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[Redbelle]

Jess emerged from the suit chamber with her helmet in hand at her side. Ahead, she saw the two man MIP, it's twin hatches open waiting for her and Serafina. Next to it, she saw the woman in question, along with Dogger and Morgan. The former holding a small tool bag that he offered to Jess. "Got watcha asked fer Cap'n. You sure bout this? You know the last time.....".

 

Jess knew he was reffering to the last time she'd left the ship and managed to surpress a scowl. "You lose my ship Mister and I'll just get it back again. Though I'll be converting the engine room to a hamster wheel and power it with you and every other sap who let's people take a ship out from under them. Luscious was the last lot's excuse. This time I want to rush into danger. Save the bloody day and come back for victory back rubs and moonshine. Morgan, ships yours till I get back. Ser? Hop in the back".

 

Lifting it up Jess pulled her helmet onto her head and twisted it closed, watching as the suit detected the helmet and powered up the suit. Looking up at Dogger she asked. "Did you pull the extra life support"?

 

"As ordered. You'll be carrying less mass so you ought to be able to get up to speed faster. Get to your target quicker since you won't need to wait around as long".

 

"Gravy". Jess quipped before climbing into the front of the MIP. Seating herself in what was essentially a bikers seat, together with foot pedals, Jess reached for an gripped the steering yokes. Looking at the joke of a view port  that funnelled her world down into what was essentially tunnel vision. Serafina would have it worse, with only a small display to show their progress. The same that now lit up in front of Jess to show their flight window. Jess reached up and gripped the covering then looked back at Serafina. "Hop in luv. Need to know your settled in before I close mine. Sorry it's a little crammed in there. We won't be in this thing to long. If it's any consolation my old bodyguard half your size again and she found it harder to fit".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

(Johnny was on one of the other terminals extracting data as was his assignment.)

 

Naleena spoke in a hushed voice. "Yeah..., I'm hard. No need to stop. I got the pictures," she said, popped open her omni-tool and showed Jenus a couple of them.

 

Jenus would remember seeing a similar ship in the video she saw after the Battle of the Citadel on news reports, and that the ship blew through the Turian fleet that tried to block its path. Now she knew the Batarians had one. This was real.

 

Then Naleena looked up at the vent and shuddered. "There's more, but I couldn't get readings though. Like it had a barrier field blocking: Its own barrier field," she said even softer. "It was like a white hot flash in my head. It tries to take over your mind. Read your thoughts. Finds a weakness and exploits it. If we go up there you need to block it out. It found mine because I wasn't ready. But you will be ready. When we approach the first junction, put up personal barriers. They seemed to help block it. Is anyone strong enough to cover Johnny? Tallis perhaps?

 

"It knows me. It will sense me again and come after me," Naleena whispered. "I need you to help me when it does. Nudge me if I stop. Keep me moving."

[Kel Riever]

Jenus replied, "I'll keep you going.  But you won't want to give me an excuse to."  It was actually a deadpan joke and Jenus was strangely reassuring given the situation.

On the Medusa

Morgan noticed Dogger seemed a bit subdued, but didn't have time much to think about it as it was urgent to get everything under way.  "The ship will be in good order while you're out and about," he reassured Jess.  

When Serafina was due to report in the hangar, she was true to her prediction of not needing a lot.  She had on the lighter version of a yellow Explorer suit, complete with a bit of a unique helmet that was more spherical, and with copper tinted glass, reminiscient of Earth's oldest Cosmonauts.  All the programs she needed were uploaded in her omni-tool and she had a thin case  in her hand which was suitable for zero-g and vacuum operations.  The case had some critical backup supplies, both for her electronics and survival.  Fina had been briefed on the lack of an internal environment on the MIPs so she was set for a long operation in the suit she had.  

"Tube food until we get back," Serafina joked when she saw the group waiting in the hangar.  Then she saw the Manned Insertion Pod they were standing next to.   She couldn't help blurting out, "We're going to be in that?"

"With the best pilot on this ship who also happens to be the Captain," Morgan answered.  "Do you have any training in spacecraft flight?"

Fina was more wide-eyed, still staring at the pod.  "Basic shuttle operations.  Mostly enough so there's a chance I wouldn't crash land if I flew one, but they're nothing like this."

Morgan put himself next to Fina, folded his arms and stared at the MIP with her.  "Well, I'm sure you'll have some time to learn on the way."

Serafina nodded and looked at Jess, "I haven't been steered wrong yet, so here's to tight spots and the coldness of space."  She got in the MIP, though it took her a bit to figure out exactly how to get herself comfortable.

[Redbelle]

Anika, Irina, Vayne and Essul hid out of sight as the guard patrol stood nearby. Using hand gestures to the others she indicated that they should let them pass, then pulled her pistol slowly and silently, holding it ready as she covered the corner of the entrance to the building they were hidden inside of.

