Marissa checked her omni-tool, it read 0800. They had been stuck in the keeper tunnels for 13 hours with no routes of getting out just yet. After the door locked behind them, Marissa waited a reasonable amount of time for the mercs to give up and then tried to hack the door to no avail, and then she tried to pull up the locator on her omni-tool but it wouldn't connect to any servers. She had no idea where they were or where the tunnel led, so the girls did the only thing they could, they walked.

Marissa was glad she had on her jacket, pants, and boots and not the dress she had planned to wear. Kalea unfortunately was wearing a dress. It was purple with dark smudges all over it from the tunnel grime, but she did have on boots that fit her Turian feet. Marissa was glad they had stopped by that kiosk and bought food. They had eaten and drank a small portion of their rations, attempting to conserve as much as possible; who knew how long they would be stuck? Marissa was able to construct a semi-hidden place for them to sleep when they came across a cubby with crates. Kalea helped her stack the crates to create a cover in case more unsavory people passed, but their only company were the Keepers.

Marissa sat on a crate and watched Kalea as she slept. The poor Turian looked uncomfortable in such a cramped space with her long, bony limbs and curved neck bowl. And those leg spurs; those had to be hard to maneuver around. Marissa was going to let Kalea sleep as long as she wanted but realized the sooner they got moving, the sooner they might find a way out.

"Kalea, wake up." Marissa spoke gently, not wanting to startle her, but she didn't stir. "Kalea, wake up." Marissa spoke louder and touched her shoulder, but Kalea still didn't move. Fear crept into Marissa's gut. What if she had eaten the wrong food during the night or what if...

Marissa grabbed Kalea's shoulder and torso and shook her. Startled, Kalea sat up wide-eyed, mandibles flared, mouth open, and extended her arms.

"Spirits! What?"

Marissa fell backwards and grabbed her nose. She laid there a moment, moved her hand away to see dribbles of blood, and then pinched her nose. She sat up and looked at her freaked out friend.

"I'm soooo sorry, I didn't mean to hit you," said Kalea apologetically.

Marissa started to laugh. With her hand still in place, Marissa picked up her backpack and pulled out a tissue and stuck it up her nose; her omni-tool had a small cache of medi-gel but she didn't want to waste it on a bloody nose. Confused, then amused, Kalea broke out into a hysterical chortle.

"Humans are weird."

"What? Simple fix. I can't help it I'm squishier than you."

"Hey, from now on know that Turians are heavy sleepers. Keep your distance," Kalea grinned.

"Got it," said Marissa. "We better get moving. I don't want to stay down here forever; our moms, I bet, are pretty pissed right now."

Marissa knew her mother was beyond mad and she felt guilty for making her worry. Her mother had been through a lot this last year with her dad getting killed. Since then, Marissa tried to be on her best behavior so she wouldn't be a burden, but it didn't always work. Marissa had been close to her father and his absence was hard to deal with. So she pretended that he was away on a mission; it helped numb the pain.

The girls gathered up their things and walked the tunnels, turning left, and then right, hoping to run into a keeper or something, anything. They stopped a little while later to eat and rest. Unfortunately, the underbelly of the Citadel didn't have any bathrooms, but Marissa made a small john using a broken crate lid and some of the tissues she still had in her backpack. Marissa felt bad for leaving it for a keeper to clean up, but they didn't have much choice, plus Marissa was sure Keepers cleaned up messes a lot worse than that.

According to Marissa's omni-tool, the time was now 1400. Why couldn't she find a way back to civilization?

They had wandered into a large wide open area with at least 20 tunnels extending out; in the middle was a large black hole. Red and white security lights illuminated the area brightly so it was easy to see. Marissa walked to the railing, nothing but a deep pit. She looked up and saw something move on the far side, but before she could call out, the thing was gone.

"Hey, Kalea, I think I saw something. Let's go check it out."

On the far side were several ladders and vent shafts. Vents led to power plants, blades and even out to space, so crawling through them was not a good idea. Marissa could feel the tears hot in her eyes, so she sat down and put her head in her hands. She couldn't give up, she had to keep trying, but the longer they were down here, the more helpless she felt. The food and water would run out soon and they hadn't seen anything edible in their drifting. She thought of her mother and Kalea's mother and how they would never know what happened to them and Marissa knew her mother would blame herself. Tears fell down her cheeks and sobs escaped her throat. Kalea heard the noise, sat down, and put her arm around Marissa's shoulder.

