Chapter 8: A Crack in the Mirror
James went down to the CIC shortly later accompanied by Kari. He met up with Tullius and Aesha who quickly brought him up to speed on the day's events.
With Kang's mechs they had managed to replace most of the damaged equipment up in CIC and get the ship's main power back online. The drive-core was stable, as James already knew from his work from the night before and the Anti-proton thrusters seemed to be running clean.
However, the ship's kinetic barrier emitters had taken some heavy hits and more than a few of them were burnt out. The mechs had rerouted a few of the ship's circuits to compensate, but barriers were about hovering just below forty percent. Aesha said that it was likely they would need to overhaul the entire system to get it back to peak performance.
And there was also the issue of the ship having no weapons, the repairs needed to the ship's ablative armour and the GARDIN lasers had all been removed.
Couple that with the cost of fuel and other necessities…the credits were drying up quick.
The four stood looking over the ship schematics in the war-room. As far as two million credits had take them, it wasn't going to be enough.
"I did some number crunching, and it looks like we are going to need about three more million credits to be combat effective." Tullius said, pointing to the figures and estimates that were floating over the conference table.
"We can still be functional with our current budget, but we're going to be combat ineffective. Either the ship's offensive or defensive capabilities are going to be sub-par."
James shook his head, placing his face in his palm.
"Do we have enough to outfit a team?" he asked wearily.
Tullius nodded. "That we don't have to worry about. I still have my old kit from my Spec-Ops days and it looks like you are covered." Tullius nodded to James's incomplete but still effective armor.
"Aesha we need to fly the ship, and she could do that naked." Tullius smirked, looking over at his bond-mate.
Aesha chuckled and shook her head. "Oh no, we aren't have a repeat of Pragia, I was sore for a week after that."
"Keelah." Kari mumbled, covering her visor with her hand.
Tullius grinned slightly, but he seemed to be too focused on the task at hand to follow up on tormenting Kari
Tullius flicked his wrist again, pulling up yet another list of items they would need to outfit the ground team. It was significantly less, but the estimated total was a lot more than James would have liked.
"But we will still need weapons, clips and grenades, and a few other things."
He said pointing to the list, the items neatly stacking themselves in order of priority.
James looked over the list, it would take almost all the credits they had left just to get him and Tullius kitted out properly, not to mention the fact that they would have to start from scratch with Kari. She had some basic shields in her enviro-suit and an old worn out shotgun, but that wasn't going to cut it.
Something was going to have to give.
James sighed heavy, reaching up to rub his eyes in irritation. Reality was bearing down on him, he was starting to miss the Alliance's funding now. Credits were never a concern to him in the N7's. All he needed to do back then was put in a requisition order.
Maybe you should have took stock of the cost before you jumped into this, dumbass. He thought as he dropped his hand from his face.
Shit, now I sound like my father.
James was silent for a long time, staring at the list in front of him, as if he stared deep enough into the data lines some epiphany would jump out of the code and slap him in the face with the answer.
Tullius and Aesha exchanged glances. They were both thinking the same thing at that moment, Tullius warranted from the expression on her face.
She had never really approved of the idea of going hunting after the Geth. She had become a pacifist, or at least something to that extent. When she chose to be with Tullius, she had accepted the fact that there would always be some part of the Turian that burned for the thrill of the hunt and the warmth of camaraderie. She knew that honour and duty meant everything to Tullius, and that is why this was something he had to do. For the fallen friends on Eden Prime, and for the man that saved their lives.
And she was going to support him, no matter what the cost. Even if it meant that they might never again have a chance at a normal life…and she had a promise to keep to an old friend….
Aesha gave him a slight, meaningful nod.
Tullius cracked a grateful grin, even as he marveled at what a wonderful woman he was married to.
"Look, we've got some savings from the store we had on Eden Prime and I've still got a few contacts. Me and Aesh can get the gear we will need."
James didn't look up, he was deep in his thoughts, the offer only barely sinking into his consciousness.
"No, I can't ask you to do that. This is my ship, my problem."
He stated flatly, although, a part of him noted the gesture, even if he didn't act on it.
Tullius clicked his mandibles,
"You didn't ask us. We volunteered. Besides, you offered us a home after ours was destroyed. It is the least we can do, so we are doing it." He stated in earnest, clearly giving no room for negotiation with his inflection. Tullius pulled out a small credit chit from one of his pouches and with a few quick button presses, transferred the sum of all his banks accounts into the chit.
He slid the chit down the table, the chit impacting the side of James's hand and coming to a rest.
James looked up from the hologram at Tullius, their eyes meeting in a harsh stare. For a moment Kari worried that the two might draw pistols and try to shoot one another like in the old Earth films she had seen at the hospital.
"Alright…" James said at last, the tension in his muscles visibly easing, as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"But if you try to help me out like this again, I'm going to have to shoot you." James said, a barely perceivable mischievous wrinkle forming on his brow.
Tullius narrowed his eyes and chuckled darkly, "Understood, Captain."
James looked over at Aesha, then back to Tullius, the façade of tough indifference gone. He smiled genuinely and appreciatively.
"Thank you, both of you."
"You're welcome. It's not much, but it's all we have." Aesha murmured, with a regretful note. She wished that they could do more. That they could have enough to solve all their problems, the credits in their account were barely enough…but it was going to be enough. At least they wouldn't have to worry about equipment failures on mission.
"I'll find a way to repay you for this. I promise." James said solemnly, as he picked up the credit chit.
