Love and War

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"I swear to even the Asari goddess that when I get out of here, that lizard Kandros will wish I was an exile for what I'm gonna do to him!" Quinn Talos raged as she was unceremoniously shoved into a holding cell on the operations deck. The dark haired woman paced for time, thinking it was would all be straightened out once Tann got wind of what Kandros had done. She should have known better. As far as she believed, human's still weren't exactly favourites of the other alien species. On earth Quinn had an excellent service record within the Alliance, just as most members of her family did, but she had wanted more. She wanted to explore, to see things no human ever had, which was why she signed up for a place on the Andromeda Initiative. The only problem was, she wasn't the pathfinder, and her superiors didn't believe in security personal leaving the Nexus. As well as she performed her job, the call sign 'Cutie', thanks to her unfortunate initials, meant she wasn't exactly taken seriously. Quinn was slumped on the floor with her back against the wall now, glaring at the Turian guard outside the forcefield. She had fought her hardest for the safety of everyone on the Nexus, and this was her reward; being called a traitor and about to be dumped on some godforsaken planet with the rest of the exile scum. All because Kandros feared losing what little power he had to her. The asshole can keep it, she thought bitterly.

"And... is it?" Kandros breathed, though his own eyes seemed to be giving Maggie the once over, looking for signs that she was far from fine. "You don't have to put yourself at risk for anyone, even blood, you know that right?"

Quinn closed her eyes and smiled as Tyros's fingers brushed her cheek. "You can't get rid of me that easily, kett." She told him in a teasing whisper.

"She said for the most part but she wouldn't tell me what was wrong. And...Quinn is my sister. She'd do it for me. Right?" 

"What a shame, human. I did try. " Tyros grinned at her. "I've made a mess of things with these people though. I'm sorry. And...the Archon...I'm so sorry...i ruined that for you too. He's...dead."

"Would she?" Kandros asked, still stroking her hair. There was still much bad blood between him and his lovers sister it seemed, even though Quinn herself had told Lexi she wished to calm things for the sakenofbherbaister. 

"You ruined nothing." Quinn breathed. "You made the hard choices when I wasn't able." She added. "I thought you were gone..." The young woman breathed, reaching through the bars to brush her lips lightly to his own.

"I can't believe she's joined up with that kett. After all that's happened." Maggie breathed. "She saw what we did that day. The way they were killing and hurting others...i don't understand her. And all this talk about quarians. She and Lexi say that our real father was one."

"I thought I was too." Tyros confessed. "Cor awhile I could see nothing but your blood. I hated everything."

"And...?" Kandros pressed. "What do you believe? You think your family would have such a strange secret? I mean..." He paused and rubbed his cheek against her much softer one. "You don't feel quarian to me."

"I thought you left me when you were on the Archon's ship." Quinn confessed quietly, not wanting anyone else to overhear anything they may say to each other. "When that woman shot me... There was nothing in your eyes, like you didn't care."

"Are you saying you know what a quarian feels like?" Maggie asked him. "Seriously, Tiran?"

"I thought you were dead. That she had killed you. Suddenly nothing mattered. I wanted to die with you." The broken kett admitted.

Kandros chuckled quietly. "No, but I know what a human feels like, and you, princess, seem exactly that."

Quinn reached out, placing a hand lovingly against Tyros's cheek when he confessed this to her. "I'm sorry." She breathed. "I never meant for any of this. Maybe... We should just forget about finding the ark? It's cost so much already..."

"Kandros...do you have a moment?" Lexi was moving toward them, looking serious. "I need to talk to you...alone." 
Maggie got up, her head down. "I'll go make sure my sister is okay. Come get me when you're ready."

"The ark is gone but the people inside are not. The Archon had records. Theyre on the ship. As soon as you are well we will leave and go through them ourselves. 
But I want to make sure you are completely well..." He reached through the bars and brushed her face. "Don't you call it fighting shape, my love?"

