6315 réponses à ce sujet

[Redbelle]

"It'll only fail if we don't take the time to do it right. It's simple engineering. What someone built can be undone in a variety of ways if you have time to study the structure and develop the tool to do what you want. I might need an advance team to get in the network and grab base code..... My guy might have it already..... I'll know when I start putting in calls but if we need an advance team who should we put in"?

 

She looked around the room. "Also, getting into their system should be doable but putting something in might be tricky. The more lines of code we change the more likely it is a watchdog program will detect the code change as being a targeted attempt. Code naturally changes. Governer's work to correct it. Watchdog's look out for hack attempts. WE can get around them but the more we alter the higher the chance we'll be detected prematurely".

[Kel Riever]

"Essul, you could give us some of the ideas of the security programs that a hacker would be facing, couldn't you?" Iole asked, with a sidelong glance by Jenus.  "A good hacker might already know some, but you have a better idea than anyone here."

Morgan made his remarks.  "Presuming that map to be half trustworthy, whoever is going to go looking for the information should have some idea of what to do to get into this underground facility.  A cover?  Will people be using stealth to slip inside?  Even for a veteran infiltrator, any underground facility is limiting the access points in, which has attention focused on the choke points.  Who is going in and how are they getting in, even if electronic security is compromised?  I'm presuming there's a bit more screening than knocking a guard out and taking his uniform would allow us to get past."

[Cknarf]

"I... uh. I-I doubt there's any security measures that I couldn't handle." Johnny suddenly felt a little warm. "Electronically, I mean. Not... not the other stuff."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena was getting a headache. "We have to make a stop on Thessia to unload the Eingana archive at the University of Serrice. I can't risk losing that if things go wrong on the mission. It will be a quick stop. I don't know if you have any contacts there, Jess," Naleena said. "Illium might be a better choice to obtain the omni-tools. But you might be able to get some excellent prices on stuff like Serrice Ice Brandy, Nevosian Ambrosia, Asari Honey Mead while we're in Serrice, then turn a very tidy profit on the stuff in Marzeh. The Brandy sells for 500 CR a bottle on Earth. Now add in the trade embargoes with Batarian space.... We're going to a rich Batarian world. Do you see the price markup? And a bottle could pay a bribe."

[Kel Riever]

"Hey, how long does it take to put the basic plan together here?"  Jenus interjected, pushing the limits of being annoyed and barely staying within appropriate bounds of the meeting.  "The pirate captain here is going to go ahead and handle some hacking job to cover us so we don't have to worry about security, or being screened, she'll get into their systems like a good criminal does, etcetera.  She can handle the details, because if she couldn't she'd have turned into a space corpse a long time ago.  Somebody want to hitch a ride with her because they think they can help?  Go tell her when we're done and make sure it's all right with the Spectre.

"As for everyone else?  Goddess kill me if we can't come up with what we need to do!  Two tall, Vayne, you're the heavies, Stutter the new human over there can handle any hacking and electronics for our immediate team, backed up by Iole.  The rest of us...do we need to spell it out?  If you'd ask me, well, the best cover is a bunch of *ssh*le batarian slavers and mercs.  But sure, barring that I bet something expensive and rare shoved in their face will do very well.  Let's just get the layouts of the place as soon as we can.  I'm sure if the old pirate captain can bust in, then the AI can have her way once she's there, and bend them over the knee.  Then we'll be in and out.  Any of them get in the way, snap their spines!"

Iole watched her teammate and knew her well, though this was exceptional, even for Jenus, to push the decorum in front of her seniors.  "All right...well, I do trust Naleena and a few others know best when it comes to a good infiltration operation.  Maybe if there's something critical that hasn't been mentioned, we can go over it?"  Iole did her best to bring it back to a normal conversation.  "If not, we can break up into our groups, come up with our plans, and then submit them to you, Spectre."

"There you go," Jenus remarked with an edge.  "And if anything goes wrong we've got a good old chain of command now.  Everything is all taken care of."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"That will be all. Meeting is dismissed," Naleena said. "Jenus remain behind."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul looked to Naleena with a nod, hands tightened and jaw clenched as he waited for the others to leave, not looking towards Jenus as he did so. There was a lot essul wanted to say to her, but he held his tongue. Naleena singled her out, and Essul personally couldn't bring himself to bear animosity towards Jenus given that the captain was going to address her.

