Part I:
RAKKA
continued
"I think we should have had some more time to do this, Thane," Miranda says with a glance to the displays in Navigation, "…Kasumi was not expecting Tetonbaum to marry her…She's taking it harder than I anticipated," her finger flicks to the display showing the security feed into the medical lab, where Kasumi sits with her face from the camera, next to Tetonbaum in the pod.
Thane only passes the display back to the upper reaches of the air in front of them, "…We cannot let our emotions control the decisions we must make today, Miranda. Kasumi must be able to go through with the choice she has engaged with us…It worked out better, did it not," he turns his face to Miranda, who reluctantly meets his eyes, "…Tetonbaum, I think, felt more than willing to assist her."
"He loves her," Thane nods at her remark, "…I've never seen someone do something like that…Dear Kasumi," she looks forward thoughtfully, "…you found something else worth hiding." A soft ping goes off for an alert—Miranda and Thane look at each other as the beacon for the cabin in which Ylyssus is currently stored gives them the heads-up tone for motion. "Should I go in there—"
Thane shakes his head. "Let us see what he does, Miranda…I was impressed that with his limp he could lose it so simply and be at my throat in the instant Casnar landed on the floor." Thane turns on a display that connects them to the cabin in which Ylyssus is triggering the motion detector.
Miranda settles back in the seat beside him, her eyes glancing at the forms of Garrus and Grunt, as they move among the unconscious burrells in the bay, taking care not to step on the di'leans that are sleeping under tranquilizer, in another display screen. "Appears quiet in the bay," she notes aloud. She sees Garrus turn and say something to Grunt before she focuses her attention on the screen Thane has brought up to center as he pilots the Ni S'pri into Rakka.
His vision slow and his head in a hangover the likes of which he has not experienced since he was a pledging th'ane…Ylyssus tries to hold his head and at first cannot reach his temples. He jerks against himself with the same stubborn result a second time. Even reaching his hands in the opposite direction, he cannot succeed at touching the soft mattress he is laying upon.
He winces and widens his eyes with a stretch of all eyelid muscles. He realizes he is restrained by his wrists and ankles, held together by plastic tie-snaps.
With a slow roll he starts to sit up.
His wrists are behind him, he finds as he bends his elbows and cannot bring his hands around to the front. He shakes his head to chase off the fog he is experiencing mentally and daresay almost physically...He tests pulling his ankles apart. The ties, he learns, are some stiff fabric…Not even a fabric, but some hard over-looped twine of plastic, similar to a coating membrane Casnar applies to the wiring among his technological marvels.
He can cut these with a knife, or his teeth if he does not have the tool. He tilts his head upwards, sighing out again and feeling the wooziness slosh as if his head were full of water.
Kasumi stares through the glass at Tetonbaum, watching his chest rise and fall slowly…If she could be in that sleep with him, laying together maybe not on the medical table but a real bed as the ones in Nualavera. Those Soterios-Sousan drells and drellahnas know how to relax, she thinks and looks behind her shoulder to Casnar's pod. She had heard Thane had given him a less gentle way to go under…Serves him right for what he did, hopefully Thane got some satisfaction from it…and yet, Casnar has been good to me and Tetonbaum.
She puts her hand on the glass of her husband, and smiles at the idea. "I'll be here as promised when you wake, Tetonbaum Soterios…I'll kiss you awake like in that vid of classical stories about the sleeping princess, only this time it's a prince who gets woken by me."
She doesn't realize how true that word is, as Tetonbaum would be a prince were he not a high th'ane and now to vanish with her once their mission is through.
Kasumi withdraws reluctantly from the medical lab, tapping once on Casnar's glass, too, as if to say she'll be back for him as well.
Out in the connector the iris closes behind her and she heads left, not sure where she wants to wander to…It is lonely without either Tetonbaum or Casnar or someone always with her and though she was a thief who preferred her independence and loneliness, she has come to enjoy being around others not trying to capture or kill her. She has moved on from Keiji finally—the only one she would have been with had he not died in that foolish stunt they had pulled for the gray box with its Batarian-Human war inside, waiting to be sold into the right hands…She has left that where it should remain…in darkness.
