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.

"About that..." Drak was glancing uncertainly towards the door that separated them from the other alien. "What're we s'posed to do? Can't let him go, not really."

"Met every kett, have you?" Quinn spat, her eyes blazing as she looked back over her shoulder at her sister. "Humans were killing each other for thousands of years! Does that mean we should be locked away too?"

"I know..." Lexi sighed heavily. "But Drak...hes different. I don't want to just end him unfairly. There must be something we can do..."

"For heaven sake, Quinn! Just because you've been screwing a kett dies not mean you need to be fighting so hard for something that's wrong! And you know it!" Maggie shouted. "Listen to yourself!"

"Better death than life in a cage, right?" Drak offered in typical krogan fashion. "Ain't no way for anyone to live, even your enemy."

Quinn's eyes narrowed hatefully at her sister now. "I'm not the one knocked up by a goddamn alien!" She set the secret loose, despite the trouble Lexi had gone to to keep it from Maggie until now. She was getting Tyros out of that cage. No matter the cost. "Enjoy your perfect little life, and I'll enjoy my wrong feelings for as long as I can." She added, stomping past Maggie and out of the room.

Lexi sighed deeply not sure what else to say.
"Do it, sir." Tyros whispered as Quinn left the room. "You are right. Both of you. She will never be free if I live. Save her." 

Maggie slid to the floor, the darkness Tann had left her with returning. Her stomach churned. Quinn couldn't be right. She couldn't be...

Drak was approaching the cage, watching Tyros closely as he pleaded simply for Quinn's future. "She means that much to you, boy?"
Kandros meanwhile was already at Maggie's side, holding her close. He didn't need to ask, somehow Quinn had found the truth of what happened and ruined everything.

The dark haired human knew she would never be given access to inside the cage that held Tyros, and so she was going about this another way. The outpost had several generators, without them nothing would remained locked for long. Or safe. Such was her desperation.

"She does." Tyros said simply. "She will never be free if she continues to fight for me. Do what is best for her, sir." 

"Get away from me." Maggie pushed Kandros away from her, her voice shrill. Tann had destroyed her mentally and now physically. She couldn't take the only man she'd ever loved down with her. "Leave me alone!"

"You ain't met too many humans, have you?" Drak asked with an amused chuckle. "They don't just give up, kid. They might be soft when you squeeze 'em, but they're as tenacious as any vorcha."

"Sorry, Maggie. I can't do that." Kandros told his lover firmly, refusing to let her shut him out on this. "You are not alone. No matter how much you think you might be right now. You. Are. Not." He added, pulling her back into the safety of his arms.

"Vorcha?" Tyros cocked his head, his eyes filled with interest. He should know that word. He knew he should. 
The look broke Leo's heart but before she could tell Drak to let him go the power went out and people began to scream. 
A rogue group of kett had been waiting just outside the border and the moment the power went out they decided to get a little payback for their fallen Archon. 

Maggie was about to protest Kandros refusing to let her go when the lights went out. She found herself praying that whatever was coming for them was going to kill her.

Drak grabbed Lexi and all but dragged her into her office. He was risking nothing until he knew what was going on. Even without her carrying his child, he would have gotten the doc to safety before going out and shooting whatever was making everyone scream.

Kandros sat perfectly still as he held Maggie, able to hear the screams, though for the moment they weren't in the the same building they were. "They wont hurt you, I promise." He told her quietly, his voice so soft that his lips barely even moved.

It was no more than a few minutes and Tyros would find he was no longer alone in his cage. The door had opened and a pistol was being thrust into his hand. "We're even." Quinn breathed, stealing a kiss in the dark.

"Drak, i can handle myself." Lexi protested once he'd shut the door. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you thinking?" 

Maggie didn't answer. She simply stared in the darkness, watching for the kett she was sure were coming.

"Not even close." Tyros snorted, shaking his head. "You've lost your mind."

"I'm thinking there's no power to the outpost, and the kett could attack you at any moment." Drak replied, speaking to Lexi like a child.

