Mass Effect: Truth (IC)

[Barakna]

My post was Meant to go here... Oh well.

[Ushima]

"Prepare to drop." The voice in Zach's helmet interupted his thoughts. He opened his eyes and looked around the back of the transport he was riding in. Four Krogan, one Turian and him. All members of the Red X mercenary group from Tuchanka. "Opening cargo bay hold." The vanguard stood, along with his allies. They had been hired to clear out a small settlement over run by Batarians.

The large opening revealed fading sunlight as the four Krogans were the first to jump out. They didn't even wait to hit the ground before firing their weapons. The Turian went next, Zach knew he'd quickly go find a sniping spot. He ran from the back of the hover ship. In mid-air he used charge to slam into an exposed enemy. Once he recovered from the impact he slammed his boot onto the Batarians face. "Four eyed bastard."

Rifle fire from the Krogans flew past him, tearing into more exposed enemies. The Turian's sniper took out a Batarian that was sneaking up on him. "Need to buy him a drink later." As per their rules, you save someone they buy you a round. He remembered a time he called all his in at once, then his memory hit a dark spot.

Grabbing two pistols he ducked behind cover. Using lift four targets rose into the air, he took them out easily. Zach vaulted his cover and took the Batarian's former position. His eyes widened, there had been a fifth one. To close to use a weapon the alien used a right hook. Zach blocked with his left arm and lifted his right elbow into the Batarian's chin before ramming it into the center of his face. Not stopping he delivered more punched to the mid-section and a head butt before pulling a knife off his chestplate and dug the blade under the chin into the throat.

"Smith, in the main building, center of town. Thats their CP." Brink, the Turian, said over the comm.

"Roger. Moving out. Jager, can you and your bros cause a big enough distraction?" Zach asked.

A large explosion and a mushroom cloud erupted behind Zach. "That big enough for ya?" Came Jager's response.

"Yeah, that'll do." He ran for the center of town. Jager's distraction made the enemy think they were dealing with a greater force and sent more troops to in Jager's direction, allowing Zach to run through the streets unnoticed.

Turnig onto the main street he quickly dived into an ally to avoid rifle fire. "Ok, obviously they won't leave the command post unguarded. Let's see, flamethrower ineffective at this range, shotgun as well, Pistols yes but I'b be torn to shreds before I even get off five shots. Gernades." Zach paused. "Oh hell yeah."

Tossing out two smokes he ran back into the street and hurled more down the street. Closing in on the main building he threw explosives and force the Batarians into cover. He reached a low wall and vaulted it, using his speed to kick a Batarian in the chest as he stood up.

One punched at him but he deflected it and pulled the enemy in and kneed him. He drew his knife again and slit the Batarians throat. Grabbing a second knife blocked an uppercut by putting a blade in the fist's path. He slashed the enemy across the face and jammed both knive into the shoulder blades. Drawing his pistols he made quick work of the other Batarians before coming back to the one with the knives still in him.

"Your leader, where is he?" Zach put a pistol against the Batarians head.

"I'm dead anyway," The four eyed alein coughed up blood.

Zach twisted one of the knives, causing his victim to grunt in pain. "Last time."

"Got to hell." Zach took out both knives and buried them into the sides of the neck.

"Guess I search the old fashioned way." Sheathing the knives, one on the chest and other on his lower back close to his left side, putting away his pistols he grabbed his shotgun off his back. "Ready or not here I come!" He shouted before moving into the building. "Now if I was a raid leader where would I hide?" It took clearing a few rooms of Batarians for the answer to come to him. "Main office."

Fighting his way to the third floor was very enjoyable for Zach. "Status report. Brink, Jager, how you two doing?"

"Everything's fine here smith." Zach heard Brink fire a few rounds of his sniper.

Laughing then filled the comm. "Take your time kid, I'm enjoying this." Jager laughed more before Zach broke the link.

Kicking in the door Zach stormed the office by throwing a gernade in. The explosion killed two Batarian bodyguards, leaving one behind the desk. "So they send the fearsome Red Xs huh? How many just to take us out? Seems like quite the force."

