6315 réponses à ce sujet

[Cknarf]

Aboard the Vepr, deck three, Engineering

 

Kira leaned quietly against the railing that overlooked the drive core, reflecting on the events of her life so far. She had been rather fortunate, considering the amount of freedom that she had been allowed, far more than anyone like herself could ever dream of. Only now, after numerous centuries, was it at risk. All because of a series of poor decisions

 

“Hey, girl.” Spoke a voice from behind.

 

Kira looked back over her shoulder, and smiled a bit.

 

“What are you doin’ all the way down here?” Daliax asked, leaning against the railing herself.

 

“Just needed somewhere quiet to think, is all.” She replied, focusing back on the machinery below. Engineering, while one wouldn’t think so, was one of the more peaceful areas of the Vepr, silent aside from the faint, almost relaxing hum that was emitted from the core. “With all that noise on deck two, and…”

 

“Marius?”

 

Kira nodded.

 

“Yeah, he’s an a**hole.” Daliax brought up her new talons for a good look at them. “Has been ever since mom pushed ‘im out.” She chuckled a bit, while lightly elbowing the matriarch. "But I'm sure you know that by now. How long's it been, a little over a decade?"

 

"Fourteen years, off and on."

 

"That's a pretty good run if you ask me..."

 

"Did you need something?" Kira asked, her tone, while still polite, made it clear that she wasn't exactly interested in talking.

 

"Just... seein' where the crew's at?" Daliax shrugged. "Or somethin', I don't know. I've been thinkin' about actually being professional about things this time. Not that I wasn't before, because I totally was. Am! Still am! I'm trying to be a better leader, is what I'm sayin'. It can't be about me all the time, no matter how much I think it should be." She made sure to add finger quotes to the last sentence.

 

"Your supervisor is making you do this, isn't he?" Kira smiled.

 

"Yuuuuuup. Sure is." Daliax turned to face her, but kept an elbow on the railing. "Morale and all that sh*t, you know how it goes. So, are we talkin' or what? C'mon, lay it on me." She gestured with a talon. It took a moment, but Kira finally gave in.

 

“I regret leaving Nos Astra.” The matriarch shook her head. "I miss my apartment. I miss work..."

 

"I can get the quarian to install a pole in the bay, if you want." Daliax thumbed over her shoulder. "Plenty of room in there, just sayin'."

 

"That won't be necessary." Kira laughed.

 

"You sure? Maybe you could teach me a thing or two..." Daliax held her hands as if they were wrapped around a pole, and swayed a bit, prompting yet another smile from Kira.  She might have been a bit crude at times, and sort of bitchy, but the spectre had a natural sense of humor that others might find pleasant in small doses.

 

"You know what I miss the most?" Kira asked, getting back on topic. "The peace. It's always something with Marius, be it gunfights, or--"

 

"You are aware that he's like, a huge criminal, right? What exactly were you expecting?"

 

"I wasn't thinking clearly when he asked me to come with him. You see, we had just gotten back together, and... well, when he said he might be leaving for good... I just couldn't bear to lose him again."

 

"Aww." Daliax fought the urge to roll her eyes.

 

“This would be the second time in my eight centuries that I have risked everything for love. It didn’t work the first time, and it’s not working now. I should have known better.” Kira’s head drooped a bit. "I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm better off alone, as nature intended."

 

“Hey!” Daliax socked her firmly in the arm. “Don’t you get all emotional on me! Shits awkward and I don’t know how to handle it with anything other than extreme violence. Can’t help it, some kind of disorder, the doc said.”

 

The spectre tried to remember what her issue was called, but ultimately gave up. It was likely fictional.

 

“Why don’t we do this, just tell me what you need so we can straighten it out, yeah? Might score me some points with the boss while we’re at it, know what I’m sayin’? It's a win-win! Say you wanna send me to the Citadel on some kinda fetch quest, or… maybe you got some daddy issues to take care of? Whatever you need, girl, let me know and I'll handle it."

 

“Someone has acquired footage of the crew, including myself, participating in multiple criminal activities…”

 

“Blackmail, huh? I’m confused as to why that’s even an issue, since ya'll are workin' for me now. Like the police are gonna roll up on a spectre and start some sh*t... although I'd love to see them try." Daliax was seriously wishing a motherf*cker would. It had been quite some time since she'd killed someone and she was having withdrawals.

 

“It is not law enforcement that concerns me.” Kira explained. “It’s my own government.”

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Leaving Thessia

 

Commander Selani and the Medusa received the orders from Naleena to depart from Thessia with the destination of Garvug. The travel time to the mass relay in Parnitha would be 4 hours at sub light speeds. Initial relay transit would take them to the double star system Raheel-Leyya, and from there they would travel by standard FTL 20 hours to the Paz system.

 

Naleena stood in front of her fish tank and pondered the discussions that had recently taken place.

 

///////

 

Irina went down to the gym to work out and passed by Team Boom’s quarters on the way. The door was closed so she thought Jenus might already be down there lifting. The vacation time while needed made her feel like she’d gotten soft, and going back into the field right away didn’t make her feel confident.

 

Textbrain, Two-times, Goldie, and Head-butter were down there, but no sign of Jenus. She stretched out and began working the bag.

 

“Any of you seen Jenus?”

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Stasia, huh? Well, if she's keen on using one, I don't see why not..." Essul said with a raised brow, uncertain as to why she would want a batarian hunting dagger of all things, but figuring she'd make a good tester to see if the materials it was fabricated with could stand up to some stress testing. As he looked to the extended barrel, essul lifted it up a bit.

 

"It's a bit long..." He said, noting how far the barrel stretched out from his body. Essul brought it up to his shoulder, looking down the sights as he nodded, "I can work with this...At least i'll have options outside of long and close range...and a bit lighter too..." He said, knowing the limitations of his Kishock Harpoon Gun.

 

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

 

Vayne had been listening, though didn't like his options. Firestorms in his opinion were incindeary grenades waiting for a stray shot to ignite them, and a blackstorm didn't sound like something he'd want, too complicated for use on a world like Garvug. But, there was one word that caught his attention.

 

"...Did you say...cain?" He asked, his attention peaked as he looked to VERA, "You have one I could use?"

 

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

 

Machaera Fay'yar didn't particularly enjoy sand; It was course, and rough, and tended to get everywhere. And for an individual like himself, whose body parts had a particular proclivity for getting jammed by particles, sand was more then simply irritating. So, it was a mixed pit of emotions for the batarian, to be here of all places.

 

Camala, his homeworld; Back at an estate that he rarely used, and surrounded by servants he never used, and guards he didn't employ on the front-lines. He stared out into the greenery of the water garden in the center of the courtyard, a small oasis within the orange deserts of Ujon Outskirts, kept alive through more money than most of the casteless beggers of the city could ever spend on drugs and cheap thrills. One of the perks of having a family with a long line of military service, and an admirals position within Khar'shan's military council.

 

"All this vibrant life...it's disgusting in a way, wouldn't you say?" Machaera asked as he glanced back towards the two individuals he picked to have his back for this. The ever silent Ezkra, and the peculiar Falling Leaf, two individuals who the batarian cyborg trusted to turn his back on, "It can't keep itself alive...not in this desert at least. The harsh sun...the dry air...it'd kill these Khar'shan Plants in a heartbeat if not for the water being pumped through the ground. It couldn't exist on its own, it needed someone stronger to keep it here...to defy nature, just for aesthetics..."