 

Vayne let out a sigh as he stood up and left the debriefing, shaking his head as he rubbed the front of his crest. This had certainly been an interesting debriefing, and if not for the time frame, he might have opted for a drink. "That was Awkward...." he said finally, out of earshot of the debriefing room, "Think she'll be alright?"

 

When the others left, Essul stood and gave a bow to Naleena, before walking out silently himself, leaving the two alone.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The team filed out of the conference room, and Naleena sat in her chair making notes on her keypad of the meeting while Jenus sat in her chair stewing. She stood, walked over to the liquor cabinet, and poured herself a drink, returned to her chair, pulled a cigarette out of the case in the breast pocket of her coat, lit it, took a deep drag and blew the smoke out her nostrils. She took a sip of her drink and typed a little more, closed her laptop, then turned to the commando.

 

“Alright, Stasia, you have something to say to me, say it,” Naleena said. “If you have a valid reason that Essul shouldn’t have that responsibility, say it.”

[Redbelle]

Jess looked between Jenus and Essul and stood along with the rest. "I'll get to work then. Essul, pick your brains outside for a second"?

 

Jess filed out with the others and nodded for Morgan to go on ahead as she and Essul stood out in the corridor. Turning to face him, Jess nodded back to the meeting room. "I know what your likely feeling luv. Don't let it get to you. Your not grunt material any more. Your command. You probably don't feel it yet but take my advice. You can't afford to get hung up on one problem and lose focus on the bigger picture. Have a talk with Jenus later. A while after Naleena's done trying to adjust her attitude. Let her see that you care about her. Her squad. Tell her the things she cares about are the same things you care about and then let her stew and see if she takes it on-board. A good leader needs good followers. But you have to be worth following and it's your job to convince everyone you can be depended on..... Just like you did before. Get where I'm coming from luv"?

[Redbelle]

Anika raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Stepping to the side she walked into her armor. Popped the faceplate and stepped in beside Tallis.

 

"Mind if I tag along? I'm not embedded in with you yet. I could use a guide to show me the ropes on this ship".

[Kel Riever]

"Sure! Sure," Tallis agreed. She wavered a moment before realizing her CO wasn't around to disagree. Tallis glanced at Iole.

Iole shrugged. "Go ahead."

Tallis smiles broadly up at Anika, and said, "This way. This way."

~ ~ ~ ~

Jenus stared straight ahead. "I'm all true and blue Spectre. Nothing to say here. Essul's the second. For the Republics!"

[Cknarf]

Frank Eli quick stats.

 

Time since arrival: 0:55:21

Martinis consumed: 8

BAC: 0.113 %

mg of MDMA: 100

mg Red sand: Unknown.

Heartrate(Avg): 213 bpm

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"And that's not a content Jenus speaking," Naleena replied. "That's a Jenus who is seething with anger. I can feel it. I don't need VERA to read your biosigns and tell me. Let it out before it consumes you. What's on your mind?"

[Kel Riever]

"Pardon me, Spectre, but this Commando doesn't question orders.  Especially orders that she knows won't change.  This is a responsible Commando who'll lead her team to the death for the cause.  I'm sure the Spectre didn't ask for the people who want to feel good before they go on a mission. No, Spectre no!  This Commando doesn't mind becoming a block shaving sponge for the best this galaxy has to offer!"

And that was Jenus, giving new definition to difficult.  Naleena was getting a sense of what Iole had to deal with.  And Mira, for that matter, must have been an angel.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Yes, Jenus. I know all of that. I know you're one of the finest commandos in the Asari military, but you haven't answered my question," Naleena replied.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus clenched her jaw, then responded, "Nothing on my mind Spectre but a thick crest, Spectre."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena sighed and leaned forward. "I gave you your chance to speak your mind. You don't want to talk, fine. Let me explain a few things. You weren't on Garvug. You were recovering from your fight with Iole. VERA, display Garvug video highlights: escape from the compound, return to the evac zone, and evacuation."

