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"Lock the door," Valeria said over her shoulder as she stepped into the interrogation room.

Elias Kelham, secured in the chair in the center of the room, stared wide-eyed at her, then glanced at the door when it closed. The holographic panel floating in front of the door turned from green to red, and his eyes opened even wider.

Valeria strode over to him and began circling him, just as she had circled Bailey a few minutes ago. She held up her Spectre ID and kept her voice quiet, yet just strained enough to show him how tightly she was keeping her rage in check.

"Valeria Terakkis, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." She stopped and leaned over him, opening her mouth enough to give him a good look at her sharp, pointed teeth. "The woman you're trying to have assassinated is my husband's grandmother. She's part of my family, and I consider any attack on her an attack on me. Clear?"

His face turned almost white and cold sweat beaded up on his forehead. "Y--y--y--you want me to cancel the contract?"

"Not necessary." Valeria resumed her orbit around him. "I've already put the word out--any assassin or merc who so much as glances in Natalie Kurakova's general direction will end up strapped to a table in a vivisectionist's lab, and I will attend to each and every one of them_personally_." She stopped again, and stared straight into his eyes. "And I will make sure it takes every one of them a good, goddamned long time to die."

He shivered, and even more color drained from his face.

"Also, about the human your people tried to hold hostage to get me and my associates to back off." Valeria braced her left hand on the arm of his chair, and her right on its headrest, and leaned in until her face was mere centimeters from his. "That's my husband. I'm sure I don't have to spell out how I feel about this."

His trembling worsened and he tried to scoot away from her.

"You're on my last nerve, Mr. Kelham, so I suggest you answer my questions. Clear?"

"Yes," he half-whispered, half-squeaked.

"Good." She stepped back and paced slowly around him again. "For the moment, I won't get into why Cerberus has been working with your little operation, as there is a far more important matter to deal with. However, once that's resolved, I'll be back to question you again."

He turned his head slowly, keeping his wide eyes on her until she passed behind him, then he shuddered and pressed his lips together.

"Cerberus has been holding Captain Bailey's son hostage to ensure his cooperation. I need to know where."

He continued trembling until she stepped into his line of sight again. Suddenly, he glared at her, trying to pull himself together and reassert some measure of control.

"Hey, I--I have rights! You can't do this to me! I'm not saying anything until I speak to my attorney."

"A C-Sec officer can't do this to you. A Systems Alliance security agent can't do this to you. An officer of the Turian Hierarchy can't do this to you." She stopped and faced him again. "A Spectre can."

His scowl faltered for a second, but he recovered and sneered at her. "I want my attorney in here. Now."

Okay, time for a different approach. "Your high-powered attorney got you off the hook after you hired a hitman to assassinate Joram Talid during his campaign for Intendant of Zakera Ward. He might be able to get you off the hook for your attempt to have my grandmother-in-law killed. And he might be able to get the latest charges dropped." She stepped closer to him. "For Jorax Lanius. Do you even know who that is?"

He shook his head.

"He's the turian you ran down with your car. I saw the surveillance video. I read the eyewitness statements. I read the medical report. You plowed your car into him at full speed. The impact cracked his carapace open and sent him flying into a wall. You parked and walked away as if nothing happened." Valeria leaned over him again. "His internal injuries were massive. The surgeons did everything they could, but I was notified a few minutes ago that he didn't make it. Now, as I said, your attorney might be able to pull your ass out of the fire again, but that won't make any difference."

"What are you talking about? If you think you can threaten me--"

"I don't need to." She stepped back and shook her head. "I checked Jorax out once I found out what was going on here. He was a good man. A kind man. He never did anything illegal in his entire life. His wife is a former asari commando named Arana Nelvos; she's said numerous times that Jorax is one of the few bright spots in her life, and he's been gradually turning her into a better person. Have you ever heard of her?"

"No." He rolled his eyes. "What the hell does that have to do with--?"

"As I said, she's a former commando. She's currently a high-ranking officer in the Eclipse mercenary corporation. She has an entire division under her command. If she doesn't already know you took away one of the precious few good things in her life, she'll find out soon. I wouldn't be surprised if she breaks all of her current contracts and sets her entire division upon you."

Kelham's defiant expression crumpled. He trembled, his lower lip quivered, and his breathing turned ragged.

Ah-hah. I've got his attention now. "I've never met Arana Nelvos, but I know her type. I can guess what she'll do. She'll kill you and everyone in your organization, as well as every Cerberus operative who gets between her and you. If you have any family or close friends, I wouldn't be surprised if she kills them first and makes you watch. Hell, if you have any pets, she'll probably do them, too."