Ruminating with these thoughts, Kasumi trails her hand along the surface of the connector's bars and cable pipes, leading herself by moving her feet forward, trying to fight that uncertain heaviness in her chest that Tetonbaum is still in the medical lab and unguarded…
But the Ni S'pri is filled with friends, is it not? She pauses at an intersection of paths in the ship, leading her to the armory lab and the poker lounge Grunt and Garrus prefer to relax in, and goes forward to the front of the ship, hoping to find Thane and Miranda and have them reassure her…Tetonbaum will come to no harm.
Miranda and Thane are still watching their captive Ylyssus as he comes to grip with his situation. "Is that Ylyssus waking up?" Kasumi asks as she steps into their section through the iris.
Miranda glances up at her as she comes over and stands behind her seat. "He's coming out of a thousand milligrams of sedative….I think he's a little disoriented, but I had to guess based on his weight and muscle density…Chemicals don't affect these types of Drells the way they do off-worlders." She turns her head from Kasumi to continue watching.
Kasumi stares at the display, "…Poor Ylyssus…He was only trying to protect Casnar. He doesn't understand why we're doing this…Tetonbaum, maybe, but th'anes all have this brainwashed thinking that their tierrea is close to god, mithra as they refer to it…"
"It is the most successful system to have grown into their society…One of few in this galaxy," Thane adds as he, too, keeps his eyes to the scene, "…As successful nearly as the protheans and their avatars."
Kasumi is quiet a moment, observing Ylyssus rolling his shoulders in his effort to loosen the tie-snaps binding his wrists together. No success so far, as he examines himself with his chin touching down to his chest. "Thane," she interrupts her silence, "…how do we know what you've seen is real?"
"As I have said, Kasumi," his patience maintains its steadfastness, "…the shards are no more than the petals of an artifact…" He pauses, "…A fossil belonging to an organism that records the past."
"The prothean beacons had the same ability," Miranda looks at her, then drops her gaze to Thane who has issued a slight nod.
"Protheans could read a life through touch alone and sometimes smell would assist in honing the degree to which they could read someone…Javik is the only prothean I'm aware of who retains the ability to see into another's past…Asari can share their past but not the pasts of others…The Eye of S'syalahe can read and share all, which formulates the 'pathway' Casnar and I were speaking of."
"You two were vague enough," Miranda says.
His eyeridges have a subtle squeeze, "…The pathway cannot be uttered…I did not wish to curse you, Miranda," he swings his gaze to hers, "…Call it superstition, if you will."
"If this artifact, or fossil as you say it is," she holds his gaze, "…is broken—"
"Why do you say it is broken?"
"The shards verses the parts or something more—"
"Less fractured," Kasumi pipes in, "…Shards of S'syalahe sounds like someone broke it and they're pawning it off to tourists." This produces a slight chuckle from the drell under her hand as she holds the back of his chair.
"Because it is not so simple," he explains at their inquiring expressions, "…Kine calls himself and his followers the Al'Kin, the Chosen, but only Kine among his army is the truly Al'Kin one."
"Like you are?" Miranda asks him, "…Or is this where I stun you too and place you in a cabin by yourself like Ylyssus," her hair moves as she tilts her head to the display. Thane gives her a thoughtful curl of the corner in his lips.
"All Krios clan drells are descended from those rumoured to be Musaphat's Chosen, Musaphat is the deity who called into creation the Eye of S'syalahe, and sent his Beloved people to the sea."
"That makes me think of the Compact, and Kahje," Miranda expresses her sudden thought aloud.
"There is a connection, but it is not the same as the original exodus the legend describes, Miranda."
"Did you know this already," Kasumi questions, a skeptical eyebrow lifted, "…Or should we run a DNA test to be certain."
Thane is still a moment, and shifts his weight over the seat to tilt his head and lift up a scale on the back of his skull, but close to the lateral ridge of his tebral horns that arc around the whorl of his teness. The others do not see him lift the scale and pull it out, but in his fingers he lowers from the side of his head in front of him for them to see is a small black petal.
"Is that the piece you tricked Casnar with?" asks Miranda, bending across the arm of her chair to look at it…Her hand reaches for it but Thane's fingers lift it away to hold between his thumb and seamed pair, the middle finger projecting longest to hold the teardrop petal to the light of the screen in which Ylyssus is still coming about in his captivity.
Kasumi leans forward, "…That's not what I think it is…" She is referring to the shape of a small fetus inside the black gem, flat as a sculpted flower petal, clear with its exposure to the screen light, "…Is that something like amber," she asks, "…and what's that inside it."
