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[Kel Riever]

“HEY”  Kogo’s voice was so loud that it pretty much took everyone by surprise except Juric.

With one look at Juric’s expression, Kogo figured out there wasn’t any kind of fight happening.

“F**K!”  Kogo left, more mad that he wasn’t able to smash someone. 

The party had gotten silent momentarily, but more from a bunch of people suddenly becoming curious, rather than fearful.  Once they saw nothing was happening than a bunch of people arguing, they went back to talking about it, laughing and generally being cheerful.  Someone put the volume on the music up a notch.

Tolema had remained surprisingly serene, moving her head to the side instinctively at the flying glass, although it wasn’t necessary.  She said nothing while Menos made the explanation of what had happened.

Aiode’s expression cooled as she listened to Menos.  She took a glance once at Tolema to see if she was going to argue anything, then once at Chris who had some conspicuous red dots on his chest, but otherwise kept her eyes steady on Menos.  The sound of something big breaking came from the main room and there was a loud grunt.

“That’s just Kogo,” Aoide clarified.  “You can’t get him worked up and have him not do anything.  He’ll be fine after he breaks a sofa or something like it.”  As if to confirm the spectacle the young Kogo was involving himself in, there were several cheers of approval from the main room.

Then a voice came from behind most of the people from the far end of the hallway.  Isis stood in the doorway of her room, her lids still half closed.  “Can you f**kers please stop having so much fun?”

The guitarist elicited a loud laugh from Aoide.  She moved up to Tolema and gently pushed her shoulder.  “Did you really try to steal some s**t from Ariake?”

Tolema’s eyes smiled.  “I admitted to nothing.”

“The salarian girl?”

“…Apparently has the best babysitters on the Citadel.”

Taken with the whole story of what happened, Aoide couldn’t help herself from buckling over in amusement.  Tears popped out of the sides of her eyes and when she stood, she held herself up by putting one arm on Juric who was nearest to her.

“Don’t worry about your wrecked car, Menos,” Aoide said when she caught her breath, “After a story like this, I’ll pick up the tab.  Void, I’m already going to have to buy Tolema another piece of junk jetbike it sounds like.  Whatever this corporate contraband is, maybe our new *hole friends have some recommendations about it.  But I’m not talking about it in the middle of the hallway.”  Aiode moved into the room with Tolema, and turned on the low lamps with a switch.  Then she kissed Tolema quickly, before pushing her to sit down on the bed near her.  “You’re f**king dangerous, Tolema,” Aoide said with admiration.

There was a look in Tolema’s eyes that was unapologetically pleasant.

“We almost hired a bunch of muscle like you tonight, to help Juric with the security,” Aoide added as an afterthought.  She hopped onto the bed next Tolema.  “I’d really like to stab those corporate carrion in the gut if I could.  After all this, it’s a shame it has to stop.”

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Yeah, about that..." Menos said as he shuffled a bit uncomfortably, "Along with the job offer to guard Nadi, we also got an offer to protect some new piece of tech from Ariake. And one to do bodyguard work for a concert playing tonight...." he admitted, kicking a bit at the ground as he spoke.

"We probably wouldn't have come if the coincidence wasn't as big as a Krogan Dreadnaught."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Darya kicked the door closed behind her, and locked it. Chris and Aoide were now in the room. She got on her communicator. "Cadi, we have Tolema, but things are complicated. I need to do some more investigating," Darya said. "For once, I'd like to see a job go down nice and smooth and by the numbers. Do any of you have any idea how much effort it was to get into this party without an invite? First there was getting this tank top, then there was knocking out the hotel staffperson delivering the food. That was especially difficult considering how hungry I am. Then getting past hotel security, and then your security, Tolema.

 

"By the way, Tolema, the Seirenes put on a great show. I watched the last part from the balcony.

 

"Then I'm mingling among the crowd, and I end up in here, and here's... Chris standing half naked. I guess that's doing 'under cover' work, yes?

 

"This evening started out with such a simple assignment. Make sure a diplomat's daughter got to an event. I really didn't understand why he needed heavily armed mercenaries. And then you showed up, Tolema. And before you ask yes, I was the one who took the shot at you. I'm sorry, but after seeing you destroy our skycar, I couldn't be certain of your motives so I had to give you some incentive to get the hell out of there. Had I wanted you dead, you would have been dead. I was a Lt. Commander in the Alliance Navy.

