6315 réponses à ce sujet

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Jess, things have been happening too quickly, and something has changed," Naleena said, "The Council decided that I was to be made a Spectre. I've been given a ship. It's a prototype.

 

 

Her name is The Janiri. I'd like you on my team. You're resourceful and I consider you a friend. I know this is a lot coming at you right now, but I'd like you to at least think about it. At this point all I can tell you about the mission is that it is in some way related to the Collector threat. If you accept, I can fill you in with more details."

[Redbelle]

Jess looked at the picture. Then held it up close to her eye's as she scrutinised it closely.

 

"Well..... That's where the armor's been going then. You can see. The section's of hull that hasn't been painted....". Jess sighed. "Prototype huh.... Okay. You need engineer's. If this ship is new then it'll need a shakedown cruise to work out all the kinks. Much as ship designer's mean well, every ship they design is a rough work. Ship's need crew that works with all the systems daily to iron out the kinks. Some shakedown's take as long as year. And their always trying these new 'improvement's'. Thing's that look good on paper but just don't work in the real world".

 

Jess bit her lip. "Okay.... count me in. But so you know ahead of time my ship's a outstanding concern". Jess took another look at the ship.

 

"You know, back on Earth, back when the human race only had naval ships, there was a custom that still goes on. They take a brand new ship with a fresh out of the academy crew and pit them against an older ship with an older crew. Nine times out of ten the more experienced ship and crew won out because all the problem's with the ship were sorted..... If the ship has a crew whose been trained on the equipment that's all fine and dandy. But make sure every department head's got a few years of real space experience if you don't want any freshly trained one's complaining to you direct when you do things they don't like. Good department heads will keep the small problem's off your plate so you can focus on the big issues".

 

"Aaaaaand..... ". Jess chewed her lip. "I guess..... maybe we ought to let the judge go we nabbed. I don't think he's been let out yet. Though if there's anything you want to know about these ships maybe talk to him. Biggin's, I think his name was".

[Kel Riever]

Previously...( http://forum.bioware...res/?p=17068964 )

 

Cluster unknown, System unknown, aboard the Medusa

Iyana vanished from where she stood and landed in the captain’s chair.  Jrudek, at her request, had accompanied her to the Medusa’s bridge, so she could confirm all her modifications were in place.  Iyana teleported out of the chair to stand in another part of the bridge, and then teleported once more into the captain’s chair. 

An incoming message alert signaled on the chair.  Iyana pushed the receive button’s speaker mode, allowing Jrudek to hear the person on the other end.  It was Golt.  “My Superior, we have the first of your prisoners in cargo hold six, prepared as you have asked.  The rest are on standby.”

“Very well Golt.  Now you haven’t taken any liberties in your bestial krogan ways, have you?”

“No, my Superior.  I have done exactly as you have asked with the prisoners, and Luscious is with me, watching from the observation window over the hold.”

“Well done, my brute.  There is hope for you yet. Make sure Luscious watches everything.”  Iyana cut the com line and told Jrudek.  “The next task is at hand.  You may return to the Khukuri.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Felix was cold, and it wasn’t because of the temperature.  He had been separated from the rest of the crew after they had been captured and lined up in Cargo 5.  The krogan had knocked him out, so he didn’t remember anything until he had woken up in Cargo 6, strapped to the top of one of the cargo plates with enough ties to half cocoon him.  Every movable joint out to his ankles and wrists was immobilized, and he lay naked underneath his restraints.

No one else was in the bay, but Felix could see the krogan standing next to Luscious staring down at him from behind the observation window of the higher connecting hallway.  Felix had pieced together that somehow what was going on had to do with Luscious, and he would have screamed at him, but no sound would travel through the bulkhead. 

In the meantime, Felix spied what he could from the single, hanging, strip of light that illuminated Cargo 6.  Whatever had gone on to change the bay baffled him.  Crates had been rearranged in a pattern that made no sense to him, bolted down, and painted black.  Well first painted black.  And then it was as if someone had let several mad children through the place with cans of fluorescent colored paint and let them have their run of the place.  The experience was disturbing, psychedelic and while Felix couldn’t make out exactly what some of the painted shapes were, they had a quality to them that was downright frightening.  Clearest of the images was one that appeared to be a pair of hands reaching down, into a…Felix stopped not even wanting to think about what came to his mind.

