This is the last Chapter of Fit to Burst. But it won't be the last of Cira and Saren. Hope you enjoy!

The trip to the citadel was fairly uneventful. Saren spent most of his time in his cabin going through data pads filled with information on every group of mercs, bandits and pirates he had ever heard of. Cira worked on the upgrades to Saren's ship and the various devices she had brought with her from the school, and Nihlus was determined to learn everything he could about the human girl traveling with his anti-human mentor.

"I still can't wrap my head around the fact that he hasn't tossed you in the airlock yet." He leaned against a crate across from Cira's makeshift bed, watching closely as she made a replica of her barrier device.

"He did, but I took over his ship. I also completely disabled the airlock so he couldn't try again."

"And Liam didn't find out?"

"I made a few changes to the ship's protocols. Liam will think the airlock is still functioning properly. I'll fix it before I leave."

Nihlus's mandibles twitched and Cira noticed that he looked slightly amused.

"So you're pretty good at all this…tech stuff?"

"You could say that." She grinned at him before turning her attention back to the device in her hands.

Liam's robotic voice sounded through the ship's intercom.

"We will arrive at the Citadel in 5 minutes."

Cira set her work aside and began packing her things. Nihlus only had his guns with him so he just watched as she threw various gadgets of all shapes and sizes into a large duffel bag.

"What is all of that anyway?"

She closed the bag and cradled it close to her body. "There projects me and other students were working on. I've got some of the most advanced technology in this bag. The cloaking and barrier devices I've been using are nothing compared to what's in here…if I can finish them. A lot of them are still just basic ideas, prototypes, but I'm sure with enough time I can figure out how to…"

She trailed off, starring at the walls of the cargo hold, seemingly lost in thought. Nihlus was about to call out to her when she spoke; barely a whisper.

"Some of these things belong to the best of us. Students so much smarter than me. How was I able to survive when they couldn't? How could they have been killed so easily?"

Cira swayed slightly and Nihlus placed a hand on her arm to steady her. "I'm sorry about what happened Cira." It didn't seem like enough but he didn't know what else to say.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry? You weren't there; had nothing to do with it…I was the one who couldn't stop them…I…" Her breathing was heavy and she was squeezing her eyes shut, as if trying to block out the memory. Nihlus placed an arm around her shoulders in a slightly awkward attempt to comfort her. After a moment, she opened her eyes again, seeming calmer.

"Sorry for that Nihlus. Thank you."

He gave a slight nod. "Anytime."

She slung her bag over her shoulder and followed him out of the cargo hold.

No one spoke as Liam guided the ship toward the Citadel docking bay. Cira was still stuck in memories, Saren was busy examining Cira, still wondering what had caused his dream and Nihlus was watching Saren, wondering why he was staring at Cira. When the ship was docked, the three of them left the ship, pausing in the docking bay. Nihlus said his goodbyes, claiming he needed to acquire a new ship.

The remaining two stood there for a moment until Saren noticed that Cira was looking around like a small lost animal.

"You've never been to the Citadel have you?"

She shook her head and Saren sighed. "I'll take you to the human ambassador. C-sec probably wouldn't know what to do with you."

The elevator ride to the embassies was slow and absolutely silent. Cira normally would have filled the empty air with questions and comments about the new environment she was in but her little episode on the ship left her in a gloomy mood. So there was no conversation, just the light hum of whatever drove the elevator. She made a mental note to find out and make it faster.

When at last they reached their destination, they found Ambassador Udina at his desk. He looked vaguely annoyed at the interruption but was not dumb enough to voice a complaint.

"Spectre Arterius. I was not expecting a visit from you. How might I be of service?"

Saren motioned toward Cira. "This is the only surviving student from Hailroy Academy."

The girl stepped forward and Udina fixed her with an almost bored look.

"What is your name girl?"

"Cira Roselli."

"There hasn't been a team sent out to investigate the school yet. Would you mind telling me exactly what happened there?"

Before she could begin, Saren interrupted saying he had other business to attend to and that he would leave Cira in Udina's hands.

