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[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Hearing pads over her hearing flaps connected to her omnitool with music playing, Dahlia was in Morgan's quarters. She was wearing a torn purple sweatshirt and tight suede pants. She was packing what little belongings that Morgan owned since hearing that he was now first mate over on the Medusa, and most likely would not be returning to the Janiri. Morgan's quarters were quite Spartan. How could he live this way? I have some extra cash. He won't accept cash, so I'll just buy him some decorations for his quarters.

 

"Derek, would you grab those three boxes and put them on the cart? Thanks," she ordered the maintenance crewman.

 

"And you, Tarus. You'll be coming along, too," Dahlia closed her eyes for a moment and tried to communicate with the bird. The bird wouldn't cooperate. "Come on, you stubborn.... ouch!"

 

The bird stung her with a biotic attack.

 

"You silly bird," Dahlia sighed. "I'm not trying to hurt you. I'm trying to take you to Morgan.

 

"VERA, do you have any ideas about how to deal with this... bird?"

 

"That species of bird is very territorial, Dahlia. You are aware of that. The only person I am aware of who could communicate with it is the boss. Do you want me to send her down?"

 

"Yes, please, VERA. And thank you."

 

Dahlia plopped down on the couch in Morgan's quarters, and she put her feet up on the table in front of her and waited. Naleena soon walked in.

 

"So I hear you're having trouble with a bird?" Naleena asked.

 

"I can't get him into the cage."

 

"Hmmm...," Naleena approached the bird. "You frightened him. This will take some work."

 

"I'm sorry. I don't know anything about bird handling!"

 

"Just be quiet," Naleena said and held her arm out. She reached out for the bird with her mind and presented an image of the bird standing on her arm and everything being safe and put that image into the bird's brain. The bird moved to her arm. Then she presented another image of safety in the cage and moved her arm toward it. The bird entered.

 

"How?"

 

"You have to learn to quiet your mind, Dahlia. That is all. I assume that is everything. I'm sorry to see Morgan leave for the Medusa, but I know he and Jess...," Naleena said. "We haven't had much time to talk either, you and I. My new duties are a lot more than I originally thought. I'd hoped we would have more time, but things just...."

 

"No, we haven't. You're always busy. Thanks for your help," Dahlia replied. "I've got to get this stuff over to him."

 

There was an awkward pause. "Right. I'll be going. I have a lot of work to do."

 

***

 

Dahlia and Derek arrived on the Medusa with Morgan's belongings, and asked where she should deliver them. One of the crewmen paged Morgan.

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  the following was a collaboration with Shotgun Julia)

 

Morgan was heading to see if Sherie might agree to cooking for the crew, at least so they didn't have to survive on a diet of nearly one hundred percent artificial turkey byproduct when he received a com from one of the workers.  Morgan answered and heard a young, uncertain voice on the other end.

 

"I, uh, heard you were in charge, mister?"

 

"What's going on?"  Morgan didn't want to waste time.

 

"There's someone here who just came onboard.  It's an Asari...I'm sorry, I know you have a name...her name is Dahlia and she's asking to see you."

 

Morgan wiped his brow with the cloth.  He was certainly getting his workout crossing back and forth through the Medusa.  He was happy he'd only gone halfway towards the aft before doubling back.  "Tell her I'm on my way."

 

It took a few minutes for Morgan to return to the forward hangar bay, but when he did, he spotted Dahlia immediately, along with a crew member from the Janiri, with three plastic boxes stacked next to her and a cage on top. The cage held Tarus, the bird from Morgan's cabin.

"Glad to see you make it," Morgan greeted Dahlia.

 

Dahlia was obviously a bit upset. "So when were you going to tell me? I heard second hand that you're first mate on the Medusa, so I figured you're not returning to the Janiri," she said, "and you forgot your stuff. And did you forget your bird? These birds bond, you know. Every first mate on a pirate ship needs a bird.

 

"Now, I'm a fifth wheel over there. Naleena and I hardly speak, not that we have anything in common. She's just so busy. And I had a blow up with Irina, and...."

 

Dahlia eyes welled, and she threw her arms around Morgan. "Dammit! I missed you!"

 

Morgan didn’t know what to make of Dahlia’s throwing herself at him.  He slowly put his hands around her and patted her on the back to comfort her.  When she was done, he pulled back a bit and looked at her, then he looked at the boxes and cage.

 

Tarus contentedly groomed.

 

With an uncertain glance at Dahlia, Morgan moved out of her arms and towards the boxes.  “You brought this all over?” he asked, scratching his head in curiosity.  Morgan opened one of the boxes.  In it was a collection of the garb the asari had available in his quarters on the Janiri.

Morgan squelched the comment he wanted to make.  Instead, he simply stated, “You shouldn’t have…”

 

"Sorry... I... feel so silly now," she blushed, "It's only been a couple of days, but it seems like a couple of weeks. I'm not this needy. Really. I think it was the bonding, Morgan, when you were wounded. Most bondings only last a couple minutes in real time at most. I was bonded with you for almost an hour while they took us to med-bay, and the doctor did the procedure. And Morgan, I stayed out of your memories, I swear. I put up a barrier to block off that part of your mind. I know how you feel about that stuff, and I'd never violate your trust. It must have been the length of time we were connected affected me."

 

Dahlia turned and walked around the boxes, and giggled. "You... don't really want this stuff... in the boxes, do you? Now I really feel silly. You like Talus, though, right? You look good in this ship's coveralls. They're not as... tight.

 

"Anyway, we just finished a mission rescuing hostages and liberating a dome. You probably heard that a Turian Special Forces unit did the job, but it was really us. The mission caused a lot of tension between me and a couple of crew members. My father was Batarian and I didn't take kindly to the way the entire race was being bad mouthed."

 

She turned back to Morgan, and showed body language that she felt bad for complaining and behaving inappropriately.

