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[sH0tgUn jUliA]

The three of them took their time getting up to the second floor, making a quick stop in the restroom. Then they went upstairs, and Irina opened the door to Robbery-Homicide. This was night shift. There were four officers still around. The desks were arranged in the usual rows with interview chairs next to them. Officers were sitting around joking. One of them was actually working.

 

“Is there a Detective Dara here?” Irina asked loudly.

 

One of the detectives pointed to the one with her feet up on the desk. The three walked over to Dara. Irina sat down. Another detective brought chairs for Jess and Anika.

 

“I’d like to report a robbery,” Irina said.

 

Dara took her feet off her desk and was treating this like an interruption of her break. “What was stolen?”

 

“My skycar,” Irina replied. “I parked it in the main lot just outside earlier this evening and it’s not there anymore.”

 

The detective began inputting data into her console. She glanced at Anika, “Who is the owner of the vehicle?”

 

Irina replied, “I am.” She noticed the officer looking at Anika, but casually averted her gaze to avoid evoking suspicion.

 

“When did you park the shuttle in the lot?”

 

“About 3 hours ago.”

 

“Why didn’t you just call it into the office and wait for an officer to respond?” Dara asked.

 

“Because I was on hold for the last 15 minutes. We could walk down here faster.” Irina said.

 

“Yeah, sorry about that. There’s been an emergency a few blocks away that has everyone else occupied,” Dara said.

 

“Well, my car is a bit of an emergency,” Irina replied.

 

“Look, lady. Some assh*le decided that putting a sh*tload of plastic explosive in a car and rigging it to explode in a busy area was a good idea. I’d call that an emergency.” Dara replied.

 

Irina heard a buzz in her ear, followed by Essul’s whispering voice. “I see something up ahead...Chuck, stay back. Mike, what's up ahead?”

 

There was a little commotion in the back of the station, and Irina heard one of the officers. “Hey, we’ve got something in the vents up on 10. It’s probably just a gilroy, but you can never be sure. Send in the microdroids.” She freaked. Microdroids were small robots with cameras used to rapidly explore areas that were difficult for people to explore, such as ventilation shafts.

 

Irina thought to herself “Wing it.”

 

“It was your brother wasn’t it?” Irina yelled at Jess.

 

“What?” Jess’ genuine surprise was exactly what Irina was counting on.

 

“Your sh*thead brother probably stole my car.” Irina stood, and she pushed Jess’ chair over. “He does everything he can to make my life miserable!” Irina was now yelling loudly enough that the three other officers on the floor stopped their activities and started to come over.

 

Jess rolled backwards out of her chair and managed to avoid being kicked as she sprung up onto her feet. The matter of the micro's on her mind but Irina seemed to have something up her sleeve. "Hey! Don't bring Luscious into this! Okay he's a drunk layabout who bleeds credit's out his ears...... but let's not forget! Your the one who fell for him on the probably one good day that he had when he could.... construct a sentence and didn't have a bottle in his hand". She put her hands on her hips. "You should have reported him stalking you month's ago! I know he can disappear and reappear.... but c'mon! This is your life he's messing with! And now he's got your car...."?

 

Jess sighed. "Look! Just calm down! I'm trying to support you here but DAMMIT girl! You can't let my waste of space brother keep you on the ropes like this and I'm sure as hell not about to apologise for him anymore.... To You"!

 

Anika took a step backwards at the shove and glared down at Irina. "It was just a car". She said between clenched teeth. "Just report it stolen. How many times do I have to put up with this crap from you"?

 

The three of them backed off again, and Dara waved off the officers who started to return to their positions.

 

“We’d better get those droids deployed.” Sgt. T’goni said when she got to the back of the room.

 

Irina shot Jess a glare, and started shouting. “Your brother's gonna steal my sh*t and then you're gonna sit there and mouth insults at me? F*ck you!” Irina stood and shoved Jess again, this time with both hands. Jess retaliated and shoved her back even harder. Then, the two started threw themselves at each other and landed on the floor. Anika got into the fray defending Jess. All the officers stopped doing what they were doing and ran over to pull Anika off Irina. They pulled them apart and angrily dragged them off to cells.

 

“Hey! Let me go!” Irina shouted.

 

"Screw that! She assaulted me"! Jess cried out as officer's dragged her along with Irina to the cell's. "You all saw that! Your my witnesses! Luscious isn't dragging me down with him this time! I'm not covering for that deadbeat anymore you hear me? DO YOU HEAR"!?!?

 

The officer's landed with Anika tried to pull her along, tried to lift her but found the woman's height and build was more than just looks.

 

"Miss, it's a offense to resist an officer".

 

Anika sighed. "Are you asking for my help to bring me in"?