After gaping at her for a solid ten seconds, he made one last attempt at regaining control. "You're making that up! You're just trying to intimidate me!"

Valeria unlocked his shackles. "You've got an Omni-Tool; look her up."

He stared at her for a few more seconds before he activated his Omni-Tool and entered Nelvos's name. A dossier appeared, including an image of a grim asari in yellow Eclipse armor with a half-dozen scars crisscrossing her face. Kelham read the dossier and slowly raised a trembling hand to cover his mouth. He tapped a link in the file and another dossier appeared--Jorax Lanius. He read it and returned to the file on Nelvos.

Valeria leaned over for a quick glance at the display, which currently showed Arana's Eclipse history--mostly hired-gun stuff that included unnecessarily brutal actions against her clients' enemies. However, there was a noticeable shift after she married Jorax. Her division began accepting jobs from legitimate businesses and individuals, protecting the innocent and defenseless from pirates and slavers and criminal organizations larger than the one Kelham ran--and, more often than not, utterly trounced them.

And now there's a good chance she'll turn back into the person she was before Jorax brightened her life. Valeria stepped back and shook her head slowly.

Kelham finished reading, switched his Tool off, and slumped back in the chair. A long silence stretched out before he finally spoke, and when he did, his voice was a soft mumble, as if speaking to loudly could bring Arana's whole division down upon him.

"Shit. Oh...oh, no." He ran his suddenly violently shaking hands through his hair and glanced around frantically, trying to find somewhere to run. But there was nowhere. "Oh...fuck me."

Time to tighten the screws. Valeria walked in front of him and turned to meet his gaze again.

"You've got two options. You can tell me everything I need to know, and I can make sure whatever family and friends you have are placed in a protection program--or I can hand you over to Arana Nelvos personally."

Kelham gaped at her and struggled to resume breathing.

"Well?" She stepped closer. "What'll it be?"

#

"He's on Chasca," Valeria said as she strode through the door into the C-Sec office. "In the Matano system. Cerberus set up a small base there just a few months ago, but at the moment it's only being used for zero-risk research projects. I guess they wanted at least one base that wouldn't attract anyone's attention, like their many failed 'mad-scientist' projects did."

_Sounds like she got him to spill everything already._Chula wondered if she wanted to know how, and quickly decided she was better off in the dark. "The captains okayed the mission. Weyland is heading back to the _Sulaco_now. Yutani will stay here to assist our other client."

Valeria nodded and turned to Bailey. "Kai Leng thought Chasca would be a nice, quiet place to keep your son tucked away until he no longer needed your help."

"I don't need three guesses to figure out what he would've done once that time came." Bailey rose from his desk and glanced over his shoulder at one of his lieutenants. "Hold down the fort while I'm away."

"Yes, sir. Good luck."

"Thanks." Bailey turned back to Valeria. "We'll have to hurry."

"Grab whatever gear you think you'll need and meet us at the airlock. I'll brief everyone once we're under way." Valeria chuckled. "Oh, you might want to put Kelham in the most secure cell you've got, to reassure him that we're not going to throw him to the wolves as soon as we're done with him. And begin setting up witness-relocation for his family. He's terrified that Jorax Lanius's wife will come after him or his wife and kids with everything she's got."

"Already arranged. I read Lanius's dossier when we got the incident report, and then I checked into his wife, so I have a good idea what she's capable of. I_should_ let her know what happened, but I'd really prefer not to have her whole goddamn army knocking on C-Sec's door."

"Well," his lieutenant said, "the death report hasn't been entered into our system yet. The only reason we know he died is because a Spectre informed us. And if Nelvos eventually comes barging in here, we can claim there was a brainfart in the system or a clerical error. With luck, this'll all be over and Kelham will be someone else's problem by then."

"Good man." Bailey grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll see you all as soon as possible."

His officers said their goodbyes and he walked out the door.

"I'm heading for the Requisitions office," Valeria said as her husband walked over and put his hands on her hips. "Wanna come with me, or...?"

"Think I'll head back to the Sulaco, actually." Irving chuckled and pointed at the dried blood on his face. "I'd like to clean myself up."

"Okay. See you there." She gave him a quick kiss. "I love you."

"I love you, too." He smiled and walked through the door leading to the nearby docking bay.

Valeria watched him until the door began to close. She waved and turned to Chula and General Kurakova. "Well, Nana..."

