Chapter 16 - Eldar Negotiations

A/N - Still sorry for that last chapter's ending. Sorry. Not the intermission, the one before that. Oh, and also the break. Though not enough to promise not to do it again.

Also, introducing my own canon for certain things, so if it clashes with the baseline canon of Warhammer 40k, let me know. I am trying to avoid canon clashes, but the two sites I use are… a bit dated, my source books even more so (3rd edition, assuming I can find them again). So be helpful, but also polite. It costs nothing, and makes people more likely to listen rather than brush you off.

Also, at some point during the break, this story crossed into the top 25 list for Mass Effect and Warhammer 40k crossovers for followers. While it was and still is an eventual goal to get this story as highly rated as such masterpieces as 'Silly but Killy,' 'Honor-bound,' and perhaps most delusionally, 'The Mission Stays the Same,' I certainly did not expect to hit this milestone so quickly. So thank you all for indulging me in my hobby, and hope I can continue to provide this level of entertainment, at a minimum until the end of Arlas' story.

Oh, right, if you haven't read those three stories I mentioned yet, go do so. All are good, though for different reasons.

"We are in His favor!" - Sisters of Battle player after abusing their invincibility rules to hell and back.

Arlas was no stranger to pain, not after being caught by the Dark eldar and kept in one of their holding pens for a few hours after being shot in the hand by one of their weapons. The bullet had had some esoteric poison smeared on it that had caused his limb to start rotting off, while making the nerves extremely sensitive, so him cutting off the limb at his forearm with his chain blade had caused him to pass out. The only reason he got off as lightly as he had was because one succubus had taken a shine to him, and wanted him for herself, her own personal breeding toy. Though she had promised to cut off his feet should he even think about trying to escape.

But still, waking up after taking two sharpened, edged metal spikes to the lower gut, one from the front and the other the back, at least six bullets, and losing the majority of his left arm easily made the top five list of most painful awakenings yet. At least this time he wasn't in a small metal cage, barely big enough for him when he hunched over as far as he could. Instead he was unrestrained, and lying on a flat, modestly uncomfortable surface, though he could feel air moving across his skin, indicating that someone had removed at least part of his bodysuit. Done taking stock of his physical state, he began taking stock of his surroundings, without moving or opening his eyes.

Arlas could feel air moving through the room, but no echoes which meant he was in a small room. He could also feel small circular objects placed on his chest, but had no idea what they were for. He could hear someone breathing and tapping on something, and a short while later the creaking of a chair before he heard a human female speak, "Commander Joannis? I believe Arlas is waking up."

He realized he had been caught, and opened his eyes to discover someone had placed a bright light directly above him. He winced, before reaching up to shove the light away, only to have someone grab his arm. "Pathfinder Arlas, refrain from sudden movements please. You were badly injured, and while we have removed the bullets and blades and fixed the holes, you haven't fully recovered."

He glared at the human holding his arm, before carefully pulling his arm free to push the light aside. Now that he wasn't being dazzled by the light, he took a longer look at himself as he sat up. A quick glance down showed some kind of small pads on his chest, the small circular objects he had felt. With a shrug, he pulled them off before examining the room he was in in greater detail, ignoring the exasperated sigh and comment from the human. "Why do I even bother?"

He was in a small bay with a desk, several books, a small display, and three tables with equipment hanging over them, and recognized it as being the human 'medical' near the mess hall. He turned to the healer in charge, actually seeing her for the first time. A human woman in her prime if he had to guess from physical clues, though the gray hair indicated age but her body didn't support that idea, average height and build, and sharp, bright blue eyes. "Apologies, healer, we have not met."

That got a noise of disapproval. "Believe me, I have noticed. I have been trying to get you in here for a baseline physical for weeks. If it takes you get injured to come in for basic medical tests, I will start carrying a pistol. Doctor Karin Chakwas, chief medical officer."

Arlas couldn't help but chuckle softly, she had the same attitude as the Craftworld healers. "Apologies, healer. The humans I am familiar with have rather… barbaric medical practices, and I have enough prosthetics already."

Doctor Chakwas made another noise of disapproval. "Clearly less practical, and if you had come in, you wouldn't have terrified some of the ground team about losing that arm."

Arlas didn't bother dignifying that with a response. "How long was I out?"

"Bit longer than a day. We are on our way to the Hades Gamma Cluster, currently in the Exodus. The commanders wanted to wait until you woke up, in case you needed to talk to your comrades on your grounded cruiser. The commanders are on their way now. Perhaps you would like something to wear?"

He didn't respond, simply glancing down, and noticing that they had stripped his body suit off of him, apparently to treat his wounds. He remembered coming back to consciousness twice after passing out after being found by Gemling and Dusk, once to try and grab his fusion gun though the pain of the movement had quickly overwhelmed him again, and once to try and remove his armor when he had felt the metal spikes in his chest being removed, but couldn't remember the removal of his suit. He had psychically managed to release the clamps on the armor, but that was it. Taking in his nude state, he glanced at the doctor. "Where is my body suit?"