Tullius shook his head, "Don't worry about it, James. Let's just make sure that no one else has to suffer what Eden Prime did."
Kari felt her hand slip down her suit to the pocket where she kept the Ellis's spark plug at those words.
She wondered if they had ever helped Tullius and Aesha. Kari had never talked to them about it, she wasn't even totally sure that they knew Kari had been staying with the Ellis's, or that the food Mrs Ellis bought from their store was for her.
"Pay it forward." Kari whispered, barely audible, though no one seemed to hear her.
James nodded judiciously. "We will. We will make those bastards pay for what they did, and all the lives they stole."
Tullius clenched a fist and slammed it on the table with a resounding thud.
"Damn straight we will."
Aesha and Kari both jumped at the sound.
James could feel it, the adrenaline starting to surge, the soft sting of biotic nodules coming alive again after their long sleep. He began to pace the room.
There was hope to be had again. James entertained the notion that perhaps maybe, just maybe they might be able to pull this off.
"We will need a crew…" he said at last…"scientists, engineers, soldiers."
Tullius nodded in agreement, "I'll see if I can dig up any potential leads."
"Good. It's going to be hard sailing if we can't scrape up at least a dozen people to keep the ship running."
"I would recommend more, for a ship this size." Aesha noted.
James nodded. She was right. The compliment of the Halcyon had been sixty-five. It would be taxing on twelve people to keep the ship going, even extremely talented people.
There was another long moment's pause as James considered this new problem, and it seemed to be the hardest of them all. They had all come to the Revenant with little expectation of getting paid. It was likely any credits earned would go towards ship maintainance or upgrades.
But a crew, a crew would expect to get paid for their expertise.
Even if they could find people willing to do their work for free, the cost of maintaining a large compliment of staff, supplies alone would bankrupt them at this juncture.
At best they would be no-body freelance mercenaries with no rep and a poorly equipped ship. No credits, no food, no crew. It seemed like their only options were to either try to tough it out, which would mean double-shifts or triple shifts in addition to any jobs they could pick up.
Or, join up with an established mercenary band…and work with the kind of scum that James used to crush under his bootheel when the Alliance would send them in to break up a slaver's ring or destroy a pirate base.
James felt the weight of reality sinking in on him, threatening to crush him under its weight again. Both choices seemed distasteful, yet he was going to have to do something. For him there was no turning back from this course. He would succeed, or die an ignominious death in some forgotten alleyway. The doctor had told him as much, if he didn't continue getting treatment for his wounds.
Kari looked up shyly from behind the long fringes of her hood. She had been listening carefully the entire time, a thought beginning to form in her head. She had an idea…a crazy, reckless, dangerous idea. But for their current circumstances, it was worth the risk.
"I-I have a solution…" Kari said hesitantly.
All three of them turned to her curiously. As much as they liked Kari, no one really expected her to have a solution to their problems.
Kari shifted nervously as all three sets of eyes fell on her, she bowed her head a bit, starting to feel small again under the terrible scrutiny of their gazes.
"B-but i-it's risky.…"
Keira and Thomas sat idly on the veranda outside the hospital. It was a warm day out on the Presidium, almost everyday was warm here though it seemed. Keira thought it was likely that whoever was in charge of the environmental controls kept it a nice 23 degrees throughout the year.
Keira didn't really like it, it was nice enough, that was true, but part of what made perfect days so perfect was the rarity.
The finest things in life quickly became bland and regular when you had nothing but the best all the time. Perhaps that is why she always preferred living a little rough around the edges. It made you appreciate when the good times came along.
Keira looked up at the blue and white skybox of the Presidium, wondering what exactly a rainy day would look like on the Citadel. When she was growing up back on Earth she liked getting caught in the rain, while most everyone else would run for the cover or use their omni-tool's umbrella app to shield them from the water droplets, Keira would stand out in the downpour for as long as she could.
Of course, it would never happen on the Citadel, and she rarely got a chance to visit Earth these days. But there were times, standing on an alien world, that the sky would open up and the rain came down. It was moments like those that made her feel like a child again, standing in the open fields as the heavens cried.
A rare comfort, for those who would never see children of their own.
Keira gazed across the landscape of the Presidium pensively. She had only been half paying attention to the background noise that had been Thomas talking.
"…I figure we will get to play with them before too long…" he said, talking about some model of assault rifle no doubt, the boy was absolutely obsessed with his weapons. Keira could have smiled, he was still young, and in love with his job.
He hadn't seen the worst the galaxy had to offer, not yet. There were darker demons still in the universe than pirates or Geth…although…the things that they had fought at Eden Prime came pretty close.
Keira couldn't help but wonder if the victims had been aware of what was happening to them. She couldn't imagine the horror of having one's own mind stripped from them, only to be replaced with machinery and code. Commands that must be obeyed, with no free will what-so-ever. She sincerely hoped that the colonists had been long dead before…well…before whatever that was.
Keira made a mental note to include a few thermal grenades in her kit if they went up against the Geth again. There was no way that she was ever going to be turned into one of those husks, living or dead.
"…James got himself a rather nice one, saw it before he left for his ship." Thomas's voice pierced the veil of Keira's thoughts.
"Wait." She said, halting him in mid-sentence.
"What did you say?" she inquired, turning her head towards Thomas who was sitting across from her on the lip of one of the Presidium's many fountains.
Thomas looked up, a curious expression on his face. Keira usually just ignored him when he talked about new toys.
"You mean the M-55 Argus?"
Keira shook her head,
"No…after that, the part about James having a ship."
