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But perhaps the consolation price is enough to take Garrus’ pain away. Part of the Nihlus-suvive-Eden-Prime-Storyline. Oneshot. Complete.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Garrus/Nihlus - The mission on Feros doesn’t go as planned. But perhaps the consolation price is enough to take Garrus’ pain away. Part of the Nihlus-suvive-Eden-Prime-Storyline. Oneshot. Complete.", "writing": "Feros... It had started out bad and progressed to worse quicker than a charging Krogan. When we were met with attacking Geth as soon as we set foot on the ground I knew this would end badly. I had taken officer Vakarian and Tali'Zhora nar Rayya with me planet side. It made sense, the mission briefing said the colony had been attacked by Geth. Miss Zhora was as close to an expert on these things as we were ever going to get and Vakarian could handle both the mechs and whatever else Saren decided to throw at us. Shepard was of course with us in her role as my protege. She came along on any mission I was on and whatever else I felt she could learn something from.\n\nSaren... The name still created a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't believe he would do something like this. Betray the Council and endanger the entire galaxy, allying himself with the Geth. There were few people who could say they knew the infamous Spectre. I was one of them. Deep inside, one of the stones that formed my foundation block shook. 'Was' was apparently correct. Maybe I didn't know him any longer. But how could he have changed so drastically over a few short years? Did I ever truly know him? I had lived with the man during my training to become a Spectre. Traveled in close quarters with him for several years. Trained and fought side by side. He had saved my life more times than I could count. This sudden change didn't make any sense to me. If I only could... talk to him, maybe? He must have a reason to do what he did. Maybe he could explain it to me if we just sat down and talked? And then there were the Reapers...\n\nI shook my head. I couldn't think of this now. Not when all four of us were huddled behind a couple of crates waiting for an opening in the Geth fire.\n\n“Remind me to ask for specifics next time you take me anywhere,” Shepard muttered beside me. She was changing the ammo in her shotgun, a Hurricane. Once again I reminded myself to get her something better the next time we had an opportunity.\n\n“And here I thought it would be a nice surprise for you,” I quipped back, throwing a quick glance on the side of our cover. A bullet whistled by my ear as I retracted my head again. “Doesn't humans like adventure vacations?”\n\nA chuckle came over the intercom. I threw a glance over to the other side of the corridor where Vakarian and Zhora sat, much like myself and Shepard, behind cover.\n\n“I've even heard that some of them jump off bridges or planes, for fun,” the other turian said with a grin that splayed his mandibles slightly. “But perhaps Shepard would prefer a romantic walk on the beach?”\n\n“Ha-ha, very funny, bird boys,” she answered with dry humor. “Well, this is getting us nowhere...”\n\nI noticed the intent in her eyes a second to late. She punched her shield boost and with a careless assertiveness in her movements she launched herself over the crate. Shotgun first she charged down the old corridor towards our enemies. I could see her shields sparking where the field gave way for a second before the booster made the hole close again.\n\n“Shepard! What the...” was all I had the chance to yell. “Vakarian, Zhora, get their shields down now!” I whipped out my heavily modified assault rifle and its butt recoiled heavily into my shoulder as I opened fire. “Fucking Vanguards!” We hadn't worked together long and yet this was not the first time she had pulled a stunt like this. This girl was going to be the death of me. It was like she went out of her way to put herself in danger just to piss me off.\n\nAs her biotics flared around the limited space, throwing synthetics all over the place, I gestured the other two to move up. As Zhora was working on hacking one of the Geth Destroyers deep behind cover, Vakarian had taken up position further back with his sniper rifle. He was really good with that thing. I had taken him on a few small missions previously and he had more than showed me he could hold his own in combat. Not that I expected anything less from a turian. My own military service was perhaps less than pleasant, but you could tell at least one of us would have made it past the rank of lieutenant. Unfortunately he had too much of a hot streak in him. Perhaps that was why he hadn't continued on after his mandatory tour. The Hierarchy wanted obedient soldiers. Mindless drones. I scoffed to myself as I took down a Geth Trooper. The blue tattooed turian's skills were wasted hidden in the lines of the common soldiers. I could almost feel how he sighted his target in the scope, let out a breath, relaxed and then squeezed the trigger tight. The satisfying sound of the rifle went off and a second later another mechanical unit hit the floor. He lived this. The long range weapon was like an extension of his body and it was a real pleasure to behold him as he worked with it.\n\nAs the young turian sighted a new target he didn't see the Distortion Rocket that came flying in his direction. My body reacted before my brain even had the time to register the threat to my teammate. My assault rifle clattered on the stone floor as I sprinted over and tackled him to the ground. The butt of his rifle scraped with a metallic whine over the crate he had used as support. My shields protesting as they tried to absorb the extreme energy of the blast. I could feel the heat through the back of my armor and knew I had been close to get a bad burn. Thank the Spirits for good shields and armor.\nColorful spots still danced in front of my eyes as my ears registered the lack of combat sounds around us. I blinked several times to clear them from the bright light that had obscured my vision for a moment and looked down on Vakarian. He lay beneath me, our armors clinking against each other.\n\n“Hi,” he said with a sheepish grin a few inches from my face.\n\nI had to grin back.\n\n“Hi,” I said.\n\n“Guys! Really?” Shepard walked up behind us and peeked over the edge of the crate, her shotgun resting over her shoulder. “I'm all for hot turian love between two bros, but maybe now is not the time?” She had a teasing grin on her lips and one eyebrow was perched suggestively. \n\nI could feel Vakarian shuffle awkwardly beneath me, but I just laughed and met the human's gaze.\n\n“Admit it, Shepard,” I said. “You're just jealous I didn't choose you.” I heaved myself up onto my feet and offered a hand to help the flat man rise. He gripped my elbow and I pulled. I found I liked the strength in his fingers, they were just as steady as his aim with his chosen weapon suggested. “You okay?” I asked searching his face for discomfort. I was satisfied when I didn't find any.\n\n“Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for the save,” his mandibles fluttered slightly in embarrassment “Should have seen that coming.”\n\n“Then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of knocking you on your ass.” I gave him one of my notoriously charming smiles.\n\nHe huffed a short laugh.\n\n“In that case you can knock me on my ass whenever you feel like it, Kryik,” he returned with a grin.\n\nJust to really tease him I let my eyes sweep up and down his body before lingering in the ice blue eyes. I saw him shuffle slightly and reach to pick up his rifle, his gaze averted from mine.\n\n“Maybe I will,” I said while lowering my voice an octave. \n\nWithout looking for his response I turned to go grab my own rifle that I had dropped when I rushed up to him.\n\n\n“What the hell is that thing?” I heard Shepard's agitated voice come in over the com channel.\n\nI agreed with her with a passion. The new Geth unit gave us no end of grief. It flew by me and I saw my shields waver. I spun around, my rifle at the ready to finally get rid of this pest, when I heard my weapon protest and the smell of hot metal wafted up to me as it overheated.\n\nThe small, quick mechanical unit didn't really cause any damage our shields or armor couldn't withstand. But it more than made up for it with being almost impossible to hit. Together with the normal Geth units barraging down on us, it was jamming our radar and overheating our weapons placing us in a really tight spot.\n\n“Fucking frog!” Shepard cursed and I suspected she had just suffered the same fate as me. I couldn't confirm my suspicions however as I could only glimpse her read hair a few meters in the half demolished room behind a pile of rubble.\n\n“We need to take that thing out!” I yelled. I knew they could probably hear me perfectly well over the com, but the sound of gunfire and screeching machines were so loud I almost couldn't hear myself think. “Does anyone have any Dampening to spare?”\n\nThat's when I saw Vakarian in the corner of my eye. He sat perched to my left a few meters away, his rifle steady, his eyes intent on the jumping Geth. It was like time slowed down around him. The mouth of his weapon evenly followed the unit, the movement firm and without a single shake. I saw when he decided to take the shoot, his fingers tightening slightly on the handle. His entire posture relaxed and then his trigger finger slowly squeezed without a single moment of hesitation. \n\nI had to remind myself to breathe. A warmth started to flare in the pit of my stomach. It was the strong, graceful posture of his body. The intensity in his steel blue eyes as he tracked his mark. My heart fluttered in my chest and it wasn't because of the combat adrenalin flowing freely in my veins.\n\nA loud crack from the rifle and a metallic crash as the Geth Sapper hit the ground. A victorious grin spread over Vakarian's face, his mandibles widening slightly. The smug glint in his eyes made his entire being light up. Damn he was sexy.\n\nHe threw me a glance and on reflex I averted my eyes as if he could read what was going on in my mind simply by looking at me.\n\n“Nice work, Vakarian,” I said and tried to keep my voice even. But my deeper harmonics gave me away. Maybe the human and the quarian couldn't read them, but I knew he could. \n\nAn awkward cough came over the com channel.\n\n“Pleasure,” he said short and concise. Yes, it truly was...\n\nThe bullet that bounced off my shields woke me up from my lingering thoughts of a certain sniper and what his skin would feel like under my fingertips. Right, back to the battle.\n\n\nWe slowly but surely made our way through the ruins, down, down, all the time down. My eyes kept stealing looks at my grey turian team member as we pressed on, took defensive positions, fired down the attacking Geth and moved on again. I tried to keep focus on the mission, I really did. But now when the thought had found root in my mind it kept discovering new things it liked about him. The way his hips shifted slightly just before he took a shoot, how his shoulders moved when he raised his rifle. I wanted to see it without all that armor on. See his muscles stretch and contract as they took the blow of the recoiling gun. The thought of his naked skin cradling his Equalizer in strong taut arms made a shiver run down my spine. Spirits, did I have some weird kinks.\n\nYes, very professional, Nihlus, I thought as we made our way through another corridor. Shepard took point and I made myself deliberately bring up the rear. This is the perfect opportunity to check him out. Not like you have anything better to focus on. But I couldn't help myself as my eyes drifted downwards over his body, noticing how the light armor stretched over his buttocks when he jogged ahead.\n\nA chorus of surprised curses met me as I sidled into a room, making sure we weren't followed and closed the door behind us.\n\n“Keelah, what is that?” Zhora's voice sparked through her suit speakers.\n\n“We're gonna need bigger guns...” Shepard muttered.\n\nWhen I turned around I had to agree with her. What I assumed couldn't be anything less than the Thorian started to convulse and spasms rolled through it. The large pod like entity dripping slime from hidden pockets and crevices. \n\n“It's moving,” Vakarian commented and the deep dislike in his voice vibrated through me.\n\nThe creature let out one last violent spasm and spat out a sickly green asari. I had been through a lot of things during my years as a Spectre. But this took the price on the creepy scale. I couldn't other than stare when the asari slowly raised her head and straightened her back.\n\n“Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose,” she said, the vehemence clear in her voice. “I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe!”\n\nI wasn't sure 'awe' was the word I would use to describe it exactly, but some kind of respect I could definitely admit. It was thousands upon thousands of years old according to the data we had gathered so far. It had perhaps even been on this planet long before the Protheans. I had this need to preserve the creature. If it indeed was the only entity left of it's species we didn't have the right to simply wipe it out. In the end it didn't give us any choice however. It seemed hellbent on destroying any who would oppose it.\n\nThe battle that followed was chaotic to say the least. Steep stairways and long corridors without any cover wasn't the best defensive position imaginable. It started out with the asari lighting up in blue biotic fire and before any of us had a chance to react my feet left the ground. I felt the air leave my lungs when my back hit the wall further down the room. The sound of my armor scraping the stone filled my ears and I caught myself on hands and knees as I slid down, gasping for air. My lungs burned but I didn't waste any time getting to my feet. Just as I reached for my assault rifle I heard Shepard cry out.\n\n“Holy...” her voice cut short by a disgusting gurgle. “He just puked on me!” He? What?\n\nI turned around, scanning the battlefield. Several human shaped creatures was advancing on our location. They had the same green hue as the asari, looking more like organic husks than anything else. When miss Zhora's shotgun blast one of its head off it dissolved into fine compost. \n\nI threw myself into the fight and hurriedly made my way over to my charge. Her armor was sizzling from the acidic fluids sprayed over her and I could smell melting plastics in the air. Covering her while she went over her armor, a low string of curses slipping past her lips, I tried keeping the organic husks at a distance. \n\n“You okay Shepard?” I asked and tried to keep my voice from showing the concern I was feeling. We hadn't reached that part of our mentor-student relationship yet that allowed the showing of emotion. It didn't mean I didn't care. I believed she could make a great Spectre one day if she only learned some self-preservation. Apart from that she was a great woman already. A hero to her people despite her young age.