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"Let's be fair," said Leiah, "you DID throw a glass at his head." "Only because he called you a sterile bitch," said FG, "seriously, that shit is low, I'm not taking that." "Hehee, so you're just a gentleman now are you?" "I try to be." Sitting on a bench facing towards the full-view window of the Citadel arms, James took time to recover after Leiah applied the medi-gel to his wounds, watching the eternal sun of the Serpent Nebula clouded within incandescent violet gases. The calming effect of the thick medical goo only further eased all his pains, seeping inside his wounds before melding his flesh together with such perfection, that he almost felt as if he hadn't been attacked in the past few years even. He looked towards the quarian with a smile, chuckling at all they had been through in their brief time together asking: "Yanno I didn't expect to find a friend so soon in this place, but I'm kinda glad you stuck with me. Though I'm not sure why you did though." "I had to!" said Leiah. "You saved me from getting mugged and you didn't know anything about this place!" "And thanks to you I'm thirteen thousand credits richer." "I still say I should have gotten more, considering I was the one kicking ass more than you." "After what just happened a couple hours ago, I don't think so." "Heehee!" "I'm surprised you didn't just freak out at the fact I basically burnt a krogan to death." "I'm impressed, really! You know how difficult krogan are to fight?! REALLY difficult, they got an insane anatomy all full of backups and things, I mean fire is kind of one of the only ways to really deal with them." "You make them sound like a pest...I didn't expect you to be so used to killing." "Ehhh, the galaxy is rough like that, especially when you're a quarian on a pilgrimage." "Wait, pilgrimage?" asked FG. "Mmhmm!" "What's that, like some kind of religious thing?" "Basically when we reach adulthood, all quarians go out into the world and find something new to bring back to the Migrant Fleet, that's like our main home. If we bring back something new or exciting, we prove we're worth something to the fleet." "And if you don't find something?" "Then you just keep looking! Or, yanno, not ever go back of your own choice and set up shop elsewhere, lots of quarians do that." "Hmmm...I see how that could turn out easy, what about you?" "Well...I've been away from my home for nine years." "...seriously? ...shit I've been away from mine for only eight, you got like one year's experience on me." "Haha, really?!" "Yeah! Aw man now I feel like a noob." "Hehehehee, weeeellll don't you worry." She patted him patronisingly on the shoulder. "You just let auntie Leiah handle all this for you." "...I'm like...five years older than you." "So?!" "...eh, you're right, you're the one who lives here and all."

After they rested enough, they decided to go for a walk to see what other exciting new places awaited FG, heading down a wider street littered with alleyways and byways between storefronts. The constant gleam of blue was overbearing sometimes, but he tried to get use to it with the more pleasing occasional sight of a green tree planted along the way, adding a touch of colour moreso. The advertisements, abrasive as they were, also helped to change the colour landscape a little. Eventually he noticed something unusual. Strutting up behind them were two batarians, blinking their quadruple eyes while wearing blood-red armour in unison. James knew the sort of walk that they were walking as they passed between the occasional groups of civilians, murmuring: "Don't look behind you, we're being followed." "You sure?" asked Leiah. "Positive, guys got same red armour as that krogan guy did, stepping in line with each other." "What do we do?" "Keep walking, there's a corner up ahead. Soon as you turn it, run and find an alleyway or something." "Alright." She didn't even turn her head, following in suit with James as they both held hands passively so as not to separate from each other. Keeping their pace steady, and seeing the batarians did not increase their pace in turn to not arouse suspicion, they swiftly turned a corner and blindly started running. It would only be a matter of time before their pursuers would follow too. The moment the two batarians turned the corner, they saw neither hide nor scale of raptor and quarian. One of them motioned to the other to check the other side of the street, while he stood waiting as a guard. Luckily neither of them noticed a small maintenance hallway that stood dark and narrow between two larger buildings, a warehouse and an auditorium. James found himself tightly bunched up against Leiah, who smirked beneath her mask and quietly murmured: "Iiiii hope that's your gun and you just somehow got a new holster without me knowing." "Huh? ...ugh, come on." "Heeheehee!" "You know any way out of here?" "It's a maintenance hall, there's bound to be a door I can open maybe." "Okay let's go." Sneaking their way through within the unlit hallway, they felt along the walls for any trace of a door or exit that would allow them to lose their pursuers. They refrained from using flashlights to not alert anyone, as the sounds of air conditioning and deep humming electricity echoed all around them. Eventually their pursuers got smart, seeing the hallway at last and pushing their way in, which James could see from his perspective in darkness. "Shit they're coming," he whispered harshly. "Wait! I think I found a door." "Really?!" "Yeah lemme just open it!" Risking the light-up of her omni-tool in darkness, a small orange beacon was all the batarians needed to know they were on the right track, pushing their way further in as Leiah found a door lock. James readied himself to pull out his gun, whilst hearing the sounds of chittering data streaming between lock and omni-tool. "Come on hurry!" "Almost...YES, get in!"

