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James had always wondered what Earth would look like in a world such as this, a bright spanning galaxy with a dozen different species all coalescing into one melting pot of mild distrust. Somehow he was not disappointed. Landing in a snowy space port at Stockholm, Sweden, the Sole Calibrators had accompanied some representatives of Jormangund Technologies in order to cover the recent invasion on Intai'sei, mainly involving company policies and reparations. The group were given extra compensation as thanks for the escort. With an opportunity to explore the homeworld of humanity, they took in the sights and spent a little money on themselves after paying their usual monthly debts. The high-rise skyscrapers were not as clean or shiny as the ones on the Citadel, but they had a certain obliqueness that was very particular of mankind's architecture. Tall, imposing and rigid, stern with determination to reach further beyond the stars. But that didn't mean the place was unwelcome, the raptor sitting with his friends at an outside cafe upon a seaside promenade, as the snow lightly fluttered down all around them. The buildings of Stockholm seemed to be incredibly old, and had been preserved as best as possible with their original stone and mortar. Cobbled streets still remained, with cafes still as quaint and European like always making James feel rather wistful of yesteryear, sitting outside and sharing drinks with Koopin. The cafe they were outside of was a brown-and-white affair giving it a chocolate look that was bound to make people hungry. Lirem and Norem grabbed themselves some dextro-amino candy bars along with some frappuccinos, James enjoyed some mocha coffee whilst Leiah and Areh sampled more traditional coffee despite again the dextro-amino design. Jax simply ate a whole plate of biscuits. Humans walked back and forth as the greatest majority of their homeworld, but there was the rare sight of an asari or a turian walking by as well, either on a business meeting or with their beloved partner. James made a mental game to himself as he tried to guess "Business or Pleasure" at every alien passing by, chuckling to himself while his friends admired the view. The North Sea was tumultuous, with a violent beauty that made it more resemble the Arctic Sea farther north, waves crashing against the much higher walls the city now built itself upon.

"I forgot the sea level rose," said FG, "they mentioned that in class once that everything was much lower back in the old days but I never noticed." "Even in your world?" asked Leiah. "I'm not sure, we had that fallout once and things kinda dried up back down so...never know." "Where were you born again?" "London. I'm real glad we didn't have to go there by the way." "Why?" asked Lirem. "Got a problem with it?" "Just...fuck that place, I just never wanna go back again, let it burn for all I care." "Wow, cold." "Yeah it is," said Areh blankly, "kinda freezing a bit here." "Need a hug?" said Jax. "N-no...no hugging, you know the rules." "I know, no worries...heheheh. I always wanted to go to Earth, least once in my life, see where all the humans came from." "Definitely a lot different to my Earth," replied FG, "...mine wasn't as shiny for starters." "Hmhmhaha...yer a weird little dude arentcha?" "Like that's news to you?" "Nope, just like to note it." "I'm just glad they had dextro foods," said Norem, "I really didn't expect them to. This place is nice though, what's it called again?" "Stockholm," said Lirem. "People are pretty great, though there's a lotta turian-like names around here. Magnusson, Mortensen-" "How is that anything like a turian name?" asked James. "They totally don't sound like that." "No? Come on, Hallaher, that totally sounds like it's from around here." "No it doesn't." "What's your last name then?" "Campbell, it's British." "...yeah that sounds pretty human I guess." "Well Jax sounds kinda human." "Whut?" asked Jax. "You know, Jax, first name Krungut." "...Krungut's not my first name dude." "Huh?" "That's my clan name. Jax is my first name, you never knew?" "Oh...that's how you guys do it, alright then. ...OH, um, Leiah got my recorder working on this omni-tool, you guys mind if I have you all in it? You know, for memories." "Uhhhh sure, I don't mind." "Me either," said Lirem. "Same," said Norem. "Who's it for?" asked Areh curiously. "Uhhh no one really," said FG, "but I had this idea that I could show my travels to my boyfriend when I get back to him, so yanno, it'd be nice for him to see all the friends I made. That okay by you?" "Sure!" said the Sole Calibrators. James readily loaded up the omni-tool's recorder and introduced the setting. "So this is...an alternative Earth I guess to the one I used to live in, we're at a pretty cold place called Stockholm in the country of Sweden. Uhhh...and these are the guys I've been