Scavengers

First topic message reminder :

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?!"

All the women, save the still sobbing turian, began to laugh openly. "You obviously don't know anything about men, do you?" The asari woman asked, leaning closer to Ceres so that she could get a better look at her. "And unmasked too. Want to start making bets on how long she stays alive?" 

"There was no damn banshee!" Jared roared. "It was all in your head!" He returned the hit and all at once the two men were rolling around in their cell, nothing more than a cloud of fists and red and blue blood.

Despite her best efforts, Ceres felt her lower lip tremble. She just wanted to be back on that tiny, cramped little ship, arguing with Jared about who was the chicken. God she missed that human, missed the way he would smile when they argued simply to infuriate her. It didn't matter that she was no more than a duty and responsibility to him, the young woman wouldn't deny her own feelings.
"I'll take that bet." A sultry female voice purred from the shadows a few feet away. "Can't see a tiny thing like that surviving what Mimic has planned. He'll break her long before a client does."

"Enough!" An Asari growled, kicking both men apart and holding the human down with her feet. "Don't make me turn the nose on you two!" She added gruffly. If not for her uniform, the way she carried herself proved she was a merc just like they were.

Again the women were laughing. "I say she survives Mimic but not the first wave of clients." The salarian woman said, returning to her quilting. "Such a breakable little creature. She might not even survive the rest of the journey to meet him." 

"The hose? Seriously?" Jared gasped out, gripping her ankle to try and keep himself breathing properly. He was looking up at the asari, trying to assess whether he knew her or not.

"I am not breakable!" Ceres roared, getting just as irritated as she had when Jared assumed she needed rescuing.
The female sat in the shadows rose to her feet to get a closer look at Ceres. This woman had impossibly long legs, making her tall enough that the young Quarian came just about nose to breast with her. She was human, and seemed to be of Asian ancestry, not that this was something Ceres would know. "That's quite some fire. That's just going to make you even more irresistible, little rat."

The Asari smiled slightly, and removed her foot. This lasted only a moment before she again had Jared pinned down, her slender thighs at either side of his head. "As I recall, you were the kind of guy who enjoyed a little moisture."
Golias was picking himself up again and rolled his eyes. It caused him pain to even breathe now, but he didn't want to sit there and watch this human catch up with what appeared to be an old girlfriend.

"Mimic likes it when they fight back." The salarian added pointedly, brandishing her needle like a sword as she lifted her head to look at the other woman who'd come close to the Quarian's cage. "Which is how we avoid him. You'll learn soon enough I suppose." 

"Alice?!" Jared's hands rested on the asari's outer thighs and he laughed softly. He could barely contain himself as he pulled her down and into his lap. "My god...I was told you were dead." He whispered, daring to reach out and touch her face.

Ceres tried to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. "Who is mimic?" She finally dared ask, trying her best not to be intimidated by the imposing and beautiful female stood so close to her cage.

Alice grinned and ruffled Jared's hair. "You always were naive, little man." She teased. "Believe anything anyone tells you."

"Shouldn't we let her find out for herself?" The asari asked as she returned to making her own bed in her cell. She sighed softly and gave up, laying down after a few moments. The turian had stopped crying and simply lay on the floor, staring into the darkness beyond as if she'd already given up. 

"All because you wanted a tumble with Golias, huh?" Jared muttered, his smile suddenly gone. He dumped Alice out of of lap and created distance between them, even turning his back on her. "Big man's right over there, honey. Have at him."

"The best you'll ever have." The human purred before she too shut Ceres out.
The young alien was left to sit alone, her knees hugged up to her chest as she thought about Jared. Her last words to him had been said in anger.

Alice too lost her smile as she picked herself up. "I knew it! I knew you always believed that!" She hissed. "Again, naive. You were so willing to believe whatever poison he dripped in your ear." Alice was heading for the door again now. ""I'm tempted to sell the both of you to Mimic. Women have needs too." She spat.

"We have to get out of here." The turian woman was leaning on the other side of the bars, her back to Ceres. "My father would kill me if he found me here. I have to go home. I'm not supposed to be here...." 

"Don't tell me you're working for that clown." Jared snorted, glaring at her over his shoulder. "Though, I wouldn't put it past you." He added, turning his eyes on Golias for a moment. "You could try but you bring big guy near Mimic and he'll laugh you off the block. I don't think he deals in turians much anyway."

"I was brought here by a Krogan, you really think I have a desire to be here either?" Ceres whispered, though she didn't little her head.

