Talos followed Rallius back through the kitchen, down a narrow hall, and into a tiny office lit only by the blue glow of a data terminal.
Rallius tapped a button by the door and a watery overhead light flickered on above them. In that light he looked even older, if that was possible, Talos thought. She sat in the chair at the desk without asking and crossed her legs, allowing her fingers to run idly along the terminal keyboard.
The two stared at each other. Rallius' face was as effective a mask as the quarter inch thick polymer that separated Talos from the outside world.
"Well?" he grunted.
"These are… uncertain times," she began, "what with these rumors of Reapers and Cerberus. I've been keeping an eye on my kind. I have good reason to be worried."
Rallius said nothing, waiting for her to get to the point.
"I believe a group of young quarians on pilgrimage are being held against their will on the human colony Jonus," she added quietly, "most likely by Cerberus, or worse."
"What the hell do you want me to do about it?"
Talos frowned behind her mask. "I have not had command of a full crew since you and I," she faltered, "parted ways. I need you to fill the roster. Preferably with big ones who can hold a gun the right way and aim halfway decent."
Rallius' eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he sized her up. She sat up straight and held her shoulders square as she stared right back up at him, inhaling deeply and puffing out her chest. Talos was not leaving this room until he agreed.
"Don't worry, I don't need you. Just your soldiers."
"How many."
"At least thirty."
"Eighty thousand credits."
"Less than I thought."
Rallius grunted. He looked away to study the battered doorframe, "I'll arrange it. Should have everything together in a few days."
"By tomorrow."
The turian's head snapped back in disbelief. She watched his mandibles quiver and his nose twitch almost in unison. She remembered that face all too well. Perhaps she'd pushed it too far.
"Another forty thousand–," he ground out. His face and words were tight.
"Done," Talos agreed quickly and he seemed to relax by degrees.
"By tomorrow, then."
There was a silence that held on for a second too long.
"This is important, Rallus," she said.
"I don't know that. Don't need to. Random, is what it is."
Talos shrugged. She supposed it did appear random, but it wasn't really. She had to do this.
Regrets she had been running from for so long were finally catching up to her, and she didn't mean to simply lay back and let them crawl all over her.
"By tomorrow."
Rallius attempted to maintain a cool head in vain. Thirty men in less than 12 hours? He only had thirty four men and women on payroll – he usually didn't need any more – and at least three quarters of his men were already on the job. He would either have to pull some from assignment or temporarily hire a load of idiots off the Citadel streets willing to shoot a gun for a few hundred credits. Neither prospect was encouraging.
A cruel part of himself that he often tried to ignore wanted to call it off right then and there. She could just go somewhere else that was stingy like a volus trader or a batarian whore in its prices and services. It was hardly any problem of his. He didn't owe her a damned thing. That thought made him even angrier.
With all the extra trouble and expenses, he needed to make it worth his while. "Another forty thousand–,"
"Done." Talos was quick.
Rallius had honestly been hoping she wouldn't accept the new terms. "By tomorrow, then."
An infuriating silence.
"This is important, Rallus," he heard her say. Important. The last time he'd heard her say anything was important was when she had come running to him after abandoning her people. That was… nearly fifteen years ago now.
"I don't know that," he said, "Don't need to. Random, is what it is."
He couldn't fathom her shrug. He didn't try.
Talos looked down at her lap, thoughtful. When the glowing green oval lifted itself to meet his eyes again she said, "Fix me a drink?" Gone was the somber mood.
Rallius was incredulous only a moment, and then he sighed and opened the door. He gestured her through it rather awkwardly, and followed her down the hall and out to the bar.
He hadn't expected to be barricaded in that same hallway not five minutes later, after just barely ducking gunfire. All his eyes caught were yellow and black on white.