\n\n“Yeah,” she answered. “Most of it didn't make it through my armor. But Chakwas is going to have a field day scolding me for my burns.”\n\nThere was pain in her voice, but also humor, so it couldn't be that bad. Shepard could take it in any case. She had been through worse before.\n\nI let an easy chuckle escape to ease up the situation. Who knew what that acid could do if it made it inside her body. No, couldn't think of that now. I just had to keep an eye on her in case she started to show any bad symptoms. \n\n“Don't let them get close,” I ordered the squad. “The... goo... will penetrate your shields and armor if you're not careful.”\n\n“Not a problem,” came Vakarian's voice over the intercom. \n\n“Easy for you to say,” Zhora grumbled and I heard the blast of her shotgun nearby. \n\nShepard and I took together down the asari as the others covered our backs. Then the quarian's voice was heard again.\n\n“Over here, Spectre! Definitely something different in this area.”\n\nWhen we reached the others through the crowd of plant people one of the Thorian's tentacles seemed to go into and through the wall. I hesitated. I didn't want to kill the ageless creature, but what choice did we really have at this point? Not to mention the people up above who counted on us to free them of it's grasp. A heavy sigh rolled out from my lungs. Yeah, we didn't have a choice. I took aim and started spraying the tentacle with bullets.\n\nAn unnatural scream forced its way from the big creature in the middle of the room and its creepers seemed to grow even more agitated.\n\n“We've stung it, I'm sure of that. We need to find more of these... things,” Vakarian yelled over the sound of gunfire and grunting husks.\n\nWe did find more of them, and a lot more of creepers too. If that wasn't bad enough the Thorian kept spewing out that damn asari over and over again.\n\n“I'm not sure I will ever look at an asari quite the same way again,” Vakarian muttered as me and him met up on a chance in one of the walkways that lined the walls. We had just killed the third asari clone. The grey turian had eventually been forced to holster his beloved sniper rifle and pick up a pistol. Back to back we stood as the green husks crept closer. “Not after seeing one getting spewed out of that thing.”\n\nI chuckled. The adrenalin of the fight made all my nerve endings tingle and I felt alive for the first time since Saren had betrayed me on Eden Prime. This, well not only this, but a big part of it, was why I loved my job.\n\n“I'm sure we can find you some alternatives,” I yelled back at him, the suggestive tone easily discernible in my voice.\n\n“Incoming throw!” Shepard cried out over the communicator. On one side of the tight corridor the creepers was pulled along as if a strong wind had gripped them. I could feel the edge of the biotic force when it passed us.\n\n“Cutting it a little close, don't you think?” I asked her as the four of us took advantage of the newly cleared space and started to advance.\n\nShe huffed.\n\n“Stop complaining and start using that peashooter of yours!” she laughed, her shotgun making a big hole in a musty green stomach. Not that I knew what a peashooter was, but I suspected it was something akin to an insult. I let the comment slide when I saw the almost euphoric look in her eyes. I knew I had made a good choice to pick her as my protege. She was just as crazy as I was. Hope for a few good years together started to flame in my chest. If we managed to stop my former mentor and friend that was. Spirits, what a situation events had put us in.\n\nA few tentacles and about thousand creepers later the Thorian took its last breath. Or whatever it was a creature like that did. We had only sustained minimal damages thanks to the competence of the team and the mindlessness of the organic enemies. There had been a heart freezing episode were Zhora's shields went down. A shield going down for me or Shepard meant a buckled armor plate or in worst case scenario a flesh wound. For a quarian in light armor it meant a nasty infection or in this case, given what we were up against, death, their immune system being what it was. But as the brave soldier she was, my human charge had put upon any close enemy the wrath of a vanguard. When I and Vakarian caught up to them Zhora had gotten the time to raise her shields once again.\n\nA sound was heard deeper into the corridor. One of the pods that littered the walls around us heaved and out fell the same asari we had killed over and over again during our hard earned trip up here. This time however her skin was a natural hue of lilac blue and that insane look her clones had was missing in her eyes.\n\n“I'm free! I...” she said and looked down on her own body incredulously. “I suppose I should tank you for releasing me.” She smiled towards us.\n\n“Is everything all right?” I asked as we approached. “Are you hurt?”\n\n“I am fine, or will be, in time,” she answered. Yes, time. I couldn't even start to comprehend what she had been through, being locked up in that pod and somehow connected with the big plant creature. “My name is Shiala. I serve... I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I. Benezia foresaw the influence Saren would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path. But Saren is compelling, Benezia lost her way.”\n\nThe euphoria of the fight took a sharp turn and my stomach twisted inside me. Saren... so he had been here.\n\n“Are you saying Saren can control minds?” Shepard asked. I caught the sidelong look she shot me just as she turned her eyes towards Shiala. Was I really that obvious? I was thankful for her picking up the conversation in any case.\n\n“Benezia underestimated Saren. As I did,” the purple asari answered. “We came to believe in his cause and his goals. The strength of his influence is troubling.”\n\n“She tried to manipulate Saren. But in the end, her plan backfired,” miss Zhora clarified.\n\nThis didn't make any sense. As such I guess it fit with the rest of what was going on. There was no such thing as mind control. If you didn't count the Thorian, and Saren didn't seem to have the power to make it do anything, especially not anymore. Had he found some other way to make people follow him? He had always been a great man and had never had trouble making people do as he pleased in the past. Even though he had a reputation for being merciless he had always had an aura of power around him. People tended to be drawn towards it and he knew how to take advantage of that. But in this case, his goals were simply insane. Bringing in the Reapers into the galaxy, jeopardizing millions upon millions of lives. Beside, I had met Matriarch Benezia on several occasions. She was an old friend of Saren's and one of the most powerful women I knew. She didn't seem like the type of person to be swayed easily.\n\n“Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy,” I objected. “How could one fall under Saren's control?”\n\n“Saren has a vessel. An enormous warship unlike anything I've ever seen. He calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers. They become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The progress is subtle. It can take days, weeks. But in the end, it is absolute. I was a willing slave when Saren brought me to this world. He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian, to learn it secrets. Saren offered me in trade. I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between Saren and the Thorian.”\n\nThis didn't surprise me in the least. My old mentor had always had a 'for the greater good' philosophy. I didn't doubt he would sacrifice anyone, even myself, if he thought the situation warranted it. I was the same, a trait I had picked up from him during my year in training. Even though I was perhaps not as careless as to not count the costs first. I did sometimes go out of my way to keep the civilians safe and only made them the price for galactic safety if there was no other options.\nThen there were the ship, Sovereign. Was Saren immune to the influence of it, was he controlling it somehow, or was he infected as well? I wanted to believe that, that my friend didn't act on his own volition. In that case there were hope for him to return to his normal self. Somehow... Saren's newly acquired implants flew past in my mind. It seemed as though every time I had run into him in the past there were a new one. How long had that been going on? My mind reeled.\n\n“Saren's pretty quick to betray his own people,” Shepard muttered beside me before I had a chance to really go into depths of that question. Maybe just as well. I was pretty sure I wouldn't like what I found there. I could feel the disapproval ooze off her. A grumble to my left, a quick look, Vakarian had the same look on his face. \n\nThey didn't understand. Not yet. The responsibilities of a Spectre were great ones and I hoped I could make at least Shepard see that one day.\n\n“He was quick to betray the Thorian, too,” Shiala countered. “After Saren had what he needed, the Thorian became a liability. Saren knows you are searching for the Conduit. He knows you are following his steps. He attacked the Thorian so you could not gain the Cipher.”\n\n“What's the Cipher? And why did Saren need it?” I asked, trying to concentrate on what was important here.\n\n“The beacon on Eden Prime gave Commander Shepard visions. But the visions are unclear, confusing. They were meant for a Prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must think like a Prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence. The Thorian was here long before the Protheans build this city. It watched and studied them. When they died it consumed them. They became part of it.”\n\n“So the Thorian taught Saren to think like a Prothean? How?” Shepard asked, her eyes lit up with hope. She'd had a hard time after Eden Prime. Headaches and nightmares. She wouldn't tell me, but I could see the signs. The shadows beneath her eyes, the late night strolls to the mess. How she rubbed her temples when she thought no one was looking. A chance to understand what had been put in her head must be a dream for her.\n\n“The Chiper is the very essence of being a Prothean. It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing color to a creature without eyes. To understand, you must have access to endemic ancestral memory. A viewpoint spanning thousands of Prothean generations. I sensed this ancestral memory, the Cipher, when I melded with the Thorian. Our identities merged, our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught; it simply exists.”\n\n“You taught Sare. You can teach me,” the human objected.\n\nWe all watched as Shiala's eyes opened to a blank black when she let her mind meld with Shepard. Beside me Vakarian shifted uncomfortably and Zhora kept jumping from one foot the other, her fingers interlocking, releasing and interlocking again. I had been through my fair share of mind melds, but I doubted they were anything like this.\n\nWith a start the asari let go of Shepard, taking a step back, her eyes returning to normal. I caught the human woman just as her legs gave out on her.\n\n“I'm fine,” she grumbled when I pulled one of her arms around my shoulders but she didn't pull away. I knew from experience the meld could be exhausting if you weren't used to it.\n\n“I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now.”\n\n“What was that? Shepard, are you all right?” Zhora put a concerned hand on her other arm, peering through her helmet.\n\n“I saw... something. It still didn't make any sense.” She sounded tired and perhaps a bit despairing. \n\n“You have been given a great gift: the experience of an entire people. It will take time for your mind to process this information,” Shiala explained.\n\n“We should get you back to the ship, Commander,” Vakarian cut in. The concern also apparent on his face. “Medical needs to know about this.” It was quite amazing how this human had won the trust and respect of her alien squad members already. But that was Shepard. It was hard not to like her, even tough she could drive you crazy at times.\n\n“I am sorry if you have suffered, but there was no other way. You needed the Cipher. In time, it will help you understand the vision of the beacon.” The asari did sound regretful.\n\n“Now that you are free of the Thorian, what do you plan to do next?” I asked.\n\n“If you allow it, I would like to stay here with the colonists. They have suffered greatly, and I played a role in their suffering. I would like to make amends.”\n\nIt couldn't be better if I had suggested it myself. They needed someone who understood what they had been through.\n\n“The colonists will need all the help they can get,” I said. “They'll be happy to have you on their side.” If they were back to their own selves that was.\n\n“Thank you. May fortune smile upon you.”\n\n\nOn the way back to the outpost I fell behind again. Though this time the reason wasn't as pleasant. The ruins lay quiet around us and the silence seemed to press upon my head. My mind went round and round in circles trying to figure out the whys and hows of Saren's behavior. I longed for the solitude of my own quarters where I could sit down and in piece pluck with the clues I had to go on. The name Sovereign seemed familiar somehow. Had the old turian mentioned it sometime during one of our conversations? How long ago was that? Had he known already then about the Reaper threat? Why hadn't he told me? Didn't he trust me?\n\nThat last thought made my stomach lurch more than I wanted to admit it did.\n\nA gloved, three fingered hand touched my arm lightly and brought me out of my reverie. Vakarian had quietly come up beside me. It was first then I noticed how my chest had tensed up in a knot and a low worried rumble lay in my throat. It was too low a frequency for anyone with deaf ears like humans or quarians to hear it, but he had. He didn't say anything and after that first touch he stepped back out of my personal space again. But he kept close, simply walking beside me, eyes forward. You're brooding again, his actions seemed to say. But remember, you're not alone, I'm here.\n\nThe knot in my chest started to ease up and untangle slightly. I was starting to understand why he had been a good investigator in C-Sec. He often played cool indifference or dim cluelessness, but those ice blue orbs of his didn't miss much.\n\nTurned out fortune didn't smile upon us. I had hoped that killing the Thorian would return the human colonists to normal. But the effect of its spores still lingered. As we came closer I could spot their bodies moving restlessly around the outpost. Like they didn't know what to do or how to act, confused now that their large plant overlord didn't give them instructions. Unfortunately for us they didn't stay complacent.