"...if even one clutch of babies hatch without those nutrients synthesized, the effects would be permanent."

Sara stared as Drack finished his explanation and tried to keep her face passive and receptive in spite of SAM. The krogan made it sound so noble. A transport containing a one of a kind seed vault had been stolen. A seed vault meant to provide vital sustenance for the growing minds and bodies of countless baby krogan. It tugged at all the right heart strings for any do-gooder to want to jump.

It stunk of bullshit.

Perhaps, there would have been weight to the claim had it been a quarian seed vault, but these were krogan. The same krogan who flourished on the radioactive hell of Tuchanka. Krogan who reproduced at such staggering rates that the turians unleashed a salarian-produced sterility plague onto the entire species when they'd conquered one planet too many.

Krogans with their secondary and tertiary organs weren't delicate. They didn't need rigidly specific plant nutrients to survive. So just what was on that transport? It was important enough that Drack felt the need to lie to her about it.

"Of course I'm in," Sara told him as SAM attempted to glean any sense of it from the krogan's bio markers. "Anything you need."

"That's good, because you would have had to drop me off on Elaaden's moon, otherwise." Drack sobered as he cleared his throat. "Thanks, kid. I'll owe you."

"Yes, you will," she agreed.

With any luck, the temperature of Elaaden's moon would be cooler than Elaaden proper. At any rate, it reduced their travel time to minutes instead of the long hours back to the Nexus. Not a whole lot of time to gather information on why Sara was doing what she was doing. She wandered into the crew's cabin and tried to pretend like it was happenstance.

"You've known Drack a while," she announced to Vetra. "Why would he lie about something?"

The turian looked up from the datapad on her lap and tossed it onto the foot of her mattress. "The old man's not much for lies. Are you sure you just didn't misread his tone?"

"He's not really much for tone." Sara made herself comfortable on a footlocker. "But anyone who paid even the slightest attention in a basic biology course would realize something was up."

Vetra frowned, confused. "Biology?"

"Yeah, there was a big unit first year about differences in physiology of certain aliens from humans. You can just imagine all the snickering twelve year olds when krogans and their four testicles came up."

"Okay Ryder, wait." Vetra held up a clawed hand. "Why exactly were you discussing krogan testicles with Drack?"

"I wasn't." Perhaps it was Sara who needed to work on tone. Or train of thought. "Just this whole stolen transport thing. If there was a reason for him to lie, it would be a good one, right?"

"I don't know," Vetra replied. "Do you trust him?"

"It's not about trust. It's more complicated than that-"

Vetra's brow fell into a hard line. "I'm going to stop you there. Yes it is, and no it's not. I can't always be honest with you, because people like Tann or William Spender can gum up the works with bureaucratic showboating. It doesn't mean I'm running any nefarious schemes. Either you trust me or you don't and our relationship falls into place accordingly. Not everyone who isn't forthcoming has it out for you."

"Yeah, but sometimes people keep things from you because they're self-serving shit bags and know you wouldn't let them use you otherwise, so how're you supposed to tell the difference?" Sara countered.

That got a derisive laugh from the turian. "That is the question, isn't it? But I can't answer that for you. Either you trust the old man or you don't, so do you trust Drack or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay." Sara sighed and wiped at the frustration on her face. "Yes, I trust him. I just wish he'd be up front so we could lie about whatever it is together."

Vetra chuckled as she retrieved her discarded datapad. "I met Drack through Kesh," she said. "She employed me to locate necessary supplies during the construction of the Nexus. They needed some very specific insulated tubing- 8x4 G5 aerogels- not that I know anything about aerogels, only that some ornery bastard of a krogan was trying to snatch up every last available one on the station."

"Drack?" Sara asked.

Vetra nodded. "I didn't know who he was at the time. Kesh was trying to lighten my workload, or get him to stop pestering her... maybe a little of both." She tapped at the datapad. "Come to think of it, I wonder if she was running me through the ropes, to see if I could still get the job done with Grandpa Roadblock complicating things?"

"Well? You didn't let him stop you, did you?"

"Of course not," Vetra scoffed. "He was loud and intimidating, but didn't really understand the process of it all. So while he refused anyone physical access to the product, I hacked into a shipping console with my omni tool and updated them for immediate departure to a location of my choosing."

"Huh." Sara sat back on the footlocker. "Simple and more anticlimactic than I thought."

Vetra smirked. "Well, I suspect it would have gotten really complicated, really quickly, if Kesh hadn't been the buyer. He tracked me down too late for the aerogels, but with plenty of time to beat the difference out of my hide. Fortunately, it was in Kesh's office with Kesh there to intervene. She and I still laugh about it when we need to put him in his place."

"Did he tell you what's on that krogan transport?" Sara asked.

"No," Vetra said with a satisfied chuff, "but I bet it's good."

Sara didn't want good, she wanted equal or greater than the risks involved with retrieving the transport. If it was worth it to Drack, it was likely worth it to the krogan and she could use it as justification by way of brokering necessary alliances when someone inevitably had an issue with yet another of her decisions. As Kallo (whose name she could now remember with an irritable spite that brimmed anew with more irritation at the realization that it was in fact retained only due to an annoying and "unnecessary" lecture,) glided the Tempest effortlessly into the atmosphere of the moon, named with thrilling specificity "Submoon Three," Sara knew it was moot. They were here and committed, for good or ill.

Submoon Three was a chilly 25 degrees Celsius in comparison to the deadly, sweltering heat of Elaaden. When Sara shared that cheery bit of information with Drack and Vetra, she was met with grunts. It occurred to her then that this was the first time she'd seen either so somber and it made the lockers where they geared up suddenly very silent without any of their usual dry wisecracks.

