6315 réponses à ce sujet

[Kel Riever]

Team Boom

Iole was stowing her gear with the others by the lockers near the Janiri's hangar and as she peeled away her Commando Leathers, she saw something red stuck to it, near some spatter.  When she reached to grab it, she couldn't figure out what the red thing was until she realized it was the very top of a finger, with nail still attached.  Fighting back a wretching feeling, Iole immediately got it into an incinerator. 

Jenus spotted Iole's discovery and reaction.  As callous as she typically she was, Jenus jibed, "Looks like your Batarian friend just had to reach out and touch you."  Then she chuckled.

Iole scowled and Tallis also frowned.  "Gross.  Gross,"  Tallis said, more referring to the joke Jenus made than the incident.

"Oh, calm your ass.  Yes, I'm sure he's missing it, if he's still around to miss it.  I didn't see you flinching when you were lighting it up with Iole's Hellbringer."

Tallis shrugged her shoulders then ignored Jenus.  Iole just wanted someone a bit more caring to spend some time with and not only did she think of Frank, but she remembered his mentioning of the race on Thessia.  "I've got to get a message out to my man," Iole remarked, then hurried to get finished with her gear.

"Not a bad idea, I think I'm going to visit Red.  All in all I'd say that was a pretty good mission.  Even Arian was ripping it up.  Sure, he's couldn't talk his way through buying something from a Kiosk, but that reject is a killer, straight to the void."

A few minutes later Jenus was on her way.  She had a sudden thought, a very unusual thought for Jenus, that she should actually get in touch with Anika and tell her to make sure to check in with Naleena, make sure her crest was on right.  It was enough to actually get her to slow her pace for a minute as she walked through the passageways to Irina's cabin.  Then Jenus shrugged her shoulders and said out loud (though not meaning to), "That freak wouldn't want to hear from me anyway.  She'll think I'm coming down on her big hero savior rather than think I'm trying to help."

Some crewmember couldn't help throwing Jenus a glance as she passed by.

Jenus pushed her chin out at the other asari.  "What do you think you're looking at?"

The crewmember quickly pulled her eyes away and kept walking.
 

"That's what I thought."  Jenus didn't like that she'd blurted out her thoughts.  She walked a bit more briskly to find Irina.

[Redbelle]

Jess sat at a spartan, bare metal table whose edge's seemed to have melted until they drooped downwards towards the floor. For her part, Jess rested her head in her hands, cupping her face as she stared up at Serafina, having been disturbed from reading a tablet that rested on the table.

 

"Get rid of you? Luv, I'm just happy your alive after the stunt you pulled.....". Jess rose, both hands moving to place themselves flat against the table. "..... Do it again, I'll make sure you live so I can kill you myself..... What the hell were you thinking"? Jess's voice, though she kept her voice level, was intense. Each word, every syllable, articulated in it's entirety as she straightened and prowled to where Serafina sat. Dropping down on the side of the bunk, Jess sighed heavily as she seemed to be looking for the words.

 

"You didn't tell me what you were doing. I'm your sodding CO and you went behind my back. Sometimes I might appreciate it, even if I have to tear strips out of the people who did for appearances sake..... You put yourself at risk! Risk it's my job to know about so I can fine tune what we do to get everyone back home..... Fine, what you did worked. But in that suit if you'd fallen low on your life support I'd never know it to look at you. It takes minute's to connect two suits up to share the same battery..... Do you know what happens to the brain when it's oxygen deprived for to long? If you were brain damaged on that space walk, then I'd get rid of you since I can't justify a walking vegetable taking up room on my ship". Jess grit her teeth as she felt anger seeping into her words and she leaned back on her arms.

 

"I went out there knowing the risks. I'm not some shrinking violet who let's her crew take the risks when I'm the one who has the skills needed to be front and forward taking those same risks. Likewise, you and I shared those risks so you and I needed to watch over the other..... You didn't let me watch out for you. If you'd died I'd have been all alone and then.... Grud. I'd have to tell your family. Sorry, Mum and Dad. Your little girl got herself killed so I could send you this 'sorry your daughter's dead message'". Jess's head turned to face Serafina's and her expression was carefully blank.

 

"I sent enough of those for one lifetime. I'll thank you not to keep things from me that means I need to send another..... Now how are you feeling"?

[Kel Riever]

"A little scared."  The plainly honest response had come out of Serafina before she had time to think about hiding her feelings.  It was a bit odd for her, she wasn't a person who typically wore her feelings on her sleeve.

"But...better.  I guess it feels good to come out and, well, and have you know things."  She reached up to hold her head, and her unusual features gave her the appearance for a moment of a doe searching for antlers it didn't have.  The apologies came back quickly again after that.  "I'm sorry, yes, I didn't think of what you'd have to go through.  I'm sorry, I'm just a nobody and I didn't want...I wasn't going to let...you...I was going to make sure you made it.  You might not have...you might not let me do what I needed to do."

It really was a belief of Serafina's, Jess could tell. Perhaps not exactly an argument against insecurity, but the tech was so steeped in her belief that Jess could tell any sort of concern Serafina had for herself was thrown right out the window, beyond the point of any lack of confidence.  Fina looked at Jess as if the reason for her actions were obvious and she was apologizing because she couldn't really think that there might have been something else to do.

