat down with his back against it.

The rest, Telius and Senik included, stood around the communications terminal as if it were a campfire. After everyone was in place, the kebalim started eyeing everyone in turn, likely measuring them up. As he did so, he crossed his arms and continued his previous conversation.

"The Xelvas'taersh are already here in Vallum, but Commander Tensus has given us specific instructions to wait for the go-ahead. I trust he and the local Primarch have some political shit to settle before we can parade you in."

"I hate politics," Telius added.

"And that's why we have you, Mettack." Senik pulled out his omni-tool and executed a function that projected a small hologram in front of him. It showed a very crude wireframe of their current position, the surrounding hills, and the entirety of Vallum to the east. He flicked his head towards the hover transports as he began to speak. "This is our action plan. When we get the call to move, we'll mount up on the AHVs and ride into Vallum through the western checkpoint." As he spoke, a red line progressed from their current position in the hills, down to the western outskirts of the city then weaved its way through to the center. "We'll meet up with the quarians and Commander Tensus in the new parliamentary building. The exchange will proceed then."

Telius placed a hand on his chin, nodding in agreement with each point. "Is there any expectation of hostile interruption?"

"Always," was Senik's reply and he waved his right hand over the omni-tool. The hologram shifts to focus on the wireframe of Vallum and multiple blinking circles appear inside and outside around the city. "We'll have comm feeds coming in from various points in the perimeter as well as from Aerospace Control. Additionally, supplemental infantry are covertly placed at key intersections to monitor for suspicious ground traffic within the city. Commander Tensus has SRUs holed up in a perimeter around the parliamentary building as well. If anything is worth knowing, we'll know about it before it becomes a threat to the exchange. Primarch Fedorian has Sphelix Legion on point for any emergency situations. In the event that all goes well, Commander Tensus will deliver new orders for both our squads once the exchange is completed satisfactorily."

Once more, Telius nodded as he took in the plan and committed it to memory.

After a couple minutes of silence, Senik's gaze fell upon Kevin and stopped there. "A quarian. Not just a quarian, but a deformed one. What in the galaxy would possess you to bring a damn quarian along, Mettack?" he asked without moving his drilling stare.

The Lieutenant stiffened considerably under the weight of Senik's eyes. "He's not a quarian, actually," he said quickly, clearly intent on not looking too much like a fool to the kebalim.

Kevin wanted to facepalm, but the visor always seemed to lessen the satisfaction. His cover had already been blown to hell, though, so there was no sense in trying to keep appearances. "He's right. I'm a human."

The kebalim raised a browplate. "A human in a quarian suit?" He asked rhetorically and chuckled contemptuously. "You're better off going naked, boy. Still, you did manage to fool me for a time, something I don't admit easily—or often. What's your real name?"

"Kevin Folner, sir." He found that he couldn't help but grant authoritative respect to this turian. He practically emanated a commanding aura.

"Any… other surprises I should be aware of?" Senik asked the group.

Maela smirked. "He's a biotic and could probably kick your ass."

Senik gave Maela a look, something unidentifiable to everyone but her. It didn't even seem to have any emotion in it at all but Maela's smirk withered within seconds.

He looked back to Kevin with those beady cyan eyes. "Biotic, is it? Military trained?"

Kevin nodded.

Senik stroked his mandibles once. "Hmm. I seem to have grown some interest in your mettle. Think you can handle yourself in the ring, boy?" He actually smiled a little. The scarred plates on his face did nothing to dissuade the terrifying visage he held for a few whole seconds.

Kevin looked over to the sparring ring where two female turians were battling fiercely. It looked like fun, and he'd not had a chance to really test his CQC lately, but he wasn't so sure how he'd do against battle-hardened cabalists. "I think I'm outclassed as hell, but I won't back down from a challenge."

Senik nodded, which Kevin assumed was as close to a word of approval as he was ever like to get. "Listen up! We have a guest for the ring today!" he yelled before looking over to a turian walking nearby. "Haekas, monitor the feeds. I want to know the moment anything happens, especially any transmissions from Commander Tensus."

"Yes kebalim!" Haekas acknowledged with a salute.

As the group began to work their way over towards the sparring pit, now surrounded by a solid ring of cabalists, Liam tapped Kevin on the shoulder. "Kevin, what are you doing? You're going to fight biotics hand-to-hand? You know how that always turns out! Broken bones, remember?"

