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[Cknarf]

Frank hurried out of the showers, sighing with relief as he did so.

I'm glad to be out of there.  Not sure why, exactly, but I am.

When he reached his quarters, he laid out his armor to dry, and flopped down on his bed.  There was a lot on his mind, a bit of good, a bit of bad.  On one hand, there was the friendly asari... on the other were his injured teammates, and the 'friend' that had followed him home from the Medusa.

Maybe I should have a talk with the doc.

"Nah."

[Cknarf]

Nos Astra, T'sae residence. Two days after Janiri's departure.

 

Marius sighed, as he leaned against the railing of the penthouse balcony.  Quintus was late with the shipment, and wasn't responding to his calls.

 

Kira stepped outside, wearing her work 'uniform'."What's the matter, love?" She wrapped her arms around his bare carapace. "It's not like you to keep a girl waiting." 

 

"Quintus should have been back by now."

 

"Where did you send him?"

 

"Thessia..." Marius shook his head.

 

"You should have known better." Kira laughed.

 

"I should have made the run myself. I knew this would happen."

 

"Oh, let him have a little fun."

 

"Fun costs me money."

 

"Not tonight, it doesn't."

 

Kira loosened her grip, as Marius pushed away from the railing. He scooped her up, and carried her back inside.

 

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

 

Marius woke up to an alert on his omni-tool. He carefully repostioned Kira's arm before easing out of bed.

 

He answered the call as he reached the bathroom. "Quintus." he grumbled.

 

"Gooooood morning, brother!"

 

"Hmph."

 

"Did I wake you?"

 

"Where the hell have you been?"

 

"Ha, sounds like I had you worried."

 

"I was."

 

"Aww, you big soft--"

 

"About my ship."

 

"Our ship."

 

"Whatever. How's she doing?"

 

"Good news! I picked a little something up on the way back."

 

"Excellent. Now what about the ship?"

 

"Wait, what's that sound? Do you hear that?"

 

"Yeah, I'm taking a p*ss. Stop avoiding the question."

 

"Well..."

 

"Dammit Quintus..."

 

"Don't worry, It's nothing I can't get straightened out."

 

Marius turned his gaze to the ceiling, and sighed.

 

"Anyways, you at the shop? I just set her down at the port."

 

"No, I'm at Kira's."

 

"The club? It sounds awfully quiet."

 

"Apartment."

 

"No sh*t?"

 

"Yeah... we worked it out."

 

"Ha, yeah, I bet you did."

 

Marius rolled his eyes.

 

"Want me to come pick you up?"

 

"No, I'll meet you at the port.  See you in 20."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul finished his meal and had returned to his quarters, feeling at least somewhat more energized just as he saw the bed and yawned. He hadn't thought about it but he hadn't slept much since he came here, often used to little to no sleep. He brought a hand in front of his mouth to cover another yawn and decided it might do some good to sleep.

 

He set his combat knife next to his bed, climbing into the small sleeping surface as he found himself frowning. He'd need to get a more firm accommodation next time, as he felt himself press a bit into the bed as he layed on his back, looking up to the sky. Essul rarely slept without the aid of some form of medicinal aid or another, usually he timed the use of his neural suppressants in order to help him dull his senses and get a better rest. Being on mission had thrown him off his schedule however, and essul was somewhat glad for it.

 

"It's been a while since I had a natural sleep..." He said aloud, looking up to the ceiling as he turned over on his side, "Perhaps i'll have some better dreams..." he said, his usual sleep being filled with dreamless dark and loose thoughts thanks to the medicines effects.

 

Essul closed his eyes, and the nightmares began.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spoiler

"Sgt. Ran'perah...Sgt. Ran'perah...." Essul felt a slap on his helmet as he turned to face his superior officer, both of them standing in a large cargo hold of their ship dressed in their full gear. "Don't space out on me Essul. Not on this run..." he saId as essul brought up his hand and saluted shakily.

 

"Y-Yes, Captain Gaantu sir. It won't happen again..." he said as gaantu nodded and patted him on the shoulder, his skull faced helmet grinning at him as he nodded, "That's what I like to hear essul. We got only a few more battles and we can official rotate out. This ones simple, drop in on an eclipse base, and blow apart its hanger. If they can't deploy their ships, we'll be able to beat them back..." he said as he opened the cargo bay doors, the ship flying at high speeds accross the surface of the moon.

 

"Now lets go out there and lets do this!" He said as he charged towards the door, the others, essul included, following suit as they neared the exit. The ship pulled upwards, heading in a 90 degree angle as the squad turned off their mag boots and fell from the ship. As they fell, the squad activated its mag chutes, gliding towards the base as essul looked around him, seeing the ground below slowly approaching as he felt almost serene. He closed his eyes on the glide down, expecting a breif moment of peace.

 

Instead there was screaming. Essul opened his eyes as a huge explosion sounded off, and essul had enough time to look above and see the frigate they used to get here explode and start falling back towards them. The next instant, essul was on the ground, leaning against the remains of a burning hull of their ship, the crater in the ground smoldering with toxic waste and fumes. One of his squadmates was face down in a puddle of chemicals and water, unmoving as essul reached down to turn him over, only to see a blown out helmet and pieces of organic matter splattered about.

 

"Essul, get your ass in here!" Essul heard from behind as he turned around to see Gaantu ducking below, beckoning him into the ships dark corridor like the spectre of death itself. Essul took a step back, coughing as he brought a hand up and realized he had no helmet. Gaantu reached up and took off his, "It's okay, see its just a helmet. Its gonna be okay." he said as essul stumbled forward, ducking into the corridors as the two of them crawled forward, gaantu handing essul his own helmet.

 

"Here. You probably need it more then me." he said, essul taking the helmet curiously as he followed gaantu up the burnt remains of the ship, the hallways blacker then space as he looked around, not sure where he was and feeling like the area was slowly spinning in place. "How the hell did eclipse know we were coming? I thought this raid was a secret?" he asked as essul found himself answering.

