Rigel's eyes flew open in a panic. He bolted upright and reached down to draw Ace only to find his holster empty. A more primal panic was setting in when he realized where he was. When last he'd closed his eyes, he was in the depths of an Eclipse Minagen X3 research facility. Some series of events had transpired between then and now to land him back in his ship's cargo bay.

You can thank her for that.

Rigel followed Nova's mental prodding and looked down. Tela was passed out next to him, Ace gripped tight in her right hand.

What the hell happened?

You pushed too hard and ended up using all of your Light. Then Tela hauled your exhausted ass through an Eclipse facility while simultaneously shooting at the people shooting at you. You owe her a thank you.

Sounds like I owe her more than that. How close was I to…

Too close. Nova's voice was clipped and angry. Don't worry me like that again.

I won't.

Rigel looked from Ace back to Tela's face.

She looked so peaceful. Every time Rigel had seen her awake, she was always focused, moving with purpose from one task to another. Now she looked calm, at rest.

Tela began to stir and Rigel shuffled awkwardly away, realizing how close they were.

The Spectre's eyes opened and she sat up with a groan. She grabbed her back with her left hand and said, "That's the last time I sleep on grated metal."

Rigel smiled and said, "There are bunks on this ship. Feel free to use one of those next time."

Tela arched her back, trying to stretch out a cramp. "I might have made it to one if you weren't so damn heavy. I'm honestly surprised I hauled you as far as I did without passing out. I had just been subject to excruciating torture."

"Ah yes. I'd forgotten. In that case, thank you noble warrior goddess for retrieving my infirm self despite your trials."

Tela smirked, looking sidelong at Rigel. "You're an ass."

"Guilty."

"In all seriousness, how are you doing? All good?"

Rigel nodded. "Yeah. And seriously, thanks. From what Nova tells me, you really saved my ass."

"At worst I kept you from getting shot. I seriously doubt someone who comes back to life after they die would care much about a bullet wound." Tela planted her palms behind her and leaned back, sighing.

You didn't tell her?

There wasn't much time. One moment we're getting shot at and the next she's falling asleep on the floor.

"Rigel?"

Rigel turned, seeing Tela shooting him a questioning gaze.

"Thanks. I owe you one." Rigel repeated, his words holding a noticeable weight they didn't before. "I might not have come back if I died back there."

Tela's eyes widened. She leaned forward and said, "What do you mean?"

Rigel shrugged. "Weird rules of paracausal resurrection bullshit. I knew a woman who passed out from using too much Light at once. She was shot and her ghost couldn't revive her. It may have been the result of the Hive ritual we were trying to stop, or it might have been that you can die after over-exerting yourself. I'm not sure, and I haven't been willing to test it. The Red Legion taught us we need Light to come back, but I can't be sure whether our Light has to be taken or if using it up counts. I'm typically extremely careful to avoid overexerting myself like that."

Tela held his gaze a moment, then turned to look at the ground in front of her. "You thought the mercs were all dead, didn't you? That's why you risked it. If…What would you have done if you'd known there were more?"

Rigel took a breath as he thought over his answer. Tela swallowed as the silence stretched on.

"Honestly? I probably would have done it anyway."

Tela looked up at him, her eyes scanning Rigel's.

Rigel tilted his head to the side. "Well, I probably would have been a bit more tactical about it. Maybe dragged you into a corner or something first, but I still would have done it."

Tela stared at him, slowly breaking into a small smile as she looked away. "Then I guess we're even. You stopped that evil scientist bitch from turning me into a failed experiment. I saved an immortal from dying. Just an average day at the office." She stood up and offered Rigel a hand.

Rigel took it and let her pull him up.

Tela held onto his hand and turned it over. She placed Ace in his palm and said, "This was the only weapon I got out of there with. I was a little too concerned with hauling you behind me to remember to grab your helmet, grenade launcher, or bow."

Rigel closed his fingers around Ace with an easy smile. "Don't worry about it. Of everything Nova and I brought with us to this universe, I care about exactly one thing." He hefted Ace into the air. "This. Everything else is replaceable. You learn to be flexible when you wander through the ruins of a collapsed civilization."

Tela tilted her head curiously down at Ace. "Then what's special about this? It's a powerful gun, but it's also a little too powerful."