 

"Now after hearing the story from Menos, it makes me wonder even more when I start connecting dots. Why would a diplomat need heavily armed guards to protect his daughter from you, Tolema? Granted Asari are far more dangerous than they appear, but one Asari against a squad of highly trained mercs? Well at least some of us are. And I know that the previous group of mercs he hired quit at the last minute. And now with this L2 thing? Perhaps you could enlighten me?"

[TheMajonese]

Whatever Chris had said to her, it had lead Naomi to completely stop speaking at all instead of yelling at everyone. Now she stood next to the door, leaning at the wall with crossed arms and glaring at the others. When Darya mentioned Chris' "undercover work" she let out a snort but besides that she remained silent.

 

"Sh*t happens...", Chris commented while getting back into his t-shirt. He wasn't going to argue over that. There still was a nasty, burning pain on the skin of his chest. "Besides, Menos did a better job and found out everything we ever wanted to know."

 

But the rest of Darya's words made him thoughtful. Now that the whole situation began to ease a bit Darya seemed to become even more suspicious. And even though he agreed to some of what she said he really didn't like it. Curiously he looked at Tolema to see how she reacted.

[Kel Riever]

"I've got some bad habits," Tolema replied to Darya.  "One is I might have some anger issues.  Another is sometimes I want to free people who should really free themselves."  For a split second, she looked away as if thinking about something else, then she addressed Darya directly.  "If it is all right with you, I'd like to say no hard feelings.  I don't really have any knowledge of why any diplomat would set up a high grade security team for his daughter, but some people are paranoid.  And some parents are extremely overprotective.  And I am presuming there was some other circumstance, such as short notice, or like you say this group quit.  Why?  You'd have to ask them I suppose.

"But I don't like it, you know, that a father doesn't let his daughter make her own decisions when she's old enough to, especially not because of some lifestyle he chose.  He can stick it in his blowhole."  Tolema paused.  "Like I said, bad habits."

"The void with that," Aoide said, "I don't know about this kid but if someone here thinks I don't like the idea that Capella, or Ariake, lost something important along with a lot of cash, they're sorely wrong.  Sweet, sweet revenge.  The only thing I'd still be worried about is Tolema keeping her crest intact.  Or any of the rest of you, now.  I can't see sending this thing back to Capella, whatever it is.  What were you going to do with it, Tolema?"

Tolema looked uncertain.  "I don't know, something that hurt.  Up until now, I've only thought about getting it.  But when I did, I suppose I thought putting the schematics on the extranet for all to see was one way of breaking it.  But then it would be out there for people to make if they wanted to.  So I thought about handing it into a journalist.  Then I tried to think of some government organization, but who trusts them?  Something though.  I wasn't going to throw it out so they can make a new one in half a year or whatever time it takes them.  Not after what I'd...I could have gone through."

Aiode's excitement grew.  "Yeah!  Something that blows the lid off this thing.  Come on, there's got to be something.  I'm not for sitting on my *ss because some collar gets bent in half.  If it's public, then it's too late for Capella to try to do anything like hunt it down, or find the people who took it.  This isn't about being stupid; we shouldn't have ties to whever it goes.  But this is too important to let slide.  This is something that could hurt people, and Capella and Ariake know it."

Aiode threw a quick glance at Chris, and he thought he might have seen a flash of regret, but then another though passed through her mind.  "I wouldn't know where to start with it though.  And I take it neither would you," she said to Tolema, who shook her head.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"You know, I could use another paycheck," Darya said, "Perhaps you could hire us to do a little industrial espionage, yes? Find out exactly what Ariake has. I'm sure that Capella has backups somewhere, too. Who knows what we might find? Maybe personal things? It depends upon what you want."

[Cknarf]

“Kurik? Kurik! Are you...”

 

“...you hear me?”

 

“...coming down.”

 

“...know this guy?”

 

“...one I told you about.”

 

“...fuckin’ great…”

 

“...me get him up…”

 

“It’s okay, I got you.”