"Relax, Liam," Kevin said assuredly. "Turians play rough, but they'd never endanger their own mission performance with serious injuries. They know restraint, but they also probably expect me to use barriers… We'll see how it goes."

Senik broke through the ring and stood in the center, arms crossed. "This is a friend of Lieutenant Mettack. He's a biotic, as it turns out, and he'd like to play. Any takers?"

"I'll put him down," said a male turian as he stepped into the ring. His armor was pretty standard and featured the squad colors of teal and black, and he had rounded facial markings in a brown that nearly blended in with his facial plates.

"This is Relus Paliencar, one of our biotic artillery specialists. Rules are simple: First one who leaves the ring or goes down and can't get up for whatever reason loses the match. No moves that risk fatality or serious injury. Begin." Senik moved out of the ring and stood a couple meters back from the edge with the rest of the onlookers, Maela, Telius, and Liam included.

Relus cracked his knuckles and moved into a ready stance, his eyes focused hard on Kevin. The cabalist didn't even wait for him to get into his own stance before he began his approach.

He's confident he can end this in the first few moves. He thinks that because I'm in a quarian suit I can't fight worth a damn, and he wants to make sure everyone knows that. He was determined to prove him wrong. He kept his own stance loose and neutral to give the continued air of ignorance, and it worked in fooling his opponent into thinking he was a mere amateur. This made it easy for Kevin to predict the kind of opening moves the turian would most likely use, given his stance and angle of approach. He also noticed the turian flicking his beady eyes at Kevin's feet every so many steps. He's going to attack low, but his stance suggests a high-targeted attack. Kudos for at least layering appearances.

The attack came within the next couple seconds. Relus made a direct swing for Kevin's face but faked it out. Kevin ducked low and watched for the inevitable low-level strike. It came in the form of a sudden leg sweep from his left. Kevin had several ways of countering this simplistic move, but when the turian saw him duck and adjusted his attack height to kick at Kevin's torso instead, it more or less decided Kevin's counter. He used his hands to stop the kick dead in its tracks and lifted the leg skyward as soon as he had a firm grasp on it. A slight twist and an upward throw caused the turian to tumble as if he were doing a fancy cartwheel, but his momentum was far out of his command and he had no ground control. Relus landed face-down and Kevin was there to press his foot against the back of the turian's neck within the same second.

Unable to properly retaliate from this position, a female turian called the match. The entire squad broke out into laughter and Kevin saw Maela and Liam pump their fists with excitement.

"Damn, Relus! You just got Corvallus'd!" someone from the crowd called out.

"Crap. Fine, take your creds," someone else, a woman, said.

"Ah, ah, the bet was fifty creds, Relissi. Hand them over."

"Damnit…" Relissi replied.

Kevin let up off of the turian and stood aside. The quarian visor hid the grin, but he could tell the other turian knew he was grinning anyways. Relus gave Kevin a glare of death in return and walked out of the ring, where he proceeded to get jibes from just about anyone he walked by. More laughter filled the ring and Senik reentered the center with Kevin.

That one was easy, but I had surprise on my side. Now that they know I'm not a pushover, the next won't be nearly as quick a fight…

Senik nodded to Kevin. "Embarrassing, Relus. That's worth a week of shine duty. Enjoy. Who else wants to 'put him down'?"

"I will," shouted the next contender; the same female turian who called the end to the previous match, as she stepped through the conglomeration and into the ring. This turian had sharp red-orange facial markings, dusty-brown skin, and to Kevin's surprise, bold leaf-green eyes. She carried herself with more than enough confidence to the point where she came across as 'cocky' to Kevin. No, not cocky—superior. She regarded Kevin like a bug to be squashed for making too big a scene.

As she stepped into her position across from Kevin, the surrounding turians hooted and hollered. Several made hand gestures, some universally known and some turian-centric, towards Kevin that equated to something along the lines of 'you're done for.' This time almost all the bets Kevin could hear being made in the crowds favored his new turian opponent.

She's known in the company for being good, I'll wager. Hopefully I can keep my ground.

"Madeen Arcellus will risk her all-important ego to fight this quarian!" Senik announced, almost amused. Almost.