[Redbelle]

Jess looked over at Serafina and sighed. "Dolt.... C'mere".

 

Slipping over so that she sat and leaned against the cabin bulkhead, Jess pulled Serafina close to her and held her. One hand had her's while the other slipped around over her shoulder as Jess reached up and stroked her hair. "You are not a nobody luv. Your one of mine. Your crew of the Medusa and you were great out there today.... Hey...."! She said, nudging Serafina with her shoulder. "We got the job done. Batarian space will be tied up in knots for hours. Maybe even days...... If it takes weeks I might be inclined to pop over again and offer a tech solution for a price". She grinned. "You know? Back in the day I did one or two things that made my Captain hopping mad as well. I had the best of intentions you understand and ultimately things turned out alright. But he got mad because on a ship there's a chain. A hierarchy of responsibility. People who see people in command tend to get nervous and think if they stay quiet everything will be okay.... You know the first lesson I teach my crew when I get the chance"?

 

Jess looked down at Serafina who was now nestled against her chest. ".....Call the Captain! If you don't know why a hatch isn't sealing... You call the Captain! If you suspect an air leak in a compartment but your not sure if it's your imagination.... You call the Captain! Even if you are manning the bridge and suddenly you want to know what the time is..... You call the fricken Captain! It's my job to look after you. Train you. So that one day, you don't need me looking over your shoulder. And on that day you'll have to choose what comes next in life. Because if you can do what I need you to do in your role.... I'm going to promote you out of your comfort zone so you can train up newbies on your old station while learning a new one". Jess chuckled as she leaned her head back on the bulkhead. "That's how I learned".

[Kel Riever]

Aboard the Medusa

If Morgan was a religious man, he'd have called it more than coincidence that Meliti's frigate squadron had passed through the Relay ten minutes before the Janiri completed its jump.  Otherwise, there would be no doubt Meliti would have moved to intercept the Spectre's ship, delaying it if nothing more.  Now, at least, Morgan would get the chance to inform Jess, and maybe even Naleena, about the odd conversation he'd had with the Republics captain.


"Bring us alongside the Janiri.  We'll stay with her until we dock,"  Morgan ordered.  Then he brought up a screen to send a couple of messages:

To:  Naleena T'Sarius

From:  Morgan

What happened to Xanthe Remi?  I had a pretty aggressive naval captain try to wrestle classified information from me about your whereabouts.

And:

To:  Jess

From:  Morgan

I had the pleasure of meeting a militant asari frigate squadron captain who wanted to turn the Medusa upside down if we didn't give her classified info on Naleena's Mission.  The aggressive tone seems to stem from that the Spectre we met on Duellos, Xanthe Remi, has gone missing.  She was investigating problems in the Terminus Systems.  I get the sense that it's an even bigger deal than it would normally be for losing a Spectre.  You might want to see if you can bend Naleena's ear. 

The Medusa's in good order, there was no inspection, just a somewhat cold meeting in the hangar.  But the Republics have the Medusa associated with Naleena on record or they wouldn't know to come to us.
 

[Kel Riever]

Serafina

The affection from Jess took Serafina a bit off guard, but she didn't argue with it, because it felt actually good.  "I'm not sure I'm much more than a tech, but...I guess I can train some people.  And if you need to teach me some things, sure...whatever has to happen.  I don't...I hope you don't feel like you'll have to keep looking over my shoulder.  And I'll tell you next time." 
 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina stood in the shower washing the stink of the Batarian world off her. Some plan, Cut the fuel lines, he said. Nearly got us killed. Couldn't just cut the electrical systems, no.... Had to be the fuel lines. And Vayne just went along with it, she thought and shook her head. And they give me dirty looks for starting that fire fight by playing with that drone. How was I supposed to know it had self-correcting software?

 

She toweled off herself, and threw on some clean clothes. Not having any liking for the tight fitting outfits available on the ship, she threw on a pair of her old BDU pants and a tank and went back to her quarters. When she opened the door, she saw Jenus coming up the hall. She motioned quickly to Jenus to hurry, smiled, and leaned against the door frame.

 

****

 

Naleena was sound asleep and didn't hear Anika come in. Even Anika could be quiet. VERA's image stood before Anika and put her index finger in front of her lips to say "shhhh", and pointed to Naleena.

 

Images of things past flowed through her mind.....

 

"NALEENA!" the deep voice shouted.

 

She jumped, and sat on the edge of the bed perspiring, then walked to the sink in the bathroom and splashed water on her face.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus

There hadn't been time for Jenus to cool down completely, but she had on a more comfortable uniform bodysuit when she came up on Irina.  Jenus checked the hallway as if she was making sure she wasn't being followed, took Irina by the arm and tugged her inside her cabin.

One the door was closed, Jenus kissed Irina, but before it drew into a long expression of her affection, she pulled away and said, "Red, I think the Spectre's got something going on."

