Authors Note: Sorry about how long this took to get out. I had a minor case of writers block but thanks to Ipander and Pint-sizes She-Bear I was able to work past it. Ipander: thank you very much for the encouragement, it really does mean a lot.
Thank you for all the follows and favorites, and as always please comment, review, critique, they are all welcome.
Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"
Chapter Four: Pinnacle Station
The mission to Therum certainly offered some new experiences; it was the 'courting period' as Sidda called it, the first mission with her new recruits that involved a military mission with all the trimmings not firefights in clubs and alleys. The purpose of this mission was to find Liara T'Soni, Benezia's daughter and a serious person of interest. Seemed easy enough, after all how hard could it be to land on an uninhabited planet and find an archaeologist? She thought that just before dropping in the Mako and regretted it 20 minutes later. In order to get to know the new recruits she took Garrus and Tali with her. She took Garrus for two reasons, one she needed to get to know him and two she liked having a Turian on her team; since her tour on the Lante her squad just didn't seem complete without a six foot plus predator on it.
The Mako was another new experience…or rather major challenge. Leaving out Sidda's unmet need for speed because of the shitty handling of the Mako the fact of the matter was taking the Mako was better than walking. For a planet that was supposed to be uninhabited the place was swarming with Geth, enough that the mechanical bastards had set up turrets around every damn corner. For the most part the mission was okay, the Mako flattened the smaller Geth that got in the way and the main gun handled the Colossus well.
Tali turned out to be tougher than she looked, the little Quarian preferred shotguns and wasn't afraid to get down and dirty in a fight. When they were forced out of the Mako because of terrain she saw just how good Garrus was with his brand new sniper rifle. He expertly picked off the Geth that were taking pot shots at them as Sidda appreciated how lucky she was to have Tali on the team. Her hacking skills did well in turning a few Geth to their side. After taking out an entire army of Geth the dig site wasn't very active, at least on the way in. There was no way in hell that was going to last long and all three of them knew that. They found their target, an Asari scientist unfortunately trapped in a Prothean protective barrier. Apparently, she was trying to protect herself from the Geth and a Krogan Battlemaster and something backfired trapping her in the barrier as well. Sidda had to laugh at that but the hardest part was figuring out how to get her out of it. Once again Tali's skills came in handy as did her ingenuity; she used a mining laser to gain access to the ruin below Liara, she got an A+ for that.
Springing Liara from the trap was fairly simple, getting the hell off Therum was nearly impossible apparently. Just as they were about to exit stage left the afore-mentioned Krogan Battlemaster arrived to make the getaway a little tougher. Sidda cursed loudly and multiple times as the fire ensued between them, the Krogan, and the Geth. Of course she would be fighting a Krogan…where was her Krogan, on the damn Normandy. As the fight kicked off there was a momentary pause in the fight as the ground shook below them and Joker informed them that the blast from the mining laser set off a seismic event…of course. Sidda thought fighting a pissed off Turian who didn't like her very much was hard…a Krogan outclassed her in every way. After being slammed into the wall a third time by a charging Krogan she could hear the breast plate of her armor crack. That was not good. This was another brand new experience and one she really could have lived without but thanks to Garrus it was one she was able to stagger away from. After that, Therum started to crumble beneath them so they had to run to the top of the Prothean ruin where the Normandy could scoop them up on the fly. The mission was a success if not perfect.
According to Dr. Chakwas, the Krogan managed to crack not only her armor but two ribs as well. The debriefing with Liara proved a little fruitful but it did put Sidda's mind through the spin cycle again. She was a Prothean expert but had never heard of the Reapers and discounted Sidda's theory about what wiped out the Protheans until she 'Embraced Eternity' with Sidda's mind and saw what the Beacon had left behind when it crashed through her brain. In all, Sidda didn't think too much of Liara, she was a scientist; young and naive. The fact she was Benezia's daughter was a cause for some concern but it was better to have her near where she could be contained.
Hours after Therum, Sidda had talked to everyone…now she just wanted to take the pain killer that Chakwas gave her and go to bed.
