6315 réponses à ce sujet

[Kel Riever]

Morgan agreed.  “Quite a bit of initiative when the doctor has a task that interests her.”

All told, from Babe unpacking and loading the chemical propellant probe, to launch and Amy’s patient but intense observation, took forty-five minutes.  As with its predecessor, contact was lost with the probe and Amy made a disappointed sigh.  But after a further several minutes passed, the screens at Hayashi’s console came back to life, scrolling with activity.

“Captain, contact has been re-established with the second probe!  Dahlia helped me set the trajectory for this one to pass through low atmosphere and return to orbit.  I don’t know why we’re losing our ability to communicate, but if we have something with old-fashioned rocket fuel thrusters, I believe we can get it planet side and back.  Whatever you send down there, probe or otherwise, perhaps it could send forth a pre-recorded message, should its signal not be able to boost through atmosphere.  Or it could go down there to send and receive for a particular amount of time, then return to us with any message if someone down there can send it.  Avoiding any use of eezo powered devices would be paramount, but I believe this is a way we can get through that veil whish seems to be causing the problem.”

Nodding his head to Jess, it was clear Morgan was impressed by Hayashi.  “Well, maybe that information could help with getting one of these Armatures down there.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Lucy left to ring up some other customers.

 

An Asari was seated at the bar a couple stools down from Keating. She had light blue skin and navy colored facial tattoos and light silvery blue grey eyes. She wore dark brown skin tight leather armor. One would think she'd wear black, but given the surroundings of Omega the tone of her leather gave away her profession to the trained eye. Her right brow was pierced and she wore a ring in it. She overheard the conversation Keating was having with Lucy. Goddess she doesn't know that Spectre?

 

"Hey you. Yeah, you," Unira leaned over and said. "Just a heads up. If you're thinkin' of f*cking with that Spectre, I'd advise against it. She and Aria go back a few decades before she was a Spectre. About 50 years ago, Aria needed some special work done and this Asari no one had ever seen before shows up. Real bad sh*t if you ask me. Next thing you know some heavies around Omega started disappearing. All clean and neat. They were just f*ckin' gone. And this Asari made regular visits ever since. I even heard it said that Aria put in a word for her with the Council. Aria pulls strings on the f*ckin' Citadel, can you believe that? So I'll tell you anything from Aria came in the form of 'Hey, I have something that needs to be taken care of, now.' And that Spectre came running because you don't keep the Queen of Omega waiting."

Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 27 avril 2015 - 04:20 .

[Cainhurst Crow]

Machaera stood at the entrance to the new batarian outpost, formerly the Brunfield Mining Facility on the planet Sanctum, with his arms crossed and looking up towards the skies as the Malleus Frigates descend towards the ground slowly, their longer frames and bulky hulls making it somewhat difficult as they kicked up dust and debris with their low thrusters. These frigates were a new kind of vessel, massive shield generators built upon the vessel to give it more powerful shields, capable of withstanding a significantly higher damage then most frigates. And a higher power supply towards the eezo core allowed it to become larger, while maintaining the maneuverability of a frigate. Then there was the fire power, comparable to any alliance cruiser, making ti ideal to use for blasting through defenses and punching their way to Garvugs surface.

 

He smirked as he approached the vessels, having ordered his current squad to wait here and keep this base secure. After all, he wouldn't want to loose such a useful refueling and outpost station. The frigates touched down at the captian of the three vessels stepped forth, Fay'yar noticing by the uniform that the man was of equal rank.

 

"Commander Fay'yar. I am Captain Vaith, of the Malleus Squadron. It's a pleasure to work with you." The man said as he tilted his head to the right, a breif frown forming on Machaera's face as he looked towards the man and returned the greeting, tilting his head to the left. 'So that's how this is going to go, huh?' he thought to himself. The tilting of ones head was important in batarian society, a tilt to the left was a sign of respect, a normal greeting among equals. A tilt to the right, was a greeting from someone of higher status to someone of lower status, the way a father might greet a child, a boss greet their employees, or a superior greet an underling.

 

"A pleasure indeed, Captain. Your vessels will do a fine job aiding me in this mission..." Machaera said as he looked up towards the vessels, curious of something as they began to walk towards the lead frigate, "These vessels are certainly a sight to behold. I take it they have some sort of unloading doors or drop points? Perhaps something for an Airdrop?"

 

"Oh yes, we do. Both for vehicle and personnel use..." Captain vaith said as Machaera smiled at this.

 

"That's an excellent piece of information to know, Captain Vaith. Now then, before we depart, there is a matter that must be addressed. A person of interest being collected from Illium, which should take no more then a day." Machaera said as vaith looked to him curiously.

