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[Cknarf]

Kurik checked the seals on his helmet one last time, and descended the ramp with his gear.

[Kel Riever]

Of all the activity Kuric noticed within the ship preparing to disembark, it was apparent that few from Stormhammer had left before he did once he was out of the ship.  Nor had many even from the crew of the Lucky 7.  A yellow caution light flickered as a final warning from the bay that the environment outside was unfriendly before he passed through the shield of the main rearward ramp.  Perhaps two crew were on the ground, prepping a loader to start hauling off supplies.  Placing his boots onto the tarmac, Kurik then only saw what looked like Harry in a dingy, off white suit standing next to Kamau, in his form fitting, matte black scout suit talking to a hunched vorcha in an old, bright yellow Survivor armor.  They were using external audio and vox to talk, the mention of 'Harbormaster' being the only word Kuric picked up on at the bit of distance between them.

Reith wasn't present, though that didn't surprise Kuric, as the Stormhammer commander seemed to prefer staying behind the scenes.  What did surprise him was that Cadi wasn't out.  Nor, now that Kuric thought about it, had he seen her on her way.  Arcadia had always been wherever they needed to go first, until that moment.

The larger, bulkier freighter next to the Lucky 7 seemed to have arrived well ahead.  Most of the cargo was unloaded and well on its way to being hauled off.  There was an assembly of ten or so people in dark red armor, all with the logo of Koehler's Brigade over their left chest plate.  On closer inspection, it seemed the suits of armor were not so uniform, relatively clean, but with the occasional repair or replacement done here or there.  Nothing seemed terribly organized about the group either, as they were casually awaiting something which seemed to take longer than they'd preferred.  One of the humans in the dark red armor separated a bit from the others noticed Kuric's glance.  There was no other reaction at first, then as if a debate had changed the man's mind, he started walking over.

It took a minute; the space between the two ships was decent enough to allow for safe maneuvering.  Eventually, the man came within range of Kuric and he seemed also to prefer external audio for conversation.  "You must be part of the Stormhammers.  Looks like you got to Parasc without a hitch."

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Lauren checked her weapons, her Talon pistol which was like a miniature shotgun, but a lot easier to handle, and did a lot of damage especially at close range; she attached the AP mods and extended barrel, and thermal clips to her belt. Then she checked her Hurricane SMG, equipped with either standard or warp rounds, and set both weapons on the table. She put on the dark red Inferno armor she bought with her discharge bonus, checked its seals, then put on her belt and holster and clipped three concussion grenades and three flashbangs, holstered her weapons, fastened her helmet and left her quarters.

 

She  entered the airlock, and joined Kurik on the ramp.

[J.Ezra]

Juric grabbed his gear, double checking everything was there be he headed for the exit of the ship.

 

Pulling on his helmet he followed Lauren and Kurik, walking down the ramp and looking about at the port. He glanced over as a man started towards Kurik but he wasn't paying a lot of attention, rather he was still looking around,taking in the surroundings. Looking over his shoulder he hoped to see Tolema, or at least someone else from the Stormhammer group.

[Kel Riever]

There was an internal com to Juric, which had him half hear the human in dark red armors soon to follow sentences.  "Tolema, I'm on my way.  Had to reseal my suit from our, ah, escapades back at the Citadel.  There in two minutes."

No one else had gotten off the ship yet, though Vihaan was up in the bay, running something on his omni-tool.

"Hey, looks like your heavy lifter showed up," the Koehler's Brigade merc snickered as he referred to Juric.  "Glad to have your company along for the trip.  Talk about easy pay, this place is dead, not a finger of trouble.  I heard you were a smaller company but you've got to have more than three, yeah?"

[Cainhurst Crow]

"Very observant..." A voice came from the ramp, Menos walking forward in his weather-proofed armor and his sniper rifle on his back, the scropion pistol easily visible on his hip as he walked forward, hands behind his back and friendly smile on his face, "But come on now. Planet full of vorcha? There's gotta be something more then nothing going on." He asked, trying to coax some info as he approached the Koehler Bridgade merc.