Sidda stood on the hilltop looking down at the Eden Prime Spaceport; she could see Nihlus with standing with his back to Saren, the gun aimed squarely at the back of his head. It was like an out of body experience for her; she could see all of this unfolding the same way and remembered feeling that this was something she never wanted to experience again. With the emotion of knowing what was about to happen, the sky darkened and the Reaper ship descended on the planet triggering the flashes of horrible images from the Beacon. She looked down from the ship that appeared to be landing right behind Saren and saw him pull the trigger, that blue mist of blood that sprayed from the exit wound and she screamed.
Sidda sat upright sharply with a yell of 'no' like she did on Eden Prime. Once again she couldn't figure out why she was more affected by this than she even she thought. Nihlus was a friend and she was going to kill Saren in the most painful way possible but she'd never had nightmares about stuff like this. Liara's ability seemed to have churned up the beacons download and she figured it tied into her feelings about losing Nihlus. The frustrating thing is that she couldn't figure out what feelings for whom she was feeling. "Shit." She cursed quietly and shook her head. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her elbows on them hissing in pain from the cracked ribs. Frustrated, upset, and now in pain her temper flared and she slapped the clock off the nightstand.
The frustration and unsettling images prevented her from sleeping and since they were destined for Pinnacle Station anyway she got up and headed down to the cargo bay. In the wee hours of the morning the only crew on duty was nightshift. She wasn't sure why she went down there, subconsciously she thought of Nihlus and the gear that was still in the locker. She didn't turn it over to the Council with his body though it was a mystery even to her as to why.
She stepped off the slowest freight elevator in the entire galaxy and found the Cargo Bay still and quiet with the exception of the armory bench. The light was on over the bench and Garrus was busy working on his sniper rifle. The weapon was fantastic on Therum, or it was fantastic in his hands…she didn't know which. Sidda thought of Cerrus in his roost modifying every weapon he could get his hands on.
"Commander." Garrus greeted without looking up from his rifle. "Can't sleep?"
She eyed the locker that contained Nihlus' stuff and walked past it. "No…" she answered and Garrus could hear the trouble in her voice. "What about you?"
Garrus chuckled and gestured to the black rifle he was working on. "You gave me a new toy to play with, Commander."
Her halfhearted smile in response to that caused him some concern. "Something on your mind?" he inquired looking over at her judging her demeanor. He slipped into Cop mode, the skill he'd honed after years in C-Sec made him able to see right through people. Something was bothering her and by what he had heard about Eden Prime he guess it had to do with the friend she lost and the images from the Beacon.
She sighed and leaned on the wall between the lockers and bench watching him work. "Yeah, too much." She replied. "I just can't get the image of…" she began but stopped abruptly deciding that she didn't want to talk about it. When she stopped mid-sentence Garrus casually looked up at her but said nothing. Sidda quickly changed the subject with a sigh and looked him up and down. "So tell me about Garrus Vakarian." She said and Garrus eyed her quickly before returning his attention to the sniper rifle.
If she didn't want to talk about what was bothering her pushing her wasn't going to help. He didn't know her well enough to know how she'd react so he left it alone. "What do you want to know?" he asked quietly sighting tightly down the rifle to test the sights.
She couldn't help but look Garrus up and down, he reminded her of Kalvaris in his mannerisms and build but the markings were the same as Maridus'. "How long have you been in C-Sec?"
"Five years." He replied setting the rifle down on the bench so he could continue tinkering with it.
"And before that?" she inquired while watching him pull the scope apart. She guessed Turian military as a sniper. He was as meticulous with his rifle as Maridus and Ruvvak were.
"Military for the mandatory 15 years." He replied proudly looking down at her then back to the rifle.
"I'm guessing a sniper?"
Garrus chuckled and nodded. "What gave it away?" he asked making her chuckle also. "I did some time with Black Ops before I got out. Decided to follow my father and joined C-Sec."
"Your father was C-Sec?"
Garrus nodded and quietly replied. "One of the best."
She smiled. "He must be proud of you."
He paused a moment from what he was doing when she said that. "Sort of." He stated and returned to what he was doing. She narrowed her eyes a little and could see that the topic had now reached the limit.
"You know, I served with a Turian with the same colony markings." She said and he looked at her, trying to figure her out. "He was the first officer on the ship I served on last year."
"Really? What was his name?" Garrus asked.
"Damar Maridus." She said and he laughed out loud.