 

"I don't know. Its possible we could have a mole in our squad?" essul said questioningly, slotting the skull helmet onto his head as he walked behind his friend, trying to see his face as he followed along, now on his hands and knees as he crawled through the tight blackness around him.

 

"Could be. Anhur's not a popular war. Someone might have leaked in an attempt to cut down on human casualties..." Gaantu said as he walked forward, essul blinking as he felt something with that statement, unsure what. "Tell me essul, does a human have a soul? How does it manage to leave its body?"

 

Essul was silent as he continued to crawl, feeling uncomfortably hot all of a sudden, as if he were crawling along a giant oven. This wasn't right, something about this whole thing was off.

 

"Half the squad been injured in landing, we gotta get those med supplies.Your helmet got smashed, so I leant you mine to protect from the smoke..." Gaantu said out of no where as he suddenly cralwed much faster then before, making it out of the cramped tunnel ahead of essul as essul quickened to try and catch up, "You went into the ship to find the medigel supply, and when you did you came back out. Humans? Who cares if a few of them die?"

 

Essul came out of the end of the tunnel and fell towards the ground, landing in a thick soup of red blood and chunky looking bones as he scrambled up. "I don't give a damn if calling ahead could get the eclipse leader herself to show. This is my stealth operation, we do things my way..." Gaantu's voice echoed as he stood with his back to essul, essul sloshing towards him.

 

"Take my helmet...You need it more then me..." Gaantu turned around, half his head missing, as if someone had blow his brains out, "No sniper alive could make a shoot this far away. I'll be fine, just go...just go...just go..." the words kept repeating as gaantu seemed to burst into flames, running at essul as essul screamed in terror. He whiped out his wrists and deployed his whips, slamming them down as hard as he could as the flaming spectre split in half, the flames extinguishing and revealing who he'd attacked.

 

It was like someone had drawn a line and divided two people in half, sticking the wrong pieces together. One one side was his superior back on khar'shan, the other was morgan looking as he did injured on the medusa, both of them falling into the pool of blood he stood in as essul looked around, seeing faces of the dead looking at him, faces he recognized, crews of old and present company as his arms suddenly felt like they were on fire.

 

Essul looked to his arms, seeing his whips turn into energized cables, flying out and anchoring him to the walls as he was strung up over the pool, struggling as a voice cut through his panic and burning pain.

 

"You are embarrassing me, You know that?" Essul froze as out from the shadows walked a particularly disgusting looking human, a stubly beard and cheap looking olive green business suit, "I paid 5000 credits for you boy. And yet here you are, trying to run away...." he said as he held in his hand a metal brand, its head white hot as he walked towards essul.

 

"Maybe this will help get it through your thick head..." he said as he grabbed essul and forced him to look up, feeling the intense heat on his neck as the brand was brought closer and closer, "You...belong...to...ME!!!" the man said as he shoved the hot iron into essuls neck.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Essul woke up and threw out a warp at the wall, letting out a scream as he did so. The biotic attack hit the wall and did no real damage, however essul immediatly felt it as he reached up and grabbed his head, a migraine like pain beginning to spread throughout his body.

 

Essul flopped out of bed and scrambled towards the desk, knocking the chair over as he tore open the drawer with the Di-Isolyn Neuropovazyne in it. His body burned, feeling like his nerves were burning as a biotic shimmer emminated from him, starting at his arms and spreading up towards his neck. Essul shakily got the medication into the injector gun, shoving it to his neck as he pulled the trigger with a strained gasp, feeling the medication kicking in as he began to loose his sense of touch ever so slowly.

 

Essul stumbled back to the bed and slumped down onto it, hyperventilating as he worked to get himself calmed and collected. He wiped the sweat from his brow, seeing how much there were as he felt his clothes, the dampness evident.

 

Not feeling like trying to sleep again for a while, essul got up and went to go take a shower, hoping it'd help to clear his head.

[Kel Riever]

"I like the way you think," Morgan replied to Jess.  There was a message alert he noticed show up on his omni-tool.  "Looks like Essul sent me a message."  Morgan read it and relaxed a bit.  "Let me send one back, since I'm not resting like the doctor ordered anyway."

To:  Essul

From:  Morgan

No need for apologies.  It isn't the first time I've been attacked by a batarian.

"If the Captain is taking suggestions, it wouldn't hurt if we could get Essul or Vayne to come with us.  I don't know they'd swear to being pirates but going after Collectors is the point.  Of course, it'll be hard pulling Vayne away from his best friend."  Morgan took a second to think something through.  "Of course, wouldn't it be a coup to get both Vayne and Irina."

With a softer expression, Morgan then asked Jess, "It isn't my business if you don't want it to be, but Anika?  You can't tell me you won't miss her."

[Redbelle]

"Oh hell luv. Anika wouldn't leave if I paid her. She's still my bodyguard and she takes her job seriously. I mean, she wouldn't ask Naleena to stop being a Spectre. I figure those two are going the whole long distance relationship. That said I intend to keep the Medusa tagging along the Jeniri for awhile. With our holds empty you'd be surprised how much power output we can put down. She'll handle like a pig but straight line over long distance we can keep up....". Jess brushed a hand through her hair. "There's something I did want to put past you before I did anything..... I want to report that your dead. Have that beamed through in the mission reports. Iyana tried to kill us and I figure why not let her think she had a bit of success. You know her best and if she think's she's not dealing with you anymore, maybe she'll slip up..... and you can capitalise".

 

"Anyway luv I gotta get going. Get the ship back into shape. I'll see you later. Rest up now".

