[center][h1][color=82ca9d]Nadara V’lanis[/color][/h1][h1][color=800000]Kysar Proctus[/color][/h1]
[h2][i]"Sunset & Venator"[/i][/h2][/center]
[hr]

As Nadara worked her way through the narrow passages of the bunker, she made sure to stay far enough from Kysar to duck into an open door, behind another SRN operative, or simply play it off that she hadn’t been tailing him. 

All the while, her eyes were shooting daggers at the back of the man’s head. [color=82ca9d][i]Just what are you planning?[/i][/color] He was heading toward his quarters, so it wasn’t entirely out of the question that she’d misread the situation, but Nadara trusted her gut. Something about the Turian was off, and she needed today’s mission to run seamlessly if she was to prove her capacity as a leader to the SRN. The bonus that came with serving in a leadership position that her mother would inevitably hear about was just the icing on the cake. 

Hmm, pastries [i]would[/i] be an excellent addition to the mess hall. Particularly now that D’Veo had signed on as the SRN’s head chef. Perhaps a word with the other Asari about this detail would be in order— ahead, Kysar took a sharp turn and Nadara signed. She’d have to worry about adding her refined touch to the bunker after she’d dealt with Kysar. 

Spirits help him, there was never enough time. Kysar knew he’d have to be quick, he’d felt too many eyes on him at the meeting and so he had to rush to get out before anyone got the chance to question him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. The Turian had noticed Nadara on his way back to his bunk and then again as he stepped back out of the door. Sure, she could’ve been heading to her own bunk but the problem was with her walk. Normally the Asari walked with confidence, strutting about the place, clomping those heels so loud you could hear her a mile off. Today, however, there was no noise.

Hiking a bag over his shoulder, Kysar had dressed warm putting on a thick coat length jacket, black with fur lining the hood. Inside the bag was everything he could cram at a minutes notice, including the letter from Sarah. Looking over his shoulder, he thought about confronting Nad, making a scene in the hallway so she’d back off but something stayed his hand. [color=800000][i]Maybe she could tell the others goodbye.[/i][/color]

He continued down the halls, picking up pace until he was outside. The sky was clear, the air brisk and bitter but Kysar’s thick jacket kept the cold at bay. Slim’s buggy was parked in the lot just outside the base among others, striding over to it without delay, the Turian whipped out his omni-tool and began a hack.

When Kysar stepped out of his room with a packed bag, Nadara almost gave up the game entirely. Her irritation with his insistence that she wasn’t worth his respect must have skewed the internal compass guiding her perspective, which usually never led her wrong. All the same, she followed behind him as he left the bunk, winding his way toward the side bay rather than the general shuttle bay where they were to rendezvous for the mission. It must have been something in his posture, head held low, shoulders slouched inwards as if he were… ashamed? Nadara scoffed. [color=82ca9d][i]Him? Impossible.[/i][/color] If not shame, certainly he was hiding something. His grip on the bag he held was so tight Nadara almost wanted to ask about the brand to ascertain the tough yet sleek material before she realized that would mean complimenting the Turian’s style. [color=82ca9d][i]Over my alluring dead body.[/i][/color]

By the time he stepped outside into the freezing air toward a buggy, Nadara felt validated that her intuition had been right after all. There was no denying he was up to something now. But, Goddess, she hadn’t expected him to lead her outdoors. In those temperatures and her outfit, she wouldn’t last long. Nadara looked left and right but there were no spare coats lying around, of course. At the sight of Kysar pulling out his omni-tool, she acquiesced to the futility of her situation and gritted her teeth. 

Her hand fell on his arm and gripped a bit harder than she’d initially intended. Not out of anger or irritation, which would have made complete sense, no, Nadara was freezing and his was the nearest warmth. 

[color=82ca9d]“What are you doing?”[/color] She barked, doing her best to sound as authoritative as possible, which was difficult through chattering teeth. [color=82ca9d]“Come back inside before I freeze to death.”[/color]

There was a click from the doors as the buggy came to life. Both driver and passenger side opened as Kysar climbed inside. [color=800000]“Get in.”[/color]

Nadara glanced back at the bunker behind them as if considering something but quickly turned back to Kysar. [color=82ca9d]“F-f-fine. But I sit in the driver’s seat,”[/color] she argued, not waiting for a response before pushing him aside and pulling the door closed. 

The Turian sighed, rubbing his forehead as he went around the other side of the car. Getting in, he threw his bag in the back and closed the door, going back to his omni-tool. The buggy started and warm air began to flow from the vents. Taking off his jacket, he threw that in the back of the seat before addressing Nad. [color=800000]“I’m leaving, that’s what I’m doing.”[/color]

Nadara looked pointedly at him before reaching back and grabbing the coat, placing it over herself and rubbing the feeling back into her arms. This was a new level of low, even for Kysar. But the jacket was quite nice, authentic fur on the inner lining, immaculate stitching. Before returning it she’d have to check the brand label.

