Chapter Eleven – Doctor's Orders

"Stop trying to support me, you can hardly walk," Jules shifted her hold on Liara, hooking the asari's arm around her shoulder and taking her weight as they walked through the alleyways towards the back door of Tevos' headquarters.

Liara frowned at her in annoyance as Jules took a firmer grip of her, "I'm fine, you're the one who's been drugged and paralysed."

"The drugs wore off over an hour ago and I am doing a better job at staying upright than you."

It was true. Liara was limping badly from her leg wound and was still bleeding from her torso despite their efforts to patch her up again. It would probably have been wiser for her not to be moving but they had decided that staying put and waiting for help was riskier, it was very likely that Erica would send people after them.

"Urgh, dammit," Liara cursed softly as she hopped slightly and steadied herself against the alley wall, as she got her breath back an ironic laugh escaped her lips, "neither of us are exactly in prime condition are we? Can you believe we used to save the galaxy?"

"Judging by the state it's in, I think it still needs saving," Jules replied, "so do me a favour and try not to bleed to death. Egret!" she looked behind her to where Egret was following at a distance, "Make sure no one's following us, Liara needs a minute," the asari nodded but said nothing as she turned and headed back the way they had come. Come to think of it, she had said nothing since they had left the warehouse.

"I think I might have scared her," Jules muttered as she eased Liara down onto a discarded barrel that was lying on its side against the wall, "shooting Aegina like that, not exactly the actions of a courageous hero."

"She's no stranger to death, Jules," Liara winced as Jules pulled open her jacket and began looking at the wound, "you saw what she did in there."

"There's a big difference between self-defence and murder, there was once a time I would never have dreamed of shooting and unarmed, injured woman either."

"After hearing what she did to you, I would have shot her myself."

Jules looked up sharply, "I didn't do it for revenge."

"I know. But I would have done."

Jules held her gaze for a moment but decided not to comment; Liara had always been less forgiving than her and they had clashed more than once over the years over what they considered ethical, but now wasn't the time for it.

Liara's wound was still bleeding and Jules had very little she could use to staunch it. After a moment she sighed and shook her head helplessly, "There's nothing I can do, we need to get you to a doctor," Liara nodded and attempted a weak smile but the effect was spoiled by the unhealthily pale shade of blue she had gone.

Jules looked round as Egret came jogging back along the alleyway, "There's no one following us," she reported as she neared.

"Good," Jules told her, "grab Liara's other arm, we need to move quickly," for a second Egret blinked and just stood there until Jules raised her eyebrows expectantly, "come on, she won't bite!"

It took only another second of hesitation before Egret hurriedly moved forwards and took Liara's arm. Between them they hauled the asari to her feet, Liara reacted with only a slight gasp but from the way her eyes were watering Jules could tell she was in a lot more pain than she was letting on.

"It's alright," Jules muttered, "it's not far," she looked ahead where Grunt had been lingering, his keen eyes alert for any danger as he waited for them, "make sure we've got a clear path back to the headquarters!" she called and the krogan nodded.

"Are we sure going back there is a good idea?" Egret asked, her voice was strained slightly as she struggled under Liara's weight and she was obviously uncomfortable but she didn't complain, "There might still be fighting going on."

"The HTA were planning to raid it before we left," Liara replied through gritted teeth, "they've probably got it under control by now."

"And anyway, we don't have a choice," Jules added, "Liara needs a doctor and we've probably got people chasing us. At least at the headquarters there are some people we can trust."

From the corner of her eye she saw Liara turn to give her a sceptical look, "Name one."

Jules smiled briefly but didn't reply.

"I still can't believe you managed to get out of that operating theatre on your own," Egret muttered, she seemed to be trying to distract herself as they hobbled with some difficulty along the alleyway, "no one will doubt you're the real Shepard when they hear about this."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Jules told her, "and I wasn't completely alone, Garrus helped too."

This time the look Liara gave her was harder to read, as Jules turned to meet her gaze she found herself frowning, "What?"

"Nothing. I… just thought we might have left the old crew behind on the Normandy, that's all."

"That would have been a bit cruel, wouldn't it? Considering the Normandy blew up."

"I'm not sure it's possible to hurt people who are already dead."

Jules decided to ignore Liara's tone, which was somewhere between concerned and annoyed. She knew Liara worried about her – honestly she sometimes worried about herself – but she also knew that she wasn't going mad, it wasn't like she actually believed she had been talking to Garrus.