 

"Ummm".

 

Anika pinched the bridge of her nose and made after Jess and Irina. "Just make a note I went quietly will you"?

 

It took all four remaining officers to take them to lockup. Two to take Irina back there. She struggled the entire way trying to slow them down as much as possible.

 

“What are you locking me up for? This is all her fault for having that mangy dingo of a brother.” Irina shouted.

 

“One more word, and I swear you’ll never speak again!” Dara said as she threw Irina into the cell.

 

Irina heard two other cell doors slam shut. “I want my lawyer!” she shouted.

 

“Shut up!” Dara shouted back, and then the four cops slowly wandered back to their office shaking their heads over the entire incident.

 

Irina walked into a corner of her cell and rubbed behind her ear and spoke very softly, “Mike (Essul), they’re sending in the microdroids. I bought you some time. I don’t know how much. You’ll have to hurry.” Jess and Anika heard this as well. “Good work, Gina. Now use some of that charm of yours to get us out of here.”

[Cainhurst Crow]

After waiting a few moments and trying to ascertain how many people were inside the server room, essul made his move. He loaded up his omnitool and hacked into the door systems, nothing complex other then to lock them so that the people inside couldn't leave. Once that was done, it was a simple matter for him to pull out the gas grenades that naleena had given them and looked to the group.

 

"Everyone's seals on?" He asked, and getting a positive from the group, triggered the grenade and shoved it through one of the vent grates. The grenade made it through, detonating as it went down and releasing a cloud of chemicals onto the room and its inhabitants. Two technicians doing routine maintanance and a c-sec officer found themselves suddenly slipping into unconscious from the gas and went for the doors, working to open them as each slumped forward unconscious. After allowing a minute to pass, essul punched the corner of his nearby grate, distending it outwards as he applied more pressure, and with a pop, sent the grate plopping to the ground.

 

He pulled himself out, landing with a crouch as he drew his submachine gun, scanning the room as he looked up to the others, His faceplate's engraved skull design making him look sinister in the fog as he motioned for the two of them to follow out the exit he'd made.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena and her team took the elevator to Sao’s floor. The plan was for Frank to hack the lock to enter Sao’s office, neutralize any security system, and then get into Sao’s computer. Naleena would then look for the files and delete them. Frank would wipe any trace of them being there, and get out. Jaimie was along in case something went terribly wrong. When the elevator door opened, Frank noticed some security cameras on the floor. Naleena noticed a light shining out under the door to Sao’s office.

 

She held everyone in the elevator. “Change of plans. Sao is in his office working late. I’ll deal with him directly,” she sighed, “He’ll also notice any files deleted in his computer. Salarians have security systems like a maze. Their minds are like that. He probably has several redundant sites for data backup.

 

“I’ll get him out of his office. I want to talk to him. Mark, I want you to hack into his computer and copy any files he has on me, Case # 4197 Valas Renalo STG Officer and Shalia Danri. George, you and Steve keep watch.”

 

Morgan nodded and Steve gave a thumbs up.

 

Naleena walked up to the entrance to Sao’s office and pressed the buzzer.

 

Sao wrinkled his forehead and looked up from his desk. “Who is it?”

 

Naleena collected herself.  “I work for the Council. I need to speak with you in private.”

 

Sao ran a facial recognition scan and shook his head. “Shalia Danri? Try again Shalia.”

 

“Look Sao, my name isn't Shalia, but I do work for the Council, and I'm not leaving until I speak to you,” Naleena said, “I can explain, but I'm not going to do this in the middle of a building with cameras everywhere.”

 

Sao unlocked the door. “Come in not Shalia.”

 

“I wasn't going to talk out there, what makes you think I'll talk in here? I'll be recorded in either place.” Naleena said.

 

Sao couldn't quite place her identification. She looked familiar but didn't look familiar. And she didn't look like an ordinary civilian. She had that look in her eyes like she'd killed and killed a lot. It was the same look he had in his.

 

“What do you suggest? Everything on Illium goes down in someone's archive,” Sao pointed out.

 

“How about we scatter our conversation throughout hundreds of different archives?” Naleena suggested.

 

“I'm not in the mood to play games. I have important things to do, and I'm starting to get irritated with your requests,” Sao was clearly growing impatient.

 

“5 minutes. That's all I need. Then, I'll be gone,” Naleena was starting to get anxious.

 

“4 minutes. Let's go,” Sao stood up and walked past her as they exited the room together. Naleena rubbed her mastoid bone to activate her ear piece.

 

“Where am I going?” Sao asked.

 

“A crowded place. I don't want our audio getting picked up,” Naleena replied.

