"And then I will get full control over everything that I have managed to bind to my soul. For example, to your spatial pocket. And there I have useful things that don't even have close analogues in this reality."

"How did you become like this? A wanderer through life?" Garrus asked quietly.

"An accident." I shrugged my shoulders. "I was born in a completely non-magical world." Even you have a kind of magic tied to the life energy of the carrier and the radiation catalyst. Biotics. And in my home world, there wasn't even the slightest manifestation. But come on... after death, she woke up in someone else's body."

"And no idea how it happened?" Nihlus asked cautiously.

"Well, why not? There is a certain mechanism for the appearance of people like me. I'll tell you later. I met the attentive gaze of green eyes. Irene promised to tell you later.

Nihlus nodded in agreement and buried his nose in my hair again.

"Do we have until tonight?" Garrus asked.

"Yes. The crew is partially disabled. Ship on loading: Sebastian complained about the strange selection of products, so I sent him shopping. Anyway, the bill will go to the military department of the Alliance. Let them pay for the grub for their crew."

"Won't they whine?"

"They will, of course. But dextro-products are paid for by the Council. I can live perfectly well without ordinary people, but people can't. We'll feed Joker, Karin, Rex and Liara out of our own pockets. Oh, and the engineering room. Although it is difficult to feed Rex."

Nihlus snorted, and Garrus couldn't help but smile.

"And if he doesn't pay?"

"I'll drop you off at the demons at the nearest station. At least there will be a reason to get rid of them without blood. And then they got it — they don't have the strength."

Garrus shook his head in surprise.

"What are our plans?"

"Clean up the dilute garbage." Nihlus muttered. "The apartment looks like they've been partying in it for three days!"

"Yes. It wouldn't hurt." I nodded in agreement. "Otherwise, I'm afraid a new life will be born here by our return."

The Turians laughed.

In order to speed up the process, we distributed the responsibilities and started cleaning. While Garrus and I were collecting bottles and trash, Nihlus started cleaning up, starting with the least affected area, the bedroom. Collecting the bottles in bags, I was just amazed how we managed to suck out so much and not end up in the infirmary with poisoning. To drink SO MUCH strong alcohol — it was necessary to manage! Garrus wiped the table and the spilled alcohol off the floor. Picking up the last ones, I stomped into the kitchen, where there was a waste disposal unit, when...

A wave of pure, uncluttered rage and bloody rage swept through the mental plane. I was numb. What is it? The bottles slipped out of my hands and splattered across the floor. Garrus whirled around and looked at me questioningly. The rage crystallized into a clear and meaningful desire to kill.

"Nihlus?" I asked cautiously.

The door opened and Nihlus biotics, glowing dark blue, almost purple with crimson reflections, slowly entered the hall, clutching them in his hands... the datapad. Oh mother... It must have fallen out of my pocket yesterday...

"Where does this come from?" The icy voice trembled with rage, breaking into sounds that I could barely hear.

"Jeff put together a crew for me from the chatter." I shrugged, realizing that it was pointless to deny it, and the enraged Turian would shake out the truth.

"What's there?" Garrus asked cautiously.

Instead of answering, Nihlus silently tossed him a datapad. Garrus caught it and started reading. I closed my eyes. That's it... Now I'm going to have two Turians in a rage. And... what a Chaos! They have a right to know! Maybe if they kill a couple of idiots, others will start making friends with their heads!

An outburst of rage, much more powerful and destructive, ripped through the mental. Garrus clenched his fingers so that the datapad crackled. Soothing with words is pointless. I just went over and hugged the pissed-off Turian.

"Never mind."

"Are you protecting them?" Nihlus literally growled.

I turned my head, looking into the green eyes in surprise.

"Don't be silly!"

"Why didn't you tell me then?" Garrus asked, slowly calming down.

"So that you can kill them?" I snorted into the warm fabric of my T-shirt. "Yes, we would have been too tired to wash the ship of blood later. There's no point getting your hands dirty about them. But if you really want to, you can break all the bones and chop off someone's guts."

The biotic glow disappeared, and Nihlus swore softly.

"You're right. Get your hands dirty about them... No, you shouldn't. But it's better for them to start watching their language. I can rip it out."