"Ow!" she hissed suddenly as she stepped on some broken glass, instantly cutting the bare soles of her feet and breaking her train of thought.

"Are you alright?" Liara asked, despite the fact that she looked ready to pass out herself.

"Fine. Though you could have thought to bring a spare pair of shoes."

"I could always carry you, if you like," Liara offered dryly.

…

Adarna stumbled as she was shoved into the elevator, with her hands bound tightly behind her back she was unable to stop herself from falling forwards or from crying out as her head smacked off the metal wall, leaving her helplessly sprawled on her front.

"Pick her up, Aria," Tevos' voice was chiding as the two other asari entered behind her.

"I still say you should have let me shoot her," she heard Aria retort as she was grabbed roughly by the arms and hauled back to her feet. Her head throbbed and for a moment the world span, she was turned around sharply and Aria's face came into view as she was shoved back against the wall. Aria's mouth contorted into an ugly snarl and Adarna felt a rifle being pressed against her temple.

"She's no good to us dead," Tevos said calmly as the doors to the elevator slid shut and they began to descend, "the HTA have secured the building, they want her brought to them - alive," she was tapping at her omni-tool as she spoke, presumably in contact with the HTA officers who had just taken over her headquarters.

"You're playing into their hands, you know," Adarna said, struggling as Aria pressed her forearm against her neck, "this is what they want, me out of the way so they can put a stop to the project."

"Shut up," Aria advised her quietly, the warning tone in her voice was enough to send shivers trickling across Adarna's skin but she refused to appear intimidated, "do you have any idea what you've done? This crazy plan of yours has set the project back months, if they do shut us down it'll be because of you."

"They don't have the authority to shut us down," Tevos told her firmly, "we'll manage."

"Without Shepard?" Aria challenged.

"We'll find her."

"I doubt there's much left to find by now," Adarna risked a smirk even as Aria tightened the pressure against her neck, "they only wanted her implants, remember?"

She gasped as Aria's grip tightened further and the asari moved abruptly closer; she instinctively turned away as she felt cold breath tickle against her skin, "You disgust me," Aria muttered contemptuously.

"And you underestimate Shepard," Tevos added as she calmly stepped into Adarna's eye line, now with her hands clasped neatly behind her back, "you're not the first to make that mistake."

The elevator jolted softly as it came to a stop and the doors slid silently open. Adarna found herself being abruptly dragged away from the wall and shoved out into the entrance lobby. It was teeming with HTA uniforms, armed officers guarded the entrance while others were trying to access the consoles behind the reception desk.

There were groups of wounded staff members being treated by Tevos' doctors and Adarna saw Doctor T'Carra being held in handcuffs by two guards. They locked eyes briefly as Aria pushed Adarna forwards but T'Carra quickly looked away again. She looked shaken and was fidgeting nervously where she stood. Adarna realised with some annoyance that she had probably told the HTA everything they wanted to know.

"Matriarch Tevos," they looked up as a well-dressed human man came sauntering towards them through the crowd. Age-wise he was treading the fine line between youth and experience and confidence seemed to ooze from him, filling the air around him much like the strong scent of his aftershave, which Adarna could smell even from here. Blue eyes twinkled charmingly to match his smile and his strong jawline made him not unattractive to look at.

His appearance caused no joy in any of the three asari, however.

"Fuck," Adarna heard Aria mutter, "did it have to be him?"

"Quiet," Tevos retorted sharply before stepping in front of them to greet the human, "Director Damon, I wasn't expecting you to come down here personally."

He flashed his smile again as he took Tevos' hand, "When I heard how serious the situation was, it seemed only right that I should see it for myself."

"Shouldn't you be busy running the HTA?" Aria asked, sounding decidedly bored already as she kept a firm grip on Adarna's arm. Her comment swiftly made her the next target of his smile.

"No one runs the HTA, we are governed by an ele-"

"Elected board of directors," Aria finished for him, "you've given me the speech before, when you tried to have me arrested."

The smile didn't falter, "You were the HTA's most wanted criminal, Aria. You were lucky Matriarch Tevos is such a fine negotiator."

"And that she's spent the past decade collecting blackmail material on the rest of the HTA's directors," Adarna added coldly.

For the first time, Damon looked at her; his mood didn't seem to shift as he stepped carefully past Tevos and moved towards her, only stopping when they were face-to-face and the musky stench of his aftershave became even stronger. Apparently human women found the scent overpoweringly attractive, Adarna had never been able to understand why.