While waiting for a reply, he queried Yol'Pvera about her status, and got cold silence from her, indicating she was not happy with him.

"We had to cut it off, as we couldn't figure out how to remove it. And the holes from the wounds meant it needed replacement anyways."

He glared at the small soft, clear container the doctor offered him, containing what was clearly pieces of the old suit. "It was removed by pulling at the neck opening and then pulling down. It is meant to provide an airtight barrier to prevent exposures and air loss. And I could repair holes."

The human doctor gave him a smirk. "And if you had come in for that physical I had been trying to get, you could have told me. You are lucky you woke up enough to release the armor, I was contemplating taking it apart to get to your wounds."

Arlas froze, the temperature of the room dropping a few degrees as he glared at the doctor, who seemed to realize that such a declaration was not being taken well. She gave him a shrug, before turning to the storage cabinets in the room. "Again, if you had come down before, I wouldn't need to guess what is and is not acceptable. Now, I got some readings from you while you were unconscious, but I still need that baseline. When would you like to do that? And we can also discuss how your equipment should be treated the next time you come in for treatment."

Arlas was saved from answering by Lioness and Dusk entering the room, both immediately forgetting their conversation as they saw Arlas. Joannis just gave him an up and down, but the asari turned a darker purple, trying to tear her gaze from the eldar's stomach and failing. Arlas just smirked, before leaning back against the table edge, and coughed, to no effect on the asari. The doctor searched through her cabinets, grumbling under her breath about people taking things and not bothering to return them.

Joannis spoke first. "I thought you were male."

Arlas gave her a flat stare for her non-sequitur. "I am."

"Huh, internal. Color me surprised."

She then glanced at the doctor. "Bad time, doctor?"

The commander simply replied to the doctor's death glare with a grin before the doctor replied. "He is too tall, none of the medical gowns will fit. I have been trying to find a towel, but again…"

Doctor Chakwas finished searching through her current cabinet, and glanced at the two women in the entrance as she moved to the next, before frowning. "Liara."

Joannis looked over at her companion, a smile swiftly crushed as she observed the monumental struggle on the young asari's face. Taking pity on her, the commander tapped her shoulder, making Liara squeak and jump, which only made Arlas smirk wider. He ignored the glare the human commander gave him, not bothering to move. With a sigh, Joannis turned back to Liara. "How about you wait outside? As I am sure you can tell, he is fine."

Liara whimpered before fleeing the room, not responding to the suggestion even as she took it. After the asari left, the commander turned to the eldar. "I was worried you were injured. I didn't expect to learn you were an exhibitionist."

He frowned at her, not understanding the term. After a moment, she seemed to realize the problem. "Humans have a nudity taboo."

He nodded in dawning comprehension. "To the eldar, flesh is flesh. Most do not show it, but we are not embarrassed by our perfection."

He glanced over his left shoulder as a few strands of hair came into view, and reached back to pull it around, only to remember he was missing that arm . He glared at the stump, and growled after gently pulsing his power to check his arm, before tossing his hair back over his shoulder with a flick of his head and sighing. "Is there something you need, commander, or can I go back to my ship?"

She gave him an unamused look, before straightening and becoming serious. "You armor and weapons were placed in your transport's bay, and we need to talk about the mission. However, we can do that AFTER you get dressed. Doctor, have you found a towel yet?"

Doctor Chakwas came over, holding a very large piece of fabric. "It's for covering shock victims, I need it back later. Also, commander, if your sister raids my medical stocks one more time instead of seeing me first for her injuries, I will have to start sealing the medical bay supplies."

Arlas gave the fabric a grimace of distaste before taking it. A couple deft movements allowed him to wrap the coarse fabric around his waist, before securing it with a hand and giving the human women a look. "Better?"

Doctor Chakwas had taken a seat at her terminal, and Joannis spoke. "Alright, a quick question, then you can go and do your thing. First, are you going to have a problem with my twin again? I realize she was waspish toward you back on Luna."

He gave her a flat, extremely unpleasant glare, displeased about being reminded of that situation before he had the limbs and weapons needed to ensure it didn't happen again. "Yes, though a fight in a training ring with her will easily sort that out. I will even promise to do nothing significantly permanent to her."

She sighed, before shaking her head. "I can't let that happen, the attached N7 of a ship fighting with crew will do unpleasant things to morale."

He stepped forward, and hissed at the tiny human in front of him. "For the repeated disrespect she has given me, my kin would demand hers, yours, and your families' lives in compensation. Give me reasons to not, and I will forgive the threat she tried to make."

Arlas was shocked when the twin immediately replied. "Because you scare her, and she responds to fear by lashing out. You scare me too, but I refuse to let my fear dictate my actions. Because you don't respect the chain of command, and she appreciates the order it brings to her life. And because she, and for that matter the rest of us, know nearly nothing about you. We don't know where to put you in a fight, how good your armor is, when you will run, when you will fight, when you will bargain, and yet you say use you. So how are we supposed to do that, when you don't let us? Are those enough reasons, or should I keep going?"