He stopped what he was doing and laughed. "Ahh…Damar…I do know him. I've spent the better part of my life with that man in my shadow." Garrus said. "We grew up together, went through boot camp, had our first few assignments in the same place but then he went to Special Ops and I went to C-Sec."
It dawned on Sidda as to who Garrus was and she chuckled. "You're Solana's brother."
Garrus cocked his head with a nod and he too figured out who she was. "If you're the human who served on the Lante then you must be the human with the strong grip." He said and she could guess which event he was talking about. She chuckled nodding slightly. "Something about sliding down a platform to catch him."
"I dislocated both my shoulders catching him." She stated and Garrus chuckled.
"He never could keep his feet." He chuckled.
His tone made her chuckle, she liked Garrus he was a lot like Maridus. "He was the first one to take me in on that ship. First friend I made." She said and Garrus figured her out.
He'd had a suspicion about her but now she confirmed it. "He grew up a rich boy…never knew any better." He sniped gauging that she would be receptive to a good joke. Indeed she was a laughed at his joke. "If you're the human who served on the Lante, that means you are Gen. Victus' mate."
She narrowed her eyes some, there had been a few rumors she was sure of that especially after Octavia's visit. Her relationship with Victus was no secret now and while some didn't care the general opinion of it was less than favorable. "Not his mate."
Garrus snorted. "Close enough…we Turians aren't as complicated as you humans are when it comes to relationships." He stated, being in C-Sec he'd seen all the courting rituals that there were. Humans were complicated creatures but not as complicated as Salarians who actually entered in contracts for breeding.
"I'm assuming you have an opinion on it like everyone else does." She said and Garrus stood up straight from his hunched position over the bench.
He shook his head with a shrug and sorted through the components he needed to modify the scope. "No opinion. It's no business of mine." He said and moved closer to the bench watching what he was doing. "Hold that please." He said and she held the rifle where he asked.
"Most people find the match…oh how do they put it…unnatural." She said and Garrus grunted.
He clicked the scope modification into place. "Most people are idiots." He replied and she chuckled again. "Anyway, why do you care what they think? The relationship is between you and him not you and them."
Sidda looked up at the tall Cop and cracked a half smile. "Wow...cop and councilor." She replied and Garrus indicated that she could let the rifle go.
"No…just call it like I see it." He stated and pulled the rifle tight into his arm and sighted down the scope to check his handiwork. "Perfect." He praised and offered it to Sidda. "You any good with a sniper rifle, Shepard?"
Sidda took the rifle and mimicked his stance. "I think I've held one once." She replied and pulled it in, tight sighting down the scope. Garrus chuckled to the comment and observed her. He'd met plenty of humans but none like her.
Going to Pinnacle Station was not her idea; she argued with the Council but lost to Sparatus. He may have been a pain in the ass to her but for some reason they were on the same page most of the time. He was right in this case, as a new Spectre she needed to train like one and learn Saren's moves to have a shot at catching him. On the other hand she preferred to keep him off center by going at him full bore but Sparatus forced their newest Spectre to buck up and follow a suggestion for once.
To the Turians Pinnacle Station began as secret base during the Krogan Rebellions, after the war when the Turians soared in status it became a training camp run by them to train Spectres. When they were inducted into the Spectres the base grew in popularity and became jointly run. All Spectres now train at the facility but virtually every species has access to it. If they're not training as a Spectre they are training as part of council approved Special Forces training. With the addition of Humans in the galactic community they were added to those allowed on Pinnacle Station. Begrudgingly, the Turians allowed their Relay 314 Incident dance partners into the mix but it wasn't seamless. As much as the Turians didn't want to admit it, Humans were not as weak as they thought. The Alliance fought them to a standstill, their adaptability made them excellent in combat, even the Turians knew that. So when the Council appointed Adm. Tadius Ahern as the Commanding Officer the Turians understood why, they didn't have to agree but they understood why an exemplarity officer like Ahern was given the position.
Sidda had decided that if she was forced to be there she was going to squeeze every last bit of usefulness out of the station while she was at it. She may be the only Spectre but she was chasing a Spectre, the best Spectre, so her crew was going to need the training as well.
