Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

She doesn’t want to give into the thoughts that he betrayed her. She doesn’t want to sink into that bottomless hole that would spiral out of control. 

Evfra would never betray her like this. 

And yet as she struggles against the straps of the exam table gritting her teeth against the pain of her ribs. SAM’s hovering quietly in the background of her mind, trying to find her a way out. Her mind can’t help but whisper to the rising panic that she had been handed to the enemy on a silver platter. 

------

She woke to the musky scent clinging to her nose, her body screamed as she moved. Her hand slid across something sticky on the floor. Her body shivers from the cold ground that she laid nude on. Ryders mind spins with a rising awareness. She grunts sitting up eyes looking down at the splatters of blue and green. Her stomach turns recognizing the substance right away.

Blood. 

“SAM.” She whispers looking around the dark and rancid cell she was in. The barrier flickers with static and around her the ship seems to creak. Footsteps echo somewhere in the distance. There are tortured shrieks, moaning wails, that cry along the otherwise eerie quiet halls. 

::We are currently on a kett transport ship.:: SAM states as she takes deep breaths. His robotic voice soothes her frayed nerves and anxieties. She is at least not alone.

“You’re the pathfinder.” A voice whispers as a spindly shadow edges into the light cast by the barrier. The battered salarians wide eyes scan her form. 

“I am.” She holds her side wincing as her ribs twig with pain. 

::Two fractured ribs from blunt force trauma.:: SAM informs her over their private channel. 

“Really? I didn’t realize.” She hisses, forcing back the pain to focus on the situation. Ryder gazes at the nervous Salarian, she knows his face but can’t place it. He seems relatively unharmed, and unarmed. Pursing her lips she moves past him to take stock of her surroundings. 

The cell has nothing inside of it besides the splatters of blood and….Ryder swallows looking away from the teeth scattered on the ground as she forces her aching body to kneel. Dizziness swarms her mind as the pain washes over her in waves. 

The cell has only one way in or out, and it's through the flickering barrier. 

“SAM, think you can find a way to turn that off?” She shuffles forward onto her knees, leaning  towards the stasis field. She couldn’t see any Kett beyond. 

Ryder swallows down the thick sick feeling in her throat, this wasn’t looking good. She was stripped of all her weapons in a secure cell, alone on an enemy ship. And who knew where she was? 

She closed her eyes and beat back the rising fear. 

::I will assess the field integrity. Locating the power relay will help.:: SAM relayed the information. 

“Okay.” She turned then, looking at her silent companion. “How long have you been here?”

The salarian’s eyes bobbed about the cell. “A week.” He flittered about a moment before stepping towards her. “You’re here to save me?” The Salarian inches over, helping her to her feet.  His wild eyes look around. “I’m the only one left.” 

She stares at him, her throat constricts at the thought that he was laying all his hope at her feet. Just like everyone else.

“I’m going to do my best to get us out of here.” She smiled at him, hiding her fear behind the Pathfinder face. 

::Pathfinder,:: SAM calls in her ear. ::There is a vent located in the far back corner.::

Ryder turned looking up towards the metal grate sealed to the wall. She eyed its dimensions. Her mind turned and worked, strategies began populating. 

Perhaps there was some hope. 

Turning she laid a hand on the Salarian shoulder. “What’s your name?” 

His watery eyes look up at her. “T-Trever I’m a broadcaster.”

That’s where she knows his face. She’d seen him reporting minute things around andromeda. Not a big broadcaster, he tended to be stiff and stumbling over his words as he spoke about what was happening on the Nexus or colonies or rumors swirling around her. 

“I need your help Trever.” She faced him, lowering her voice in case they were being listened to. “To get out of here.”

He bobs his head and holds onto her forearms. “O-okay.”

“I’m going to download my companion to your omnitool, he’s going to help you navigate the vents.” She glances to the side where there was a duct that was too small for her to fit in, but the Salarian could easily slip into. 

“I c-can do that.” He nervously fiddles about.

Ryder smiles at him. “I know you can.” She encourages, knowing all too well how terrified he likely was. But it was this, or it was facing the kett’s gruesome experiments. She’d come across one too many salarians with their chest cracked open. Their final moments trapped on their faces. 

She takes a breath. “Give me your hand.” She hears footsteps now and her heart starts to beat faster. “SAM’s going to guide you through this.” 

She can tell that the Kett have come for her. 

——-

This was a cluster fuck. She takes a deep gulping breath, jaw throbbing from where the ascendant hit her when she tried to escape before they could strap her to the table. She ground her molars together, sweat misted her skin as she laid on the table straining her neck to look at the Archon standing at the end of the table. 

Ryder knew the moment she saw him that this was no simple vessel. She felt the claws of dread snuffing out her flickering hope as his twisted face grinned while she was dragged into this small chamber filled with beds of deceased angara. Only one had been empty, the one he stood in front of with his hands behind his back. 

She’d let out a soft shriek struggling against the anointed before the ascendant had backhanded her. In her stunned moment they had strapped her to the cold sticky table while the Archon watched on. 

His gaze dragged slowly up her form. It was dark, judging, like how one would appraise a prized pet. He moved around the table and reached out touching a strand of her hair. 

“For so long you dodged my step.” His white eyes snapped to her face studying her. “And now you are here, all thanks to the angara leadership.” 

She wanted to spit on him, but her mouth was drier than Elaadens desserts. 

“Do you know what you cost to them?” He leaned over her, hand spanning her throat, the heel of his palm pressing into her thumping pulse. She shifted silently under the pressure, her own hands curling into fists, nails biting into her palm.

“They would never.” She snapped finally as his gaze drifted down her body. Goosebumps pebbled across her skin, a shiver of awareness shot down her spine. She was utterly helpless against this demon. 

Fear beat against her mind, she could almost picture them peeling open her ribcage as she screamed. She lurched against the restraints trying to bite him. 

The Archon pulled away to avoid her teeth. He frowned at her continuous rebellion against him. “You should thank me, Ryder.” He grabbed her throat and squeezed, claws digging into the side of her neck. She struggled twisting as she tried to shake off his hand. She gasped and struggled in vain as he slowly applied pressure choking off her airways. “Thank me for revealing who your true allies are.” He whispered in her ear as she wheezed. “To show you how weak the angara truly are.” The tone was one of repulsive adoration.

He pulled back, releasing her. She coughed and gasped, shaking against the table. “No one,” She wheezed. “Would trade me in to you-willingly.” She glared at him while trying to catch her breath. Her throat burned and throbbed as the dots in her vision faded “What did you do?” She demanded

He grinned at Ryder then, something dark. “I offered them such a silly thing.” He turned and looked at the waiting ascendant. “I offered them a ‘cure’.” He walked around the table and sat in the prepared chair, smirking. 

She shifted, eyes widening. “You can reverse being turned into a-a kett?” She rasped. She shuddered when he let out a laugh. 

“That was the trade I made with that leader .” He mocked. 

Ryder laid there against the cold table, her breathing quickened. There was no way. He wouldn’t do it, but she couldn’t help but think at the look of remorse he gave her. She’d thought it was…

She closed her eyes as the wave of pain rocked through her body. “Never,” She denied as she looked at the Archon’s glee filled eyes. “You lie.” She stated with calm she didn’t feel.

“Believe what you want Ryder.” He stated smugly, reaching for a cup at his side. He tipped his head back gulping the liquid. “Know this Sara , by the end, you will be loyal to the empire.” His eyes glowed with a sickness. 