"I hear you were attempting to take over the project," he said pleasantly, "I assume it hasn't gone to plan," Adarna said nothing, "I also hear that Shepard has been kidnapped, I have people searching the city for her but it would go much faster if we knew where to look," as Adarna remained silent, the director sighed softly, "you realise that you're unlikely to get paid for her now, what's the point in protecting those criminals?"

"Well, criminal contacts can be useful when you're in prison," Aria snorted.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Damon told her calmly, "the HTA has yet to establish what happened here."

"I'll be happy to provide you with all the proof you need," Tevos told him, "but first we need to find Shepard, assuming they intend to take her implants, we probably don't have much time, we should-"

"Whatever you're about to say, I doubt it will be necessary," Damon cut her off, rocking back on his heels and smiling even more charmingly than before as he looked over towards the back of the room.

Adarna followed his gaze to see one of the staff doors standing open. Grunt was the first to march through it, a shotgun settled casually on his shoulder; behind him Liara stumbled into the room, being supported between Egret and Shepard.

Shepard looked worse for wear, but Liara was the one who was really suffering, "OI!" Shepard yelled across the room, she was looking towards the group of doctors, "Anyone want to offer a hand?"

The HTA officers were looking towards Damon for instructions but he made no attempt to stop the doctors as they hurried across the room. He watched the situation evolve, his head cocked curiously to one side. Throughout all her dealings with the director, Adarna had never seen his smile fade and even now it was remaining plastered in place.

"Take her," Shepard told them as they neared her and four of the medical staff picked Liara up between them, she seemed barely conscious and her head lolled back as she was lifted, but as she was carried away she made a last minute protest as she groggily slurred Shepard's name and reached for her hand.

"Don't worry, I'm right behind you," Shepard told her but as she made to step forward, Adarna saw the quarian doctor step in front to bar her way.

"You need medical attention too, Shepard. I can see to you myself."

There was a moment's pause as Shepard eyed him suspiciously, "And who the hell are you?"

The quarian blinked, "My name is Rhys, I'm a doctor here."

Shepard's eyes gleamed suspiciously and she stepped forward, bringing her face closer to his, "And are you going to drug me? Paralyse me? Sell me to an arms dealer for my implants?"

Rhys seemed to swallow uncomfortably and flicked back a lock of oil-black hair before he shrugged, "I wasn't planning on it."

"Good. Then you and I will get along just fine."

Shepard seemed to be walking with some discomfort and rather a lot of irritation as she followed Rhys across the room, Adarna couldn't help but appreciate Damon's nerve as he stepped out to greet her as she passed, "Commander Shepard," he began brightly and Shepard noticeably bristled at the title, "I'm Director Damon of the HTA, it's an honour to-"

"I'm sure it is," Shepard cut him off, brushing past the hand he had held out in greeting. She had noticed Adarna and was making a sudden beeline for her. As much as she didn't want to, Adarna felt herself instinctively back away as the human neared but Aria's grip tightened, holding her in place.

Shepard came right up to her, searched her eyes intently for a moment and then gave an irritated snarl before turning instead to Tevos, "Liara filled me in on what happened. Is it true?" Tevos' silence was apparently enough of an answer for her, "How many of your staff were in on this?"

"We're still piecing together the details," Tevos told her quietly, "I can't apologise enough, Shepard."

"Then don't bother trying," Shepard said bluntly, "I need to make sure Liara's okay, we can talk later," she gave Damon a brief, disinterested glance and then pushed past him again and joined Rhys in one of the elevators.

"She's a live wire, that one," Adarna muttered, "she'll be more trouble than she's worth in the long run," for a moment, Tevos glared at her before she turned swiftly to Damon.

"Director, I'd appreciate it if your officers could get this woman off my premises."

…

As the elevator doors slid shut, Jules briefly locked eyes with the human man who had tried to introduce himself. He had seemed to take no offence to her attitude and a warm, pleasant smile was still gracing his lips before he disappeared from her view.

"Who is he?" she asked Rhys quietly.

"I believe he's one of the HTA's leaders, I've seen his face on the news several times before. I'm surprised you're not familiar with him, the HTA was your creation, was it not?"

Jules looked at him for a moment, he was bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet as the elevator ascended, not unlike Tali used to, "I helped found the HTA," she admitted, "but I was never involved in the running of it, we left that to the politicians. I certainly haven't stayed in contact with them. I get the impression they've… changed a lot since I had any dealings with them."

"You should be proud of them," Rhys said cheerily, "they've kept peace for two centuries."

