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[Redbelle]

"It's right, but let's make sure everyone's on board with this..... We have to go through the spine to get to engineering and the bridge. It's the whole point. The spine is the connecting point and the command section of the ship is where the welding rigs will fry anything on the outside of the hull.....".

 

"You can bypass the hanger if you want. You can walk across the outside of the hull..... But if you want into the command section you have to go through the spines connecting airlock into the command section where we spread out to hit our goals".

 

"Maybe we'll find other means when we're there. But I can't think of any. Not with the rigs ready to swarm anyone and anything that tries. Delaying the alarm going off is key. The longer it takes for them to realise we're there the further into the ship we can get. I'm hoping we can get to the connecting airlock before things kick off".

 

"Word on the ship though..... Iyana could have destroyed it already. That would hurt me. Instead she want's me..... Want's me to come over and see.... who knows with that woman. As long as we can muddle them as to which one of us is me..... when the alarm goes off they may take the extra time trying to figure out which of us is me. That gives us leverage, if they hesitate, or take time to decide which of us to focus on.... I think".

 

"That's all for now".

[Kel Riever]

Morgan really didn't know what was going on anymore.  He got up, confused, hoping it would all come together as the plan was executed and that someone would direct him as to what to do.  Nothing was going to be able to be set in stone anyway, and he was sure they'd have to be flexible.  What Morgan had wanted most was that people were aware of the kind of person they were up against. 

 

Standing, Morgan swallowed hard.  The coffee hadn't helped and now his throat was tight.  He pushed the datapad to confirm all copies of his information were uploaded to VERA and then deleted the pad.  For a while Morgan didn't move or look at anyone.  Then as people seemed to head out of the conference room, he left with them.

[Cknarf]

"Wait, so you're telling me that I can just walk back there and grab it myself?"

Septerax nodded.

"Well, sh*t. If I had known that, I wouldn't have bothered you all those times."

"I'm sure you would have found a reason.  Right this way."

Septerax led Frank to his weapons locker.

"It was a tight fit, but I managed to squeeze everything in." He pulled the door open.

Frank snickered.

"Your pistol is in there, too.  I had an extra heatsink laying around, so I went ahead and installed it.  You should be able to squeeze off a few more rounds before it overheats."

"Neat."

"Anything else?"

Frank shook his head.

"I'll get back to work then."

After Septerax had left, he slid on his tool harness, and loaded it with the gear he'd likely need for the job. He holstered his Raikou, and closed the locker, before taking a seat on his usual crate.  
----------------------------------------------

Frank was sort of confused about the whole situation. He shrugged it off.

I'll just follow Irina.

Standing up from the crate, he pulled a rusty screwdriver from one of his many pockets.  He wasn't kidding about the 'stabbing someone with a screwdriver' thing. Gripping it tightly in his hand, he began making jabs at the air around him. He looked absolutely ridiculous.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena keyed some additional load out into VERA for everyone. There was going to be one Captain Stone in each group. Irina would be wearing the mask and robe over her armor. Dahlia would wear the mask and robe. In addition, Naleena ordered thermal vision, night vision, hearing protection, and suppression for all weapons, and she asked VERA to tell everyone to be ready to go in one hour.

 

“VERA, I’m expecting Jess’ ‘guest’ to be monitoring com channels. What can you give me?” Naleena asked.

 

“I can set everyone on a secure encrypted channel that is outside of normal communication ranges. They should not be monitoring it. However, I would only use it when absolutely necessary,” VERA replied. “I recommend keeping communications between the MIPs and the shuttle confined to the tight beam infrared lasers.”

 

“Noted,” Naleena said.

 

“Boss?”

 

“Yes, VERA.”

 

“Be careful.”

 

“I will, Sweetcakes.”

 

Naleena went to her quarters, and gathered her gear. She grabbed her SIG Sauer 226 9mm with four magazines of tungsten rounds. Yes, the pistol was an antique, but it was reliable, she liked the feel of it, and it was as deadly as anything made. Tungsten rounds would penetrate ablative armor. She also grabbed her two Carnifex pistols, eight thermal clips of AP rounds, and her Kassa Locust. This would be a close-quarters fire fight so range of an assault rifle wasn’t really needed. She paused a moment and grabbed three blades. One for herself, one for Dahlia, and one for Morgan. They would take down guards silently if possible.