Ryder knew his kind. Ones that got off on others fear, who wanted to see them cower. She’d be damned if she let him see her shrivel up in terror. She glared at the Kett, wishing for her gun, to shoot him where he sat, a cup in hand, gloating at the sight of her. She wanted to watch his blood spray from the hole she’d put in his head. She snarled softly and pulled at the restraints chaining her before him.

“Tell me, Sara,” He almost seemed to purr with twisted glee, watching  her, strapped down to the cold metal bed, stripped and vulnerable. “Are you ready to give into the empire? Become one of our greatest?” He stroked his claws down the flute of his cup. “With the remnant and you by my side, nothing in this galaxy wi-”

“I will kill you” She snarled at him. “I will hunt you down, and make you pay for everyone in this galaxy that you hurt. I will rip apart this empire starting with your knees.” She yanked at the restraints. “I will never yield to you!” 

The Archons face darkened, he looked at the ascendant standing ready and nodded his head. “You may resist at first, Sara, but you all submit to me in the end.” His dark voice sent a rolling fear through her body. “When I finish with you, no angara will welcome you again.” He grinned and waved a hand to the ascendant.

She bit her tongue as the kett picked up the scalpel. The dim lights glinted off its sticky surface, already used on other bodies that littered this chamber. Ryder swallowed as her head was jerked back and the kett began to slice into the skin of her collar bone. She sucked in a sharp breath, but she didn’t scream. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. Not yet. She would hold on as long as she could possibly.

Warm tears sprang to her eyes as he cut into her skin. She loathed them, the weakness that the Archon witnessed. She hated the sharp sobbing gasp she sucked in and silenced, the hissing of pain that escaped her lips as he dug into the meat of her shoulder. The scalpel burned a path up her throat, she had a feeling that this kett wasn’t just slicing her up, but rather marking her as the Archons. The thought made her stomach churn as she silently seethed at them. Finally when he sliced her bottom lip the Archon hissed “Stop.”

Ryder panted, sucking in a sharp shuddering breath. Blood spilled in from her lip, she spat it back out and glared at the Archon.

“Submit.” He growled, standing now. 

“Never.” She hissed back at him. “I will never give in.”

The Ascended glanced between her to the Archon and back. The only thing heard was the creaking and groaning of the ship, and her harsh panting. 

“You find this amusing?” He finally spoke, anger seeping into his tone. 

“Oh yes.” She smiled then, blood filling the cracks between her teeth. “Watching you struggle with the one thing you want so desperately.” She cackled. “You so desperately want the knowledge of the Remnant that I have, but you can’t even get it can you? You want to know how to use them, how to wield them. You’ll always be grasping, but I will always slip through your disgusting fingers. I will never submit.”

She knew after the words were spoken, that she regretted it. Evfra always warned her that her mouth was going to get her in trouble. The world slowed as the Archon’s anger melted away and he moved around the table. He cupped her bloodied skin fascinated by how it stained his fingers. He bent his mouth to her ear and whispered.

“Watching you break will be the greatest joy of andromeda.” 

Her heart thumped hard against her rib cage at his words, and the promise that laid within them. She knew he would come away from this with her blood dripping from his hands. She closed her eyes and swallowed. Like a spider he grinned down at the helpless bug caught in his web. “I can make you see, Sara.” His voice rumbled, full of satisfaction and a twinge of something she didn't want to identify. “That you will never defy me again.” He stroked her broken skin before stepping away.

“Ascended, retrieve her eyes for me.” Her heart plummets to her feet as she starts to twist atop the table. “I want to keep them as a memento to remember this time as the great Pathfinder bows to me.” He lets out a gleeful cackle at her struggle against the restraints. She knows he’s getting off of the stark fear that crosses her face. She needs to get out of here! This couldn’t happen! 

There HAD to be a way out. There was always a way out!

Hands grip her chin she tries to shake them off, tries to bite at them. She can hear the Archon laughing at her as hands grab her hair slamming her down into the metal table. She groans aloud, dazed by the pain, she almost doesn’t fight as the kett pries her eyelids apart. 

Fingers curl around the edge of the table. “No!” She Jerks eyes darting side to side hoping for a miracle. For the Tempest to arrive for someone to save her! For Evfra to have this great plan, using her as bait. She awaits him to come crashing through the door, gun raised, eyes blazing. Ready to kill for her. 

She breathes out another shriek jerking as the scalpel poises over her. 

Someone would come save her! Jaal, Cora, Scott-

Dad!

Her father would come, she thinks in a flurry of panicked thoughts that buzz around her skull. He always came to get her out of trouble. He was there on Eden prime to bail her out when the husk swarms overpowered her unit. He was there to bail her out when her career fell to shambles at her feet. He was always there with that stern look and open hand.

He would come!

The grip in her hair tightens as the other hand begins the extraction. Her eye floods red into her vision. She screams arching up, the scalpel sinks deeper, theres a gushing sound that rings in her ears over the roaring of her blood. 

The pain is beyond anything she felt before as the air in ehr lungs is squeezed out. She jerks, trying to move away from the burning agonizing torment. There's a hand on her throat, choking her as she thrashes against the hold. 

“Dad!” She cries out in a harsh voice as blood bubbles over her face, the scalpe twist inside. SAM shuts off her pain,a small blessing, but her body knows what’s happened as it arches away from the monster. “FATHER!” 

There’s a wet suctioning sound, something that will haunt her dreams as she feels the yanking, her breath whooshes out as she screams. Warmth oozes down her cheek. Tears made of blood gush over onto her pale skin. 

She struggles to breath as the ketts grasp shifts. She wheezes, it grabs the other side of her face, claws peel back her lid-

There's a beeping sound that distracts them all looking away from her.

“What is that?” The Archon demands standing up. 

“Archon,” An Anointed rushes forward, bowing at his feet. “There's been a breach in our system.” 

“Find it,” He snaps. “And do not let the pathfinder escape!” He stands at the foot of her bed, staring down at her. She’s breathing harshly, the left side of her face covered in blood. Her lips are parted, and pale. 

“We are far from done, Sara .” He turns leaving the room and barking out orders. Clearly unhappy that his fun had been interrupted.  

Sara laid there, numbly staring up at the ceiling, warm blood trickling down her skin. She was going to die here, screaming atop this table, wondering if she’d been betrayed by Evfra. 

::Ryder, Trever has succeeded in disrupting their system.:: SAM states in her ear. She can’t stop shaking as she takes deep harsh breaths. She feels an empty yawning entering her chest. She can hear SAM speak but her mind and body are disconnected as she floats away.

-------

“Do you ever take time to relax?” Ryder inclined her head as she stood at the edge of his desk, peering at the fading sunlight. Unlike daytime on Aya, the night was something altogether different. It came to life in a stunning array of colors. Like a mix match kaleidoscope. The angara had engineered their buildings to take the sunlight given and cast back out once the sun set. Allowing them to get the needed nutrients no matter what cycle it was. The buildings themselves cast a cascade of colors across the land, it was a breathtaking image as the patterns moved like they lived, swirling into blends of patterns.  

And the flora seemed to participate by releasing a kind of spore that reminded her of lightning bugs back home. Little glowing dots that danced along the backdrop to Aya’s beauty. 

“No,” Evfra’s sharp words brought her gaze back to his dark skin and darker eyes. “I am in the middle of a war and I don’t have the luxury to relax.” His tone is a cruel whip of blunt words. 

But Ryder takes no offense to his mannerisms. She just tiles her head to the side. “And?” She lifts a brow. “I risk my life everyday, I am in the thick of it, yet I still find time to relax.”