 

"I'd like to stay, Morgan. You know, and help out around here, do something important for a change. But I'd better get back before Naleena starts wondering where I am. 'Hey, Dahlia would you put these folders in order?' or some stupid task like that. Never mind. I should go."

 

"No," Morgan said, "You shouldn't."

 

Morgan put his hand on Dahlia's shoulder.  "You aren't chained to Naleena, and it isn't as if she'd want you to be.  Why don't you ask to stay aboard here.  Help us out.  It isn't as if the Medusa is going to go flying off in the opposite direction of the Janiri.  And of the two ships, it's pretty clear which one needs more help."

 

Though the sound of the work being done on the Medusa threatened to overwhelm the conversation, Morgan's words pierced the noise with their intent.  "You're wanted here, Dahlia, and you can do the work you want to do.  You'll be helping everyone, and we're all working towards the same goals, no matter what ship we're on.  You said you'd like to stay, so stay."

 

The look of dread in Dahlia’s eyes changed to a sparkle. “VERA, tell Naleena I’m going to visit with a friend.”

 

“Yes, Dahlia.”

 

Dahlia walked over to Morgan and hooked her arm through his, something she’d seen Jess do. “I’ve got some time now. Why don’t you show me around the ship? I’d like to see her in the light for a change.”

There was a confirmation chirp of acknowledgement from Dahlia's com as VERA received the message.  Morgan, at first,  looked a bit unsure at Dahlia's arm through his, then remembered where he had been heading before he found her.  "Sure.  The work has a long way to go, but the first stop we're making is to meet one of the new crew members.  This one came along with another that Jess had actually sent for.  I need to ask her if she can handle the cooking around here, at least for the short term.  The food scene is not good, and that has nothing to do with my personal desire for a decent meal.  Seriously, I would never ask you onboard to stay with the way eating here is now."  Morgan walked with Dahlia to catch up with Sherie.

[Cknarf]

Frank looked down at his omni-tool. An incoming call alert caught his attention.

 

"Yo."

 

"It's done."

 

"Huh?"

 

"I've successfully modified--"

 

"I'll be right there!" Frank cut him off, and ended the call.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

"You work fast." Frank smiled under his helmet, as he approached. "Where--"

 

Septerax stepped aside, and gestured at the rifle upon the workbench.  Frank immediately took it in his hands.

 

"I shortened the barrel, and moved the front sight block back a little, to cut down on length. The damn thing was unwieldy enough without a suppressor attached."

 

Frank placed a hand on the newly fitted suppressor.

 

"Left-handed thread." Septerax reminded him.

 

Frank nodded, while unscrewing it. He ran a finger over the crown.

 

"Here." Septerax handed him the muzzle brake.  Frank screwed it back on. "What do you think?"

 

Frank looked up to Septerax, then back to the rifle, before laying it down. Without warning, he hugged the turian, the side of his helmet pressing up against his armored carapace, like a child clinging to it's mother. Septerax's mandibles twitched, as his head recoiled slightly.

 

"You're welcome, Eli." He sighed. He patted his helmet twice, before pushing him away.

 

"You're a good man, Septerax."

 

The turian mouthed the words as Frank spoke, while rolling his eyes. "I know." He shrugged.

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  The following was a collaboration with Maj0nese)

The combat simulation room transformed into the floor of an office building in Ashland Dome 410. Jenus and Arian found themselves in a corridor with doors on either side of it. Behind the doors, hostages could be heard talking.

Jenus pressed up against the wall of a side corridor. She activated her omni-tool and pulled up a schematic. “Here,” she whispered to Arian and pointed to the schematic, “In the real dome rescue, the support pillars were located away from the hostages. But since a bomb was placed in our simulation, it should be by someplace that would bring the whole building down. Iole installed this program to our teams’ tools, and it is showing me there’s no better place for a boom…a bomb…than what will be one more side corridor forward, then I’ll have to head left. We aren’t in a perfectly straight hallway, since the building curves, but heading forward is going to get you to the lobby where Camak was.”

"What about these terrorists?", Arian wanted to know. A minute ago he had almost refused to take on this mission but now he was completely focused on the operation even though it was just a simulation. "Do you know how many there are? And how well armed are they?"

Jenus peered around the corner to keep watch. "When we were initially briefed, the total number was something like 40. I forget the details because once the fighting started, I lost count. Besides, I was outside, Mira was the one who helped put the move on Camak; Essul put the actual harpoon through his head. There were three total batarians in the lobby, that includes Camak, according to the report."

With a turn to Arian, and a judgemental toe to head glance, Jenus went on, "This is Mira's simulation, though. And it is a modification off an enemy VI program that had nothing to do with the mission. We'll see batarian VI targets, the same setting, and the idea is the same. But Tallis and Mira are going to do their own thing, the bomb is an add, and who knows what else is in store? Mira probably would keep the number of enemies the same, maybe higher." Looking back around the corner, Jenus added, "Textbrain's going to screw with us one way or another, if I know that bookworm."

Suddenly, peering back, Jenus asked, "You ready yet, Scarface?"
 

Arian nodded. "Let's move!"

 

First he made sure that the hallway was clear, then he moved down the corridor until he reached the entrance to the lobby Jenus had mentioned. Even though he tried, he wasn't very successful in walking silently. While aiming the entrance he looked back to Jenus. Arian knew that he would screw up if he wasn't careful and until Jenus was able to disarm the bomb there wasn't much for him to do.

With the entrance to the lobby in front of them, Jenus readied her Disciple and motioned with her head that she would be off to diffuse the bomb down the adjoining side corridor.

Then a pair of voices were heard from the direction that Arian and Jenus came from, though the speakers couldn't be seen from the slow arc of the hallway.

"They already began attacking! This isn't how this was supposed to go."

"Shut up and follow orders. We'll grab someone from one of the rooms here to make an example of next. They obviously think we'll do what we said we will."