 

His eyes went up as he saw the ship approaching, a luxury shuttle whose occupant he knew already, "I cannot stand those who don't stand on their own two feet...or who value aesthetics over strength...true strength, not power bought by influence...or shows of wealth like a water garden..."

 

The shuttle landed as its doors opened, and armored and armed blue suns mercs exited out, each one going to look out as their occupant arrived. A human, dressed in a fine asari business suit, most likely some form of Thessian Silk, and most likely some form of shield generator weaved into the material. Vido Santiago, the true leader of the blue suns, who the hegemony worked with whenever it needed a bit of dirty work done. He was here to meet a possible new client, a rather rich one according to his records, and the records that showed up from the hegemony's own files, who was interested in hiring some high level security forces.

 

Of course, what they'd been told wasn't the whole truth. An eccentric who went through a suspicious industrial accident didn't exist; but as far as the Blue Suns knew, it was. And for Machaera, that was all he needed to lure his prey into a trap of pure aesthetics, an estate to sell the image, and two different species guards to see him on the thought that he was anything but a rich batarian spending daddy's credits for protection.

 

"Let's get started, shall we?" Machera said as he pulled up the white silk hood of his rather expensive looking cloak, one designed to look as professional as possible along with the white business suit he wore. He clapped his gloved hands together as he wore the veil over his mouth, appearing like a man who cared about what he looked like. "You remember the plan. Stand behind me and look intimidating; oversell it if you can. The less he thinks you know what you're doing, more he'll lower his guard..."

[TheMajonese]

Arian

 

Everyone on the ship had their own way of mentally preparing for a mission. Some were seeking the company of friends, others would be doing some finetuning to their equipment while some were probably just taking a nap until the Janiri would arrive at Garvug. But not Arian. Sleeping or talking to others was certainly not the kind of preparation he needed. The sparring on turian ships was like a tradition and since he was the only turian on the team, Arian spent the time before the mission at the shooting range.

 

Running through the course and shooting the same targets over and over again would probably seem quite repetitive and boring to most people but Arian wasn't doing this to his enjoyment. If asked he would have said that he was working but of course he made sure that noone was around to ask him anything. Arian felt the need to assess his own performance, making sure that he was ready for the mission and able to do whatever would be expected from him.

 

In the simulator and on the battlefield alike, the turian was like a machine. All of his moves, from dashing to cover to the reload of his weapon, everything looked as if he had done nothing else in his whole life other than shooting and reloading guns- in fact, that actually was what he had spent the last fiveteen years with. He could easily have one of the top scores in the simulator's ranking system but Arian always disabled the stat tracking when using the simulator. The contest to beat the scores of other team members seemed very unprofessional to him. This simulation wasn't meant to be fun, it was meant as training for soldiers and specialists.

 

The last virtual target disappeared after being hit in the chest by several shots from Arian's Typhoon and the rating of the turian's performance during this run was displayed. Flawless. Arian didn't really care what a computer was telling him but he felt that he was doing fairly good. Good enough for this mission, that was for sure.

 

He had a bad feeling about some things. During the briefing he hadn't said a word but it seemed to him that some members of the team weren't able to fully focus on the mission objective and instead were too emotional about what had happened during the last mission on Garvug. Right now though, there was nothing Arian could do about this. Instead he left the simulator and headed for the lower deck to make some changes to his armor at the fabricator and grab his combat knife. As much as he liked the blades that were attached to his armor, he doubted that these would be of much use against angry krogans.

 

Only ten minutes later Arian was entering the hangar bay. He was wearing his unusual armor sans helmet and carried all of his gear with him, including the Typhoon, his old Phaeston, countless thermal clips, different kinds of explosive and tactical grenades, a long combat knife, two additional energy cores for his armor as well as several concussive rounds. He looked like he was trying fight a whole war on his own, though there was no doubt that this turian was ready for what was coming next.

[Cknarf]

Janiri

 

Lusia and Asteria eagerly got suited up in the armor that had been recommended for the normally leather-bound members of the crew. While they preferred their standard attire, they had zero complaints. They were just happy to be included for once. This was to be their first combat mission since being assigned to the Janiri.

 

The twins equipped themselves with standard asari weaponry, one Acolyte handgun, and one Disciple shotgun for each commando. They also carried a number of grenades.

 

So others would be able to tell them apart, they added their first names to the front and rear of their armor.

[Cknarf]

Vepr

 

“You got this?” Frank asked, rising from the copilot’s seat.  “I’m gonna go check on Adir. Ain’t heard from him since we boarded.”

 

Marius just nodded.

 

Frank made his way down the stairs, and took the elevator to deck two, where the quarian was last seen. Out of the eight doors to choose from, only one on the starboard side was locked down. With a three-fingered fist, he pounded firmly on the door. When he didn’t get a response, he tried again.

 

“You still alive in there, you old fart?”

 

“Yes. Now go away! I’m very busy.”

 

“Busy doin’ what?” Frank crossed his arms.

 

“Something important.”

 

Oh, how the tables have turned.

 

“Alrighty…”

 

“Frank Eli nar Vepr, you stop hacking my door this instant!” Adir’s voice came over Frank’s omni-tool.

 

“Remember all of those times you busted in on me while I was doin’ ‘something important’?”

 

“Frank--”

 

“Yeah, well…” Frank smirked.

 

“If you open that door, I may become very ill and possibly die.”

 

“Pffft.”

 

“Alright, fine. Go ahead. Lose another father, see if I care.”

 

Frank stopped hacking after Adir’s uncharacteristically dark response to his intrusion.

 

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

 

“As a heart attack. Which you are going to give me!”

 

“Alright, I’m goin’.” Frank put his hands up, as if he could be seen through the door.

 

Since Adir was being a weirdo, and he was already on deck two, Frank figured the noise coming from the room housing the QEC was worth a little investigation. At first glance, the room appeared to be empty. That is, until a medium blue asari noggin poked out from a hole in the floor.

 

“Sup?”

 

The asari was startled by the human’s sudden appearance, as if she wasn’t the one who just popped out of nowhere. Her surprised expression quickly turned to a faint, but clearly genuine smile.

 

“Hi.” Was all she said.

 

“Everything okay down there?”

 

She briefly glanced back into the pit, before nodding. “I was just coming up for more tools.”

 

Frank offered a hand to pull her up, which she gladly accepted. He ended up pulling out quite a bit more asari than he had expected. The initial scan of her figure, which was automatically performed on every female or feminine creature that was encountered, revealed that she was well on the lanky side, very tall and slender, with not a curve in sight.  With a straight back, she easily stood four to five inches taller.

 

“Specialist Sana T’sal.” She introduced herself, smiling warmly as she did so.”Or just ‘Sana’, is fine.”

 

“Frank.” He smiled in return. The combination of her kind eyes, soft voice, and seemingly pleasant demeanor made it difficult not to. Although he had only just met her, he already had a good idea of what kind of person she was.

 

“T’sal!”

 

Echoed a somewhat croaky voice from the pit.

 

“You comin’ back with that equipment sometime today?”