\n\nWhen the first of them saw us he screamed out. From what I gathered it must have been some kind of warning to the others since they all took up their arms and started shooting at us. Soon we all sat huddled in cover behind a half razed wall again. I was really getting tired of hiding. I was used to quietly infiltrate a base or operation, wreak some havoc and then leave. A straight up fire fight wasn't the norm in my career. Sure it happened. But when you operated on your own against an overpowering enemy you had to use your brain more than your brawn. I hadn't worked in squads since my time in the military. It was different to say the least.\n\n“Nihlus?” Shepard demanded. \n\n“No civilian casualties,” I ordered. I knew she had been thinking it. We had the Thorian anti-gas upgrade for the grenades. No reason in ending someone's life unnecessarily.\n\n“I knew I teamed up with you for a reason,” she grinned and grabbed Zhora. Together they sprinted to a closer shelter as turian cover fire kept the colonists at bay.\n\nThe women started to return the favor from their newly acquired spot.\n\n“Got my back?” I asked as I prepared for the sprint. We only had a set amount of grenades and to spread their effects properly we had to get closer.\n\n“Always,” Vakarian's voice sang from behind me.\n\nI had gotten about halfway when the bullets started to ping off my shields. I dared a quick look over my shoulder. The colonists had circled around to flank us and now they were laying down heavy fire from a whole different angle. It didn't take long for my shields to falter and I didn't even have time to hit the shield boost before they died. A shock wave from an energy weapon crashed into my back. I felt the burn eat it's way through my already weak armor as I fell. The momentum made me skid over the gravel, scraping one side of my face. My ears were ringing from the blast and I tried to push my way up from the ground but it didn't seem to want to stay flat. My stomach heaved as the world spun. The best I could do was to bunch up in a fetal position, making my hit radius as small as I possibly could while waiting for up to become down again. I was sure I would feel that last bullet piercing some of my major organs soon. There was no way I would survive this. Maybe that was okay, my whole body was screaming in pain anyway.\n\nBut a shadow was cast over me, a hand grabbed the back of my collar and dragged me the way I had come. I was forcefully placed leaning against a wall. My head exploded from the minor impact, but I could finally hear something other than my ears whistling or my heart beating. Vakarian was breathing heavily next to me. He grabbed my jaw in both his hands and forced me to look at him.\n\n“You there?” His face lay in deeply worried lines. Had he just rushed out in heavy fire to get me?\n\n“Are you crazy, Vakarian?” I wheezed through gritted teeth, trying to hold in the pain radiating from my back. It could not be a happy sight. My armor had already been weakened from the earlier impact it took while tackling the gray turian. I just hoped it hadn't melted into my skin, that always left such horrible scarring.\n\nHis mouth twisted in an amused smirk. He seemed satisfied when I was able to focus on him and he let my face go.\n\n“Maybe a little,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But no more than my commander.”\n\nI tried not to smile, my face hurt, but he was right, I had to give him that.\n\nThe intercom crackled and I winced from the sound.\n\n“You okay?” Shepard sounded strained. I glanced over in her direction and found her and Zhora in the middle of the fight. They had been forced to move to not be gunned down from the flanking colonists. \n\n“Yeah,” I answered. “Vakarian pulled me out.”\n\n“He's a good man that way.”\n\nYeah, he was a good man that way. He had just saved me from experiencing how it felt to have bullets tear your body apart. Right now I could kiss him. Maybe I should do that, later. \n\nI finally felt the medi-gel kick in and the numbing cold was like a small piece of heaven. As my head slowly started to clear I slammed a new thermal clip into my rifle and took stock of our situation.\n\n“Shepard,” I started. “You think you and Zhora can hold down this side on your own?” The warm metal of my gun felt almost like home as it stroked my cheek. I lined up a few shots by the feet of a colonist who tried to run to a different position. “You still have those upgraded grenades right?”\n\n“Yeah, but...”\n\n“Then move up and start to cure these people,” I interrupted. “We can't make it through to you.”\n\n“But...” I could tell from her voice how she wanted to start to argue. I didn't blame her. I wouldn't want to leave me behind either.\n\n“Shut up and keep moving,” I ordered. “We'll be fine.”\n\n“Kryik...”\n\n“Now Shepard.” Steel laced my voice. This was the best way. We couldn't get to her. Not with the beating we were taking.\n\n“Affirmative.” A soldier's answer. Well good. Maybe she would get that I was in charge soon.\n\nVakarian ducked down beside me with a grunt and clasped his right thigh. \n\n“You okay there?” I asked while dodging a bullet and sat down again.\n\n“Yeah.” His voice was strained now, no humor left. “Just waiting for the 'gel to kick in.”\nI glanced down at his gloved hand. Blue blood were sipping slowly from beneath it.\n\n“You got hit?” It wasn't really a question. “You got hit when you pulled me back in?”\n\nA deep sigh answered me and he nodded.\n\n“My shields didn't hold the last stretch.”\n\nFuck. He had taken a bullet for me. He had saved me from certain and painful death and taken a bullet for me. I was starting to see why some people preferred working with a team as opposed to working alone.\n\nA few more bullets flew over our heads, but the frequency of them had subsided slightly. Maybe Shepard had started to take the humans out.\n\n“Come,” I said and snaked an arm around Vakarian's waist. “We need to get out of here.”\n\nI heaved us both up from the ground with a grunt. My body screamed in protest against the extra weight but I ignored it the best I could. The gray turian helped as much as possible, but he seemed to be unable to put any pressure on the wounded leg. It shook and he nearly toppled over when he tried.\n\n“Fuck,” he muttered. “I'm sorry Kryik.”\n\n“Cut that crap.” I didn't want to hear him apologizing for saving my ass. “And lean on me.”\n\nA thick arm clung around my shoulders and I took a better grasp of his waist. It was somewhat distracting to feel his muscles work under the light armor while we moved from cover to cover. Circling around away from Shepard's direction. It wasn't exactly the right time to notice the tangy smell of his blood or the musky scent of his skin. But having him this close, our bodies pressed together, feeling the heat sip in through the cracks of my armor, it was almost impossible not to. My heart started to pound in a different manner than that from the combat thrill. A rumble in my chest threatening to force it's way out. \n\nWhen we finally made our way close enough I was happily distracted with throwing the configured grenades. Smoke welled out in a musty green cloud and the affected humans fell to the ground. We quickly checked them over, but they were breathing fine and everything seemed to be in order so we moved on.\n\nIt didn't take long until the entire outpost lay quiet around us. I saw Shepard and Zhora a couple of meters away and I made our way over there.\n\nThe redhead turned when she heard us coming.\n\n“Oh my...” she said, a smirk on her lips. “Look at you two. Didn't I tell you guys it might not be time for hugs just yet?”\nI huffed a strained laugh and put Vakarian down on a crate. I leaned on it for a while, just catching my breath. Despite her humorous tone I could see how she carefully inspected us, looking for injury.\n\n“We're fine, thank you for asking,” I answered, keeping the mood light. My body however wasn't sure it agreed with me.\nI left Shepard to take care of business as the Normandy came to pick us up. She insisted I 'get my bony ass into the med bay and not come out until Chakwas given me a good once over.' I reluctantly agreed with her, secretly happy I didn't have to handle the colonists once they woke up. It wasn't as though she wasn't used to dealing with people, and these were humans none the less. She was probably better suited to explain the situation anyway.\n\nThe good doctor was muttering under her breath in that peculiar accent of hers while she stood behind me, peeling my armor off my back. She had some kind of oil and an instrument I didn't know the name of to help her. The cot I was leaning against was still slowly getting to know how sharp turian claws could be. I wheezed and gritted my teeth to not scream in pain as the melted armor came off. \n\nWhen it finally, finally, was done, she coated my now sore-to-no-belief back with medi-gel.\n\n“You're lucky turian skin is so thick,” she said and moved away, pulling her white rubber gloves off her hands and throwing them in the trash bin. “I would hate to see how much would be left of a human after that.”\n\nI sat on the cot and poured water down my throat from the bottle I've been given. Some of it dripped down my bare chest and left cold tendrils as it traveled over the soft skin on my stomach.\n\n“Luck have nothing to do with it,” I said and gave her a grin. “It's a wonder you squishy humans have made it this far at all.”\n\nShe laughed as she went over to Vakarian who sat on the cot next to mine. The gray turian had been forced to get out of all of his armor as Chakwas searched for bullet holes. Except the one deeply lodged in his thigh she had found none, only a few scrapes were they had bounced off his armor, leaving dents.\n\nMy back was burning and I tried to ignore how my entire body tingled as she worked on his wound. He was breathing hard, his eyes closed in pain. It was not weakness. Not when she had her instrument lodged deep into his leg muscle. I shifted uncomfortably where I sat. I felt how my plates was starting to open, despite of how tired I was. It was just that... the sigh of him, his skin smeared with dirt and sweat. The smell of his blood. The memory of our bodies pressed tightly together. The intense look in his eyes as he leaned in for a kill. Well... it kind of did it for me.\n\nAs Chakwas moved away, with the bullet tightly held between a pair of prongs, and Vakarian's wound started to bleed again. I found myself almost unable to control my urges. This man had saved my life, that was the bullet he had taken for me. The look on his face contorted was because of me. I wanted to see it change and morph into blissful pleasure. How would his face look then? Would he breath as heavy? Would he moan?\n\nThe shiver that ran down my spine was the last straw. The thought of him moaning and writhing in pleasure beneath me the thought that finally tipped the scale. I jumped down from the bed, my eyes intent on the gray turian.\n\n“Everyone out.”\n\n\n”Everyone out.” Nihlus voice was such it told you not to argue. It was the Spectre voice if there ever was such a thing and his intense green eyes didn't leave me for a second. \n\nBut why he all of a sudden needed to talk to me alone in the middle of getting stitched up was beyond my comprehending. My leg hurt like hell, medi-gel be damned, the wound was slowly closing and the flow of blood had just been stemmed. Still didn't mean my thigh wasn't smeared in blue and I'd rather doctor Chakwas could patch me up before I did anything else.\n\nHowever the look he gave me told me not to ask questions. There was something deeply predatory in his eyes and I wasn't sure if I should call the others in here again or not. I had never before considered Nihlus to actually hurt me, not even when he was yelling at me about me being, as he put it, 'a stubborn son of a bitch'. But there was something wrong here and I wasn't sure if I felt completely comfortable with it. Maybe the Thorian had affected him in some way. Who knew what kind of spores and other shit was flying around in the air down there.\n\nWithout so much as a word he closed the distance between us and two long strides later I suddenly found my head pushed forward from an undeniable grip to the back of my neck. Before I knew what was happening his lips met mine and my heart jumped up in my throat as it started pounding violently. What the hell? Where did this come from? Sure, he had joked around during the mission. But I had taken it for the usual flirty comments that often tended to try to lighten the mood on the battlefield. This however... Was he actually interested? My first instinct was to push him away but the dark turian was unrelenting. It wasn't as though I was some kind of pushover, I considered myself of rather strong stature. But this was Nihlus Kryik. One of the youngest to ever get accepted into the rank of Spectres and he seemed to want this badly enough to not be dissuaded by my fumbling attempts at pushing him away. Whatever the case a wiry hand slid around my exposed waist and pulled me flush against his bare chest. A shudder went through my body from the touch and started to spread a warmth in my lower abdomen. Or maybe it was just the heat radiating from his body. Spirits he was warm.\n\nThen his lips started moving, forcing mine to move with them, his breath coming out in a short puff of air. His scent went up my nostrils and straight to my brain. It wasn't simply the heat of his body that made me hot. He smelled incredible and I pulled in more of that delicious odor before my lips were captured yet again. Over and over again he kissed me and my breathing soon caught up with his accelerated gasps. I placed a hand on his waist, let it linger and took in the feeling of his bare skin under my fingertips. A rumble spread up from his chest and vibrated through me. Without even meaning to I answered him with a deep rumble of my own. His hand around my waist pulled me impossibly closer, crushing our bodies together. The hand on my neck snaked up to my fringe and started massaging the delicate skin on its underside. My mind went dizzy for a while as small delightful tingles spread through my body. I traced his well defined chest plates, dipping pointed claws in the crevices before moving on to his back. I just wanted to feel as much of him as I possibly could. Wanted to taste him. I let my tongue gently touch him the next time out lips met and I was soon rewarded with the feeling of his own meeting mine. Our tongues intertwined and I gloried in the taste of him, daring to dart my tongue out and grace his teeth. I could feel the smirk spreading over his lips, the mandibles fluttering so close to my own. I think I might have stopped breathing for a while as I crushed our mouths together, our mandibles gently gracing over each other. The sensory overload was really palpable. His smell, his taste, the feeling making me unable to think about anything else than him.