Now was not the time as they raced back out through the tunnels, nor when they crested the entrance: it was unknown how widespread the bombs were and in a first no one complained as far too many bodies packed into the waiting Mako. The human woman they had just acquired bellowed at the driver to gun it, the tank took off at something just under the speed of Spirits-forsaken sound and was far from the site when the blasts went off, throwing massive black clouds of Therum soil into the air as the ruins collapsed into sinkholes.

No, he waited until the Normandy had intercepted them and six of the seven other bodies had dragged themselves free of the cramped hull back into the garage. Then as Alenko exited the vehicle Saren backhanded him so hard into the side of the tank that the crack of his teeth was like a shot in a silent room.

Alenko stared up at him with shock, a hand going to his mouth and coming back red. The stunned look on his face only angered him further but he kept it contained, kept every level of his voice deadpan. Only his eyes may have betrayed his fury but he could not tell by the human's expression.

"Never question my judgement in such a way again." He had killed people for less; he would have killed anyone else on the ship to make a point but this man had kept Shepard from killing Nihlus and that stayed his hand. It was a weakness, Nihlus was his weakness Spirits help him.

A long moment stretched out where the weight in the air was dangerous, but the Lieutenant swallowed whatever argument he might have made and broke eye contact first, and the standoff defused. The turian soldiers separated for sleep or food, the quarian disappeared down into engineering, the tank's driver exited the vehicle to begin to assess needed repairs and the younger Vakarian lingered to assist her. Alenko retreated to the upper floor. Saren followed the path that Urdnot Wrex had taken upon exiting the vehicle toward the isolation room. The small chamber was used to contain troublemakers, drunks or suspicious individuals until a proper port could be reached and he had asked the krogan to escort their guest to its hospitality. His mood was foul, and the time was appropriate for an interrogation.

"Gunnery Chief Ashley Madeline Williams, Systems Alliance 2nd Frontier Division, Eden Prime Unit 212, service number 6 12..."

As she rattled off her identifying information Saren paid more attention to her body language than the words. Her seat on the only chair in the small room spoke to her caution; there was little she could do against his biotics but she was prepared to be on her feet in a moment to try. It spoke to martial arts training and her skill was likely to be considerable, but she was exhausted and alone and he had the upper hand in all ways. He had been careful to make sure of that.

"And an ally of the rogue former Spectre candidate Shepard." he finished for her, tone cold.

That got a rise from Williams; she snapped angrily back at him, baring her small white teeth "I'm not that bastard's ally!"

"Yet you traveled among his machines and fought beside him."

"Not willingly."

Saren didn't make a response to that save slowly raising a browplate. The look he gave her was more than sufficient to voice his doubts to the validity of that statement.

"I went after Shepard to put him down after he killed half of his own team, not to join him." Her eyes were narrowed hard on him, staring directly back into his own. "I don't care that you're a Spectre- this is Alliance business and I'm not saying another word to anyone but the Commander of the Normandy."

Oh yes, she knew who he was. His reputation was well traveled in the circles she must run in, there were many turian spectres but he knew he had achieved a certain notoriety in the last quarter century. To her credit there was no fear in her face. Anger, defiance, but no fear. "I am in command of the Normandy."

The stare she gave him lasted some time, flicking to the Alliance insignia branded onto the far wall. "Turians don't lead human ships."

"And the Normandy was a collaboration. The humans failed her and now she is mine. Call your ambassador if you doubt me."

This time the silence was significantly longer; likely she was weighing her options. It was the truth but she did not know that, and a simple soldier would not possess the Ambassador's contact information but that was not his problem. His problem was finding and killing Shepard for what he had done.

Clearly she did not trust him an inch, but she had no choice. "I followed Shepard across a few miles, shot him a dozen times but he wouldn't stop going until Sovereign was right on top of us." Despite her best efforts to the contrary she shuddered. "The last things I remember before I blacked out were geth coming in from everywhere and the ship screaming."

"Sovereign?"

"The ship. That's what it calls itself."

"An AI?" Interesting. Geth would make an AI likely, but to his knowledge geth did not name themselves let alone in such a grand manner. Perhaps if they had build to the scale that the impression had inferred that might change? But it did not seem right. The pieces were not falling together in ways that made sense.