After a moment Kandros lifted Maggie in to his arms, having the same idea as Drak, which meant the four of them were now crammed into Lexi's rather small office.

"What, you think I owe you more?" Quinn asked. "Come on, we need to get out of here so I can power the generators back up." She added, taking hold of Tyros's hand and pulling him to where she knew the open door to be.

"By the goddess!" Lexi hissed. She grabbed kandraos' gun and was out the door before Drak could begin to move around the sudden confusion of the new arrivals. 
"Tiran! Lexi is pregnant! we have to help her!" Maggie hissed, seeming to wake from her stupor of self pity."

"Why bother human? We are already here." Standing in the open door was a kett the size of the Archon. His eyes flashed in the light of a gunshot that barely missed the couple.  "I'll let you two leave for now. But just know that I'm hunting you." He purred "tonight I'm taking trophies if a different sort though. Night. Night."

Kandros growled almost as loudly as the krogan and nodded his head before he realised Maggie probably couldn't see. "You need to stay here, I can't let them hurt you." He all but pleaded.

Quinn had been startled by the sudden appearance of the large kett, along with the gunshot, and her back was currently pressed to Tyros's chest as she had taken an unintentional step backwards. This was her fault, and she knew it.

"Tiran..." Maggie gave a soft sigh. She didn't want to obey. She didn't want to carry the child of Tann's. It would be just another way for him to have control over her and she knew it. The thought alone terrified her. "Please..."

"Run along, children. Your ship is waiting." The kett told them, turning to another. "I want an asari, a krogan, a turian, oh and a human female if you can find one. Save the hair. I like hair." He purred.

Kandros knew what her answer would be as soon as he said the words. "Just because it is his... Doesn't mean I wish to put your life in danger too." He breathed, finding her in the dark and touching her cheek lightly.

Quinn swallowed hard, quickly able to put the pieces together and realise Maggie was in serious danger, all because of her. "You have a human female right here." She told him bravely.

"Kandros..." Maggie was close to begging him to let her go. He deserved better than her. She was broken and chained. Nothing had ever changed. It was if she were still sick. 

"Oh yes I know. And I plan to take your hair too. As soon as I catch up with you again." The kett purred. "They call me Hunter. And you can guess why." He added cheerfully.
 He stepped forward, only to be shoved back by a snarling Tyros. "You will not touch her. Ever." He hissed.

"Don't..." Kandros breathed, kissing Maggie before she could say any more. "I'm getting you off this rock, and we're finding somewhere without people, okay?" He breathed, still holding her face gently.

In a somewhat submissive move on Quinn's part, she slid her slender arms around Tyros's own arm from where he was now stood before her. "It's just hair." She assured her lover softly, even if they both knew that Hunter wasn't stopping at taking hair from the human females.

Maggie nodded, not sure what else to say. She brought so much bad luck to such a good man.
 A single tear dropped onto his talon. "Be careful, Tiran. I need you." She whispered finally.

"Indeed." Hunter was smiling was he thrust his blade into a female who happened to have the misfortune of running on the opposite side of him. 
In a moment he was somehow setting her hair in Quinn's fingers. "Just hair." He purred as he and his men disappeared. 
It would take them both a moment to notice he'd injured Tyros as well, his long blade slicing a deep gash across his stomach.

"Far less than I need you." Kandros breathed, taking her hand and kissing her fingertips lightly. "We'll beat this, I promise." Even as he said the words, he was reminded of the failure of his last promise.

Quinn was ashamed to finf her slender fingers were actually shaking where they held the now dead woman's hair. She took a minute to drop the offending fibres in repulsion and sucked in a deep breath to calm herself. She had yet to realise their escapee would be hindered now not by her own wounds, but those of her lover.

Maggie was terrified of the dark. She  could hear shouts and gun fire and then the sounds of a krogan's roar. Then there was nothing. 
Hours went by. Finally she fell into an exhausted sleep that had her returning to the only thing she was truly afraid of.

"Drak!" The roar of pain brought Lexi to his side just as the generators began to flicker back on. "You old fool...what happened?" She whispered.