“By coming to pester me.” Evfra straightens from looking over a holo map. She thinks it’s Voeld’s outpost but can’t be sure.”

“If that's what you want to call our talks.” She shrugs, grinning. They had just been in a meeting with Paaran Shie, Moshae Sjefa, and the nexus ambassador. All discussing the course of resources that they now had thanks to Ryder's hard work. From the reports the Kett had been attempting to abduct more angara but was being pushed by the combined forces of the Milky way races and Angara.

It was nice to see her hard work paying off. 

She rolled her shoulders. “Do you ever sleep?” 

He stops and looks up at her with a harsh expression. “Stop prying into my personal life.”

She grins at his hard tone. “Are you scared of getting close to me?” She teases and watches his nose wiggle a bit. He stares her down, likely the same look he gives his recruits to get them to fold. But Ryder wasn’t scared of the big salty blue male. In fact she quite liked his rough exterior. Reminded her a bit of her dad. 

“I have seen my people wiped out all my life. Building bonds and getting close is not something I am interested in.” He states after a moment of silence.

“Well maybe you should.” She steps closer tilting her head back to keep his eye contact. “We’re going to win this war, Evfra.”

“Is it blind optimism or just stupidity that spews from your mouth?” 

He was always so defensive. He prefered tactics over guesses, logic over emotions. When she first met him he didn’t want to even share the same air with her. He looked after his people so long he didn’t want to rely on anyone else for help. 

They had come a long way from there in the few months of working together. 

“Lets get dinner together.” Ryder placed her hands on her hip. Before he could say another harsh comment she tagged on. “Either you come or I stick around you, and trust me-no one wants to be around me when I haven’t eaten.” She wiggles her brow at him. 

He stood rigid for a minute silent, as if he was weighing his options before letting out a heavy sigh through his nose. “Just dinner.”

Ryder grinned. Truth be told she would normally leave the male alone but this was in favor to the Moshae, who seemed to think Ryder's pension to ignore Evfra’s snarling was just what the Resistance Leader needed. 

------

::Ryder-Sara, you must get moving:: Ryder jerked from her limp state, she’s been drifting into unconsciousness. Struggling, her head lulls to the side. Was this where she died? Would this be how the tempest crew found her? 

Anger sears into her chest, hot and vibrating. Colors collide together as the agony of her veins numbs to the powerful thirst for vengeance. She grabbed at the emotion, needing it to fuel her, letting it consume her. If she didn’t she’d curl inside herself and give up completely. But this anger rocked her, fueled her vein, ignited her spirit. She was NOT going to die like this. She didn’t fight her way across andromeda just to die naked on a table. 

Thunking her head against the table to jolt her system into awareness, She glanced to the side, the kett were distracted….she looks to the right and sees the blade covered in her blood and the discarded eyeball that stares back at her. Stomach rolling at the sight, Ryder looked back at the ceiling. Swallowing  and Ryder closed her eye, she stretched her hand out, Biotics hummed at her fingertips. She felt it wrap around the discarded scalpel, tugging it she pulled it towards her. The Archon may have stripped her of her armor, her weapons, but he couldn’t strip her of her spirit, nor could he take her biotic powers. 

She smirked and curled her fingers around the wet, warm metal instrument. Breathing hard she listened as the Kett moved forward. Coming to take her back to her cell. 

Slowly breathing out her breath, Ryder forces herself to go limp, to even out her breathing despite the burning of her lungs. She makes herself  appear weaker than she actually was. 

Waiting they unlock her hands, her feet, grab her shoulders to drag her off the metal table. Its then she springs into action. Lacing her movement with a biotic force, slicing through the chosens throat, ripping it apart. 

The chosen gurgles as she rips its jugular out and drops it to the grate floor below. She whirls and jabs the scalpel into the other ketts eye, shoving it as far as it could go. She twist the blade and yanks it out, the second kett joining his brethren on the floor. She stands above them wiping the green blood from her face disguised as it mixed with her own. She was going to have a hell of an infection. 

The room swirls around her as she leans into the table for support. Ryder sways on her feet before bending over vomiting on the floor. Her head throbs painfully at the action as she gags. After she straightens she wipes her mouth and moves around the table grabbing more scalpels that she can get her hands on. 

::If you access that console Ryder I can try to hack into their ships systems.:: SAM informed her. 

Grabbing a box of gauzes she limped towards the console. “Be quick SAM more will be coming.” She pressed a hand to her ribs and used the other to allow SAM to access the system. 

::This is a small transport ship for supplies, they had been on the way to Voeld when they got an order to go to Elaaden.:: SAM informed her as he slipped through the coding of the ship. ::There is an informant from the angara, though there is no name.::

Ryder closed her eye. Stomach churning at the news. Another point against Evfra. But there had to be an information leak. One he didn’t know about. 

He would never betray her….

::I can access some of the system from here.:: SAM went silent for a moment. :: And when another kett logs in I can attach a virus to them and infect the rest of their systems.::

“SAM have I ever told you what a genius you are.” She smiles leaning heavily on the console. Her vision of her eye wavers a second before she forces herself  to work past it despite her body’s protest.  “Now all we need a way off this shit show.” 

::Working on it Pathfinder.::

“Let me know what you find.” She presses the gauze to her eye, it feels swollen and tender. She fears for internal bleeding but the best she can do is wrap it. “Any idea where my equipment is?” She needs to focus on getting out, later she would work on figuring out how the kett located her.

::According to the log it will be with the other...victims items.:: SAM gave her a nav point and she sighed. How many lives lost here at the Ketts hands. She pressed a hand to her stomach. 

“Alright,” She flexs her fingers, and needing her shotgun back in her hands would make her feel better. “If this is a small transport vessel what is the Archon doing on it?” She whispers out loud, hands curling into fist. She would like nothing more then return the favor to the Archon.

‘Perhaps he needed a small vessel to move easily through angara space. He can’t face the combined forces of angara and nexus fleet’ Ryder nodded at the assessment. ‘If he does have an insider who sold you out, it would make sense that he needed to slip undetected into occupied space’

That wasn’t a good sign at all. Ryder ran a hand through her hair and grimaced at the matted blood within. “Any idea where we are?” 

::It appears this vessel is returning to the fleet. It will be back into kett territory in approximately 7 hours.::

Grinding her teeth at that, she began moving. She needed to get off this ship before that happened. Her hand cupped her throat as thoughts began to form. 

Feet slapped against the wet floor as she moved towards the vents, but then stopped suddenly. Her head tilted to the side as something soft caught her attention. There was a mewling noise, something that was familiar, yet not at all. She turned and paused looking at the dead body of an angara female, one that recently passed, as SAM informed her. She had a look of terror and sorrow printed upon her face. Though that wasn’t what Ryder paused at. This room was brimming with death, but there was something else alive in here.

Discarded in a dish was a tiny wiggling ball that was squalling softly between panted breaths- 

An angara pup!

She snatched up the pup holding it close to her body as she scanned the females body. If there was one- she swallowed and looked towards her stomach that had been peeled back in the dissection. A pouch would be there. Steeling herself she moved the flap of skin, Ryder gagged at the squealing sound as her organs moved and found the small slit and puckered skin. She clenched her eyes close as she forced the cooling skin to open, allowing her to reach inside. 

Two angara pups came limply out from within, badly nourished and barely alive. She stared at the weakly squalling pups and pressed them to her chest. She looked around for something to secure them to herself and swallowed.

“SAM, how do I …” She licked her bottom lip. 

