A/N: Beginning with this chapter, there are time jumps—both forwards and back—between Xiùlán's and Sam's schooling on Mars and turian explorer Septivus Vulpez's travels in the pirate-infested far reaches of so-called 'Earth Alliance' space.

Life is full of screwups. You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of the human existence. — Sarah Dessen, Along for the Ride

ADV/CTF – Advanced Combat Training Facility
IFF – Identify Friend/Foe device - a transponder
LADaR – Light-Amplified Detection and Ranging
Parrot – IFF Transponder
Strangle your parrot – 'shut off the IFF'

ALLIANCE SECURNETCOMM
RTE-SOL/TERRA-CHARON-EXODUS-HADES GAMMA/SSV HONG KONG

FROM: General RaeLee Park, Spec. Weapons Dev. Coordinator, Systems Alliance
TO: Serviceman First Class Samantha Traynor - SN 8256-DH-7968
TO: Serviceman First Class Yuán Xiùlán - SN 8257-PVG-09186
CC: Captain Jaclyn Mosley, SSV Hong Kong
CC: Colonel James Franklin, Commandant, ADV/CTF, Mars Base

Ms Traynor; Ms Yuán:

Having read the reports detailing your inaugural mission in the Dis System, Hades Gamma Cluster, I wish to offer my observations regarding the outcome:

1] Your recovery of a number of ancient artifacts left behind on planet Dis, despite encounters with Cerberus ground troops, is commendable.

2] While the death and physical mutilation of Marine Sergeant Tobias Perkins at the hands of batarian slavers on planet Klensal was extremely unfortunate, Captain Jaclyn Mosley has stated her belief—with which I concur—in the success of your mission, due in no small part to your elimination of the batarian slavers attempting to gain a foothold on Klensal after your escape from their captivity.

My conclusion is this has been an auspicious beginning to your careers in the Alliance Navy. Well done.

I also wish to take this opportunity to again offer my sympathy regarding the death of Heather Gonzales at the hands of suspected Cerberus agents. I attended her memorial service here in Vancouver; in addition to offering condolences to her mother and father on your behalf, I also explained that your current assignments prevented either of you from attending in person.

I will talk to both of you soon, once you are safely back at the training base on Mars. Again, my congratulations on the positive outcome of your assignment.

RaeLee Park, General: Spec. Weapons Dev Coordinator, Systems Alliance Command

Xiùlán and Sam each closed their omnitools after reading General Park's message. Sam looked at her lover and asked, "What do you think? She sent a copy to Colonel Franklin … is that going to tag us as 'General's Pets'. I sure'n'ell don't want the rest of our class knowing about this … we'd be compared to Joesiar after all the time and effort it cost us to get his miserable ass booted outta the Navy."

Xiùlán thought about General Park and the effect her message would have. "I don't know if it'll be a burden or not. Just have to wait 'til we're back on Mars." Xiùlán's voice betrayed her melancholy mood. "Still don't believe I'll ever stop thinking Sergeant Perkins death is somehow on me, Sammy. I wasn't in charge of the mission, but … "

"But nothing, Xiùlán! You heard Captain Mosley! Shit happens … shit happens to good people through no fault of their own, or anyone else's. You have got to let this go, Xiùlán! You couldn't have prevented it, couldn't have stopped the four-eyed bastard that did it."

The Hong Kong had reached the relay and was loitering half-a-million klicks away as they waited for the relief crew—needed to take over operations of the captured batarian corvette—to arrive from the Exodus Cluster. The relay had last been utilized for an Alliance cruiser's passage to the Voyager Cluster and was about halfway through the process of realigning itself to receive a ship from the opposite direction. While they waited, Xiùlán and Sam continued to discuss the message from General Park.

Traynor felt her good opinion of the General now needed to be tempered by the revelation RaeLee Park was a coordinator for special weapons development, with the term weapons being loosely applied to the program in which Xiùlán and herself were enrolled. They were being trained for covert operations; most aspects of that training were designed to create human weapons that most of their potential enemies would never see coming until it was too late.