 

“Why don’t you come up for a break?” Sana spoke into the hole.

 

“You’re crazy if you think I’m squeezin’ my fat purple ass back down here a second time!”

 

Frank snickered, because squeeze and ass had just been used in the same sentence.

 

Eventually, the owner of the voice was persuaded out. This one was short, and stocky. Above a pair of dark eyes, were thick, white markings that closely resembled angry eyebrows. Frank inadvertently mimicked the simulated expression.

 

“Nobi, this is Frank, he’s a member of the crew.”

 

“You don’t say?” Nobi snarked. “Say, you got some kinda problem?” She asked, taking notice of Frank’s frown.

 

“What?”

 

“Why you lookin’ at me like that?”

 

“Like what?” Frank took on a confused look.

 

“Never mind.” Nobi sighed. “Nice to meet ya, and all that, whatever. I gotta get back to work.” She headed back for the pit.

 

“Now, that’s no way to be.” Sana pulled her back by the arm.

 

“Fine.” Nobi held out a grimy hand to shake, which Frank didn’t seem to mind. “Specialist Nobi. There. Ya happy now?”

 

“That’s it?” Frank asked, unintentionally frowning at her again. “No first name?”

 

Specialist Nobi just scowled back at first, getting tired of the human’s stink eye. With a little encouragement from Sana, she shared with him her full name. “Y’sdamontairamealisari Vaneleelashri Nobi.” She said with absolutely zero enthusiasm.

 

Frank did one of those ‘phew’ sort of whistles.

 

“Bit of a mouthful, ain’t it?”

 

“Yeah, and so is this.” She presented a firmly clenched fist, that glowed faintly with biotic energy.

 

“Nobi!”

 

“Keep muggin’ me like that, and we’re gonna have trouble, you hear?” Nobi grit her teeth, one of which was clearly missing.

[Kel Riever]

Falling Leaf

Standing next to and behind Machaera, Falling Leaf was all in brown, from the light brown skin of the lower part of her face that could be seen, to her dark brown lipstick, and to the form fitting armor that she seemed fond of, but instead of their typical worn brown surfaces, they were rich, oiled, new brown leather in appearance.  The only hues aside from brown were the jet black of her hair pulled back in a pony tail, the highlights of steel and the mirror of her reflective visor.  As asked, Fallen Leaf’s garb stood out as more than function.  Earrings of decorative but pointed razors hung from hoops in her ears.  Barbs and blades seemed to point out from parts of the armor, like the shoulders, and the sides of her legs, larger than necessary to keep away an unwanted touch.  And it was clear that she was armed, with a hip holster and a conspicuous pack that held her array of other collapsed weaponry.  She wore a perhaps unnecessary shoulder cape too, and as one might guess, in the color of a dark brown…

Overall, it had more of a movie feel than a true assassins functional look.  But it fit the instructions Machaera had given. 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Janiri – conversation with Morgan via QEC (SJ & Kel)

 

Naleena sat poured herself a drink: two fingers of Ambrosia in a tumbler and lit a cigarette. She stood facing the fish tank thinking about what transpired. Even the taste of the Ambrosia couldn't remove the bitter taste in her mouth from having to make the deal with Barla Von. Naleena decided to contact Morgan.

 

The Medusa com officer contacted Morgan. "Spectre T'sarius would like to speak with you on the QEC."

 

It didn't take long for a response.  Morgan was on the QEC minutes later in what was now his typical clothing when aboard the Medusa.  His image in black leather pants and a white, loose fitting shirt appeared, but the man looked a little out of sorts.  "I'm here Naleena.  Sorry, handling a few events of random chaos on the Medusa, though Jess has them in hand mostly.  Nothing to be concerned with, just...they'll take attention.  What can I do for you?"

 

Still with her back to the QEC, looking at the fish in the tank, she shook her head. "Morgan, it's good to hear from you, old friend," she said and turned around. "As you know we were a bit light on intel on Garvug. I contacted Sao. Most of his agents are chasing after Remi in the Terminus so he told me to contact the Shadow Broker and I had to cut a deal.

 

"The Broker has lost contact with their agent in Dhazil, Pradrax Vask. The deal I made with Barla Von was that in exchange for finding him, I relay all information from Vask and updated status upon completion of my mission. Considering we're going into a meat grinder blind, I made the deal. Of course he tried to hook me into working for him. His kind of work got people like me hired. I'd rather pay for the information, I told him."

 

"I'd like to know if you have any other ideas, or know anyone else formerly in the network who could help in the event we don't find Vask."

 

"In the broker network?  Sure," Morgan answered, his guard up.  "But are you sure you really want to go through that route?  Barla Von, I didn't know he was a broker agent, but it makes sense."  Even on the QEC, Naleena could tell Morgan's voice was terse. "The Shadow Network isn't something I would trust one sliver.  Depending on your time frame, I can see what I can do myself.  I'll need all the information available on Pradrax Vask, though.  Everything you have."

 

Naleena had been drinking again. She swirled the purple liquid in her tumbler and held it up in the light watching the alcohol condense on the side of the glass and run back down. "The Broker used to give me good intel during my previous life. That was before the mess with Iyana," she said and turned away from Morgan thinking about the part of herself she hated. She took a breath. "What's done is done. Syra told me I need to stay centered, accept what I've done in the past and move on."

 

She downed her drink and turned to face Morgan. "I met with Barla Von on the Citadel. He was the one who conveyed the Broker's apologies for Jess and her crew and who informed me that Iyana went rogue and is no longer part of the network.

 

"I don't have much about Pradrax Vask except that he's a Krogan and hangs out around a place called Kradek's in Dhazil. Most of the communication towers have been destroyed and the few existing are under control of Hailot Wrund. Von gave me an encryption code to give Vask. I'll give it to you as well.

 

"I owe Wrund a bullet."

 

"All right," Morgan agreed, then as if assuring himself again, he repeated, "All right.

 

"We'll get there with the Medusa, and I'll bring some resourceful people with me. If Pradrax is in Dhazil, we'll find him.  If this lead plays out about the place he's a regular at, maybe it won't take long."

 

"Kradek's is in the southeast quadrant of the city," Naleena said. "We'll have more on the defenses in the area when we arrive in the system and scan the surface. I'll have VERA maintain an intel feed to you. We'll need to coordinate our teams. Thanks."

[Kel Riever]

Jenus

Even Jenus, with all her physical prowess, didn't look much for it as she manually pried open the last of the door out of Team Boom's cabin.  First, she'd had to find the manual gear crank for opening the door behind a near never used panel.  Then, of course because the gear crank was only used in emergencies, it took a series of far too many revolutions just to get the door wide enough to slip fingers though and leverage.  Then Jenus had to pry the doors open, which weren't sealed for atmospheric change purposes, but were still formidable as they were meant to do so. 

Stumbling out into the hall, she spoke upwards to the ceiling, as for some reason most organics did, when speaking to VERA if she wasn't visible.  "You know what?  I like it fine circuit brain," Jenus lied.  "Battery lights are better than having your nosey self prying into everything that has nothing to do with your business."

A couple of crew members walked past Jenus, giving her the 'you're crazy' sideways look at her. 

Jenus stood up, adjusting her posture and straightening her form fitting uniform which needed no straightening.

"What are you looking at?   Sit normal!"

