I don't own Mass Effect. Bioware does.
With the ancient being on the loose, Jane couldn't do much for now, so she carefully examined the impaled object on Saren's shoulder.
"Shepard," Saren groaned, "don't worry about me. I'm not dying."
Jane shook her head in disbelief. The reassuring words did give her a speck of relief. When she made another glance at the scalpel, she noticed only half the small blade was buried in the hide.
"We still need to get it out," Jane insisted.
Jane wasted no time as she lowered her collar until her left shoulder was exposed before she wrapped a piece of cloth around the base of the object.
"Ok," Jane offered while she gestured to her exposed shoulder, "you can bite down here while I take out the scalpel."
Much to Jane's confusion, Saren stared into her eyes with disbelief.
"Jane, you do realize that if I bite you like that," Saren warned her, "other turians will recognize that I've marked you, right?"
Jane felt a chill down her spine, but she didn't flinch. Why make a big deal out of these said consequences?
"I might as well take that risk if it means helping you in return," Jane replied.
Jane leaned her head closer to Saren's, gesturing him to lock his teeth onto her shoulder while she gripped the object carefully.
"'eadeh," Saren mumbled.
"Ok, one, two…" Jane announced.
Saren stiffened seconds before Jane yanked at the object. His jaws instinctively clamped down in an attempt to bite back any groans of pain, his teeth piercing Jane's skin. Still, Jane kept pulling at the scalpel while her mentor kept his mandibles in a tight grip on her shoulder, blood seeping out of her bite mark. Seconds later, she managed to pull out the object, allowing Saren to release his grip on her shoulder. Not paying attention to her new wound, Jane set aside the scalpel.
"Are you ok?" Jane asked Saren.
Saren didn't say anything, but he nodded. Jane stood to her feet and fetched a pack of medi-gel from the cabinet.
"I'm more worried about you," Saren objected, "did that hurt badly?"
Jane shook her head while she slathered some medi-gel on Saren's shoulder.
"It was worth the pain," Jane shrugged.
He helped slather the gel on both of their injuries.
"Still," Saren continued, "you do realize other turians will smell me much more prominently on you now, right?"
Jane responded by helping Saren to his feet.
"We'll figure out something," Jane reassured Saren, readjusting her collar, "for now, we still have an ancient being on the loose."
The two quickly rushed out of the hospital to find the ancient soldier hadn't managed to get too far out of the hospital before numerous C-Sec troops had been called onto his position, keeping him boxed-in with riot shields and stun batons. They struggled to fight against the soldier's strong biotics, but the soldier's condition caused his undoing. Slowly reacting, he was unable to stop the overwhelming number of jabs and blows. Finally, one C-Sec officer hit him at an angle and forced him to the ground. Rushing forward, the medical personnel quickly sedated him before he could get back up.
"All right, he's down!" he announced.
C-Sec got to work clearing anyone who stopped to watch while the medical personnel came to take the ancient soldier back to Huerta and keep him sedated until Liara arrived. Once the asari doctor stepped through the door, Saren and Jane waited in the room to greet her.
"So, just what exactly did you two find?" Liara asked.
Saren just gestured to the medical bed next to him.
"You tell us, Dr. T'Soni. It's nothing we've ever seen before."
Liara walked up and only took a single look, her eyes widening in surprise.
"Is that…?" she asked, "how did you find one?"
"We found him in Eden Prime earlier today," Saren explained, "after we freed him, he started to panic and try to escape."
"But where? A stasis pod? From what little preserved DNA I've seen in the field…" Liara trailed off as she scanned the unconscious man with her omni-tool.
She continued to analyze him with a face like a child's on Christmas Day.
"I can't believe this. I could only hope to dream of something like this."
Jane and Saren exchanged confused glances for a moment until Liara turned her head towards them.
"I never thought I'd see a living Prothean," Liara continued.
Saren's eyes lit up.
"A Prothean?" he repeated, "that's a Prothean?"