 

VERA lowered the screen and displayed the video of the escape, showing when everything went to hell inside the negotiating room, then flashed to the escape outside the compound: Ereba and VERA providing covering fire for Naleena and Essul as they ran and dodged rounds; then when they were leap frogging and Naleena was hit in the chest and went down. Essul ran out and dragged her to safety, and took command as Naleena was gasping for air. Essul ordered the evacuation of the other fire team with Irina, Vayne, and Arian without the artifact before they were cut off. Ereba ran down dodging rounds from a gunship to quickly meld with Naleena. Essul provided covering fire. VERA took down a heavy mech. VERA and Tallis ran down the stairs to the main level. Tallis was providing as much cover as she could, but she found Ereba's Widow difficult to handle. VERA dropped the Geth platform and remote piloted the shuttle to the evac zone and took down two gunships before the frigate hovered overhead. Essul coordinated the evacuation, and fought that Batarian, Machaera (sp? - you know who I mean.), Then VERA fired shots up inside the frigate, facilitating the escape.

 

"That's what it was like, Jenus. Do you have any comments to make now?"

[Kel Riever]

Jenus watched with interest, and stared intently at the parts of Essul's performance.  She was quiet for a few seconds after Naleena's question.

Then her look hardened.  "Well, I suppose if all it took a batarian was saving a Spectre's skin once in a fight, which is what any of the rest of us would have done for her, then, well, I bet the whole Hegemony should start lining up for a command rank on the most important Council serving vessels in the fleet.  Maybe we could, you know, run a few slaves on the side.  Bet that last batarian you put down on the Citadel might have been more friendly if he knew he could get a spot as second of command of your team.  Who was he working for?  Ah, doesn't matter once he's on the team, right?"

Yes, Jenus said that.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Mira was a saint. Naleena realized this now. Jenus was trying to push a hot button. She took a drag from her cigarette extinguished it, stood and began to walk around the room. "Every race has its warts, Jenus. The Humans used to keep slaves. Yes, they did at one point in their history. They're a short-lived expansionist race and that scares a lot of people. Did you know that some of the slavers are human? Yes, Haliat, the man who led the attack on Elysium with the Batarians was a human. There were humans who raided their own colonies to sell their own people to the Batarians for a profit. Also humans have a terrorist organization called Cerberus that has done some pretty terrible experiments on their own people. What do you think of humans now?" Naleena paused, then continued.

 

"Then the Salarians. I have a long history with them. Yet we have a Salarian doctor on board. I've had to get used to this fact. The Salarians who first uplifted the Krogan to fight the Rachni, then developed the Krogan genophage. The Salarians study the genetics of each and every race in the galaxy. Goddess knows what kind of bioweapons they have. What do you think of Salarians?" She paused again and continued.

 

"What about the Turians who released the genophage? Not that they had any real choice other than to bombard the Krogan homeworld back to the stone age, which by the way they could have done. We have Turians on board in the crew and one on the team. What do you think of Turians?

 

"Then the Krogan, who were content with launching asteroids rendering entire garden worlds uninhabitable during the Krogan rebellions. We have a Krogan cook, and team member. What do you think of Krogan?

 

"Then the Quarians. They invented the Geth to serve as a synthetic labor force. Everything went fine until the Geth gained self-awareness. Then it became slavery. The Geth stopped obeying shutdown commands. The Quarians then decided to shut them down manually. The Geth rebelled and nearly wiped them out. We have a Quarian engineer and a Quarian team mate. They wear masks so you can never see their faces. What do you think of Quarians?

 

"Then there are the Asari. Our entire race is biotic by nature. Our race is unique in that we have the ability to meld. You know what it is like to meld with someone you love or care about. Imagine if that ability were suddenly cut off. We have the Ardat-yakshi, a genetic condition where a person is given a choice of going on medication that renders them unable to meld and they must take that medication the rest of their lives, or they must be permanently confined to a monastery on Lesuss under strict supervision where they make Asari Honey Mead or be put to death. Out of sight, out of mind. There is a small organization that is researching a cure. What does this say about us as a people?

 

"The Batarians keep slaves, yes. It's part of their culture. Do I agree with it? No. Do all Batarians keep slaves? No. Only the upper castes do. Do all Batarians support the Hegemony? No. That's like saying everyone living in Council space supports everything the Council is doing just because they live in Council space. They don't.

 

"Essul does not work for the Hegemony. At one time he did. He worked for their Special Interventions Unit. If you remember Frank brought him on board. He was working for BSIU when he killed the two BSIU officers who were in charge of the operation on Caleston. He made his choice right then whose side he was on. He took the shot on the commander holding Arian. He made that choice because what they were doing was wrong. He is permanently exiled from Batarian space so long as the Hegemony is in power. And he certainly is no longer BSIU. If he was, the Council would not have issued his security clearance."