 

Morgan heard the conversation on his ear piece and gave Frank the go-ahead to enter Sao's office. Naleena and Sao entered an elevator, and just moments after the elevator door closed, Frank began hacking into Sao’s office. Once inside, Frank began to hack into Sao's computer and copy his data files.

 

Naleena and Sao strolled through the ground floor of the building, brushing past hundreds of civilians who were either immersed in sales consoles or speaking loudly on their headsets. Naleena made sure she was close to Sao before speaking.

 

“I’m Naleena T'sarius of the Janiri,” she began.

 

Sao smiled, “I knew your face looked familiar. Your reputation precedes you, Spectre.”

 

“If you know me you know that I'm not exactly in the good graces of the STG.”

 

“Yes, a lot of good agents lost their lives unnecessarily,” Sao said.

 

“What?”

 

“I read your file. That director, disgusting for what he did to your sister.... and others,” Sao said, “Ashamed of government for not doing anything.”

 

Naleena turned to the Salarian. “Then I'm sorry for having killed those agents.”

 

“Not your fault. You had to defend yourself. Anyway, that's water under the bridge. You have a pardon.” Sao said.

 

“What about the last one in Nos Astras under Shalia Danri?” Naleena asked.

 

“Read file yesterday,” he sighed, “Tragic. Camera inside the club showed he shot the young Asari. I would not have taken the shot. Too risky.”

 

“But this needs to go away. It could affect my mission....”

 

“Reapers, Collectors, I know. Too important,” Sao said, “Consider the file gone. I'll pressure STG to drop it as well. STG Pursuing this in the Terminus illegal. A few won't like it, but they'll accept it. Have to. Council gave you pardon. Salarian government part of Council.”

 

“This was an unexpected pleasure, Spectre Sao.” Naleena extended her hand, and Sao took it. My past is trivial.

 

“I will take my leave, Naleena. I must return to work. I have a lot of reports to review. Your colleague should be finished copying those files by now.” Sao winked. “Too bad I have no need of them. Good luck with your mission.”

 

Naleena waited in the lobby and rubbed behind her "ear." "George, we're finished. Sao is on his way back up. If you run into him, just act normal."

[Kel Riever]

Iole moved into the server room, the smoke from the enclosed space making it somewhat difficult for her to pick things out.  She was depending on Valkara and Essul to watch her back, so focused her attention on the terminal she sat down at.  The terminal’s password was already unlocked, having been in use, so Iole got to work.  She talked loud enough for the others to hear, and addressed them as much as she muttered to herself.

“Civilian police can actually have some pretty good security, since there’s always some local idiot trying to hack in.  Let me see, hmm, looking for their backup files…and….all right, the other downside to civilian police departments is their files are a mess!  This looks like the backup…and accessing…Goddess this is a pain.  There’s another password request to open.”

Iole activated her omni-tool and set its hacking programs to work.  The problem, she knew, was time.  She was thinking to herself about what to do and went under the desk to check the router and any hard wires.  Military and police seldom left every access to wireless transmission. 

Irina’s voice came through her helmet’s com.  “Mike, they’re sending in the microdroids.  I bought you some time.  I don’t know how much.  You’ll have to hurry.”

“Great,” Iole commented. “That means we’re better off getting out of here through normal means instead of vents.  Faster, but…we’ll run into people.  And cameras.  Well, unless we don’t care about the droids.”

Under the desk, she saw the router had a spare access port.  Quickly, Iole jammed a cord from her wrist by her omni-tool into the port, creating her own hard wire connection.  Activating a program that disguised itself as a maintenance bypass, she was able to avoid the desktop terminal’s request for a password.  “Of course they didn’t locate the password software on the server.  That would be far too smart.”  Iole was able to reach the backup files working directly with the server’s operating system.

Time was passing.  Iole wasn’t quick; she was a combat engineer and tech, not a career hacker.  It took her a while to figure out the codes and she needed to access her omni-tool for reference on several occasions.  Finally, Iole was deleting all files, primary and backup, regarding ‘Shalia Danri’ and ‘Naleena T’Sarius’.  As the last of the files were being deleted, Iole saw she judged to be a look of concern on Essul’s face.  “I’m working as fast as I can.”

When the files were deleted, Iole was trying to figure out how exactly to perform Naleena’s last request, about setting off a cyber attack.  Who does that Spectre exactly think I am?  The wizard of the extranet?  Iole didn’t have attack programs that would do that in any way sophisticated enough to take down an entire police station's fairly robust system.  Not to mention the likelihood would be that major alerts would go out everywhere only proving that the station was under attack.  If an alert is going to go off anyway, why make it one that’s so malevolent?