Not sure if she was explaining herself well, and getting a bit frustrated by the jumble in her head trying to figure out a way to say what she meant, Jenus snorted a bit, then jumped over the bed, landing on her butt.  She sat, putting her back to the wall and arms behind her head, then stated.  "I don't give a damn about her, but she's got something going on under her crest."  Irina could tell it wasn't true that Jenus didn't care.  That was just Jenus' lip service.  In fact, she could tell something had irked her enough to talk.  "This Reaper nonsense, I think it's a bunch of Elcor sh*t.  I mean, whatever, if the Spectre wants to be insane, she has license to do it from the Council.  You can already tell she's got a bolt or two loose.  The point is, the Geth attacked the Citadel.  They had a giant, f*ck*ng dreadnought.  That human screams 'Reaper' and we're all supposed to believe the most inexperienced Spectre who, of course, ends up a Cerberus agent."

Easing her criticism as Jenus remembered who she was talking to, she went on, "All right, so maybe that's what we call Reapers, the Geth over-minds or something like that.  But they have this...we know they've done things to alter humans biologically into those mindless husks.  Now they've got a thought control device...rumor has it that's what took down Benezia, and Saren.  They fell to it.  This 'Leviathan'...humans and their mythology...uh, present party excluded, it's got to be a defunct Geth Dreadnought, but the device must be automatic...I think...I think the others felt it.  I know the Spectre did.  She...well we had to get out of there and that's what we did.  I bet that pureblood didn't think I'd help her.  We got out is the point, and I'm just thinking maybe she should see someone.  Or wrap her legs around Too Tall, or something."

Jenus wasn't about to admit the affect it had on her.  As far as she was concerned, she'd shrugged it off.  But she looked to see if Irina would say anything about it.

[Kel Riever]

Somewhere in the Terminus Systems

Iyana had become possessed.  At least that's how Kheres looked at it.

Or perhaps she'd simply never anticipated this side of the human.

But the odd part about it, was it being around Iyana was now strangely emboldening, instead of worrysome.  Kheres felt as if the warrior in her now had its full potential to run.  She would rise, become that which she had always wished to become in her order, and that order would rise with her. 

All because of a human with white hair and cold blue eyes. 

The thought, which at one point would have been cause for disbelief, now seemed so inevitable that Kheres felt a bit of remorse for those who weren't strong enough to rise to meet a destiny that would be fulfilled.  At the same time, she knew she could not stop for those who had no ability and little value.  The future was only for those who could accept it.

Each ship, the Khukuri  and the Kurinth, blazed across space towards their final destination.  The Khukuri itself had taken a bit of a detour, to pick up a passenger, the scientist known as Doctor Foteni Demos.  Then the ship had practically blown an engine racing to catch up to the Kurinth.  Soon, they'd be in the presence of someone Kheres was instructed to directly obey should she encounter him, though it was unexpected as she was also instructed to remain aboard with the rest of the crew.  This man, known with no humility as The Lord, was who Iyana was set to meet.  And she desired to meet with him alone.  Well, alone and with accompanying gifts.

Of those who Kheres did feel a bit of remorse for was the Spectre Xanthe Remi.  That Spectre couldn't have dreamed of what had become of her.  Well, unless she somehow had a sliver of the necessarily cruel brilliance that was within the mind of Iyana.  And Kheres sincerely doubted that she did. 
 

[Redbelle]

Anika rose up on one elbow as Naleena abruptly rose. She watched in silence as she paced to the wash room and sat up as she heard the water running.

 

She waited until she heard the water stop, then folded her legs over the side of the bed and came up to the level where Naleena was emerging out of the bathroom. As Naleena emerged, Anika was there and she stepped forward and placed her palm over her cheek. "Rough dreams"? She asked.

[Redbelle]

Jess was switching a holo display in Anika's room looking for news, but instead kept cycling through Asari news, Asari gym shows, Asari cooking shows.... She paused on what was an Asari soap opera and hung on the unfolding drama of two Asari fretting over whose child one was carrying before she realised she was getting sucked in and switched channel again.....

 

That was when her Omni-tool went off. Looking down, she saw she had a message and opening it, she read it as having come from Morgan. Scanning through the text she felt a vein in her head begin to throb as she typed a response.

 

To: Morgan

 

From: Jess.

 

Subject: After you read this instil some bloody self preservation instincts in the crew before I.......

 

Hey Luv. Serafina and I made it back. Ditto the rest of the team. Think they got what they were after. Not sure tbh. Haven't asked. Serafina needed a time out so we're chillaxing in Anika's spare quarter's. Hopefully she's with Naleena probing for her tonsils.

 

Luv, are we really listed as being on the republics good side? If we get a reputation of being a lap dog door's I need open are going to close in our face.... Nvm. I'll sort it out. Good job on getting the ship back to safe harbour.

 

I'll talk to Naleena before I come over. I'll keep Ser with me too. Girl needs to get out more. If you have sources to tap look up who all these people of interest are and how they relate to the missing spectre and ship. Find out where they lost their girl. Data Morgan. Can't make bricks without clay.

 

Hug's and kisses.

 

J

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina

 

She listened to Jenus. Jenus seemed agitated still running on adrenaline from the mission perhaps, but Irina had calmed down. Perhaps it was her shower, but then Jenus had had time for one as well. Asari usually take a long time to process things, and that she knew, but Jenus was still amped, and she hadn't seen everything.