 

Dahlia was in her quarters preparing herself, and her door buzzed. It was Iole.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Package from the Quartermaster.”

 

“Enter.”

 

Iole entered. “Quartermaster told me to give you this. Looks like you’re going to be playing dress up as Captain Silver today.”

 

“Great. I get to be the focus of attention. Any other victims?” Dahlia asked.

 

“Jenus is delivering a package to Irina.” Iole said. “Just wear the robes over your armor, and don’t forget the mask. The rest of your load out is in the shuttle bay.”

 

“Any surprises?”

 

“No. It’s the usual stuff,” Iole said. “Well, I’ve got to get going. See you on the shuttle.”

[Redbelle]

As Jess headed out of the conference room to grab her armor and equipment, she ran into Anika and immediately filled her in on the plan.

 

".....You want to snap the Medusa's spine"? She said afterwards.

 

"Only if we need to. I'm hoping it won't come to that. But we need this as a Plan B in case they try to drop the ship in the atmosphere and Plan A of pulling her out of the drop doesn't work".

 

"What's Plan C"?

 

"See Plan A and B..... Plan D is to stop them dropping the ship in the first place".

 

"That should probably be plan A".

 

"Plan's plan's plan's..... Let me figure out the options.... I'll put them in order later".

 

"So the plan is that there are plan's..... we just need to decide what they are and when to carry them off once we're over there"?

 

"Something like that".

 

Anika rubbed her eye's. "I should be going with you".

 

"If someone has to crack the spine, I want it to be you. Your qualified for bomb duty and you know the ship. You'll also be alone. If it's anyone, I'd rather it were you".

 

"Regretting all  that security you put in"?

 

"Immensely. I swear, once the ship's ours again I'm finding out how those bozo's took her in the first place".

 

Together they continued talking as they headed  to get their gear.

[Terca]

MONTAGE (Work in Progress)

 

RUNNING (walking) TO THE ARMORY

 

- TO THE ARMORY

 

OPENING A THE CHEEEST WA-POW (click)

- POW POW

 

PULLING OUT THE ARMOR, BAM BAM (this was actually kinda quiet)

- BANG!

 

INSPECTING IT FOR ANY TECHNICAL ISSUES, WAM WAM

- IMPORTANT FOR SAFETY, BE - SAFE!

 

TURNS OUT IT'S PERFECTLY FINE. O K.

-BE THANKFUL FOR REGULAR MAINTENANCE, SHA-SHAY

 

Eteon armored up as she did for the Train assault. Full Cabal armor, helmet (decal and all) and suit systems were checked over. Audio sense, HUD, compressed air storage, suit seals, amp capacitor, tech capacitor, and then moved on to her weapons.

 

She pulled out a compartment in her weapons locker and looked over her Carthage, Carnifex, Daedolus and Raptor. The Carthage wasn't of much use here with the freedom to execute. The Raptor was mid-range but with the necessity of moving a lot she would fine it more annoying than useful when she needed to relocate.

 

Taking that into consideration she opened the compartment on the back of her armor and the daedolus flattened against her armor. The carnifex was placed in the right thigh compartment. She was going to shut her locker again but after thinking for a moment she pulled a melee stunner out and attached it to the underside of the weapon. Sometimes blades weren't the best choice, sometimes both were useful.

 

For blades she packed three nightshade blades and two explosive blades, all of them contained along the left thigh for now. Her gauntlets were attached last, the twin blades in both extended and retracted quickly, the venom inserted into the 'elbows' of the weapons was locked in, and she was ready/

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Naleena had a headache and was really confused as to the team assignments, and contacted Jess. She delegated that responsibility to her and told her and told her to inform everyone of their assignments in the shuttle bay.

[Redbelle]

Catching the message Jess chuckled. "Believe it or not luv.... this is pretty much how every plan we ever came up with happened on the Medusa. Have faith. These people have seen the pitfalls. They know to be careful. And I honestly see any plan we make falling apart the minute we meet whatever they have in store for us.....".