"I'm a soldier not a mechanic but I've seen a lot of ships in my time and that one... it's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's not right. The damn thing reeks of evil"

Nihlus had used the same word in the hospital that first night. Saren said nothing. Williams continued. "When I woke up they had locked me in a room full of artifacts, objects, nothing I could place except that it was old. All I could recognize was the fragment of the beacon sitting in the center." Armored fists balled on her knees as her words heated. "They left me there for days. It... did something to me. I knew who I was, I knew where I was from, all of the basics but I wasn't alone in my head any more and the presence was overpowering. At some point Shepard came in and put something in my helmet before letting me out. Whatever it was let them keep control of me outside that room until the helmet was gone."

A shame your head did not go with it he growled internally. Flickers of anger still lingered in the corners of his mind over the incident but he focused and froze the anger, voice deadpanning when it came out again. "Convenient that this helmet is gone now. Tell me, if I had not shot it off where they would you claim they had this device? Your ploy to ingratiate yourself with the ship's crew may have worked with Anderson but it will not be so with me. I will not be entertaining Shepard's thrall."

Perhaps it was not entirely deadpan, he picked up the tinges of a sneer in his undertones. Human ears could not detect subvocals but some other unconscious clue must have made the derision clear. Likely more than the words themselves, if her rash of anger was anything to go by. "I'm not his servant you son of a bitch-"

He slammed her back into her chair harder than was necessary with his biotics when she started to rise, piercing blue eyes narrowed into fine slits. "Tell me, can he hear us right now?"

"You want to check me? Go ahead, check me. I don't have a damn thing to hide." She made a sudden move and he was ready to slam her back down again-enough to bleed her this time- but she was just tossing her pauldrons off on the ground. The boots followed them, as did the gauntlets. Saren slowly raised both browridges.

"This is entirely necessary?"

"Check it. Every fucking piece. And check me too until you're damn sure I'm not lying because I'm done with this crap. The sooner you believe me the sooner I get to find the bastard who did this to me and drive a bullet in his brain." Per her threat she continued to strip.

Well that was unexpected. He blinked once slowly, standing with his arms folded behind him until she was done and shoved the pile of gear at him. Perhaps checking it would be a good idea; he doubted such mind control devices that left the victim intact enough to lie existed, but there could be other information that could be gathered from the grime build up on the hardsuit. If the human wished to be stubborn he would leave her to fester here for a few days before sending the doctor to check her for the listening devices.

The next day passed significantly more peacefully. A stop in the Dis system secured another Mako for the garage and they spent a few hours planetside watching one of the turians learn to drive the tank. Urdnot Wrex guarded the isolation room to keep the humans from interfering with the prisoner, making certain nothing passed to her but water and the bare minimum of food as Saren poured over Williams' gear and omnitool.

The tool hadn't been cleaned in years, so while breaking its defenses was child's play it took days to go through every saccharine conversation with her family to be certain that nothing of importance was held within. She had started several messages in response to her mother and siblings' worried calls for her after the disaster of Eden Prime had gone public several weeks past, but they all trailed off into unrelated rambling and been abandoned. Saren thought of Desolas, dead for the humans' dragging his unit to cursed Shanxi, and deleted all of the worried messages unanswered.

Much more interesting was the armor. Since its last proper cleaning it had picked up the soil of half a dozen worlds, many of which a quick chemical scan could identify as planets that had suffered recent mysterious attacks, and each of which was known for prothean artifacts. But a few samples eluded him. The technology he had access to in the cabin of a stealth ship was limited, he would need more extensive resources to be certain of their origins.

The Spectre Office on the Citadel should do. It was just a matter of coincidence that he decided so shortly after receiving a message from Nihlus that said he needed to see him.

When he slipped into the room after hours much was different. For one it was quieter without all of the machinery that was needed to support a critical patient, for two it was simpler to navigate as the tubes that had crisscrossed his path had been withdrawn. For three Nihlus was no longer in the bed; he was standing in the middle of the room when he came in, dressed in the black and red armor that brought out the striking lines of his tattooing. Most of it was the same battleworn gear he had had for years... The breastplate was new.