Thomas nodded derisively, as if everyone knew about that already
"Yeah, word is he bought the Halcyon.
"Keira narrowed her eyes. She didn't know that James had any kind of money, from what he had told her, that his family had been mostly farmers and old military.
"He bought the Halcyon? How?"
Thomas shrugged, picking another coin out of the fountain and tried skipping it across the top of the water with a flick of his wrist. He succeeded only in a dull "thunk" as the coin hit the water and sank.
"He cashed out. Took his pension up front and cut ties. The only reason I heard about any of it is that Kendon's girlfriend works at the VA Office here on the Citadel."
Keira looked down, a her brow furrowing as she considered Thomas's words.
That's why James wasn't at the hospital when she tried to visit him yesterday, or why the nurses couldn't find his residence in the system. He must have gone down to the docks, and paid cash for the Halcyon. Yet, from what she knew that it would take a small fortune to get the ship running again.
He had never been one for taking the wise course of action over the right course, even when it got him into trouble. Eden Prime had been a testament to that, but still part of her admired the LT. Even though he was an idiot at times…but then again the same could be said of all men.
"I'm going to miss him." Thomas admitted, picking up another coin to skip, and again failing miserably. "He was a proper bastard."
Keira looked down at her feet. A thought popped into her mind, one that had been coming back regularly over these last three weeks as they waited on the Citadel for a new assignment.
It was an idea, that she had given a lot of thought. There were certain things that she had always wanted to do, joining the military had been one of them, and so had becoming an N7 but now…well….
Perhaps it was time to take after the LT, and stray from the wise course….
Keira picked up a coin out of the fountain and flicked her wrist casually, getting a perfect triple-skip before the coin hit the wall of the fountain and flew off into the air.
Thomas looked up at her in mild amazement.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
Keira gave the faintest of smiles. "A little something I picked up from the LT."
"You want to make what?" Tullius gasped, not believing the words coming out of the Kari's mouth.
Kari shrunk before the much larger Turian.
"Do you have any idea what could happen? Do you even have the slightest inkling of the ramifications if something goes wrong?"
"Y-yes , B-but…" Kari began, trying to draw herself back up to her full height, but Tullius was already too far gone into his rant.
"No, linking VI together is too dangerous, Kari. What if you accidentally created an AI? "
"I-if y-you w-would-" Kari said pleadingly, trying to explain.
"No, no, no." Tullius cut her off with a disappointed scowl. "Didn't your people learn anything from the Geth?"
Kari blinked. Her choler began to rise. It was one thing to scold her, but Kari wasn't going to stand by as someone attacked her people.
Tullius paced back and forth for a moment, anger building with every step. He turned on Kari, closing the gap between them.
"Wasn't losing your homeworld enough? Or would you have us all lose our homes before your kind get it? "
Kari lashed out, shoving Tullius back with enough strength to stagger the Turian. The gesture surprised Tullius.
"Don't you ever talk about my people like that, you bosh'tet." She shouted with a surprising about of venom in her voice.
"Unlike your people, Quarians actually help others when they are in need, rather than letting them drift alone in the void."
Tullius stood back up to his full height. His anger was gone, replaced with rage. He was closed the distance quickly between him and Kari and looked as if he might strike her. Kari stood her ground, setting her feet in a fighting stance in case she might have to dodge or absorb a blow.
James intervened; he stepped from the sidelines and placed himself between Kari and Tullius.
"That's enough." James barked.
Tullius gave James with a venomous look, the Turian's temper was white hot, his face had tuned a dark shade of blue and his eyes were sharp as daggers.
Tullius pushed past James's arm and into his face. James turned, squaring himself to Tullius while keeping an arm held back behind him to ward off any attack Kari might try to launch.
Tullius's face was only centi-meters away from his own when he spoke, his voice low and dangerous.
"It's because of their damned creations we are even in this mess, and she wants us to risk making another one."
James narrowed his eyes, "She was just trying to help, Tullius. We aren't doing anything yet." He tried to keep his tone as neutral as possible, but James couldn't help but let a modicum of spite drift into his words.
"Besides, I don't see that we have a lot of options here…" James added, a darker part of him almost wishing that Tullius would try something.
Tullius's eyes flew wide with shock. James had suffered just as much as he and Aesha had if not more, and he was actually entertaining the idea?
"Don't tell me we are actually considering this! What's to stop it from turning on us?"
James didn't have an answer for him, he merely kept himself between Kari and Tullius and took the heat of Tullius's frustrations.
"What if the damned thing does wake up and decides it wants to be buddies with the friendly Geth instead of the mean old organics, huh?"
Tullius thumped a heavy Turian finger into James's chestplate to make his point, sending tiny ripples of pain through his body, as he hadn't fully healed yet. James felt his own temper starting to flare beyond the boundaries of his control. His veneer of patient understanding began to crack.
"I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be decorating some synthetic's garden on a fucking spike!"
James grimaced, out of pain, anger and sadness being at odds with someone he regarded as a friend.
"Duly noted." James said, his voice a low rumble. "You done?"
Tullius spat with disgust as he let his finger drop from James's chest.
"Yeah. I'm done." He growled as he turned his back on James and Kari.
Kari stood Jame's left, her own anger smoldering. She watched as Tullius stalked off to find some project to work on.
Kari felt the tension of her body release as Tullius departed the room. She knew what her people had done in the past, and they all had paid dearly for their ancestor's mistakes. Still, Tullius had no right to judge them, the Turians as well as the rest of the races in the galaxy had turned their back on the Quarian people in their hour of greatest need.
