My eyes gazed out the window, arms huddled around my knees on the sofa. My fingers dug into my arms until the knuckles turned white. The cold window warmed from my body heat, removing the purpose for leaning on the window. Well, not quite. My eyelids drifted down, shutting out the stars from me. The alarm clock bleated behind me but went unnoticed. Warning sirens deafened it. The lights faltered, the power fluttering for a moment, causing us to drop out of FTL. A moan escaped, body too exhausted to resist the forces as they shoved me off the sofa. Gideon made a wild grab for me, but the 10 year old could only look down at me, peeking over the cushion with large eyes a slight tremble to his frame when he realised he didn't make it in time. A sigh leaked free as the back of my head ached, half sprawled on the floor. He squealed as another lurch sent him careening over the edge, onto my battered ribs. Pain gagged in my chest, wheezing as my lungs fought to function. Gideon squirmed free, panic on his face as he freed himself from me.
"I'm sorry, Dell! I'm sorry!" he pleaded as he grabbed the table for balance. The force rolled me onto my stomach, wincing, as my arms pushed myself to my knees.
"It's alright Gid. I'm alright," I said, pushing myself back on shaking knees, every muscle pinching and every process equivalent to hiking through tar.
My arms flew out as the Starquake rocked again, and once again back in FTL. My hand rubbed my eyes, swaying. Gideon clung to me, eyes wide and frame trembling. My hand ruffled his hair, attempting to be comforting, limping my way towards the door. Gideon glued himself like a shadow. Once free from the safety of my room, my eyes scanned the hallway towards the elevator. Most of the panels had long dropped free, wires dangling close to hanging anyone over 6ft. My feet paused outside of Val's door.
"Gideon, get a status report please. I'm trying again," I said. Gideon's grip around my hips tightened for a time.
"Y-You'll be ok?" he asked. My feigned smile spread, my lips tight as the muscles fought for the strength to lift them.
"I'll survive for now. Go on, I need that info," I said. Gideon jumped, shuffling down the hall before clambering down into the engineer tunnels. The elevator was off-limits. We had too many power cuts these days to use it without fearing people would get stuck in them.
My forehead pressed against the door to Val's room, any energy I had regained from my 2 hour nap gone. It never ended. The whole crew wobbled on their last legs, myself included. Injury, exhaustion and hunger were too powerful together. A simple month and we had gone from being in good spirits to walking corpses. The shift work had collapsed once people dropped due to injury, then exhaustion downed the rest. The attacks on the Starquake had been endless. Marruns was the culprit. We had damaged his ship just over 3 weeks ago but the bastard stocked his ship for a long chase. A new ship later and he was back on our tail.
They destroyed our stealth system about 2 and a half weeks ago thanks to a Blue Sun Cruiser. Parts of the engineering deck were no-go areas because of electrical fire damage. Whatever that cruiser packed, Sershin couldn't dodge the hail of shells and we took one hard. Damaged part of the drive core which caused our power outages. The Starquake held together through will alone, although the rotary had long packed in. We found a few hours peace to disengage it, requiring most of the engineering team to float in space and haul the seized metal apart. The torn and battered fanned plates couldn't retract in their state. And all of this damage injured many of the crew as part of the collateral damage. Out of a crew of 45, 22 were out of action, including half of the engineering crew. If injury wasn't bad enough, we had nowhere near enough time to stop for food. The severe rationing took its toll on everyone. My stomach hadn't seen food at all in 2 days just to keep Gideon full. Our water supply also looked shaky, to add to the burden. We don't talk about fuel anymore either. God the things we had to do to keep the Starquake moving… Wrecked ships still carrying usable fuel floated in concentrations if you knew where to look. It was our saving grace.
My hand clapped on Val's door, the metal parting. My eyes drifting to the turian on the bed. A light touch from my finger ignited a dim lamp. A breath stalled in my lungs, hands running through my hair. Val lay motionless. My knees caved at the edge of the bed, my eyes on my trembling hands resting on my lap. They tightened, grabbing fistfuls of my trousers just to make sure feeling existed in my fingers. Saere moved Val to his room weeks ago to finish his recovery. She assured me he was on the mend and he could have removed the bandages 3 days ago. Yet here he was, locked up in his room, bandages taut over his face. My gaze lifted to the window on the other side of the bed. A faint glitter of green sparkled in the reflection that winked with his fluttering eyelids. My face buried in my lap, my stomach twisting as my eyelids wished to drop.
"I know you're awake, Val," I said. Val didn't move, refusing to even acknowledge me. "I can see you blinking, you pillock," I joked. My gaze returned to the reflection, watching Val lift his eyes. We met in the reflection. The silence crushed me to the ground, sagging my shoulders.
