Chapter One

Taking a sip from his drink he leaned back and surveyed the small area that was the local watering hole. An asari was trying to evade the advances of a very interested turian, a couple of krogan were heatedly discussing the finer points of shot gun mods and a rowdy group of Alliance Marines were enjoying the flexibility of an asari dancer.

He finished the drink and stood, ready to leave, when a lone human female sitting at the bar caught his eye. Ebony hair fell in waves down her back and the tight, faded jeans she wore exhibited her muscular legs perfectly. The man looked to his left and glared at his security detail that was currently standing over by the exit, waiting for him to leave. The three gruff looking turians understood and walked over to a shadowy booth in the corner. Looking back towards the striking woman, he was mesmerized. A delicate hand pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and she turned, looking straight at him. They stared at each other for a few seconds until he decided to go over and introduce himself instead of ogling at her from a distance.
As he approached she smiled, "I was wondering if you were going to come over and say hi or just keep staring at me...I'm Edith, Edi for short."
"That's an interesting name," his eyes fluttered shut as an image of a sleek, metallic body flashed before his mind's eye.
"Yeah, named after a family friend...and you are?"
Distant, ice blue eyes stared at her for a moment before he came back to himself, "Oh, sorry. You can call me Rus." The dark haired, young woman held out her hand and he shook it.
"Nice to meet you, Rus." Edi dropped his hand and offered him a seat, Rus nodded to the bartender, ordering them both another drink.
"I haven't seen you here before, new to the area?" Questioning green eyes held his gaze and for a moment he was reminded of another person from his past, "Ah, no. I'm just here on business" Rus' voice was low and rumbled through Edi, causing her to shiver involuntarily. "Oh, what do you do?"
"Umm, I work for the council...what about you?" He replied quickly, trying to divert her curiosity.
"I'm an instructor at Grissom Academy," Holding up her hand, preventing him from commenting, she continued, "And before you ask, no, I am not a biotic. I teach the tech students." Rus flared his mandibles in the turian version of a smile.
"Ah, we have something in common then, I'm a bit of a techie myself. In fact I just made a revision of an overload program I designed...do you want to hear about it?" As she nodded her head for him to continue she took the time to really look at him. His plates were a mottled grey and he had quite a bit of scarring on the right side of his face. Deep blue colony markings that had cracked and faded over time, adorned his cheeks and nose. Edi wasn't sure if he was attractive by turian standards but she definitely thought he was handsome. She was roused from her musings by his rich, velvety chuckle, "I think I lost you there, I suppose you don't really want to be talking shop when your off duty."
Wildly shaking her head she spoke, "Oh, no. I'm sorry, I was listening, I promise! It's just I was intrigued by your scars."
Rus' mandibles fluttered nervously and he looked down at his feet, "I suppose they are a bit intimidating, I've had them for so long that I don't really think about them..." Edi noticed his discomfort and quickly back pedaled, "No, no, no. They're not intimidating, I think they add to your dashing good looks" blushing a little from her confession she continued, "I was just interested in the story behind them. Quite a few people I know have a multitude of scars and each one tells a story, they are like a road map showing where you have been...now you most probably think I am weird for liking scars." Chuckling nervously, Edi took a long swig from the glass in front of her.
Rus visibly relaxed and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking, "It would be over 25 years ago now. I was in a bind on Omega, you see, I managed to piss off several merc groups and they decided to team up and take me out. Luckily a friend of mine bailed me out but not before I had a fight with a rocket and lost."
Edi's eyes widened, "You got several merc groups to work together, plus took a rocket to the face. Then you managed to get out of Omega alive? That takes talent."
Rus laughed softly and nodded, "I'm hard to kill."

