Scavengers

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Clean up was slow in the weeks after the battle for Earth had concluded. The rubble that remained of the citadel was still being picked over by many. Not all of them were the good guys. Commander Shepard's people had already come through and collected the body, leaving everything else as it was. They wanted no part of it. Not even to make it a memorial. 
At that moment a group of Salarians were poking through the rubble, scowling deeply. "No." One them said to the other. "This is not the area. It wouldn't have been here." 
"Quiet, fool." The other hissed. He was looking in the other direction, frowning deeply. "The Quarians are here. We don't want to tip them off. We can't afford to lose this to them. It's too much. Do you hear me?!"

"Good evening gentlemen." The drell made a slow deliberate walk around the mess hall, his hands folded behind his back. He said nothing more until he'd made a full circle and come to a stop in front of Jared. "One would think a single dealing with us would be enough. You are forgetting your training. Escort yourself to our offices. The quarian is going home. Request to go to Illos is denied."

"I already told you I have medical supplies that need to make it to Illos." The young man said, motioning that Golias follow him. He opened a door to a back room and went in, humming to himself. "My name is Thomas, by the way. We're going to be great friends."

"What? No! You have no authority to send me anywhere!" Ceres insisted as she struggled back to her feet to square up to the Drell she had attacked moments earlier.

Golias could feel a cold chill down his spine when the other man said that. It filled him with the same kind of dread the banshees had given him. It was the calm, yet somehow threatening tone of his. He said nothing of it however as he followed Thomas.

"She has done nothing wrong, sir." Jared's voice was low and even. The was nothing to betray any kind of emotion. He knew better. "It was a simple excercise in riots. I wanted her to see how easy it was to get them started. We were all in on it."
The drell cocked his head a little and smiled. "Is that so?" He purred, turning to look over the silent crowd.

Thomas showed Golias the labs. It wasn't much different from the place where Lolly had taken him. "Once we get the ship I'll need you to be loading my things inside. You're strong enough aren't you?"

For the first time in her life, Ceres was glad of her helmet. It was hiding the look of relief on her face right then. "I see now it is only too easy." She confirmed as bravely as she could manage.

"Stronger than you, human." Golias sneered. "What's the matter, chemicals stunt your growth or something."

"Interesting." The drell was much like Jared in that moment. His face betrayed nothing. "This story seems a bit strange to me." He said as he continued to pace the crowd. "I am a true fan of a good lesson myself. However..." He was back beside Ceres in a second, disappearing and reappearing like lightining. He took her faceplate and opened it, pulling it area from her face. "I don't believe you."

"I'm too good for that." Thomas said, waving a hand as he motioned Golias to follow him. "I'm sure you are familiar with the term hired muscle. It works well enough. Here's the plans." He held out carefully written instructions and the. Moved on to a tray filled with syringes. He selected one, nodding his head. "What do you think?"

Ceres wasn't sure what had just happened, and stood there motionless for a brief moment. Moonlight coloured eyes framed by dark lashes suddenly grew wide as reality set in and she made a grab for her faceplate. There were a thousand things she wanted to scream at this Drell, but she had collected her thoughts enough to hold her breath in an attempt to limit her exposure to outside microbes.
There were shocked gasps echoing around the mess hall, for all of them this was the first time seeing an unmasked Quarian. Even their doctor had never been seen without his faceplate.
Ceres could feel their eyes on her, judging every feature of her exposed face

Golias read the instructions through twice before looking up at Thomas again. "Really? The tastes, most heavily guarded ship in this system?" He asked with an amused smirk. He had it hand it to the human, he had guts.

Oddly it wasn't Jared who spoke up but the krogan. "Hey boss...don't ya think..." He stepped forward, trying to replace the faceplate that the drell had tossed to the floor. 
The councillor let go of Ceres and shot toward the krogan. The beast was dead before he hit the floor, a gilded knife handle in his forehead. "Yes. I do." Said the drell. "It is you who does not." The mess hall remained deadly silent.

 Thomas smiled. "One must have money to run his labs again." He told Golias, picking up an odd looking dog collar and heading back to where they had left Lolly. The silver eyed girl was awake at this point and when she saw the human called Thomas she reacted badly. 
She shoved off the table and put distance between them, shaking her head. "Not you..." She whispered, her voice cracking. "No! Not you!"

Ceres was trying to keep her breathing shallow as she watched the Drell with wide silver eyes. She was in way over her head, and that much had just been made clear to her.

