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[Kel Riever]

So Iole and Jenus talked, without too many words, but with a volume of understanding.  When Jenus finally got around to telling Iole that Naleena wanted to know what the two of them would come up with for disciplinary action, Iole shrugged her shoulders.

"I suppose throwing another party is out of the question."

"Goldie, always with the humor."

Iole thought for a moment.  "I really don't know.  By the book, I presume, isn't what she wants to hear, otherwise she'd have done that.  I also don't think she'd let us off the hook without anything, although I bet we all know there isn't much more physical punishment you or I could suffer.  So that leaves what we could do that would be useful."

"Useful, how?"

With a shrug, Iole said, "If I were Mira, I'd start with thinking about how we could do something that would send the message that this was all over.  So first we'd do it together.  And second, we'd do it in a way that showed everyone that our difficulties were long behind us."

"You have something in mind, Goldie?"

"Maybe," Iole pondered, "Maybe and I have an idea who we could answer to while we complete our task."

[Kel Riever]

"The boss is wondering why you did not go with the others to the 'penthouse'," VERA said, after Molly had finished entering her preliminary list of topics.   "She set out a tumbler for you."

"A..what?"  Molly was confused.  She didn't think she was supposed to be part of the meeting, but then shrugged.  "I don't know, maybe they have some questions for me.  When I'm done, VERA, I've got a few second tier tasks to get into with you."

"You betcha, detective."

Hagen cast one glance over her shoulder at VERA who was taking a drag and gave her a wink.  Molly headed for Naleena's cabin as quickly as possible.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Janiri – Naleena’s Quarters.

 

Naleena heard a knock on the door. “It’s open.”

 

Jess, Morgan, and Anika entered.

 

“Where’s Molly?”

 

VERA appeared on her terminal. “Detective Hagen is attempting to enter data in the private observation room. Would you like me to nudge her your way?”

 

“Yes, would you please do that?” Naleena asked.

 

“Consider it done, boss.” VERA said.

 

“And tell Commander Selani and inform the Medusa to set course for the Sahrabarik (Omega) System.”

 

“Aye aye, Ma’am.”

 

Naleena glanced sideways at VERA’s terminal momentarily, shook her head, and turned her attention back to her guests. “Please, come in. Sit down. Pour yourself a drink. Have a cigar. There’s a lot to tell you….”

[Kel Riever]

Molly hurried to the elevator for the top deck of the Janiri, where Naleena's quarters were.  Riding it up, she was thinking about her investigation, wondering what the Spectre might specifically want to know, and worried if there was some development with her C-Sec status.  When she exited the lift, she saw two asari in white med patient outfits about to knock on the door.

"Sorry," Molly apologized, "I didn't know there was another meeting first."

The golden eyed asari and her companion with purple facial markings glanced at each other.  "We didn't know there was a meeting at all," the golden eyed one said.

"Oh, well, no worry at all."  Molly knocked on the Spectre's door.  "We'll figure it out."

The door to Naleena's quarters opened, and Molly waited until the asari insisted she go first, at which point Molly went in.  She fumbled with her coat, put some lip balm on, and sat down in a corner, nearest Anika but really far from most everyone.

Iole and Jenus peered in and Iole said, "Our apologies, Spectre.  We didn't realize you were conducting business."

"We'll come back when you aren't busy," Jenus added.  Both Iole and Jenus then left and the door closed.

Morgan sat next to Jess, looking quite a bit different and much more comfortable in his new outfit.  He rolled up the sleeves on his shirt, and offered to pour drinks for anyone who wanted one.  When he was done, he took one of the cigars, cut it, and lit it.  Morgan's mind went to the asari and he couldn't help but mention to Jess, "I bet those two Commandos would do a hell of a job training people."  Then he joked, "We should pick up a few for the ship next time we get the chance."

Molly didn't take up a drink nor did she smoke.  She then said, "I'm sure you all want to get on with whatever you usually talk about.  You could go ahead and ask me anything, then have me leave for whatever else you have to discuss."  Hagen felt out of place, and blew a few strands of hair that always seemed to fall in front of her face.  