 

Despite their best efforts, preparing an effective escape plan had proved difficult. Three gaurd towers around the perimeter overlooked several points that made sneaking through the facility difficult. With the drones making it all but impossible. Yet they'd found out the guard towers held antennae that seemed to be broadcasting a constant back and forth signal that they had tied to the drones. Knowing that, they had looked and found several hardlines snaking down the legs of the towers and managed to trace them back to a building that they had tagged as Drone Control. They hadn't been able to get close enough to guage if there guess was right. Though Anika would have laid good money on it.

 

For now, their plan had been to penetrate the camps vehicle pool area and see if anything could be used to effect a fast escape while the rest of the vehicles were immobilised. They had gotten to a small vehicle parts storage shed and gone inside to see if it held anything that could be used only for them to hear the marching of boots on asphalt. They'd quickly hidden themselves away before a patrol had swung around a corner and as luck would have it, they'd decided to stop right outside for a rest. Anika held her pistol up and folded her other hand over the one on the grip. The lights had been out when they'd arrived and they'd kept them that way. Clearly no one was expected to be working here. If the guards planned on using this shed for anything other than taking a rest however.....

 

Anika didn't bother wondering how or if they could keep their presence secret if it came down to a confrontation. She only hoped circumstances would allow that the guards either pass by, or die quickly as she prepared herself to kill as quickly and efficiently as she could if the situation called for it.

[Redbelle]

As Jess watched Serafina square herself away Dogger walked over and lowered her canopy. Shutting her inside and banging the top of the hatch once he confirmed it was sealed. Jess nodded and pulled her own closed, then heard the banging on top as Dogger confirmed it was closed as Jess brought up the internal comm.

 

"Ser? How do you like the close quarter's? Comm's check out so feel free to talk. We'll have some time so we can go over what we have to. I've got a copy of the trojan and Morgan ought to have given one to you. Above all, we have to get it into the subnet".

 

Jess reached forward and flipped the safety off the startup switch and the MIP thrummed and vibrated as the engine both woman were straddling came to life. In Jess's ear, she heard the flight co-ordinator tell her. "Activating mass field containment......Opening hanger bay doors..... Doors are open..... Cap'n you are free to launch".

 

Jess thumbed her comm in response and pulled back on the yoke. Immediately the perspective in her tiny window shifted as the MIP gained altitude relative to the hanger floor and with a light touch of the throttle, sent the MIP forward. Her display showed their progress and soon she had cleared the hanger bay doors and brought the MIP around, using the coordinates sent to her by the Janiri as she put on more speed.

 

Soon both she and Serafina were flying towards what they now knew was the relay satellite of the Batarian's backup defence network

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Topside

 

"Did you hear something?" Private Ghorak asked.

 

"Ghorak's hearing things again? It's probably a grondak. It's migrating season for them. Of course Ghorak eats them for dinner."

 

"Shut up, assh*le!"

 

"I'll have all of you grondak hunting in a minute," the sergeant said as he extinguished his cigarette on the sole of his boot. "Now get off  your sorry asses and let's finish our circuit. I'm getting hungry."

 

"What, this grondak talk getting to you Sarge?"

 

"Wait until you're stationed inside human territory someday and stuck eating this crap they call chicken. Grondak will sound good to you. Now move out!"

 

The patrol groaned and got to their feet and moved on.

[Kel Riever]

The MIP Mission

Serafina wasn't nervous until the MIP took off under its own power.  Then, she had never felt more like she'd been tied to a rocket and simply launched.  She couldn't be seen behind her helmet and behind Jess, but her eyes were wide and her hands were gripping tightly.  It took a bit before she'd realized the Captain had asked her a question, but finally she eased up and took in her compartmentalized situation.

The light from the small display was the first thing to grab Fina's attention and she saw it was minimalist, with a dated graphics display.  It didn't take her long to realize that not only was space being saved at a premium for the systems, but everything, including the simple onboard computer, was meant to be as reliable as possible.  There was a yoke so the MIP could also be piloted from her seat, but she stayed clear of it.  There wasn't even a reliable way to look behind, though Serafina figured there might be a camera linked somewhere.

"I have the Trojan," Serafina answered after the long delay.  "I'm...I am all right with the close quarters."  She didn't sound entirely convincing and in truth, while she never expected it to be a problem, Serafina had also never been in a hurtling missile shooting through the void.  She tried to distract herself with a conversation.  "My friends call me...Fina...but I do kind of like Ser, Captain.  I'm...it's good to be on this thing with someone who knows what they're doing."

On the Medusa

Morgan got the confirmation from Dahlia that they were good for the Relay jump and Amy Hayashi, who looked like she was putting a bit more effort at her station, verified that the route was clear for their approach.  Doctor Hayashi wasn't one to ever slack on her job, but this was the first time Morgan recalled her keeping herself in a proper posture and noticed a large cup of coffee at her station.  Once Morgan was positive everything was set, he gave the order.