 

“...too heavy… stop...”

 

“...here, okay? Don’t move. I’ll be right…”

 

“...thing’s going to be fine.”

[J.Ezra]

Juric stood in silence as the other talked, processing all of what he had heard. "Think very carefully Aoide. Messing with corporations who are willing to go to those sort of lengths to try and cover this up maybe not the best idea. I don't like the idea of people like this getting away but these people sound serious and not someone you in particular should be getting involved with."

 

As much the band members seemed punk and edgy, they mainly funnelled their anger and feelings through their music, leading to a rather interesting view on authority figures and such. He had done odd jobs for companies like the ones that had just been described and hadn't wanted to ever do them again. Shady contracts, no questions and a lot of credits in exchange for complete silence in regards to what they had done.

 

"But, it looks like are friends here seemed interested in helping." he looked at the Stormhammer team and then back to Aoide and Tolema. "If you are set on doing something then maybe hiring them wouldn't be so bad. Well, as long as it doesn't involve fake ID's." 

[Kel Riever]

Tolema and Aoide turned to look at each other simultaneously.  Aoide then switched to stare at Darya.

"You can do that?"

There was a wicked expression on Aoide's face, but she restrained herself.  "Wait, is that even necessary?  There's the product...item...whatever it is.  That's no longer in their hands, right?  But you could do more?"  She sat forward, stuck her tongue out slightly, and bit it, giving her an impish look.  "I wouldn't even know what that costs, and I wouldn't want it done without someone involved that I trust."  Aoide eyed Juric.  "Someone competent.  Not to mention, spending money isn't just my decision to make.  A skycar is one thing.  But hiring people like you?..."

Tolema nodded.  "You're going to have to convince Isis."

Aoide shifted to sounding concerned.  "I...could.  But you know how we work together.  We're almost too much the same.  She's..."

"...She's not going to do it if its coming from you..."

"...It isn't going to make sense to these people."

"It doesn't have to."  Tolema looked at the Stormhammer members in the room, and Juric.  "They just need to know that someone else is going to have to talk to her."

"Someone she likes."

"And doesn't know all that well."

Aoide and Tolema looked at the others in the room.  Aoide said, "If this conversation is going to go anywhere, you've got to tell me more about what you're thinking, let me send someone with you who I trust, like Juric, if he agrees and who should get paid . And we aren't even going to get anywhere if Isis isn't involved.  She's co-owner of the band and money in amounts that matter doesn't get spend without her and me both signing off."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"And I have to bring in one other person," Darya said. "Our 'manager.'"

[TheMajonese]

"So...someone of us has to talk to Isis...and she should somehow like this person without really knowing him or her. Sounds a bit like a contradiction", Chris stated with a look at the two asari though he avoided directly looking at Aoide as it felt a bit awkward now. "Well, as far as I know none of us has really spoken to her. And you say that she wouldn't agree if one of you suggested it? Besides, right now she doesn't seem to be in a state that would allow anyone to talk to her."

 

Naomi stared at her feet. It was as if she decided to completely stop talking to anyone. A few times she raised her head and glared at her brother but she still refused to speak. 

[Kel Riever]

Tolema seemed to bite her lip to prevent a reply, but Aoide seemed to want to talk more about it.  "Yes, a contradiction is one way of looking at it.  I think you have to know that she's not a typical person, even for us.  She's brilliant beyond belief, but I can't really get into the rest of it.  The point is, a mostly clean slate is the kind of person she responds to better than one with all the blanks already filled in by experience.  And if you want to leave it to me, you can..."

"Not if you want to convince her they shouldn't," Tolema felt the need to say.

Aoide glanced at Tolema, then Chris.  She seemed to waver for a moment to Chris, then Aoide stood up off the bed.  "I shouldn't put it on you all.  It might not work out but I'll give it a chance."

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Someone whose a blank slate and has spaces to fill? Sorry, I may be 14 but that's a lot of lie under a belt for a salarian." Menos said with a smirk as he pulled out what he'd wanted to pull out a while now, his deck of cards, and started to shuffle them as he paced slowly towards the others, his hands moving in a blur as he kept his mind focused, not letting too many variables or tangets distract him from the main problem.

