"Eating," Amy said distractedly as she scrubbed at her stain with the square piece of wiping cloth. She swore the stain had gotten at least half a centimeter longer. "Yes."
Jess stopped and looked Amy over. "You alright luv? You look a little.... distracted".
Molly pulled her arm back from Frank. "And crazy lady here was worried about if you were up to something when you offered me a hand." The detective steadily pulled out a badge with a chain tucked into an inner raincoat pocket. "I'm a C-Sec agent, and sure, I'm pretty far from home, trying to find out about something important enough for my boss to give me permission to get out this far."
Hagen sighed. "I...know it isn't your problem, but on the other hand, maybe you're the guy to help me, Frank. I'm trying to chase a lead on on of the big criminal organizations, trying to make sure a family is safe, and specifically trying to find a way to get in touch with Deidrus Androkan and his ship the Audron if he's on it. Maybe your Spectre can help me get in touch with Androkan."
Amy answered, "Spot," before she became self-conscious. Feeling like a school girl caught sending a note on her datapad, the doctor looked up sheepishly and stopped scrubbing her coat. "Heh. I mean I got a spot on my uniform that won't come out." She tucked the wiping cloth nervously back into her pocket and patted her tight hair bun.
He looked down at Vayne. "Arian", was his short answer. The krogan somehow reminded him of an old friend of his, though Vayne was much shorter. Arian now remembered seeing Vayne in the lounge of the Janiri after Naleena had gave her approval for him to join the crew.
Arian had not spoken to anyone of the crew yet, except for that weird encounter with Frank. Despite being not interested in talking, his curiosity made him ask Vayne: "How did you end up on the Janiri? I mean...how are people usually recruited here?"
Jess took her arm and gently tugged her towards the doors. "C'mon. Let's see if the kitchen's stocked. We can probably find something to get that spot out. Probably engine grease. You can work up a sweat in this compartment and come away filthy by shifts end..... I wonder.... huh, hope the showers still work or we're going to have a hygiene crisis onboard".
Jess pulled her through and back to the lift and from there rose up a level till they halted and Jess walked out onto the deck with Amy following. Jess led them through the corridors till they entered an open room with rows of tables and benches. From the far side both could hear the feminine humming coming from past a serving hatch as they heard the electronic hum of machinery and the occasional clanging of metal on metal.
"Look like we're in luck.... Someone's in".
"You know, I've actually been meaning to get a hold of Androkan myself, he has something of mine and I kinda want it back."
Kodiak come back to meeeeeeeee
"Anyways, I'm sure the boss could contact him for you fairly easily." Frank shrugged. "If not, I know someone else who may be able to help."
He checked his omni-tool once more.
"I uh... should probably get going, though. It'll be hard to ask for help if there's a boot up my ass for being late, ya know?" Frank gestured toward his rear with a thumb. "Anything else you need before I go, Mols?"
Molly smirked, pretty even if she did have a massive black and blue on the side of her face. "You've been a real stand-up guy, Frank. I don't want to keep you any longer."
A quick look around didn't reveal any place much else to go in the immediate area. Probably because Aria didn't want anyone else competing with her venue's entrance. Molly shrugged, "I'll wait around here, I guess. And thanks, ahead of time."
~ ~ ~ ~
Doctor Amy Hayashi worried about the showers working the moment the Captain mentioned it. To herself, she counted, a defensive reaction she often had, and her lips moved while she did though her words were not audible. One...two...three...one hundred thousand....one hundred thousand one....
The melody of the feminine humming above the normal sounds of the ship had a calming effect on Amy. She also smelled something that made her mouth water. Amy wasn't much on big meals and often skipped them entirely in the name of her work, but the scent was impossible to ignore.
"I don't remember the last time I ate," Hayashi said, which was true. "Whatever is going on her smells wonderful."
Frank strutted past the line of people standing outside of Afterlife, and ascended the stairs.