::According to my logs, pups this young feed off the mothers bioelectricity.::

Ryder ran a finger down their tiny spines and glanced around for something to secure them to herself. “SAM would biotics suffice in feeding them?” She unfortunately only had the bloody gauzes to wrap them in in a makeshift sling where they could feel her warmth. She used what she had to have them swaddled between her breasts, the safest place she could think of. 

::It is plausible Ryder, as biotics can be used in a similar fashion.:: SAM surmised. 

She had nothing to lose as she began to emit a biotic field. It seemed to be encouraging as the pups all seem to settle against her skin. Though the use made her head start to swim. Forcing her lungs to breathe through the sick and burning feeling she grips the tiny weapon in hand and moves forward. 

The Kett  were beginning to notice something's amiss. Likely wondering why the ones that were suppose to be watching her aren’t responding. She’s quick in ending their life’s with the small scalpel and her biotics. Her knuckles begin to bruise and bleed as she slides into the vents that SAM leads her too. 

She needs her gear, she needs her gun.

She needs to protect the squirming bundle pressed to her heart. 

——

“What?” Ryder gives him an amused look. 

“You need to protect your neck.” He rolls his shoulders circling her. They had been sparing for a few minutes when he so kindly pointed out her major weakness. “It would be easy to snap the bone there.”

Lip twitching she twists around he’s not expecting the sharp kick to his stomach, though he does move quickly and catch her foot twisting her around. 

Smirking she bends her knee and jumps backwards slamming the back of her head against his nose. He hisses and she twists away, yanking her leg from his grasp.

“I think I know how to handle myself.” She states only to lose all confidence as he grabs one of her breasts as he lunges for her.

They both seem to pause for a moment as he holds her. She turns looking up at him.

“Getting fresh with me are we De Tershaav?” 

He snarls and shoves her away. She smirks as they begin to prowl around one another. She challenged him into a spare because he’d been tense and snappy. His focus hadn’t been on tactics, he had been off since she entered his office. Twice they had gone over the same plan when she finally coerced him into the ring.  She’d hoped going a few rounds would help, now she felt more like a prey as his sharp gaze moved from her feet and stuck to the swaying of her hips then to the bounce of her chest between each pant.

“Something tells me, Evfra,” She licked her bottom lip and exaggerated the sway of her hips with the next step. A shiver ran down her spine when his eyes slitted and narrowed on her movement. “You’re looking for something a bit different.” She gasped when he lunged suddenly. 

They tumble to the soft sand as he forces her body below his. She let out a grunt and tilts her head back, lifting an eyebrow, smirking.

“You are the most irritating person alive.” He snarled, hand stroking her vulnerable throat. He growled as she sighed and offered more of her skin.

“You just say that because you want me.” She coyly wrapped her legs around his hips and rolled, grinding against him. 

He trapped her hands over her head with one of his and bends, catching her mouth. She goes soft beneath him, not fighting the desire that rushes to the surface. She goes out everyday to fight for her people, for his people, risking everything. These moments, these small pleasurable moments are all that drives her forward into enemy lines. 

She just has to remember not to leave her heart behind with Evfra.

Moaning against his mouth, she arches into him when his hand abandons her throat to grab a handful of her ass and draws her into him. She nips his lip and laughs when he lets out a sputtered purr. “I like this sparring much better.” She whispers.

“Hush.” He growls dragging her into him and caging her between the sand and his body.  

——

Sara grips the scalpel in her fist, as the Salarian emerges from a different duct. She can see he found his old gear and what appears to be a camera bot that is tucked under his arm. 

Ryder lets out a soft sigh and goes back to wrapping her ribs, the best she can, and securing the pups that are hidden beneath the gauze. Her eyes flutter a little. The kett are swarming around like ants, and with luck SAM’s virus was wrecking their coordinate systems, buying them time.

He’d also managed to be transferred to the Ascended in charge and had now blocked all coms. They kick started this plan and now they needed to complete it quickly. She could FEEL the time running out. 

“Did you see that?” Trever pumps his fist excitedly as he slithered up beside her. “I saved you.” 

Sara looks back at him, blood drying the Left side of her face. He winces at the sight and looks away. “You did good.” She rasped and looked back at the vent walls trying to block out the fact of her own disfigurement. “Thank you.”

“I…” He looked down at the bot under his arm and stated to fiddle with it.

“Don’t worry about it.” She shifts and touches the bandage between her breasts. The pups weren’t moving but they were purring against her skin. 

“I found something.” He pushed a Kett gun, that was equivalent to a pistol, towards her. 

She frowned, how had he gotten his hands on it? She glanced towards the camera between his fiddling fingers. She once knew a Volus scientist, one that was on Eden prime with her. He’d ran out into a Geth troop all to recover some stupid insignificant datachip. 

Trever reminded her of him. Risking everything for his work. 

She’d keep her eye on him. 

“Thanks,” She let out a sigh and checked the clip, there were 24 bullets in the gun. Not the amount she wanted but it was better than the scalpel. 

Trever grinned and shifted. “Now what?”

“Now,” She rolled her shoulders. “We find a way off this hellscape.”

::I may be of assistance, Ryder, there are no shuttles on this ship but it is transporting some rovers.:: SAM informs her as she wipes the sweat from her brow. 

Ryder catches onto what he’s saying. “You want us to open the bays and drift into space inside a rover?”

Trever sputtered eyes wide. “Wha-no that’s suicide. We’ll be sitting targets out there”

“Not if we overheat the engines and exploded them.” She glanced out the vent grate, it was a matter of time before they were discovered.”I’ve seen the engineering of Kett engines. For the so claimed perfect race, they have some shit designs. We set this ship to explode and make a break for it.” She could create a biotic shield to protect them long enough not to get engulfed in the explosion. 

She hoped. She looked down at her shaking hands and curled them into fist. 

“No way.” Trever fisted his bot between his hands. “We’ll suffocate before anyone finds us.”

“It gives us a better option of surviving then waiting around for them to find us and dissect us.” And personally she preferred death to that, she thought with a small bout of morbid humor. 

“I need to locate my suit.” She looks back at Trever, she can feel the fever building as she tries to keep his image from swimming in her head. “Stay in the vents, locate a console for SAM to access, don’t risk yourself.” She touched the sling tied around her chest. She almost wanted to give the pups over, they might have been safer but she didn’t trust him to protect their tiny feeble bodies. 

-----

“I’m not going to break.” She lets out a breathless laugh as Evfra curls a hand over her ribs, it spans over half her chest. 

Big boy she thinks grinning to herself. 

“Are you always this talkative in bed?” He growls the words, but they lose their sting considering he’s got his face buried between her breasts. He’s gently lapping at the swells, exploring her body. She shudders and arches mewling against his slow treatment.

“Only with those who bore me.” She grins at the dark look he sends her. She squeals when he yanks her lower half against his. She’d expected this to be a quick fuck, but the moment he’d gotten her out of her clothing something changed. 

His hands stroked her skin in reverence almost, he seemed interested in finding out what makes her gasp, what made her arch into him, what made her quake beneath him in desire. His lips sealed over her nipple suckling that had her sighing as his hands stroked her inner thigh. Teasing touches that had her burning for him. 

“Perhaps it's your small attention span.” He dragged his tongue across her nipple, scar crinkling with the smirk he was giving her at her wanton moan. 

“Ooh?” She reached to stroke that scar, leaning up to trail her lips across the skin. It surprises her when he begins to rumble with a purr at her attention. “Maybe I just want you to hurry up and get inside me.” She adds a bite to his skin to get her point across. 