"Funny, the way I hear it, he's got a Turian female on delivery to him right now." Alice purred.

"There has to be a way out." The young woman said, turning her head slightly so that she could plead with the other woman. "Please? We can help each other. You can figure out the machines and I can fight. It could work for us. Right?" 

"I said much. I didn't say not at all." Jared said, returning to staring out the window. "So how did you get your hands on us? Last I remember we were property of a scientist who was fondling a young girl."

Ceres didn't say anything for the longest moment. "I can fight too." She finally replied stubbornly.

"Blame big guy over there. That scientist guy, as you put it, wants him out of the way. Gone, but not dead, if you're with me? He said something about possibly needing him in the future." Alice shrugged. "You, sweet cheeks, you're just eye candy. All you ever were."

The turian shook her head. "It's probably not worth the bother. No one cares that we're here. There's no one coming to save us." She pulled her knees to her chest and sat silently, staring out at the other cells. Those women seemed so comfortable with everything that was happening. It made little sense. 

Jared chuckled at this. "Thanks." He laughed softly. "I love being eyeballed. Better than being a turian with a hole in my head." He added, giving Golias a nasty glare. "All right, so what are we dealing with here? What happened to the ship? And how does that little girl fit into all this?"

"You think they're used to this kind of thing?" Ceres asked quietly as she too watched the other women. Thy seemed so accepting of this fate, like it was just a fact of life.

"Aww, you think your important enough to know that. How sweet." Alice snorted. "Sorry, Jared, you're just cargo. He's insurance. You don't get to know anything."

The turian nodded her head. "I'm not so sure some of them don't enjoy it. Did you see the way that human was practically purring at the very idea?" She added softly. She wiped at her eyes, feeling very defeated. "I was going to get married in a few weeks. I'm so stupid..." 

"Okay...tell the big guy. I'm sure he wants to know what happened to his little pet." Jared said, shrugging his shoulders as if the answer wasn't important at all.

"What happened? How did you end up on this ship?" Ceres asked, as she was wondering the same thing about herself. Of course, she wasn't planning on marrying, but still...

Alice smiled again and shook her head. "Don't think I don't see it. You two act like you hate each other, but you actually have respect, isn't that right?"

"I really don't know. I was at Afterlife last night. I was on my last mission before I am returned to Palaven to marry the Primarch." The female turian colored ever so slightly and laughed. "I'm not supposed to tell that. More than likely that's the reason I am here. I think I drank too much and opened my big mouth." Shaking talons reached through the bars. "My name is Orinia, by the way." 

Jared gave Golias a horrified look and shook his head. "I would respect the son of a bitch if he were extremely dead. Other than that I hate him. He is no longer my charge so I feel I can speak freely on this matter."

Ceres shook the talons offered to her and managed a weak smile. "I'm sorry, but I would agree that is the reason also." She confirmed. "I was trying to salvage parts off a ship. I was... Separated from my partner, then out of nowhere this Krogan grand me and I wake up here." It didn't even occur to her that she hadn't given her own name.

"If he no longer your change because he hurt your girlfriend, or because he lost it and tried to shoot himself?" Alice asked thinly, proving whoever her eom potter was knew a great deal.

"Were you a merc?" Orinia asked, turning to face the other creature. "I didn't know your kind did that sort of thing. I've certainly never seen a quarian in that position." She added, more than a little curious. At least she had stopped sobbing for the moment. 

"He's no longer my charge because my handler license was revoked." Jared muttered, more than a little ashamed of this fact. He'd loved his job. It was all he'd ever been good at. Now he truly had nothing left going for him. "Will you at least tell me what they did with the Quarian since you don't seem to want to give me any other answers?"

Ceres smiled sadly she shook her head. "I was trying to get to Ilos, the human I was with, he..." She sighed quietly, wondering she would ever see Jared again. "He was a hero, and wanted to help the people he thought were in trouble on a ship we passed. I just wanted the spare parts and to get on my way."

Alice was watching Jared with a curious expression now from where she lingered in the door way. "It seems weird to me that you were traveling with a suit rat at all. How much was she paying you?"

"I was on Iilos." Orinia said with a smile. "The primarch sent us there to clean out the mess Saren left. Ive heard he's concerned the rest of the galaxy will start blaming Turians for the reaper problems. It was still a mess. What could you have possibly wanted there?"

"I don't owe you any information. You're not sharing so neither am I." Jared said simply. "Can we please clean this cell up? Turian throw up smells worse than varen shit."