"That's no quarian," Madeen shouted to the crowd, looking around. "That takedown was an Alliance maneuver." A round of cheers and jibes filled the air again as Madeen looked to Kevin, looking him up and down. "And by the way, that suit looks fucking ridiculous."

Kevin gave Madeen a small round of applause of his own followed by a quick bow. "She gets a cookie! My name is Kevin Folner and I am, indeed, a human."

"Go back to your dirt planet, Kevin." She spat his name in utter contempt. "Taetrus is no place for the likes of you."

Kevin nodded. "Good! Maybe you'll last longer than Relus over there." Laughter bubbled up around the crowd. "I prefer a woman with stamina, though. Think you can hold on long enough for me to be satisfied?"

"Female varren don't count as women, human," she said in rebuttal, wholly unamused, as she took up her initial stance. "Assuming you could even get your squishy human parts into a varren in the first place."

The crowd laughed again. They were thoroughly enjoying the little jab-fest the two in the ring were having, but Senik put an end to it. "Fight already or I'll bash your heads together like children."

Both duelists assumed their initial stance and gave each other a long, analyzing look.

A little stiff, but she keeps her knees and ankles loose to promote dynamic movement. This'll be good. Definitely no Relus.

Madeen moved first, her focus on Kevin determined almost as much as it was disgusted she was even doing this dance with a human in the first place. Her moves were smooth, calculated. Kevin knew she was absolutely not going to fall for the feint he pulled with Relus and he readied himself as well. He could also tell she was several tiers higher than the first turian in terms of skill at unarmed combat, and he had to mentally adjust his predictions to that of an advanced fighter.

This proved to be crucial just barely a few seconds into the battle. Madeen had dashed in for a few jabs that Kevin brushed aside harmlessly. She was quick, though, and didn't leave herself open for a counter as she moved in and out, throwing a few punches or a precisely-placed kick to test his defenses. Damnit, she's gauging my defensibility while I just stand here and let her poke away. Need to counter and get on the offensive…

The crucial moment that made this paradigm shift so necessary sprang up that instant. She dashed in for another few jabs, but instead of just dashing back out of range, she dropped down to the ground in a spin that gave her plenty of momentum for a sweeping kick. Kevin had nowhere near as much time to predict or prepare for this maneuver, but he still had plenty of time to react. He used his forearms to redirect the high kick over his head then twisted his arms to grapple the leg before it got away.

This proved to be a mistake, however, as the other leg came up to place a solid kick into his ribs. There was enough power in it to lift him from the ground for a short bit before he tumbled backwards and stood up right at the ring's edge. Without even a few seconds to think about getting away from the ring's edge, he caught the sight of the familiar shimmer of biotics. Oh hell no.

The biotic throw came a mere second later, aimed squarely for Kevin's chest. He'd seen this coming, thanks to the tell-tale signs of dark energy, but all he could do was barely manage to sidestep out of the way in time. He heard Madeen grunt in irritation when her throw had missed and she quickly followed up to close the distance and keep the pressure on.

This gave Kevin just enough time to compose himself and get his footing back. He saw her charging him and he began to gather his own dark energy, but there wasn't nearly enough time before she'd be on him. Knowing this, he took two steps forward and faked a high punch for her face. He knew it wouldn't fool her, but her forward momentum would force her to react defensively or risk getting thrown. A mix-up like this was one of his favorite ways to quickly turn the tables for a short moment when his position was bad.

She took the bait and she deflected the punch over her head and stopped to deliver a counter to his open side. This was the move he was hoping for, and he used what energy he'd gathered to deliver a light, concentrated biotic throw against the incoming fist with his opposite hand. The force threw her hand back around her side to the point that she nearly stumbled, and he used the opportunity to grapple the wrist she'd used to deflect his previous punch and twist it around. This forced the turian to turn or she'd lose significant mobility. Kevin expected she'd have to use her feet in this scenario, and he wasn't disappointed. She threw out a kick meant to trip him up, but he used the hardsuit over his knee to stop the kick and swept the foot out from under her.

Madeen fell with an irritated grunt on her side, her arm still under Kevin's control. Both of them were continually charging more dark energy now, and he knew he'd be facing her next biotic maneuver any second. He started to roll her to make her face the dirt, but she managed to get her other arm around enough to put a biotic throw into Kevin's feet, and they flew out from under him. He fell chest-down onto the turian and she spun to grapple him.

