Hannah sprinted across the room, the wailing of the alarm covering the sound of her footfalls, and grabbed Vyrnnus by one of his mandibles. She dragged him away from Odessus then threw him against the bulkhead, the sound of his appendage stretching to its limit almost sickening. She brought her foot down hard against his leg spur and took immense satisfaction in the howl that escaped him. Her cloak fell at that moment, and she reveled in his shocked expression.

That same blue corona glowed around him again, and he opened his mouth to speak. Hannah didn't wait for him to say another word and instead swung her fist as hard as she could manage against the flat plane of his face.

This was a mistake that she immediately regretted, but only a little.

His face was much harder than a human's, and her knuckles slid across his plates, catching the serrated edge of his teeth and slicing the flesh of her fist. Fortunately, the assault dazed him enough to keep him off balance. Blood was streaming through her fingers now, but she didn't let that deter her. Before he could recover himself, she stood and brought her heel down on his face, heavily and with as much force as she could muster.

That seemed to do the trick, and he stopped moving for the moment.

Sana had found her feet and her voice again; she was kneeling over Odessus and holding open her eyelids to examine her pupils. She shook her head. "I do not understand. You still have ten minutes before you are due back in your cell. Why would the alarm sound?"

Hannah knelt beside Odessus and held her uninjured hand to the turian's nose, felt the movement of air, and let out a relieved breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "It could have something to do with Octavus being extorted for ignoring abuse of a prisoner. And by an asari doctor he didn't want on his hip in the first place," she said, unable to keep the bite from her words. "No prisoner, no extortion. I can't believe I thought it was a lucky break to lose my guards for just a little while. Stupid, Hannah!"

Sana's eyes went wide then narrowed, the battle between confusion and fury evident in her shifting expression. "Do you mean the colonel means to have you killed because I approached him?"

Hannah slipped an arm under Odessus's shoulders and lifted her into a sitting position before Sana could protest. "And he'll justify it with protocol, even. God, I'm starting to hate that word. I'm sure he won't lose any sleep if you end up more than a little worse for wear because of this little jailbreak for aiding and abetting me. Help me lift her. We need to get Odessus to your ship, and the three of us need to leave here right now."

Sana moved to the other side just as Odessus groaned and blinked open her eyes, bringing a hand automatically to where the blood still flowed down her face. It took a moment, but she was able to turn her head and focus on Hannah. Before she could say anything, Hannah shook her head to stop her. "Let's get you out of here first," she said.

Odessus held back. "Wait," she said and reached for Hannah's wrist. "Bring up your cloak, and I'll bring up mine. Sana, you'll just have to try to not look suspicious."

When they were standing, Sana stepped away and let Hannah support Odessus on her own. "My ship is docked a level up," she said as they made their way to the door. "We don't know how many troops are between here and there."

They followed her into the hallway, hanging back enough not to run into her if she were to stop suddenly. So far, there didn't appear to be anyone around, but Hannah knew that couldn't remain the case for long. Unimpeded, they slipped into the elevator, and she let Odessus lean against the wall for the moment. The turian let her cloak fall and held out a hand for Hannah. "You need to let the program cool down for a bit. You don't want the damn thing to drop in the middle of a crowd."

Slowly, the lift came to a stop, and Odessus reached out to stop the doors from opening. She pulled up her omni-tool and a cluster of white dots appeared, each one appearing to move quickly and erratically.

"There are about twenty troops scrambling outside this door," she said.

Of course. Octavus had concentrated them here, hoping Hannah (and whoever might be with her) would go directly here, overly confident from having been so-far unharrassed, and walk straight into a firefight. Twenty to one—even twenty to three—was not good odds for Hannah, even if any of them had been armed. But, she also had a guess that the colonel couldn't exactly explain the rationale behind their unorthodox positioning. Maybe she could use that to their advantage.

Hannah held out her wrist for Odessus to bring up her cloak again and said, "Here, I have an idea."

When they finally let the doors open, the scene was practically frantic with soldiers rushing into position. A group of soldiers waited immediately outside the doors of the elevator, and each one straightened to attention upon seeing Odessus standing before them.