"Not so fast, hotshot."
He looked down at the arm across his chest.
"Where do you think you're going with those?"
Frank was still in his heavy armor, and carrying three firearms, with a crapload of thermal clips.
"Uh... in there?" He pointed towards the door.
"Ain't happenin'"
"Come on, man. I'm supposed to meet with the boss."
"If you were supposed to meet with Aria, I woulda heard about it."
"No, I mean my boss."
"There's only one boss on Omeg--"
"Yeah yeah, don't f*ck with Aria. I used to live here, man I know how it goes." Frank cut him off. "I'm talking about the one I work for. You know, like, she's the boss anywhere else in the galaxy but here, yeah?"
The turian crossed his arms.
"Do you need a description? 'Cause I can give you one." Frank thought for a moment. "Alright... uh... she's blue... about this tall..." He put a hand out. "And she kinda looks like this." Frank made the outline of a female form.
"Oh, riiiiight. That narrows it down."
"Great! So I can go in?"
"Not a chance. Now beat it."
"Oh! I almost forgot. She's a Spectre, too."
The turian brought a hand to his face, and sighed.
"Show me your ID."
'Show your ID to Grizz.' I remember now. This must be the guy.
Frank opened his omni-tool.
"Frank Eli?"
Frank unlatched his helmet.
"The one and only." He smiled.
"Follow me."
Previously...( http://forum.bioware...res/?p=18283315 )
Somewhere in the Terminus Systems
To: Leader Cell 4
From: Iyana
By now you’re aware, I’m sure, of the changes. Don’t try to trace this because where it is coming from isn’t where I am. But you do know how to leave me a message.
It is a great loss, and while some mourning is in order, there is, at the same time, opportunity. You can’t do there what you can do with me, so you have a choice to make. I am, if anything, effective. It is a one time offer, if I need to remind you of that. Stay with your establishment or seize promise.
Remember, I am very good at determining loyalty. And those who are loyal are rewarded.
The message had gone out from a remote location, thanks to the Khukuri. In the meantime, Iyana sat in the chamber of the ruin upon the ottoman, after dismissing everyone from her presence. She toyed absently with the datacube on the nearby desk.
“The name’s Rasgul darling, Captain of this here ship Medusa. I be guessing you want to tell me something.”
Iyana’s blue eyes rolled towards the hologram of Rasgul that appeared, staring at it like a morsel to savor. She leaned in so her head hovered above the figure and her lips were close.
“I do, little man. I’m going to get your Jess eventually. Putting my name and face out across the galaxy is child’s play. I will consume her and the fools with her, like I consume everything against me. But first, while I set my plans in motion, I will have a meeting with your Lord, and come to an agreement. One I am positive that Jess Stone will not find in her favor.”
Vayne's smile grew as he couldn't help but laugh, remembering the series of events, "Well...it's a long story. Though if you're asking just for an in general sort of thing, well...most of us ended up here from all sorts of reasons, even as prisoners or castaways..." He said as he put his hands on his hips, giving a hearty laugh at the observation before he continued.
"This mission we're on, fighting the reapers and such, it started off as investigating the collectors and trying to stop the disappearances going on in terminus space. We had a different ship, and we were led by a different spectre, turian named Androkan. Good guy, bit too wound tightly though..." He said as his cheerful voice grew a bit darker, more mellow as he thought of the turian captian.
"He made some mistakes along the way, tough calls that ended up getting him into deep **** with the council. They grounded him, and our new mission and vessel were born from it. Poor bastard didn't deserve that. Hell, no one deserves being dragged down by beuracrats and the like..." He said before he shock his head, snapping back to the present.
"But yeah, most of us on the crew were either taken prisoner at one point, or seemed to join because there wasn't a lot of other options. Take yours truly for example..." Vayne said as he rested a hand on his chest with a sly grin growing, "I've been a lot of things in life, but I was a private investigator and bounty hunter before I joined up. Got into some trouble when I uncovered a plot by the suns to sell some humans to the collectors. Tried to take them on, ended up getting caught in a bad spot with a human info broker. We both got captured by Androkans people, detained, questioned, and then offered a spot on the mission..." He said as he looked up towards the ceiling in thought.
