Out of the Twilight | Mass Effect

21

Nihlus waited outside the comm room until Ashley marched out. She glared at him, and headed belowdecks. Nihlus ignored her and watched Andra's face as she entered the CIC. "Commander. A word?" he asked when she saw him. She nodded and led the way to her cabin.

Nihlus looked around her quarters, intrigued. She had a nest of pillows and blankets on the bed and a strange statue and a pair of books on the bedside table. She sat, cross-legged, on the foot of the bed and gestured to the only chair. "You wanted to talk?"

Nihlus found he couldn't settle, couldn't look at her. He wandered over to her side table and examined the books. The Phantom of the Opera, and The Infinity Principle: A Guide to Practical Application in Combat Scenarios. "Light reading?" he asked, then sighed. "I treated you unfairly. When I learned you are Arterius, I..." He reached for the statue, studying it as he searched for the words. "Well. I panicked. Saren took me in, when the military was about to throw me out. He taught me, trained me, to be better than I was. The thought of angering him...." Nihlus trailed off, rolling the statue in his hands. "I didn't... I'm not very good at keeping relationships. Put a gun in my hand, point me at a problem, I can handle that. Other people-"

He was cut off by a pillow connecting with the side of his head at speed. He turned, astonished, to see Andra prepared to throw another. "You're shit at relationships because you don't tell anyone what's going on in that thick skull of yours unless they drag it out!" She sighed and put the pillow down. Shifting to hug her knee, she continued, "Saren doesn't give a good goddamn who I bed. He's turian." Nihlus snorted. "My whole family are. They're a little overprotective, yeah, but they don't want to see me hurt." Nihlus put the statue back and sat next to her. She leaned over, resting her head on his shoulder.

They sat in silence for a while, then Nihlus coughed and said, "You were my first human. I hope I satisfied."

She chuckled. "You did. More than once, as I recall. You were mostly my first turian, too."

"Only mostly?" he asked, amused.

She snorted. "Garrus and I used to fool around when we were younger." She shrugged, "Turns out, he's not that into humans. So we fooled around, he wasn't feeling it, we stopped. Stayed friends, though."

Nihlus considered this. He picked up the statue again and turned it around in his hands. "Lord Ganesh. The remover of obstacles." Andra informed him.

Nihlus chuffed. "I can see why you like him." He put the statue back and looked down on her. Cautiously, he said, "I don't keep many friends. I'd hate to lose a good one due to my stupidity."

Andra snorted a fair approximation of a d'arvit in the back of her throat. "You're an idiot. That's why you need friends. Someone needs to watch your back."

Nihlus grinned a little. "Saren said you would be furious at me."

"I am. But it's kinda like kicking a pup right now. I'll still watch your back, but I'm not sure I can trust you enough to sleep with you anytime soon."

She had her back to him, returning the pillow she'd thrown at him, and so didn't see the flare of hope on his face. "Anytime soon?"

She turned to look at him, hip cocked. "I'm not saying 'no', but I'm not saying 'yes' either. We already did the tumble. But I am still pissed and hurt about what happened. If you plan on making a play again, I strongly recommend building up that shattered trust first. Woo me. You're cute, I'll give you that. But I want more than that, you know?"

He nodded as Joker came over the comm, "Therum in 20 minutes, Commander."

"On my way." She looked at Nihlus. "I want Saren and Ashley on this run." Nihlus nodded, and went to find Saren. Andra took the elevator to the cargo hold. She walked over to Garrus first.

"You two settled things?" Garrus asked.

She leaned on the mako next to him. "Sort of. I told him about us. He's going to try for friendship, build up trust." She caught Ashley staring and yelled across the hold, "Williams, grab your gear!" Ashley jumped, surprised, then headed to her locker to start arming up. Andra turned back to Garrus, "Go talk to Nihlus. Apparently, he is terrified of my uncle."

Garrus snorted. "Alright." Pushing off the mako, he nodded respectfully to Saren as the older turian exited the elevator. Garrus looked back at Andra and the mako, and said in pained tones, "Try not to destroy this one? It's almost pristine."

Andra just laughed at him and entered the mako. Saren joined her, sitting in the back and stretching out to, to all appearances, take a nap. Ashley climbed in a few moments later, pausing when she saw Saren, but sitting in the vacant seat opposite him with no spoken complaint.

"Hold is clear, Ma'am. We are good to go once we reach the LZ." Ashley reported, strapping in.

Andra nodded and opened a comm channel, "Joker, the mako is go for landing at your mark."

"Roger that, Commander. We are approaching the landing zone now." Joker replied.

The loading ramp descended, and Andra drove the mako out of the hold. The Normandy flew off to wait in orbit, and Andra guided the mako to earth. They landed heavily in what looked like an abandoned mining camp. Andra scanned the area and found no signs of life.

"Huh. Weird." She drove the mako down the path to the second site. She kept an eye on the external heat sensors as they drove past lakes of lava, but they were well within the safety range. She guided the mako down the path as Saren broke the silence. "Geth ahead, just past that curve."

"I see them, Patruus." She fired a rocket into the cluster of geth and used the turret gun to finish the few who had escaped the blast.