"Take us through the Relay."

The Medusa jumped, and travelled its phenomenal, galactic distance in an instant.  Arriving in Citadel Space, the enigmatic Serpent Nebula blossomed on all external viewscreens, reminding star bound travelers of the wonders of the universe.  It was a short lived distraction, however, as Doctor Hayashi got Morgan's attention.

"There are three asari frigates approaching," Amy Hayashi informed.  "They seem to have been on approach to the Relay,but after scanning us they have altered course in our direction.  And...they seem rather...militant."

Morgan was about to ask what that meant when Aelias got his attention next.  "Morgan, the frigate squadron leader has identified herself as Captain Meliti and is demanding to speak with you."

"Go ahead and put her on," Morgan said as he sat himself in the captain's chair.  He stared at the viewscreen for the incoming communication.

It was only a second later when a stern asari appeared, turquoise facial markings on a cerulean skin.  "Medusa, this is Captain Meliti of the Asari Republics Navy.  We understand you have arrived from the Terminus Systems and are a craft associated with Spectre T'Sarius and the Janiri.  I wish to know your most recent whereabouts and the missions you have been on as of late."

There was a sense the asari Captain was used to getting what she wanted enough simply by asking, but Morgan sensed something else in her tone like a concern driving her demands.  "You have to know that the details of Spectre operations isn't something we can simply give you."

"May I point out that I am acting on the Council's behalf, have three war vessels at my disposal, and may be considering an immediate inspection of your vessel," Meliti threatened with little attempt to veil.

Confronting the asari's authority was one option, but Morgan weight the concern he'd heard.  "Captain Meliti, this might be easier if you could give me some sense of why it is so urgent that you find out the information you are seeking."

It was subtle, but Morgan caught the break in Militi's glare, whether purposeful or not.  "Perhaps we could meet in person.  In half an hour I can be aboard your ship.  Are you prepared to receive?"

Morgan nodded.  "We're ready whenever you are, Captain Meliti.  I'll see you in thirty minutes."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Aboard the Medusa

 

The travel from Vular to Harsa took about 12 hrs before the relay jump, meaning that the Medusa would arrive ahead of the Janiri by between 6 hours things go well and Naleena decides to make a run to Harsa and a relay jump or 6 days if things go poorly and they have to return via Artemis Tau. In any case, Morgan this would be a difficult situation.

 

Dahlia looked over at Morgan and blinked after her switched off the comm. "You realize, of course, you can't tell her anything because our mission was Classified, and  she doesn't have the clearance level for it." Dahlia said. "Now if she wants you to meet with the Asari Councilor, that's another story. I only hope the Janiri made it out of there by this time.

 

Inside the Batarian Facility

 

Ereba returned to Jenus. "Done. This place will be a cinder. I stuck some arc grenades in the sh*t near the data drives to make sure. You got the back up detonator?"

 

"Yeah, right here." Jenus replied. Ereba was a pain in the ass, but she was if anything thorough, and didn't take her constant riding personal. She did her job, and even though she mouthed off and was free with her opinion, Jenus liked that. She respected her.

 

Johnny and Iole were finishing up.

 

"Got it!" Johnny said. "I found what I could on the Leviathan and associated research. Files are downloaded onto my pad.

 

"Same here," Iole said.

 

"I started a data wipe, too, just in case," Johnny said.

 

Naleena looked up at the duct. "Okay, bar the door and let's get out of here."

 

Tallis took care of the door. Naleena climbed up into the duct and looked back at Jenus, nodded with a look that clearly said thanks, I'll remember this.

 

"Alright, let's  move like  we got a purpose!" Jenus ordered. "When I give the word put your personal barriers up. Tallis, you stay behind Johnny and try to cover him with yours."

 

Tallis nodded.

 

Jenus climbed up behind Naleena.

 

As they neared the first junction, Naleena activated her personal barrier, and Jenus gave the signal down the line, and they continued forward. However, upon reaching the first junction Jenus saw Naleena paralyzed.....

 

***
 

Naleena saw a white hot flash.

 

She sat across from her mother in a restaurant in Polos enjoying a meal. They had a table outside in the sidewalk cafe near the park. Her mother loved watching people, and had told her she had a surprise. Teshek, Naleena's father had been dead about a century and M'yana had bonded with a Turian. M'yana told her she was with child. Naleena felt that her mother would finally recover from the loss of her daughter.

 

Naleena planned to stay for a while and brought a gift to celebrate. Sights lined up on her head, and she made a sudden move. Shots rang out. Her mother slumped in her chair. 

 

"No!!!!"

 

Another white hot flash. Naleena fought to push this back and regain focus. Tears streamed down her face. Then a voice grating inside her head.