When a woman appeared out of thin air just inside the door to Cargo 6, Felix jolted, or would have if he hadn’t been completely immobilized.  The white haired, eccentrically armored woman from the group who had seized the Medusa was someone Felix had seen in passing earlier.  It was clear she was important, if not the leader of the whole endeavor.  In her hands was what looked like some sort of samurai sword, though its scabbard was modern and its handle of a simple design.

In an instant, the woman disappeared with the sound of a small thunderclap, and reappeared next to Felix and the crate.

“You can’t hurt me,” Felix argued, “I mean, what’s the point?  You have what you want.  I don’t know anything worthwhile.”

“Don’t you consider your name worthwhile?”

Felix felt panic rising within him.  “Felix.  My name is Felix."

“Felix,” the woman said as she drew the immaculate blade and dropped its sheath on the floor, “My name is Iyana.”  She held the blade to the light.  “I found this little treasure in one of your holds.  It is what they call a monomolecular blade, although I always doubted whether the cutting edge truly came to exactly one molecule.  Still, they are coveted.  I admire your ex-Captain’s taste in the exotic.”

“She’s a good woman.  You can always negotiate with her.  Please, you can’t possibly want to hurt me can you?”

Iyana pulled a clear tube dermal injector from a packet on her slender belt.

“What is that?” Felix was fully panicking now.

“It will assist your blood in coagulating.”  Iyana pressed the injector to a part of Felix’s exposed skin and gave him a shot of the drug before tossing the clear tube.

Felix cried, “Don’t be ridiculous!  Hurting people comes back on you.  We’re not that way.  We don’t deserve this!  What are you really going to do?”

Impassively, Iyana looked into Felix’s eyes.  “I’m going to kill you Felix, maiming you step by step.”

“Come on!  What is the point of that?  This is like a bad movie.  I know…I know you want something, right?  That’s why you are trying to scare me.  You did!  You do.  I am completely terrified! I’m not much of anything but I can give you something maybe. You don’t want money, you have it.  You have the ship and everything on board.”

“You have become very talkative, Felix.”

“I can deliver a message!  I mean not with what you are going to do.  I can find Silver.  She’s a good person.  I can tell her what you want and she can give it to you.”

Iyana held the blade in position, just above Felix’s left ankle.

“No!  NO!”

Barely letting the weight of the blade descend, Iyana cut through Felix’s ankle.  The sword passed cleanly through without so much as a pause of resistance.

Felix cried out in despair.

“Oh now, Felix.  This is so sharp it doesn’t hurt at all.  At least your pain isn’t coming from the blade.”  Iyana moved to place the sword just below Felix’s left knee.

“Okay, oh please!  Say something to me!  Tell me something you want!  Don’t do this!”

The blade cut again.

Felix wailed again.

“Okay, Iyana!  Just, I understand, stop now.  Spare me!  Spare the others!”

Without so much as a change in expression, Iyana moved the sword above Felix’s right ankle and cut again.  Despite Felix’s struggle, he was helplessly being dissected under the restraints.

Felix begged, “I just want to say goodbye at least.  Please can you at least let me see a picture.  Something before I die.”

Iyana stopped and moved so that she could stare directly into Felix’s weeping eyes.  Her face was friendly, and she said in an amicable tone.  “Hello Felix.  It is nice to finally meet you.  We don’t have long now, so please, tell me all the things you want me to know, while I finish my work on you.”

[Cknarf]

"50 Credits? For a shirt?" 

"That's what the sign says, sir."  The salarian droned.

"How about 35?"

"No."

"40?"

"Sir, I've told you three separate times, the store policy does not allow me to adjust prices."

"Fine. Ring it up."

"Your total comes to 300 Credits."

Frank put his hands up. "Quick! Someone call C-SEC!" He shouted, causing several shoppers to turn and look.  "Because I'm pretty sure I was just robbed!"

"Thank you sir..." The clerk hesitated.  "Please come again."