She predicted this much. She means to pin me, he realized too late, and she rolled onto him with one of his arms between them, holding him down. Faces close, he smirked up at her as he struggled to get free with little success. "You're pretty good for someone who fantasizes about humans and varren."

Her only reply was spittle onto his visor.

Kevin chuckled between grunts of exertion. Damn. If I don't get her off of me quick, they'll call the match. He pushed with his feet, heels digging into the dirt, in an attempt to free up some space between her, him, and the ground underneath. She did a good job of keeping him pinned down, and she might have won if Kevin didn't use the small space he'd earned to put a biotic throw right into her torso at point-blank.

Despite her armor, she'd clearly had the wind knocked out of her, and she even flew backwards into the air a good meter or two before she came down onto the dirt half a dueling ring away. She hadn't fallen out of bounds, but he wasn't shooting for that. He'd have had to put too much energy into his throw to accomplish that, and he had no intention of causing injury. She rolled once and stood on her feet, gasping for air, still focused on Kevin to an impressive degree.

They fought with back and forth results like this for near on ten minutes. For those actually performing the duel, this seemed like hours. They had no perception of the crowds cheering and jeering, some egging Kevin on, most hooting for Madeen. Senik had walked away to ensure no messages had come, and was surprised to find them still going at it when he'd come back. Targold had even joined to watch from the back of the crowd and few had noticed or cared.

The match-ending move came when Madeen's frustrations with Kevin's relentlessness got the better of her for one decision. She'd put too much power into a backhanded swing meant to knock him off-balance, and when she whiffed it, she was unable to reel it in before Kevin could take advantage.

He leaned in on the inside of her wide swing and hit her with the palm of his hand on the opposite shoulder. The force of the blow caused her to stumble, giving Kevin just enough time to hook his foot behind her forward-stepped knee. He pulled to make her fall back, then used a weak biotic throw to graze her right side and send her into a spin as she fell. She hit the dirt face-first and Kevin was on her before she could correct the problem. He grappled her quick and held her fast.

"Get off of… me, you son… of a bitch!" she yelled as she kicked with a knee.

She managed to get just airborne enough to twist, but Kevin was ready. He adjusted his grapple and rolled once to get her back onto the ground. "Ergh… Say… Please!"

"Fuck… you…!" She yelled again as she thrashed once more.

Her furious thrashing almost made Kevin lose his hold on her as she went airborne again. "Close… Enough!" he yelled as he rolled again with her in his grip to readjust. This time, however, he intentionally let go at the end instead of pinning. The turian rolled once, came to a stop, and immediately stood.

"Match!" Senik called above the crowd.

Madeen's eyes went wide at the call of the match wondering what happened. It was then she looked down and saw that her feet were mere inches outside of the ring.

At first it was completely silent after the match's. Suddenly, laughter and cheers rang out around the ring at the unexpected and long-fought victory. Kevin slowly stood, face beaded with sweat, winded, and already feeling the fight in his muscles. He looked around at cabalists, swelling with pride at their shows of approval—or jabs at Madeen. Madeen, however, scowled darkly at Kevin before she shoved her way through the crowd and out of sight.

Soon after that came the large number of frustrated looks as the majority of the cabal squad realized they had to fork over credits to one of four turians who actually bet on Kevin. One would think those four had just won the galactic lottery with how much they were boasting.

Senik stepped into the ring and looked to quarian-clad human. "Been a while since I'd seen someone put Madeen through her paces. How about round three, kid? You've put on quite the show for the team here."

Kevin had to bend forward and lean his weight on his knees with his hands, breath still coming hard. "Sorry, but… I think I'll… pass this time."

He saw Senik looked off to the side for something at that moment, and when Kevin followed his gaze, he saw Haekas staring at some terminal screens at the center of the camp. The turian looked up at Senik and shook his head. Kevin also looked back to Senik as he straightened back out and found the turian emotionally blank as always. Something was different though. Senik didn't seem to ever display emotion, but there was something about him that made you know when he wasn't happy.

"Still nothing from Commander Tensus?" he asked as if he didn't know the answer.

Senik stared off into the horizon for a few seconds before leaving the ring with Kevin on his heels. "No. If there was something wrong enough to delay the mission this long, we would have heard about it by now."