"You look like shit," he muttered. My lungs coughed, taken aback by his words, despite how my humour had drained.
"I look better than I am," I said, freeing my fingers from the tangle of red on my head. "The ship and I are tied for who is in worse shape just now," Val made a sound in his throat, eyes drifting away again. I bit my chapped lip. "Are you feeling any better?" I asked. Val remained silent. "Val, please, talk to me! What's wrong? You've not left this room in a month, you've not spoken to me either. I need you back on your feet, Val!" The turian curled himself up a little more, silent. A growl rumbled in my chest. "Oh so I'm not allowed to sulk around when I get hurt and you can? Dammit, Val, look at me!"
My hand reached out, grabbing hold of his carapace. Val's agitated rumbled through my palms. He flicked an arm up to dislodge me, but the bat hardened my determination. It gave me strength, hauling him to lie on his back. Now the low rumble vibrated in the air, echoing in his chest. He yanked free from my grip and snapped his hands around my wrists, dragging me from my precarious position on the edge of the bed. My limbs flailed, trying to free my hands from his grip as he pinned me down on the bed, glowering down over me.
"Dammit, Dell, can't you leave a man to nurse his pride!?" he demanded. A glare overwhelmed my face, fury and stress breaking.
"A month, Valérien! It's been a month of trying to get you to talk! You'll talk to Gideon, you'll talk to Lanster, you'll talk to fucking Mat'al but not me!? What the hell did I do!?" I screeched, straining against his hold.
"Nothing!" he snapped back.
"Then why don't you ever speak to me?!" I pleaded.
"You wouldn't understand! You're human!" he growled.
"So is Gideon!" I snapped.
"You are from another time, you know nothing about turian culture!" Val thundered.
"If it's something bad then why the fuck does it matter so much if I don't understand!? If I don't understand it, I won't think any differently than I do now!" I shouted, pleading with him. Val opened his mouth, the bandages straining over his copper plates. The words died in his throat. We lay there panting, all the while my brain tried to shake itself for answers on how to kick answers out of this bloody turian.
"…Spirits, I hate it when you cry…" he grumbled.
"What?" I said, hands fighting free to snap to my face. Val didn't fight me, releasing my wrists. Tears soaked my hands the instant they touched my cheeks. "A- sh… fuck!" My hands smothered my face. Dammit, this happened far too often! Why did the tears always fall these days?! My pride wished to curl up into a ball, just to escape the embarrassment. Val sighed as he dropped back on his heels, leaving me to crawl into said ball. The bed bounced as Val dropped off his heels to cross his legs, eyes to the stars.
The bed pressed into my side, heels of my hands to my eyes. This was more than embarrassing, it was outright humiliating. The sting in my eyes, the heat in my face, the coldness in my chest… a horrible combination. It took what seemed like forever, or at least one more run in with another ship and quick escape, to remove the hands from my face. My head shook, body crawling itself into a seated position to look Val in the eye. Well, he had seen my tears before, nothing new on his part. His gaze shifted to mine but diverted them again with seconds. The silence felt toxic. My hand reached out, aiming for a dangling bandage near his left mandible. He flinched. My hand hesitated.
"Please…"I begged. Val clicked his mandibles. He watched my fingers try again. He winced but otherwise remained steady. A shuddered breath released as my second hand raised.
The relief slipping off my shoulders caught in my throat as my hands unwound the bandages. Progress, after weeks of trying we had progress! As the tight bandages fell, more copper skin pocketed by mucky brown flesh stained with pinkish scar tissue revealed itself. The scarring wasn't too severe, from what Saere told me, the copper skin would return apart from a few places. Most of the obvious scarring hugged around his eyes and forehead. Although, even I noticed the more prominent issue wasn't the scarring. It looked like his skin had melted, like melted wax on the side of a candle. His copper skin coated in melted drips dried into his skin. Pronounced pocketing marked his skin as if the acid had dissolved the pores into small cavities. When the last bandage fell, the full appreciation for his injuries lay bare. The damage his bastard of a father caused him. What could you say to injuries like this?
"You look like shit," I said. He snorted, a small smile lifting his lips before it collapsed.
"Yeah, a shit looking barefaced bastard," he muttered. My lips downturned, confused. I… guessed this is the turian culture clicking into place. My eyes inspected his face. His scarring had distracted me from the more obvious marking… or lack thereof. His viridian marks didn't mark his skin.
"I… take it barefaced isn't a nice thing," I asked, biting my lip. Val snorted at me.
"Culture is a wonderful thing, isn't it," he said. "No, barefaced is not a nice thing. So bad, we call our politicians barefaced,"
"Ah…" I said. My teeth nipped my cheek as it rose to defend my father. Val sighed.