He stared down at her, before conceding that she had met his hasty terms, though he would make sure to word things better in the future. "Very well, after the mission to get the… missing armor piece back, I will sit down and have that conversation with you."

The eldar idly admitted that this human was almost at Farseer levels of manipulating others, and immediately had to banish a thought of her in the form fitting wraithbone armor of a Farseer. Luckily, the doctor spoke up, distracting him from the disturbing mental image. "Commander Joannis, if you do not immediately respect patient confidentiality rules, I will immediately head down to the communication room, and inform your mother."

The human woman gave Karin a horrified look, before sighing and tapping her omnitool several times as Arlas watched on in utter bafflement, confused at the sudden turn of events. "Fine."

Karin spoke again in a voice cold enough to stop the Crone herself as the commander turned to leave. "Joannis Marie Shepard, if all backup copies are not deleted, or you sent a copy to someone else already, I will be forced to take more extreme measures."

Arlas was consumed with curiosity as the commander tapped a few more keys before she quickly fled the room, but he simply shrugged and turned to the doctor. "Was there anything else?"

"Yes, your baseline. When would you like to do that?"

He sighed, before sitting back down. "What exactly will this entail?"

He gave the doctor an evil stare as she pulled on a pair of sterile gloves, suddenly wishing he had enough control over his psyker abilities to convince her he had done this already.

A few hours later, Arlas made it to his ship, and sealed the bay behind him, before tossing the fabric into one of the seats. Glad to be free of the uncomfortable fabric, he grabbed his chest armor, and carried it into the armory. *Yol'Pvera, how did they move my equipment? I know the biolocks are still working.*

He could feel her scorn even without her linking her emotions. *They used a high sophisticated and complex piece of equipment known as tongs. You also put most of the biolocks on standby before you passed out.*

Arlas paused, before sighing and placing the armor on the work table, and then rubbing his forehead. *Of course they did. Most sophisticated equipment defense system in the galaxy, defeated by a metal stick.*

He headed back to the bay, and grabbed his old prosthetic arm, before shaking his head. *Damn, right through the wraithbone seed. Arm is intact though. Yol'Pvera, how many seeds do we have?*

*Thirty nine small patch seeds, four medium patch seeds for myself and the Vyper, five weapon seeds, and three armor seeds.*

He nodded, before carrying the arm back into the armory, and setting it down on the table. He then reached up, and ran a finger along the inside of his arm, causing his arm to open up like a flower bulb halfway down, releasing the prosthesis from his arm attachment. A quick check of the attachment point, just a wraithbone seal, showed it was undamaged by the fighting. He grabbed one of the small patch seeds from the storage above the table, and began repairing the arm.

Arlas first placed the seed against the severed arm piece, and began channeling his psyker ability into it, causing the seed to slowly merge with the arm over the course of a few minutes. Now that he had the arm active again, he connected the part that connected to his shoulder, and channeled his power again to finish rebuilding the arm. Once that finally finished, his stomach protested the lack of sustenance, and he reattached the prosthesis to the attachment point on his arm. Arlas observed the prosthetic arm as it slowly changed color to match his skin, before he stood and headed into his personal cabin.

A moment to get dressed in a body glove identical to the one they had cut off him, and then he pulled on his warp spider tabard, before reaching out for the Raibh Karun's spiritseer. He gave a report on everything that had happened, as well as why he had taken so long to contact her, before suggesting that she start at least responding to the signals the humans were sending to them. He smiled as she reported that the locals had breached his requested exclusion zone several times, so she had doubled the range, and killed a total of four salarian ships and a single infantry squad as well as added the kill markers to the side of the ship.

Finished with getting updates from his ship and making suggestions, he stretched before heading up to get some food. He managed to grab a small plate of his usual food, the ship cook managing to store a plate of cold leaves, nuts, and a small vial of honey for him, and added a couple pieces of bread and a slice of the thresher maw meat they were still working through. Wrex had carved off nearly a ton of meat, and the cook was carefully husbanding the remaining amount, at least until the next time someone killed one. But since he was recovering from injuries he needed more food, and asked for a second amount, which didn't seem to surprise the servicewoman in the least as she brought out the food immediately.

He gratefully returned to the ship with his bounty, setting it down on the armory table, and informing Yol'Pvera he was going to be fixing his equipment and checking the human's treatment of his wounds. It still hurt when he tried to breath, which meant one of his four diaphragms had been damaged, rather than just the lung itself. But the first thing he did was start eating, dealing with the hunger pains that had been distracting him, then he would see about repairing his equipment.

A few days later, he was in the briefing room with the rest of the specialist crew, the ship having arrived in the Hades Gamma Cluster. The ship was currently drifting toward the planet of interest. Joannis spoke first. "Alright crew, here is the situation.

"We have a personal mission here but Systems Alliance Intelligence is piecing together the latest information on Saren thanks to Tonn Actus. They expect to have something inside a few weeks at the latest. Just in time for Arlas to finish fighting at the Galactic Blade Tournament."