[Terca]

Eteon shifted on her bed on the Janiri, rolling over before pulling herself upright and groaning quietly under her breath. Immune-boosting meds seemed to have some unwanted side effects, including making the process of getting to sleep a bit more tricky. She turned until her feet were planted on the floor and rubbed her talons into the skin around her eyes to loosen the tension in her brow.

 

"That's never happening again." She swore to herself before pulling herself up and throwing on some clothes. Just a shirt and some pants since she was too mentally tired to fiddle with the clasps of her spare armor. Cut right through the connecting material. Bullet rated for standard rounds, redundant vacuum-seals for decompression in space, blade-proof. If there was acid there should have been burning but there wasn't.

 

No point stressing over it. They had enough normal soldiers on the ship, she needed to get a hand on her cabal gear and fix the tear for the next time they go on a mission. Technically the entire sleeve piece should be replaced but there was no easy way to find the piece this far out into the traverse. She could requisition the item but until they were in council space it would be difficult to get hands on Turian equipment.

 

So she would patch it. A long, tedious process.

 

She walked to the door and exited.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Janiri – Naleena’s Office EARLIER in the morning.

 

Medical teams had removed the bodies of the dead from the Medusa and had taken DNA samples from the mutants and mercs. The blood from Iyana’s exit wounds was sent to Dr. Tolus for DNA analysis. VERA cross indexed these against Council world databases, and criminal databases. She had a preliminary report by the time Naleena awakened.

 

One thing that bothered Naleena was that in the trap room Luscious believed at some point that he caught Iyana off guard and she briefly zoned out for a moment. Luscious thought that was highly uncharacteristic and that he had won a victory over the woman who had always appeared purposeful and in control. But was it Luscious or something else? She followed that moment by stating, “Control is paramount.” So she is a control freak, and a way to get to her is to disrupt her and be unpredictable. She definitely knew too much about us. Jess suspects a mole. I tend to agree.

 

Naleena studied the dossiers Jess handed her about the crew. Iyana even knew what type of ammunition that Naleena preferred to use. How did she get this information? Who had access to this? Iyana is a broker operative, and a supervisory level one according to Morgan. Deidrus had ties to the broker, but was so far removed from my daily routine…. We have an active broker operative on the team. Who? Dahlia? Dahlia had access to my equipment while on the Audron. But she just warned Aria or said she did.

 

Naleena hit the button on her intercom. “VERA, play back the conversation that Dahlia had with Aria for me.”

 

“That was a private conversation, Boss. Or are we overriding privacy at this time?” VERA asked.

 

“This is a security matter.”

 

“Very well, Boss.”

 

VERA played back the entire conversation. Naleena listened for any clues: any indications of treachery in her voice. There were none. The content was good. There were two possibilities: either Dahlia was on the up and up, or she was a professional that even Aria had underestimated. The latter was highly unlikely, she thought.

 

Then there was a newcomer: Irina. No one knew anything about her except the Asari commandos with whom she’d been stationed. That would be a great position for a broker operative to gain information on the secret base. Once on her own, gaining information about the Drowned Aspire and the town while maintaining contacts with the fire team could prove even more valuable, and she did go out on her “hunting expeditions” quite frequently. She kept to herself, but she was friends with Vayne, and Vayne liked to talk… a lot. Vayne would also know these things.

 

Then there was the mysterious Avan. Not too much was known about him, and he really kept to himself as well. He seemed to be an observer type with a very astute eye.

 

And finally, Morgan himself, although he was highly a least likely suspect. There were odd things about him, though. Like his way of not wanting money of any kind. He had been a broker agent at least until Naleena blew his cover and made his intel worthless. She started the whole thing with Iyana. Perhaps he wanted to get back at her?

 

She sighed. She had four people to keep a watchful eye on.

 

“Is there anything else?”

 

“One last thing. Have you had any luck tracing the DNA samples from the corpses, and from Iyana’s blood?” Naleena asked.

 

“Yes, the mutants and mercs are listed as highly dangerous escaped convicts who were serving life sentences at Tier 3 Maximum Security Prisons throughout the galaxy.”

 

“Tier 3? Aren’t they escape-proof?”

 

“By reputation. The only way to escape from one of them is with outside assistance. I have prepared a list of the institutions from which they escaped. Many are state funded, and some are privately funded or contracted by client states because they can operate at a lower cost. The names of the convicts are on record, but the records of their crimes are sketchy…. I find that unusual.”

 

“Good catch. Thank you, VERA. That will be all.”

 

“Logging you out, Boss…. There is one last thing. I have the video ready and marked points of interest on it. I am prepared to give my analysis of the operation.”

[Redbelle]

As Jess came out of the cabin where she'd been making recordings, she suddenly realised that she was missing something... or somethings.... "Damn it... Where did everyone's dossier's get to"?

 

She'd meant to hand them over to their owners. She'd not pried herself. As tempting as it was. But some things even she wouldn't do. Breaching privacy without cause was one of them.

 

Oh well, they'd turn up..... It wasn't like they could just disappear off the ship unless.....

 

"Ugh... Great. Specters". Jess grunted feeling a familiar throbbing in her temple.

 

She headed up to the bridge.

[Kel Riever]

Mira's com alert went off.  Iole was on the other end, calling her.

"I'm on my way over to pick you and Tallis up, Mira.

Iole sounded a bit tired or distracted.  "You wearing a little thin, Iole?"

"Huh?  No, fine to fly.  It's just, well, I forgot something important on the briefing notes coming aboard."

"Like what?"

"Like...well...you know...there's a...and then..."

"Iole."

"Never mind, Mira.  But Naleena wants our team over for the debriefing."

Mira sighed.  There was something about the Medusa that made her want to look around more.  Not what it had become under the white haired tyrant, but a glimpse of what it was before.  Duty called, however.  She walked spryly to get Tallis and head to the hanger.