travelling with, in a much nicer winter setting for the fashion catalogue this year." "Hahaha," said Areh smirking, "I'm still freezing by the way." "So, you mind introducing yourselves while out in this nice weather?" "Alright," said the first turian. "I'm Lirem Hallaher, head of this little ragtag buncha guys, main guitarist, singer, ladykiller-" He clicked with his tongue with a sexy point and wink. "-and a damn good shot with a rifle." "And I'm Norem," said the second, "I'm this idiot's brother and I'm a sniper expert. Also handle the bass, songwriting and a little bit of the money better than most." "I'm Areh," said the quarian, "I'm the keyboard guy and I handle some of the songs." "An' I'm Jax!" said the krogan. "I'm the big guy, the drummer, the heavy lifter, the number one brawler of this band who'll kick anybody's ass into space dust!" "So basically the drummer," said FG, "right, cool story bro." "Heh, hey, s'what I do." "How much of this uh...world," asked Lirem, "have ya got on that thing?" "Some?" replied James. "But I've been meaning to show more of it." "Right, just that if you wanted to show someone a far-off galaxy it's not exactly great to start here down on Earth, right?" "Hah, good point I guess. I'm sure we'll have other places to be." "Sure ya will," said Jax, "we been crossin' all over the galaxy fer the past two years or somethin', no wait, three. Three wuz it?" They all nodded back at him. "Right three...yanno...I think I remember having a cousin livin' here...there a place called Glasgow nearby?" "You mean...Glasgow, Scotland?" asked FG. "Yeah!" "I...think it's across the ocean, why?" "Hah, just curious, I have a cousin who plays rugby in Glasgow, got hired up an' became a real league guy." "Oh that's awesome-wait...krogans play rugby?!" "AND American Football! Tellin' you that shit is the BEST!" James started laughing at the idea of krogans playing such a sport, whilst Leiah took this opportunity to pop in while he was distracted with a curious question, snow falling upon their heads softly. Jax especially looked like a snowy mountain, a small avalanche dropping off the side of his tanned peach skin as he turned towards Leiah who asked: "How did your cousin end up doing that?" "Can't remember...I'll have to ask my dad, or my pappy, either one of 'em'll know." "Wait, your dad OR your pappy?" "Yeah, I got two dads." "Wait, TWO?!" "Yeah." "Like...they were a couple?" "Um, yeah, that's why they're two dads, duh."

James contained his giggling at this news, looking rather surprised at hearing this and forgetting to turn his recorder off. "Wait really?! Wow I never knew." "Hey you never asked." "Oh wow...what happened to your mom?" "I dunno, I never asked. But my actual dad raised me all on his own when I wuz real young, then he fell in love with this other guy, my pappy, an' they been together fer like four-hundred years." "Awwww," said Leiah, "that's so sweet! You still talk to them?" "Oh yeah, when I can, they're real busy with stuff so...yeah, when I can I try to. And before you ask, no I'm not gay." "...why would you be?" "People seem to think I am just cuz my dads are. Well, one is bi but still, it's kinda weird. I mean, straight parents can end up with a gay kid so why not the reverse?" "Makes sense," said FG, "still...two more dads than I ever had." "Yeah?" "Yeah I was an orphan, I never knew my parents." "That sucks." "Ehh. So what are your dads like?" "Well my pappy, the one that's not my dad, is really the female of the house, practically treats me like a mom would, always cookin', cleanin'. Dad fixes things and taught me how to fight. Hell both of 'em taught me to fight even." "Do they know about your high-roller lifestyle as a drummer for the Sole Calibrators?" "Heh, yeah, an' the merc stuff too. Pappy always worries about me, which reminds me, we TOTALLY have to go visit 'em Areh." "H-huh?!" said Areh. "Yeah I told 'em all about you, they said they'd love to meet my best friend." "R-really? Oh...that's cool! Um...if we ever get time and we're in the area I wouldn't...mind." "I'll tell pappy not to hug ya, he tends to be a real grabber." "Ohh." "Anyways, how about your parents Leiah?" "Me?" she replied. "Oh well, mom works as a cook feeding people round her ship, and dad's a mechanic surprise surprise. They're doing well, hoping I come home soon with a pilgrimage gift...and a male...maybe." "Hehehe, right. Wonder whut they'd say about a krogan?" "Wh-what do you mean?!" "Ha ha ha, just kiddin'! Wuz thinkin' how if Areh visits my dad an' pappy, whut would the reverse be like? Like if I went to see your parents Areh." "W-w-woah woah," panicked Areh, "what's these visiting plans we got all a sudden?!" "Nothin' just chattin', we're not makin' plans pal." "Right heh...um...well I'd have to finish my pilgrimage too but I've just been running with the band for so long I...kinda haven't considered going back."