Kurakova laughed softly. "I'd like to come along, if you wouldn't mind the company."

"Irv and I would be delighted! It'll give us a chance to catch up. That is, if it's okay with the Sulaco crew?"

"It's not a problem." Chula nodded. "As I said before, there's more than enough room."

"Thank you." Valeria put her arms around her grandmother-in-law. "I'll see you on the ship when I get back."

"See you then." Kurakova smiled and passed through the same door Irving had used.

Valeria took a step in the opposite direction, then paused. She looked at Chula and cocked her head. "Hey, want to come with me to the Requisitions office?"

Whoa. I'm being invited into Spectre Central? Chula grinned. "Sure, if that's okay."

"It is. Since they reinstated me, it's my call." Valeria chuckled and began walking, and Chula stuck her hands into her pockets and had to fight the urge to skip alongside her.

This ought to be interesting.

#

In the corner of Lia's eye, Sidonis looked up abruptly. She turned to follow his stare and found Yutani walking toward them, still wearing that ridiculous costume. It made Lia chuckle despite the emotional breakdown she'd suffered after the battle with Kelham's associates.

"How are you feeling?" The geth platform crouched in front of her, and Lia wondered if it had done so to put her at ease.

Lia shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess. I was a little iffy for a while, but I'm pulling myself back together."

"We were informed of your traumatic experience. We agree with Dakka's suggestion."

Lia couldn't help laughing. "You think I should get laid, too?"

"Whatever form your recreational activities take is up to you. We merely think you should give yourself some time to adjust to your new circumstances. You have faced many changes in a short period."

"If I did, I'd feel like I'm letting you down. Besides, if I don't get right back into action, I'm afraid I'll freeze again at a critical moment. I'll always be too terrified to deal with the jobs we get hired to do."

"Immediately entering another combat situation may not be conducive to your mental health. Perhaps you will agree to take the rest of today off?"

"Why? Is there another one coming up right away?"

"Spectre Terakkis has hired us to transport her to a destination that cannot be discussed in public, and provide support once the Sulaco arrives. It is an urgent matter and must not be delayed. The Sulaco will depart once Spectre Terakkis has acquired the equipment she needs. Weyland, Chula, Magnum, Quentin, and General Kurakova will accompany her on the mission." Yutani pointed at itself. "We will remain here to help guard our client, his husband, and the artifacts they discovered."

"I see." More shooting and being shot at. Maybe Yutani's right; maybe diving back into another firefight would be a bad idea. "How are Dakka and Kenn doing?"

"Kenn is still unconscious, but recovering. Dakka is in surgery now, but it is not expected to take long. Our client's husband has undergone brain scans and psychological evaluations, and nothing unusual has been found. They wish to consult with the chief medical officer on the SSV_Normandy_, as she has had more experience in such matters than anyone else that we know of. We have also informed Shepard-Commander and the geth platform stationed on the Normandy of their discovery, as it could benefit their mission."

"Really? Wow. I wonder what they found on Bekenstein."

"We will brief you fully after your period of 'R and R' has concluded and the _Sulaco_returns from its current mission. Some organics may find some of the information...unsettling." Yutani looked away and spoke in a softer, somewhat confused tone. "We did."

Lia stared at it. Her. Them. Whatever. "Something about those artifacts disturbed you?"

"We are not certain of the proper terminology. We do not experience emotions, and do not fully comprehend them. But some of the events in the vid records we saw...concern us. If that is the proper word." Yutani activated her Omni-Tool and poked at it. "We will brief the crew all at once. For now, there is something we thought you would like to see."

Lia's Omni-Tool beeped and appeared around her left arm. She touched a control and a small window appeared above her wrist, indicating she had an incoming file transfer request. With some trepidation, she accepted it, and waited for it to load.

"When we arrived at the Citadel," Yutani said, "Weyland requested a video record be sent from Rannoch. As you will see from the date stamp, it was recorded two weeks ago."

"Rannoch?" Lia almost held her breath as the transfer finished and she played the file. She held her hand palm-up and the video appeared in a holofield above it--a desert landscape of rocks carved into fascinating shapes by millions of years of wind erosion, with a few gleaming buildings in the foreground and many more in the background.

"Wow," Sidonis muttered. "That's your homeworld? I mean, I've seen photos of Rannoch taken before the quarians evacuated centuries ago. But no one has seen anything this recent."

"Yeah. That's home." Lia stared at the image as a gentle breeze blew sand through the foreground. Tears trickled from her eyes and she sobbed. "No quarian has been there in three hundred years."

