BACKROOM DEAL

Part 6

"I'll plug in the nav coordinates for the latest site of Roekkar activity into the Nomad, mam," Cora jogged ahead of Celeste over to their rover. Celeste couldn't help but to shake her head at the blonde. How could she run in this heat? She didn't know which was the most unbearable. Eos? Eladeen? Or Kadara? Once the Archon was taken care of and they had more of a foothold in the Helius Cluster, then she would get dibs on perhaps Havarl or even a temp place on Aya with Jaal. She just hoped her angaran lover wouldn't insist on Voeld.

Seeing August Bradley up ahead talking to one of the colonists, Celeste switched gears and moved towards him. Jaal, noticed the change and took her side. "Are we consulting with him prior to moving forward?"

"I need to follow up on something." Celeste kept watching Bradley and hoped he wouldn't walk away. She needed to see how things were going with the batarians. It had troubling her mind ever since the Nexus dispatched them there.

The leader of Prodromus caught her approach and waved. "Pathfinder, good to see you. I see you got my call about some trouble we have had recently."

"We are getting ready to do a check now."

"What can you tell us about the attacks?" Jaal chimed in. Celeste groaned inside. The next question for her was on the tip of her tongue. She politely bit it and held back to allow her friend address what concerns he had. After all that was the primary reason they were back.

"We don't have a militia yet," The man let that sentence sink in intentionally. Celeste picked up on it. They didn't have the resources or the manpower on the Nexus to focus both on military or science at the same time. They had to start somewhere. The Initiative was founded on science and exploration. She chose science to be the primary focus. At that time, they didn't encounter the angaran and she also didn't want to send the wrong message to any non-hostile alien races. She didn't want them to think that they had the intentions of settling the cluster by force. "But I do what I can. We have made a lead way so far. The colony is coming into place and the Apex team has helped out against any kett aggression. The Roekkar are a different matter. A survey team was ambushed just a mile outside Prodromus." He lowered his head with a hard sigh. "Only one made it back…I have had trouble writing the report to Director Tann. He had taken great interest in the status of the outpost once we landed here."

"Ryder, Akksul is playing a dangerous game. We cannot let him continue these aggressive attacks," Jaal whirled around to look at her. "We need to stop him before he gets more forces here. He doesn't feel threatened with the Resistance not in place." A pause. "I could get Evfra to send some of our troops here."

"I think we need to assess the situation first before we contact the Resistance," Celeste disagreed. "This may be what Akksul wants. He could be doing a rope a dope."

The angaran was puzzled. "A rope a dope? I…don't understand."

Bradley chuckled with amusement. "A fellow boxer fan I see?"

Celeste flushed. "My brother use to watch vids and made me watch with him."

"She means that this Akksul guy may want us to think something but does something else." The mayor explained.

"I see…" Jaal still seemed confused. "So what do you think he's doing?"

"He may want us to react just the way you stated, Jaal. If we pull forces, then he will gain ground on other planets. We cannot give ground free to the kett. Let's scout the area and see what we come up with and then go from there." She replied to him reassuringly. Making sure there were no more discussions, she decided to change course to her next topic of interest. "Two batarians were sent here from the Nexus. Have any of your people run into them? They were going to be dropped at Site 1."

"That's interesting that you brought that up." August motioned for the pair to follow him as he led them into a nearby building. He navigated through the busy workers until he reached the end that was setup to be some sort of infirmary. A wounded batarian with dressings was laying on a cot. He was hooked up to several terminals and a medic was standing nearby analyzing the data with her omni-tool. The tanned skin slim woman turned around to greet them with a warm smile.

"Bradley, good to see you." The woman appeared to be in her thirties with dark hair in a bun and she had brown eyes.

"Dr. Tellui, this is Celeste Ryder. The Human Pathfinder."

Celeste reached out to shake her hand. "Good to meet you, doc. How is he?"