Iole re-accessed the server and found what she was looking for fairly rapidly.  Programs for emergency systems and alerts were hard to hack, but not to set off.  She found exactly the set she was looking for in seconds and activated the fire alarm for the precinct.

Sprinklers went off, and ear-aggravating alarms sounded.  Iole made a sheepish hunch of her shoulders to Essul and Valkara.  “Well, better than being found by a microdroid.”

[Cknarf]

Halfway there.

While Frank was waiting for his program to finish copying the files, he decided to check out some of the items on Sao's desk.

Huh.

In a glass case, near the center, sat a pistol.  Frank leaned in for a better look. He'd seen and handled a variety of exotic weapons, but he had yet to see one like this.  With gloved hands, he carefully removed it from it's place.  It was definitely of salarian origin, he could tell by the way it fit in his hand. He scanned it with his omni-tool, before gently placing it back in its case.  He'd contact Marius later, and see if he had any info on it.

75% of the files had been copied, when an alert showed up on Sao's computer, and an alarm sounded. "Fire suppression system active, Server room."  Frank shook his head, and smiled.

Sao had a good number of holographic photographs. Most appeared to be pictures of a salarian, whom Frank assumed was Sao, posing in various locations with other operatives.  They likely spanned his entire career with STG.  Frank's eyes stopped at a photo on the end, and lingered for a moment. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach, as he picked it up for a closer look.

 

"Sh*t." He whispered, his voice muffled further by his respirator. In the photo, standing beside Sao, was the girl he had been with just hours before. 

Okay, so it wasn't just a coincidence, then.  

Isaan Sao wasn't STG, but her father definitely was...

Frank's omni-tool flashed. The files were copied and he was ready to go.  He took a quick scan of the photo, and signaled to Morgan that he was finished.  They had what they needed.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Please tell me that was an accident...." Essul said as he saw the water come raining down from the ceiling, the vents above them shuttering simultaneously as a massive suction of air began to sound. The doors, which essul had hacked shut, opened on their own in accordance with the fire alarm systems, creating a solid flow of air to keep smoke inhalation to a minimum while it scanned for areas of high heat to seal off and smoother out, finding none and so activating the shower of water throughout the system.

 

Essul brought up his omnitool and activated his tactical cloak, the field shimmering online as he stood, his outline clearly visible in the water though appearing like some sort of wet and misty apparition, walking towards her as his steps splashed and displaced the water, making it easy to tell where he was, "This is why you don't use water to cover up a stealth mission." he stated to her flatly as his cloak deactivated, demonstrating how one of his major ways of cloaking was out of commission for the time being.

 

"And the vents are going to be out of the question now that they're busy sucking out invisible smoke using high powered turbine vacuums." he said as he pointed up, looking between the two asari, "Which means only one thing..." he said as he held his submachine gun in place, "Do we all leave together, or do we leave someone behind as a distraction?" He asked, looking between the two to see their choice. Essul knew he would stay if need be, nos astras security wouldn't be as hard to take down the first floor or two, he mighr even make it to roof before he finally gets brought down.

 

Either way, they'd gotten the objective done. Their part in this was done, and now it would be up to them and them alone to survive, or die...or rather survive or be taken into custody and questioned.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Eteon nudged one of the unconscious guards with a foot then glanced from Dahlia to Avan. "If it works, it works."

 

Alarms, fire suppressant foam, warnings in a variety of languages. The sudden din was loud enough to give Eteon pause, and she lifted a hand to deflect a piece of foam that was flying for the side of her face before continuing to speak, much more loudly than her previous volume.

 

"Evidence will be stored in cabinets, case numbers will probably be in the front and encoded for omni-tool reading through near-field. Dutch, could you get the programme from one of our 'friends'?" Stepping over the unconscious and now slippery guard she made sure her omni-tool was turned off. She looked to Dahlia so she knew to whom she was referring.

 

Motioning between herself and Avan. "Bob and myself will scan the units. In the meantime find a terminal with the ID, see if you can break it before we find what we need. And try to see if you can shut off emergency services."

 

Dahlia got to work immediately trying to shut off the emergency alarm system. "This is NOT my field of expertise, John." But she kept at it. The noise was driving her crazy, and finally she silenced it. The com buzzed, and Dahlia answered.

 

"Evidence."

 

"You guys okay down there?"

 

She looked at the officers on the floor. "It was just Selura f*cking around with her lighter near the alarm system again. We've got a mess down here. I've got her on clean up duty."

 

"Alright. I'll clear it. Out."

 

Dahlia looked over at Eteon. "John, you guys better hurry up. I wouldn't count on it that they bought that. Okay, I've got your case number: Case # 4197 Valas Renalo STG Officer, and don't forget to look for Shalia Danri as well."