"We apologize." Yutani reached up to place a hand on Lia's shoulder. "We did not intend to upset you."

"No, you didn't upset me. At all." Without thinking, Lia reached up to pat the machine's hand. "I'm happy. I never even imagined I'd ever see Rannoch as it looks now." She glanced at Sidonis and nodded at the vid. "This is the closest any quarian has been to our homeworld in three centuries. And I'm the one who got to see it first!" She sniffed and turned back to Yutani. "Thank you."

"You are welcome. We are gratified to know this has cheered you up."

"It has, it really has!" She continued staring at the projection, grinning and weeping at the same time. "The...the buildings look intact. The fighting had to be brutal to drive us from our own planet, so I expected everything to be in ruin."

"We have been rebuilding and maintaining Rannoch, preparing it for our Creators' return. Geth do not require food or an atmosphere, so we do not live on Rannoch. We remain there to restore the planet to what it once was. We are still rebuilding, but many structures have been repaired." Yutani put her hand on Lia's shoulder again. "We learned recently that the quarian Admiralty Board has been attempting to gain approval to take Rannoch by force. They do not need to. Your people are welcome to return whenever they wish, provided they do not attack us. We can never undo the harm we caused during the Morning War, but we are willing to coexist peacefully if it is also desirable for the quarians."

"I...I hope we can." She'd heard the rumors about the Admiralty wanting to start a war, and found them horrifying. She wanted her homeworld back as much as any other quarian, but throwing the Migrant Fleet at an enemy like the geth would only result in her people's extinction.

Wait. That stealth ship we discovered a few days ago--I wonder if that has anything to do with it. If it was authorized by the Admiralty...oh, hell.

And still, Weyland and Yutani had refrained from sending the information to the geth.

They're really holding themselves back. They must really_want peace._

Before she could give it any more thought, her Omni-Tool signaled an incoming comm transmission. Dakka's name and avatar appeared in her HUD. She accepted the call and said, "Hi. You're out of surgery already?"

"Nah. They've got me on some sedatives, but either it hasn't completely kicked in yet or it's just not enough. I started to drift off, then I woke up in the middle of the operation. They upped the dosage, so I figured I should take care of this while I'm still conscious."

"Wait--you're talking to me during the operation?"

"Yep." Dakka grunted. "It's a little uncomfortable, definitely. I'm sure it'll get real interesting if I'm still awake when they reinflate my lung. Anyway, remember our conversation just before I went in for surgery?"

"Yes." Oh, she didn't....

"Good. You've got an appointment in about ten minutes."

Oh, she did_. Keelah._ "What did you do, rent a hooker for me?"

"Only if you want him to be. If all you want is a massage, he'll do it. If you want to cuddle for a while, that's what he'll do. Or if you just want to watch a vid or sit and talk for the rest of the day, he can do that, too. He's a lot like the asari Consort, only not nearly as expensive and he's not booked up for the next year."

"Uh, well, I don't know--"

"His fee's already paid, so don't worry about it. Just enjoy your time with him, however you end up using it." Dakka grunted again, but managed to laugh at the same time. "I wanna hear all about it, too!"

_Oh, Keelah!_Lia shook her head and chuckled.

"The surgeons are about to start on my lung, so I gotta sign off."

"Okay. I'll talk to you later. And thanks."

"No problemo." Dakka's avatar waved and vanished.

Lia shook her head again and laughed. "Huh. Best Pilgrimage ever."

#

"Have you ever considered becoming a Spectre?" Valeria asked as she stepped up to the console in the Requisitions office.

_What?_Chula stared at her.

"I'm serious." Valeria took a slow look around the office and sighed. "One of the reasons I never completely 'clicked' with the Spectres is because their primary job is to preserve the galactic status quo by any means necessary. Everyone thinks they're agents of justice, but that's not entirely true. I was always more concerned with doing what's right, so I never really fit in. Granted, I haven't known you long, but I just have a feeling about you. You strike me as the kind of person who does what's right rather than caring about keeping things the way they've always been."

Chula continued staring at her. "I...well, yeah, I try, at least." She shrugged. "The Spectre thing never even occurred to me. And even if it had, I just don't see the Council inducting a quarian. We're not even one of the Citadel species. All we had was an embassy here, and that was taken away because we created AI. We didn't intend to, but it's still illegal. And the Council kicked us off the Citadel after the geth drove us from our own homeworld. After everything that's happened since then, I doubt we'll ever be allowed to have a presence on the Council again."

