Kandros rapidly approached the docks as Sara greeted Scott with a hug and in turn bear hugged by Scott. He caught snippets of the conversation passing between the female turian well known for her resourcefulness, Kesh's good friend Vetra.
" I feel like I know you already," Vetra held out a hand to Sara, who shook it firmly. That was the Sara he knew. Not infallible but just as determined as her father who almost ruined the family name. Kandros suspected the reverse would be believed in Andromeda once everyone was settled.
Sara laughed. " I've heard nothing but good things about you. Scott's impressed by your-"
Scott tapped at his omni-tool.
" Is he?" Vetra turned to Scott with increased interest.
Drack Nakmor came up behind Vetra. " You're the other half of the Infamous Ryder pair. Heh. You don't look like much,"
" Give me time," Sara assured the krogan antagonist to her love interest. Kandros repressed his amusement as he considered the consequences of it. " I can punch more of an impact than most ladies,"
" I hope so. We're swamped in kett," Drack nodded to the rest of the Nexus ramp. " We're leaving before the day ends, Kid,"
Sara nodded. " Absolutely,"
" Pathfinder, I require your sister for clarification on some reports before she leaves," Kandros announced his presence to Scott first. Sara turned quickly toward him and then turned back to Drack, face slightly reddened.
Eventually she grimaced and prepared herself for a day full of haggling over what should and shouldn't go into a report. Kandros's demand to be very precise in his reports to Tann, out of spite or learned behavior she didn't know, often lead to his people taking longer than usual to file their reports. Debriefings by anyone but Kandros were considered a luxury for his teams. " Let's go,"
" I only need an hour," Kandros supplied for Scott before tucking his hands behind his back. Sara moved to his right and walked with him toward the tram. Once they were a respectable distance from the group disembarking onto familiar territory, " About last night-"
Sara turned her head to him quickly. " Never happened,"
He chuckled. " I was hoping that it will,"
She stared straight ahead as the tram pulled into the station and the doors opened. " You're a sweet and handsome man, Kandros, but I'm not the romantic type. I'm not even normal. I want salarians despite knowing they're asexual. I want sex at the same time. I'm what you'd call an immoral-"
" If you're immoral, then everyone who has to colonize this galaxy is immoral. The whole reason we are here is to have babies and raise them to have babies," Kandros brushed his hand against hers as they swayed with the momentum of the moving tram. " You don't want strings. I don't want strings,"
She smiled. " I like your philosophy,"
" It's not a philosophy,"
" Are we really going to review details?" She finally asked.
He shook his head. " My place or yours?"
Oh no he did not. " Obviously my place is packed up at the moment, so yours?" Did he not worry about being known as her lover? Wait - was she that much of a put off? No. But surely he wanted to be seen in a better light than as her lover, especially knowing she had a 'thing' for Tann. What did he expect?
More importantly how would it impact their professional relationship? Oh well, it wasn't like she was going to have him around to amuse her while traveling with Scott and she never claimed to be a monogamous prude.
Tann and Scott squared off over the costs of pursuing the lead they very much needed to give 100,000 people a fighting chance. Their equipment was showing signs of wear and tear after the prolonged exposure to radiation. Vetra's contacts allowed them to obtain pieces that otherwise would be lost or passed along to the next kett victim. Finally they agreed to a credit refund that barely covered a single piece of armor. " I want you to return Sara to me alive," Tann asked of Scott. " Best help I had since the start of this,"
Scott smirked. " Is that so?"
" Yes," Tann didn't blink. " I expect to have weekly reports on the team's progress,"
Oh great. " I'll make sure that Sara files them," He left Tann to his multitude of paperwork and hourly reports. He found Sara at the Vortex freshly showered. " Who'd you-"
Sara smacked his arm. " No one,"
He raised a brow and then ordered a drink. " You do know that I am your twin. I know everything,"
Sara shrugged. " Maybe. Maybe not," She sipped her drink. " Not like I'll end up pregnant anyway. We're all on cryo blockers," Turians and humans are incapable of having interbred children.