Kandros didn't let go of Maggie's fingers until she had to pull them from his grasp. He was still so scared that something would happen to her.

Quinn closed her eyes again, leaning her face into the hand fingers that brushed her cheek. "I call it being stubborn and hard headed." She mused, unaware her sister was approaching.

"Let's go for a walk." Lexi said gently as he turned to her. She waited until she and Kandros were far enough away to drop the truth. "Kandros...Maggie is...she's pregnant..."

"That's a great way to put it." Maggie said to her sister, offering her sister a smile. 
Tyros jerked his fingers away from Quinn and backed toward the backside of the cage, showing his teeth.

Not so long ago, Kandros would have been overjoyed, having believed their species incompatible. Now however... "How is that possible?" He breathed, terrified to believe Tann had been able to do this to them. 

Quinn's shoulders slumped when Tyros backed off, though she knew he had every reason not to trust anyone else. "How are you feeling?" She asked her sister gently.

"I believe it was Tann's doing and quite possibly...my own. He tricked me into giving him hormone injections. I believed they were for one of his staff. He...used them on Maggie. When he used her...i think the hormones were enough...given that she isn't human. He knew this. I'm so sorry Kandros. I can get rid of it if that will help?"

"Tired and sick to my stomach but okay. " Maggie said with a smile. "I'm sorry your kett seems to hate me..."

Kandros had his face in his hands, but shook his head all the same. "I'm guessing you haven't told her yet?" He breathed, clearly torn about what was the right thing. "The bastard... he wasn't content just hurting her, he had to ruin her life too!"

"My kett..." Quinn laughed softly and smiled, having never had anyone she could consider just 'hers'. "Your doctor have him locked up like an animal, can you blame him for being somewhat apprehensive?"

"I wasn't sure what to do with it, honestly. That's why I came to you. I figured he would try something like this. Especially being the director and all. He'd want to be the first. On record anyway. But Maggie..." Lexi shook her head. "Tell me what to do , Kandros." 

"I think she's right." Maggie said gently. "With all these people around here gunning for kett what else can she do? It's more for his safety than anything else. Right?"

Kandros was shaking his head. "How do I fix this? If I tell Maggie... it will destroy what is left of her. If I say terminate the child, what right do I really have to say that?" He breathed, looking genuinely tortured until suddenly his head snapped back in the direction of the room they had left. "How did he know she wasn't human?" He asked suspiciously, thinking Quinn had somehow betrayed her sister with this information.

"Would that be your answer if it was Kandros caged like an animal?" Quinn replied sadly. "I am only alive because of Tyros, why should he be punished for everyone else being so scared of what they don't understand? I think people are forgetting... We're the invaders in this galaxy."

"I really don't know. That will be something to ask Tann before you remove his head." Lexi said, missing the fact the he'd already latched on to blaming Quinn.

"Yes but...how are we to know which ones are the originals and which ones are us?" Maggie asked her.

"Why did it have to be Maggie?" He whispered, feeling lost all over again. "I get that she's beautiful, and smart and sweet, but..." He sighed heavily, realising he had answered his own question.

Quinn wasn't looking at her sister any longer, quickly realising they were truly from two different worlds now and that she and Tyros were alone in their mission. Neither girl seemed to have any idea of the real darkness the other had endured during their separation. "He only brought me here because I needed medical attention. I'm fine now, so why wont anyone let us leave?"

"Is it that or is it because she's unusual?" Lexi asked, gently pushing Drak awake. "Tann wants what he can't have. That's why he's trying to hard to get on the pathfinders...you old grouch, get up...good side..." she went on, still trying to wake up the ancient krogan.

"You need another transfusion and...you know they aren't going to let him leave. He knows it too. Now that they have him here...hes never getting off this planet again." Maggie said, glancing at Tyros who nodded slowly. 
He had known that when he'd brought his lover here. He was never leaving Eos alive.

"But why Maggie? Why couldn't he ruin her sister's life instead!" Kandros replied rather childishly.
Dark grumbled in his sleep about Lexi wearing him out already as he tried to roll over, thinking he was lying down.