"Wait REALLY?!" cried Leiah. "You don't wanna go back?!" "Not that I don't WANT to I mean...I'm kinda having a good life here with my friends, I'm useful and...I get to do stuff, I get privacy, and I don't feel so...useless." "HEY-EY-EY don't say that!" said Jax. "No one ever thinks that!" "He's right Areh," said Norem, "considering you wrote half our songs since you came on board with us, I'd call you practically half the band." The quarian blushed nervously with a rub to his head, the krogan beside him chuckling as he laid back on his chair slightly. James however was tempted to ask more on their family units, asking both brothers: "What about your family then? I never heard much on them." "Well we have a mom," said Norem, "dad's not with us anymore, couple of years ago." "Aw sorry." "It's fine," said Lirem bluntly. "We've not been back home in a while," said Norem, "but we still talk to her at least...mostly." "That's good," said James. "...heh...it's funny, but so far you're the most normal people I ever made friends with." "Haha, really?" "Yeah I mean, I been to many other worlds and god, the freaks I met...great people but...still, I mean the last world I was in I made friend with the two dumbest robots you ever saw!" "Wait, like geth?" asked Leiah. "No no not geth, these were different, badniks I think they were called. One was tall and lanky and slightly stupid but had a hell of a chip on his shoulder, the other was squat, short and dumb as a brick. But they were good together...somehow, we made a good team once we got our shit together." "How many of these worlds are there that you've been to?" "...pffft...two dozen maybe?" "Keelah..." "You know we mostly don't believe you right?" said Areh. "Areh!" "Well seriously, one world I can understand but two dozen?! That's just stretching it a little, least the reapers came from ONE place." "You don't know that, they said they came from deep space!" "I know but-" "Leiah it's fine," said FG, "it's okay if you don't believe me, I'm just telling you what happened and I'm not saying anything else. I kinda dunno what else I can say to make it more believeable, I think actually lying at this point would make it more believeable." "What I don't get," replied Lirem, "is how you managed to get to all these places without a ship of some kind. You said teleportation right?" "Yep, nanomachines son." "Heheheh...I wonder if we'll ever get a demonstration of that." "Only if I don't find what I need in this galaxy. If I can't find a way for someone to send me straight home, I'm gone." "And the reason you can't go back is because?" "I don't got the coordinates for where I came from." "Ahhhh...okay, sure, that makes sense. SO, howsabout we walk around the place before we get back to our ship?" "Hold up," said Norem, "we gotta wait for Mr. Alvarne to call us, he said we might be able to help him with something else." "Oh yeah...we did tell the boss right?" "Mmhmm." "Well then...who wants more coffee?" "I recommend the mocha," said James, "it was a lot fresher than the rest of the stuff here." "How do you know that?" asked Jax. "I used to work in a coffee bar, for a year at least. Same with a regular bar really." "Welp, amma get some mocha, you want anythin' Areh?" "Nah I'm good." "Alright be right back."

Ordering another round, they talked while waiting as the North Sea lashed upon the higher walls of the city of Stockholm, eventually receiving a call from the CEO of Jormangund known as Mr. Alvarne. They received a rather particular mission that would take them out and away from the nippy climate of Earth and off towards a far more sweltering atmosphere. Far towards the east of Earth, lying towards the outer southeast rim of the galaxy, was the Voyager Cluster. Long ago in the cradle of mankind's technology in the 20th century, it had been a symbol of man's curiosity and intrigue in their attempts to grasp the infinity of space. Now it was just as mysterious but to every other race out there, as the Centurion Eagle made its way towards the Amazon system within the cluster, hovering over a burning red planet like the darkest of ruby. A place known as Agebinium. Areh was incredibly nervous about this venture, but he knew he could not refuse an opportunity to drive out for money. He specifically requested Leiah to join him, and since Jax was never going to let Areh go on a mission without him, the krogan and two quarians headed out onto the fire-red planet. While Agebinium was simply nothing more than barren rock and an incredibly thin atmosphere of krypton and carbon dioxide, it was much more dangerous for another reason entirely. Dangerous enough for Areh to become much more paranoid than usual in handling his mako, the Varan. James watched nervously from the cockpit with both Norem and Lirem as the viewer showed the mako's point of view, rolling across dark red dunes the colour of burnt sienna, a fiery blood-red sun shining in the sky like a horrifying meteor. The raptor could even see it from the ship itself, its glaring eye unnerving to behold as it illuminated sand dunes further. "How's the mako holding up Areh?" said Lirem. "Good so far," said the quarian, "just gotta be careful not to make any big jumps." "Alright, you remember what the probe looked like right?" "Yeah I got it, we'll keep an eye out for it." "Do we know what's in it?" asked Leiah. "Not really," said Norem, "all that we know from Mr. Alvarne is that it was a probe of theirs to scope for mining prospects, but it somehow ended up here on a bad trajectory. If we can recover it then we might get some extra creds." "Not gonna be much good now," said Areh, "on a place like this with fine silicate dust, any machine's gonna fuck up and break down here badly if it slips into even one tiny crack...Varan included." "Well that's not our problem," said Jax, "if theirs is broke then it's broke, besides you got a real handle on this baby dontcha?" "I-i hope so..." "Areh, come on, you pulled some sick nasties last time you were in this, don't tell me yer not gonna use that to watch yerself." "Th-that was different, that was a battle on a normal desert planet, no silicate dust or whatever, I could let the Varan take a bit of damage an-AAAAAGH KEELAH!" "NONO NOOOOOOOOO!"

