Garrus Vakarian was having one of the oddest days of his short military career. When they finally made it to the Ithaca system the batarians were gone. Garrus was of the opinion that they should leave immediately to continue the chase, but instead the order was to search the human colony for survivors. The lieutenant thought this was a pointless exercise as the batarians rarely left survivors. As it turned out, Captain Victus had made the right call.

The first twenty minutes they spent on the surface of Mindoir were decidedly uneventful. However, that changed when the Garrus found himself held at gunpoint by the tallest human female he had ever seen, he honestly didn't know they came that size. He made the mistake of underestimating her and let himself get caught completely off guard; which he definitely shouldn't have since she was holding a batarian assault rifle and there was really only one way you get one of those in your possession. Her voice and appearance had also caused him to label her as non-threatening. She was wearing filthy torn clothes and her tone was a frightened squeak. So when she attacked him he was stunned, he froze up and she had him at her mercy so quickly that it was frankly embarrassing. He had never spent much time around humans, but Garrus could hear the truth in her voice when she told him that she had killed already and would do so again. She obviously had never fought a turian before, because the position of the knife was wrong. He was contemplating his counter attack and would have subdued her, but he underestimated her again and now she was threatening to break his spur. She was obviously scared of them, but not the wild sort of fear that caused one to make rash decisions. The honest kind, she was trying to talk to them and reason with them. Garrus found himself listening to her words and thought he trusted them, so he ordered his men back. He was contemplating wringing the neck of whatever idiot decided that a human translation program wasn't part of the required omni-tool data package, when Captain Victus calmed her down.

Garrus definitely understood the woman with the short black curly fringe, or what was it the humans called it? Anyways, he understood her fear when the small human came shrieking out to them. He would have probably killed everyone there, if someone had threatened his child. He shivered, thinking about his sister Solanna. True she was much older than this girl, but the thought of harm coming to her itched under his plates. The momentary pain of where she dug into his spur was forgiven, when Garrus saw the frantic love in which she clung to the child.

Of course that was when his day became truly odd. The confident woman who had moved like liquid fire and gotten the upper hand on him, Garrus Vakarian sparring champion, in hand-to-hand combat, no less; had barreled into him so poorly and with such lack of grace that she cracked his spur. Though when he saw the 6 foot long head full of teeth and hate, come around the corner; he quickly and painfully pulled himself out from under her and the screaming child. He ran for cover behind a house and when he looked back he saw the woman crumple to the ground. It was foolish to run back for her, with the massive angry beast swinging its tail dangerously low to the ground. He knew that one bad hit with that tail could end him, but Garrus could not and would not let that frightened child and the brave woman with the large dangerous eyes die. So he ran back for them dodging the swinging tail as he tried to stay behind the creature. Garrus felt bile rising in the back of his throat when he saw the ruined leg and briefly wondered how she was staying conscious. The child fought him as he staggered under the woman's weight and his own fractured talon.

Garrus' favorite thing in the universe was firing his Armax Arsenal Punisher. He wasn't just good, he was well on his way to being damned good. After he deposited the females in cover, Garrus went down on one knee and lifted his sniper rifle's scope to his eye and went about bringing the creature down. The problem with the monster was that it was armored, Garrus had never seen such a heavily armored creature before and, coming from a turian who grew up on Palaven, that means quite a bit. The rest of the squad was slowly wearing it down, but there were two causalities he that he could see. He couldn't tell the extent of their injuries, but he thanked the spirits that Cecilia had not been assigned to the ground squad. It took about a minute, which can feel like forever in a fight, but eventually Garrus was able to make an impressive head shot in between the plates.

Feeling quite victorious as he removed the stifling helmet, he almost missed the small tug on his arm.

"Mister, can you help?"

Garrus looked down into the pleading eyes of the tiny human child. She was trembling and let out a small squeak at the sight of his face. Clearly, he thought, she's never seen a turian before. He glanced over at the mother. She was pale, sweating, and shivering; he knew that this was shock, but he didn't know what to do. Garrus quickly called in his location and requested a medic, as he rushed over to the woman.

With turians you're supposed lie them down and elevate the legs. Spirits, look at her leg though.