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Morgan, perhaps you should approach them with the idea. Commandos work in pairs, and it's important to have a compatible pairing. You'll have to find some who are mustering out of the Asari Navy, and want a job in the private sector. They won't be cheap, but they will be the best, and that I can guarantee. One fire team on the Medusa might have prevented Iyana from taking over," Naleena said. "Jess, you remember Mira on the train, and just when you thought they'd surrendered she blew the car. Anyway, I want to tell you more about Eingana."

 

Naleena cut her cigar, and lit it. She picked up her tumbler of ambrosia and took a drink. ".... To our surprise, we ran into a tribe of real Protheans. Apparently there are a few thousand of them, but they're primitives now. Their tech broke down and they didn't know how to build more. VERA hypothesized that was what happened when the warrior caste dominated their society. Still the fact that they survived indicates that even the reapers can't scan that world.

 

"We discovered an Inusannon archive with Prothean data attached to it. Eingana apparently was supposed to be settled, but after their war with the Tho'ians there was too much free eezo in the environment. Council Law states that all Prothean Archives need to be logged and shared. Now that we know how to enter the atmosphere, I considered using this as a secret base for our own operations, but there's the communication problem. So far VERA has not come up with a solution."

 

"That is not entirely correct, boss. There are solutions, just not practical ones," VERA replied. "It is that if you were to use any one of them, you would no longer have a secret base."

 

"So we might as well inform The Council. Besides, they might learn something." Naleena scoffed.

[Kel Riever]

Previously...

...somewhere in The Phoenix Massing, en route to The Lord

Pale blue eyes stared out of the polarizing main cockpit window at the gold and blue nebula beyond.  Gaunt strands of white hair framed the snowy skinned, doll like face that held those scrutinizing eyes, the visage showing no emotion save an occasional blink from a long lashed eyelid.  The occasional sounds from behind, within the Mammoth class shuttle's hold, were electronic monitoring signals, soft clicks from ceramic or alloy boots, and infrequently a long, low, rumbling, animalistic growl.  None of the noise distracted the eyes from what they focused on, and eventually they moved to view a distant construction of ancient design, a Mass Effect Relay.

The sounds were interrupted by an efficient voice that came over the com.  "My superior, all is in order.  The Khukuri will not follow you on your journey through the Relay.  Is there anything you require before you depart?"

"Require?" Iyana asked, as if broken out of a reverie.  "I require much, but nothing more from you or the Khukuri for now.  Follow my instructions, maintain control, earn my admiration."

"Yes, my superior.  We shall, as we always will."

Iyana waited a moment longer, her eyes never sharing the secrets of what they saw.  Then she cut the com link, turned to the pilot sitting nearby, and said, "You will surrender control of this vessel upon our rendezvous with our contact.  Now take us through, and prepare for our trip into Alliance space."

The pilot nodded silently, and engaged the thrusters.


 

[Redbelle]

Jess scooped up her's and Anika's tumblers, handing one off to Anika who took it and then stood awkwardly as Jess took a seat.

 

In all the company she turned to look at Naleena, suddenly unsure how to address her in front of others in the semi formal environment. She considered saying nothing, but brushed that off as being to cold. She then considered throwing caution to the wind, striding forward and embracing her but throw that aside as being to flamboyant. She then considered approaching her and tripping on something to splash her drink down her front and taking her to the bathroom to get some personal time alone..... From cold, to flamboyant, to completely ridiculous.....

 

Finally she settled on smiling. "Hello". She said to Naleena before an uncharacteristic shyness took her over, her head bowed to examine her drink and she retreated to sit on one of the seats.

[Kel Riever]

Molly watched Anika, doing her best to hide a pained expression.  Anika looked like a giant, beautiful child, so awkward it was like nails on a chalkboard for Molly.  It might have had something to do with watching the giantess in white lay everything low in front of her then become this uncomfortable, or it might have just been because she felt so bad for whatever Anika was going through.

Long distance relationship.  Trying to work it out.

“So!” Molly interrupted, and moved up to a seat closer to everyone.  “Before we get into this whole deep conversation about, well, hey Protheans now- why not?  AI, Protheans, you know, things that I believe you all bring up just to destroy my sanity….Before we get into all that, let me tell you a funny story.”

