A/N: Next chapter, here! Sorry it's taken so long, but if it's any consolation (for those who are still reading this, if you guys are still out there) chapter 8 is pretty much done, so you guys can expect that super soon. Anyway, I hope this story is being enjoyed. We'll be getting to the nitty-gritty very, very soon now :D Also, Lexi T'Perro will be playing a much bigger role on my story, as you guys will soon find out. I really hated how small her story arc was in the game - I actually thoroughly enjoyed her character and I wanted to see more of her. So... I've taken a little creative license with the Tempest doctor.

"STOP!"

Breathing heavy. Chest tight. Legs aching.

"You cannot escape your fate."

Slowly, I turn around, my hands raised in desperate surrender. All around me, the screams of death and suffering echo like long forgotten ghosts. The smell of burning flesh hangs heavy in the air. An angaran steps forward, his body the ghost of what he once was, covered in some kind of bony exoskeleton. He raises his weapon, his small eyes burning with hatred.

"Please, you do not have to go through with this," I try to plead. "We can find another way."

"There is no other way! This is what you have done to us."

I shake my head. "Such lies! This was the only way to save our people, you know that, Anax."

Anax steps forward, his bony fingers clutching tighter at his weapon. He struggles with something, some inner conflict. "No… death is never the only way. How many of our people have you sent to their deaths?"

"All willingly! They chose to aid in our cause, they saw the importance in my mission and they understood."

Anax presses the weapon into my forehead. "No, this ends now," he whispers, utterly calm with deadly rage. There is no saving him, I realise.

"You would kill your own?"

A smile parts Anax's bony lips. "I am no longer like you. I am far more superior; the genetics of Heleus flows through my veins. And soon, many more will inherit this gift."

I hold his eyes with fire in my own. "You are a monster."

I watch as Anax pulls on the weapon's trigger. I close my eyes, ready to accept my fate.

Pytheas System, Initiative Shuttle

I jerk awake, a whimper pulled from my lips. For a few maddening heartbeats, I can't recall where I am. I force deep breaths into my lungs and roll my head to the side. The soft hum of the dark Initiative shuttle greets me. The cockpit flickers with dancing lights, sending bursts of colour into the dark. Right… the Initiative shuttle, Marcus coming to our rescue, Sara… At the thought of the Ryder sister, my eyes jump around the shuttle. Sitting upright in a seat, her head resting back against the hull, Sara breathes deeply in sleep. To her left, huddled together in sleep on the shuttle floor are two asari. Not too far away, another sits with her back against the hull, a silent sentinel over the younger asari. I meet her hard eyes with a frown of my own. What the hell is her problem? A stabbing pain in my head derails any further thoughts. Groaning, I reach up to clutch at my throbbing head, my heartbeat thunderously loud in my aural cavities. What the hell was that?

Lexi snaps awake, her eyes ringed with dark circles. She blinks rapidly a few times and runs her scanner over me. I resist the urge to shake my head, not exactly needing a doctor to tell me what just happened. Confusion, severe headache, fatigue…

"Abnormal brain activity," Lexi mutters seemingly to herself.

"Seizure," I mumble, suddenly fighting against the heavy pull of fatigue.

The asari doctor leans over me, resting a warm hand against my cheek. "A mild one. Peebee, are you alright?"

Even against my own volition, I surreptitiously lean into her touch, the kind gesture calling up memories of my older sister. "I'm fine," I manage through a shuddering breath. I close my eyes, trying to recall the images that had played through my mind only a moment ago. Was that a kett? He looked so angaran, though… Anax. The name sounds like something the kett would use. Was he the first? Is this Anax the leader behind all the kett forces plaguing the Heleus cluster? But, who was he speaking to? Although I could only hear the voice, I know without a doubt that they must have known each other on a deeper level once. Perhaps they were friends, or family?

"Your brain just lit up like a Christmas tree," Lexi admonishes, running a hand over her face. In the silent darkness of the Initiative shuttle, I try to keep my chuckle soft. Lexi pins me with a glare. "Well, I'm glad you find this so amusing."

"Human analogies? Scott would be proud."

At the thought of Scott, my heart flutters. I find myself wondering how long it's been since our last conversation, the last time I looked into his soft, blue eyes.

"He's been so worried about you," Lexi whispers with a smile.

I shoot Lexi a frown. "What? How did you…?"