"This is not amber," Thane makes clear, "…it is the fossil leaf of a morthwyl female."
"That thing inside it, is that the female?"
Thane stares at the small black silhouette laying on its back at the bottom end of the teardrop, "…That is a morthwyl…The day that Bangal'roux shut down, the majority of the females were inside the old city…They died, those that were not saved by the males of their species."
Miranda's face pinches as she tries to grasp why the males were the only ones able to move the females, "…I don't think I understand…Why were only the males able to save them…Was Bangal'roux some form of experimental lab where the sexes are separated or…" She sees both of them turning their heads to stare at her, "…Well, I did work for Cerberus and shamefully I think you know what Cerberus does."
"First, I will explain the morthwyl," Thane says as he releases the black transparent petal and keeps it floating in the air with his biotic power, "…Morthwyls are indigenous to Rakhana, they adapted to the land and evolved to be separate sexes. The female of the species is organic and feeds off the land as a plant sustaining itself from the soil. When Bangal'roux failed, the females could not escape the resulting poisoning of the land that spread from the factory—"
"It's a factory, Bangal'roux?"
"Of the first industrial cities," Thane allows, "…They are located throughout the southern end of this continent," he waves his hand aside the floating teardrop—to the screen displaying the Ni S'pri's flight over the desert, a forest line in the distance and beyond only blue skies. "Bangal'roux was unique in that it was in the center of Rakka, which is the heart of the morthwyl population."
"So the morthwyl females were inside Bangal'roux when something went wrong," Kasumi's fingers raise to shoo him onward with his explanation. "What's going on with the males."
Thane points to the silhouette of the form inside the teardrop floating before him, "…The males are the females' protectors…Each female has one kylah, which is akin to a knight in your tongue. It is a drell word, though morthwyls are not drell at all…The males evolved to mimic the dominant species on the Birutise'aha."
"Mimics," Kasumi repeats, "…why would they do that."
"To survive…Morthwyls have the ability to read and share history and experiences through the network of roots that connect the females, and all males born from these petals that fall off the female organism—"
"Pass on the knowledge," Miranda says, breathless with the notion, "…Amazing."
Thane agrees, his chin dipping slightly as he brings his fingers together, watching the fossil turning slowly before him as he wills it to, "…It is in fact the first computer on Rakhana, in the sense of what it has led towards…The Eye of S'syalahe, the Stönn of Paths…Through every morthwyl's experience, a predictive analysis is made, a pathway towards the survival of the species…Changes are made in the females' DNA structure…Many Drells on Rakhana believe the morthwyls are ancient, and they are as a species indigenous to the planet, not that one lives forever as is believed…Drell did not realize the evolutionary path of the morthwyl when they began to rout and kill them, isolating those that survived the culling to Rakka, and were given a temporary place in Bangal'roux."
"Bangal'roux was a concentration camp."
"Bangal'roux was a prison," Thane acquiesces to Miranda's deduction, simplified though it is, "…The morthwyl males were forced to labor in the factories while the females were kept under guard."
"How long did it go on for?"
Thane looks at them, "…Long before Hanar discovered Rakhana and met Drellkind…When the Terje Tierrea was formed by Pilar Sousan…"
"Sousan," Kasumi's eyes slit, "…Related to Casnar?"
Thane nods.
"Casnar is related to someone as bad as some of our Human dictators—"
"Casnar is not the same as Pilar Sousan," Thane's words caution them not to jump to blaming the future by the sins of the past, "…Pilar lived centuries ago and those were dark ages in which leadership was not determined by technology but by leaders who could draw out the fear and loathing in many, guide it towards one vision not necessarily their own to begin with, and loose these armies to bloodshed."
Miranda leans against her cheek, her thumb and index finger as she props herself on the chair arm, "…You were going somewhere with the computer metaphor."
"I had to explain," Thane says in self-defense, then smiles briefly.
"Sorry," says Kasumi.
"The morthwyls are adapting to survive. Through their shared experiences, the females can bear forth progeny from the males that are better suited for survival…"
"What does this have to do with Braith, Thane," Miranda's patience is not so steadfast. Her hand comes down to the arm.