She looked to the tall guard by the interior door and did a quick up and down of him. He was average height for a Turian coming in at around 6'6" and had purple maxillary teeth skull markings that she'd never seen before. "I'm here to see Adm. Ahern, Captain." She stated and the Guard Captain gave the best possible sneer that rivaled any that she had seen from Cerrus.
"He's inside…up the stairs, Commander." He stated as he did the same and looked her up and down. His tone was enough to make Sidda cock her head and keep her attention on him.
"Got an issue, Captain?" she asked directly and the Captain looked down at her.
"Humans don't deserve Spectre rank." He replied spitefully as the other guard opened the door.
Sidda opened her mouth to respond to the carbon copy of Cerrus but she was cut off. "Shepard! Get your ass up here!" a man yelled in the pissy commanding officer tone. Sidda eyed the Captain, he was going to be a problem and she could see that but she moved away from him and headed up the stairs to Ahern. He was an Alliance legend, saw action in the First Contact War and performed one of the best data module recoveries in the Alliance. His work was taught at the Academy, there was no one better in the Alliance at defending a position and she remembered that training on Elysium.
"Admiral," she greeted giving him a salute. "it's an honor, Sir."
Ahern returned the salute and nodded as he looked her up and down. "You're not as I pictured." He stated. "Somehow I thought you'd be bigger."
Sidda snorted to him. "I don't mean to be rude; Sir, but I have a bit of a time crunch. There's a rogue Spectre out there that needs a bullet in the ass." She stated.
Ahern allowed a snort. "We'll fast track you through the training then."
"I want my people to go through too." She stated and Ahern narrowed her eyes. "That's not procedure, Commander."
"If I'm going to chase the best Spectre in the galaxy I want them to have the same training too." She stated and Ahern thought a moment.
"Alright…given your mission I'll let you have it, Commander." He stated.
Pinnacle Station had tech that was beyond top of the line, the thing that surprised Sidda the most was the presence of a Krogan merc brought on by Ahern to spice up the training and add a huge level of difficulty. Along with the Salarians and Asari instructors and trainees there was one lone human but the station was pretty much dominated by Turians. Of course, they had the strongest and largest military presence in the galaxy rivaled only by the Asari.
When the Normandy arrived Sidda's team took over the place. Training not only the newest Spectre to the galaxy but her entire ground team as well was a huge task. Tactical and physical training like this was old hat for nearly everyone but Tali and Liara. Tali was more comfortable with combat than Liara was and that was a problem that needed to be addressed. Sidda broke up her teams placing the weaker members with the very strong ones. Tali seemed to work very well under the guide of Wrex and Ashley and Sidda took on Liara with the help of Kaidan and Garrus. The two had improved by leaps and bounds after the first few rounds of training. The benefit to drilling her and her people into the ground was that she actually forgot about Saren, the Beacon, and Nihlus as she and her team took a break while watching Tali and her tutors' race through the timed Capture the Flag segment. She took a swig of the water that Garrus had given her and laughed out as the three 'misfits' kicked the VI's ass and broke the timed event record.
"How 'bout that huh?" Garrus chuckled from his perched seat on the stair case a few steps above the one she was sitting on.
"Wrex is a pretty good teacher underneath that grouchy Krogan exterior." She stated and Garrus had to agree with that. Garrus and Wrex said very little to each other most of the time but they seemed to be warming up to one another the more that time ran on. Ashley, on the other hand, didn't like either one of them or Liara but she didn't seem to mind Tali to a point. She didn't like her looking over the Normandy's systems but Tali reminded her of one of her sisters.
"So are you." Garrus replied and Sidda snorted and craned around to look up at him.
"Are you calling me a Krogan, Vakarian?" she asked her tone mired in a slight chuckle.
"Well, you have the temper of one." He stated and Sidda couldn't help but shake her head with a smile. That was the same thing Holum told her only his exact words were 'personality of Krogan' after her threatening to punch him to show that her shoulders were healed enough to return to work.
"Where have I heard that before?" She muttered. "Alright...we're up, let's go." She stated and Garrus stayed seated.
"Shepard, why don't you give everyone a break." He stated. "We've been at it for hours."
Sidda's precarious patience was wearing extremely thin; she didn't want to be there anyway. The constant training was helping to channel the anger elsewhere and she wanted to get it done as soon as possible. "I want to get this done and get the hell out of here." She stated and Garrus noticed the patience disappearing.
