Saren suppressed a growl.
He disliked extreme environmental conditions, and while he was good enough at tolerating both heat and cold, he really hated rain. Unfortunately, their latest mission required them to make their way on foot through almost impenetrable jungle, trying to run down an escaped convict, a former asari commando, who had gone to ground on this forsaken world on the edge of Citadel space.
Hunting escaped prisoners wasn't traditionally a job for a Spectre, but this one's identity was apparently problematic, and there were political implications that made it necessary to retrieve the escapee before she could make contact with any of her allies, and to bring her back alive.
Saren liked that last addition to their orders even less.
If it had been up to him, he'd shot the commando's ship to pieces on approach to the planet, instead of just damaging its drive, or at least hit the other ship's landing site - or crash site, as the case might be - with a few incendiary missiles instead of taking the trouble to look for a landing spot and then wander through thick rainforest to apprehend their quarry.
There was even a turian cruiser circling the planet now who would have been in perfect position to torch the site from low orbit. Or at least the surrounding forest, to cut off the asari's escape routes.
Sadly, that wasn't an option. Supposedly there were both environmental concerns and industrial interests about some resources that were collected from the rainforest that opposed Saren's more simple, and in his opinion elegant, solution.
Hence, their current trip through dripping green vegetation. Saren didn't like dense growth like that for any number of tactical reasons, but even more so, it simply made him uneasy. It was just something about the randomness of the terrain.
Nihlus, on the other hand, was in an almost offensive good mood. The rain didn't bother him, the damp atmosphere that irritated Saren's lungs seemed to agree with him, and from the way he moved through the dense vegetation he almost seemed to belong here. Saren knew how to operate in this sort of terrain, but he was very much aware that with him it was something that had needed training, and still took conscious effort.
Nihlus was moving along casually, leaving almost no trace of his passing, his attention on his scanner that still insisted their target hadn't moved away from the ship. The scanner also indicated they getting close to the downed ship. With any luck, the commando would still be inside her ship and in no condition to resist them. Not that Saren believed in luck.
"This is a nice break from the dismal places we usually go." Nihlus said, shaking excess wetness from his fringe with all signs of contentment. "Could be a bit warmer, but still, pleasant enough."
The thought of this humidity at even higher temperature was enough to make Saren shiver in disgust. "I take it you were born in some jungle like that," he said sourly.
"Born, no. Raised, most definitely. So before you feel you have to make any more snide comments on this, let me spare you the trouble. Yes, it feels a bit like home, and no, I'm not going to feel ashamed about that, regardless of what you say." He gave Saren a quick look, humour sparkling in his green eyes. "And you're not going to spoil it for me, however badly you hate this jungle. Or jungles in general. Or the whole universe and life in general." Still grinning, he turned his head away again and continued on his way.
Saren shook his head, not even trying to reply to that. He had fallen back a bit, letting Nihlus take the lead, as he had often done during the last missions.
He pondered Nihlus' reply to his dig, and found it, on the whole, quite satisfactory. Nihlus had calmed down a lot lately, and it was no longer so painfully easy to get a rise out of him. He'd probably never quite lose that attitude, and that tendency to come over as lacking respect, but that wasn't really a problem. Both as a fighter and as a tactician, he'd shown enough growth that Saren couldn't find much fault with either anymore. He'd do well to shift the focus of his training to other aspects soon, Saren realised. Nihlus, as he was now, would excel in any specialist unit he'd be assigned to. But as a Spectre, he needed more than just those skills.
He had to learn how this galaxy worked, who the major players and their goals were, what rules there were and when and how to break those.
Part of his mind was scanning the surrounding jungle for any signs of trouble, but the rest of it was already busy planning in how to best make his trainee learn those important skills.
He was focused enough on planning that he even forgot the rain.