Saren scanned the area around them once more. Still no movement, which for them was a good thing. Assuming the outpost hadn't been destroyed, it would take at least a good two hours to reach it on foot. He turned around and caught the sight of his companions basking in the heat of their sun. Although he was anxious to get moving, he gave them time to enjoy this moment. Nihlus lowered his face first and found Saren watching him; he flashed him a grin before pulling his rifle out. Garrus, however, had turned to Shepard, his mandibles flared in a grin as he welcomed her to Palaven. Saren snorted at that thought; this was hardly a vacation for them. The boy's hero worship for Shepard was apparently evident to everyone but the woman herself.

"This way," Saren said as he waved with his hand. "Vakarian, bring up the rear. Best if you stay in the middle of us, Shepard."

Amala fell in behind Saren and Nihlus. It felt weird not to be in charge; after all, she had been working on her own for what seemed like a lifetime now. Saren, however, knew the terrain and would be her best chance at not getting shot on sight. After all, the asari and batarians would have to be wearing full helmets while out in the middle of the day as well, and any turians who saw her would assume she was one of those two species.

The area where they had landed was partway up the side of a cliff, in the middle of some dry rocky canyons. Down below them, she could see the rocks gave way to a grassland and all of the vegetation had a slight silvery sheen to it. Saren continued up the side, leading them deeper into the maze of rocks.

The cooling units in Amala's suit whirred constantly, trying to maintain the temperature she had set it at. Outside that slight hum, she could hear the thunk of their boots as they traversed across the rocks. Every now and then, she could hear what had to be the sound of the local fauna, although it looked like the majority of the planet took refuge during the strongest hours of the sun.

More than an hour later, Saren began to look for a spot for them to rest in the shade. All of them were lacking the conditioning to spend a great deal of time under the sun on Palaven. Up ahead, he spotted a small alcove deep in the shadows of a rock and led the party to it. The shade was deep enough that Amala could risk taking her helmet off.

Her helmet came off, the hot native air still better than the recycled air of her suit. She was in the middle of taking a drink when a strange piercing cry echoed across the area. A call that Saren answered with a cry of his own. The sound came again and once more Saren replied, though it seemed a little more forceful the second time. Then the telltale sound of small rocks cascading from where someone had disturbed them rang out from all around them. Amala capped her water container in anticipation of who would show up.

They didn't have long to wait as four turians descended from above them, their well worn rifles cradled in their arms. Their armor was nothing more than regular clothes colored to blend in with the surrounding rocks. They looked young, even younger than Garrus. A fact that bothered Amala even as she realized these people were fighting for their existence. Nihlus and Garrus moved to flank Saren, their own weapons held casually in their hands.

"General Arterius? I, uh, we heard you were dead."

"No, I was captured," Saren said, a hint of anger in his voice. "Who is in charge of the Nanus outpost now?"

"No one, sir. It was shut down; we've implemented the roving command post strategy. My team was sent out to investigate what looked to be a spaceship crashing. Although, we never did see it explode."

"Because it didn't. We were on that ship. I need to find someone high in the Hierarchy."

"General Corinthus leads the post we are from; he should be able to give you more information. We will take you and your prisoner there."

Saren waved a hand at Shepard. "She is not our prisoner. She is more of an envoy of her people."

Amala watched as the new turians took a closer look at her. With her helmet off it should have been apparent that she wasn't an asari or a batarian, but that didn't necessarily mean they would be less hostile.

"General," she said softly, "should we go back and get the QEC at least before we get any further away from the ship?"

Saren turned to gaze at Amala even as the squad clutched their weapons a little bit tighter.

"How far," Saren turned to look closer at the squad leader's armor, "to Corinthus's location, Corporal?"

"Sir? You, uh, understand the alien?"

"Yes, the damnable implants the asari installed in us have at least one benefit. Now, I ask again, how far?" Saren growled out.

"Two hours, sir!"

"Put the translator program on continuous use on your omni-tools. My voice will be translated for them, so they can understand me as well then," Amala said, keeping her voice even and on the quiet side.

"Vakarian, do it," Saren snapped out.

Garrus quickly called up his tool and put the program on just as Amala had suggested.

"You have those working as well?" The young corporal asked, his voice rising a little in excitement.

"You can question us on our gear after we get to your camp. For now, we need to go back to our ship and retrieve something of vital importance. Something that must be protected at all costs. Do I make myself clear?" Saren asked, his sub-vocals thrumming in such a way that it had the whole squad standing at attention.

"Yes, sir!"

Saren let out an irritated huff. "Good, now follow us."

Amala put her helmet back on. A small smile spread across her face as she followed the turians back the way they came.

The Wildcat sat where they had left it just a few hours ago. Amala moved up to the front of the group and began keying in the sequence to unlock the vessel.

"What is the alien doing?" a suspicious voice asked from behind her.

"I'm unlocking my ship."

The turian version of her words echoed back from Garrus's omni-tool, tinny and rather flat. The squad seemed a little surprised, but this was the first time she had spoken since Garrus had turned on his tool's program.

EDI's voice rang out as soon as Amala entered the vessel.

"Found the outpost already?"

"No, it's further away than we thought so we figured we should get the QEC at the least. Nothing to report on your end I hope?"

"Minimal chatter. It appears that most suspect us of crashing in the ocean nearby, which of course was my goal."

"Good. No telling when we will be back again."

"Understood."