 

"Menos Hishau. Pleasure to meet you..." He said, extending a hand to shake.

[Kel Riever]

The man seemed a bit surprised by Menos' outward friendliness, for whatever reason.  He then returned the handshake with an overemphasized grip.  "Good to meet you, Menos.  Everyone.  I'm Josh.  Hah, I agree with you."  He looked around to make sure no one from the planet was within hearing distance, and then put the back of his hand to the side of his mouth.  "I hear you, I don't buy this whole Vorcha cause no trouble business.  But I'm happy you are are going to be performing recon for us.  If the s**t hits the fan, don't you worry, Koehler's is ready to do the heavy lifting!"

[TheMajonese]

A bit worried, Chris watched his sister as she got into her armor. She completely refused to speak a single word or even look at her brother. After pulling on her helmet, she checked her rifle and her shotgun before heading for the door, still ignoring Chris' presence. 

 

"Hey, wait a second!", he demanded and stood up from his bed. "Your knife..." Naomi slowly turned to him, her face was hidden behind the visor of her helmet. For a second, Chris expected her to just ignore him but then she reached out for her belt, took her knife and gave it to her brother. In return, he handed his own blade over to her. "Don't lose it, I want it back!", Chris said with a wink when she grabbed his knife, but there still was no reaction from Naomi, she turned around and left the cabin. 

 

With a sigh Chris watched the door closing again. Then he returned to his bed and began, a bit absentminded, to put on his own armor.

 

It didn't surprise him that his sister wanted to immediately leave the ship and the mission after what happened with Lauren. Maybe it was a good thing that she had taken her anger out on him instead of Lauren but Chris was still shocked at the intensity of Naomi's aggression. She had never yelled at him like this before. Chris had believed that she calmed down a bit over the last few days but instead, it seemed to be worse than before. 

 

But the discussion with Naomi had been...exhausting. Chris had successfully convinced her to at least stay with the stormhammer until they finished this mission here on Parasc but only after lots of shouting and blank nerves. The argument that there was no way to just leave the Lucky-7 in the middle of space didn't convince Naomi and even now that his sister stopped arguing about this mission, Chris still somehow feared that she would endanger herself or the others. As much as he hated to admit it; entering a warzone on Parasc would be much better for Naomi than a job that required investigation and gathering of information.

 

And he had a very bad feeling about Cadi. The woman had already done a lot for the twins to give them a chance to be members of stormhammer and Chris had told her that he would find a way to make Naomi stay with the company. But that wasn't an option any longer, Naomi would probably leave the Lucky-7 the moment the ship returned to the Citadel. Although he would follow his sister anywhere, he hated that this was necessary. He had already taken a liking to the company of the other stormhammer members. But Chris wasn't going to tell anyone that they would leave stormhammer, at least not yet. 

 

After checking his gear, Chris left his cabin and looked down the corridor to see if there was anyone still in his cabin but since it had taken him a while to get into his gear, he didn't expect anyone else of the team to be still in the living area of the ship.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Naomi had reached the ramp and left the Lucky-7, completely ignoring any of the other stormhammer members as well as the members of Koehlers Brigade. She wandered around the docking area, stopping every now and then seemingly to examine something before continuing her quiet walk.

[Kel Riever]

It seemed true, at first, that everyone had gotten off by that point, until Chris overheard the sound of other raised voices behind a closed door.  It was impossible to ignore, and it came from the Commander's cabin.

One voice was, in fact, Reith:  "I've got enough hotheads!  I'm not going to blow a contract or lose a team member because someone can't control themselves!"

The other was Cadi's.  While Reith's voice was loud and aggressive, Cadi's was just as loud, but even and strong.  "I want her.  If she leaves on her own accord I won't stop her, but where else do people like that go?  Nowhere because this is where they are useful.  You want to cut her lose?  To the fates?"

