Chapter 10: One For The Road

November 17th, 2185

The packing slip James Vega acquired led us to small warehouse located in the Factory District of the Citadel. I still didn't feel comfortable about intercepting the package, especially with the ordeal we all experienced a few weeks prior. But he insisted…

Since the pickup wasn't for another five hours, I decided to stop by my favorite liquor store on the Citadel. Even though I was slowly cutting down on my consumption of alcohol, our poker party was tomorrow night. The game wouldn't feel the same without a few drinks… it seemed like tradition. Plus, the shop was run by a friendly elcor that I enjoyed talking with.

"Joyfully: Xora. It has been a while since I have seen you," the shopkeeper acknowledged me the moment I walked through the door.

"I know. I know. So how's business, Willhem?" I asked giving him a quick wave as I walked past the counter.

"With pleasure: Good. Sales have been steady."

Grabbing two bottles and stuffing it between my arm and chest, "That's great to hear."

"Curious: Are you getting supplies for your poker game?"

"You know it! We're stuck at the Citadel for a few days waiting for the next contract. Just have a package to retrieve first," picking up another bottle, I brought them up to the counter, "Do you still have that one wine I got last time? Josie liked it so much she wants it again."

"Delighted: Yes. It's on the aisle to the far right."

As I went down the aisle to grab Josie's wine, all I could think about is how Lyrik acted when I asked him about the poker game. He nervously rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to explain how he would think about it. Then he continued on mentioning how he needed to be somewhere… or was it about getting something… it was hard to tell with him mumbling. I've never seen him behave this way.

Oddly enough, Hal was behaving happier than usual. Typically he locked himself away in the engine room but he was striding around the Dolus Bia with a skip in his step… as if he was dancing. Watching him waltz around with his imagination, all I could do is tilt my head at him. I guess he was right… spending one night with me, even if it was just one dance at Afterlife, would mean everything to him. There was so much I could learn from him, hell from any quarian. Learn to actually really appreciate things.

I squatted in front of the various bottles of wine, trying to remember exactly which one it was. Scanning through each label, I finally discovered the one with a small design of an asari dressed as a goddess. As soon as I leaned over to pick it up, I overheard some yelling coming from the cash register.

Quietly I peeked over the shelves and noticed a scrawny dark haired man with pale white skin screaming at Willhem, demanding to give him the contents in the register. Dodging back under the safety of the rack, I shook my head at the turn of events.

Just my luck!

There was an indescribable feeling within my gut. I don't know if it was my instincts or something else but I could have sworn I have seen the crook before. I opened up the screen on my omni-tool and slyly took a quick photograph of the criminal. Squatting back down, I submitted the image to my ship.

"CAIT," I whispered into the transmitter.

"Yes, Captain."

"I need you to look at the image I sent you and tell me if he's coming up in the registry."

"Checking… the image is a match for a Nicholai Stange. A bounty for his arrest has been issued for failure to appear in court. Prior convictions include theft, destruction of government property, and aggravated assault with a biotic amp."

"He's a biotic?"

"Yes."

CAIT said the magic word… A wicked grin curled on my face, emulating the ideas racing through my head.

I can easily take this guy down, without a doubt. Or at least stall him enough until the twins get here. So I think I'll have some fun with him.

"Wonderful. Send Tren and Kero to my location. Advise them to bring the handcuffs."

"Understood, Captain. Logging you out."

After shutting down the transmitter, I carefully moved around the corner of the aisle. Using the shelves as cover, I discreetly made my way towards the thief. His attention was directed at Willhem, making it easier for me to sneak directly behind him. I placed my finger up to my lip advising the elcor behind the counter to keep my existence silent.

When I became dangerously close, I stood up directly behind him. Holding back my every urge to laugh, I composed myself and got into character. I removed my sinister grin and replaced it with an annoyed smirk. Rolling my eyes, I let out a loud sigh. Nicholai jumped at the sound and immediately turned around to investigate. Utter confusion consumed his face. He couldn't understand why I was impatiently standing behind him as if I was waiting to check out.

I looked at my watch and sighed again, "Could you hurry up?"

"Excuse me?" he asked frazzled.

"Could you hurry up? Some of us have places to be. The nerve of some people," I rolled my eyes again.

"Are you naturally blonde or something?"

"Are you?"

"Let me put it in clear English for you, sweetheart. I'm robbing this place."

"Really? I couldn't tell. I figured you were some angry patron trying to get his money back. And don't call me sweetheart."

"Listen, if you want to keep that pretty face of yours, I suggest you leave… now."

"Eh," I shrugged, hardly amused.