The footfalls of the approaching pair were heavy, as if armored.
 

With surprise Arian turned around. It was astonishing how authentic the simulation was.

At first he hesitated to do anything but then he realised that he was in a bad spot for a firefight with the hostage takers. In addition this was an opportunity to take out at least two of them. He knew that they were somewhere in front of him so he was able to surprise them and take them out before they were able to react.

 

Arian moved to the inner side of the curved hallway and waited, aiming down the corridor and listening. The steps came closer and suddenly stopped. One of the office doors near Arian's position but out of his sight was opened, then he heard the voice of one of the terrorists. The voice came out of the office, Arian wasn't able to understand what it was saying.

 

Now is my chance!, he thought and approached the hostage takers. The one inside wasn't able to see him in the hallway while the other wasn't directly looking in his direction.

 

For the last metres, Arian began to run and extended his left omni-blade. The batarian turned around and tried to grab his weapon but Arian had already reached him. With heavy impact he thrusted the blade through the batarian's unprotected throat, ripping it up and sending the terrorist in a stream of blood to the ground. Before the body even hit the floor, Arian jumped into the office and immediately opened fire on the second batarian.

The second batarian was hit directly in the chest and fell to the floor dead. Three hostages, wide eyed, thanked Arian and headed for the door to escape. Their movements betrayed a slight similarity; otherwise it was difficult to tell the scene was part of a simulation.

Jenus had fallen back so she could keep Arian in her line of sight. Once it appeared the situation was under control, she nodded. "Nice job. I'm going to double back now, and head for the bomb. I'll update you when I've diffused it, or contact me when you get to Mina or Tallis. Looks like you can handle everything short of them."
 

Looking at the simulated blood Arian tried to focus on the mission. Even though it was just a simulation, he already had this feeling he hadn't felt for months. His heart beat rapidly and he felt a slight dizzyness but he didn't care. It was an uncontrollable urge to find and kill all of the batarians. For a second Arian just stood there, struggling with himself.

What am I doing here?, he wondered. With a shake of his head he tried to set his mind free but he still wasn't able to fully concentrate.

 

He left the office and looked around. It took him a moment to realise that Jenus had left to find and disarm the bomb.

When he had shot the second batarian, there must have been a lot of noise and the terrorists would certainly check on their two mates they had lost contact with.

A part of him wanted to stay and wait for them to arrive so he could take them out without hesitation but the voice of reason persuaded him to leave before they could overwhelm him. He had to wait for Jenus before taking on the terrorists in a direct fight. And of course there were Mira and Tallis who would be much more of a problem to him than the batarians he had surprised.

 

Arian ran down the corridor in the opposite direction of the entrance to the lobby. In front of another office he stopped and listened to the dull voices of the hostages inside it. He didn't hear anything that indicated the heavy footsteps of an armored batarian or one their grunting voices. At this position it was impossible to see him from the office where he killed the two batarians.

 

So all he did was waiting until someone was showing up. It wasn't much of a plan but no idea what he was doing anyway. So much for infiltration..., the thought scornfully.

After a minute or two, Jenus' voice came through Arian's com. "I'm at the bomb and diffusing it. The simulator is running a clock to figure out how much time it would take. What's the story on the lobby?"
 

"Nothing so far", Arian responded.

 

"Wait...!" Suddenly he heard steps from the other side of the corridor. "There's a couple of them near the office where I killed the two batarians." He opened the door behind him and entered the office.

Two human hostages sat on the ground between the desks and looked at him with fear on their faces. Arian waited behind the door and kept it open to draw the batarians' attention to this office. They weren't able to directly see him from outside but he expected to hear them if they were coming. He was trying the same surprise attack as before but this time there were more than two of them and they already knew that someone was attacking them so it was going to be much harder.

 

"How long until this bomb is disarmed?", Arian asked with a low voice, preparing himself to strike.

"Uh, Goddess! Something like one-hundred thirty more seconds," Jenus replied. "Scarface, it sounds like you haven't hit the lobby yet. If you haven't, take out whoever you need to and get your eyes on it. Its a simulation, so VERA probably put some stuff on your omni-tool that you can use, like a camera snake and a directional audio enhancer, for listening through walls. You know, spy stuff. Get creative."

[Kel Riever]

(Note: the following is a collaboration with Maj0nese)

The doors to the lobby were in Arian's sight. Apparently, whoever was supposed to be watching them was now dead.

“Gotcha,” Jenus’ voice came through the com. “Okay, I’m pretty much done with diffusing the bomb. I’ll be heading your way now. Hope you didn’t get snuffed yet.”

Around Arian, the environment had gotten quiet. Perhaps it was because there were no side offices with hostages near the lobby. Or it may have been that the hostage takers were on full alert, waiting. Regardless, it seemed the idea was to somehow sneak into or storm the lobby and take down the leader plus whomever they were with. How to do that wasn’t immediately apparent.

It wasn’t an incredibly large building. After a time, it seemed unusual that Jenus hadn’t caught up to Arian yet. Arian checked his Omni-tool for some of the applications that Jenus had mentioned. It was nothing useful, at least not for him. For entering the lobby on his own he wanted heavy weapons and other special equipment, not highly sensitive scanning devices.

Since Jenus wanted to meet him here, he waited for a few minutes, doing nothing but listening to any unusual sound. There was still no sign of the asari. Arian didn't want to fight the now prepared terrorists on his own. He tried to contact her. "Jenus, you still there? Don't tell me that you got snuffed!"

There was no answer on the com.


"Come on!", Arian sighed.

Something must have happened and Arian didn't believe that a few simulated batarians had surprised her. It had to be either Tallis or Mira...or maybe even both of them. In this case Arian didn't even have to search for them, all he needed to do was to look for the bomb that Jenus was defusing, the Asari would be somewhere nearby.