 

"Why do you resist, Naleena? You have known only pain and suffering. You do not yet comprehend your place in things. Give your life to me. We are the vanguard of your ascendance."

 

Naleena tried with all her might to break free and started softly mumbling a prayer her father taught her in a meditative state with her teeth clenched, "Arashu, goddess of protection, guide me back to this world." She repeated it over and over. The grating faded as she regained control.

 

"I will find you again." the voice said. Then Naleena was back in the vent, dripping with perspiration and her eyes raw with tears.

 

***

[Kel Riever]

Aboard the Kurinth

By the time the last attached file was read, and the last attached video played to its end for Iyana, she was standing, gripping the edge of the desk in Xanthe’s cabin with her clawed gauntlets in white knuckled fervor.  Her teeth bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, and she stared for a moment at the mask of ‘Silver’ lying on the desk next to the screen.

Elsewhere on the Kurinth, Kheres, the Serrice Guard she commanded, and the crew that had come aboard to operate the ship, all had a feeling come over them, like a cold wind blowing past them, drawing the warmth of their life with it as it went.  They looked at each other, in wonder and fear at what was happening, and then they each heard it, a laugh like it came from death itself, piercing through everything though it was surely impossible for such things to occur. 

The sliding door to Xanthe’s cabin shot open and the white haired witch in silver armor strode out, her blue eyes lit as if with unholy light.  The smile on her face was bloody from the bite on her lip.  Each step of her cruel heels struck the deck with a sharp retort and when Iyana leapt up onto the command platform to set the ship’s course, she shouted with a hellish voice. 

“Set course immediately for the Tower, and have the Khukuri do the same!  I have a gift to deliver to The Lord!”  Then Iyana’s unholy eyes set upon Kheres.  “And whatever you do, make sure Xanthe lives until we get there!”

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul watched as the guards passed, his hand on his knife as they left and letting out a held in sigh. His eyes went to the vehicles instead, spotting a few Sharamek Heavy Tanks that could be grounded with the right fuel lines cut, and a lighter vehicle they could use. This one looked like a bigger, longer version of a mako, sporting tank style treading instead of large wheels, and a larger canon up top. It was smaller then a grizzly however, and its front slopped down, a front bumber guard like object set up to act like a plow.

 

Essul recognized the vehicle as he turned to look at Anika, pointing to the thing, "SV-25 Avmodo..." He said to her, looking around to make sure the coast was clear before he moved out to it. He was quick, his back pressing agianst the vehicle in a matter of seconds, and his armor barely making a sound as he came to a stop near it. He approached the door and drew his knife, pressing the tip to the locking mechanism as he pressed it in and jerked it hard. There was a dull pop, and with a tap of the handle the door opened to the vehicle, gull wing style as he ducked into the drivers seat, getting to work on rigging up the system to hotwire already.

 

While he went to work, Vayne looked to the others, "Looks like we got our ride." He commented to them as he looked to the other vehicles, "Let's wreck these things quick. Ripe out anything you can, especially the tubes." He informed them with a smirk, knowing he'd enjoy this part.

[Kel Riever]

(Note:  Naleena's conversation from below comes from Shotgun Julia)

 

“Do you hear that?”  Iole whispered into her sub vocal.  “That strange pitch?”

Tallis and Jenus shook their heads to say no.  But Tallis started looking around again, at things that the others weren’t able to see.

Jenus was starting to sweat and she didn’t know why.  She had to abruptly stop as Naleena had come to a halt in front of her.  Noticing she wasn’t just taking a pause, Jenus rapper her on the butt with the flat of her palm. 

“You all right, Spectre?  Want me on point?  Probably better anyway for when we come out of this vent if anyone is waiting for us.”

Naleena turned to face Jenus, pale as death. While she nodded her answer was different as she tapped her omni-tool. "I'll be alright. Jenus, I'm uploading the route back to the utility room to your omni-tool. Your head seems to be clearer than mine at the moment. I want you to lead until we're outside. Make the decisions. I'll follow your lead. I'll be alright once we're away from this thing."

 

"You sure?"  Jenus wanted assurance.

 

"I'm sure. This is too important for egos," Naleena replied and grabbed her arm as she passed her. "And Jenus, thanks."

“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t gotten us out,” Jenus waived off the appreciation as was her way.  She wouldn’t admit it but she did not like what was happening.  Everyone was acting strangely and while she didn’t feel any different, the perspiration without any kind of good explanation meant something internally must be going on. 

As Jenus passed, it was evident in her dark eyes she was taking things more than seriously.  Out of precaution, she sealed herself up with goggles and a rebreather, taking advantage of the self-sustaining environment of her suit.  “Gas works two ways,” Jenus remarked, “Wouldn’t want the Batarians picking up on any good ideas.”