He crept towards me and attempted to spook me, seeing if I would flitch. Since I didn't budge, he scoffed, "What? Am I not threatening to you or something?"

I shook my head, "Nope."

"Why not?"

"You don't have a gun."

He laughed, "I don't need a gun. I'm a biotic, I have the L5 implants."

"Good for you," I sarcastically gawked, "But you still don't scare me. Hell, I bet you can't even hurt me."

Without hesitation, he attempted using his biotic abilities to push me away. A blue glow rose from his body and came charging at me but the moment it hit my skin, it dissipated. His eyes widened with fury. He tried again, this time putting more energy into it. Yet he received the same result. His jaw dropped, he was dumbfounded.

"See, I knew you were harmless."

"What… I… I don't get it," he stuttered, trying to make sense of his failure, "I know I can… that's not right… YOU!"

I looked around the liquor store, to see who he was calling out. There wasn't anyone else so I pointed at myself, "Me?"

"You must be a freak!"

"Now that's not a very nice thing to say," I pointed.

In an act of desperation, he cocked his arm back and attempted to punch me. Dodging out of the way, I snatch his wrist and used it to twist his arm behind his back. He tried reaching behind with his other arm, clawing at whatever he could. Just as I grabbed his other hand, he caught hold of my choker and pulled on it. With a loud snap, my necklace tore away.

"Hey!" I screamed… pissed.

He squirmed harder, using all his might to try prying himself away. Fed up with this loser, I kick his legs out from under him and his face planted the floor. I crossed his arms against his back and stomped down on them with my boot, digging my heel into his ribcage.

As I was searching for something to tie his hands up with, I notice out of the corner of my eye a liquor bottle with a blue glow. I put my arms up in time to block the flying glass container. The bottle shattered when it hit me, leaving me drenched with the strong caramel odor of whisky. The liquor stained my clothes and… soaked my pack of cigarettes.

That's it! You asked for it!

"Hey Willhem, put that bottle on my tab. In fact," I grab a wine bottle by its neck from the stand next to the counter, "Add this one too and I'm sorry for the mess."

"With concern: What mess?" the elcor asked and I could faintly hear the distress in his flat monotone voice.

"This one," with a loud shatter, I slam the bottle against Nicholai's head. "Doesn't feel very good does it?"

He slipped his hands away and immediately brought them to hold the blood dripping from his head. Screaming in pain, "You bitch!"

"You should have thought about it before you threw that bottle at me," I spat at him, giving him a firm kick to his side. The more I dwelled on the damage he caused... the more the anger pulsed through my veins… the more desirable it became give him another forceful blow from my boot… for my choker, for my cigarettes, for the hell of it…

Just as I lifted back my leg, I heard my name being called over my shoulder. I peered over and notice my two crew members coming to my aid. Tren snatched the beaten human from the floor and his brother cuffed him.

"About time you two showed up," I sighed.

I brought my hands up to fix my messy hair and stopped when I heard Kero gasp. He stared at me, "Um… Xora?"

"What?"

He pointed at my left arm. I glance down and notice a little shard of glass sticking out of it. The adrenaline from the fight must have blocked out the pain. But now that I acknowledged it… the injury was gut-wrenching. I gritted my teeth and pulled the shard out. Taking a deep breath, I attempted to distract myself from the aches shooting up my arm.

"What do you want us to do now, Xora?"

I turned towards Kero, "Well, Tren and I will turn this fucker in. You can grab our items from here and bring them to the ship. Afterwards, you both can go retrieve that damned package."

"Sounds good," they agreed.

I grabbed the torn pieces of my necklace as I finished retrieving the rest of the necessities for the poker match. Willhem placed them into a box and said how grateful he was that I came to his aid. He asked if there was anything he could give to reward my deed. So I asked if he could add a carton of my cigarettes. The moment he placed it inside the box, I snatched a pack from it and took a cigarette out.

I need one for the road or I swear I'll kill someone… probably the bastard who broke my chocker… soaked a whole pack of cigarettes… and made me smell like a bar. If that fucker tries anymore stupid moves, he'll be damned lucky if he makes it to C-Sec in one piece…fucking biotics…

As soon as we returned back to the ship, I streamlined straight towards my quarters to take a shower. I felt sticky… such an unusual feeling for human skin. And even though I enjoyed the faint smell of vanilla in my drink, I did not enjoy smelling like a whole bar. Washing away the residue from the whisky proved tricky, especially since I limited the use of my left arm. The cut was barely noticeable but I still exercised caution. I guess I picked that up from my grandmother.

When I finished getting dressed, I heard a knock at the entrance to my room. "Come in," I hollered, taking a quick peek around the bathroom door to see Tren entering. He strode over and leaned against the doorframe. I continued going about my business, grabbing the roll of gauze I set aside prior to my shower. "What's up?"