 

"We aren't going to be doing terrorist shits, let's all be honest here. We can investigate, possibly throw a wrench in,  things that might be going on. But we aren't gonna blow up or burn down stuff. Not if we don't want c-sec or possibly the alliance on our ass, and I know we don't want that..." Menos said calmly as he thought of the best way to do it, "Easiest plan would be to plant some Malware in their network. Spyware with a possible Trojan Horse to wreck their databanks if need be. Hardest would be actually destroying these machines physically. Either way, we'll need to infiltrate wherever these devices and their blueprints are being stored."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"I'm one of these L2s," Darya said. "I had problems with it, but I kept it because it was more powerful than the L3s they were replacing them with. But when it started causing seizures after using one of my biotic powers I had it replaced with one of the newer L4s. The surgery was risky, but successful and the seizures stopped. The L2s are junk and dangerous. Why aren't they using L3s? They're outdated now. Is there anything to eat? I'm starving."

 

Darya smiled at Menos. "You know that things that were once created can be recreated. Stopping them using malware or stealing the blueprints would not be that effective. I was thinking something more... personal," Darya said. "People use their corporate e-mail accounts for personal use because it's easier than logging in on their personal devices. They're lazy. Even their personal devices also search for network connections and use those, and all outgoing communication even from those, done through applications goes through the corporate network server. That's a known fact. But you know when they do this a record is kept on the server until the systems administrator does house work.

 

"Sys admins get backed up on their work so this stuff isn't a high priority. I'll put credits that if we did some digging that we'd find that members of the board of directors have some pretty juicy stuff sitting on their corporate servers. Stuff they don't want other people in their lives to know about."

[TheMajonese]

While listening to Darya's idea Chris crossed his arms. With a frown he turned to Naomi to see if she felt the same as he did. Infiltration, manipulation and blackmailing, Chris hated it. And after the things that just happened he didn't look forward to their next mission if it really was about somehow trying to harm Ariake or Capella or whatever. Although he could understand that Aoide and even Darya wanted to inflict some serious damage to the company there was no personal interest for him to do anything at all. 

 

To his surprise Naomi's face was distorted with rage and after a few seconds she turned around and stormed out of the room. The twins were really good at reading each other's faces but even though Chris could clearly see that something was wrong with Naomi he had no idea what was on her mind.

 

Chris didn't hesitate and followed her, not caring about the others and their plans about Capella and Ariake for now. "Hey, where are you going?", he asked when he left the room and closed the door on the way out.

 

His sister was just about to open the door to the suite where the party was still going on. She turned around and gave him an annoyed look. "I'm leaving."

 

With a sigh Chris approached her. "What's going on?", he asked patiently.

 

"Hey, do you remember our mission? Get that salarian girl safely to the event! We did that! So what the hell are we still doing here?"

 

A moment Chris stared at Naomi, then he let out a disbelieving laugh. "We were attacked by a certain asari on a bike before she stole something from an Ariake Tech transport. Naomi, you wanted to follow Tolema in the first place! And now you want to quit?"

 

His sister just stared at him. "Because you were right!", she then admitted. "We shouldn't have come to that f*cking concert or come to this party either, I got that now. So let's just leave now!"

 

"Okay, what is it?", Chris wanted to know and crossed his arms.

 

Naomi seemed to think about what she should say, opening her mouth before closing it again several times before she finally answered. "I had a nice chat with Isis when Darya called me on my omni-tool. She pretended to be my mother, probably in case somebody was listening." Chris already knew what Naomi was about to say. "And you know what? Darya reminded me that we didn't come to the citadel for having fun or some sh*t...I don't know if you really care but I want to find mom! Where is she, what happened to her, why haven't we heard from her in TWO F*CKING YEARS? So after Darya called I had to think about something...WHAT THE F*CK ARE WE STILL DOING HERE?"

 

"Please stop yelling and listen for a second. You really think I forgot about mom?"

 

There was already regret in Naomi's eyes. "I didn't mean..."

 

"That's why we came here to the citadel", Chris just continued. Despite being used to Naomi's temper it sometimes was hard to hold back his anger. "And I spent most of our remaining money on a sh*tty apartment so that we still had some credits left for the treatment of your arm!" Naomi's face turned slightly red. "We need the money!"

