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Into the Unknown	By : Spiritwolf71 Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6762 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own none of this universe the concept all belongs to Bioware, and Mass Effect I am in no way making a profit from this.

Chapter List
- 7
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- 9
For most of her life Tachanka was nothing but a waste land. Her people had destroyed with nuclear war and years of neglect. It was one giant piece of rock. She had hated it, it was bleak and desolate and a grim reminder of how destructive her people could be. Most Krogan liked to blame the Salarians and Turians for everything bad that happened to them but the bitter truth was the Krogan had destroyed their own planet. They had been the ones that had nuked the only fertile land that was on the planet and then it was the Krogan that went crashing through the rest of the galaxy trying to force them somewhere new to live. Tanith did not agree with the Genophage but she certainly understood why the others had thought it necessary.
Now with everything cured and the Krogan wanting to replenish the ranks the woman of her species had become nothing better than tools for producing offspring. They were forced into becoming pregnant and when they had their child they were given to the next male Krogan. It was a harsh life, and one Tanith refused to become a part of. The Krogan had changed through the genophage as well and were no longer having litters but most had only one child at a time, the rare occasion produced two. This forced the issue and most women were akin to machines. She had begun to hate her own people, hence the reason for leaving.
Since she left she had spent most of her time on ships and stations, most thought she was a male Krogan so she had been able to get all sorts of jobs to help her get by. This was the first time she had seen plant life such as this. She had never really seen a large pool let alone a lake or an ocean. The air was different, clean or fresh or not the stale air of the station or the slightly acrid air of Tuchanka. She decided she could get used to this. Maybe not this planet, because it was very hot, but maybe Earth, or Thessia.
They had continued walking through the night, any plans of stopping had been quelled when Laius had caught up to them and informed them that the shuttle had been found, by armed men. He had decided not to stay and find out if they were friendly. Tanith just happened to agree with Keith and Laius on this. Whoever was illegally on this planet would not just let them walk away.
They had needed to trust Varra to guide them; they had asked her to help find a place that would have shelter but access to water. Varra had mentioned taking them to her home but that idea was quickly put aside. No one really trusted her people any more than they did the people that owned the satellite. So they headed out just before it got dark, after spending most of the day organizing and packing.
It seemed as though they had been walking for days when only a few hours had passed. Tanith was not much for long hikes in the heat. She weighed pretty much the same as everyone else combined give or take a few pounds.
“So,” this was Elysia, yet again. She was destined to be a pain in Tanith’s side, “if they keep following us we won’t be able to have a permanent place to stay.”
“You are very good at stating the obvious,” Tanith replied.
“I’m just going over things in my head. Cause if we can’t take root and Laius can’t do that farming thing he wanted to do and we might lose the two of them.”
“You’re an optimistic one aren’t you?” Tanith said.
“More of a realist, I am sure those that are following us are trained to do so and they have more people than we do. I just became a Commando and I have no field experience. Remes, Laius are warriors and Dharti is a teacher and I don’t trust Keith. We cannot take on an army, so we are on the run.”
“Sounds about right, unless we can find something defensible,” Tanith said.
“Or, we make allies, we have Varra, she can help.”
“We don’t know Varra well enough yet,” the Krogan explained, “she seems harmless but we really don’t know, maybe in time it might be a good idea, but for now we need to just let the trust build.”
Elysia laughed, “We don’t even know each other enough to really say we trust each other.”
Tanith smiled, “Well, you got a point there; we are really just strangers aren’t we.” Elysia nodded her agreement.
Tanith leaned closer, “I haven’t trusted any of you since we landed, I just trust certain people less than others.”
“Here,” Varra said from the front of the group. It was pretty dark and they only allowed for the one light. Tanith narrowed her eyes and finally noticed the outline of some sort of tunnel. “This is our old home, no one comes here anymore.”
“They burrow,” Dharti said looking back to them. Tanith moved closer and eyes the opening.
“Are you kidding me?” She said and looked to them. She was going to have to crawl. The tunnels were only five and half feet tall.
“There is a meeting room in the middle of the tunnels, very big.” Varra promised.
“It better be,” Keith piped up, “Cause I really don’t like you all that much to be cuddling, unless of course it’s between the blue wave.”
“Why do you always have to say things to make us angry?” Elysia said falling for his goading.
“Because you always fall for it kid,” Keith said, Elysia snarled.
“I am older than you,” she countered, Keith laughed.
“Could have fooled me,” he retorted, egging her on. She looked away but slight light blue wisps formed around her hand. Dharti placed her own hand on the younger Asari’s shoulder.