 

"....I also know you've got a damn fine team who can rise to meet the challenge. They'll come together when they see what waiting for us on my ship. And if they don't? Then we'll prompt then into action".

 

"Right now everyone but Anika, Essul and I should meet on the shuttle. The three of us meanwhile..... We're getting shot out of a torpedo tube..... I can't wait"!

[Kel Riever]

Previously...( http://forum.bioware...res/?p=17354949 )

 

The Shrike Abyssal, Xe Cha System, aboard the Medusa

Iyana typed rapidly at the computer she had set up in her ‘throne room’.  She wasn’t one much for voice interface, Luscious noted.  He sat, half way through another bottle of wine, wondering at his fate while caught half way between anxiety and an odd sense of dark satisfaction.  The latter emotion stemmed from that in the end, Jess Stone was no longer in command of the ship he should have always inherited.

Revenge.

The two mercenaries normally close by Iyana had been out of the room for a bit, but one returned, an electronic device in his hand that looked like it had roughly been removed.  Luscious recognized it as a camera.

“This is the latest hidden one we found, my superior,” the mercenary reported.  “There may be a few hidden more, but not many.  We’re still looking.  We can guarantee that the cameras have been removed from engineering, the bridge, and the, well, one other place you’ve asked them to be gone from, as far as important areas are concerned.”

“And those that I have asked to be kept functional?”  Iyana did not stop typing as she inquired.

“Still functioning as per your request, my superior.”  The helmeted mercenary turned to glance at the very obvious, old camera still installed in the door to the bay they were in.  “This one?”

“Leave that be.  Tell me, have our newest inhabitants been able to make themselves at home, with all the furnishings they prefer?”

“Yes, my superior.  They’ve grown accustomed to the Medusa.”

Iyana let a tinge of frustration leak into her voice, “Now, you are dismissed.  Continue searching, but be close at hand should I call on you.”

Even in full armor, it was clear from body language that the merc had become very nervous.  He bowed and left the room immediately.

Blue eyes flickered in Luscious’ direction.  “I do wish that you were more useful, Luscious.  For example, I wonder how long it takes The Lord to get back to someone with a message.  If the self-important man wants to torture and kill my messenger, at least I would expect him to be quick and efficient about it.  Or if he wants ransom, by now I would have expected him to name his price.”

Luscious gave an inadvertent shrug, and said meekly, “I don’t want to disappoint you with my reasons.  But you know who I blame for keeping things from me.”

“Wise words, even from an alcoholic,” Iyana remarked.  “I do not prefer excuses, though you still make a backhanded one.  Which would normally deserve another lesson, if I didn’t believe both your inability to accomplish anything responsible on your own, and that Stone surely withheld information from you for seeing the same.”

Luscious twisted his mouth in worry, wondering if Iyana had a lesson for him anyway.

Instead, she went back to typing.  Luscious took the opportunity to drown himself in another glass of wine.  He was trying his best to remember the good times he had with his brother, and the fun trouble they had gotten themselves into.  Rasgul had been hard on him, but always there was love behind his guidance.  Luscious was the most important person in Rasgul’s life, until Jess Stone had taken that away.  Jealousy was forming within Luscious again when suddenly, he saw Iyana stop typing.

The white haired woman was practically frozen, staring at her screen.  Her only movement was from her eyelids, which slowly blinked.  Luscious wondered what she saw on that screen that shocked her so, or affected her in such a way.  Long minutes passed where she sat gazing, her eyes locked.  After a while, Luscious thought she wasn’t staring at anything on the screen at all.  With no one else in the room, he was the only witness to the moment.

That’s when Luscious began to have the suspicion that nobody was supposed to see what was happening with Iyana in that moment.

As quickly as she had seemed to take flight mentally, Iyana returned and faced Luscious.  She saw him, and he knew she was aware of what he had seen.  He didn’t know what to make of it, but Iyana reacted calmly.

“Control, Luscious.”  Iyana spoke to him, but again seemed as if she really was talking to no one in particular but herself.  “Control is paramount.”

[Redbelle]

A quick stop by their quarter's. A quick switch into their armour's and a delivery via an Asari from the replicator room where, on opening the case, Jess found another silver mask that closely resembled the one she'd handed over to Foxes representative......