"Only six of us. Don't get high and mighty." Zach raised his shotgun and moved closer.

"You really think I'll by that? Six couldn't possibly be this effective." The Batarian said in disbelief.

"You're dealing with four Krogans, Ex-Turian military and Ex-Alliance millitary. You never stood a chance." Zach kicked the Batarian in the back of the knee, forcing him down. He but his shotgun to the back of the head. "My the Horsemen guide you to eternal rest." He pulled the trigger and watched the Batarian's head pop.

~

Clearing the rest of the settlement was easy and the group was quickly on a ship to Tuchanka. "Excellent work down there Smith." Brink patted the only human Red X member on the back.

"That battle was to short. You finished to fast." Jager complained.

"Isn't that what the ladies say about you?" Next thing Zach knew he was tossed across the room. "Hey I was kidding." Zach avoided pissing off Jager for the rest of the flight, and for a couple days they were on Tuchanka.

Hanging about the mess hall of their headquarters Zach was approached by a Senior member of the group. "Smith, someone here to see ya." Not saying anymore they walked off.

"Well this is strange. No one I know knows I'm here." He approached their leader's office. "Tank sir. Who is this?"

"This, Smith, is the person whose giving you your next assignment." Tank stepped aside, revealing a highly decorated millitary officer.

"Sergeant Smith, Major Ramirez." The two shook hands. "We got a lot to discuss about this job for you."

"As long as I get to kill," Zach spoke. "It doesn't matter what job it is."

[Lord Tully]

Rana walked up the stairs of The Hyperion Hotel, a high class hotel in the Wards close to the Presidium, it had only been recently rebuilt after the Geth attack on the Citadel and this was the grand reopening. She had been hired by someone to kill a Volus businessman, by the name of Patanak, who'd be staying there and attending the party. She was wearing a deep satin dress to catch the eye of the short little alien, as well as any one else who cared to look. She went up to the front desk and spoke to the human manager/bouncer, who was preoccupied "One for a Miss Rana please." She said in her most ear pleasing voice, "I'm here for the party."
"I'm sorry miss but we don't have......" His voice slowly stopped as he looked and saw the Asari, "Um, yes" he continued, hastily updated the computer's guest list on his Omi-tool, "Of course Miss go right in." All the while trying to keep himself from slightly hyperventilating while speaking to probably the first Asari he'd ever met.
"Thank you so much.. Brandon." She replied reading the young man's name tag, "I'll make sure to stay out of trouble." She lightly brushed against him while walking past with a particularly mischievous smile "Men, so easy." she said to herself, in a much less soft voice, once out of ear shot of the man she'd conned. When she entered the main room where most of the guests were, she started dancing a bit to the music playing and scanned the room for her mark. Then like a jungle cat, she spotted a Volus with a Bio-suit matching the description she'd received and moved in to snatch him up.
"Well hello there, who might you be?" She asked him tapping him on the shoulder. A bit taken by surprise Patanak gave a bit of a start, "Oh, umm, my. Um, I am called Patanak, but most just call me Pat. Humans are so difficult when it comes to long names." Rana gave a false laugh at the joke, "That's pretty funny, but I've been looking for you, my short little friend, we have a mutual friend you and I."
"Really? I suppose that isn't a good thing for me then is it?"
Rana shook her head a little, with a pretend look of sympathy to mock him "No it really isn't." and with that she unleashed her biotics to lift the businessman into the air and launch him through the wall behind him into the next room with Patanak screaming all the way until the combination of the impact both injuring him and cracking his Bio-suit killed him. Things like that tend to set off alarms, and almost immediately Rana was faced with two C-Sec officers, a human and a Turian and the bouncer as she made for the exit. "Hold it right there miss, surrender or we will open fire." the Turian officer warned, "Yeah like that's going to happen." she said sarcastically as she pushed the three away and pulled a shotgun into her hands. "Stay down and no one else dies, got it?" The humans nodded their heads, being disarmed they wouldn't stand a chance, but the Turian tried to draw a combat knife and charge her, but the now armed Rana stopped him shot with a shotgun blast. With that any hopes she had of escaping cleanly were dashed, and she ran full pelt out of the building and down the Ward corridors as more C-Sec officers arrived and started opening fire.
Rana fled to less reputable part of that area and ducked into a back alley. She was breathing heavily, adrenalin (Or the Asari equivalent thereof) was surging through her veins and she'd been shot in the arm, all in all it's gone pretty good considering some of her previous screw ups. After Rana bandaged the wound, she heard someone walking down the alley. She pumped the shotgun ready and shouted, "You better stop right there unless you're looking to becoming a stain on the floor." as she moved so that she was aiming the shot gun at him from behind cover.