Thane draws the teardrop with its still fetus inside it, the thin legs withered and frozen in the fossil's encompassing, "…The morthwyl see their chance to survive lies in her somehow…I fear they are evolving."
"The problem I can see with the female morthwyls was that they couldn't," Kasumi tries to think of the right term, "…defend themselves from the fallout of the incident…What was the incident?"
"Bangal'roux was sabotaged and the byproduct of the factory leached into the females, killing all of them that were not saved, and beyond that, into the land," Thane says, his memory pulling from what he has seen of the shard petal, which as he shares this answer for Kasumi and Miranda, he sees the images of Rakka darkening and Bangal'roux's explosions, the savage intention of not Casnar but his look-alike grandfather Cassius Sousan destroying the factories and freeing the morthwyls, but the panic, too, the morthwyls witnessed on the drell's face when he learned the females could not be moved…
…Cassius runs to the last of the glowing flowers and draws a sphere from his sack over his shoulder, digging it into the ground by the flower, "…I can only save one!" he shouts to the morthwyl behind him, ready to kill him, "…I can set the barrier to keep this area safe from the factory's chemical, but it will only be able to remain here…" He activates the shields, "…You can stay, but never lead anyone to her," he turns to the morthwyl holding the blades in his hand, "…Bangal'roux can fix this, there is a terra former built within her keep…I'll fix it, I promise…"
"…Sabotaged?" Miranda's holding her fingers touching together in front of her.
"As it was a Sousan who started Bangal'roux," Thane speaks while his mind fills with the visions of the shard, "…It was a Sousan who ended it, too…Cassius, son of Drewe Sousfemme and Kama Sousan, a follower of the Kerhasla."
"Who are the Kerhasla?" Miranda hates to ask questions that further her from her first quest for an answer about the morthwyl and Braith's connection, but Thane has the look of an open treasurebox and she needs to see everything before it closes.
"Guardians of the Eye of S'syalahe, a sisterhood of drellahnas."
"Chosen guardians?" Miranda asks.
"Yes…My grandmother was among them, a daughter of the Lelah clan." He gazes off distantly into the visions of the shard playing on in his mind, seeing the silhouetted figures of his past…Drells and Drellahnas who fought against the Terje Tierrea's subjugation of the Birutise'aha.
"And she's why you are one of the chosen Casnar spoke of, who can use the shards without madness cursing them."
"Is that really true," Kasumi asks, tilting her head at him, suspicion in her lowering eyelashes.
Thane shrugs and looks uncomfortable with his answer, "…I would think if one were not strong enough of will, even a Chosen could be driven mad by the Eye of S'syalahe's visions."
"Are you seeing things now, Thane," Miranda is watching his body and face, and he nods. "I'd like to put a monitor on you to keep you…safe from yourself and the rest of us…There should be one on you already," she says with a resignated sigh, "…You've taken out your lenses." With her reminder about his self-surgery, Thane turns to look at her.
"If that is what will comfort you, then do so." She nods to this and mouths a thank you. Thane returns to answering her original concern about the connection of Braith to the morthwyls, "…Kasumi touched on the core of the morthwyls' problem…The females cannot defend themselves, much less may they move from where they grow."
"Do they produce females? I have the feeling they only produce males."
"They used to," Thane says to Miranda, "…The great incident made it impossible for more females to emerge from Rakka's soil…Now that Bangal'roux operates once more, the poisoning of the land recedes, and more females are growing. But going back to Kasumi's point, the current version of morthwyl females is an issue for the species's survival. From what I now know, evolution for the species continues…Braith Shepard is the next generation of morthwyl females."
Kasumi and Miranda are staring at each other, Miranda lowers her eyes and turns her face to Thane, "…Explain how."
Thane closes his eyes, hiding view of his irises, "…Braith went to Aspah Bentara's mines in Rakka and lost control of her power…She caused a cave in and was killed, but the morthwyl, Cemal, brought her body out of the collapsed mines and returned with her to Bangal'roux."
…Cemal lays her body in the hole he has dug for her, and among the glowing roots of the female morthwyl, visible where his fingers have disturbed her bed of soil, capillaries from the roots cling to the ruined figure of the woman…
"…Cemal's female reproduced itself, but the newest state of the female walks in Braith's form."
Kasumi has been quiet, her eyes in a drifting state as she thinks with so much disappointment and hopefulness puzzling her, "…Braith's actually…dead?"
