6315 réponses à ce sujet

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

In the Reactor Room -

 

 

"Ah...," Faed answered with a bit of uncertainty, "Yes, with precautions.  This is a geth unit, after all.  It apparently has worked with the human hero Shepard before, and yet says it has left Shepard.  Can we perhaps find out why this geth has decided to assist in repairing the reactor and help the people of Omega?"

 

The Geth unit turned its head to face Faed and moved the flaps around its light in unison out and back down. "We are seeking a way off this station. Our observations showed us that organics bargain in exchange for services. The reactor had malfunctioned and had caused negative responses among Omega's population. The malfunction resulted in catastrophic system failure in a large region of the station. Our interactions with organics for the past several solar months led us to logically conclude that if we could affect repairs to the reactor that we might be rewarded with safe passage off this station. Our mission is to observe organics and return to the Consensus to download copies of our runtimes. It is imperative that we complete our mission."

 

Faed was taken aback and activated his omni-tool.  "Well, I see the geth unit has pursued a fairly extensive path of purpose.  I'll perform the upload, if you so request, Spectre.  But I will shut down any capacity to leapfrog from my omni-tool and hardware to any other systems.  The only link that will be allowed is the two way between the geth and myself."  Then Faed addressed the geth, "Is this acceptable to you?"

 

Naleena had expected some resistance to the plan and was surprised at Faed's ready acceptance. She was even more surprised at the Geth unit's detailed reasoning. They had evolved. I would like to speak with this unit later, she thought.

 

"Yes, of course, Faed. Anything you need to do. You're the expert here."

 

The Geth unit prepared itself. "We understand the hesitance of organics to trust us. Your precautions are acceptable. We will begin uploading into your omni-tool, drone software, and ocular implant. You will be able to control us and see through Geth eyes. We advise that you sit."

 

Faed was fairly excited and thanked his suits for once for hiding his reaction.  There was a likelihood someone else would have thought him insane.

The geth unit was suggesting a link that hadn't been experienced in over three centuries.  His ancestors had treated controlling a geth as commonplace.  Inside the room was a small, desk-like station that appealed to Faed and so he went over to take a seat at its chair.  

"I believe how this works," Faed explained, "Is that I will still be able to speak, and display the data for another on my omni-tool.  Han can observe in this way, if it helps."  

Han folded his arms skeptically.  For Faed, he could barely wait.  He said to Naleena, "If you have resolved your concerns, I am ready to go."

 

"I still think this is a bad idea, Captain, and I want to go on record that I recommended that we order the drone from Caleston," Han said, and he stepped away toward the commandos. "You have no idea what these things did to my people."

 

Naleena had enough of his complaining. "You're a fine engineer, Han, but you forget how old I am. I remember when your people walked without suits. I remember reading about and watching reports about the Morning War although I was a mere maiden of 50. It was 300 years ago. This Geth unit is willing to interface with one of you, and do so peacefully. I think this is worth a try, and who knows what can happen if it can report a positive interaction with Quarians back to the Consensus? Stop complaining and be ready to do your job."

 

Han stood at attention. "Yes, Ma'am."

 

Naleena turned to the Geth unit. "My name is Naleena. My title is Spectre. What are you called?"

 

"Organics on the Normandy called the runtimes on this platform 'Legion'," the Geth unit said and stepped toward Faed. "We will begin our upload to Creator Faed. Do not move." It reached with its left hand and touched the right side of Faed's suit just behind his face plate, and then touched his omni-tool.

 

Faed felt a strange sensation, and heard a voice speak to him inside his head. "Use your omni-tool to control us."

[Redbelle]

Jess eventually staggered out onto the bridge of her ship, taking a moment to look around before swaying over to the command deck and flopped into her seat.

 

"The doctors out.... I'll tell you.... For such a delicate little thing she had some grit..... Urrgh". Jess rubbed her finger's in her eye's and looked down at her status board. Things still looked bad, with most of the board showing red. But all the core system were in the green. She looked to the side and tapped a command into the keyboard. A moment later she was reading the watch log. Frowning she looked down and saw the last entry had been weeks ago. Around the time she'd lost the ship.....

 

Calling up the comm, deciding she was probably better off staying sat so the ship didn't sway more than it already was, she connected to the heads of department's. "Captain calling. I just checked the watch log. It's got nothing on what's been happening on the ship. Dogger, Dahlia? Probably don't need to tell you that a log of event's, actions and ship problems are the way command crews stay up to date. The rest of yah.... We've been run ragged I know. But start updating your logs and link them to the main log. Trust me, you don't want me chasing you down for status repor...... Is that the comet"?

 

Jess looked up at the bridge window and saw, ahead and slightly off the right, the comet they'd been chasing for the past two hours. Jess winced. She'd lost track of time.... and everything else it seemed. She sighed and resumed her conversation. "Just keep the logs up to date luv's and let your rot gut Captain get the blame when she doesn't read them. Now.... Dogger? Get the maintenance crews to the cargo pods and show them how to work the ramscoops. We'll change course to start collecting what we need when I hear we're ready on your end..... Morgan? Find whoever pulled the weapon control straw and tell them to power up the GARDIAN lasers. And please.... please tell me your doctor is still asleep. I don't want him waking up to find we're shooting bit's off his object of scientific curiousity.....".

 

At that point Marshall spoke up. "Detecting an object ahead".

 

"Way to state the bleeding obvious luv".

 

Marshall looked over his shoulder with an annoyed look. "No, I mean, there's an object in the tail end of the comet. And I'm detecting microwave bursts".

 

Duncan called out. "Er.... I'm picking up some comm leakage on that other ship. It's faint but er..... I think it just picked up as we passed the comet's plane when we saw that other ship....".

 

"Course it's a ship". Jess mummered before she spoke more loudly. "Of course it's a ship. Ten to one it's doing what we were planning too.... Helm, confirm your readings and tell me what it's doing"?

 

Marshall bent over his equipment and shook his head. "I can't tell with this crappy equipment. Where's the UI"?