"According to the Council's own rules, Spectres can be chosen from any species." Valeria continued her perusal of weapons and armor options. "The quarians who created the geth and then tried to pull the plug in a blind panic are long dead. I'm aware of how your people are being treated--crap like the Council refusing to allow you to settle on another planet, even one that no one else wants. It's disgusting. You're being punished for something that happened centuries before you were born. It's utter bullshit."

"Thank you. I'm glad to know there's at least one person out there who understands." Chula sighed.

Valeria nodded and added several more items to her cart. "Like I said, it's just a feeling I have about you. If I'm right, and you eventually join the Spectres, you could do a lot to show the Council that your people are worth bringing back into the galactic community. And I think you could do a lot to change the Spectres for the better, from the inside."

"Really?" Chula said softly.

"Yeah. While there's a lot to be said about maintaining galactic stability, in some cases that means doing things I don't think are right, just for the sake of keeping things the way they are. As an example, the status quo includes keeping the quarians trapped on a wandering fleet of centuries-old ships that are held together with spot welds, plumbing adhesives, and hope."

"Well, that's...disheartening."

"Very." Valeria slid a claw across the screen, flicking from one page of equipment to another. "Also, while there are rigorous background checks and psych evaluations before anyone is even considered for the job, and many of the Spectres I worked with before are genuinely good, honorable people who go out of their way to fight injustice, there are what humans would call 'bad apples.'"

She jabbed a button and placed her order, then opened a new page.

"Like the piece of_shit_ I mentioned on the way to the Citadel, Saren Arterius. It was years later when this came to light, but he was evaluating a potential human Spectre candidate, David Anderson. He lied on the report to make Anderson look responsible for all the casualties that resulted from Saren's own actions. Then, two years ago, Saren ended up leading the rogue geth in Sovereign's attack on the Citadel. The son of a bitch tried to open the floodgates for a machine race that would've wiped out all life in the galaxy."

She sighed and turned to look at Chula.

"As much as I didn't want to rejoin the Spectres permanently, I started thinking that maybe I can make a difference from within. If more people like me and Commander Shepard--and, someday, you--are let into the Spectres, we could change things for the better."

Holy shit."I...you really think I'm worthy?"

"I think there's a good chance you might be. I'd like to keep working together, if that's okay with you. It'd give us a chance to get to know each other better, and give me a chance to find out whether I'm right." She clapped Chula gently on the shoulder. "It'd also be an opportunity for you to learn more about the Spectres and how I, specifically, do the job."

I can't believe this is happening! Chula took a few deep breaths. "I'd like that."

"Glad to hear it. It'll take a long time for me to gain enough clout to even suggest this to the Council, but if you keep doing what you've been doing, I think you'll impress them enough to give it serious consideration when I bring it up to them."

"I'll do my best." Chula grinned and hoped her heart wasn't pounding hard enough to make her shake visibly.

Valeria nodded, clapped Chula's shoulder again, and pointed at the items on the screen. "As part of the payment for giving us a lift and helping me on the mission, I'm ordering a large shipment of dextro-based food and medical supplies for you, Lia, Kenn, and Sidonis. Also, levo-based food and meds for your human and krogan crewmates. It'll take a while to get it all together, but it should be ready and waiting when we return from the mission."

"That's wonderful! We're frighteningly low on dextro supplies, thanks to a recent shipment that...couldn't be delivered." Chula trailed off, pondered the matter for a few seconds, and said, "Now that I think about it, if I were a Spectre, there's one thing I'd be interested in looking into."

"Yeah? What is it?" Valeria opened a new page and skimmed the items that came up.

"Weyland and Yutani have had a geth ship bringing supplies from Rannoch ever since they asked me to join them. Food that quarians can eat, obviously, and medical supplies. We've been meeting in open space between star systems to receive the shipments to reduce the chances of other ships firing on them out of fear." Chula sighed. "Well, we found the geth ship adrift a few days ago. It had been attacked by some sort of stealth ship. I saw the vid records. The attackers were quarians. They boarded the ship, gunned down all the platforms who got in their way, and then executed all the geth in the ship's server."

Valeria's mouth dropped open and her mandibles spread apart in shock. "That's...fucking_hell_! They probably killed tens of thousands of geth."

"Exactly."

"If that's not an act of war, I don't know what the hell is."

"That's what worries me. I'm hoping it's just a rogue group that somehow got their hands on an advanced stealth ship, but if they were authorized by the Admiralty Board, it'll only lead my people to a bad end." Chula took a long breath. "The good news is, Weyland and Yutani haven't informed the rest of the geth. They really want to avoid a shooting war, and are waiting until we learn more about the attackers. I'm thankful for their restraint. If the geth start thinking we're conducting sneak attacks on them, they might decide to wipe us out to avoid any more losses."

