It was bad enough that the contact they had been come to meet at this warehouse in one of the marginally better districts of Omega had obviously lured them into a trap and locked them in. Saren really hated when anyone tried that trick on him, although part of him had expected something like that to happen. After all, this was Omega, not part of Council space and in a constant state of violence and anarchy By now there almost certainly was a number of low-life bearing grudges and heavy weapons already on the way to meet them, but that also was only to be expected. It was that admission by his trainee was the part that took the Spectre by surprise.
Nihlus met his eyes with a furious green stare of his own. "I'm not a tech expert or engineer. You read my file, and you know my training only included basic engineering. Where else would I have learned?"
Saren shook his head impatiently. "Then what would be your way of getting out of traps like these? Set explosive charges?"
The younger turian snarled. "If that's what it takes."
Saren resisted the urge to gouge his claws either over the door, which would have just made an unpleasant noise, or his trainee's face, which would have meant at least more paperwork in the end. He flared his mandibles in annoyance, but acknowledged that this wasn't the time for further discussion and bent over the lock's interface.
"Useless." he growled under his breath as he started to hack the lock's controls.
"Useless, am I?" his trainee snapped. "If you think that, then why even consider me for Spectre training?"
"You showed at least potential. I thought you could learn." Saren stated in a clipped voice that should have ended the conversation.
"Of course I could. If you'd take the time to explain yourself every now and then, I'd even have a chance."
"You mean to tell me you can't learn from observation? You really think that everyone will always pause and take the time to spell things out to you?" Saren snapped.
"I can learn from observation, if I know the context. With most of what you do, or expect me to do, I don't."
Saren growled, but kept his tone even with some effort. "This isn't the time for this."
"Of course not." Nihlus replied, making not even a token attempt to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "It never is."
The Spectre didn't acknowledge his words, but his mandibles lowered, exposing his teeth in a silent, angry snarl. He finished his work and hit the interface with perhaps a bit more force than strictly necessary, and the lock switched to open.
"Let's go." he said with a sideways look at his trainee, and for once, said trainee obeyed silently.
They made their way back to Saren's ship without being challenged any further. Nihlus hadn't offered any further comments, and Saren had been lost in thought, going over this failed mission in his mind.
Maybe he was going about all of this in a less than efficient way. He had to admit to himself that he had no previous experience in teaching anyone, in any subject. His own experiences in learning probably weren't universally applicable, either. As loath as he was to admit it, even only to himself, he might have made a mistake there and there were only two options: discontinue this training immediately, and admit failure, or correct it.
Saren rarely admitted failure. He wasn't about to do that now, not before he had exhausted every other option. This just would take some more work, on both of their sides, and he wasn't adverse to that. It hadn't been his choice in the first place, but now he was committed to this project, and he'd see it through, with the same single-mindedness and lack of care about collateral damage as was his approach to any other mission he accepted.
He never did anything half-way. This here could be no difference, he supposed.
And like any mission it was hard work, harder than anticipated. Saren considered the problem of his trainee's difficult character with the same distant, analytical mindset he applied to any other mystery he was trying to solve or operation he was trying to plan. Nihlus was stubborn as hell, and his response to being pushed in any was was to push back just as hard. He stood his ground, even and especially against Saren, but so far it was the courage of someone who had nothing left to lose. Courage stemming from desperation was often enough to get out of immediate peril, but it wasn't enough to sustain one in the long run. He needed to replace that brash recklessness with calm confidence. It was possible to scare Nihlus, but fear apparently only strengthened his resolve. So did physical pain, for that matter. Trying to beat any sense into the younger turian was just a waste of energy. Nihlus had proven himself to be quite intelligent, Saren had been relieved to find, even to an unexpected degree, but for all his experience in surviving among others who were just as unpredictable and undisciplined in their tempers he wasn't very good at observing and reading others. There was a lot more than simple mechanical skills that his trainee had to learn, and learn quickly, and Saren wasn't quite sure yet how to accomplish that, or whether it was even possible. What he was certain of was that Nihlus learned best and fastest with being challenged, but not threatened or forced into a specific course of action. The trick seemed to be to challenge him and leave the resources he needed within his reach, and leave him alone to find his own path.
It was a far more delicate and time-consuming approach than Saren had ever taken with anyone, and it annoyed him to have to take it at all, but it was the most efficient way of dealing with this. So that was what he would do.
Nihlus was in his own cabin when Saren came looking for him. Saren had expected the younger turian to be sulking again, but instead he found his trainee sitting on his bunk, reading from a datapad. At his approach, Nihlus turned the datapad off and set it aside, giving a good impression at having been caught at doing something he wanted to hide. Saren wouldn't have cared in the least about what his trainee was doing in his spare time, but the glimpse of the data-pad's contents that he'd gotten before it had been turned off had neither been entertainment vids of any kind nor games or recreational literature. It had been schematics, and Saren had recognised them, of course. Not the best way to go about this, but he approved of the attempt. It reinforced his belief that the younger turian might worth all that trouble, after all. Saren was good at calculating the responses of other people, and Nihlus wasn't exactly difficult to read. Yet every now and then he did something that managed to surprise Saren, and that was a rare quality. He approved of that. Being unpredictable improved one's chances of survival, as he himself knew very well.
There was no need to let his trainee know how sharp his eyesight really was, though.
"If you get tired of whatever vids you're watching, you might try these." Saren said in a careless tone, tossing a couple of datapads on Nihlus' bunk. "You don't need to be a tech expert to override locks. You just have to understand the principle to subvert it. If I'm not mistaken the ship's VI should have several simulations left somewhere if you need some sort of visual aid or practice."
The simulations were up-to-date as well, since Saren had just downloaded and installed them, but Nihlus didn't need to know that either.
Nihlus stared at him, clearly in equal measure surprised and wary, and Saren suppressed a sigh. That reaction was neither unexpected nor the wrong one, but it showed that Nihlus would need a lot more practice at reading situations and at keeping his own expressions less obvious.
"No, there's no trap or misinformation in the manuals I just gave you. A certain measure of paranoia is a necessary quality in this profession, but if you consider the situation further you will come to see that I have no reason to hinder your education and a good motive to advance it. I've kept you along for too long now to easily dismiss you as unsuitable. That would reflect badly on me, just as any mistakes or bad decisions you make while under my command. So it's in my best interest to have you learn, and learn quickly."
The reasons he had just given might not be as strictly true as he had said, as there would be no consequences at all and no questions asked if he came up with some more hidden flaw in his trainee that rendered him unsuitable for the job. Still, the fact itself was true, he wanted Nihlus to learn and ultimately to succeed, and he briefly wondered if and when Nihlus would catch up to both the truth and the lie, and call him out on it.
When he did, it would mark another step in his progress.
"On another note, if you really don't understand any decisions I make, you are to ask, and I will explain." Nihlus' eyes widened in clear surprise, and Saren again suppressed a sigh at the certainty that there would be a lot of forced explanation in his immediate future. "I will answer your questions, but I will not tolerate any lack of respect, and I will not be provoked by you. Are we clear on that?"
"Yes. Of course," Nihlus said, his tone professional and with some deference, but as always his subtones spoke quite a different language.
You are so going to regret this.
Saren found he was agreeing with that sentiment. He shook his head, tempted to add another warning, but then simply turned away and left.
Sometimes it was better to pick one's battles carefully.
Besides, he had another more immediate task ahead, one he would take on on his own. There was a certain informant to hunt down that needed to be reminded that Saren took being led into a trap rather personal.
Saren flexed his claws as he gave in to a humourless, grim grin. Very personal, in fact.