She can feel him quake over her, but it's the silky chuckle that leaves his mouth that has her surprised. “Why am I not surprised that you take to intercourse like you do the battlefield.” 

She lays back against the ground, hands stroking across his skin. Mapping him out. She’s seeing a side of Evfra that she’d never seen before. One that was relaxed, even smiling a little. Actually teasing her as he had her completely beneath him, ready for him. Instead he was taking his time. 

“Please explain.” She purred, hooking a leg over his thigh, she stroked her foot up and down his leg sighing as a finger gently stroked the thatch of curls between her thighs. She wiggles groaning when the hand slides up her stomach instead of down. “Evfra please.” She pants.

He merely hums as he kisses her throat. “Passionate.” He nips her, while he trails his lips down. “Headstrong.” He pays special attention to her hip bones planting soft kisses there. She hiccups a little when he pulls her thighs further apart, pushing her legs over his shoulder. “Rushed.” He growls nuzzling her curls. “Reckless.” He drags his tongue along the slit of her womanhood. 

Jaw unhinged, her eyes rolled back as she arches into him. Fingers curl into the sand, seeking purchase as she arches up. “Evfra!” She cries.

He gently laps at her, measured and controlled with each swipe. He is meticulously breaking her apart to her very atom, and when she shatters apart she knows he’ll be there to catch her. 

She lets out soft hiccupping moans, she doesn’t need to be told too but she opens her eyes watching as he feast on her. Breath catches at the side of him there between her legs. 

His mouth is glistening from her cream, eyes blown wide, his dark skin is a tint darker. He looks ravishing as he ravishes her! 

Biting her lip she bends her body, pushing against his mouth. She grinds against him mewling when he hands grab her, stilling her movements. 

She lets out a low huff. “I could say the same for you.” She shudders words gone when he finds the swollen pearl between her folds and seals his mouth around it. She lets out a cry twisting beneath him. 

He is meticulous. The eyes of a general who misses not even the smallest reactions. He watches her as she writhes beneath his mouth, to which he was drinking her like he hadn’t drunk in many years. Oh how he seemed to know how to make her cry out his name as he cradles her clit with his tongue and purr. Or to make her thighs quiver with blunt strokes along her cunt, slurping up the sweet ambrosia she spilled against his mouth. 

Yes, just like the leader he was, he knew how to devastated her utterly. Until she was sobbing his name and whispering that he was too much!

“Sara” He purrs, nipping her skin as he moves back up her body with hungry eyes.  “It’s what I….admire about you.” He rumbles against her ear, slotting his hips against hers. 

She holds onto his biceps looking up at him. “My body?” She teases which ends in a breathless squeak when he thrust into her. 

He tangles his hand into her hair, angling her face so he can watch every expression that crosses her face. “Your strength.” He murmurs against her lips, other hand catches her hip and pushes their bodies together. “Your passion.”

She sucks in a sharp breath as he moves, rocking into her. This wasn’t a simple fucking. She groans his name and moves insync with him. Never had she felt so perfectly matched as they glide together as if they were made to fit. She catches a breath only for him to steal it again with each passing sweep of his ridges against the fluttering channel of her cunt. 

“Nothing stops you, Sara.” He nibbles on her ear and she keens at the sound of her name on his lips. A name she didn’t even know he knew. “Nothing will ever stop you.” 

“Making an optimist out of you.” She gasps and bucks into him when he rolls his bioelectricity over her clit. “Again!” She cries out as he starts to unravel her body. Between his measured thrust and perfectly aimed zaps of bioelectricity she is a mess beneath him. 

“Only you would order me in bed.” He laughs, releasing her hips and rolling letting her be on top. His eyes are half lidded looking up at her as she rocks against him. “Show me that passion Sara.”  

----

“The Pathfinder shall not escape!” The Archon roars, smashing his fist against the table. “Find her.” He snarled at the ascendant bowed at his feet. “Or you’ll take her place on that table.” 

“Of course Archon.” The Ascendant swept out of the room, jagged teeth chittering together. 

Ryder squatted behind a console, gun grasped in her sweaty grip. She breathed slow measured breaths as she listened to the feet echo away. Wiping the sweat from her brow onto her shoulder, Ryder took the risk to peer around the console. 

What a shit show she’d gotten into. She’d silently left the vent to gain access to the console she currently hid behind. The very console that may allow her to shut down the coolant system to the engine. Before she could, however the Archon had stormed into the room. Her heart had dropped, she had thought for sure he knew she was here and came to reclaim her, tie her to that table again. To take her other eye, to crack open her chest and watch her heart beat its final beats. She hid without a thought and trembled in fear. Pure and utter terror.

Rubbing her mouth, Ryder swallowed back the acidic taste that coated her tongue. She shook her head and focused on her plan. That had to be carried out in a time restraint. For the longer she waited the closer the Kett fleet got. The jaws of the Archons trap closing in on her. 

Inching around the console she counted the kett inside the chamber. Three to the left and Six to the right. Nine all together. She might be able to sneak attack one, but taking on the whole group alone wasn’t going to work in her favor. Especially now that her left eye was gone. She feared her aim would go wide, and alerting the kett to her position was the last thing she wanted.

She pressed her back against the console and closed her eye. For a second her head started to bob, as her body yearned to give into unconsciousness. She felt SAM jolt her system with another dose of adrenaline, which she was running on. Cracking her eyes open she licked her lips. 

“SAM,’ She rasped in a low whisper. “Can you reach the console from here?"

::Negative Pathfinder, however there is another one in a different room.:: There was a pause as he assessed the information. ::Though there is a higher risk of exposure::

“Noted.” She rubbed her eye and checked around the console again. “I need a distraction.”

::I may have a solution. Currently the console Trever has located has access to the alarms and doors of this area:: ’ 

Touching the pups she counted her heart beats, forcing her hazy mind to focus. Blood loss and an infection was wrecking her system. “Any risk for Trever?” She wetted her dry lips, and coughed softly. She yearned for a cup of cold water. 

::Only the risk of being caught. :: SAM informed her.

“Do it.” She leaned her shoulder into the cool metal. 

The Kett all scrambled out of the room the moment the alarms down the hall began to blare. She waited a beat then two before crawling out from behind the console and accessing it. 

::This console has no access to the coolant system. It does have logs on cargo, and transmissions.::  

“Shit.” She slapped her palm against the screen and bent over it. She felt the sob building in her chest. “Shit! SAM give me something I can work with. There has to be something.” She shuddered, digging her nails into her bloodied palms.  

::I have located your items, the Archon is keeping your helmet and weapon as a prize.:: SAM showed her the log that made her stomach clench at the news. ::Your armor and wet suit were sent to be destroyed, there is a chance that it is still in vicinity.::  

Scrubbing her eye, she swallowed back the frustration and pushed off the console. She looked towards the door before ducking behind a wall and rushing towards the offshoot room. 

Her armor was indeed gone, besides the few scraps. Some being her calf plates and biceps. Both useless without the full set. However her wet suit, though sliced up, likely to extract it from her body, was still wearable. She worked off some of the hanging parts and sighed in relief to be clothed once more. 

::Ryder I have information.:: SAM pulled her attention as she rooted through the other bins. 

“I take it’s less than optimistic news?” She dropped her head to her hand. 

::The console that you require to access the engines are located at the center of this ship.::’

Go figure. She lifted her head, throat constricting as she fell back against the wall she covered her face. This was a hopeless endeavor. She recognized it, it would take her a miracle to get to the center of the ship undetected, access the console, and make it back to the bay before the engines blew. And that was only if the Kett didn’t catch her first or realize her plan.