"Depends on your definition of peace, I hear they blew up Omega."

"Ha," he smiled, "hardly the galaxy's greatest loss."

"Tell that to Aria."

The doors slid open and they stepped out into a corridor. Several of the lights had been shot out and sections of it were in darkness, bullet holes decorated the walls and at least two doors had been kicked in. There was also a good deal of overturned furniture that had been dragged out of rooms to use as cover. A few armed HTA officers were milling around but apart from that the corridor was empty.

"Are we sure there's no one left up here who's planning to shoot us?" Jules asked, grimacing as she looked around at the mess.

"The HTA say they've secured the building," Rhys assured her, "most of Adarna's people have already been taken away."

"I can't believe they actually opened fire."

"Casualties were minimal," Rhys shrugged, "just because they were ordered to attack that doesn't mean they were comfortable with killing unarmed staff. The medical room is this way."

Rhys led her through the wreckage to a door that was being guarded by two armed turians, as they entered she saw Liara had already been placed on one of the beds and was being tended to by several frantic staff.

"Will she be alright?" Jules asked distractedly as Rhys led her over to the far side of the room.

"Her wounds have reopened," he replied without concern, "it's nothing too serious, I'm sure. I did warn her not to exert herself but she can be quite insistent."

"Tell me about it," Jules muttered.

"Hop on the bed," he told her, "I'll need to take some scans."

It was a long examination, Jules recounted everything that Doctor Aegina had done to her while Rhys took tests and scans which frequently had him frowning at datapads while muttering things to himself. He seemed bizarrely cheerful considering all that had happened that morning but Jules soon recognised that he was simply used to adapting to unexpected circumstances. They had that in common at least.

Meanwhile, the staff treating Liara had become far less agitated and Jules could hear her slurring groggily as she answered all their questions about how she was feeling. It was difficult to get a proper look at her with all the medics surrounding her but that didn't stop Jules from trying.

"Good heavens," she heard Rhys mutter from beside her and briefly glanced over to see him staring at one of his monitors, his golden eyes glowing curiously.

"What is it?"

"The toxin that T'Carra injected you with, there's still a lot of it coursing through your bloodstream. I had no idea she was such a skilled chemist, I don't know whether to be more impressed with her for synthesising it or with your implants for adapting to fight it so quickly."

Jules finally pulled her attention fully away from Liara as she shifted on the bed to look at the screen. To her all it showed was molecules and chemical formulae which meant nothing to her, "She's really been poisoning me all week?"

"Without a doubt," he agreed, "unless someone else has been offering you 'vitamin shots'?" he turned to raise his eyebrows at her expectantly but it was clearly a rhetorical question, "It explains why you were feeling so sluggish, your body was exerting a huge amount of energy to try and counteract the effects of the poison," he sighed and shook his head as he turned back to the screen, "seven months I've worked with that woman, I never even suspected she would be capable of this, intellectually or morally."

"This is a strange project people are signing up for," Jules mused, "I imagine there's all sorts of twisted motives hidden inside it."

"Indeed," Rhys only seemed to be half listening as he peered closer at his scans, "those implants really are a remarkable piece of engineering…" he must have felt Jules' questioning gaze on him as he suddenly cleared his throat and straightened up, "I'm sorry, that's probably the last thing you want to hear from a medical professional after the day you've had."

"I am starting to find people eyeing up my implants a bit creepy," she admitted with a tight smile, "how are the implants anyway? Is there any permanent damage?"

"Doesn't seem to be. You biotic implant was subjected to some pretty rigorous testing so I'd give it a rest for a while but aside from that, they're doing a perfectly good job of healing themselves. I'll just patch up that head wound, get the glass out of your feet and you'll be as good as new."

…

Over the next few hours Rhys' optimism proved to be refreshing. The quarian hummed cheerfully and talked incessantly to himself as he fussed around her, seeming to delight in even the tiniest triumphs.

"Aha! No sign of concussion!" he exclaimed after he had finished treating her head wound and taken a brain scan, "You must have a thick skull!"

"Er… thanks?" Jules replied, unsure whether that was more of a compliment or an insult, "It's all Miranda's work, she rebuilt my entire skull from scratch after the Collector attack."

"Miranda Lawson? Ah yes, I've heard great things about her. She's well studied in medical history, I wrote a whole paper on her when I was in university. Unfortunately she took most of her scientific breakthroughs with her to the grave."

"She realised how dangerous implants like these would be in the wrong hands," Jules agreed, "people could use them to build armies, she didn't want that to be her legacy."