 

**

Except the alarm wasn't triggered from the Evidence Room. It was from the server room. Something was amiss. The Fire Department was on its way to the building. Everyone had to be evacuated from the Police Precinct.

 

"Just what I f*cking need. A bomb about to go off in the busiest district, and now this." Dara said.

 

Detective Dara and another officer went to the cells to evacuate the prisoners, and two other officers went to the evidence room to see what the hell was going on down there.

 

  **

Eteon nodded and stepped over the the evidence lockers. Opening her omni-tool she began scanning each of them for the number, 4197, 4197, she repeated in her head. She hoped that they followed a logical ordering system as she glanced over the case numbers as her hand waved past the blank fronts. She had hit 4000, and looking down the line it seemed unlikely that she would find another two-hundred in this block.

 

She skipped to the end and found she was right, but the opposing side of lockers began at 4300. Oh please not this f*ckery. She pleaded to nothing in her head as she scanned another group of bins to find her bearings.

 

After a moment of scrambling she found what she was looking for, one of three low, deep drawers that was up against a wall that she only found by near accident. The RFID tag was unresponsive aside from some physical markings on the front of the unit. A quick count gave her 10 of these things, about as many as were missing from the normal units.

 

"I think I found them." She said aloud, reaching down and grabbing the handle, pulling it before the magnetic lock prevented it from opening further. "Locked. Not responding to my omni-tool."

 

"Let me try." Avan bent down and used his omni tool to try hacking into magnetic lock. "Ah, it's encrypted. We had one of these back-"

"Could you please just unlock it. We're in a hurry." Eteon pressed.

 

"Of course. Annnd, here, and there. Oh, this is tricky. Whoever designed this did an impressive job. Let me try...using this particular hack. It re-writes the codes of most out-of-the-ordinary encryptions. I designed it myself. And, it works!"

 

The lock opened.

 

Paper files. The thought almost contained disgust as Eteon grabbed a group of files and set them aside, lifting up the tabs with the names on them and starting to look for the names they needed. Like a massive deck of cards she flipped through her stack of ten then slid them aside. "Torch more than the target files. Vertical slice will just make them more willing to follow and we're giving them new evidence."

 

She used a claw to mark off random files for burning, setting the others aside in a different pile.

 

"This job has gone off the rails," Dahlia commented, "The Boss will not be pleased. Hurry. We've got to get out of here."

 

"It's not like it was an easy job. We did it well enough." Avan smirked. He looked ahead and listened to make sure no one was coming just yet. "Are you almost finished?"

 

"Here's the files we need." Dahlia said as she took the case files. "Come on, John, we don't have time for you to be so methodical. Just grab some, shove them back, and let's go."

 

"Fine." Eteon raised her hands and tossed the files back, heeding her teammates. When the files were back in she slid the drawer shut and stepped away. She could admit to herself that they didn't have all the time she'd like to. "Let's get going then."

 

Eteon's team was leaving. Two officers were coming down the stairs and saw the other officers laying on the floor.

 

"Officer down!" one of them shouted.

 

Eteon, Dahlia and  Avan ran to the utility room and the officers shouted, "Police! Stop!"

 

Upon failure to stop, the officers fired. Avan was struck twice in the shoulder. One round caught his armor and the other penetrated a seam in the armor wounding him. (OOC - per previous agreement with FH) Eteon, Dahlia, and Avan dropped down into the sewer and ran for their exit.

 

"What will we do with these files?" Eteon asked

 

"Just take them back with us. Destroy them later." Dahlia said as they were running. "We have to get to the safe house. Come on you can make it."

 

Avan was hurting but keeping up the best he could. The three continued to run to the exit. Blood was soaking Avan from neck down but he kept moving without saying a word. An artery was hit, by his guess, the subclavian. And the bullet didn't go through. Bleeding to death in mere minutes was imminent, even with medi-gel. Avan collapsed.

 

Dahlia turned and saw him on the floor. She saw the approaching officers. "I'm sorry, we'll come back for you."

 

Eteon and Dahlia disappeared down the manhole. The two officers who were knocked out earlier began to come around. The other two officers in pursuit stopped with Avan.

 

"Call medical! Now!" an officer said.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena decided to check on the teams. "Mike, John, Gina, check in."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina was already outside. She bumped her head against an officer.

 

"Watch it. You're in enough trouble if your friend presses charges." the officer said.

 

"Alright, I just lost my balance. Sorry," Irina said, and then she walked a short distance and spoke quietly. "Boss it's a clusterf*ck. Fire alarms, and I've heard gunshots in the station. I don't know what the hell is happening. They sent microdroids into the shaft. I bought the team some time but Diana, Gina, and I are in for the night on civil assault charges. We're out as soon as Diana drops them. Then everything seemed to go to hell. Christ, now an ambulance is arriving. How's your end?"