"Come to think of it, lots of us have ended up incarcerated in one way or another. We got a couple of asari who joined up after we sorta attacked and detained them from their guard duty. We got a pirate captain and one of arias girls working with us. My krants a human women who joined us as a guide at first, damn good with a shotgun. We even got a batarian on board I think we had to bail out of prison, along with frank..." He said as he looked to arain, as if realizing something,
"He's a human, good with engineer stuff. Kinda acts a bit 'weird' in the head. Damn cheery all the time..." vayne went on, listing traits he could think of about the human to see if the turian knew who he was talking about.
Jess sneezed as Sherie appeared in the hatchway. Her hands were covered in heat proof mitts that matched her apron tied around her waist. In her hands was the source of the enticing aroma as Sherie set a pie down on the serving hatch surface. "Ah... Captain....". Sherie smiled pleasantly as she pulled the mitts from her hands. ".... Dogger and your Morgan asked me to take over in the kitchen. I hope you don't mind. I'm cooking up some food for the crew. Please tell them lunch will be ready at twelve and I expect them to leave those dirty coveralls outside. I won't have dirt and grime at the dinner table". She looked frankly at Jess. "And I trust I won't have to tell them all to wash their hands before sitting"?
Jess's thoughts were light-years away as the smell drew her in. The crust was golden brown and crosshatched revealing a dark, red, juicy underneath that looked succulent and appetizing as the smell caused one of her hands to go forth, one finger extended. "That.... looks..... so tasty". Jess drooled.
Sherie's hand quickly whipper forward to the hatch and daintily plucked up a wooden spoon that, with a simple flick of the wrist, landed a resounding smack on the top side of Jess's finger that had been about to poke the filling. Jess whipped her hand back and cradled her finger.
"OW"!
"That's for dessert".
"You hit me with a spoon"!
"I raised two sons. I know how to deal with pie thieves". Sherie smiled, flourishing her spoon. Jess meanwhile was shaking out her finger.
"Look luv... I'm captain and if I say I want pie then I get p-mpfhh"!
As she'd been speaking Sherie had turned around. Behind her was a tray of what looked like muffins and, picking one up, she turned and stuffed one in Jess's mouth. "Good grief.... now I know how Dogger ended up a child, trapped in a mans body....". She turned to Amy. "And goodness.... you look wrought! Here, have a seat. I'll fetch you a nice pot of tea. The scones should have cooled by now. No raisins I'm afraid. Really captain! We must talk about your stock cupboard. It's frightfully barren. Now be a good girl and I'll even bring you a cup and saucer".
Jess gave her a hurt look. "Cups and saucer's? On the Medusa? What happened to the mugs"?
Sherie shook her head. "Oh I threw those away. I tried washing a few but the stains inside just wouldn't..... and the mold in the that other....." Sherie shivered. "Well. The less said about that the better. I threw those out and ordered in new dinner service set's. Morgan approved. I even helped him with the new bedding. I think you'll be happy with the results once your crew unpacks the sheets..... Now then". Sherie disappeared into the Kitchen, humming to herself. Jess looked down at the pie.
"I can hear you thinking Captain.... I know where you sleep at night"! Came Sherie's voice from inside.
Jess deflated and turned back to Amy. "Great.... My ships being taken over by a house wife"!
"And dangerously handsome."
Frank said, rounding out Vayne's list as he walked into the private room.
"Thanks for the shotgun, big guy." He touched at the Scimitar on his back.
"Lighten up, Stretch." Frank patted Arian on the shoulder, before taking a seat at the end of the table.
Arian just wanted to say "I already met this guy" but when the door opened and Frank entered the room, he kept silent. His mandibles quivered in reaction to Frank's words but aside from that he didn't move.