"I feel bad too, Marissa. My mom probably thinks I'm being rebellious, that I'm doing this on purpose. She's so stubborn."

Marissa wiped her eyes with her shirt and took a few big breaths and said, "I didn't think Turians rebelled. It's all about honor and duty, right?"

"Yeah, but not all of us look at honor and duty the same way; the older Turians are very rigid, but not us younger ones. I see that humans are fun, energetic, and individual; the diversity in personality and philosophy is amazing. My mom thinks, like other Turians who fought in the Relay 314 Incident, that humans are bullies with no sense of respect."

"I heard most Turians and humans who fought are suspicious of the other."

"That's what happens in fights, but we younger Turians don't get the resentment. We do understand service and honor though. Becoming a negotiator with C-Sec is what my mom wants for me because it's what my dad wanted, but what if I wanted to become a painter or a scientist? There is honor in those professions. We are limited because of that narrow vision and I'm tired of it."

"We are a pretty diverse group, humans, and having a narrow perspective isn't good. About the First Contact War, were both your parents involved? Who did you stay with?"

"Yeah, I stayed with my dad's sister. I remember when my mom and dad left on the transit; my dad picked me up, we touched head plates, and he told me to be a good Turian. My mom came back from the Incident, but my dad didn't."

"I'm sorry, Kalea." Marissa lowered her eyes and felt tears sting at them again.

"Mom won't talk about what happened so I don't know how he died. I've been told she hasn't been the same since."

"I know how it feels; I lost my father too, just last year. I haven't actually talked about this with anyone, not even my best friend Tony; he wouldn't understand." Marissa took a deep breath and let it out.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want, Marissa, but I'm here to listen if you do."

Marissa gave a weak smile.

"My dad was assigned to a small unit that was sent out to the Attican Traverse. It was supposed to be a simple tour to keep the communication links updated at the human colonies and deliver necessities like medicine and food. My dad was a communications engineer so he was in charge of updating the comm buoys. I guess something happened and his unit was called out to Ontarom in the Kepler Verge cluster."

"Uh-oh, that's a dangerous area, lots of skirmishes."

"Yeah, according to the report I found on my mom's terminal -"

"Wait… did you hack into your mom's military files?" Kalea's mandibles dropped in disbelief.

"Yeah, she wouldn't tell me anything, so I had to. In the report, the colony had gone dark but the last communication was a distress message about slavers. The unit landed close to the colony and infiltrated the area. My dad and one other soldier were sent to the communications tower to get it operational while the others went to find the civilians."

"How many people were there?"

"A dozen, I think. They were being held by Batarians in a building, with one ship on the ground. The main group had to wait and just watch until comms were back up. My dad saved the day." Marissa paused and smiled. She really was proud of her dad.

She continued, "The report said they were able to contact other Alliance units in the area before engaging the Batarians. After they killed the bad guys and freed the civilians, my dad and the other soldier hadn't returned. Several soldiers went to the tower. They found four dead Batarians, the dead soldier, and my dad. He had been shot six times in the chest; in one hand was his pistol and in the other, his omni-tool was illuminated with a holo of me and Mom."

"He sounded like a very brave man and he must have loved you and your mom very much. I bet the Alliance did something special, right?"

"Yeah, my dad was a hero and received a medal. The Alliance gave it to my mom at his funeral ceremony, along with his tags. They even had a table with our family photos. They had no right to do that though. I was so angry!"

"Why… why were you angry?" Kalea looked confused.

"My dad died and now the Alliance wanted to show off my own personal memories, to share them with strangers. It wasn't right. I refused to talk to anyone for a week. That worried Mom but she didn't get mad at me. The school even tried to get me to talk to a therapist, but I refused to talk about it, so they quit pressuring me. Mom was sent on an assignment soon after that."

"I bet that was scary. I remember being little and being scared of losing my mom too."

"Yeah! I was scared; I was afraid my mom was going to die too for a while. But the Alliance has been keeping her on Arcturus most of the time now. I know people die doing this, but I guess I never thought I would lose someone. I still imagine that my dad will walk through the door and scoop me up in his arms and tell me it was just a bad dream."