The transport's beacon led them to a bluff that overlooked a mining operation. Vetra kept calm and cool, her eyes on Drack as she directed Sara behind them. Drack, for his part, began professionally, as he ducked behind a rock grouping, but anger broke through easily without any need to simmer.

"This place is a dump," he grumbled as he glared at the empty scene before them.

"Exactly what I'd expect from a pirate hideout," Vetra commented neutrally. "We've dealt with worse."

"You've been hanging around the wrong pirates," the krogan groused as he gestured a hand to the darkened mine entrance. "They don't even have a lookout!"

"Drack, that's a good thing."

"Be nice to have some kind of challenge." He caught Sara's eye like she would agree with him over Vetra's common sense. "It's the least they could do, making us come all the way out here to kick their sorry asses."

Sara shook her head, refusing to dignify that with a response. Instead, she did a quick scan of the base. "That's the krogan transport on the landing pad, right?"

Drack's gaze followed her pointed finger to the large, unattended transport just above the mine. "Yeah, that's the one."

"What happens if it's empty by the time we get to it?" she asked.

"Then I burn this entire place to the ground."

"Good, good," Vetra drawled. "How did pirates get past your security codes in the first place?"

Drack huffed a breath through his nose and checked his ammo like he hadn't just loaded a fresh clip before he'd stepped off the Tempest. "Somebody forgot to erase the old authorization codes when they updated to new ones. It's what we get, trusting this to a bunch of geneticists."

Sara squinted at him. "What are geneticists doing overseeing a krogan seed vault?"

"Geneticists? What's the plant science? Astro, nuclear- Botanists! Whatever!" Maybe it was the stress of the situation, but Drack was a bit snappy. "You have a bunch of people with big brains and soft hands who are too busy on their project to pay attention to things like safety and security protocols."

"Right..."

"Let's move out before these clowns get smart and set up a perimeter," Drack barked.

He was right. There wasn't a single lookout at the opening of the mine. They were able to walk in brazenly with weapons brandished and there wasn't anyone to gasp in horror at the sight much less fight back.

The pirates were a mix of angara and human. When they found them in the main vein of the mine, they were loading cargo onto cars. Drack cleared his throat and caught with their pants down, some of the pirates gaped while others scrambled deeper into the structure screaming, "Aroane! We've got a problem!"

Drack unceremoniously leveled his assault rifle at any in his path and got to work. "Aroane!" he bellowed. "I am your problem!"

Vetra groaned and gestured to a stack of shipping crates large enough to cover both her and Sara. If Drack wanted to get taken out in a hail of bullets, that was his prerogative, but Sara was more than happy to look to Vetra Nyx for guidance and leadership to avoid something similar for herself.

"We get it Drack, you're great," Vetra called from her cover. "Can we make this op more in and out, and less about the size of your quad?"

It was difficult to hear the krogan's response over the flurry of rifle fire, but Sara thought he said, "Alright, alright!" At least, she hoped that was what he said.

"They didn't even put up a good fight," he declared as he reached the side of their crates.

"As we waltzed in unannounced and you sprayed into their fleeing backs?" Vetra replied dryly. "I can't imagine why not."

"Does the name Aroane ring any bells?" Sara asked as she stood up.

Drack sucked some air in through his teeth. "I can see if Kesh recognizes it. Suppose it doesn't matter if we just kill the bastard."

"A solid plan as any," Vetra replied. "But I'm pretty sure the objective was securing that transport, right?"

"That goes without saying," he grumbled.

"Uh huh." Vetra craned her head down a nearby mineshaft. "Just keep in mind that if you rush off and get killed in a blaze of glory, I'll be the one stuck here cleaning up your mess."

"If these pyjacks were even half a challenge, then I'd be-"

"Drack!"

"Okay, fine." He groaned and waved at a darkened and now deserted tunnel. "We need to move out. You've spent so long scolding me, they've probably regrouped by now."

Vetra smirked. "You're welcome."

They certainly had. As Sara trailed after Vetra and Drack who were following the mine cars, they lost contact with the Tempest. It was to be expected, layers of ore and rock created interference between their omni tools and the ship, what was unexpected was the new voice coming in loud and clear on their frequency.

"Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

"Nope," Vetra answered. "Not at all."

"Oh... Dammit!"

She shot a glance to Drack. "Recognize the voice?"

"Vorn!"

"Vorn?" Sara asked because judging by Drack's voice, familiarity wasn't necessarily positive.

"One of our scientists," Drack explained as he kept moving. "What are you doing here, Vorn?"

"I was doing inventory on the ship and then these pirates showed up and hijacked the whole thing while I was still onboard."

"Well come on, then," Drack barked. "Quit messing around and get down here."

There was a hesitation over the frequency. "I would, but I had to lock myself in one of the containers to keep them away. Pretty sure they want me dead right now."

"Of course you would." The ire in Drack's words made Sara flinch. "We don't have time for this!"

Drack was right, they didn't. The mine cars led to a loading depot adjacent to the landing pad. Several of the pirates had dug in, tucked behind crates and cars as the thrusters of the transport warmed up. Even if they if they were like Sara and didn't know what was onboard, they were smart enough to realize it was important enough for the social call they were currently receiving.

"Drack..?" Vorn's voice crackled over their omni tools. "They're working on overriding the container's codes-"

"Will you shut up?"

"Okay, but the pirates in front of us are hunkering down," Vetra cut in as she pulled Sara to cover behind a car. "What are we doing?"

"Give me a second..!"

The pirates patiently opened fire on them.

"Second's up, old man," Vetra snapped back over the rifles. "Scientist or transport? What's the priority?"

Drack shook his head and only answered with, "Fuck," as he barreled toward the fray.