Molly then launched into what nobody there had known yet, at least not in detail, about her foibles with Anika.  It started with the quick bit about how Hagen had ‘broken’ Anika’s fall as she was flung out of the room by Yeli’s biotic attack.  “You’d think Anika would be hurt, with the dent in her side.  But noooo….who gets to be her bubble wrap?”  There were a few solicited chuckles.  Then Molly hit it in stride, going about her whole blown investigation into the ‘bad guys’, which of course was everyone present, about how she got punched out by Aria herself, and then ended up chasing Anika in a complete circle on Omega, thinking she was going to ‘save’ her, only to watch Anika level countless people and leave Molly stranded up on a rooftop, with nothing better to do than to cry silent tears of exhaustion and disbelief.  And of course to give one more knockout blow to an over enthusiastic drell who then wanted Molly to be their ‘queen.’

Hagen herself was laughing by that point, but the stories and the way they were told were literally side bursting.  “That’s when I knew,” Molly said, “I was on the tail of someone special.  Nothing put the humility on me better than following this awesome woman around.”  She grabbed a tumbler and quickly splashed a bit of ambrosia into it (purposely a bit messily).  Molly raised her glass and made a toast, “To the best chase I’ve ever had in my career.  Oh, and by the way, a quick announcement: I’m retiring tomorrow.  This job did me in.” 

“Here, here,” Morgan clinked Molly’s glass in return, coming down from his own laughter.  “And sorry to hear about your early retirement.  Maybe you can take up coaching a track team.  Not boxing, though, please.  Leave that to the professionals.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

“Retiring?” Naleena laughed. “I think not. I have my claws in you for another year. That was the arrangement with C-sec. Unless that was a joke, or unless you can give me a really good reason why you need to retire. You’ve done an admirable job from what I’ve seen, it would be a real shame if you were to just up and leave. And there is so much left to do.”

 

VERA popped up, standing, leaning against the doorway, she lit her cigarette with a match and tossed it aside, then took a drag off it, blew the smoke out straight, and held the cigarette between the middle and index finger of her right hand. “And besides, the detective said she had some second tier tasks she wished to get into with me.”

 

“See, even VERA doesn’t want you to leave,” Naleena said.

[Kel Riever]

"Right," Molly said, making it obvious she was joking.  "I forgot, it's my job to chase Anika all over the place.  But I'm going to ask you to increase my medical coverage, Spectre."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul sat in the mess hall area, a cup of what humans refereed to as coffee in his hand as he took a sip. He enjoyed quiet moments alone, with something nice and refreshing to drink. He took a sip and frowned, standing up and walking back towards the condiments area, and getting a few packets of sugar. These sorts of luxuries were things he could definetly get used to.

 

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

 

Vayne had wanted to take a nap, but couldn't, the events of what occurred on Eingana keeping his mind from letting it go. There'd been a lot of implications down on that planet, a lot the krogan didn't like dealing with. It added another piece of the reaper puzzle, but also gave another piece of evidence that they were real. Collectors he could deal with, reapers weren't. A race of bugs who hide behind a mass relay and had nefarious intents? Cool, shoot em. A race of super intelligent machine gods who wipe out all life in the galaxy? That wasn't something you could just aim a gun and shoot at.

 

Irritatingly, vayne opened his omnitool and tried to browse the extranet, the signal somewhat slow with their distance from the comm buoy. He'd take the slow speed over none though, which would be what it was when they made the warp jump.

 

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

 

"So this is your base..." Ren'Danna asked as she glanced around the outpost on santum, frowning behind her mask as Machaera stood to her left, and with a nod of his head, "A temporary facility, but a secure one. I trust your flight here wasn't too rough?"

 

"Your soldiers were nice and quiet the whole way, exactly how I like it." She said as Argo stood to her right, staring at anything as he towered over most of those present. "I'll need a proper lab to work, and equipment of course."

 

"We're in the process of obtaining those now.." He said with a grin on his face, "Trust me, you'll have everything you need to complete your work."

 

"Commander Fay'yar..." A voice cut in, machaera's grin dropping as he turned around to see Captain Vaith approaching, a few of his men accompanying him, "Is this the person you had us wait to recruit?"

 

"Ren'Danna Vas Nedas. A pleasure to make your acquaintance..." The quarian said with a nod of her head to the left, a greeting that did not go returned as Vaith glared at the girl, "I had thought you were collecting someone of interest to our mission..."