Grabbing him by the elbow she pulled him into the door, slamming it behind them and doing her best to relock it before the two ran off through what appeared to be some sort of storage area. Large models and giant skyline paintings dotted the dark landscape, as they moved swiftly between crates filled with miscellaneous pieces. The skies of a dozen different worlds glinted from all around them, taunting them with their perspective of being trapped like vermin. Hopping over piled-up crates amidst near-total darkness, they soon heard the sound of a rushing roar faintly from beyond their hearing. James stood against one painting, asking: "What's that?" "I...I dunno, maybe...maybe it's the sea, like this one." "I'm not that insane yet, pretty sure that's not the sea." "How many seas have YOU been to?" "Four...five maybe, and believe me, you seen one, you seen them all." "Like this?" She pointed up towards the painting of the sea that he was leaning on, the raptor smirking in puzzlement at the light magenta sky and clear blue waves with two moons rising above it. "...okay that one is new, never mind. Come on, let's find whatever that noise is, maybe it's a way out." Heading further into the storeroom area, they were incredibly nervous in trying not to be noticed by anyone else who could be lurking within. The strange models of otherworldly creatures from all around them did not help with paranoia, giant fish-eyed dogs and tentacled abominations swaying softly in the motions of darkness. Soon they heard people from back the way came ordering to spread out, which was their cue to start running silently. The roaring sound turned greater, as they found a double-set of doors which they found was strangely unlocked, opening onto a more well-lit area behind a giant curtain shaped in a semi-circle. James suddenly had a flashback to crimpled red dress and the smell of paint and beer upon realising what they were on. A multitude of screams and chants were right on the other side. "Oh god we're on a stage." "Uh oh," said Leiah, "well, maybe we can get through during the interval." "Maybe I-" They turned to hear the doors open behind them, seeing a group of four batarians stride out in their sturdy red armour and cracking their fists. There was nowhere left to run, the crowd unseen roaring too great for them to hear what would most certainly be a fight backstage. Then the concert began, with screaming guitar and a pounding drum that threw all six of them to the floor, deafened by the violent rise of a rock song directly from behind the curtain, lights pounding upon the canvas as four shadows could be seen on the stage. "WH-WHAT'S GOING ON!?" roared FG. "IT'S A CONCERT!" said Leiah. "WE CAN'T GET OUT LIKE THIS!" "GET 'EM!" said one batarian. "NO WEAPONS, JUST BEAT 'EM DEAD!"