The crewmembers kept walking, undoubtedly waiting to get a safe distance for their laugh.

Jenus huffed and went to the gym.
 

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul fired his three round bursts on the range, the argus rifle firing in its distinctive humming noise. For the batarian, each burst hit their mark well, the kickback being bearable and the extended barrel not getting too much in the way. He ejected the spent clip, collapsing the rifle and holstering it back on his back.

 

"Excellent work, VERA...I think it'll do nicely..." He said as he left the range, heading to the hanger bay to join the others, "We'll have to cover ourselves on the ground. Hopefully, we manage to slip through the warzone and cover our tracks by blaming the other factions present..." He said, drawing from his personal experience from this sort of thing.

 

"I hope you keep us covered from above. Make sure no ships try to bomb our position from orbit?" He asked curiously.

 

As he arrived to the hanger bay, he noticed a few of the others gathering as well, including arian and just arriving, vayne. The old krogan was dressed in his red armor, a double barrel at his waist as if it were a sword, an n-7 eagle on the other hip, and strapped to his back was...

 

"Is that a cain?" Essul asked with a raised brow, looking to the weapon skeptically. Bringing something like that into the battlefield could prove to be a dead giveaway about their presence.

 

Vayne looked to essul, smirking as he pulled it from his back and showed it off, "It's a cain...always wanted to fire one myself. Well, back in the old days that is. Not a lot of room for one in the private eye business..." He said as he looked over to the others with a smirk on his face.

 

"Well, let's hope it stays a dream. I don't think we want to find ourselves needing the firepower of a cain to bail us out..." Essul said as he looked over to arian, "And Arian...watch our backs, okay? I trust you won't let anyone trying to sneak up on our flank alive."

 

=================================================================================

 

Camala

 

Vido Santiago glanced around at the rather pricey estate, holding back a whistle as he racked up the prices of some of the pieces of work here. The water fountain statue was made of a white marble like material, intricate etchings filled with gold depicting what looked like some sort of batarian mythological figure.

 

The polished walkway and exotic flora, ranging from Galatanan Water Lily's to Cyone Lotuses, a wide collection of beautiful flowers that must have cost a lot of credits to import and keep alive. It was all the same sort of thing you saw with all these types of elitists, showing off their wealth in as loud a way as possible.

 

"For a rich bastard, you'd think they'd afford some sort of environmental controls for this place..." He said with a scoff, the heat from camala still managing to snake its way into the courtyard, making him wish he'd brought his armor. Still, he knew these types of people; they enjoyed the whole song of dance of pretending they weren't as low as to hire some guns to take care of their business.

 

"All clear so far, sir..." One of the blue sun guards said as they fanned out of the courtyard, taking good guard positions to show off their weapons and armor. Vido hated this personally, he'd rather work for company's who were willing to cut through the bullshit and simply give them credits for guns. Not personal clients who wanted a damn show with their order; that was more eclipses territory.

 

"Good...let's get this over with..." He said as his attention was drawn to the large wooden doors, opening slowly as three figures descended. Vido looked to the one in the center, dressed in so much white that it actually hurt his eyes to look at the guy as he walked into the sunlight. He wore a hooded cloak and what looked like a white suit beneath, his eyes and face obscured by some sort of ornate scarf.

 

To his right was what looked like some sort of human, looking like they stepped out of a comic book. The other was an asari, dressed in what looked like the worst suit of armor he'd ever seen. It looked like metal, overly ornate and like it belonged in some nerds story, a shoulderless armored vest, gauntlets, and a full face helmet over what looked like leather like robes. The only way he could tell she was asari, was because no other race would dress like such an out of place weirdo.

 

"Mr. Santiago...." The white dressed batarian said as he brought his hands together and gave a bow, "Thank you for coming here...My name is Machaera Fayyar....welcome to my humble estate..." He said as he rose back up, raising his gloved hand and snapping his fingers. The servants came from some of the side entrances, bringing out a ornate wooden table and arranging it with food and silverware, "Please...have a seat...we have much to discuss..."

[TheMajonese]

At the Hangar

 

Arian glanced at the Cain and wasn't sure if should be worried. During his time on Omega he had usually only dealt with smaller arms like rifles or machine guns and the occasional improvised weapon. The cain however was a different caliber, he had heard about its destructive power. The only question was: would the krogan know how to use it? He probably did or else he wouldn't be carry it but Arian wasn't going to believe anything until he saw it with his own eyes. The last thing he wanted was to die because of someone else's incompetence. But since Vayne had centuries of experience, he tried not to worry so much about that.

 

When the batarian spoke to him, Arian just gave him a short glimpse and then continued to run his talons over the blade of his knife. "I'm not planning to leave anyone alive", he said with a shrug, the tone of his dark voice made sound like it was the most natural thing in the galaxy to him.

 

Then he suddenly stopped mid motion and looked at Vayne. "This Ganar Slayt...", Arian began and his mandibles began to twitch. "How did you manage to p*ss him off like that? The spectre mentioned something about his son..."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne looked to Arian, before looking away with a sigh, "It was a while ago...when I first joined the team. I needed a lead on some missing humans, and shook down some blood pack grunts after a witness..." he said as he remembered what happened.

"Apparently Ganar Slayts son was on the station to help deal with the archangel trouble, after the leadership got wiped out here. Damn bastard was on more drugs then a backalley dealer, and came at me with full intent to kill...." vayne said as he pointed a thumb at his back, just behind his head.

"I got him...and he got me. Blew my hump to shreds with his modified shotgun. I nearly died dragging my ass back to the ship." He said, shuddering a bit as his voice cracked a little. It was one of the closet times he'd come to death doors, and he didn't feel good reflecting on it.

"Why he'd care about a little **** like that is beyond me. Normally if both fighters nearly died, we'd call it even. Not send a goddamn oath to hunt the survivor down like this..." he said as he mulled it over, "There's something missing from this picture. One I need to figure out..."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"And the bastards keep coming after him," Irina added while getting her load out of her Harrier and shotgun and phalanx together. "That's why I gave him a larger gauge version of this."

 

She held up her double barrel shotgun. "Don't laugh, Arian. I know it's ancient, but it's good in close quarters. Ask Golt," she said and pointed toward the ceiling, "But this time, I'm going in with heavier armor."

[Kel Riever]

The gym on the Janiri

Jenus wandered in, with a pretty good display of controlled breathing, but not a completely good display.  She leaned on the door in with one arm while putting the other on her hip.  "Hey," she greeted, nonchalantly.

"Hey..." Iole replied.

"Hey? Hey?" Tallis also replied. Twice, questioningly.

Mira sat up on the bench she'd been doing light, rapid lifts in.  "You...want to get a bit of a workout in before we get going?"

"Nah," Jenus said as she pretended to look at her nails, "I had a bit of an...unconventional workout before I headed over here.  Just wanted to see what you all were up to.  Where's Red?"

"She headed up to the armory," Iole answered, "I think she's getting her usual loadout.  Likely some of the rest of the team is up there too."  Almost declining to satisfy her curiosity, Iole added, "You...want to head up there?  Or did you unconventionally load yourself out too for the mission?"