 

"She is, of interest to our mission. Captain Vaith. In fact..." Machaera said as he glanced over towards her with a grin, "She may prove invaluable in thsi coming operation." Ren'Danna stared at Machaera in silence, looking back towards vaith as he spoke, sounding more then irritated.

 

"And what, pray tell, could she possibly bring?" Vaith asked as he motioned to Ren'danna, treating her as if she weren't even present.

 

"A skilled technician and an expert in cybernetics? I imagine her skills could be handy if some of our shock-troopers get injured. Or if we run into any programming errors that need solving. After all, Medigel can only heal the organic material of our body...not the synthetic ones. Isn't that right, Captain Vaith?" There was an edge to Machaera's voice as he spoke, a sharpness of his robotic eyes as they bore into Vaiths organic ones, the later glaring as well before he scoffed.

 

"You'd best remember whose in charge here, Machaera...." He said before he turned around to walk towards his ships, leaving Machaera to stand in silence a moment.

 

"So...you don't want them knowing the real reason I'm here?" Ren asked as Machaera turned to look towards her, sending a small glare her way before he grinned.

 

"No...I'm afraid that's information they simply need not know..." The batarian said before he glanced towards Argo, "Tell me, that robot of yours...how good are its stealth systems?"

 

"And why do you want to know?" Ren asked, intriugied as she waited for her new employer to respond. So far, he was doing everything right by her books.

 

"Because..." Machaera said as he looked towards the geth platform, "I want to know how easy it'd be to sneak him aboard a ship..."

[Cknarf]

"Son of a b*itch." Frank grunted, as he helped Septerax move a section of the M-35's armor to the side. "Sh*t's heavy..."

 

"Perhaps you should have changed?" Septerax replied, sounding a bit strained himself.

 

"I don't need no... stinkin'... powered armor... to--"  The armored panel slammed to the deck on Frank's end. "F*** it! That's... good enough." He straightened out, and rubbed at his lower back. "Shiiiiiiiit."

 

"Are you okay, Eli?"

 

"Yeah, I'm good." Frank hopped up on one of the Mako's detached wheels. "Just gonna... take five, or somethin'."  He pulled his goggles down, and let himself fall back, with his arms out to his side. "I'll call you when I'm ready to refit this stuff."

 

"You know where to find me." Septerax left.

 

Frank drifted off.

[Kel Riever]

..on board the Medusa

"Ain't seen her at all?"

"Nope"

"Not <HISS> at all."

Miss Priss was a persistent person, but even she was getting fed up.  "I'm gonna eat my war bonnet soon if I can't find that woman.  Doesn't anybody else find it strange I can look up and down this ship all I want, and search every room twice, well minus one, and come up empty handed?"

Mister Charles nodded his narrow chin.  "I don't know what to tell you.  Maybe there's a reason?  See if you can't ask the Captain again?"

"She's over on that other ship," Miss Priss replied, frustrated and curling her mouth into a pretty twist.  "I'm gonna see what that lovely asari has to say about it all."

With that, Miss Priss left Miss Dila and Mister Charles in their cabin where she'd stopped by to talk to them.  Priss returned to the bridge, where she'd last been just before Jess had shown up.  Dahlia sat in the captain's chair, focusing on a monitor but otherwise looking relaxed.

Priss didn't ask permission to enter the bridge, but she did stop to take in the violet eyed asari.  Dahlia was very pretty, if not perhaps with a bit of an edge about her.  There was something clear to Priss that Morgan liked about Dahlia and it went beyond her looks.  The prostitute didn't quite know how to place it, so settled with 'promising' as the only word that could come close.  She then stepped up to the captain's chair with her rhythmic walk, and settled on one arm, unashamed to lean in towards the asari.

"Hey there, with the lovely gem eyes.  I see Honey Bee has left you in charge since she's gone off to that other ship with Handsome.  I remember you from Duellos and I do understand you all go back some, plus I seen you at work a bit here.  Always gotta admire a person who takes so easily to putting their hands to the wheel."

Miss Priss cooed a bit as she spoke.  "Been trying to find this Babe, and I can't seem to place it.  I get the sense she's shy, not like you or me.  Don't want to just up and get her ordered about, though I suppose it might have to come to that.  Don't want to make her uncomfortable if you know what I mean.  But I can't seem to find her high nor low.  You might know where she is, right about now?"

