In which Thane has a temper tantrum, turians blow things up, and a building falls down.

Chapter 8 – Mentor

Thane had been witness to the happy father-son reunion between Feron and Khash, received the appropriate thanks, and was ready to head home. A hand on his shoulder stopped him. "You're going to hate me for this, Thane, and I'm sorry."

Thane turned. "Sir."

Razh looked at him with a mix of pity and frustration. "Call me Razh, dammit. No, I'm not sending you on a suicide mission."

"Then what kind of urgent mission do you need me for that would keep me from getting a single day's rest?"

"The Council's throwing missions at us like crazy, Thane, and all of our agents are on some assignment or another. Feron's being sent back into the field in two days. I'm giving you a mission that a rookie could do. We're still getting backed up. You're not going to be resting for a long time yet. There are too many missions and not enough agents."

"I won't be sent out immediately, will I?"

"You'll be given twelve hours to rest."

"May I let my family know that I won't be home for a while? They're still shaken from the Hierarchy Command incident."

"Of course, Thane. Come on, you can use my phone."

Thane followed Razh into his office, then immediately picked up the phone and dialed home. He could imagine Irikah, Kolyat, or both staring at the phone in confusion. It was finally answered. "…Hello? This is the Krios residence…"

Thane smiled. "It's me, Irikah. Thane."

"Thane? Why are you calling? What's wrong?"

"Calm down, Irikah. I'm fine. I needed to tell you that I won't be home for a while. Things have gotten very busy around here. They need everyone."

"Thane… When will you be home, then?"

"I'm not sure. I wanted to let you know so you and Kolyat wouldn't think the worst."

"We'll still worry."

"I know. I'll call you when I can."

"…Come home safe."

Another smile. "I will. I promise. Goodnight, Irikah."

"You'd better get some sleep. You're just the type to keep going until you drop."

"Don't worry, I'm taking a nap as soon as I get off the phone."

"Then get off the phone. I love you." She hung up.

Thane stared at the phone before replacing it on Razh's desk. "That woman…"

"A nap, Thane?" Razh smiled at him.

Thane returned the smile. "I have to obey the wife. Besides, I'm no good to anyone if I'm falling over from lack of sleep."

"Alright. Follow me, there's a room this way you can use." Razh patted his shoulder and turned to lead.

"Thane, come now. You can't be that tired."

Thane opened his eyes to Razh's face. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Eleven hours. Come on. You need time to meet your partner."

Thane sat up, frowning. "Partner? I thought you said that we didn't have an agent to spare."

"We don't. That's why Liza needs to get her act together."

Thane's expression darkened, and he shot to his feet. "You're sending me on a mentor mission!"

Razh was forced back a few steps. "Thane, calm down."

"Calm down? You idiot! Mentor missions are disasters waiting to happen. Plenty of good agents have been disabled or killed on missions that should be easy and straightforward. If an agent can't get a mission done right, it's the agent's fault. Let things sort themselves out. Let the agents who aren't fit to perform be weeded out."

"Like you almost were during the last mentor mission you went on? As the protégé?"

Thane's hand flew out and met Razh's face. "Don't start!"

Razh put his hand over the side of his face that Thane had struck. "Thane, it's been twenty-one years. Let it go."

"No! I will not let it go! The SCIU lost one of its best agents that day."

"And where would we be without you, Thane?"

"You'd be down one rookie and up one superior agent, just as it should be."

"Senek would be sixty-two if he'd lived. Close to retiring, if he hadn't already. We'd be losing a good agent when we needed him the most. Because of his heroism, we have one of the best agents in the history of the unit."

"He was one of the best agents in the history of the unit. And if he died because of my… because of a rookie mistake, what's to say I won't die because of one?"

"What's to say you won't die on any mission?"

Thane grabbed Razh's shoulders. "On my solo missions, the only factor is my own skill. On a mentor mission, my job is to fix what someone else has screwed up or die trying."

"Are you bitter or afraid, Thane?"

Thane's hands fell to his sides. "Both."

"Do I need to give you a direct order?"

"No, sir. I know my duty." Stone cold.

"If you can't let it go, let his memory drive you forward. Have some respect for the dead, and use the chance he gave you."

"My bitterness won't fade overnight."

"I know it's a process. Think on it now that you've had your outburst."

"I'd been trying to avoid that." He walked past Razh before their conversation could continue.

"South exit, Thane," Razh called after him. To Thane's relief, he said no more.

Thane went to the base's southern exit and leaned against the wall to wait. He closed his eyes. Senek had been like family to him. A big brother, a mentor, a role model… In the first year and a half after Thane had been plucked from the ranks by the SCIU, Senek had always been there, ready to help with anything, answer any question. Then, that mission, and he had taken the bullet meant for Thane. Thane was never that careless again. He learned how to minimize risk to the highest degree possible, and he'd pushed himself beyond his limits to get the job done. All for Senek. But a mentor mission… He felt deader than he had on his way to Oclus.