The medic had yet to arrive so he gently shifted her from the sitting position and moved her to the grass. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him. Garrus didn't think it was fear, but it was definitely surprise and maybe a little panic. Surely a grown woman has seen a turian? The child was kneeling on the ground hugging her mother's arm. Garrus found himself making soothing noises and stroking the girl's back.

The medic who arrived, Garrus couldn't remember his name, was definitely not his favorite male in the galaxy. He quickly took charge of the situation and was handling the woman much too roughly for Garrus' tastes. When the cloaca realized that the pair couldn't understand him, he set to making extremely xenophobic remarks regarding their heritage. However, Garrus did not completely snap until the man yanked the girl's arm away from her mother with malice.

"Get your hands off of her." Garrus' subvocals ached with rage.

"I can't do my job with this clinging pyjak in the way!" The medic snapped right back.

Garrus hated the male's tone and choice of language, but he really hated that he was right. Garrus crouched down and held a hand out to the little girl. For a wonder, the little girl took it and then scrambled up in his arms. When the medic declared the mother stable, Garrus found himself holding the clinging child as he followed him back to the shuttle.

"Can you find someone else to hold the girl? We could use you down here, Vakarian." Captain Victus asked as Garrus passed him.

"Uh sure. I mean yes, sir. Of course."

However, the little girl, Grace Talitha Wallis she had informed him, absolutely refused to go with anyone else and clung tightly to his neck when he tried to put her down.

"Nononononononono. I'm staying right here with Growlie."

Eventually Victus acquiesced, though he had chuckled loudly at the name Grace had bestowed on him.

"Well Lieutenant Growlie, I guess you better head up to the Argo."

As Garrus turned to leave, trying desperately not to earn his new name by growling at his commanding officer, Captain Victus added, "By the way, good job out here."

So maybe it was an odd day, but Garrus was sure that it had also been a good day.

"Are you kidding, I'm right behind you."

"Scratch one!"

"Definitely"

"No Shepard without Vakarian."

Vakarian

"Vakarian," Charlie croaked the name out loud. Her right leg felt like it was on fire and for some reason her right hand was also in pain. Actually her whole body was sore and full of aches. She wasn't sure where she was or what she was laying on, but it sure as hell was not a bed. Charlie wasn't sure she wanted to open her eyes, as she could feel the bright lights stinging through her eyelids. She felt movement to her left and then there were cold, small fingers clutching her arm.

A cautious peek through a crack in her eyelids, revealed a grinning Grace sitting by the extremely hard bed.

"Hey you." She rasped as she moved her left hand to tousle the girl's hair.

There was a gentle admonishing rumble and a chirp that was followed by a monotone voice saying, "Do not grab her too roughly, small child. This woman is still injured."

Frowning at the strange voice, Charlie looked past Grace and found the owner. Grace was perched on the lap of a very large turian wearing even larger armor. He was at once familiar and foreign to Charlie. His face followed the classic lines that he had possessed in the game, but there was more movement and life in this face. His skin tone was silver-grey, but there were little bits shimmer mixed in the plates not unlike polished granite. It wasn't like he was glowing, but when his head turned and caught the light the slight reflection made his plates look vaguely opalescent. His eyes though were different or maybe it was just that these eyes were real; and no graphics engine can give those ice-blue orbs emotion. There was one identifying mark that was exactly the same and it was the only reason that Charlie knew that this was, in fact Garrus Vakarian. The thick sweeping blue line that came up one side of his face, crossed his nose, and finished in an identical sweep down the other side.

"I apologize if Grace disturbed your rest."

Charlie's eyes, which were already fairly wide open, defied biology and opened wider.

Garrus Vakarian, I'm talking to Garrus Vakarian.

...

Well aren't you going to give me bit of wisdom wrapped up in snark?

I've got nothing.

"I am pleased with your recovery." Garrus scowled at the orange blur on his arm.

Holy shit, it's an omni-tool.

"I feel I must apologize for the inadequacy of this translation program. This was the only program available and it is not conveying my meaning well."