 

Jess and Anika stepped out of their quarters. Anika in her custom white armour. This time hefting a Typhoon that Jess had reluctantly allowed her to have. "Just don't go shooting up my ship with that thing". She moaned dressed in flowing robes that covered her armor as she held the mask in one hand.

 

"Ooooh, I won't". Anika grinned, eye's soley on the Typhoon.

 

"Luv, are you stroking it"?

 

"No....".

 

"Are you listening to anything I'm saying"?

 

"Yes....".

 

"....uh huh". Jess rolled her eye's. "Just remember, that's a rare gun. Don't scan it into the ships weapon library. I mean it! That guns currency! The last thing you do is make rare items lose value".

 

"Yes....".

 

"I..... what? Are you listening"?

 

"Hmmm"? Anika looked up as they neared the hatch to the torpedo room. "Sorry, spaced out a bit there..... What was the question"?

 

".....never mind. Let's get prepped".

[Kel Riever]

Once again, Morgan was getting out of casuals and into his grey camouflaged Predator armor.  It had been cleaned, but the embedded stains of war still marred the recesses of its plates.  He held it up to the light, inspecting it and assessing its condition.  Still keeping me safe, Morgan mentally remarked, as if the armor could here his thoughts.  He suited up, and when he was done, he headed to the hanger, where a message from Septerax had let him know his weaponry would be waiting.

Morgan went through what he knew about the upcoming mission step by step in his head, doing his best to focus.  For all the times he had met Iyana, he knew surprisingly little about her.  To be fair, the little he knew was still more than most.  But he couldn’t decide if she was really up to something that needed to be figured out, or if the complex speculations he had were a design of his adversary, to make him second guess himself.

The corridor Morgan walked along passed Jess and Anika’s cabin.  The two had just finished talking, and Anika was walking away in her white armor, hefting a machine gun Morgan had never seen before.  Jess, bedecked in robes and holding her helmet, watched Anika leave, then caught Morgan’s glance as he passed.  He stopped in front of her, looked at her up and down, and couldn’t think of much to say.

“Good luck,” was all that came out.

Morgan lowered his eyes and was about to walk away when he felt an apprehension overcome him.  He turned back, put his hand on the side of Jess’ cheek, and drove his lips to hers, kissing her deeply.

When he pulled away, Morgan said, “You’re going to get your ship back, whatever it takes.  You’re getting out of this alive.  And whatever happens, when we’re done, you’re going to be sailing the stars without anyone holding you back.  I swear it.”

Morgan didn’t tell her the rest.  It didn’t matter.

[Redbelle]

Jess's eye's went wide before the edge's of her lip's curled into a smile as her arm's slipped over and around his neck. "Humina humina luv.... If your always this bold before a mission maybe I should move in with you".

[Kel Riever]

"I think of the terrible things I'm going to do to you when this is over," Morgan replied with a glint in his eyes.  "And you're standing on that bridge of yours, free as the wind."

Morgan caressed Jess' cheek, his hard looks softening for a time.  "You're a sight to behold."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Vayne was pacing in the shuttle bay, his armor in check and his weapons on their appropriate holsters, his eagle pistol on his right, his bakara shotgun on his left, and the chakram launcher on his back. He was eager to get this done, eager to do something useful, and eager to face down the uncertainty of the situation head on. It wasn't in his nature to just sit around and let things be, it was his policy most of the time to run head first with no regrets whenever things were too uncertain.

 

His eyes looked to the batarian, a slight shiver seeing his full armor and the skull engraving on his faceplate. This mission would be risky, and he didn't much care for that particular reminder of death looking him in the face.

 

Essul stood leaning against a wall, dressed in his full armor with its environmental seals engaged. He was waiting for Captain Stone and Anika to be ready. He was certainly not looking forward to being shot out of a torpedo, that much he knew. But his hand tightened around his other arm as he stood arms crossed, thinking of what he'd been told of their target. She needed a taste of justice brought upon her, and by the gods damn him if he didn't help combat such an obvious injustice.