The thugs soon went after them, as James and Leiah also decided to use no weapons before heading straight into battle. The raptor swiftly ducked under the first fist swung before uppercutting violently hard, knocking one batarian back before another hooked him across the face. Leiah, who was in no position to fight hand-to-hand, grabbed the nearest weapon she could to try and fight back. A mic stand, which while unwieldy kept the batarians a good distance from her for a while. Soon the vocals of the rock song began to kick in, overwhelming the crowd with a rhapsody of warriors and darkness, otherworldly fiends and a light to shine upon them. James felt a strange flicker in his mind, that telltale feeling of something he knew deep inside his consciousness but was not inside his memory. It distracted him enough to receive a punch to the gut, knocking him down before Leiah swung her weapon hard above his head, cracking across the batarian's lip and forcing him to stumble away. James got back up and bullrushed the stunned alien, knocking him down before sitting on him and repeatedly began to beat the shit out of him before gouging at the eyes. His claws were perfect to get all four of them, screams from the batarian being his reward as hot red blood sprayed slightly from the sockets before digging his claws in deeper. It was a lucky shot, but he now only had three to deal with as the other batarians began to focus on him rather than Leiah. Drums pounded violently in the midst of guitar and bass, twining together as the aggressive aliens began to slash out at FG. Their omni-tools lit up, and he could see that they were able to form vicious-looking blades from hard light. Now the ante was upped, and he dodged as best as he could under sweeping roundhouse punches and vicious stabbing uppercuts. But having to fight all three of them at once guaranteed him to receive a few cuts across his body, a gouging slash in his right shoulder being the worst. The raptor screamed as he fell, the batarian getting on top of him as his omni-blade stabbed deeper into the shoulder to scar it further. But James responded with a blast of fire straight into the batarian's face, close enough now to use it without damaging any of the stage area as the alien roared and fell back to clutch at his eyes. He grabbed the omni-tool wielding arm of his assailant and forced it inwards, shoving the blade itself into the throat and twisting it violently, shanking him with his own weapon as red flew in hot sprays across him and the backstage floor.

Leiah was struggling to deal with just one in bare combat, swinging her mic stand as furiously as possible to try and catch one of them off. But her swings were uneven, odd-balanced and easy to throw off whenever she swung too hard and missed. In the midst of a brief guitar solo, the shadows danced from the other side of the curtain as she noted their species slightly inbetween brutal fists and omni-blades. Two turians holding large rods their fingers crawled up and down on, a quarian standing with his hands gliding across a horizontal stand, and a krogan sitting with fists slamming onto a set of drums. In her brief distraction, one batarian grabbed her mic stand and pulled her hard towards him to cause her to fall. She panicked and pulled out her gun, no longer playing around as the rock song reached a shrieking crescendo, which her bullet was lost within. The batarian who died in front of her would find his death unannounced in the midst of the song, his chin bleeding with a new bullet hole to accompany the exit wound from the top of his head. As the song reached its climax to finally finish in a unison of four instruments, the final batarian pulled his gun out and aimed it at Leiah upon the floor. The space of a few final seconds became a blur for James, Leiah and the batarian, when one gunshot resounded in complete and absolute silence. To the raptor, he only saw a tumbling state red and blue when he charged with a sudden gust of wind straight into the thug. Both went straight through the curtain around the time the crowd beyond it screamed and gasped. A cacophony of sound and vision, the sight of a scaled creature locked in arms against a red-armoured batarian, the band soon dispersing fast off the stage as they grabbed their instruments. James near-collided into a stagelight, pulling the batarian in front of it as a crackling spark slammed into his back before both fell onto the floor, right in front of a panicking crowd that ran for the exits. A voice behind him shouted: "GUYS, PLAN GAMMA, GO!" The band soon left taking their instruments all at once, as Leiah jumped through the curtain tear quickly in the midst of FG struggling to get up. "You alright?!" asked the quarian. "Y-yeah...fuck...um-" "Worry about stagecrashing later there's more of them coming!" "What?!" "THERE HE IS, KILL 'EM!"