"We need to treat our experience on Klensal as another lesson, Luv. All the batarians hesitated when they first saw you in that lower chamber," Traynor slowly said, as if thinking out loud. "They don't think human females are effective fighters."

Xiùlán's response was interrupted by a ship wide alarm, followed by a harsh female voice booming from the overhead speakers. "This is not a drill! General Quarters … General Quarters … all hands man your battle stations!" The alarm continued to sound for five seconds before the command was repeated. "This is not a drill! General Quarters … General Quarters … all hands man your battle stations!" The alarm was finally silenced after continuing to sound for another 15 seconds.

Sam mentally noted that the voice had the metallic flanging of a ship's VI. As Yuán and Traynor were simply passengers, neither of them were assigned duty stations on board; Traynor wanted to see what was happening, so cautiously poked her head past the bulkhead in which the compartment hatch retracted. Not seeing anyone in the crew quarters, she whispered, "Come on," to Xiùlán as she walked through the compartment to the exit hatch.

The hatch was sealed—standard procedure under GQ rules—Traynor released the lock and opened the hatch, waited for Xiùlán, then re-closed and sealed the hatch behind her. They were now in the crew's mess hall, and the few people that were in this area were on the move, most entering access tubes to either climb or descend to another level.

Xiùlán walked up to the Marine controlling access to the CIC elevator and asked, "Any chance we could go topside, Corporal?"

"Not yet, Serviceman. Boss is still getting a handle on the situation. Shouldn't be long."

Traynor asked, "Do you know why the alarm was sounded?"

"Haven't been told … haven't asked. Best guess? A ship belonging to a possibly hostile race unexpectedly exited the Relay … happens occasionally while we're waiting for a realignment. This relay is paired with four others besides Exodus."

"Thank you, Corporal." Xiùlán turned to Samantha and said, "Might as well have some tea while we're here, Sammy."

Yuán and Traynor were each nursing a second cup of tea when a two-part tone, different from the alarm tone, sounded three times, followed by a VI announcement from the overhead speakers: "Secure from General Quarters, Secure from General Quarters! All hands, stand down from General Quarters, return to normal duties or receive your next orders from your Department Heads. Time on deck is oh-nine fifty-eight; Department Heads, muster with the Captain in the conference room at ten fifteen."

Traynor looked at Xiùlán. "Don't imagine we'll be able to find out what happened for a while. What do we do? … wait here, maybe try'n flag someone down to ask?"

Yuán shook her head as she replied, "Let's sit and wait. Maybe have a bit of late breakfast/early lunch."

As it happened, they didn't have long to wait—Corporal Qian Long Xi came around the main elevator supports looking for hot water to make tea. He spotted Yuán instantly and smiled. "How are you doing, Serviceman? Everything healing up okay?"

Yuán smiled back as she replied, "I'm doing well, Corporal. What's going on topside?"

Qian held up a finger, silently requesting a moment as he poured hot water into a clean mug and brought it to the table along with a bit of his private stash of tea. He sat across from the women and began to answer Yuán as he brewed his tea. "Ship arrived at the relay … had to identify it from LADaR, since they were flying without a functioning transponder. Appeared to be a batarian cruiser, possibly heading for Dis. Captain strangled our parrot soon as the relay went active; the ship seemingly didn't detect us."

"Probably answering distress calls sent by the two corvettes you encountered," Sam observed. "Bet they'll be pissed when they find nothing but empty space there."

"How about when they drop a landing party to see why that mine on Klensal has gone silent?" Xiùlán snarked. "Suppose they'll be more pissed at what they find inside?"

"I expect so," Qian said in a thoughtful tone. "Thing is, to whom can they complain? It's not as if what they were doing was legal." He poured his tea into a mug and took a sip. "s'nice," he said. He offered some to each of the women before getting up to leave. "Talk to you later. Oh, and Ms Traynor?" Qian looked at her and smiled. "Let me know if you'd like me to trim your hair a bit before we get back to Mars. I have a style in mind for you that'd really bring out your cheekbones – be perfect for your facial features."

