The first thing Kolyat was conscious of was pain. It was a sharp, stabbing pain in his midsection. The numerous other pains in his head, back and limbs were minor compared to that one. He had been trained to ignore pain, but there were some things one simply could not ignore.

He kept his body still as he reached out with his senses. He felt air move softly across his scales, and he realized he had been stripped down with just a sheet covering him. He scented the air and detected antiseptic. The room was silent, and he couldn't tell how large it was or if anyone else was present. Carefully, he cracked his eyes open. The room was dim and a row of blacked out windows faced him. There was a faint glow from a computer screen coming from his left, but he would have to move his head to get a better look.

He remembered starting his mission on the batarian slavers and then the despair and bewilderment when he realized the mission was nothing like he had expected. The brokers were nowhere to be seen and batarian troops kept attacking, forcing him higher and higher into the building until he had retreated into the shadows on top of the tiny room. He had cursed the gods, cursed his handlers, and cursed the batarians for letting his mission go to hell. He was trapped, and he was pragmatic enough to realize he didn't have enough heat sinks to shoot his way free.

Then there was the absolute astonishment and shock at seeing his father appear in the warehouse in the company of a human and turian. He didn't know how it was possible, but he wasn't going to question good fortune. And then...that was the last thing he could remember. He had no recollection of how he had been injured or how he had gotten here. Wherever here was.

He closed his eyes again and forced himself to think, even though the pain was tearing him apart. Odds were that he hadn't been captured by the batarians. They had wanted him dead, and it seemed he was in some sort of medical facility. The thought crossed his mind that they would heal him up just to torture him, and he spared a moment to hope that wasn't the case.

So if it wasn't the batarians, that must mean his father and his companions had been successful. Since he wasn't dead and wasn't still lying in the warehouse, they must have brought him to a clinic. He grimaced in his head and hoped his cover would hold. Right now, his highest priority was getting out of here and back to a safe house to recover in private. Then he could head home to Kahje and figure out what the hell happened to his mission.

He heard a door open, and it took all his training to lie still and feign unconsciousness. He still didn't know if he was in the hands of friends or foes, and he might have only a split second to make his move.

"Kolyat."

His name, spoken by a voice he'd never expected to hear again! Against his will, his eyes flew open and he turned toward the source of the sound. Almost absently, he took in the rest of the room, a small but sophisticated medical bay and a human female with gray hair sitting at a desk behind him. The rest of the room faded away as he focused on the figure standing in front of the doorway. The years fell away and it seemed that nothing had changed. His father looked the same as he had ten years ago

"Father?" He watched in disbelief as his father slowly walked forward and stopped at the foot of his bed.

"Hello, Kolyat. I am...pleased to see you again." The words were formal, but Kolyat easily saw the flush in his father's throat and heard the subvocals of anxiety. Kolyat looked around the room again, trying to work out where he was and why. His father noticed his confusion. "You are aboard the Normandy SR2, a frigate commanded by the human Spectre, Shepard. I am working for her now. I had a contact in the Guild who told me that your mission had been compromised. Shepard was gracious enough to divert from her mission to make a rescue attempt. We were successful, but as you can tell, you were grievously wounded, so we brought you back to the Normandy. Dr. Chakwas," he indicated the human behind him, "has repaired your injuries. You may trust her. I do."

It was too much to take in at once. He took note of the openness in his father's subvocals and relaxed fractionally. His father would not trust blindly, so he judged the immediate danger to be small. He thought over everything his father had just said. He'd heard of Shepard, but she'd died two years ago. There had been a huge funeral event on the Citadel. He remembered it it well, since it had made good cover for a mission he'd been on. "Shepard's dead," he said bluntly.

"She was," his father affirmed. "Cerberus brought her back."

Kolyat leaned back as much as he could on the bed to get away from the implications of that statement. He didn't hear a hint of prevarication in his father's voice, and that disturbed him, too. "That's not possible."

Now his father shrugged. "Personally, I suspect the gods were involved. I know of no other way to explain it. She frequently calls herself the four billion credit Frankenstein." The reference was lost on Kolyat, and his father didn't bother to explain. "You may ask her yourself later."

Kolyat had neither the desire nor intention to speak to this mysterious Shepard. There was only one thing that he wanted. "When can I leave?" It was tiny and gone in a flash, but he knew he saw regret and pain on his father's face. Well, that was just too bad for him. He'd made his choices in life. Kolyat might have followed him professionally, but that wasn't by choice. And since becoming a blooded assassin, he'd certainly made a conscious decision not to be like him in the most important aspects.

Thane turned toward the human woman. "Dr. Chakwas can answer you."