 

"Person of interest? How odd..." The man said, though didn't seem very interested in prying further, "It is your operation, I suppose. A day would help us make the proper preparations anyway..." He man said as he walked off, leaving machaera by himself to shoot daggers at the man with his glare.

 

"Enjoy your time, Captain. Before you have a flight to catch..." He said darkly as he walked back into the outpost. he had his own preparations to make, and a vendetta to avenge.

 

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

 

Talza was nervous as he looked to the meeting address, then back up towards the building itself. He'd made contact with the quarian the day he arrived on Illium, following the dossiers instructions and had been told to meet at this location for a discrete meeting. The building he'd expected would be a warehouse, possibly some municipality abandonded by the planet where isolation would be easy to achieve.

 

Instead, he was staring up at a restaurant. A rather simple and plain restaurant, showing what looked like noodles going into a bowl with neon colored holograms, but a restaurant non-the-less. It was in the mid-districts as well, the midpoints where upper and lower illium meet, not the best neighborhood, but not the type of place you'd expect a meeting like this.

 

Talza was dressed in plain clothes, though wore shield generators underneath and a predator pistol on him, turning to look at the 5 others also in plain cloths. "Watch your backs. and one of you watch the doorway. I don't want anything sneaking in on us." Talza ordered before walking up the stairs leading to the entrance, 4 others following him.

 

He opened the door, finding a simple interior for the noodle house, a bar looking into the cooking area, a human preparing food at the back for a pair of salarians, both apparently drunk. The resturant itself was pretty abandonded, simple in interior but not anything high end. The seats for example were lamenant, made to look like wood. Same for the tables, fake wood to give some sort of aesthetic Talza couldn't figure out. The wood motif even extended to the eating utensils it seemed, two sticks provided to eat with.

 

And sitting near the middle of the resturant, before the two salarians, was a quarian in green exosuit, looking up towards the group who'd entered and waving them over. Talza gulped as he approached, the others following as Ren'Danna watched them come.

 

"Gentlemen. A pleasure to see you all here..." She said with a tilt of her head to the left, Talza returning the greeting as she motioned to a pulled out seat, just one, at the two person table. "Please, have a seat...there's so much for us to discuss." She said, though talza couldn't help but hear a slightly threatening tone in her voice. Talza prepared himself for the negotiations, the no doubt many minutes of double speak to do this simple deal, and took a seat.

 

"So then...Lt. Talza..." Ren said as she held a pair of chopsticks in his grasp, tapping them on the table lightly as she looked towards the man, her features hidden with her suits faceplate, "From what I gathered, your looking to buy my services. I'm curious, why me?" She asked bluntly, catching the man off guard.

 

"What?" Talza asked in surprise before catching himself, "I mean yes. We do." he ansewered swiftly, causing ren to chuckle lightly at the blunder, "Your knowledge of xenobiology and cybernetics is valuable to my...employer. He'd like to have you aboard for a long term engagement he plans." Talza said as ren set down her chopsticks.

 

"Alright. Sounds fair enough. Now then..." She said as she held out her hand, "Let's see it."

 

Talza looked to her blankly. And Ren sighed in frustration, "The credits..." she said, motioning with her fingers for him to hand her the chit, "Show me the credits."

 

Talza got it, miraculously, and handed the credit chit over. Ren took it, mutterin under her breath as she scanned it with her omnitool out in the open, as if not caring who saw it. After looking tot he scan results, she gave a digitized whistle, "Looks like you weren't lying, Lt. Talza. This is quite a lot of credits just to buy a quarian..." She said as she pocketed the chit, as per their arrangement.

 

"WEll, my employer thought you were worth it." Talza answered, sounding surpriesed by the statement. This was going much smoother then he'd thought, and much faster. And that was when he heard gasps from behind him, and the shoving of chairs as the light dimmed above him.

 

"You should call off your men. He's just moving away from you is all..." Ren said as Talza turned around, and found himsefl staring up at the geth body, its blue optic staring him down before it walked away. Talza was pale white as he slowly turned to look at ren, as Argo took its place at her side.

 

"You had that thing near me, that whole time?" Talza demanded, sounding shaken as ren laughed.

"Of course. You didn't think I'd meet you without an ace in the hole, did you?" She asked, as she closed her fingers together, grinning widely behind her mask, "Now then...let's talk about your employer...What's his name? What's he want me to address him as? And what's his interest in cybernetics?"

[Redbelle]

Jess nodded. "The new comm rig ought to be able to broadcast a message..... Anyone in a general area will hear it provided we land it on the right landmass..... Amy? Can you give me a list of places where the Jeniri might have landed? We'll drop an Armature in zones where we can hit as many landing zones as we can manage then bring it back up".