"Ma'am!" one of the soldiers saluted as she stumbled out of the elevator with Sana beside her and Hannah following closely behind them under her cloak.

Odessus straightened and distanced herself from Sana, clearly attempting to regain some kind of composure, and waved away any offers for assistance. "Have you arrested the prisoner yet?" she said in her superior-officer voice.

The poor soldier looked slightly panicked. "No, ma'am! We were told to bunker down here and keep her from leaving if she tries to come here."

Odessus growled. "She's not here, Tryveka. She waylaid me on Deck 5, and I might've been able to stop her if there'd been any damn support down there. Do you know what will happen if she infiltrates the drive core? She could bring down the whole ship, soldier." Tryveka's fluttered her mandibles, obviously chastened, and looked away. Odessus softened her tone without lessening her command. "She can't have gotten far. Take your team, and fan out on Deck 5. Catch the pyjack and put it back in its pen."

The soldier snapped a salute and waved for her team to follow her.

There were still at least half a dozen other soldiers on deck, but none seemed interested in the major anymore.

Odessus turned to Sana, growling again, and in a voice loud enough for anyone nearby to hear, but not so loud as to draw attention, she said, "Get me some damn medi-gel, Sana. I need to get back to the search."

Sana nodded and put a hand on the turian's shoulder to offer support without suggesting weakness. The docking hatch to Sana's ship was only twenty meters away.

They were only halfway down the corridor when a rumblig voice came over the intercom. "The pyjack is on Deck 4 and is attempting to escape through the asari doctor's ship. Major Odessus Ravaka is facilitating the escape. Permission to apprehend with extreme prejudice granted."

Hannah clenched her jaw but remained cloaked. Octavus. Of course he would know where they were.

The remaining soldiers turned in their direction and hesitated for only a moment before they lifted their weapons.

"Time to run," Hannah said and urged them toward the hatch.

She put a hand on Odessus's back to urge her forward, but it was unnecessary. They all fell into a sprint when the rounds began to fly. Hoping to obscure any shots aimed at the two in front of her, Hannah let herself fall a few paces behind. If the sudden hammer blow to her shoulder and the electric shimmer rippling across her cloak were any indication, she'd been successful.

Ahead of them, the airlock to Sana's ship began to close. Two steps later, Odessus ducked down and barrel-rolled beneath the door. Sana slid in behind her, but she was less graceful and needed to grab at Odessus's waiting hand to pull herself the rest of the way forward. Hannah didn't wait for Sana to clear out of the way; she rolled forward, feeling the coolness of the metal doors whisper against her skin. Odessus was already there with her other hand outstretched for Hannah to grasp and pull to her feet.

As soon as the doors dropped behind them, Hannah's cloak dropped and she scrambled the rest of the distance into Sana's ship. She found herself in an open room with a tall, curved reception desk on the far side, and a row of plush chairs lining the wall on the other.

"Hannah, your shoulder!" Sana called behind her.

"Where's the cockpit?" she asked without turning.

"Go through that door, turn right, and keep going to the end," Sana replied, sounding somewhat breathless.

Hannah followed her directions and found the cockpit at the end of a long hallway that had a number of rooms on either side. "We need to get out of here right now," she called over her shoulder. "You take care of Odessus. I'll get us out of here."

She dropped into the pilot seat and immediately paused. The controls, though no longer in turian, were still indecipherable.

"Do not be ridiculous, Hannah," Sana said, slipping a hand under her arm to haul her up again. "Get Odessus into a seat and secure yourselves. I will fly us out of here."

"I can do it," Hannah insisted, setting her jaw.

Sana pointed to the seat behind her. "You have been shot, and it would be unwise to let you go into shock at the controls. Furthermore, this is my ship. I understand it better than you do—particularly the language, if your confused expression is any indication."

"I'm an Alliance Navy pilot, Sana. Aerial combat is what I do."

Odessus brushed past Hannah into the cockpit and sank heavily into the other seat. "Sana, get us out of here. Hannah, go strap in. We'll be varren feed if we stand here bickering anymore."