"What?" Quinn turned on her elder sister with a heart broken expression. "WHY?!" She demanded, sick and tired of herself and Tyros being treated like cargo. "We never did a thing to anyone! All we wanted was a quiet planet to start a life on!" She added, even if that last part was a lie.

Lexi didn't get a chance to answer to answer. Drak's roll over took her to the ground. She had enough time to grab Kandros' arm and take him down with her. The enormous Krogan had them both trapped beneath him. Lexi could do nothing but laugh.

"That's a terrible lie. You never want to live a quiet life on a quiet planet. That's not Quinn. You are looking for something." Maggie pointed out.

Kandros groaned loudly and started slapping at the sleeping krogan. "How do you sleep next to him without fearing for your life?!" He practically wailed.

Quinn hated that Maggie had so easily seen through her. "So? What does it matter? It doesn't change the simple fact that we're being punished even though we did nothing wrong!" She insisted. "I love him, Mags... And I don't think anyone here, or anywhere, will ever accept that." She breathed, admitting this out loud for the first time.

"Drak! You oaf!" Lexi was slapping at her lover's cheek, just shy of using her biotics. "I know you've wanted a threesome...[size=34]But a male turian is pushing it!" [/size]


[size=34]"You...love me?" Tyros moved closer to the bars, his words filled with shock. He'd confessed this to her hundreds of times but she'd never said it back. [/size]
[size=34]"Quinn! He's a kett! No one is going to understand that! You say something like that to anyone but me and you'll die too!"[/size]

"What? I thought you liked turians... Always asking me to pretend I'm calibrating something..." Drak chuckled, finally awake and lifting himself off the two much smaller aliens.

"Better that, than dying a little more each time something is taken from us." Quinn whispered, not able to tell her sister what had happened to her when Kandros had first exiled her.

"I never did!" Lexi laughed as her lover helped her to her feet. "And a three some? You disgusting old man." She slapped his shoulder. 

Maggie sighed deeply. "Quinn...I'm trying to fix this. I can't so this if you're being so hard headed."

"Hey Doc, you get as old as I am, and something has to spice things up." Drak replied with a deep and rumbling chuckle.

"I never asked you to fix anything." Quinn replied, stubborn as ever. "I owe Tyros my life, several times over. I don't see why we're being treated like monsters."

"Fine. Get you another Asari. I seem to bore you." Lexi said, waving him off and turning to help Kandros up. "I guess I'll take this turian."

"He's a kett, Quinn. You were there when we saved turians and Kandros from his kind." Maggie protested.

"Really? You gonna fight the little human for him?" Drak asked, still grinning as he leaned down and lifted Kandros to his feet before Lexi could exert herself.

There was a sudden look of realisation in Quinn's eyes when Maggie said this. "So that's what this is? Revenge for what happened toy our boyfriend?" She snapped. "That wasn't Tyros! You can't blame one one for the crimes of an an entire species!"

"I'm asari. I don't have have to fight. All species want me." Lexi purred. Done with her teasing she patted his arm. "You sure you're all right? That was a heavy sleep there." 

It was clear to Maggie that she and her sister had lost whatever friendship they'd had. It was never going to come back with her love of that kett. "You're making the wrong choice this time, Quinn. It's going to get you killed. Don't you see that?" Maggie whispered.

"You're still young, just wait until you get to my age." Drak teased, though his eyes seemed less than cheerful.

Those words cut Quinn deep, making her feel like a traitor, even though she knew it wasn't true. "Not so long ago... Turians were the enemies of humanity." She pointed out quietly, now simply staring at the bars that separated her from Tyros. "The only difference here is time."

"You keep saying that." Lexi said softly, her fingers hovering over her belly for a brief moment. "Come on. We need to move the kett. He'll be seen if we leave him here."

"There is a difference here and you know it. Kett kill their own kind if they don't like the look. I've never seen a turian do that." Maggie hissed.