 

Irina put her hands  on Jenus' shoulders and looked deep in her eyes. "Slow down," Irina said. "You seem... agitated. Why don't you sit on the floor between my legs and let me rub your shoulders?" Irina sat on her bed.

 

"I'd hate to think that our Spectre has been anything but straight with us  about our mission, but she showed us the preliminary data the Salarians had gathered before the Batarians moved that 'Leviathan' and the Salarians estimated its age as a billion years old. The Geth have only been around for 300 years. So maybe there is something to all of this, and we should ask these questions during our mission debriefing.

 

"I have a lot of questions myself. We were on that jungle world.... Eingana.... and we recovered something supposedly valuable. I'd like to know more about it."

 

*****

 

Naleena

 

Naleena patted the water off her face with a towel and returned to room. "Yeah, bad dreams," she said as she approached Anika and sat on the edge of the bed next to her. "I won't lie to you. I'm scared. Can I show you something?" Naleena grabbed her omni-tool off the nightstand and opened the holo-screen on the wall next to the bed. She showed Anika the photos she took of the reaper, and all of the Batarians working on it. There were also humans, most likely slaves, working on it as well.

 

"Here's an image under an IR filter. Notice that there are heat signatures along the hull. And now under UV filter. You see energy spikes in the same places but they're invisible to the naked eye," Naleena said. "This thing is far from dead. Or perhaps the Batarians have activated it?
 

"When I began to leave, I felt a presence, like something invading my mind," she said and took Anika's hand in both of  hers. "It  was  looking for something, exploring what made me who I am today, looking for a weakness to exploit. They are things I've told you about, but I they happened so long ago. This thing brought the memories up to the front and I experienced them as though they were happening all over again. It said it would find me."

 

****

 

Ereba

 

"I'm alright, Doc. It's just a flesh wound. Now can I get out of here?" Ereba  complained as the doctor picked out metal fragments from her leg.

 

"And if I don't get all of these out you'll be complaining to me in another couple of weeks that your leg still hurts. Now hold still, unless you want me to put you under a general," Dr. Tolus replied as he poked through the muscle tissue in her leg, and extracted a piece of shrapnel. "And this one, if if had been three millimeters deeper would have cut an artery!"

 

"But it wasn't."

 

"If you kept  moving around it could have worked its way and  cut  the artery. Then we would have had a real problem."

[Redbelle]

Anika raised an eyebrow as the corner of her lip rose. "My, you are popular.... Okay, so you say you felt something in your mind? Being Asari with your aura's I don't doubt that your susceptable to other aura's if they focus them on you. Your just more in tune. That said, I don't know enough about what.... that is.... to tell you much". Anika looked over the images. "I can tell you now that it's not going anywhere for awhile. No matter how much work they put into it, there's a lot of damage and repair work". She looked up. "That means we have time to look over the data you collected and see what it is you found. When we know what Dis is, we can decide what to do with it. If the Batarian's are developing a weapon that can affect the mind we ought to be able to use the data you recovered to prompt the right people to action on this".

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"But look at this...," Naleena brought up a picture of Sovereign, and uploaded her pictures to VERA. "VERA, make a composite of the Leviathan to scale."

 

The images of the two were nearly identical.

 

"This is what the Batarians are playing with, Anika." she said. "If I knew for certain going into this mission what I know now, we would have nuked that facility, not just gathered intelligence. Something bad is going to happen. I can feel it, but I need to make sure my crest is on straight, and right now, I'm not so certain."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul had worked on filling out his report, finished mid transit towards the citadel as he rubbed his eyes. He was starting to feel the fatigue from the back to back mission, and he let out a sigh as he made for his quarters. On the way through the hallways, essul noticed one of the asari from team boom, pausing as he looked to her.

 

"Iole." He said as he gave a tilt of his head to her, pausing as he did so, "...Hey...I was wondering...about what happened during your infiltration. Did you see anything during the data capture. Something to do with biotic research?" He asked curiously before he stopped himself. He could bring it up during the debreifing, and he doubted the commandos would want to talk about the mission with him anyway. They always seemed to stay among themselves.

 

"...never mind. I...apologize for the question. I'm just....very tired." He said as he rubbed his eyes, the exhausting starting to creep into his voice as he staggered towards his quarters. He didn't even bother to change as he crashed onto the bed, passing out before he hit the mattress.

 

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

 

Images and Sounds, that was the best way to describe what he saw. Blurs of colors and echoing voices, a bright light over him and the sensation of everything around him. He was strapped to the table, head locked into place with a special brace, as he felt everything around him. Pain was everywhere, everything that his nerves felt, as he felt the doctors splitting open his spinel colemn, their devices to take apart his nerves, strand by strand, connecting them to new ones. New nerves which were not dead, and sent their signals directly to his brain.

 

They got closer and closer to his neck, the sensation of bone popping, strands unraveling, muscles and blood vessels moving, was agony to him as his newly extended nervous system worked to understand what was going on. A final pop, a high pitched scream that didn't come from his own long paralyzed lips, and the whole world went cold.

 

And he heard it, for the briefest of moments. A voice that he had almost forgotten all about during his time under.

 

'Rudimentary Creature....you are unworthy-'

 

It was the last thing he heard before his world was swallowed by darkness, the extra dose of pain killers knocking out his mind, for the next round of surgery.