Jaclyn gave Arlas a tight nod, before she took over the briefing. "The next mission is one for our resident elf. After dealing with Tonn Actus, we learned that he bought the suit of apparently eldar armor from the local warlord Kevin Darius. He is a rogue bandit lord, and the Systems Alliance has requested that we deal with him appropriately. One of the System Alliance Intelligence frigates will be loitering in deep space nearby until we hit the base, and if Darius survives Arlas' questioning, they would like a chance to… 'talk' with him. If not… 'they will understand,' end quote."

Joannis took up the thread of the briefing. "Arlas' mission will happen the day after the tomorrow. We will have two days to make contact, the target thinks we are a team of Alliance negotiators, which is how we will get in. Hostiles on that mission will be turians, batarians, humans, and krogan, we are looking at at least a full platoon of fifty, maybe more as he does have a pair of old, decommissioned Berlin class cruisers and an escort of three turian and four batarian frigates, making him a powerhouse in the local cluster. Only two frigates and a cruiser are in system, and we will be hunting the others down later as we have time.

"We will be split into two teams for that mission, Entry Team will be Jaclyn, myself, Kaidan, Ashley, and Arlas under cloak, to maintain the guise of a negotiation team from the System Alliance, while Icivia leads the rest of the specialist team, designated Breach Team, into the compound from the second shuttle when the shooting starts. Second team will remain in their shuttle as 'additional troops if necessary,' which shouldn't spook the target."

Joannis looked over at Arlas. "However, since you are the lynchpin of the second mission, we need to know, how are you doing? The medical report Dr. Chakwas gave me listed a number of injuries, though clearly your arm is fine now, not to mention your equipment took as much a beating as you did."

Arlas gave a languid wave of his restored left arm, the damage completely repaired. "Armor is back to full functionality, as are my long rifle, pistol, and fusion gun. My flamer pistol still has some issues, and I will not be bringing it on a mission until I am certain it will not explode in my hand. I am mostly whole again, and am ready for combat as I will get."

Jaclyn gave him a look. "You had a pierced lung and diaphragm, six holes in your gut, and a concussion, as near as we can tell. Four days later, and you claim you are fine? I highly doubt that."

Arlas privately congratulated her for remembering the lessons he had managed to teach her through her twin about being polite, even as he replied. "Eldar heal quickly, your healer removed the projectiles before I had to cut them out, and I used some of my own people's healing techniques to quicken the recovery. One of my diaphragms aches when I breath, but that should pass after today's healing session, so all I have are some interesting scars to show for the fight."

Liara looked up, suddenly overcoming her extreme embarrassment of being near him. "Wait, one of your diaphragms? How many do you have?"

He turned at the question, the movement suddenly causing her embarrassment to flare up again, even before he spoke. "Four. I fail to see how eldar biology is relevant to the briefing. Unless you have a more personal interest for some reason?"

That got her to turn a rather fascinating shade of deep purple, though he quickly turned back to the Twins. "Anything else or shall I return to medical to finish my meditations? Healer Chakwas requested to observe the process."

After a shared look between the Twins, they nodded. "Kaidan, Ashley remain for further orders about the mission, everyone else dismissed."

Arlas saw Gemling leave quickly with Dusk, the latter refused to even look in his direction while the former quietly talked with the asari. He left with Wrex, before they split to head to different destinations, Arlas to the med-bay and Wrex to the hangar. He arrived quickly to find the back room locked, no doubt where Gemling and Dusk were, but he dismissed them from his thoughts as he pulled out the rune tile for healing from a belt pouch, ten by three centimeters and a simple rune engraved on it to act as a focus for his meditations. He had to remove his tabard and then pull his body suit down to his waist so doctor Chakwas' scanner would work, before he began channeling his energies into the rune, and from there into him to heal the damage.

Arlas was indulging the mon-keigh later that day, after a particularly successful day of psycraft meditations and exercises, pleased that he was finally starting to make some progress with his psy-abilities. He was learning to more rapidly channel the immaterium, even if he could only form small orbs and hold them together a short distance from him; it meant he was actually going to be able to do more than open a fight with his abilities, eventually. He had decided to reward his progress with some fruit along with his usual meal.

Since they were doing him a considerable favor with the upcoming mission, he decided that he could at least spend some time with the crew of the ship ferrying him around, rather than tolerating and mostly ignoring them. Which was why he was currently staring at one of the female servicewomen, who had just asked a question. "I believe I misheard you; repeat the question?"

Several of the crew were gathered about the mess hall, where they had found him eating, and had asked for permission to ask him some questions that he had made the mistake of agreeing too. The servicewoman grinned. "I asked if all eldar are as graceful as you are. Your grace is… otherworldly, fascinating and yet very inhuman, and if we are going to get a significant number of your people moving about, I would like to know to warn some friends."

He frowned, considering the question, before nodding. "I am considered possessing average grace by the standards of Craftworld eldar."