"I don't have time to hold hands, Cadi.  If her brother can't handle her, who can?"

"Me!"

"Bulls**t!"

There was a pause, and it was as if Chris could feel the energy sweltering from the other side of the closed hatch.  Cadi's voice was like a spear.  "With all due respect I believe you have experience with being given another chance!"

Then another pause.  The question of whether Reith had actually been stunned into silence floated in the air, until he spoke loudly, but somewhat throttled back.  "Do you really think she can become part of this team?"

"We haven't tried everything.  At least I have not."

"Then it is on you, Cadi.  Your responsibility.  She blows it, you blow it."

"Affirmative, Major."

Yet another pause.  There might have been more conversation in quieter tones, but then the hatch swung open suddenly and there was Arcadia, in her near suit of navy and white heavy armor.  Her helm was off and tucked under her arm.  

Stepping out and closing the hatch behind her, Arcadia caught Chris' eyes with her own, steely blue.  "Chris.  Good morning."

Cadi didn't seem to pay any heed to Chris hearing any of the conversation.  She passed by him with a nod.  "Come on.  We're due outside."

[Cknarf]

Kurik sighed, as one of his new co-workers continued on without them. He'd much prefer they stay together, at least until they received further instructions.

 

"I will return shortly." He nodded to the group, before heading out to retrieve Naomi himself.

 

"Excuse me." Kurik began, finally catching up with the wandering human. "I think it would be best if you returned to the group."

[TheMajonese]

Naomi turned around and stared at the usually quiet turian but she didn't say anything. The helmet hid the expression of surprise on her face. From all stormhammer members, she expected Kuric to be the last one to annoy her. She didn't give a reply, instead she shrugged and turned around to continue her walk.

 

 

 

When Cadi came out of the room, Chris didn't know what to do. He wanted to tell her that he and Naomi planned to leave stormhammer after this mission, he wanted to tell her that there was nothing she could do about his sister's condition...and he wanted to simply walk over to her and say how much he appreciated the things she had done for him and Naomi. But he didn't do anything except for staring at the blue-haired woman like she was a ghost.

 

"Yeah...", Chris said a bit confused after a few seconds, then he shook his head and followed Cadi. "You're right, I bet the others are already waiting for us."

[Cknarf]

Kurik shrugged a bit himself. If Naomi didn't want to go back to the group, then he wasn't going to argue with her about it. Still, that didn't mean he was going to let a squadmate wander around an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous area by themselves.  He continued to follow anyways.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Lauren had been observing Naomi and turned to Menos. "What the hell is that b*tch doing? Is she trying to get herself killed?"

[TheMajonese]

For a while, Naomi just wandered around as if Kuric wasn't there but his presence was annoying. She tried to calm herself down with the thought that this mission on Parasc would be her last with stormhammer. So it didn't even matter what the turian was doing here, she could just ignore it.

 

After walking around the Lucky-7, Naomi stopped next to the freighter with the emblem of Koehler's Brigade on it and crossed her arms. She was far enough to not be heard by anyone but Kuric. "What do you think?", she said while still looking at the emblem of the mercenary company that would accompany stormhammer on this mission.

[Cknarf]

"I don't know enough about the company yet to have an opinion." Kurik stopped next to her, and looked up at the company logo. "Although, the first and only member I have encountered so far seemed to be full of sh*t." There was the hint of a chuckle from the turian.

[TheMajonese]

"Full of sh*t?", Naomi echoed and turned to the turian, this time she couldn't hide her surprise. "Why do you think that?"

[Cknarf]

"Perhaps I used the wrong term." Kurik shrugged, as he glanced at Naomi.  There were many human sayings that he still hadn't got the hang of. "Regardless, he claimed that there was little to no trouble on this planet. If that was the case, then we would not be here. That leads me to believe that he either lacks experience, or is deceiving us, although I do not see a good reason for him to do so."

[Cainhurst Crow]

Menos looked to lauren, raising a brow as he glanced to where Naomi and...Kurik? What were those two doing together?