"Barefaced turians are seen as deceiving, untrustworthy and out to con you out of the clothes on your backs. Turians see barefaced as some of the worst scum of the galaxy," he sighed. My eyebrows knotted together.
"And… why should that matter for me?" I asked. Val glanced up, brow plates raised a touch. "I mean, I know you, know what you are like. I know we can trust you so why hide? You're fine with the other turians and yet not the person who would never have cared had you not told me? Who still doesn't care because I know this barefaced thing is bullshit and I will hang your father by his balls if I see him again?" Val coughed, a small laugh slipping free.
"I would pay to see that…" he said, a real smiling poking free. The smile faded as he regarded my question more. "The other turians are my friends, but with you, with all this stress you've been under, the last thing you needed is a barefaced turian beside you in public, even without the Council on your ass. I… I didn't want to add to your problems, even if this all sorted itself out. You still get communications every now and then…" he muttered.
"You were trying to protect what little of my reputation I have left," I said, jaw dropping, watching Val's posture.
"Yeah… I guess I was," he said. My jaw popped, ready to cluck my tongue. He glanced up as he watched me crawl over to him, my eyes narrowed. If he didn't realise how much of an idiot he is now, he soon would be.
"Val, if anyone, and I mean anyone, mocks you for being barefaced I will shoot their heads off," I said. Val snorted, his only sign of amusement. His mandibles flared and his head lifted when he noted my taut lips and drawn eyebrows. His mandibles clicked.
"You need not do that…" he said. My head shook, dismissing his words.
"Yes, I do," I said. He fell silent. A sighed freed itself as my arms reached out to hug him. "Dammit Val, I'm your friend and captain, it's my duty to make sure no one fucks with my crew," Val's grip on the hug tightened, whether is was in annoyance or appreciation, it didn't matter regardless. "Does it hurt?" I asked. Val's hot breath gushed past my ear.
"In places. I can't feel others," he said. his plates shifting into some sort of half smile. "My sense of touch on the face is screwed up, Saere's not sure it'll ever sort itself out," We parted, brushing my thumbs over the sharp ridges that marked his cheeks. The boiling sensation in my stomach increased the blood rage to crush father against a wall, not too dissimilar to what Saria did to me. Reaper or no, his father deserved nothing less. His skin always had a rough texture to it, now it felt more pumice-like with ridges that wriggled like worms over his face. My hands pulled him in for another hug, forehead to forehead, nose to nose. My grip tightened around him.
"Anyone hurts you like this again," I vowed. "And I will rip them apart," Val snorted, an amused glint in his eyes.
"You? Hand to hand? With a krogan?" he mused with the idea. My scowl made him grin. This close to his face, it was hard to see details.
"A thresher maw," I said. Val's eyes opened more, mandibles flaring. Ignoring the grin on his face proved difficult. With care, he braced his hands on either side of me on the bed, leaning over me just a touch. My breath snagged in my throat. My hands clung to him to stop myself collapsing on the bed.
"Hmm, a thresher maw vs a mini maw with a rocket launcher," he murmured, his tone dropping as the smile widened. "Now that is a fight I'd like to see," A short laugh emerged before a smile spread over my face. "Sorry for making you worry so much, guess I didn't think this through…"
"Better be, you pillock," I muttered. "Had my worried I had fucked up somewhere. Pfft, thinking I would care about some badly done face paints," Val laughed in surprise, a smirk on his face.
"Are you mocking my ability to face paint?" he asked, feigning insults. His hand twirled a small clump of my hair. "Coming from the girl who takes at least an hour to tame her crest?"
"Ohh, that was a low blow, Autillin," I scolded, securing my arms around his neck to save myself from hitting the headboard. His grin tickled my lips.
"I can go lower," he said, voice low as his hand released my hair to find the base of my neck. My breath caught in my throat. We both cried in surprise when the ship thundered, sending us careening off the bed as a siren blared out around us.
"What the hell happened? What the fuck is that alarm?" I demanded, rolling off Val as my legs flailed under me. Val gawked around the room in surprise, disorientated.
"Critical Failure alarm?" he asked. What? A critical… ah shit!
My shoulder scraped past the door as my body ran on autopilot, panic tunnelling my vision as the power flickered. My footing stumbled at the edge of the engineering tunnels, saved by grabbing the ladder. Bodies pressed and rushed around the tunnels, forcing me to fight my way down to the CIC. Smoke choked my lungs when my hands pulled me free from the tunnels. My hand waved before me, eyes peering through the haze. Relief sagged my shoulders after finding it only afflicted the stern-starboard corner. My eyes flew upwards to the flickering cameras, showing a turian frigate hounding us as a hail of bullets from a nearby salarian cruiser wished to total us. My hands grabbed the captain's chair in the Control Ring as Indira cursed at a control panel.