He noticed the ground team entering the mess hall behind the group of five humans and a quarian, but didn't move to greet them. He saw them, they saw him, that was greeting enough for the eldar, but apparently not for the humans. The Twins nodded, and Ashley 'Anvil' Williams gave him a small smile and nod, showing that she was slowly appreciating the wisdom he was feeding her. Her and Wrex were the two he spent the most time with, so he had taught them a few more things about eldar communication than the others, mostly hammering the fact that everything they did had extra connotations to it, so they needed to speak with the minimal amount of gestures. Kaidan however, just saw him and kept walking, heading for the medical room, and holding his shoulder, having been injured during the routine scouting mission the team had done today to get some information on the base before the meeting. The Twins had apparently managed to roll the tank several times, and Kaidan's restraints had torn free, flinging him into a wall shoulder first.

Arlas turned back to the five crew around him, and answered the next question. "There are three major kinds of eldar and two minor, the majors are Craftworld eldar like myself, Dark eldar who are consumed by their desires and urges and more vicious for it, and the Harlequins, who are our historians and storytellers, travelling wherever they need to observe history and then to tell it. The lesser kinds are the Corsairs, eldar who have banded together but outside of a Craftworld and function like mercenaries, and the Exodites, who are eldar that have settled on a planet. Which of the major factions the lesser are like depends on the group."

He found the humans here overly inquisitive, but in a mostly harmless way. They simply wanted to know, like a Harlequin, and while they might press a point further than was polite, many didn't seem to be malicious about it, more like a child. So very different from those back home. He gave the servicewoman a flat stare at her very leading question but still answered. "The most graceful crew on the ship? I would say the pilot."

He was amused by the stunned and disbelieving silence, and actually got take two bites of his meal, before elaborating. "From your silence, you disagree. Eldar define grace as movement of smooth and deliberate action. I did not say the grace was elegant, refined, or with appeal. He moves like any young eldar would, but with significantly more caution. Though I understand his is because of a defect of birth, rather than his muscles strengthening faster than the bones."

Arlas got three bites while the group thought of their next question, before one of the males asked his, making Arlas grimace. "I have said everything I am going to about why my people are coming here, and will say no more."

The Twins came back in, having gotten out of their armor, and took a nearby seat, Anvil entering and moved to join the group interrogating him as he took the next question. "What were the eldar like before you were the prominent race in your galaxy?"

Arlas frowned at that question, taking a long, slow bite and chewing slowly as he tried to remember some of the older lessons. After a moment, he decided to ignore the question, as he doubted the legend of being directly molded by their gods would impress the humans. "I am not sure I recall exactly what we were like."

The next question began to erode his patience, he was trying to eat as well as be sociable. A mistake he would not soon repeat. "What are your women like?"

That question got the serviceman punched by the immediate humans next to him, though several of the females glared at the questioner instead. Anvil waited for Arlas to finish with his current answer, which was only a stony glare before deliberately taking a bite and ignoring the serviceman, before asking her question. "What kind of gods do the eldar believe in?"

That question caught him by surprise, and he stared at her for a long moment, before shrugging. "There were many, though currently only the Bloody God, the Goddess of Endings, the Goddess of Healing, the Twin God of Chance and Goddess of Luck, and the Laughing God are regularly mentioned any more. Mostly, we leave it to the individual to decide which of the divines is most to their liking."

He was not foolish enough to mention 'Shi who Thirsts,' even here and supposedly beyond her reach, in spite of his nickname among his Craftworld. He could see Anvil trying come up with a polite way to ask the next question, for a mon-keigh, and gave her the subtlest shake of his head, indicating that that line of questioning was done. He was almost proud of her when she did abandon that line of questioning, though she picked one that was almost as bad. "What caused you to become so… enraged on Tuntau?"

He took another bite, fully aware of the word switch she had done, but answered anyway. "The rogue trader had a suit of armor from my people, badly damaged and missing a couple critical components. One of them I would kill every last person on this ship to keep from becoming public knowledge. The other I would have only killed the ground team to protect."

Jaclyn snorted in amusement at his statement, while Joannis asked the next question from across the room. "Would you like the crew to leave you alone so you can eat your meal?"

"Yes."

Arlas used a touch of power to give his words a menacing hollowness. His antic gave Jaclyn another laugh, before she dug into her meal. "Alright people, let the elf eat before he decides to try eating humans. And Arlas, next time ask for peace to finish eating."

His disdainful sniff got a nervous chuckle from the ship crew around him, but the three ground crew just laughed again, before everyone turned to their meals.

Once Arlas finally finished, he headed to the Twins, and sat down across from them. "Since everyone is so adamant that I participate in this…tournament in... almost three weeks I believe? What do I need to know about it, should I agree?"

Jaclyn gave a shrug, but Joannis answered before she could. "We would pay your entry fee under your name to avoid appearing endorsed by 'mere' humans, then you would simply show up at the tournament. As I understand it, there are about thirty thousand accepted applicants, with an extra hundred sponsored by each government, though some governments regularly don't fill those slots, and their unfilled slots are added to the open applicants. Since the Council made an offer for you to participate personally, even if you turned it down, I suspect they would fast track your application through.

"As for the tournament itself, I have no idea, I haven't watched any of the previous ones. Lack of interest."

Arlas frowned as he focused on a potential problem. "You mentioned a fee. How much and where would I get that? I am lacking in local currency."