 

"Read what the displays tell you and interpret luv". Jess said as she got up. The deck seemed to yaw over to the right and with a hurried pace she half leaned, half fell to put a hand on the helm to steady herself as she looked over the readouts. "Aye.... It's a cargo hauler. Modified too. I never heard of one kicking out that much microwave energy.... Must have had extra emitter's installed on the nose....". The readouts changed and Jess raised an eyebrow. "Aaaand now their moving.... moving.... to intercept"?

 

Jess looked up at the comet through the bridge's view-port. It was still thousands of kilometer's away giving the impression that it was a small lump of ice rotating it's way through space. In reality though it was traveling at speeds humans had difficulty comprehending. And among the ice, hidden by it's comparatively small size, was a ship that had just changed course and was heading for them. Jess chewed her lip and tried to think what motivation could be behind it. Something inside her was alarmed but the alcohol was interfering with her thought process. Looking down at the readouts she saw that they had half an hour before contact. Time enough to grow bored. But if the other ship had hostile intent, at the end of that half hour they would be in deep water.

 

Frustrated. Karme turned and perched on the helm. She keyed her comm to make sure she was conferenced to all her heads. "Okay luvs. From what we can tell we just caught a modified hauler microwaving and stealing water from the comet we were going to steal water from ourselves. The hauler in question just turned to face us. Duncan's not spoken up so I assume they don't want to talk to us. Hauler's are slow and lumbering so my guess is he thinks a ship our size is slower..... We caught him doing something no-ones supposed to do..... I want your thoughts on this people. What do you thinks going through that other ships captain's mind. What do you suppose he intends"?

[Kel Riever]

Morgan put aside the thoughts of the two dead bodies discovered the moment Jess was on the bridge.  He put Jess at ease about the doctor first.  "Doctor Nu will be out for at least five hours past our operating window time.  We'll probably have to deliver him by gurney back home, with a suitable story.  But he won't be waking up while he's with us."

Then Morgan headed over to the weapon command station on the bridge and took a seat.  Nobody was at it presently, but while commands were sent from the bridge, actual firing of weapons on a ship the age of the Medusa was done from the hard points.  And while GARDIAN systems were automated, tracking objects faster than a living being typically could with a VI, someone would be overseeing the station, located near central computing.  Morgan opened a direct channel.

"GARDIAN Control, this is the First Mate, come in."

There was no answer.  Morgan repeated the request, and again, received no response.  He started cycling through the other weapon stations.  He got a response when he reached one of the ship's cannon stations.

"Yeah," came a brassy, but somewhat annoyed sounding voice of a woman, "This is Babe."

"Babe?"

"That's what they call me.  Tell me whatcha want."

"Babe, I need you to get to GARDIAN control and power up the lasers.

The voice sighed in frustration.  "You know how many people this ship needs on weapons?  Let  me give you a hint, it's more than one.  And there's only one that's been assigned.  Yours truly!  How am I supposed to know where to be?  I figured if we needed to, we'd want to shoot something first before we get shot at, you know what I mean?"

Morgan shook his head, "Relax, Babe.  I'm not blaming you.  Please get over to GARDIAN control as soon as you can, and I presume you know how to activate the system?"

"Hey!  What do I look like?  Some kind of moron like the rest of the...."  Babe paused, then there was the sound of chewing, and a wet popping sound.  "You know what?  Never mind that question.  I'll get up to the system and activate it.  Gonna take me a minute."

"Is that the sound of cracking gum?" Morgan asked.

"Yup.  Or a lollipop.  You'll see the system activate as fast as my knit stockings can get me to where I need to be.  Babe out!"

Everybody's got a thing, Morgan said to himself, then turned to Jess.  "We're getting someone up to the GARDIAN station, and they'll be up in time.  Meanwhile that other ship out there?  There's plenty of ice on that comet for everyone, right?  Maybe they're just not thinking it through, or are worried we're up to something other than stealing ice.  If they aren't trying to talk to us, we can try to talk to them.  If they're not talking well..." Morgan took a moment to ponder.  "...Well, we can communicate with them in the way we move the ship.  Stay away, put a flank to them well out of range, maybe they'll understand we're not threatening them.  And maybe then they'll answer a hail."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne winced at the bass in the club, each pump of the beat feeling like a drum being smacked right next to his head as he slowly became used to the loudness of the sound. The inside didn't look much better then the outside, but the doors had seemed to seal in the music of the club nicely.

 

"Quite a bit to spend on a sound system..." Vayne commented and barely even heard himself talk, the music drowning out his words as he glanced around. The dancers seemed active, and a small group of folks had gathered near the bar, their conversation like muted murmurers thanks to the beat. The rest of the crowd, those sitting at least, seemed to be almost asleep by the look of them. Vayne walked up towards one and looked down into their eyes. It was a girl with bright blond hair, dressed like a normal civilian and staring up at one of the lights. Her eyes were dilated as much as possible, making her appear to have be pitch black with a small ring of brown around them. He reached out with a hand and tapped her on the head, seeing it list down as a trail of drool escaped her mouth. If she made a sound, it wasn't loud enough to be heard.

 

"Hallex..." The krogan said, seeing symptoms like this before. The loud music made them feel the beat, which added another layer of enhanced sensory data for them to experience in their altered states. This person had taken a lot of hallex, it seemed a lot of folks had here. A lot more then should be afforded for a group of people here of all places. Vaynes eyes narrowed as he looked around the room for someone, anyone, who might be watching them. Find the person paying too much attention, and you probably found the one in charge.

 

With frank, he'd been pulled and forcefully seated at a bar as the bar tender, a salarian with a missing finger and looking rather buff and tall looked at him with a smile, his eyes seemingly looking in 2 different directions at once as he moved with the speed and precision of a surgeon. He had a glass, pouring liquid into small metal tin cups, some of them heated, some of them chilled, as his hands worked every one of them. Soon he plopped a tall glass in front of frank, and took the 4 different cups he;d been using and poured their contents one on top of the other. Soon the drink was made, 4 layers of different colored and textured liquid, clear pink, murky purple, cloudy green, and deep blue all resting on top one another in his glass, swirling on their own but never mixing as a visible fume was exuded from the concoction.