 

Jess sat back and ran the plan through  If Comm's can't through the screen in the atmosphere then the Armature should be able to bypass that screen by transmitting under the blanket. I'll have the techs setup a package for transmission. We want to get anyones attention down there and record anything they beam to the Armature".

[Kel Riever]

"Much of the planet is covered in a very dense jungle, Captain," Amy said, working her scanners.  "Eingana is the site of countless shipwrecks from ages past.  I am concerned that the Janiri did not have a choice about where it would put down.  As a result, Dahlia has provided me with a cross reference to the most likely paths of entry to the atmosphere.  This way we can do our best to predict not only possible landing zones, but paths along which we may find the Spectre's ship in the event that they pulled up short of their mark."

"How long until we have that work is complete?" Morgan asked.

"Normally, it would take some time," Amy answered.  "However, Dahlia is quite skilled in her work, and my prior experience is extensive in studying topography.  So with computer assistance, it should only take us fifteen to twenty minutes to come up with a prioritized list of enough zones where we can make our deployment of assets optimal.  We should do our best to hurry, as several large storm systems are in play across the planet and may interfere with our attempts if we aren't deploying within the next few hours."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Eingana - Finally!

 

The tech crew worked hard over the next few hours disconnecting the fiber optic cable from the archive, rolling it back on its spools and loading it back aboard the ship into its spot in the cargo bay. Ereba and Tallis went back inside, retracted the airstair, and sealed the airlock.

 

VERA got on the ship-wide intercom. “We are preparing to dust off in 15 minutes. It is highly recommended that everyone be seated in their safety seats with the seatbacks in a full upright position. Also please have your safety harnesses securely fastened. This flight will be without the use of inertial dampers or artificial gravity until we are out of Eingana’s inner atmosphere. It has been brought to our attention that some crew members may suffer from motion sickness. In this event, you will find space sickness bags in the pouch in front of you. Open it and place it securely around your mouth before expelling the contents of your stomach.

 

“We hope you have a pleasant flight and thank you for flying the CSV Janiri.”

 

Pilot Jorril fired the ship’s thrusters and the ship lifted off the planet surface. As it began its forward acceleration, the landing gear retracted and ship began its climb into the atmosphere.

 

“We’re headed for some chop,” Jorril warned the crew of approaching turbulence.

 

Several crew members had to reach for the bags in the pouches. Everyone had grown so accustomed to the mass effect fields and  inertial dampers taking care of such things, and the bags were a relic of the past. No one thought they’d ever be used again, but today they were glad they were there.

 

After about 20 minutes of flight the ship breached the eezo layer of the atmosphere, and kept climbing. Once at a safe altitude of 60 km, Commander Selani issued an order to engineering to activate the inertial dampers, artificial gravity, and mass effect drive core.

 

“Commander, I am picking up a signal from a probe. It is unusual,” VERA said. “The probe relayed telemetry about the planet’s atmosphere. That means it passed through the eezo layer and returned using chemical thrusters.”

 

“Activate long range sensors,” Selani ordered.
 

“I am picking up a ship on long range sensors. It is the Medusa,” VERA replied.

 

“Open a hailing frequency.” Selani ordered. “This is Commander Selani of the CSV Janiri. Put me through to Captain Stone.”

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul was reminded of orbital dropping when taking off, though the sensation of it going in reverse, gravity getting lighter after they broke the planets atmosphere, was quite strange.

 

Vayne looked pale and glassy eyed, a heavy frown on his face as he gave a sickly gurgle, "I hate this planet...I really do." He said, swallowing hard as he kept down his lunch.

[Kel Riever]

Previously...

Aboard the Khukuri, en route to The Lord...

Masud was the latest quartermaster aboard the Khukuri and had lasted three months, which was two months longer than his predecessor.  He stood behind both the frigate's turian pilot and Iyana, who was in the co-pilot's seat, her boots up on the console.  She leaned back, using her omni-tool.  The speed at which she worked was breathtaking to Masud, to the point of being frightening.

"Status update on my latest requests, Masud," Iyana said distantly.

"My superior, the colony reports that your Quantum Entanglement Communicators have arrived on schedule.  One is being installed immediately while the other is being stored as per your requests.  The gifts you have brought for Lord Tarballs are well taken care of, and await your attention as you see fit.  Lastly, we have received your new attire and devices in full order after our past rendezvous."

"The armor is everything I wanted?"

"It awaits only your inspection, but I stake my life on that it is as you have asked."

"Of course you do, Masud," Iyana remarked, still distant but now sounding colder. "Whatever makes an impression on the heart seems lovely in the eye.  And I take the impressions I leave on the heart very seriously indeed."