Jaclyn and Joannis shared a look, before Jaclyn spoke. "We will handle it, you are owed some form of payment for your services in helping us, despite our agreement. We can easily cover this as compensation."

He frowned, before reluctantly nodding despite the feeling he was falling for a feint. "A fair deal, it seems. I will participate."

Joannis nodded back. "We will take care of it tonight. Just make sure you are ready for it when we get to the Citadel in a couple weeks."

Jaclyn gave a smirk. "Hate for you to get eliminated in the first round. That would be embarrassing. Also, thanks for settling the betting pool."

Arlas blinked at her. "What?"

He turned at Joannis' gesture, and saw two of the crew passing small sticks to Anvil and another crewmember, before just shaking his head in bafflement. Humans were so strange. He turned back to the Twins, having another couple of questions. "How close are we to finding more information about our target? I assume that is still a priority."

Joannis sighed, and rubbed her forehead. "The Citadel teams have hit a dead end. Saren moved most of his support network out of Citadel space years ago, and what little they have found was either unimportant, or went nowhere. He did have some work for Tonn a few years back, and SAI is chasing that down, having to go through other contacts. Hopefully that will bear fruit soon. We are seeing what our own contacts know, as is Liara, and will let you know if something comes up. And then there is whatever was on that one ship that Saren's geth ambushed and then staffed with husks."

Jaclyn spotted Arlas raising a disbelieving eyebrow at the thought of Dusk having contacts, and laughed. "Yes, shy and antisocial Liara has contacts, almost as good as ours. She is a xenoarchaeologist, and some of her best finds came from information trading, apparently. She has been helping us manage our own contacts, she has an affinity for it, surprisingly, even if she doesn't have the cutthroat nature down yet."

Joannis suddenly looked up. "Wait, I never did get to ask why you activated your omnitool in that last mission, right before the mech ambushed you."

He sighed, before shaking his head slightly. "If you believe it so, and I didn't. I was under the impression one of you were trying to get an update. Tali said she suspected the 'VI' did something to my tool, which caused or allowed it. What is a monkey?"

The Twins only laughed at his question, before turning back to their meals, clearly not deigning to respond. Arlas returned to his ship, and spent that night looking up the tournament, and learned what he could about it.

The tournament accepted a total of thirty two thousand, seven hundred sixty eight applicants, with seven hundred slots reserved for citadel race government though traditionally the elcor, hanar, and volus did not send their own to participate, that would fight through fifteen opponents before finally being declared the winner. The entire tournament was conducted using hologram blades that used mass effect fields to simulate the weight and inertia of a real blade and would shatter when they connected with something other than another hologram blade, which would give the person who hit a point. A judge and a VI would monitor the round, and issue the point or penalties as required.

The first nine rounds were called single point elimination rounds, the next four rounds were two point elimination rounds, and the finals and semi-finals were three point elimination rounds. The entire tournament would be conducted over six days at the Citadel in a large amphitheatre, which seemed to be important for some reason or another; something about hosting the tournament for its twenty fifth centennial celebration or some such nonsense, Arlas didn't read long, before moving onto further research.

He did some research on the rounds, and learned that the terms meant how many points a contestant had before being eliminated. His next research was the basic rules, and learned that physical contact was allowed, though a contestant that caused significant, permanent damage or the death to another contestant would be permanently banned from future tournaments, and face criminal charges from both the injured party's homeworld and the Citadel itself. He quickly skipped past the history and previous winners, not concerned about the mon-keigh's self indulgent ceremonies. He was participating because he was curious as to how he would fare against them, to provide the information to the Craftworld, and certainly not because the mon-keigh had finally worn him down over a month of incessant pestering.

Done with his research, he took a feel for the crew to see how long until the next mission, and discovered he had hours yet to go. After a moment of consideration, he moved from the lander's cockpit where he had been learning what he could through the newest omnitool, and began making some changes to his armor, adding another carrying slot, and a new, larger belt pouch for more grenades. He had a couple other ideas he wanted to try, but would need to wait for more materials before he could work on those.

Arlas grumbled as the shuttle rocked the next day, wishing the planet they were descending toward was a little less turbulent. The briefing had said the planet suffered from 'extreme volcanic activity,' but he had stopped counting the bumps and other signs of turbulence after the first minute in atmosphere. An eldar landing craft would only experience such signs if the pilot was being particularly energetic to avoid significant ground fire.

Once they landed twenty minutes later, he was the first out of his seat and to start stretching, ignoring the humans around him. The seats were too small for him, and next time he would rather just have his lander drop him off a couple kilometers off and walk in, or do the same with his Vyper. He checked his weapons, bringing his long rifle, sword, pistol, fusion gun, and had included his death spinner. Singer would no doubt have words for him when he got back to the Craftworld for altering the armor, but Arlas didn't care. The extra weight didn't impede him much, and he carried his grenades and a block of multi-purpose wraith webbing without issue in the new pouch. He simply activated his cloak, and waited, while Joannis went over the latest change to the mission, which had been completely dependant on the weather. "Alright, there is a moderate amount of ash falling and four pirates waiting for us, so Arlas will not be able to follow us in. Instead, he will wait on the top of structure, and when we call him on his new omnitool that is not going to get broken, he will jump in with his teleporter, and the mayhem will start. Entry Team, when he appears, immediately move to the nearest cover. Breach Team, get inside quick as you can, but don't take undue risks. I don't think you want to deal with Doctor Chakwas because you failed to duck."