For Tullius to pass judgment on her kin like that, it had stirred a fire in Kari that she hadn't ever thought was there, but now…in the aftermath…she regretted her words, even if she had been justified.
Kari met Aesha's eyes, the Asari gave her a look that seemed to communicate both sympathy and an apology. Kari's felt the fire go from her as the realization of what she just did sunk in.
Kari had just insulted the Turian that had saved James's life…
Keelah…
Kari stepped backwards, as if she had been struck.
They were going to break apart now. Tullius and Aesha would leave and James would blame her for it. She was going to lose everything again…all because she couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut.
Kari felt her back it the metal bulkhead, her knees getting weak and collapsing from under her and she slid down the wall. James grabbed her arm as she slid, cushioning her descent as she came to rest on her rear.
"Hey, hey, hey." he rattled, trying to get Kari to look up at him. Her eyes turned upwards to his.
"I'm okay." She said quietly, although she really wasn't. She had let her emotions get the better of her again, and more people were going to suffer because of her.
Aesha came over to Kari and James, kneeling down to check on her.
"I'll talk to him." She spoke quietly, reaching out a comforting hand to clasp Kari's.
Kari looked up at Aesha, but didn't speak.
James nodded appreciatively,
"Thank you."
There was a long moment's silence between the three of them, before Aesha finally spoke again.
"I'm sorry." Aesha murmured.
She stood up and left the room quietly, heading off down the corridor to go find Tullius.
Kari stared at the base of James's legs, she couldn't bear to look at him now. Even though she couldn't see his face because of her shroud, she knew that he was staring at her. She could only imagine what he felt towards her: Disappointment, shame, anger. She was just trying to help.
"Kari…" James's came softly, making Kari feel all the worse. He put his hand gently on her visor, but she turned her head away.
"No…" she mumbled, on the verge of tears. She wished that he would yell at her: that he would tell her what an idiot she was or how that her stupidity may have cost him a friend. Why did he have to be so damned nice to her?
She didn't deserve it. She was a failure, a coward, a emotional bosh'tet that couldn't do anything right.
Kari heard something that she didn't expect. She heard a deep throaty noise, it was…laughing? James was laughing at her?
She turned to look at him, and James was indeed chuckling mirthfully. His brow was still furrowed in concern, but he was laughing.
Kari didn't understand…was he laughing at her? Had she done something humorous or was there something on her visor that he found hysterical? Was this one of eccentricities that she had heard humans were prone towards?
"What's so funny?" she asked, tiling her head to the side.
"Oh…it's just that…hehe…it looked like you were going to..hehe…deck Tullius there for a second…and the look on his face…haha..when you…shoved him….priceless."
James was laughing too hard to speak, even though it was rather painful to do so, he just cackled away.
Kari thought back to the incident, Tullius had given Kari a rather interesting stare when she had lashed out at him: a look of surprise and indignation and having been so thoroughly man-handled by a Quarian girl.
Kari had to admit it was pretty funny…a little giggle escaped her own lips, even though it sounded sort of like a half-sob. James chuckled even harder…laughter was infectious and pretty soon both of them were guffawing away like kids.
In that moment, it felt like all their troubles melted away into a sea of mirth. Humans were strange creatures at times, Kari admitted, but she was really starting to like them.
Or at least…one of them.
Kari and James decided to spend the rest of that afternoon in the wards. Tullius and Aesha had emerged from their room an hour or so late and continued their work on the ship, but an awkward silence had hung between all four of them.
So James had decided to go back to Rodam Expeditions and get a few things that they needed on their equipment list. Of course, he could have just always ordered the weapons they needed through the extranet, but James wanted an excuse to get off the ship for awhile.
He asked Kari to come with him so that she could pick something out she liked, but he also wanted to give her the opportunity to escape. She gladly took it and together they took the lift up to Zakera Ward. James felt bad about leaving the others behind to do the repairs, but suspected it would be better all around if everyone got some time to cool off.
As they walked, James noticed that they were getting a lot of stares directed in their attention. James was still wearing his suit, minus the helmet and the goggles which were still incomplete, but he still cut an imposing figure with his long grey coat and sinister looking gas-mask that he had repurposed into a respirator. Even now, the quiet hiss of the scrubber releasing a high concentration of oxygen into the tubes that ran from his chest was still audible, just below the soft ambient murmur of mixing voices and the heavy footfalls of his boots on the metal.
He suspected he looked quite odd walking next to a much smaller Quarian whose own enviro-suit was more akin to a work of art. Kari had seemingly gotten used to him wearing the patchwork suit that he had put together, indeed it seemed that she didn't even notice it anymore. She walked close to him, even reading out to take his hand in hers from time to time.
James didn't mind. It felt a little weird at first, since he wasn't quite sure what the particulars of Quarian courtship entailed, but Kari seemed to be comfortable enough with him.
It was a strange thing, James thought. That he could feel affection for another species. In his father's youth they hadn't even know there were any other species in the galaxy.
They started to suspect as much when they found the archives on Mars, but it wasn't until the First Contact War that they had know for certain.
Three decades later… Gavin's son was holding hands with a Quarian.
James sighed under his breath. He wondered what his father would say if he could see him now…if he was still alive that is.
As sad as it was to admit it, James hadn't spoke with his father since that day some eight years ago. He had been a boy then, barely able to call himself a man when he told his father the news. They hadn't seen each other since. He had heard rumors that his father had retired to farm on the outskirts of Nottingham, but he James never went to see if it was true.