 

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

 

Essul's eyes snapped open, his vision swimming as he bolted out of bed and landed crumpled on the floor. He didn't feel it, but he could judge by the sound that it probably hurt. Essul rose back up into a sitting position as he brought a hand to rub the back of his neck, the long scar still evident as he shock his head.

 

"Damn that base...stirring up what's best left buried." He said to himself. His past wasn't the best, and while some things he didn't mind talking about with candor, there were some things he didn't want to remember. Some things that were better left in the dark, forgotten by everyone including himself.

 

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

 

Machaera rubbed the back of his neck, feeling an odd sense that he was being watched as he plotted out his next course of action. He sat at an odd place, really, given his authorized murder of the police commissioner of the planet.

 

"Earth Mahogany...probably imported from Illium..." Machaera commented as he dangled his feet over the edge of the dead mans desk, looking around his rather sparse looking office, most of the items packed away in simple crates as he no doubt planned to clear out to retire. "Such extravagance...and all for an instrument of the law."

 

"It's not like the job wasn't cushy. He'd need to be crazy not to take advantage of everything." Yron said with a whistle, impressed by some of the trinkets the head of the planets security had during his time here, "Some of this stuff though...pretty sure this Scotch is worth more then most of these guards annuals." He said as he held the bottle in his hand, planning on taking it back with him.

 

"All these items signify are a lack of self confidence and a need to compensate with material possessions..." The medic and tech expert, Ren'Danna explained as she looked around the room, "It's a shame he wasn't in the market for some physical enhancements. I'd have been more then happy to accommodate."

 

And the latest member of the team, Ezkra, was silent as she stood with her arms crossed, looking to Machaera with a raised brow at his antics, and the team he had put together. She wondered why they had been gathered here.

 

Along with Falling Leaf and Tyrius, the whole specialist crew was assembled, along with a few of the higher ranking subordinates as Argos the Geth Platform stood, its eye projecting a galactic map as it synched with the communication of the Blade Wolf, and Machaera's other forces.

 

"Alright team, listen up. Lorek is offically under my command, as authorized by Admiral Fay'yar of the Military Council. As such, I will be installing Lt. Dizz as the current acting head of the New Lorek Police Force..." He said, one of his armroed troops bowing at the mention of his name as Machaera went on.

 

"Onto better business. These...are worlds within the terminus systems, Cyrene, Ferrris Fields, New Canton, Fehl Prime, Freedom's Progress, Horizon. What do they all have in common?" He asked as he surveyed the room, quickly stepping up to answer in their place, "All of them had run ins with the collectors. And each, suffered from a significant loss of forces and citizens as a result. This leaves them open, not for attack, but as useful sources of information. Our mission, will be to..."

 

His omnitool beeped, machaera blinking in surprise as his rather catchy jingle played out. Machaera paused as he looked to the caller, answering it as he looked ot the screen. "What is it?" He asked, the voice linked to his comms so the others wouldn't hear.

 

"...They did what? When?....How much did they get?....A fire? They let a fire slow down their forces?...Very well. I'll be there as soon as I can..." He said as he hung up, looking to the ground for a few moments before he sprang to his feet off the desk.

 

"Ren'Danna, kill the map feed. Get your toy back on the ship. Everyone else get up there as well...We're heading to Erszbat." He called, taking a few steps to the door before he stopped and pointed to one of the soliders, "Not you though Dizz. you stay here and you whip these people into fine officers. You know what I'll do if they aren't up to code."

 

Dizz saluted vigorously, afraid to even speak during this meeting since the last person who did so ended up getting murdered, or so the story went. Machaera walked out of the room, kicking the door down as he did so, his mood obviously souring as he went to the Blade Wolf.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus

"Salarians make mistakes all the time, I bet T'Sarius wouldn't disagree with that," Jenus replied.  "I think all that billion year old data is a bunch of garbage, cooked up by some little key puncher who wants to make a name for herself.  Just because something is big and scary doesn't mean it wasn't the Geth." 

Jenus leaned back into Irina and became silent.  Irina felt her still tense as she got into her shoulders, and saw Jenus staring ahead in her own thoughts.  Whatever was going on in the asari's head was a silent argument that she didn't even seem to want to let Red know until she finally spoke.  "I don't give a varren's ass whether it was Geth, Reapers or a magic shellfish, the thing is the Spectre was weird and weirded out."  Then because Jenus had to throw an insult in, "And T'Sarius is too stupid to be weirded out."

Irina felt Jenus lean back more and some of the tension was going away in her shoulders.  But Jenus became silent again, staring ahead in thought.  It was clear she hadn't resolved what was going on.

Iole

The brief interaction with Essul left Iole wondering.  She wanted to answer him but he moved on so fast she felt awkward jumping in after he went away.  She was reminded of the strange sounds she'd heard on the mission, and she'd forgotten about it until he'd mentioned it.  So she typed him a quick message from her Omni-tool:  Essul/Iole:  If you want to discuss the mission I could use a bit of a going over it myself.

Then, having gone and typed that, Iole wanted to get back in touch with Frank, so she went to the team's cabin and began:

To:  Frank, the greatest action hero of the galaxy!

