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"How're you feeling?" Chula said, keeping her voice low as she leaned against the wall beside the door to the clean room.

"Better," Lia said, still sounding a bit run-down, but far stronger than she'd been when she came aboard. "Much better, actually. Still aching all over and a bit light-headed now and then, but it's a big improvement."

"Glad to hear that."

"How long have I been here?"

"A week."

"Keelah." Lia sat up slowly and took a few deep breaths. "I only remember half of it."

"I'm not surprised. You were pretty messed up."

"I must've been." Lia scooted off the examination table, gave herself a moment to be sure she could maintain her balance, and walked over to the bench. "Actually, I'm still pretty screwed up. I mean...the geth bought me." She shuddered, leaned on the bench, and shook her head. "I'm their slave."

"Lia, take it easy. If they hadn't bought you, you might've died. Or at the very least, never completed your Pilgrimage. Now you have a fighting chance."

"Maybe." Lia sighed, cleared her throat, and tried to focus on her neatly folded protective suit.

"I cleaned and sterilized your suit."

"Oh, thank you."

"You're welcome. Now, I bet you're ready to get the hell out of that clean room."

"Oh, absolutely."

"Okay, once you put your suit back on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew and give you a tour of the Sulaco."

Lia nodded and began putting her suit on. A few minutes later, she clicked her faceplate on, booted up her suit's computer system, ran a quick diagnostic and checked her suit seals. After finding everything in order, she stepped into the airlock and out into the main medical bay.

"I imagine you still have a few questions you'd like answered," Chula said as she led Lia through the corridor outside the med-bay.

Lia raised her hands, let them fall, and shook her head. "Yeah, but I don't even know where to start."

"Well, when the geth offered to let me stay on their ship, I figured it was best to start with them." Chula opened a hatch and led her into another corridor.

"Yeah, that's a good point. So, what's the deal with them?"

"Well, you know they've kept themselves isolated ever since the exodus from our homeworld, but recently they built a specialized platform--the one called Legion--to venture outside the Perseus Veil and have a look around. They were curious about organics and wanted to study us. And, I think, they were interested in Commander Shepard in particular. Legion ended up on his ship, and has been there ever since."

"I vaguely remember the geth--uh, Weyland, I mean--saying something about Legion while treating my illness."

Chula nodded. "From what I've been told about the Normandy, they had a few close calls. The geth realized that if their only platform outside geth space was lost before it could back itself up, some crucial information could be lost forever. So they decided to send out a couple more to continue their studies; while Legion helps Shepard save the galaxy from some cosmic horror that's gearing up to invade, Weyland and Yutani are just cruising around, satisfying their curiosity."

"Huh. So, they're studying us by buying slaves?"

"That was my idea. I figured the most important thing was to get you out of your little jam. The geth seemed to genuinely want to help."

"Right."

Chula laughed softly and opened another hatch. "I felt the same way at first. But they didn't have to help you, and they didn't have to rescue me when I was bleeding all over the deck of my ship. As I said when we met, I can't help having my suspicions, but I figure I owe them the benefit of the doubt as much as I owe them my life."

"Okay, valid point, I guess." Lia followed her into a large room with a half-dozen tables in the center and a small kitchen at the far end. "Yeah, I guess if all they wanted was to study organics, they wouldn't have gotten involved in anyone's affairs, even to save a life."

"Right. I think one of the reasons they're here is to show the rest of the galaxy that their intentions are good. If what I've heard about the Reapers is true, then everyone will need to be united to stand against them, quarians and geth included. Peace between us and the geth is unlikely if someone doesn't make the first move. And it doesn't look like our leadership is willing to make an effort."

"Speaking of which...do you think the rumors are true?" Lia dropped her voice to a whisper. "I mean, is the Admiralty Board really considering a first strike against the geth?"

"It sure looks that way. The geth say they don't want a fight, but obviously they'll defend themselves if attacked. I don't want our people to become extinct, and I'm afraid that's exactly what'll happen if they try to take the homeworld by force." Chula sighed and shook her head. "So I hope the 'PR campaign' works. If they're really willing to coexist with us, and if our leaders aren't too thick-skulled to make an equal effort...well, I have to hope it can happen."

"Yeah. I want there to still be a Flotilla to return to once I finish my Pilgrimage."

"Hey, Chula."