Thane raises one finger, "…Recall that Braith often lamented her naturalness to be resurrected, her memories intact."
"So if you're saying Braith's been 'resurrected' into the morthwyl female by the organism's ability," Miranda is already thinking of cutting a sample out of something and either Braith or any Morthwyl gender will do—a female preferable, "…why hasn't she returned to us?"
Thane shakes his head, not knowing a solid answer to supply her question with, "…That I cannot explain…My initial thoughts are that it has something to do with the physiology of the morthwyl species…They share historical data, which assists them in predicting course for their future…Their survival…I know from the shard that Braith is alive—not as we remember her, but she will know who we are when we find her."
"Is this going to involve abducting her against her will?" Miranda's eyes look tired from the idea only rolling forward to her mouth. She perches her smooth brow on her thumb and finger again.
Thane directs their eyes to the display with Ylyssus, sitting on the bunk, "…I told Casnar she would not come willingly…"
"Weren't you telling the truth?" Miranda asks, looking from Ylyssus on screen to Thane's profile.
"I was not…" He looks at her, "…The objective of the morthwyls remains unchanged…Survival, Miss Lawson," he holds her gaze, "…The female morthwyl wishes to survive, and to do so she seeks symbiosis with the enemy that threatens to destroy her if the species finds her."
"Drells?" Miranda says to be sure.
"Drells….Braith Shepard is the next generation of Morthwyl females, and she seeks to breed with Drell…The first time in Morthwyl history a cross-hybridization will be successfully implemented."
"And so Casnar…"
"Would be the father of the first morthwyl-drell hybrid."
"And," Kasumi draws out the n of the word, "…what would be so bad about that?" Thane's clear eyes raise to hers as he turns in his chair, his body facing Miranda.
He tilts his head at her, "…A number of genetic issues aside, such as violent tendencies, genius on the verge of madness, psychosocial personality disorders that will lead to paranoia," Thane decides to add, "…The Sousan side, Kasumi, not the Soterios." Her eyebrows lower with relief. "And you cannot crossbreed with Tetonbaum in any case."
"Braith can," Miranda warns her, "…which may be added to the reasons we have your new husband under stasis."
"You think she would try to sleep with Teton?" Kasumi turns her raised-eyebrow expression to Miranda, who looks at Thane for his input.
"It's possible," Thane says quietly. "The shard only shows me a path with Braith and Casnar."
"And do they," Miranda hesitates, glancing downward and rolling her lower lip under her upper teeth before freeing it and her eyes connect with Thane's, "…You say they'll be successful at cross-hybridization."
He stares back at her, "…There will be a child."
"So what's the point in keeping them here," Kasumi says, quite upset with having to go through with what she had with Tetonbaum for nothing, but Thane places his hand on her fingers upon his seatback and looks at her.
"The protheans made an empire once they achieved unity. They organized and advanced in leaps and bounds with technological invention and application. They used the mass relays to spread themselves over great distances in short periods of time, and the technology of the relays was gathered like eggs and used to make more powerful constructs."
"The mass relays are destroyed—"
"Not all of them," Thane says, "…It can be guaranteed the Crucible did not reach them all, for the Reapers came from Dark Space where no species can attain nor communicate across such a void. That being said," Thane's voice sounds dark, "…Casnar is an inventor, but the genius of his forefathers skips a generation…His son—"
"Son…"
"His son," Thane ignores Miranda's interruption, "…will have the genius…He will also be a tyrant."
"What exactly are we trying to prevent, Thane," Kasumi speaks softly, her hands on both their chairs, "…if all this is going to happen as you think it will." She holds onto the hope he is wrong.
"The rise of Rakhana," Thane answers, "…Protheans were the apex species of the galaxy…The asari, as advanced and floating with the favor of galactic leadership as they are, cannot become the dominant race of the galaxy…Much of their advancement was due to the prothean beacons they kept secret, as we learned on Thessia," he glances at both of them, "…The rachni were put down by the krogans, and the krogans destroyed their chance through the interference of Salarians. Turians could not beat the krogans without help from other worlds, and then they had the humans to contend with…and Humans, though their spirit is commendable and their leadership through the Reaper War was exemplified by Braith Shepard's ability to unite everyone, are fundamentally weak without the help of other races….Drellkind has not been harmed by more than mold, and that by choice of the Compact."
