Lost in Space

His mandibles gave another soft flutter. “I’m glad that she does,” He murmured, realization starting to sink it. He’d be lost without his sister in more than one way.  He looked at Tavi again. “You are, but… you’re welcome to stick around even longer.”

Crassus glanced through the ship too. He knew Taren had curled up in the pilot’s chair. “I’ve missed her too,” He said quietly. “Taren’s very capable on her own but… but I’m glad she missed me enough to come looking for me.”

“It’s certainly terrifying in its own way, yes,” Crassus hummed, keeping his subvocals soft and calm in response too Tavi’s. “That’s one way to look at it. We- Taren and I- came here for things to be better. Not to watch it all go to shit again.”

Crassus ran his hands over his fringe. “Spirits,” He muttered. “There can’t be just one species of life out there…. If the… exiles are saying they’re seeing more, then we need to consider it.” He took a deep breath to get his head working again. “We should swing back by the Nexus, get some more supplies. Then… then I’ll stay with you and Taren, of course.”

“A couple of weeks ago,” Crass repeated, dumbfounded. “Not the original…?” He wasn’t comprehending the details, he realized, which only forced him to conclude he’d probably suffered a decent head injury or things really had gone all FUBAR. Either was plausible, Crass decided. “I need to… my understanding here. The Nexus leaders are gone, the arks are missing but for the human ark and we already have rogue factions fighting us for resources. Is that the gist?” 

“Please try,” Crassus said, watching him, listening as Tavi did his best to put things into words. It wasn’t hard to tell that he didn’t have to explain situations often and Crassus wondered just how much of civilian Tavi, he didn’t appear to fall on the same level of civilian student that Taren did but maybe his forte lay elsewhere.

His mind had wandered while he thought about it and the only thing he really picked up was- “We have a pathfinder now? What does that mean?” He tapped his omnitool. “They should’ve all reconvened months ago, it should….” He stopped. “The pods. Something happened to the turian ark to force the pods to jettison…”

“None of the pathfinders were recovered until... fuck, more like a couple weeks ago.” He snorted, but there wasn’t any actual humor in it, just the exhaustion of a year spent expecting to die at any moment. “The human one. Ryder’s their name - except they’re not the original pathfinder either, it’s his kid or whatever. Everyone else...”

He’d probably knocked his head around pretty decently on re-entry and that was why Tavi’s words were taking a while for him to understand. And to draw conclusions. “Is there something wrong with the Nexus?” He asked when he got his thoughts together. “I… I’ll go wherever Taren goes to keep her safe but…. Is there really need for it? To be… out like that?”

“It’s hard to explain what’s wrong with the Nexus.” He frowned, letting out a short huff of air as he tried to find the words he wanted. It had been a while since he tried to explain to people that hadn’t had to live on the Nexus for the past year.

“Yes, it is,” He agreed quietly. “Luck and training and more luck.” And he hadn’t wanted to die here but there was no point in saying that.

“Four miles to the west,” Crassus said confidently. “I saw no tracks, no disturbances in the flora or soil other than what was caused by the pods landing. I think… and you’re not going to like it… but I think this creature, whatever it is, is a bird of prey of some kind.”

“No, it’s not good at all.” He said. “I fashioned armor and a weapon from what scrap and supplies I could find when I saw that, but thankfully I never ran in to whatever did it. All the same, I don’t want to.”

He nodded his head a little and then kept it low at Tavi’s question. “There….” He cleared his throat. “There were four other pods. Two, for the most part, burned up on entry. One was cracked open but…. It wasn’t pretty. The other looked like it was…torn open. There was a lot of blood.”

Crassus considered that, soaking in the information Tavi gave him and still trying to figure out his own sense of time passing. “Well, without water- and I did stumble across a few little pools here and there- that really only gives me three or so days, doesn’t it?” He asked. “To not have died from dehydration…”

Ellie smiled faintly. “It’s homey,” she said with a shrug. “At any rate, we were following Kira, who was following Henley. I assume now that the offer’s been extended, Henley will know better for next time?”

Henley nodded firmly. “Sure thing. Next get together will be at the big place. And sorry again about the intrusion, Tavi. I just… didn’t give it much thought.”

Lily smiled faintly. “Just keep believing in us, Tavi,” she said. “If we’re crazy enough to fly six hundred years to a different galaxy, we’re sure as hell stubborn enough to survive whatever the hell it can throw at us.”