"Yes, he is," Liara answered, straightening up, "I can help quickly set up his translator and patch an update to other translators quickly, but it'll take me a couple of days."
Saren and Jane let out a sigh of relief.
"Ok then," Jane offered, "we'll keep in touch."
The days passed as Liara continued to work at Huerta. The Prothean was kept sedated until she was finished with translating. She had spent an extensive amount of time studying a couple of damaged Prothean VIs, and was able to analyze their language through their speech patterns. Once in a while, she would notify Saren and Jane on her progress. By the time she finished, she called them over to the Huerta Hospital. Saren and Jane left the apartment and made their way through the Presidium on the way to the hospital. The most notable change going back into Huerta was the increased C-Sec presence, there to make sure no one broke in to access the Prothean and that the Prothean didn't break out before they had a proper opportunity to talk to it. Saren and Jane stepped through the corridor and stopped in front of a C-Sec officer guarding the room that held the Prothean.
Liara turned away from the still sedated Prothean for a moment to greet them.
"Arterius, Shepard, it's good to see you've arrived," Liara said.
The C-Sec officer glanced at Liara for a split second before he nodded at Saren and Jane, allowing them to step into the room.
"I assume you've installed the translator?" the Spectre asked.
"I have. He's been off of the drug for several hours now. He should wake up any minute. For now, allow me to do the talking. I might be more able to explain things to him," she answered.
"All right, then," Jane nodded, "we'll leave it to you."
Saren and Jane found some seats and waited until the Prothean opened his eyes several minutes later.
"What the hell…?" he groaned as he leaned up in his bed.
Liara held out her hand in front of the Prothean in an attempt to calm him.
"What do you want, primitive?" he spat.
"In case you haven't noticed, you've been under for much longer than scheduled," Liara snapped, "the least you could do is give me the opportunity to explain what has happened since you've entered cryo."
This didn't help improve the Prothean's attitude whatsoever.
"You can start by explaining what the hell happened to the Citadel," he demanded, "in the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you'd give my armor back so that I may report back to my unit for redeployment."
Liara gave the Prothean a confused stare.
"Perhaps it'd be easier going forward if I just broke it to you," Liara hissed in an uncharacteristically hostile tone, "fifty-thousand galactic cycles ago, what we know as the Prothean Empire vanished without a trace. No record of their fate, what lead to the fall, or where they could've gone to remains. There's no unit waiting for you, there's none of your kind left."
He stuttered before he continued.
"Fifty thousand?" the Prothean repeated with abject horror, "th-they said I'd only be under for a year…how did it happen?"
Liara let out a pained sigh.
"You could start by telling us how you ended up in the pod and avoided whatever event caused the downfall of your race."
"It was a stasis pod project meant to help artificially extend the lives of our best soldiers and smartest individuals, keep them safely stored for when they would be needed. I was at one of the many sites when the program started. They told me that I would be unconscious for only a year, and would be pulled back out afterwards when the trial run was finished to diagnose any negative side effects," the Prothean explained.
Liara nodded in acknowledgement.
"Alright, I can understand if we got off on the wrong foot. What's your name?" Liara asked.
"Captain Javik, Fifth Regiment of the Imperial Marine Corps."
"Javik," Liara repeated to herself.
Out of the corner of his eyes, Javik glanced at Saren.
"Could you also explain to me what species currently preside over this galaxy?" Javik insisted.
Javik distinctly remembered asari back before his cryo-sleep, but everything else seemed bigger or misshapen now. For example, that which Liara referred to as 'hanar' were merely tadpoles in various lakes when the Empire was at its peak.
"Currently," Liara began, gesturing to Saren and Jane, "we have turians and humans, like these two in the room."
She continued with a brief explanation about the two races' recent history and their current roles in society.
"I don't remember seeing anything like the humans, but I do remember the turians," Javik commented, "they were rather aggressive beasts, traveled in packs, and would attack by drawing the attention of their prey to allow others from the pack to flank them."