"So you are a rather motley crew, right?", he asked Vayne.
"Your welcome, Frank." Vayne said as he watched frank go by, raising a brow at the pat on the shoulder he gave the turian as he watched him go.
"Could say that. Probably pretty accurate to..." He said as he turned around to look at arian, "We all got pasts, and we all got talents. Mostly why we're here, and probably why we haven't tried to kill each other while aboard this ship. That and we've been lucky with having strong team leaders aboard." He said as he looked down, letting out a rather sad sounding sigh, "Ancestors know, we needed it."
Doctor Hayashi watched the interaction between Jess and Sherie with keen interest. The spoon to Jess' finger almost had her burst out in a giggle, but she had a proper demeanor to maintain as a professional on the job. A job she almost had forgotten about until then. But that pie scent....pie...well, maybe Amy wouldn't admit it but doing her job didn't have to be miserable, did it?
"I think your kitchen is in good hands," Amy said, surprising herself with her boldness. "If you don't mind me saying so, Captain. Your head chef cares, right? And that is very important. Good, caring hands, it may take some getting used to but I'll bet you won't regret it one bit once you bite into that pie."
Something was immensely embarrassing to Amy at that very moment.
"Heh."
Irina walked past the human female with the black eye and gave her a once over. Then she went into Afterlife wearing enough leather to make Naleena blush. She had her shotgun strapped to her thigh, Mattock to her back and pistol to her hip holster. She had a cup of coffee in her hand. The metal detector went off at the door.
"Where do you think you're going with all of that?" the Batarian at the main inside door asked.
"Uh, Room 6?" she replied with a smart assed tone.
"Then you have an ID, right?"
"Yeah. Hold this, will ya?" she handed him her cup, "Be careful not to get your fingers too close to the lip or I'll have to throw it out. I'm really not in the mood to beat your bloody head in."
The Batarian gave an angry sigh. "You humans...."
"Are all racists. I know," Irina replied, finishing his sentence, and pulled out her ID. "It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Here you go."
"Fine. Here's your drink. Get out of my sight."
She walked around Afterlife, making her way through the crowd, past the people dancing on the floor. The Asari on the pedestals eyed her. She winked and continued walking. She entered the hallway with the banquet rooms. Griss was standing there.
Griss towered over her and blocked her path. "I need to see your ID, boss' orders."
"Fine, at least you're clear about it, not like the idiot you have at the main entrance," she said and showed him her ID.
"Chelek? Don't mind him. He's new and is trying to make himself look important. Go on. I'll be in later. The boss wants me part of this meeting as a liaison." Griss waved her through.
Irina swaggered into room 6, pulled out a chair, reversed it, and straddled it when she sat down. "Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?"
"Not a goddamn thing. It's boring as sh*t in here." Frank sighed. He'd only been in the room several minutes, and he was already restless. He wanted to go back out to the main club.
"This is a private room, right?" He looked around. "I thought there were supposed to be girls in here?"
He turned his attention to the females in the room.
"You know what I meant."
"Good to see ya, Irina. Hopefully we can get this started soon." Vayne said with a laugh as he eaded for his own seat.
Essul walked up towards the club, lights dancing off his armor as he slowly made his way through the crowds. He looked about the area, spotting a batarian in front of the door flagging people down as he walked forward. The batarian looked to the armored figure, and went to try and stop him.
"H-hey now. You can't come here armed like th-" He stopped when essul looked towards him, skull printed helmet staring at the batarain as he stopped in his tracks, gulping nervously. Wordlessly, essul brought up his ID, and the invite from Naleena, showing them to the bouncer.
"R-right. Head on in..." He said as he tilted his head to the left, essul walking in as he heard a comotion behind him, "Hey you! Yeah you human, I saw that! Get back in line!"
Evidently, some saving face was needed.