She was going to die in this hellhole. A sob caught in the back of her throat, legs curled to her chest, Ryder dropped her head to her knees. Death's hands were curled around her throat, and this time she wasn’t coming back.

::Ryder…:: She shuddered, tears burned down her cheek. ::If you want I can record something for your brother.:: lifting her head she stared at the bin, where others belongings lay. Belongings to people who never made it, They both recognized the likelihood of her getting out. She cupped her hand over her throat. Her eyes darted to the kett weapon she had. 

24 bullets.

23 bullets for the kett and 1 for herself.

A pup mewled against her skin, shifting and weakly, sniffing. Going still, Ryder  gazed down at the gauzes that held their little bodies. Their survival depended on her, if she gave up now….

She closed her eyes, fist curled at her side. How could she give up their lives? She’d die knowing she didn’t fight for them to have a future!

A future the Archon stole from so many people!

Opening her eyes she looked at the bin of items. How many children did the Archon take and discard of? How many did he rip from their mothers? How much blood dripped from his hand belonged to that of children.

Her biotics spiked, fueled by a rage that she’d never felt before. One that had her standing and reaching for the kett pistol. One that had her seeing red, that burned through her veins hotter than the infection itself.

“Change in plans SAM, give me the location of the Archon.” She zipped up her wetsuit and cradled the weapon against her stomach. 

If she died here. So would he.

——-

She strokes his stomach muscles, sweat cooling on her skin. Though the pleasure still thrums through her. She bits her lip, shifting against his body, and feels the flutter of her neither. “If I knew how good you are at sparing I might have initiated this sooner.” She purrs sitting up as her hand travels lower. 

His grip is on her in an instant. Almost painfully. She knows as soon as she looks at his closed off expression that something is off. 

“This was a mistake, Pathfinder.” His voice is harsh, and she tries not to flinch at the title he tosses out without an ounce of affection in his words. Only moments ago he was crooning her name in her ears as he moved inside her body. 

A cold seeps into her then as she sits up staring at him. “A mistake?” She asked dumbfounded by the sudden change. Her heart constricts, a feeling she fears means that this little tumble meant more to her then she had wanted to acknowledge.

The scar scrunched up on his lip as he sneers. “I won’t let it happen again.” He’s pulling away from her both physically and emotionally. 

And there was nothing she could do about it as she was painfully crushed beneath his words. 

“Evfra, I’m-is it something I did?” She whispers past the forming lump in the back of her throat. She’s trying so hard not to let herself cry. Damn it! Why did she always allow the wrong people to do this to her? Was she destined to continually be used and tossed aside without a care?

“This should have never happened.” He stands not looking at her as he pulls on his clothes. 

She pulls her shirt close, feeling lost as she watches him wall off from her. She bites the inside of her cheek. She can at least pat herself on the back for not crying until she gets back to her quarters on the Tempest. 

——-

24 bullets could do a lot of damage, Sara thinks taking out a Chosen, then an anointed. Both part of the Archons bodyguard. Her fiery gaze leaps to the Archon as he flees to the back of them. He doesn’t know that all exits are sealed, she ensured that before dropping down from the vent right into the middle of his group.

Another 5 shots and she takes out three more kett. Her biotics assist in both defense and offense. Not as good as a Kinetic barrier, but worked just as well to stop the bullets from tearing through her flesh.  

She’s got 15 bullets left and 10 kett between her and the Archon. Her lips twist into a smile, the same one he’d given her as she laid strapped to the table. Her odds were looking great as she punched a hole through a chosens chest.

“Who’s next?” She rasps, not giving them time to respond as she keeps moving, never slowing. 

------

She once had a crush on Jaal. He was something new, something fascinating. He had both an allure that drew her in and a mystery about him that she aspired to unfold. She enjoyed seeing his point of view, hearing about his culture, taking in his easy personality and open feelings. She might even have been falling in love with him when she walked in on him and Peebee. She’d been carrying a book, a real leather bound paper filled book, for him to see when the Tech doors whooshed open. 

She certainly had gotten an eyeful of both him and Peebee in a position she could NEVER scrub from her brain. 

And yet that singular instant, the moment she recognized that yet again she'd been passed up for another didn’t hurt as much as what Evfra had done to her. She didn’t even know it yet but having her eye plucked out, even having the Archon carve up her skin, didn’t match the pain Evfra caused her. 

She clutched her shirt bent over her bed, she wavered between being numb and sobbing her heart out. She was never supposed to let this go so far. She didn’t realize that she relished her verbal arguments with the headstrong and oh so calculating angara. She liked probing him into a debate, one she never knew who would come out the winner. She marveled at his tactics, his ingenuity. She found herself admiring his mind as well as his body. 

She took too much of an interest in him, she lied to herself saying she only wanted to find out about the leader whom she worked so closely with. Someone who understood her position better than anyone.

Perhaps it was her loneliness that drove her.  

The discussions about resources and trades, about colonies and soldiers became more blended into casual talks that she forced him into. 

She had to wonder if he despised her for her persistent pushing. For her prying and presence that lingered in his office like a bad smell. Did he think about her, did he think about what they did with warmth, or was it a grimace. 

She took another shuddered breath. She was supposed to be the impervious, perfect, practical pathfinder. But the truth was she was just an archaeologist, a scientist who sought not a fight, but rather long dead ancient history. Or at least that is what she used to be. She loved being out on a dig site, spending hours outside looking at Prothean tech. She loved the thrill of the discovery and the discussions of theories with her coworkers at night. 

But all that stripped away when her father was indicted. The end of his research was the end of her career. 

Maybe that’s why she fell for Evfra. He was living breathing history almost. An unexplored culture, society, and most of all an unattainable heart.  She always seemed to find the people who couldn’t love her back.

Maybe there was nothing to love?

----

“You pitiful creature.” The Archon roared. “You understand nothing.” He struggled in vain against the biotic hold that held him in place as Sara pulled her shotgun from his trophy case. She snorted and looked at him. “You will not escape.” He sneered. “You will die here, not even worthy to be exalted!”

“I don’t think you understand.” Sara takes pleasure in hearing his kneecap snap beneath her power. SAM warns her though that her L5 implant is dangerously at its limit. But even dropping into a seizure wasn’t going to stop her from killing him. 

The Archon screams, dropping to the ground where he tries to take another swipe at her. “I’m not stuck here with you,” Sara smashes her knee into his face. “You’re stuck in here with me.” Wiping away the blood dribbling from her nose she towers over him.

“Tell me who was your informant?” Sara demands staring at the Archon she can hear the metal of the door groaning as the Kett worked to break through it.

The Archon’s dead eyes looked up at her. “You deny what is before you?” He tries to get off his knees and she snarls, her biotics push him down further. “Or perhaps your minuscule intelligence can not-” His words end in a scream as she breaks his arm before shoving the barrel of her gun into his face.

“WHO!?” Sara watches as fear crosses his expression, fear followed by something dark.

“Does it bother you,” He pants out, insanity gleams in those white eyes. “That not even your own people want you? They sold you to me.” He cackles. 

There's something...pitiful about him, she thinks watching as he struggles to breathe, to right himself despite the broken, and bleeding, mess of his body. She begrudges some respect that he doesn’t plea with her for his life, but that is swept away by the anger that rears its head as he laughs, spitting on her feet.

“I would have made you one with the Empire!” He chokes on his blood, eyes crazed. “I would have ruled andromeda!”