He took the same path through the building as Jenus to get to the basement. Everything was possible at the bomb site so he was expecting trouble.

The hallway Jenus had gone down also curved and was intersected at a number of points by side halls. Everything was quiet, except for simulated sounds of combat in other parts of the building, presumably as the fighting from the dome had involved a larger team. Still, no one was seen, whether batarian terrorist or hostage.

Then, as Arian passed an intersection, Arian got within sight of the doors leading to what would be a conference room on the map. It was supposed to be flush with a building support wall and where the bomb was set. The door was wedged open, and no movement could be seen through it.

“I know you are out there,” Mira’s voice abruptly came from inside the room, “You can come in, gun lowered.”


Arian stopped and let out an angry growl. If he hadn't screw up the mission yet then he would be doing it now.

He had two options. Storming the room to take out Mira would have been his first choice but in this simulation he didn't have the equipment to do it. It was the same with the lobby, to take on a superior force he needed more than just his omni-tool with spying stuff and a single gun. And of course he didn't know how many enemies were waiting for him in this room.

The only other option was to do as Mira said. "I'm coming in!", he shouted and lowered his gun. It wasn't his intention to surrender but to take the first shot he would get to either take out everyone in the room or to fail trying.

When Arian broke the plane of the door, he saw what was the worst possible situation for Jenus. The conference room opened mostly towards the right, as Arian entered, with its center table pushed to the outer wall. The inner wall was the support wall, and there, a large device had been placed. Despite the simulation, Arian knew the potency of explosives and saw the copious amounts of chemical clay charge used in what was likely a very real representation of the bomb from the dome. Near the far end of the room, perhaps seven meters away, Mira stood, hidden behind Jenus, with her Disciple against her teammate’s back.

“Fairly good, Arian,” Mira said. “I am not going to hold it against you for Jenus’ error. And the bomb is diffused. Most people would call that a success.” It was hard to tell if Mira was trying to goad Arian, though her tone of voice did not reflect it.

Then a tsk tsk sound came from behind Arian. Tallis had entered the hall he had passed through, from a side corridor, undetected. She was maybe five meters away, her Disciple aimed at him, dropping the barrel slightly in a motion to indicate he should get down on the ground.


Arian slowly looked around and saw Tallis aiming her shotgun at him. Then he turned to Mira at glared furiously at her. He was still able to fight so why should he just surrender? But how was he supposed to get out of this situation? Mira and Tallis were both in a good position and while Mira was closer to Arian than Tallis, she had Jenus in front of her. It was impossible for him to use his gun without having Jenus in his line of fire.

Looking down at the Phaeston in his right hand he got an absurd idea.

If there was one universal rule of combat it was never drop your weapon. Or throw it. But this was just a simulation so Arian had no problem with breaking it. The distance between him and Mira wasn't optimal and he had Tallis behind him but there weren't many other options.

He tried to estimate the weight of his gun. Arian favored it because it was a lightweight. But at the end it was heavy enough for what he intended to do.

Pretending to surrender he slowly began to bent his knee. "I told you...", he began speaking to Mira. "From the beginning it was obvious that the mission would be..." Before he even finished the sentence, Arian lept in Mira's direction, using all his force to throw the Phaeston. It was obvious that the gun wouldn't hit Mira but he hadn't aimed for her anyway.

With a heavy impact the gun's stock hit Jenus' head, pushing her back and making it impossible for Mira to raise her Disciple for one or two seconds.

Arian took a rapid step to the side to evade a reaction shot from Tallis. With another giant leap he enganged, trying to knock Mira back by ramming his body against hers.

This gunslinging idiot couldn’t care less and is so going to shoot me, Jenus was thinking right before she was interrupted by the Phaeston hitting her in the head.

“Ugh!” Jenus’ stumble not only had Mira unable to raise her weapon, but her move backwards forced the Disciple out to the side.

Tallis’ shots rang out but missed, passing through the space Arian had occupied. And Mira was unable to recover before his charge knocked her into the wall behind her. Jenus, still off balance, still had sense enough to move at Tallis who was now around the corner of the doorway.

Mira tried a biotic throw, but Arian was too close, and he pinned her to the ground after she missed him. Tallis came through the doorway, completely unprepared for Jenus as a threat. Jenus biotically charged Tallis, barreled the unsuspecting asari over, and caused her to fumble her weapon.


Arian grabbed Mira's forearm holding the Disciple and pulled it out of her hand. Now he pointed the shotgun at Mira while still not releasing her arm.

He heard the ungoing fight behind him. "You need help?", he asked Jenus who seemed to have the upperhand after hitting Tallis with a surprise attack.

"Nope!" Hollered Jenus, practically cheering. She had a practice knife to Tallis' throat.

"Aw! Awwwww...." Tallis cried.

Mira, staring down the delivering end of her own weapon, stayed put. "Well done, Arian."


Arian considered her words as a sign that the simulation was over. He stepped back and lowered the disciple.

"What now?", he asked and wasn't able to deny his curiosity about the evaluation of the simulation.

"Well, first we're finished here," Mira replied. "VERA, end the excercise."

"Acknowledged."

The simulation room returned to its inactive state.

Mira stood up slowly and shook out her arms. "Next, I suppose we'll have to meet with Naleena."

Jenus helped Tallis to her feet and boasted, "Hey Textbrain, thought you had me, didn't you?"

"Bruise. Bruise," Tallis said to Jenus, pointing to the spot above her eye.

"Yeah," Jenus laughed as she reached up and lightly touched the skin of her left brow. She started to walk over to Arian and Mina. "It's tender. Going to be the best black eye I've had in a while, because we won."

"Thanks to a certain other member of your team," Mira poked.

"Team effort. Besides, you can deny that our plan worked."

"Your plan to get hit in the face with a gun?"