The Disciple was light enough to wield in one hand and Jenus lead the way to the ventilation exit.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Batarians began to react to their presence. A security team went to the computer facility to check on things but couldn't enter. The door wasn't just locked, something else was blocking it. They started pounding at the door and shouting, trying to get the attention of the technicians inside to no avail. The drugs in the aerosol Naleena fed into the room had been so highly concentrated in their blood they would be unconscious for at least another hour. The security cameras were off line as well as communications.

 

"Get the damned cutting torches," the security chief said.

 

"Yes, Sir."

 

"Damned idiots. They wanted this place secure. I told them. 'What if we need to get in here in an emergency?' And they built it with steel doors and steel sheeting the walls in case of an EMP anyway," he said shaking his head. "And I told them not to build it near that thing they brought in. It gives me the creeps. Cost they said. Come on, let's do our jobs and get out of here."

 

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

 

Naleena followed Jenus' lead and used her suit's mask as a precaution. It was matter of perception. To her everyone else seemed perfectly fine, but she was in the worst shape at the moment.

 

Jenus and her team emerged from the vent into the Electrical Room from were they diverged originally. The further they'd moved from the junction the less pressure each of them had felt. By now things felt nearly normal except for a bit of mental fatigue. Naleena's eyes looked like they'd recovered their normal clarity.

 

Ereba moved to the manhole from which they'd emerged originally, Jenus nodded, and she and Tallis slid it open. The team climbed down the ladder, Naleena nodded to Jenus to keep the lead for the moment. The sooner we're out of here, the better. They were on their way back to the utiility shack.near the motor pool.

 

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

 

While Essul  was at work cutting the fuel lines, Irina had been messing with her omni-tool, trying to hack into one of the combat drones. Sure this might **** up my omni-tool, but the boss will get me another one, and it's for a good cause. The drone began to move right when she moved her thumb right, and left when she moved her thumb left.

 

"Hey, Anika! Check it out," she said quietly and demonstrated, and then made the drone do something more complicated, and she was receiving telemetry from the drone. "I have control of this b*tch."

 

Then the back up systems on the drone kicked in and it not only ignored her signal, but began to get others to triangulate. "Oh sh*t!" And she shut down her omni-tool.

 

/////////

 

"****, just when I was thinking about lunch. We received a message from HQ," the sergeant said. "One of our drones started acting weird back where Private Ghorak thought he heard something. Well, maybe he did. We have to go back and look. Night vision everyone."

 

The security team went back over a grassy hill and Sergeant Krampah held up his hand and had his team lay low. He took out his binoculars. "Well, well. Looks like someone is trying to enter the facility by the back door, and from the looks of it they're heavily armed. If I had to guess, I'd say Alliance, but what's a Krogan doing there? They probably hired mercs," he  said and put his binoculars away and got out his omni-tool radio. "Krampah to HQ. We have intruders at the eastern motor pool and utility junction. Heavily armed. Send reinforcements."

 

There was no reply.

 

"Krampah to HQ. I said we have intruders. Please reply."

[Redbelle]

Somewhere in the depths of deep space.

 

After two hours of travel, Jess began to make out a shape in the blackness of space. Not so much as a shape though. Not really. It was more of a reflection as light from the sun struck a surface that was to unnatural to have existed in space for any length of time. They'd accelerated for a half hour before Jess had cut the thrust and been drifting for the remainder of the time until Jess finally saw what her omnitool told her was the outer surface of the satellite and with a minor correction to their course, Jess had began to slow the MIP......

 

The skid's folded out just before the MIP made contact and they magnetised themselves to a patch of the satellite hull. It was big. Larger than the MIP by several factors of magnitude. Jess confirmed the MIP was held in place and then reached for the switch that would pop the hatch.

 

"Serfina? We've arrived. There's a switch on the right of the panel your facing. Lift the protector and flick it up to open your hatch. We need to get to work if we want this backup to start spitting trojan code into the backup network".

 

Looking the Satellite over Jess spotted no external panels for capturing the suns energy. "Must have an self contained power supply. Makes finding it harder. They must have it shielded. Try and find a panel we can use to gain access. I've got some gear to make our own access but I'd prefer to leave this thing in the same shape we left it. Better that way. It'll leave the Batarians guessing what we did. Make them waste time investigating everything if there's nothing here to raise a flag". Her helmeted head turned to look the way the planet would more or less be in. "....Lets us pull the same trick again as well if they don't know how we did it the first time. C'mon magic girl! Let's get to business".

[Redbelle]

Back on the planet.

 

"Damn it..... Okay, Irina. I spotted three guard towers with antennae on our way through here. If you have time to play with drone signals see if you can find out where their signals are coming from. Kill those and they'll have to fall back on their programming. Let's assume that drone just reported back a problem though and shift our pattern so we can repel an investigation team..... Irina, if you can get hold of a drone long enough to see how it works, maybe we can set-up a scene for whoever comes looking. Allay suspicion, or improvise an IED".

