When Charlie finally stopped running she tried to set Grace down, however the girl was rather opposed to the plan. So she awkwardly slid off her backpack, working around the clinging child, and repositioned Grace to her back. She then pulled her machete out of the satchel and set to clearing a section of the jungle for a camp. Her backpack was filled with everything a single person would need for 3 or 4 days in the wilderness: A single person tent, a couple of tarps, a blanket, plenty of water and ration bars, and a small first aid kit. Charlie really did not want to set up camp, she wanted to sit by herself and let her mind dwell on the horrific events of the past 2 hours. However the crying girl took precedence and she had promised Ethan she would take care of her.

After a very long thirty minutes of wrestling with the tent with a child threatening to strangle her on her back, she eventually got Grace to sit down and drink some water. Charlie then emptied her pockets of the scavenged supplies and positioned herself at the front of the tent, with the assault rifle resting on her knees.

"I finished my water", Grace spoke from behind her. "Can I get back in your lap?"

"Sure." Charlie set the gun aside, but within arm's reach. If she was being honest with herself, she was grateful for the girl's presence. It was comforting and grounding to be needed by someone else. Grace crawled into Charlie's lap and wrapped arms around her waist.

"Can you tell me a story?" Grace asked after a while.

Charlie looked down at the six year old, she just barely managed to wrestle back the tears that were trying to form. Grace had started demanding to be told stories after Charlie had made the mistake of telling her the first one. She had been throwing an epic temper tantrum out of angry exhaustion and Debbie had the look of a mother pushed too far. So Charlie had forced the girl to sit next to her in bed and told her the tale of "The Princess Bride". Since then Charlie had recounted, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (which Grace was positive was about Charlotte), "The Lord of The Rings" (heavily abridged), "The Lion King", and every other fairytale, movie, or book she could recall. This time, however, she decided to tell a different story.

"Well, once upon a time, there were a people called the Hebrews. A long time ago, they had a wonderful land that was all theirs, but at the start of this story they were living in a strange land. The people who lived there had made them their servants. So they had to spend all of their days working in the fields and building monuments for their masters."

"Is this a good story? I want a happy story."

"Well like most stories something bad has to happen first, before the good things can happen. I don't usually give away the endings, but I promise that this one has a happy one." She leaned down to kiss the girl's forehead and continued the tale.

Once Grace had drifted off to sleep, Charlie was able to consider the day. She could feel the nagging tug at the back of mind and the old whispering voice had come back. Charlie's hands were still covered in the orange blood and as she sat there studying them the voice got louder.

Orange blood, well that isn't right.

True very true. Would it possibly be called inhuman?

I don't like what you're getting at.

Okay well consider this, what did Ethan call the slavers?

Batarians?

Riiiiight. I think we've heard that word before.

Well that doesn't mean anything. It was a stupid game. He could have just as easily called them andorians and you'd be telling me that I was in a Star Trek episode.

True, but what color blood did batarians have?

I don't remember. Also if aliens existed, why did no one mention this to me? I mean that feels like it would have been kind of a big deal.

Yes, you do remember and you're just being stubborn. I don't know why they wouldn't mention aliens, but don't you think they probably thought you already knew?

Listen I have watched, read, and played a lot of science fiction. Now we're in the future, I mean some of it had to turn out real enough. I'll admit that this is scarily accurate and maybe if I had seen four eyes I might, might mind you, believe you. But this could just be a giant coincidence.

I'll give you that one, but let's not forget everything else. We're on a planet in a place called the Attican Traverse, you have to remember that one. All those times in the war room looking at that damn map.

Shit. I'm still not convinced though. What else do you have?

Medi-gel.

Nope I'm not giving you that one. It stands for Medical Gel. That's generic enough that it quite possibly came about naturally.

How about the fancy folding guns?

Again that could just be a coincidence, like medi-gel.

Well who is the manufacturer of the guns?

I don't know, Ethan kept his painted matte black.

True, but the batarians didn't.