"Are you the next world order, Thane," Miranda crosses her arms and settles back in the lean of her chair, crossing her leg over her knee, "…All from a fossilized artifact with a dead fetus." She looks cocky saying that, but she is trying hard not to believe him.
Thane looks at her, but points to the screen, "…Have you been watching Ylyssus."
Both women look to the display, the teardrop floating down to Thane's hand as he turns to look as well.
He takes stock of what more his vision enables to see as his body adjusts and metabolizes the byproduct of sedative and e-stim reaction. My ba'tran, Ylyssus thinks, somewhat clearer. His usual clothes have been replaced with one of the gray suits from the ship. With a sigh through his nostrils, he pulls his ankles apart again, his feet bare on the flooring. Fluttering his eyelids, he attempts to recall what happened to get him in this situation…His memory is crystal from the time he was awake to the moment he went unconscious…They attacked us…He shakes his head to chase off the fog threatening to cloud his memories…
He recalls the hit by Thane, knocking Casnar down, and out…That was an impressive hit, but it took most of his strength to accomplish the act of putting Casnar to sleep…Ylyssus himself then had leapt at Thane's throat with his menjaga…Thane had warned him…He turned next to see the woman…
Something had come from the device in her hand…She had aimed it at his back…apologized.
At least she looked sincere as she had hit him with whatever it was containing from its inners…
After that, all was black…until he woke here, in this small cabin.
Thane studies the drell on screen. "He has not figured a way out…yet—" They see Ylyssus roll his ankles left and right, then try to spread his shoulders to test the tie-snaps again. "What else can you do, Ylyssus…"
Ylyssus sighs again and takes a breath, …I hate it when I have to do this…
He raises his head, takes another deep breath.
Miranda grimaces as she foresees what he is attempting to do on the display.
Ylyssus raises his arms behind him, straining against the uniform she dressed him in as his ba'tran was soiled after the e-stim hit…She had gotten an eyeful of more than she wanted, but also had seen the full breadth of scars on his powerful physique…Former th'ane or not, Ylyssus was of an impressive stock, and it had occurred to her briefly that he might be hiding some ability…
Now she witnesses the drell's tolerance for self-inflicted pain.
"Oh, god…He's double-jointed?"
The arms gain to parallel with the floor and bed bunk, jutting straight out from his shoulders behind his rigid back…The wrists in the V-point of their binded joining…His fingers curl.
Ylyssus breathes in, and strains more, both eyes closing as he concentrates through the pain and antithesis of natural joint movement for his shoulders.
The audio catches the sound of two shoulders dislocating, sharp pops as both arms move awkwardly through the initial resistance of the joints, and continue over his crests in a disturbing fashion that causes one to hold her breath until it seems the motion is natural again, but the arms now to the anterior of their original position.
Kasumi has covered her eyes partially with her fingers, "…Ew."
Once his hands are out in front of him, Ylyssus stands—and drops suddenly onto the floor.
Thane's hand is by his jaw as he props himself on the arm of his chair, turning the shard in his fingers, "…Fascinatingly limber…One out of ten Drells and Drellahnas possess the genetic trait of such unlimited mobility. Without stasis to keep them asleep, they recover rapidly from chemical and injury…Strong as Krogans, more flexible, faster and durable, perfect memories…There is a reason the hanar selected drells for their use…We are weapons." He turns his face from the display to Miranda—as Ylyssus stands again and raises his wrists towards his mouth, commencing a circle in which he paces in the cabin, "…You've had a taste of Tetonbaum's power, and he is not alone."
"His father is an I'lorie," Miranda mentions, her eyes darting to Thane and back to Ylyssus as her knuckles sink into her cheek, "…and I've seen you in action, too."
Kasumi looks up from Miranda to the display, "…What's the total population count on Rakhana?"
Ylyssus starts to bite through the tie-snaps' plastic fibers with his teeth, sawing against these with his canines, on the backs of which are sharp ridges. He ignores the lingering pain in his shoulders as he breaks down the ties' material with his gnawing…Ylyssus has been hung by his arms one too many times. He can dislocate both when and if he wants to, and had learned how to reset them through practice.
He spits the plastic bits aside, more awake and coherent with work.
Thane glances at Miranda and Kasumi, "…Should we speak with him now, I think is the question." Miranda and Kasumi look back at him.