[Terca]

Deidrus was halfway to the docks by the time Sparatus' message arrived at his omni-tool. The Spectre was surprised for a moment that the Audron was being retrofitted for some reason, though the timing seemed a bit suspicious. Three weeks time to be used as the buffer for applying whatever updates needed to be fitted. It was an odd timing, though Deidrus had an idea of what was being added to the ship. Possibly.

 

He hit the button for the presidium to cancel the descent to the docks and for the first time since arriving at the station looked out at the stars and the rest of the construct. He had been in his own head for a while now... It was good to get 'outside' for a while he presumed.

 

When he arrived at the Embassies he was waved in by the secretary monitoring the comings and goings of people. He made his way swiftly to Sparatus' office and was allowed in quickly. He entered to see the man reclining in his chair and looking over the holo-display at the soldier. His eyes were neutral and his position relaxed. It gave nothing away and was one of the reasons he was considered one of the Hierarchy's best politicians. Turians were known for being calm but also rather critical, and for his position Sparatus had fewer direct head-buttings with the other species than previous representatives.

 

"Androkan..." The councilor trailed off before standing himself and motioning for the other Turian to follow him to the balcony. "I apologize for setting the motion against you, however there is conduct which must be maintained for the soothing of our allies' discomfort." The Turian stood with his back to the presidium below and watched Deidrus follow. "The armor you lost for us will set us back on other projects by a few weeks, though on the grand scale of the events on Duellos that is minor." Eyes narrowed. "Even so, your actions on the planet were far from admirable."

 

The Spectre said nothing as he knew that Sparatus was simply restating his position from earlier. He met the man's eyes with indifference though he inclined his head to accept the charge.

 

"Regardless," Sparatus continued while turning to look over the ring below. "the collector and Aspirant threat must be met sooner than later and as it stands the Audron is one of the few ships in the Turian fleet which has the versatility needed. The information collected from Omega has confirmed this suspicion... Initially information on Collectors was filtered through Aria's information network and sold to the council for a price. Tevos began the discussions before I was appointed councilor and we have maintained that relationship since. Her information was of a species without fear for life with incredibly effective weaponry and machinery which could deal massive damage to unarmed and unprepared men. Ship-based weaponry was a mystery however ground units could be rather... Resilient."
 

"The Audron is still a necessary weapon if the Collectors are a well-equipped as they have been claimed to be. It is populated with the finest Armigers because they will perform the best in all circumstances of all Special Forces. You were selected because even if you ignore it the Shadow Broker hired you for his most controversial wetwork, and we saw the result even if we ignored it. All three aspects will still be necessary even when Silaris armor is added to the Audron's defensive capabilities." Sparatus turned to look at Deidrus. "You can no longer make the rash decisions you did on Duellos. You may be young by Spectre standards however you cannot allow yourself to act it. Thus you will be suspended during the time that the Armor is being attached and serve the first third of the time then. When the Audron may fly again you will be temporarily reinstated to continue your mission."

 

"Understood." Deidrus replied, inclining his head once again.

 

"Weapons systems and armor plating will be updated during these weeks. Use that time to think. Also, your non-Turian crewmembers will have a chance to be transferred to the Janiri, Spectre T'Sarius' new ship. They will be of most use with someone who is actively performing tasks as opposed to one who is waiting out part of a sentence." Sparatus walked past Deidrus to return to his seat. "You are free to leave now."

 

"Sir." Deidrus replied before walking to the exit of the room. Before he could open the door Sparatus spoke up.

 

"You are not sloppy. The other councilors are happy to say you made an error in judgement but I don't think this is your style. Why did you let such a plan begin in the first place?" This caused Deidrus to stop for a moment but make no motion to answer. He opened the door and left Sparatus behind, the older Turian suspicious but ultimately without enough urgency to look into things.

[Cknarf]

Frank checked himself out in the mirror of a public restroom.

That's much better.

Frank wore a gray long-sleeved shirt, dark brown cargo pants, and a black beanie.  His new outfit was nothing impressive, but it was at least comfortable and clean.  He stuffed his old clothes into a trash can, and stepped back into the streets of Tayseri ward.

He brought up his omni-tool.
                                                                                      --------------

Adir, I transferred 1500 Cr. back into your account.  500 was more than enough, I've gotten by with less in the past.  Can't thank you enough.