Charlie looked that the assault rifle lying beside her on the ground. Her stupid inner voice was right, she could just make out the logo. Charlie really didn't want to reach out and check, mostly because she wasn't sure she wanted to know. If this was just a game, then that would cheapen everything she had been through. Cody, Jess, and Debbie were dead; could even her sick and twisted imagination make something like this up? Her eyes sought Grace's sleeping face and stroked the girl's hair. No, there are too many details. Charlie could clearly recall the past year living with these people. The late night drinking games, the hours of sparring, every blow she had taken, the first time she glued a wound closed, the raptor's teeth shredding her arm, and a million other details. They were real memories and experiences, that can't be dreamt up. Whatever clue that gun held, no matter what, it didn't matter; this right here was real.

Charlie reached down, lifted the gun up, and studied the logo. She couldn't read the language, but didn't think she recognized the symbol. It appeared to be a stylized white sword.

Well that wasn't informative.

The handgun yielded more information. Charlie did not recognize the symbol, but she could read the language. "Kassa Fabrications" She almost dropped the gun on Grace and instead placed it on the ground with the logo facing down.

Holy Shit.

The trip through the mass relay didn't take much time, as usual. After they arrived in the system a quick scan showed that a ship had recently jumped to FTL. That left the Argo to guess at which of the other two systems the ship had travelled to within the cluster. They chose the wrong system and lost a full day travelling through the cluster. This delay was taxing on the entire crew, but none more so than Garrus Vakarian. Though no one had asked his opinion, he had done his own research and also came to the conclusion that the batarians had headed for the Hemon System. After all there were two fairly large colonies one of the planets. He did not know why they travelled to the Ithaca System. There was only a single colony located there and an unmanned orbiting research platform. The Alliance had not given the Argo detailed information on the colony and seemed reluctant even to mention it. Garrus didn't know why, but a couple hundred people was not a profitable target for a massive batarian cruiser. It just didn't make sense.

"Maybe it's a secret research base?" He asked the interior of the Mako.

Whatever the batarians' reasons, they were only four hours away from the colony on Mindoir. Garrus' omni-tool pinged with an incoming message.

V,

We've got 3 hours till the briefing, are you going to spend that whole time locked in the Mako pouting?

-M

Garrus chuckled despite her taunt, he had been ignoring Cecilia for the past couple of days. He was also off-duty until the upcoming mission, maybe he should make it up to her. He was about to send the message when something occurred him. He reached up, unlocked the hatch, and pushed it open.

"You know it's not nice to sneak up on people when they're working."

A female face appeared in the opening to look at him, before spreading her mandibles wide in a grin. "I've been up here for ten minutes; you really need to pay attention to your surroundings. I thought snipers were supposed to be good at situational awareness."

"I guess I'll have to add shady females to my list of creatures to study the movements of. Now unless you're planning to join me down here, you need to back up so I can get out."

Cecilia landed lightly in front of him.

"Who says I'm not going to join you in here? Maybe I'll give you some tips concerning the movements of shady females."

Garrus tried to maintain the disapproving glare, but a twitch of his mandible belied his effort. "As tempted, as I'm sure you are Lia," His breath caught when Cecilia ran a talon across his waist with an evil look in her eyes. "I mean what female wouldn't want all of this." Garrus gave a weak chuckle, in an attempt to regain his confidence. He then stepped around her and pulled himself out of the vehicle, he offered her an arm to help her out.

"You are no fun," she said with a pout, before accepting the arm and pulling herself out of the Mako.

"Oh I don't know about that. There are plenty of places I can be fun in, just not ones that will get me a second reprimand."

"Sparring first or are we heading straight for the barracks?"

Garrus grabbed Cecilia's waist, pulled her close, and growled in her ear. "Sparring. My dear, I never skip the foreplay."

It was dark.

Very, very dark.

Grace was still asleep, but Charlie had managed to get her into the tent. The jungle was as silent as it was dark and that was not a good omen. Charlie was not sure if maybe it was the horrific events of the day or perhaps it was the year of training with Ethan, but something was making her very cautious. She had already cleaned both weapons, secured the pistol to her side, and was loosely holding the assault rifle in her arms; crouched on the jungle floor ready to defend against whatever dared to attack them. She was jumpy, to put it mildly. Of course there was another reason for her anxiety. It kept her attention away from the very real possibility that she was living in a computer game.