An air of disappointment fell upon in the crowd as Senik and Kevin suddenly abandoned the dueling ring and left the others to pick up their own fights again. Ahead, Kevin spotted a pair of turians cooking up meals on a portable range and they started beating metal utensils against the sides of the pots and pans they were using to cook with. Dinner was served. Perfect timing for Kevin to suddenly realize how much that fight took out of him—he was starving. He spun to see if he could locate Liam, but he found that Maela, Targold, and the Irishman himself were already on their way over to meet him at the center of the camp.

"Brilliantly done, lad!" Liam cheered as they grouped up. "I had no idea you were such a talented fighter!"

Maela smirked. "That turian was a bitch anyways. You should have just broke her ribs and been done with it."

Kevin gave Maela a cool stare; not that she could see it. "She was one of the toughest fighters I've been up against in years. All my years of training and practice and we were evenly matched."

"Gotta admit, Folner," rumbled Targold. "I love watching you fight. You have a swift brutality that'd be right at home on Tuchanka."

Kevin noticed the entire squad of turians gathering around the center camp to eat and his stomach complained loudly about how empty it was. "Thanks for cheering me on, guys, but I have to change the subject. Liam, do we have any provisions on the ship? I really need to eat something. Two somethings. Especially if we're going to be heading into Vallum soon."

Liam nodded. "Sure. I'll go fetch us some grub." He looked over to Targold. "Errrr…"

Kevin glanced at the krogan and grinned under his visor. "Just give me twice whatever you eat, and give Targold twice whatever I eat. Preferably something with a lot of protein in it."

Targold didn't argue about the offered portion size, so that was essentially an "I'm OK with this" from him.

Liam scratched his head. "I'll, uh… I'll see what I can dig up. Maela, some help please?"

The asari rolled her eyes, but started to follow Liam as he headed back to the ship. "Damn humans. Always need an asari's help."

As the turians sat down around the camp to begin chowing down on their healthy biotic-sized portions, Kevin spotted Madeen chatting with a couple other female turians halfway between him and the duel ring. She noticed him looking in her general direction and she lifted her chin to signal she knew he was looking. Her mandibles slid down into a turian smirk and she gave him one single, slow nod of approval. That was probably as close to a 'well fought' as he was like to get from her. No one else even seemed to notice due to being so subtle.

Well, no one except for the kebalim, of course. He walked up behind Kevin as he began to speak, bowl of food in one hand and something resembling a fork in the other. "She has virtually no respect for your kind, human. That right there was all you're going to get, but you likely don't comprehend how much you've managed to impress her. She doesn't get beaten very often, and certainly not by any human she's ever met."

Kevin performed a slow nod of understanding. "I'm just glad she's not trying to rip my head off right now. Hey, question of curiosity: What does it mean when someone says 'You've just been Corvallus'd?' I caught that after my first fight."

Senik waited until he was done with his bite before he answered. "The swift efficiency you displayed against the dimwitted arrogance Relus brought to the ring is the same kind of swift efficiency I aim to instill in each and every one of these turians on normal missions. I'll put it this way: I beat Madeen in just as short a time as you did Relus whenever she feels masochistic enough to invite me to the ring."

The quarian-clad human understood then. "Damn. I guess I earned some points with your squad then?" Kevin then spotted Liam and Maela bringing out the meals.

"Some were impressed," said the kebalim flatly with a scoffing grunt. "I, however, was more surprised by your strategic and marginally unconventional use of your biotics. You've got a surprisingly open mind about the utility. Humans, as a whole, are too new to the concept of biotics to understand the full potential, but you seem to have a slightly more advanced grasp of just what you can accomplish."

Just then, Liam and Maela returned with the food. Kevin looked to Senik, who gave him a curt nod before moving off towards the hover transports.

"Food's up! Grab some now while it's hot!" announced Liam, who was carrying his and Targold's portions.

Targold grinned as he took a seat by the other three. "Bout damn time. Practically wasted away here." The krogan took the plate of human food and noticed a fork and knife on the sides of the plate. He picked up the fork, stared at the hilariously small utensil, then laughed. "What's this, a toothpick? Hah!" A quick toss over his shoulder was all it took before he started digging into the food with his hand.

"It's a good thing we didn't bring any good silverware," Liam noted as he also sat with Maela, Kevin, and the ravenous Targold.

