Chapter 8

Hitchhikers

Noir the quarian engineer woke up to find himself surrounded by strangers, most notably by an elcor with a ridiculous hat, and a robot he recognized to his amazement as an old KEI-9 unit. The man who had 'assisted' him was there too, as well as a woman who looked startlingly similar to Lady Scarlet. He stared at her a moment, wondering if he was imagining her, but as the haze began to lift from his thoughts, he realized though the face was the same, the woman was definitely human.

"Door's secure." said the robot dog as he walked up to the man.

"That was quick." the man said, patting the robot dog on the top of its display. "Where did you get that thing anyway?"

"Back on Omega. Remember? You found it in that storage room. It set off all the machines, remember?"

"Oh yeah. I thought it was a screwdriver or something."

"Well, whatever it is, it made everything in the docking bay go haywire. Makes me feel a bit funny too. Then again, I've always been a bit funny."

"Keep thinking that." Despite his words, the man smiled at the robot dog.

Still a bit groggy, Noir mumbled something even he couldn't understand.

"Ah, he awakens. See?" The man said to the others. "I told you I didn't kill him."

The human woman glared at him before moving closer and putting a hand to his head.

"Are you okay?" She asked, the concerned look on her face coupled with her resemblance to Lady Scarlet almost overloading his brain then and there.

"Haaaaah." He managed, his cheeks burning.

The elcor with the strange hat leaned closer, his small eyes squinting at Noir. "Curious; is he blushing?"

"Honestly." The woman said, a slight red tinge in her own cheeks.

It was about this point that Noir realized that he had been tied to a large barrel with what looked to be all the wiring from the cargo bay's security cameras.

"Ah." He said dourly. "I should've known."

"Relax, Noir." The man said, smiling cheerily. "We ain't here to hurt you. We just need to know where the Creator's Tear is."

Noir's eyes narrowed. "You're working with Goto, aren't you?"

The man glanced at his companions for a moment before nodding. "Well, yeah, but only because we were implicated in stealing the Creator's Tear in the first place."

Swearing in quarian, Noir muttered, "I didn't make the call to security."

The man's eyebrows raised. "Oh?"

Noir couldn't help but sigh. "Me and my big mouth."

"I think you'd better start talking." the man advised him, leaning back against a stack of crates."

Sighing again, Noir said, "Lady Scarlet spotted Goto planting the Creator's Tear on you. Once you all left, she called security and told them you had it."

"Did it occur to you that maybe I was being duped?"

"How could we know?" Noir asked. "For all we knew, you were working with her. Once we found out who you were, we tried to get you released, but-"

"But Goto had already sprung me." Sighing, the man muttered, "Look, as much as I appreciate that you want to return quarian artifacts to Rannoch …"

"Quarian artifacts? The Creator's Tear?" Noir shook his head, saying, "It's not a quarian artifact."

"Of course it isn't." The man said, an exasperated tone in his voice. "Well, at least I don't have to feel guilty about stealing it back now. Where is it?"

"I don't know."

"Finn." The woman said, putting a hand on the man's shoulder. "

Sighing, the man said, "Noir … it is Noir, isn't it? Perhaps we got started on the wrong foot. This is Mannon, Darsan, and Jake."

"Hi!" The KEI-9 unit said cheerily, the cartoon dog face on its display smiling.

"And I'm Finn Cresste."

Raising an eyebrow, Noir asked, "The Finn Cresste?"

"You know me?" Finn asked, sounding a little surprised.

"By the ancestors, I thought Violet was joking! Yeah, I know you! You're dating my sister!"

Finn's eyes widened. "You're Kyra's brother?"

"Yeah! She's my twin … though the way she lords the astounding five minutes she has on me, you'd think I was younger than her by at least three years. She's written me about you and your mission. You really know a surviving geth consciousness?"

"Billy?" Finn asked, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah. He's part of our little team."

"Maker's breath." Noir whispered. "I gotta admit, I thought she was putting me on for awhile there. The Reapers, Cerberus … that's some heavy stuff, man. How'd you get caught up in all this stuff with the Creator's Tear?"

"Picking up an agent of the Shadow Broker." Mannon told him. "That, and bad timing."

"Dourly; story of our lives." Darsan commented.

"And now our ship's stuck on Ilium until we prove we're innocent." Finn gave Noir a knowing look. "You can see how this is a problem."

"Well, Violet has the Creator's Tear," Noir admitted, "But where are you going to go after you steal it? We don't have any shuttles or lifeboats."

"Damn." Mannon muttered. "I didn't think about that."

Finn put his hand on her arm. "We'll worry about that later."

"Curious." said Darsan. "You said the Creator's Tear wasn't a quarian artifact. Why did you steal it?"

"I don't know the particulars, but I know it has to do with a much bigger score. Lady Scarlet's been planning this for a long time. We've already got the Haelstrum's Heart and the Eye of the Abyss."