Charlie snapped her head towards the south; she thought she had heard the first rustle of leaves her ears had noticed for over an hour. The sound was getting closer now and it was definitely coming towards them. She swiveled her whole body towards the direction and let her senses tell her what was going to emerge from the brush. The noise was close to the ground, so its size was small to medium, and she could not feel any vibrations, so it was light as well. When she realized that there were multiple sources of the noise, she cursed silently. There was a herd of raptors coming towards her and she was alone. No, not alone. It was worse than that. She had Grace to look after.

The first one broke through the brush and she unloaded four three-round bursts into its body as it skidded to the ground in front of her. Two more had burst through, as well but they were running past her without any concern for the fate of their brother. That was when Charlie heard it. A deep screeching roar that chilled her skin and made her hands falter on the rifle. Charlie did not know what creature it belonged to, but she was suddenly very aware of the tremors coming from the ground. Something a lot bigger than a raptor was crashing through the jungle. Something furry and monkey shaped clawed in the back of her mind and finally spurred the woman in motion.

Charlie reached into the tent to grab a drowsy Grace, who had been rudely woken up by the gunfire. Scrambling through the underbrush she ran as fast as the terrain would permit her back towards the colony.

follow the raptors not us/follow the raptors not us/follow the raptors not us/follow the raptors not us

The massive creature did not hear Charlie's silent chant, as it changed direction and followed her. She knew that she could not beat it in a fair footrace, especially not with Grace wrapped around her front; so she decided to make her path as difficult to follow as she could. Charlie slipped between every narrow opening in the trees and avoided every clearing on her way back. It took more time that way, especially with the jungle being dark; but it caused the creature to fall back.

Thanking God that the creature was not an intelligent one; Charlie reached the edge of the jungle, ran across the very large vegetable garden, and towards the silent colony. She finally came to a stop around the corner of one of the identical houses; she vaguely remembered it belonging to James Frisco. Charlie was out of breath and panting as she leaned against the side of the house and kept a cautious eye on the tree line.

"Grace, I need you to help me out here," she said as she set the girl down. "I need you to watch that tree line. If you see anything come out of there or you hear anything I want you to tell me. No, don't worry I'm not leaving you alone." Charlie added as Grace's face filled with panic. "I just need a big girl to help me out while I make sure no one is here." Grace nodded her head solemnly and turned to watch the trees. The batarians had not cut the power so the lights were still on and lit up the surrounding jungle.

Charlie kept the girl in sight as she crept towards the end of the house to peer at the street. When she was about to reach the corner, she heard a noise. It sounded like an animal; it was a deep bass rumbling noise, interspersed with chirps and whistling. She had never heard such an impossible mix of harmonics, but it was on the other side of the house and she hoped it had not noticed her. Drawing a deep breath Charlie sharply turned the corner with her rifle raised and the safety off.

Charlie's eyes widen at the 7 foot tall creature in black and silver armor. Her head barely came up to his mid chest. She didn't have time to gawk as the hulking man growled at her.

"Stop or I'll shoot," she tried to put the commanding tone that Ethan used so well in her voice and was thus surprised when came out like a squeak.

The man, or whatever he was, was clearly unimpressed as he quickly reached as impossibly long arm out to move her rifle, while reaching for his own gun on his back. Charlie didn't really have time to assess this new threat, she didn't know who he was and what he was doing here, but she was damn sure she wasn't going to let him kill her or Grace. So, she stepped forward and threw all of her weight into punching his exposed armpit, she was vaguely aware that she shattered her right hand doing so. He was clearly surprised at her action as he stumbled, dropped her rifle, and grunted. Still moving she stepped behind him, kicked the back of his left knee, and forced him into a kneeling position. Simultaneously she pulled out her knife, gripped the back of his sloping helmet, and pressed the blade to his throat.

He was trying to grapple her with his free arms, so she set one foot on his leg spur, and put some weight on it. "I already slit one alien bastard's throat today, try me." She spoke in a low tone and for a wonder he actually stopped moving. Apparently she did menacing a lot better than commanding, or maybe it was just that she really meant those words.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Charlie wasn't sure if the chirrups and humming were his response or not, but either way she had no idea what it meant.