[Kel Riever]

Jenus was with Irina, and had just handed her the package containing the iconic ‘Captain Silver’ robes and mask.  Not one to hold back, Jenus sat on a corner of the desk in the room, and asked, “Hey, Red, you aren’t a shy one.  What gives?”

A look came back from Irina as if she didn’t understand the question.

Jenus lifted her chin as if pointing to Irina with it.  “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen what I’m talking about.”

Irina moved her head, but it still didn’t look to Jenus as if she understood.

Jenus stretched her strong legs out, leaned her hands on the desktop and put her shoulders back while leaning her head forward.  “And you’re human.  Why would you not do something about it?  Athame’s sake! I mean, you aren’t uptight, and the guy said he didn’t have a girlfriend.  As if you’d even let pretty Terminus violet eyes stand in your way.  Why in the void haven’t you tagged Morgan yet?”

[Redbelle]

Jess sighed. "I've got to go pickup Essul. And see how the Silver brigade's shaping up". She said with a wicked smile. "Great thing about the personae. Anyone can be Silver". She disengaged from Morgan and turned to walk in the direction of the shuttle bay. She cast a look over her shoulder. "Well come on then luv. Pirating my own ship out of someone else's possession isn't an opportunity that comes around every day you know"!

[Cknarf]

Frank twirled the screwdriver through his fingers, and slid it back into place.

Just like in the old Earth movies.  Kinda.

He tried it again with the left hand, only for it to slip from his fingers. Its wooden handle made a dull 'thunk' against his helmet, and fell to the floor.

Smooth.

He quickly picked it up, and holstered it, before moving to the waiting area near the shuttle.

[Redbelle]

Jess emerged with Morgan into the shuttle bay and saw the group assembled here and there. She looked for the Silver's among them and saw a few them.

 

"Looking good"! She called out, waving her own mask in the air with a wolfish grin. "Essul! We're due in the torpedo room!.... Nice mask's luv's but don't forget the robes! Your supposed to be bloody queens of the space lanes and that mean's dressing up like a loony bin asylum escapee! The more impractical the better"!

 

She looked around and spotted Frank moving in towards the shuttle and headed over to him.

 

"Frank, your heading to the engine room right? You might not see me there so I pulled out my notes on the engine..... In simple term's the engine's a well maintained antique that's all muscle, no finesse.We had to modify it a few times but I put something for you read about some of the old girl's quirks".

 

Jess transferred the file across to Frank's omni tool and patted him on the shoulder. "Just remember. The worst thing that can possibly happen is you pull the red lever and start an uncontrollable reaction surge that will blow the back half of the ship to smithereens...... Do not..... pull..... the red lever...... Don't even look at it! It's right next to the blue lever. That a good lever since it shuts the whole engine down but if we're falling into the gravity well then again.... not a good lever to even think of pulling...... In fact don't pull any lever's you see in there.... Except maybe the black handled ones..... Although there are a few you really shouldn't touch..... It's all in the notes anyway. She's a big engine so it's easy to mix up what lever's which".

 

Jess beamed. "Still, I'm confident you can see that they haven't sabotaged it. And fix it if they have. And I'll only be a few decks away and on the comm.....". Jess eye's rolled up to regard the ceiling. "Unless they jam our comm's..... or have more people separating us than we thought..... Hmmmm".

 

Jess was quiet for a moment in a far away place as her mind seemed to be elsewhere. Then she clicked back into reality and shrugged. "Oh well, I'm sure everything will work out after some fashion".

[Cknarf]

Wut.

"You're damn right it'll work out." Frank assured.

Probably.

"I'm uh... kinda the best there is." He dusted off his shoulders.  "It's nothing I can't handle."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Jenus was with Irina, and had just handed her the package containing the iconic ‘Captain Silver’ robes and mask.  Not one to hold back, Jenus sat on a corner of the desk in the room, and asked, “Hey, Red, you aren’t a shy one.  What gives?”

A look came back from Irina as if she didn’t understand the question.

Jenus lifted her chin as if pointing to Irina with it.  “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen what I’m talking about.”

Irina moved her head, but it still didn’t look to Jenus as if she understood.