More angry red-armoured aliens came running up from behind backstage, as James grabbed Leiah's hand and ran for the side exit, away from the crowd dispersing. A mixture of mostly batarians, there were the odd cases of salarian or even human in the growing number that were soon chasing after them down the stage hallways. Seeing no civilians in the access halls, they pulled out their guns and readily fired back at the growing horde behind them. In the semi-lit straight and narrow corridor that only allowed three people to stand in a row, they met their first locked door. "SHIT!" said FG. "What do we do?!" cried Leiah. "Just shoot to kill, there can't be that many of them!" The horde of aliens advanced as they readily began to open fire, their shots peppering down the halls and with no cover to aid them, the two were perfectly sitting ducks. Crouching as best as they could in the corners to try and avoid some of the shots, they desperately fired back with the odd fire shot from James to further deter them. But they were coming closer, and they knew that they were trapped to the point of James crying: "SOMEONE HELP, SOMEONE GET THIS FUCKING DOOR OPEN! PLEASE!" Help soon came thankfully, in the form of the door opening right behind them as a turian in orange clothes shimmered with yet another layer of orange holographic armour. From greaves to pauldrons, he radiated like a space-age knight as he held up an assault rifle, his face marked with two red vertical lines on each cheek as he commanded: "GET BEHIND ME!" Both James and Leiah desperately ran through the opened door as the turian clicked on his rifle, before firing off an entire clip in the group before him, the tiny pellets shattering through their armour and piercing straight into their flesh. Two of them immediately fell dead, with two more collapsing from their bleeding injuries that blended nicely with their armour. One enemy however had a shield-like forcefield, a blue shimmer flickering over him that deterred the shots somewhat. The turian rectified this by shooting out a hot white spark fraying with blue edges towards the shielded human who suddenly screamed and fell. His shield now gone to flicker out of existence made him easy to take down with a small burst of fire to the head, laying forwards with head in a bloody stew as the turian opened the door behind them. "THIS WAY COME ON!" "WHO ARE YOU!?" asked FG. "THE GUY YOU OWE A FAVOUR TO AFTER WRECKING MY CONCERT!" "WHAT?!" "JUST GO!" Running alongside the turian, the raptor and the quarian could hear the coming onslaught continue from behind them as the hallway roved onwards. Two doors however split the path, the turian taking the left one and bunkering out behind a crate someone had left in the hallway ordering: "Get down!" "Wh-who are you?!" asked Leiah. "We can do introductions later, right now you just do what I say! Norem, you got this!?" "Always," said a voice on the turian's omni-tool.

As the thugs ran straight up towards them, piling through the halls in rows of three before blanketing the doorway with a dozen shots fired, one of their heads suddenly exploded in a violent spray of green blood. A salarian crumpled to the ground as his friends panicked with sudden shock to look all around them. In the rafters above the halls, sharing together as one network of access walkways, was the glint of a sniper rifle that disappeared for its second shot. A human's head imploded, his jaw and neck splitting in one beautiful miniature supernova of red and white. "S-SNIPER!" cried one obvious goon, "SOMEONE GET UP THERE!" With some of the attackers splitting off from the main assault, the pressure was let up as the turian opened fire once again in a spreading scattershot of armor-piercing shots, taking down two more before ducking back behind cover. James and Leiah managed to plug a few of them in the chest, not able to penetrate armour as well as the turian did, but at the very least adding some extra bit of resistance at the oncoming small army of thugs that tried to encroach upon them. Up in the rafters overseeing the entire floor, the sniper laid down in waiting, taking another potshot at a batarian who soon found his head to be in five different places. Then another, then a third and a fourth who managed to dodge just in time to die more slowly upon the floor, shot through the heart as he began to bleed out in gargling pain. It was at this point that a group of three red-armoured punks came up onto the rafters to deal with the sniper, revealing himself as he stood up swiftly. Another turian, same red markings as the orange-suited one below, but wearing black and dark green. "THERE, GET 'IM!" But the sniper wasn't going to go down easy, swiftly turning towards the ambushers and pulling out a heavy pistol. Firing off the entire clip, which only lasted about five shots, he grabbed his rifle and aimed a powerful concussive shot, clicking on a new ammo function that gave it an extra setting. The shot shimmered with a powerful crawling force, shattering the very air around it as a small wave of blue biotic power that crushed their armour inwards. The three enemies fell like dominoes, grunting from the sudden agony exploding inside their organs as the sniper headed onwards. "I'm heading to the next door," he said over comms, "Areh's up ahead waiting for you." "Got it," said the orange turian, "OKAY LET'S GO!"