"Exactly," Jenus then said, as if the one word was an answer in and all by itself. "I've got my gear all set down by the shuttle.  I don't need to rely on all that fancy fabrication equipment and whatnot for my deal.  Besides, got my plates on that the Spectre wants us to wear, all customized but within regulation.  I'm feeling good about it."

Mira's sharp eyes pointed to where Jenus had a sort of uneven blemish spot near her left hip under her form fitting armor.  "Is that the customization there?"

Jenus looked down at what was the hole in the plate she'd carved with Essul's knife, that lay under the outer layer of her armor.  "That's it!  The customization is right there.  What do you say we go on down and prep in the bay together, Mira?"

Mira, Tallis and Iole looked at each other, before Mira stood up.  "Sure, Jenus.  Let's go ahead and head to the bay..."
 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Lieutenant Jorril took the Janiri out of dry dock and into orbit around Thessia. Once they had clearance, they headed directly to the mass relay and made transit to the Valhallan Threshold. From there it was a 20 hour trip to the Paz System by standard FTL.

 

When the Janiri dropped out of FTL in the Paz System, the Sonax fleet was hastily evacuating troops from the surface of Garvug. VERA picked up what appeared to be a satellite defense system that was put in place sometime after their last visit to the planet. This drew into question how bad the situation had gotten considering the investment the corporation had made.

 

VERA received a communication from the Sonax dreadnought Nemesis and patched it through to Naleena. “This is Admiral Speight of the Nemesis. We have identified you as a Council ship. You have no authority in the Terminus. State your business.”

 

“This is Spectre Naleena T’sarius. I don’t care about Sonax at the moment since The Council hasn’t given me any authority to take action against your corporation. I am here to apprehend a known criminal: Hailot Wrund. Stay out of my way and we won’t have a problem.”

 

“Hailot Wrund? Be my guest, and good luck.”

 

“One other thing,” Naleena added. “Another ship, the K&Q Medusa is providing support on my mission. I would advise not interfering in their actions as well. T’sarius out.”

 

Naleena stood and looked out the port observation lounge, and she could see glowing orange from the fires during the Garvug night. The Krogan must really be giving them hell down there, she thought. Iridium is very expensive, but apparently not worth the cost of all the lives, and Sonax has thrown a lot of credits here and their stock prices are taking a beating because of it.

 

VERA was monitoring the evacuation and made a report. “Krogan anti-aircraft batteries are making it difficult for Sonax shuttles to land and evacuate troops,” she said. “These same batteries will make it difficult for us to land.”

 

“Options?”

 

VERA pulled up a map of the city of Dhazil. “We could make a strike with our main gun at the location that I have highlighted.”

 

“That might work.”

 

“I should inform you that this would result in significant civilian casualties,” VERA replied. “Your contact is also in this area and might be killed. This outcome would not be optimal.”

 

Naleena lit a cigarette. “Which batteries need to be taken out?”

 

“My surface scans indicate that there are anti-aircraft batteries at these two locations,” she replied indicating one in the northeast and one barely in the southeast quadrant of the city. “This would open a window for the shuttles containing the Commandos and the rest of the team to land.”

 

“And Morgan?”

 

“I recommend that you take out the southernmost battery first.”

 

Naleena walked over to the terminal and pointed at the map. “So we’ll drop my team in the Mako here, about two kilometers outside the city. We’ll head directly to the southeastern battery, destroy it then head north. A weapon like the M-920 Cain should destroy the batteries.”

 

VERA nodded. “That is correct. Expect them to be heavily defended,” she said. “Boss, this ship will require that we maintain high velocity to return to orbital altitude. Our pass over the city will not be subtle.”

 

A wicked smile flashed across Naleena’s face. “Have Mira, Essul, and Vayne meet me in the conference room,” she said. “Connect Morgan by QEC.”

 

“I will do so at once, Boss.”

 

Naleena left the lounge quickly and walked to the Conference Room. 

[Kel Riever]

Team Boom (and second Commando Team)

"We've not met," Mira said to the asari leader of the second Commando team that would be under her direction for the encounter.  A total of nine Commandos were on the deck of the Janiri hanger with all their supplies for the mission.

"Adonya Makris, Lieutenant T'Riel.  I came on as a reassignment the last time the Janiri was docked at the Citadel."

"I see.  No need for formalities from here on in.  Call me Mira."

"As you wish."

Tallis and Iole were spending some time speaking with the other team.  Iole seemed to have lost her trepidation with the twins Astaria and Lusia.  Tallis was, of course, friendly as always.  Despite knowing about Tallis' condition, the second team was doing a bit of adjusting to her rather unusual communication.  But Tallis' enthusiasm was, if anything, contagious.  Jenus was unusually quiet and unusually helpful, as she compiled some data files for Mira.  Every now and then, though, Jenus looked around herself suspiciously, as if someone was watching her. 

The alert came in from Naleena to Mira's Omni-tool.  "Pardon me," Mira told the team, "The Spectre needs me in the conference room."

~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan responded to the call as well, from the QEC of the Medusa.
 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena was drinking a glass of water when Mira arrived. Morgan had just made connection on the QEC. Vayne and Essul also received the message and took seats at the table.

 

"This won't take long. I want to bring everyone up to speed before we land," Naleena said. "When we entered the system, we were contacted by Admiral Speight of the Sonax dreadnought Nemesis. Apparently, they don't have any problem with us going after Wrund and will stay out of our way. So we don't interfere with their evacuation, and they don't interfere with our operation. However, there are some other problems. VERA, please display the landing zones."

 

VERA displayed the Mako's landing zone and those for the Commandos.

 

"There are two AA batteries that VERA highlighted. They are capable of taking out any shuttles attempting to land. My team will drop back here in the Mako and take out both of them. Vayne, we have an M-920 Cain that we'll need you to carry and use to take them out. One shot each should do the job. Once both are down, Morgan, you'll land near where the southern battery was, and Mira your team will land in the last area held by the coalition government, here, behind the wall that is about the only thing keeping Wrund's forces from crushing them. 

 

"I expect that our action in the east will draw the attention of some of Wrund's forces and that they'll most likely head toward our last known position - the northernmost batttery. This should open up things for you, Morgan, to find Pradrax Vask. Mira, your job is to secure this communications tower near the hospital. Use the sewers to get there if necessary.

 

"If the tower has power, broadcast this message: 'Spectre T'sarius has returned to Garvug. Spectre T'sarius says that Hailot Wrund is weak. He tried and failed to kill her the last time she was here. Spectre T'sarius says that Hailot Wrund is not worth killing.'"

 

"You really want to **** him off, don't you?" Vayne asked.

 

"That's the worst insult I can think of," Naleena replied. "He'll have to respond. Try to find me. Mira, if you can, get a message out to The Citadel about the conditions on Garvug before Wrund's reinforcements arrive. If it looks like he's sending a major force get out, and hit him somewhere else. If the Vorcha and Turians want to help, let them."

 

Naleena looked at everyone in the room and over at Morgan. "Any other ideas?"

[Cainhurst Crow]

"If we're going to be loud, it might do well to create a distraction as we land...." essul said with a frown, not enjoying the thought of doing things this way. Though given the circumstances, beggars couldn't be choosers. "Perhaps VERA can fire a shot or two towards a non-vital part of the city? It could make them deploy forces to that area, and away from us."