"I know you want to find Saren but you can't drill them into the ground. Give them a break, give yourself a break." He stated and she huffed, she was itching to get out of here. She already knew she could do the job the training wasn't for her.
Sidda yielded to Garrus' advice and let her crew have a break. Right now she was single minded and wanted Saren dead and Nihlus avenged. She listened to the crew bond to a certain extent as she paced back and forth with a bottle of water.
"Whoever's records that you and the Command broke is gonna be pissed." Ashley stated to Tali. Shepard blasted through all the courses like a torpedo but Tali was the surprise. The little Quarian tore through the courses extremely well and surprised the hell out of everyone by breaking a few of the course records with room to spare.
"They were mine." Vidinos stated joining them; his body language reminded her of Cerrus and not in a good way. Sidda continued to pace back and forth eyeing Vidinos but saying nothing. Vidinos had been bad mouthing them since they stepped in the door. The only one he didn't seem to have an issue with was Garrus but Garrus mostly ignored him. "A Quarian and a Human…neither of your despicable species should be allowed here."
Sidda had learned to ignore the superior Turians after spending so much time with Cerrus, the king of all Turian assholes, but she figured that Ashley wasn't as patient. Ashley's history with Turians was worse than Sidda's history with Batarians. Sidda downed the last gulp of the water from the bottle and continued to pace and listen. Magnus Vidinos was the stations top gun and trainer though his opinions of anyone other than Turians, Asari, and Salarians were a bit low.
"Well, sorry about your luck, man, we're here to stay." Ashley stated and glared up at him. "First human Spectre…first of many."
Vidinos aggressively slammed his hands on the table with a growl. "Your people are a disease." He growled to Ashley and then looked to Tali. "And yours are the trash of the galaxy, vermin who can't keep their own planet under them.
Sidda huffed, she was getting more and more annoyed by an array of things but Vidinos was taking the top prize right now. "Alright, back off." She said finally.
Vidinos looked up from his cold glare at Tali and slowly rose back up to stand at his full height. "Cdr. Shepard." He stated looking her up and down again. When he met her his opinion of her was low, very low, but after seeing her blaze a trail through the courses he learned that she knew what she was doing as a soldier though it didn't mean he liked her, just meant he knew not to underestimate her. "You're a token…a sign that the Council is weak."
Sidda snorted and moved around the table slowly trying to keep what little hold on her temper still intact. "Or it's a sign that the galaxy needs to make room for the next big thing." Ashely chimed in.
"You let a colony be destroyed and a Spectre be murdered…what makes you qualified to be a Spectre?" he asked and Sidda's temper spiked but she kept a handle on it.
"Because I'm the best." She hissed and sounded pleased with herself.
"You humans think you own the galaxy…you've only just arrived and now your people have invaded the Spectres and are even trying to get a spot on the Council." Vidinos stated as he stood face to face with the small human.
"Sparatus gave me this job, believe me…I can do it." She replied and he sneered
"What can you do? You can't even protect your own colonies." He sneered and she stepped closer to him, the Turian training in her showed its colors.
"I did protect a colony, asshole, what the hell have you done?" she hissed and Vidinos was seasoned enough to not bite the bait.
"Ahh, yes, Elysium…you stopped the invasion but your people still don't know how to defend your colonies, the Empire would never have let that happen." Vidinos said and Sidda scoffed, she wasn't in the mood for this. Once again, she as being prodded by a Turian who didn't think she could hack it.
"Okay, you know what, I really don't have time or need to arm wrestle you for every little thing so put your money where your mouth is and lets do this…head to head…you name the scenario." She snarled unmistakably throwing down the gauntlet.
Vidinos smirked, he had heard she had Turian training and he could see it. "Ochren, set it up, timed capture, me versus the Commander."
Ahern wasn't exactly pleased with the grudge match that was about to happen but he left in alone as getting in the middle might be suicidal. Sidda wanted to get the hell out of here and he could understand that. He didn't know the entire story about Saren but got the general gist of it and also knew that Saren murdered her friend. The kind of anger she carried he'd seen before and it worried him.