"Haelstrum's Heart." Mannon muttered. "So that's why your group was on Neukaraa."

"Right. Put together, they make some kind of map." Noir told them, shifting uncomfortably in his bonds. "I don't know the details; they only brought me along because I'm good at fixing things."

His kidnappers looked at each other for a long moment.

"Cautious; what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking we need to get a message to the Ulasomorf, otherwise we're going to have a heck of a time getting away after we find the Creator's Tear." Finn glanced at Noir. "Any way we could hack into communications without anyone noticing?"

"Not likely." Noir told them. "Amber watches the comm like a hawk."

"What about Hikari?" Jake asked. "Can't she help?"

Noir glanced at the group for some fourth member he might have missed earlier, but found no one else.

Finn shook his head. "I haven't heard from her since we got onboard. I get the feeling we're on our own for the moment."

"Well, we can't just sit here." Mannon said, putting her hands on her hips. "They're going to realize we're here eventually."

A silence fell over the group.

Noir fidgeted in his bonds for a moment. "Uh, could I make a suggestion?"

Everyone looked at him.

Feeling very self-conscious, Noir said, "You could use your leverage to get them to set you down somewhere."

"Our leverage?" Mannon asked uncertainly.

"Er, me."

Finn looked uncomfortable. "You mean, use you as a hostage? I'm not sure I'm down with that."

"You knocked me out and tied me up." Noir pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's …er, tradition. Sneaking aboard, knocking out the guard, stealing his clothes and tying him up."

"Stealing his …" Noir glanced down at his bare legs. His worksuit lay in a heap in his lap, giving him at least a little modesty. Through the haze of his embarrassment, he found himself keenly aware of Mannon blushing and pointedly looking away.

"Er, sorry. I was hoping I'd fit, but …" Cheeks red, Finn let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Look, I'm not cool with the hostage thing."

"Why not?" Jake asked him. "You kept Massani at gunpoint."

"Massani?" Noir asked, eyes widening. "You mean that's true too? You held Fuego Massani at gunpoint?"

"More like singularity point." Scowling, Finn said, "I didn't shoot him. Besides, that was different. We were trying to get away."

Clearing his throat, Noir said, "There's another option."

"C'mon, Finn!" Jake said, wagging his tail end. "We could pull off convincing space pirates!"

"Space pirates?" Finn repeated incredulously.

"Guys!" Noir said, trying to interject.

Shaking her head, Mannon said, "Well, what choice do we have? It's not like we have much to work with."

"I can help you!"

Everyone stopped talking and looked at Noir.

"Let me go." He told them, "I'll help you find the Creator's Tear and get a message to your ship."

"But why-" Finn said.

"-If you take me with you."

The two humans stared at him, obviously surprised by this turn of events. The elcor's expression didn't change, though that was hardly surprising.

Taking a deep breath, Noir said, "Kyra's told me about what you're facing. I know she's a good tech, but even she needs help sometimes. C'mon; that's two descendants of John and Tali Shepard. You couldn't ask for more."

They continued to look at him. Finn seemed to be considering, though Mannon still looked a little confused.

"I joined up with Siren's Call because I thought it'd be an adventure, but I've been little more than a glorified maintenance worker working for a bunch of thieves. I want to do something more, something important." Cheeks flushed, he nodded at Finn, saying, "Surely you can understand that."

A small smile spread across Finn's face. "Yeah, I guess I can."

"Finn?" Mannon asked, sounding surprised. "Are you sure?"

Finn severed the cords binding Noir to the barrel with his pocket knife. "Yup. Okay then, Noir; you're part of the team."

Noir leapt to his feet in excitement, forgetting for a moment that since his worksuit was a modified envirosuit, he never wore underwear. Seeing the blush in Mannon and Finn's cheeks, he quickly grabbed his suit and hurried behind a stack of crates to get dressed.

"Okay then." Finn said, clapping his hands together. "First matter of business is getting that message to the Ulasomorf."

"Questioning; shouldn't we go for the Creator's Tear first?"

"Negative." Finn replied, running his omni-tool along the storage bay wall. "We'll secure our escape route first. If worst comes to worst, we can head straight back to Trident and hope this mess dies down on its own. Noir; you mentioned that the ship's comm is being closely watched?"

"That's right." Noir said, stepping from behind the crates as the modified environment suit tightened around him. "Amber watches the scanners and communications, and she's been on edge since we left Rannoch a year ago. She rejected about twenty of my replies to Kyra over the last few months, claiming I was revealing sensitive information."

Glancing at Mannon, Finn commented, "Sounds like someone's a bit worried about whoever might be listening in. Maybe we can use that to our advantage."

"Curious; How?"

Finn patted Darsan on the shoulder, "Dunno. Just saying it might be useful. Any ideas, Noir?"

"Hang on!" Mannon interrupted, her eyes on Noir. "No offense, but why should we trust you? For all we know, you're not even really Kyra's younger brother."