 

"I think she's....scouting the area?" He said questioningly as he tried ot think of what they were doing, "Looking up the competition? I don't know what she's doing, or why Kurik's with her. Couldn't get that stick in the mud to loosen up if you had all the lube on the extranet..." He said with a deadpan expression.

[TheMajonese]

"Well, these guys don't look unexperienced, so I guess he just tried to make some fun of you..." Naomi turned back to the ship. "But I don't expect them to have our backs...I guess we should keep an eye on that ourselves."

[Kel Riever]

The only two members of Stormhammer who weren't present, in the end, were Reith and Vihaan, who presumably were handling matters of their own.

Josh, the Koehler's Brigade member who overly used the phrase 'heavy lifting', said, "Ah, there's the rest of you.  Well, I think the boss is on her way, and you don't want to miss her coming or going, if you know what I mean."  He chuckled, apparently the sole audience for his own humor.  "I'll be heading back now.  But when you need assistance, don't be afraid to give us a shout."  Then Josh turned on his heel and swaggered back to his group.

Tolema made a rather unhappy comment under her breath as Josh left.

Cadi's expression was unreadable beneath her helm, but she seemed to stand waiting confidently, staring straight ahead.  It took a moment to realize, but eventually it became clear that Arcadia was actually watching someone approach.  Up until that moment, all dockhands and workers who were about had been vorcha.  The discriminate eye noticed that point of interest, in the midst of the other species who had only come from one of either of the other two landed vessels.  However, the figure approaching stood out not only because she was not a vorcha, and was not with either ship, but because she was wearing a suit of gloss, gleaming white medium armor.  She further had a white, silk like belt sash tied around her waist, with long strips of ribbon hanging excessively past the knot nearly to her knees.  Her arms and gear maintained the uniform color, and blended seamlessly into the armor.

When the armored figure walked within what would be a comfortable speaking distance in normal acoustics, she too used her external systems to address the Stormhammer team.  "I am Saba V'Siliou, daughter to Teklia and Head of Security for Palladium Controls.  Please, bring your carry-ons with you and follow me to the mag train just north of this terminal.  Your other supplies will be loaded in due course, and we will proceed immediately to our headquarters."

 

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Lauren turned and looked at Menos, shrugged her shoulders and followed the group.

[Kel Riever]

Saba walked, presuming she was followed.  A handful of vorcha approached, offering to carry anything the members of Stormhammer might need:

"I will be happy to assist you with that, honored one."

"Right this way, and welcome to Parasc.  Might I carry something for you?"

"Do not trouble yourself.  We are glad to work and strive to make your stay here pleasant."

The walk to the north terminal did not take long, as it seemed the landing zones were part of a hub.  Most apparent was that the platform was Spartan, and mostly devoid of people save for the workers who busied themselves with cargo loaders.  Several massive mining cars for the mag lift train were off on a side track, awaiting the last leg of their journey into a cargo hold.  The train for the mercenary company, however, was strictly a set of passenger cars, with seating, open to the sky and using only rails to keep people in from the side.  A force field kept the area of the passengers safe from the environment, however. 

Once everyone and their carry on luggage was aboard, Saba stepped to the front of the forward car, where the master controller was.  She programmed in a code, and the automatic pilot of the mag lift train began its journey, accelerating quickly to a high speed across the cold, flat desert.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

Lauren, this being her first trip away from Earth, marveled at the scenery. "This world is so desolate. So cold. How can anyone live here?"

[Cknarf]

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

Kurik Trudas

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

A Talk

 

 

 

[Insert ME1-style squadmate dialogue about the current location]

[Cainhurst Crow]

"I don't know. People seem to like the look..." Menos commented to Lauren as he looked to the inside of the car, knowing there'd be nothing on the outside worth looking at. The entire interior of the spaceport and tram system had been sparse, bear, and pretty damn dull. Made sense the planet would be much the same as well.