                                                                                                                                                                                                         -Frank
                                                                                    ----------------

[Terca]

Eteon was wandering around the Presidium completely unknowing of the fact her Commander was speaking with Sparatus far above her head only minutes ago. She was set loose but didn't have much of an idea of what to do since she had spent next to no time on the Citadel itself. She was used to Turian space and while it wasn't exactly the most relaxing atmosphere it was very basic and simple, and thus easy to get around. Contrary to popular belief Turians did like their arts but the appearance of the military created the myth they were sticks in the mud. Despite that Eteon was enjoying her wanderings, even if she was constantly checking purple-hued VIs for directions and information about the Citadel.

 

She knew that the arms that reached off of the ring were chock-full of different council races in both their places of work and their homes. She almost wanted to hire a cab to take her onto one of those arms but without a guide she was fairly sure she would get lost much sooner than later. So she wandered.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

on the Audron with Jess .....

 

Naleena smiled. “Thank you, Jess. I’m hoping to gather as many of the old team as I can. We worked well together. I will brief you on the new mission soon, and suffice to say for now that it is not unrelated to the old one.”

 

Then she became serious. “Regarding Morgan. This is not about you. Morgan is afraid for his family, now more than ever. He is worried that what that creature did to your crew could be done his family, if they find them. It cannot be allowed to find them.

 

“I understand your concern for your ship, and I shall make time for it. I have killed a lot of people in my life, and I’ve seen a lot of bad things, but such savagery is beyond my comprehension. What happened to your crew was… an atrocity. I can under Council Law, go after this. What really concerns me is that person who did this has followers: followers who obey it without question.

 

“They sent crates, and those may not be the last of them. Your crew was your family, so she killed them. It's an old trick to get you to come after them crazy. Forget about that. We’re going to be patient and methodical. I have tracked quarry. So this… thing… goes by the name Iyana? I need as much information on her as possible. Morgan can help us. She has killed like this before, I'm sure of it. For the sake of justice, we'll track her and put her down.”

[Cknarf]

200 Credits left.  I should probably get back before I spend them on something stupid.

Frank started back to the cabs, but couldn't seem to remember where he was supposed to go.

Docking bay G10?  No. D10.  Maybe it was C10? Sh*t.

As he walked, he sent a message to the Audron crew, the ones involved with the train job, anyway.

'Hey, where's the Audron docked?  I'm not sure where to go from here.  On Tayseri.'

*Message sent*

His contacts were transferred when he switched omni-tools, but those on the other end would be receiving a message from an unfamiliar device.

"Hello Earth-clan."

A volus stood in the doorway next to Frank.

"Hi."

"I'm having a sale today.-hiss- 10% off everything  in the store. -hiss-  Please, come inside and take a look."

"I'd love to, but I really don't have the money..."

"Surely you can spare -hiss- just a few credits."

"What do you sell?"

The Volus pointed to a sign above him.

            Jin Olthor's
Curios, Relics, and oddities.

"Neat." 

Frank entered the store.
 

[Terca]

Eteon had been wandering for a while and checking out the shops until she finally saw a familiar face. Or, more accurately, the vaguely familiar build of Frank entering a store. She approached the front of the establishment and stared at the sign a moment.

 

Curios, Relics, and Oddities. Sounds like a tourist's shop. She though to herself as she peered through the windows to look at the baubles. Well, nobody to bring the stuff home to but D's Ahma. What would she like...

 

The Cabal wandered into the shop to catch up with Frank and also, hopefully, find the type of item an old (well, 49 year-old) Cabal would like as a souvenir.

[Kel Riever]

Morgan stood on the dock, just off the Audron.  A customs inspector had come up to him directly to interview and clear him.  “Don’t even ask me why you’ve got clearance for your arms and armor,” the custom inspector said, “After Spectre Androkan was relieved of his status, I would have expected your pass to be revoked.  But I can’t argue with the record.  You are clear.”  Morgan watched the man walk away, grumbling.

The docking bay for the Audron grabbed the interest of Morgan’s view after that.  He felt odd.  While he had the sensation of being ripped open inside, he had said what he needed to, despite it coming out in its ham fisted way.  The weakness hadn’t gone away, and his stomach was still doing flips anticipating what was to come.  There might not be any convincing for Jess, but he’d done his best.  Now he wasn’t sure what would happen.