Maela handed Kevin his and they sat as well. Kevin, however, quickly noticed that his food had not been mashed up into bits. He couldn't really blame them—they hadn't seen him eat with the quarian suit on. Guess I forgot to mention the straw. Guess I'll be eating like a human for now. He pulled at some of the clasps, heard a hiss, smelled the earthy air of the camp, and set the visor down next to him.

The majority of their lunch was eaten in silence, as everyone was too busy eating as quick as possible. Kevin was voracious, and he managed to clear all of his food before anyone else despite Targold's huge maw or the half-size portions Liam and Maela both had.

Once finished, Kevin replaced his visor and stood to stretch. "Damn, that was good for thrown together provision kits. Thanks guys." Liam and Maela simply nodded in return, their mouths both full of food. He took a quick look around and found that most of the turians had finished by now as well. Additionally, he noticed that Senik had moved back to the communications terminal.

Suddenly, Telius had morphed into view from out of nowhere looking to talk to Kevin. "We've been waiting here a while now. I'm going to talk to the kebalim and see what the problem is." Without waiting for any further words, the Lieutenant was off and walking hastily towards the comms terminals and the kebalim talking near it.

Kevin followed; he already liked this Senik Corvallus, but moreso, he found the kebalim's presence strangely empowering. He and Telius arrived at the comms terminal amidst a conversation already in progress.

Haekas gestured towards the terminal. "I'm not sure. All of the feeds are silent, and I know no radio silence order has been issued by you or anyone else. We should at least be hearing the intermittent reports, but none have come."

"Interference?" Senik asked as he glanced at the two arrivals.

Haekas nodded. "I suspected as much, so I looked into it. My results are coming in just now." The turian waited a minute to analyze the data streaming in, and his face grew darker with each second. "The hell… It looks like… some kind of exotic jamming signatures. But not just on military or civilian channels."

"What channels are jammed?" Senik asked, crossing his arms.

Haekas swallowed hard as he looked to his superior. "All of them, kebalim."

Senik immediately uncrossed his arms, browplates furrowing in the most emotion he'd ever displayed since Kevin arrived.

Telius finally spoke up. "What? Impossible. Not even spectre-issue jammers can hit every frequency with that level of coverage. You'd need a starship's-worth of power to get that kind of strength."

"Get the squad mobile," Senik said, sharp as a blade with an obvious sense of urgency.

Haekas nodded, stood, and barked an order that didn't translate properly and the squad began to move all at once. Maela, Liam, and Targold all stood just as they finished their meals, confused. Maela ran over towards Kevin and Telius, questions plain on her face.

She was just about to ask the obligatory 'What's going on?' when the sounds of big, distant explosions echoed around the hills.

Everyone froze in place for a few seconds as they all looked at each other. An eerie quiet fell, broken only by wind funneling through holes in the rocks and the sudden, muffled reverberations of death and destruction that were nothing short of ominous. It felt like everyone had stood still for several minutes, but it had only been a few seconds later that the camp erupted into a frenzy of controlled chaos. All members of the Sphelix Legion were hustling around with swift purpose, packing up the camp and making ready to move. Weapons were gathered, equipment was bundled and packed, and armor was donned.

Maela was trying to be quiet, but the tension was getting to her already. "Shit, shit, shit! I fucking knew this whole thing was a bad idea…"

Liam came running next. "Damnit… Should we get back to the Appalachian?"

Targold was also on his way over, but Kevin couldn't wait for his lumbering friend to ask any questions. He looked for Senik and found him walking away. He quickly started after the turian to ask him questions of his own.

Senik was walking towards the hover transports with calculated speed and a look of dire seriousness breaking through the blank façade. "Everyone mount up! Pilots, get those AHVs moving now! Haekas, I want those feeds back up, whatever it takes!" He glanced back to Kevin, Telius, and the others. "You too. Find an AHV and mount up, we're going into Vallum to see what the hell is going on."

"Shouldn't we get back on the sh—"

"No. You're grounded, and there are formations of fighters likely spinning up their engines as we speak. If they catch you leaving now, you'll be blown out of the sky merely on the suspicion you had something to do with it. Turians do not suffer that kind of shit."