 

"We have money!", Naomi gave back. "We both got our payment from that assignment with the salarian, remember? So why should we care about this whole Ariake-Capella-bullshit-thing? We didn't even sign any contract, we are free to leave whenever we want!"

 

"Naomi, we still need money. Don't forget that we were lucky with Stormhammer! You don't know if we ever get another chance like that. And when we leave the citadel we need more than just a few thousand credits!"

 

Her eyes seemed to glow when Naomi answered. "So instead of searching for mom we will just sit in there while everyone comes up with a stupid idea on how to use this blueprint, or whatever that sh*t is Tolema stole, against Ariake? Sounds great, can't wait to see how this mission goes! But wait, we first have to talk to Isis but it has to be someone who she doesn't even know but still somehow likes...well, maybe I could talk to her but I WON'T. I'm sick of hiding and lying and pretending to be someone else! And YOU?! You..." For a moment she seemed to think about what she wanted to say. "You can't even come to a party as someone else without ending up in a bed with the lead singer of a famous punk band! Great! Just let your sister wander around said party like an idiot while literally EVERYBODY stares at me and asks my about THIS..." Naomi raised her bandaged arm. "But hey, I bet that was part of your job to distract Aoide, right? It might have worked but you somehow even screwed that up!"

 

Chris couldn't help but stare at Naomi. Without even realizing he held his breath.

 

"Let's go now, I'm not waisting any more time in here!" She turned around and left, leaving her brother standing in the hallway.

 

After a few seconds he let out his breath. Now Chris understood what was going on with his sister. He had heard the frustration in Naomi's voice and despite her words she wasn't really mad at him but at herself. Somehow Naomi always had suffered from being his sister. Especially back in school. Her grades had never been as good as his, she never had as many friends as her brother, Chris had been one of those guys that everyone knew and liked while Naomi had been just another freak. And while Chris had got most of the attention, most people had ignored her. This was almost ten years ago but Chris knew that it still hurt Naomi when even a famous asari punk rock singer wanted to sleep with him.

 

It's not fair... Chris thought and couldn't help but feel sorry for his sister.

 

Uncertain what to do now Chris leaned against the wall and stared at his feet. He could follow Naomi and try to somehow change her mind. Maybe she could be the one trying to convince Isis to hire the Storhammer's team for this job. But Chris doubted that was willing to do it since she wasn't interested in this job at all. And at the moment, talking to her was pointless.

 

A sudden smirk on his face he turned to go back to the others. He liked to forget how immature he and Naomi were. 

 

When he entered the room Chris placed himself next to Juric and acted as if nothing had happened.

 

 

 

"Cadi, you hear me? Naomi here. I just want to know where the skycar is. My gear is on the backseat and I want it back."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Darya's stomach started making noises, and Tolema laughed.

 

"Someone escort our guest to the food before she passes out," Tolema said.

 

One of her bodyguards showed Darya to the food table. After receiving instructions as to which ones were for Turians, Darya loaded up her plate on the safe foods and finally had something to eat.

[Kel Riever]

“You think I’m lying?”  Aoide seemed to recover some of her anger.  “I don’t need to…”

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Tolema said, putting a hand on Aoide’s shoulder.  “It’s my problem, I made it.  And if I need to, I’ll take care of it.  Alone, if I have to.”

Tolema turned to Menos and the others still present.  “I don’t know about all this counter-technology, well, whatever it is, you all seem to know of it more than I do.  This prototype, we’re talking something that should be handed to someone else to lead the fight, not us.  The public.  My preference is it simply be done without anyone coming back to haunt us about it.  Anonymously.  And it’s less about damage and more that these people should be shown for who they are.  What they did.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Arcadia had been listening in where she could, keeping the skycar she was piloting in a holding pattern.  When she got the message from Naomi, she stayed off the com while she sighed.  After a pause, she responded, “I’m flying the skycar.  With the hotel you’re in, you’ll have to get out of the area with the band.  Meet me at the front landing zone.  I’ll be waiting there with the car.”