Ever since his mother died…he had his father had been distant. It was really no surprise that things turned out the way they did, although James wondered if his father ever thought about him anymore. If he even knew if James was alive or not….
Before Eden Prime, James really hadn't thought about it that much, he simply assumed that his father would be informed of his death by the Alliance…but now that James was out, and had cut ties….
It bothered him to think about it, his mind was wandering far and wind these days, digging up old wounds that he had long since buried and reopening the new ones that he was trying to keep sown up.
As if by providence, or happy chance, Kari chose that particular moment to snuggle up against him. The pace of their walk slowed a bit as she did, but James was happy for the comfort. Even the toughest soldiers needed to feel like they were loved by someone, even if it wasn't true. So much of James's life had been chasing down things that other people wanted or needed. It was nice to have something that no one else was spurring him towards.
The thought occurred to James that, at best, this would be a passing thing. No matter how one cut it, James and Kari were doomed to be separated. Whether by differences, or the barrel of a gun, or the slow decay of time, they would be parted.
They would live on as nothing more than a memory to those they knew, until they too joined them in the dust. No one escaped the Reaper. No one escaped time.
James would die, and so would she. Together or apart, it didn't matter in the end, everyone faced death alone.
The thought haunted James, her felt his grip around Kari tightening also imperceptibly.
Why his mind chose to torment him like this, he didn't know, but James forced such dark thoughts from his mind, burying them in his subconscious.
Every moment was precious, and James wasn't going to let despair take one more minute from him.
"What about this one?" James asked as he pointed to one of the sniper rifles under the case. It was the M-97 Viper, a rather geometric, but lovely looking weapon with a six shot capacity per clip and a medium powered scope. Kari had to admit, the weapon was nice. It reminded her of the one that her cousin Tari used in the Migrant Fleet Marines. Although, Tari's rifle was a lot older and well worn than this one was, even the display case model looked brand new to Kari.
But then again, any tech that was less than a century old was "new" to Quarian.
Kari shook her head politely. It was a nice model, but Kari wasn't all that into sniper rifles. James had been trying to peak her interest in one since they arrived, even passing over a couple of assault rifle models that he really liked to show her more long range weapons.
It was kind of sweet really, Kari thought. She could see the motivation behind it, James didn't want her in the fray. He wanted her far off, in the back, providing sniper support for him and Tullius.
And while Kari had never been much of a soldier, she did like her shotguns. He father had trained her in a wide array of weapons when she was young, barely old enough to hold a weapon when she fired her first pistol. But Kari had only ever been interested in shotguns.
James tried to pull her away from the close-range weapons case again, pointing out another rifle. The M-98 Widow, it looked exactly like the model Tari used, but slightly newer.
Kari shook her head again.
"I don't want a rifle." She finally admitted.
James raised an eyebrow as he looked up at her.
"Why not? There's some great models here. Look they even have one with an auto-targeting VI" he said, pointing to a very expensive, very high-tech Mantis.
"Are you saying I have bad aim?" Kari said with mock indignation.
James raised his hands defensively. "Oh, I didn't mean that. I just thought if you needed some extra help-…"
Kari shoved him playfully. "You think I'm a bad shot! You bosh'tet!" she giggled.
"I'll have you know, I placed silver for five years running in the youth shooting competitions on the Vanya." She said raising her head up in a look of mock derision.
"Only silver?" James aid, an wiry grin spreading across his lips.
"I would have thought the daughter of the great and powerful captain of Vanya would place gold or better."
Kari raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms.
"Oh? Is that so?"
James nodded, "I would have expected the tall and beautiful Kari'Vereah vas Vanya to be the best shot in the Migrant Fleet…no…the galaxy!"
Kari laughed, "You expect too much, James Irving." She said, uncrossing her arms.
"And besides, you haven't seen my face…how would you know if I'm pretty?" she quipped. Her tone was playful, but James sensed that it was a legitimate question.
James smiled, "I wasn't talking about only your looks…." He inflected sagely.
Kari bowed her head a little, her cheeks turning a bit red beneath her visor.
James took this opportunity, to wrap his arms around the smaller Quarian's hips in a gentle hug.
"Thank you…" she gave him a soft squeeze.
"Just speaking the truth." He murmured mirthfully.
"Now, I believe you were wanting a shotgun, hmmm?"
Kari looked up at him with a little smile, "Oh…however did you know?" she asked feigning innocence.
James shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh. I picked up a few subtle hints. Everytime you walked past the display I thought I heard you cry, 'I want one!'"
"I said no such thing!" Kari giggled, giving him a soft ribbing.
James shook his head and chuckled, "No, but your eyes did."
Kari smiled. She wondered if he had been watching her eyes as much as she had been watching his since they first met. From the way that he was looking at her now, she was thinking…probably yes and that made her smile all the more.
"So did you see one you liked?"
Kari shook her head. It was a half truth. While there had been many models she would have really liked to get her hands on, they were far too expensive, and there were far too many to choose from. Kari was used to having little choice in life, and therefore she always had a hard time deciding on matters that had more than two answers.
So it was easier to say "No, nothing I really wanted…but thank you for bringing me."
"My pleasure." he stated, with a slightly over-dramatic bow of his head.
"So did you want to go for some ice cream while we are here?" he asked with a little chuckle, already knowing the answer.
"Oh yes please! I want to try out that dark stuff this time…what did you call it?"
James grinned, it was easy to forget that things that he had grown up with were entirely new experiences to her.
"Chocolate."