 

"Our end is fine." Naleena said. "John? Mike?"

[Lady Mortho]

Valkara had already had her Carnifex ready for any enemies to suddenly appear, it was unfortunate to has the sprinklers interfere with Essual's and hers tactical cloak; something she relied on often. "We've completed the mission, that's the main thing." The sound of clanking became more prominent as the group lingered, the fierce asari raised her pistol to the door "I suggest that we go guns blazin'. Yeah, this will get messy but all of us need to make it out alive, I aint having an argument will Naleena if only two of us get out alive." Valkara paused for a moment before continuing " I can erect a biotic shield if we need cover-" Interrupted by the large door now being unlocked by a droid, Valkara's eyed opened wide with anxiety.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

(psst - microdroids are about the size of a salt shaker - the police may have security mechs on that level but I wouldn't expect many)

[Kel Riever]

“The vents, right,” Iole said quickly, “Why didn’t I think of this before?”  Iole, still patched in under the desk to the server, sent a response to the alarm program that no threat had been found.  Something any officer could do.  She couldn’t give the ‘all clear’ without hacking again, since those were Fire Department codes, but it was enough to stop the sprinklers, reset the doors to normal function, and restart a regular airflow.  The server room was fairly soaked, but water hadn’t pooled.  “There, we can use the vents again.”

At that point, the door opened and a mech that appeared like a LOKI stood on the other side.  Iole barely said, “That doesn’t look like a microdroid,” when Valkara threw her hand out.  The droid shot up into the ceiling, shattering its outer plated, and then it slammed into the floor, breaking it into innumerable pieces.  Two red lights on the mech’s head blinked, then went out.

Iole squinted, “I think the police will look at that later and be glad they didn’t actually try to get in here themselves.”  She quickly moved to drag the largest parts of the mech into the room and closed the door.

Chatter came through on Gold Team at that point, and it was clear they had trouble.  Avan was down and it sounded like Dahlia and Eteon were forced to leave him behind. 

“I think we’re not going to be the primary concern anymore.  There aren’t a lot of police here since most headed out to the bomb threat, the fire alarm likely had a few of the non-critical people leaving the building, and whatever is going on down with Gold is going to pull people off of us.  It’s an easy way out now, if we want to take it.”  Iole wasn’t comfortable leaving anyone behind, but sought Essul or Valkara to give her direction.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul looked up to the environmental systems as the fire alarm was put out, nodding as he saw it do so. "Okay...this is good..." he said, more to himself then to the others. He'd been ready to go at it with full force in order to extract themselves, but now it seemed more possibilities were allowed. He thought a moment, looking to iole as he gave a nod, "Good work." he said as he got on his own comms, figuring he'd give their status report.

 

"Boss, This is Fred. Chuck got the objective neutralized, but the fire control systems were triggered. We're still in the room mapping out our escape. What's the status on gold?" he asked as he looked to the others, looking to the both of them as he waited for a reply.

 

"If we get the order to help, we go and help. But if not, we leave either through the vents, through the roof, or through whatever other means, understood?" Essul said to valkara and iole, a hard look on his face as he spoke, "One comrade down is a loss, but more lost needlessly rescuing them is a tragedy." he said to them, hoping them understood.

[Lady Mortho]

Valkara let out a slight chuckle to Iole's reaction of the dysfunctional droid destroyed by her biotic lift. "Well... If Naleena wants us to help, we do as she says." Putting away her pistol, Valkara added "But I don't want to stand around her any longer. I say we take the vents again." 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena thought for a minute. "Dammit! Fred, stick to the plan if it's salvageable. Get to the extration point. See you at the rendezvous point.

 

"Team Gold what's your status?"

 

Dahlia and Eteon were making their way through the sewers. There was nothing but static. The ladder loomed ahead of them Eteon handed Dahlia the files and climbed up the ladder. When she exited she reached down and took the files from Dahlia who then climbed the ladder and shoved the manhole cover back in place. The two ran out of the alley and when they reached the street they walked quickly to the shuttle. There was a parking ticket on the shuttle.

 

"Team Gold what's your status?"

 

Dahlia heard her. "One down. John and I have the objective and are out."

 

"Meet team blue at their extraction point but watch for incoming traffic."

 

"Copy. Out." Eteon said.

[Terca]

"I almost feel like paying that later." Eteon joked quietly before pulling the ticket off of the windshield and pocketing it. Opening the door so that Dahlia and herself could enter, she closed it again when they began to lift off. Activating her comms device she connected to Naleena's.