She turned and found one of the human crew members taking a seat at the table nearest the kitchen. She waved and walked over to him.

"Hi, Quint."

He grimaced, shook his head, and brushed his long, blonde hair away from his face. "You know, I'm not really comfortable with that nickname now that I know what it means in a certain context."

She chuckled and nodded at Lia. "Quint, this is our newest addition to the crew, Lia'Vael nar Ulnay. Lia, this is our tech specialist, Quentin Bork."

"Hi." He smiled up at her. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Lia glanced at Chula and back to Quentin. "So, how did you get that nickname, if I may ask?"

A low-pitched yet still feminine voice came from the right. "He got it from me."

Chula and Lia turned to find a krogan approaching them, holding a tray piled with a mountain of food. She sat across from Quentin, put her tray down, and reached out to clap Lia on the shoulder. "How ya doin'?"

"Uh, much better now, thanks."

Chula laughed again. "Lia, this is Dakka, one of our heavy hitters."

The krogan tossed off a jaunty salute and pointed at the chair beside her. "Have a seat. The nickname thing is a hell of a story."

"Oh, shit," Quentin grumbled.

"I never get tired of hearing it." Chula took a seat beside Quentin.

"It's fuckin' glorious!" Dakka grinned.

"Okay, this I've got to hear." Lia sat beside Dakka.

"Okay," Dakka said with a boisterous laugh, "check this out."

Quentin muttered something, sighed, and picked up his coffee mug. "Oh, yay."

#

Virmire, one month ago...

"Where the hell did they come from?" Dakka pushed the nearest survivor into cover behind a stack of crates and waved her arm, urging the seven other humans to hide as well. She crouched behind the end crate and peeked around, scowling at the approaching geth platforms and the Colossus behind them.

"Heretics, maybe?" Quentin ducked behind the crate on the far end, gripped his Locust SMG in both hands, and leaned out just far enough to take a quick look at the dozens of mechs marching toward them with plasma rifles ready to fire.

"I thought they'd been handled already."

"Maybe these guys didn't get the patch." Quentin opened a comm channel. "Chula, we might need some backup."

"Kinda busy at the moment," Chula grunted over the sound of assault rifles and shotguns discharging. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Dakka snarled. Hired to chase off the pirates so these humans can build their colony in peace, and a quarian's the only one of us actually doing it. Should be me there, and her here.

On the other hand, she and Quentin were about to fight off several dozen killbots, so maybe it wasn't so bad after all. "How many batarians and vorcha do you think she's facing?"

"Well, if they stick to their usual pattern, I'd guess between fifty and a hundred."

Oh. Fuck. "That's not good."

"Yeah. I almost feel sorry for those guys."

Dakka shot a "WTF?" look at him, then shrugged.

He holstered his Locust and tapped a command into his Omni-Tool. "I'll see what I can do about the geth."

"Let me check something. Maybe they're not hostile." Dakka stood and waved. "Hi, guys. You here to help us or kill us?"

A hail of plasma bolts splattered against her shield. She crouched behind the crate and laughed. "That's the right answer!"

Quentin glanced at her, shook his head, and continued working with his Omni-Tool.

The eight survivors huddled between them, pale and trembling.

Dakka yanked both Revenant rifles from her back, sprang out from behind the crate, and hosed down the nearest geth, wearing their shields down and blasting chunks of metal off their bodies until she finally started hitting vital components. Sparks erupted from the holes she'd just punched through them, power sources exploded, and the geth toppled over, some thudding into the sand and others splashing into the shallow river between them and the survivors.

The rifles clicked but didn't fire, and she ducked behind the crate again. She popped out the spent thermal clips and the guns automatically chambered fresh ones. She scooted to the side, stood, jumped up over the top crate in the center, and blasted another half-dozen platforms into scrap.

At the same moment, three others shuddered, froze, and then turned their guns on other nearby geth, who adjusted their aim to deal with the new threat.

Laughing again, Dakka blew a concussive shot into one of the distracted mechs, knocking it off its feet and crashing it into a group of four beyond it. Before the rest could recover, she sprayed another hail of bullets into the geth, cutting five more of them down.

Quentin's hack wore off and the geth resumed their attack. Dakka dropped back behind the crates before her shields could fail. She checked the counters on her guns and growled.