Amala dug out the crates for the QEC, stacking them on top of each other. The two large containers would have to be carried for a long time, something she wasn't looking forward to. Next, she pulled out one of the weapon crates and dragged it to the hatch of the ship.

"General, I would guess decent weapons are hard to come by. I don't know if you want to bring a crate of these back with us or not."

Saren strode over and flipped the lid off the container. Inside, assault rifles like Garrus and Nihlus currently had were nestled in their protective coverings. Heat sinks had been stuffed into bags and used to fill up the crate.

"Corporal, you and your people grab a new rifle and leave your old one in the ship for now. Grab one of the bags of heat sinks as well," Saren ordered.

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!"

The four of them quickly switched weapons. Garrus and Nihlus showed them the basics of their use. Saren shut the crate back up and Amala pushed it back inside the ship.

"We'll have to come back for the rest of the supplies when we have enough people to carry everything."

"Sir? Why can't you just fly the ship to our location?"

"We can't risk leading our enemies to our post. No, the ship is safer here, for the moment."

"Right then, I just need someone to help me carry the crates," Amala said.

"You there," Saren said, pointing at one of the squad. "Go help her."

The turian snapped a salute at Saren and followed Amala back into the ship. His eyes skimmed over everything, curious about this strange ship and the alien that was traveling with the general. The alien stopped in front of two large crates stacked on top of each other. She grabbed the handle on the bottom one and he grabbed the handle on the opposite side. Together they lifted it and carried it out of the ship. After locking the ship back up, they were off once more.

Amala's arms were aching by the time the sun had begun to set. At least they were close to their destination according to their guide. Sure enough, the sounds of boots on rock echoed around them and then turians appeared surrounding them, all of them holding a weapon of some sort. An older turian, his dark brown plates showing cracks and damage, pushed through to stand before Saren. He seemed to study him for a moment.

"General Arterius, I should have known that our enemies couldn't hold you for long," he said with a soft laugh before clapping Saren on the shoulder.

"General Corinthus, glad to see you are still alive. After seeing the age of the squad we ran into I was afraid none of our senior leaders were left."

"They may be young, but they have been through several fights each. Now, you want to tell me how in the name of all the Spirits of Palaven you managed to get free?"

"We need some place safe and secure to store something before we talk."

Corinthus looked past Saren and noticed the alien in the middle.

"We don't usually keep our prisoners alive, but I'm sure we can figure out something."

Saren shook his head. "No, she is not a prisoner. Shepard, come up here with that thing."

Amala and the turian carried the QEC up to the two generals. Saren pointed at the crates.

"This. This is what we have to protect. It's a communication device to contact her people to find out their plans to free us."

Corinthus rocked back. "What? How? We have no satellites."

"It's a quantum entanglement communicator, QEC for short. It allows for instantaneous communication regardless of where the two devices are located and no one can intercept the data it transmits. The other half of this set is with an admiral of my people," Amala explained. Her words, however, were faint as Garrus was a few feet behind her.

"Vakarian, move up here so her words don't sound like they are coming from some rocks behind us," Saren ordered. "Now, you can see why this has to be protected at all costs. Let's get it secured and then we can talk properly."

The QEC had been placed under tight guard and now their little group was currently in Corinthus's personal quarters, a small alcove in the back of a larger cave. Amala had chosen to sit on the ground, the others making do with makeshift seats on crates. Corinthus leaned closer to Saren.

"So, care to tell me how you escaped along with two camp prisoners?"

"Before I answer that, do you have any information about my brother?"

Corinthus shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry. Nobody has heard from him in weeks. Communication is spotty as you can guess; pretty much we are reduced to fighting on our own with whatever we have on hand."

Saren nodded. "I expected as much. What about Primarch Fedorian? Is there any way we can get in contact with him?"

"He was killed not too long ago. With both you and your brother gone, Victus was tapped for the spot."

"Fine. Where can we find him?"

"Last I heard he was leading a group out in the Dreslyx forest."

"Damn."

Saren rubbed his forehead for a moment before he told their story to Corinthus. After he was finished, Corinthus turned to look at Amala.

"I have to say, I find it surprising that now your people are willing to help ours."

"The truth of what is going on here has been well hidden. It was only because I found your general and the others that I was able to do anything about it. There is an old saying on my world: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend'."

Corinthus smiled at that. "Apparently all cultures come to that conclusion. We have a similar saying. So what did the asari do to you?"

"Until recently we thought the asari were our allies, but since they have allied themselves with the batarians, well, I view that relationship as tenuous at best. The batarians have been raiding our colonies for years now; their government denies they are behind it. But that is one tale I never believed."

"Corinthus, I hate to ask this, but we will need at least two of your people to carry the QEC. Shepard is of better use with a gun than carrying supplies since it will take at least a few days to travel to the forest," Saren said.

"I did wonder why she came planetside with you."

"My ship, and I did start this. I am a soldier, not a politician. I won't be a liability," Amala interjected.

Corinthus gave a small nod. "I'll give you two of my men, Arterius. We'll keep an eye on your ship as well."

Amala let out a small laugh. "Thank you, although my ship has a few surprises for anyone who fucks with it, what with an A.I. installed on it."

"Thank you. The easiest route down to the forest is back the way we came. Send some extra soldiers with us and we can at least get some better weapons in your hands," Saren added.

"That would be appreciated. We can always use better guns. My 'quarters' aren't much, but you are welcome to use them tonight."

~A big thank you to Mordinette for all her help and one to the readers! I'm delighted you are enjoying this!~