The tank started screaming from the inside as they found a sudden huge drop off the edge of a plateau, the mako falling in as the three travellers panicked in fright. James grabbed at the screen desperately shouting: "GUYS! LEIAH WHAT'S HAPPENING, WHAT'S GOING ON!?" "WE'RE FALLING!" screamed Leiah. "KEELAH HELP!" "DO SOMETHIN' AREH!" roared Jax. "THIS THING AIN'T GONNA HANDLE A CRASH ON THIS PLANET-" "_ I KNOW ALREADY, SHUT UP! " Areh's shriek was accompanied by a sudden burst of jet thrusters from underneath, timing itself against the declining slope of the mountainside. Despite the panic from his allies, the male quarian readily kept his thrusters boosting bit after bit after bit before they landed more safely upon the slope, their worries dying off as Leiah sighed with relief. "_Oh...th-thank you Areh, I'm SO sorry about that I just-" "It's fine. You weren't to know." "Alright...okay." "But YOU!" roared Areh. "JAX WHAT THE HELL!? I thought you trusted me!" "It's not you!" cried out the krogan, "I-i-i wuz just surprised! I didn't think we were that high up-" "THIS is why I drive, I was brought on this mission because I could handle it, and you screaming like a baby is NOT helping!" "Wh-I'm sorry...it wuz just surprisin' that's all." "Whatever...let's find this fucking probe and get off this stupid planet." "Areh," said Norem, "maybe you should-" "DON'T tell me to calm down, I'll calm down on my own time okay?! I have to focus on this ONE THING and I don't need everyone else screaming around me making all this NOISE in my head!" He slammed his fists on the controls and breathed hard in frustration, stopping the tank briefly in order to take some time out. He calmed down eventually in the silence of a few minutes, nodding to himself as the harsh solar winds echoed from outside the mako. No one dared say anything until Areh slowly started up the engine and drove off further into the valley, heading between the dunes as they scoped out the missing probe. James however nervously asked the turians: "Is he...okay?" "He's fine," said Norem, "he's just in neutral now." "Neutral?" "When he gets agitated he tries to put himself in a neutral state." "So...he's not angry?" "NO, I'm not angry." Areh's terse reply made James jump slightly as the quarian added: "You know there's a button to mute yourself right? If you're going to talk behind my back then at least have the dignity to make sure I can't hear." "Um...s-sorry man I just, I dunno much about you and-" "You don't NEED to know about me. Now am I anywhere close to this stupid probe?" "He said it was in a valley," replied Lirem, "so you must be close." James softly tapped the mute button that Norem pointed out, asking: "Is he like...bipolar or something, 'cause he was totally okay back on Earth." "Nah," said Lirem, "he's not bipolar, he's just Areh." "That's not really explaining anything, he just seems to shift moods like crazy, I mean he was so confident back on that desert planet." "Well this is a different kind of planet altogether, and he's trying not to screw up." "Why would he screw up?" "He's only mortal...but he might not think that." "Huh?" "WE FOUND IT!"