"Well… it's about the package you sent us to pickup."

"What of it?"

"Well… you should see for yourself."

"What's wrong with it?"

"There's nothing wrong with it. It's just… trust me, you'll know when you see it."

I shook my head, "Great."

After I wrapped my cut, I followed Tren to the cargo hold. Everyone on the crew was already there, staring nervously at the package. Immediately I could see what Tren was referring to. It was half black and half white with a yellow stripe going down the black side, it was identical to the crate that we delivered to Commander Shepard just larger… much larger… And this time there were Cerberus logos slapped on every corner.

Shit.

His brother walked up to the mysterious parcel and asked, "What should we do?"

"Um… shit…" the memories of the last one vividly ran through my mind.

Shit, shit, shit. This cannot be happening… not again…not this soon… Damn you, James! I'm going to kill you… But he would never put me in harm's way. Or would he? What is so special about this package? There has to be a reason…

"Scan it," I dreadfully requested.

"WHAT?" They all questioned, their wide eyes fixed on me.

"You heard me. Scan it."

Hal began preparing his omni-tool to discover the crate's contents. Cautiously he brought it up to the side and began scanning. We all clenched our eyes and waited for the worst… but nothing happened. His omni-tool beeped and he stared at it confused. "It's coming up as organic."

"Organic? Like there's something inside?"

He shook his head in agreement.

"Open it."

Before the twins could get near, Lyrik stepped directly in their path and stopped them. His eyes locked onto mine, "Have you lost your mind, Xora?"

"Maybe I have."

"I'm not going to allow this to happen."

"Oh yes you are."

"No! You are not going to endanger yourself or this crew!"

"Stand down, Lyrik," I sternly commanded through gritted teeth.

"I will not!"

"You were my quartermaster before things between…" I caught myself mid-sentence, nearly letting the hidden details of our relationship slip. I took a deep breath and calmly continued, "Listen, Lyrik. We can stand here all night and bicker or you can obey a direct order. I am in no mood to delay the inevitable, so let's just deal with this right now."

"Fine!" he angrily shook his hands in protest and stepped aside.

The twins carefully began prying the door open. The first thing I could see was a pair of glowing gold eyes… then a low growl echoed from it. The creature crouched down, studying the bright surroundings outside of its domain.

Inching forward and trying to get a better view, I got too close for the mysterious creature. It leapt out, pouncing directly onto me, and pinned me down on the floor. Its mouth latched onto my left arm… but it wasn't biting down or digging its teeth into my injured limb. I instantly recognized the beast… it was a varren. It was a rare beige colored varren with purple spots scattered across its side. There were a few scars across his body with the largest one over his left eye.

"Xora!" Lyrik cried out, running to my aid. He tried to pull the varren away but it didn't budge. "Tren, Kero, help me pull this beast off her!"

"No!" I commanded, staring directly into the golden eyes above me. "Leave it alone. It's not attacking me. Trust me."

My quartermaster stopped what he was doing and quietly watched as I subdued the creature. I placed my free hand on top of its head and gently pushed it away. The varren stepped back, freed my arm from its mouth, and sat down. I propped myself up, using my bent legs to lean against. The varren nuzzled his head forward and began licking the gauze wrapped around my wound.

"So you noticed that I got hurt. That's from earlier today… you had nothing to do with it," I rubbed its forehead. It stopped licking my arm and perked its head up. "Wait, you can understand what I'm saying, can't you?" I asked and it nodded its head. "Is that why I see Cerberus's logos all over that crate?" It cowered down. "Don't worry, you are safe here. We aren't going to let the big bad guys from Cerberus harm you. As long as you behave yourself, you are a part of this crew now."

"I hope you aren't serious, Xora," Hal interrupted, "Do you know how unsanitary it is to have an animal aboard a ship? Especially a varren."

"Yeah, Xora, this is a bad idea," Lyrik added.

The varren hung its head, offended by the disapproval from my fellow crewmembers. I turned towards the others to ask for their input, "What do you think?"

Tren and Kero talked amongst themselves before stating, "We're okay with it."

"And… I think it's cute," my pilot added, "So we should keep it."

"Looks like you two are outnumbered. Plus, I'm captain, so whatever I say is law," I returned my attention to the varren patiently sitting in front of me, "Welcome to the crew… you are going to need a name."

Hmmm… what should I name him? Well, let's see… He is obviously a male. Maximus? Nah, I can do better than that… He has a mark across his eye. Scar? No… too obvious. Think harder, Xora… For some reason, he reminds me of a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.

"Fawkes."