“Don’t let him get to you, he’s doing it on purpose,” the teacher said softly. Elysia could not help it. She was not as calm and forgiving as the older Asari and his words from earlier in the day were still fresh in her head. “You’re better than he.”
“If she decides to kill you human I’m not stopping her,” Tanith said, she liked the Asari much better than the Human.
“This is really not the time,” Laius stepped between them, “We have some unknown soldiers looking for us and we have been on the move most of the day and night. I am tired and would like to crawl into those tunnels and try to get some sleep.”
Elysia looked to the Turian for a long moment then turned away, breathing hard to control her anger.
“Good, Elysia you can take the first watch, Remes you the second. In the morning we will scout out and try and figure out what it going on.”
“Yeah, good girl,” Keith smiled to her as he crawled into the hole; Dharti caught the Asari before she could go after him.
“He’s not worth it, Elysia; he’s an ignorant bastard, karma will catch up to him. Be better than him, we all know you are.” She looked back as the other followed Keith.
“None of you know anything about me,” Elysia said to her. “We don’t know anything about each other.”
“Well that’s not true,” Dharti smiled, “We know you’re a Commando and that you’re a very caring person, Remes is a soldier, his father wants to be a farmer, Tanith might be a bit gruff but he's got a good heart deep down and Keith, well, he’s not quite as nice. We might not know everything about each other but I think we have a pretty good start.”
Elysia rubbed her forehead and looked to the other woman a smile making its way to her lips, “You taught primary didn’t you. You’re far too nice and positive to be anything but.”
Dharti laughed, “Well, yes, primary, but I was a music teacher as well. I loved teaching music and I love children so it was a dream job.”
“Did you leave Thessia, when they…”
“Yes, I was in charge of making sure my students got away, I don’t have the biotic abilities you have and I am not much of a fighter,” Dharti laughed softly and looked up to the sky, “Which is odd considering my father was a Turian.”
Elysia smiled and sat down on the ground, Dharti joined her, “Yes I can see where that would be odd, what about your mother?”
“She was a teacher as well, but she also loved to travel. She met my father on the Illium; she said he rescued her from a mugging. I don’t have a lot of memory of him but she said that he was very charming and that for a week after the rescue he would come to her hotel just to make sure she was ok.”
Elysia chuckled, “My father was Salarian but died long before I could remember, my mother never talked about him. I know she loved him though, she was a very focused individual and she would never have had a child on a whim. She was a Commando and I wanted to be just like her. From the moment I could walk I pretended to be a Commando and made up wars in my heads that I would have to go off and fight,” She smiled sadly. “My mother really did not want me to follow in her footsteps, but I was gifted and sent to Doctrina when I was twenty seven.”
“That’s really young, almost too young,” Dharti said. “It must have been hard, all the other trainees would have been almost twice your age”
“My mom was not happy but she didn’t argue, she knew that even though she didn’t want it for me, that I wanted it. They kept throwing out words like talented and powerful and I bought into it. And I did enjoy it even though I really didn’t have any friends.”
Dharti smiled and patted Elysia leg. “I think you mom just wanted you to have a childhood. There were a lot of very important stages you missed that your fellow student would have already gone through.”
“I guess but I never thought of that,” She looked to Dharti, “I was good and they kept telling me that and at the time, that was all that mattered.”
It was silent for a bit and Elysia rubbed some dirt off her thigh, “I wish I could back and have those years with my mom though. I thought that I would have time after, but then the war,”
“Yeah, I know that. My wife had wanted to have children but I didn’t think I was ready. I kept telling after this or after that.” Dharti paused and played with the ring on her finger. Elysia knew it was a wedding band, not that Asari required such trinkets, but they seemed important to humans. “When the war started we promised, as soon as it was over we would have children but then,” Dharti felt her bottom lip tremble as it always did when she thought of her lover’s death, Elysia, bless her, wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “I remember we were in different shuttles and looking out as hers lifted from the landing zone. The beam from a descending Reaper caught her shuttle and, it exploded, Kim and her class gone in the span of seconds.”
“I’m sorry,” Elysia said as they huddled together under the unfamiliar sky. “She must have been a very special person to have a wife like you.”
Dharti smiled, “She certainly was.”
It was quiet for a long moment as they sat together looking up at the star and the two moons. Elysia looked back to Dharti, “You should go in, they’ll be planning things and we should have at least one Asari representative there to keep Keith in line.”
“You’ll be ok?”
“Yes, I have calmed down now,” Elysia stood and held a hand down for the teacher, “Thank you.”