[Redbelle]

"Um.... Captain"?

 

Jess rolled her eye's as she heard Duncan call out from the comm station and ignored him. After a few moments Duncan called out again. "Captain"?

 

"Yes luv"?

 

"There's a.... um....".

 

"Spit it out luv".

 

"There's a message coming in from the Jeniri"?

 

Jess jerked out of her chair. "Open a channel to the Jeniri". A moment later a light lit up on her chair and Jess punched it. "This is the Kings and Queens free trade ship Medusa. Jeniri? That you? Where've you been hiding out? We've been looking all over for you".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Keating moved briskly through the streets of Omega. She drew the M-76 Revenant from her back, the gun extending to its actual length in her hands. It paid to be prepared, and she was damned sure that no one was going to take her by surprise. She was going to visit Afterlife first, and survey the damage that the bar had sustained during the attack. She would also ask around, and see if anyone saw anything that may be of use.

She saw a team of Turians surveying part of the damage to Omega, and she turned, walking towards them.

"Excuse me," she said loudly, quickly flashing her Spectre badge, "I am wondering if you can tell me anything about what happened here."

 

The tech team of Turians wore Paranth Corporation badges. They were taking measurements and filling out forms on datapads. They were unarmed. Above them on the steps up to Afterlife a couple of Batarians, obviously Aria's muscle, stood guard. Homeless people cleared out Keating's way and huddled as she approached the tech team.

 

"Whoa. Ma'am. Uh, can you point that thing in another direction?" the lead technician said. "Yeah, some terrorists came in and shot up the place. Did a lot of damage. We just got here a couple weeks ago. We're just a survey crew. When we get done, then the construction crews come in. That's all I got for you."

 

Moklan, one of the Batarians approached. "Why don't you put that thing away? You're scaring people, and we've had enough gunfire for a while," he said pointing at the Revenant. "Welcome to Omega, or what's left of it. Aria wants to know what brings another Spectre onto the station. So what brings you here?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Afterlife is closed for remodeling. This was where the main assault took place." Moklan replied. "As for the current situation? Aria arranged a contracts with four of the largest mining conglomerates in the galaxy to rebuild and retrofit this place in exchange for mining rights in this cluster. Aria calls the finished project the 'Crown Jewel' of the Terminus. That's the current situation..., Spectre."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Um.... Captain"?

 

Jess rolled her eye's as she heard Duncan call out from the comm station and ignored him. After a few moments Duncan called out again. "Captain"?

 

"Yes luv"?

 

"There's a.... um....".

 

"Spit it out luv".

 

"There's a message coming in from the Jeniri"?

 

Jess jerked out of her chair. "Open a channel to the Jeniri". A moment later a light lit up on her chair and Jess punched it. "This is the Kings and Queens free trade ship Medusa. Jeniri? That you? Where've you been hiding out? We've been looking all over for you".

 

"Captain Stone? This is Commander Selani. We had difficulty scanning the planet, and were looking for someone who was planetside. We made the mistake of entering the atmosphere, took damage and crash landed," she said and paused a moment. "Let me notify Spectre T'sarius."

 

Naleena had finished gathering the papers that had fallen to the floor during the take off when the light on her comm lit.

 

"This is Selani. I have Captain Stone on short range comm."

 

"Put her through," Naleena replied and took a seat. "Jess, it's good you got here. And good to know you didn't try landing. That planet is dangerous, but the trip was worth it. We may have struck the mother lode. Why don't you come aboard and we'll have drinks? Bring Morgan with you. And have you seen Anika anywhere?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"If I were to make an educated guess, it would have been from the part that broke off. That was the conclusion of Spectre T'sarius," Moklan replied. "Anyway, there's nothing left of that part of the station. T'sarius set off two anti-matter bombs nearby it for sterilization. Then the rest of it was towed into the asteroid belt. No power, no atmosphere, nothing."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"You know there are 8 million people on this station. Maybe a handful escaped. How are you going to tell the difference between these few and the rest of the people?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"I see... so what is your criteria? If someone looks suspicious to you? What will you do to them? What if they've done nothing but look suspicious? Someone may have just stolen some food and they'll act suspicious. And suppose the people you're after didn't have any formal military training? If you're only looking for those who've had military training you'll miss them. Do you see what I'm saying?" Moklan said wrinkling his forehead and tilting his head to the right. "But hey, if you want to waste your time looking around be my guest. There's hundreds of new faces in this area alone. Part of the rebuilding effort. They're hiring a lot of the locals to do the work. In fact, that was part of the agreement. Local hires to do the work to bring money into Omega. Eldfell-Ashland Energy, Parnath Industries, Anotaria Industries, and Elkoss Combine. They have ships docked at terminal."