"Those were my last clips; one gun's empty, the other's got one shot left." She arched a brow ridge at Quentin, who was--inexplicably--stretched out on the beach with his ankles crossed, tapping commands into his Omni-Tool. "Huh. Think I can get 'em all to stand in a line?"

"Don't worry about it," Quentin muttered.

She stared at him. "Oh, right, like you've got everything under control."

"I'm working on it." He continued operating his Omni-Tool.

"Of course. What're you gonna do, stop 'em by pretending they don't exist?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna blow up the Colossus. That's all." He smirked at her and continued tapping.

Splashing sounds--the mobile platforms marching across the river.

"Oh, blow up the Colossus. Sure. Why didn't I think of that?'

Quentin stood, pushed one last control, and stepped out into the open. He grinned and extended his middle finger. "Buddy, you just got Borked."

The platforms hesitated, possibly sensing something was a little off. The Colossus prepared to fire, building up a charge and drawing its head back.

"Uh, Quentin, what the fuck are you doing?" Dakka stomped over to him and reached out to grab his arm.

The Colossus's main gun reached critical--and exploded, ripping the top two-thirds of its body apart and shredding most of the smaller platforms with its shrapnel. The shockwave knocked the crates over and Dakka scrambled to prop them up before they could fall on anyone. Quentin staggered backward, tripped over a boulder, and fell on his ass.

Dakka stared at the carnage in the river and beyond, shaking her head slowly, stunned but instinctively counting the number of platforms that were still active, currently trying to pick themselves up.

Fourteen.

She turned and walked over to Quentin, took his hand and helped him back to his feet. Her hearts fluttered, a wave of giddiness almost made her stagger, and a beatific grin spread across her face.

"Dude, you've got a fuckin' quint!" She bellowed a laugh, clapped him on the shoulder, almost knocking him over, and charged out into the river to finish off the rest of the geth.

Quentin, chuckling, pointed his Omni-tool at the geth and overloaded their shields. Dakka fired a concussive shot from each Revenant, caving in the heads of two platforms, dropped the guns and started crushing metal skulls with her fists. When she'd finished, she strode back to Quentin, prodded him in the chest with a finger, and giggled.

"When we get back to the Sulaco, I am gonna have so much sex with you!"

His jaw dropped as she motioned for the survivors to follow her and radioed for pickup.

"Wh...what?"

#

Lia laughed so hard that she started coughing again. She slumped over the table and a large hand rubbed her back.

"Hey, you okay?" Dakka said.

"Yeah. Just...give me a moment." She continued coughing, but finally it subsided and she drew a cautious breath. "Guess my lungs aren't fully recovered yet."

"You need anything?" Chula said softly, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"I'll be okay. Thanks." She took a few more ragged breaths and turned back to Dakka. "So, was that some sort of krogan marriage proposal?"

"Whatever it takes to get him into my bed." Dakka shrugged.

Quint sighed, rubbed his hands over his face, and chugged some of his coffee.

"So, I'm guessing he didn't take you up on your offer?"

"Nah. But I had to get it out of my system, so I spent half the night masturbating relentlessly."

Lia burst out laughing and it immediately turned into another coughing fit.

"Okay, looks like you'll need a little more time to recover." Chula waited for Lia to get her breathing back under control, and nodded at the hatch at the far end of the mess hall. "I'll show you to your quarters. You won't have to begin your work here until morning, if you're well enough by then."

"No, I'm okay. I want to do what I was brought here to do."

"It won't kill you to wait one more night. Come on."

Lia sighed. "Well...alright. Guess I'll see you all in the morning, then."

"Sure. Take it easy." Dakka waved and resumed shoveling food into her mouth.

"Goodnight." Quint smiled, nodded, and finished his coffee.

"I hope Weyland and Yutani won't mind if I'm not pulling my weight yet," Lia mumbled as she followed Chula across the room.

"We understand your medical condition," an oddly feminine yet distinctly geth-sounding voice said from the left. Lia turned and spotted a platform that had to be Yutani leaning out of the kitchen.

Lia stared. The geth's body was very clearly female.

It raised a hand. "Hello."

"Uh...hi."

"Take as much recovery time as you need. Inform us when you are ready for duty."

"Um...thank you. I should be well enough by tomorrow. I think I just need a good night's sleep without the assistance of antibiotics and other drugs."

"Acknowledged. Goodnight." Yutani turned back to the pot of soup to its right and resumed stirring.