[Ultimate Power Being]

Co-written with Kel Riever

 

Lysix T'Daari and Faed'Vells nar Ketsa, Caleston-

 

     “You sons of b*tches!”  Lysix yelled at the Batarians dragging her along the hallway.  “I’ll kill you, you motherf*ckers!”  

 

     “Good luck with that.” One of the batarians said, as they reached their destination.  They opened the door and shoved the thrashing asari inside.  As fierce as she was, her small stature didn’t do any favors when dealing with the meaty batarians, and she landed in a heap in the middle of the room.  She stayed like that for a moment, but finally stood and looked around the room.  Perhaps it had been an office before, but they seemed to have taken everything out when they decided to use it as a cell. 

      "Fighting only makes it worse."   The voice came from a quarian, who sat on the floor in a corner, half facing Lysix.  His suit was black, with a hood, cloth and sash of aquamarine, trimmed with a coppery thread.  It was likely that the suit was once impressive, but time and perhaps his treatment at the hands of his captors left it worn and grimy.  The quarian glanced sideways at Lysix, with misty white eyes through a light aquamarine visor.   

    "They killed my only friend, took my gun and tossed me in a box. What am I supposed to do?"  Lysix said quietly, walking over to the door and placing her hands on it. The fury faded away, leaving grief and fatigue.

    The quarian's voice softened.  "I'm sorry.  I just didn't want to see you unnecessarily hurt." He turned his head to face Lysix.  "Have they?  Have they injured you?"

 

 

    "No, my armor held up well enough." She turned and slid down to sit on the floor. "Thank you. My name is Lysix T'Daari. What about you? Is your suit intact?"

    

    The quarian seemed much more withdrawn up close, but his eyes searched with a curiosity which could not be held back.   "Faed.  Faed'Vells nar Ketsa."  Then the quarian reached for the sash around his shoulders.  He took a part in one hand and tore with the other, until he broke off a clean piece.  Faed offered it to Lysix, to dry her tears.  "My suit will survive."

    "Thank you, Faed." She used the cloth to dry her face. Now wasn't the time to mourn, so she tried to push Deek's demise to the back of her mind. If only it were so easy. "I don't suppose you have a way out of here, but decided to wait for someone else to come along before leaving? I can't imagine they plan to let us go."

    "No," Faed said regretfully, with a peak towards the locked door.  "The plan they have, I believe, is to use us as hostages.  It seems they are shrewd enough to make sure neither you or I were hurt.  Shrewd enough to know how to remove my omni-tool and built in com without compromising my suit integrity."  Faed peered around the room.  "I admit creativity in finding a way out has been lacking on my part.  They have the door actively guarded and there is no way out of the room that I can tell. "Without an omni-tool or computer, I am hopeless to change our plight."

 

    "An engineer without his omni tool and a sentinel without her gun. I never should have left Omega."

    There was a bit of a chuckle from Faed.  "I'm not even much of an engineer.  More a programmer.  Of course, they say we quarians can fix anything.  If dispelling that myth is diminishing your hopes for escape, then pretend I said nothing about it.  I can be a bit of a cynic."  Faed examined Lysix, perhaps reluctant at his inability to curb his own curiosity, "Omega is a very different place then Caleston.  May I ask what had you come here?  I'm sure it wasn't a desire to be trapped in a room with a strange quarian."

    "I'm a mercenary. My friend Deek got me the job, and since Ashland pays better than anyone on Omega, I signed right up.  Might not have been my best move, as it turns out." She said, looking at her right hand. Dark red blood coated her white gauntlet. There was more blood splattered across her chestpiece.   "So what about you? Doesn't seem like a Quarian programmer would aspire to be co-hostage with a weepy merc from Omega."

    Waving off the remark about weeping, Faed tilted his head in contemplation.  "Caleston has technology.  As much software as hardware.  It is the military here that drives enough in civilian software innovation to have drawn me like a magnet.  As with most government contracting, products are seldom profitable if there is not an aspect in their development that can be sold in the private sector.  So I've come looking for that software which could be obtained for reason of advancement.  In particular,....well, I do not want to bore you with jargon filled details."  Faed leaned against the wall now at his side.  "I'm an incurable explorer of all things that have to do with code.  It has gotten me in my fair share of trouble, though I too have never been a prisoner of any sort."  He drew two fingers within a couple of centimeters of each other.  "Close, but never caught.  I would have thought some law enforcement agency would have apprehended me for some of my more adventurous delving.  Not a group of batarians who see us only as resources, like most people relate to computers and machines."

    "Well, at least I didn't get locked up with an assh*le. It was good to meet you, Faed'Vells nar Ketsa, and I hope you don't mind waiting, because a long wait is the best we can hope for at this point." She said with a sigh, absentmindedly scratching a smiley face into the dried blood coating her armor.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Location: Janiri Conference Room 1000 hrs - THE MEDUSA DEBRIEFING – (co-written with Kel)

 

The team had gathered in the Conference Room on Deck 2 of the Janiri. Naleena stood at the head of the long table, and VERA’s very businesslike hologram appeared in the center. Jess had set up a video-com with Morgan from the Medusa. The commandos involved were also present. Selani had team B on OT.

 

Naleena took a sip of her coffee and began. “Good morning. I’d like to begin by thanking everyone for participating in the liberation of the Medusa. This was a tough mission, and we took a lot of casualties. The mission was a living nightmare, and I hope we never have to see one like it again. Unfortunately, I fear that we will, and we’ll probably see worse. Good news: No one on our side died, and I had VERA deposit payment in each of your accounts for this mission.

 

“The purpose of this meeting is to examine the footage of the mission while things are still fresh in our minds, and see what we did, and what we could do differently to avoid these kinds of casualties in the future. So without further ado, VERA?”

 

VERA showed the footage from the start of the mission where everything was fairly routine except for the nightmare psychological stuff up through where Team Alpha as she named Naleena’s team, entered what she called the Trap Room; and Team Bravo as she named Irina’s team, entered Engineering. She paused the video after Naleena took down the first sniper, and panned around.