She watched the turian spectre as he strode purposefully out of the room. He was probably glad to be rid of her. The Ambassador caught her attention again by loudly clearing his throat. She sighed, steeling herself before reliving the attack for him.

She had just finished her story when someone else entered the office. She could feel the newcomer's eyes on her back as they approached the desk.

"Anderson, what are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you until later."

"Forgive me Ambassador, but I heard that Spectre Arterius was seen bringing a human child into your office. I simply came to investigate."

Udina introduced Cira and explained her situation to Anderson. When he had finished, the Capitan seemed quite saddened by the news.

"All those students…some of the best this galaxy had to offer killed so easily. I guess that makes you the best of the best."

Cira shook her head enthusiastically. "No, I wasn't the best of the students. Best of the humans maybe but there were others far smarter and stronger than me."

"But you survived. They didn't."

"I got lucky."

"Luck had nothing to do with it. Look Roselli, why not join the Alliance. We could use people with your tech skills and you could help prevent things like this from happening to anyone else."

She thought about what he said for a moment. "No. Until we learn to see the future we can't prevent all incidents like these. We can only respond as fast as we can and hope to save someone. Besides, I'm only seventeen."

"Then wait a year. Responding to incidents like the one at the academy is better than trying to forget what happened there, don't you think? At least you're trying."

She nodded slowly. She would have to think about it but she understood his point.

"I'll consider it Sir."

"I hope so. Now if you would excuse us, I have some business to discuss with the Ambassador. If you need a place to stay, I'm sure C-sec can provide you with temporary lodgings."

"Not necessary Sir, I can afford an apartment."

Anderson raised one eyebrow slightly but didn't comment. Cira nodded respectfully to both men and left the room.

She wasn't sure what to do with herself. She had rented an apartment; a nice one that overlooked the Presidium lakes. The only goal she had was to continue working on the gadgets she had taken from the school. The thought flashed through her mind that she should try and locate her parents. They had sent her to Hailroy when she had been accepted, promising that they would visit when they could, but a few years later, they disappeared. Cira didn't know what had happened to them but she did know that they were alive because about a week after they vanished she received a credit chit from an anonymous sender and every month 300,000 credits were transferred onto it. Cira had never needed much money and she wasn't even completely sure it was her parents sending it to her, but she couldn't think of anyone else who would. Seeing the credits increase each month gave her a small hope that they were out there somewhere and had only 'mostly abandoned' her. Yes, that's what she would do with her time on the Citadel; try to locate and reconnect with her mother and father. She would think about joining the military later.

After staring out at the lakes for what seemed like hours, Cira began wondering what business Saren had wanted to take care of. She was already starting to miss annoying him. After giving it some thought, she decided to head down to the docking bay and see if he'd left yet. He hadn't. Cira was about to go looking for him when she remembered that she had disabled his ship's airlock. She convinced Liam to let her on board and went to work fixing the sabotage.

It didn't take her long and it was amusing for her to hear the AI's mechanical version of a surprised voice when he realized that she had managed to trick him once again. They chatted a little bit about how she was able to do that when the door opened and Saren strode in. When he saw Cira sitting at the controls, he just stood there, waiting for her to explain.

"Hey Saren. I was just adding the finishing touches to the upgrades. Your barriers are stronger than ever and now even I will take at least 2 minutes to hack into the ship's systems. Liam can also detect more advanced cloaking devices now."

She paused, looking around. "I guess you'll be leaving now."

"Yes."

"Well good luck with…well everything…mainly with becoming less of an asshole but with other stuff too, like missions…"

She stood, debating whether she should offer a handshake. It probably wasn't a Turian thing and the meaning would be lost on him, if he even accepted the gesture, so she decided against it. Instead she just headed for the exit, turning back just before the door closed behind her.

"Good-bye Saren. Thanks for the ride."

Ok so that's the end of the first story. I'm not sure what I'm calling the next one yet but if you liked this story I will be continuing it. Thank you to all the people who reviewed, you're awesome!