"It's alright. I'm just glad I don't have to hold a knife to your throat to talk anymore." Her weak chuckle, brought her to a coughing fit. Though she was rewarded with a flare of his mandibles, which she really hoped was a smile even though it looked terrifying.

"Yes, that was a most unfortunate incident. Do you require water?"

A nod of the head reminded her of the migraine, but also brought her water; so it was a decent trade. Her throat felt much better now that it was moist.

"Your injuries were quite severe; however the physician was able to correct the damage. You will regain full mobility in the leg," he gave her a cautious look, "though it may prove wise to refrain from punching turians, if you wish to avoid another broken hand and wrist."

Charlie gave him another chuckle, which in turn caused him to flash her another terrifying smile.

"I can't believe I got the jump on a turian soldier, you must not be a very good one."

Garrus' mandibles slacked and his mouth hung open. Charlie froze and silently cursed her stupid impulsive mouth. The conversation was just so easy and felt so natural to her; that her stupid mind let her slip into the old rhythm of banter.

Dammit Charlie, you don't know this person. He's not your friend.

Garrus quickly recovered though, "I was not expecting an impressive attack from such a soft specimen of a human female."

They both chuckled then and Charlie once more relaxed.

"I am Lieutenant Garrus -"

"Vakarian," Charlie and the monotone voice spoke at the same time.

Garrus' plates bunched together and his eyes narrowed. Charlie froze for a second time and stuttered, "I, uh, must have … heard someone say it."

His plates marginally relaxed. "So, umm, I hope Grace didn't give you any trouble?"

Garrus flared a slight smile, "No, in fact, she was quite well behaved."

"I like Mr. Growlie. He's nice." Grace piped up once she heard her name. Then seeing as Charlie was clearly doing well enough to talk, she crawled in bed with her.

Garrus stood up and moved toward the door. "I should return to my station."

"Wait, I never said thank you."

"You also never apologized."

"I'm not saying I'm sorry for taking you hostage, you were in my colony. However, I am saying thank you for coming back and getting Grace and I away from that … thing and also for making sure I got here." She motioned vaguely the room.

"It was my pleasure."

And then he was gone.

Soon after Garrus left, a doctor walked in and checked on her. Apparently, she had shattered her knee cap and broken her tibia. The doctor was frankly surprised that Charlie's story corroborated Garrus' own account. Apparently the physician was under the impression that there had to be more to the tale than "falling on it the wrong way". She informed him that she was just naturally gifted at accruing painful injuries; unfortunately he did not find her amusing. When he was finished poking and prodding, he asked if he could get her anything. Charlie only wanted one thing.

"Could I have some paper and a pen?" At the doctors confused face she added, "I want to be able to write some things down, but I also want to be able to take it with me when I leave here."

He bobbed his head in a bird-like fashion and handed her a bendable piece of opaque plastic. After Charlie gave him a blank stare, he showed her how to activate the screen and how bring up an English keypad. Charlie grinned at the unassuming marvel of technology.

"I can keep this?" She asked the doctor with a wild look of hunger in her eyes.

"Yes, of course. It is just a writing pad. We have quite a few of them." As he left, he quietly mumbled a few words that weren't picked up by the translator, though Charlie was pretty sure that she heard "humans" before he was gone.

Charlie really wanted to dive into her project, but she realized that she had been neglecting Grace. The poor girl had had a terrifying 24 hours and had lost both of her parents.

"Grace? How are you?"

"I'm ok. Mr. Growlie gave me some food, but it was gross."

Charlie sighed. She had no idea what she should say to her. Should she ask about her parents or would that make her feel worse? Charlie was many things, but psychologist was not one of them.

"What else happened while I was asleep?"

"Well a scary man wanted to take me away from Mr. Growlie, but he wouldn't let me go. I was happy about that, because everyone else here seems really mean. Then he took me on a shuttle like the Hoover, but it was really big. You were there too and your lips were blue. I told everyone there that they weren't 'sposed to be that color. I don't know if they understood me, but Mr. Growlie sang me a pretty song. It sounded like a bird's song, but there was humming too! It was nice and he is nice. Then they took you away and I couldn't see you anymore. I was really scared, but Mr. Growlie showed me his glowing arm and then he could talk to me. It was really cool to understand him, but I don't like that weird voice. It doesn't sound like him at all. That's when he got me some food and then we came here and you woke up." Grace's tone was her usual mix of chipper excitement, but her body language didn't support that at all. The girl had pressed herself tightly against Charlie's left and Grace's grip on her arm was turning painful.