Jenus stretched her strong legs out, leaned her hands on the desktop and put her shoulders back while leaning her head forward.  “And you’re human.  Why would you not do something about it?  Athame’s sake! I mean, you aren’t uptight, and the guy said he didn’t have a girlfriend.  As if you’d even let pretty Terminus violet eyes stand in your way.  Why in the void haven’t you tagged Morgan yet?”

 

Irina finished reassembling her Mattock, glanced at Jenus, and began checking the sights on the weapon. "Have you seen the way he and Stone look at each other? And Dahlia's panties get wet every time she sees him. He's got two women chasing after him already. I don't need to bloat his ego any bigger than it already is," She said as she adjusted the sights on the assault rifle. "If I see something that interests me, maybe we could both have a little fun with it? You up for that?" The Mattock checked out, and she set it down.

 

Irina turned and brought her face inches away from Jenus'. "Or, maybe I just want to tag you right now. You know, work off a little stress before the mission. Are you up for that?"

[Kel Riever]

Jenus looked around with a smirk.  "Lock the door, Red.  You have to be kidding about an ego, though."  She paused as she undid a number of fasteners on her commando leathers. "And what did you say?  Morgan likes Stone?"  

With an athletic spring, Jenus popped herself up and off the desk, towards Irina.  She put her arms around her and said with a sly smile.  "I was going to ask if you didn't have an interest in Morgan, would you mind if I had a bit of fun with him.  Nothing serious.  But if he's got a thing for Stone, I should probably lay off.  There's enough trouble going around here already."

A playful push and Jenus knocked Irina onto the bed and lay next to her.  "You can pick a target too, if you want, and sure we can play.  But you know what I like.  Don't give me some limp nonsense."  Jenus squinted her eyes a bit, and looked intently at Irina, without smiling.  "These things aren't meant to come between us, Red."

Jenus was wondering if Irina was trying to steer her away from Morgan for another reason.  Then she looked at the chronometer.  "We better make this quick, Red."

[Kel Riever]

Iole and Mira had been standing near Naleena’s custom Scythe shuttle when Jess spoke.  While they listened, Mira was pouring through the data on the Scythe’s flight specs while Iole tested the swivel harness on the Hellbringer light machine gun.  When Iole heard Frank respond, she sighed heavily, rolled hear head and smiled.

Mira looked up to Iole, missing what she was sighing at.  “It’s going to take a calm hand to guide this Scythe under cloak.  There are a few details here on how to avoid power spikes and timing your heat dumps if you have to make them.”

Iole pulled her eyes off of Frank to answer.  “Go ahead and keep reading me the details on those specs.  I’ve got to keep it all in my head while I watch the Spectre pilot.”

“I can assist with that if you would like.”  VERA’s voice sprung from the datapad Mira was using.

Mira shouted, “Goddess!”

Pausing her last swivel rotation, Iole furrowed her brow and the golden constellation-like facial marks of her forehead.  “No, uh, computer…”

“Please do not call me that.  My name is VERA.”

“Sorry….VERA,” Iole continued, “This is for Mira, too.  She’s my backup if I ever have to take over as pilot on this.  She’s learning as well.”

“Redundant backup systems.  I admire the forethought of organics, especially as it pertains to your lapses in memory.”

“Wow, Mira, did it really just say that?”

“It did.”

“Please use the pronoun ‘she’ when referring to me.  Although I have no technical gender, I prefer a gender association in casual conversation.”

Iole and Mira’s jaws dropped.

“You two appear confused.  As a synthetic intelligence, my preference is, of course, a series of data arranged in an order of priority designed for maximum efficiency.  This does not exactly parallel the reasoning of preference that organics make, but it is as close an explanation as I can give for your puny, primitive minds to understand.”

Mira and Iole stared at each other.

“That last part was a joke.”

Both Mira and Iole burst out laughing, half in wonderment.  “I’d say not bad, VERA,” Mira commented.  “Not bad at all for a joke.”

Iole peered over at Frank and grinned.  The cockiness of the human was actually endearing to her.  “Speaking of jokes,” she started, and then called out, “Frank Eli!  What floor are we on?”  

[Kel Riever]

Commander Alana Selani leaned back in her captain’s chair on the bridge of the Janiri.  Tollan Linra, her salarian XO, was standing next to her, examining several display screens.