 

"Essul, Vayne. We have to assume things will be getting hot soon. What do we have we can use to get one up on whatever heat comes our way"?

[Cainhurst Crow]

"The only working thing in this lot now..." Vayne said as he turned to look to anika, hydraulics and fuel lines in his hand as he got finished grounding the armored vehicles. Strong as they were, one tug of krogan muscle was all it took to pry them out of the engine, and leave a bit of a mess.

 

Essul connected the last of the wiring, looking back to the others, "The Avmodo is ready to use. It has a 185mm Cannon, 2 Coaxial machine guns, and a smaller 35mm rear gun. Front bumpers got a Mass Effect Field generator to knock aside whatever it hits..." He explained, knowing these vehicles well. They were designed to ram through enemy encampments and allow the gunners to take down targets without leaving the vehicles. It would get them out relatively quickly, a 65 MPH speed not much, but better then most of the other vehicles here.

 

"If we wanted a distraction, we could spark a fire here. It might draw enough attention to get everyone around here." Vayne offered as essul nodded.

 

"Could be worth it. Minimal engagement would be preferred..." He said as he looked to Irina, "When you accessed the drones systems, did you manage to gauge its speed and capabilities? I'd like to know how much time we have."

[Kel Riever]

Somewhere in the depths of deep space

Serafina flipped up the protector as directed and flicked the switch that would open her canopy.  She wasn’t taking any chances out in deep space and so also used the Explorer suit’s attached tether.  Not a veteran of space walks, Fina had enough basic knowledge that a step off and her magnetic boots were enough to get her on the satellite.  Fina also made sure to bring her case with her, hooked by its handle and a short cord to her waist.

Traversing the exterior of the satellite was a bit of a clompy walk but with patience and her fortunately lengthy, retractable tether, Serafina was able to get about.  The only light available for her came from the lamps on her suit, and their illumination made her coppery-visored spherical helmet opaque.  After a few minutes, she found what she was looking for.

“Maintenance panel, on what looks like is near the top.  It’s small.” Serafina bent down.  She saw the bolts keeping the panel in place.  “We need a Batarian standard driver to get these up.”  The bolts for Batarian equipment that weren’t meant to be handled typically needed a square headed driver to loosen or tighten.  “I don’t think they really expected anyone to come tampering.  The panel has no security on it that I can tell.  We simply need to get it up and off.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina shook her head. "I'd say not long. Dammit!" she grumbled with frustration while fiddling with her omni-tool again. "This isn't my forte, Anika. I probably shouldn't have messed with it in the first place, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. You and Arian should get ready for anything."

 

She tried with a different drone. Perhaps that one hadn't activated defensive protocol yet. Yes, got it! Now before it does, let's cause some mischief. "I'm gonna try to network a couple with the one I'm controlling," she said, biting her lower lip in full concentration. "Crap! It's no good! They're countering. I still have control of the one. I'm about to lose it. I've got two drones targeted including the first one. Firing."

 

She fired the machine guns in one at one and the missile at another, and both dropped.

 

****

Back on the Ground

 

"Sergeant Krampah, this is HQ, do you copy?"

 

"It's about time. What took you so long, Sir?" the sergeant asked.

 

"I don't know. We've been having outages all over. We're under a cyber attack," the colonel said. "We had to go to our back up system. What's your status?"

 

"We have hostiles at our location. They are heavily armed, and appear to be sabotaging the motor pool. I'm sending you our coordinates. Requesting reinforcements," Krampah said. "Damn! They just took out some of our drones! Orders?"
 

"Hostiles.... reinforcements..... engage....." the signal cut out again.

 

"Sh*t! We have the high ground. Let's engage these bastards and hold out until reinforcements get here.... if they get here." Krampah ordered. "Spread out and fire on my signal."

 

Shots rang out from the hillside down onto the team.

[Redbelle]

Jess stomped over to Serafina with her mag boots and dropped to one knee as she looked over the panal. "Hmmmm.... Not a standard fitting in council space. Good thing I don't fly standard". Jess reached into her tool belt and pulled out a tool that looked like a wrench handle with an array of hex tubes tightly arranged together at the end. She held it over one of the bolts and lowered  it down over the bolt head. As the tubes made contact the bolt pushed those hex tubes it contacted up, leaving the others in place. Soon a perfect outline of the bolt was apparent and Jess twisted, feeling the bolt twist loose easily she proceeded to loosen it enough that it would let the panel open while remaining screwed into the frame. Jess then went on to the other bolts and soon she was reaching down to grab the cover and pulled, feeling it move she continued applying pressure and the panal swung open. Looking inside, Jess cast a quick look over what was inside.

 

"Looks good.... nothing trapped.... At least I don't think so.... There's probably no way they ever thought anyone would try to do what we're doing".