"I'm so sorry, Marissa! Slavers are evil people. They destroy so many lives."

"I hate them, I hate Batarians!" Marissa seethed.

"You know… humans took away my dad, but I don't hate them or you for it," Kalea said calmly. "Just remember that, Marissa!"

Marissa sat quiet for a few moments. "Yeah, I'll think about it. Thanks, Kalea!"

The girls sat there for a few more minutes, then Marissa stood up, rubbed her tear-filled eyes and looked to her right. To her surprise a small face looked back at her. She rubbed her eyes again, but the face didn't disappear.

Marissa spoke softly to the face. "Hey… hey, do you think you can help us? We're lost."

At first there was no movement, then slowly the grate relocated out of its holder and a small human boy emerged, dirty, greasy, and thin. Marissa didn't move; she was afraid the boy would run if she moved.

"My name is Marissa and this is Kalea. We have been lost down here for a while and we need help. Can you help us? Do you know where we are?"

The boy looked to be about 8 and he gave the two girls a hard look before relaxing a bit.

Hesitantly he said, "Uh, hi. I'm Bobby and this is Bachjret Ward, lowest levels, close to the Foundation. I ain't got a clue how to get up top, but someone at my village might."

Marissa turned to look at Kalea; she was worried, her mandibles were tight to her chin and her brow plates were crumpled. Marissa was worried too. They needed to get help and Bobby was the first help they found. Marissa opened her backpack and removed her knife, sliding it into her pocket, just in case.

An hour later, Marissa, Kalea, and Bobby walked through a metal door and into a massive open area filled with thousands of people.

Marissa couldn't believe just how massive the Citadel was in size. She thought the Docks were large, and the Presidium was bigger, but this area by far was the biggest she had seen. The entire open area had massive beams protruding from the floors to the ceilings and they were taller than the hotel. She couldn't imagine how the beams supported the entire superstructure above. Marissa looked at Kalea to see the same kind of awed expression, in the Turian version: mouth plates dropped wide, mandibles flared out, and eyes wide too.

"Can you believe all these people live down here?" asked Marissa.

"I heard that people lived by the Foundations, but I didn't understand the scale. This is amazing and sad," responded Kalea.

Bobby just stood there and watched the girls, amused by their expressions.

"I've lived down here all my life, it's nothing special."

"What do you eat down here and how do you get power?" asked Kalea.

Bobby pointed over to a large plant with pipes running out.

"That's the power plant. The lights and power come out so we can use it. It powers the top levels too."

He then pointed to a dome-shaped building on the far side of the open area.

"See that? It's where they make the paste. The Keepers dump stuff in, and we get something out to eat. Come, I'm hungry." Bobby walked, so Marissa and Kalea followed.

Bobby stopped in front of a little tent and pulled back the cover. He entered, but Marissa just poked her head inside, not wanting to intrude.

"Hey Pop, I found these in the tunnels. They're hungry and lost," said Bobby to an older man who looked emaciated.

"Just found um, hmmm." He stared at Marissa, holding her gaze. "I suppose we can give 'um something to eat. Hope they like peppered paste." He smirked at Marissa.

Marissa and Kalea entered the tent.

"Sir, thank you for your hospitality. I'm not familiar with this area of the Citadel. Where are we exactly?" Marissa spoke.

"You are in the Foundations girl, the underbelly of the Wards. All the trash gets dumped down here to be recycled and reused. People too. This area is filled with life support systems and power plants. The recycling center, the dome building, they pump out dextro and levo paste for all our inhabitants. We got Turians, Krogan, Vorcha, and even Varren running around down here. Ever seen a Varren?"

"No, but I hear they're the beasts of the Krogan, like big dogs."

The old man burst out into a raspy laugh but after a second, he broke down into a coughing fit. It took him several minutes to compose himself.

"So, you need to get back up top? You got people looking for you? I bet them C-Sec cops are runnin' around all them fancy places trying to find you. Think they would offer a reward?"

Marissa decided that it would be a bad idea to mention they were military kids.

"I don't know. So, we're really hungry. Where is that peppered paste you mentioned?"