"You just can't deny that we had you all along, Textbrain." Jenus slapped Arian on the shoulder when she got over to him.

Arian shrugged. "I only threw my weapon because this was a simulation. You don't do that in a real fight. I just got lucky." He handed the Disciple back to Mira and grabbed his own gun. "Besides, you were the one who got caught. If this was part of the plan you could have shared this detail with me." It was hard to say if his reproval to Jenus was a joke or not.

Mira shrugged. "You might be surprised to find that though there's a margin of error, most participants in a simulation act in real combat very similarly to how they practice. Particularly when trained, at least according to asari military studies. I won't say you'd plan to throw your gun in a real fight..." Mira looked at Jenus' forming bruise. "But the important point wasn't the thrown gun. You would have probably tried something unconventional, and the basis of your reaction, I'm betting wasn't far off from what you'd really do."

"Too many words, Textbrain," Jenus criticized. "Or maybe I just can't put up with your usual lecture because my head is swimming in victory!"

"Sure." Mira let Jenus have her moment.

"Well done, Jenus!" Arian snorted amused. The asari was acting like she defeated Mira and Tallis on her own. But he agreed with her in one thing. Too many words.

[Cknarf]

"Eli, please, stop muzzling everything." Septerax grumbled, as Frank targeted various items around the armory.

 

"Pew!" Frank did his best 'suppressor' sound effect, while setting his sights on a bottle of lubricant. "Can't. Too excited. Besides, it's empty, and I'm not muzzling any of the crew. Pew!"

 

"And it's not 'pew'." He corrected. "It's more of a snap."

 

"Yeah, I know. Let me have my fun, will ya?"

 

"You can have all the 'fun' you want in the simulator. The other group should be wrapping it up shortly." Septerax gestured towards the simulator. 

 

"Sh*t." Frank slung his rifle across his back, while heading towards the simulator.

 

I kinda wanted to see that.

 

"Thanks again!" He said over his shoulder as he walked away.

 

Septerax waved him off, without looking up from his work.

[Terca]

Meanwhile, on the Citadel, at an indeterminate point in time...

 

Cennia was sitting at the bar in an establishment which could most accurately be compared to a Volus' *******. That is to say, it was tightly packed, smelled of ammonia, and was somewhat shitty. Unsurprisingly such a place was lacking the rotund species because they'd be more a liability than anything. It was the type of place where you expected a bar fight. Not because of the people but because it was the way the place felt. Like old vids of saloons in human film. Suddenly a Krogan would turn and crack someone across the jaw... Or something.

 

So Cennia sat waiting with not-so-baited breath for some random schmuck to punch another. It would be a nice change of pace from just waiting for orders. If it turned into an all out brawl then it would be amazing because somebody warped looked like any other warped person. Or punched. And really nobody would claim the tiny Asari was the reason for a man's dislocated pancreas.

 

I really need to do more things than move idiots around chessboards and drink. She thought, even as she took another swig of some cloudy drink which looked like it had been scraped from a Salarian's backside.

[Cknarf]

Citadel

 

I need a drink

 

Quintus thought to himself, as he waded through the bustling weekend crowds.   He was sore, and tired. More so from his recent trip to Thessia, than the shootout just several days prior to his arrival to the Citadel.  By turian standards, he wasn't particularly handsome, but that wasn't an issue on the asari homeworld.

 

I could live the rest of my life without seeing another naked blue woman ever again, and I wouldn't even care.

 

He hailed a cab, and climbed inside.  He searched through his omni-tool, for a good bar to get completely trashed.

 

Dek's 

30.1 Zakera Ward

(4) User reviews

Average rating: 0.5/5

 

Quintus selected the first review.

 

"This is hands down, the worst bar on the Citadel. Seriously, f*** this place."

 

Dek's sounded like the kind of place a guy could knock back a few, before knocking some fools out, without having to worry about someone calling C-SEC. It was exactly what he was looking for.

 

 "That'll do." He entered the address, and sat back in the seat.  The skycar lifted off, and headed towards his destination.

-----------------------------------------------

"We have arrived at the specified destination." 

 

Quintus opened the canopy, and climbed out of the car.

 

"Thank you for using Citadel rapid transit."

 

The drab, windowless structure stood out against the otherwise squeaky-clean appearance of the rest of the station. Quintus gave a nod to a pair of turians standing outside, before pushing his way through the door. Inside, It was dark, loud, and extremely crowded.  The collective stench of body odor from every known sapient species permeated the air, faintly masked by the wafts of smoke that drifted through the establishment.

 

Quintus elbowed his way through the crowd, and took a seat at the bar.

 

"Give me the strongest thing you've got."

 

The salarian nodded, before turning away, and reaching for something on the top shelf.

 

Figures.

 

Quintus snorted, glancing at the diminutive asari out of the corner of his eye. His mandibles twitched in anticipation, as the salarian returned, and placed the shot on the bar in front of him. He immediately wrapped his fingers around it.

 

"Be careful. This stuff is--" The salarian started.

 

Before he could finish, Quintus threw his head back, downing the shot.  He slammed the glass back on the bar. "Another."

 

"Allllllrighty, then." The bartender poured him another.

 

"Hay! Hay you! You-you're in my spaht!" A clearly intoxicated human squeezed next to him at the bar.

 

"P*ss off." Quintus grumbled, before taking another shot.

 

"Lithen here, bird." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "If you don' get outta--"

 

Quintus quickly threw a hand behind the man's head, and forced his face into the bar. Upon impact, he was immediately knocked unconscious. None of the other patrons batted an eye, as he fell to the floor.

 

He tapped a finger on the bar, signaling for another drink.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena left her quarters and headed to the lounge. The lounge had portals with a large view out the port side of the ship and an armored hatch that would close over it during battle; a large vid screen, a snack bar, a game table in a card room; a pool table; couches, and a few tables. The room was not as brightly lit as the rest of the ship. It was meant for relaxation. 