[color=82ca9d]“What do you mean, leaving?”[/color]

The Turian sank into the seat, looking out through the front window of the car as his eyes glazed over. Truth of it all was he didn’t know how to feel. Angry, sad, ashamed, furious, all of the above and more. It’s as if all his emotions were trying to squeeze through the door at the same time, leaving none of them able to get through. [color=800000]“I’m heading out past the asteroid belt. I need to see things through on Europa. This started with me and I’m going to make sure it ends with me.”[/color]

A few moments of silence passed between them as his words sank in. Why did this seem so familiar? [color=82ca9d]“Let me get this straight.”[/color] Nadara squinted at him, then turned her face to look out of the window and shook her head with a sigh. [color=82ca9d]“You’re torn about doing something you believe to be your duty, and you decide to take a course of action that will inevitably and disastrously affect your team, without consulting anyone or even having the decency to notify them beforehand?”[/color] She turned back to him, her voice sharp and cold as ice. [color=82ca9d]“Sound about right?”[/color]

[color=800000]“No.”[/color] Kysar rolled his eyes, of course she was trying to compare this to kidnapping Janiri. It was probably the whole reason she followed him out here to begin with. [color=800000]“Were I to stick to my duty, I’d be doing just that. This is different, two birds with one stone as the humans say.”[/color]

[color=82ca9d]“How is this possibly ‘two birds with one stone’?”[/color] Nadara threw her hands in the air with an incredulous scoff. [color=82ca9d]“You abandoning your team right before a critical mission to flitter off and handle something, [i]alone[/i], that’s likely going to have been completed by the time you even get there. Sounds like missing two birds with one stone to me.”[/color] Nadara suddenly remembered she needed to notify her father of the situation on Europa. [color=82ca9d]“No,”[/color] she said, pulling out her own omni-tool, [color=82ca9d]“you don’t want to accept the similarities between us because that would be hitting much too close to the truth wouldn’t it?”[/color] After closing a message that immediately popped up, shemade a note to herself so she wouldn’t forget to contact Kargg. 

[color=82ca9d]“What was it you said to me?”[/color] The omni-tool’s function finished, Nadara closed it and tapped a finger on her arm. [color=82ca9d]“Oh that’s right,”[/color] she said, scowl returning to her features as she stared at the side of the Turian’s head. [color=82ca9d][i]He won’t even face me.[/i][/color] [color=82ca9d]“If you had bothered for one second to think of someone else, you would see both how similar these situations are, and how wrong [i]you[/i] are for having made the same decision I made.”[/color] She paused, as if waiting for a response, but suddenly realized she had more to say and bulldozed forward once more. [color=82ca9d]“That’s all not even to mention the theft of a [i]vehicle[/i]. Who do you think will be saddled with the cost for this, huh?”[/color] She asked, gesturing at the compartment around them. [color=82ca9d]“The same team you’ve crippled with your absence.”[/color] In a lower voice she added, [color=82ca9d]“Goddess, I don’t think Zenn will financially recover.”[/color]

Kysar… smirked, grinning to the point of almost laughing. Almost. [color=800000]“You feel better now?”[/color] The Turian straightened in his chair, pulling himself from his slouched position into one more comfortable, confident even. [color=800000]“The difference between you and me, Nadara, is that when the Hierarchy asked [i]me[/i] to jump, I told them to get fucked. Or, at least that’s what I will be doing. Those cunts won’t control me, they won’t make me b-”[/color] He paused, even with venom dripping from his words he still couldn’t bring himself to reveal all. [color=800000][i]She wouldn’t understand.[/i][/color]

Clearing his throat, the Turian continued. [color=800000]“Even the car will be returned by them, no costs to you, so don’t worry that pretty little head of yours.”[/color] Casting his gaze out the side door window, Kysar digested more of what the woman had said. [color=800000]“And the team… well, you guys can survive without me, you have before, why not again?”[/color] The knot in his stomach persisted, tightening again and again with each mention of the team. [color=800000]“Besides, what do you care anyway, you’ve never wanted me round, isn’t this some sort of blessing for you?”[/color]

Nadara softened. She recognized that anger. The indignation he seemed to feel toward the hierarchy, the disdain he had for their audacity to reach out to him. Because that’s what had happened, she realized now, and she admired his response. Respected him for it even. Wished she could have done the same in her situation, but telling your superior to fuck off was just a tad different to saying the same to your parent. 