[Redbelle]

"Captain Stone? This is Commander Selani. We had difficulty scanning the planet, and were looking for someone who was planetside. We made the mistake of entering the atmosphere, took damage and crash landed," she said and paused a moment. "Let me notify Spectre T'sarius."

 

Naleena had finished gathering the papers that had fallen to the floor during the take off when the light on her comm lit.

 

"This is Selani. I have Captain Stone on short range comm."

 

"Put her through," Naleena replied and took a seat. "Jess, it's good you got here. And good to know you didn't try landing. That planet is dangerous, but the trip was worth it. We may have struck the mother lode. Why don't you come aboard and we'll have drinks? Bring Morgan with you. And have you seen Anika anywhere?"

Jess smiled. "Anika's with us luv. Turns out she got in the middle of a situation involving a terrorist cell on the Citadel. Saved one of my assets there and picked up a motherload of armour. We're pulling one apart to see what was going on. Was going to send one down to see if we could make contact with you. Glad your okay luv. We'll hop on over, then we can share the juciy gossip on what we've been up to. Good to know your okay Jeniri. Medusa out".

 

Jess tipped her head to Duncan who ended the transmission. "Say luv". She said to him as she settled back in her chair. Any word from the Citadel? Any updates to Yeli and her Cell"?

 

"No Captain.... There was an announcement that the Citadel raising it's docking fee's but that's all".

 

Jess sighed. "How much is it going to cost to dock there now"?

 

"They didn't say".

 

"How much does the extranet report their charging"?

 

"Ummmmm.....". Duncan checked and raised both eyebrows in surprise. "It doesn't give a figure....".

 

"Strange.... Captains ought to be belly aching over the rising costs".

 

"There are complaints..... But no one's saying how much the new fee's are".

 

"Keep checking luv. I want to know how big a hole docking at the Citadels going to cost us the next time we head there".

 

"Aye Cap'n".

 

Jess nestled into her chair as she reached to alert the hanger they'd need a shuttle. 'Strange about the Citadel', she thought. Then she shruged it off. There was nothing she could do now aside from pull those who needed to head over to the Jeniri off their assignments and head over. Morgan, Anika..... Probably Molly as well since Naleena had brought her onto the ever swelling Keeper team. That was one thing Jess needed to discuss. With the Keeper's gone, as much as she liked flying around with pseuo authority from the council, she had overheads to keep in line. And Morgans family to pull out of Iyana's path should she ever go on another rampage.

 

Jess sighed. "Things to do". She said to herself as she commed Molly first.

[TheMajonese]

With distrust Ruyak watched how Keating left the Flaming Fury. So another spectre on Omega...I should keep an eye on her. With a sigh he turned to the bar. The krogan had hoped that after the assault on the Afterlife things could get back to as they were before. But too much had happened in the past year, Ruyak took over the Flaming Fury, he found Jona in a hospital, Arian disappeared and returned to Omega a few months later just to tell Ruyak that his own wife had tried to kill him. And then there was this cult on Omega, a spectre and her crew appeared, there was an attack on the station by the surviving cultists which left the Afterlife as ruin, the station was crowded with now homeless people and it was a miracle that there hadn't been any riots against Aria. And now another spectre just arrived.

 

Ruyak usually knew what was happening on Omega but at the moment it seemed that there was more going on than he could understand and the one thing he hated most, was being left in the dark. It was necessary that he was doing something, even if it meant to contact a few people that he had expected to never hear from again. 

 

Lost in thought he headed back to the bar and found Jona behind it, doing her job and giving out drinks for the many guests. She was having a conversation with the turian who had won the fight against her and Ruyak knew that the two got along well with each other, despite their rivalry. Now that the bleeding had stopped, Jona was now wearing a blue and white coloured headscarf to cover the wound.

 

"Hey Jona!", the krogan approached her, interrupting their conversation. "I have to deal with a few things so I'll be gone for a few hours. You'll have an eye on things here?"

 

The young woman nodded and Ruyak could see the frustration in her face. "That spectre already left?", she wanted to know.

 

Of course Jona asked for the spectre and Ruyak hated to disappoint her. He just nodded with a shrug, before he turned around and left the bar. 

[Kel Riever]

"Molly here."

"Is that Handsome, or is Honey Bee calling you direct?"

Molly glanced suspiciously at Miss Priss while she listened to Jess on the other end of the com.

"If it's the second, don't tell her I'm here," Miss Priss kept whispering.  "In fact, don't tell 'em either one of 'em.  One'll just let the other know."