Beyond the docking bay, and the five arms of the Citadel that were the wards, the Serpent Nebula hypnotized Morgan with all its multicolored vastness.  It made him feel insignificant, and immaterial as he faced it.  But there Morgan was, still standing.  Maybe there was an insufferable romantic somewhere inside him trying to get out, even after everything he’d gone through.

You’re a fool, Morgan, he told himself.  A godd**n fool.

[Cknarf]

Frank walked up and down the rows of tables.  Most of it appeared to be rusty junk, but there were definitely some items of interest.  "What are these?"  He held up a jar of large, egg shaped objects, floating in liquid.

"That would be a 'quad', Earth-Clan."

"Ew."

"A pre-genophage quad."

"Oh, well in that case I'll take 'em!" Frank said sarcastically, before setting them back down.

"What about this photo?"

"Quarian, before the suits."

"How do you know if it's really a quarian?"

"How do you know it's not?"

Frank shrugged.

"What about this?" He picked up a pendant from the table.

"That insignia is turian. -hiss-  You still see it today, on some of their faces."

The door opened with a chime.

"See? Like that one that just walked in."

"Hey Eteon, this guy has pre-genophage krogan testicles!"

[Terca]

"And I suddenly feel like this is the wrong place to buy souvenirs for a respected teacher." Eteon complained, amused, as she placed her hands in her pockets and peered around the room. She saw the jar of... Quads? Quarters? and immediately shivered in a bit of revulsion. Definitely not. She made her way over to the table Frank was standing at and some of the things strewn across it. The Pendant he had picked it up caught her eye for a moment. That's an old set of markings.

 

"Looking for something to remember the Citadel by?" Eteon asked as she poked around the shop some more before walking over to the Volus and asking where some other Turian items were. "I think you can even get a miniature Avina with all the same condescending tones should you be willing to pay out a fair amount of credits."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul walked the halls of the citadel, looking up to the blue looking ceiling of the massive arms from a railing nearby, taking a break from all the weary looks and bumped shoulders of the usual crowds.

 

It was...overwhelming was a good word for it, to have so many different people all together in one place acting orderly. The closest he'd ever had to this was Illium, and most of the time things weren't that orderly, or crowded, or even diverse, as this place. There was a sense he didn't get from illium in this place, not quite unity but more a sense of mutual agreement, one that allowed people not to feel like every step they took they had to look back in case someone were hacking their accounts or lining up a shot.

 

"It's almost too peaceful..." he muttered to himself as he let out a sigh, as his omnitool finally went off. He looked down to it, reading the message.

 

To: Enos Shis'sak

 

Your appointment has been set for 3:24 pm GST, please report in for your  due diligence evaluation and we will begin the payment process as negotiated previously.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

"Finally..." Essul muttered as he replied with a simple affirmative, showing he'd gotten the message. He now knew the window of time he'd have to get in and out of his target, all he had to do was avoid c-sec cameras, dangerous traps, and possibly dispose of a few witnesses, and he could get off this station.

 

He walked towards the office, taking just 15 minutes while he looked about the area, where he came across a peculiar sight that made him pause.

 

Essul looked to the glass tank as he tilted his head curiously, looking at the snapping eel inside of it. He'd always enjoyed watching marine life, and seeing one he was familiar with out here was strange to him. He watched it as it darted to and from its hiding hole as he studied its strange stripped pattern.

 

"It's an interesting species, isn't it?" Essul heard as he turned sharply to see an asari staring at him curiously, "I find the aquatic life of khar'shan to be quite fascinating..."

 

Essul's eyes went wide as he turned around and began walking quickly away, the asari calling for him to come back and muttering something out of earshot but essul didn't care. He wasn't suppose to get distracted by trivial things, he was on a mission and he needed to get to the Shemiah Corporation's citadel offices, not get distracted looking at fish, or distracted being ambushed by aliens.

 

'So what if I'm not good at talking to aliens? Why do I need to be? It's not like they'll ever be a regular thing I have to deal with outside of the hegemony. They aught to be more like us...' He thought to himself as he kept walking quickly, not paying attention to where he was going. 'Maybe not like all of us sure. I mean, that'd be a ****** nightmare, having all those self-obsessed and self gratifying douches walking about like they're better then everyone else...is that even different from what the aliens are like?'  he wondered before he came to a stop, looking around.