They unmuted their end of the comms to reply to Areh's outburst, the sight of the Jormangund insignia across a well-scarred probe. It was a long grey cylinder with the white insignia of the corporation, a crackled mess of lines that took shape into a sea serpent, its horned head snarling towards them as the tank slowly stopped before the probe. Debris laid around the place showing where it had crashed into a mountain, a long trail of sheltered dust indicating its descent before its final resting place. The krogan indicated all was clear as the other quarians hopped out. "Howsit look?" asked Lirem. "It's definitely broke," said Leiah, "the silicate's torn the insides out badly but we might be able to salvage something from this!" "You sure we'll get enough?" "We're quarians," said Areh, "we can gut the inside of a hearing-aid and still find something useful." "Pffthehehe," snorted James, "that's crazy." "Well it's true." "Not THAT true," said Leiah, "you make us sound like scavengers." "Aren't we? We do nothing but scrap together ships filled with space junk that nobody else wants, that's our whole livelihood." "We do other things too! Like build machines that can help people!" "Oh sure, we can do that...but they never acknowledge us if we do. Unless we build geth, then they never shut up about it, you'd think they were like jealous or something that they didn't think it first!" "I know, right? I don't wanna sound so...typical but, three hundred years, come on. We've suffered enough by our own hubris." "Not like we're the only species to screw up. I mean, the salarians and turians are never gonna live down the genophage." "The difference is," replied Jax, "that only half the species in the galaxy think the genophage wuz wrong. But nobody disagrees on the geth being a bad thing to build." "What's your point?" asked Areh. "The geth wuz somethin' that affects everybody. The genophage only affected krogans so nobody gave a shit, that's uh...yer uh-" "Hypocrisy?" "Yeah! They wanna make you guys look like a buncha war criminals but the shit that the turians did is practically fuckin' worse! Least the geth stopped attackin' after all the reaper bullshit but the genophage is still happenin', it's still killin' my damn race!" "What the hell's this genophage?" asked James muted. "It's a biological weapon," replied Norem, "we used it to slowly kill the krogan off and stop them breeding like crazy, basically it cripples the probability of having their kids make it to birth. So a lot of stillborns combined with the krogans being a pretty violent race, they start dying out pretty fast." "...that's fucking horrible." "I know." "Why the fuck did you guys do that?!" "It was a thousand years ago, krogans rebelled, got too big for their boots, started paving over other planets so the salarians built this virus. They didn't wanna use it but...turians are much colder in tactics." "Fucking right it was!" said Areh. "That stuff was so much more horrible than what us quarians did and yet WE get shit on for it to be practically exiles! I know we're not the greatest people in the galaxy but at least we don't bother other people with germ warfare!" "It's all history Areh," said Lirem. "The genophage started like 700 CE and the geth came like-" "1895 CE, I KNOW okay!? I got the history lesson a thousand fucking times, I know even how many geth there were at the first rebellion, so what?! Who fucking CARES!? I don't!" "Maybe you don't, but other people sadly-" "Don't lecture me! I'm not an idiot, I know what people think of me!" "Areh cool it-" "No Jax, don't you start too!" "What is your fucking problem Areh?" said James annoyed. "You say you don't care but you're getting super-worked up about this, I mean I would get WAY more worked up about this genophage but-" "Wh-whatever, let's just take this damn probe and go home, I'm fucking sick of this planet with its GLARING RED SUN trying to blind me and this STUPID DUST!"

He kicked a huge sweep of silicate into the wind as he walked back to the probe itself, fumbling with the inner guts of the machine before tearing off the safety capsules that harboured the more sensitive data. He calmed himself down briefly as both him and Leiah worked through separate backup systems, taking all of the data they could before storing them neatly into a small capsule that Jax carried, while also making a copy of each data file on their omni-tools. Areh walked off back to the mako first saying: "Alright we're done here, let's get out of here." "Good to know you still work under pressure," replied Jax teasingly. "Don't you start." "Did something happen?" asked Leiah. "I mean, you were okay back on Earth, I just-" "I'M OKAY." The quarian's loud but stern words made her realise not to speak, as he started up the mako with parts intact and began revving it up and out the red sun valley. The dark shade of the dunes were certainly intimidating from far below, almost rising higher than they would be normally. But the trick of the perspective did not fool Areh, who simply rammed his way into the landscape and grinded his way upwards, burning wheels underneath as he pushed higher. "Uhhhh Areh?" asked Jax. "You sure we can handle this?" "This is a Mako," said Areh, "I can control these wheels independently if I wanted, I can sit this next to a lake of lava and not have it melt by one INCH of its hull, I can drop this thing RIGHT NOW and if this planet wasn't filled with fucking dust that could cripple this thing so easy, I would!" "Okay okay, just don't get crazy!" "I'm not crazy I'm fine! I'm fine this time I promise, I can do it this time!" "Woah woah come on, nobody said anything abou-" "I SAID I'M FINE! _" Snarling underneath his mask as he revved up the engine harder, smoke started coming out slightly underneath the tires before he ramped up the hill, landing hard onto the top ridge with a cloud of fine silicate from around them. He wasted no time in racing straight off towards the Eagle's point of rest, turning more and more desperate with each rampoff he made with the Varan, landing upon the soft dunes with the odd bump of a small ridge here and there. His hands were shaking, his breath running ragged as he saw the ship coming up on the rise. He was getting close, the world around him no longer existing as he went full speed ahead, smiling with excitement burning in his veins. The red sun rose high from above, watching with an ageless gaze. Only it and Areh would be privy to the mistake that he made, once he misjudged a small ramp to be bigger than expected. By the time he was racing up it, he had not realised his error when the mako cracked hard underneath upon some cragged rock, sending a deep groan from beneath their own feet. "_Oh no...no, n-n-no no NO!" "Wh-what's happening?!" asked FG. "Yer almost there Areh!" said Lirem. "Come on you can make it!" "It's broken...it's broken I know it's broken! I BROKE IT!" "Areh calm down it's not a big deal just get inside quick!" "SHUT UP, I FUCKING KNOW ALREADY!"