James and Leiah did not hesitate, running through the now-unlocked door and heading further down the hallway. From above the sniper ran with them, heading as far as he could before the walkways veered off from above towards another direction, which he followed dutifully without question. The turian down below however found himself at the last door within a wider hallway, accompanied by both raptor and quarian who found themselves pressing up against the large double-doors that lead to the back exit of the auditorium. The wider hallway meant bad news since more enemies could stand together as a firing squad upon them. "Alright last one," said the turian, "we get past this and we're home free." "But there's no cover here!" said FG. "And it's locked, what the hell's wrong with this place locking all the doors down!?" "Because we're not staff and we don't have clearance to use these doors, that's why! Areh, you got that door ready?!" "Almost done!" said a young voice over comms. "We got some guys coming up, you think you can fuck with 'em a little?!" "Door's almost ready so just wait okay?!" "Alrighty! Hope you got better at headshots you two, cuz you're gonna need it!" James stood firm with pistol out and ready, remembering to reload swiftly as he popped out a heat sink with Leiah as they began waiting for the oncoming wave of red gang members. At the sight of the rising shadows upon the pale walls of the hallway corner, the door started to click from behind them just before the first dozen thugs appeared. The three escaped further, running out towards a docking area steadfast as the turian said: "AREH, NOW!" From behind them the mob approached, until they found themselves transfixed by a violent electric shock that jolted through the first six out in front. Their omni-tools suddenly overloaded, briefly sparking out a blinding shock that temporarily messed up their senses, causing the ones running ahead of the horde to stop and spasm in place. It was as if they had been hit by an electric baton across their heads, stunning them enough for some of their friends to pile on top of them in a stumbling halt, slamming into each other and falling partway. "NICE ONE AREH!" said the turian to his wrist. "GET BACK TO THE SHIP!" "Way ahead of ya!" said the comms. "Just need to find Jax and we're outta here!" "ALRIGHT! Let's go!" "Wh-where are we going, what ship?!" asked Leiah panickedly. "Just follow me!" The two followed onwards while occasionally firing off behind them, the volley of shots coming from the red-armoured group soon catching up to them. James caught one in the thigh, crying out as he hobbled without slowing down. Leiah kept herself somehow defended by a shielded aura that James never realised she had before. But then the last time any shots were fired at them was back in the combat simulator, seeing also the turian had his own invisible shield that deterred anything being fired towards him.

Eventually the three runners burst onto a small landing platform, a vista openly surveying the wards below where shuttles could bring cargo and passengers to and fro. Currently there was one shuttle hovering before them, waiting for them with doors open wide at the side of its boxy blue form. The other turian in dark green was waiting behind a set of crates, aiming his sniper rifle towards the pursuers behind James and Leiah. The raptor heard the tiniest flitting sound shriek past his ear before a head shattered in half from behind him, ducking two seconds after the fact as he stumbled towards the shuttle. "GET IN!" roared the turian. "EVERYONE HERE?!" "JAX ISN'T HERE!" said a voice inside the shuttle. "WHAT THE HELL'S HE DOING, ORDERING LUNCH!?" "I DUNNO! JAX, WHERE ARE YOU!?" Both Leiah and James ducked out inside the shuttle at the turian's command, hiding behind its door as they tried to peek out with occasional potshots at the approaching enemies. There had to at least be half a dozen, readily taking up their own positions on the other side of the dock. Both turians hid behind crates and fired hard upon them, the two expertly taking out enemies one by one with suppressing fire to deter them, then the perfect shot to the head of any fool who did not duck in time. Only four seemed to remain, hiding behind pillars or back down the hall as pinging shots peppered off the shuttle frame. The pilot of the shuttle was now panicking, as the raptor noticed that it was a quarian in brown and green clothing. His voice cried out more with frustration than actual panic into his omni-tool, screaming: "JAX, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" As if responding to the shrieking quarian's call, a roar of fury came from down the hall. A large shadowy mass barrelled through two of the attackers, a blur of black and yellow that slammed both a batarian and a human straight into the walls near them. A krogan, smooth-headed in youth who grabbed one other human hiding before pounding his fists with such ferocity, that he snapped his neck backwards entirely to the point of almost jutting out of the throat. Hurling the broken-necked thug towards the remaining enemy, who dodged underneath and stupidly ran closer, the krogan pulled out a red-framed shotgun the size of a bastard sword and fired immediately. What remained of the last-standing salarian did not include his legs, before the krogan kicked the head clean off like a football, laughing uproariously before the shuttle pilot said: "JAX! GET INSIDE YOU FUCKING BOSH'TET!"