"Peebee," Lexi chuckles, shaking her head. "I'm an expert in my field, remember? Besides, it's natural. You haven't seen him in two weeks - "

"Wait, two weeks?" I exclaim. Sleepy murmuring cuts through the silence. I clear my throat and try to stay quieter. "I've been asleep for two weeks?"

Lexi nods. "Coma. The injury to your head was quite severe. And not at all random, if I might add…"

Images of the incident on Kadara flash though my head; the strange bipedal remnant, it's needle-like fingers plunging into my head. Primus, her red armour glowing in the blue light of the jardaan structure, like death come to embrace us. And then, everything afterward becomes a blur. Only vague memories remain, like something barely glimpsed through a thick fog. Those images… It couldn't possibly be random. Locations, a star system, coordinates…

"It's information," I say, the realization of this thought sending my heart leaping in my chest. "What's in my head, it's information, something the jardaan left for us to find."

"That was SAM's conclusion," Lexi nods. "But, why now? Why not contact us directly?"

I shake my head, unable to form a theory around those questions. Why would they only contact us now? Was it purely by chance, or did they wait for the opportune moment? And that dream… or was it a dream? It almost felt as if I were there, the scent of burning flesh still lingering, the sounds of terrified screams still loud in my aural cavities… the feelings of betrayal and fear felt like they were my own. Not information then… but something else?

The need to keep busy, to occupy my mind with something other than just my thoughts to keep me company, suddenly grabs hold of me. I try to push myself up with one trembling arm and watch as the world inside the shuttle spins violently on its axis. Lexi places a firm hand against my shoulder and gently pushes me back down.

"You need to rest, Peebee."

"I can't rest. I need to help." Irritation claws at me as I heave a frustrated sigh.

"At the expense of your own health?"

I shoot Lexi a scowl. "Why are you always needling over me? I don't need to be coddled like a baby."

Lexi withdraws her hand and leans back. Her eyes flit to the shuttle floor as she fidgets with her hands in her lap. Several tense moments pass by in silence. When Lexi remains silent, I allow my eyes to slip shut. "I had a sister once."

Lexi's soft voice lures me to wakefulness.

"She was so young, so ambitious, so… so much like you."

I turn my head to the side, finding Lexi's gaze misted over with memories of the past. A sudden sadness stabs at my heart as I watch Lexi swallow around the difficult emotions.

"She had dreams of becoming an archeologist, you know," Lexi continues with a smile. "She was so enamored with Dr. T'Soni's work, at the idea of uncovering a lost civilization. At the time, I thought her dream too naïve – I feared for her. She was too pure for the Milky Way, so honest and innocent."

Here, Lexi stops and clenches her jaw. I struggle into a sitting position, desperately trying to ignore the sting in my shoulder and the throbbing in my head. I gingerly lower myself beside the Tempest doctor, my good shoulder grazing against her own. "Before I left for the Citadel, my parents begged me to take her with me. Omega was no place for the likes of her innocence. They were right, of course. And when I offered to help pay for her studies, she…" Lexis scoffs, shaking her head. "She was so stubborn. 'I need to do this for myself,' she had told me. She was so resolute in her decision, so proud… that was the last time I ever saw my little sister alive. Two years later, Omega's turf war claimed her life."

A well of sadness gapes open inside my chest. I feel my heart tumble down into the darkness of that hole. All this time, Lexi has only ever seen out for me, cared for me. And how do I repay her? Snide remarks and cold shoulders. Before my brain can even think it through, my hand grows a mind of its own and reaches out. I grab a firm hold of her hand, weaving my fingers through her own. "I'm so sorry."

Lexi glances at me, an appreciative smile pulling at her lips. "600 Years later, when I first met you, I didn't really see you. I saw my sister, so hungry for adventure and… alive. I suppose me coddling was just…"

I squeeze her hand and bump my shoulder against hers. "You being a big, overprotective sister."

Lexi only chuckles, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "I'm sorry if I was being overbearing. Sometimes it just comes naturally."

I drop my gaze to our clasped hands, my mind transported to another world, so very far away. Perhaps in another life, this could have been me and my own sister. Those years before my maidenhood were some of the hardest I had ever experienced. Being the only asari child of non-pureblood birth came with its own set of heavy burdens. "You know… back in the Milky Way, my mom used to make it exclusively with other asari. Until she had me, that is. I always thought it made me more special. Except, no one else thought so. Something about an unusual recessive gene, blah, blah, blah."