 

“Boss, while you took out the first sniper quickly and quietly, you neglected to look to your right once you were behind your quarry and failed to notice the second spotter who was a mere six feet away. Instead you stood there. This allowed that sniper to fire a shot at Dahlia and wound her. Fortunately the spotter didn’t notice you. I give you a 6.0/10 on this. You are getting rusty.”

 

Naleena looked a bit embarrassed. “Uh, can we move forward.”

 

“Very well, Boss. I will move to Team Bravo in Engineering. You seemed to have a bit of a miscommunication about how to enter the room. Former Gunnery Chief Sloane was correct, although I found her behavior rather impulsive, it was logical. Considering the fact that the team had a non-combatant and was underpowered for what they were facing, they did an excellent job of clearing the room without damaging critical equipment.

 

“Team Alpha…

 

“Wait a minute!” Irina said. “You’re not going to show footage of our fight against that Krogan? And what Eteon went through with that Rat thing?”

 

“After I reviewed the video, I determined that the odds were stacked against the survival of your team. Yet, you succeeded in your mission, and all of you survived. Everything went better than could be expected. There is nothing to critique. I do not wish to waste time. I would be….”

 

“Well, we want to see it.” Irina said.

 

“Yeah, I want to see it, too.” Jenus said.

 

“Alright, VERA will show the highlights after the meeting. Will that be alright?” Naleena asked.

 

“Yeah, I suppose it will have to do.” Vayne said.

 

“As Team Alpha entered, if you look carefully as I pan around in slow motion, all of the traps, all of the effects, including the black ash, were done by hard wiring with switches located on a board behind these crates. One of your suit cams picked up the switches. I found them when I enhanced the image.

 

“If you watch Iyana move she teleports. Her path was not haphazard. It was rehearsed. I made this determination when I slowed the video stream. Her teleportation is too precise. She returned to these switches twice. Naleena’s biotic attack made tracking her less of an effort, but if you watch her movements, it seemed that she did not care.

 

“She could have hit anyone she wanted with her attacks, yet she used them to move people to particular locations. It would appear logical that she knew how certain people would react and how they would move.

 

“Here, Iyana reveals herself. Dahlia uses a biotic warp. The Boss fires three rounds and all of them pass through Iyana and into Morgan whom she had moved behind her, and Essul detonated the Warp. Then Iyana teleports again in the direction of her interceptor. One cannot see it in normal speed, but in ultra-slow motion.

 

The video ended, and VERA appeared. “Analysis: No one could have moved that well in the darkness without having traveled that exact path a sufficient number of times to make it a habit. Iyana had set up herself to take some damage. If Morgan had fired he would have killed Jess. If Jess had fired, she would have killed Morgan. Fortunately, Morgan hesitated.  Unfortunately, Iyana lured Morgan to be the focus of not only Jess' non-lethal attack, but the attacks of the other team members as well.  It is possible that of the two targets, Iyana's priority was to kill Morgan.  And no one could have known exactly how the team would have behaved without prior intelligence about our team members.

 

“Prior intelligence?” Irina asked. “You mean someone sent her information on us? How detailed?”

 

“Very detailed.”

 

“Oh, that’s just f*cking great!” Irina said, “You mean there’s someone on this ship who’s a goddam traitor?”

 

VERA lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. “There is a non-zero probability.”

 

There was silence.

 

After an awkward moment Dahlia spoke. “So she’s a vanguard?”

 

“That’s a possibility,” Naleena replied. “VERA, is there anything special about human biotics?”

 

VERA walked over to her desk and stood behind it, leaning on it. “They are not naturally occurring in the species. In 2070, there were efforts by Cerberus to create natural human biotics by crashing freighters over colony worlds so that their eezo cores would spread refined eezo over the colony, thus affecting pregnant mothers. This led to reprisals by the Alliance and Eldfeld-Ashland Energy. Humans have been trying to create natural biotics and have failed to produce a reliable genetic marker. A failed Cerberus project on Pragia attempted to create biotics out of children. It was shut down after the children escaped.

 

“Yet there are human biotics. Mothers who are exposed to refined eezo at around six months into pregnancy have been known to have biotic children should they carry to term. Humans view biotics with suspicion even in their own species. All human biotics are tracked. They used to be sent to an Alliance run biotic school on Jump Zero for training, but are now sent to Grissom Academy.”

 

“That gives us three places to look for information on Iyana. Jump Zero, Grissom Academy, and Cerberus,” Naleena said, “But this is secondary to our primary missions: the Collectors, the Reapers, and finding Prothean artifacts.

 

VERA extinguished her cigarette and walked to the center of her office in front of her desk. “Cerberus is not an alien-friendly organization. They have ties with the Terra-Firma Party. I can forward information to your private terminal.”

 

“Thank you, VERA and everyone,” Naleena said, “And unless there are any questions or comments; I’ll turn it over to VERA for the Engineering battle. We’ll be landing on Caleston within the hour.”

[Cknarf]

Frank wasn't paying very close attention.  He lifted his arm, and sniffed.

Ugh.  At least it looks clean.

 

His armor was looking fresh, but it was still a little rank.

I wonder if they can smell it?

Frank looked at the rest of the engineering team. They didn't seem to notice.

Guess not.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Frank, you keep smelling yourself," Iole said, "Is something wrong?"

[Cknarf]

"Huh?" Frank looked up from his armpit. "No.  Er... yes. I don't know." He looked to his feet. "You'll see in a minute."

There was a chance that the next set of footage would show the exploding volus.  He wasn't looking forward to reliving the experience.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Holy f*ckin' Athame! Irina, you're f*ckin' crazy! You just charged in like that? What do you think you are, anyway? And with that old double-barrel? Krogan?" Jenus was laughing. "Where the hell did you get that thing, anyway?"