 

".....where am I?" he wondered as he looked up to a shop sign he stoop under. "Curios, Relics, and Oddities...." essul said with a raised brow, shaking his head as he turned around and retraced his steps.

 

Finally he found the building, simple and a little plain with a design more fitting for a consorts office then a surveying operation. Essul entered through the doors, being greeted by a portly looking batarian and a turian bodyguard. "Mister Shis'sak. A please to meet your acquaintance." the rather bloated batarian siad as he tilted his head in greeting.

 

"Likewise..." Essul siad as he returned the tilt, eyes scanning the place as the fat man began making his way towards the back of the office. "My name is Jatha Orbolla, the district manager of our fine company. Please come into my office. I'm eager to look into the data you've brought."

 

"And I'm looking forward to getting paid." essul said with a smile, walking towards the non-security camera or bugged offices. Being rich on the citadel came with a lot of perks, "He coming to?" essul said as he pointed to the turian.

 

"Please try to understand. Dear Vectivus here is a close and personal friend of mine. Where I go, he goes..." Jatha said as he opened the door, all three stepping in as essul and vectivus both walked pass jatha, who closed and locked the door. Jatha wiped his brow, letting out a long held breath as he turned around. "Thank the ****** Gods..." he said, his tone a lot less formal and polite then before.

 

"Watch your mouth..." essul said, also dropping his act as he stood up straight, opening his breifcase and taking out his tools, his smg and a few mods for his omnitool, some magnetic clamps, and of course a plasma cutter. "Don't takes the gods in vain..."

 

"Well excuse me captain "I'm gonna pull the biggest ****** strings since jath'amon." Jatha said with a roll of his eyes, "Committing a class 3 felony on the citadels got me a bit ****** on edge."

 

"He's right you know..." Vectivus said as he got out a turian smoke stick, lighting it up as he blew the toxic fumes into the air filter, "You know how hard it was to pull the strings in c-sec to get your equipment snuck in here unnoticed? How much the blue suns had to work to get this done?"

 

"About 56,547 credits worth of work, by my estimate..." Essul replied coldly, walking over to the armor case leaning against the wall, opening it to reveal his armor as well as his kishock harpoon gun. "About 3/4 of what I paid the suns alone for their part in this..."

 

"Watch your tongue, 4 eyes. I don't care what kind of rep you got. Nobody bad talks me and-" Vectivus stopped as essul drew his smg, pointing it to the turian as he looked at him coldly, death glimmering in his eyes.

 

"SIU trained your boys...must have done a ****** poor job teaching you the meaning of silence...." Essul said as he lowered his gun, getting changed slowly as he brought the pieces in place, "It's Grenadier by the way..." he commented as he slipped on one of his gauntlets, "Not captian, or 4 eyes...just grenadier." he said just as coldly as before.

 

"r-right, of course." Jatha said as he sweated up a storm, waddling over as he pulled back the carpet to reveal a maintenance entrance. "This maintenance tunnel was built before this place was even constructed. None of the keepers use it, or so I've been told, and the main workers use more modern tunnels. You should be fine outside of the occasional duct rat-"

 

"A what?" Essul asked as he adjusted his chest piece, making sure it was on properly, his smg now on his waist holster.

 

"A duct rat. Little street urchins who use the tunnels to move about the station. Kind of what you will be doing, in a sense..." Jatha said, laughing nervous as he fought off the urge to soil himself. He never would think he'd have an SIU officer here, much less one as savage and barbaric as this.

 

"I see...yes I suppose that's true..." Essul said as he put on his helmet, locking it into place. "In that case...." he said, voice digitally altered and scrambled, making it sound almost geth like, if the geth were possessed by some sort of demonic force, and turned around to look at the two, the skull maks enough to make jatha jump a bit. "I'll need to make sure I don't leave any duct rats alive. Least they identify me."

 

"Y-y-yes I suppose you will..." jatha said as he backed away from the tunnel, essul walking over and lifting open the door.

 

"Whatever...." Vectivus said with a roll of his eyes and another drag of his smoke stick.

