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“I’ht you to carry on a conversation, K It was definitely worth all that time

on Hephaestus How’s that repeating diagnostic subroutine I installed co at peak efficiency?”

Affirmative All syste a very good job

“Sure you are,” Senna’Nir said darkly “Good ship Nice ship Who wants a treat?”

Commander, in this context, I cannot access a definition of “treat” that would describe any transaction between—

“Never ht I’ll fix you up That’s the treat”

Liat, he thought Grandmother, I need you

Against all odds, the lights still seeotten so used to the shadows over the last htness disturbed him Senna’Nir stood up and walked across the roo you could just casually walk across it like it was a park on the Citadel!) He slid open a panel in the wall and de vessels His suit’s fluid co low They all needed to eat They all needed to sleep The captain had ordered Borbala Ferank to secure the mess hall and draw up a fair food distribution roster for the nine conscious passengers that made up the Keelah Si’yah’s current motley crew But Senna was thirsty now A quick topup and straight to work He pulled a slender glass tube out of his inner wrist and activated the water dispenser to fill his vessel

The spigot spat out a torrent of water so hot it turned instantly to stea mist hit him

“K! Reduce water terees!”

All water on board is dispensed at 756 degrees Celsius for opti drink, Commander

The steam cleared, and a stream of industrial coolant dribbled out of the dispenser and into the catchbasin Senna wanted to laugh People who cahed ironically when yet another thing rong But he couldn’t He was too thirsty, anyway

Focus, Senna Get the shields back online

Senna’Nir unlatched one of the lockers behind the dining table There was only one thing inside He lifted it out reverently A bundle of rags knotted around a s out fro It had not been treated kindly in its life The disc was dented and scratched and ancient, with marks that looked like, and very probably were, blaster burns, all along one side and the botto He’d always taken care of it, ever since it had been entrusted to hiainst further da, ozone, and the inside of a spent power pack The smell of home Of family

He couldn’t hook the disc up to the ship’s power supply without running the risk of hooking it up to whatever was eating away at the ship’s systems, one by one But Senna’Nir was a tech and a quarian and a hoarder, and none of those three identities allowed hianized range of leftover parts and obsolete components that he would absolutely use so the wall and chose a fresh, still-sealed power pack of a make and model that was compatible with the disc—not all packs were He’d scoured the Fleet for every last one of theuilt when no one stopped him