“No.” She states softly shoving him onto his back. “You never would have. You’ll die alone here today, by my hand. And after that,” She flips her shotgun testing the weight of it. “I will erradicate every fucking kett strong hold from andromeda, I will crush your followers beneath my boot, I will hunt them down to the very ends of this galaxy.” She dropped to his chest and leaned over him. “I will show them as much mercy as you showed us.”

She watches as the fear finally grips him. The reality that he held no power in this situation. That he was going to die. Sara smiles a twisted smile and lifts her gun over her head.

“This is for the angara.” She smashed her shotgun into his face. She could hear the cracking of her bones as she brought the butt of the gun down into him. She let out a shriek, bringing the gun up then down again, this time blood sprayed against her face as she did it. “For my eye!” She could hear his warbling pleas but didn’t listen to them as she smashed the gun against his face again. “For all those people you hurt!” 

And again and again, until her gun sunk deep into the split skull of his head. She leaned over him staring at the oozing mess, her harsh breathing all she could hear. 

His body twitched beneath her as she sat on his chest panting. Eye wide she gulped back the bile rising in the back of her throat and scrambled off his body to vomit off to the side. 

She hadn’t killed for necessity, Ryder gags. She just murdered someone, and enjoyed it! She starts to choke falling to her knees unable to grab even a breath as her body seizes up. She can hear someone calling but can’t stop the pain the rocks down her spine. 

Spindly fingers grabbed her arm, pulling her up. Her head falls back and she stars up at Trever’s wide terrified eyes. She wheezes softly. “How-” Her throat convulses, a cough cuts off her words.

“We should go.” He looked past her to the caved in skull of the kett, his jaw dropped. “You….killed the Archon.”

Murdered him. Her mind circles around that fact while she catches her breath.

“How did you get here?” She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and stands, swaying to her feet. Trever wraps an arm under her ribs and tries to support her, surprisingly having more muscle then she thought his thin body contained. 

“I came to help.” He was trembling as he supported more of her weight. “Your friend explained the situation to me.”

She took several deep breaths before croaking, her limbs felt so heavy, and she felt so tired. “SAM..”

::I am here Pathfinder.:: His voice is an anchor to her swirling world. ::The console in this room should link to all systems::

She turns her head looking at it, with Trever’s help the stumble towards the thing. 

::Need I remind you, Sara, the kett have almost breached the door.::  

“Right.” She pressed her hand to the panel and leaned heavily on it as SAM integrated with the system. Seems this console is indeed linked not only to the coolant system but the FTL cufflinks. Trever darted from her side to grab the gun from the Archon’s face and gave the body a kick for good measure before running back to her side. 

“SAM get us a nav point to the Rovers.” She closed her eyes and nearly went face first to the console had Trever not jerked her back. 

::The kett have breached the door. :: He informed them just as a loud crashing sound echoed in the chamber. 

Ducking down she hit the floor on all fours and shoved to her feet at once, forcing her body to move. She shoved Trever towards the vent and raced between the columns of the room. 

Taking a deep breath she placed a hand on the pups and ran. Scooping up her helmet as she went, Ryder ducked and slid into the vent. She could hear the pings of bullets behind her, and didn’t dare look to see how close they had been. “Trever move your ass! SAM how much time do we have.”

::Three minutes, shall I begin an audible countdown.:: He inquired. 

“On the last minute.” She cupped her ribs as they burned with each breath. “Get in the rover Trever, I’ll handle the doors.”

-----

Ryder hummed to the asari music beneath her breath while breaking down her shotgun. The deep thrumming of the music helped steel her nerves against the small quakes the ran through them. She hadn’t slept well in weeks, and was running high off stims and caffeine much to Lexi’s disdain.

::Pathfinder a message just sent to you. It has been labeled as a priority.:: SAM popped up on the console to her left. 

Sara didn’t even take her eyes off cleaning the barrel of her gun. “If it's some shit mission Tann wants me to do, knock it down. I’m stopping at Kadara, Reye’s says he uncovered a bag of Coffee beans with my name on it and that shit is priority.” 

SAM bobs beside her elbow silently, long enough to know that there was something more than some political mission Tann wanted her to be a glorified lapdog for.

“Alright SAM what is it?” She cast his ‘form’ a look. 

::The message is from the resistance leader:: Her heart jumps inside her chest, she drops her gun and reaches for the console. ::He has requested assistance with a problem on Elaaden. He wishes to speak personally on Aya:: SAM informed her as she opened the message. 

Evfra’s email is calculated and cold, not an ounce of the man she’d slept with four months ago was there. 

Bowing forward she rested her head against the table. She’d been avoiding Aya ever since that incident. Keeping all contact limited, not that she had any. Most of the contact they had before was because she forced herself into it. If there happened to be a meeting with him involved she passed the responsibility to Cora to handle. She may be a coward, but she hadn’t been ready to face him again. 

She’d hoped, foolishly hoped, that maybe he would reach out to her instead. Beg for forgiveness for his cold treatment. That he would admit to missing her, or even admit to having feelings for her!

Foolish hope.

That horrible pain that she pushed so far down deep in her reared its horrible head. 

“Nothing to love huh,” She mumbled, staring at her bare feet. Taking a deep breath as she stood. “SAM tell Kallo to set course for Aya.” Her coffee was going to have to wait.

-----

Her teeth rattle as she holds the barrier, hissing as she feels the rover is pushed out, spiraling out of control. She grunts as it collides with other objects and flies off them like a ping ball. She can feel the massive migraine building, along with muscle tremors all indicating the first signs of biotic overuse. But she’d forged on until SAM cleared her.

At least if she dies from a brain bleed she knows the Archon got his. 

When they were far enough out, she released the barrier and flopped back against the seat, head swimming. She swallowed back the rising bile in her throat. Her skin was feverish beneath the ripped and ruined wetsuit. She could at least breathe easier inside the confines of her helmet. Oddly instead of feeling claustrophobic it gave a false sense of security. 

Bracing herself for moving, Ryder sits forward and turns inside the drifting rover and to look back at Trever. “You okay?’ She watches as his lids blink slowly through his visor.

“We’re alive.” He whispers before breaking down into a horrible sob. “I thought I was going to die on that shuttle.”

She reaches out and pats his thin knee before checking on the mewling pups, unzipping her wet suit enough to see little feet kicking outwards. Using the pad of her finger she strokes their little bodies until they are lulled into some kind of sleep. 

“Pathfinder,” Trever touched her shoulder, drawing her attention to him. “Do you think anyone will come?” He asked, face pale with worry.

Ryder pet the back of the pup nuzzled in against her skin, her eyes taking a faraway look.

——

She would think that the pain would have lessened with time. But it seemed the distance she put between them, the time she forced herself not to think about him, to not look for any excuse not to return to Aya, had done nothing to dampen her hurt. 

The sight of his face, his towering form, ripped apart her careful stitches and led her heart to bleed all over the place again. She felt it shatter all at once with a new pain that rocked down her spine. It was as if Evfra had reached into her own soul and ripped out the very core of herself.

Her lashes fluttered down, she couldn’t bring herself to look into his eyes as she stood here, in Aya’s great splendor. But the once captive beauty all paled in comparison to him. He was like a blackhole that drew her in, and wouldn’t let go till she was swallowed whole.  

She wondered what he thought looking at her now. Looking half put together then how she once used to be, back when she came sauntering into his space with a grin and a plan to shake his day up.

Did he even miss her?

“We can’t spare any troops for this.” Evfra’s words were sharp with remorse as he looked at her. She snaps her gaze back to his, forcing herself to be removed from the storm of turmoil that was boiling inside of her. 