Still unsure what to say that could comfort the child, Charlie opted for a kiss on the top of her head.

"Char," Grace whispered after a moment. "What's going to happen to us now?"

"I don't know." Charlie answered honestly. "However, I promise that whatever happens you and I are going to stay together."

"Good. Char, they aren't going to make us go back there, are they?"

Charlie could feel the girl silently weeping and could feel the tears forming in her own eyes. "No, I'm not going back there. We'll go somewhere else and we'll get a new home."

The two stayed like that for a while, clutching each other. Charlie wasn't sure how she was going to keep her promise to Grace. She had no claims on the girl; they weren't related and as far as everyone in this universe knew Charlie was only 17. Her eighteenth birthday celebration had been planned by the Mindoir colonists. It was supposed to be in a month, maybe she could lie to the officials and claim to be 18 already. Of course that train of thought brought even more fears. It was one thing to exist as a ghost in a small colony, but it was quite another to do the same back on Earth or wherever they were taking her. Someone was going to demand the truth and the truth was the one thing Charlie didn't have. Whatever happened though she was going to keep that promise to Grace; Charlie just didn't know how.

Eventually there was a chime at the door and that brought Charlie and Grace out of their shared grief.

"Um, come in?"

The door opened to reveal a very tall turian with bold white markings streaked across his face; he was taller than Garrus, though he doesn't seem as wide. Of course, Charlie realized, that's because this man was not in armor and was wearing a uniform.

"Please pardon the interruption, I was informed that you were well enough to admit visitors. I am Captain Adrien Victus." His translator informed Charlie.

Charlie tried to sit up further in the bed, but was hindered by her right leg which was suspended from the ceiling in a sling.

"I need to discuss the specifics of the attack on Mindoir with you."

"Right, of course. Um, does Grace need to be here for this?" Charlie gave a pointed look at the girl.

"No, of course not. Lieutenant Modius has offered to look after her while we talk."

A woman walked through the opening after he finished speaking. Charlie had never seen a turian female in the game, so she was shocked by how delicate the woman looked. Her plates were a warm chocolate brown, but still retained the opalescent quality Garrus' had. She had bright green eyes and had somehow arranged her face to appear pleasant without showing her teeth. However, it was when she spoke that Charlie was truly impressed with the lieutenant.

"I'm afraid I do not have any ice cream, but I was able to find some food that isn't those wretched rations." Modius was speaking to Grace and held a hand out to her with her palm facing up, to hide the inch long talons. Also she spoke English. Her accent was decidedly British, but it was accentuated with hums and trills. Charlie thought it was beautiful, like she was singing the words and had a chorus of backup singers.

Grace took the woman's hand, but looked back at Charlie with questioning eyes.

"It's alright, Grace, you should go with …" Charlie let the question hang for a moment after a glance at the lieutenant.

"Cecilia, but you can call me Lia if you want to."

"See, she seems nice. Why don't you go with, Lia, and when you come back you should bring me some of that food." She gave the girl a wink and what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

Grace complied, but not before giving Charlie one last hug. After the pair had left the room and the door was once again shut, she turned her attention back to Victus.

"Where would you like me to start?"

"At the beginning of the attack on the colony."

"Very well."

Charlie relayed the events as best she could remember them, since she didn't have a timepiece with her during the attack the story was not as precise as she would have liked. She didn't leave anything out though. Charlie told him about the two batarians she had killed and Deborah and Jess' deaths. It felt very cold to be speaking of the deaths of the two women, Charlie was speaking in very clinical terms. She had to keep reminding herself that Victus did not need to know of the emotional trauma those deaths had brought her. He just needed facts. She also told him about the attack of the creature in the jungle and their escape back to the colony; when she got to the part about attacking Garrus though Victus stopped her.

"I know about what came after the attack, however I have a question. Have you met a turian before?"