 

"Hey, this is serious. Vayne was taking the brunt of it, and they were shooting down on him, too. I had to go in and take the heat off," Irina replied, "Eteon gave some nice cover. And I bought it in town at a hunting supply. But it did a good job of slowing down that monster."

 

Then the vid got to the part where Vayne blew the hole in Golt and it only staggered him momentarily.

 

"Holy crap!" Iole said.

 

Then Golt shoved his blade into Vayne and turned on Irina. The shot was from Vayne's suitcam at Irina who looked like she was about to crap her pants. Then from Irina's viewpoint. Then back to Vayne's and VERA ran it slow motion on the charge and scream up to where Golt caught her and slammed her into the wall. And showed Golt's death in slow motion.

 

"F*ck yeah!" Jenus shouted. "That's my girl!"

 

"But I wouldn't have been able to take him down if Vayne hadn't weakened him first. No one would have. Now VERA, Eteon almost died fighting that Rat thing. That must have been a hell of a fight," Irina said. "I'd like to see what happened there."

 

VERA showed that entire fight. Eteon looked away. It was terrifying.

 

Irina turned to Eteon. "Damn. Just damn. When we land I'm buyin'."

 

And finally.... the exploding volus.

 

"That's disgusting." Iole said. "Okay I get it. But we don't smell anything. Honest, Beens."

[Cknarf]

Frank watched Vayne and Irina handle Golt.

 

So that's what I missed. Crazy sh*t.

Eteon's encounter with ratman played next.

Neat.

He nodded.

Looks like they're not going to show-- oh god dammit.

The volus clip rolled on.

"I'll just take your word for it." Frank shrugged.

I swear I can still smell it.

He leaned slightly to the left and whispered, as if someone was standing next to him.  "Good. I'm glad they didn't show that clip.  It's bad enough I had to see--" He noticed the odd look that Iole and several others were giving him, and stopped speaking.

"Excuse me." Frank quickly exited the room.

[Terca]

Eteon saw Frank leaving and thought about following after him. Thought. She wasn't one for the grand consolation, she was a more 'kick someone's ass back in gear' type of Turian. And Frank wasn't being a klutz or his normal perennially humorous self. She guessed, the fact he left quickly kinda seemed off to her. But right now, something was a little bit more pressing, and thought it might be selfish she was a bit too annoyed at herself to ignore it.

 

She approached one of the displays and spoke up. "VERA, could you please show me the last five seconds before the Rat injured me? And repeat it for a few moments please."

 

"Of course." Vera replied as the image in front of Eteon was filled with a rather disgusting visage. The way the camera was situated in her helmet the perspective was just a bit off from her memories but it was close enough to make her teeth grit against each other. The last five seconds before she nearly got herself killed.

 

Ratman pulls his bloody face out of the metal of that pile, lunges for her arms, under her stance, into the pit of her shoulders.

 

Blood, lunge, poison.

 

The intangible is unstoppable. She thought, then said it aloud. "The intangible is unstoppable."

 

Madness, insanity, desperation, emotions like that in that rat were intangible. It was impossible to stop, you could only cut off the source and let them wither in the mind until it rot. The problem was that she was supposed to be intangible. She was supposed to be the hard place which no matter where the enemy turned there was something in their way, a rock in their shoe, a rod in their spokes, then finally a blade in their heart. She was young, she could admit that to herself. Barely past 20, a youthful year when people lived to be nearly ten times her age. She could hardly be expected to perform as well as her peers which are fifty, sixty, older and still going strong.

 

But there weren't any other Cabals here. Nobody with that skill set was on the Janiri and they had to need those skills if she was here. If they didn't she was just a meat shield, another body on the front lines for the sake of absorbing some of the shock. She didn't believe that, or rather she considered it highly unlikely. It was a self-imposed discrimination. Knowing that didn't help.

 

"That's enough, thank you." Eteon asked the AI and the video halted.

 

There's nothing to do but train then. She thought to herself before taking a deep breath and shaking her head. She should have been able to dodge the attack. If not physically, biotically. If neither, then prevent the event in the first place. Basic. Difficult. She was getting frustrated but kept it off her face and in her hands as talons pinched the skin of her hands. Damn this.

[Cainhurst Crow]

Essul was silent as he stood with his arms held behind his back, a frown on his face as he stood at what could only be described as relaxed attention. There were light dark rings around his eyes from his rough sleep, and as kept switching his gaze between the people in the room, watching them.

No one could be trusted anymore...none of these people. Someone had been compromised, and judging by the reactions of those around them, they were damn good at hiding that fact.

His eyes however went to morgan, lingering on him a while. Iyana wanted him to die as a priority, he thought, and as his eyes wnet towards jess instead, he thought he figured the reason.

Leave the one you want to hurt more alive, and make sure they live long enough to feel each passing hard.

Vayen meanwhile was looking grossed out by eteons fight, feeling a bit queasy from it. "And I thought my fight was bad..." he said aloud as he rubbed his chest, feeling a tiny itch as his body had almost healed from his wound. The wonders of medical tech and krogan endurance.

He looked to irina as he gave a chuckle, "Seeing things from your cam, makes me even Mor impressed. I'll have to ask VERA For that footage later..." he said as he looked forward again, "That slow motion kill...it was a thing of beauty."

[Redbelle]

"Sure payment for the job". Jess muttered to herself. "Try settling half a mil for cargo lost. Insurance claim forms... urgh. Cargo lost due to crazy insane human biotic. If she goes to court she'll  probably get off on an insanity plea....".

 

As she spoke she reached for a data chip and placed it on a reciver pad. "VERA, scan this in and play it. I think it's time to unveil 'Screw you Iyana and the little dog you rode in on' plan.

 

"That is a..... interesting name you have given it".