 

"This is Gold. We left Bob behind, critical injury meant that if we took him he would die. We'll need to go back for him later. We're en-route to the Server group." As the skycar inched above the rooftops, the Cabal checked to make sure the sky was clear before flying towards the building. She switched comms to the hacking group. "Your ride is ready, where are you all at?"

[Kel Riever]

Morgan kept a lookout while Frank worked.  The man was excellent at what he did, as far as Morgan could tell, and the operation was going smoothly.  Listening in on the chatter from the other teams, it sounded like Blue still needed an extraction and Avan had been lost to the police.  That second problem was bad.  He hoped in the aftermath, the PD would have to give Avan up to the Spectre without playing any games.  He figured they could delay the Spectre request if they wanted to heavily interrogate Avan for several hours, but it depended on who was running the show at the precinct and how ‘directly’ Naleena wanted to extract Avan, as far as Morgan could contemplate.

Still, Morgan had no complaints.  The distraction from the Red Team appeared to be well within the bounds of having them bounced out of jail by morning.  Morgan presumed the bomb would be dealt with in time, and once everyone was gone from the safe house, he could start thinking about the Medusa with Jess, and ultimately getting back to his family.

Too far ahead of yourself, Morgan thought.  He kept to the job at hand, covering Frank’s back.

[Cknarf]

Frank and his team entered the lobby, looking like bosses, 'cause everything went pretty goddamn smooth.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena saw Frank, Morgan and Jaimie exit the elevator and enter the lobby (slo-mo). She caught their eye, turned, her coat flaring out as she did (slo-mo camera), and she walked toward the exit of the building.

 

"Groot, bring the van around." Naleena said.

 

"Copy." Vayne replied.

 

Vayne brought the van around to the loading zone in the front. Naleena, and the others got in. Vayne drove off.

 

"How did it go in there?"

 

"Better than I expected on our end. I can't say the same for the others," Naleena said, "Take us to the safe house."

[Cknarf]

"And please, drive carefully." Frank said, before leaning back in his seat. He was glad to be uninjured for once.

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Copy that." Essul said as he looked to the others, "We got our orders, head to the roof and evac out." He said as he made his way to the doors and over the smashed loki mech, peaking out of the doorway as he checked for hostiles. The floors hallway seemed clear for the moment, and so he looked to the others, "We're hitting the stairs and making our way to the Roof. Let's move out." he ordered as he took point down the hallway, taking a right as he walked at a brisk pace, cazador held to his waist.

 

Essul walked quickly as the team made their way through the building, most of the people inside having evacuated during the fire alarm, as per standard protocol. Essul came to the stairs and hit the door control, the door sliding open as he waited for iole and valkara to enter, before he went in as well as hit the door shut. "Let's move it." He barked to the other two, making it up the flights of stairs needed to get the the roof. The stairwell was clear above, and visibly clear below as far as the SIU operative could see. Still, he made sure he kept up a steady and quick pace, and that the others were keeping up, as he got eteons message.

 

"We're making our way to the rooftop now. We had to find an alternate route." The batarian stated as they came to the last floor, the door ahead of them leading straight to the rooftop as essul came to the door. It was locked, it seemed, and essul didn't waste time with this one as he looked to the others, "Stand back." he ordered as he flicked out his wrist, a long cable extending from his gauntlet as it was surrounded with biotic energy.

 

Essul struck the door 3 times rapidly, each blow hammering the door until its seal popped open with a loud hiss and clank, and essul stopped channeling his energy into his bitoic whip, the cable retracting rapidly as he shoved his hands into the doorway and pulled it apart hard, his armor providing a strenth boost for the damaged door to allow it to be slide open, enough for the three of them to squeeze through single file. Essul squeezed through first and looked out, seeing the shuttle hovering above the roof as he gave a wave to it, waiting for the others to get out and get to the shuttle first.

 

"Go, Go, Go, I'll cover the rear." he said to them as he got on his comms, "Sorry for the delay. We had to deal with a fire alarm."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina sidled up to Jess and Anika. An officer stepped in. "Hey, after all that trouble inside? No way."

 

"Aw, I'm over that, officer. Sorry for any trouble I might have caused inside." Irina said and then looked down at her stiletto heels, "I was just mad about having to walk in these shoes. My feet were killing me. I'm good with Diana if she is. And Gina was right. It's just a car, and I've got insurance. They'll give me a rental, and I'll have a replacement in a month." Her feet were really hurting.

 

Detective Dara sighed. "Well, alright, but you realize I still have to keep the three of you overnight. Ms. Rigg can drop the charges in the morning if she's so inclined."