[StormWolf]

Elysium - Medical Complex

"Could you flex your right arm for me, Commander?" a post-middle aged man with grey-streaked brown hair said flatly to the large human male on the slab before him. Nathaniel Wolfe complied, flexing his new right arm. If he didn't know better, he could have sworn that it was his own flesh and bone.

"Very good. How are your eyes treating you?" The doctor asked again, looking over his spectacles at the Commander. Wolfe made a grunt of a sigh, just staring at the ceiling for a few moments.

"I'm not used to being able to see so clearly. The sharpness of my vision gives me headaches, but nothing I can't handle." Nathan sat up, cracking his thick neck before standing. The doctor tried to stop Commander Wolfe from standing before the diagnostics were done with the bionic leg, but it seemed to be working just fine.

"I need to get back in uniform, doc. I'm not doing any good sitting on a slab."

****

Nathan walked to the start line firing range in the military complex. The enemies were AI holograms of various Geth models. When the alarm rang and the enemies appeared, Nathan pulled his assault rifle off of his back, the weapon unpacking itself in his hands. He stormed through the course with precise professionalism and near-surgical accuracy. Adrenaline rushed through the Wolfe's veins, boosting his concentration and performance. The cheering from Privates and Candidates watching never really reached Nathan, just becoming a dull buzz at the back of his head. His expression never changed, he just remained concentrated on the objective. The objective was all that mattered.

With one final burst from his assault rifle, Nathan popped the hot thermal clip from his rifle, allowing the weapon to cool before holsering the rifle on his back once it compacted again. Exiting the course, those faintly glowing red pupils of Nathan's absorbed the crowd of shaved heads and plain uniforms around him. Candidates that hooted and hollared at their Commander's stellar performance.

"Well done, sir. You dropped all thirty targets in one minute. Those doctors sure turned you into one hell of a killing machine!" The drill instructor said with an admiring smile as he poured over the data tablet in her hand. "You maggots see that? That is how you fight. You airheads will do well to memorize the footage of the Commander and try and re-enact every maneuver he just did." Wolfe did not absorb the praise and did not let it touch his ego. He knew he was good, but that was because he dedicated himself to it, night and day. That and he was as much synthetic as he was organic, now. The truth of that really ate at the Commander.

"Yeah, a real machine..." One minute flat. Impressive, to say the least. Most Spectre's didn't score that high. "Carry on," was all Nathan said before walking to his trailer. Stepping inside and locking the door, Nathan moved to the sink and splashed hot water on his face and over his short, dark hair. The Commander sighed heavily, frowning at the mechanical tinge in his voice. That explained why the Candidates looked uneasy when he spoke.

Then it hit him.

Wolfe's head spun as his heart did a few backflips in his chest. He clasped his eyes tightly shut and groaned at the slight feeling of nausea, resting his head against the mirror just so he could remember where the wall was. The episode passed, leaving Nathan rocking for a little while. When he opened his eyes and looked at his reflection in the mirror, he saw the cobweb pattern where he had pressed his head against the glass.

"I need to keep better track of myself. Next time I kiss a girl I'll end up breaking her damn neck." Nathan grumbled as he wiped the single drop of blood from his forhead.

*Commander Wolfe, someone is wishing to open a communication link with you, they say the details are for you alone.* a woman's voice called over his intercom. The Commander frowned up at the speaker, wanting to shoot the damn thing for cutting his peace and quiet short.

"Patch it through to the conferance room." Wolfe said with his deep and slightly mechanical-sounding voice, stepping into the conference room, the holographic projector scanning him before opening full communications.