 

Irina was sitting in the room watching a show with Vayne. The show took place in Alliance Space and was about a Drell scientist who discovered he was in the latter stages of Kepral's syndrome. A very good friend of his worked for Alliance System Security and took him on a red sand bust. He saw a former technician of his escaping, and looked him up after the bust. The Drell and the former technician started making red sand together and selling it to distributors. A commercial came on. Irina saw Naleena and waved her over to their couch.

 

“So Vayne, it looks like you’ve pretty much recovered from your wounds. When will you be back in action?” Naleena asked.

 

“Doc says I’m ready to go,” Vayne replied. “He used dna-programmed nanites to speed healing under the medigel. ‘When healing done, go inactive. Then flush out of system. No worries.’ He said.”

 

“That’s good, because we could have used you on the last one,” Naleena said.

 

“What? I wasn’t enough for you?” Irina chided.

 

The show came back on, saving Naleena from having to reply.

[Terca]

Citadel

 

"Damn." CV whistled as she watched the man sink to the floor behind the Turian in a heap. She had to clap twice in thanks for the entertainment since somebody had actually come along and 'kicked the cat' so to speak. A few of the other patrons looked to the bar and quirked brows in interest, but the majority apparently were more than happy to leave it be. "Nice. I do believe you have KO'd the man on the first pas. Kudos."

 

The Asari rose her glass in salute to the Turian before taking a sip. She was a mite bit disappointed that the man getting decked hadn't started a row but it was better than nothing. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a couple of men sitting in a booth with their brows knit together. They looked unhappy with the Turian's conduct based on the fact they were glancing at his back then saying something quietly to each other. Beautiful, two on one. Maybe her want for conflict was ill-placed since it wasn't like once someone punched one guy the others would just start wailing on each other like apes.

 

But, there were a couple obvious splits in the patronage. Mostly Turians and Salarians on one side, humans occupying the other. They didn't look at each other and didn't look like they even tried to intermingle. Also no Asari aside from the waitress who wore armor for her job which probably explained the reason why there were few females, and those that were there looked like a Krogan.

[Cknarf]

"He wasn't going to be conscious much longer anyway."  Quintus replied, reluctantly raising his glass, before gulping his thrid shot down. "Keep 'em coming." He signaled the bartender once more. He rotated ever so slightly in his seat, in order to get a better look at the asari, using only peripheral vision.

 

I guess I got one more left in me...

 

Quintus, like his brother, had an unhealthy appetite for asari. Despite being fatigued from a recently completed sexual marathon, he figured it was worth a shot. He'd likely be too drunk to remember much about it anyways.

 

"What brings you to a place like this?" He asked, while taking hold of shot number four.

 

The same thing that brings everyone else here, I'm sure.

 

Before he could get the glass to his mouth, something impacted the back of his head. A cool liquid ran down his neck, and pooled around his collar. Fists clenched, he spun immediately, cracking a human across the face with the back of his hand. Quintus took a punch from a second attacker, before being pinned against the bar. In the struggle, his drink, as well as the asari's, were knocked from the counter, and onto the floor.

[Terca]

"Ah." Was all that the Asari said as whatever was in her glass splashed down her front land landed in her lap. She pointedly stared up to the ceiling for a moment as she made a mental note to a) ask the bartender what the liquid was and check the 'net for whether or not you could get it out of her clothes. She was starting to envy the waitress for her armor as she pulled herself off the stool and picked the shards of glass up off the ground and placed them in the remains of the cup. She carefully placed it on the table.

 

I really shouldn't.

 

Shaking some of the residual alcohol off of her prosthetic she tapped one of the men holding the Turian down on the shoulder. The man whipped around and nearly slapped CV across the face but she managed to duck under the strike. It helped that the hand was going high anyways.

 

"Oi, wee ******. What're you tryin'a pull, eh?" The man asked as he caught himself and peered down at the asari. "Ain't ye a bit little to be tryn'a jump on a-"

 

"Whoa, whoa." CV said as she motioned with her prosthetic and the man rose into the air with a blue sheen covering his body. He floated over towards her and the men holding down Quintus looked over to their friends haplessly drifting through the air. Flipped upside-down, his head was near CV's level when the sheen disappeared. She had a chastising expression, shaking her head like she was reprimanding a child.  "Rude."

 

He then fell face-first into the ground.

[Cknarf]

While the other attackers were distracted by the biotic display, Quintus took the opportunity to deliver a viscous headbutt to one of them. The human stepped back, as blood poured from his nose.

 

"'Preciate it." He grunted to the asari, while palming the man's face.  Quintus shoved him away, and sent him crashing into a table, causing it to topple.  Another human stood, and charged.  He made it only a few steps, before being blindsided by a flying punch, originating from one of the turians that had been standing outside.  The rest of the people at the table swarmed him.

 

Without looking, Quintus reached behind him, and grabbed the nearest drink on the bar. He guzzled it, much to the dismay of its owner.

 

"You son of a--"

 

He cut the salarian off, by smashing the bottle into the side of his face.

 

F***. That was levo.

[Terca]

Feeling confident that her part had been played for the moment CV hoisted herself onto the bar and over behind it. She was mostly out of the way of the fighting when it inevitably spread sideways so she could watch with relative impunity. She was overlooked once or twice but every once in a while a bottle would come sailing from out of nowhere and she'd need to deflect it with a biotic field or risk getting smacked in the face with something called an 'Umlaut Creamcicle'. It looked confusingly both interesting and disgusting with the greenish froth in it. She imagined it tasted like lime. Or ******.