Hannah shook her head. "You're concussed, Odessus."

The turian didn't so much as glance at her as she secured herself and brought up the copilot interface. "You will be too if you don't strap in. Don't argue, Hannah."

Hannah still didn't like it, but they were out of time. She bit the inside of her lip hard enough to hurt as she slid quickly into the jumpseat behind Sana and pulled the harness around her shoulders.

"They've locked the docking port!" she heard Sana say. "It won't release us."

An odd chirruping noise tittered through the cabin, and the ship began to move. Odessus chuckled and mumbled something about officer credentials. Hannah would ask later when they didn't have a ship full of well-armed soldiers bent on killing them so close on their heels.

Her good humor, it seemed, quickly evaporated as she started clipping out updates on the ship's defenses, "Shields are up. Barriers are active. Drive core is starting. Get us out of here, Sana."

Hannah heard a muffled explosion and felt the ship lurch off course.

"Barriers at forty percent," Sana said evenly. "The next hit will take them down all the way. I just have my shields after that, no armor."

"Worry about the drive core," Odessus snapped. "I'll worry about not getting hit. My controls."

As if to challenge that claim, another explosion just outside the hull rocked the ship.

Sana was clearly more distressed now. "Your controls. Barriers are down. Shields are at eighty percent. This ship is not built to engage military craft, Odessus."

Hannah stretched her neck to catch a glimpse at what they were doing at the controls. The flight interface was similar to what the Alliance had, but she had no context for the movements they made. It was all too quick and too subtle for her to comprehend what they were doing.

When Odessus spoke, it was as if Sana hadn't said anything. "Report."

"Drive core is online," Sana called back, her anxiety and annoyance ringing clear in her voice. "Bank to port thirty degrees. Yaw to two degrees."

Another explosion shook the small ship, setting them off course once again and sounding an angry alarm.

"Eight seconds to course correction. Shields are at twenty-five percent. Odessus, the next hit will—"

Red lights switched to green across the controls, and Odessus threw out her hand, engaging all of them without waiting for Sana to finish. "FTL activated!"

For a moment, the gravity compounded on Hannah's chest, and she felt herself pressing heavily against her chair, the feeling lasting only a moment before her equilibrium returned.

"Can they pursue us?" she asked between heavy breaths.

Sana hummed an affirmation. "This ship's drive core is short range. We could make it all the way to the Serpent Nebula, but not the Widow system. I have set a course to the Annos Basin instead. We will use the relay there to get to the Citadel."

Odessus huffed. "And what are we supposed to do once we get there?"

She stood and walked out of the cockpit. "That is the future. I am more concerned about the present. Right now, I have to see to your injuries. Both of you follow me, please."

Hannah heard Odessus fumbling with her harness, and she released herself to go help her. Her hands trembled from the adrenaline still coursing through her veins, but she was able to help the turian free herself and get to her feet again, the weight of the concussion apparently crashing back on her.

They followed Sana through one of the many doors, which turned out to lead to examination rooms. Odessus took a seat on one of the two beds in the room and rumbled, "I just evaded a squadron of my own people. I'm fine."

Sana fished a light from a nearby cupboard and shined it into the major's eyes while pressing her fingers to the inside of her cowl. "Your performance notwithstanding, you are not fine, Odessus. You are concussed. Your face is covered in blood. You even have some of the lieutenant commander's blood on you. We need to get the swelling in your brain under control and the rest of you cleaned up. Do you feel nauseated?"

Odessus shook her head and gave a resigned sigh. "No, just a splitting headache and dizziness." Her mandibles fluttered and her brow plates drew down as she growled. "If we live through this, I plan to see that fucker publicly humiliated. He is exactly the sort who gives biotics a bad name, and the Hierarchy should have nothing to do with him."

"Biotics?" Hannah asked, taking a seat on the adjacent bed. "What are biotics, some kind of technology?"

Odessus relaxed into smirked at that, and Sana seemed somewhat bemused by the question. "It is not a technology, precisely, Lieutenant Commander, though most biotics do use technological enhancements. Biotics are the ability to manipulate dark matter to create mass effect fields by using electrical impulses in the brain. All asari are biotically inclined, but that tendency varies across species and individuals. Vyrnnus is a rare specimen of a turian biotic. The ability comes from in utero exposure to element zero. Does humanity not use element zero for its drive cores?"