The krogan sighed and ran towards the shuttle, hopping in along with both turians before they finally launched off, whizzing along the streets as a multitude of skyscrapers passed along the windows. The turians, Leiah and the krogan all sat around him with a pile of crates in the further back storage. James did not get much of a chance to see, but from the cockpit's cramped obscured view it was like the largest forest he had ever seen outside. If they were made of steel. The krogan looked at the two strangers, his massive form dwarfing them even when sitting down, asking: "Aren't you the guy who gatecrashed our concert?" "Uhhhh yeah?" said James anxiously. "Listen, I-" "Save it," said the turian in orange, "wait until we get onboard our ship and you can explain everything there. How long, Areh?" "Thirty minutes," said the quarian pilot. "...would have been earlier if SOMEBODY hadn't been late." "I got a li'l lost!" replied the krogan. "All those hallways look the same dammit!" "I TOLD you to get used to the layout in case we had to evacuate, they always tell you that during a fire emergency or something!" "No one listens to that crap Areh." The quarian's sigh was laced with frustrated anger as he steered stiffly towards a larger docking area. It would be a long awkward flight, the group all looking at each other behind the pilot asking questions silently to themselves. Eventually the turian in dark green asked FG: "Why were those guys chasing you then?" "Um...I may have upset a few people and they...kinda wanna kill me." "Ahhh...bad loans?" "What, no, I...maybe you should explain Leiah." "He picked a fight with one of them and burned a krogan to death." The female quarian's blunt explanation had everyone's eyes turn towards them, minus the pilot who simply cocked his head curiously. James looked at her with silent outrage. "What?! You said I should explain it, that's what happened!" "B-but, not like THAT, now it sounds like my fault!" "Well it wasn't YOUR fault, he could have NOT thrown you out that window." "Well he could have NOT called you a sterile bitch and treated you like trash!" "Woah woah woah calm down," said the orange-clad turian, "let's just...rewind a bit, did she just say you...like, you the guy not wearing armour, you killed a krogan?" "Uh...yeah?" "Ohhhh I'm gonna enjoy hearing this," said the krogan in the room. By the time they were done explaining, the shuttle had reached the docking area of the true ships of the citadel. Rows upon rows of beautifully pristine ships coming in all sorts of celestial colours, lined up and waiting alongside ships of blue, red and silver sheen. White brimming birds hovering at rest within a gigantic forcefield, crimson carriers and sapphire vessels reporting for duty. Even if this was the special civilian area of the shipyard, it was still an impressive sight to behold as James peered upon them all.