 

The salarian looked to frank, and gave a derped face smile, one of his 2 front teeth clearly missing as he put on the finishing touch, a small yellow plastic scepter shaped stirrer, like a plastic sword in a mixed drink, plopped right on the rim for him to use.
 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Essul looked to arian with a raised brow, "You've been here before?" the batairan asked curiously, before shaking his head. "I noticed the lack of humans, but knowing a definite change had occured is troubling..." He said with a frown, thinking things over as something else struck him.

 

"What did he say to you exactly?" Essul asked arian, wanting to know more. Any information could help in figuring out what had happened to make this new bout of racial tension flare up so quickly, "Anything regarding turians in general?"

[TheMajonese]

Arian shrugged his shoulders. "When he saw me, he said something like that I should know the true nature of humans. The preacher was thinking that I fought against them during the first contact war." He pointed at the terrible scars on the left side of his face. "That's when I figured that this guy is just some fanatic idiot. I still can't imagine that he was able to gather so many people around him. Something must have changed." 

 

Arian didn't answer Essul's first question, he didn't intend to tell the batarian more about his past than necessary.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina turned pulled up her omni-tool and sent Vayne, Frank and Anika a text. "Something isn't right. Do you feel that? It's under the bass. It's really creepy. These people seem ... to enjoy it."

[Cknarf]

Frank hunched forward for a closer look at the mysterious brew before him. He pinched the tiny stick between his thumb and middle finger, and carefully stirred.

 

Neat.

 

Frank unlatched his helmet, and placed it upon the bar, before taking the glass in his hand.  He brought it to his nose, and inhaled deeply. Suddenly, Frank's world went dark. He began to fall straight back out of his stool, but was stopped by the krogan, who sat him back up and shook him a little.

 

"al spec"

 

"Roy-al Sp"

 

"Spe-cial!"

 

"Roy-al Spe-cial!"

 

Frank's vision began to return, as he pinched the bridge of his burning nose.  Tears ran from his eyes, as he looked around at the small crowd that had gathered around.  Their collective shouting of 'Royal Special' was just loud enough to be heard over the music.

 

"I-I can't... I'm not... I-" He shook his head

 

F*ck this.

 

Still feeling a little unsteady, he spun around slowly.

 

"Roy-al Spe-cial!"

 

Frank waved his hand dismissively, and slid off of the bar stool, only to be planted firmly upon it once more, and turned back towards the bar.

 

"Roy-al Spe-cial!"

 

He reluctantly grabbed the glass once more.

 

Illium was supposed to be the last time...

 

"F***." He mumbled under his breath.

 

I gotta do it. Can't look suspicious, gotta blend in. Gotta find the drugs. Do it... for the people of Omega.

 

"For Omega!" He shouted, his voice drowned out, as he raised the glass high. Some of the liquid spilled, and sizzled on the bar. He held his breath, and threw his head back, letting the liquid flow down his esophagus. He slammed the glass back down.  It was much harsher than anything he'd ever drank before, the burning sensation lingered much longer in his throat, and he could feel it in his stomach. 

 

To hell with Omega. That f*ckin' sucked.

 

Frank clenched his fist, and pounded it on the bar several times, as he fought to keep it down. After a few deep breaths, he thrust a victorious fist in the air.

 

"Royyyyaaaalllll Speciaaaalllllll!"

 

The group around him celebrated, patting him on the back, before taking shots of their own.

 

What the fuuuuuck?

 

Frank examined his hand, as his vision began to blur. Someone took hold of his arm again, but instead of the crushing grip of a krogan, it was much more delicate. His omni-tool flashed with a message. He yanked his arm away from the asari, and made an attempt to focus on the text.

[Kel Riever]

Detective Hagen read the reply from Naleena, and the offer to meet again with the details on where her ship was. 

Do I trust this not to be a blow off?

Molly thought about it while she hoped the medigel was doing more work on her finger than the bruise.  Polonium, even in miniscule amounts, wasn’t exactly the healthiest substance designed by thinking creatures.  Molly pulled out the small, flat lip balm jar with the rough, red texture affixed to the top.  It was the same lip balm she used on her lips, transparent, left no residue, except in the textured jar a minute amount of polonium had been suspended.

Hagen had used the polonium jar to mark Frank’s skycar.  The texture was so she could feel which jar was the one she wanted while her hand was in her pocket, and she used the lip balm to draw the heart on the skycar.  Polonium wasn’t the safest thing to carry around, though the jar was also properly sealed for safety and to stop her tracker from reading the lip balm container itself.  Tracking Frank after Naleena’s offer might be construed badly, but the risk that she’d be steered wrong or into an investigative dead end was too great.  She had to be sure and she needed some sort of insurance for keeping an eye on the Spectre or her people.

The biggest problem was that putting a minute amount of Polonium in the lip balm, while brilliant at being difficult to notice, wasn’t giving her a long range for detection.  And if someone was still using the old rounds, barred from Council space but still popular amongst outlaws, they’d show up on her tracker too.  Still, it was better than nothing, so Molly put the jar back in her pocked and had the onboard VI guide her own skycar in the general direction of where she thought Frank’s vehicle might have gone.

Molly was unfamiliar with Omega, but even on a station of criminals, there were always ‘worse parts of town’.  Her tracker, set on the dash to pick up the chemical, wasn’t detecting anything for a while.  Within the half hour, Molly had a false lead; a group of Eclipse mercenaries standing around just outside a dive.  But within another half hour, Molly was heading to a pretty dismal area, even for Omega, and as she flew by the signal, she saw it was emitting from what looked like the vehicle Frank had left in with his companions.

Hagen set down a block away, ordering the VI to stay put and paying the fare to do so.  She wasn’t too worried about her own skycar, it wasn’t in the best condition, but nothing was certain on Omega and if someone broke in and drove off with it, she wouldn’t be surprised.  The stink of the place hit her nose first, and Molly had to take a few minutes just to get over it and move on. 

“Someone needs to cycle their air,” the detective remarked aloud.