 

She slid sideways along the cabinet until she reached the barkeep and prodded him to check that he was still alive. He was, if severely dazed, so she stood again and leaned back to watch the show. Well, she did, until she got slightly bored and heaved herself back over the glass-strewn and alcohol-slicked wood and back into the fray. She barely avoided a tottering Turian and had to slip between a couple of brawling humans but had managed to more-or-less get through unscathed. The fun of biotics here was that people would stumble and land on their faces. She could try to physically fight someone but she was 5 feet tall and her weight was 20% in one arm, so she didn't have a lot of force to her. It would look silly, but it wouldn't be particularly fun for her.

 

And that's why I have minions in the Suns. She thought to herself as she approached the Turian. "Having fun?!" She shouted over the din.

[Cknarf]

Quintus was slouched forward slightly, with a hand resting upon his stomach.  It didn't take long for him to begin feeling the effects of the levo beverage.

 

"Not quite." The 6-foot-6 turian groaned, while looking down at her.  Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, he instinctively threw up a hand. 

 

"F***!"

 

 The bottle shattered against his forearm, spraying him with beer and bits of glass.

 

"How-- How 'bou-- Hah--" Quintus gritted his teeth, straining to keep the contents of his stomach from escaping. He managed to choke it back down. "How 'bout yoursel-- BLARGHARRRGHGHGHGARRRGH!" Projectile vomit spewed from his mouth, like something straight out of a horror movie.  He doused the unconscious human on the floor with the impressive stream of puke.

 

Poor bastard.

 

Another patron caught whiff of the sick, and immediately began heaving.  Seconds later, he too, let loose.

 

Spirits, what have I done?

[Redbelle]

'.....booorn to be wild..... and I'm booorn to be wiiiild'! Jess hummed to herself while mentally singing along to the tune in her head. She and the situation tent's crew had hopped a Kodiak and after a short hop up into orbit, had coasted over to the ship yards and were on final approach to the Medusa.

 

Jess sat in the co pilot's chair with her feet up which had earned her a dirty look from the pilot and a grin followed by a tongue sliding across her bottom lip from Jess, whereon the pilot had blushed and sat staring fixedly at his instrument's leaving Jess to look out at the starscape. Now seeing her ship Jess felt a pang she hdan't expected.....

 

She was back..... She was really back! And yet at the same time she wasn't.....

 

This Medusa was raw. Injured. It's refinement's stripped bare to remove the scars of it's last master. Likewise the crew were fresh and inexperienced. Gone were the days when Jess could give an order and it would be done..... This group needed to be taught to forget their training and apply both skill and imagination to solving the problems the ship would bring up as routine. And she was thinking about chasing collector's in the old gal?

 

As santiy checks went, it was hardly an auspicious result even by her judgement.

 

Still, The Medusa would have Naleena's vessel riding alongside and the Medusa's lack of refined and focused firepower was offset by the fact that the ship was more of a swiss army knife with tools it could pull out and surprise it's enemies. Already Jess was looking at her profile and making mental notes of what to replace and what to change to fit it's once held role as a border cutter.

 

The Kodiak sailed inside and after the post flight checks, Jess went into the aft section and, ignoring those she had picked up from the planet, simply opened the side hatch and stepped out onto her ship. She smelled the air that held a metallic edge from the welding and saw the sparks flying as people with welding torches cut away the ruined plating. A pile of the old lay in the centre, while the new lay stacked neatly in piles near the walls where they would be mounted. System's engineer's were plugged into area's where those with some actual working knowledge had spliced into the wiring instead of looking for non existant interface ports, searching the ships systems for things that shouldn't be there and finding years upon years of modular upgrades that had been forced worked into the ships operating systems. Her pirated crew came out from beind her and looked around at the scene they hadn't been expecting.

 

"Um.... Ms Stone? Are you sure this is a ship? It looks more like a..... Ever seen a stage at gigs when they put it up"?

 

Jess hmmpfh'd. "She'll look better when she's back up to full spec. Meantime? The Spine to the working half of the ships that way". She pointed to the airlock door at the aft section. "Go through till you reach the other side then first right, then a left. Then up a level and back around past where you were a deck lower and then across from the mess down that corridor. That's where the cabins are. They should be empty. If not, find one that is. four to each room. I'll send tech specs to you for all of you to read till your eye's bleed. Then I'll assign duties".

 

"Um.... where are the cabins"?

 

"Considering finding them your first test".

 

"Test"?

 

Jess grinned. "I need people who can do what I tell them. Not people who can't figure it out by themselves. If that sounds unfair then this isn't the ship for you. If your up for the challenge? Then find yourselves a cabin. That doesn't sound so hard now does it"?

 

The group looked uncertainly about themselves. Then as if a consensus had been reached they all started trudging towards the aft airlock.

 

Jess watched them go and shook her head.

 

'Yep.... Lotta work before that lot's whipped into shape'.

[Redbelle]

As she looked after the last of the command crew disapear through the airlock Jess looked about and spotted Morgan and Dahlia. Jess couldn't help but chuckle. Morgan was decked out in one of the offensively orange maintenance coveralls. Dahlia meanwhile was dressed as she always was and seemed to have a large amount of luggage with her. Not wanting to draw conclusion's she ambled over and gave a shout and a wave.

 

"Morgan! Glad to see you up and about! Dahlia! Welcome aboard! What's this? You jumping ship to join the Medusa"? Jess grinned at both.

[Kel Riever]

Before Morgan could go off to find Sherie with Dahlia, he heard the announcement of the incoming shuttle and who would be landing.  For whatever reason, the little bird that had been in his room started singing excitedly.  Morgan waited, at least until the crowds release from the shuttle was gone and Jess had a look around.  When she called over, he didn’t wait a second more.

Morgan strode over, grabbed Jess around the waist, lifted her and spun her around while he laughed.  He didn’t remember the last time he laughed and for a moment, the pain of his healing wounds was simply lost in the background.  After two good spins, Morgan set her down, still smiling, and said, “Nice to see you…Captain.”