"Sensible woman."

By the time Rhys had finished, the day was drawing to a close. HTA officers were still patrolling the building but they had been ordered to leave the medical staff to their work and no one disturbed them in the medical room.

Liara was sleeping soundly and Jules watched her quietly from across the room, she had made no protests when Rhys insisted that they both stay overnight though she was beginning to wonder why no one had been by to tell her what the hell was going on.

The rest of the medical staff had gone, leaving only Rhys. He was working silently at a desk in the corner and would get up every now and then to check on Liara before raising his eyebrows at Jules and telling her to get some sleep. But even if she had wanted to, she couldn't fall asleep when she still had so many questions running through her head.

Aria was her first visitor. It was well past midnight when she entered and Rhys glanced up from his work long enough to give her a disapproving look but he said nothing as she walked over to Jules. Her eyes lingered on Liara for a moment before she spoke.

"She going to be alright?"

"She'll live," Jules agreed, "provided she doesn't run off on any insane rescue missions again."

Aria cocked her brow inquisitively, "You sound annoyed."

"No," Jules smiled, "I got used to Liara being stubborn and reckless a long time ago."

"Hmph, I wonder where she gets that from," Aria folded her arms and moved to the other side of the bed where she perched casually on a high stool by Rhys' monitors.

"Where's Tevos?" Jules asked.

"Keeping the HTA off your back. Grunt's filled them in on what happened with the arms dealers but Director Damon," she practically ground her teeth as she spat out his name, contempt dripping from every word, "wants to hear it from you. Tevos has managed to put him off for now."

"Damon? The good-looking one who tried to introduce himself?"

"Hmph, I wouldn't be too taken in by his charms if I were you."

"Ooh," Jules smiled, "I'm sensing there's some history between you two."

Aria looked at her coldly, "I've never been a fan of sleazy men in suits."

"There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

Aria's face settled into a sullen glare and she turned to look back at Rhys, when it became obvious the quarian wasn't listening in she finally relented, "Damon was the one who planned the attack on Omega. The one who ordered it be destroyed instead of captured. Then he had his fleet chase me all the way here and tied Tevos up in months of legal battles while he tried to get his grubby hands on me."

"Well, you are a criminal," Jules reminded her with a smirk.

"By their laws, maybe. But their laws didn't apply in the Terminus, not until they flew their fleet in and took over, trying to impose order on people who didn't want it and didn't ask for it. There's a word for that, you know."

"Relax, Aria, he was probably just doing his job."

But Aria shot her a look of such venom that Jules felt her face fall, this was evidently a very personal grudge that Aria was harbouring, "There were thousands of people on Omega when he destroyed it," she said coldly, "he didn't have to let them all die."

"And now you have to bite your tongue and play nice with Tevos just to keep yourself out of prison. I get it, that must sting."

Aria watched her carefully for a moment, "You're a hypocrite, Shepard."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Judging me for holding a grudge against Damon, when you're still holding yours against Tevos two hundred years after the war ended."

Jules blinked, "What are you talking about?"

"I know what resentment looks like, Shepard. You're practically boiling over with it every time you and Tevos are in the same room. I just don't understand why you're still holding onto it after all this time."

"Why do you think? If Tevos had been honest with us at the start of the war then we could have ended it a lot sooner, she has millions of lives on her conscience, not to mention whole planets. If we had gotten the Catalyst sooner, Thessia might never have been attacked in the first place."

"You can't possibly know that for sure."

"Can't I? Trust me, I've had plenty of time to think about it. And I am not 'holding a grudge' against Tevos, I just know she can't be trusted."

"Well maybe you're wrong," Aria leaned forwards suddenly, resting both elbows on the bed and lowering her voice further, so that each word prickled against Jules' skin, "when we confronted Adarna she let slip why she has so little faith in Tevos. It turns out she worked for the matriarchs during the war and she knows that Tevos disobeyed their instructions when she told you about the beacon. She never had the authority to reveal its existence, it wasn't her that was keeping it from you it was the matriarchs and she went against them just to help you."

For a moment Jules was silent, to be honest she had always wondered if that was the case but Aria was deluded if she thought it would make a difference, "It doesn't change anything. She could still have told us sooner."