Kevin grit his teeth, but he looked back towards his companions. He flicked a head towards the AHVs to signal that they were to go, and when no one seemed to move other than Telius, he used a hand to make a dramatic gesture to get them moving.

One of the turians nearby looked to Senik as he was packing up what looked like a large assortment of military-grade explosives. "Kebalim, I thought our orders were to wait for—"

"Parameters change, Nolencus. Comms are jammed, so we'd never get that order." Senik grasped a vertical bar on the back end of the lead hover transport and looked off in the direction of Vallum despite not being able to see it. "This mission just got a lot more complicated," he said as he pulled himself onto the passenger bed of the vehicle.

Maela and Liam were floundering about in hesitation. Kevin knew there was no time for such indecision and he tried to flag them down with waving arms. A couple guiding shoves from some of the Sphelix Legion squadmembers gave them the motivation to follow the group towards the vehicles, thankfully. Targold, of course, needed no additional motivation, and the turians recognized that by leaving him alone as they finished packing the camp.

Kevin followed and Senik aboard the first armored hover vehicle, followed by Madeen, Telius, and eight other turians. Little more than topless armored flatbed trucks on sets of hoverpods, the AHVs were likely light and quick compared to normal, fully enclosed armored personal carriers. The trade-off was defense, as such an open vehicle was hardly good for cover when it came under fire. However, Kevin noticed a second set of plating on the sides that ran the length of the passenger bed. It was separate from the transport walls and the appeared to be on rails. The top half of these massive plates were cut into raised trapezoidal shapes, similar to small battlements once found on the tops of castle walls.

Senik walked to the very front of the passenger bed of their AHV and turned to look at the rest. He looked at Telius, Kevin, Madeen, and a number of others that had filled the bed of their truck and were sitting ready on the benches on either side. Maela and Liam had boarded the second vehicle with Haekas and a number of others, and Targold the third. When the kebalim saw that the fourth was still being loaded, his browplates pressed together again.

"Put the sex toys away, Sphelix! We need to move yesterday!" Still standing, he grabbed onto one of the many handles that ran along the wall of the truck bed for stability and he slapped the pilot on the shoulder.

Engines warm, the hovercraft lifted into the air a meter or so and started off forward so fast that Kevin almost fell sideways into Madeen's lap despite already sitting down. She gave him a violent shove back to 'stabilize' him and a steady glare that said 'don't touch me again.' The engines drowned out the sound of the explosions, but the tension in the air was tighter than Kevin had ever experienced. Even his own dire missions back as an Alliance solider didn't have as much palpable dread as this. It took five minutes of silent driving before they could clear the majority of the hills and hit the ground road that weaved down the rest of the way through the hills. By then, the sound of explosions had increased in volume, intensity, and frequency.

That's when Vallum came into view.

Massive pillars of smoke rose from the once-sparkling capitol. Fires were burning furiously in bright orange patches all over the city. There were no fighters in the air, no sirens going off, no emergency or distress signals to be found, and no separatists to fight. The very sight of the state of Vallum was horrifying. What they found to be the source of the explosions and fire, however, brought every single person in that convoy to their feet in disbelief, terror, and appalling wonder.

"By the Spirits…"

"What the hell…?"

"No way… Are those…"

"Oh no," Kevin said under his breath. His heart jumped into his throat as gripped the side of the AHV until he could feel his hands chafing under the pressure. "Reapers…"

Three massive ships, black in the mid-day sun and taller even than the rebuilt Radiatum, were walking around on segmented legs. Bright crimson lasers shot from what might have been their maws, swept across a small portion of ground, and lit fires and explosions as if every material it hit was dangerously flammable. The roar they sounded—mechanical, electronic, and immensely powerful—flowed through the air to signal their death march. Parting the clouds in the sky like a two kilometer-long meteor, a fourth came flying down into an untouched quarter of the city to land on its bug-like legs and began its own indiscriminant, fiery slaughter.

All around Kevin, turians were murmuring; some with dread, some with awe, some with indignation. No one except the kebalim could stand still. The very sight of the things obliterating Vallum would shake anyone's ground without a doubt, and this cabal squad was no exception.

"How do we fight something like that?"

"No… I have family in there…"

"Can we even fight something like that?"

"They're destroying so much so fast..."

"Just… Just another enemy, r-right?"

Senik leaned over to grip the pilot by the shoulder again. "Get us in there."