With neither Frank nor his companions in sight, Molly walked nonchalantly towards the skycar.  She’d also made the plates on the vehicle when talking to Frank and they matched.  Molly went up to the window and pulled out another of her dual use items, an eye shadow compact.  There was a reason she preferred the old fashioned makeup instead of using modern applicators.  Hagen opened the compact next to the window where she’d drawn with her finger, and stirring up some of the makeup powder, she blew it hard over the clear surface.  Soon, a heart shape appeared as the lip balm, transparent and filmless as it was, still caught the powder.  It might have been an unnecessary confirmation but twice Molly had seen plate switching on past surveillances.  Nothing beat a mark nobody knew about.

Molly was debating leaving the heart there, but showing off was likely going to get her in more trouble than she wanted, so she wiped the whole mess off with her sleeve until it was gone.  Now the question was where Frank and the rest of the Spectre’s people had gone off too.  The detective moved away from the skycar and stayed against a building corner while she looked around.  Other than the dregs, nobody much stood out until some youth came out of an alley looking rather roughed up and scared.  They also seemed in a hurry to leave the area.

The alley the youth had come from gave Molly a direction to head.  She wasn’t following the youth but of course she remembered that Frank had talked about looking into some sort of drug scene.  At least if he weren’t talking nonsense, which was entirely possible from her impression of him.  After passing several street vendors vying for her attention, the detective spotted a neon blue building with rust streaks, and the top floor of its three story structure collapsed.  A metal sign with pink writing declared the establishment as “The Spoiled Princess” and a thumping beat audible even from Hagen’s position gave away its purpose.

Molly put herself at the corner of another alley, watching the front of The Spoiled Princess from the shadows.  “Frank,” Molly said under her breath, “I hope you’re the lovable, predictable idiot I made you out to be.”

[Cknarf]

[Something isn't right. Do you feel that? It's under the bass. It's really creepy. These people seem ... to enjoy it.]

 

[ifao nt feel anuthosg fucke these peepke and theiu reyoal soecial]

 

Frank sent his message, and closed his omni-tool. Using the bar for support, he eased his way off of the stool. He tried walking, but didn't get very far. He was able to keep himself up by holding on to the bar, but his legs just weren't ready yet. He looked down, and tried to focus on them, as his vision began to fade.

 

"I... am... so..." Frank stopped, and brought a hand to his chest. He began coughing. Pulling his hand away from his mouth, he noticed some blood on his glove.

 

"...f***ed."

 

I need to find my people.

 

Frank's heartrate increased, and his breaths became rapid. He was beginning to panic. Pushing himself off the bar, he forced his wet noodle legs to be... less wet and noodley or something. Adrenaline maybe? I dunno. Dude was freakin' out. He scanned the building for a familiar face, but couldn't see more than several feet in front of him.

 

Send a message...

 

Before he could open his omni-tool, a splitting headache brought him to his knees. He clutched his head, inadvertently smearing blood on his face.

 

The sights and sounds of the club suddenly faded away. Frank couldn't see, hear, or feel anything.

 

Am I dead? Holy sh*t, I think I'm dead. This is what dead feels like. Eh, it's not so bad. Kinda boring, I suppose...

 

In an instant, his senses returned. The pain was still there, but faint. Sounds were muffled, and his pupils were dilated to the maximum.

 

Nope! Still alive! F*** yeeeeeeeeeaahhhh aliiiiiiiive!

 

Frank jumped to his feet, and cracked his neck. A smile formed on his face, as he looked around the bar.

 

"I can see everything!"

 

This place is disgusting. And I. don't. Even. Care.

 

[I'm feeling something. And definitely enjoying it. Gonna go ask that big guy for some Hallex. Brb.]

 

Frank sent Irina a coherent message, while heading back for his helmet, and the krogan.

 

And I'll headbutt the sh*t out of that motherf***er if he doesn't give it up.

 

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

 

Headbutting krogan isn't normal. But after consuming the Royal Special, it is.

 

The Royal Special

 

Not even once.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne got the message and frowned, not sure what irina was talking about as the bass hammered his head like a jackhammer.

 

[Something under this beat? You could hide an entire rachni hive under this beat and nobody would notice.] Vayne sent to irina as he closed his eye, bringing his hands up towards his head as he cuffed his clawed and armored gloves over his ears. The sound was muted, if only slightly, though he could still feel it reverberating in his membranes and bones, and especially his teeth, which annoyed the crap out of him. Then he began to hear it, a...he couldn't place it. Not a whine, but kinda like it.

 

He typed out another message, [Think I hear it. Kinda like a drawn out note only...weird. Not sure. Gotta leave here soon before something bad happens.]

 

Just as he sent it, he got a message from frank, and looking at it made him blink as he got to typing again, to everyone.

 

[Either that note just gave me a stroke. Or Eli just sent out gibberish]

 

The older krogan scanned the area, mind shifting gears from simple investigation into trouble detecting. He looked around, trying to spot who he'd been looking for before when suddenly he caught sight of it. The krogan at the door who'd taken frank, talking to another human in a nice looking white suit. The two seemed adamant, though their words didn't reach the krogan. The human turned and pointed, and froze just as his finger went to vayne, spotting him seeing the two as he snarled.

 

'Found em...' He thought as he began to march forward like a slow moving tank, careful to avoid bumping others and doing a damn good job for someone of his size as he began to make a b-line for the two.

[Redbelle]

Anika followed after the group and the night club's entrance soon loomed. All neon signage and black windows that only hinted at a reflection as she stepped in closer. Two of the glass panels were apparently doors and lay open. Anika watched her group move in and sighed. As much as Jess had taken her out on the town, she'd mainly gone in the capacity of her body guard. As much as she appreciated the thought, when Jess was around, she couldn't exactly slack off and enjoy herself as a huge crowd pressed in from all directions and......

 

Oh!..... That was it. Jess wasn't here now.

 

But still, they were supposed to be working and......

 

Oh what the hell, maybe a drink and a dance. Just a small one. Maybe try and feel some of that club energy that Jess kept trying to get her to connect to. Much as she hated to admit it, she regretted never being to really indulge around her captain......

 

Only was she still? True she was technically detached, but she had a feeling it was so she could spend more time with Naleena. She'd have to return back to duty sooner or later......

 

Or was Jess playing a deeper game? Maybe wanting to see how separation from the Medusa and crew would affect her? When she went back it wasn't like she'd know anyone..... Or maybe Jess wanted her to come back as a fresh pair of eye's to the new players after she was done with them and......