"Argh," if Aria had hair, Jules imagined she might have pulled it out in frustration as she fell back into her stool and rolled her eyes, "think about it Shepard, if she had done that then she would have been pulled off the Council and replaced with someone less willing to question the asari government. Then what help would she have been to you? And anyway, the only reason you managed to get to the beacon at all was because Thessia was in chaos and most of the matriarchs were dead, if you had turned up before the invasion then they would never have let you get close. You can't hold Tevos responsible for it all just because she's the only one who's still alive."

"And what about the things she did after the war?" Jules snapped suddenly, raising her voice enough to draw a look from Rhys; she waited until the doctor went back to his work and then lowered her tone again, "She stirred up a hate campaign against me, she took advantage of angry, scared people and pitted them against me. After everything that had happened all she wanted was more conflict."

"The way I hear it, she was traumatised."

"We were all traumatised! Earth was in ruins, most of the fleet was still missing, we had no idea what was happening in the rest of the galaxy, Tevos could have decided to help us but instead she riled up an angry mob and told them I was to blame for all of it. They came after me one night, you know. Stormed the camp we'd set up, dragged me out of bed and took me up to one of the piles of rubble that had used to be a skyscraper. They were going to execute me, string me up like we were living in the dark ages," she faltered for a second as she realised what she was saying, it wasn't something she had discussed with anyone for a long time. She looked down at her hands, ignoring the feel of Aria's eyes on her as she continued more quietly.

"It was only a few weeks after the war had ended. I thought I was going to die when I was on the Citadel, I'd been ready to die. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that I'd survived and what I'd done when…" she stopped herself before she said too much, Liara was the only one she had ever told about what had really happened on the Citadel that day, the truth about the Catalyst and the choice she had made. The choice that still haunted her to this day.

"I'd spent the whole war telling everyone that we were going to defeat the reapers, I'd hardly even thought about what the consequences would be when we actually did. Everything suddenly seemed so hopeless, I couldn't remember why I'd bothered to fight at all. And when they dragged me up there and put a gun to my head, I was so tired of it all I didn't even put up a fight. It just seemed so easy to let them kill me," she waited for a snarky comment from Aria but none came.

"It was Liara who stopped them, her and the rest of the squad came charging in, gave my would-be executioners an earful and then took me back to the camp. Liara was so angry that I had been willing to give up after I'd brought them so far, I'd never seen her that furious before, it took a while before I realised she was right."

As Jules fell silent, she finally looked up and found Aria gazing at her quietly, arms folded and unblinking, "So you had a tough time after the war," she shrugged slightly, "I doubt Tevos was having much fun either, at least you had a squad ready to pick you up and hold you together, what did she have?"

Jules frowned softly, "Why are you doing this? What does it matter to you if I forgive Tevos or not?"

She shrugged slightly, "Do you know where Tevos is right now? Shut up in a room with Director Damon and a bunch of HTA officials who are all trying to use Adarna's coup to put an end to the project. They are doing everything they can to destroy everything that she has built and if they do, not only will we never get to Thessia, but they'll be free to throw me in prison and to get their hands on you and Liara. I don't know what they'd want to do with you but I'd bet you're safer with Tevos. Now she's a skilled negotiator but even she needs support, especially when dealing with the HTA."

"You've really got it in for them, haven't you?"

Aria shrugged "They've been trying to keep people out of asari space for decades, that's a good enough reason for me to want to get in there and find out what the hell they're hiding. Tevos just wants to get Thessia back and you… well you've got nothing better to do. But none of us can do it on our own. Like it or not, we need each other."

"Hmph," Jules muttered suspiciously, "I'm starting to think this project is more important to you than it is to her."

Aria looked at her for a moment, "Look, if we are ever going to get to Thessia then we need to work together and more importantly we need to…" her mouth formed into a snarl as she clearly struggled with the next word, "trust each other. And getting hung up on old grudges is only going divide us in the long run."

"Wow," Jules muttered, allowing herself an amused smile, "losing Omega has changed you, hasn't it?"

"I didn't manage to run that station for all those centuries without learning when to compromise," she snarled coldly, "you need to let go of what happened during the war, stop blaming Tevos for things none of us can change."

"What? Just like that?"

"We've got bigger problems to deal with now!" Aria hissed, briefly losing her cool before sighing softly, "I need Tevos to succeed, and she can't do it without our help."

For a moment Jules just stared at her, she saw the familiar determination that she had always associated with Aria but there was something else there too, desperation? It was well hidden but it was there, without Omega she seemed to have few options open to her, "I appreciate the advice," Jules said carefully, "but I will decide who I can and can't trust."

Aria let out an irritable sigh, "Fine. And which category do I fall into?"

"I'll let you know."