A/N- Sorry about the delay everyone, been trying to do too many things at once and fic fell by the wayside. The fic shall continue!

"-ease. Come on, talk to me. I need you to wake the hell up already, damn it!"

The first thing he registered when he woke was Nihlus speaking somewhere above him. The second was that his whole body ached to the touch; the stone under his back, the armor on his chest, the hand gripping his own all left a lingering pain like needles being shoved into his skin. When he could finally collect himself enough to swallow it Saren opened his eyes and pushed gingerly to a half sit.

In that moment the relief on Nihlus' face was palpable, green eyes full of the softer emotions that did not need to be named. But it was gone a few breath later as his visage hardened. "Saren what the fuck happened back there."

The old Spectre wasn't able to immediately respond, his head still spinning around the violent dumping of memories not his own. It seemed he had managed to contain them, they throbbed in a back corner instead of suffocating him. He would have to thank Benezia for her teachings. It was quite likely that she had just saved his mind.

"... Saren?"

Oh, yes, Nihlus. "Where are we."

"One of the stable ruins. After you went unconscious the Thorian tried to draw you in but I was able to get you out of there. I tried to get Shiala to run but she just... stood there shaking and let the thralls grab her and drag her off. I couldn't stop it, not carrying you. Spirits it was..."

"Unavoidable. It was the price that needed to be paid." Saren reached up a hand to rub his face and only realized afterwards that his helmet was gone; warning flew through his body like a shot. The sudden pain that spread through his nerves was excruciating but he anticipated it this time and managed to bite down the harsh cry that threatened in his throat. Nihlus was injecting medigel into his suit moments later, leaving a comfortable numbness spreading across his skin.

The younger man flicked his mandibles out in a small smile and set a hand on his cheek, and it registered in Saren for the first time that he was unhelmeted as well. "It's alright. I'm a Spectre, I take pride in being prepared for anything. I used the clean room bubble I keep in stock for emergency first aid on toxic planets or injured quarians, there aren't any spores in here." But after a few moments of peaceful silence he spoke again, and there was less ease in his voice. "Did you lie to her about Benezia approving that?"

Saren shook his head slowly, careful not to reawaken the pain in the back of his skull. "You have met the woman Nihlus. It was not an easy surrender to make but she had read the same reports as I. It wanted an asari thrall, and she has many acolytes and only one daughter."

Nihlus was quiet after that. He sat close at his side, their armor just touching as he stared off at nothing. There was something off in those eyes, the high set of his mandibles and the way the grip on his hand had not loosened throughout the length of their conversation; the man was disturbed by what he had seen and it was getting to him badly. To his former student's credit he handled it admirably. It was only clear to Saren because he knew him so well. "So it's still you in there?" he said at last. You scared me were the words in the subvocals.

With a small grunt Saren forced himself to sit up fully and clasp the black armor of his shoulder. "Yes. Thank you."

A broad smile came across Nihlus' face and he leaned in to settle their foreheads together, which Saren allowed. The medigel was working, the pain was absent and left only a warm sensation against his plates, and along with the soothing rumble through every layer of his lover's tones it chased away the last of the dizziness.

They lingered like that for some time until Saren was certain enough in his stability to return to the Normandy and leave Feros far behind. A safer port was needed and he required Benezia's assistance in understanding and controlling the visions he had received. Course was set to return to Noveria.

The room was entirely empty and silent. Tall ceilings supported by pillars recessing into shadows, water tanged with the scent of salt moving in tracks across the floor, pathways that led to doors that would not open no matter the force he applied. It was only the last of them that opened at his touch, sliding apart to reveal a darkened corridor that glowed a faint blue. He had been here before. He was certain of it, but how he had arrived here Saren was not entirely certain... he kept his pistol drawn as he entered.

Past the near pitch blackness that lay beyond the door the blue grew stronger until it revealed itself to be a set of windows that took up an entire wall, hazy and opaqued by fog. At them stood a figure, back to him, staring into the nothing.