Sam's mouth fell open at this, bringing a giggle from Xiùlán. Before Sam could recover her wits enough to respond, Qian was gone. "Looks like I'm not the only woman on this boat Qian finds attractive, Sà mi," Xiùlán snarked. "Should I be jealous?" Xiùlán's answer was a fist applied to her upper arm. "Ow! What was that?" Xiùlán's look of mock injury brought a tiny smile to Sam's face despite her best effort to look offended.

"I don't go out of my way to be attractive to anyone … except you," was Sam's indignant response. "Why would I even want to be attractive to anyone else?"

"So they can be jealous of me," came the cheeky reply. "You don't have to make yourself unattractive to other people, Sà mi … way I see it, someone hitting on you is a compliment to me. And you're more than capable of taking care of anyone that persists in being a pest. So, just be yourself. If Qian wants to trim and style your hair, why not let 'im? We'll be going into situations where an Alliance regulation cut like yours will be a dead give-away of who you work for … probably not a good thing."

Traynor looked at her lover with skepticism. Finally deciding to drop the matter, she said, "I'll think about it."

The remainder of their trip back to Mars was uneventful; the pair reported to their section leader immediately after leaving the Hong Kong. Except for the comments each of them—particularly Xiùlán—received regarding their new hairstyles, nothing was said regarding their adventures on Jartar or Klensal … they were simply handed their assignments for the following week and told to get some food, rest and continue healing.

Xiùlán grabbed her armored chestplate as soon as they reached their quarters. "I'm going to drop this off, get this bullet hole fixed, then send a message. See you in a bit."

After Xiùlán dropped her chestplate off at the armory, she walked to the Student Comm Center. It was, as expected, quite busy; deciding not to wait for a QEC connection, she used her omnitool to generate a text message to Mallene Calis, the asari working with Serrice Council on high-end omnitools. The wait for a 'text-only' message tech was much shorter; when she reached the head of the queue, the tech promised to send Xiùlán's message before the end of his shift, even offering to send an acknowledgement to Xiùlán when it was sent. She thanked him and left after checking her own 'inbox' for messages.

As fate would have it, their first classes after returning from the Hades Gamma cluster began immediately upon their return, a two-day training session by an ex-military batarian named Deville Creg'falak. He presented a very basic course on the mind-set of the Hegemony, telling them it was a government ruled by extreme paranoia, with the majority of its wealth dedicated to increasing their military might, even at the expense of its citizens, who were prohibited from leaving their home world of Khar'shan.

Out of all the things Creg'falak had told them about batarians, one of the most enlightening concerned their upper pair of eyes – they were quite sensitive to infrared emissions. An activated cloaking shield was of no use against a batarian intent on spotting them; their forms would be visible as red to orange to yellow images when their shields were active, even in pitch dark conditions, to any batarian looking in their direction. This became a distinct disadvantage to batarians on a 'hot' world such as Aratoht; a human's heat signature would tend to blend in with the heat waves emanating from the surrounding surfaces, as long as one remained relatively motionless. Creg'falak added, "It's also worth noting that when a batarian dies, it's believed that his soul leaves the body through the eyes. Treatment of the corpse is not important, unless the eyes have been removed by an enemy."

Creg'falak told them batarians in general strongly believed species with fewer than four eyes to possess less intelligence. "We can often gain an advantage during arguments with other species, as they find it difficult to know which pair of eyes to focus on when speaking to us." Creg'falak chuckled as he told them, "Focus on our lower set of eyes when speaking with us. Even glancing up at my other pair tells me you are unsure of your position, and I will most certainly take advantage of you in negotiations."

Xiùlán and Sam were amazed at the bad timing of their assignment on Klensal. Sam hissed, "Sure could have put this to good use in that mine!"

Xiùlán's response was terse. "We're getting the info now, so listen close."