 

She stopped in front of Jenus. "Our relationships around here are based upon trust. When I became Spectre, the only people I could be 100% certain of were the  ship's crew, the Commandos, and Anika. Anika because I'd melded with her. The others would have to earn their place. Morgan is former Shadow Broker. Does that mean that we should put word out to all Shadow Broker operatives to line up for interviews? Doesn't matter once he's on the team, right? Instead we've had each others' backs. Remember the first job on Illium? Then we fought together on the Medusa, then on Caleston, Omega, Garvug. We built trust. Morgan became Jess' First Mate and he's former Shadow Broker. Guess who else is former Shadow Broker? Iyana. Does this mean Morgan is like Iyana? No.

 

"You're using the same logic with Essul. You're saying that just because he's Batarian means he's like the Batarian we killed on the Citadel who worked for Iyana." Naleena laughed. "Besides, I need someone to help with my administrative duties. If you think Essul's job is going to be all glory, think again. I have a stack of folders ready to drop on his desk. Maybe I can finally get caught up on some sleep."

[Kel Riever]

Jenus' dark eyes lacked any sense of placidity through the long conversation.  Naleena could tell her words were bouncing off the Team Boom leader like a hard wall. In fact, she could tell that Jenus seemed to be possibly retreating from her sense of trust, as well.  As Naleena finished her train of thought, Jenus put her hands behind her back and took an at ease stance.  Then she simply waited, her silence expressing her seething disapproval. 

[Redbelle]

Outside, where Jess was talking to Essul, Jess cocked her head to the conference door wondering what was taking them so long inside. "Well, better not keep you luv. Sure your busy. XO's get bigger quarters I believe. Best start enjoying the perks before they put you to work"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena seeing Jenus' expression hardened hers as well. "Well, then, let me tell you how it is going to be around here. On this ship we follow orders. I say 'jump.' You say 'how high?' If I am incapacitated in a battle, when Essul gives an order you obey it. Am I clear? Dismissed."

[Kel Riever]

"Clear as a bell!" Jenus shouted too loud and snapped to attention.  Then she just as sharply marched out of the briefing room.

Jenus checked her omni-tool as she stormed down the corridor to the airlock.  One hour before she needed to be back on the ship.  She completely ignored Jess and Essul as she went past, pretending not to hear anything they said if they did.  In the team cabin, where Iole and Ereba were, she slammed her gear into the locker and changed in minutes into a light workout bodysuit with running slippers.  Then she went for the door.

"Wait!" Iole shouted, but Jenus left.

Jenus was out the airlock in another couple of minutes and she picked a course she'd run once before to the Presidium, where she could get a good run in.  Before she'd left the dock area, there was the sound of someone running lightly to catch up with her.

"Wait...," Iole's voice came again. 

Jenus barely cast a glance over her shoulder, but said nothing.  Her eyes, tunnel visioned with her anger, only saw Iole, then they stared ahead and went for her run.  She didn't even bother stretching, daring her muscles to fail her.  

It wasn't until they were running by the concourse outside C-Sec headquarters that Jenus did anything.  She demanded of her escort, "Give me any omni-tools you have on you."

Iole had the one.  She followed orders and handed it to Jenus, who had removed her own tool.  Once Jenus had all the omni-tool's in her grip, she accelerated and hurled them far and high, until they splashed into the lake next to the concourse.  "Looks like we dropped those accidentally," Jenus said with bitterness.

"Are you?..." Iole was stunned. "We have the data backup but you just trashed a five figure credit amount of hardware!"

"I said it was an accident.  You want to get them?  Go ahead and get them."

Iole was miffed.  The devices were meant to survive a vacuum, so they weren't broken, but they were useless and deactivated at the bottom of the lake, and they weren't going to be found anytime soon, if ever.  "Come on, Jenus.  Are you going to just run this off?  I'm sure Naleena tried to..."

"Not wasting my time with someone who isn't going to change their mind."

"I do it all the time...," Iole joked.

Jenus cast an evil glare at her and her rage picked up the pace.  "That ship isn't hers!  That AI isn't hers!  All right, the Council decides to make her a Specte.  But what the Council didn't do is ever have anyone who wasn't a Council nation in position to command their greatest assets and secrets!"
 

"Essul is not in command..."

"OH!?"  Jenus was furious.  "And T'Sarius says to me at the end, 'If Essul gives an order you obey it!'  So if she gets shot and gets killed this time,  then what?  The void can take that Spectre!  You know what?  I never questioned Xanthe's loyalty!  I never had to.  She may not have been perfect, but she didn't hand over Republics or Council secrets to outsiders."