"I want to see if he can get both bonds off," Miranda replies, allowing herself to grin despite her musings over how difficult millions of Drells will be to fight in the future.
"We wait then." They turn back to watching with Kasumi.
Ylyssus bites through the last of the tie-snaps, bends quickly to reach his ankles. He grits his teeth with anger and pulls up violently on the tie-snaps, breaking them off in one pull.
The thought that Casnar and Tetonbaum are in danger motivates him to work faster.
Ylyssus straightens and looks about, fixing his sight on the door. He steps over to it, his hands up to feel the materials containing him.
He pushes against it, slides his palms over the seams in search of a means to open the iris. There is a keypad on the right, full of raised metal icons.
Ylyssus presses the buttons on the keypad, unsure how to unlock it, but familiar with what he remembers seeing the others depress to gain entrance into other rooms aboard the ship, and his memories of watching Casnar at work in his factory in Nualavera lends help to his figuring out the key patterns.
Thane notes on the bottom of the display screen that the door code is being hacked and taps the icons below the display setting to reset the code as Ylyssus is about to break through and free himself. He sits back and does not glance at Miranda or Kasumi, knowing he does not have to point out the th'ane's quick mastery of the key system.
The iris opens a centimeter as Ylyssus looks down, having found the answer to the key configuration…It hesitates then closes. He looks at the keypad and enters the code again, his memory without a hiccup. The keypad issues a negative response. After he tries the code again, and the keypad bleeps, Ylyssus tightens his fingers in a fist and shifts his weight on his feet.
The view of his face—vexed and annoyed—is from the camera's high ceiling angle and disproportionate due to the convexity of the lens. Thane and the woman see him step back and close his eyes, calming himself as he stands quite still and breathes measuredly like in meditation.
"I know someone is watching," Ylyssus speaks, though his eyes do not open. He stands centered to the doorway, "…You have my attention. I am your captive. Speak to me, friends…Tell me that at least Casnar and the rest have come to no harm…aside from what my sered has experienced…" He opens his eyes and looks at the door. His gaze drifts slowly upward to the camera lens.
"Amazing how intuitive they are," Thane looks at Miranda, whose eyes await him, "…I can see why you think Drells may be next to rise to the protheans' former place as the dominant species of the galaxy, but Humans and Asari, to name only a few," her eyelids squint together, "…are also intuitive and grasp technology as readily."
Thane opens his hands apart, "…Adding Morthwyls to the mix, biotics, intuitivenes is only one of the many reasons Drell-Morthwyl shall become a threat," his hand cups towards Ylyssus's enlarged nose and eyes on the display as his head moves closer to the lens, "…Ylyssus is one of the more pleasant to work with among Drells, maybe myself included…"
"And Tetonbaum's highly social," Kasumi boasts a little, her chin lifting to expose her throat, "…but he is lethal, too, like you Thane…"
"And stronger," Thane modestly admits. "Were it not for his love for you, Miss Goto…or Soterios now," his head turns to allow him to make eye contact, "…Tetonbaum would have been very difficult to put under stasis."
Kasumi's smile withers, "…I don't think Keiji would have done what Tetonbaum did…" She can't speak more, the memory of Tetonbaum applying the narcotic with her, just so she would not have to get into trouble with Thane and the rest.
"I believe Tetonbaum has found his new belief," Thane holds her gaze, seeing the wetness at the corners, "…We will keep him safe, Kasumi."
He does not see Kasumi before his eyes. The shard shows him something much worse than even Thane wishes to allow himself believe…Tetonbaum would sacrifice himself, if he had to…The portentous vision in Thane's sight leaves a chill through him…
…The last he sees of Tetonbaum Soterios, the half-brother of Casnar, husband to Kasumi, is the drell falling into a blue pit of light, a black form struggling to free itself from the fall…and then nothing more of Tetonbaum and who he takes with him to the light below…
Thane forces a smile on as he gazes up at Kasumi, then turns back to the display. Miranda sees the smile fade as she follows his gaze to Ylyssus on screen.
He hits the frame with his fist in frustration, pauses and stares at the camera and speaker module above his head. Stepping back from the door, he turns his attention to the room and searches for another means of escape.
He sets his eyes on the bunk and moves toward it.