"Your eyebrows," Lexi states calmly. Way too calmly, I think to myself. How can she be so calm about this? An asari having eyebrows isn't exactly… normal.

"Yeah…" I drop my gaze, my face heating in embarrassment. "It's not normal, they said. It's so weird, they said. But, to cut a very long and uninteresting story short, my older sister was really the only one that accepted me for my flaws." I stop and throw Lexi a timid glance. "You… you reminded me of her. And that bothered me. I joined the Initiative to escape the Milky Way and all the judging. And when it felt like it followed me all the way here, I… well, you know."

Lexi narrows her eyes at me. "I'm not sure if I should feel honored or offended."

I scoff and shake my head. "You don't have to feel anything."

Lexi squeezes my hand. "Well, that explains the black smudge. Something you could hide behind, right?"

"No." I answer too quickly. Lexi raises her brow at me, not at all convinced at my answer. "… Maybe. But, why conform to a society that would rather judge me?"

Lexi takes a deep breath, resting her head against the shuttle hull. When she eventually replies, her voice is soft but laced with assuredness. "The past never leaves us, Peebee. There's no point in trying to run away from it. All we can do is learn from it."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, oh wise Dr. T'Perro."

"I'm being serious, Peebee. You shouldn't have to feel like you're flawed."

Slowly, almost apprehensively, I lower my head onto Lexi's shoulder. All too quickly, the change of angle has my eyelids drooping. "I know," I reply through a tired smile.

"Now… will you listen to me for once and get some rest?"

My eyes flutter shut. "Sure thing, doc."

Just before bone-numbing fatigue sweeps over me, my sleep-addled mind thinks of something. "Hey, Lexi?"

"Hmm?"

"You're not so bad, after all," I mumble sleepily. I feel Lexi's shoulder shake with a chuckle before the sweet oblivion of sleep claims me.

Pytheas System, Eos, 00:23

Nighttime on Eos is quite a spectacle to behold. With no moon in the desert planet's orbit, the darkness is almost impenetrable, save for a few purple dots scattered throughout the planet, their glow providing just enough light to penetrate the darkness. Just like Havarl, some of Eos's native plant life had developed the ability to cast illumination of some kind. The reasoning behind this adaptability is still unknown; perhaps a form of symbiosis? Whatever the reason, as the Tempest swoops into the Eos atmosphere, the sight from above is quite breathtaking.

Peebee will love this, I think with a smile, determined to have her experience this alien beauty. My stomach twists in uncomfortable knots at the thought of her. Although my dreams were filled with her sparkling, jade eyes and quirky smile, nothing could save me from the heart-clenching anxiety at the thought of possibly losing her. Losing Peebee would be like a gaping wound, always gushing with blood and unable to heal over. She's the very first person I had ever fallen so hard for. Everything feels right with Peebee, like it was supposed to be like that. Like I belong, I think to myself. Most people would call that love, but… that can't be, right? Our relationship is barely three months old… surely this can't be love? What else could feel so strong, though? I ask myself. And then there's Sara… a painful knot forms in my throat. Losing my sister would be the crippling blow to end everything. What would I possibly do without them?

"LZ in sight, Pathfinder," Kallo informs me, his voice just slightly more clipped than usual.

I snap myself away from my troubling thoughts. "Alright, take us in nice and low on the ridge line. We'll deploy from the Nomad."

I punch a few options on my omni-tool. "Cora, Liam. Meet me at the Nomad in two."

As I make my way to the staging bay, I clench my gloved fists in an effort to still the trembling in my hands.

Pytheas System, Eos, Prodromos, 00:30

Prodromos lights up with bursts of intermittent gunfire. I waste no time in getting the Nomad down into the valley, the exploration vehicle rattling violently as I race over the side of the ridge line. Just before hitting the ground, I activate the thrusters and manage to land the vehicle with minimal jostling. Two kett Anointed step into the oncoming path of the Nomad, firing wildly at a stack of crates. I step on the accelerator, my jaw clenching.

Time to kill some kett scum.

The Anointed have no time to react as the Nomad makes crushing impact with their bodies. I slam on the brakes and twist on the steering wheel, sending the Nomad into an arcing drift. A domed shield shoots up over us as we hop out of the exploration vehicle, grim resolve shining in Cora and Liam's eyes. You're not the only one suffering, buster, a very Peebee-like voice reminds me.

August Bradley, flanked by two Initiative soldiers, steps out from behind the crates. August shoots us a grin. "You have no notion how good it is to see you, Pathfinder."