She was about to try and question him again when she heard more of the alien speech coming from in front of her. She counted six more of the armored aliens and they were all leveling weapons at Charlie. The first thing that struck her about the aliens, was that they were clearly turians. The second was that they were of varying heights and builds, Charlie seemed to remember that they all seemed to look alike in the game, but then again this was real life. It was most certainly not a game.

"I don't want to hurt him, but I need to know who you are."

There was another chorus of almost musical humming.

"I can't understand you, but you're still pointing weapons at me. If you understand me, lower them." She was spacing the words out, as if that would help convey their meaning.

A few of them lowered their weapons and it was enough to let her know that they could understand her words. However, two of them took a menacing step forward.

Charlie straightened herself and repositioned the knife, tilting her captive's head further back. "Don't think I won't do it."

Her prisoner sent a few harsh hums and chirrups and the turians stepped backwards once more and lowered their weapons.

"Good. Now I will let him go only if I'm certain I will not be harmed. I don't know how you are going to prove that, but …"

She trailed off when an seventh man joined the group and stepped to the front. He was taller than most of them and his armor was slightly different.

"No … harm." His voice was cracking and the words were difficult to make out, but she thought she could understand him. He placed a hand on his chest. "Military … aid."

Charlie could feel the tension melting out of her body. She wasn't sure if he was telling the truth, but dammit she wanted to believe him. She was just starting to let the captive go when Grace came running around the corner screaming, "HereHerehere!"

Charlie dropped the knife and let go of the turian in an instant. She scrambled past him to grab the child, who had stopped moving at the sight of the many aliens. When she had lifted the girl she saw what had sent the girl screaming. It was the creature that had been chasing them earlier and Charlie had been correct, it was massive. It stood on two legs about 20 feet off the ground and was, at least, double that in length. It's head was vaguely shaped like a crocodile and it had two long powerful arms tipped with claws. A good portion of its body was covered in heavy dark green plating, especially on its back where the plating arched to protect its spine. Oh, and it was charging straight at the two girls.

Charlie let out an unintelligible cry and blindly turned to her right to run. However, the previously captive turian was still in the process of standing up and she ran straight into him and all three of them went tumbling to the ground in a heap. In the confusion of the fall, Charlie right ankle got tangled up with the turian's and caused her leg to pull sideways, when she landed on that knee the pain caused darkness to threaten her vision.

Grace's hands clenching her face and her piercing scream in her ear, brought Charlie's mind into focus again. When she came around the turian was gone and the terrifying beast was standing over her and Grace. The group of turians on the other side of the beast had opened fire and were drawing its attention away from the prone girls. Charlie tried to stand up, but the damage to her leg made that impossible and she fell back down to the ground.

Strong hands were trying to take Grace away from her and she struggled with them, but the darkness was attempting to take her again and her strength was failing. Grace was pulled away from her and Charlie let out a pitiful sob. Then a hand and an arm came back, wrapped under her arms and across her back, and lifted her to a standing position. The beast was still roaring in fury as they hobbled around a house to take cover. The turian lowered her down as gently as he could and gave a very willingly Grace back to her. Resting against the building, Charlie looked down at her leg. It was definitely broken. The lower portion of her right leg was almost perpendicular to her body and the knee was a swollen mess of blood. Just the sight of it, almost made Charlie vomit and she probably would have if Grace wasn't in her arms.

The turian who had saved her was firing at the creature and was using the biggest sniper rifle Charlie had ever seen. The familiar double tap reminded her so much of Ethan that it calmed her. It was such an odd time to feel calm. The monster was raging in painful fury somewhere behind her, sounds of gunfire, and the pain from her leg threatening to overtake her; but just the confident retort of a sniper rifle and the soft clicks of ammo change boosted Charlie's spirit.

"Are they going to take us away like the bad men and the Egyptians?" Charlie almost didn't hear Grace's quiet query through the cacophony surrounding them.

"No, I don't think they will. They're good people. Like the Kenites."