Sidda winced slightly as she bent the wrong direction. The ribs that had been broken weren't healed yet, when the armor was on it braced them but they still hurt. She cursed herself for finding a grudge match less than a day after she showed up.
"Commander," Ahern stated walking into the locker room without a second hesitation. "You're either crazy or just shit stupid I can't tell which." He stated his tone filled with both surprise and irritation.
Sidda chuckled slightly. "I've been accused of worse."
"Magnus Vidinos trains Spectres for a living, Commander, he may not be a Spectre but he is the best when it comes to training." Ahern stated and Sidda shifted the armor around to get comfortable.
"He's also an asshole blessed with an overabundance of ego." She stated and Ahern eyed her still trying to decide if she crazy, brave, or stupid.
"And you think you're the one that's going to take him down a notch?" he asked directly and Sidda closed the locker door finished with what she was doing.
"Yes." She answered promptly.
Ahern understood why she had the reputation that she had. "Well, you get an A+ for confidence, Commander, but I'm still trying to decide if you're stupid, crazy, or brave."
"A very good friend of mine named Damar would say all three." She replied.
"For the record, Commander, this is reckless and I advise against it." He said as they headed out of the locker room out into the open with everyone else. "Unofficially…kick his ass, Commander."
Sidda smiled and nodded to him, she wasn't sure how she kept landing in the middle of a Turian grudge match. Either it was someone who didn't think she had it or someone who was intimidated by her. She knew what she was doing but found that she had to prove that to nearly everyone.
Near the entrance to the simulator Sidda was getting all her last minute equipment and checks from Garrus and Ashley.
"Commander, are you sure you want to do this?" Ashley asked and saw Sidda grimace again to the pain in her side.
"I'll be fine." She replied quickly. "Gonna put this son of a bitch in his place, get this training over with, and get back to the mission." She stated as Garrus handed her the pistol. Sidda had seen him check the weapon but didn't know him well enough to trust him blindly with her weapons like she would from Nov or Victus. She checked the weapon and waved off the assault rifle he passed her. "No, this is good."
"Just the pistol?" Ashley asked and her face was colored with the same expression as Garrus'.
"You sure, Commander?" Garrus asked.
"You'd be surprised what I can do with just this." She stated and Garrus had to snort. She was either cocky or just that damn good he couldn't tell which. "Okay, let's do this."
Sidda closed her eyes and prepared herself for what was about to take place. She could hear Ochren counting down to the start of this time limited, capture the flag against each other, and hampered by Geth. Whoever got through the Geth and captured the target first was the winner but they had to beat the three minute clock.
A surge of adrenalin coursed through her body as the enemies spawned right on top of her. There were no restrictions on this match, so the bad guys spawned wherever the the VI put them. Geth were chosen as the enemy as neither she nor Vidinos were technologically based so it added to the challenge. The Geth appeared on top of her and she immediately set out a shockwave to knock a good portion of them back and then proceeded to eliminate them as fast as she could. Ochren didn't skimp on the difficulty, the Geth swarmed her but she continued to take them out and press forward toward the objective. It wasn't just her being hindered, Vidinos was too. She caught a glimpse of him across the subterranean map but returned her attention back to her own field of guests.
The mental timer in her head told her that she had to go if she was going to beat Vidinos, she wasn't about to give that bastard the satisfaction of beating her but he was a Turian so there was a better than average chance that he just might kick her ass up around her ears. No matter how good she was and what training she'd had, a Turian had evolution on their side.
As she made her way through the course, damn near of all of Pinnacle Station watched. Ahern paced knowing that there was a real possibility that both of them could be hurt or killed and he really didn't want to explain that outcome to the Alliance or to the Council. Her team watched the legendary officer tear through the course with only a pistol. Garrus was already impressed by her skills on Therum but now he was seeing even more of them. The Alliance didn't skimp with her N7 training and the Turian's certainly did their best at turning her into a lethal weapon, of course the goal of this was not to kill Vidinos, just beat him.
"50 credits say Magnus takes her." Burrum stated and Wrex scoffed to the other Krogan.
"You wish." Wrex stated and Garrus was a little surprised to hear Wrex come down on Sidda's side. Wrex hadn't been on Therum to see her in action but he had been somewhat impressed by her skills so far during the training.