From:  Goldie

Did you say a RACE?!  On THESSIA?!  Goddess, I really have to think of a way this could happen - it has to!  I'm being overly optimistic, I'm locked up here tighter than a spacer in a vac suit.  Oh but I want to go!!!  I can't...I can't figure out what to do to get there.  But we have to go sometime, if I can't make your tickets.

Have you followed the season?  Sorry, of course you haven't.  Longbow, my rookie is on her way, she's got a great systems operator...sorry again, so there are the singles, which is pilots only, but the doubles includes a systems operator.  That's the two seat jet bike race, which I love!  The systems operator is in charge of the sensors, engineering functions, and keeps a secondary set of eyes out for the pilot.  Doubles is more like a strategic game...I shouldn't say that, but when you have two minds at work in the seat, the races get really exciting.   Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know, in Doubles, there's no communication with a crew chief, or spotter, or anyone outside the vehicle unless its 'face to face'...that means if you, uh, 'pit' is what you call it in human racing, right?  It's the two on the bike against everyone!

I guess I miss you, it should be obvious.  You know what it's like over here, and it's the same...actually, I never...it's was never so active until that train job on Duellos.  Maybe I regret it.  But if it hadn't happened, I wouldn't have met you.

Stay safe.  As safe as you can.

Tallis

Tallis was in the lounge near the crew cabins.  There was a computer terminal in front of her but she wasn't paying attention to it.  Instead, every now and then, she'd turn to the blank wall nearby and stare at it, before becoming bothered and looking away again.
 

[Kel Riever]

Machaera's Team

Tyrius followed Machaera with Falling Leaf.  The turian said just quietly enough to be heard by those behind Machaera, "I love seeing a good door getting kicked in.  Especially the kind of door that means someone crossed our leader who shouldn't have."  Then he took a deep breath in.  "Mmmmmn, savor it!"

Falling Leaf seemed to keep her distance from Tyrius on the way out.  Perhaps the opposite of his barely contained chaos, she was a cold professional.  "I agree," she said, but while it seemed she was responding to Tyrius, she was instead giving a nod in Ren'Danna's direction.

Serafina

Serafina lay against Jess and watched the channel flipped to, which was a replay of some sort of jetbike race, and some rookie racer named Longbow who'd come along in the standings.  Her eyes averted from any sort of view of the message the Captain was typing out of politeness.  She was feeling better.  When Jess was done, Fina found herself reaching over to the control for the holo display and turning it off.  In the ensuing silence, Serafina lifted her head up and looked at Jess.  Then she said, "Dim," and the lights lowered in Anika's cabin.
 

[TheMajonese]

Janiri - Combat simulator

 

It had taken Arian a long time and a lot of trial and error to find out how to synchronize his gear with the Janiri's combat simulator. He wasn't using any standard weapon that would be easily recognized by the software. Instead Arian wanted to try out his new equipment. In order for the simulated enemies to respond correctly to his attacks, the software needed to know what kind of weapon he was using. In this case his weapon were actually his gauntlets, and the simulator needed a good scan of the material, the weight and even the sharpness of the blades to provide accurate feedback.

 

The scan itself was fairly simple but it had taken Arian forever to figure out how to do it. Of course he could have just asked someone for help but he hadn't even thought of it. Now he was finally able to start the simulation. 

 

Arian entered the simulation with nothing more than a black pair of pants that were a bit too short for him but at least not too tight to somehow impair his movements. Aside from these he only wore his red armored gloves with the sharp blades attached to the forearms and elbows. His bared chest was no pleasure to look at; a part of his upper body, especially his left shoulder looked charred like it had been on fire for quite some time, and combined with several other scars on his chest and in his face, Arian almost looked like an old war veteran.

 

But he wasn't worried that anyone would watch him, even though he hadn't changed the setup to a private session. Nobody of the Janiri's crew was suicidal enough to do something that could p*ss the turian off. There were rumors that he would mercilessly kill anyone who just looked at him for too long- at least it wouldn't be surprising to Arian if there were such rumors.

 

Ironically the scenario of the simulation would have actually been very interesting to watch for others. Arian's opponents were five krogans, three of them were of average krogan height and without helmet while the other two were significantly taller and fully armored. He had chosen these enemies because during the battle on Omega a while ago, the krogan berserkers had given him a lot of trouble. Aside from his blades and claws, he carried no weapons with him, not even a knife, and there was no simulated terrain that could provide any cover. Most others would consider such a constellation completely impossible but Arian was confident to take out one or two of them before his hit points would reach zero.

 

There was no countdown for the simulation to start, the holographic enemies just appeared a few meters in front of Arian, turned to him and then began charging.

 

It was the first time for the turian to actually use his new weapons, so he didn't really know what to do until the first krogan had almost reached him. "This is going to be fun", he sighed, knowing that it certainly wasn't.

[Kel Riever]

Alliance Space, amongst the ruins of a world soon to be rebuilt

The pale sun that shone over the Tower where Iyana had last visited The Lord was the destination of both the Kurinth  and the Khukuri as they ripped through the atmosphere.  Two ships unalike, yet allied in purpose, they raced like chariots of death as if to deliver passengers to Hades itself.  Both were agile enough to maintain their position with engines and mass effect fields once they arrived.  One, the Kurinth, alighted on the landing pad meant to just accommodate a ship of its size, while the other, the Khukuri, hovered above its companion ship. 