Most of Breach Team chuckled at that thought, while Arlas just waited. After a moment ensuring everyone in the Entry Team knew what they were doing, the Twins nodded, and Jaclyn gave her twin a wide, menacing smile. "Alright, Ms. Negotiator, let's do this."

Joannis gave her sister a hostile glare, and opened the door of the shuttle, before filing out. Arlas was the fourth one out of the shuttle, standing right next to the door, and watching the ash swirl about as the rest of Entry Team headed into the low built compound. Tali had programmed the leader's omnitool to issue low frequency sound waves, well below what anyone would be able to hear, and then translate the echoes back to make a map of the compound. It wouldn't be perfect, but Arlas could use it to ambush this Darius, and Breach Team would know what was where before they tried to enter a room, and Anvil would be relaying to them how many guards were in each room, even if they would move about as the attack happened.

After the four guards had escorted Entry Team into the base, Arlas carefully climbed up onto the building, and settled in to wait. After only a few minutes of waiting, Kaidan contacted him. "Approximately four hundred meters between the entrance and negotiation room."

Arlas nodded, and continued to wait, listening as the Lioness and Darius began their negotiations, Joannis speaking first. "Lord Darius, I am Lieutenant Commander Joannis Shepard, and have been sent to negotiate your continued loyalty to the Alliance. Shall we begin?"

Darius spoke, his voice a low drawl. "They sent the Hero of Elysium, with the Butcher of Torfan at her side? No, you aren't here to negotiate at all are? Yes, you are here to remove me! Kill me, for doing what the Alliance asked, before they got GREEDY! He says so, so you must be."

Arlas frowned as Darius' voice rose to an enraged shriek; he had been told the human was… eccentric, not utterly insane. Joannis, however, kept calm in the face of such antics. "No, we were not, otherwise we would have brought far more than two shuttles. Now, what are your requirements to cease inhibiting the shipments of eezo?"

Darius' heavy breathing could be barely heard for a moment, before he started speaking. "You are lying, aren't you? He says you are lying, but let us play this little farce to the end. First-"

Arlas stopped listening, the man was clearly suffering from either some form of mental disease that caused him to hear voices, or was actually hearing the warrior in the spirit stone he undoubtedly would have held onto. He had no idea why, but whenever a mon-keigh came into possession of a spirit stone, they almost always held onto it, unless they were completely immune to psyker suggestions or the spirit encouraged them to trade it away, and this man definitely wasn't immune, not with how he was acting. This man would be so easy to influence that Arlas suspected that, if he had any ability with suggestions, he could do it from the entrance.

The eldar did not have any talent with psyker suggestions, sadly, so instead he spun up his jump generator, and activated his omnitool. "Entry Team, I suspect he has what I need, ready to commit when you are."

Jaclyn answered him. "Then hurry up and gut this fucker, I am tired of listening to his insane demands. Breach Team, go loud."

Arlas smirked and let the jump generator spin to max power, as the Breach Team exited the second shuttle, and began advancing on the door. "Breach Team, on your entry, will engage."

Ghost gave him a wave, before counting down. "In ten seconds."

At five seconds, the warp generator was screaming in his head, ready to launch him into the immaterium once again, and Arlas finally loosed it. He was ripped once again into the immaterium, and he took a second to ignore the shifting unlights, and the sensation of something massive behind him, before he was deposited on the other side, landing in the middle of a hallway, a bit more than halfway to the target. For a fraction of a second, he frowned, the sensation feeling almost like a calm section of the immaterium back home, before he dismissed the thought and kept moving forward.

He frowned again, having expected to land near the door leading toward the entrance, and charged down the hallway, ignoring the sound of an explosion behind him as he jumped again. He lept into the warp again, and this time he landed right on the table, directly in front of the ranting Darius, just as the alarms started going off. The human didn't even pause. "And finally I want you to say ple-YOU WILL NOT HAVE HIM! HE IS GAH!"

Arlas silenced the pirate leader by simply yanking his sword from his back and pinning him through the gut to his chair. Not lethal, but it would at least hold him still. Arlas twisted some energy into the sword, causing it to grow a barb near the hilt, and another in the chair, to keep him from trying to remove it, and then disabling the biolock on the sword. Finished securing the leader, he pulled out the fusion gun to fire it at a nearby krogan, vaporizing the guard as he tried to draw his weapon before swinging the butt of the fusion gun into Darius' head. Done fully pacifying the pirate lord, he looked up to find Jaclyn discharging her shotgun into the face of the other krogan that had been flanking the pirate lord, while the other three gunned down four pirates that had been near the door, now helplessly swirling in a singularity.