"Doing better. Had quite the bit of trauma, but nothing that modern medicine can now fix. After a few more days of monitoring, I think he will be ready for discharge."

Celeste peered around her shoulder to see the batarian laying comfortingly on the cot with his eyes closed. "Is he able to talk to us yet?"

"No damage to the vocal chords, but he's really not saying a word much to us."

"The other one was here to drop off some salvage they collected. I gave him his creds and offered a place to stay. Everyone needs to stick together on Eos, but he declined the offer. Damn shame. I need someone like him." Bradley moved around to where the batarian was. "How are you feeling today?"

Ralea's eyes opened up slowly to see all of them in his room. "Still hurt like hell," He grunted. "Got any more of that medigel?"

"I'm trying to wean him off that," Dr. Tellui explained as she hurried over to a cabinet to retrieve the item for him. "I don't like my patients using that too much. It can cause negative effects."

"What happened?" Celeste crouched down to look at him.

"Attacked by the kett. We were near some ancient structure and they ambushed me while I was watching the rover." He groaned loudly as he tried to sit up.

"Easy," The doc was at the bed within seconds to stop him. "Any sudden movements may cause a flare-up. Once they are gone, I'll apply more medigel so you can rest."

"I just want out of here. Where the hell is Drokira?"

"Your friend I assume?" Bradley crossed his arms. "He left about a day after you arrived."

Ralea's eyes went wide with shock and then narrowed sharply with anger. "Bastard. Figured he would turn his back on me now that I'm dead weight to him."

"You can stay here." August countered.

The batarian scoffed. "Humans don't want me here."

"I have the final say. They will adapt. I can find work for you. You held your own better than some of our teams against the kett. I definitely need you."

Celeste smiled warmly at him. "See? You have a place here." Her mind trickled back to the earlier comment about his friend. What loyalty was there? The thought angered her after recalling her encounter with them both. Drokira was more of the talker. She thought she could trust him.

Dr. Tellui shook her head. "As his physician, I cannot allow any physical exertion. Combat is out of the picture for a long time."

The statement made Ralea stiffen up. The order really didn't sit well for him. "Am I done now?"

Bradley shrugged at Celeste; allowing her to make the call. Standing back up, she turned back to Jaal who was waiting at the door. "Let's head out."

"So he just left his friend? Just like that?" Jaal was bewildered to what transpired moments ago. "How could he do that?"

The idea still nagged Celeste as she walked beside him. "I guess I was wrong…" Suddenly, movement near one of the peaks caught her eye. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked up to try to get more of a glimpse. The distance made it difficult to make out their form, but their shape doesn't really human… Without giving Jaal notice, she broke out in a quick sprint out to the rover.

"Ryder?!" Jaal called out after him as he jogged behind.

"Get in!" She shouted and slammed down into the driver's seat. Her fingers working quickly over the controls. The Nomad's engines came online.

Cora was also perplexed by her commander's sudden change. Silently, she restrained herself. "I did all the checks, mam. We are set to get to that nav point."

Celeste's reached out and unexpectedly changed the navigational waypoint. "Change of plans."

"What?"

Before giving time for Jaal to buckle in, Celeste engage the thrusters and the Nomad shot off startling everyone nearby. The jolt threw Jaal up against the driver seat and he stumbled to hang on as the vehicle bounced along over the terrain. "Where are we going?!" His voice bumbling around with his body.

Cora gripped her seat but remained tight lip. She knew after working with asari huntresses that sometimes it was best not to question your commander. She did eye Celeste worriedly. There was a look of determination in the red head's blue eyes. Something really did spook her.

Ignoring the question, Celeste kept her eyes transfixed on the blip on the screen. Watching eagerly as they got closer. She couldn't lose this person. She had to approach tactfully. Pretty much familiar with the layout of the land, she would head in the opposite direction and not make a beeline. She would circle around the ridge and come up from behind. The terrain there had a slight incline so the rover would not have no problems with its overdrive. The ridge just passed! She jerked the rover hard to the right and continued the path. Jaal managed to buckle himself right before the turn was made. He grunted. "Do all you humans drive like this?"