When the ramp lowered, it was with her trademark exaggeration that Iyana disembarked, all in silvery armor, her doll face framed by its valkyrian helm.  And once again, she gripped a chain in each hand, although the size of their links was more normal, and had more polished shine.  The link of one chain ended in a collar around the neck of Doctor Foteni Demos, who wore a scientist's uniform of pure white.  She walked with a severe obedience, her face frozen in fear, incapable of protest in her situation.  Foteni had betrayed her people, though in the name of saving those she loved.  She wondered if she could really be blamed for that, a question which seemed to exacerbate her grievance and internal suffering.  The set of links in Iyana's other hand swayed much less steadily than Foteni's, and from time to time jerked themselves taught.

"Come along," Iyana commanded to the captive at the end of this other chain.  "Have some dignity, for the love of your Goddess."

It was Xanthe Remi at the end of the other chain, barely able to stand as she struggled forward with bent knees.  The Justicar armor of metallic evergreen and gold that was her uniform was slashed, sundered and covered in the asari's blood.  It was most shocking what she wore aside from her armor, as a cross of alloy was born on her back.  Longer than her height, Xanthe was forced to hunch over so she could carry it, and her wrists were bound to the cross bar's extremities.  The Spectre's twisted ankles left her feet at odd angles and each step was an act of agony.  And to top it all off, upon her head she wore a crown of razor sharp metal in the motif of thorns, though the metal was much more horrid with the wounds it inflicted on its wearer. 

"I do love my martyrs," Iyana gloated.  "Cast open the doors!  I come as I promised with my tithe to The Lord of the Kings and Queens!"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The Janiri - Naleena

 

 

Iole and Johnny had turned in their data pads to VERA, and VERA had begun her analysis.

 

Naleena, finally able to sleep, woke up late in the morning, kissed Anika on her forehead and left her quarters for the wardroom to have breakfast, then head to med-bay for a quick check up before reviewing the data with VERA and scheduling a debriefing with the commandos and surface fire team. She decided to do the team debriefings separately so that they might speak more freely because she was aware of the tension between some members and her XO.

 

When she entered the wardroom she walked directly to the kitchen to her private stash of coffee beans and saw to her dismay that the bag was empty. She sighed, grabbed a tray and got her breakfast.

 

Yeoman Triana saw her leave the kitchen without her coffee. “There’s coffee in the urn at the end of the line.”

 

“That’s not coffee,” Naleena replied. The day was not starting well.

 

In Med-Bay, Dr. Tolus gave her a once over, ran some tests and found nothing out of the ordinary. She complained of the fatigue from a fitful night’s sleep and bad dreams and told him what had happened during the mission.

 

“You should put this in your report,” the doctor said.

 

“Really? They’ll think I’ve lost it. ‘She’s having visions during missions now.’ How exactly will that look?” Naleena said. “The only person I can talk to about this is you. A lot of people resent my jumping to the head of the line and being appointed Spectre and will look at this as an opportunity to stab me in the back.”

 

“Now you’re being paranoid.”

 

“Am I? I did my job on Omega, tried to clear it with the Council first, and then they send Xanthe Remi to investigate,” Naleena said. “So in good faith I give her a lead, and now she’s missing. And next thing I know is that I receive a message from Morgan that an Asari Captain is asking questions of my whereabouts. They probably think I set her up.”

 

“Now you’re really being paranoid,” the doctor said, shaking his head standing holding his data pad. “I haven’t written any of this down, and I’m keeping this conversation confidential. You need a vacation. Too much stress for an Asari. Too much for you to process over such a short period of time.”

 

Naleena sighed. “Perhaps you’re right. I have a report to file, first. Thanks, Doc.”

 

She left med-bay and headed up to the conference room. When she passed through the CIC she was met by two Asari Naval officers from the Frigate Klyptadon that was in port.

 

Lt. Commander Ceaha Jaran was in her dress whites. She stood about 173 cm tall, had white facial markings, and carried herself with authority.

 

“Spectre T’sarius.”

 

Naleena was rushing into the conference room to write her report to the Council. “What is it, Commander? I’m busy. I have an urgent report to prepare for the Council. Make it quick.”

 

“I’m acting under authority of the Council,” Jaran said. “Where were you on your last mission?”

 

“Classified,” Naleena said, turned and entered the conference room.

 

“I can check your ship’s logs on your computer,” she said. “I have authorization.”

 

“No, you don’t,” Naleena replied. “You don’t have my authorization. Now I would be glad to speak with the Council about whatever you want to discuss, but you, a Lt. Commander in the Asari Navy, do not have the security clearance for that information. So why don’t you tell me what this is about?”

 

“So you’re refusing to cooperate?” Jaran said wrinkling her brow.

 

“I never said that,” Naleena replied with a sharp look in her eyes. “Just tell me what this is about and perhaps we can discuss this without revealing classified information.”

 

Jaran sighed. “Xanthe Remi has disappeared.”

 

“I know. I received the report,” Naleena said. “Do you have any leads?”