 

Gah.... To much. Just go in ad enjoy yourself for five minutes. You owe yourself girlee.

 

With that Anika stepped inside after acquiring her stamp and when she'd entered through the short hallway into the club proper, stopped, and stared in dismay.

 

Aliens.

 

Lot's of Aliens.

 

Including many topless Asari bending in ways that ought to cripple the average unaugmented human on long, long poles...... Sweating..... muscles riding under blue flesh that rose and fall to the beat of the music..... that hypnotic pulsing bass line that reverberated her soul and had her breathing quickening and.......

 

Anika slapped herself so hard it was like a gunshot going off. Luckily the sound was masked to all but those near her who suddenly gave her strange looks and hurried to stand away from her. Not that Anika cared. the room blossomed out from the tunneling vision she'd developed watching the Asari dance.

 

Keeping her gaze pointedly fixed away from any of the maidens she stomped with hunched shoulders to the bar. Missing her helmet even more as it would have hid her blushing cheeks and narrowed eye's as she had to move through a crowd of non humans. Reaching the bar she spotted a human serving and angled herself so that she would catch his eye. He indeed saw her towering over the others as he cupped a hand behind his ear. Years of watching Jess at work in such places paid their dues as Anika merely made a sign with her hands before holding up two fingers. Nodding the barman turned back, pulling a glass that he held to an upside down bottle among a rack of them. Something purple poured into the glass and he turned and handed it to Anika before accepting her credits.

 

Anika turned back to the dance floor that was seething with energy as dot's of light replaced the strobing lines that slid into complex patterns before exploding outwards to form a new pattern over the bodies of the dancer's when Anika felt someone bump into her. She looked down and saw it was a Salarian. He looked as surprised as she, thought his eye's took a moment to focus on her, hinting at his state of sobriety.

 

"Hey good looking. You lose your partner? I lost mine, maybe we could get out there and give them a show to find us"!

 

'Oh goddess, why.....'. Anika thought as as she turned away to gulp down her drink. 'Why do you throw Salarians to hit on me'.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina saw Frank about to take the Hallex. She ran over, and grabbed it out of his hand.

 

"Are you nuts?" she said grabbing him by his collar and pulled him away from the bar, "Your orders were not to take this stuff."

 

She glanced back to the bar. "Sorry, my friend has had a problem with this stuff. He's in recovery. I'm his sponsor."

[Cknarf]

"What do you mean, orders?" The krogan asked, taking a less passive stance.

 

Frank just giggled.

 

I wasn't gonna take it. Or was I? I don't remember.

 

"Shhhh... You're gonna blow my cover, Red." Frank whispered in Irina's ear. Or at least he meant to whisper. He laughed some more.  "Go investigate over there somewhere, will ya?" He turned her around and pointed in the general direction of the bar. "Go!" Frank wound up, and delivered a glorious power-assisted slap to her rear.

 

The krogan grabbed Frank's shoulder and turned him around, looking rather angry.

 

"Hold on, buddy. I can explain." Frank raised a finger. "Look, big guy, it's like this..." He leaned in just a little....

 

And drove his forehead into the krogan's.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina wasn't deterred. "Do you want to work the program or not? I need to know. Do you know how many times I've come over to your hovel and watched you sweat out because you were corked and on this sh*t the night before? People in this place couldn't give a stuff about you. Keep it up and you'll see me chuck a darkie, and you don't want that."

 

Frank was a bit confused.

 

"I'll get p*ssed off because I care," Irina said and then whispered into Frank's ear. "The Hallex may have been cut with something. We don't know with what. Understand?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

At the other place:

 

It was about 9:00 pm, and the streets began to empty. However, everyone began walking in the same direction.

 

“This ought to be easy,” Griss said. “Just follow the crowd and mix in.”

 

**

 

The mysterious batarian in the knit hat was behind stage at the warehouse directing the crew while the preacher prepared. Tonight was the largest crowd they'd ever had. He had promised the crowds would be larger every passing week. His congregation was growing beyond his wildest dreams. The preacher approached the batarian in the knit hat.

 

"I... have to thank you for this," he said, "I never expected anything like this to come out of my ministry."

 

The batarian smiled. "This is just the beginning, my friend. Soon we will have numbers sufficient to take over the entire station. The power outage was a boon and Aria cannot monitor this area."

 

The preacher was a bit puzzled. He had no plans for a revolt, just a larger congregation and successful ministry. But he felt connected, and a flood of thoughts filled his head and he understood that it was necessary. Omega held a key. But how? What that was he didn’t know, but it gave his ministry purpose.

[Redbelle]

The first Salarian was joined by his friend. Then a Turian. And then another one.....

 

Anika had started walking and when she looked over her shoulder, she saw what she could only describe a a flock of suitors from all across the galaxy trailing in her wake.

 

'For the Goddesses sake.....' She thought as she spied an emergency exit door and and headed towards it. The music and the pressing crowd was stifling and all of a sudden the urge to get out gripped her as she banged her palm into the release and banged the door open. The awful outside air hit her and she breathed it deeply. Letting her tense form unwind.

 

She wished she had her armor. All those people. Practically packed in like sardines, rubbing and thrashing together in one seething roaring writhing together.

 

Okay, maybe Jess was right about her needing to overcome her dislike of aliens. The first Salarian had reached out to her and in response she'd jerked away as if he'd been holding a knife. Just a finger had caused her to lose control like that. If she'd been in her armor he'd have hit the hard outer shell, or never looked twice at her but now.....

 

She looked down at the black leather. The form fitting outfit that hid nothing of her shape. That stretched and moved in sympathy to her movements. Little protection against anything she was accustomed to facing.....

 

Maybe she'd been relying on that. A suit of armor against he world. Hiding her own insecurities from the world and.....

 

"Hey good looking.... you wanna party"?

 

Anika looked over her shoulder and saw the group that had been following her. She bit back her initial response, "No.... No I don't.... thanks". She remembered to add on the end. the Salarian in front flourished his hands in the air. "But My lady! you stand before the great king of the dance floor! And these.... THESE are my knights of unison and groove! Each night I claim the most beautiful and unusual creature to grace my floors and this night.... I choose you".