"No, not in person. I've seen pictures though." That, Charlie thought, was actually quite true.

"Why did you attack him?" Victus' voice did not sound angry, though it was almost impossible to tell, and his monotone translator did not help.

"Well, until yesterday I had not met an alien before, and the first ones I do see are killing my friends. They killed Grace's parents and everyone else I know are either dead or slaves. To be honest, sir, I didn't know who he was. As I informed Lieutenant Vakarian, I won't apologize for disarming him. Maybe if I was alone and didn't have Grace to worry about I would have had a more diplomatic solution, but I'm not sure how I was supposed to know that your men were soldiers and not well-armed mercenaries."

Victus appeared to ponder this for a moment before asking, "Would you have killed him?"

"If he had given me a reason to, yes; in hindsight, that would have been a mistake. But I would have killed all of your men, and more than likely died trying, to protect Grace." Charlie was sure that this was the wrong answer, but Victus' quiet stare seemed to pull the truth from her. She didn't break eye contact though, even though every inner voice she had was screaming at her.

Victus only smiled. "Well I am not sure I would have liked our odds against you. I have to say I am impressed with your tenacity. I never thought I would see a human female take on an armored turian with nothing more than a combat knife. While I may not agree with the manner in which you handled the situation, I do understand the reason why. Protection of your nest is a strong instinct and I am not surprised to see it is shared with another species."

Charlie felt buoyed by the unexpected praise. She had been a little afraid of some form of retribution. To have a reprimand replaced with pride, felt like a giant weight had been lifted off her chest.

"Why is it that you do not have a universal translator chip?"

Charlie had never heard of such a device. She supposed that it made sense, especially since the other turians could understand her even though they clearly did not speak her language.

"I have never had the opportunity to acquire one." The statement was not a question, but her voice lifted at the end of it.

"That is strange, though I suppose it is not unheard of. I have not had a reason to practice my English since the unfortunate Relay 314 Incident."

Charlie nodded her head as if she understood that and maybe she did, but the memory was quite fully formed yet.

I should have read the stupid codex entries.

Yes, you should have. But you just had to rush through the games, didn't you?

"Captain Victus, what are you going to do with us?" Charlie asked breaking through her inner thoughts.

"Well that depends on you, actually. There is a colony in the relay system that we can leave you both at." He stopped when he noticed Charlie's wince. "Or we can take you to the Citadel. We have to make a trip out there anyways, since we have lost track of the batarians, and I can make sure you find the human consulate there."

Charlie let out a relieved sigh at the prospect of going somewhere she knew. "I would appreciate it, sir. Is there any news you can give me about the slaver attack? Why did they attack us?"

Victus huffed and let out a small growl. "We do not know why they chose Mindoir to attack. They wiped every console in the colony clean and the research platform is missing." He stopped and ran a hand across his fringe and gave Charlie a nervous look. He wasn't supposed to tell me that. "I am sorry to tell you that about half of the colonists are missing."

Charlie was quiet for a moment, as she hoped that Ethan, Ian, and the rest of her friends weren't being tortured as slaves. She turned somber when she realized that would mean they were dead instead.

"Well I will let you get some rest. We will arrive at the Citadel in three days."

After Captain Victus left, Charlie turned her attention back to her small datapad.

So what do I know about Mass Effect?

Quite a bit, want to start with the alien races?

Might as well. Let's see there were batarians, asari, krogan, salarians, quarians, geth, and of course the turians.

Right. Don't forget the vorcha and drell. Oh and those jellyfish things.

Hanar?

Yup.

Oh and those giant, monotone elephants?

Wait, what were those called? Oy … elcor?

Sure why not.

Charlie wrote down everything she could remember about the various species, which was surprisingly very little. What was actually written on the pad was more of a list of names and the various quirks that those members of the species possessed. With that task completed she turned her attention to the actual missions from the games.

Do you recall any dates?

No.

Shit. Alright so it's currently 2170, that much I know. Maybe if I could find out what Shepard is doing right now I can try to place where I am.

How do you know Shepard is real?