"Right," Molly said to both Jess and Priss at once.  Then just to Jess, "Yes, thank you.  I have to get back to the Janiri and would love to be along for the ride."

Miss Priss stifled a giggle.  After getting herself under control in the next second, she said, "That's good.  I'll be free to find Babe without having to worry about the Captain finding me."

"Why would you be worried about that?" Molly blurted to Miss Priss.

The cowgirl in pink looked shocked and put a finger to her lips.

"No, sorry Jess, I didn't mean you.  There's a, uh, one of your crew was just passing by.  I'll meet you in the hangar, pronto."

Miss Priss winked at Molly, smiled, and trotted off down the passageway.

[Redbelle]

Calling Anika and Morgan, Jess then checked that the shuttle they'd been planning to use to go down to the planet was ready and able to ferry them over to the Jeniri. Hearing the affirmatives Jess then called Dahlia over.

 

"Looks like your in charge again luv. Keep the homefire burning till I'm back. Nothing much going on right now except those Armature redesigns. Keep them switched off though. We pulled the cores and data modules out of one and found them laced with anti hack and theft software. The rest are having every core pulled. We're going to have to install new hardware to make sure when we turn them on we don't have them go Zulu on the crew.". Jess scratched the back of her neck. "The new cockpit fabrications should be done soon to so we'll have to map out new software to allow for living operators..... Haven't had time to develop that yet. Anyhow. Keep pace with the Jeniri and I'll be back when I can".

 

Jess gave Dahlia a slap on her back and headed for the hanger.

[Kel Riever]

As the shuttle from the Medusa launched with Morgan, Jess, Anika and Molly onboard, destination Janiri, a quiet had settled in the passenger area where the ex-shadow broker and the C-Sec detective were seated.  Anika and Jess were up in the cockpit, so the only other company for Molly and Morgan was the little bird Tarus who was comfortable on Jess' shoulder until she'd boarded the shuttle, after which it preened itself on Morgan.  The bird made occasional sounds of contentment, but seemed to keep a wary eye on Molly.

Several minutes passed with nothing between Molly and Morgan, until Molly broke the quiet with a curl of her lip under the beauty mark and said, "Your brother is a fan of comics, it seems."

Morgan snorted a laugh.  "Fan, or do you mean cult member.  He would be insulted if you called him anything less."

Hagen smiled.  "I never told him but that's what I grew up on.  Pretty idealistic stuff.  Got me into this job."

"But you don't have any super powers," Morgan queried, "Unless you're keeping them a secret?"

"You're onto me," Molly chuckled, then more quietly she said, "From what I've seen around here, I'm the only one who hasn't been granted powers of might, mind or spirit."

Morgan felt that he knew where the detective was coming from, but he disagreed, "You found me, didn't you?  You've got the power to raise people from the dead."

That caught Molly off guard and she cackled loud enough for everyone to hear.  Embarassed, she pulled the lip balm from her coat pocket and applied some.  "I like your family Morgan.  And the great thing about them is each one is different."

For a bit, Molly caught Morgan up on his family, from what she'd seen, and the interviews she'd conducted.  As she did, Morgan visibly warmed, and he couldn't help but have at least a small, silly grin on his face.  When she was done, he distracted himself from staring at her until he was ready to speak again.

"Do you think Iyana has family?" Morgan inquired.

The question took Molly off guard, and she fumbled for an answer at first. "I...I never thought about it.  Probably not traceable.  But I feel...it has to have happened to her young."

"What happened to her young?"

"No, I don't mean I know anything about it," Molly answered.  "But I see criminals and I often think about how their lives could have been different if someone had gotten to them when they were young.  That isn't true of course; a good upbringing hasn't made people turning bad foolproof.  But I do mean the people with problems that go beyond bad behavior.  The real problems.  The ones that turn someone like her out."

Morgan cleared his throat.  "I don't really think there is anyone out there like her."

"Maybe not," Molly contemplated.  "Maybe not with all of that ludicrous power she has.  And maybe that is part of the problem.  She couldn't have gotten to where she is without it.  But, without understanding who was around her and when, I can't help but think about how someone could have intervened with her, could have stopped whatever she did from occurring."

"Does it matter, now?"  Morgan asked.

Molly shook her head, more as if to say 'I don't know' than 'no'.  "Not when lives are on the line.  None of this excuses justice.  But that's justice now.  Justice after what has happened.  How could it have gotten so far with someone like her?"

"You think she had to have help."

Molly nodded her head.  "Part of the long list of things to try and find out.  The idea is to provide answers we can make use of."

"Another of your super powers, detective?  Finding things out?"