\nFor a while the only sound that could be heard was our timed gasps as we drew in breath between kisses. The light rumble of the engine as the the ship took us out into space mingled with a periodical beep from one of the machines in the med bay. But then his hand left my fringe and a moment later I noticed how he fiddled with the clasps of the lower part of his armor. If my heart wasn't racing by now, this would have made the trick. Just the implications of what he so obviously wanted... I couldn't quite grasp it in my current state of light-headiness. Not that I cared right now. \n\nI let go of him and helped him undo his pants. Nihlus kicked them away and quickly put his hands on my knees. He spread my legs and stepped in between them as my breath hitched in my throat. Pulling away from my lips he opened his eyes to meet mine. The heat in them almost made them glow in an unnatural green fire. The rush of him, him, Nihlus Kryik, a Spectre, Citadel hero and protector of the universe, wanting me was almost too much. But there was also a question there, beneath the need, asking my permission, asking if he should back off or slow down. I lingered in them, unable to say or answer in any way. His fingers caressed my mandible, sending shivers through me. \n\nWhat was I supposed to say? My head was spinning from the sensations he sent over my body. On one hand I wasn't sure where this had come from. Sure, he was good looking and it wasn't as if I hadn't been with a man before. But I had never thought of him this way. I actually hadn't given sex much thought at all since I boarded the Normany, I hadn't had any time, there was always something that needed to be done. And what was it he wanted? Was this simply a one time thing or was he expecting some kind of commitment? I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Actually, that was a lie. I was certain I wasn't ready for that.\n\nOn the other hand there was no denying that he turned me on. My plates were already halfway spread and the need in my gut was not in question. I wanted him, wanted to be with him, to see this to the end, consequences be damned. So there was my answer I guess. Whatever this was, or however this would turn out I would just have to face that question when I came to it. Because Spirits knew I didn't want to stop now.\n\nI put a hand behind his neck and pushed in for another kiss, my feet entangling his legs and spurs, forcing him to step even closer. When my fingers slid up his fringe and started to massage those sensitive areas he closed his eyes and leaned his head back into my hand. A deep and relaxed moan slipping through him, and heaven help me if that sound didn't turn me on in the worst way. It didn't exactly help that his neck was splayed and inviting in front of my eyes. I couldn't help myself as I leaned in and nuzzled his neck, drawing in his smells. Earthy tones and gun oil, sweat and arousal, not at all unfavorable smells. I shifted restlessly where I sat on the hospital cot and let my tongue search over his skin, looking for sweet spots, drawing a noise from him, only the deeper harmonics of his turian voice making it through. \n\nMy undamaged thigh was squeezed as skilled fingers found their way down to the plates protecting one of my only true blue part visible without the need of cutting me open. I tried, and failed, to suppress a groan. The underlying vocals telling him, shamelessly, how much I needed him. It just felt so nice, the way his talons teased the outer edges of the plates, the soft pads of his fingertips pressing against that slit, putting all the right kinds of pressures on me. Nihlus looked up again, a mischievous glint in his eyes. I had seen that look before, you could see it pass by his eyes whenever he had landed a particularly risky shot. Often accompanied by a satisfied, smug smirk. After today I wasn't sure if I could ever see that look again without getting turned on. Another firm rub was all it took, not that I tried to keep it in, for me to slip out of my sheath and into a dark brown waiting hand. \n\nStrong fingers closed around the base and agonizingly slow started to slip up my length, making sure to go deep into every groove, already slick with my own lubrication. I grabbed his shoulders hard with both hands, digging my talons into his thick skin. It was all I could do to not push him away or pull him towards me. The pleasure from his hand pulling me in all directions at once. Hell it had been too long since I did this, I thought as I panted through halfway parted lips, looking down at his working hand. A swallowed, trying to keep the keening sound that was forcing it's way through my throat down.\n\nHe started out in a steady tempo, going from the root all the way up to the tip where he squeezed lightly and then all the way back down again. I pressed my forehead into the crook of his neck, my talons still digging into this shoulders, while his strong fingers slowly drove me wild. My legs twitched and I bucked up into his hand, unable to control myself any longer. The hand on my thigh stroked it's way up to my hip and held it firm, keeping me from moving. When I tried his talons pressed into the tender skin there and I was surprised when that only added to the pool of heat within me. I had never been one for mixing pain and pleasure, sure roughhousing it wasn't a stranger to me. This was different though, but I found that I didn't care, I only wanted whatever he gave me.\n\nA nudge of his chin brought my head back up and he captured my lips with his own as those green eyes pierced me. The need portrayed in them no longer containable and it translated through his mouth. The kiss was all tongue and teeth, my hands stroking all over his well defined body. Lean muscles under thick strong skin. The urgency in both our voices clear to anyone who had ears to hear with.\n\nNihlus growled between bared teeth as he hooked his hands behind my knees and pulled me quickly to the edge of the bed. His own arousal brushing mine made me suppress a roar that surely would have been heard out to the mess. I could feel him pulsing against me and I had to reach down, sliding my fingers around both of us. My deep rumble mixed with the sounds of the dark turian's moan.\n\n“Fuck, Vakarian,” he forced out between gritted teeth. My name, his voice... I felt my own length twitch and throb almost painfully. “If you keep that up, this won't last long.”\n\nNihlus gripped my wrist and removed my hand, leaned in and started nibbling my neck with the tip of his teeth. I groaned in anticipation as he tilted my hips in a more favorable position. The hot feeling of his head soon found it's way between my legs. Before I had the chance to voice the question whether he planned on entering me without any preparation a dark hand closed around my blood filled extremity and started pumping. A sharp talon nudged the skin covering the edges of its housing and I lost both thought and mind when he gripped my thigh, hefting it deftly up on his hip and entered me with a coarse snarl. \n\nA spasm rolled through my body and I fell backwards, catching myself on my elbows in the last minute. I had never felt something like this before. He was so impossibly strong. No, strong was the wrong word really. Firm was a better one. He didn't hesitate or waver in his movements. They were precise and steady and above anything else, relentless. The same drive he had out on the field, making him so good at his job, he brought with him into the bedroom. This time I was his target and he made me loose my breath for a second as pulses of pleasure coursed through me.\n\nA deep moan rumbled out of him as he pushed further into me and the vibrating vocals told me he had a hard time to keep from simply starting to pound into me here and now. He swallowed slowly as I lay down panting on the bed, feeling how I adjusted to his girth. Spirits, I was filled to the brink of tearing and I couldn't have been happier. The brown turian leaned in over me and I relished in the feeling of his hands sliding over my stomach, up my chest to come to rest on the bed on each side of my head. I slid my own hands around his waist, stroking it seductively, meeting his gaze that was filled with satisfaction. I urged him to move slightly with my grip and he responded without hesitation. Slowly sliding out of me and then back again. I couldn't hold in the moan this time. It reverberated through my chest and then Nihlus caught it in his mouth as he bent down further to kiss me. Our tongues caressed each other as he started off with a steady pace that would go places if he didn't watch out.\n\nThe rest of the world melted away and the only thing that held my attention was the other turian in my arms. The feeling of him moving inside of me. The slight rubbing of his stomach against my tender blue skin. The taste of his tongue in my mouth. It wasn't long before we were panting loudly, both our breaths carrying with them the rumbling promise that we enjoyed ourselves. The sound drove me wild, the feeling of him on top of me... The strong body that over and over again pushed into me. It was quickly getting to much. \n\n“Kryik...” I warned him with a hand on his shoulder. \n\nBut he only raised himself up on his hands again and grinned down at me, quickening his pace. Keeping his entire weight on one hand he reached down between us and two fingers lightly closing around me down there was all it took for me to throw my head back into the bed as white hot pleasure spiked through me. \n\n“Fuck...” I cried out as my entire body tensed impossibly hard and then twitched. I felt hot liquid landing on my own stomach. Another twitch and Nihlus moaned somewhere far up above me. I wasn't sure any more, I wasn't really here any longer at all. I had to close my eyes to not get nauseated as the world spun before my eyes and I flew up to the higher planes of existence. Yes, it had definitely been too long since last time.\n\nI felt myself getting spent as I slowly came back down, but the Spectre didn't stop moving. He raised himself up, now standing straight on his feet again, his fingers lingering on my waist. I was just coming along for the ride right now. I wasn't about to stop him when he clearly hadn't finished yet. Besides, anything he did at this point felt like heaven. I raised myself up on my elbows and watched him. Studied his face as he closed his eyes, his breath coming in puffs out of his slightly parted lips. \n\n“Fucking hell,” he muttered and gripped my thigh, holding it firmly in place, his talons scraping my skin and actually going deep enough to draw blood. He must really enjoy himself. The look on his face, the sound of him, his voice, the need in his movements, slowly made the newly burned out fire in my gut to flame anew. He was just too fucking sexy like this, completely given to the act.\n\nWhen he tilted his head back exposing his neck I couldn't help myself from pulling up off the bed. He cried out from the sudden change of position and looked down at me, desperate need in his eyes. I gripped his jaw and turned his head sideways. He resisted, but I was unrelenting, he would submit his neck to me. My tongue softly licked his skin and I felt him shudder against me. As I added more pressure and some teeth, drawing a delicious sound out of him, I felt myself quickly getting hard again. Thanking whatever creator that had blessed the turian body with the ability for more than one orgasm I lightly bit into the dark brown skin.\n\nNihlus all but pounded into me now, way past driven by instincts alone, with long firm movements that set my nerves on fire. I groaned into his neck and bit down harder. A snarling growl proceeded a strong grip on my hurt thigh. I cried out in pain, a hand on my chest pushing me forcefully down on the bed again. Gray scales met brown as he raised my leg up over his shoulder. My other leg was pressed by the knee to spread so far I almost thought the tendons would snap. Then he slammed into me again and stars flickered before my eyes. He had hit a spot in there that suppressed all my inhibitions. Packed them in a tight little box and shipped them far far away. I gripped the bed with both hands, feeling the fabric tear under my talons. But I had to, to not risk floating away. A roar came from the otherwise so composed and collected turian above me. He pressed his fingers against my wound, making the blue drip out and run down my leg. It hurt like hell, but at the same time he slammed into me again and the pain mixed with the intense pleasure and made my ears buzz. I felt a breath against my neck, my leg bent further than was comfortable, and then sharp teeth entered my skin.\n\nI couldn't take any more and I felt myself convulse around him. The roar was muffled by my neck and he pounded into me forcefully a few last times before his movements became erratic and I could feel his body tense up. Hot fluids rushed into me as we twitched together, milking us both dry. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders as the aftershocks made my body jerk in small spasms, I held onto him in fear of being pulled away by the current.\n\nWe were both panting, trying to catch out breaths, Nihlus relaxing on top of me and letting my leg go. I stretched it out thankfully, trying to ignore the burning pain.\n\n“Holy fuck, Kryik,” I said when I finally could breathe again, trying to sound serious, but the wide grin spreading on my lips didn't make it easy. “What the hell was that all about?” I wanted explanations now when I finally had my feet back on solid ground, metaphorically speaking.\n\nHis chest heaved in an amused chuckle. He slid out of me and worked his way up on his feet again, seeming a bit unsteady. I couldn't blame him, I doubted I could stand right now either. He stalked over to a sink, quickly washing off. Still not saying a word. When he turned around to face me again he still had that laughing face. A wet cloth hit the bed beside me and I started cleaning myself off.\n\n“We'll talk about it later,” he said with a smirk as he quickly jumped into his pants, grabbed his gear and turned to exit the med bay.\n\n“Yeah?” I called after him.\n\n“Yeah,” he responded and then spun around before opening the door. “I need a shower, you're hard work, Vakarian.” With that trademark turian grin plastered on his face he opened the door and walked out.\n\nI was left sitting on the hospital bed feeling kind of lost. Damn Nihlus and his charm. I laughed quietly to myself. You could never predict how things would turn out, could you? Spirits know I hadn't seen this coming. Go figure.", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Feros... It had started out bad and progressed to worse quicker than a charging Krogan. When we were met with attacking Geth as soon as we set foot on the ground I knew this would end badly. I had taken officer Vakarian and Tali'Zhora nar Rayya with me planet side. It made sense, the mission briefing said the colony had been attacked by Geth. Miss Zhora was as close to an expert on these things as we were ever going to get and Vakarian could handle both the mechs and whatever else Saren decided to throw at us. Shepard was of course with us in her role as my protege. She came along on any mission I was on and whatever else I felt she could learn something from.