Ceres was remembering that Jared hadn't exactly been believing when she had told him why she wanted to go there. She wasn't going to make that mistake again. "It was once the seat of power and culture in the whole galaxy, how can anyone with half a brain not want to see it?" She breathed.

"She's on her way to Mimic as we speak. You know how he likes to break the girls in before he sells them to the brothels." Alice informed Jared, though it was simply to hurt him this time.

"That human...I forget his name...made a mess of it." Orinia said, shaking her head. "We were still cleaning up rouge geth from there. Apparently there are still those that worship reaper code or whatever you call it." She was glad for something else to think about. It kept her mind off the mess she'd made of everything. "You know...it's my luck that the Primarch paid them to pick me up. He threw a fit when they told him he had to get married." 

"Mimic is a bitch." Jared muttered, shaking his head. "But he's never met anything like Ceres. I'm not worried about it. She'll be able to take care of herself."

"You mean... It was an arranged marriage?" Ceres asked, unable to hide how shocked she was by this. "I didn't think any species still did that. Ah... I mean... Of Keelah, I didn't mean to offend you."

Had Alice had eyebrows, she would have arched them right about then. "You honestly think that meek little tech will resist Mimic?"

"Oh yes." Orinia said, nodding her head. "I've never heard of a turian marriage that was done because of love. Interspeicies joining maybe but not among our own kind. It's power play. We rise among the ranks and that's all that seems to matter. That whole love thing is...for the birds as the humans say. Don't your people doe the same thing?" 

Jared nodded his head. "You don't know her. She'll take care of him. Mimic doesn't scare me half as much as she does." He frowned, looking back at Golias. "Alice...can you at least get me a cool rag and some pain meds if you're not going to do anything else. The big guy is suffering. I'm not going to stand by and let him."

Ceres shook her head. "Well, not in the way you do. We do marry for love, but any joining has to be background checked first. With such a small population in comparison to other species, there is always the risk of incest." She let out a tiny sigh, having explained that outloud made her realise her people were even more alien to others.

"Do you forget who you're talking to? I know that look, Jared. You may not even realise it, but you love her.' Alice remarked, tossing a rather small pack of medi gel at him before leaving the room.

Orinia laughed softly at the thought. "The females chosen for the primarch had to go through background checks and rigorous testing. Offerings made to the spirits daily and our markings checked on the hour to ensure that they were the same and we weren't switching out with others. Then the dowries...My father paid out the nose to get rid of me. That's what he'll be more upset about than losing me." She paused to snort and shake her head. "And then there was the man that touched my fringe." She shuddered. "I punched him." 

"I got burned on love a long time ago." Jared muttered as he knelt in front of Golias and began dabbing at the wound above his temple. "Not going to open myself up to that one again. Now, let's talk about why you decided to shoot yourself, big guy."

"It sounds very... Complicated." Ceres agreed, her smooth brow creasing slightly. "I was adopted, and my birth records were wiped. As far as the fleet was concerned, I was not permitted to belong with anyone."

"She's right though." Golias snorted, making a half hearted attempt to swat Jared away. "Never saw you go through this much trouble for any of your other bitches."

"Lucky you. Now you can belong to anyone you want." Orinia said with a smile. 
"Correction, ladies." Came a sultry voice from the darkness somewhere beyond their cages. "She could have belonged to anyone she wanted. But now she belongs to me. Same as you, Orinia." The sultry voice was proving it was wise that Ceres had not given her name. "Did I hear you say you are supposed to be marrying the Primarch of Palaven? Wonder how much you are worth to him." 
"Probably nothing." Orinia responded softly. "If you check your records, I'm willing to bet he's the one who told you where to find me." 

"Maybe I was just tired of chasing you around and wanted to try something new." Jared said softly, not meeting the turian's eyes. "Why are you so ready to jump in on it? You wouldn't know the first thing about love."

Ceres rose gracefully to her feet, her slender fists already balled up and ready for a fight. "You have no right to kidnap anyone, least of all the Primarch's mate!" She insisted boldly.

Golias was oddly quiet when Jared said this. Until a week ago, he would have agreed. What point was there to love? He accepted the need to find a warm body to enjoy a pleasurable release with, but that was it... Wasn't it? It was as he thought this over that Lolly's face popped into his thoughts. He was calling Jared out for it, when in all truth... He was the one in love and unwilling to admit it. "I've seen what it does... Turns strong men soft. Just like it has you." He finally grunted.