I rest a brief hand on his shoulder in greeting, gunfire loud in the background. "What's the situation, August?"

"Follow me," August orders, moving into a purposeful jog. I send him a curt nod as I break into a jog, Cora and Liam not far behind. "At exactly 17h00, we had two kett ships inbound. I thought we'd be able to take them, but this bunch seemed more… coordinated."

"What do you mean?"

"A few months ago, the kett had a more passive battle stance; it was all defense, instead of offence. But, now… they're moving with a sense of purpose, like they have everything planned out," August says as he leads us around the western bend of the lake. "And then, not even two hours later, we received that distress call from the Nexus."

Liam scoffs to my right. "Yeah, these bastards had this all planned, alright."

"Goddam animals got us off the Nexus to get to Peebee," Cora growls.

August throws a confused frown over his shoulder. "Your asari friend?"

I'm about to reply, when August's omni-tool chirps. "Bradley!"

"Bell-Scott, we're en route to your position now."

"Don't bother, these assholes are retreating," Majordomo Bell-Scott replies with laughter in his voice.

And finally, my already-frayed emotions burst free from their cage. No… no! A wave of panic seizes me in a trembling grip. They can't get away with this. How can they get away with this? And then, my panic gives way to white-hot anger, until all that remains is nothing but the thought of vengeance; for the Nexus, for the people we've lost to the kett, for the angara… for Peebee. Without a word, I break into a sprint.

"Ryder!" Cora shouts after me.

Nothing exists but the loud breathing in my ears, the pounding of my heart and the thirst for violence. I ignore the stabbing pain in my chest and push harder. Up ahead, just beyond Bell-Scott's barricade of Initiative crates, two kett Chosen retreat up the rise while providing covering fire. I take a jump-jet assisted leap over the crates. While midair, I fire three rounds into the first kett's head. It falls into a lifeless heap.

They're getting away! Stop them, stop them, stop them! My brain screams at me.

The remaining Chosen drops its weapon and turns to run. Coward! I land with a hard thud and take aim at the kett's legs.

BANG! BANG!

It stumbles before falling to the ground, a pained groan ripped from its throat. My breathing heavy, I take long strides to the downed kett. With a grunt, I fling my own weapon to the side. I send my boot into a violent, swinging arc towards the kett's head. The alien rolls over onto its back. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, a voice orders me to calm the fuck down, but it's too late, it's too late. I reach down and grip onto the Chosen's chest plate. I haul the alien up, until its bony face is mere inches from my own. "You guys have been a real pain in my ass, you know that?"

The Chosen says nothing.

This only stokes the flames to my anger. "I have friends and family on the Nexus!" I scream. "People that I love! Can you even understand that?"

The kett Chosen trembles with laughter. "This… this is only… the beginning."

I know I've lost it when I start to feel detached from myself. It all feels so unreal, like I'm looking at myself from a distance, unable to do anything but watch in utter horror. My breathing isn't heavy anymore; it's just shallow and too fast. I don't know how it happened, but when my senses finally slam back into me, I'm straddling the kett's chest, my gloved fist ramming into the bloody pulp that was once its head, over and over and over…

I feel hands pull me back. I try to fight them, but more seem to join the struggle of pulling me away.

"Scott!"

I try to rip myself out of the tight grips, my gaze never leaving the unmoving kett. "Let me go!"

"Just try to calm down, Pathfinder!" August shouts, his arms around me squeezing tighter. I struggle to catch my breath. My chest aches. I can't feel my hands. What's happening to me? August's arms feel like crushing traps as I gasp for air.

"Please… let me… go," I manage through my shallow breaths. I feel the arms around me loosen. I stumble forward and drop to my hands and knees. Liam's face slides into my peripheral vision. He lays a gentle hand on my shoulder.

"Scott, listen to me. Just focus on your breathing. In… out. In… out," Liam instructs calmly.

I shake my head. "What the hell is happening to me? Am I dying?"

"Nothing that serious, it's just an anxiety attack. Come on, mate. You've got this."

With a mountain of effort, I focus on my breathing. In, out… in, out. When my breathing finally evens out, I push myself up. "Just… take it easy, Scott," Liam cautions, helping me up to my very unsteady feet. Cora steps forward, pinning me with a concerned frown. My eyes stray over her shoulder, where I find the prying eyes of Initiative soldiers staring at me.

Nice one, Scott, I think to myself as I turn and walk away. Real nice way to make a lasting impression.