When Arcadia landed, she pulled into the side of a lot crowded with other vehicles.  She waived off the Valet, popped the hatch open and waited for Naomi.  Cadi stood leaning against the car casually, but her eyes were steely, a function of both her frustration and disappointment.  

[TheMajonese]

When Naomi left the hotel and walked over to the parking lot she kept an eye out for a blue haired woman. When she spotted her, Naomi approached Cadi with a look on her face that seemed to show a willingness to violently murder the next person who annoyed her. "What's up? Hope you had a good evening!" The sarcasm in her voice was obvious and Naomi went to the skycar. "It probably wasn't as amazing as mine because I was at a VIP party...and I can tell you, it was a lot of FUN!" She spat out the last word while she grabbed her gear from the backseat.

 

Then Naomi turned back to Cadi. "I don't know if you are aware of it but there seems to be a chance for the Stormhammers to be hired by the band for some job that has something to do with a stolen prototype or whatever. The others are still at the party, trying to figure out what to do with it. Guess you should join them!" She already wanted to leave Cadi alone but then she realized that she forgot about someone. "By the way, where the f*ck is Kurik?"

[Kel Riever]

"I don't know," Arcadia answered, remaining cool, "But who really cares Naomi.  We each have to look out for ourselves first, right?"

Cadi didn't know if Naomi was going to get her point or become enraged, but she wasn't with her brother and that didn't bode well, nor did her grabbing her gear and ditching the event.  Arcadia didn't want to be the last person Naomi might ever see from Stormhammer, the last person to possibly prevent her from walking away, but it didn't look like there was much choice in the matter.  Cadi saw something more in Naomi, as she did with each of the people who had come on, but she didn't know if she could get anything across to the green eyed twin.

"If you think I would stop you from walking away, you are very wrong," Cadi told Naomi.  "I am not here to lord over you.  You have to tell me if you want something, if you need something, Naomi.  Or I cannot help you, and I cannot give you a reason for staying."

[J.Ezra]

Juric had remained fairly quite as the others discussed what to do. He didn't like any of it. While he was glad that the Stormhammer team had shown up as it meant Aoide wouldn't go running off trying to 'stick one to the man', he didn't like that Tolema had done it in the first place. The galaxy was full of bad people, hell, had worked for a few of them and he had learnt not mess with them. So stealing plans from powerful people wasn't a good idea in his mind but then again, Tolema had never been one for staying out of trouble.

 

"We need someone to talk to Isis before we go any further. And I wanna have a chat with your boss when possible"Juric said, addressing the last part to Chris and Menos. "And you Tolema, I... Why do you always find someone to p*ss off?" He grinned at her before shaking his head slowly. "You have a talent for it."

[TheMajonese]

It seemed as if Naomi had expected Cadi to somehow try to stop her or to be upset about Naomi's rude manner. She was used to people start arguing with her when she approached them like that, her brother was probably the only one who could tolerate her behavior because he always seemed to know what was going on with her. But Cadi just stood there without showing any sign of anger and Naomi couldn't help but stare at her as if she was facing an elcor with six legs.

 

It took her a moment to recollect. "I...I need...ehm..." She took a deep breath. "I have...important...things to do." Her words were sluggish but right now she couldn't even think straight.

 

Like in trance she slowly turned away and began to walk but after a few steps she realized that she didn't know where she was heading. Naomi stopped and looked around.

 

For the first time since her mother had disappeared Naomi didn't believe that she going to see her ever again. Right now she was standing on a parking deck of some hotel and had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do. How did you search for someone who went missing if you don't know anything about that person's occupation and if it was very likely that this person always used cover names to remain hidden? How did you find someone who didn't want to be found? Maybe her mother was just dead. Naomi could see it in Chris' eyes whenever the twins talked about possible whereabouts of their mother and even though she didn't want to accept this, it was probably the reason why Michelle had completely stopped contacting her children.

 

Letting out a cry of desperation Naomi covered her face with both hands and sunk down next to one of the skycars. While scratching the sides of her head she tried hard to collect her thoughts but now that Chris wasn't around it just seemed to get worse.

[Kel Riever]

Arcadia’s steely eyes softened.  Normally a powerful form in her blue and white armor, she knelt on one knee and put her elbow to rest on the other, next to Naomi, so that she could speak quietly to her.