With a wide, happy expression, Molly replied, "Guess so!"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena prepared her quarters to receive guests. That meant running the air recycler on overdrive, changing the bed, picking up the dirty glasses, finishing whatever was in them along the way and putting them in the dumb-waiter, and putting out clean ashtrays. Maintenance came in, vacuumed, and dusted. She took out a bottle of the not-sweet Ambrosia from Nevos, cigars, cigarettes, and five clean tumblers.

 

She got on the intercom. "Commander. I'm expecting guests from the Medusa. Would you ask Anika to escort them to the penthouse."

 

"Aye-aye, Ma'am."

[Cknarf]

"Frank?"

 

"VERA?"

 

"Your application has been approved."

 

"Application?" Frank asked, as he rolled one of the Mako's rear wheels aside. "What application?"

 

"You have been granted access to engineering."

 

"No sh*t?"

 

"No sh*t."

 

"Since when?"

 

"Several hours prior to our departure from Eingana."

 

Frank just shook his head.

 

Pfft. Perfect timing.

 

"Thanks for the heads up, VERA. I'll check it out when I get the time."  He slid his goggles down over his eyes, and began inspecting one of the tank's thrusters.

 

"Eli, your parts are ready." Septerax came over his omni-tool.

 

Frank smirked.

 

Awwwww yeeeeaaaahh.

 

"I'll be right there." He replied, sliding back out from under the tank. "VERA?"

 

"Yes, Frank?"

 

"I'd like an update on the wounded."

 

"It has been less than twenty minutes since your last request. Nothing has changed."

 

"Thank you, VERA."

 

Frank left to meet Septerax.  The M-35 was about to get a much needed upgrade.

[Redbelle]

Jess flew the shuttle herself with Anika riding shotgun in the cockpit. "Sooooo, about your girlfriend.....".

 

Anika sat in the seat next to her studying the shuttles approach. She waited for Jess to continue. When she didn't she looked over. "We're doing this now"?

 

"Have you thought about this relationship"?

 

Anika shifted in her chair. "Of course I have".

 

"Not her. Have you thought about how your going to make it work? The Medusa won't always be following the Jeniri around and when we part ways I need my big gun on board".

 

"So I'm your big gun huh"?

 

Jess's eye's slid over to her before fixing back on the approach window. "I need you with me. We're going to be heading out to pick up Morgans family. Don't tell anyone I said that. Iyana may go after them so we're picking them up first before she twigs Morgans still alive".

 

"Won't picking them up tip her off"?

 

"Probably. But by then they'll be off the table as a lever to move him. I need you".

 

"So your saying I don't have a choice"?

 

Jess sighed. "I'm saying you do..... But.... alright girl fess up. Do you still want to be on the Medusa"?

 

"I..... yes but.....".

 

"Do you want to be on the Jeniri more than the Medusa"?

 

"That's not fair".

 

"No it isn't. But this isn't about fair. It's about you. You have a future and choices to make and you need to figure out which way to turn when you face a crossroad. Let me put it another way..... Who do you want to be with more? Naleena or me"? Anika fell silent and Jess pushed. "Because I'm telling you I need you. Your work is with me. Your future may be Naleena but your work is going to keep you separate. I'm not pushing, but I need you to realize the pressures that are going to come from your choices. I'm still your Captain, and your friend. I'm just looking out for you".

 

"I'll talk to Nally. I can't decide alone".

 

Jess smiled. "Good call".

[Kel Riever]

Landing aboard the Janiri was no novice feat, as the deck was tightly packed.  The good news was Captain Stone was an expert, and there were several impressed crew as the shuttle squeezed comfortably into the designated landing area without needing one pause for correction.  When Jess, Morgan, Anika and Molly disembarked, Septerax was there to greet them and was about to inform them where they were going.  But it seemed Anika already knew.

Molly said, "I might be wrong but I don't think the Spectre needs me.  Or if she does, say so and I'll be up there in no time at all.  Where I want to go is someplace where I can talk to that computer in private and get some things rolling."

"The computer?" Morgan asked, then realized what Hagen was talking about.  "You mean VERA."

"Yeah....," Molly answered.  "That computer you call VERA."

Morgan raised an eyebrow as Molly waved to the other three of her group and walked briskly away.

~ ~ ~ ~

Moments later, Molly was in a lounge, which was courteously emptied by the two asari Commandos twins there who had to report back to duty anyway.  Molly pulled over one of the computer interfaces and began typing furiously.

"Detective Hagen, welcome back,"  VERA's voice warmly spoke from speakers above.

Molly paused, looked up, and said.  "Thanks.  Not that hearing disembodied voices that aren't supposed to think doesn't freak me out at all."