"Only by five minutes!" Noir said indignantly.

"Noir!"

Everyone jumped except Darsan at the approaching voice.

"Hide!" Noir hissed as two sets of footsteps quickly approached them.

Finn dove into the industrial plastic barrel to which Noir had previously been tied. Moving with a speed Noir had never seen in an elcor, Darsan hurried behind a stack of crates, Jake easily hiding beneath his hulking frame.

Seeing Mannon looking around frantically for a place to hide, Noir pointed to one of the massive wardrobes bolted to the walls of the storage bay. Nodding gratefully, Mannon quickly slid through the door and shut it behind her just as Lady Scarlet and Azure appeared around a large stack of supplies.

While the Lady Scarlet was not in truth nobility, she carried herself with an air both kind and caring that made it hard for others not to treat her as a true Lady. As she approached wearing her usual modest dark red dress, Noir couldn't help but marvel again at her resemblance to the human Mannon.

Azure, on the other hand, wore a pair of rumpled jeans and a light-blue T-shirt that hung off of one shoulder. She had a pretty-enough face, Noir thought, but the almost constant look of annoyance marred whatever beauty she had, in his opinion.

"By the Ancestors, Noir!" Azure said irritably. "I thought you were going to get this mess organized."

"Sorry, sis." Noir replied, not bothering to mask his sarcasm. "I've been a bit too busy keeping this ship from falling apart."

Azure opened her mouth to reply, but stopped immediately at a small gesture made by Lady Scarlet.

"It doesn't matter." Lady Scarlet said, her voice both quiet yet strangely authoritative. "With the Creator's Tear in our possession, we will be heading to the Krogan DMZ. Is the Meridia in good enough shape to make the journey?"

Noir wanted to say no; the ship definitely needed an extended stay at a repair yard. The power core was in bad need of realignment, some of the outer plating was still damaged from their earlier run-in with the Blood Pack, and Violet's tinkering with the drive systems was causing a serious misbalance of the power distribution grid.

Still, there was something about the Lady Scarlet that made it hard to say no. "We've got a few problems, but it's nothing I can't handle."

Lady Scarlet gave him one of her rare smiles. "I am glad to hear that. We are very near the end of this; I promise once we achieve our goal, we'll return to Rannoch for proper repairs."

Blushing, Noir said, "Of course, ma'am."

Lady Scarlet bowed her head ever so slightly before walking away. Noir found his eyes drawn to the hem of her dress as it swept around her barely-visible feet.

Shaking his head, he turned back to his sister only to see her staring at him.

"What?" He demanded once Lady Scarlet had left the cargo bay.

"By the ancestors." Azure said, her eyes widening. "Violet wasn't kidding; you have a crush on her!"

Blushing, Noir muttered, "Oh, shut up."

"You can't honestly think you have a chance with her."

"Don't you have something better do?" He tried to turn away, but Azure grabbed his shoulder.

"Noir, she's engaged. She's going to get married when we get back to Rannoch, you know that."

"Yes, I know that!" Noir snapped at her. "I'm not an idiot, Azure. I'm dealing with it, so would you just get off my back already?"

Azure raised her hands. "Hey, sorry for being honest!"

She passed him, heading toward the wardrobe where Mannon was hiding. Before Noir could open his mouth to try and distract her, the ship's intercom activated.

"Violet, I changed my mind; could you bring me the taffeta dress instead?"

Rolling her eyes, Violet headed to a different wardrobe and pulled out a shimmering golden dress.

"Are you sure?" Violet asked. "You might have a more ostentatious dress somewhere down here."

"Quite droll," Auren replied, a slight slur in her voice as usual. "Be a dear and bring it to me, would you?"

"Fine." Violet replied, but an audible click indicated the intercom had already been deactivated. Clearly annoyed, Violet stalked back to the lift.

Noir let out a sigh once the lift doors closed. "Thank the ancestors for that."

He knocked on the side of the crates and said, "They're gone."

Mannon stepped out of the wardrobe as Finn popped his head out of the crate, foam peanuts sticking to his hair. Noir helped him out of the crate with a little difficulty.

"Thanks." Finn said gratefully, wiping the foam peanuts from his body. "That was close."

"Intruiged; did you see how much the one called Scarlet looked like Sherle?"

"Sherle?" Noir asked.

"Me." Mannon told him. "Sherle's my first name. I'm just used to everyone calling me Mannon from military training."

After a momentary pause, she added, "I'm sorry, by the way."

"For what?" He asked.

"For doubting you. If you want to come with us after we get out of here, it's fine with me."

"Agreeing; and with me!" Darsan patted Noir on the shoulder in a manner he probably thought was friendly, nearly knocking the breath out of him in the process.

Finn glanced in the direction Lady Scarlet and Azure had departed, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Y'know, I think I might just have a plan."