“Commander, all stations reporting in,” Tollan informed.  “We are all set to go for Relay travel to Vem Osca.”

“Got it,” Selani replied.  She opened a line to Naleena.  “Spectre T’sarius, the Janiri is ready to go whenever you are.”  Then Selani gave a nod to Tollan.

Tollan opened the general com for the ship.  “This is XO Tollan Linra.  All personnel stand by.  Final orders for travel are imminent.  We are 15 minutes out from the one Relay we will pass through, our ultimate destination, the gas giant Vem Osca.  Total time to objective will take two and one half hours.  Combat ready condition is now in effect.  Good hunting.”

[Cknarf]

Wow. WOW.

Frank was having a hard time making sense of Jess' notes.

What the hell is that?

He pulled up the Medusa's schematics.

Oh alright.  I see it now... Wait, no.

Whoever put the ship together obviously had no idea what they were doing...

How does that even work?

He concentrated a bit harder.  A few moments later, he began to nod.

That's goddamn brilliant.

"What floor are we on?"

Frank, still paying close attention to the slide, began to give an honest answer. "This is the shuttle bay.  I'm not actually sure what number is assigned to--" He glanced up to see who had asked the question. Upon realizing who it was, he immediately smiled, and raised his middle finger.

Right. Helmet.

Realizing that his face was hidden, he lifted his index finger as well, to form a more friendly sign. Although the asari wasn't likely to be familiar with human gestures, he figured it was better to play it safe.  Dealing with an angry commando wasn't exactly at the top of his to do list.

 

[Terca]

DIscovery, Horizon, During the Collector Attack

 

The best laid plans of mice and men... Or in this case Turians and Kookitz, the equivalent pest on Palaven. They are like armadillos, if armadillos were armored snakes with long arms.

 

Collectors proved to be fairly simple in direction. When they were near a silver captain or Violet unit, they had constant direction. When they were not, they were subject to the last order they had received. And would follow it through to the end. True, the direction needed to be general but beyond that they could perform some reasoning. When the order was 'find and execute the attackers', it proved to be more than enough for the swarm to figure out the rest.

 

This made the later half hour of the Armiger's time on Horizon rather difficult.

 

They had not carried heavy weapons with them onto Horizon. They had explosives of course but they were using diffusion thermal clips and passive charge capacitors for their Stims to try and avoid the common weapon and equipment fatigues in extended combat arenas. That left them with a fairly difficult decision about what to do with the collector swarm. They could leave it but as it stood the insects were in the perfect position to be crushed. Collection had ground to a halt, they were leaderless (almost), and the shot seemed easy. But of course nothing ever was truly easy.

 

They found that out after an execution run. Callum used his stronger havoc equipment to cross the distance between their building and another over the square, dropping along the way four incendiary anti-personnel grenades forged by the Saboteurs. Meanwhile one of the ghosts lined up a shot with the Krysae and took it, decapitating the Captain.

 

Instantly, the single Praetorian who had been hovering nearby was joined by three others. Immediately it was obvious that the setup wasn't about the captain, but about the violet units, as the supplementary three arrived from different directions hovering at about half the height to the Turians.

 

And the swarm immediately flew in their direction.

 

Audron, Military Docks, Citadel

 

Deidrus finished his writing and stepped back from his terminal. It was tapping into a poetic side of him he found rather unsettling, but it would get the job done.

 

Eteon,

 

Disciple's faith tested, enlightenment by Blue.

 

(Alum victus quin, lumna va cro)

 

Three stories told, of the barefaced brethren painted, their ultimatum and kiln.

 

(Tes lis prokke, kan-fedlan frat fedas, ur ultima an pyr)

 

The March is fed the bare, the beast's heart unlain.

 

(De Primarch kan-fedlan mett, de barbas kear mode)

 

The prime is the star-dux.

 

(De prima - de Sol-dux).

 

It was bizarre in a way. The language was similar to that of his mother and as such the type that her students were forced to learn in. If anyone would understand the nonsense it was those people. He sent it to the closest cold comms buoy for transfer to the Janiri when it queried it.