"I got 100 that says she kicks his ass." Garrus said, increasing the bet reflecting the confidence he had in her. Ashley raised her eyebrows to the big spender that was Garrus.
"Against him?" Dagha replied. "I know her reputation but there's no way she can beat him. Vidinos is the best for a reason, Spectre's train against him because he's the best."
Garrus nodded but his confidence in Sidda was strong. He'd seen enough to know she was good and knew her grit and determination would put her on top. "Well, then let's make it 200." He replied and Kaidan laughed.
"I'm with Garrus, she's the Hero of Elysium." Kaidan stated. "200 says the Commander wins."
"Pick it up you two." Ahern said into the comm., sounding irritated as usual. "The betting's getting pretty heavy."
The pool continued to grow as everyone observed the two powers going head to head. Sidda wasn't kidding about her talent with the pistol; she spent one shot on each target, a headshot. Kaidan noticed that even though she was a biotic she used them minimally. He didn't know it but that was a product of the Turian training. She'd learned to use the biotcs like she used her other weapons.
They both reached the final checkpoint at the same time on opposite sides of the landing. Vidinos fired a burst from his rifle but she rolled under it and sprang up on his right. He was surprised how fast she moved and attempted to counter by turning back toward her to fire. She was close enough to hit him with the butt of her pistol and she smacked the Turian hard in the right side of the face. Vidinos growled as the attack on him only served to further piss him off.
"One minute." Ahern announced as Sidda managed to disarm Vidinos to the surprise of everyone watching.
"Where the hell'd she learn to do that?" Dahga asked. "That was damn effective."
"Don't forget who she is." Kaidan stated. "She defended a colony until help arrived. Hours and hours of nonstop combat." He finished his tone starting to sound more like hero worship than anything else.
All Vidinos had to do now was strip the pistol from her and it was melee fight, that was easier said than done because Vidinos was now realizing that she was exceptional. N7 trained and supplemented by Turian Special Ops, the ship she trained on carried the best…pity he didn't notice that before now. He did manage to get rid of the weapon leveling the field again. Now it was hand to hand, Vidinos was bigger and a little more aggressive than Cerrus. Cerrus tolerated her but Vidinos didn't want or need that luxury so he came at her hard.
The audience watched as Vidinos tossed her around in what looked like choreographed moves. She was used to be flung around with her size it couldn't be helped but thanks to training with Turians day in and day out for a year she'd learned how to land so she could get back into the fight. Something was different about how this fight looked. To those who were betting on Vidinos it really didn't look good. The Turian had handedly beaten every opponent he'd gone up against but he was having trouble with her. Kaidan and Ashley saw their commanding officer kick the martial arts into high gear and heard her yelp as Vidinos landed three punches in a row right to the ribs that were broken. She managed to get away from him and jumped into a spinning back kick nailing Vidinos in the chest sending him staggering backward but he kept his feet. She ignored the pain in her side and went after the objective. He was between her and the objective.
They clashed together again, both now desperate to get to the objective first, by her internal timer she had about 45 seconds to do just that but Vidinos had other ideas. They both had nearly forgotten about the timer on this as it had become a grudge match between two people who just met. She had enough of fucking with him and wanted this to end. She used her small size and flipped her legs up over his head locking them around his neck. Vidinos became unbalanced with the extra 150ish pounds of added weight. It had been a long time since she'd performed this move and had never tried it on a Turian. The weight and leverage flipped Vidinos forward, slamming him back first onto the deck.
Vidinos saw stars, that was a hard landing and he felt it through his armor. Sidda got to her feet and collected the pistol seeing the timer at about 20 seconds. She tapped the pedestal and had to hold the position for 10 seconds panting hard from the exertion she just went through.
"Time." Ahern announced and the observation area erupted in cheers from her crew. Garrus held his hands up to take in the victory.
Sidda turned back toward Vidinos and offered to help him up. Typical Turian though refused the help like most others that she offered the help too.
She tried not to wince as she walked out of the simulator though her side felt like Cerrus went at it. Thankfully, the armor absorbed most of Vidinos' impacts but it still hurt. She could hear the lecture from Dr. Chakwas now, something about fighting a Turian was not in the definition of take it easy for a few days.