"Could work. But we'd also trigger them to try and bunker down for an aerial attack. Which means the batteries would be one of the first places they'd fortify..." vayne chimmed in before looking back to naleena, "Plans as good as we can hope without bringing a whole army down on us. Hate to say it, but maybe sonnax pulling out could be a good cover for us. A lot of krogan would probably love to get a few last pot shots at their backsides."

[Kel Riever]

Mira shrugged.  "Even with heavy weaponry, the Commando advantage is mobility and avoiding a bunkered-in defense.  To defend a wall, we'll have to be at least as offensive as we are defensive.  I have a plan, but it will involve keeping all allies we are working with doing the job of fighting from the emplaced position.  There may be one or two of us who support them, Tallis and Iole come to mind.  Still I think I'd even need Ereba mobile, a sniper who will stay close to us, and help keep enemy heads down without getting dug in.  We'll be flanking and moving fast.  The added team will help quite a bit."
 

As she considered alternatives, Mira added, "We have other security on board though I don't know if you want to commit them to this dangerous task.  The Alliance Marine detachment and the turian four?  If they are tested, and if their morale is high."

Morgan came in from the QEC.  "We don't have much in the way of combat teams on board, being a smuggling vessel.  Having said that, I can do the job myself, and there might be a person or two here who could help me get in.  I..."  He paused and looked away from the QEC for a moment.  "Are you serious?"  There was a woman's voice who could then be overheard, seemingly insistent on something.  "Well, you better explain it yourself then.  Here, talk to the Spectre."

The image was muted from it's full effect in person, but Babe came onto the QEC.  She was in a tight fitting leather jacket, and high boots, and her eyes still had the quality of making someone want to just throw themselves into them.  "I can back up taking those batteries out.  In fact, if you have someone on the ground who can get any kind of LOS on it, as long as the sighting equipment is accurate, I can knock out the AA battery even from orbit.  There's a way to rig a close range cannon from the Medusa, and we're working with gravity for our velocity...Anything else you'd be worried about I can handle, the projectile getting through the atmosphere and accuracy.  I can do it."

Naleena wasn't from the Republics Navy, but she knew enough to realize Babe was talking about a bombardment from high orbit, which was something normally only a large cruiser or dreadnought was capable of.  VERA, too, would confirm that with simple database cross-reference, though she was beginning to look at the extremes that would allow for something that Babe was talking about.  Still, the odds were not...statistically favorable.

As if reading that there was doubt, Babe leaned in further and said, "Trust me, I can do it, if you need.  Maybe you don't."  Babe shrugged and sat back again.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena mulled over what Babe had said. VERA cocked her head in Naleena's direction and addressed the issue. "My boss and I discussed the idea of orbital bombardment prior to shuttle launch. I can pin point the locations of the batteries and our gunner can eliminate them. The problem is civilian casualties....."

 

Naleena interrupted. "Babe's right...," she said.

 

"What?"

 

"Babe's right," Naleena said. "We know where the batteries are located, but we don't know if they are out in the open. There's too much interference even for your sensors to gather that much detail. In addition to our original plan, what if we brought a targeting laser. They're lightweight. I'll carry it. That way we'll have a back up. We'll get the hell out of there before we use it because that projectile will pack about a kiloton, and there will be civilian casualties. It's a last resort. Morgan, you should run a fiber optic cable from your comm to Babe's station. VERA can send her the targeting solution directly."

 

VERA nodded in the affirmative toward Babe, and winked.

 

Vayne frowned. "I don't like it, but I don't see an alternative."

 

"Asari forces typically use shuttles. The Janiri is flying over at 200 meters. VERA said 'our pass over the city will not be subtle.' Wrund may just laugh. All the better for us," Naleena said addressing Essul. "He won't be looking for a Mako until we hit the first battery."

 

Turning to Mira, Naleena addressed the next issue. "The last thing I want is for your team to get bogged down holding a position. Yes, let the Vorcha hold their line and provide cover. I'd like you to remain mobile, hit hard, and run. Keep the enemy off balance. I have confidence in you to improvise as needed. Regarding the Turian and Alliance Marines on the Janiri, that's your call. If you think they can be of help, by all means. But you know your team, and you know how everyone works together. Besides you'll have Essul and one other with you."

 

"Who is the other?" Mira asked.

 

"Faed," Naleena replied. "Before you roll your eyes, hear me out. He'll be wearing a hard suit with a kinetic exoskeleton mod to help him keep up. He's an expert AI hacker which will help you get past any coded doors, not that I expect anything sophisticated, but let's not forget that Sonax was there and there may be some tech left behind. Also, due to his accident he is joined with Legion, a Geth unit. VERA can fill you in on the details. Legion is a sniper and has extensive combat experience with a Widow."

 

VERA interrupted. "I have checked him out in the combat simulator. He is very accurate with the M-98 and Geth Plasma sub-machine gun, and with the exoskeleton he should not hold back your team."

 

"I've been thinking about that comm tower. Record that message I mentioned on a pad, then after you send the message to the Citadel, broadcast it on repeat, and just get out of there. I'll leave it to you what to do next. Maybe use it for a trap? What do you think?" 

[Kel Riever]

Morgan, standing next to the QEC by Babe, said "Com isn't a problem, we're directly linked.  I'm getting the sense all you need is an accurate coordinate or reading on the battery, is that right, Babe?"

Babe winked back at VERA, then answered Morgan while also filling in everyone on the details.  "Technically, all I need is an accurate spotting, someone to feed me coordinates.  You don't even need to hold the laser on the target, just use it as a rangefinder and give me an accurate position.  And it doesn't really matter if the battery is covered in any way or shielded.  Not with the velocities involved...if the battery can be used for anti-aircraft fire, there isn't enough shielding that could protect it once it is located."

Everyone could see Babe's eyes light up in excitement, and she leaned back into the QEC.  "Kinetic bombardment, basically what we already do with mass effect accelerators, but this idea is as old as the 20th Century...ah, Earth.  Anyway, we're talking a stationary, planet bound target.  A dreadnought or a cruiser doesn't worry about this, because it's guns already are powerful enough to do the job.  But for a smaller vessel, or a vessel without cannons that can dual purpose for getting through an atmosphere with enough firepower...well, we improvise.  This was even considered by frigate captains in the Alliance Navy, but no one's ever needed to do it when they can call a cruiser over."

Babe started pointing on her fingers as she got into her conversation further.  "We don't have those options, but we do have the Medusa and I can rig a big enough gun for a rod from orbit.  It will obliterate whatever it hits, but the blowout will be verticle, enough so that it wont wreck whatever is around it.  Meaning innocents.  I'm going to have to convert one of the cannister guns, lock it for firing..."

Morgan, his experience with ships limited, interrupted.  "But what is the projectile going to be made with?  Standard Mass Effect shielding for something like a battery will handle any projectile without rail acceleration.  Or you're going to need some sort of sophisticated missile with a payload to match..."

"...Not with spent eezo core fuel."

"...eezo core...wha?"

Babe pounded one fist into her other palm with enthusiasm.  "Exactly!  Low tech, like a rock.  Well a rod.  Call it six meters in length, but only a third of a meter in diameter.  Cores are usually efficient enough that spent material is of low volume.  But the Medusa's engine is old, and generates more.  We take the superdense spent fuel, make a rod with...minute directional fins...I can handle that with someone like Doctor Hayashi helping me.  And we'll need a simple computer slapped on the ass end to make small course corrections...VERA can help!"