Arlas smirked at the sight, before turning to the Twins. "Anything further on, or can we push back to meet up with the others?"

Jaclyn shrugged, as she checked her weapon, then scanned the rest of the room. "No idea, we were led here directly."

The Twins shared a look before Joannis started issuing orders. "Arlas, guard that back door. Anyone carrying a weapon comes through, vaporize them. Everyone else, with me, we are pushing back to the entrance. Catch the pirates in a vice between us and Breach Team. Joker, kill the pirate ships."

"Yes ma'am. Finally, something to do. Would you like the two frigates and the cruiser perforated, barbecued, or just flash cooked? Or would you like some variety?"

Joannis just grinned at her omnitool as she replied. "Whatever floats your boat, Joker. Joannis out."

Arlas took a stance near the door, his fusion gun out and ready, before activating his cloak and fading from view, as the others left to began clearing the front of the structure. Once they left, however, Arlas moved to the unconscious form of the pirate lord, and yanked off his chest plate, ignoring the damage to the armor, before carefully removing the small crystal, as long as his main finger and about as wide, from the chain around the human's chest.

He was relieved to see the barbaric human hadn't damaged the crystal to try and secure it, simply using a metal clasp on the top part of the spirit stone to secure it. He yanked the clasp off, and then attached the stone to his armor, feeling a second mind flooding into the psychoreactive armor. Arlas didn't communicate to the eldar in the stone yet, slinking back over to the corner to resume guarding the door. After a moment, the eldar soul finally communicated to him. *And… you… are?*

Arlas kept his focus on the entry to the room, even as he replied. *Arlas, exarch of the path of the outcast of Craftworld Ae'Imedra. Sent to scout ahead of the Craftworld.*

*Finally… rescued from that mon-keigh by a civilized being. I am, or was rather, Kap'eiyl, aspect warrior of the Shadow Spectre shrine, of the Craftworld Ae'Imedra. Attached to the troopship Guided Wrath, of the Survivor Host.*

Before Arlas could converse more, a krogan and a humanoid in full armor charged through the door he was watching, only to be vaporized by the fusion gun. The next krogan and three turians, however, came through right behind them, and while they were no doubt horrified by what they had seen, they did realize what direction the shot had come from. Arlas dove to the side as shots began pouring into the area where he had been standing, bringing up his jump generator to full speed as he slammed psyker energies into his armor's shield. All of the tiny pellets the guns fired were stopped by his focus on the shield, but that also meant they could see exactly where he was as the cloak lost some of its power, giving him a blurry outline and a shimmering, rippling shield formed. More than enough to shoot at.

Arlas swore as he slammed his fusion gun into its holder on his back with one hand, the other supporting the shield as the krogan advanced with a roar. The turians hadn't stopped firing even after nearly six seconds, and the barrier had turned from an almost clear orb to nearly opaque white, indicating that it was about to fail whether Arlas kept pumping power into it or not. It was meant to stop powerful single attacks, not hundreds of little ones. Arlas grabbed his sword with the hand that had been holding the fusion gun, and desperately jumped, just as he felt the psy-shield go down.

He was in the warp a long moment, far longer than what felt normal, but he still emerged with a sigh of relief, already stabbing and hacking at the turians he had appeared behind. The first one died with a blade through his heart even as he processed the fact his target had vanished. The second died as his head was cut off, realizing something had somehow gotten behind them and starting to turn. The third managed to duck and roll forward, away from the attacker suddenly behind them, to avoid a similar fate, but as he turned he got stabbed in the throat, and then again the face, before the eldar yanked his blade up and out of the skull, finishing the last of the turian pirates. Arlas sighed as he drew his pistol and sprayed the krogan with the monomolecular shuriken, noting that even the disposable humans back home knew to duck or stand behind something in a firefight.

The krogan's armor was made of stronger materials than the turians, and while small splashes of orange blood flew from the elbow and shoulder joints of his armor after his kinetic barrier collapsed, the krogan didn't fall. Instead, the pirate charged him, weapon firing twice as it closed, the first shot missing and the second only grazing the reformed psy-shield, before Arlas closed enough to cut the gun in half, and then stab the Krogan in the face and ripping the blade up, killing it. Arlas' foresense suddenly screamed at him, and he dove backwards as several rounds and a small red rocket flashed through the area he had been standing. A quick check around the corner of the door revealed a horde of charging pirates, making him sigh in vexation as he sheathed his sword and drew his fusion gun. "Twins, found the rest of the pirates, may require assistance."

The spirit stone inhabitant observed the fight through the helmet' sensors, watching as the first shot vaporized a squad of charging humanoids, and then a flurry of shuriken from Arlas' pistol made the rest of the pirates seek cover. *I thought you said you were a pathfinder.*

Arlas smirked as he swapped his weapons between hands, and fired the fusion gun again into the next room, mildly thankful for the natural choke point the door caused, before firing a spray of shuriken to keep the pirates' heads down. *Give it time, it's a slow day. I might get to use my long rifle eventually.*

A/N - The usual author requests go here. Also, new poll up on my profile, toss in your two cents, and have an effect on the story