Nihlus did not have his smile on. His face was all seriousness and it sent off the first warning bells in Saren's head that he was not going to like this conversation.

"I knew you'd come, but I'll thank you anyway. It's good to see you." Despite his features there was a softness to his subvocals then, something that touched a smile in his eyes even through the business nature of his primary tone. "We'll be seeing a lot more of each other now. I've been cleared for duty and I'm coming with you."

"Don't be ridiculous Nihlus. It's barely been a month-"

"A month and fifteen days. You'd be amazed by what top experts from the Lifebearer Brigade can accomplish in that much time when they don't seem to have a budget. But seeing as I'm pretty damn sure you paid for them and had them funneling you updates the whole time you already knew that. Did you think I wouldn't realize what you were doing? Spirits Saren, how much of a dent did you put in your net worth for me?" Nihlus eyed him from across the room, professionalism mingling with frustration.

Lying was pointless, Nihlus knew him far too well. "Money is not a concern of mine. And it was not important enough to mention."

The younger man sighed and shook his head, pressing his talons into the side of his face. "I still would have appreciated it. But you're right it isn't important anymore- and I'm still coming with you. It's my right to take down the man who tried to kill me, Spirits it's my responsibility for fucking up and picking him in the first place."

Saren's mandibles locked to his face, arms folded sharply behind him. "The Normandy is my ship and I will not allow it."

"Give me one good reason and I'll let it go."

He knew the stubborn look on his protege's face. It was true about his status being cleared, about Saren's access to the information from the doctors; he had well known Nihlus was fit to leave before he had come here. But he had not expected this. You should have anticipated this, you should have been better prepared before arriving but in sense's stead you are caught unawares. The way you behave around him will not end well, he makes you weak Arterius. "It would not be wise, Nihlus. There would be-"

Nihlus' eyes narrowed suddenly and he strode across the distance between them to stop just inside the other Spectre's personal space, though he did not reach to touch him. "Saren if this is that bullshit about my being a liability to you: you know better than anyone that I can look out for myself. You wouldn't have damnwell sponsored me to be a Spectre if I couldn't!" If he was walking he would be pacing, in lieu of that he leveled those brilliant green eyes with Saren's own pale blues.

"That has not always been so, Nihlus." Eden Prime is not specifically said but it strongly inferred and he picks it up with ease.

Anger pulled in Nihlus' browplates and flared his mandibles, hardened his eyes as he jabbed a talon at him. "Cute, but it's not getting me off track. We already discussed that remember? This isn't even about me, this is about you and this damn complex you have about isolating yourself from every fucking thing that might hurt you. Be pissed off at me if you like but I'm just going to say it- I'm not going to end up like Desolas."

... He could say nothing to that. Saren turned his head away, old pain throbbing in the back of his head again.

The hand that had been pointed at him accusingly rose to cup his face and turned it back towards him again. Nihlus' eyes were calm, clear and certain. " I don't care if you want to keep it from the rest of the world because that's your business. But don't shut me out when we're alone."

Saren tried to work his jaw but nothing came out, and a deep brown talon touched his mouth to still the words. It moved away to be replaced by Nihlus' mouth and gentle brushes of his tongue. They stood close together in the room like that for some time.

When Nihlus pulled his head back slightly and gave him a curious look Saren sighed just enough to be audible. "You may come. But there can be none of this on board the ship."

"I figured as much." Nihlus smiled, that little glint he knew so well touching his handsome features. "I'll have to make a request first then- no not about that, I'll take a rain check on the promise from before. I don't want to hear it until you're ready to say it. This is decidedly less, ah, complex. If you're not going to let me touch you on the ship I'm going to need something ahead of time. It's been too long."

The words sent a wash of warmth down his skin but it was not that simple. "I have diagnostics to run in the Spectre Office."

"And I've been out of the loop long enough that I should get down there too. Diagnostics take a long time and it's a pretty private little suite Saren."

"Nihlus-"

"It's not as if we haven't done it before." he purred in return, running his tongue down the length of one of his horns, one hand creeping up the back of his neck while the other held firmly on the hook of his hip. "I've had a lot of time to think about you while I was laid up, a lot of long lonely nights... and it's not like you don't want this. You want it as much as I do."