Kari nodded vehemently. "Yes, that's it! Chocolate."
Kari tugged on his arm. "Com'n let's go, before the evening meal rush hits!"
"Alright. Alright! You don't have to twist my arm off, girl!"
Kari giggled mischievously. "What do you mean, your arm? It's mine now." She snuggled her head up against it as if to lay claim to it.
"Okay, may I keep it attached to my body please? Humans don't regrow limbs you know…." James bantered back, smiling down at the Quarian nestled against his deltoid.
"Well since you asked so nicely…" Kari wrapped her arm around his and put her palm in his.
James grasped her hand gently, giving it a soft squeeze.
"Com'n. I don't want to stay between a Quarian and her ice cream."
"Ow." Kari muttered as she released the straw, putting her hand to the side of her helmet where James extimated her temples would be.
"Brainfreeze again? I warned you to slow down." James smirked, planting the spoon of his own vanilla into his mouth. His mask hung on the side of his face rather idly, he had unclasped it from the suit's mount on the right side, allowing him to work a utensil past the metal and deliver the cold treat into his mouth.
It was a rather awkward way to do it, and James had to pause from time to time to catch his breath, but it wasn't a wholly unsatisfying experience. He pitied Kari for not being able to do the same. Everything she ate was through a straw or a tube.
Kair held her hands in her head for a moment, before leaning down again to suck on her straw, with much the same result. She had almost downed half the serving of ice cream in the time it had taken James to eat just a few spoonfuls of his
"Here, if you're going to inhale it, do it right. Put the tube on the tip your tongue, gives it time to warm up a bit."
Kari tried his suggestion. The result was much more satisfying.
"Thanks!" she beamed and sucked harder, making the dextro-amino chocolate ice cream disappear almost instantly.
Kari sucked the bottom of the bowl the best she could, before turning to him and looking down at his ice cream.
"You going to eat that?" she asked teasingly.
James blinked a few times and then broke out in a grin. "I don't think it would agree with you."
Kari shrugged and giggled. "You're right, it would probably give me a tummy-ache. I'll just go get some more from the stand."
James laughed, "You keep eating ice cream at that rate and I can guarantee it."
Kari gave him a playful shove before picking up her bowl and wandering back off to the icecream stand where the old Turian was already breaking out the scoops in anticipation of her arrival.
James shook his head and spooned in another mouthful. The cold felt good against his damaged vocal cords. They no longer hurt as much as they used to, but the pitch of his voice remained a deep gravelly bass, not at all the Lanky accent he grew up with. James suspected that they would likely be like that for the rest of his life.
It was just one of the many things that he never really appreciated before, a part of him that he always thought would be there. And now…well now, it was gone with a lot of other things that had once been his.
Yet, he didn't feel as mad or sad about it as he thought he should, there was a kind of grim acceptance that came with time, a healing of the soul as well as of the body.
James turned his gaze towards the other patrons there on the Citadel. There were quiet a few people here, it was evening on the Presidium, and many people had come to the cafes to get their meals or after work drinks and enjoy the view. The Citadel skybox's program put on a rather lovely show that simulated the setting of a star on a planet. Ever night, it was a different scene. Tonight, the program was simulating Sol's setting, over the bay of San Francisco harbor on Earth.
James had never been there, but it was good the Sun again, even if it was merely a simulation.
James thought back to the last time he had seen a sunset. It was shortly before his first posting, after he had gotten out of OTC. He had walked along the beaches of Normandy, France: the site of a great battle, two centuries before he was even born. The nations of the world had banded together to defeat tyranny and injustice, and on those now quiet shores, had they taken their first steps towards the road that would lead to victory.
The beach had been left bare, a silent testimony to those who had given their lives so that others might know peace and freedom. He walked alone that day, between the shoals and the sea, the soft waves of the ocean lapping up around his knees.
That had been the last time he had seen Earth. He felt that perhaps, that one day soon, his path would lead him back there to walk those redolent sands again... But this time, he wouldn't be alone.
James was about to turn to look for Kari, when he noticed something that caught his eye.
It was a familiar silhouette, a profile he had seen time and time again on the vids in the recent weeks:
A rugged and well cut figure with a kind face wearing plain Alliance military fatigues with shirts rolled up to the biceps. It was like a picture from the past, rushing up from its frame to meet his gaze.
James's voice found his lips, with both surprise and disbelief as he uttered the name:
"Shepard?"
James could hardly believe his eyes. Lt. Shepard, the man that had led them to victory on Elysium during the Blitz was sitting not ten meters away at a table behind him.
He was a celebrity now, first human Spectre and hero of the battle of Eden Prime. James wondered if he should say something to the Commander, if it would be appropriate.
After all, he probably got a lot of fan worship these days, surely he did not need yet another distraction on what probably was a very short shore leave before heading off to do whatever Spectres did.
James looked at the fellows at Shepard's table. It was a rather eclectic assortment of individuals. A turian, a krogan, an asari. It surprised him that Shepard knew so many aliens, he always thought that Spectres were supposed to be solo operatives, relying on no one but themselves and answerable only to the council. It any case, it seemed that whatever the group was speaking about was evidentally bad news.
They were rather far away, but James thought he heard the word "conduit" mentioned and something about a "Saren." Whoever that was.
James was about to move in closer to see if he could hear more, perhaps offer his aid if he could. James wasn't exactly in the best of straights at the moment, but the prosper of working with the galaxy's elite did have a certain appeal to him, especially if they were going after those who had attacked Eden Prime.