I don't, but Garrus is apparently a real person and so is Primarch, uh I mean, Captain Victus. Wait wasn't he a General before. For that matter, why isn't Garrus at C-Sec?

Either this universe is different from the silly game or we are here before everything happens.

Agreed. Well let's get everything that I can remember written down.

Unfortunately, Charlie was slowly starting to realize that she couldn't recall everything about the Mass Effect games. It had been over a year since she last played them and her life had taken such a strange turn of events since then. It also didn't help that she had only played them once and that she had kind of rushed through them. Charlie had been planning to go back and replay them more thoroughly, but well she had touched the pillar and here she was.

Charlie could remember certain events though. She knew that there was a Prothean beacon and that there was an evil ex-Spectre named Saren. She could remember that there was a giant, zombie producing plant on one of the missions. Oh and there had been the rachni, she had killed the queen. She had been playing a renegade the first time through. Actually it was a good thing she had killed the queen, because in Mass Effect 3 she had spared the queen and that turned out terribly. Then there was the ending, she knew that Shepard killed Saren and everything ended happily, but she couldn't remember the details. There was definitely an epic space battle involved with the ending though. Right, she thought, Saren had a reaper ship and the Normandy had destroyed it.

You know if the graphics had been better, maybe I wouldn't have rushed my play through.

Well maybe you should write BioWare and inform them how inconvenient they are making this for you?

Shtup ir.

The second and third games were a little clearer, but not by much. It was frustrating how little she could remember of the individual missions. In the end, she had a note pad full of almost random material. For the few missions that were very clear, Charlie was missing some key information. For instance, what planet the mission took place on. At least she could remember the core plot.

The sound of the door opening brought Charlie out of her thoughts and she quickly turned the pad off.

"I got oranges and bananas for you!"

Charlie suppressed a groan at the mention of the fruits. There were not a lot of fruits that would grow on Mindoir, since there was never any frost. The taste of oranges and bananas had definitely gotten very old for Charlie.

Grace, however, was wearing the first real smile that Charlie had seen since before the attack. So she acquiesced and graciously accepted the fruit.

"Oh thank you." Grace sat down in the chair, previously occupied by Captain Victus, and began reading a book that Charlie recognized.

"Thank you for watching her." She offered Cecilia a smile. "Were any of our other things brought up from the planet?"

"Not much, I'm sorry. We're going to leave most of it for the Alliance team to take care of. I'm sure that they'll forward your belongings." Cecilia gestured to the book. "I was part of the second team and I found myself in your home. I had seen Grace with Garrus, umm, Lieutenant Vakarian and I thought it might be nice for her to have something of her own."

Charlie felt the corner of her mouth twitch at the other woman's obvious fondness for Garrus. She was adorable, Charlie thought, and also very sweet. Perhaps she could get some information about the attack from her.

"Captain Victus told me that the computers on Mindoir had been wiped." Charlie put on her best innocent blank face. "Have you discovered why, yet?"

"Well, no not yet." Cecilia began slowly. It was obvious that she was cautious about speaking to Charlie on mission details. "The Alliance has gotten quite a few details about Mindoir wrong though."

Hmm… the Alliance is involved. Well I guess that makes sense, we are human. I wonder what details she's talking about.

"Ugh, the Alliance." Charlie made a show of rolling her eyes. "Inefficient bureaucracy at its finest, don't tell me that they didn't tell you that we were here?"

Cecilia seemed to relax a bit. "Oh they told us, but they also told us that you had a geosynchronous research platform and you don't. The batarians wouldn't have an interest in such a thing."

What?

Charlie's mouth echoed this sentiment, "What?"

"So you didn't have one?"

"No, I mean not that I know of." Charlie was quiet for a second. "Why did the Alliance send a turian ship to rescue us from the batarians?"

Cecilia's drew her face plate tight. "I'm not sure I should say anything more."

"Please? Were you following the batarians or what was going on?"

Cecilia opened her mouth to answer her, looked to the door, then locked eyes with Charlie and nodded her head. "I think you should ask Captain Victus that very question. However, I have to get back to my station." She placed a hand on Grace's shoulder. "It was lovely to meet you, Lady Grace."