He opened his eyes when he felt someone's gaze on him. "Liza."

The slight woman nodded and walked closer to him. "You know me?"

"I know the name of every agent, and I've seen you in passing."

"Oh. So you're… really Thane?"

"Is it really so hard to believe?"

"It's hard to believe that you're going to be my mentor. The other rookies would kill for this. You're a living legend."

"I can't stand all this adoration. I'm nothing but a man." Thane frowned.

Liza looked at the floor. "Sorry."

"Acting like that around me is just as bad. Have some self-confidence. Let's go." Thane led her outside.

She led him to a car. "Who's driving?"

"I will, if you tell me where I'm going. I wasn't given any information, really." He got in on the driver's side.

She sat next to him. "Northeast. We're fighting off a second wave of turians at the northern border. I don't know what we're supposed to do once we're there. The briefing's in the car, after all."

"What you're supposed to do. You're doing the work. I'm here in case something goes wrong." Thane hit play on the CD player as they drove away from the base.

"Liza Yaj, your destination is the outpost on Rakhana's northern border with Palaven. Your objective is to retrieve all sensitive data at the outpost and destroy the hub so that the turians will be unable to access the data should the outpost be taken."

"That sounds easy-"

"It's not done," Thane said quickly.

The recording went on. "Thane Krios, your objective is to accompany Liza and provide support in the event of complications arising. Please destroy this recording immediately. Amonkira guide your hands."

Thane ejected the CD and handed it to Liza. "Break that and toss it."

She snapped the CD into pieces and threw them out the window. "Why do they always say that?"

"Say what?"

"That whole 'Amonkira guide your hand' thing."

"The Lord of Hunters is exactly who we need alongside us in our missions. That he guides you grants, as I like to say in my own prayers, that your hand be steady, your aim be true, and your feet swift. He grants us all we need to be successful."

Liza crossed her arms. "And what if you don't believe in the gods?"

"It's still a form of well-wishing. It merely has more significance in a religious context. Not everyone who speaks of the gods believes in them."

"You have a point, I guess. I'm assuming you believe."

"I do. I find the guidance of the gods comforting."

Liza stopped looking at him to face the road ahead. "…Nobody really knows that much about you, you know? Except Feron, and he doesn't say much."

"Is that so? And here I was expecting him to spill every last detail."

"Were you? Well, he doesn't. He just smiles and says, 'That's his business.' It's frustrating."

Thane glanced at her. "What kinds of questions are you asking, exactly?"

"Personal stuff. What you're like, what's the deal with your home life, what's your favorite color, that sort of thing."

"I'm glad he's kept his lips sealed, then. I don't need everyone in the SCIU gossiping about me."

"They do, anyway. Conspiracy theories. Lots of them."

"Like what?"

"That you're a government experiment gone horribly right, you have a secret lover who may or may not be human, you're a double-agent for the turians… Do you want me to go on?"

"I think I get the gist of things. Maybe I should open up a bit, after all… Though that would involve spending more time at the base and less at home. I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"That's one thing everybody knows. You can't wait to get home after your missions. Why is that?" She looked at him again.

"I want to be with my family, that's all. They're my world."

She watched him for a moment longer before turning back to the road. "Hmm…"

Silence between them until they heard the sounds of combat. "Do you think the turians have already gotten into the complex?"

"I doubt it, if the battle's still raging like this. Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time. This mission is nothing."

Liza frowned at him. "Then why are you here?"

"Because, as simple as this mission is, it's still on the frontlines. There can and almost certainly will be complications."

They were stopped by a soldier as the outpost came into view. He came to the window. "This is a war zone, folks. You need to get out of here."

"We have authorization." Thane showed his I.D.

The soldier examined it before stepping back. "Alright, but my suggestion is to park back here and hoof it so your ride out doesn't get blown up."

Thane put away his I.D. and nodded. "Fair enough." He pulled off to the side of the road and got out.

Liza followed suit. "How far is the walk?"

"From here? Ten minutes." He was already walking.

The outpost was under heavy fire, but from this angle, nothing could hit them as they entered. The building was mostly empty, with the few people they encountered inside on their way out. One stopped and put a hand on Thane's arm. "You should really get out of here, you two. It's starting to look like the building might collapse."

"We'll be out soon enough. We need to salvage something before we can leave." He kept walking, the paused as the stranger went on her way. "Liza, you lead."

"Why?"

"For one thing, this is your mission. For another, likely for that reason, I wasn't shown the layout. I don't know where to go."

"Oh. This way, then." She took the lead.

The building shook around them as another explosion sounded. "…You might want to hurry, Liza."

"Right." She immediately picked up the pace.

They reached a small room with an oversized computer tower connected to a monitor. "…This is it?" Liza approached and turned on the monitor.

"This is it. One of Rakhana's data hubs. Get everything off of it and destroy it."