“Calma mi valkyrie preciosa,” Cadi said, “You are fierce and beautiful but I feel as if your heart is adrift; forgive me for saying so.  I wish only to help you as best I can.  If you must leave, let me take you where you must go.  Where is your home, señorita?”

~ ~ ~ ~

Up in the Seirenes suite, Tolema shrugged her shoulder.  "It is not a difficult matter for me to fetch this prototype.  But, I want someone I trust to come with me, as well as one of the people from your group.  We'll bring it back here and perhaps it will make deciding what to do with it easier.  It had not been traced, I can assure you, as it would have been found by now."

"I'd rather you not leave it lying around for someone to find, either," Aoide added.  "It is connected to us regardless."

[TheMajonese]

Casually leaning against the wall Chris cast a glance to Tolema. "The most important part is that Ariake mustn't know anything about this to make sure everybody stays safe. You never know what a company is willing to do to ensure that their business keeps running. To be honest...that move wasn't too smart of you", he said, addressing Tolema even though she knew it herself.

 

"But I could help you with this if none of the others are interested..." It took Chris a moment to realize that he just offered his help with something that he shouldn't be part of. Already regretting his offer he bit his tongue. You're helpful, you're kind, you're idealistic and you're a f*cking moron!, he remembered what Naomi had told him some time ago. Stop helping people with issues that are their fault! Aoide wanted to harm the company and they also wanted to make sure that Ariake couldn't find any connection to Tolema but that wasn't his problem. Why should Chris help them? There were certainly other things to get some credits that didn't involve messing with a huge company's business.

 

He quickly turned to Juric. "But you're right, we have to convince Isis first", Chris tried to distract from what he said earlier. "And...ehm...we should speak with our...manager before with decide anything."

 

 

 

You're not crazy, Naomi! You're probably the sanest person I know..., she heard her brother's voice in her head. He had said that over ten years ago but Naomi could still remember every single word because it wasn't the truth, even if Chris didn't even want to admit it himself. Right now she felt a unbearable urge to do something, no matter what. Naomi wanted to start yelling again or punch Cadi in her face or maybe draw her gun and shoot at the parking skycars. But she wasn't going to do anything, instead Naomi just sat there, staring at the blue haired woman.

 

Cadi's words needed some time to reach Naomi's mind and it took her even longer to answer. "I have to...I want to...find someone...", she stuttered. "But I don't know where..." The next second Naomi realized that she couldn't even answer Cadi's question. For two years now she and Chris were moving from station to station, from planet to planet, living in some cheap apartment and never staying longer than necessary while always trying to find any leads on their mother. Since the twins had joined the Alliance there hadn't been a place that they could call home. 

 

Suddenly the expression on her face changed, now showing anger instead of disorientation and confusion. With a wince she tried to move away from Cadi. "What the hell are you even doing here? What do you want from me? You can't help me!" Despite the fury in her voice Naomi couldn't help but being afraid when she looked in Cadi's eyes that seemed to directly see into her mind.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

"Bullsh*t, Chris. You can't do this alone," Darya said. "Tolema, if you're willing to let bygones be bygones, now that I understand the situation we'll get the prototype back. But one thing I do understand. Information is power, and lack of information makes you powerless. Someday, I'll explain that to you, Chris."

[Kel Riever]

"Wait, what?" Tolema asked.

Aoide seemed to be humored.  "You sound like you'd all fit into one of our band meetings."

Tolema glanced between Chris and Darya.  "I don't want to take a crowd of people along, I think it would look suspicious.  If you can come to some sort of agreement, maybe one of you could come with Juric and me to get the prototype, then someone else could speak with whoever you need to.  And someone could speak to Isis, or we could save that for when we all come back."

~ ~ ~ ~

Arcadia head jerked back at Naomi's reaction.  "Cielo!  You are like a porcupine!"  Her eyes eased then, and she smiled gently.  Cadi reached out and offered her hand.  "Come, I will not bite.  Maybe I cannot help you, but do you want to be there, doing nothing?  I want you to stay with me if you can.  I am here for that reason.  For you.  Tell me what you wish, or you will make me very sad, mi querida."