The girl giggled at Cecilia and then offered her a hug, before the turian left the room.

"You know I always tell you the stories. How about you read me one from your book?" Charlie asked Grace.

"Okay." Grace cheerfully responded. Then she launched into a story that involved unicorns making friends with dragons. Charlie leaned back and smiled, making a show of paying attention. However she was actually considering the questions Cecilia had left her with. She had been so focused on the discovery that she was in the Mass Effect universe that she hadn't given any thought to the day's events and what they meant.

Charlie was angry that she hadn't mourned her friends properly or buried the dead that she had seen. She had even stepped over Rev. Stilton without giving it much thought, like that was normal. Nothing about the day had been normal. Losing the two people that had given you a new life, was not normal. Debbie was dead and she had not been able to save her. Charlie tried to tell herself that it wasn't her fault. That the woman had gotten in the way all by herself, but she did not believe that. She should have noticed that Debbie had a pistol or she should have been able to get the rifle off the fallen batarian faster. If she had been able to do either of those things, Charlie felt like she could have saved both Jess and Debbie. It would have been easier to just blame Debbie, but Victus had mentioned the protective instinct and Charlie knew that Debbie had done what she felt was best. If the woman had not jumped out when she did, then Charlie would likely have been shot instead. Then Debbie and Grace would have died, as well. Her heart ached for Ethan and everyone else that was gone. Especially Ethan though. She knew he would never have been taken alive and the man would have fought till the last bit of life in him was extinguished. Charlie knew that she could not have saved them all. If Ethan couldn't, how could she have the arrogance of assuming she could?

So while half listening to Grace tell the story, she thought on her friends. James, who was constantly late to work and always had a fantastically horrid excuse. He was a good friend though and always took time out of his day to talk to her. James was also one of the only people in the colony who seemed to understand sarcasm. Ian, who was always working in the damn Hoover and was always so excited to talk to her; she had had to constantly watch herself around that man. He wanted to know so much about her, Charlie would find herself accidentally telling him more about her past than she should. She trusted him though, Ian always smiled and had a joke. Also he showed her some truly remarkable things that his tablet could do …

The tablet. I had the tablet.

"Grace?" The girl looked up from the story with a little reproach at having been interrupted.

"I'm sorry, but where did they put my clothes? I wanted to put my shirt on while I listened to your story."

"I think the doctor put them over here. Mr. Growlie, I mean Mr. Garrus, told them that they couldn't take your things." Grace reluctantly walked over to the side of the bed and opened a drawer with an exaggerated sigh.

"I was just getting to the good part. Did you just want a shirt?"

"Well actually," Charlie said, as if the thought had just occurred to her. "If there is a little black box in there, could I have that too?"

Grace gave an even bigger sigh this time and threw Charlie's shirt at her. Charlie struggled to get the shirt on with the bandage on her hand. Finally Grace popped up with the tablet.

"Is this it?"

"Yes, thank you Grace." The relief was palpable in Charlie's voice. "So will you tell me what the unicorn found in the cave now?"

"Well he found Otis." Grace clamped a hand on her mouth. "I wasn't supposed to tell you that, yet. Now I've ruined the story."

Charlie could not help the laugh that slipped through her smile. "Oh, well I don't know who Otis is. So I think the rest of the story is still a secret. Why don't you finish it for me?"

With Grace occupied once more on reading the tale aloud, Charlie opened the folded tablet. Her program diagnostic had finished running at some point and the screen was beeping with the results. Closing the memo, Charlie decided to search the tablet for some of Ian's own projects. She had done this before, but they were locked to her user profile. There wasn't a lot she could do from her profile, but she was going to try.

It took her three hours. In those three hours, Grace had finished her story and Charlie had let her crawl in bed. She had also taken an hour long break from the project to sing Grace to sleep. However Charlie had finally managed to open one application of Ian's, his communications. Charlie did not even know that he was communicating with anyone. There were only a few computers on Mindoir and none of them were hooked up to each other. It was almost an accident that she even stumbled across his communications folder as Charlie had reached an impasse at her pathetic attempt to hack his profile. She could not read older communiqués, but she could read the last one.