"Rip it out. Maybe your brain will start working. Otherwise, we've completely lost our fear." I shrugged my shoulders. "But they were certainly right about one thing..."

"Really..." Garrus purred.

The Turians exchanged glances, and then Garrus bent down and picked me up in his arms.

"You do realize that you're going to have to finish cleaning anyway, don't you?" I said, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Nothing. We'll clean it up later... ourselves..." Garrus promised and carried me to the bedroom.

"Then..." I gently slid my fingers over the golden-coffee skin. "Agreed... Later, then later."

Garrus swallowed, momentarily losing his stride. Lifting herself a little on his arms, slowly, barely touching the skin with her lips, she kissed his neck, barely noticeably grabbing the skin with her teeth. The strong arms tightened, and Garrus almost stumbled, barely fitting into the doorway. A couple of quick steps and I'm on the bed, and the Turian pulls back, staring intently into my face with bright light blue eyes.

Nihlus sat down on the bed to my right, carefully ran a clawed hand over my face, dug into my hair, passing short strands between his fingers.

"They're so soft..." The heavy head bowed, he buried his face in his hair, took a deep breath.

"Hold on..."

I pulled back a little, shook my head, and my hair began to grow rapidly... until a long, waist-length, heavy mane fell on my back.

"Being a metamorph... There are advantages to this."

Nihlus exhaled softly, ran his hands through his long hair, tremulously rolling the shiny red strands between his fingers.

"I've never seen it... so long..." he buried his face in my hair, pressing his forehead against my back. "Gentle... Only your race has that... Hair." A quiet chuckle. "I would never have thought that they would be so... They're attractive..."

Garrus kicked off his shoes and lay down on the left, propping himself up on his elbow and pulling up my T-shirt, exposing my stomach.

"Soft." He rubbed his face against my stomach like a cat, barely noticeably tickling my skin with his breath. "And you smell delicious..." The sharp teeth barely bit the skin, causing an involuntary groan.

Garrus pulled back a little, exchanged glances with Nihlus... and with four hands, they shook me out of my clothes, knocking them haphazardly to the floor. Along with his own. We'll leave tomorrow, but there's only the three of us here right now. Me, Nihlus and Garrus.

Nihlus stuck tightly to my mane, almost meditating on the long red strands, fingering them, pressing his face, inhaling the scent, and I... studied the young Turian sitting in front of me, slowly sliding my fingers and lips over his body. Feeling him shudder at every touch, as unusual as a light kiss, inaccessible to his race. Blue clan tattoos appeared not only on the face, but also on the body, crossing the shoulders and chest with strict straight lines. Hot breath burned my skin: Nihlus had had enough of playing with my hair and turned his attention to my back, barely noticeably grabbing the skin with his hard lips. Well, he's doing it... bright, clear feelings intoxicated the head and shattered the remnants of hard-to-maintain self-control...

"My..." a barely audible whisper and hot breath, slowly sliding along the spine. "Ours.".. — the tickling touch of a long tongue.

"Our." Garrus echoed, sitting up abruptly, staring intently at my face. "You know what I mean...

"We are," Nihlus corrected him, eagerly nibbling my neck, barely grabbing the skin with his teeth.

"We will never let you go."

"I'm not going anywhere." I smiled and cupped his face in my hands. "If you don't want to."

"Never..." the heavy combed head leans against my shoulder, Garrus slowly inhales my scent, sliding his hard lips over my neck, almost in sync with Nihlus. "Not in this life, Irene..." sharp teeth grab the skin and easily bite through it, a long tongue licks off the droplets of blood.

"Not in this life..." Nihlus echoes, and another gentle bite...

And I have a growing feeling that I completely do not understand the essence of the action that took place... almost a ritual... important, critically important, which I MUST understand...

The ringing of the instrumentron from Nihlus's hand sounded like a mockery. A barely audible, elusive sound, similar to a growl, and Nihlus, opening his eyes, deployed the interface, looking displeased at the flashing icon.

"Sparatus..." and again that barely audible sound.

There was no desire to blow up and get dressed in a hurry, but you can't ignore it... But I really wanted to...

"Turn it on without video broadcasting." I shrugged my shoulders.