Desolas was his first thought but that wasn't right; it wasn't as broad as his brother has been and there was a tingling in the ports behind his mandibles that indicated the presence of another biotic. Something was wrong here, he could feel it in his skin.

"Who are you." He did not lower the gun.

The figure turned its head and he recognized it immediately: the furrows, the lines, all save the electric blue eyes that glowed out at him through the darkness.

"I have been wondering when you would reach here." It said in his voice, for there was no doubt now that Saren looked at himself. The visage was not twisted beyond recognition though it had tried. Things not natural lanced in and out of his armor, the left arm gone entirely, and his face... He lowered the gun.

"What are you."

The mechanisms locking the other Saren's mandibles flared in a grotesque parody of a smile. "You choose your questions well. I am what would have become of you had you found Edan Had'dar. I am the remains of what the Reapers left of us."

...It was a word he had heard before, somewhere in the screaming locked up in the back of his head. Mercifully unscarred mandibles tightened against his jaw as he looked back unblinkingly at the twisted thing that shared his face. "The Reapers."

"Sovereign is one of many. You have seen them in the Thorian's gift. They are coming, but you stand a chance against them that I never did. Juxhi would have been the first step of many to destroy you but failing to find the scientists' research in that refinery broke that line. Bless the Spirits for both your sakes."

"Both?" Something about the statement troubled him, his question was quiet. It occurred to him that the room did not echo.

The other Saren stared back out at the fog and when he spoke again it was only a single word, voiced with exquisite pain. "Nihlus."

For a moment after that he just breathed and focused on the violation that was the back of his counterpart's head to collect himself. It was long enough for something else to strike his memory and his eyes widened a fraction. "You. The dream, that was you."

"It was for the good of Palaven. Sovereign promised me that when the harvest came Palaven would be spared, and all it would cost me was the only person left that I had ever loved." His arms were folded sharply behind him, shoulders tense, the fingers of the artificial hand twitching faintly as the organic one balled in a fist. "It was a lie. But I believed it because my mind was no longer my own." When he turned those cybernetic eyes locked on his. False though they may have been, there was much to them.

"Now listen to me Saren Arterius. Stop Shepard before he reaches the Conduit. Keep him from this and the Reapers will not be awakened and your world will survive. Fail and everything will be for naught."

The pistol came up again sharply and focused itself directly at the twisted man's brow as Saren narrowed his own darkly. "And if you are this puppet you claim to be, why do you give me warnings?"

"Because I was myself when I died and I remain myself now. The place that I came from did not survive but I remained outside of it. Believe me or not but do not let him reach the Conduit and do not enter that ship or it will do to you as it has to me." The man was clearly insane... but that did not mean that he lied. Saren did not brush things off as impossible easily and there was something in the words that resonated. It just... wasn't something he could explain. He had just started to notice a vicious scar at the curve of the other man's jaw when he blinked and then the room and his doppelganger were gone. Saren was in his quarters on the Normandy once more, though not alone; beside him slept a familiar dark body and the details of earlier in the evening returned.

Yes, the visions had been... particularly disturbing, among the most unsettling things he had experienced in his life. With his limited ability to process them they had become overwhelming, had broken his will under the wish for an infinitely more pleasurable distraction.

Nihlus' pectoral plates were warm to the touch as he brushed a pale talon across one of the fresh lines of ink covering the scarring from Eden Prime. The younger man had brought the supplies onboard to begin fixing the damage done to the intricate swooping lines of his torso tattoos, which had progressed well it seemed. True Saren had seem the work only a few hours ago as he had undressed him but now he took the time to admire them. And when those emerald eyes pulled open slowly and caught the cabin's low light he remembered the last dream that had woken him so suddenly and felt something tighten in his own chest.

The way Nihlus smiled at him was unlike anyone else ever would at Spectre Saren Arterius, broad and genuine and holding back nothing. "Time to get up already?"