"I don't," Cora spoke up defensively. She looked down at the screen. The layout showed no points of interest. Why was Ryder going here? "Mam, we are not near the site. Are we circling back to Prodromus?"

"Sort of." Celeste finally broke her quietness. "I thought I saw someone up here." She was almost there…

"Roekkar scout?" Jaal interjected.

Celeste slowed the rover down and jumped out first. The others followed unison with their guns drawn. Ryder held up her fist to motion them to halt and looked ahead. The figure was clearly there. His back appeared to be to him and no sign of awareness to their presence. The rover was pretty loud. Either this guy was oblivious or smug. Inching a few feet ahead of her team, she kept her blue eyes on the unknown. The body form definitely was not human, but it wasn't kett or angaran. "Sam, can you do a scan for me?" She whispered.

"One moment…" The AI dutifully answered. "Scan results reveal it is a batarian. Male. Age-"

"Just needed the species," Celeste said with a sigh of relief as she dropped her guard. It had to be their missing friend. She looked back at Jaal and Cora who were staring at her for direction. "Stay here." It would be more prudent for her to try to strike a conversation with this guy then the entire time. He left Prodromus for a reason. If he felt pressured then Kandros may lose their only hope to secure Eos from the kett. She had to get through to him.

Drokira was aware of his company, but did not flinch. His eyes staring below at the bustling forms of the colonists on Prodromus. He made camp at his present location since leaving. When they were first brought there, the colonists gave him uneasy looks and talked amongst themselves. He knew what they were thinking. He saw it time and time again on Omega and throughout his many travels in the Milky Way. There was no love loss for batarians. The feeling was pretty much mutual. Creds was the only reason for interaction. For the good or the bad. Depends on the work.

"Hi there," Celeste's cheerful voice came from behind. "Nice view isn't it?"

"What do you want, human?" Drokira kept his back to her.

"Your friend is doing better. Though I don't think he will be released to engage in anymore combat for a while." A beat. "He thinks you ditched him."

"Course he does," Drokira grunted as he took out a cig and lit it. The only pack he managed to smuggle to Andromeda. He cherished each one. Seeing her eyeball him, he offered the pack to her.

Celeste made a face. "No thanks."

Shrugging, he continued to puff on the cigarette. "Look, we are here for the business, human. When he gets out, we can split the creds. I'm holding his share. Not like there's places to really spend it out here."

"So you just going to back into hiding out here?"

"Salvage is good work for now. Till we get something better. You think your Initiative group has a better offer?"

"What about helping for the good? You have seen what the people of the Initiative are dealing with out here. Give Kandros a shot and join Apex. They could use your skills."

Drokira glanced back down at the outpost. "What about him?'

"Bradley has allowed him to stay if he wants. He can get some work there. Though he won't be safe if the kett and the remnant are not pushed back. You really going to let him die down there with the others?"

"So he's joining you?" Drokira scoffed and snuffed out the cig under his boot.

Celeste chewed her lip as he followed his gaze to Prodromus. "Not officially, but I think he will come around. He cannot survive out here with those injuries. Not until he's fully healed and that will take some time."

"Look, lady. We are not part of this Initiative. Just a backroom deal." Drokira shook his head as he leaned up against the rock formation behind him. "You know my past. I'm not a goody-goody."

"Forget the past. Everyone gets a fresh start here. You will get better ammo and weapons with Apex and you will get more creds with that than with salvage collecting."

The proposition was very tempting and even if he didn't want to show it, he had concerns for his friend, Ralea. Even if they were not blood brothers, he still cared for him. "Thought the Initiative was against the idea of having batarians on the team or so I've been told."

Celeste smirked big. "Think of it as a backroom deal with the Pathfinder."

The suggestion made Drokira chortle. "I may actually like you, human. I'm in."