 

"I was in an interesting mood. You scanned it in"?

 

"Done..... It is certainly interesting footage".

 

"Well then play it Sam".

 

The display flickered and then a new image emerged frozen. It was Jess, looking haggard and tired. Heer armour was gone. In it's place drab colors that seemed to focus attention towards Jess's face as she stared off somewhere to the right of the camera as if she were addressing someone else.

 

The image began to play and everyone listened.

 

"I've not been a captain long really. Not compared to some. But I had a crew and ship and they were great at supporting me. We flew the galaxy. We moved things for people mainly. Going where people said they needed something taking elsewhere and our ship was one of the few larger ones left that could do it all in one go. She's an old ship. She served faithfully in the first contact war. She didn't fire her guns in anger. She just took over patrol routes and kept people safe so the real military ships could be freed.....".

 

Jess paused and took a deep breath. "I was off ship at the time. Probably the only reason I'm still alive. The ship was overrun by pirates. They were being led by this woman. A woman in a silver mask..... You hear stories in the space lanes. Some are fanciful, so much to be true but Captain Silver's no story..... She's real. The ship was taken by Silver and her crew executed.... She..... sent them.... to me..... in boxes and..... I'm sorry, can we.... can we pause"? She asked off screen. The image faded out to black before coming back in. Jess's face looked as if it had been wiped to clear away the tears as she sat up straighter and continued on.

 

"The captain of those pirates led a horde of degenerate's aboard my ship. People who should be locked up and kept away from us decent folk. After Silver sent me most of my crew I went to a Spectre who agreed to help me.... We went there and..... I think she'd planned on keeping the ship. She was changing it. Remodeling it from the inside. It was nightmarish. No person would ever do what she did to it unless she was wrong in the head. Some of my crew were still alive and we found one.... On of Silver's crew was eating..... eating his.... I'm sorry I need a moment".

 

Again the screen faded and when it came back Jess was looking more focused, more angry though she was holding it in for the camera. "We got aboard and the Spectre's team cleared the ship. They even defused a bomb. Some sort of suicide pact maybe so that no one would ever be able to take Silver alive..... Only they stopped it going off. She fled the ship but we found out things about her. Things that the galaxy needs to know. We found out who she is. Captain Silver, the ghost of the space lane's real name is Iyana. She's been responsible for years of plaging shipping and she murdered my crew and showed how unstable she is.... She's dangerous to everyone. She fled the ship and went back to her own. Everyone needs to know about her. Everyone needs to keep a lookout and call the authorities if they see her. Fifteen of my crew are dead and one is seriously maimed because she swept in, took what she wanted and only a Spectre and her team could get her to budge. Space is dangerous enough without having to deal witha pirate like her terrorizing the shipping lanes..... One of my crew managed to survive the ordeal and told us everything. The brother of the former captain of my ship. He gave us everything we needed to know about what happened. All the crimes she committed. He's ready to stand and testify against her when she's captured. He's brave and he won't let Captain Silver get away with this..... He's having nightmares. He wants her stopped as much as the rest of us though...... This woman, Iyana.... The so called Captain Silver, pirate of a thousand faces they say.... Well we know her face now and she's not getting away with what she's done.... Not this time".

 

The feed stopped and Jess's determined look on screen stood in stark contrast to her utterly unconcerned slouch with both feet up on the conference table.

 

"I think I look rather good on camera". She drawled with a smile on her face. "I know some people. The light brigade they call themselves. Their job is to safeguard data and make sure it's untampered with. Think anti shadow broker. Only without the scope of his operation. But they can keep information from being corrupted if you give them incentive to keep an eye on it". Jess gestured with her chin. "Pull the non confidential imagery from the suit cams and I think we have the making's of a docu-drama outing Iyana as the infamous Captain Silver.... After all, anyone could be Silver....".

[Kel Riever]

Morgan closed the video link after the conference was over.  He had a lot to think about but nothing he could do yet.  For a while, the sedatives won the battle of consciousness and he faded out.  He came to when Jobe was checking in.

“So, how long, Doc?”

Jobe’s wrinkled eyes looked at him with amusement.  “Restless already?  There’s nothing more to do with you as far as surgery or medigel is concerned.  Your liver and spleen wounds could have killed you with shock, or with bleeding out, but that’s done now.  Same with that shot that hit near your aorta, though that scared me the most…”

With a grumble, Jobe went on, “I’ve treated a lot of wounds in my time.  Your body’s got to get used to the internal scarring.  From the looks of you, this ain’t your first time getting shot so you should know that.  But you ain’t been shot like this before.  So I’ll give you some days in that bed before I kick you out of it.  Care for lunch in the meantime?  We’ve got bone dry turkey byproduct, ice chips, and jello.”

Even with a steady supply of painkillers administered, Morgan caught the humor.

“Okay.  I’ve got mustard for the turkey.”  Jobe grinned, then scolded Morgan like a parent.  “No alcohol for you until you’re out of the bed.  Now I’m not sayin’ you were gonna ask, but I’m a doc on a pirate ship.”

“All right, Doc.  I got the point.”

“Yeah?”  Jobe examined Morgan’s expression.  “You know, it’d be nice to not have to keep reminding people about the common sense things around here for once.  Though I get the sense that you’re missing a thing or two in that area when it comes to being shot up.”

[Cainhurst Crow]

"What...this plan is....I dont understand. Why are you saying she's actually you?" Essul asked, sounding utterly confused by the proposal. She seemed so proud of this alternate identity, using it as a shield and as far az he could tell, a source of strength as well. So why she would give it up, to her enemy no less, had dumbfounded the batarian officer.