Creg'falak had continued speaking. "Body language among batarians is as important as the spoken word. If I tilt my head to my left while speaking with you, it's a sign of admiration and respect." Creg'falak next tilted his head to his right as he said, "This is a sign that I consider myself superior to you, or any other person in my line of sight. For a human to use this gesture towards a batarian is extremely insulting, due to the high value we place on social caste. If you are not prepared, it could get your throat cut."

Traynor very nearly stood up, ready to pound this condescending bastard into a pile of paste on the floor … Xiùlán placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "Just listen, Sà mǐ. He has no idea what we just experienced … doesn't even know who we are or where we went. Sit tight. We're learning what we need to know in order to survive out there."

Traynor looked at her lover for a moment before turning back towards their 'instructor'. She slowly tilted her head to the right as she watched him, keeping her attention focused solely on his main pair of eyes; it took Creg'falak less than a minute to notice her, as everyone else held their heads straight or tilted slightly left as they listened to him. Xiùlán noticed Sam's posture at the same time and hissed a warning through clenched teeth. "Sà MI … "

Creg'falak was silent for a moment before addressing Traynor. "It would appear you don't like me, Ms … ?"

"Traynor. And no, I don't like you, Mister Creg'falak."

Creg'falak smiled. "I won't ask you why, Ms Traynor. The majority of the humans I have encountered seem to dislike me … not unexpected; as a race, we do seem to be our own worst enemy. The batarians you have been exposed to are not the average citizens of my homeworld. I suspect you … " he glanced briefly at Xiùlán, " … and your friend recently encountered, what? … pirates? … or slavers, perhaps?"

"Slavers," Traynor replied as she looked around at the others in the room. All eyes were riveted on her; most appeared to be amazed at the effrontery she displayed. "Hades Gamma system. Barely got away with our lives. They did not leave with theirs."

"I see. So, for you, the score or so of slavers you encountered somehow makes all of us … " Dhevile placed a hand in the middle of his chest for emphasis, " … suspect, correct?"

Had Traynor's eyes been lasers, Creg'falak would have been dead where he stood. "Yes!"

"Well, I suspect it's a good thing for me the Systems Alliance has guaranteed my safety while I am teaching here." Dhevile tilted his own head to the right as he continued, "I believe I would not enjoy meeting you outside of this classroom environment."

Traynor's brown eyes were molten, in total contrast to the ice in her response, "You probably would not survive the encounter, Sir."

Xiùlán waited outside the section commander's office while she met with a thoroughly pissed-off Samantha Traynor. The batarian instructor, Dhevile Creg'falak, had reported her disrespectful and threatening attitude as soon as he'd left the classroom. Xiùlán had tried to reason with Sam, but she was beyond even listening to her lover. Now, she'd be lucky if she wasn't washed out of the program. Despite her natural gifts when it came to electronics, her willingness to say exactly what she was thinking had finally come around to bite her in the ass.

The inner door opened to reveal a somber-faced Traynor; she was followed out of the office by Major Rebecca Stern, who apparently wanted to add a few more words. "Serviceman Traynor, you are so very close to finishing … with honors, I might add. Please don't allow your hatred of batarians ruin your future with the Alliance."

Sam turned back to the woman and replied, "Thank you, Ma'am. I'll certainly think about everything you told me."

Major Stern noticed Yuán and nodded in her direction. "Serviceman Yuán, I'd like you to keep an eye on Traynor for me. The death or injury on this base of that miserable batarian now, after Traynor as much as promised him he was dead meat—and in front of witnesses, no less—would cause more problems for us than I can imagine. Please don't let her do anything to jeopardize the already fragile peace we have with the Hegemony."

Before Xiùlán could respond, Sam turned back and responded, "Don't worry, Major. Any batarians dying by my hand will be righteous kills, sanctioned by the Alliance."

The major's frown intensified, but she said nothing more as she turned on her heel to return to her office. Yuán got the distinct impression a bottle of hooch was hidden in a desk drawer, a bottle whose siren call Major Stern was going to answer as soon as the door closed behind her.

"Come on, Sammy … let's head back to our quarters. Oh, and thanks," Yuán snarked.