"G..goodnight." Lia turned and hurried into the corridor. She looked at Chula, pointed at the hatch, and whispered, "Did I really see that?"

"Yeah. It's one of the geth's social experiments. They're studying gender roles and perceptions, trying to find out if sexes are viewed any differently. Or something." She shrugged. "Maybe they're wondering if there's a point to having two sexes aside from reproduction. Not sure if they'll get any useful data, though; as far as I know, it's been at least a couple centuries since males and females on any world were treated differently, aside from the krogan and salarians."

"Huh. Okay." Lia shook her head, shrugged, and continued on until Chula stopped outside a door. "Oh, speaking of the geth, I forgot to ask why all those platforms were on Virmire. I mean, it's been two years since Saren and his army were there."

"The Heretic geth who followed Saren were rewritten just a few weeks ago; they're now part of the geth collective again. Weyland and Yutani think there are a few isolated groups of Heretics who haven't synced up and received the update yet; the ones on Virmire might've returned to retrieve equipment they left behind two years ago, or who knows, maybe they were there all along, watching and waiting."

"Creepy."

"Yeah." Chula opened the door and waved her inside. "These are your quarters."

Lia stepped through the door and gasped. She'd heard people describe larger rooms than this as "small," but...

"This is...like...cavernous!"

Chula chuckled. "Compared to what we grew up with in the Migrant Fleet, it sure is. Takes some getting used to, but you know what? I don't think I could go back to living the way I did on the Idenna. I still want to do everything I can to help our people, but I think I'd go nuts if I had to give all this up."

"Guess I can understand that." Lia walked slowly past the small round table, padded chairs and couch in the front part of the room, and stopped at the foot of the bed. The enormous bed.

"The humans call it 'king size'." Chula stuck her hands into her coat pockets, leaned her left shoulder against the wall, and laughed. "I'm not sure exactly what that means, but I just think of it as 'fuckin' big.'"

Lia giggled. "Yeah, that works quite nicely." She reached out and brushed her right hand over the mattress, and her suit's neuro-stim system transferred the tactile sensations to her palm. "Oh...this is wonderful!"

"I thought you'd like it. Beats the hell out of the roll-up mat you slept on in that shelter for so long, doesn't it?"

Lia nodded, still laughing softly, and lowered herself slowly onto the bed. She sank into it and spent a moment squeezing the edge of the mattress with her hands.

"Well, I'll let you get settled in." Chula pointed at the control panels beside the bed. "If you have trouble falling asleep, I've found some soothing sounds in the media center. Gray noise, flowing rivers, gentle winds, that sort of thing."

"Oh, thanks. Being in so many places that run quietly, I keep having nightmares about ventilation systems malfunctioning or engines going into catastrophic shutdown. Haven't had a good night's sleep since I started my Pilgrimage."

"I had the same problem. I've found that the sound of wind in trees does a pretty good job of relaxing me."

"I'll try that. Thanks."

Chula tipped her hat and headed for the door.

Huh. I've got to ask her about her choice of clothing sometime. Then another thought occurred to her. "Oh, one thing I didn't think to ask in the mess hall. Dakka mentioned that you were fighting off batarian pirates on Virmire while she and Quint escorted the survivors to the shuttle. I forgot to ask what happened on your end."

"Well, as you might guess, I survived. Dunno how many batarians and vorcha there were; didn't exactly take the time to count 'em." Chula shrugged. "They wouldn't stop shooting at me, so I just kept killing 'em until none were left. And here I am."

"Whoa."

Chula laughed again. "I'll have to tell you all about it sometime. But for now, I'll let you get some rest. Well, some non-medicated rest, which is the best kind."

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Chula stepped into the hallway and the door closed.

Lia sat for another moment, running her hands over the mattress. She still had so many questions. Such as, what was a female krogan doing off Tuchanka? Especially such a young one--the krogan equivalent of late teens, probably.

Oh, well, maybe I'll find out tomorrow. She slid farther onto the bed, flopped onto her back, and laid her head on the pillow. Ohhhhhh...this is heavenly!

Then a disquieting thought struck her. I nearly died and I've come back from the brink, I have a chance to continue my Pilgrimage, I'm going to sleep on the biggest, most comfortable bed I've ever laid my eyes on...and I have the geth to thank for it.

She sighed and reached over to the console.

Yeah, Lia, good luck falling asleep now_._