[Kel Riever]

Jess could see her own reflection in the coppery surface of Serafina’s helmet.  Though she couldn’t see the tech’s face, Jess could tell from her body position that Fina was glancing from her job to Jess and back again as she talked.  For someone who had been relatively quiet, when it got to her work, Serafina seemed talkative.  Or at least she started feeling comfortable enough to chatter.

“I have to get myself one of those,” Serafina remarked as she steadily opened the panel to reveal a series of wires, ports and a small viewscreen.  Along with a red warning label.  “Property of Batarian Hegemony.  Unauthorized access subject to severe penalty under the law.”  Then there was another yellow label.  “High Voltage.  You’d think anyone who could open this panel would know that.  Let’s see here.”

Serafina let her small case float next to her, and opened it, revealing several little devices and wires of her own, and a half-dozen backup granola bars in paste form.  She pulled one clear cable, which had a jack on each end, along with some small orange box in its middle.  After a search around, Fina plugged one end of the wire into each of two, incongruent ports.  “Basic bypass for maintenance, should work no problems.”  She activated her omni-tool then, and a moment later, a series of blue LEDs illuminated the clear wire throughout, while a green light blinked on the orange box.  “No problems at all!”

Over the next several minutes, Serafina was busy away typing on her omni-tool.  “The code is odd…I mean I have worked with Batarian codes before.  It just takes getting used to.  This isn’t anything complex but get it wrong and the satellite will beam out an alert.  Happily, no one trapped this with a field dump if it was tampered with, which would fry us.  Slightly into a crisp.  If I got it wrong.”

Jess swore if she could see Serafina’s face, the woman would be sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth.

“Which I won’t…this is…all right.  Here goes the Trojan, wireless from my case…”  Fina tapped a data drive stored in the floating case.  “…to my Omni-tool…to this little munchkin over here.”  Fina then tapped the orange box, then unconsciously hummed a little tune.

After another ten minutes, Serafina was pulling out the cable.  “We’re good.  Now, I suppose we should get back before we become the first colonists on this satellite, yes?”  She tilted her head humorously as she started to put everything she needed back into her case.

[Kel Riever]

Once the panel was fastened back in place, without so much as a scratch, and Fina had everything she’d brought with her secured back in her case, the Captain and the tech could plod their way back to the Manned Insertion Pod.  Everything was fine, until Fina got to the pod and reached to climb into her seat.  A substantial spark flew from her outstretched fingers to the small craft.

The concern was not light in Fina’s voice.  “Uh oh…”

As there was no one else around, the craft’s canopies had been left open.  Serafina climbed into her seat, and tapped her viewscreen.  Nothing came up.  The MIP was dark and nothing Fina did could get anything to activate.

There was a visible slump in Serafina’s shoulder.  “That…was static.  We’re fried.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Erszbat – Batarian Facility

 

Jenus didn’t want to let on that she was hearing a grinding under her crest as well, but at least she was able to keep her wits about her. She kept silent about it, but she did respect her CO for having the brains to put her in charge of the escape from the facility. She turned and looked back and saw that everyone seemed to be struggling. Gas? Possible, or was it something else? A presence? Whatever this sh*t is it’s creepy as hell.

 

“Come on, we gotta move!” she said to her team. “There’s no time to waste. I don’t plan on dying in here.”

 

“I hear that,” Ereba replied.

 

Tallis strained to hold her barrier for Johnny who was in front of her and appeared to be getting a massive headache. “Move. Move,” she prodded him.

 

Since Jenus followed the same route Naleena took, she knew the way was clear of booby traps, except that they still had to move quietly. This wasn’t a problem for the commandos who were trained for this type of mission, but Johnny wasn’t, and he slowed them down. It was frustrating, but it was better to be frustrated than dead, and eventually they made it to the ventilation shaft exit.

 

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

 

Outside, the Batarians had taken positions on the hillside and fired on the team. Fuel had begun leaking from the cut lines on the tanks and other vehicles.

 

Irina noticed this and grabbed Essul. “If you want to use this vehicle we gotta get it the f*ck out of here, now!” she said and pointed at the diesel fuel and gasoline that was beginning to pool on the asphalt.

 

“And if you hadn’t started playing with the drones we wouldn’t be in this mess,” Essul countered with anger. “Now take your defensive position.”

 

“Just get in the f*cking APC and move it!” the former gunnery sergeant shouted in his face, and then shoved him away and took a position to cover him. Irina had a temper, and the last thing she wanted was to end up in a Batarian slave camp. “Draw fire away from the vehicles! Anika, you and Vayne hold down the fort. Arian, you’re with me. Let’s flank these bastards.” She used the grenade launcher under her rifle to launch a flash bang up in the general direction of the gunfire. With night vision, the flash was searing.