Their positions were more similar than Nadara initially thought. It wasn’t just Kysar’s drive to settle things that had happened before she’d joined the SRN, though surely his guilt and  responsibility for the team members he’d lost were weighing on him, but he had been ordered to do… something by authorities he clearly held no affection for. The more she unearthed about this whole escapade the more questions she had. His goal, the purpose, as well as his methods were still unclear to her. But that knowledge mattered little in comparison to salvaging the mission they were both assigned. 

Her voice held none of its earlier ice. [color=82ca9d]“I guess it’s no secret you’re not my favorite member of the team,”[/color] she admitted with a small glance to the man’s head before looking out of the windshield at the snow surrounding them. It wasn’t like he was making eye contact anyway. [color=82ca9d]“But you can’t tell me you don’t feel similarly about me.”[/color] For someone who had demonstrated such loyalty and commitment to his teammates, Nadara was surprised and strangely bothered at his ready dismissal of her. [color=82ca9d]“That aside, I have two points to make.”[/color] She cleared her throat and adjusted herself in the seat, letting the coat fall to her bare legs now that the cabin had warmed significantly. [color=82ca9d]“I understand the need to send a message to your superiors, to the Hierarchy,”[/color] she corrected. [color=82ca9d]“If I knew more about what they asked of you and what your plan was with this great escape, I could present a better argument as to why, but there has to be a better way. One that doesn’t involve becoming the person you and Zenn criticized me so heavily for being not too long ago.

You may think our team can survive without you. I can think that. And it might be true,”[/color] Nadara paused and sighed. She hadn’t been prepared for such a delicate conversation. [color=82ca9d]“You did get me shot at the meat plant after all,”[/color] she said with a sideways glance. Then more seriously, [color=82ca9d]“But Solveig and Zenn wouldn’t have made it on that mission if it hadn’t been for you.”[/color] She noticed Kysar flinch at the mention of the two. He had seemed to form a strengthened bond with them, and perhaps they were her ticket out of this. [color=82ca9d]“Wouldn’t it be better to stick around and make sure you’re there to do the same on this mission?”[/color] Her eyes drifted away from the snowfield before them back to the angst ridden Turian.

Kysar felt a tinge of anger at the comparison between their situation, he was not giving up a member of the team, he was not betraying their team. He was sacrificing himself, going to where he was needed the most and at least going down with a fight. [color=800000]“I am [i]not[/i] acting selfishly. All I want is to stay with the SRN but my stay here has always been conditional. I’ve lived with this leash around my neck for… for…”[/color] Spirits, how long [i]had[/i] it been? The Reaper War? Military Prison? Purgatory? The Cabals? Palaven? The Turian felt his hand drift up towards his neck as if to loosen his collar. [color=800000]“A long time.”[/color]

Clearing his throat, Kysar quelled the anger. To be fair to the woman, she was putting in effort, more effort than he’d ever seen before. [color=800000]“Besides, how quickly did Charles sign over Janiri? The SRN is no help.There is nothing anyone can do against the Hierarchy, even if everyone knew all the details. Better to break these chains, go out there and do something worth dying for,”[/color] twisting and turning, his insides heaved. His words had a distinct quiver to them. The Turian was no longer sure if he really believed them, [color=800000]“even if no one understands or appreciates it.”[/color]

[color=800000][i]What if something goes wrong, what if they do need me and I’m off on some suicidal crusade?[/i][/color]

The man sighed, giving in to the feeling of Nadara piercing the back of his head with her gaze. Kysar turned to face her, thinking over what she had said about their relationship. He didn’t hate her, not anymore anyway. [color=800000]“Look, what happened in the meeting. Had Slim appointed anyone leader I would’ve said the same. None of us are ready, even if we are all good soldiers. It wasn’t personal.”[/color]

Nadara nodded, she could understand the sentiment since she’d been similarly underwhelmed with what she’d witnessed after their first mission together. [color=82ca9d]“I accept your heartfelt apology,”[/color] she teased. [color=82ca9d]“As for the other things… you may not have selfish reasons for making this decision but it is nonetheless—”[/color] she noticed Kysar fume in anticipation of her calling him selfish once more and quickly adjusted. [color=82ca9d]“Inconsiderate. Incredibly so.”[/color] [color=82ca9d][i]By the Goddess, I have never met a man so sensitive.[/i][/color] 

[color=82ca9d]“Your teammates deserve more than a hand on the shoulder as a farewell. An explanation at least, a chance to change your mind. I have no doubt any one of them would be here trying to convince you against this decision just as I am.”[/color] After a moment of consideration she added, [color=82ca9d]“Perhaps not Zenobia. She might even join you depending on the antics you have planned.”[/color] The smallest indication of a smile was visible, and Nadara capitalized on it. [color=82ca9d]“You said yourself you don’t wish to leave the SRN.”[/color] Her voice was gentler now, and her eyes fell from his gaze to her lap. It was a technique she’d picked up many years ago. [color=82ca9d]“Stay, Kysar. Let’s put right this situation on Mars, and then we can go to Europa,”[/color] she paused and raised her eyes to meet his once more, [color=82ca9d]“as a team. SRN and the Hierarchy be damned.”[/color] Nadara was surprised to find that her anticipation for his response was authentic, despite using her tactics.