Spirits he sent his breath ragged far too quickly; he had to pull his head back and suppress the sounds that tried to break from his throat. "I need to establish the processes first."

The other man gave him a small devious smile, releasing him and stepping back to gather up the bag of his things. "I've waited eight months, I can wait a little longer."

Well-worn professionalism took over as the two men exited the hospital and made their way to the hidden suite, it bears them through duty until the scans are running comfortably on their own and all necessary information has been reviewed. It stops when Nihlus jumps him.

Diagnostics scans take a long time, and they are not interrupted.

The peace they had so sweetly found in each other was beautiful but fleeting. It broke as soon as the two men arrived on the Normandy. Someone was shouting on the deck just below them and the heavy guffaw of a familiar krogan's laughter followed it, trickling faintly up the stairs. "Gonna take more than words to budge me kid."

"You can't keep her in there like this! She deserves to be given over to the Alliance!" Ah, and that was Kaidan. Nihlus tried to shoot a curious look to Saren to ask what was going on but the other man only stormed past him to disappear through the door to the crew deck and left him hurrying to catch up.

"Lieutenant stand down and explain yourself." Saren hissed darkly across the room as he arrived. Kaidan looked up with resolve painted in the clench of his fists and the furrow of his brows.

"Sir this isn't acceptable. You've got an Alliance marine locked up in there who you've got no right to be holding. Ashley belongs in Systems Alliance custody and they'll decide if she should be tried or not-"

"I am a Spectre, I am beholden to no authority but the Council. Or have you forgotten that?" Saren's undertones were so cold he wouldn't have been surprised if crystals formed in the air around him. Nihlus could sense the ugliness getting out of hand and stepped out of the shadows to speak up clearly and levelly.

"Ashley Williams, the marine from Eden Prime?"

Kaidan was visibly taken aback when he looked up, the dim lighting of the ship and his own naturally dark coloring must have hidden him well. "Nihlus? I thought you-"

"I got better." Despite himself he knew he couldn't keep a measure of hardness out of his face, though he doubted Kaidan would be able to see it. "He tried his damndest but I pulled through. Just left me with a nasty scar." Saren had reacted strongly when he'd seen it last night as he pulled off his underarmor, careful not to tear the new fabric with those long pale talons. But it'd been in all the right ways... he'd gone to incredible lengths to reestablish his claim on him. A pleasant thought he had no time for now, he filed it away for later. "I'll be coming along to fix my previous mistake." With force if necessary. Maybe even if it wasn't.

The lieutenant confirmed to him that it was the same Ashley and brought him up to speed on what he saw as the situation, no doubt Saren would have a different story to tell. Nihlus folded his arms lightly behind him and glanced back to his colleague. "I wasn't aware we'd picked up Williams, Spectre."

"Recently, on Therum. The 'rescue' was a well orchestrated trick to ingratiate her within the Normandy, she is one of Shepard's. Likely he anticipated Anderson would be retaining power of the ship or he would not have tried such a ploy. I have full intentions of interrogating his plans out of her myself."

"I met the woman before all of this happened, let me speak to her."

Saren gave him a long less-than-pleasant look but held his mandibles in a neutral position. "And your plan Kryik?"

Ah yes, his surname. He hated when Saren called him that, but formalities and all that bullshit... he'd never understand it, but he'd live with it for his sake. The man was too important to him to let something that small interfere. "Talk to her. I met Ashley before this happened, I have a firmer base to judge her from."

A silent conversation passed between the two Spectres told in long stares and minute mandible flicks, pure turian body language that Kaidan would be oblivious to. Wrex could probably infer most of it, old bastard was smarter than he had any right to be. In the end Saren acquiesced with a gesture of a hand towards the door telling him to go and try his plan if he wished but it wouldn't get him anywhere. Never mind what the older man thought, he knew it was worth trying. "Keep the peace out here for me Wrex." Nihlus said cordially over his shoulder as he passed the big krogan to get to the Isolation Room.

"Will do."

Hopefully that would be enough. Emerald eyes glanced back once more at Saren, busy being as inscrutable as ever, before closing the door behind himself.