Dharti took the hand and let the Commando help her up, “Good, we’ll be alright, I think we’re all good people in our own ways, even Keith, we just might have to search for it his goodness and little harder.”
“Maybe with a shovel,” Elysia joked.

“Well, we do have one of those if it’s needed. I’ll bring you water later,” Dharti promised and disappeared into the tunnel. Elysia looked to the hole in the ground for a long moment before moving over to a tree. She would be harder to spot as part of the tree as she would sitting in the middle of an opening. She withdrew her pistol and made sure that it was ready just in case.

Part of her training as an Asari Commando was working under sleep deprivation conditions as well as boredom. They would often had “games” where one would have to stand guard for three days, no one ever knew if there would be a surprise attack or not but one always had to be ready for it.
The first time Elysia had to complete the task she fell the first night when her eyes closed all on their own. The second time she had lasted until the third day, that time she had been the only one that failed and most did not let her live it down. She had been angry at herself at the time, as well as the other students for constantly making fun of her, but the by the third time they had test she had was able to endure.
One of the Commandos had taken her aside and taught her a light meditation technique that actually helped her concentrate on the area she was defending. She used that now as she leaned against the tree, her hand resting on the grip. There were a lot of noises the area made that were natural, some louder than other. On Thessia there had been this lizard like creature, the trilliacera, it was nocturnal. She used to love to hear them sing at night, it was a wonder alto sounding chirp. When there was a chorus of them it was like listening to music.
The creatures on this planet at night were like that. There were several different creatures all singing their own song, but they all blended together so nicely. She could not help but wonder what they looked like. The trilliacera was not the most beautiful creature on Thessia.
She smiled to herself as she remembered a prank she had played on one of the older students in the school, but the smile did not last long as her ears picked up something else. First the singing behind her had stopped and the silence from there was almost deafening. She strained to hear what had caused the sudden silence. She moved a bit away from the tree and spotted something in the corner of her eye. She spun quickly but was bowled over anyway by something large and furry, with sharp claws she noted as they dug into her shoulder. She flew through the air.
She brought her pistol out quickly curing the fact that her bad shoulder had been furthered injured and it hurt like hell. She wanted to open fire on the large dark shadow before her, her finger jerked slightly on the trigger before she realized that would only bring attention to the area they were in.
Her hand flashed blue and she prayed that the creature was not too big and heavy for a singularity. She had never really used it on anything so big before, she shot her hand out once and the creature seemed to lose its footing and start to topple sideways before being lifted into the air she followed it up and threw her hand to the left, away from the tunnels, the creature flew out of sight. A few seconds later she heard shouting and then gunfire.
“Goddess,” she whispered, the soldiers must have been close by, she was glad she had decided against shooting, although throwing a large furry creature in the middle of them would not be overlooked either, but it would buy them time.
She stumbled slightly as she ran for the tunnel entrance and ran into Keith as he was the first one out.
“Gunfire?” he asked.
“It wasn’t me, I was attacked by something and gave it a throw and I guess I threw it into the soldiers,” she explained. Keith looked out spotting the muzzle flashes and then smiled.
“Well, bet they didn’t expect that,” He said and patted her on the good shoulder, “Good thinking,”
She smiled slightly not expecting that.
“We have to move,” Keith shouted as he ran down the tunnel. Elysia followed. Everyone was already packing quickly.
“Is there another way out of the tunnel?” Tanith asked Varra.
“Lots,” Varra said simply.
“You are wounded,” Dharti floated over to the younger Asari.
“It was big and came from nowhere.” Elysia said.
“The soldiers?” Dharti fished through her pack for a med gel pack.
“No it was a creature, it attacked me and I threw it, I just happened to throw it in the direction the soldier were coming from. I didn’t even know they were there,” the Commando explained. “I don’t think it was happy.”
“Well, if we are lucky it will kill them all,” Keith said, “Dharti we don’t have time now. Move first heal later.”
“It’s ok, it was injured already anyway,” Elysia added. She grabbed her own pack that had been rested against a wall. She hung it over her good arm.
“Well so much for some rest,” Tanith said and moved to her knees, she was not able to stand in these tunnels. Elysia felt bad for her, the Asari moved to Varra.
“Ok let’s get out of here, go,” She said and waited until the others had passed. As a second thought she turned back to the room they taken over and hit it with a singularity causing dust and rocks to curl up and blow all over the place. Remes stood behind to wait for her.
“That way they won’t know we were here, or what tunnel we went down, at least for a bit,” she explained. Remes nodded and the two of them moved to join the others.
- 7
- 8
- 9
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Into the Unknown