Leaning closer, so she could whisper the next part, Priss said, "And gem eyes, we ain't talked much, but I got this sense of things.  You can always ask me what you want, don't have to pull rank on me or nothing.  Save it for later, I'm sure.  But Miss Priss ain't awful at putting two and two together, catch my hint?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The two ships dropped out of FTL in the Sahrabarik System, and Omega station was in the distance. On the bridge Commander Selani awaited orders.

 

VERA gave the commander a notice. “Warning: fuel capacity at 50%. I recommend we divert to Omega for refueling.”

 

“Set course for Omega,” Selani ordered.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Dahlia received a message over short range communications. "Janiri to Medusa. Set course for Omega for refueling."

 

A bit flustered, Dahlia answered the call. "Uh... hold on a moment...," she said and flipped the switch for the radio. "This is the Medusa. We copy. Entering course for Omega," and turned her attention back to Miss Priss.

 

"Uh, where were we? Babe.... the gunner... uh yes. I think you might find her attending to the main battery."

[Redbelle]

"....So anyway". Jess went on in the grip of strong drink and cigar smoke. "Anika here brings back a truckload of Armature's, only they aren't real Armature's. Their cheap knockoffs. No intelligence. Just command programs and basic military software. Someone was looking to put on a show and Anika here thinks there's more to what happened than everyone else thinks".

 

"It was to organized". Anika agreed. "To many i's dotted and T's crossed. I wish I could have followed it up but.... Apparently I was holding everyone up".

 

"I got tanks luv.... Glorious, glorious tanks! Wait till I'm done with them. Anyone tries to take the ship again by coming through the front door..... Tanks! Need an assist on a fire mission on a planet with a quick airdrop? Tanks! Need equipment hauled over rough terrain that's to heavy? You can probably guess..... Seriously, those Armature's as a platform to rig hardware on are a real gift".

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne had been on his omnitool when it pinged, raising a brow as he looked to the small message ping in curiosity. He read where it had come from, and almost considered ignoring it when he saw its origin point. It had been a long time since he'd contacted anyone from that place, and for his opinion good reasons. Still, curiosity got the better of him as he answered the call.

 

"Vayne, this is Quill. You gotta listen to me and listen well..." A voice on the other line spoke, as vayne was staring at the face of a green headed krogan, a bit short and lanky and recording the message on his omnitool. It wasn't a direct video, but it still got vayne's attention that the young scout wasn't using any sort of false name during this message. "Shits hitting the fan hard here on Garvug. Clan Halliots found something, something big...it's an artifact, old as ****. I think...I think it might be prothean..."

 

Vayne leaned forward at this, staring intently as his eye took in details he'd missed before, such as the slow blood trickle off his crest, or how ragged the other krogan looked, "The thing was buried under a krogan burial site, found it by accident but now things are getting crazy here. There's some fuckers who dusted here, I think they might be corporate backed, starting some **** on this planet. This is beyond turf wars...I think this could be a war..." quill looked around, seemingly agitated at something as he looked around the area.

 

"I snuck behind their lines. Found out at least one of em's Binary Helix. But they spotted me. These guys are packing serious heat and I saw mantis gunships being prepped. They're getting ready for something big and-" Quills head jerked suddenly as the camera shook, "Oh ****!" He yelled as suddenly the omnitools camera filled with blurred images and the sound of gunfire, and after a few seconds of this, the feed cut completely.

 

Vayne stared down at the omnitool before he slowly stood back to his feet, and came jogging out of his quarters, heading for naleenas and knowing she had to see this.

[Kel Riever]

…on the Medusa

“Dahlia,” Miss Priss addressed the young asari with more of a coo in her voice, “If it’s all right with you, I’m gonna call you Gem Eyes, ‘cause you got some of the most pretty peepers I have ever seen.” Miss Priss put her near arm around Dahlia’s shoulders, then took off her Stetson and dropped it in her lap.  “I confess I am the affectionate type, but please, it is just my way.  The main batteries, I been to them all and narry a peek have I seen of this Babe.  If you can’t help me with that, Gem Eyes, I ain’t got to ruffle you no more.  Unless you need rufflin’.  Gonna consider you close ‘cause I know that Handsome’s got a thing for you.  Can’t blame him, from the way I seen you handle a ship.”