Saren... The name still created a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn't believe he would do something like this. Betray the Council and endanger the entire galaxy, allying himself with the Geth. There were few people who could say they knew the infamous Spectre. I was one of them. Deep inside, one of the stones that formed my foundation block shook. 'Was' was apparently correct. Maybe I didn't know him any longer. But how could he have changed so drastically over a few short years? Did I ever truly know him? I had lived with the man during my training to become a Spectre. Traveled in close quarters with him for several years. Trained and fought side by side. He had saved my life more times than I could count. This sudden change didn't make any sense to me. If I only could... talk to him, maybe? He must have a reason to do what he did. Maybe he could explain it to me if we just sat down and talked? And then there were the Reapers...

I shook my head. I couldn't think of this now. Not when all four of us were huddled behind a couple of crates waiting for an opening in the Geth fire.

“Remind me to ask for specifics next time you take me anywhere,” Shepard muttered beside me. She was changing the ammo in her shotgun, a Hurricane. Once again I reminded myself to get her something better the next time we had an opportunity.

“And here I thought it would be a nice surprise for you,” I quipped back, throwing a quick glance on the side of our cover. A bullet whistled by my ear as I retracted my head again. “Doesn't humans like adventure vacations?”

A chuckle came over the intercom. I threw a glance over to the other side of the corridor where Vakarian and Zhora sat, much like myself and Shepard, behind cover.

“I've even heard that some of them jump off bridges or planes, for fun,” the other turian said with a grin that splayed his mandibles slightly. “But perhaps Shepard would prefer a romantic walk on the beach?”

“Ha-ha, very funny, bird boys,” she answered with dry humor. “Well, this is getting us nowhere...”

I noticed the intent in her eyes a second to late. She punched her shield boost and with a careless assertiveness in her movements she launched herself over the crate. Shotgun first she charged down the old corridor towards our enemies. I could see her shields sparking where the field gave way for a second before the booster made the hole close again.

“Shepard! What the...” was all I had the chance to yell. “Vakarian, Zhora, get their shields down now!” I whipped out my heavily modified assault rifle and its butt recoiled heavily into my shoulder as I opened fire. “Fucking Vanguards!” We hadn't worked together long and yet this was not the first time she had pulled a stunt like this. This girl was going to be the death of me. It was like she went out of her way to put herself in danger just to piss me off.

As her biotics flared around the limited space, throwing synthetics all over the place, I gestured the other two to move up. As Zhora was working on hacking one of the Geth Destroyers deep behind cover, Vakarian had taken up position further back with his sniper rifle. He was really good with that thing. I had taken him on a few small missions previously and he had more than showed me he could hold his own in combat. Not that I expected anything less from a turian. My own military service was perhaps less than pleasant, but you could tell at least one of us would have made it past the rank of lieutenant. Unfortunately he had too much of a hot streak in him. Perhaps that was why he hadn't continued on after his mandatory tour. The Hierarchy wanted obedient soldiers. Mindless drones. I scoffed to myself as I took down a Geth Trooper. The blue tattooed turian's skills were wasted hidden in the lines of the common soldiers. I could almost feel how he sighted his target in the scope, let out a breath, relaxed and then squeezed the trigger tight. The satisfying sound of the rifle went off and a second later another mechanical unit hit the floor. He lived this. The long range weapon was like an extension of his body and it was a real pleasure to behold him as he worked with it.

As the young turian sighted a new target he didn't see the Distortion Rocket that came flying in his direction. My body reacted before my brain even had the time to register the threat to my teammate. My assault rifle clattered on the stone floor as I sprinted over and tackled him to the ground. The butt of his rifle scraped with a metallic whine over the crate he had used as support. My shields protesting as they tried to absorb the extreme energy of the blast. I could feel the heat through the back of my armor and knew I had been close to get a bad burn. Thank the Spirits for good shields and armor.
Colorful spots still danced in front of my eyes as my ears registered the lack of combat sounds around us. I blinked several times to clear them from the bright light that had obscured my vision for a moment and looked down on Vakarian. He lay beneath me, our armors clinking against each other.

“Hi,” he said with a sheepish grin a few inches from my face.

I had to grin back.

“Hi,” I said.

“Guys! Really?” Shepard walked up behind us and peeked over the edge of the crate, her shotgun resting over her shoulder. “I'm all for hot turian love between two bros, but maybe now is not the time?” She had a teasing grin on her lips and one eyebrow was perched suggestively.

I could feel Vakarian shuffle awkwardly beneath me, but I just laughed and met the human's gaze.

“Admit it, Shepard,” I said. “You're just jealous I didn't choose you.” I heaved myself up onto my feet and offered a hand to help the flat man rise. He gripped my elbow and I pulled. I found I liked the strength in his fingers, they were just as steady as his aim with his chosen weapon suggested. “You okay?” I asked searching his face for discomfort. I was satisfied when I didn't find any.

“Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for the save,” his mandibles fluttered slightly in embarrassment “Should have seen that coming.”

“Then I wouldn't have had the pleasure of knocking you on your ass.” I gave him one of my notoriously charming smiles.

He huffed a short laugh.

“In that case you can knock me on my ass whenever you feel like it, Kryik,” he returned with a grin.

Just to really tease him I let my eyes sweep up and down his body before lingering in the ice blue eyes. I saw him shuffle slightly and reach to pick up his rifle, his gaze averted from mine.

“Maybe I will,” I said while lowering my voice an octave.

Without looking for his response I turned to go grab my own rifle that I had dropped when I rushed up to him.


“What the hell is that thing?” I heard Shepard's agitated voice come in over the com channel.

I agreed with her with a passion. The new Geth unit gave us no end of grief. It flew by me and I saw my shields waver. I spun around, my rifle at the ready to finally get rid of this pest, when I heard my weapon protest and the smell of hot metal wafted up to me as it overheated.

The small, quick mechanical unit didn't really cause any damage our shields or armor couldn't withstand. But it more than made up for it with being almost impossible to hit. Together with the normal Geth units barraging down on us, it was jamming our radar and overheating our weapons placing us in a really tight spot.

“Fucking frog!” Shepard cursed and I suspected she had just suffered the same fate as me. I couldn't confirm my suspicions however as I could only glimpse her read hair a few meters in the half demolished room behind a pile of rubble.

“We need to take that thing out!” I yelled. I knew they could probably hear me perfectly well over the com, but the sound of gunfire and screeching machines were so loud I almost couldn't hear myself think. “Does anyone have any Dampening to spare?”

That's when I saw Vakarian in the corner of my eye. He sat perched to my left a few meters away, his rifle steady, his eyes intent on the jumping Geth. It was like time slowed down around him. The mouth of his weapon evenly followed the unit, the movement firm and without a single shake. I saw when he decided to take the shoot, his fingers tightening slightly on the handle. His entire posture relaxed and then his trigger finger slowly squeezed without a single moment of hesitation.

I had to remind myself to breathe. A warmth started to flare in the pit of my stomach. It was the strong, graceful posture of his body. The intensity in his steel blue eyes as he tracked his mark. My heart fluttered in my chest and it wasn't because of the combat adrenalin flowing freely in my veins.

A loud crack from the rifle and a metallic crash as the Geth Sapper hit the ground. A victorious grin spread over Vakarian's face, his mandibles widening slightly. The smug glint in his eyes made his entire being light up. Damn he was sexy.

He threw me a glance and on reflex I averted my eyes as if he could read what was going on in my mind simply by looking at me.

“Nice work, Vakarian,” I said and tried to keep my voice even. But my deeper harmonics gave me away. Maybe the human and the quarian couldn't read them, but I knew he could.

An awkward cough came over the com channel.

“Pleasure,” he said short and concise. Yes, it truly was...

The bullet that bounced off my shields woke me up from my lingering thoughts of a certain sniper and what his skin would feel like under my fingertips. Right, back to the battle.


We slowly but surely made our way through the ruins, down, down, all the time down. My eyes kept stealing looks at my grey turian team member as we pressed on, took defensive positions, fired down the attacking Geth and moved on again. I tried to keep focus on the mission, I really did. But now when the thought had found root in my mind it kept discovering new things it liked about him. The way his hips shifted slightly just before he took a shoot, how his shoulders moved when he raised his rifle. I wanted to see it without all that armor on. See his muscles stretch and contract as they took the blow of the recoiling gun. The thought of his naked skin cradling his Equalizer in strong taut arms made a shiver run down my spine. Spirits, did I have some weird kinks.

Yes, very professional, Nihlus, I thought as we made our way through another corridor. Shepard took point and I made myself deliberately bring up the rear. This is the perfect opportunity to check him out. Not like you have anything better to focus on. But I couldn't help myself as my eyes drifted downwards over his body, noticing how the light armor stretched over his buttocks when he jogged ahead.

A chorus of surprised curses met me as I sidled into a room, making sure we weren't followed and closed the door behind us.

“Keelah, what is that?” Zhora's voice sparked through her suit speakers.

“We're gonna need bigger guns...” Shepard muttered.

When I turned around I had to agree with her. What I assumed couldn't be anything less than the Thorian started to convulse and spasms rolled through it. The large pod like entity dripping slime from hidden pockets and crevices.

“It's moving,” Vakarian commented and the deep dislike in his voice vibrated through me.

The creature let out one last violent spasm and spat out a sickly green asari. I had been through a lot of things during my years as a Spectre. But this took the price on the creepy scale. I couldn't other than stare when the asari slowly raised her head and straightened her back.

“Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose,” she said, the vehemence clear in her voice. “I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe!”

I wasn't sure 'awe' was the word I would use to describe it exactly, but some kind of respect I could definitely admit. It was thousands upon thousands of years old according to the data we had gathered so far. It had perhaps even been on this planet long before the Protheans. I had this need to preserve the creature. If it indeed was the only entity left of it's species we didn't have the right to simply wipe it out. In the end it didn't give us any choice however. It seemed hellbent on destroying any who would oppose it.

The battle that followed was chaotic to say the least. Steep stairways and long corridors without any cover wasn't the best defensive position imaginable. It started out with the asari lighting up in blue biotic fire and before any of us had a chance to react my feet left the ground. I felt the air leave my lungs when my back hit the wall further down the room. The sound of my armor scraping the stone filled my ears and I caught myself on hands and knees as I slid down, gasping for air. My lungs burned but I didn't waste any time getting to my feet. Just as I reached for my assault rifle I heard Shepard cry out.

“Holy...” her voice cut short by a disgusting gurgle. “He just puked on me!” He? What?

I turned around, scanning the battlefield. Several human shaped creatures was advancing on our location. They had the same green hue as the asari, looking more like organic husks than anything else. When miss Zhora's shotgun blast one of its head off it dissolved into fine compost.

I threw myself into the fight and hurriedly made my way over to my charge. Her armor was sizzling from the acidic fluids sprayed over her and I could smell melting plastics in the air. Covering her while she went over her armor, a low string of curses slipping past her lips, I tried keeping the organic husks at a distance.