 

Essul put his hands on the ladder leading down, slowly descending before he looked to the portly cover, "And Mr. Orbolla..." he said as Jatha jumped.

 

"Yes?" He asked, sounding like a scared whisper, unsure of what the SIU operative would say.

 

"Thank you for your service..." Essul said with a nod, before closing the hatch above and turning on his enhanced visuals, able to see in the dark tunnel easily as he climbed down. Pulling out his omnitool and marking the location and route on his map, essul made his way in the bowls of the citadel, working his way to the presidium, and to the old batarian embassy.

[Cknarf]

"If I had anything close to a fair amount of credits, do you think I'd be here?"  Frank laughed. "Pfft. Who am I kidding?  This is my kind of store."  He dug through another pile of crap and produced an 18" blade.  "Wow. Eteon,  Look at this thing."  he turned to the volus.  "Are you allowed to sell this on the Citadel?"

"Yes?"

"Mhm. Sure." Frank moved to another table.  And started sifting.

[Terca]

"Pfft. A fair deal from a Volus is always a bargain hard to set." Eteon said aloud, less as a taunt to all Volus and more towards the peddler who was trying to sell the various things in the store. It was hardly well-organized and most definitely cleaned only to the lower limits of his admittedly short stature. From her perspective she could see he didn't invest in step stools.

 

She walked over to the blade and picked it up fro a moment. It was an older type but still technically combat-quality. She would pay in blood for a well-forged blade before one in a cluttered shop, that much was certain. I do have my own blades anyways. They're technically not knives I guess but... Shaking her head she set it aside before picking up a rather large and thin glass half-sphere.

 

"What's this exactly?" She pondered aloud as she rotated the piece between her talons.

 

"Salarian contacts with holo-interface."

 

The Volus' voice rose just a bit too much at the end of his answer for the Turian to take him seriously. She moved on.

 

"Your kind of shop has a lot of..." A ball which had scratches on it labeled 'hardened Rachni feces' was looked at for a moment before being set far aside. "things in it."

[Cknarf]

"A pet rock?"  Frank raised an eyebrow. "Come on, now."

"That one comes from Earth."

Frank dug another pendant out of the pile.  He ran his thumb over the lines, and looked over at Eteon.

Those markings are damn close.

He slid it into his pocket.

"Find anything over there?"

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne sighed as he closed the extranet window of his omnitool, sighing as he rubbed his eye and forehead. Searching for all this time, and he'd not been able to find anything on a Enos Shis'sak outside of a mention of employment by a Shemiah Mining Company. Not even so much as a Twitter or Skywire account.

 

"Way too suspicious..." vayne commented to himself as he drafted a message to the audron crew, checking the time and looking around the waiting room, seeing a lot of people who were here last time he checked half an hour ago.

 

Stuck in c-sec customs. Discrimination against krogans got me flagged ((probably armor as well)). Someone suspicious just came through. Need someone to get my armor and help bring it through, so I can get the damn thing fixed. I will literally give you my credits out of pocket for this favor. ((Sorry.))

 

--Vayne.

 

He sent the message, emoticon and all, as he got to work looking up some armor smiths on the citadel, as well as some licenses weapons stores. If he was gonna be stuck here then he wasn't gonna just sit here doing nothing. He was gonna find the best damn armorer he could and get his suit improved upon. Maybe some new weapons as well.

[Redbelle]

Despite the circumstances, Jeff chuckled. "Your putting the band back together? From one of her pouches on her belt she withdrew a pair of sunglasses and flicked them open as she put them on.

 

"It's half a galaxy to the next Collector attack site, We'll soon have a new ship, half a pouch of thermal clips. We're in space... and we're wearing sunglasses...... Let's hit it".

 

With that hanging in the air Jess saunted off in search of Irina. Anika facepalmed. "Goddess...... She think's she's Elwood again".

 

Overhearing her as she walked away Jess called back. "I need my Jake! Don't make me go anywhere without my Jake"!

 

Anika grumbled. "Nally..... We should stop by the replicator and get everyone sunglasses if you want her to stop this anytime soon".

[Redbelle]

Finally, after much searching, Jess gave up and called Aelias asking where Irina was.

 

"Shuttle bay". Came the response after a slight pause. "Jess..... Is it true we're grounded"?