Tearing off the coverlet and sheets, he next lifts the mattress off the firmer frame structure underneath, pulls this out of its case and searches the exposed bars revealed. He sees an empty crawl space through the bed's connected structure to the ship, and reaches for the bars to see if he can pry these off their bolts. Behind him, Thane's voice issues from the speaker and camera module, "…Ylyssus, I will spare you the inconvenience of dismantling the bed in that cabin, and our inconvenience of having to repair it," he adds as Ylyssus straightens up and turns to face the doorway. "We need to talk."
"I'm listening," Ylyssus takes a step over the mess of covers and pillow on the floor, and closes with the camera lens. Thane's voice ghosts out from the black mesh piece beside it.
"Ylyssus," his voice pauses, "…I regret that we acted against you."
They see Ylyssus's expression fall into a skeptical stare on screen, his colors muted, his lips in a small composed puss. Thane actually grins at the other drell's readability.
"Do I have to point out the fact he doesn't look like he—" Kasumi ends her statement at Thane's raised hand.
A moment later, Thane activates the shared-line icon with his finger, the teardrop shard still floating by his left hand, "…I had to act in a way that put you through some embarrassment and discomfort, but we are short on time."
"Are we on our way somewhere," Ylyssus's voice comes through the speakers on Thane's chair, "…Where are you taking me…Are Casnar—"
"Everyone is here on the Ni S'pri with you, Ylyssus," Thane assures him, his voice gentle and quieting.
Miranda makes mental notes as she pays attention to Thane's handling of the drell…Ylyssus seems anxious about Casnar and the rest…If I were a behaviorologist, I might take that as a sample of their ability to connect deeply to one and other, but that isn't enough evidence to prove Drells can unite…Look at what happened between Casnar and those th'anes, even his own army.
"There were a few delicate matters requiring an orchestration of simultaneous occurrence that we had formed in discussions both prior to reuniting with Casnar and while Tetonbaum negotiated with Merce'des th'anes. Your action gave us no choice but to neutralize you—"
Ylyssus's face opens with his eyes, "…You betrayed Casnar, myself…What of the others!" he says in anguish, "…How can I believe you—"
Thane quiets and holds his hands together, the teardrop spinning next to his hands. He opens again, "…Tetonbaum and Casnar are in peril, Ylyssus, not from us…"
His voice comes through the box above his eyes, "…But from Braith, Ylyssus…Tell me," the box falls silents a second, "…What do you remember of Braith."
Ylyssus's eyes lower from the lens, and they see him going into memories.
"I remember when she admitted she cared for me…I won't go into the details," his eyes rise to the display and an earnestness is in his gaze, "…She sacrificed so much to protect me…I cannot imagine her being a threat to Casnar, nor Tetonbaum…She loved Casnar more than me."
Thane's eyes still on the screen, studying the muted colors of the drell's own eyes. "She has a wide heart," Thane says when Ylyssus's quiet goes on, "…I'm sure the woman you knew did love you…" He shifts upwards in his seat, "…Which is why I want you to help us find her."
Ylyssus's gaze is interrupted by a blink—It is evident this draws the reaction from him Thane hoped to see.
He will help, he thinks to himself.
"Ylyssus," Thane focuses intently on the display, his eyes reflecting the computer light, "…Do you know where the Behedins are…Particularly one called…"
…The drell travels with another who resembles him…A father and son with black furs and leather hoods over their crests…They are large and formidable as the others, but the younger of the pair…
"…There is a youngster among them," Thane admits to himself he cannot gather the name from the shard, only the face of the drell, and he hesitates to identify who he has in mind, but goes with his instinct to be straight forward with Ylyssus, "…He has black and burgundy colors on his patak—"
"Dolatrafas," instantly departs from his lips, and in a lower growl, "…I know who he is."
Thane reclines upright against his chair, Miranda glancing at him since she, too, can hear as well as Thane the pent-animosity in the delivery of the name, "…Do you know where we may find him."
Ylyssus nods, "…If he is not hunting with his father," he pauses, and looks to the right before up again at the camera, "…He will be in Mohouni…Why do you need him."
"I have an inclination he is significant to our efforts in retrieving…Braith from Bangal'roux."
Ylyssus's face is evident with its disappointment, "…I had a bad feeling you would say that."
Thane lifts his eyeridges, "…Care to elaborate?"
They hear Ylyssus's chuckle through the speakers.