"For … ?"

"For making sure I need to have you in my sights anytime we're out. You must realize everyone will come looking for you if Dhevile Creg'falak winds up dead, no matter what the cause," Xiùlán said solemnly, as she led Sam out into the passageway.

Sam's mouth fell open in amazement. "You actually think I'm capable of murdering someone in cold blood? Honestly?" Sam got ahead of Xiùlán, turned and stepped backwards for several paces with a hand on Yuán's shoulder until she stopped. Shaking her head, she continued, "Xiùlán, I know I've talked a mean streak about wanting to end Marianna Walsh and Darius Holden for what they did to Heather, but seriously, I'm not about to kill some random batarian just because he doesn't respect me … I'm not a cold-blooded killer, Luv!"

Xiùlán grabbed Sam's hand as it was withdrawn from her shoulder. "Sà mi, you are my lover! Anything I could say in your defense would be heard with a critical ear, especially since I have trained you so well in hand-to-hand combat. No one I know is your equal, Sà mi … no one!"

Sam interrupted with, "Except you, Ai [愛 - Love (Sam's meaning is 'luv')]"

Xiùlán started walking again as she answered thoughtfully, "I'm not all that sure I could take you any longer, darling. I certainly wouldn't want to personally test your abilities."

"Xiùlán!" Sam exclaimed. "Don't you dare think … not even for a second! … that I would go up against you on the mat! I couldn't … I wouldn't do it!"

By this time the pair had reached the entrance to their quarters; Traynor waved her activated omnitool past the lock interface, which promptly turned green to admit them. Once inside, with the hatch closed and sealed, Sam kept her omnitool activated; changing its function, she walked around their quarters, using the tool to search high and low for monitoring devices.

Xiùlán took notice of this as she sat at her desk and activated her terminal. "Sà mi, what the …"

Sam held up her free hand as she finished the main living and dining area. With a finger pressed against her lips, Sam went into their sleeping and bath area. "Xiùlán!" Sam waited until Xiùlán entered the room; directing her gaze at a spot next to an overhead light, she entered a command into her omnitool. This resulted in a miniature flash as the small camera Sam had discovered overloaded and exploded; debris from this was confined in a miniature kinetic bubble Traynor created to contain the camera's contents. Using her omnitool as a remote pilot, she directed the bubble back out into their living area; here, she set it down on her desk, then dissolved the bubble, allowing its contents to fall onto her desk with metallic and glass-like tinkles of sound.

"Gao shénme gui? …" [搞什麼鬼 … ？ – What the hell … ?] Xiùlán came around the desk to look closely at the shattered device. "A camera? … in our goddamned bedroom? How long has that been there!?" Yuán was slowly reaching her boiling point as she looked at the pieces of the shattered device.

Traynor was using the microscope function on her omnitool to minutely inspect the pieces of metal. "Looks like human manufacture, Luv … LSP – Light Shadow Pictures." She entered the model number and 'LSP' into an Extranet search; after several seconds her tool trilled with a response. "LSP appears to be a shell company, owned by Cerberus, so this camera was probably placed by a Cerberus agent. We were gone plenty long enough for someone to get in here and plant this."

Sam straightened up and rolled her head around in an effort to work the kinks from her neck and shoulder muscles. "Guess they felt they needed to put us on the Extranet, since they were going to the trouble to watch us nude and rude. I do know it wasn't in here before we traveled to Hades Gamma."

Xiùlán eyed her skeptically. "How can you be so sure?"

Traynor chuckled as she responded, "Because I've been scanning our quarters every night before we go to bed—before we even get undressed, ever since—Heather's murder." Sam's expression was grim. "This is our first night home from Hades Gamma. I have a feeling someone has informed Cerberus how serious we are about finding Walsh and Holden's handlers. Has to be more sleeper agents on this base than just those two, Luv. They want what's in the Prothean archives."

"Prothean?"