~ ~ ~ ~

…and on the Janiri, Naleena’s cabin

Molly, now sitting with the group, finished her tumbler and her cheeks got warm.  She wasn’t a drinker for the most part, and even when she was, she considered herself a lightweight, so wanted to hold back some.  “I think it’s pretty shocking that the whole Armature bit happened right on the Citadel.  So I have to agree.  The asari in charge, Yeli, she knew how to fight.”  She tilted her head to Jess.  “And the technical talent she had, not to mention basic muscle, well I’m glad we also got your quarian friend back safely.”

Morgan watched Molly, taking a deep drag from his cigar while she talked, then his eyes passed over to Jess.  “There’s a lot going on, all over the place, it sounds like.”

That’s when there was another knock at Naleena’s door.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Dahlia's skin flushed about three shades of purple as she was trying to retain her composure in front of the rest of the bridge crew. But there was something that Miss Priss said. "That Handsome's got a thing for you. Can't blame him...."

 

"Uh, Miss Priss... I'm on duty right now," Dahlia said, and then whispered. "Perhaps a little later when I'm not on duty you and I can talk about 'Handsome' and how I can loosen him up a little. I don't know that much about humans."

 

***

 

Naleena heard the knock. "It's open."

 

Vayne entered, his feet thumping on the floor, and expression serious. "Naleena, you have to see this."

 

"Just when I was getting comfortable, and unwinding for the first time in months," Naleena said.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"I wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't important..." Vayne says as he gets the vid call up for Naleena and the others to see, "I have a contact on Gavrug named quill. Haven't had the best history with the kid, but his infos usually legit..." He said as he laoded up the vid and played it, showing the information about the relic, the private corporations, and the shootout at the end.

 

"The relic is a huge find, but the fact that its in a burial site is big trouble..." Vayne said as he looked around ot the others involved, "If these corporate forces disturb those graves, it's gonna be war. There's no forgiving ****** with a burial ground, and the price is always blood."

[Cknarf]

(Kel/Cknarf)

 

Jenus and Iole talked very briefly on the way down from Naleena's quarters, and agreed to go separate ways for now to handle a few things.  Iole, for her part, needed to check in with Tolus for a final examination before being released from his immediate care for good. Jenus, her recovery more painful, but not requiring more oversight, headed another direction to handle something that had been bothering her.

 

Exiting the elevator down in the bay, Jenus stepped out.  The care she had undergone for full recovery from her pelvis fracture still left lingering discomfort, which she pushed through, despite it causing her to limp occasionally.  There were more than a few side glances she knew she was getting as word had gotten around the Janiri by that time.  She did her best to ignore them, but the glances bothered her more than her injuries.  She headed across the bay as quickly as possible without aggravating her injuries.

 

When Jenus arrived at the M-35 Mako, there was a lot of equipment and machinery lying about it.  Several panels were open for access, and one automated monitor was performing a diagnostic on a wheel motor, but there was no one she saw actually working on the vehicle.  She searched for a moment and instinctively put her hands on her hips until she realized that didn't help with her wound, then she started to walk away.

 

Jenus stopped, however, after only taking a few steps and turned suspiciously back to the Mako.  She walked up to the closed side hatch on the hull and listened.  Not hearing anything, she banged hard three times on the hatch with her fist.

 

"Hm?" Frank sat up in the driver's seat. With the back of his hand, he wiped away the trickle of drool from the corner of his mouth, smearing a little grime around in the process.  There was another series of knocks on the hatch.

 

"I'm comin'! Sh*t!"

 

Frank rolled out of the seat, and headed for the hatch.

 

"I told ya, I was gonna call..." He started, while throwing it open. He poked his head out, expecting a turian.

 

Aw, f***. What's this?

 

"Sup?" Frank asked, while pulling his goggles down around his neck.

 

Jenus couldn't help but stare at Frank a bit too long with his 'under the hood' somewhat grimy appearance.  His eyes were the only perfectly clean part of him, surrounded by circles that were framed by grease.  His friendly demeanor enhanced the contrast between Frank and Jenus' white, close fitting med bay outfit and her generally hard expression.

 

"I came to talk to you, but if this isn't a good time, I can come back." She said back, not sure of exactly what Frank was up to.