"Not quite." His own expression was much more reserved of course, even in bed. But it was much less so than it would have been with anyone else.

That long lean body stretched out before him as Nihlus rose to stretch and Saren's eyes trailed appreciatively down the lines of his back. The memory of bending him over and tracing his hands down dark brown spinal plates as he took him lingered strongly and it took precedence over those of pained cybernetic eyes meeting his through the darkness. "How long till we hit Noveria?" the younger man asked as he continued to put on a show.

"Still another day."

"Well I guess I should leave you to your work then."

Even though Nihlus didn't turn he knew that he was grinning, damn him. He was well aware there was nothing of the sort right now. Saren reached out a hand and caught his waist with a thin leash of biotic blue, pulling him back into bed with a thoroughly disapproving expression though the want in his eyes betrayed his intentions. And as skilled brown hands started to run over his body, his lover's face pressing into the crook of his throat to taste him and breathe him in, thoughts of the disturbing dream receded until it was all but forgotten.

All in all it had been a fairly dull tour of duty thus far on the SSV Normandy. True they'd had a good firefight on Therum and there was the mystery of the monster ship, but as Special Ops Solana and her team had seen much worse. Boring stretches were part of military life however and everyone kept busy in their own ways.

Solana used the time to keep in contact with Lantar, swapping sweet letters and dirty pictures. She never doubted that meeting him during shore leave on Omega (A story in and of itself that she tells best slightly drunk) was the best thing that had ever happened to her, whatever her brother thought of him. Garrus would come around eventually. Hell she'd knock the sense into him if she had to, it was practically her job as an older sibling to punch him in the head when he was being a moron. The grin on her face at the thought disappeared when Hestia came stalking over to the rest of the Unit with her eyes as bright as a Dreadnought's cannons and Spirits what was she up to now? The woman was a hell of a soldier with a gun in her hands but leave her to her own devices too long...

"Alright, whichever one of you is fucking Arterius and hasn't told me about it needs to cough up some details because he's fucking gorgeous and it'd be a sin not to share."

All six turians turned to each other for a moment. No one seemed to look guilty, they all just looked confused. "Don't have the damndest idea what you're talking about soldier."

That didn't stop Hestia's determined march. She halted in front of Garrus and stared up at him with suspicion and a talon jutting deep into his personal space. "It's you isn't it? You've been over the moon ever since we landed this mission and you're so damn good looking- cough it up Vakarian! How big is it and how rough does he use it? Does he like it when you-"

Garrus threw his hands up to cut her off, slack-mandibled and wide eyed. "Spirits that's not- No! I respect Saren as an amazing Spectre, that doesn't mean I want to have sex with him! I'm not even into men!" Unfazed Hestia continued interrogating him until Solana let out a quick chirrup click from her throat to catch everyone's attention.

"Ok Soldier, calm down. You can trust me when I say I know my little brother and he's not having sex with the Spectre. If he's knocking boots with anyone on this ship it's the tank mechanic Jane." Garrus' mandibles predictably shot up six degrees of embarrassed and he was about to try to protest when she cut him off with a gesture and continued speaking to Hestia. "What makes you think anything's even going on with Arterius?"

"I just went by his cabin and it smelled like sex."

To the right Livitus shrugged, barely bothering to look up from the combat sim on his tool. "He could just be jerking off."

That earned a snort and the woman shot him a dubious look. "Please, on a ship full of turians? He's military and he can do better."

"He's Cabal. Spirits know what those people do for stress."

"And Cabal are still turians not vorcha" Solana interrupted, eyes narrowing dangerously on him with a very strong thread of I will not put up with bigoted bullshit in my Unit growling in her subvocals. Livitus lowered his head in acquiescence and they would have all been able to get on with their day if it wasn't for the sound of the elevator swishing open at the far end of the garage.