Eventually they rode their way down towards a smooth-looking ship, silver in appearance but not shining purely. It resembled a bird certainly, moreso than the other ships did with thick sculpted wings that while seemed aerodynamic, had a thickness in them to denote they weren't exactly hollow. The main body more vertical than horizontal in its mass, hanging down with some width to remain slenderly symmetrical with the rest of the ship lining. "Woaaaah," said Leiah. "That's...your ship?" "Sure is," said the turian in green, "the Centurion Eagle." "It...it looks so beautiful...but it...kinda looks weird for a-" "Turian ship?" "...yeah." "It's not. Human design actually, we bought it when someone abandoned it because they got tired of the private lifestyle. Formerly owned by some rich Earth millionaire with more credits than sense." "So hold on," said FG, "we just escaped a horde of thugs to get picked up by a rock band in their private ship?" "...mhm." "...well I've been in worse situations and far as this goes, this is pretty damn lucky of us. I never got to tell you before but, thanks for saving our lives back there." "No problem," said the orange turian. "Once we get all settled down we can introduce ourselves...since you uh, don't quite know who we are?" "Nope." "Really? ...like, seriously?" "No idea, sorry." "Dammit, I told you those billboards were a waste of time!" "I said that too!" said the quarian pilot. "Was worth a try," said the turian in green. "We had billboards?" asked the krogan. Once the shuttle headed into port, they transferred to the Centurion Eagle while transporting their cargo, carrying them one by one which Leiah and James offered to help with. Mainly they were instruments and technical equipment, of which they were carried with caution before being put down inside the main hub of the ship. Or rather, the entrance/living room which greeted them with a smooth salmon-pink carpet, a retro lighting fixture and a pit in the centre where a circle of seats sat within. Doorways went in four different directions, a kitchen visible through one end.

The quarian of the rock group immediately began to move some of the crates, the krogan simply flopped down onto three chairs and sighed happily, whilst the turians looked over the two newcomers who gazed around the ship interior with awe. "Wooooow," said Leiah, "this is a nice place! I never thought I'd be travelling with a rock band!" "Who said you were?" said the turian in green. "We were just letting you sleep things off here until the heat dies down. I mean, no offence but you were responsible for breaking up our concert." "I'm really sorry about what happened, we didn't know, we just ran to the nearest door trying to hide from them! We didn't mean to wreck your concert, we did our best and tried not to even while you were singing but...one of them pulled a gun at me and James just went for him." "It's alright, least no one died...no one that didn't deserve it that is. Though considering they were Blood Pack, those guys are not gonna forget a grudge anytime soon." "We're really sorry, can we do anything to make up for it?" "Naaah it's fine," said the orange turian, "woulda been worse if it happened at the start of the show but we got our money and the fans heard most of it. So it could be worse." "So who are you guys?" asked FG. "I mean, I really don't know anybody here so I got an excuse if you guys are like super-famous or something." "Allow me to introduce ourselves. That guy in the suit's Areh'Narohl, keyboard player and master sound designer. That big pile of meat is Krungut Jax, our drummer and muscle. The uglier turian over there is my brother Norem. And this..." The orange-clothed turian flipped open a crate to pull out his guitar, a shimmering six-stringed length with a multi-circular body that he made sing a howling echo of electronics. "...is Lirem Hallaher...and we are, the Sole Calibrators!" James and Leiah stared at each other with uncertainty, as the turian in dark green added: "Ignore him, he always loved his own solos." "Hey my solos are awesome, this thing in my hands has made more girls wet than an exploding pipeline!" "Gas or water?" said the krogan with a chuckle. "Whatever, point is, you're rocking with one of the coolest underrated bands out there in the whole galaxy, rated fifty-first in non-mainstream groups according to Anti-Nebula magazine." "Fifty-second," corrected Areh in passing. "Wha-no it was fifty-first." "Fifty-first was Nuclear Nessie, you know, that human band." "Ugh, right, fine, fifty-second, POINT IS...you're lucky to be here you two. So enjoy it while it lasts." "We sure are," said Leiah kindly. "Thank you again for helping us back there, we could have been killed!" "No prob," said Lirem, "but uh...considering you DID cost us the show, I mean it was the end anyway so it's not that big a problem but...hoooo the boss is not gonna like this." "The boss?" asked FG. "Aw god I really hope this doesn't ruin shit for ya." "It's not ruined, don't worry! We still got our money and it was at the end so no one'll blame us. But uh, why didya pick with a fight with that krogan guy in the first place?" "He talked shit about my friend and treated her like shit, I'm not letting him get away with that!" "Heh, well aren't you a fine upstanding uh...dude, what are you anyway?" "I'm a velociraptor. I know, unique and all, I can explain later if you want." "Hmmm...Areh, you know what a velociraptor is?" "Uh, no?" replied Areh. "...huh, well now I KNOW you're a mystery but I seen weirder. Nice to see you're an upstanding kinda guy." "Until he threw a glass at the back of his head," added Leiah. "HAH, really?! ...wow, that's...pretty stupid." "I never was the smartest person," said FG with an odd pride, "but I sure haven't died yet." "Maybe you should stick to gambling," said Norem in dark green, "if your luck's that stupid you'd be more well-off that way." "Maybe...so uhhhh...what now?" "Right now we're bound to get an incoming call from our boss, so why don't you two just take some time out and relax while we get things going and just fly out here? Jax, why don't you give them a tour?" "Ugh, why me?" asked the krogan. "I just sat down already, why do I have to babysit?" "Because you lost our money when we had to pay for that hotel room, now get." "UUUGH fiiiine...heh...still worth it. Come on squirts, lemme show ya around."