[Terca]

The vehicle landed on the roof and the doors slid open so that the crew could get inside. "It's fine. Let's just get out of here before anything else comes up." Eteon was sitting behind the controls and using a talon to scratch off some of the fire suppressant, being careful to let it fall onto the floor mat as opposed to the seat itself. The fiddling helped her keep on task and when everyone was loaded she pulled away.

 

When away from the building and onto the 'streets' she relaxes a bit but made sure to keep an eye on mirrors and displays in case a car was trailing them from the building. "We got what we needed. Bob was shot and needed medical attention more quickly than we could have provided it so he's back with the police." She looked over her shoulder to Essul and the others. "How did things go on your end?"

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

In the basement, Sgt. Shasia shoved her index finger in Avan's wound to slow the bleeding while the other three officers helped carry Avan up the stairs and outside. The EMTs arrived, set him onto a gurney and loaded him into the back of the ambulance, and took him to the nearest hospital at 7th and Main, two blocks away.

[Kel Riever]

Iole answered Eteon, “Well, aside from a fire alarm in lieu of a cyber attack, and having to kill one LOKI mech, I’d say pretty smoothly.”  She laughed nervously.  She really didn’t want to go into details.

When the skycar with Blue and Gold teams arrived at the safe house, everyone else who was due there had made it.  The five remaining members of Blue and Gold entered to find that people had uncovered some of the furniture while they waited out the rendezvous.  Jenus has come just before Eteon’s skycar, being delayed somewhat in finding a taxi after she had left the lot.

Mira asked Iole the same question Eteon had in the car, “How did things go?”

Iole was even more illusive this time, “Some bumps but nothing we couldn’t handle.  Mission accomplished.”

“That’s too bad,” Jenus crowed, “My part went perfectly.”

Rolling her eyes, Iole retorted, “Jenus, really, must you always pull your one-ups?”

“I’m just saying it how it is, golden eyes.”  Jenus pretended to buff her nails on her shoulder.  “Pristine, like Naleena’s crew.  Except there wasn’t anyone else doing the work but me.  Looks like they’ll probably make me the next Spectre it went so fine.”

Out the window of the safe house, a small flash of bright light could be seen in the distance.  It came from the Nova Dawn building, which could be seen from the particular view of the room everyone was in.  A second or two later, the muffled ‘boom’ of an explosion could be heard, and the window slightly rattled.

Mira, Tallis and Iole all raised their brows.  Jenus appeared slightly nervous, but quickly hid her expression.

Then the front corner of the Nova Dawn building collapsed, from floor to rooftop.  The interior of the structure could be seen as the portion still standing had been torn away.

Eyes turned to Jenus.

“What?” She challenged, avoiding anyone’s gaze.

“Exactly how did you set that charge?” Mira inquired.

“Hey, I did what I was told.  If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have even used a live charge….”

“If it wasn’t a live charge, it wouldn’t be that much of a bomb threat,” Iole interrupted. “Besides, while it is hard to tell from here, that didn’t seem like the kind of ignition that came from plastic explosives.  That looked like an eezo release.  Did you mess with the propulsion system on that skycar?””

“No.”  Jenus said, a bit of nervousness betrayed in her voice.  Iole looked at her skeptically.  “No!  No, when I stole the car, I disabled the shutdown override and tracking, flew the thing where I was supposed to, planted the bomb.  I might have thrown some extra wiring in and a few grenades.  I made it ‘somewhat difficult’ as I was told to.  Then I flew the car to the building, parked it by a support pillar, called the police and left.  Perfect!”

Mira and Tallis looked at each other confused.  Iole still had a questioning look.  “Exactly how did you disable the shutdown override?”

Jenus made a psshaw sound.  “I punched through the center interior panel and yanked out the box.”

“What color box?”

“Who cares what color?  It was the box in the central panel.”

Iole’s peered hard at Jenus. “What color box?”

“Sort of red.”   Jenus lifted her chin confidently.

“So you removed the regulator from the skycar.  As in the regulator that monitors the balance of the eezo powered engine, makes sure it is functioning and in balance, and keeps the thing stable and prevents it from overloading.  As opposed to the tracking and shutdown box which would be black because nobody wants you to notice that box.  Like the one that’s colored red because it’s dangerous. And if you fiddle with it, then throw things that don’t belong in the engine compartment, and destabilize the internal environment of a modern skycar propulsion system…”

“Hey!  This wasn’t my fault.  Do I look like a car mechanic? Come on, it is just a little eezo powered propulsion system in a magnetic field that…okay, look, like I said, I’m not a car mechanic!”

Morgan was watching the news feed on his omni-tool.  “Well congratulations, ‘Team Boom’ made the Nova Dawn building a breaking report on all Nos Astra stations.”