Delayed Translation

Part 12:Hard headed

" I'm impressed Vakarian." Scion said amused.

Garrus ignored him for the moment and stared at the door, what had he got himself into.
He felt how the human moved behind him and he spun around. She stood her ground and waited for what would happen next when their eyes met.
Was he really supposed to punish her? He did not want to, but his superior expected it of him now. He somehow knew that he would be unable to do it. Garrus sigh inside and guessed that this might have been him choosing a side.

Scion walked to the door and listened to make sure they were alone before he slung an arm around Garrus's shoulders.

" So buddy, are you on our side?"

Garrus cleared his throat before he shrug off the arm.

" I .... don't know...perhaps. " He said and attempted to leave the room wanting some more time to clear his thoughts. But Scion grabbed his arm and stopped him.

" Listen to me, there is something very wrong with this ship. I'm sure you have noticed it. There are close to zero crewmembers and my indicator tells me that we are not heading for Citadel anymore. " Scion said with a tense voice.

" I'm sure there are an explanation to the lack of crew and perhaps..."

The grip around Garrus arm hardened at his words.

" There are no perhaps. Saren are keeping something from us. And it seems he is strangely obsessed with Haniel. "

Garrus wondered when the black turian and the human had become close enough for him to use her first name. He felt a small sting of jealousy.

" She arranged an ambush, lied about the trade. " Garrus countered.

He heard how she puffed out air at his statement. Scion just gave him a long stare before he started to click on his omni-tool.

" I know what we have been told. But from my scanning and analysis it seems that a signal drew Cerberus to the trading location. The signal came from Saren and this ship. "

The omni-tool screen flashed with information as Scion's digits danced over it. Garrus gave the screen a long look, it seemed to fit with Scions words but that would be insane.

" Why would Arterius do that? That's illogical. What would he gain from it? "

Scion closed the screen and gestured towards the female. Haniel folded her arms and looked up at them, her translator working as fast as it could.

" We believe Saren thinks I'm working for Cerberus, why I don't know. All I know about them fits on a half slide, if not less." She said as she activated her own omni-tool.

A screen with strange human letters appeared and she screened it before swiping to the next that was empty.

" Another thing, we have both come to the conclusion that this ship has baited Cerberus with the signal. Leading them to Omega from who knows where." Haniel said and clicked up a new window.

Garrus eyes widened when other programs than the translator booted up.

" Wait did we not block every function except the translator.... Scion?" He said with an accusing tone and gave the black turian a disapproving grunt with his subvocals.

" Well, in my defence I only helped her a bit." Scion said and shrugged his shoulders.

" Either way, It seems Saren thinks Cerberus knows something they should not..... Are we really trusting him?" She asked and turned to Scion.

Garrus felt a small jab of annoyance, so she trusted the black-scaled one but not him. He pushed it aside as he remembered that his actions lately had not given her any reason to trust him. He felt how the tension grew with the silence between them.

" Hey, I'm a nice and pretty turian boy." He tried to say jokingly while gesturing towards his face in an attempt to ease the tension.

" Well I have always been told that the pretty ones or the most dangerous. " Haniel answered with a flat tone, not picking up the joke.

" Well if so, then you must be as dangerous as an army of pissed of krogans or asari commandos. "

Garrus wanted to kick himself over the comment when he saw her questioning course she had no idea what a krogan or asari was and how dangerous they could be. And why was he trying to flirt with her anyway? He heard Scion's subvocals vibrate in laughter and glared at him.

" Not a word, pal." Garrus grunted with his own sobvocals.

"I vouch for him and he has already promised to not tell anyone. " Scion said when he was done laughing.

" Well I guess I will have to trust you on this then. "

Garrus noticed how she meant Scion and not him. He was half displeased and half relieved.

" So what happens now?" Garrus asked to change the subject.

" Well we need to punish her, right? I have an idea. Are you a good actress? If so we can just pretend to punish you."

Haniel looked up at Scion and flashed him a mischievous smile.

" Enough for you to hand me an Oscar.... It's a...Never mind. Yes I am."

" Do you think that you can pretend to be beaten or something?" Scion asked and flashed a grin back at her.

" Is that even going to work?" Garrus asked with scepticism in his voice.

" Well yeah probably? We can just say that we went for a psychical punishment."

Haniel chewed on her lower lip before she walked up to the wall. She looked at it for a short moment before she banged her head against it with a loud scream, surprising both Garrus and Scion with her sudden action.

" MOTHER OF.... holy...shit...That hurt" She grunted and rubbed her now red forehead. The translator hacked at her words unable to translate everything. It looked like she was going to bang her head again but Garrus stopped her.

"SPIRITS! What are you doing?!" He asked a bit terrified by her action.

" What? Now you have something to show if he asks about it." She answered with a restrained grin as she felt a throbbing pain.

" What if you had cracked your head open? That could have killed you. " Garrus said with a lecturing tone and looked at her like she was a child.

" Ah come on. I have a thick skull or so I have been told. And I have probably been through worse. " She said and waved away Scion when he offered her a medi-gel and took some stumbling steps.

" Well lucky you. I guess that little thing solved our problem. Just warn us next time so we don't think you are going crazy on us. " Scion said and helped her to a chair so she could sit down.

" Are we done for today?" She asked and glanced towards him.

" Ah yeah. Garrus why don't you leave first. " Scion said vaguely and opened the door for him.

Garrus felt like he was shooed out like a servant and wanted to resist but found himself exiting the room after all. But instead of leaving the cargo area he decided to at least wait for the black turian to leave the room too.