Essul made his way to the private room, loud music kept at a low volume by his armors environmental systems as a few people parted out of the way, others not seeming to care as they continued to dance away to the beat, until he came to the door to room 6.
Griss stood there as he raised a brow to essul, "ID. Now." He growled, not feeling like dealing with this guy if he were some trouble maker. Essul showed both, and Griss waved him through without another word.
Essul walked into the room and looked around to the others, pulling up a chair and sitting down silently as he looked about the room. "So...lovely room here." he said, sounding uncertain as he sat with his hands in front of him, fingers locked together.
Arriving to the 6th room at Afterlife, Avan sent Naleena a message on her com. "Meet me in Afterlife. Room 6." He arrived to the door, where one of Aria's bouncer's stood.
"I have permission to go in, I'm with Naleena's crew."
The batarian stood, emotionless. "I still need your ship's ID."
"Not a problem." Avan showed the ID to the batarian, who checked it out and nodded.
"Alright...hey wait, you're Avan Rezal."
"Yes."
"Yeah, Zaeed told me about you."
"You know Zaeed?" Avan was surprised.
"Yeah, we've chatted a few times. Said you did some missions with him."
"Yes...it's been years since I've seen that one-eyed bastard. Have you seen him recently?"
"Not too recently. He's with Commander Shepard's crew now."
"Really?!" Avan exclaimed. "And Naleena just talked to Commander Shepard. Small world."
"Yeah."
"Well, I won't use any more of your time."
"No problem."
Avan quietly walked into the room as the batarian resumed his post.
Frank's head perked up, as the door slid open.
"Damn."
He let out a sigh, seeing that it was just Essul.
The door opened once more.
Ugh
Frank frowned a bit as Avan entered.
This is so disappointing. I know it's a briefing, but we're in Afterlife, for cryin' out loud. There needs to be dancers.
He tapped lightly on the table as he thought.
"I have to use the bathroom." He said plainly, before standing up. "I'll uh... be right back."
Frank's head bobbed to the beat, as he scouted out the main floor for a suitable lady. Or two.
"That'll do." He smiled at a passing asari. He got next to her, and matched her speed. He opened his omni-tool, and whispered something in her... ear area thingy. She smiled and took his arm.
"I'm feeling a little... asymmetrical." Frank looked to his empty right arm, as they walked.
That's the one.
He spotted another dancer that he deemed worthy. She was busy with another patron.
"Hey pretty lady, you lookin' to make some real creds?"
"P*ss off." A rather angry looking turian briefly turned his attention away from his dance. "I've already paid for a half hour."
"Was I talking to you, a**hole?" Frank frowned. The turian pushed the dancer away, and stood. His fists clenched.
"Let's go, beautiful." He gestured with his head to the dancer. The girl on his arm helped coax her away.
"I oughta--"
"Enjoy yourself?" Frank swiftly brought up his omni-tool... and gave the turian 1,000 credits. "The next few are on me." He smiled, while locking arms with the second asari.
"Come on, ladies."
Frank returned to room 6, and entered with a smile on his face.
Afterliiiiiiiife yyyyyeeeaaahhh
Naleena noticed that everyone was there. Anika received a message from Naleena that this was a recon mission, and she showed up in the commando leathers Naleena had made for her. She also noticed that Frank brought two of Aria’s girls into the room. Griss entered the room and closed the door.
Naleena looked in Frank’s direction, sighed, and shook her head. “Frank, this is a briefing,” she said in an exasperated tone, then turned to Griss. “Would you please escort the girls out of the room?”
Griss nodded and walked over to them. “Sorry, ladies, let’s go.”
“But my creds!” Frank protested.
“Return his creds less the time used,” Griss said.
“Griss!” one of the Asari said and stomped her foot.
“Now!” Griss said and grabbed her by the arm.
The girls returned half of the credits Frank gave them, and Griss escorted them out of the room back to main Afterlife, and then returned.