Golias reached out, grabbing Thomas by a handful of his hair. "You better start talking, boy!" He snarled. Golias knew enough that Lolly didn't react that way for no reason.

"Rylios, that's enough." Another councilor had walked in, this one a tall and regal looking Turian. He stopped in front of Ceres and gently replaced her face mask. Our people have learned their lesson and so has she. She will be going home and we are done here. Come now, little one. We'll get you help before your sickness sets in." He told her gently, steering her toward the door. 
If Ceres were to look around she'd see that this crowd was much more afraid of this man than the other. He turned his head and fixed Jared with a hateful glare. "My office, boy. Now."

"I can't speak with claws in my head!" Thomas howled, swatting at Golias. "Unhand me! I don't know what you pet is doing! She's gone insane!" He continued to shout.

Ceres was sucking in greedy breaths now the seal was intact on her suit again, but she knew it was too little too late. "I'm not... Going... Back." She wheezed. "Jared needs to find his mark on Ilos anyway!" She added quickly, for some reason not wanting him to be left alone with this Turian.

Golias still didn't release him. "Lolly has a sound mind, she doesn't lose it over nothing." He replied thinly.

The Turian hesitated for a brief moment, almost betraying himself. "I'm afraid that's not possible. Golias has been a prisoner here for years. I am well aware of his habits and Illos was never one of them. Even if that were true it does not affect you. You are going home to your flotilla. I called them personally Ceres vos Celestia. Your parents are just dying to see you."

"You and I had a deal." Thomas said firmly. "No getting out of it because of your irrational pet." Though Golias was manhandling him he was watching Lolly very closely. Already the small woman was beginning to pace like a caged animal. She was the only subject left. He didn't dare lose her to over reaction. "Calm her down, big guy. She is still bleeding dangerously."

Ceres was shaking her head and slowly backing away. "Stoppit!" She shouted. "I am not going back there, you have no idea what you are talking about!" This was clearly an over reaction to the mention of her parents.

"Get away from her, and I may be able to do that, boy." Golias growled, releasing his grip on Thomas only slightly. "You've obviously done something to her to make her react like this!"

"Don't I?" The councilor asked, dragging her out into the hall. "Come now, child. You must think me stupid." He cocked his head, giving her a strange look. "Do you not think I do my home work? That I let any old suit rat on my ship?" 

"Settle her down!" Thomas shouted, seeing Lolly's eyes. They were already beginning to glow. "I will tell you nothing until you do! And I certainly won't give you that credit chit I took from her!"

"If you 'did your homework', you would know that I am nobody!" Ceres snarled. "Just an orphan who got lucky enough to be adopted! You're clearly confusing me with someone else."

"How the hell am I supposed to settle her, when you're the one unsettling her?!" Golias growled.

"Then why are you here?" The Turian demanded. "And why is my best agent risking death to keep you away from your own people?" He added with a hiss. He bent down and got even with her faceplate, baring his teeth. "Answer me."

"You have a way with her. I've been watch since you arrived here. I've never seen it with her. No one could get close. Hell....I didn't know she could speak. You must fix her before she kills us both. I've seen it before!" Thomas sad through his teeth, trying to hide his fear of her and failing miserably.

Ceres didn't answer for the longest of moments. She was staring back at the Turian, fighting the urge to lunchtime hat stupid flat nose of his. "Why don't you ask Jared that? I was hitching a ride to Ilos, that was all." She finally replied coolly.

"Then get our of here." Golias growled, tossing Thomas at the door. "She and I have a lot to talk about. I'll inform you when we are done." He added gruffly.

The turian's long fingers snaked around her upper arms and he shook her hard. "Do not lie to me. I can see through that mask, girl. I am no fool. You think that he can protect you while you look for a god that does not exist." His blue and silver eyes swept over his over reflection. Or maybe he truly did see her. "Tell me I am lying."

Thomas nodded and was out like a shot, locking them in the room. Lolly remained under the table. "Stay away from me. You're not here to help me. You're one of them. I shouldn't have trusted you." She whispered, her silver eyes glittering as she wrapped her arms around herself.

"What are you so worried about?" Ceres asked quietly. "It doesn't matter to you what I'm looking for. You want to punish Jared? Make him spend weeks travelling to Ilos without a relay with no one but this silly little suit rat for company."

Golias sighed heavily and lowered his tall frame onto the bed where Lolly had once been lay. "When do you think I had the time to plan any of what you suggest, girl?" He asked wearily.