Saren responded by giving Javik a hawklike stare. Liara pulled out her omni-tool and pulled up images of a salarian, a krogan, and a quarian, all of which seemed to rile up Javik.
"So basically, everything I recognize as non-sentient has either figured out how to stand upright or is now bigger?" Javik clarified.
"Yes," Liara nodded.
With that in mind, Javik calmly slipped off the side of his bed.
"I think I'll wing the rest. In the meantime, where is my armor and what do you primitives have as sustenance?"
Liara couldn't help but smile at him.
"Would you like me to show you?" she offered.
Saren was still taken aback as Liara helped Javik into his armor before leaving the room.
"Asshat," he muttered.
Jane gave Saren a soft glance.
"You seem to be getting tense," Jane pointed out.
"Yeah. All that buildup with no answer to the questions I had in mind," he grumbled.
"What questions?" Jane paused in confusion.
"Mostly what happened to their empire. I did have a few others about their culture, but it sure as hell doesn't seem like we're getting any answers out of him now. Let's go," the two quickly left the hospital without another word to the staff.
With no missions scheduled, Saren and Jane took a stroll in the Presidium. They were planning on having lunch on the Presidium when they had soon caught up with Javik and Liara outside of the Spectre Academy. Whatever Liara had been informing him, they were now caught up in an extensive conversation with Nihlus. Their presence was enough to catch the younger turian Spectre's attention.
"Hey, Saren! Check this guy out!" Nihlus chuckled.
"I already know he's a Prothean and I'm already wishing we'd just left him in his pod," Saren grumbled.
Javik gave a stoic stare while he folded his arms.
"I never asked to be alive either, you lizard," Javik spat.
Saren and Javik exchanged stink eyes while the older Spectre and his apprentice sat down.
"So where'd you dig this fossil up from?" Nihlus asked.
"We found him on Eden Prime," Saren explained while he stroked his mandible with his talon.
"We should be on our way," Liara interrupted, "I'm still trying to help Javik become accustomed to life as it is now."
"Of course," Saren sighed, "you take care."
The three watched as the Prothean and the asari doctor disappeared into the crowd. Suddenly, Nihlus began to sniff the air before glancing at Saren and Jane. He raised his browplate seconds later.
"Is that what I think it is?" Nihlus hummed.
Confused, Jane glanced around the area but couldn't find anything interesting. Saren gave Nihlus a hawklike gaze seconds later.
"Nihlus, I'd greatly appreciate it if you didn't draw attention to it," Saren hissed.
"Oh, do you prefer to take this somewhere else?" Nihlus cooed playfully, "ok, that's understandable."
"Yes, I would," Saren growled.
They found a private spot to talk away from the crowds of people before the elder Spectre scowled.
"Nihlus, I'd appreciate it if you didn't flaunt gossip so openly," he insisted.
Nihlus scratched his mandible.
"What? I just find it hilariously ironic, not that it's some form of public disgrace or taboo," Nihlus blurted.
"I-Ironic?" Jane paused while she tilted her head.
"Jane, I'm not sure if you're aware," Nihlus clarified, "but Saren just so happens to be from the generation who attended Relay 314…or First Contact as you would call it…and hates humans with a burning passion. Yet here he is with your smell all over him and his smell all over you."
Jane raised her eyebrows when a particular memory popped back into mind.
"If anyone asks," Jane suggested, "I let him bite me to pull a scalpel out of his shoulder after Javik panicked."
Jane made a brief glance at Saren.
"Are you…ok with this?" Jane asked.
Saren closed his eyes and deeply inhaled before looking back to Nihlus.
"Fine," Saren admitted, "I love Jane, and I'm not afraid of showing it."
Mandibles flexing into a grin and folding his arms, Nihlus softly closed his eyes.
"I knew it," he mused.
"I get that tensions are still rather high between humans and turians, but if it's anything Jane has helped me to understand is that we cannot hold onto these hostilities forever," Saren responded as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "however, I'd appreciate this if word didn't get too far. At least give people time to move on before they're allowed to cast judgment."