"Status!" I demanded.
"We took a massive hit from that blasted frigate! Pressure loss on the cargo deck, the 5th and 6th decks are venting!" Indira gritted, her hands flying over the orange hologram. "We can't shut the vents between the decks! We've also got a fire in the labs, servers are struggling to even operate with those temperatures!"
My stomach lurched as Lanster launched into FTL, although any relief to be away from those ships died by the sound from the engines. A horrible squealing sound like a hamster wheel ready to fly off filled the ship. The smoke in the right corner continued to build. A poor salarian dived into the smoke with a fire extinguisher to put out the fire before the deck ignited. It progressed towards the lab. The ship rolled from the thunderous boom that quaked the entire ship. The power died. In the shambling dark, only omni-tools and drones provided any light. The cries of surprise and demands for answers deafened me. An emergency red hue stained the room as the cameras struggled into life. The room was then lit by a brilliant blue light. My body fell numb, gaze locked to the screens above me. A planet smothered half of the CIC's camera screens. Panic set in when fire licked up the bow.
"Lanster!" I cried.
"We lost engines 2, 3, 4 and 6, Captain!" he cried before swearing. Someone chanted 'come on' in the background. My throat closed. "Engine 2 exploded and killed the rest of the engines, I've got 1 and 5 up but dammit the others aren't responding! We're venting on all decks now! We've lost most of the control systems. I can't straighten her out, we don't have enough power to get us out of here! Dammit, front thrusters, respond!"
"Emergency re-entry check-list started!" Mari T'Seir called out. "At least we don't need to dump fuel on Marruns' face-"
"This is not joking time, Mari!" Lanster roared. "Checklist! Now!"
The Starquake trembled the planet dragged us in, the forced re-entry threatening to rip the ship apart. Flying, flaming pieces of the Starquake flew past the camera feeds, ripped clean by the force. I felt the engines surge and ebb, one engine tried to start up before stuttering to nothing. Once we had entered the atmosphere, the fires on board only got worse with oxygen aplenty.
"Can we use escape pods!?" I screamed over the roar of sirens and yells.
"Negative, it's too dangerous to fire them just now! If I can get the Starquake level…" Lanster cussed as he worked the controls. "Sershin, I need power! Nothing is responding, we're losing hydraulics!"
Just listening to him call out his failures and the frantic cries around me as people tried to get something, anything to work... my brain stopped functioning. The ship shook. Most people crashed to their knees, myself included. We weren't even re-entering straight. The flaming streaks of Starquake debris only increased with time as the air thickened. The outer plates ripped themselves apart. When the flames eased, we began the true nightmare. Our ragged plates caused us to cartwheel through the air. My screams added to the noise, pinned to the floor as the emergency generator flickered. The creaking metal drove nails into my stomach as the ship strained to keep together. Massive cracks rippled up the walls. The floor bowed and twisted. The creaking metal deafened every sane thought. Smoke filled the air. My fingers tightened on the floor, saving my body from rolling on the floor as Lanster gained control. From the cameras, the Starquake levelled, the angular plates all but gone.
Then the landscape registered. A green Colorado plateau or the towering Chinese limestone karsts. Massive towering columns of rock, flat valleys between. My heart sank. We swayed in the sky, the Starquake desperate to spin. The sirens screeched. Lights blinded me. Closer, closer still the cliffs came. My knees struggled back under me. When my eyes turned to the cameras, a cliff waited to greet us.
"BRACE!" Lanster screamed. Fear frozen me in place, eyes widening to the cliff closing in on us. A scream rang when someone took me to ground, fingers of the person pinning me down grasping the ribbing on the floor.
Then the first impact. The ship brimmed with screams. The ship jolted as a wing struck the cliff. My sense of direction vanished as the electrics failed. The sirens cut and whined as power failed. A thundering crash sent us jolting as we smacked into the ground. Screeching metal drowned out the shrieks. The Starquake ripped apart with an ear screeching crack. The screams of the crew sank beneath the sound of the ship shredding apart.
Daylight blinded me before darkness plunged over me in an endless cycle. Faces of family long dead flashed before me. Time slowed, sound deafened. My body floated in silence, watching people flying past me, floors, wires. Everything. The floor beneath me vanished, flying myself. A pain shot along my back before my body was thrown downwards into darkness that stole all light from me.
The Timeline and Galaxy Map have been updated for this chapter. Please see profile for link to Archive.