The only reason she was back here on Aya was because he reached out to her. The resistance needed her help, he needed her. She can’t help but think for a moment he despises asking for her help. But then she looks at his towering form, the tired slump of his shoulders, the scar pulled taunt against his apprehensive expression. He is not a man full of pride. But one broken by war, and driven by the need to save his people.

“I’ll take care of it Evfra,” She states softly, running a hand through her hair. “I’ll retrieve that data.” She can see his tense form relax. 

“Thank you Ryder.” He takes a step forward, and she can’t help but wonder why. He can’t close the gaping space that is torn between them now. She wonders if anyone can fill the hole that’s left in her heart from him. 

He seems to be unsure of himself as he steps away from her. “I will send you the coordinates.” 

Nodding, Ryder turns to leave looking down at her feet as they methodically carry her away. She has a dozen questions buzzing inside of her skull. 

Do you still regret what we did?

—-

-yder?” She blinked looking back at Trevers panicked expression. 

“Yes,” Her voice is husky as she pushes off the seat and leans into the console at the front. “They’ll come, Trever, don't give up hope.” She strapped herself to the front seat, careful with the purring trio tucked in her suit. The straps were not made for her petit form. But it would keep her from drifting away from the seat. “We didn’t come this far to give up hope.”

She shoots him a grin over her shoulder, one he returns as he too straps himself into a seat. 

“SAM, can you hack this system?” Her hands hover over the consol. She can’t read Kett but SAM would take no time to do so. 

::Doing so now, what do you require?:: SAM pops up on her Omnitool, a rotating blue ball that pulses. She can’t look at him too long without shooting pain piercing through her brain. 

“We need a beacon sent out, can you do that?” She reaches and strokes a pups back as it wiggles about against her. It seemed the Biotic field she’d been feeding them was working. All three seemed to have perked up and were quite the chatterboxes.

::This vehicle wasn’t equipped for such a function:: SAM intones, ::However it is equipped with com links, I can send intermediate Morse code messages through known resistance and nexus channels::

“Do it.” She sighs and settles back against the seat. Her body’s beginning to ache, and she knows SAM’s been keeping the pain at bay, but he’d warned her that the longer he kept her nerves off, the longer they could end up permanently damaged. 

She lets the silence hang for a moment before twisting in her seat and looking at Trever. “Been meaning to ask this,” She tilts her head to the side. “You name….” She leaves off her sentence as his form begins to blur and swirl. 

“I was adopted by my parents who were human.” His voice becomes distorted and muffled as he speaks. She can see him leaning forward reaching a hand out towards her.

“S’fine.” She slurred, unable to move any longer, sagging against the chair. “M’s-”

------

Elaadan heat burns into the back of her helmet as she crouches down beside the wreckage. She has Jaal and Peebee a few clicks to the right looking at the other shuttle.

“All I’m saying,” Peebee’s voice drifts over the comms. “If it was between me and Liam, who would have a better shot at your salty leader?” 

Ryder goes silent, prying the door open. None of her crew knew about her relationship with Evfra. Something she’s going to keep secret. Not that there WAS a relationship. They had a fling. She stops and looks down at her feet. “I don’t think Evfra even likes anyone.” She finally states.

“Well I have a charming personality.” Peebee chirps while Jaal hummed.

“Yes but Liam has the better body.” Jaal points out, Ryder laughs softly as she removes the panel to the blackbox and frowns as she stares at the blinking red light within. “Of which he has graced us all to see.” 

“Ah-what!?” Peebee sputters while Jaal laughed at her. She can tell by the muffled noise that followed that he’d drawn her into his side.

Sara scans the contents, frowning. This was supposed to be where the data had been. Shit if she had to go traversing all over Elaaden again to find a band of raiders she was going to-

::Ryd-::

Ryder hits the sand sliding across it as the shuttle interior explodes. Her ears ring, vision darkens as she lays on the sand. A massive shuttle flies overhead with a thumping that vibrates her skull. She rolls to her stomach and grabs her ribs at the pain that nearly makes her eyes roll back. 

Blinking her vision swims and she sees a pair of feet in front of her. Sand shifts beneath her hands and knees as she looks up at the kett standing over her. 

There's a smirk playing on the ascendant’s face as she lifts her gun. The last thing Ryder sees is it smashing into her temple. 

------

Sara jerks awake, hand going to her chest where the pups are squirming about, restless. “SAM,” She croaks. “How long was I out?”

::Approximately 5 hours.:: SAM starts to state her health condition, which brings to focus the barrage of pain flooding her system. 

Unbearably hot, Ryder decompresses her helmet taking it off. Sweat beads down her skin, hair is matted and clumped to her forehead. She coughs, feeling something rattling in her lungs as she does so. SAM’s kind enough to inform her that her bodys battling against a raging infection. It's all around not looking good. 

While unconscious Trever and SAM had gone looking through the rover interior. Besides some questionable food rations, there wasn’t a drop of medigel anywhere to be found, and she sorely needs it. Every nerve is aflame with pain. Her skin feels like it's been burned with a hot poker, and she doesn’t even want to think about her eye and what it was oozing at the moment.

A dark blue pup mewls, wiggling out of the sling. The pups eyes aren’t even open as a tiny tongue ‘bleps’ out of its mouth. Chuckling she scoops the pup up and brings it closer to examine. 

The coloring reminded her of Evfra,dark blue with tiny splatters of pink across its back. Sara turned the pup and cooed softly between fits of coughing at it. “Can’t tell if you're a boy or girl. But I think you’re a boy.” She smiled softly as the pup started to purr curling into her palm the best he could, with a tiny foot dangling. She pressed the pup to her throat and leaned back against the chair.

“If only Evfra could be like this.” She joked into the empty air around her. Trever was passed out in the back, leaving her alone to her own thoughts that swirled dangerously dark. “Not that he’ll want me now…” The pad of her finger touched the clotted blood on her skin. 

There's a beat of silence between her coughing, where she brings up her omnitool. Hesitating she doesn’t know if she wants to see what's been done to her, but she has to know. Something inside her shifts and uncoils, perhaps its hope that it isn’t too bad. That it feels worse than it actually is...

The camera pops up, showing her flushed and bloody face. She touched the clotted marks with the pad of her finger. He hadn’t just cut into her skin, he’d written kett on her. She didn’t dare translate it, she couldn’t. Her eye was swollen shut, black and blue. 

“I look like a monster from deep space.” She makes the soft joke with shaking hands. Her eye burns with tears that roll down her cheek. what will they think of the pathfinder now?

The little stretch from the pup pressed against her neck pulled her away from the down spiraling thoughts. Hot tears spilled from her eye as she stared at the darkness around her. She doesn’t know how many hours they spend adrift, only that each passing second her fever begins to burn hotter. 

::Ryder, there is an incoming angara shuttle.::

She jerks up from her sleep and looks at the panel. “Do they see us? Can we comm them?” Hope beat inside her chest as she grabbed at her floating helmet.

::They know.:: SAM replied. ::I have relayed our situation to them and provided proof we are not a Kett ambush::

She sags in relief and looks back at Trever.  “I’m getting you home.” She beams and turns, sliding the helmet back on. Her hands shake as she latches it into place. She can hear him sobbing behind her, thanking her for everything. She thinks he might have even promised to name a clutch after her, but it’s hard to tell with all the wet noises he’s making. 

Placing a hand over the squalling trio she stars out into the darkness with a dark feeling. 

This wasn’t the end.