Scott leaned in. " Not like I would judge you anyway. I'm surprised you haven't lured Tann into bed yet," Dutch almost fell off the bar top he was leaning on.
" I tried," Sara raised a brow in Dutch's hasty recovery. " One would think that with half the station talking about my interest in him, he'd notice . But no," Sara admitted candidly. The bad poetry taking place behind her mother made her cringe. " He called me beautiful yesterday. Suppose that's progress,"
" In another five years he might even try bed you," Scott mused in mockery. " Whoever caught your eye will be lucky,"
She laughed. More like she caught Kandros's eye. " To sex and venting frustrations," They clinked drinks and sat in comfortable silence.
Peebee bounced up behind Scott. " Oh that looks yummy!" She peered over Scott's shoulder at his blue drink. " I'll take two," She held up two fingers to the bartender.
Two identical drinks landed on the bar top. Peebee sat next to Scott. Sara leaned in and whispered loudly. " Admirer?"
" Maybe," Scott whispered back.
" I can still hear you," Peebee whispered to them both. They in turn stared back with near identical grins. " And yes, an admirer," She bat her eyelashes at Scott.
Sara chuckled. " Well I am off to lug my belongings to the Tempest,"
" You can have my cabin. I don't need all that space," Scott volunteered before finishing his drink and ordering another one. " So move on in. We can share the wardrobe space. I'll take a bunk in the crew quarters,"
She gave Scott a big hug and kiss on the forehead. " You're the best, bro!" She squealed loud enough for two turians and a salarian to notice. Peebee rolled her eyes. " You could have given me that room,"
Scott looked Peebee in the eye. " Give me one good reason why,"
" Because I can make your life interesting," She crooned over someone's equally bad singing.
Dutch put another in front of Scott. " On the house,'
" Thanks," Scott said dryly and quickly glanced Peebee over. No competition to Lexi at all. " You are not my twin, and Sara has always taken caren of me. No offense but you catapulted into our life and literally tackled me to the ground,"
Peebee rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. " It's the whole cabin…." Scott listened to her gripe about his generosity to someone other than her while Sara hauled the small crate of belongings to the Tempest. She hummed on her way there, particularly pleased because she watched a vid of Scott's private space on the Tempest and envied him. She also wanted off the Nexus before she ended up in Kandros's bed more often than not. That man was like a drug, and she needed to swear him off before she needed him more consistently in her life.
Suvi and Kallo greeted her as she entered the ship and headed toward the Pathfinder's cabin. Whether Scott was serious or not she was going to keep the cabin for herself and share the wardrobe space. Suvi walked with her. " Will you be going planetside with your brother now that you're back on the team?" Her cup of tea attracted Sara to its contents, envy kicking in instantly.
The crate on wheels spared Sara the trouble lifting it. She didn't stop walking the span of the ship, finding it cumbersome that all the mechanical stuff was on the back end and the smart stuff in the front. That was how Peebee put it after Peebee stalked her down to her quarters and tried to be 'nice' so they could 'share' the cabin. " I hope so. I want to get close to the remnant tech and figure it out. Learn what the civilizations were like. Meet the people of the past. It's just...so exciting!"
" The Scourge is beautiful too. If we could harness its abilities-"
" And reduce the Scourge presence itself," Sara agreed instantly. " Speaking of the Scourge, is there a way that we could map it?"
" Kallo has already started to, and we have maps from the Nexus as well," Suvi answered her readily and knowingly. " Scott says you're not as whimsical as he is,"
" I wouldn't call Scott whimsical. He's not Kosta reckless but he is nonetheless reckless," Sara entered the cabin and let out a deep sigh. " Now this is what I call proper lodging!" She dropped the crate to its flat surface and spread her arms around. " Now this is where-" She put a hand over her mouth and then slowly dropped it back to her side. The only thing that could make this better was a naked Kandros in that bed. She peered around and spotted SAM's secondary location. " Oh hello, SAM,"
" Welcome, Sara," SAM greeted her warmly. " Would you wish to hear a Joke?"
Sara beamed. " Of course, What's the best one you have today?" Bless SAM for reminding her of her father.