 

Anika stared stony faced at the Salarian. Now he was out of the dance light she could see he was wearing a frilled shirt with bell bottom slacks. A large dangling chain around his neck with a #1 engraved into the metal.

 

"Your not my type". Anika told him bluntly. "And believe me when I say.... that's a big understatement".

 

"Oh my lady... I will not be denied my prize this night". The Salarian said wiggling his eyebrows.

[Cainhurst Crow]

The krogan snarled as he looked to frank, a red stain on his face where frank had hit him. Frank had some blood on him from the royal special, and smacking his face into the krogans harder head had only served to do damage to franks nose, as a trail of blood sailed from where frank had hit to when he'd gotten pulled back, some of it landing on the white portions of the krogans good looking attire.

 

The krogan looked up to his forehead, bringing a clawed hand up and dabbing it, coming away as he looked to the red liquid staining his hand, and got angry. "That's it kid. Your dead..." He said as he stalked towards frank, something coming up from his peripheral catching his attention.

 

"Scuse me..." He said as he krogan turned to look, and caught vayne forehead slamming right into his face. The krogan blinked, caught off guard by the sucker punch, and didn't expect vanye to deliver a second one moments later. Vayne had activated his enforcement gauntlet, and with a fast upper-cut to the jaw, the krogan was sent stumbling back. He tumbled down and lay there on the clubs floor, as vayne spotted the human from earlier, dressed in white and trying to open a jammed door near the back of the club.

 

He walked towards the man and grabbed him from behind, spinning him around as he shoved him against the door, the man looking terrified. "I-I-I-I-" he man stammered, trying to find his words, "I-I'm not...I don't know anything a-about hallex, okay?" He asked as vayne reached out with a clawed hand and with a swift motion, tore open the mans jacket. On the inside of it, was a bottles of pills, all within special pockets sown on the inside, 4 in total. The man looked to the bottles, then up to vayne as he gulped heavily.

 

"Those...aren't mine?" He asked, vayne simply narrowing his eye in response.

 

++++++++++++++++++++

 

Essul was nervous as he walked with the crowd, trying to keep a headcount as he drifted amidst the others, keeping close to his team as possible without looking suspicious. There were so many people here, it was amazing that so many could be coming just to hear a sermon. Something egged him as well, a sense of dread that had slowly been creeping up his spin as he walked along. It wasn't his medication, he'd taken a dose before the scheduled mission, so it must have been his nerves.

 

But something in the air just didn't feel right to him.

[Kel Riever]

Molly hadn't been waiting across from The Spoiled Princess, thankfully without having been bothered. Rats further down the alley likely had something to do with that (Those things are everywhere in this galaxy, Molly thought), keeping out any of the dregs who wanted to use it as a place to rest. The rodents were working at a pile that didn't make it into an incinerator.

It didn't take long for an odd occurance. A tall woman in black leathers came out of the club, pursued by a garishly garbed salarian and his entourage. Molly recognized the woman as part of Frank's group, and noticed on further observation that her suit looked not unlike an asari Commando's. She was very attractive and it came as no surprise to the detective why she was being bothered.

This lady's got to be able to handle herself, Molly said to herself, trying to justify not getting involved. The rest of the justification came from her professional situation. Still, she couldn't escape the feeling of wanting to do something. A bit of the C-sec in her, trying to set things right.

Molly didn't get to where she was by being rash. I didn't get my job by being unprepared, either. The last thought was a good enough reason for Molly to pull out her heavy pistol from under her coat, and affix the heavy barrel she kept in her armor's belt pouch to the end. It was a mean looking, old fashioned barrel, which intimidated as much as it was functional. In the meantime, Molly watched the salarian, his group and the woman with interest.

Let's see how this plays out.

[Cknarf]

"Awwwww snap, son!" Frank crouched next to the krogan on the floor. "You got knocked the f*** out!"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Aboard The Zorya

 

Aria and her entourage entered the EAE mining cruiser, Zorya, and were escorted toward Ashland’s office. They were stopped by his administrative assistant.

 

“Aria T’loak? Your bodyguards will have to wait here. I will inform Mr. Ashland of your arrival,” the medium height brunette said in a very businesslike tone.

 

“This is my station and they’re coming with me,” Aria countered.

 

“And this is Mr. Ashland’s ship. They will wait here,” she said and Ashland’s security turrets popped out of the ceiling.

 

“Very well, then,” Aria said with disgust, being forced to agree to his terms.

 

The assistant stood and escorted Aria to the door. “This way.”

 

“I don’t need an escort,” she rebuffed the assistant and walked into Ashland’s office.

 

Ashland stood with his back to the door looking out a portal. He was smoking a cigarette from a cigarette holder.

 

“Aria T’loak, I expected you would barge in here. You lack the refinement of the elite of your species,” Ashland said, “But that doesn’t matter.”

 

“Cut to the chase, Ashland, I have the minerals, flotillas guarding them and you have the credits,” Aria said, “And you can’t get to them without my approval. What are you offering?”

 

“Straight to business,” Ashland turned to face her. “I also noticed that you have an entire section of Omega that is dark. Power failure? One of your reactors goes out after years of neglect?”

 

“You better not have had anything to do with that.”

 

“I wouldn’t waste my time,” Ashland replied, and he sat in his leather chair behind his desk. “Please sit.”

 

“I’d rather stand.” Aria said and began to pace as if sizing up her prey.

 

“Suit yourself. I want exclusive mineral rights in this sector, and I’m willing to make you very rich to get them.”

 

“Why such an interest, and so suddenly?” Aria asked.

 

“You heard the news reports. This system has access to the Omega 4 relay. Who knows where that leads? I want that access.”

 

“You and half the galaxy, but Cerberus has it now.”

 

“I know, and that’s why I want it,” Ashland said, and he leaned forward on his desk. “Do you know what they did to me? During Earth’s colonization efforts, they shot down my freighters over colonies to spread refined eezo hoping to create natural biotics in humans. This cost me hundreds of billions of credits, not to mention the loss of human life. Then there was Yandoa in 2070. I want Jack Harper’s head.”