Morgan nodded.  "How many of these can we make?"

Babe shrugged, "At least one...I could see about a second.  I mean, even the Medusa's old engine is mean to be efficient so we don't have a lot of spent material to work with.  And we're going to need to work in a shielded environment, with sufficient personal protection, until the rods are loaded."  Babe looked to Naleena with the presumption that her plan was a go.  "I'll get to work right away!"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Excellent," Naleena replied, "Remember the goal of the commandos is to distract Wrund. Morgan will obtain local intel on Slayt. The goal of my team is to somehow diffuse the blood oath. Based on Morgan's intel and whatever intel we discover, we'll find a way. Unless there's anything else, let's get suited up and ready to deploy."

 

*****

 

Faed stared at the hard suit and wasn't happy with it. His suit was rare Colossus armor made by Kassa Fabrications and was light and mobile, and it seemed to provide adequate protection except for that freak accident on Eingana. Legion, however, wanted added protection because he considered his new platform too squishy for combat. It was time to visit the fabricator and spend some of the ship's credits.

 

Upon arrival at the fabricator, Faed tapped VERA's terminal. "I would like a new set of Colossus armor."

 

VERA's image appeared leaning against her desk. "I should point out that your last set was destroyed. Perhaps you would want something heavier."

 

"That's what he wants," Faed said referring to Legion. 

 

"Our old platform offered considerably more protection."

 

"It was made of metal."

 

"It also survived a hole made by a fairly large caliber projectile. Our new platform will not," Legion replied.

 

"But the hard suit is particularly uncomfortable around my legs. It was designed for a Turian," Faed said turning to VERA. "We're different anatomically. Who designed that thing?"

 

"It was the Quartermaster."

 

"That figures."

 

"I can make modifications...."

 

There was a pause, and Faed's hands balled into fists. "No!" he said. "I want a suit of Colossus light armor. Military grade. All the options. If it's good enough for our troops, then it's good enough for me."

 

"Then our existing Kinetic Exoskeleton will not fit properly." Legion said.

 

"VERA, you'll make us a new Exoskeleton to fit this, won't you?" Faed asked. "And charge it to Septerax' budget. Teach him to impose Turian designs on a Quarian."

 

".... organics....." VERA muttered thinking about her last encounter with Jenus.

 

"What?" 

 

"Oh, nothing," VERA replied. "I will have your armor and kinetic exoskeleton ready in a matter of minutes. Just place the old, undesirable items in the hopper for recycling. Should I assume you will want urban camouflage for this mission?"

 

"Whatever."

 

"There is a high probability that the Krogan do not have high tech thermal detection," Legion said. "Visual spectrum camouflage would be desirable."

 

"Thank you, Legion," VERA replied. 

 

The fabricator created both items. Faed grabbed them and headed toward the locker room.

[Kel Riever]

Fifteen minutes after the QEC call with the Janiri, Morgan, Babe, and Dr. Hayashi were in the forward bay of the Medusa.

Babe stared at the front hangar bay doors, her mouth a wide grin.  "Jess, I love you for having this ship exactly the way it is."

Morgan followed Babe's gaze.  "Pardon me for asking the dumb questions, but wouldn't tungsten, or depleted uranium do the same job?"

"Do we have enough tungsten or depleted uranium on board to make six by one meter solid missiles?"

"Point taken.  What's this rig going to look like?"

Babe pointed at the front hangar doors.  "That's our point of exit.  We'll pull a cannon from its mount, bolt it in here to fire straight out the front.  Then I'll have to modify and extend its barrel to handle the munition.  It isn't easy work since it needs to be shielded, but if there is a leak for any reason, the hangar can be sealed from the rest of the ship; it's already designed that way in case a small craft had an eezo core failure.  These rounds are heavy metal, so we'll need a mechanical lift to handle them anyway.  I can handle the construction design with help from Amy and VERA.  And our onboard quarian can add his thoughts.  The work can be shared, but I have a desire for Largo to be on this.  I'm sure Dogger will need to coordinate things in your absence, Morgan."

Amy Hayashi patted the bun on the top of her head.  "Years of researching a comet, all that experience will come handy.  VERA can take care of any complex computations and I'll work with her to set up the programming."

"If you can hold everything that's going into this, Babe, then you should get started," Morgan directed.

Babe nodded, then noticed Amy staring at her a bit too long.  She snapped her fingers in front of Hayashi.

Amy started in surprise, then embarrassed, patted the bun on her head rapidly.  "I'll get on the computer and link with VERA."

Babe witheld her grin, but did like the doctor.  Once she was gone, Babe looked around the hangar bay and ultimately back down towards the spine passageway that traversed the ship.  "You know, being in here, working on this, let's me see the Medusa in another light.  This ship, the things that could be done.  It's like a..."

"Don't even," Morgan held up his hand.  "That hobby of yours, shooting cannons...I bet you have something even bigger in mind for the future."

With a glance back at Morgan, Babe replied, "Not necessary for today.  But I'll log it for possible use .  And yes, you're right."

[Cainhurst Crow]

-Garvug-

 

Dhazil was smoking as the sounds of gunfire echoed in the dinstance, the ocean which crashed along the cold shore adding to the sound of thunderous booms and occasional crashes as the fighting took place. Standing tall as ever was the Wrund Citadel, its communication tower the tallest structure within the thawing world as in its shadow, fighting was heard.

 

"Fall Back! All units, Fall back to the Evac Zone!" One individual shouted, returning to firing his assault rifle down the street as his fellow soliders did their best to outrun the approaching forces. Sonnax had its best security forces on the ground, doing well to stomp out an insurgency and prepared for just that, an insurgent force. They were prepared to fight against a group of under armed rebels. Primitives who cobbled together stolen weapons and shoddy armor and who relied on brute force alone.

 

They hadn't expected this; they hadn't expected a well armed force. As the soliders retreated, the blood pack advanced. Stepping in line with one another, each of the heavily armored krogans clad in black armor marched against their foes. Each front liner carried a shield, not a kinetic barrier but a solid slab of metal, for which most of the rounds bounced and dinged against them. For most races, these reinforced shields would be too unweildly to use. But for the krogan, they might as well have been made of cheap plastic.

 

The shields weak point lay in a metal grid like pannel for their eyes to see through, reinforced with kinetic barriers, and a curved grove on the right side of each shield, which each krogan was using to slot their own guns through and firing down the line at their foes. Each semi-automatic shot of their krogan weaponry was a massive blast, and with so many shoulder to shoulder with one another, it made it hard to hit one without becoming open to the others.

 

"Get to the building, wait for the air support!" Came the shouts from those inside, falling back to one of the bombed out structures to help provide themselves with cover. As soliders began to fall in, the sound of thrusters could be heard, a few mantis gunships flying into the area from the horizon and heading to back up the sonnax forces.