'Unless....' he thought as he looked to stone, re-evaluating the situation, "Captain Silver...is this persona you maintained reviled so much, that you could and would caste it as a weapon against Iyana?" He asked, unsure how to feel about that. His iwn father, Ealum Ran'perah, had been a pirate of limits infamy, but what lessons he did teach him stuck, and the first one was clear. All you had in this life was your name, and you had to make sure no one could take it from you.


Vayne watched the screen silently, face slacked and eye following along as he began to see the web ness was weaving. Finally he spoke, closjng his eye, crossing his arms, and letting out a stiffled outburst of scoffing laugher.

"That's bloody brilliant..." he said as he nodded his head to jess, impressed by her clever strategy, "Wish I'd have thought of that trick. Though I doubt absolutely anyone could pass as a red armored krogan, even centuries ago."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Irina looked up at the batarian. "Thanks."

 

***

 

"So, we shove all of this off onto Captain Silver, and we make Iyana into the notorious pirate Captain Iyana Silver, while Luscious Kennedy rots in our brig as our evidence. I like it. If I'd only thought of that 250 years ago things might have been different, but then I may not have ended up here," Naleena said, "And you file insurance claims to pay for ship repairs caused by this madwoman. Oh, and Jess, you'll be docking in the Alliance Shipyards. This is now a Council ship under my authority. Of course, it's your ship. I only did that to save you the trouble of having to go around negotiating for a place to get repairs. The Medusa will be right next to us."

 

VERA made an announcement over the shipwide intercom system. "We are beginning our final approach to the Alliance Shipyards. All essential personnel return to your stations. ETA in approximately 15 minutes."

 

"Okay, everyone, unless there is anything else, the meeting is adjourned. I have to prepare to meet with Alliance officials about the ships. Jess, you'll probably want to tag along." Naleena said, picked up a data pad and sat down.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

*** BREAKING NEWS REPORT ***

 

"This is Emily Wong, Citadel News Net.

 

“Earlier today reports were received that a Mass Relay deep in Batarian Space was destroyed when an asteroid collided with it. The Mass Relay, located in the Bahak System served the Batarian Colony of Aratoht, home to 300,000 inhabitants, all of whom were killed when the supernova-like explosion of the relay reached the world, wiping out all life on the planet.

 

“Our correspondent Provus Roctarian on Khar’shan spoke with Batarian Ambassador Greth Kefmark earlier today. Provus?”

 

“I spoke with Batarian Minister Greth Kefmark about an hour ago, and he was visibly shaken with the news. He said that his government will file a formal protest with the Council demanding that they take action against the ‘imperialist Systems Alliance.’ He said that all celestial bodies in the system were in stable orbits prior to the event and that they have evidence of Alliance involvement and have called this an act of war. He said that humans had obtained permission to mine an asteroid in the belt, and his suspicion is that they brought in fusion drives to propel the asteroid into the mass relay. This is Provus Roctarian reporting live from Khar’shan.”

 

“Alliance officials deny any and all involvement and blame terrorists for the act. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Shastri said ‘If any humans were involved, it was not part of the Systems Alliance. They must have belonged to a terrorist organization like Cerberus.’

 

"Two years ago, Batarian terrorists attempted to ram an asteroid into the human colony of Terra Nova, home to 4.4 million inhabitants at the time. That attempt was thwarted by then Council Spectre and former Alliance Commander Shepard and her team of specialists. Since that scare, the colony has experienced negative growth with people citing that it is too dangerous living in the colonies."

 

“We will have further reports on this and other breaking news as it happens.”

 

*** BREAKING NEWS REPORT ***

[Kel Riever]

Mira took some notes on her datapad and dismissed Jenus and Tallis, both of whom seemed wanted to spend their fifteen minutes before arrival goofing off; it was fine with Mira as long as they did it out of the way and were ready when needed.  Iole looked worriedly after Frank when he left, but was quickly distracted by Dahlia, whom she struck up a quiet conversation with in the room.

There wasn’t much word from the human, Avan, who happened to be seated on Mira’s right.  The debriefing had made it clear about his role on the mission, but beyond that, Mira knew the least about him.  Quiet was always fine with Mira, and she passed a glance his way before putting her head back down to her notes.

“Everybody loves the fireworks,” Mira felt compelled to mention to Avan.  “But I noticed Frank Eli wouldn’t have been able to get the Medusa’s  engine without someone else helping with the controls.” 

[favoritehookeronthecitadel]

Avan was busy in shock over the revelation that Iyana had used his data that he didn't hear Mira say anything.

 

As everyone left the meeting, Avan turned to Eteon. "I wonder what that was about."

 

"What do you mean?" The turian asked.

 

"Frank talking to thin air beside him and leaving abruptly." 

 

"Oh, you know. I think that's just Frank being Frank. He's clumsy sometimes."  Eteon defended her friend, whilst with honesty. 

 

"I don't know. I've seen people talk to imaginary figures before."
 

"Oh really?" Eteon asked.

 

"I was in the army for a short time.." Avan elaborated "That was a long time ago. There was this turian that had conversations with an imaginary friend. He was one of the most skilled marksmen. I heard later that he won several medals and climbed the up ladder to the highest level. And if you're one of the very best the army could ask for, everyone will ignore a minor flaw."

 

"Wow. That's unbelievable." Eteon said.

 

"If you're so good at what you do, it doesn't matter what's wrong with you. I think's the template for this crew." he continued, "The issue at hand is, he might not be as perfect as that turian. And what if it gets him killed? Or someone else? It normally wouldn't be my business, but everyone we work with has to be emotionally stable."

 

"Avan, look, I appreciate your concern, but I think you're blowing this out of proportion. Frank is just a little dopey, and I mean that in the kindest way. We all came back from a difficult mission, exploding volus and all."

 

"Perhaps, but maybe you should at least talk to him. Not necessarily about it, but in general. We're not friends, but you two are, and you could see how he is."

 

"Uh, thanks. I'll think about it. Now, I've got to go. Things to do." Eteon walked away.