"Cdr. Shepard." The young Lt. Bryant greeted as she passed extending his hand out to her. "Pleasure to see you in action, Ma'am." He stated and Sidda shook his hand tightly for a moment before continuing on.
"I'm still not sure which one you are, Commander, but that was a hell of a show." Ahern stated and looked to Vidinos. "Both of you."
Vidinos bristled a little to the hollow compliment from him since he was the loser in the fight. There was no good way in Vidinos' mind to lose to a human but he had to admit she was everything she was cracked up to be.
"You alright, Commander?" Kaidan asked looking her up and down.
"I've felt worse." She stated to him, and then looked to Garrus. "How much money did you make off me?"
"None." He replied innocently almost playfully.
Sidda scoffed. "You sure you're a cop, Garrus, because you're a terrible liar."
Pinnacle Station was under orders to supply the Normandy so while Sidda and company were busy training and testing and kicking each other's ass Ahern had his techs give the frigate a surplus of weapons, mods, and repair kits. The tone of Sidda's crew had changed; for the most part they seemed to trust each other more drilling and training wasn't the same as bonding during combat but it was close enough. Sidda was an easy person to get along with even with the bad attitude eating away at her right now. She and Garrus bonded instantly; it may have had something to do with the fact that Sidda found him attractive but the rest of the crew saw the strong bond and built on it. Wrex was a surprise; the Krogan wasn't the friendliest guy but he was a team player. The other problem child was Ashley, the soldier wasn't thrilled about working with aliens but she seemed to have bonded with Tali.
Sidda began to gather up her men as it was about time to get going. "Commander." A voice called stopping her. It was Vidinos, he was probably still sore over losing to her but he seemed to have taken it better than she thought he would. She stopped and faced him looking up at his towering figure. "You fought well. Whoever taught you knew what they were doing."
Sidda looked him up and down. He had the same look that Cerrus did when he was giving her a compliment or praising her about something. "You were a hell of an opponent." She replied and saw the Turian straighten, obviously he had the same opinion of mutual compliments as Cerrus did.
He sighed and got down the reason he stopped her. "You had the top score with pistols according to Ochren." He said and handed her the sidearm she'd seen him carry the whole time she'd seen him on base. "Here. It's better than the model you have and has extensive modifications."
Sidda took it examining it and then looked up at him. "It's not gonna blow up in my face or anything is it?"
Vidinos' expression narrowed. "It's a gift, Commander, do you want it or not?" he growled.
Sidda snorted to the typical ill-tempered Turian tone. "Gift or trophy?" she asked and Vidinos' expression told her everything. "Alright." She relented noting that her sarcasm wasn't getting her anywhere but further to another conflict with him. "I accept…thank you."
Vidinos nodded finally. "May I ask a favor, Commander?" he added and Sidda's eyes narrowed sharply. First he tried to kick her ass then he asked for a favor? This day just kept getting better and better. "Nihlus Kryik was a friend of mine as well." He stated. "You find Saren and you use that gun to put a bullet in his head."
Sidda nodded to him. "That's a favor I'll do for you." She said. "And for Nihlus and for Deliah and for myself."
Vidinos gave her a sharp nod, he'd said his peace and left her stand there with the new pistol. It was a Spectre pistol same as hers but it had obvious modifications, it was all black with the tell-tale red light of the Spectre weapons. She couldn't wait to fire it honestly.
"Commander, the Normandy's set to leave." Liara stated approaching her. "Adm. Ahern's men are finished loading all the supplies. The crew is heading back to the ship now."
Sidda looked up to the Asari and nodded. "Thank you, Liara." She said and lingered a moment looking at the new pistol in her hand. Liara studied the woman; everyone could see the anger that was building, or barely hanging on, inside her. Fighting Vidinos was a way to channel the overload of rage but now she wanted to get back out there and track the man who murdered her friend.
Liara stepped toward her as Sidda stared down at the weapon, she had no idea what was running through her mind. "Commander?" she asked jogging her out of the trance.
Sidda snapped out of her trance and walked forward with purpose. "Let's go." She stated quickly and Liara fell in with her. She didn't know her well and honestly didn't have much experience with humans but noticed that there was something not quite right with her. It was the anger, the rage, the monster inside that needed to be let out on her target before it blew up in their face. They needed to find Saren and they needed to do it now.