Headlines from recent years flashed through Hannah's mind. Transport vehicles carrying tons of eezo had already crashed near highly populated areas. A rash of cancer had been the most immediate effect, followed by many children born with physical and neurological aberrations. Was it possible that some of the babies who were born and who lived in those areas would be able to do the things Vyrnnus had done?

Shrugging herself from her reverie, Hannah moved on to the next topic without answering Sana's question. "What happens now?"

Sana narrowed her eyes at both of them. "Now, I will give something to Odessus for her concussion, after which she will clean up, lie down, and not make any sudden movements for at least the next few hours. Next, I will fix the hole in your shoulder and suture your fingers, Hannah. Then, you will take a shower to clean yourself up. I do not want my place of business smelling like a gymnasium."

Odessus tried to object, but the hard look on the asari's face told her that would be unwise. After a long moment, she nodded her agreement and settled down to let Sana tend to her.

By the time it was Hannah's turn, her mind had calmed down and the absence of adrenaline made her blood feel leaden as it pumped through her veins. Her shoulder and shirt felt wet and sticky, and she was starting to feel lightheaded. Sana shined the light in her eyes and immediately turned to her cupboard again, pulling out one syringe after another, swabs, bottles of different liquids, and what looked like a pair of pliers.

Without preamble, Sana stuck her in the arm with one of the syringes and said shortly, "For the nausea."

Hannah didn't have the energy to deny the rising feeling in the pit of her stomach and let Sana work. The asari doused one of the swabs and cleaned around the wound. Three more pricks and Hannah's shoulder went numb. She saw Sana pick up the pliers, but she felt nothing of what she did with them. After only a few minutes, Sana set down the pliers again, only now they held a round between their jaws. Farther down her back, Hannah felt the stream of blood start to flow with renewed strength; she gripped the side of the bed to keep from falling forward from the dizziness. Again, she watched as Sana picked up one tool of her trade after another but felt nothing as she worked. In only a few short minutes, she stepped in front of Hannah again, clearly relieved to have finished with her shoulder.

Sana took Hannah's hand to examine the damage and tsked. "It looks like you got some of Odessus's blood on you as well, Lieutenant Commander. The two of you are walking hazmat risks. This is going to sting, so try to be still."

Hannah glanced down and saw the drops of blue, already dark and drying, against her skin. It was nowhere near the open wound, so she wasn't terribly concerned. Once the old blood was scrubbed away, Sana produced a syringe and began squeezing a clear liquid—which did in fact smart a great deal—onto the wound. The bleeding, which had been slowing, finally stopped, and Sana applied another syringe, this one filled with a thick, cloudy substance. Once applied, the flesh of her fingers began instantly to cool and tingle.

Sana nodded and disposed of her used equipment. "That should do it, Lieutenant Commander. There is a shower down the hall, but wait five minutes to let the medi-gel work. I will have new clothes for you when you finish. Now, if you will excuse me, I have a few calls to make."

Hannah stepped down from the examination table, trying not to ball her fist or shake away the feeling. Odessus was stretched out on the other bed. Her breathing was shallow and her eyes were closed, but Hannah was pretty sure she was still awake. Her mandibles twitched in what seemed like agitation; apparently, her stillness wasn't necessarily restful. Then again, who could rest when your life could very well be as short as the time it took to get to the next mass relay? And even if they did get there? How long did they have after that? It couldn't be long with the largest and most powerful military in the known galaxy bearing down on them.

"That name, Palaven," she said and Odessus opened her eyes to look at her. "It's the home world for turians, right?"

Odessus stilled a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, it's the home world."

"And what Vyrnnus said? About going there to meet the, the primarch, I guess? That's bad, isn't it."

Odessus took in a deep breath and closed her eyes again. "If the Honorable is going to Palaven, this isn't a skirmish or a policing action anymore. War—full-scale war—is imminent."