However, a thought occurred to James even as he was about to stand. How would the famous Commander Shepard react to James? Sure they had once been in a battle together, but they had gone their separate ways.
They hadn't even really talked on Elysium, more than a short introduction and a few orders. Now that he was out, he wondered how anyone who didn't know him personally would view him.
Many soldiers that served in the Alliance had gotten out to go into the private sector, selling their gun and skills to the highest bidder. Most soldiers regarded mercs with disdain and hatred, a feeling James had once shared.
Now that he had been more or less forced to become a mercenary, James wondered how the paragon of the humanity would regard him? Although James already knew the answer: Shepard didn't know him, he would likely regard James with that same contempt.
James was lost in his thoughts when at that particular moment he felt a soft metal jab in his shoulder. James jerked in his seat, wheeling around instinctively to face his attacker. It was Kari, she was holding the spoon in her hand which she poked him with.
"Hah. Got you." She quipped mirthfully.
James relaxed one he saw it was Kari and even managed a slight grin. She had brought him another bowl of ice-cream.
James had his fill of the stuff, plus seeing Shepard again and what he represented had chased away his appetite, he thanked her nevertheless, though his gaze wandered from her visor and fixed on the table.
The smile in Kari's eyes faded a bit, she noticed that James seemed distant.
"Something wrong?" she asked after a long moment.
James shook his head, looking back to her apologetically.
"It's nothing. Just an old CO of mine."
Kari looked around James, catching just the slightest edge of the human's face that James had been looking at. She had seen him somewhere before, but she just couldn't remember where.
"Did you want to go talk to him?" Kari inquired, but James shook his head slowly.
"Nah. I don't want to bother him."
Kari saw the look on James's face. It was something more than that. She couldn't be sure, but it almost looked like shame in his eyes.
Kari didn't like it, what did he have to be ashamed of? Was it her? Did he not want an old comrade of his seeing him
with a Quarian girl? Or had James done something to warrant not wanting to talk to him.
In her experience amoung her own people, reunions with old comrades was something to be cherished. Kari would have thought that James would jump at the chance to reminisce, but she decided not to ask.
She didn't want to pry into his past, and she certainly didn't want to know if his relationship with her was the source of his reluctance.
Several long minutes of awkward silence passed between them as James picked at his ice-cream, taking small bites out of it, but not really making a dent in the slowly melting mound.
Kari stopped sucking on her straw.
"Want to go?" she asked, hoping to break through whatever haze was clouding James's mind. James looked up, as if noticing her sitting there for the first time. He blinked a few times and shook his head as if to throw unwanted thoughts from his mind.
"Yeah, let's get out of here."
The walk back to the ship was a rather long one. Neither of them was really ready to face Tullius and Aesha again, but James knew that sooner or later that another confrontation was inevitable.
So they made their way through the shops on Zakera ward, stopping from time to time to check out various materials and items from time to time while Kari told him more about her people.
Evidentally, the largest open space on every ship housed a market where the Quarian people deposited things they didn't need or weren't using. Anyone could leave things behind, and anyone could pick them up.
There was no hoarding on the Flotilla, the Quarians simply didn't have room to keep things that weren't activate being used and even Quarian had been raised to share what they had.
Necessity had breed a culture of self-sacrifice and nobility which James couldn't help marvel at. Kari kept insisting that it wasn't perfect, and there were a few individuals that put themselves before the needs of the fleet, but such individuals were regarded with disdain and usually ended up leaving the Flotilla on their own.
James wondered if humanity would fare so well, if put in the same situation. No world to call their own, floating from place to place looking for the means just to survive. Would his own kind band together as the Quarians had? Or would they fall apart, slaughtering each other over the last scraps of their civilization and resources.
James prayed that it would never come to that. He hadn't seen Earth much in his life, but to never be able to go back….it was a thought that chilled him to the bone.
He could understand now why Kari would speak of Rannoch so reverently. It was little more than a myth to her, a promised land that all her people hoped one day to return to.
James wasn't sure it could be done… but he still held on to the hope that she would live to see that day…and maybe he would see it with her.
"Oh…can we stop here?" Kari said, interrupting herself in mid-sentence about the political workings of the Migrant Fleet. The store that Kari wanted to go into had a rather grimy looking front with a hastily constructed sign that simply said "Junk" in a very unimpressive looking scrawl.
In fact, this entire district of Zakera ward that they had wandered into looked rather seedy.
James raised his eyebrow slightly. "Why would you want to go in there?" he asked.
Kari gave him an impish grin, "You wouldn't believe it, but this place has some great deals on tech. I thought we might be able to use some for the ship."
James raised his eyebrow even higher, looking down the street at a homeless man that was wearing his knickers outside of his pants.
"And exactly when did you come down here looking for tech?"
Kari chuckled.
"A few weeks ago, when you were sleeping."
James turned to look at the hobo again, who was urinating in the middle of the alleyway with a stupid looking grin on his face. He noticed James's gaze and gave a wobbly wave.
He was obviously intoxicated.
James returned the wave politely, but with a slightly disgusted look on his face.
"Charming." James muttered.
Kari grinned up at James and giggled.
"You should have seen what he was doing last time I was here."
"Oh god, please don't tell me."
Kari giggled even harder, taking him by the arm.
"Come on. I'll introduce you to Marah."
James blinked.
"Marah? Who's Marah?"
"Oh…just a friend. Don't worry, I'm sure you two will get along great." Kari smiled as she lead him inside.
James stared into the large yellow reptilian eyes. They blinked scornfully.