"Your language, I notice, relies heavily on the repeated use of negatives."  VERA suddenly appeared, in holographic form, sitting at the edge of the desk Molly was working at, in a business suit, with a cigarette in her hands.  "Is there a reason you do not make your sentences shorter and more efficient?"

Jumping from the sudden appearance, Molly looked up at VERA.  "Honestly, that freaks me out even more."  She forced herself to stare at the display in front of her. 

"I want you to understand, Detective Hagen, that I am using every capacity I have to make our relationship an amicable one."

Molly stopped dead in her tracks, turned, and stared at VERA.  It took her a few seconds to speak, but she said, "You have to be kidding me.  Are you insinuating that I hurt your feelings?"

VERA was the one to pause in response then.  When she did, nearly a minute later, she stated, "Despite a thorough audit of my higher function systems, I have come to the conclusion that there are no feelings present to have their capacities diminished."

"Bulls**t," Molly said, "You're giant computer brain with all it's insane resources just spent how much time reacting to what I said and trying to figure it out?"

"I admit, the time was substantial given my processing capabilities."  VERA then took a drag on her cigarette.

"What was that?" Molly said, in even more shock.

"To what do you refer, detective?"

"That!  That cigarette drag.  You just did something to comfort yourself from the difficulty of the conversation didn't you?"

"Detective, I am simply providing an animated display to put your emotions at ease, nothing more than that."

Hagen looked back at the screen, then her face snapped back to VERA.  "Holy s**t, you just lied!"

VERA shifted her position, to cross her legs in the opposite direction.

Hagen added, "And your face turned red!"

"Really detective," VERA said, clearing her throat, "Your conversation is not making any sense."

Molly squinted.  "I bet you've been examining how humans react and it's gotten into your systems.  So now, you have involuntary reactions, for lack of better words.  I swear, this is absolutely crazy, but I know when someone is lying to me VERA.  Even if they are a computer!"

There was silence.  Hagen was waiting for some sort of reaction, but none came, until several minutes later, VERA said, "There is a reason you are here, detective.  Shall we get to work?"

"Sure VERA.  I have several investigations I want to conduct using your capacities.  This would work best if I could sit here and use you, but even if I can't, you can collect information in a way I could not.  So I'm going to start several topics for you to gather data on, from wherever you can, following all standard protocols.  I can't order you to into systems for which there is no clearance, but I suspect working with the Spectre, you have fairly high authorization.  So here we go."  Molly started typing away at the light keyboard in front of her.

"Detective, that is the second time you called me VERA."

Molly paused, "I suppose it is.  What do you make of that?"

"Progress."
 

[Kel Riever]

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

The partition separated, and Jenus came in, next to Iole's bed in med-bay.  Like Iole, Jesus was garbed in a close fitting white patient's outfit.  She took one uncertain step, limping momentarily before correcting and coming just outside of arms' reach to her team mate. 

"The doctor's outside," Jenus said, "Just in case I get out of control, he'll put me down."

"Are you sure he should only be keeping an eye on you?"

Jenus sighed.  She reached down to her hip and patted it lightly.  "I'm still getting used to the degradable mesh that's wrapping my pelvis.  Tollus noticed you put a hairline fracture completely through one part of it.  Says if I didn't have such a thick crest, that I'd have noticed the pain even with the medigel working.  So, nice shot."

"I don't think it beats a skull fracture, so I suppose you won."

Jenus looked pale for a moment.  "I should never have done what I did, Iole.  I'm sorry."

"We both are, I know.  Jenus..."

"I'm not letting you take the blame for this.  I pushed you and I deserve to take the punishment."

Iole shook her head.  "You know, Mira's gone, right?  We're it now.  I mean there's Tallis and the new add, but I'm talking you and me.  We're just, different, but I think there's something we both want.  We want this to work, to be able to handle it.  You can't take whatever gets delivered down to us by yourself.  That's more of the same.  We need to work through this like the...I mean we're more than friends.  Like the sisters we are.  We're ugly together sometimes.  But there's something we have together, and letting that ugly get in the way is a mistake even when it didn't come to this thing that we did to each other.  Mira's going to be gone a long time, Jenus, and I want to work it out with you."

With a shaky look, Jenus said, "I never had to deal with this before."

"But you don't have to try so hard, either, if...I can say so.  We know you, I know you, and...you know I lied about you to myself.  I said I don't trust you and I think I do.  I just, you know I have to learn how to cope."

"Us both."

Iole nodded, then said, "Come closer."

Jenus moved up to the bed and Iole took her hand.

"First, call me Goldie again," Iole said with a smile.  "Second, I'm going to be there for you no matter what happened.  I've got your back, I'm sorry I doubted you, and you aren't going to go through anything alone."