"The race of people, vanished without a trace … or almost without a trace, 50,000 years or so ago. That's what the dig site is all about. The experts … the archaeologists … believe those archives hold the key to understanding the why of their disappearance. Learning that would go a long way towards discovering the how." Traynor shook her head as she added, "Damn! I need to strengthen the encryption on our entrance door and double down on checking for monitoring devices, especially now I know what to look for."

Xiùlán had a chilling thought. "Sam, if there are Cerberus sleeper agents amongst us, then you aren't the only human on this base that dislikes batarians … they could make an attempt on Dhevile Creg'falak's life, pin the blame on you. Shit!" Activating her terminal, she placed a call to Base Security, explained what they knew, what they feared and requested an urgent security check on Dhevile Creg'falak in the guest instructor's quarters. Closing the connection, she whispered, "I hope they're not too late."

Dhevile Creg'falak was returning to his quarters from dinner. The passageway lighting in this area suited him immensely … it was bright enough for him to see his way clearly while being dim enough for the comfort of his secondary eyes.

He was almost to the entry hatch when he caught a hint of motion ahead. Slowing his forward progress, he surreptitiously reached behind his back and pulled a knife from its hidden sheath. If that disrespectful little human bitch Traynor thought she was going to kill him from behind the cloak of a shield, she was in for a real surprise.

He sensed rather than heard the movement behind him; instantly recognizing his error, he whirled around and planted the 25 Cm blade in the middle of the unknown assailant's chest at the same time he kicked for barely visible legs. The attacker coughed in surprise and fell back, giving Dhevile enough time to spin back around to catch the first assassin in the face with a closed fist as he grabbed for the weapon whose outline he could see … a light pistol, silencer equipped. Turning the weapon on its former owner, he pulled the trigger twice. Turning back to the man in whom he'd planted his knife, he fired two shots at the shadowy center of mass. The second shot disabled the shield generator, revealing a human male, heavy-set, bearded, with pale blue eyes that gazed in pained amazement at Dhevile for a second that seemed like an eternity before he crumpled to the floor.

Creg'falak turned back again to find the second man on his knees, shield generator disabled, staring at the blood on his hands, before he too fell face first onto the floor, his last breath forming a red froth on his lips as he died.

"Hands where we can see them!" Creg'falak looked down the passageway to see three humans in security uniforms trotting towards his location. He held his hands out from his sides, allowing the pistol to hang upside down, his finger in the circular trigger guard. The fellow in the center calmly walked up to him and eased the pistol from his finger as he spoke, "Looks like these guys were a bit overmatched, Mr Creg'falak."

"How did you know there was trouble?" Dhevile asked.

"Got a tip … two of your students from earlier today. Seems they were concerned about your safety. Can't imagine why that would be, can you?"

Creg'falak replied, almost to himself, "No. No, I cannot imagine any reason for their concern."

Walking to their second day of instruction on the batarian race, Yuán and Traynor were surprised to find their instructor, Dhevile Creg'falak, standing outside the entrance, greeting the students as they entered. He looked intently at each of them as they approached, then surprised Traynor by holding up a hand and asking her to hang back for a moment. When it looked as if Xiùlán was going to pause as well, he smiled and waved her into the room.

After everyone else was inside, Dhevile leaned against the bulkhead and addressed Traynor, who stood in front of him, just out of reach but on the balls of her feet, ready for whatever was going to happen. "I wanted to thank you for alerting base security last night. They arrived just as I finished dealing with the two assassins sent by … "

" … Cerberus," Traynor finished for him. "The security team contacted Yuán and myself afterwards. Bastards planted a camera and listening device in our sleeping area while we were in the Hades Gamma cluster. I found and destroyed it. That's why we called security."

"What made you think I was in danger, Ms Traynor?"

"Perfect setup. I told you I didn't like you, and any meeting outside of class would not end well for you." Traynor tilted her head ever-so-slightly to her left and smiled, though it did not reach her eyes. "You were lucky … they sent amateurs. The plan was for them to kill you and leave evidence behind that would point back to me."

"Why involve security?" Dhevile asked. "You could have easily turned your back on all this and been done with me, let them kill me, or, …" Dhevile smiled as he corrected himself, "let them attempt to kill me."