“I know, I’m the no fun Spectre, but we have a job to do. Two of them in fact,” Naleena said. She removed a cigarette from her case, lit it, and blew a plume of smoke into the air. “Griss?”
The white faced Turian clicked on the holo projector in the center of the conference room table. “This is Omega. On your way here you saw camps of people in the corridors and parking areas. We have an emergency situation, and Aria out of the kindness of her heart set up shelters, but there wasn’t enough room so you saw the overflow. The people are from the dark strip you see midway up the center spire. We had one of our fusion reactors go down that was powering that region. Your captain was generous enough to provide assistance in diagnosing the problem, and sent a team there.”
“The problem you’re dealing with is in this region here on the other side of the darkness.”
Naleena cut in. “When I spoke with Aria, she mentioned that over that past few months there have been disappearances of her supplies of Hallex, but the cases have been found and the supplies sold to that region of Omega on the other side of the dark area. Not a big deal and why are we looking into this, you ask. Because an anonymous source reported that the seals were broken on the jars. Aria doesn’t like that. The product could have been tampered with.
“Also, about a month ago there was a crazy preacher who was outside of Harrot’s delivering an anti-human message. He was more of an oddity than anything at the time, however, Harrot felt that he was scaring away customers and had just reupholstered Aria’s couch as a gift and asked Aria to have him removed. Rather than simply kill him, she had him exiled to that region on the other side of the dark area. Rumors have it that his ‘ministry’ has been more than successful. Aria considers it a threat.” Naleena looked over at Griss.
“We sent several teams in to investigate but lost contact,” Griss said.
“That’s where we come in,” Naleena said, “Aria needs specialists for this. Our job is to gather evidence. Find out what is going on and meet back here. I’ll need two teams: one to investigate the drugs. Find out what happened to them, where they’re being distributed, and if people are experiencing any unusual effects from them.
“The second team will investigate the preacher, and find out how his ministry grew so quickly. The man was too eccentric for that. We’ll need keen observers. Gather as much evidence as you can. Pictures, video, whatever. Just try not to get caught doing anything suspicious.”
Griss cut in again. “The region is accessible through the central axis only at this time. We secured our side. The passage through is pressurized, and has minimal lighting. You can get through in a skycar, but I don’t know what’s waiting on the other side. Note that the other side is controlled mostly by gangs and other thugs. It’s Omega at its finest.”
Naleena took another deep drag on her cigarette. “So who wants to be on which team?”
Sahrabarik System: The Zorya
Ashland’s mining cruiser Zorya arrived on Omega. The cruiser’s chemical lasers were powerful enough to cut into small asteroids which it what they did allowing crews to extract materials that were buried deep inside saving a lot of man hours.
Ashland had been trying to get his foot in the door in the Omega Cluster for the past ten years, but Aria T’loak controlled the sector, and had favored his competitor run by Matriarch Alestia. This time Ashland was not about to take no for an answer. He was getting old and had a legacy to leave his children.
Ashland wore a dark grey business suit and sat behind his walnut desk on the main deck. His office was decorated with modern sculpture and other works of original artwork from all over the galaxy. In addition, there was a collection of Asari and Turian artifacts, obviously purchased on the grey market, but no one would question him about them, and a Prothean item from Mars. It was small, and just glowed. He couldn’t figure out what it was.
He depressed the button on his intercom. “Contact Aria T’loak and inform her that I wish to see her in my office on my ship. I wish to begin negotiations for a mining contract in this sector.”
“As you wish, Sir,” his assistant replied.
While the other crew members had sat down at the table, Arian had remained near the door. As always he preferred to stand, because sitting at a table was usually quite uncomfortable for someone of his size. Furthermore he didn't really felt like he was part of this team.
While Naleena and Griss briefed the crew Arian listened carefully. Gathering information wasn't his style but if this mission demanded it he was going to try his best. "I'm in on gathering information about this preacher", he said afterwards.
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