Kolyat watched warily as the woman approached him. Fortunately, she stopped two meters away from the bed, far enough away that he didn't feel the need to tense and prepare to be attacked. He wondered if she had been briefed by his father on how to handle Compact assassins. "You suffered a severe puncture wound in your abdomen. The metal went completely through you, causing severe damage to your liver as well as internal bleeding. Fortunately, the Normandy is well stocked with synthetic drell blood, and Dr. Solus and I have studied drell physiology extensively in case anything happened to Thane. Still, it was touch and go for several hours there," she told him bluntly. "Quite simply, young man, you're very fortunate to be alive. Commander Shepard has been banned from driving on the Citadel for the foreseeable future, but you're alive because of her."

He lifted the thin sheet and looked down at his abdomen for the first time, seeing a raw, ugly incision and multiple stitches. Several of his scales had come away, or been removed, leaving the underlying skin looking naked and shriveled. It was going to scar, and badly, in spite of the obvious skill of the sutures. He was glad it was someplace that could be hidden by his clothing. "When can I leave?" The words were short and clipped. He didn't want to be here. In spite of the fact that he didn't appear to be in immediate danger, he didn't like this feeling of being out of control.

The female doctor snorted in humor. "Not for some time, Sere Krios. We'll get you up and moving later today, once we're sure the anesthesia has worn off and there are no undue side effects. But you'll be staying in medbay for the next few days so I can keep an eye on you. If everything progresses as it should, you can move to the crew quarters in a few days."

Kolyat didn't want to believe her. He struggled to lift himself onto an elbow, but was stopped by two things: the pain shooting out through his midsection and the doctor stepping forward to put a hand on his chest. She was much stronger than he expected. "I said, later. I don't want you falling over because you stood up too quickly." Her eyes flashed dangerously, and he was reminded suddenly of the doctors in the Guild. They would also react angrily if someone disobeyed their orders. It seemed that some things transcended species.

Kolyat's eyes went to his father, who had moved up next to the doctor. He looked ready to assist her in holding him down. Reluctantly, Kolyat relaxed back into the bed. Just as slowly, the human doctor removed her hand. "I mean what I said, Sere Krios. Will you stay put?" He nodded without taking his gaze from his father. The doctor stared at him another moment, then returned to her station. She evidently had no intention of leaving him unattended.

"You're confined to the Normandy for several days in any case," his father said. "Shepard is enroute to Haestrom. It will be many days before we make port again."

He had been taught to make the most of any situation and adjust to changing circumstances. It appeared this was going to be one of those time. "Very well," he said, bowing to the inevitable.

"Did you have any other questions?" He gave his father credit. Thane had been at this a lot longer than he had, and in spite of all his lessons, he wasn't entirely sure he could read his father's emotions or motives.

Yes, he had questions. Dozens of them. The problem was, he didn't know where to begin. For so long, he had fought to get out from under his father's shadow, to make his own mark in the secretive and highly competitive world he lived in. His father had always been an enigma to him, much more so than his mother. He could start with the first question, the one that tickled the back of his brain when he allowed himself a rare moment to just stop and not think. Why did you give me to the Compact? Or the one that the hanar and Guild had refused to answer for him. Why was she killed? Did you have anything to do with it? Then there was the biggest question of all. The one that made him fight so hard to be seen as Kolyat Krios, not just as Thane's son. Why did you leave the Compact? Why did you forsake your teachings and your honor? Yet as he looked into the black and green pools of his father's eyes, he couldn't forget the human doctor sitting within earshot. He looked at this man in front of him, someone at once so familiar and still a complete stranger. He knew that he couldn't voice those questions. Not yet. Not here. And yet they loomed so big that they crowded out every other question in his head.

He turned his head away and stared at the back wall. "No." His lips thinned as he realized he'd been unable to suppress the frequencies that denoted lying, a sure sign that his emotional state was just as fragile as his physical one.

He counted the seconds. Eighty five of them passed before his father sighed and spoke. "If you have need of anything, you need only speak to the doctor. If you wish to talk to me, you can ask EDI. She is the ship's Artificial Intelligence. I will stop by later."

Kolyat listened as his father walked away with nearly noiseless steps. Unbidden, the memory rose up.

Are you leaving, daddy? Again? When's he coming back, mommy? I don't know, sweetling. Tears wet his cheeks, but he doesn't know if they are from him or his mother. His father walks out the door with nearly noiseless steps. Why does he have to leave, mommy? Business. I want my daddy! The door closes behind him.

Kolyat blinked furiously. The memory was old, from a time when it was hard to remember clearly, but some things imprinted so vividly on his childhood memory that there was no escaping them, no matter how hard he tried. And oh how he tried.

He took a deep breath and repeated the same action he had perfected over the years. He pushed the anger, hurt and betrayal deep down inside until it no longer had the power to pain or distract him. Thane might be his father but that didn't mean he was his father's son. He was his own man, and he would prove it to everyone. Especially his father.