 

"Well... I am kinda busy." Frank yawned, briefly glancing back into the M-35. "But uh..." He sniffed, and wiped his nose. "I suppose I've got time to bullsh*t for a minute." He shrugged, before sliding out of the tank, and arching his back in one final stretch.

 

"I'm all ears."

 

Jenus watched Frank exit, then couldn't help but look back inside the hull of the Mako and distractedly ask, "So...this, mmmtank.  Are you, uh, living in there now?"

 

"More or less. Reminds me of..." Frank stopped himself from ending the sentence with 'home'. "...my UT-47. There's not nearly as much room to party, but I can make it work."

 

Ain't no party like a Kodiak party.

 

He leaned up against the hull, and crossed his arms.

 

"What are you really here for, commando?" He glanced over. "I get the feeling you didn't come all the way down here just to inquire about my livin' conditions."

 

"No," Jenus said and it was possible that she winced when she did.  "No, I didn't.  I came down to tell you I'm sorry for the way I acted, Frank."

 

That's when Jenus looked really uncomfortable.  The athletic, tough, infallible asari Commando shifted in the spot where she stood, and avoided eye contact.

 

"I'm sorry for the way I acted with Iole," Jenus said, blushing a deep shade, "And I'm sorry how I also acted towards you."

 

"Ain't no thang." Frank waved his hand dismissively. "I don't take sh*t like that personally. Everybody gets pissed off once in awhile."

 

He scratched at his chin.

 

"Well... maybe not that pissed, but whatevs. Ya'll are both still alive, so... sh*t. As far as I'm concerned, it's all good." He shrugged.

 

Not quite knowing what to make of Frank's reaction, and feeling odd about getting worked up to apologize, and then having it be quickly accepted, Jenus thought maybe Frank was being just polite.  "No, I mean the way I've treated you too, Frank.  I haven't been exactly, well..."  Jenus paused, then said, "Nice to you."

 

The word nice practically knotted and kinked in Jenus' mouth.  It felt horrible to say.

 

Frank raised an eyebrow, as he tried to recall any past grievances he had with this particular commando that he should be demanding an apology for. He couldn't think of anything in recent memory, although there was probably something he could dig up if he thought long enough, but that wasn't his style.

 

"Really? 'Cause aside from beating my... er... " Frank cleared his throat. "Iole to a pulp, and the whole train ordeal, if you can even count that, I can't think of any instance where you've done anything that's hurt me personally." He shrugged. Yes. Again. He's a man of few gestures.

 

"Unless you were trying to, and you just suck at it, or something." His eyes narrowed. "Or you've been talkin' sh*t, and I just ain't heard it yet. Or I did hear it, and forgot about it..." He scratched at his head.

 

"If that's the case, then you can..."

 

Frank pushed off the Mako, and faced her.

 

"Go f*** yourself." He threw a 'TF out my face' thumb over his shoulder, and held it there for a moment, before returning to his original position against the M-35.

 

"But only if you've been talkin' sh*t, or whatever. Disregard that otherwise." Frank smiled.

 

Jenus' eyes popped wide open when Frank pushed himself off the Mako and yelled.  As he returned to his original position, her gaze bounced all over his face in a futile attempt to figure out exactly what he'd just done.  Guilt set in after that, however, and suddenly Jenus couldn't look the man square.

"Uh, yes.  I'm sorry about that," Jenus apologized, only just barely loud enough to hear.  She finally settled her eyes on her feet.

Ugh.

 

Frank looked up at the ceiling, and sighed.

 

"Apology accepted." He smiled, placing a greasy hand on her shoulder. He leaned in a little bit. "Now get that mopey sh*t outta here." 

 

He straightened out, and pulled his goggles back up over his eyes. 

 

"Next time you two need to work something out, come see me first, yeah? There's a better way to settle things than smashing each other's faces in."

 

Heh. Awww yeah.

 

"Anyways, I should probably be gettin' back to work." Frank rubbed at the back of his head. "Thanks for coming by, commando."

 

"Sure," Jenus replied, bringing her gaze back to Frank, then looking away again.  She stuck out her hand, oddly at first, then extended it awkwardly in an offer to shake.  "Good talk."

 

Frank went to shake, but stopped. "Uh..." He looked down at his absolutely filthy hand.

 

That's not gonna work.