Edi was silent for a moment, trying to formulate a way to ask her question without coming off as being rude, "You said that happened over 25 years ago...if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" Rus knew that it was a fair question but he hoped that his answer didn't put her off, there was something about her that piqued his interest and he was looking forward to getting to know her better. He looked at her intently for a moment, ice blue eyes making her shift in her seat uncomfortably, "You don't have to answer, I didn't mean to be rude."
He blinked and took a sip from his drink, clearing his throat before answering, "I'm 54." She looked at him, dusky pink lips drawn into a tight line and dark eyebrows furrowed, "Have I run you off now?"
Edi shook her head, "No, it's just you don't look like you're 54, granted I don't think turians age quite like humans do." Reaching out toward his face, her index finger slowly traced his scarred mandible. Realizing what her traitorous hand was doing, she quickly pulled it back and blushed, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."
Rus interrupted her by grasping her delicate hand and squeezed gently, "Don't apologize." They stared into each others eyes and she nodded. Rus released his hold and sighed, "Okay, seeing as you asked me, I think it is only fair that you tell me your age as well"
Edi produced a crooked grin, "I'm 23."
Rus shook his head and chugged the rest of his drink, "Spirits, I'm a dirty, old turian."
She glanced at him and raised an eyebrow, "The age difference doesn't bother you, does it? I mean, I don't have a problem with you being older and I wouldn't want something as insignificant as age stop us from enjoying each others company."
Looking at the human behind the bar he ordered another round then turned to face her, "No, I suppose you're right."
"Okay, glad we have that settled...So, do you have any family?" she asked sipping on the blue concoction the bartender just placed in front of her.
He nodded, "I have a father and sister who both live on Palaven. My sister, Solana, is married and has two children. The older one is about to join the military, she's 15."
Edi looked thoughtful for a moment, "So, no children of your own?"
Rus shook his head and rubbed his brow plate, "No. I was married for 10 years but she was a different species and neither of us really had the time for a child...hell, we didn't really have time for each other. It didn't work out." He stared at his red colored beverage for a moment then looked at Edi, "What about you?"
"My grandmother lives on Earth, she basically raised me." With that nonchalant statement Rus raised his brow plates, Edi just shrugged her slim shoulders and explained, "My parents spent most of their time off world because of work, it's been that way since I was born. They weren't planning to ever have a child, I was kind of an accident. Granny couldn't have been happier though, she took over the parental responsibilities so neither of them had to sacrifice their careers. It worked out for all parties involved, I had a happy childhood for the most part, my parents would visit as often as they could and when their ship had shore leave they'd have big crew parties, so I got to know a few of them really well, kind of like having an extended family." She had a wistful smile on her face that turned to a scowl, "Then my father died four years ago and things turned to shit. Mother and I don't get along very well, Dad was the peacekeeper."
Rus was uncertain how to respond and sat awkwardly looking at bottles on the wall behind the bar, "I see."
Chuckling, Edi grabbed his arm and squeezed, "I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."
The turian shook his head and flared a mandible, mimicking a smirk, "I'm not uncomfortable, maybe a little unsure how to respond but not uncomfortable. Have you seen your mother lately?"
"I try and avoid her but she has decided we should attempt to mend our relationship so, we are having a week long vacation together to visit Granny. I'm looking forward to seeing Granny but not so sure about Mother and I spending a week together. We leave in four days, after Mother has finished her lecture on the "Fundamentals of Biotics Use in the Field" at Grissom, she's a guest lecturer," She looked abashed and started to fiddle with the drink coaster, "Sorry, I'm sure talking about my mommy-issues is not what you had in mind when you walked over here." Silence ensued until she sighed and continued, "So, about that overload program you mentioned earlier..." Rus laughed, "Very smooth change of subject there." Edi rolled her eyes as he started to describe his most recent tweaks to his overload program.

An hour passed and they were still engrossed in conversation, talking about everything and nothing. Rus' omnitool beeped, he checked his messages and cursed. "I just got called to a meeting."
She looked at him, confused, "At this time of night?"
Rus just nodded, looking a little annoyed, "With my job I'm on call 24/7."
Edi shrugged and placed a hand on his thigh, "I understand. How long are you on Elysium?"
"If I don't get called back I'm here for another two solar days."
She nodded and brought her omnitool up and linked it to his, "Here's my contact info. We should meet up again before you leave."
His mandibles flared into a smile, "Yeah, definitely." They both stood and headed toward the exit, as the doors swished open she turned to face him and rose up on her tip toes. Edi pressed her lips against his mouth plates in imitation of a human kiss. They separated and she smiled, "I'm looking forward to it." Edi strolled down the path and Rus watched as her hips swayed from side to side. He felt his lower plates start to shift and groaned, "Definitely a dirty, old turian" he mumbled to himself. Looking over his shoulder he motioned for his security team to follow, "Come on guys, supposedly the galaxy is ending, we better hurry." The three large turians followed behind him, chuckling.