Mass Effect: Andromeda — Nexus Uprising

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Where one emergency ended, another took its place. The progress made before the loss of life was buried beneath the weight of the knowledge derived, and Kesh could offer nothing but the steadfast words of a krogan to Calix for them.

He stood in one of the few places Kesh preferred to have such meetings, an out-of-the-way office rarely found or sought after. He stared out over what should have been a courtyard of some kind, but remained dark and closed. Silent.

Kesh put a large, heavy hand on his shoulder. Squeezed. “He died well, Calix. With honor even my krogan salute.”

“Yeah.” The turian’s voice fell flat. “I’m sure he did.”

The lack of respect for her words didn’t bother her. Kesh knew something of what he was feeling. Krogan were no stranger to loss, but to lose to something so vicious, so unpredictable as this Scourge…

She let out a gusty sigh. “At the very least,” she said, letting him go, “he confirmed for us what we’d suspected. The energy that drifts around us is not harmless.”

“Worse,” he muttered. “It’s hungry.”

“Maybe.” She turned away, lumbered for the door. “More like we are hungry, and in our haste to rebuild, we neglected the real priorities. Return to your unit, Calix.” She paused at the door, braced one large hand on the frame, and looked back at the forlorn turian, his head bowed. “The power conduit they’d intended to fix held, Calix. The hull damage didn’t rupture the core. There’s something in that worth holding onto.”

He didn’t answer. Didn’t say anything. He simply nodded, slowly. Wearily.

Sympathy and determination made for difficult friends. Lacking anything better, Kesh sharpened her voice. “Let’s make sure we lose no one else.”

Calix said nothing.

She left him in silence and shadow, hoping that he was as strong as he needed to be. That he’d gather up his sorrows and his grief and press on. His team needed him.

This station needed him.

And they all needed the lives he and his crew kept alive.