“You okay Shepard?” I asked and tried to keep my voice from showing the concern I was feeling. We hadn't reached that part of our mentor-student relationship yet that allowed the showing of emotion. It didn't mean I didn't care. I believed she could make a great Spectre one day if she only learned some self-preservation. Apart from that she was a great woman already. A hero to her people despite her young age.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Most of it didn't make it through my armor. But Chakwas is going to have a field day scolding me for my burns.”

There was pain in her voice, but also humor, so it couldn't be that bad. Shepard could take it in any case. She had been through worse before.

I let an easy chuckle escape to ease up the situation. Who knew what that acid could do if it made it inside her body. No, couldn't think of that now. I just had to keep an eye on her in case she started to show any bad symptoms.

“Don't let them get close,” I ordered the squad. “The... goo... will penetrate your shields and armor if you're not careful.”

“Not a problem,” came Vakarian's voice over the intercom.

“Easy for you to say,” Zhora grumbled and I heard the blast of her shotgun nearby.

Shepard and I took together down the asari as the others covered our backs. Then the quarian's voice was heard again.

“Over here, Spectre! Definitely something different in this area.”

When we reached the others through the crowd of plant people one of the Thorian's tentacles seemed to go into and through the wall. I hesitated. I didn't want to kill the ageless creature, but what choice did we really have at this point? Not to mention the people up above who counted on us to free them of it's grasp. A heavy sigh rolled out from my lungs. Yeah, we didn't have a choice. I took aim and started spraying the tentacle with bullets.

An unnatural scream forced its way from the big creature in the middle of the room and its creepers seemed to grow even more agitated.

“We've stung it, I'm sure of that. We need to find more of these... things,” Vakarian yelled over the sound of gunfire and grunting husks.

We did find more of them, and a lot more of creepers too. If that wasn't bad enough the Thorian kept spewing out that damn asari over and over again.

“I'm not sure I will ever look at an asari quite the same way again,” Vakarian muttered as me and him met up on a chance in one of the walkways that lined the walls. We had just killed the third asari clone. The grey turian had eventually been forced to holster his beloved sniper rifle and pick up a pistol. Back to back we stood as the green husks crept closer. “Not after seeing one getting spewed out of that thing.”

I chuckled. The adrenalin of the fight made all my nerve endings tingle and I felt alive for the first time since Saren had betrayed me on Eden Prime. This, well not only this, but a big part of it, was why I loved my job.

“I'm sure we can find you some alternatives,” I yelled back at him, the suggestive tone easily discernible in my voice.

“Incoming throw!” Shepard cried out over the communicator. On one side of the tight corridor the creepers was pulled along as if a strong wind had gripped them. I could feel the edge of the biotic force when it passed us.

“Cutting it a little close, don't you think?” I asked her as the four of us took advantage of the newly cleared space and started to advance.

She huffed.

“Stop complaining and start using that peashooter of yours!” she laughed, her shotgun making a big hole in a musty green stomach. Not that I knew what a peashooter was, but I suspected it was something akin to an insult. I let the comment slide when I saw the almost euphoric look in her eyes. I knew I had made a good choice to pick her as my protege. She was just as crazy as I was. Hope for a few good years together started to flame in my chest. If we managed to stop my former mentor and friend that was. Spirits, what a situation events had put us in.

A few tentacles and about thousand creepers later the Thorian took its last breath. Or whatever it was a creature like that did. We had only sustained minimal damages thanks to the competence of the team and the mindlessness of the organic enemies. There had been a heart freezing episode were Zhora's shields went down. A shield going down for me or Shepard meant a buckled armor plate or in worst case scenario a flesh wound. For a quarian in light armor it meant a nasty infection or in this case, given what we were up against, death, their immune system being what it was. But as the brave soldier she was, my human charge had put upon any close enemy the wrath of a vanguard. When I and Vakarian caught up to them Zhora had gotten the time to raise her shields once again.

A sound was heard deeper into the corridor. One of the pods that littered the walls around us heaved and out fell the same asari we had killed over and over again during our hard earned trip up here. This time however her skin was a natural hue of lilac blue and that insane look her clones had was missing in her eyes.

“I'm free! I...” she said and looked down on her own body incredulously. “I suppose I should tank you for releasing me.” She smiled towards us.

“Is everything all right?” I asked as we approached. “Are you hurt?”

“I am fine, or will be, in time,” she answered. Yes, time. I couldn't even start to comprehend what she had been through, being locked up in that pod and somehow connected with the big plant creature. “My name is Shiala. I serve... I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I. Benezia foresaw the influence Saren would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path. But Saren is compelling, Benezia lost her way.”

The euphoria of the fight took a sharp turn and my stomach twisted inside me. Saren... so he had been here.

“Are you saying Saren can control minds?” Shepard asked. I caught the sidelong look she shot me just as she turned her eyes towards Shiala. Was I really that obvious? I was thankful for her picking up the conversation in any case.

“Benezia underestimated Saren. As I did,” the purple asari answered. “We came to believe in his cause and his goals. The strength of his influence is troubling.”

“She tried to manipulate Saren. But in the end, her plan backfired,” miss Zhora clarified.

This didn't make any sense. As such I guess it fit with the rest of what was going on. There was no such thing as mind control. If you didn't count the Thorian, and Saren didn't seem to have the power to make it do anything, especially not anymore. Had he found some other way to make people follow him? He had always been a great man and had never had trouble making people do as he pleased in the past. Even though he had a reputation for being merciless he had always had an aura of power around him. People tended to be drawn towards it and he knew how to take advantage of that. But in this case, his goals were simply insane. Bringing in the Reapers into the galaxy, jeopardizing millions upon millions of lives. Beside, I had met Matriarch Benezia on several occasions. She was an old friend of Saren's and one of the most powerful women I knew. She didn't seem like the type of person to be swayed easily.

“Asari Matriarchs are among the most intelligent and powerful beings in the galaxy,” I objected. “How could one fall under Saren's control?”

“Saren has a vessel. An enormous warship unlike anything I've ever seen. He calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers. They become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The progress is subtle. It can take days, weeks. But in the end, it is absolute. I was a willing slave when Saren brought me to this world. He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian, to learn it secrets. Saren offered me in trade. I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between Saren and the Thorian.”

This didn't surprise me in the least. My old mentor had always had a 'for the greater good' philosophy. I didn't doubt he would sacrifice anyone, even myself, if he thought the situation warranted it. I was the same, a trait I had picked up from him during my year in training. Even though I was perhaps not as careless as to not count the costs first. I did sometimes go out of my way to keep the civilians safe and only made them the price for galactic safety if there was no other options.
Then there were the ship, Sovereign. Was Saren immune to the influence of it, was he controlling it somehow, or was he infected as well? I wanted to believe that, that my friend didn't act on his own volition. In that case there were hope for him to return to his normal self. Somehow... Saren's newly acquired implants flew past in my mind. It seemed as though every time I had run into him in the past there were a new one. How long had that been going on? My mind reeled.

“Saren's pretty quick to betray his own people,” Shepard muttered beside me before I had a chance to really go into depths of that question. Maybe just as well. I was pretty sure I wouldn't like what I found there. I could feel the disapproval ooze off her. A grumble to my left, a quick look, Vakarian had the same look on his face.

They didn't understand. Not yet. The responsibilities of a Spectre were great ones and I hoped I could make at least Shepard see that one day.

“He was quick to betray the Thorian, too,” Shiala countered. “After Saren had what he needed, the Thorian became a liability. Saren knows you are searching for the Conduit. He knows you are following his steps. He attacked the Thorian so you could not gain the Cipher.”

“What's the Cipher? And why did Saren need it?” I asked, trying to concentrate on what was important here.

“The beacon on Eden Prime gave Commander Shepard visions. But the visions are unclear, confusing. They were meant for a Prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must think like a Prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence. The Thorian was here long before the Protheans build this city. It watched and studied them. When they died it consumed them. They became part of it.”

“So the Thorian taught Saren to think like a Prothean? How?” Shepard asked, her eyes lit up with hope. She'd had a hard time after Eden Prime. Headaches and nightmares. She wouldn't tell me, but I could see the signs. The shadows beneath her eyes, the late night strolls to the mess. How she rubbed her temples when she thought no one was looking. A chance to understand what had been put in her head must be a dream for her.

“The Chiper is the very essence of being a Prothean. It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing color to a creature without eyes. To understand, you must have access to endemic ancestral memory. A viewpoint spanning thousands of Prothean generations. I sensed this ancestral memory, the Cipher, when I melded with the Thorian. Our identities merged, our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught; it simply exists.”

“You taught Sare. You can teach me,” the human objected.

We all watched as Shiala's eyes opened to a blank black when she let her mind meld with Shepard. Beside me Vakarian shifted uncomfortably and Zhora kept jumping from one foot the other, her fingers interlocking, releasing and interlocking again. I had been through my fair share of mind melds, but I doubted they were anything like this.

With a start the asari let go of Shepard, taking a step back, her eyes returning to normal. I caught the human woman just as her legs gave out on her.

“I'm fine,” she grumbled when I pulled one of her arms around my shoulders but she didn't pull away. I knew from experience the meld could be exhausting if you weren't used to it.

“I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now.”

“What was that? Shepard, are you all right?” Zhora put a concerned hand on her other arm, peering through her helmet.

“I saw... something. It still didn't make any sense.” She sounded tired and perhaps a bit despairing.

“You have been given a great gift: the experience of an entire people. It will take time for your mind to process this information,” Shiala explained.

“We should get you back to the ship, Commander,” Vakarian cut in. The concern also apparent on his face. “Medical needs to know about this.” It was quite amazing how this human had won the trust and respect of her alien squad members already. But that was Shepard. It was hard not to like her, even tough she could drive you crazy at times.

“I am sorry if you have suffered, but there was no other way. You needed the Cipher. In time, it will help you understand the vision of the beacon.” The asari did sound regretful.

“Now that you are free of the Thorian, what do you plan to do next?” I asked.

“If you allow it, I would like to stay here with the colonists. They have suffered greatly, and I played a role in their suffering. I would like to make amends.”

It couldn't be better if I had suggested it myself. They needed someone who understood what they had been through.

“The colonists will need all the help they can get,” I said. “They'll be happy to have you on their side.” If they were back to their own selves that was.

“Thank you. May fortune smile upon you.”


On the way back to the outpost I fell behind again. Though this time the reason wasn't as pleasant. The ruins lay quiet around us and the silence seemed to press upon my head. My mind went round and round in circles trying to figure out the whys and hows of Saren's behavior. I longed for the solitude of my own quarters where I could sit down and in piece pluck with the clues I had to go on. The name Sovereign seemed familiar somehow. Had the old turian mentioned it sometime during one of our conversations? How long ago was that? Had he known already then about the Reaper threat? Why hadn't he told me? Didn't he trust me?

That last thought made my stomach lurch more than I wanted to admit it did.

A gloved, three fingered hand touched my arm lightly and brought me out of my reverie. Vakarian had quietly come up beside me. It was first then I noticed how my chest had tensed up in a knot and a low worried rumble lay in my throat. It was too low a frequency for anyone with deaf ears like humans or quarians to hear it, but he had. He didn't say anything and after that first touch he stepped back out of my personal space again. But he kept close, simply walking beside me, eyes forward. You're brooding again, his actions seemed to say. But remember, you're not alone, I'm here.

The knot in my chest started to ease up and untangle slightly. I was starting to understand why he had been a good investigator in C-Sec. He often played cool indifference or dim cluelessness, but those ice blue orbs of his didn't miss much.

Turned out fortune didn't smile upon us. I had hoped that killing the Thorian would return the human colonists to normal. But the effect of its spores still lingered. As we came closer I could spot their bodies moving restlessly around the outpost. Like they didn't know what to do or how to act, confused now that their large plant overlord didn't give them instructions. Unfortunately for us they didn't stay complacent.