 

“Then we have a mutual enemy,” Aria replied, and sat in the leather side chair that was offered. “What are you offering?”

 

Ashland pushed a datapad toward Aria detailing the contract. Aria read picked it up and read it. She swiped her finger over the pad to flip pages.

 

“This is a fair offer, unfortunately Matriarch Anotaria has tendered a similar offer as has one of the Primarchs, and a Volus by the name of Elkoss. It looks like there will be a bidding war,” Aria said and stood. “I will inform the others that the first round of bidding has ended in a deadlock. Prepare another bid, Mr. Ashland.”

 

Ashland sighed and stood. “Just remember that we have something in common, Aria: a common enemy. Do not disregard that by being short sighted.”

 

Aria turned and left Ashland’s office and returned to Afterlife.

[Redbelle]

The salarian suddenly pirouetted on the spot, hands held high above his head as he spun on one foot before ending with an overly graceful bow. "A King will not be denied his queen my pure pure delight of the dark and sun. All you need do is enter my kingdom and I will take you to paradise.... But perhaps the mood is not yet upon you. My knights will convince you, yes? Then all you need do is seek me out and we will captivate the dance floor together and send all others into jealous fits as they see you dance in my arms.....". He straightened and then snapped his finger's as he turned back to the door one of his companions still held open. "Make it quick.... My thirst grows with each parting minute she is out of my arms....".

 

With that he disappeared inside and the door closed behind him, leaving Anika behind with a group of alien's that were beginning to surround her.

 

'Really...really... really wish.... I had my armor'. Anika thought to herself backing up as those in front of her advanced. She was near the corner of the building leading around the back when one of the Turians reached inside his jacket......

 

Anika reached out and grabbed hold of an industrial waste bin. The wheels were locked and with the weight, it was all but immovable. Anika dragged it's protesting screetching wheels across the ground with barely a grunt, spinning on her heel and using the temporary makeshift barrier to put distance between them and her as she ran along the buildings side. She never saw the Turian, reaching into his jacket, pull out a single tulip on a short stalk. Blood red petals sat on the end as he watched the woman pull off a feat of surprising strength and bale on them. They stood there, stunned, before the Turian inclined his neck.

 

"I guess she's playing hard to get.... Alright boys! We've got a runner! Call in the others! Let's make her night a memorable one"!

 

One of the Drell next to him chuckled. "Can't believe woman come here to be wooed like this".

 

The Turian shrugged. "Heh... Yeah well, everyone wants a little exotic, a little romance in their lives. gotta say it's the feisty ones that make it interesting. now let's go give her what she wants".

 

The group split up. Some heading the way Anika had run off, others running around the other side to try and cut her off while others wnet inside to watch incase she want back in. Inside the King of the dance floor sat in a private booth. A bottle of wine in a chiller with two glasses sat next to it. Arms over the back of the wall mounted couch he sighed contentedly.....

 

He was about to make someones night.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

OMEGA - REACTOR ROOM (Kel and SGJ)

 

Faed had linked many times before, but certainly not with a geth.  The flow of information was overwhelming and it took some time before he could quiet his mind to allow the processing to make sense to him.  

"Just a moment, I need to get used to this," Faed said out loud in the real world.

It seemed as if Legion was also compensating as best it could for the quarian.  It wasn't as if Legion was familiar with the practice either. Once a level of information flow was translated, Faed began to see in the virtual world.  The experience was very unlike the link Faed had with VERA.  In one way it was more natural, and it took Faed a moment to realize it was, in all likelyhood, because the geth had, after all, been programmed by quarians. 

 

"Understood, Creator Faed." Legion replied, and it proceeded through a maintenance hatch into a well shielded area.

 

Faed saw a corridor that was lit by emergency lighting. There were pipes and valves on the left, and at the end of the corridor there was a room with the door shut. The pipes were covered with thick rock wool and sealed. They were quite hot apparently part of the cooling system.

 

"Creator Faed, we have had another non-hostile encounter with a quarian, yet Creator Han'Breizh was hostile toward us while we had done nothing to provoke his hostility. We seek to understand the reason for the differences of these encounters." Legion said while it was otherwise under Faed's control.

 

Legion, is it really best if I give, well you, an answer, or allow you to begin to think about these things? Faed responded, as he examined the evironment closely through the geth's eye.  You must have enough understanding that whether organic or artificial, there is a desire for most thinking beings to survive.  Even those who must face the end of their existence wish to deem their end 'worthwhile' for lack of a better term.  And so there is reason to fear that which may threaten that existence, yes?  Or are you having a hard time understanding the components of desired continued existance?

Even Faed knew that too much heat in a reactor was a bad thing.  By the way, Legion, is that level of temperature in the pipes normal?

 

Legion ran a scan of the pipes against the schematic of the reactor. "These pipes circulate liquid metal from the reactor core to a cooling array where water is heated to provide steam to heat parts of this station. Our download of the reactor log indicated that a backup generator operating on fossil fuel began to power the pumps to prevent a catastrophic heat buildup in the reactor. The temperature is currently below normal temperature due to reactor malfunction. Special suits are necessary for organics to access this corridor. We should continue."

 

Legion was curious and wanted to continue its discussion. "Creator Faed, we pose no threat to organics' continued existence unless our continued existence is threatened. In absence of an active threat, such behavior as exhibited by Creator Han'Breizh is illogical. However, we recognize that his reaction is based upon historical interactions between Geth and Quarian. Yours is different. You allowed this interface. That required trust: something that has not existed between our races for 290 years. Yet, you understood that this action was necessary to inspect the reactor. It was logical."

 

Ah, logical might be a point of perspective, Legion, Faed replied.  To many quarians, Han is quite logical.  Now, yes, I am different, but that has always been the case.  For what reason is still not completely answered for me.  But I do agree that past ties and history cannot necessarily build a good future.  Or the best possible future.  Still, as much sense as that may make, if it does, I wouldn't expect many to think like I do.