[Redbelle]

Jess's grin threatened to split her face as she held onto Morgan's shoulders as he lifted her. When he set he down her hands lifted to around his neck and she breathed. "You talk to much first mate". Before she pulled his mouth down to her's and hungrily kissed him.

[Kel Riever]

Morgan took Jess in.  It seemed like forever since he'd been next to her, or maybe it was the whole affair of what they'd been through.  Her right arm gripped him hard enough to hurt, but he said nothing.  Instead, he returned the kiss until they were through.  When their lips finally parted, Morgan nodded.  "I met Dogger and Sherie.  It seems we're all behind whipping things into shape around here.  Personally, I'm looking forward to a good workout.  I need it as much as the Medusa." 

[Redbelle]

Jess arched an eyebrow. Then let go and slapped him on his rump. "Ship first Mister. Looks like the port monkey's more of less stripped the ship. Now it's time to dress her. And the sooner we're out of this place the better.... Ah.... I may have taken a liberty with some personnel assignment's.... It's not technically derelication... but I guess you could argue that when they don't turn up at their posts in the next month or two....". Jess shrugged. "I mean it's their choice technically. They can decide not to crew for me. It's not like I held a gun to their heads..... Just a wage slip and let me tell you.... What all these alliance types get paid is absolutely criminal".

[Kel Riever]

"I...," Morgan started as he realized he'd been misunderstood.  Then again, maybe his subconscious mind was doing his speaking for him.  "Never mind.  But as to your new 'hires' if they're ex-Alliance, at least I've got military jargon in common with them.  If we're talking about the group that just came aboard, it should be no problem.  They all made it through basic, I presume.  If not, they're going to get started."

Somewhere a port worker shouted as a loader dropped a beam. 

Morgan made a disappointed sigh as he looked over in the direction of the shouting.  "And they'll have an investment in things going well, since they'll be flying through space in the ship they're fixing up.  Your man, Dogger, well, he's been elbow deep in yanking these Dockers around, making sure they do a clean job.  Anything you need me to do in particular?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Jess, I'd like to stay and help. I still have to clear it with Naleena, but I don't think that will be a problem," Dahlia said, and then blushed, "I feel I need to be here. Someone has to make sure Tarus is fed and all that. I'm good with electronics, but your ship isn't networked like the Janiri, so perhaps I could help out in Navigation? But right now, what do you need done?"

[Redbelle]

Jess looked between the two of them. "My my, ain't you two a duo of go getters. Alright Luv's. Dahlia? You have yourself a deal. Get up to the bridge and make sure the nav systems up and working. Morgan? Go with her and work with her to make sure the nav and engines are speaking to each other. The engine's themselves are fine so all we need is a way to know where we're going. I ordered some extra parts sent up, they should be arriving in the next few hours. Soon as their loaded we'll be out of this place. Crew's going to keep dragging their heels if they think a dock hand's going to do the repair's for them".

 

Jess jerked her head over to Dogger. "Leave the crew to Dogger. He's good. He'll probably give a few people a few bumps and bruises if they deserve them. But seeing as your above him and I'm handing Dahlia the role of senior systems administrator he'll lay off you unless you really... And by really I mean threaten the ship, really screw up". Jess shrugged. "Don't worry. I'm sure you two will do fine.... Oh, and Morgan, order up some extra bedding for the crew quarters...". She looked around at the dock hands working. "Think we're going to need them once we lift out of here".

 

Jess looked over. "Dahlia, get a handle on the ship. Work the existing systems. But no networks. This ship was built a certain way and she's handled a lot over the years because the crew never had the fall backs modern ships do... Everyone needs to pay closer attention to the old gal to keep things running. Systems admin's a pretty full time job. I'll send you the brief but ultimately the systems work by having the people working them connected. I'll be setting up an internal comm system to keep us all in touch with each other. Learn to love people talking in your ear".  Jess looked between the two. "Well? Hop to! We've got a date with a comet that I mean to keep".

[Redbelle]

With that Jess turned and strode over to where Dogger was watching over a group who seemed to be valiantly attempting to go about a task of patching one of the Medusa's cargo bay internal support strut's. They seemed to be going it right. Albeit with the hesitant movement's of a group who had never done anything like it before. Jess stepped beside Dogger who didn't acknowledge her other than a slight turn of his head and a nod.

 

"Dog".

 

"Cap'n".

 

"New bloods"?

 

"Getting the hang".

 

"Good your here".

 

"Amen Cap'n".

 

"Anything I should know"?

 

"Bout the ship? Not been here long. Your man Morgan prolly has a grip. These bloods gotta get a bit of blood on em fore I'm ready to leave em alone".

 

"Glad to hear".

 

Dogger was quiet for a moment and Jess sensed another thing. She waited and sure enough Dogger shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "One thing.... Sherie came.... Couldn't stop her.... Wouldn't let me leave otherwise.... she's here to see what it was I was missin un.... Aw hell Cap'n, I gotta know. How bad is this likely to get"?

 

"Bad". Jess affirmed. "But I'll be working to manage the risk from here on. Things get bad I'll pack her in a Kodiak and send you and her home".

 

"Oh naw Cap'n. I'm here cause I'm here. Sherie...".

 

"I remember Sher Dogger. Your here doing me a favour. I don't want that favour to cost you what you've made for yourself. If things get rough, your welcome to up and leave. Just let me know if you decide to do that".

 

Dogger sized Jess up and realised she wasn't joking and deflated. "Aye.... Guess if that's how you say it is".

 

"It is". Jess turned to go. "Get some of these bodies into the cargo container's and make sure their airtight".

 

"Taking on cargo Cap'n"?

 

"I had to sell the cargo to make up some of what we lost when we burned our contracts. We're empty. I intend to fill her up".

 

"With what Cap'n"?

 

"Water Dogger. I'm going to fill us up with water".

 

Jess walked away leaving behind a very confused Dogger in her wake.