"That boy likes the company of other species." The Turian spat. "Letting him go is a reward." He shook his head, still not letting go of her. "My mind is made up. You will be sent home and he will be beaten until he gets it through his fool head that he isn't helping others. At least not in the way you think."

"They sent you to find me." Lolly breathed, her nose red. She wiped blood off her temple, only succeeding in smearing it on her cheek and forehead. "Go away. They won't let me go now. All that running...for nothing..."

"I could cripple your ship before you even knew what was happening!" Ceres declared. "I see no reason not to just drop at the nearest slace port! Why go to all the trouble of finding the flotilla?"

"Lolly... You were the one who found me, remember?" Golias told her, his voice a little gentler now. "I just wanted to get away from that damn handler of mine."

"Because apparently there's been a reward offered for you." The councilor said, deciding it was time to keep dragging her toward wherever their destination was leading them. "And I am a sucker for a good sum of credits." He chuckled to himself, making it clear that he was not the sort of man that simply said things. 

Lolly shook her head. "You were peeking in a hole when I first saw you. How do I know what you were up to?" He was going to have to work a lot harder to win her over than that.

"A reward? By who?" Ceres asked thinly. She knew it couldn't be her parents, they had basically waved her off the ship the last time, glad their dreamer daughter was finally unburdened from their care.

"I was unarmed, with an expert tracker hunting me. What do you think I was looking for?" Golias asked with a snort.

"I don't know and I don't care." The Turian shrugged. "But the amount is enough to make an elcor cry. I am collecting it whether you are dead or alive and then using it to entice my s...Jared's human to come back here so I can kill him. Are we clear?"

"You did not need a weapon when you found me. It is what I was created for. You knew that. That's why you didn't stop me in the market place. You've never stopped me when I make the whispers start. You just watch. You know. You're one of them and you're using me." Lolly sniffled.

"Then why don't you kill me?" Ceres asked bluntly as she folded her arms across her chest. "Why stop that Drell from finishing what he started?"

Golias sighed heavily and flopped backwards on the small bed. "Lolly, you've had too much time alone with your thoughts. I'm not with whoever you think it is, I'm just trying to get off this piss poor excuse for a planet."

"Because you are worth more alive my dear." The Turian told her, pausing as he heard Jared's shouting and then a gunshot that went everything back to silence. "Your human however..."

Golias would soon find himself with lolly straddling him, holding his arms above his head. "Swear it on the cotton candy, Turian. I am serious here." She said, trying to sound firm as she looked down at him.

Ceres swallowed hard, doing her very best not to go running into that room. "You keep calling him that. I owed him a debt, that was all."

Golias stared up at the small woman on top of him, and probably didn't help matters by suddenly erupting into laughter. "The cotton candy?" He asked."you don't want me to swear on my life? Or... Your innocence?"

"Owed is a good word for it." The Turian said coldly as he shoved her inside a dark room. "Sleep tight, little girl." He purred, make sure it locked. He never did give her the shot he had promised her. 

Lolly's face fell, her silver eyes filled with tears. "Tell him we are done." She said quickly, trying her best to get away from him. "Get off the planet by yourself."

Ceres didn't mind the cramped, dark space. As a child she had grown up like any other Quarian; lacking in open, or personal space. She could feel her skin burning as more time passed however, almost to the point where she wanted to tear off her suit and scratch at her skin.

Golias closed his eyes and groaned. He had been teasing her, and it had backfired. He grabbed hold of Lolly's slender arms before she could get too far away from him. If I stab myself in the eye, will that prove I'm not double crossing you?"

It was hours before the doors to the room slid open. The quarian doctor came in, all but crawling on the floor. "Not a word." He breathed, jabbing a syringe in her leg. In seconds her body would go numb. In another few he was dragging her down a dark hall, looking desperately in every direction before he would keep going. 

Lolly was surprised to find herself right back in her turian's lap. She was again looking down at him, her midnight colored hair brushing his chest. "Why in the name of the spirits would you do that?" She breathed, leaning in closer so that their mouths almost touched. "I like your eyes, Golias..."

Ceres couldn't say anything even if she wished too. Whatever he had given her had worked rather well. She was out of that room, and she couldn't feel the pain anymore, but the young woman didn't know if her situation had just gotten better, or so much worse.

Golias found himself smiling as he looked up at Lolly. "I think you just don't want to see blood." He teased gently.