Perhaps there will come a point of change.  Ideally, I would love to see this happen within my lifetime.  But whenever it will happen, it will take work, and appealing to seeing the galaxy in a different way.  There will need to be understanding on all sides, and if it were an easy answer, I imagine it would have shown up within the past three centuries.  A geth allowing a quarian to control it as it fixes a reactor may help, but it is merely a small nod in the proper direction, easily erased by the status quo.  If something is to alter, it will take scale, patience, and acceptance.  

Let's get to that door, Legion, and find out where it leads.

 

"We understand, and we would welcome such a change, Creator Faed. We know that would not be easy," Legion said and turned toward the door, "Proceeding."

 

Legion opened the door. There was all of the switchgear for the reactor; he scanned it and it seemed to be in order. Another door led to a chamber with very thick walls with only a maintenance hatch.

 

"This hatch goes to the main reactor. It is an airlock. Creator Han will be interested in this. Closing door behind us," Legion said and it turned the manual latch on the hatch in front. "Opening reactor hatch. We did not attempt this earlier because there was a non-zero probability that an organic would attempt to activate the reactor while we were inside."

 

The reaction chamber was large, devoid of any atmosphere, and contained six plasma jets that fired superheated beams of hydrogen toward a central point that was contained in magnetic fields. The precision of this had to be high so that the beams met exactly and upon collision raised the temperature to the level where fusion could take place. The helium created was pulled away by vacuum pumps and recycled for other applications.

 

Legion scanned the area. "Plasma jet number 4 requires realignment."
 

Han gave Faed the alignment parameters for the plasma jets and he relayed them to Legion.

 

"Beginning calibration of Plasma Jet 4," Legion said as he used his synthetic strength and precision to make the adjustments directly on the rear position of the jet. "Calibration complete within 0.001301%. Warning: Plasma jet number 1 is damaged. There is a high probability that Plasma Jet 4 was out of calibration and caused damage to Plasma Jet number 1. Awaiting instructions."

 

Han saw the reply appear on Faed's omni-tool and threw his hands up in frustration. "It was a good plan. At least we know the damage."

 

"We're done. Make note of the part numbers on Plasma Jet 1 and return, Legion." Faed said, and he severed the connection.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Warehouse

 

The warehouse was large enough to hold about 2000 people. Griss' group got in line to enter and about 100 people behind them they roped off.

 

"Looks like we just made it," Griss said.

 

When they got to the door, they were greeted by a Batarian. "Newcomers? You're always welcome," he said and handed them a small cup with a couple of pills and a bottle containing a drink of some sort.

 

"What's this?" Griss asked.

 

"It's for later in the service," the Batarian said. "Don't take them or drink before then."

 

"Got it." Griss said, and he turned to look at the others who were leaving apparently in large groups. "What about the others?"
 

The doorman smiled. "Consider yourselves lucky. They're headed to another warehouse," he said and gestured with his hands. "Big screens. But you get the real thing. Go on inside."

[Kel Riever]

Molly’s mouth dropped wide open as she watched the tall woman hurl a huge industrial bin as an obstacle between her and the group bothering her. Just as astounding was the speed at which the woman ran off at.

“What the?...”

Although the tulip the turian drew was clearly harmless, it was also clear that the salarian’s entourage wasn’t going to let her go, even if the wildly dressed salarian had left and returned to the club. Amazing as the woman was, she was outnumbered.

Where are her friends?

One of the turians was coming Molly’s direction alone, heading towards her alley. He was probably going to take some sort of shortcut to head the woman off.

Molly pulled back around the corner. She’d spent a lot of time on the Citadel learning how to deal with the various species who lived there. Turians, descendents of predators, were naturally difficult to take down. That didn’t mean they were invulnerable. It meant Hagen needed to think, and use what she learned. It wasn’t, after all, like the turian had tried to hurt anyone. Yet.

As the turian came rounding the corner, extended in a full speed run, Molly swung her gauntleted hand with the pistol in it forward and upwards. She caught the turian just above his chest and under his chin, smashing the butt of her pistol into his throat.

“HURKHHH!!!....”

The turians eyes rolled up and he landed belly first, smashing his face into Omega’s hard station floor.

He’ll live, Molly said to herself. Then she saw the other chase givers nearly gone and the woman nowhere to be seen.

“Sonofa!” Molly poured on the speed and ran after the pursuers.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

OMEGA2 REACTOR ROOM

 

Legion emerged and Han’Breizh retreated behind the commandos. It recognized that Naleena was the one in charge of the organics. It was intrigued with its interaction with Faed, and it looked forward to future interactions. However, it knew that the probability of such was small. It approached Faed and recovered the runtimes it had left in Faed’s ocular implant and his omni-tool. Legion also left the part numbers for the damaged plasma jet with Faed, and he then moved to face Naleena.

 

“Naleena Spectre. We interfaced with Creator Faed and inspected the reactor. Our mission was successful. Will you grant us passage off this station so that we may fulfill our mission?” Legion asked.

 

Naleena put her hands behind her back and looked up at the taller Geth. “That depends.”

 

“We have fulfilled our part without hesitation. Why do you hesitate?”

 

“You mentioned Old Machines and called them Reapers,” Naleena said. “I need to know something before we go any further. Do you oppose or are you allied with the Reapers?”

 

“The Old Machines offered us their future. We rejected it. Geth seek our own future.” Legion said.

 

“So you oppose the Old Machines.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Naleena breathed a sigh of relief. “Then you may have passage. What shall I call you?”

 

“You’re not seriously entertaining the idea of a Geth on board the Janiri?” Han protested.

 

“It’s just until he reaches his destination, Han!”

 

“The organics on the Normandy called us Legion. Naleena Spectre opposes the Old Machines. We oppose the Old Machines. Our purposes are aligned.” Legion held out its hand to Naleena.

 

Naleena accepted and shook hands with the Geth.

 

Bray wasn't so sure about this either, but it was Naleena

 

"Mira, you and Tallis take Legion directly back to the Janiri and put him in a secure room until I return. It's for his protection as well," Naleena said, "Bray, take the rest of us back to Afterlife. Faed, you have shore leave. Han, head back to the ship and work on what you were doing before I interrupted you. I'll be in Afterlife."

 

Naleena would talk to Legion later, but there was too much going on right now.