 

The captain got out their omnitool, triggering the beacon to let them know they were here when the sound of a high pitched screech began to fill the air. He looked west, away from the mantis's, just in time to see the blood red starfighters he feared seeing. The starfighters looked old, like old history files he'd seen of the first contact war and the ships flown then. However, none of those ships sported wings like these starfighers. None of the alliance designed would think it ever wise to put fabricators onto them either. The starfighters manuvered to the right, as a glowing orange assortment of heated matter sprang to life. In the blink of an eye, the starfighters bobbed between the mantis gunships, two of them passing by while a third went spinning off, it's wing torn clean off and half its engines burning as it crashed.

 

The mantis's however, fine but a moment ago, now sported massive burning shrapnel all along the front and side, where the fabricated material had shredded against their cockpits and hulls, breaking off from the speed of the starfighters pass. The mantis's began to slowly spin out of control, the captain only able to watch as their evac vehicles started to crash. The captain turned to flee into the building, sprinting into the old hospital as the others began to hold the line against the advancing bloodpack wall.

 

"This is captain richards, 418 scouting unit! We're pinned down and our evac's gone. We need this whole area lite up! I repeat, we need heavy ordinance for this building!" He called in, hoping someone would be able to pick up the frequency. Just as he finished, he heard something rumble from beneath his feet. The soliders turned to face the basements ground level, just as the basement doors burst open, and more of the black clad troops came forth from the ground level. His eyes widened as he saw one krogan charging at him at top speed, gun with bayonet in hand as the captian leveled his assult rifle and fired, not even managing to empty the clip before the blade found its place through his chest.

 

Throughout the north, the scene was playing itself out over and over. The blackguard was sweeping through the territory, and any of the sonnax troops unlucky enough to not make it back to the green zone were paying for it with their lives.

 

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

 

Meanwhile, in a distant area of the city, the scene was playing out much differently.

 

"Move it, Maggot! Nothing to see here!" A blue clad krogan barked out as he shoved a vorcha against a wall, walking through the run down shanty that made up much of what had become Dhazil's civilian areas.

 

Many of the citizens ducked and shyed away from wrund's security forces, as they made the rounds of patrolling the area. As the continued to walk however, they came accross another patrol, dressed in red and looking down at a dead body.

 

"Oiy! That another one for the pile?" The blue krogan barked, sauntering over to the blood pack troops as the red clad turian looked to him.

 

"One of the guards. The vorcha rebels must have ambushed them early..." The turian said with a click of the mandibles, looking down to the dismembered krogan, "That makes the third one in one week..."

 

"That so?" The wrund guard asked as he glanced down to the krogan, "...Yeah, that's Grez. Dumb bastard owed me 100 credits...now how am I supposed to get paid?" The guard asked, not sounding broken up about it as he glanced towards some of the homes. "So what happened...did one of you damn tunnel rats get a bit too big for your armor?" The guard asked, as he reached for his belt.

 

"What are you doing?" The bloodpack members asked as the blue krogan pulled out what they recognized as a grenade, each taking a step back from the crazy krogan as he took a step towards one of the buildings.

 

"It's been a busy week...kinda cold in fact. Betting a nice fire would warm things up right quick..." The krogan said, rearing back to throw the incindeary grenade when a voice cut through the area.

 

"Do not do that...." The digitized voice rang out, the blue krogan turning to look who it was as the other bloodpack members went to salute. A krogan, dressed in gun-metal colored armor, and holding a krogan hammer in her hands, walked forth. Her armor was sealed, and all that could be seen of her was the blacked out lenses of her armor, as she marched over to the krogan.

 

"What's the problem? Just clearing out a few pests getting bad ideas..." The blue krogan said, as the silder krogan came to a stop in front of him, standing a foot taller. She brought her hammer and rested it gently on the blue krogans shoulder.

 

"I will not ask again..." She said, her voice as cold as the harsh winter of garvug itself as the blue krogan found himself actually sweating a bit, the close distance and weight of her weapon making him second guess himself, "Do...not...do that."

 

The blue krogan glared, fidning it hard to do so when he couldn't see his adversaries face, before growling and putting the grenade back into his belt, "Not worth wasting a good grenade anyway..." He muttered as he left, motioning the others to join him.

 

The silver krogan watched him leave, before turning to the blood pack members, "Detain everyone here. I want them questioned, and any sympathizers dealt with..." She said, the other blood pack members giving a salute and a "Yes, Captain Ganar!" before moving into the building, one of them standing to block the exit as she looked up towards the tower.

 

"Stuck in this place while you fight against the humans....Father...why do you hate me so much?" She wondered, walking back to continue to patrol. It at least let her see her men in action, as the hammer of dawn kept the order, and cleaned up the mess the blackguard made.

[Kel Riever]

Morgan

The trip from the Galaxy Hotel and Spa would have cost an extra day if Priss (behind a dark set of sunglasses no less, and in a pink long coat that was clearly designed for colder or more damp weather) hadn't negotiated with the desk.  And the Medusa crew was sure to leave before anyone had a chance to inspect the rooms.  Good news that the credit account always required for check in led to an account which was defunct....

Up to the orbital station where the Medusa was docked and there were no problems through to the time that the ship was leaving the system.  There might have been Spectre clout, perhaps, but the hotel was never mentioned again.  A thankful lack of distraction for Morgan who needed to focus on what was coming.  Garvug was ahead and there weren't many, if any at all, who could go with him for what he was about to do. 

Morgan weighed his options.  He didn't need more guns.  He needed people who had certain skills or he was better off on his own.  Without Dahlia, and his absence, the second in command was also a bit of a question.  Dogger would be fine, but he'd need to fit someone else in.  Redundancy was critical.  There was Babe, and if it weren't for her background, he wouldn't have a question.  But the other options didn't look great.  Doctor Hayashi wasn't ready to lead yet, Priss was simply too unfamiliar with everything, and she had a penchant for playing with fire.  No one else on the ship seemed able to garner the respect.  Morgan went leaning back to Babe.  Jess would be there.  If only Babe wasn't...

The thoughts of the First Mate were interrupted as he passed Amy Babylon and her blonde, twenty year old assistant in the hallway.  He avoided their gaze, focuses on what was needed ahead.  Two new crew members, on a bit of a trial basis were also now on board, after a rather brisk interview with Jess.  That was the asari Christmas elf, and Safiere, the fashion consultant.  Morgan got the elf down to the kitchen immediately, figuring Sherie's strict form of running things was best for her, since she'd been a stowaway initially.  Safiere he'd sent to Mister Charles, which might have been a mistake since Mister Charles looked at Safiere as some sort of competition.  It was a concern that was far down the list of priorities though.

Morgan got himself to what was an improved armory on the Medusa.  Keith had actually proved himself useful, running gun training exercises with the crew.  His brother might have been a little over-enthusiastic, but it was something for him to do and Keith felt good about his use. While he thought about things, Morgan suited himself up, the relatively new armor still showing the rough signs of scraping he's suffered while sliding across a New York rooftop getting away from police.  It might not be so bad, since on Garvug, those who'd been around were certainly battleworn, and a suit without scuffs might be more suspicious.  To finish off his armament, Morgan took a shotgun, his Phaeston, and his good old Kolvayov assault rifle that stood the test of time.

"Morgan, we've entered our destination system." It was the voice of Aelias Morgan heard over his com from the Kuwashii visor and headset he was just putting on.  "Anyone coming with you or should I prepare for your solo drop.

"I'll think of someone," Morgan replied.  "Maybe."