When the first of them saw us he screamed out. From what I gathered it must have been some kind of warning to the others since they all took up their arms and started shooting at us. Soon we all sat huddled in cover behind a half razed wall again. I was really getting tired of hiding. I was used to quietly infiltrate a base or operation, wreak some havoc and then leave. A straight up fire fight wasn't the norm in my career. Sure it happened. But when you operated on your own against an overpowering enemy you had to use your brain more than your brawn. I hadn't worked in squads since my time in the military. It was different to say the least.

“Nihlus?” Shepard demanded.

“No civilian casualties,” I ordered. I knew she had been thinking it. We had the Thorian anti-gas upgrade for the grenades. No reason in ending someone's life unnecessarily.

“I knew I teamed up with you for a reason,” she grinned and grabbed Zhora. Together they sprinted to a closer shelter as turian cover fire kept the colonists at bay.

The women started to return the favor from their newly acquired spot.

“Got my back?” I asked as I prepared for the sprint. We only had a set amount of grenades and to spread their effects properly we had to get closer.

“Always,” Vakarian's voice sang from behind me.

I had gotten about halfway when the bullets started to ping off my shields. I dared a quick look over my shoulder. The colonists had circled around to flank us and now they were laying down heavy fire from a whole different angle. It didn't take long for my shields to falter and I didn't even have time to hit the shield boost before they died. A shock wave from an energy weapon crashed into my back. I felt the burn eat it's way through my already weak armor as I fell. The momentum made me skid over the gravel, scraping one side of my face. My ears were ringing from the blast and I tried to push my way up from the ground but it didn't seem to want to stay flat. My stomach heaved as the world spun. The best I could do was to bunch up in a fetal position, making my hit radius as small as I possibly could while waiting for up to become down again. I was sure I would feel that last bullet piercing some of my major organs soon. There was no way I would survive this. Maybe that was okay, my whole body was screaming in pain anyway.

But a shadow was cast over me, a hand grabbed the back of my collar and dragged me the way I had come. I was forcefully placed leaning against a wall. My head exploded from the minor impact, but I could finally hear something other than my ears whistling or my heart beating. Vakarian was breathing heavily next to me. He grabbed my jaw in both his hands and forced me to look at him.

“You there?” His face lay in deeply worried lines. Had he just rushed out in heavy fire to get me?

“Are you crazy, Vakarian?” I wheezed through gritted teeth, trying to hold in the pain radiating from my back. It could not be a happy sight. My armor had already been weakened from the earlier impact it took while tackling the gray turian. I just hoped it hadn't melted into my skin, that always left such horrible scarring.

His mouth twisted in an amused smirk. He seemed satisfied when I was able to focus on him and he let my face go.

“Maybe a little,” he admitted with a chuckle. “But no more than my commander.”

I tried not to smile, my face hurt, but he was right, I had to give him that.

The intercom crackled and I winced from the sound.

“You okay?” Shepard sounded strained. I glanced over in her direction and found her and Zhora in the middle of the fight. They had been forced to move to not be gunned down from the flanking colonists.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Vakarian pulled me out.”

“He's a good man that way.”

Yeah, he was a good man that way. He had just saved me from experiencing how it felt to have bullets tear your body apart. Right now I could kiss him. Maybe I should do that, later.

I finally felt the medi-gel kick in and the numbing cold was like a small piece of heaven. As my head slowly started to clear I slammed a new thermal clip into my rifle and took stock of our situation.

“Shepard,” I started. “You think you and Zhora can hold down this side on your own?” The warm metal of my gun felt almost like home as it stroked my cheek. I lined up a few shots by the feet of a colonist who tried to run to a different position. “You still have those upgraded grenades right?”

“Yeah, but...”

“Then move up and start to cure these people,” I interrupted. “We can't make it through to you.”

“But...” I could tell from her voice how she wanted to start to argue. I didn't blame her. I wouldn't want to leave me behind either.

“Shut up and keep moving,” I ordered. “We'll be fine.”

“Kryik...”

“Now Shepard.” Steel laced my voice. This was the best way. We couldn't get to her. Not with the beating we were taking.

“Affirmative.” A soldier's answer. Well good. Maybe she would get that I was in charge soon.

Vakarian ducked down beside me with a grunt and clasped his right thigh.

“You okay there?” I asked while dodging a bullet and sat down again.

“Yeah.” His voice was strained now, no humor left. “Just waiting for the 'gel to kick in.”
I glanced down at his gloved hand. Blue blood were sipping slowly from beneath it.

“You got hit?” It wasn't really a question. “You got hit when you pulled me back in?”

A deep sigh answered me and he nodded.

“My shields didn't hold the last stretch.”

Fuck. He had taken a bullet for me. He had saved me from certain and painful death and taken a bullet for me. I was starting to see why some people preferred working with a team as opposed to working alone.

A few more bullets flew over our heads, but the frequency of them had subsided slightly. Maybe Shepard had started to take the humans out.

“Come,” I said and snaked an arm around Vakarian's waist. “We need to get out of here.”

I heaved us both up from the ground with a grunt. My body screamed in protest against the extra weight but I ignored it the best I could. The gray turian helped as much as possible, but he seemed to be unable to put any pressure on the wounded leg. It shook and he nearly toppled over when he tried.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “I'm sorry Kryik.”

“Cut that crap.” I didn't want to hear him apologizing for saving my ass. “And lean on me.”

A thick arm clung around my shoulders and I took a better grasp of his waist. It was somewhat distracting to feel his muscles work under the light armor while we moved from cover to cover. Circling around away from Shepard's direction. It wasn't exactly the right time to notice the tangy smell of his blood or the musky scent of his skin. But having him this close, our bodies pressed together, feeling the heat sip in through the cracks of my armor, it was almost impossible not to. My heart started to pound in a different manner than that from the combat thrill. A rumble in my chest threatening to force it's way out.

When we finally made our way close enough I was happily distracted with throwing the configured grenades. Smoke welled out in a musty green cloud and the affected humans fell to the ground. We quickly checked them over, but they were breathing fine and everything seemed to be in order so we moved on.

It didn't take long until the entire outpost lay quiet around us. I saw Shepard and Zhora a couple of meters away and I made our way over there.

The redhead turned when she heard us coming.

“Oh my...” she said, a smirk on her lips. “Look at you two. Didn't I tell you guys it might not be time for hugs just yet?”
I huffed a strained laugh and put Vakarian down on a crate. I leaned on it for a while, just catching my breath. Despite her humorous tone I could see how she carefully inspected us, looking for injury.

“We're fine, thank you for asking,” I answered, keeping the mood light. My body however wasn't sure it agreed with me.
I left Shepard to take care of business as the Normandy came to pick us up. She insisted I 'get my bony ass into the med bay and not come out until Chakwas given me a good once over.' I reluctantly agreed with her, secretly happy I didn't have to handle the colonists once they woke up. It wasn't as though she wasn't used to dealing with people, and these were humans none the less. She was probably better suited to explain the situation anyway.

The good doctor was muttering under her breath in that peculiar accent of hers while she stood behind me, peeling my armor off my back. She had some kind of oil and an instrument I didn't know the name of to help her. The cot I was leaning against was still slowly getting to know how sharp turian claws could be. I wheezed and gritted my teeth to not scream in pain as the melted armor came off.

When it finally, finally, was done, she coated my now sore-to-no-belief back with medi-gel.

“You're lucky turian skin is so thick,” she said and moved away, pulling her white rubber gloves off her hands and throwing them in the trash bin. “I would hate to see how much would be left of a human after that.”

I sat on the cot and poured water down my throat from the bottle I've been given. Some of it dripped down my bare chest and left cold tendrils as it traveled over the soft skin on my stomach.

“Luck have nothing to do with it,” I said and gave her a grin. “It's a wonder you squishy humans have made it this far at all.”

She laughed as she went over to Vakarian who sat on the cot next to mine. The gray turian had been forced to get out of all of his armor as Chakwas searched for bullet holes. Except the one deeply lodged in his thigh she had found none, only a few scrapes were they had bounced off his armor, leaving dents.

My back was burning and I tried to ignore how my entire body tingled as she worked on his wound. He was breathing hard, his eyes closed in pain. It was not weakness. Not when she had her instrument lodged deep into his leg muscle. I shifted uncomfortably where I sat. I felt how my plates was starting to open, despite of how tired I was. It was just that... the sigh of him, his skin smeared with dirt and sweat. The smell of his blood. The memory of our bodies pressed tightly together. The intense look in his eyes as he leaned in for a kill. Well... it kind of did it for me.

As Chakwas moved away, with the bullet tightly held between a pair of prongs, and Vakarian's wound started to bleed again. I found myself almost unable to control my urges. This man had saved my life, that was the bullet he had taken for me. The look on his face contorted was because of me. I wanted to see it change and morph into blissful pleasure. How would his face look then? Would he breath as heavy? Would he moan?

The shiver that ran down my spine was the last straw. The thought of him moaning and writhing in pleasure beneath me the thought that finally tipped the scale. I jumped down from the bed, my eyes intent on the gray turian.

“Everyone out.”


”Everyone out.” Nihlus voice was such it told you not to argue. It was the Spectre voice if there ever was such a thing and his intense green eyes didn't leave me for a second.

But why he all of a sudden needed to talk to me alone in the middle of getting stitched up was beyond my comprehending. My leg hurt like hell, medi-gel be damned, the wound was slowly closing and the flow of blood had just been stemmed. Still didn't mean my thigh wasn't smeared in blue and I'd rather doctor Chakwas could patch me up before I did anything else.

However the look he gave me told me not to ask questions. There was something deeply predatory in his eyes and I wasn't sure if I should call the others in here again or not. I had never before considered Nihlus to actually hurt me, not even when he was yelling at me about me being, as he put it, 'a stubborn son of a bitch'. But there was something wrong here and I wasn't sure if I felt completely comfortable with it. Maybe the Thorian had affected him in some way. Who knew what kind of spores and other shit was flying around in the air down there.

Without so much as a word he closed the distance between us and two long strides later I suddenly found my head pushed forward from an undeniable grip to the back of my neck. Before I knew what was happening his lips met mine and my heart jumped up in my throat as it started pounding violently. What the hell? Where did this come from? Sure, he had joked around during the mission. But I had taken it for the usual flirty comments that often tended to try to lighten the mood on the battlefield. This however... Was he actually interested? My first instinct was to push him away but the dark turian was unrelenting. It wasn't as though I was some kind of pushover, I considered myself of rather strong stature. But this was Nihlus Kryik. One of the youngest to ever get accepted into the rank of Spectres and he seemed to want this badly enough to not be dissuaded by my fumbling attempts at pushing him away. Whatever the case a wiry hand slid around my exposed waist and pulled me flush against his bare chest. A shudder went through my body from the touch and started to spread a warmth in my lower abdomen. Or maybe it was just the heat radiating from his body. Spirits he was warm.

Then his lips started moving, forcing mine to move with them, his breath coming out in a short puff of air. His scent went up my nostrils and straight to my brain. It wasn't simply the heat of his body that made me hot. He smelled incredible and I pulled in more of that delicious odor before my lips were captured yet again. Over and over again he kissed me and my breathing soon caught up with his accelerated gasps. I placed a hand on his waist, let it linger and took in the feeling of his bare skin under my fingertips. A rumble spread up from his chest and vibrated through me. Without even meaning to I answered him with a deep rumble of my own. His hand around my waist pulled me impossibly closer, crushing our bodies together. The hand on my neck snaked up to my fringe and started massaging the delicate skin on its underside. My mind went dizzy for a while as small delightful tingles spread through my body. I traced his well defined chest plates, dipping pointed claws in the crevices before moving on to his back. I just wanted to feel as much of him as I possibly could. Wanted to taste him. I let my tongue gently touch him the next time out lips met and I was soon rewarded with the feeling of his own meeting mine. Our tongues intertwined and I gloried in the taste of him, daring to dart my tongue out and grace his teeth. I could feel the smirk spreading over his lips, the mandibles fluttering so close to my own. I think I might have stopped breathing for a while as I crushed our mouths together, our mandibles gently gracing over each other. The sensory overload was really palpable. His smell, his taste, the feeling making me unable to think about anything else than him.
For a while the only sound that could be heard was our timed gasps as we drew in breath between kisses. The light rumble of the engine as the the ship took us out into space mingled with a periodical beep from one of the machines in the med bay. But then his hand left my fringe and a moment later I noticed how he fiddled with the clasps of the lower part of his armor. If my heart wasn't racing by now, this would have made the trick. Just the implications of what he so obviously wanted... I couldn't quite grasp it in my current state of light-headiness. Not that I cared right now.