She was both right and wrong. A convergence was happening on Europa and with the team headed to Mars, it was all but guaranteed that they would miss the climax. Kysar stroked his mandibles; he wouldn’t press the matter, with Nadara’s father on mission and her new “leadership” position, the Turian wouldn’t plant a seed of doubt in her mind. What the Asari was right about, however, was the team. Kysar owed them. They’d saved his life in more ways than one. The man shifted uncomfortably on the thought. His mind said one thing while his heart said another. He could live with being the bad guy, he’d done that a million times before but what if… what if something happened and he wasn’t there? What if he survived and they didn’t? How could he live with himself?

But the Hierarchy, there was nothing that anyone could do. Choosing to go to Mars would mean- 

[color=800000][i]Gah! Fuck this![/i][/color] A heavy breath outwards caught the back of the Turian’s throat, causing him to growl in frustration. There were too many thoughts, too many variables. Time to choose. Heart or brain.

[color=800000]“Fine, I’ll come back.”[/color] Heart it was. [color=800000]“But on one condition. I tell the team about what’s going on at a time of my choosing.”[/color] The Turian shrugged, looking at Nadara out of the corner of his eyes. [color=800000]“Besides, we wouldn’t want anything distracting the team from the upcoming mission right?”[/color] 

Nadara felt immediate relief, this could have had a horrible effect on SRN’s judgement of her leadership capabilities and the team would have certainly suffered in their performance as a result of Kysar’s departure. [color=82ca9d]“No, we wouldn’t.”[/color] She eyed him then, as if questioning his own potential for distraction, but comforted herself with the knowledge that his devotion to Solveig and Zenn seemed a secure enough investment. 

[color=82ca9d]“Condition accepted,”[/color] she said finally, sitting up suddenly as if preparing to leave the vehicle. [color=82ca9d]“Good thing too, I’m not sure what we would’ve done to replace you in the photoshoot,”[/color] she said aloud to herself. When she’d sent the message to her father earlier, Nadara had also given a cursory glance at an incoming message from Solveig regarding her conversation with the shuttle company.

[quote][code]
NEW MESSAGE
From: Wraith
To: Sunset
Re: Ship; Costing update
[/code]

Sunset,

ExSolar accepted offer of endorsement. Will require your assistance in future for required photoshoot. Cost is 450 credits per colleague. 

Regards,
Wraith
[/quote]

Nadara sighed after checking the time. [color=82ca9d]“Will I need to keep an eye on you until our rendezvous for the shuttle? I still haven’t gathered my things and time is running out.”[/color] She’d asked the question, but wasn’t sure she could trust his response. What if Kysar was merely telling her what he felt would most easily get her off his case? [color=82ca9d][i]This is why I can’t be bothered with leading missions. Too many variables out of my control. Much easier to wave a sword around at targets.[/i][/color]

A mischievous grin washed over the Turian’s face. [color=800000]“What? You can’t trust a convict's honour?”[/color] Chuckling to himself, Kysar reached into his pack pulling out a picture of two Turians. A woman, tall and slender, sat in the lap of a rather gaunt looking man. Neither had any markings on their face but both wore a smile wide as they were happy. [color=800000]“Take this, I’m not going anywhere without it.”[/color]

Nadara blinked as she processed the picture in her hands, noting the similarities in features between the two in the image and their son before her. She could sense the weight of his words, the warmth in his gaze when he beheld them. The tenderness with which he handled the treasure, for it was clear that was exactly what it was to Kysar. This was a side of him Nadara had never witnessed, nor even considered possible. His piercing blue eyes seemed softer then, and she quickly looked away upon realizing how long she’d been staring into them. 

[color=82ca9d]“I’ll be taking this as well,”[/color] she said, motioning to the jacket on her lap after placing the picture carefully away in her breast pocket. Without another word, she threw the jacket over herself and stepped back out into the icy exterior toward the safety and warmth of the base.

Kysar smiled, turning the vehicle off. [color=800000]“Ok Heels, no worries.”[/color] Flicking a quick message off to Outcast, warning him of the dangers ahead, the Turian got out to brave the cold, running back inside.