Tyros was doing his best not to let Quinn know he'd been wounded. It was far too important that they get off the planet than deal with his simple flesh wound...

Dram grunted, the pain not that bad. Yet. "Doc, what... what you doin' running round in the dark?" He grunted, knowing he had been in worse pain than the slash across one of the limbs that wasn't even really his own. 

Quinn hadn't commented on Tyros's injury, knowing he wouldn't tell her the truth about its severity anyway. The slender woman did, however, slide an arm around him and pretend she was simply struggling herself as she helped him along. It was as the lights flickered around the settlement that she saw the bodies now littering the ground. It was her fault. All of it.

"People are dying out here, Drak. I can't leave them to that fate." Lexi said, squinting as the lights flickered on. "It isn't right for me to hide away. You wouldn't." 

"Kalihira...guide them to eternal rest." Tyros grunted out. He was leaning harder on Quinn than he should but he couldn't help it. The pain was getting the better of him.

"I ain't carrying a tiny life inside me." Drak pointed out. "You're a doctor, I'm expendable." He added.

Quinn had stumbled a few times now, but was refusing to give up. Hunter had said something about there being a ship, which bothered her. It felt entirely too much like being a rat in a maze. "I killed them... I killed them all." She finally breathed after some time of struggling in silence.

"How did you..." Lexi's mouth dropped open before she could stop herself. "I...wasnt going to tell you because you are so set on dying. I didn't want our girls to be without their stubborn pigheaded father." She went on firmly.

"I am honored you thought I was worth all this trouble, Quinn." Tyros whispered. "You and I both know I'm not ..."

"Girls?" Drak breathed, having been able to smell the new life, but not that there were two of them.

"I just wanted to open the locks... I knew turning off the generator would drop the defences and let the kett in... but I did it anyway." Quinn breathed, almost choking on her own breath. "Maggie called me a traitor for loving you." she added quietly as she slowly lifted her gaze to meet his. "But I couldn't lose you."

The little asari doctor nodded. Tann was not going to be happy about it. He hated the krogan and was not that fond of the pathfinder's crew. 

Tyros stroked her hair, smiling gently. "I couldn't imagine being without you either. I love you."

Drak broke into a huge grin and reached a large hand out to touch Lexi's cheek lightly. "Silly doc..." He chuckled, knowing there were far better men out there than him.

Quinn wasn't smiling, a fat tear had rolled down her cheek, betraying how much it hurt that her sister had called her such a thing.

Lexi placed her hand over his, her fingers cool and steady. "We are going to be fine." She whispered. "All of us. But you must trust me, I can fight for myself." 
"Oh look..." Hunter appeared in the room, purring like a kitten who'd gotten the cream. "I've found two more things to check off my list. A krogan and an asari. How fun!"

Tyros ignored his pain and held her tight against him. "It's okay. I know.  You don't have to feel the same..." He lost himself in her hair, whispering love in a language he himself even he no longer understood.

Drak was quick to push the much smaller alien behind him, something he would have done whether she had been carrying his child or not. "Lucky you, I feel like killing something ugly." He commented with a deep chuckle.

Quinn clung to Tyros, burying her face against him as she didn't want him to see her cry any more tears. Not that it mattered, her slender shoulders shook as she fought back her sobs. Quinn had shed so much fo her own blood for her people, for her sister, and now it seemed to matter little to them.

"Oh my an ancient krogan. You are quite a beauty aren't you?" Hunter purred. "Take note. I want his head mounted and placed in my captains quarters." He looked toward the smaller female kett standing near the door and waited for her to nod. "How long has it been ancient one? A thousand? Two?" He asked, seeming to have lost interest in Lexi for the moment. 

"I'm so sorry." Tyros whispered. "I wish they all saw you like I do. Then they would try harder to make you smile. Oh please Quinn...dont cry...im afraid I will break down with you. Have you ever seen a kett cry?" He was rambling. He knew it. But in the end he was sure of he didn't figure out something he was going to break with her.