To: Charon – Mindoir, Ithaca System (111554.5621.9894.1237.1)

From: Pluto (LOCATION REDACTED)

Extraction incoming. The soul that you have acquired is not to journey with you. The beacon enclosed will deliver you to me.

The fuck.

The message was not particularly helpful. It did not make sense, but it was dated three days prior to the attack. Charlie assumed that the beacon was a program, because the message took up too much space for such a short transmission. However, someone, presumably Ian, had deleted it from the tablet. It was confusing. Had Ian known about the attack? Why was he called Charon? Is Pluto the planet, a person, or a cartoon dog? Charlie knew that Charon was the ferryman of the mythical Hades, but she had no idea why Ian was called that or who this "soul" was. However, it was now very late and Charlie was far too tired to handle the implications of this message. Ian was a very good friend and she refused to believe that he would choose not to help the colony.

Charlie's brain was mutinous as it demanded rest. She lowered the bed to a sleeping position and closed her eyes. While waiting for the screams to settle back in her ears and wondering what new horrors would join them this time, her eyes sprung open. This would be the first night without her ID tucked firmly in her hand. It was a disturbing feeling that rushed through Charlie, it felt like she had been cut off from her life. Grace shifted in her sleep and the movement caused Charlie to wonder if perhaps it was time to let it go.

"You are going to have to repeat that." Captain Victus did not usually growl, but the salarian scientist was getting the better of him.

"Repetition is inefficient. Perhaps should have hearing checked." The salarian jumped in spite of himself when Victus growled again. "As I have previously stated, the drug used on the Malindra was a chemical compound that retards the angiogenesis of specific tumors. This retardation by itself is not harmful. Can be helpful even. The second stage of the compound then destroys the affected tumor-"

"I don't understand what you are getting at, I'm not a scientist."

The salarian gave an exasperated sigh at the Captain's ignorance. "Perhaps if you would allow me to finish -"

"I have allowed you to finish three times now and I am no closer to understanding. Give me a three sentence answer as to what all this babble means."

The salarian made a show out of stopping and repeatedly counting on his fingers. Each time he would get to three he would stop, shake his head, and repeat the process. After five minutes of this Captain Victus was sorry that the salarian was on Sur'Kesh, though he was giving serious consideration to the idea of rerouting the ship there so he could strangle this salarian in person.

"Chemical inhibits the ability for any biotic to function, including asari. After an hour of exposure the afflicted person will lose ability to function and slip into coma; after 3 hours the person is dead. There is no cure and we cannot synthesize the chemical compound." Each sentence was punctuated with a pause and another finger being raised.

Captain Victus sat back in his chair and stared at the gel representation of the salarian in front of him. "What do you mean there is no cure? Surely one exists and you just haven't discovered it yet."

"This will require more than three sentences." The salarian warned. After a wave of the captain's hand, he continued. "We cannot reverse the effects of the diminished element zero nodules, however it is possible that we can stop the process. The problem is that once the drug has severed blood flow to the nodules, the brain starts to shut down. The older the biotic, the more dependent they are them. This causes coma and death. Angiogenesis drugs are common though and there are ways to prevent them from continuing to disrupt blood vessels. Never have seen such quick acting chemical, will need to continue study."

"Could the batarians have developed this … drug on their own? I'm under the impression that their medical advances are behind ours."

"We are calling the drug Omega-Enkaphalin. To answer your question, I am not privy to the Hegemony's scientific advances."

"Well contact the STG and see what they know of this Omega …. this O-E."

The salarian scientist gave a haughty sniff. "Was not aware I answered to the turian Hierarchy. Suggestion prudent though."

After the salarian scientist closed the connection, Victus continued to stare at the empty space the gel had occupied. This was going to be bad. This could and probably would mean war with the Hegemony and even though that trouble had been brewing on the horizon for a while now; Victus was not sure if the galaxy was ready for it. Especially if the batarians now had a way to kill biotics, while it wouldn't affect the turian military, it would wreak havoc on the asari and even the human forces.

Captan Victus expelled the air from his lungs and reached for the bottom drawer of his desk. He pulled out his Manaean Brandy and a glass. It was going to be one of those kind of nights.