The quarian screamed as he charged into the Centurion Eagle, its cargo bay opening up to allow them in as they raced fast across the dunes. With every few turns of the wheel the grinds turned louder, crunching hard on gears as Areh turned more panicked, ramping up into the ship within the few minutes after the tank started to go. But he could only get up halfway once the mako started to slip, the wheels starting to drag and churn slightly, with Areh screaming: "No no no NO! NOOOO! COME ON WORK! PLEAAAASE!" "What's going on?!" cried Leiah. "DON'T DO THIS TO ME AGAIN, PLEASE! KEELAH NOOOO!" Without even saying anything, both turian brothers rushed off towards the cargo bay to try and help Areh, the raptor following purely out of curiosity as they arrived just in time to see the mako grind harder. Screaming wheels burned beneath as Jax tried to stop him pushing at the pedal, shouting: "AREH STOP, YOU'LL BREAK IT!" Still he did not stop, the wheels shrieking an unholy noise which began turning worse, a cancerous wretched sound that James only knew to be from one thing. Even from a machine of that size. "He's gonna break it...he's gonna break the axle." "Huh?!" said Lirem. "...AREH STOP, THE AXLE, IT'S GONNA-" "I KNOW SHUT UP ALL OF YOU, I HAVE TO DO THIS, I HA-" Suddenly a horrendous snap came through the entire cargo bay, like a giant bone of some great beast had been rent asunder after the sudden shriek of grinding metal. The tank finally pushed forwards, but at a great cost. The moment it began rolling in, its front wheels snapped fully apart from itself, broken-legged and scraping hot steel in the form of sparks across the bay hold. Lirem closed the bay doors once they got in safely, slowly walking up to the side of the Mako to inspect the damage. Jax and Leiah got up and stepped slowly out of the tank, cautiously examining the hull out of curiosity before Areh soon joined them. He was lost within a daze, his steps uneven as he grabbed for the doorframe and swung slowly round the other way, moving down to the floor like on a rope. He softly bent down to look underneath. The front axle was completely broken, wrecked through entirely to come off with both front wheels literally hanging by the very edge of the steel. The silicate dust had more than enough time and opening to run right through the axle's shaft and crack it open. But Areh said nothing. No one did for a short while before Jax cautiously moved his hands around the group and beckoned them to leave, not saying a single word by a finger to his lips. Not even James said anything as they made their way towards the elevator, the krogan not joining them as he watched carefully towards his friend. A soft murmur echoed across the cargo bay, with Areh pressing his fingers towards his mask and covering the circular part over his mouth. "........I failed......" "H-huh?" said Jax. ".......I FAILED! I FAILED AGAIN!"

The quarian slammed his fists into the mako with blunt force, his hands suddenly whaling on the steel harmlessly before the sounds of frustrated grunts came from Areh. Screams were suppressed in his throat as his hands balled with a shaking fury, before he walked off towards the toolbox and grabbed at least one tool. But he wasn't intending to fix anything. If anything he wanted to break something, hurling a large wrench at the mako which clanged off of it pointlessly before running over to pick it up. Jax stood simply with arms crossed, waiting to come in at the right time, knowing he had to ride it out with him for his sake. The quarian said nothing, bashing away at the tank with such blind fury that his swings hurt him more than he ever could against it. Every strike sent vibrations up his arm, making him sting slightly as he roared and screamed with frustration, wanting to hurt it. Wanting to make it feel pain no matter how much it couldn't. All Jax could do was simply wait, watching from afar and giving him space. He was hoping that Areh would stop hitting things and just tire himself out. But then he brought up his wrench towards himself, the steel glint of the weight catching the light off his mask as he spread his legs slightly. Jax knew precisely what he was up to the moment he saw Areh get into stance, and rushed towards him desperately. "AREH NO!" He grabbed him just in time to stop the wrench from hitting his mask, locking down his arms with a swift bearhug that trapped him, the quarian struggling futilely in his grasp. "L-LET! GO!" "NO!" "YOU F-FUCKING BOSH'TET!" "AREH STOP IT! DON'T DO THIS TO YERSELF, YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!" "SHUT UP, JUST LET ME GO!" "NO!" "LET GO!" "NO DAMMIT!" In desperation Areh swung his wrench hard with a downwards swing, knocking himself on the knee with sudden force as he fell with a shriek. Crying out in pain, he was dropped by Jax to be left on the floor rolling, gasping back tears as he clutched his knee hard to himself, sucking in a deep breath with each shudder of pain from his throbbing bruise underneath the suit. The krogan kicked away the wrench slowly, watching his friend wince and struggle to not cry whilst simply shaking his head. "...you fucking idiot." "I...nn-nnngh! A-AAAAGH!" "Whut's wrong with you Areh?! Why you gotta do this?!" "M-my...f-f-fault...my...f-fault." "You didn't know, you made a mistake an' you got the mako broke, so whut?" "IT WAS MY RESPONSIBILITY! MINE DAMMIT! After the last time I broke it I...I-i-i-" "You know we don't care about the money, come on, you KNOW that. We just have to fix it again, no one cares Areh. No one but you." "...I'm not worth caring...c-can't even...get that fucking thing to run out on some stupid planet without dust clogging it again, w-wasting money that we could use I'm fucking worthless-" "Stop it." The krogan's hands clenched with frustrations of his own. "Don't...ever say yer worthless." "...m'sorry." "It's okay...we'll get more missions coming up, maybe take a new one on to replace the mako real quick, we'll go scout out in some cities and find somethin' worth some creds, alright?" "Okay." "You gonna be alright now?" "...think so." "Alright. I'm heading up to my room, you need me I'll be there." "Okay...sorry...I'm sorry I jus-" "S'alright...I understand."