 

"Can't say luv. I don't know how your geared for this but maybe this is a good thing. Take time off the comm's. Go enjoy yourself. I don't think I've ever seen you away from that post".

 

"Someone's got to keep the channel's open".

 

"Well, I'm moving on soon so feel free to close mine".

 

"Jess"?

 

"What luv"?

 

"...... Turian's really don't do dresses".

 

Jess chuckled. "I know".

 

"But I think I look good in one..... Can I have the name of your tailor"?

 

Jess shook her head and fired over the name. "Next time your in Omega luv".

 

"Next time".

 

Jess searched her mind but found she couldn't think of anything else to say.

 

"Well...... take care luv".

 

"You too. Channel closed".

 

"Channel closed".

 

Jess heard the connection cut and she sighed. she was going to miss that girl.

 

She headed off to the shuttle bay.

[Terca]

"Nothing that isn't a bit... Questionable." Eteon replied as she continued to scan through the wares. She found an original copy of Fornax and a glance knew the notorious extranet site had never been very reserved. She placed it under another set of books before grabbing a book titled 'Cabal Steps, The Void Warp.'

 

Eteon's eyes narrowed and and opened the book to see half-translated Turian text in the old dialects. Someone had been trying to translate it though it looked like whoever had started it never quite found the will to finish. It was in the Galactic standard alphabet for easy transcription when analyzed with an omni-tool though she could read it with some difficulty off the page. Why was someone playing with this? She though, brows creased.

 

"How much for the book?" She asked, lifting it but keeping the title covered.

 

"50 cR." The Volus replied. "The books *hssk* are no longer in print."

 

"This one is covered in writing in the first third. 25 cR." The woman's voice left little room for discussion though the Volus made an annoyed sound.

[Cknarf]

"I think I've seen about all I wanna see."  Frank picked up the pet rock.  "How much was this again?"

"200 Credits"

"Seriously?"

"It's over 200 years old. -hiss- extremely rare."

What happened to Just a few credits? 

"Okay.  I'll take it."  Frank agreed to the price.  The rock couldn't be worth any more than 10 Cr, but he was getting quite a discount on the item in his pocket.

"I can't go any low--" The volus stopped.  "You'll take it?"

"Yeah, 200 Credits sounds fair enough."

"Oh yes, more than fair, Earth-clan! -hiss- nothing but the best deals at Jin's!"

You're not kidding there.

Frank transferred 200 Cr. to the volus.

"No refunds."

[Terca]

Eteon paid for her things as well before a notification popped up on her omni-tool. It was Vayne, and reading through the message she had to laugh a bit.

 

"Looks like our Krogan is having difficulty with customs." She said before walking to the door of the store and opening it for Frank. "He got stuck trying to move his armor through customs. He needs someone to pick it up on the other side for him."

 

Behind her back she squeezed the binding of the book while in the back of her mind she tried to think of a when she could look through the contents. A while, probably, but with the ship docked for the time being she would be able to get it read sooner than later. She keyed in a short message to Vayne to find out where he was at.

Vayne

It's Eteon. Frank and I can get your armor through customs easily enough. Which entrance are you stuck at? I think there are multiple customs checks here for military and civilian trans.

[Redbelle]

The lift doors clanged shut after depositing Jess onto the Shuttle bay deck.

 

Thing's were finally starting to look like they were being put in order.

 

Off to the side, Jess's MIP's and skycar lay out of the way of activity. On the other side, the two shuttles of their group still lay. One looking like it still needed repair. Behind those the Mecha-steeds sat idle, powered down except for the occasional twitch as diagnostic routines ran every so often on the Steed's systems.

 

And nearby them, Jess saw a familiar figure kneeling in front of her bike. Sauntering over Jess sat down her on a crate and looked over her shoulder. "Nice engine. Neat install. I'd go for a bigger injector but then the whole rig would need rebalancing". Jess sighed and scratched her forehead. "Irina, you got a minute? I need to clear some air".

[Cknarf]

"Thanks." Frank stepped through the door. "These new security measures are a pain in the ass." He said as they walked back toward the cabs.  "Can you believe they hassled me over an omni-tool?  I can't imagine what Vayne has to deal with."