 

“Only that you did not get along with her, and you gave her some leads in the Terminus.”

 

“So you think I set her up?” Naleena asked. “Really? You think I’d set up a colleague? I think we should bring Sao into this discussion. He’s my supervisor, and former STG, and maybe another internal affairs officer to look over the files I gave her. I have nothing to hide.”

 

“Why don’t you give them to me, and I’ll take them to the Spectre’s office?” Jaran asked.

 

“VERA, open a secure channel to Yalson Sao,” Naleena said.

 

“That’s really not neces….”

 

VERA did as she was asked.

 

“Sao here,” Sao’s image appeared on the vid screen. “Your incoming call was marked urgent. What is it, Naleena?”

 

Naleena looked up at Sao. “We are docked at the Citadel. I have Lt. Commander Jaran of the Asari Navy here. She is demanding classified files. Particularly the files I gave to Spectre Xanthe Remi regarding a special investigation. Since Xanthe has gone missing, these files might help locate her. I am sending them to you to forward to the Spectre’s Office.”

 

Sao had a puzzled look on his face. “Why not hand her the files? Don’t you trust her?”

 

“In a word, no,” Naleena replied. “VERA, transmit the files I gave Xanthe regarding the special investigation, not Garvug, to Sao using non-standard encryption.” Sao had the key. It was a 200 year old STG key. STG changed their encryption keys so frequently no one could keep up and this one was so old no one would think to look and it would fly under the radar.

 

“As you wish, Boss.” VERA replied. There were two ongoing investigations in the Terminus on which Naleena was working: Iyana, and Garvug. By excluding Garvug, VERA knew which one to send.

 

A moment later Sao nodded. “I just received the files. Thank you, Naleena. I’m forwarding a copy of these to the Spectre’s Office as we speak. Sao, out.”

 

Naleena turned to Lt. Commander Jaran. “There, I’ve cooperated with your investigation fully. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

 

Jaran shook her head in disbelief of Naleena’s obstinacy and left the ship.

[Cknarf]

Johnny

 

While Johnny normally kept to himself, he couldn't stop glancing over at the lone commando who was seated at the other end of the lounge area. Her nervous fidgeting was starting to make him nervous. So was the thought of getting up and walking over.

 

It's so far away...

 

It took him a solid five minutes to make a decision, before finally getting up from his seat. Approaching people was literally his least favorite thing to do.

 

"Is something wrong?" Johnny asked, pushing his glasses up with a finger. Upon realizing which commando it was, he immediately regretted engaging her.  Her method of communication was likely to make any sort of conversation even more uncomfortable than it already would have been.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Ereba sat in the lounge with her leg elevated on the chair next to her, but there was a chair next to her.

 

"My leg hurts like the Void," she said in her gravelly voice. "The doc poked around in it for about an hour picking out pieces of metal,  then he didn't give me strong enough pain killers. And I've had this headache ever since that mission. Pull up a chair, Sweetcakes. I don't bite."

[Cknarf]

Sanves, early AM.

 

*sniiiiiiifffff*

 

"Son of a b*tch." Frank blinked a few times, as a red haze began to fill his vision.

 

Looks like it's time to get a hold of Mr. Taetrus...

 

He balled up the small plastic bag, and tossed it towards the trash. It nearly fell short, but ended up making it after a little telekinetic assistance. Frank pumped his fist Tiger Woods style.  Heading for the door, he swiped a hand across the counter in order to remove any obvious particles of leftover sand. As he entered the hallway, he opened his omni-tool to send a message.

 

[T, I'm out. Got any people on Sanves?]

 

"Talk about service." He chuckled, upon receiving a response almost immediately. Except it wasn't Taetrus, it was a message from Iole. He read over it a few times, trying to think of something to write back.

 

[Draft: I don't follow it very closely, but I have in fact, masturbated furiously to each and every competitor on the circuit today.]

 

Frank read back over his message.

 

"What the f*** was I thinkin' with that one?"

 

He deleted it, and sent one that was far less inappropriate.

 

[I've got access to a QEC. Not sure for how long, though. I'm not saying that you should use the Janiri to make a personal call, or anything, but if you were going to, it would probably be a good idea to do so in the next couple days, you know?]

[Kel Riever]

Tallis
 

Tallis turned around suddenly aware there wasn't just one real person with her, but two.  Johnny, the human, she thought had asked her a question and looked like he was heading her direction.  Then Ereba, who was resting her leg on a chair, had answered him.

The double sentence Commando smiled in a friendly (and adorable) way, and said, "Come out!  Come out!"

The phrase might not entirely have been clear, though Ereba did know the asari term for 'party', as in a social gathering, often translated to 'coming-out' or a 'come out', so that's likely what Tallis was referring to.

Unless she wasn't, and was referring to something else, which was entirely possible... 

 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Yeah, Tallis, that's right. Come out!" Ereba said. "Johnny, she means gather around. Don't mind me. I'm just sitting here having a soft drink, but you're new here and you did good on the last mission. I get it now. You came to see Tallis. She's a real good kid, real smart, but she has a little trouble communicating. I was writing a letter to my fiancee, but I'd be glad to help with some translation. Besides, it'd be good to get to know you."