The quarian sat up whilst huddling his knees close, not saying another word as he breathed very softly to himself. He sighed more calmly, taking his time to cool down and relax which greatly pleased Jax as he walked back to the elevator, heavy in his heart. Leaving Areh by himself, he found the rest of the crew waiting curiously at the main room central to the ship, relaxing calmly in the pit of plush seats that sat at the very middle. The raptor was first to break asking: "Everything alright?" "Yeah," said Krungut, "he'll be alright, he's fine now." "What the hell happened, did something flip inside him?" "No. There's nothin' wrong with him an' you better not think there is." "I-i'm just saying, I don't-" "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM!" Jax snarled with piercing eyes towards James, the sudden burst making him shrink back against the seat as Jax simply sighed in apology. "S-sorry...I just...I don't like it when people talk shit about him." "I didn't mean...I'm sorry," said James. "It was the front wheels wasn't it? The axle broke because of that silicate crap?" "Yeah...we're gonna hafta repair it." "Well what's so bad about that?" asked Leiah. "We have to pay for it," said Lirem. "That makes Areh feel real bad. Last time this happened we had to pay out quite a bit, made him feel like shit for a long while." "Really? Is he like, really stingy with money?" "Only if it's not his. And we all agreed mostly that our expenses concerning the ship and its pieces were all OUR money, like in the band. That includes the mako since it's an essential part of our business. So when something breaks on it and it's more or less his responsibility, well..." "It makes him think he's worthless," said Norem. "Like he's draining us of our pay, you know. But that's not what we think, we know he knows that, it's just...he just tends to forget that." "What kind of person freaks out about this?" asked James. "I mean, I known plenty of guys who got fidgety about their vehicles but nowhere near like Areh. I mean, half the time he seems to be alright or like really mild, then the other time he just fucking flips or has like real mood swings or something!" "He's not bipolar." "Well what is he?!" "That's just the way he is!" said Jax defensively. "You never had a bad day, or week even?!" "W-well, yeah but-" "Just because he got a few problems here an' there doesn't mean he's stupid! HE'S NOT STUPID, HE'S MY LITTLE BUDDY AN' IF YOU SAY ANYTHIN' EVEN CLOSE TO THAT I'LL _BREAK YOUR FUCKIN' FACE WITH MY BARE HANDS! _"

That only made James cower even more against his seat, but at the same time he knew exactly what Jax was trying to cover up. The krogan knew it too, seeing the look from both Lirem and Norem as he sighed with deep regret, cupping his face with his hands before saying: "I'm sorry...I just...I just care about him an' he's not having a great day. Alright?" "Did something...happen?" asked Leiah. "Not exactly...look, we all got stuff to deal with an' I appreciate if you guys don't go pryin' into it, alright?" "Alright. I'm sorry." "Me too," said FG. "Will he be alright?" "Yeah just give 'im some time to cool off," said Jax, "I mean, I know how he is, I been with him fer like eight years now." "Really? Wow didn't think that, how did you guys first meet?" Jax looked up towards Norem and Lirem, who simply nodded as if allowing him to speak. "Well...it's kinda related to how this band started anyway so might as well. It all happened back on the Citadel. I wuz just some punk shootin' his gun off at everything, like I do now only I had no one but me. I wuz a solo merc, cheap but gets the job done, an' I wuz headin' back to get into hidin' cuz of some guys that went followin' me. So one day I'm on the Citadel, hiding away from people in the wards when I notice my omni-tool's all fucked up. Saw some quarian kid offering cheap repairs, sittin' on the sidewalk like he had nothin'." "That was Areh?" "Yep. So I let 'im fix it up fer me, didn't even blink at me even though I'm well, kinda huge compared to him. But then he noticed someone behind me, asked me if those guys were friends of mine. Quick look back, saw two krogans from a rival company that wanted to take me out. I hadn't even noticed 'em in the big crowd but Areh did. Now, krogans stand out when yer not a krogan yerself, but these guys were pretty far away to get noticed yet. Got a weird thing about noticing unusual things. I didn't wanna cause suspicion so I took him somewhere else, told him to follow me cuz those guys were gonna hurt us." "What happened then?" "They chased us down an alleyway where I waited to ambush 'em, told Areh to keep quiet and hide in the shadows. First guy comes in, I cave