 

Being the gentleman that he was, he offered a slightly less grimy elbow instead.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus looked at Frank's elbow oddly, then hesitantly shook his elbow with her hand.  "Right." Left feeling a bit weird, Jenus gave a short nod and then headed off.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Citadel News Net Breaking News

 

“This is Emily Wong, Citadel News Net. On Omega, yesterday, Commander Jane Shepard was taken into custody apparently by an Alliance black ops team led by Admiral Anderson at the club called Limbo where the two allegedly met for a friendly drink. Reports say that Shepard was drugged, taken aboard the Alliance frigate Trafalgar, and then transported to Vancouver.

 

“Sources say that Shepard, best known for her heroics at the Battle of the Citadel where she led a spec ops team from Ilos through the Conduit to stop rogue Spectre Saren Arterius, and opened the Citadel allowed Admiral Hackett and the 5^th Fleet to destroy the Geth Ship called Sovereign, will be charged with genocide, destruction of a mass relay, working with a terrorist organization, and turning over a strategic resource to a terrorist organization.

 

“In other news, on Garvug, violence has broken out between corporate factions and Krogan clans inhabiting the world….”

 

**

 

Irina sat in the rec room eating a snack and watching the vid. “Well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming.”

 

“The violence between the Krogan and corporate interests?” Ereba asked. “You humans always focus on negative stereotypes with Krogan.”

 

“No, not that. I’m Vayne’s Krannt for f*ck’s sake.” Irina replied while munching on a Cheeto.

 

“Sorry.”

 

“It’s alright.” Irina said and offered Ereba some Cheetos. “I’m talking about Shepard. First time I heard about her after the Battle of the Citadel was some blip report while I was on Duellos that she was working with Cerberus to track down the Collectors. Cerberus? Really? They’re terrorists. So she takes down the Collectors and gives the keys to their tech to Cerberus.”

 

“Not a good plan,” Ereba said, and took one out of the bag and looked at it. “What is this?”

 

“Pure junk. Just eat it.”

 

Ereba put it in her mouth and crunched on it. “It’s… good.”

 

“Yeah, but you can’t stop eating them.”

 

“So how did you get this gig, anyway?” Ereba asked as she sat back in her chair.

 

“Well I mustered out of the Alliance Marines as a Gunnery Sergeant. Then took a job with ERCS and was stationed on Duellos where I met the Commandos. Then when that job was over I did odd jobs there, and my last job was a guide for this group,” she replied, finishing up the bag. “Then fate had it we met up again, then all of us were stationed here. Jenus and I have a bit of a thing.”

 

Ereba smiled. “Just don’t ****** her off.”

 

Irina laughed. “I don’t think I have to worry about that. I just hope those two recover quickly. Just out of curiosity, how would you team up?”

 

“You’re asking me? I’m a Specialist, not the Sergeant, but if you really want to know I think I should go with Jenus despite the fact we’re both strong personalities. I can provide pin point accurate support from a distance. Iole should team with Tallis.”

 

“Then why don’t you take Jenus aside and make the suggestion? And tell her just like you told me. Just a word about Jenus. She likes to get the kills, so don’t take too many.”

 

Ereba laughed. “Hey, they got any more of these… Cheetos?”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena's Quarters

 

“And let me guess, these burial grounds are for war veterans from the Krogan Rebellions,” Naleena said.

 

Vayne nodded.

 

“VERA, would you inform Commander Selani that the stop on Omega is for refueling only? There will be no shore leave. And send a message indicating the same to the Medusa,” Naleena said.

 

“At once, Your Highness,” VERA replied.

 

“Vayne, see if you can get the latest map of the area,” Naleena said, and then turned to Jess. “We’ll be dropping into a hot zone, and I’ll need everyone’s input on this.”

Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 04 mai 2015 - 09:51 .

[Kel Riever]

Morgan rolled a glance over to Jess, fairly inconspicuously, so that she saw it and understood its meaning.  It was a worried look behind his eyes, but it wasn't worry for the upcoming mission.  He said nothing, however, which was his way, though he did finish his drink and let his cigar run its last life out on the ashtray.

Molly was more obvious in her concern, but felt more out of place saying anything much again, so she made a simple remark.  "I should really get back to my work at the computer.  You don't need a detective interfering with your mission."