“What the hell are you—!”
“Shut up,” Sloane said tightly, shoving her face close enough to Irida’s that she could see herself in the asari’s irises. “You think that because everyone signed up for the Initiative all formal-like, that you’re safe to say whatever you want. Do whatever you want.”
Irida grabbed at her wrist, and Sloane responded by shoving her harder against the wall. Fist in her throat.
Nnebron leapt to his feet. “Hey—!”
“Be quiet,” Sloane snapped, turning her head to glare at him. At all of them. “This isn’t the Nexus anymore, and your inability to control your shit is why every one of you is out here.”
Why Calix is dead.
Irida managed bared teeth and a strained, “What are you going to do? Space us?”
“If I have to.”
Her even answer had Irida scoffing at first. And then, as Sloane’s fingers tightened, she choked on her own realization—Sloane Kelly meant every fucking word.
“We get one shot at this,” Sloane said flatly. Screw reassurance. “One life. We mess this up, we die. Now I don’t know about the rest of you, but I will survive. I will make this work.” Sloane’s grip eased. “With,” she finished in the same level tone, “or without you.”
Irida sucked in air, her purple skin pale around the edges. She rubbed at the back of her head, eyeing Sloane cautiously.
“Goddess, fine,” she rasped.
It was as good a concession as she was going to get.
Nnebron backed up a step when Sloane turned the full force of her impatience on him. Throwing up both hands, he spoke quickly.
“Relax. I’m with you.”
“So am I,” Andria said quietly. She closed her eyes, head hanging. “For Na’to, and Reg. For, hell, I don’t know. Because I want to live.”
It was a good enough reason for Sloane. As she turned, studying each of her newfound crew and gaining nods, shrugs, or even an occasional smile and thumbs-up, she nodded back.
“Good.” Then, louder, “Good. They think we’ll die out here? Let them.” She left Irida still leaning against the wall, aware of the woman’s venomous glare boring into the back of her head. Ignored it. If Irida ever made her move, she’d become an example. “This is a new life, now. New rules. We’re not the idealistic adventurers they said we were.” Not any more. Maybe, she thought as she made for the cockpit, they never were.
“Exiles, get some rest.”
“What’s the plan, boss?”
She paused, bracing a hand on the wall, and looked back over her shoulder. Nnebron gestured at the others—tired, scared. Some still wounded.
All of them hungry.
“Treat the injured,” she said. “Catalogue the supplies. I’ll meet with you in an hour to discuss logistics.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sloane wanted to laugh. Instead, as she turned back to the cockpit, she said casually, “Oh, and anyone caught stealing supplies is going to wish they’d died on the Nexus.”
In her peripheral, she saw mostly nods. Agreement.
No more idealists. Good.
Making her way to the cockpit seating, she slid in beside the only exile with piloting experience. A salarian, in fact. He gave her a nod, and said nothing.
A thousand times better than Tann already.
“All right,” she said as she leaned back into the seat. The open vastness of space, the alien stars and eerily pretty ribbons of the Scourge stretched out before the ship. New galaxy. New rules.
New lives. Their own.
She watched the vaporous glimmer and smiled, wide and toothy.
“Let’s see about taming this other side.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We’d like to thank Nick Landau, Vivian Cheung, Laura Price, Becky Peacock, Julia Lloyd, Sara Marchington, Steve Saffel, and everyone on the team at Titan Books for all their hard work in bringing this book to life. Huge thanks also to the Mass Effect gang at Bioware, especially Chris Bain, Joanna Berry, John Dombrow, Ben Gelinas, Amanda Klesko, Mac Walters, and Courtney Woods. Their help and collaboration was extremely welcome. Thanks to our literary agents Sara Megibow and Lisa Rodgers for their constant support. Lastly, thanks to all the readers, and the Mass Effect player community!
Jason wishes to thank, in no particular order: Nancy Hough, Jerry Kalajian, Wayne Alexander, Jake “Odd Job” Gillen, Teddy Lindsey, Felicia Day, the Seattle Mass Effect Cosplay group, and my co-author Kace who rocked this party.
K. C. sends thanks to Ali O’Brien, Stephen Blackmoore, Jason M. Hough (shhh, don’t tell him), and to Jordan Neuhauser, the best filthy assistant there is. To everyone who made Mass Effect a living, breathing entity: you rock.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jason M. Hough (pronounced ‘Huff’) is the New York Times bestselling author of the The Darwin Elevator and the near-future spy thriller Zero World. In a former life he was a 3D artist, animator, and game designer (Metal Fatigue, Aliens vs. Predator: Extinction, and many others). He has worked in the fields of high-performance cluster computing and machine learning, and is a patent-awarded inventor. Find him online at jasonhough.com.
K. C. Alexander is the author of Necrotech—a transhumanist sci-fi called “a speed freak rush” by New York Times bestseller Richard Kadrey and “a violent thrillride” by award-nominated Stephen Blackmoore. She writes sci-fi, epic fantasy, and speculative fiction of all kinds, including short stories and personal essays about mental health and equality. Specialties include voice-driven prose and imperfect characters. Also, profanity. More at kcalexander.com.
FORTHCOMING FROM TITAN BOOKS
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by Catherynne M. Valente
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by N. K. Jemisin
Copyright
MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA: NEXUS UPRISING
Print edition ISBN: 9781785651564
E-book edition ISBN: 9781785651571
Published by Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark Street, London SE1 0UP
First edition: March 2017
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Editorial Consultants: Chris Bain, Mac Walters, John Dombrow
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
© 2017 Electronic Arts Inc. EA, the EA logo, Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.