his fuckin' head in with my shotgun before his friend comes right up to beat me in. He ducks under me an' gives me a real hard punch, brutalisin' the shit out of me 'til I'm almost on the floor. Then I saw the weirdest thing, just...Areh leapt right onto that krogan's back and starts hammering his fists in like he wuz some kinda pyjak!" "Hah, no way!" "Yeah, totally, got his omni-tool all rigged to stab the guy right in the neck an' cuts him good! But the krogan tore 'im off an' turned like he wuz about to shoot 'im! I didn't even think what I'd do next. I plugged my shotgun right in the back of his head. Didn't even get a chance to pull the trigger on Areh. Guy slumps dead, next to his friend, quarian just lying there shaken up all bruised against the wall he got thrown against, panicking. I tell him I owe 'im one fer savin' me, an' he says I owe 'im the same. Since then, we just...kinda stuck together."

"Awwww," said Leiah, "that's...adorable!" "Heh...I ended up like a bodyguard to him. He said he kept getting ripped off by people who knew money better than him, so I made sure that didn't happen again. No one rips off the dude who got a krogan for a bodyguard...heheheh...but yeah, we ended up good pals fer like no reason other than that we were just two guys lost in the city. Then one day, 'bout four years ago, he saw a band advertising for a sound technician an' he just went right up asking. He got that ol' synthesiser of his from the trash that some rich kid threw out, tweaked it right up to be his main thing." "And damn was he good at it," said Norem. "Moment he started playing, me and my brother both agreed that he had something special. Some kind of real talent about him, he just...understands music like it was an entire language or something, and I know where he goes with it. Since then he kinda got promoted to being a songwriter along with me, as well as our main technician and mechanical guy." "He may have his weird little things an' stuff that drives me up the wall...but he's the best friend I ever had, an' if I wuz ever in a bad time, I know he'd help me out some way or another. An' if anyone ever tried to hurt 'im...I'll kill 'em." "I know," said FG. "I saw you go crazy on that geth back on that ship...and those guys on that desert planet." "Heh...whut can I say, he's my little buddy...I can't let anyone hurt 'im. The whole galaxy out there can easily chew 'im up an' spit 'im right back out again, an' sometimes it practically has. We're practically like brothers by this point, least I like to think so...I owe him a lot more than he ever thinks." "So, I got a question." "Huh?" "Um...sometimes when I pass his room, I heard him talking to that Tulan guy. Why is he able to talk to your boss on his own?" "We don't ask," said Lirem. "Clearly the boss thinks of him differently for some reason, we're not sure why but this happened almost from the get-go when he first hired us on, and it worked out fine for us. Areh finds something interesting on a mission, Tulan tries to decipher it with him. It's almost...familiar the way those two act. Not even putting on the boss image so much with him, he sorta acts like a caretaker more than anything, stern but fair." "I wonder why...maybe he sees Areh as not being a threat and just relaxes around him?" "Probably, I dunno," said Jax. "Is that all you wanted to ask?" "It is...um, thanks and...sorry for before." "It's cool. Sorry again fer flippin' out on you, heh...don't need two of us going crazy the same day." "If he needs help with the mako later," added Leiah, "I could help out. He sure seems to appreciate having two quarian hands alongside his." "Let 'im cool off fer a bit, he'll be fixin' it over the next few days but sure he'd totally want the help. But fer now, I'm goin' to bed, later guys." The krogan walked off to his room as James and Leiah decided to do the same. Both of them weren't sure what exactly to think of Areh truly, but they thought nothing more of it, let other things concern them. James was still uncertain about the male quarian, feeling that Jax was hiding something. Something deeper. Once everyone had left the room, Norem looked up towards Lirem and said: "We gotta talk to her today." "Huh? ...oh." "Come on, today's full of misery so you're not gonna get anymore depressed." "I know...dammit." "Lir." "...you think she'll like hearing that new song we made?" "Sure, come on." The two turian brothers walked off together to deal with their own issues, leaving the central living room to turn cold without a body. Areh finally returned to his room an hour later, and soon the entire ship fell asleep. None of them knew that a fateful encounter was to come the next few weeks for one of them.