 

/////////

 

The Janiri

 

Commander Selani had been patient, almost to a fault. She should have heard from the MIP by now and she was worried. The only way to find the MIP would be to do an active scan and that would break their stealth. If they got too close to the satellite, its own sensors might pick up something that large, and she didn’t want the Batarian Navy raining everything in the Void on them before the ground team was recovered. But there were two questions: how much longer would the ground team be? And how much air did the MIP team have? And they did have VERA.

 

“VERA, I need your best estimate of the air supply available to the MIP team,” the commander requested.

 

VERA pursed her lips and contemplated several different scenarios before deciding on the most likely ones. “If the two of them panic, I would give them no more than 15 minutes. If however, they remain perfectly calm, enter meditative states they could extend the time to 50 minutes. Given the fact that both are human, and one is Captain Stone, I would estimate their air supply to reach critical levels in approximately 25 minutes, Commander.”

 

“How long for the rescue?”

 

“Since I know the area in with they are, I can isolate human life signs from….”

 

Commander Selani interrupted. “Just how long.”

 

“Once I have located them, I would allot ten minutes for rescue, Commander,” VERA said, “After which time we have approximately 30 minutes before the Batarian Cruiser, Aratoht, and its accompanying frigates come within their firing range.”

 

Selani sighed. “Give them another ten minutes, then begin your scan.”

 

“The Council’s directive was to avoid….”

 

“I gave those people my word,” she said, “And I will not leave them out there to die.”

[Redbelle]

"Fried?..... It's not fried..... It can't be fried". Jess stepped up slowly to the MIP and reached inside to push a button.......

Nothing happened.

".........Okay....... So its fried...... And we're stuck". Jess snapped as she turned away from the MIP, planted her fists on her hips and looked out into the only blackness of space. She seemed to tremble for a moment before, abruptly, she lifted her arms and yelled out loud into the void.

" F***! F***! F***ity F*******"!!!!!!

[Cknarf]

Johnny was thankful to be out of the ventilation shafts. Yeah, he slowed things up a bit. Lack of training perhaps? Nah. They were crawling through ducts. Even a baby could do that. ffs. Maybe it was his broad shoulders? Compared to the supermodels he was infiltrating with, he was a tank. There was just soooo much Johnny to squeeze into such a tiiiight space, you know? Or maybe his author really didn't feel like describing Johnny crawling through a vent with a face full of sweaty ass, no matter how fine it was, all while having a nose up his own sweaty ass. Poor Tallis, all the way at the end of the sweaty ass train.

 

"Hoo-hah!"

 

*whip crack*

 

Johnny flexed. He had been ready to kick some ass since he signed up. Sure, there were those Cerberus fools from earlier, but these were batarians. Real live batarians! Not that he hated them, or anything.  He had just been training to beat some four-eyed (lolglasses) ass damn near since he joined the Alliance.

 

"I'll take the lead of the sweaty ass train from here, if you don't mind, ma'am."

 

Johnny cleared his throat.

 

"I mean... taking point!" Johnny activated his tech armor, and took off with gusto.  His author forgot where they had to pass through next, but he was pretty sure it was that sewer tunnel.  Echo-y splish-splash sounds are cool when combined with the sound of heavy breathing and distant gunfire, so that was happening. Either way, everyone was where sh*t was going down now.

 

Johnny superman punched the first batarian he saw right in the dick, causing his testicles to explode like eggs in the microwave, and killing him almost instantly. 

 

Or maybe it was a combination of biotics and hot block shavings. It was most likely the latter.

 

[TheMajonese]

Arian did as Irina had told him and got to cover to lay down suppressive fire but not because he was following any orders, he just did what he thought would help finishing their mission. Even though he agreed with Essul that Irina had gotten them into this situation by screwing with the batarian drone, he didn't say anything. Now wasn't the time to accuse others. 

 

But whether it was intentional or not, Irina did a great job at making Essul look incompetent as a commander by issuing the commands, what should have been the batarian's job.

 

"We have to move soon or they will try to burn us alive", Arian said with a look at the leaking fuel around them, his voice loud enough to be heard over the gunfire of the batarians. Then he turned to the enemy position and waited until Irina had fired her grenade at the batarians. Following up with his Typhoon, he forced the batarians to keep their heads down. Accurate fire was hardly possible with the light machine gun, especially not over long distances but Arian didn't need to kill anyone, just hinder them from firing at his team.

[Cknarf]

Johnny on the other hand, was fuckin' up all these batarians. He fired wildly with the pistol in his left hand, because the right arm was busy choking the sh*t out of an enemy.  Tired of using the batarian to absorb projectiles, he gripped his face, and while throwing him downward, yanked hard. Ripped that fucker's head right around, making it do some sh*t you'd see while watching the exorcist.

 

Johnny charged another enemy. He let his tech armor eat a few rounds before yanking the batarian forward with a biotic pull. A charged fist, followed by detonating tech armor, launched the poor bastard into the air at least twenty feet, before eventually coming back down onto an antenna of some kind, impaling him.