"See something you like, human, or are you just stupid?" the Krogan sneered.
"I-uh-"
"You what? Vorcha got your tongue?" the Krogan jabbed as she put down the motherboard she was working on and gave James a stare that seemed to bore into his skin.
"Be nice, Marah." Kari scolded, slightly amused by James's reaction to seeing Kari's hitherto unknown, large Krogan female friend minding the counter of the small junk shop.
"Fine…but you better tell him to stop staring at my plates or I'll introduce him to my Graal."
"Marah…" Kari said, a little bit sterner this time, giving the Krogan woman a subtle nod to Kari's arms wrapped around James's bicep.
The Krogan woman sighed heavily in resignation. She put down the motherboard and made her way from behind the counter to less than a meter away from James and Kari.
As tall as he was, the Krogan still beat him by a few centimeters on height and more than that on width and muscle mass. James didn't really have an eye for Krogan dimensions, but he suspected that the female that stood before him was likely larger than her peers. He could have easily mistaken her for a male Krogan, if not for her voice.
"Hmmm. Not bad." Marah snorted derisively, looking up and down James's body.
"Not as scawny and puny as the rest of his kind…" She mumbled, a taunting inflection in her tone as she spoke.
"…but still, leaves much to be desired."
Marah lowered her face to his level only a centimeter or so from his staring into his eyes with a hard menacing glare.
James stared back at her with a furrowed brow, his jaw set and his stance widened. He wasn't sure what she was playing at, but he didn't take kindly to her tone. If she was itching for a fight, then James would oblige.
"Impressive, Kari… can it do tricks too?…or did you only teach it how to talk."
A tense moment passed between them. James readied himself. He had been taught the basics of how to defeat a Krogan in hand-to-hand combat, but never actually had put it into practice. There was one simple rule to fighting a Krogan in close quarters: don't.
But, since it looked like he wasn't going to have a choice, then it was going to be the usual: biotic hand-slam with a quick follow-up throw, and hopefully the chance to get the hell out of dodge.
But, to his surprise, Marah didn't attack. She just stood there, her aggressive stance giving way to a mirthful howl of cackling. She slapped James hard on the shoulder with a stubby three fingered hand and gave him a good shake, sending little waves of pain through his not-fully-healed chest. James gave a slight grimace.
"I like this one, Kari. He has a quad on him."
James heard an audible sigh of relief from Kari, she had been holding her breath.
"I can see now why you wanted to mate with him." Marah chuckled gruffly, making Kari's cheeks go bright red.
"Marah!" Kari sputtered.
It was James's turn to laugh, looking down at Kari who had bowed her head to avoid James's gaze.
Marah chortled, looking up at James for the first time with what passed for a Krogan smile.
"So, I assume you're James Ear-wing."
"Ir-ving." James corrected, not sure whether to be insulted or amused by the mistake.
Marah tossed her hand up dismissively, "Bah. Never had an ear for human names."
The krogan woman reached forward her stubby hand. James took it and gave it a firm squeeze, although it felt like she was about to snap his hand in half.
"Ravanor Marah. I own this shop." She said, releasing his hand from her jaw-like grip.
"Or at least what's left of it." She added, the smile disappearing from her face as she indicated the mostly bare walls and broken down pieces of tech that she sold.
From the looks of the displays and the empty shelf space, there had once been quite a lot of stuff here. The closer labels that he read indicated that Marah had sold weapons, tech, biotic amps and starship parts, some of them relatively new models as well.
Although, everything that looked to be of value was conspicuously absent. The stuff that was left was ancient. It looked like it could have dated back to the Krogan Rebellions or even further.
"If you wanted something better, I'm afraid you're a bit too late" grunted Marah noting James's gaze.
"What happened?" Kari asked, noticing the now conspicuously empty shelves for the first time.
"You used to have a lot more than this."
Marah shook her head despondently, "Cleaned out. Some Turian paid me to work on his ship's engine, but when I got to dock, there was no ship."
"He stole from you?" Kari asked in disbelief.
"They." Marah corrected with a spiteful growl. "I was only gone twenty minutes. Twenty minutes…and they got everything, even the safe. Whoever he was, he had friends…and they took it all."
"Did you file a report with C-Sec?" James asked, although he knew that in most cases that was a futile effort, on a space station as large as the Citadel, trying to find stolen items was like trying to look for a needle in a needle stack.
"Didn't bother. C-Sec is nothing but a bunch of damned Turians and Salarians…less than useless." Marah stated gruffly, turning her back to them and stalking towards the counter sullenly.
"Sorry, Kari, but I'm afraid that whatever you need, I can't help you with. You'll have to go to another shop." she stated, matter-of-factually, her tone belying her infelicity. She sat down in a chair behind the desk went back to work, soldering circuits with her omni-tool.
James and Kari looked at each other for a moment, there was a question in Kari's eyes, the question that James already knew was coming and in all honesty, he was going to ask himself if Kari didn't.
He gave Kari a nod of approval.
"Marah…?" Kari said, turning to her krogan friend, the large muscle bound female looking up at the Quarian with an inquisitive and impatient frown.
"We've got a ship, why don't you come work for us?" she asked, rather timidly, her hands bundled up into a little ball.
Marah stood up slowly. Her face was expressionless, but her eyes seemed to regard Kari with a certain…gratitude.
There was a long silence between them. Marah studied them both intensely before she nodded, a wiry grin returning to her lips.
"Eh…I was getting tired of this shit-hole anyways. I'm in."