Nihlus unfolded his arms and nodded at Saren.
"Come on, you statue. When will you properly learn to come out of your shell every now and then? Anyways, I'll leave you two lovebirds be. I've got things to do yet," Nihlus bid farewell before striding away.
Sighing, Saren led Jane out of the area and into the Presidium. The two continued to a restaurant and found a seat. Saren sat and remained mostly silent. In the meantime, Jane read through the menu. He couldn't help but glance around nervously, paranoid that every passing glance the two received would be one of crushing judgment. In an attempt to soothe him, Jane gently grasped his hand. He briefly snapped his vision over before slowly trying to calm back down.
"Sorry, I was feeling a bit distracted," he muttered.
"Hey, take it easy," Jane reassured him, "we'll be fine."
He sighed.
"I know," he whispered, "interspecies relationships are not a new concept. However, with humans and especially turians…I can't exactly expect others to pass judgment so favorably as Nihlus had."
"If it makes you feel any better," Jane added, "I don't see it as much of a big deal."
"Thanks. I just don't want to feel isolated or ostracized," he replied softly.
"I know how you feel," Jane agreed.
A while later, Saren and Jane decided on what they wanted to order for lunch.
"So once training is done and you are hopefully inducted into the Spectres, what then?" Saren asked, "what do you see happening to us?"
Jane took a moment to think over the question. Come to think of it, she never thought of whether she wanted to get married at some point in her life. And from what she could gather, this ritual of turians marking their mates appeared more intense than marriage.
"Do we have to part ways? Even if we weren't to take our relationship to the next level, I'd still want to be with you," she answered.
Saren responded by giving her a soft smile.
"That's at least all I could ask for," Saren nodded.
Minutes later, the waitress arrived with their lunch orders. She paused before she gave the two their respective meals.
"Am I…interrupting something?"
Jane snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head towards the waitress.
"No, you're fine," she blurted.
The two ceased their conversation as they ate in silence. In fact, a delicious meal was enough for them to take their mind of such a deal. Feeling much better about the ordeal, Saren proposed as he payed the check.
"I have an idea," Saren asked, "you interested in watching a vid? I'm sure there's something good at the local theater."
Jane smiled as she nodded.
"Kelly told me about this Wonder Woman movie she watched with Garrus more than a week ago," Jane mentioned.
"What's that about?" Saren asked.
Jane couldn't help but scratch her head.
"I hear it's based on a comic book character," Jane replied, "but I haven't delved too much into comics."
The two traveled to a theater in the wards that replayed various vids from long ago and from various species. Saren took a few seconds as he looked at the poster and the amount of exposed soft tissue the titular character's armor left unprotected.
"Humans do have a strange sense of design for their fictional characters," he commented.
Jane couldn't help but scratch her head while she observed the poster.
"If it's a good flick, great," Jane said, "if it's dull, it at least is something to laugh at. Still interested?"
He shrugged.
"Let's see what it's like. I don't mind."
Taking his hand into her own, Jane led Saren into the theater. Going in, he hadn't seen enough human vids to set any sort of expectations. For the duration of the movie, Saren couldn't help but feel mesmerized by the scenery on the screen as well as the action. To add icing to the cake, the titular character had such a meaningful impact through her active involvement in the plot, which was pretty good to anyone's standards. While unlikely, he did greatly enjoy the contrast between the titular character's culture and what Jane described as the cultural norm on Earth centuries prior during what had been originally dubbed "The Great War" and "The War to End All Wars". In retrospect, the conflict did little else than spark the chain of conflicts throughout the rest of the century and show the nations at the time the harsh realities increasing technologies wrought upon their own species as the war took lives of soldier and civilian alike. This reminded him of the battles he fought during his experience in the turian military. Despite the dark undertones of the film overall, they walked out of the theater feeling the movie was an excellent experience.
"So," Saren purred, "what else do you have in mind?"
"A night stride perhaps? We can afford to be a bit more open about our relationship, can't we?" Jane proposed.