Rigel chuckled as he spun Ace back into its holster. "You get used to it. It's special because it was a gift from an old friend. It's a near-exact copy of his own gun."

"Zavala? Eris? Drifter?" Tela guessed, recalling names Rigel had said during their first discussion about his home.

"None of the above. They're all still around. Cayde isn't."

"Oh…I'm sorry I brought it up."

"You didn't know. Besides, he'd get mad if he thought I was getting all worked up over him. He took things only as seriously as he had to. Great guy."

Rigel made for the exit to the cargo bay, wanting to see where exactly in the galaxy they were. He still hadn't entirely memorized the galaxy maps Nova had downloaded from the Citadel, but he was getting better.

"Rigel."

Rigel stopped and turned back to Tela. She had a frown on her face.

"I'm sorry."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. I miss the bastard, but he wouldn't want me to dwell on it."

Tela huffed. "Not…well, yes that, but also for before. I'm sorry about what I said in the cockpit however long ago that was." Tela eyes fell to the ground. "Hearing about the kinds of things you dealt with on a day-to-day basis…I thought I'd seen the darkest face of the universe. Then you opened your mouth and told me just how much worse it could be every day. I got a little fatalistic and said some shit I didn't mean. I'm sorry."

Rigel took a deep, slow breath in through his nose. "I didn't exactly handle your reaction the best way either. I'd just got done telling you about monsters that were everyday occurrences for me but nightmares by the standards of this universe and then I started laughing at you after saying your entire race probably had their souls eaten by an evil god. I'm sorry I handled it poorly, and apology accepted. Now let's get back to the bridge and cut the awkward shit."

"Agreed." Tela said as she walked past Rigel. "I need to raid your ship for a rifle that isn't blown to hell then I'll meet you there." She paused at the threshold of the door and turned around. "And because I just realized I didn't say it, thanks for saving my life. That serum was killing me, and I understand you risked a lot to bring me back, so thanks."

Rigel grinned. "You're the closest thing I have to a friend here, Tela. Who am I supposed to talk to if you die?"

Tela smiled back. "Well, you do have a voice in your head." She turned and left the cargo bay, turning to head to the small armory.

Rigel turned the opposite direction, heading towards the bridge. "So, voice in my head, where the hell are we?"

"That's not going to be my new nickname." Nova said, her tone unamused as she shimmered into being. A holoprojection lit up behind her of the galaxy. "We're coming up on the Citadel. I had time to traverse the relays while you two napped. We'll be there in an hour or so."

"I heard something about the Citadel?" Tela said as she entered the bridge, a simple rifle Rigel had looted from the batarian warehouse folded up on her shoulder.

"Yep!" Nova said, spinning to face her. "We're almost back."

"Good." Tela said as she sat in the copilot's chair. "I need to report to the Council."

Rigel raised an eyebrow. "Turning me into your bosses already? And here I thought we'd just had a moment."

Tela snorted. "No. Even if I thought they'd believe me, you're right that they're all corrupt racists. If they knew about you they'd send an entire army after you for your teleportation tech. Multiple armies, actually. No, I need to let them know the Minagen X3 operation is taken care of. You don't mind if I take credit for that, do you?"

"Not at all. The more attention you pull off of us the better in my mind." Rigel said, grasping the controls and taking command of the ship from Nova.

"Just make sure to say you had help from an anonymous agent." Nova tacked on to Rigel's statement. "A little goodwill might be useful if people sharpen their pitchforks."

Tela nodded. "I'd already planned on it. I'll talk to them, get a weapon that won't fall apart after twenty uses, then try to figure out what that bitch did to me."

Rigel's eyebrows furrowed. "You're having lasting effects from the serum?"

Tela tilted her head and looked at Rigel like he'd asked an obvious question. Her eyes lit up in understanding a moment later. "Right, you were unconscious. The serum changed my biotics. Everything is about eight times stronger than it should be with no added effort on my part. I actually almost electrocuted you by accident when I was trying to fight the Eclipse mercs. Thank Nova for pulling you out of that."

"Thank you, Nova."

"I get to pick the next movie we watch." the ghost immediately replied.

"Fair enough."

"It's called Maidens: A Guide to Courting the Galaxy's Most Fair. I found it on the Extranet."