Iole knew that neither pushing or reasoning with Jenus was going to work.  Still, she couldn't help herself from trying.  "Don't you think you are overreacting?"

Jenus fumed and went even faster.  It wasn't easy to keep up with her.  Where she left anyone behind was when Jenus went into a sprint, then screamed as she went into a biotic charge.  She was gone in an instant, down the Presidium path, getting more than a few heads turned.  Eventually, Iole caught up to her, but she had started running at a pace again.  

"No, Iole.  Overreacting is something you and I did.  These are assets and they are being assigned without thought, to someone who has nothing to do with the Council.  Oh, he saved the Spectre.  Good job.  All is forgiven.  I'm not going to bother explaining it to people who don't understand.  T'Saruis should already know and that she doesn't speaks for itself.  You watch, something bad is going to come out of this.  And while I'm going to serve to the last, and this voidbrain T'Sarius is going to get us killed with her off the cuff decisions, you don't need to be.  You, Tallis, Ereba...if you sense something bad going down, you see it coming, you get out of the way.  Frank Eli left the ship, and the whole team for that matter; he's the only smart one.  You should have gone with him."

Iole stared away and downward.  She didn't want to say.  Now wasn't the time.

Jenus didn't notice, lost in her own world.  They ran for another half hour in silence before returning, Jenus' emotions palpable.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Ereba was along for the run. "Hey, Jenus, you are overreacting," Ereba said not knowing when to keep her mouth shut."I'm gonna speak freely. And would you slow down? From what I understand from actually reading the regs, the ship is still under control of The Council and Commander Selani still outranks a lieutenant. So as soon as the team is back aboard the ship, Selani would be in command. It's not like he can give the ship to the Batarians. The only difference is on the ground. Also, I might be wrong, but I doubt that even a Spectre can make an assignment like that without getting prior Council approval. After all with security regs and all that."

 

Jenus, not wanting to hear any of this picked up the pace instead. Ereba kept up, but was having difficulty speaking. "But I gotta tell ya. With all of the void coming down on us, that Batarian was one cool customer. Without him, from what I heard over the coms, red headed sweet cakes of yours would have been trapped and killed. I mean I had to do what I did otherwise T'sarius was dead, and who was gonna give orders? Tallis? No offense, but she has communication problems."

 

Ereba kept rambling. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not taking sides here. I'm just pointing out stuff. So who was left? VERA. Yeah, VERA could have given orders. That would have been a first. An AI. Wow. Last I heard they were still illegal in Council Space. Either the Council suddenly got open minded or someone sneaked some really advanced hardware aboard. I'm thinking the latter. But again, if that had been a standard Council VI, we wouldn't be talking to each other right now, and Tallis would be a cinder on Garvug along side me and your girlfriend."

 

Ereba slapped Jenus on her thigh and sprinted. "Last one to Zeppo's buys."

 

Zeppo's was an gourmet ice cream shop that was 200 meters away.

[Kel Riever]

"Back off, replacement!"  That was all Jenus said to Ereba when she tried to make things right, before sprinting ahead again.

Iole had then said to Ereba, "Forget it.  You aren't going to reason with her, or cheer her up, or make good with her.  She's on one track now, and you're only going to make it worse.  I've seen her like this before, but not in a long time.  Not even with me."  Iole didn't know if she was going to even be able to convince Ereba, but she tried to explain.  "Jenus is very big on loyalty of a certain kind, and you don't break the rules she has laid out in her head.  I think she's decided that nobody should be given command of anything under the Spectre if they aren't from the Council nations.  Essul can't win no matter what he did, neither can Naleena, neither can you.  Not until something happens that changes Jenus' mind.  I couldn't tell you what it was but it won't be talking to her."

It was the same way when Mira and Jenus had it out when they first got aboard the Janiri.  People didn't understand why Jenus was upset with Mira.  They thought they'd explain it, or go over some piece of information that would talk some sense into her.  There were few people who could understand Jenus.  One was Irina, and that was probably because Irina was at least half crazy.  Another was Mira.  And Iole sort of understood her now.  But it didn't make talking about it easy.  She felt a bit bad for Ereba, but what Iole liked about Ereba was that she didn't give up.  Which was the best thing about her trying to get through to the tunnel visioned superjock leader of their team.