Like clockwork Livitus, Hestia, and Aella's heads all shot up in unison as Nihlus Kryik rounded the bend. Sol just flicked out a mandible in a silent chuckle at the three of them. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the view, she just had the ability to be more subtle about it. But as he passed by on the other side of the bay to speak to the Battlemaster they caught a whiff of him and he smelled like sex and Hestia's jaw dropped so abruptly it let out an audible click against the cowl of her armor.

"Holy fuck he's fucking Kryik."

Thankfully she'd whispered it; Solana hissed back at her in the same bitten down tone, quashing her subvocals down to nothing. "Jumping to conclusions Soldier. He could probably be sleeping with anyone he wanted on the ship, look at him for the Spirits' sakes!" Ok so maybe that last part wasn't suppose to be said out loud but it was true.

"Nope, made up my mind he's fucking Kryik." She was all but bouncing on her toes at that point. And then Livitus leaned in to whisper and make things worse.

"I'd pay to see that." Bigoted against biotics he might be but if the bulge in his undersuit was anything to go off he was much more open to them when it involved the possibility of seeing Nihlus naked. Hestia stopped staring at the Spectre's waist and snapped her attention around to grab Tarquin by the shoulders.

"Victus, you're an engineer! You can do some of that tech magic with your drone and get us some vid right? Goddess preserve me if that's happening upstairs and I'm not witnessing it I'll-"

That was it. Solana snagged both troublemakers (Aella was at least dignified enough to stay out of this) by their collars into the nearest Mako, engaged the silencer on her omni and spent the next five minutes chastising them about how there was a line for acceptable behavior and trying to rope your fellow soldier into spying on your ship Commander's sex life was several miles over it. Following that she gave them the location she'd used for her last 'private' call from her husband and suggested the two of them work it off and clear their damn heads. By how quickly they took off from the back of the tank when she let them out they were more than happy to oblige. Nihlus seemed to have moved on by that point to talk to Jane, none the wiser.

Spirits help her the sooner they were on the ground shooting things again the better.

Three hours out from Port Hanshan Rana Thanoptis called him to the CIC, and it quickly became evident that something was wrong when a voice came across the internal coms.

"We've got a situation here Commander."

So he could be counted on to be civil during an emergency. Good to know. "Report, Mr. Moreau."

"I've been hailing Hanshan to give them our ETA but all I'm getting back is static. Rana and Tali have been running assessments and the problem is on their end not ours."

"It's not a weather malfunction, someone is jamming them." That was Rana, speaking calmly as her hands flicked over the keys of her console. "According to Miss Zorah it matches frequencies used by the Geth. And then there's this." A final click and the sounds of static and gunfire filled the CIC. Several personnel around the space stopped what they were doing to listen in with raised heads.

"-epeat, there are geth in the area! This is Gianna Parisini of Noveria Internal Affairs and I know it sounds like I'm off my goddamn rocker but there are geth here right now! If anyone can here this we need backup and- shit-!"

It cut off after that and Rana looked up to Saren. "We received it just before I called you. I have yet to be able to return contact."

So Shepard was here. Saren's eyes narrowed; it was time then. "Call all soldiers to the Conference room, I want them assembled in five minutes' time. Continue our current course with caution Mr. Moreau. Your skills may finally be called into use."

"I hear you." the pilot said, all attitude gone in the face of the situation as the static of his line cut out. The crew members at the far side of the galaxy map began to whisper to each other loudly but Rana stood watching him in silence as if waiting. And when Moreau's line was confirmed closed and the CIC was full of disguising chatter he spoke again, too quiet to b overheard.

"Is the contingency I asked for in place on the subject?"

"Yes Commander. The trigger frequency is queued for when you want to use it."

" I will have other issues to deal with once on the ground and Wrex knows his orders. When she defects you are to track her on the ground. If she enters his ship set it off. I put my faith in you on this."

"Yes Commander. I'll keep you updated on any further contact I receive."

Saren left as soon as that was settled and disappeared to the back where personnel were just starting to gather.