I let go of him and helped him undo his pants. Nihlus kicked them away and quickly put his hands on my knees. He spread my legs and stepped in between them as my breath hitched in my throat. Pulling away from my lips he opened his eyes to meet mine. The heat in them almost made them glow in an unnatural green fire. The rush of him, him, Nihlus Kryik, a Spectre, Citadel hero and protector of the universe, wanting me was almost too much. But there was also a question there, beneath the need, asking my permission, asking if he should back off or slow down. I lingered in them, unable to say or answer in any way. His fingers caressed my mandible, sending shivers through me.

What was I supposed to say? My head was spinning from the sensations he sent over my body. On one hand I wasn't sure where this had come from. Sure, he was good looking and it wasn't as if I hadn't been with a man before. But I had never thought of him this way. I actually hadn't given sex much thought at all since I boarded the Normany, I hadn't had any time, there was always something that needed to be done. And what was it he wanted? Was this simply a one time thing or was he expecting some kind of commitment? I wasn't sure I was ready for that. Actually, that was a lie. I was certain I wasn't ready for that.

On the other hand there was no denying that he turned me on. My plates were already halfway spread and the need in my gut was not in question. I wanted him, wanted to be with him, to see this to the end, consequences be damned. So there was my answer I guess. Whatever this was, or however this would turn out I would just have to face that question when I came to it. Because Spirits knew I didn't want to stop now.

I put a hand behind his neck and pushed in for another kiss, my feet entangling his legs and spurs, forcing him to step even closer. When my fingers slid up his fringe and started to massage those sensitive areas he closed his eyes and leaned his head back into my hand. A deep and relaxed moan slipping through him, and heaven help me if that sound didn't turn me on in the worst way. It didn't exactly help that his neck was splayed and inviting in front of my eyes. I couldn't help myself as I leaned in and nuzzled his neck, drawing in his smells. Earthy tones and gun oil, sweat and arousal, not at all unfavorable smells. I shifted restlessly where I sat on the hospital cot and let my tongue search over his skin, looking for sweet spots, drawing a noise from him, only the deeper harmonics of his turian voice making it through.

My undamaged thigh was squeezed as skilled fingers found their way down to the plates protecting one of my only true blue part visible without the need of cutting me open. I tried, and failed, to suppress a groan. The underlying vocals telling him, shamelessly, how much I needed him. It just felt so nice, the way his talons teased the outer edges of the plates, the soft pads of his fingertips pressing against that slit, putting all the right kinds of pressures on me. Nihlus looked up again, a mischievous glint in his eyes. I had seen that look before, you could see it pass by his eyes whenever he had landed a particularly risky shot. Often accompanied by a satisfied, smug smirk. After today I wasn't sure if I could ever see that look again without getting turned on. Another firm rub was all it took, not that I tried to keep it in, for me to slip out of my sheath and into a dark brown waiting hand.

Strong fingers closed around the base and agonizingly slow started to slip up my length, making sure to go deep into every groove, already slick with my own lubrication. I grabbed his shoulders hard with both hands, digging my talons into his thick skin. It was all I could do to not push him away or pull him towards me. The pleasure from his hand pulling me in all directions at once. Hell it had been too long since I did this, I thought as I panted through halfway parted lips, looking down at his working hand. A swallowed, trying to keep the keening sound that was forcing it's way through my throat down.

He started out in a steady tempo, going from the root all the way up to the tip where he squeezed lightly and then all the way back down again. I pressed my forehead into the crook of his neck, my talons still digging into this shoulders, while his strong fingers slowly drove me wild. My legs twitched and I bucked up into his hand, unable to control myself any longer. The hand on my thigh stroked it's way up to my hip and held it firm, keeping me from moving. When I tried his talons pressed into the tender skin there and I was surprised when that only added to the pool of heat within me. I had never been one for mixing pain and pleasure, sure roughhousing it wasn't a stranger to me. This was different though, but I found that I didn't care, I only wanted whatever he gave me.

A nudge of his chin brought my head back up and he captured my lips with his own as those green eyes pierced me. The need portrayed in them no longer containable and it translated through his mouth. The kiss was all tongue and teeth, my hands stroking all over his well defined body. Lean muscles under thick strong skin. The urgency in both our voices clear to anyone who had ears to hear with.

Nihlus growled between bared teeth as he hooked his hands behind my knees and pulled me quickly to the edge of the bed. His own arousal brushing mine made me suppress a roar that surely would have been heard out to the mess. I could feel him pulsing against me and I had to reach down, sliding my fingers around both of us. My deep rumble mixed with the sounds of the dark turian's moan.

“Fuck, Vakarian,” he forced out between gritted teeth. My name, his voice... I felt my own length twitch and throb almost painfully. “If you keep that up, this won't last long.”

Nihlus gripped my wrist and removed my hand, leaned in and started nibbling my neck with the tip of his teeth. I groaned in anticipation as he tilted my hips in a more favorable position. The hot feeling of his head soon found it's way between my legs. Before I had the chance to voice the question whether he planned on entering me without any preparation a dark hand closed around my blood filled extremity and started pumping. A sharp talon nudged the skin covering the edges of its housing and I lost both thought and mind when he gripped my thigh, hefting it deftly up on his hip and entered me with a coarse snarl.

A spasm rolled through my body and I fell backwards, catching myself on my elbows in the last minute. I had never felt something like this before. He was so impossibly strong. No, strong was the wrong word really. Firm was a better one. He didn't hesitate or waver in his movements. They were precise and steady and above anything else, relentless. The same drive he had out on the field, making him so good at his job, he brought with him into the bedroom. This time I was his target and he made me loose my breath for a second as pulses of pleasure coursed through me.

A deep moan rumbled out of him as he pushed further into me and the vibrating vocals told me he had a hard time to keep from simply starting to pound into me here and now. He swallowed slowly as I lay down panting on the bed, feeling how I adjusted to his girth. Spirits, I was filled to the brink of tearing and I couldn't have been happier. The brown turian leaned in over me and I relished in the feeling of his hands sliding over my stomach, up my chest to come to rest on the bed on each side of my head. I slid my own hands around his waist, stroking it seductively, meeting his gaze that was filled with satisfaction. I urged him to move slightly with my grip and he responded without hesitation. Slowly sliding out of me and then back again. I couldn't hold in the moan this time. It reverberated through my chest and then Nihlus caught it in his mouth as he bent down further to kiss me. Our tongues caressed each other as he started off with a steady pace that would go places if he didn't watch out.

The rest of the world melted away and the only thing that held my attention was the other turian in my arms. The feeling of him moving inside of me. The slight rubbing of his stomach against my tender blue skin. The taste of his tongue in my mouth. It wasn't long before we were panting loudly, both our breaths carrying with them the rumbling promise that we enjoyed ourselves. The sound drove me wild, the feeling of him on top of me... The strong body that over and over again pushed into me. It was quickly getting to much.

“Kryik...” I warned him with a hand on his shoulder.

But he only raised himself up on his hands again and grinned down at me, quickening his pace. Keeping his entire weight on one hand he reached down between us and two fingers lightly closing around me down there was all it took for me to throw my head back into the bed as white hot pleasure spiked through me.

“Fuck...” I cried out as my entire body tensed impossibly hard and then twitched. I felt hot liquid landing on my own stomach. Another twitch and Nihlus moaned somewhere far up above me. I wasn't sure any more, I wasn't really here any longer at all. I had to close my eyes to not get nauseated as the world spun before my eyes and I flew up to the higher planes of existence. Yes, it had definitely been too long since last time.

I felt myself getting spent as I slowly came back down, but the Spectre didn't stop moving. He raised himself up, now standing straight on his feet again, his fingers lingering on my waist. I was just coming along for the ride right now. I wasn't about to stop him when he clearly hadn't finished yet. Besides, anything he did at this point felt like heaven. I raised myself up on my elbows and watched him. Studied his face as he closed his eyes, his breath coming in puffs out of his slightly parted lips.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered and gripped my thigh, holding it firmly in place, his talons scraping my skin and actually going deep enough to draw blood. He must really enjoy himself. The look on his face, the sound of him, his voice, the need in his movements, slowly made the newly burned out fire in my gut to flame anew. He was just too fucking sexy like this, completely given to the act.

When he tilted his head back exposing his neck I couldn't help myself from pulling up off the bed. He cried out from the sudden change of position and looked down at me, desperate need in his eyes. I gripped his jaw and turned his head sideways. He resisted, but I was unrelenting, he would submit his neck to me. My tongue softly licked his skin and I felt him shudder against me. As I added more pressure and some teeth, drawing a delicious sound out of him, I felt myself quickly getting hard again. Thanking whatever creator that had blessed the turian body with the ability for more than one orgasm I lightly bit into the dark brown skin.

Nihlus all but pounded into me now, way past driven by instincts alone, with long firm movements that set my nerves on fire. I groaned into his neck and bit down harder. A snarling growl proceeded a strong grip on my hurt thigh. I cried out in pain, a hand on my chest pushing me forcefully down on the bed again. Gray scales met brown as he raised my leg up over his shoulder. My other leg was pressed by the knee to spread so far I almost thought the tendons would snap. Then he slammed into me again and stars flickered before my eyes. He had hit a spot in there that suppressed all my inhibitions. Packed them in a tight little box and shipped them far far away. I gripped the bed with both hands, feeling the fabric tear under my talons. But I had to, to not risk floating away. A roar came from the otherwise so composed and collected turian above me. He pressed his fingers against my wound, making the blue drip out and run down my leg. It hurt like hell, but at the same time he slammed into me again and the pain mixed with the intense pleasure and made my ears buzz. I felt a breath against my neck, my leg bent further than was comfortable, and then sharp teeth entered my skin.

I couldn't take any more and I felt myself convulse around him. The roar was muffled by my neck and he pounded into me forcefully a few last times before his movements became erratic and I could feel his body tense up. Hot fluids rushed into me as we twitched together, milking us both dry. Wrapping my arms around his shoulders as the aftershocks made my body jerk in small spasms, I held onto him in fear of being pulled away by the current.

We were both panting, trying to catch out breaths, Nihlus relaxing on top of me and letting my leg go. I stretched it out thankfully, trying to ignore the burning pain.

“Holy fuck, Kryik,” I said when I finally could breathe again, trying to sound serious, but the wide grin spreading on my lips didn't make it easy. “What the hell was that all about?” I wanted explanations now when I finally had my feet back on solid ground, metaphorically speaking.

His chest heaved in an amused chuckle. He slid out of me and worked his way up on his feet again, seeming a bit unsteady. I couldn't blame him, I doubted I could stand right now either. He stalked over to a sink, quickly washing off. Still not saying a word. When he turned around to face me again he still had that laughing face. A wet cloth hit the bed beside me and I started cleaning myself off.

“We'll talk about it later,” he said with a smirk as he quickly jumped into his pants, grabbed his gear and turned to exit the med bay.

“Yeah?” I called after him.

“Yeah,” he responded and then spun around before opening the door. “I need a shower, you're hard work, Vakarian.” With that trademark turian grin plastered on his face he opened the door and walked out.

I was left sitting on the hospital bed feeling kind of lost. Damn Nihlus and his charm. I laughed quietly to myself. You could never predict how things would turn out, could you? Spirits know I hadn't seen this coming. Go figure.", "pools_count": 0, "title": "Turn of Events", "deleted": "f", "public": "t", "mimetype": "text/rtf", "pagecount": "1", "rating_id": "2", "rating_name": "Adult", "ratings": [ { "content_tag_id": "3", "name": "Violence", "description": "Mild violence", "rating_id": "1" }, { "content_tag_id": "4", "name": "Sexual Themes", "description": "Erotic imagery, sexual activity or arousal", "rating_id": "2" } ], "submission_type_id": "12", "type_name": "Writing - Document", "guest_block": "t", "friends_only": "f", "comments_count": "1", "views": "313" }