Traynor's countenance was grim. "I'm not a cold-blooded murderer … don't plan on becoming one, directly or indirectly. Our call to base security wasn't for your benefit, Mr Creg'falak … at least, not completely. If they had succeeded in their task, it'd have been my ass spinning in the wind." She pointed a finger past Dhevile's shoulder as she added, "Tells me there's a Cerberus sleeper agent inside that room."

"What do you intend to do? As I understand, Cerberus doesn't just give up."

"That's becoming more evident as time goes on," Traynor replied with a frown. "At this point, all I can do is remain vigilant, try to be ready for whatever happens."

Creg'falak motioned to the classroom as he said, "I should get started … there'll be a lot of information in today's class." Pointing to his secondary eyes, he added with a grin that Traynor found a bit disturbing, "I will pay close attention to the rest of the students; try to discern if any appear to not belong." Opening the door, he motioned for her to go before him as he said, "Shall we?"

• MASS RELAY, HAN SYSTEM · GEMINI SIGMA — 02 April 2180 •

The slow rotation of the ancient Relay's containment rings gradually increased in velocity as the device accepted transit instructions from the relay in the Antaeus System. The glow from the eezo core contained within the coaxial rings grew in proportion to their rapidly increasing rotational speed; as they reached their maximum speed, a massive electrical arc of dark energy flashed outward from what could be considered the 'near' side of the rings. The discharge stretched out over 1800 kilometers to envelope a salarian freighter that appeared in the distance and rapidly decelerated to its cruising speed as it came abreast of the relay.

Once again running in normal space, Captain Uzor Saelon entered new destination coordinates into the navi-computer – he was heading for Paravin, the planet closest to the system's pale yellow sun. The MV Crystal Scarab responded briskly, accelerating as it changed course to intercept the planet coming around the sun on the far side of its orbit.

"Nine to ten hours until planetfall." The salarian answered the question Septivus Vulpez had been about to ask as he entered the bridge. "Planet's on the far side of Han from our position."

"Have you swept the system for other ships?" Vulpez was always concerned when jumping into a 'dead end' system such as Han; its relay was only paired with the relay in Hades Gamma … that relay was paired with four others besides Gemini Sigma, which meant there were multiple places from which trouble, mainly in the form of pirates, could ensue.

Vulpez was searching for the writings and notes attributable to asari Matriarch Dilinaga. During the golden age of asari space exploration, Matriarch Dilinaga had visited many systems; her notes were prized as cultural treasures by the asari people. Vulpez had first discovered previously long-lost records of her presence within a beacon orbiting Porolan; that discovery had led him to Nonuel, a volcanic planet orbiting the blue star of Plutus in the cluster from which they had just departed. He had spent weeks sorting the clues into a coherent map that was a fairly accurate depiction of the Matriarch's travels in the system; the search had been rewarding, as Matriarch Dilinaga had left records in three separate locations there.

"Scans are negative for other ships in this system, Septivus Vulpez." The salarian captain's rapid-fire answer to his question brought Vulpez back to the business at hand.

"Thank you, Captain Saelon. I'll be in my quarters. Please call me when we're one hour out." Septivus turned on his heel and stalked back to his compartment, intending to sleep for several hours before grabbing a bite to eat.

As the Crystal Scarab increased its velocity and disappeared into the blackness of interstellar space, the relay once again became active. As before, a massive electrical arc flashed outward from the rapidly revolving rings, enveloping a medium-size warship with faded paint in various shades of deep green; the paint appeared scored and marked by numerous close encounters with various ship-based weapons. The corvette changed course, setting off for Patatanlis, the fifth planet in the Han system. The batarian captain intended to orbit the planet at maximum distance, reasoning that the freighter he was following would have to return to this quadrant to use the relay. When that happened, Captain Kryllê Ghydgryz and the Black Slayer would be waiting …

A/N: Things are in motion that will affect Xiùlán and Samantha in a few short months. As always, thanks for reading!