Talon touched the video link icon, turning off the camera, and pressed receive. A window opened above the Turian's forearm, showing Sparatus' darkened office and himself, looking at us with a satisfied face. No. Not like that. LOOKING at us. Nihlus blinked in surprise, the advisor's face became even more malicious. We all looked at the video communication icon. Turned off. The face of Sparatus. Snide, understanding, and smuuug... The counselor understood our pantomime more than correctly, and therefore, instead of greeting and explaining the reason for the call, we heard:

"When a member of the Citadel Council calls, the video link is activated automatically without the permission of the other subscriber."

Nihlus made a muffled gurgle, and Garrus whinnied faintly at the top of my head. Damn it...

"I didn't know." Nihlus sighed.

"Now you know." a snide answer.

Sparatus is definitely bantering! Brazenly, obviously, demonstratively, without even trying to cover up such inappropriate emotions for a member of the Citadel Council. The same for me... I found a personal entertainment... And you're not going to send him! And he knows it perfectly well, which he uses completely shamelessly! My heart feels that we are provided with early calls from the adviser at the most inopportune moments...

Damn it! There's nothing worse than a bored, powerful, imaginative mind... Okay, that's it...

As they say, it's too late to rush around. Sparatus understood our sour faces quite correctly, and therefore finally went directly to the reason for such an unsuccessful call:

"Agents of the Special Task Force reported that Saren Arterius arrived on Feros today."

"On the Lord?" I asked.

"No. An ordinary ship. The Reaper did not appear." sharp gray-green eyes bored into my crumpled face. "Is this news to you?"

"No. We knew that there was a laboratory on Feros, but there was no reason for us to fly there immediately. Benezia did not know that the project was completed or even close to successful completion. His goal is to obtain a Prothean cipher that will help turn the confusing images from the lighthouse into coherent visions. I don't need it. The information has already been analyzed and fully assimilated. I decided not to interfere ahead of time. Maybe they can do it. And Saren shouldn't have been bothered. There will be less twitching, more chances of a successful capture."

Sparatus nodded in agreement, accepting my explanation.

"Apparently, the development was successful. Perhaps you should send a group to Feros with those who should receive this cipher. Just in case."

Sparatus nodded again, quickly calculating something.

"Does your goal not change?"

"No. We're leaving for Vermaer in a couple of hours. Saren will return to his main base anyway. Perhaps we can get into her territory without making too much noise and capture Saren without storming. He would be... inappropriate. The laboratory is protected like a fortress. You can't just take her." Sparatus twitched his mandibles ironically. "Rather, it will work out, but the losses will be unreasonably high. I immediately corrected myself. He has another active buoy. Perhaps the information from it will help to clarify the location of the mu relay."

"Go ahead."

"Advisor Sparatus."

"I'm listening."

"If you're going to send a group to Feros... Let her be well armed and fully protected from biological contamination. There are rumors... They're not good. About a strange creature that can infect and take control." The gray-green eyes narrowed sharply. "The information is unreliable, but it's better not to take unnecessary risks with such things."

"I'll keep that in mind." he told me how he put it, and hung up.

Well all... the end of the Thorian. Sparatus Feros will take it apart to the core, but this shrub will be plucked out and put into action. Or burn it to the last root.

"He reacted calmly." I grumbled. "He just made a joke. And that's very neat and quite tactful."

"We are not the first, we are not the last, caught by him in such a situation." Nihlus shrugged his shoulders. "I myself heard colleagues scoffing." he stammered and confessed: "I didn't know about the specifics of video communication..."

"Apparently, the others didn't know either." Garrus said philosophically.

"Sparatus has been an advisor for a long time and sometimes he is frankly bored. At such moments, the entire Special Corps howls from him. And not just Turian. He was once a Spectrum himself, so the corps knows from the inside like no one else, and he also knows perfectly well how to get Spectr."

"Just out of boredom?" I asked skeptically.

"Rather, so that they don't lose their tone." Nihlus chuckled. "And they didn't relax. If one of the operatives takes off above the atmosphere, they are quickly lowered face-first onto the rocks, setting up non-fatal but humiliating situations."

"Uriah?"

"I suppose so. But it's not clear who she is, Tevos or Sparatus. And it doesn't matter. If he doesn't get the hint the first time, he will repeat it. In a more violent form."

"What if she harms those who are being used as a visual aid?"

"He won't be able to. Such a victim is watched very carefully."

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