She nodded and started transferring the data. "Why do we have sensitive stuff out here on the border?"

"It's one of the military facilities in the network. Rakhana's important data is broken up into twelve hubs like this one, each placed in a different military installation. The hubs can all be connected over a secure network, but unless the data is actively needed, it's all kept separate. This is to avoid someone being able to go to a single location and steal all of it. It's to prevent what I did at Hierarchy Command, basically."

"Couldn't they keep it at some fort inside the country, though?"

"Oddly enough, the system wasn't put in place with an invasion in mind."

"That's a hell of a factor to overlook."

Another explosion, this one close. After it came a series of loud cracks and thuds. Thane looked in the direction of the noises, then at Liza. "How much longer?"

"Not too long, why?"

"Because that was the sound of a wall collapsing."

Liza cursed. "Come on, stupid thing, go faster!"

"Yelling at it won't do a thing. Keep your head, Liza." But Thane was listening with increasing worry.

"There! Done!"

Thane abruptly shoved Liza towards the door. An instant later, he heard the explosion, felt concrete slam into his back, and blacked out.

Liza stared at the heap of rubble lying where she had been standing moments earlier. She didn't get up. She just… stared. There was no sign of her mentor. "…Thane?"

Dread settled in her stomach when she received no reply. She crawled to the heap and started tossing aside chunks of concrete. Dread slowly shifted to panic until, finally, she saw green. She dug away more rubble until she'd uncovered the upper part of his body. Panic resurfaced when she saw shining, wet black on the side of his head, but she managed to keep it in check. "Thane?"

No response.

She grabbed his shoulder. "Thane!"

Finally, his eyes slowly opened. "…Liza?"

She laughed out of relief. "Thane, you're okay! Let's… Let's get out of here."

Thane pushed himself up onto his elbows and nodded, then tried to pull himself out from under the pile. He stopped a moment later and looked up at Liza. "…I'm stuck."

Liza's smile faded. "What?"

"I'm stuck. I can't get out." He shifted and tried again, with the same result.

Liza shook her head. "Oh, no. This isn't going to happen. No way." She started clearing away more concrete.

"It feels like a big slab. If you could get at it from above, you might be able to shift the angle enough for me to get out."

She nodded and began to stand… and immediately dropped down again. "There are turian tanks out there. If I get up, they'll see me…"

"…And they'll fire." Thane was silent. "…Liza, go. Walk along that wall so they can't see you, then run for the door when you're close enough."

"When I go through the door, they'll see me."

"Yes. They will. Now go."

"…If a shell hits this room, you'll die."

"Yes, I know that. Go."

"…No."

Thane gave her a stern look. "It's better to lose one agent than it is to lose two and the data. Get out of here."

"No. I said no, and I meant it. I'm not leaving you to die."

"Liza-"

"What about your family, huh?"

He was silenced.

Liza nodded. "Thought so. Just give me a sec, I think I can dig through and push that slab." She started throwing the rubble aside again.

Thane said nothing as she worked, leaving them both listening to creaking concrete. She finally dug her way to the slab and, bracing herself against another chunk of debris, started shoving it aside. Thane managed to drag himself out from under it. "I'm free. Drop it."

Liza let the slab fall before moving towards the wall, staying low. Thane followed in silence. When they were close enough, Liza bolted for the door. Thane was right behind her as they heard one tank fire…

Liza made it out the door and around the corner just in time. Thane was slammed against the wall by the blast, saved from the heat by remnants of the wall around the doorway. He grunted and slid down the wall, but got up again almost immediately. He had an arm around his middle as he ran to catch up with Liza.

Another explosion behind them nearly knocked them over, but both regained their balance and kept running. Liza noticed the arm. "You're hurt?"

"Probably just a few broken ribs. It's nothing."

"If you insist…"

"I do. The building's coming down."

At that, a chunk of concrete crashed down on Liza's shoulder, less than an inch from her head. She yelped and staggered, but kept running. "I'm fine!"

"Then run faster!" Concrete was raining down all around them as the building caved in on itself.

"The exit!" Liza cried, her run turning into a desperate sprint. She rammed the door instead of opening it, snapping it off its hinges and sending both her and it to the ground. Thane reached down and dragged her back into a run as he passed her, not slowing until they were past the first line of tanks rolling up to oppose the turian ones. After that, they both fell to the ground, their momentum making them slide and roll. They lay there, panting, for a good while.

Then, Thane, breathless: "You drive."

Liza laughed. "Deal."

"She passed with flying colors." Those had been Thane's words to Razh upon their return. Both of them had broken bones – a few snapped ribs for him, a shattered shoulder for her – and were both being sent home to heal. On the drive back to his house, Thane was smiling. As he turned into his driveway, he said, quietly, "Are you proud of me, Senek?"

...Now, I don't think that was too OoC. Considering his relationship with Senek... And if you've ever run low on that bar on his loyalty mission, you know how freaked he can get over issues with those close to him... Ferret out.