Rigel slumped in his seat. "Is it too late to be electrocuted?"

"Of course not." Nova said far too cheerily. "It just won't have the possibility of being permanent now."

"Help?" Rigel pleaded, looking at Tela.

The Spectre was staring directly out the viewport. Her entire body was rigid and tense as she said, "I'm not getting involved."

The awkward atmosphere persisted through the rest of the flight as Rigel tried to finagle his way out of watching a dry dating documentary, but Nova was too excited to witness his displeasure to budge.

The Blind Well was docked with no stuck-up C-Sec confrontations or frightened former slaves. Having a Spectre on your ship to just bulldoze through the parking politics was a wondrous experience.

Tela arranged for fuel and rations to be brought to the Blind well upon landing then walked to the loading ramp with Rigel.

"Are you planning on staying long?" she asked as the ramp lowered. A crew of humans hauled a few crates of rations up the ramp then quickly exited while others fixed a long fuel-line into the Blind Well's intake.

"No, actually." Rigel said, watching the two crews with suspicious eyes but not seeing anything nefarious. "I've got some gear to replace and some more to acquire." He pointed to his helmet-less head.

"And you can't do that here?"

"Oh I'm sure I could. But my stuff is leagues better than what I'd be able to acquire as a civilian on the Citadel."

Tela nodded minutely. "I suppose that's true. It'll probably take longer though."

"Not as long as you'd think." Rigel said knowingly.

Tela turned a suspicious eye on him but didn't comment on his obvious reference to something she wasn't privy to. "Still, we probably won't see each other for some time. Even if the bureaucracy and press releases surrounding the Minagen X3 break don't take too long, I still have to relearn how to use my biotics. They're a lot stronger now, but I can't control them."

"The only remedy for that is practice."

"Don't suppose you'd be willing to share what your friend found on Eclipse's servers? It might help me out."

I just sent a data package to your omni-tool. Nova said in his head, having agreed to stay out of sight so C-sec didn't freak out over the 'Not an AI Actually a Ghost'. The fewer bullets flying around the presidium, the better for everyone involved.

Rigel activated his omni-tool and forwarded Nova's data package to Tela. It had most of the data Nova had extracted, but she'd not included the notes on creating the serum or the final version of it. Rigel and Nova were in silent agreement to not give anyone access to it without a very good reason.

The spectre opened her omni-tool and ran a quick eye over the message before closing it back down. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The fuel crew had finished filling the Blind Well's tank. They were retracting the fuel line and heading towards another ship docked next to the Blind Well with an irate turian screaming orders. Tela had bumped the Blind Well to the front of the fueling que with her Spectre status, and someone was obviously displeased with the wait.

"I don't suppose there's any chance you'll tell me where you're going?" Tela said, sounding resigned.

"Sorry. But no. Not now at least."

Tela waved Rigel's apology off. "It's fine. I get it. I work for a cabal of xenophobic assholes and you don't want anything getting back to them. Can I at least have a way to contact you? You know, so I can call you if I need help with another case."

"I'm trying to stay as untraceable as possible right now, but if you need anything, send a message to my omni-tool. My friend suped it up a little, and it wasn't exactly…Citadel-issue to begin with."

"Got it. If I need you, I'll send you a message."

The two stood side by side for a moment longer, watching the fuel crew be berated by the same turian and what appeared to be his girlfriend who'd climbed out of the kodiak to join in on the screaming.

Tela turned to fully face Rigel, hand extended. "It's been…extremely interesting, Rigel. I look forward to working with you again."

Rigel smiled as he shook her hand. "It has been interesting, Tela. I'm sure we'll see each other again before too long. I'm a trouble magnet, and it's your job to deal with trouble."

Tela smiled. "Then I guess I'll be seeing you soon." Releasing Rigel's hand, Tela turned and strode down the loading ramp. She didn't look back, already barking orders at C-Sec personnel around her. She opened her omni-tool and started fiddling with it as she forcefully directed the C-Sec officers to comply with her every demand.

Rigel watched the C-Sec detail go into a frenzy with a smile on his face.

Are you ready to go?

Rigel nodded, seemingly to himself, turning around and walking back towards the bridge as the loading ramp raised and locked shut behind him.

Let's get back to Mercury. I've got some gear I need to replace.