"Right." Valeria closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "The Council probably won't even care if the quarians and geth started killing each other. Same goes for most of the galaxy. But I care. Once we're finished with our current mission, I'll do some poking around and see what I can find. If I'm lucky, I'll dig up enough to confront the Admiralty Board, and if they're in on it, try to talk some sense into them."

"Thank you! This has had me worried ever since I found out about it."

"I'm happy to do whatever I can to help. Preventing a war between the quarians and geth is one way of 'maintaining galactic stability' that I can get behind."

The door opened and Chula glanced over her shoulder. An asari in blue and white armor entered the office and made a right turn to the door leading to the shooting range. She barely glanced at Chula and Valeria, then stopped and stared at Chula.

"Well. How did _that_get in here?"

"By invitation." Chula tipped her hat forward slightly and stared right back at her.

"And how the hell did that happen?" The asari turned to Valeria and chuckled. "Ah, Terakkis, I heard you were back. Bring one of your porn-vid costars along?"

Valeria sighed. "Tela Vasir, this is Chula'Raalga vas Sulaco--who may someday be a Spectre candidate. Chula, this is Tela Vasir--one of the many reasons I left the Spectres a few years ago."

Vasir flicked a mildly annoyed glance at Valeria, then laughed. "A quarian Spectre? What's that human phrase? Something about hell freezing over?"

Chula put her hands on her hips. "Valeria thinks I have potential."

"Does she, now?" Vasir laughed again. "Well, maybe you'd like to prove it."

Chula took a step forward. "Maybe I would."

Valeria held a hand up. "Uh, hold on."

"Feel up to a little sparring?" Vasir nodded over her shoulder at another door leading to the workout area.

"Can't." Valeria stepped between them. "We're equipping for an urgent mission and have to leave ASAP."

"Oh, of course. It couldn't possibly be because you know I'll tear your pet quarian apart, could it?"

"The mission's legit," Chula said. "But I'll be available when we come back."

"Uh-huh. I'm absolutely certain I'll be seeing you again." Vasir shook her head, laughed, and resumed her course toward the shooting range.

Chula turned to Valeria and said, "She's a real charmer, isn't she?"

Vasir stopped, turned, and narrowed her eyes at Chula. "How many hits can your kinetic barriers take, I wonder?"

"To know that, I'd have to actually let an opponent shoot me." Chula shrugged. "So, I don't know."

Valeria made a show of checking the time on her Omni-Tool. "Come on, we need to receive the shipment and bring it onboard the Sulaco."

Her Tool beeped urgently. She glanced at the display, silenced the alarm, and sighed. She pulled a small, disposable vial from a pocket, snapped the end off, and drank its contents.

"Oh, what's the matter?" Vasir approached again. "Not feeling well?"

"It's just to prevent allergic reactions." Valeria dropped the vial into a disposal chute.

"Ah, of course. Got a bit of 'humanitis,' have you?" Vasir chuckled.

"It's not my husband's fault that humans and turians have opposite chirality." Valeria put her hands on her hips and faced Vasir. "I have to take this stuff every fourteen hours to prevent anaphylactic shock when my hubby blows his wad inside me. Which happens multiple times every day, whether we're doing a vid or not."

Whoa._Chula had to fight down a burst of laughter. _Keelah.

Vasir's lips curled and her blue face took on a very slight green tinge. Before she could retort, Valeria delivered the coup de grâce.

"How long has it been since the last time you got laid that often without _paying_someone to fuck you? Can you even remember?"

Vasir's jaw damned near hit the floor. As did Chula's.

Oh. Wow! Oh, goddamn. Maybe I should step outside so I don't get any blood on me.

Valeria turned without another word and walked to the main door. Chula shrugged and followed her, but stopped in the doorway, turned, and let a quick laugh slip out.

"You might want to put some ice on that."

"I'm sure she can chisel some off her heart," Valeria muttered.

"See you in the arena when we get back." Chula doffed her hat, stepped into the corridor, and let the door close behind her. She tilted her hat at a rakish angle, laughed again, and stuck her hands into her pockets, "I think you might've broken her brain."

"It's so twisted, I'm surprised it didn't snap from the tension decades ago." Valeria sighed and nodded at the elevator doors a few meters away. "Come on. We've got a kid to rescue."