Waving them over towards him, both raptor and quarian followed Krungut Jax further into the layout of the ship, with Areh'Narohl passing back and forth constantly putting things away in separate rooms. Most of the rooms were self-explanatory. Two bathrooms, a kitchen, a bar, a game room full of hi-tech as well as a fantastically impressive TV screen, storage, maintenance, and six bedrooms all lined up in the same hallway but at different points. Jax pointed out the various rooms without opening, which were easily noted enough by the door markings of magnetised plates showing various interests and the odd "KEEP OUT" sign. "That's Lirem's room, an' that's Norem's right beside it. That one is mine and that one way down there is Areh's. You can't get in our rooms unless you got clearance from us or we're in there, but uh...if Areh's in his room, and ya hear music, DON'T knock." "Why?" asked James. "He handles the music fer us, so if anyone interrupts him there'll be hell to pay, he does NOT like being disturbed." "He seems to have a hell of a short fuse...not that I'm complaining, I'm not exactly cool-headed myself." "Hehehe...yeah...alright, here's yer rooms down here." "Pretty lucky you had two rooms to spare," said Leiah, "I mean one would have been fine for both of us." "Ehhh the guy who last owned this had a family, sorta wanted a mobile home to live in space." "Awwwww...that sounds so lovely, was it because he wanted his family to wake up to a whole new cluster of stars every morning?" "No, cuz you can't tax vehicles in space." "...oh." The rooms that were unoccupied for both James and Leiah to use were completely cleared out, minus a bed and a desk that had a computer sitting upright upon it. It was certainly better than nothing, giving them the most basic of needs that one needed within the galaxy as Leiah said: "Wow it looks lovely! A little stark though, could use some colour." "Or a few posters," said FG. "Maybe some lamps." "If ya have anything to decorate go fer it," replied Jax, "I mean...I dunno how long yer here fer so might as well settle in, unless you got some place to go." "Uhhhh neither of us do, we're pretty much homeless." "Heh...right. Well uh, I'm gonna take a nap before the boss wants to talk to us so have fun." "Alrighty thanks man." As the krogan headed off back towards the main area, both raptor and quarian smiled at each other before checking out each of their rooms. They were certainly prime living conditions, not particularly fancy but far better than anything that vagrants could want back on the citadel wards. They had nothing to decorate with of course, so instead they just placed down their separate inventories and began to relax finally. Both of them lied on their new beds enjoying what little time they had here, before whatever circumstances would boot them back out into the galaxy. James was especially uncertain, not even sure on how long he would have such a time of respite and peace before the next event would send him out. Being passengers aboard a rock band's private ship wasn't exactly what he was planning to do on his journey. But instead he simply laid back on the bed with its crisp untouched sheets, drifting into the best sleep he ever had for the past three weeks. It felt even better once he realised that he now no longer had some demon's influence weighing down upon his soul anymore. Even more did he realise that he was now on a ship that was soon departing from the Citadel, meaning he could now put even more distance between him and it, it being safely stored away back at Citadel Security within an impenetrable vault. For once, he had leapt out of the fire and not into the frying pan, cutting free the one deepest dark binding of his soul as he allowed it to breathe free, for the first time in one year. "Good...fucking...riddance."