"This is Commander Nathaniel Wolfe of the Alliance Military, state your name ond your business."

[Atrum Daemon]

The smoking pistol lowered as the owner crouched down by the fresh corpse and padded it down, searching for anything useful. He found a data file on the Batarian’s belt and took it as he put away his pistol and drew the Widow rifle from his back, setting himself up where the Batarian sniper had been. Kane had accepted a job from a small group of black market dealers on a small colony trade world as hired protection. The merchants were meeting some less than savory clients and wanted an experienced hand covering them. The sniper Kane had shot had been part of the group his clients were meeting.

Kane put his eye to the Widow’s scope and found that he had a perfect view of the meeting place. Keying on his com unit, he zeroed in on the head of the Batarian buyer talking to his client. He braced himself for the rifle’s kick as he listened in on the so far civil conversation. Even though his cybernetic limbs allowed Kane to use the Widow without shattering his arm, the kickback of each shot still jarred him a bit.

Kane focused fully when the discussion turned to the price of the packages, feeling sure that if the buyers were going to start something, the price would be the spark. He tuned up the volume on the com unit, listening for the code phrase his clients had chosen to let him know to fire. His finger tightened on the trigger as it sounded like the deal was coming to a close.

“Well,” he heard his client say, “I suppose it’s time to close the deal, then.”

That was it, the code phrase. Kane smiled and squeezed the trigger, the Widow kicking against his shoulder as the lead Batarian’s head burst like a melon. The black market dealers retreated to cover as Kane fired again, the shot punching through a second Batarian’s chest as the aliens frantically moved to get a fix on Kane’s position. The black market dealers, who were in fact a small mercenary team in disguise, opened up from their covered positions with varying types of assault rifles, shredding the remaining Batarians.

“Nice work, Kane,” the leader said into the com unit. “We can move into the building now. Meet us inside and I probably don’t have to tell anyone that our little disagreement out here most likely alerted the targets inside.”

“Roger that,” Kane said. “Who are these guys, anyway?”

“Drug pushers and slavers,” the lead merc replied as Kane got up and replaced the Widow on his back and drew his Vindicator assault rifle in it’s place.

“Guess when they say anything is for sale here, they mean it,” Kane said, laughing lightly at his own joke as he moved to the service ladder he had used to sneak up behind the Batarian sniper.

***

Kane’s back thumped against the wall next to a doorway as he narrowly avoided a small hail of rifle fire from the Batarian and two humans in the room beyond the doorway. He popped out of his hiding place next to the open doorway and fired, killing the Batarian and one of the humans before a few shots peppered the armor on his chest, causing him to flip back into hiding.

Kane quickly looked down at the custom armor he wore on his body underneath the special, protective trench coat he had on. Armor similar to what he wore on his body also covered his legs and had obviously been taken from a full armor suit and retooled into a set of body armor and leg armor. Shaking his head after seeing no puncture damage to the armor, Kane spun back to the doorway and fired again, catching the woman behind the upturned table in the face and killing her instantly.

Kane stepped through the door and picked his away around the bodies and makeshift cover to the stairs the slavers had been guarding. Once upstairs, Kane met up with the mercenaries who had hired him. “Last group through here,” the leader said, indicating the door before them.

Kane took a place next to the door and crouched down, waiting for one of the mercs to breach the door. The mercenary who broke through the door was quickly killed by a Krogan wielding a shotgun who had been waiting just behind the door. Kane swung out and fired, his shots punching into the Krogan’s armor while the armor-piercing rounds being fired by the mercenaries tore into the armor. The combined fire broke through the Krogan’s armor and tore through him, sending him to the ground in his own blood.

The mercenaries and Kane pushed into the spacious room that had once been a corporate meeting room, dodging gunfire and diving for cover. Kane noticed the slaver’s leader had personal shielding and switched his Vindicator to disruptor ammo to take care of the shield. He popped up from behind a metal table and fired a concussive shot that heavily damaged the man’s shields. Kane followed up the concussive shot with a burst from his rifle to take out the shields completely. Kane ducked down to avoid taking a shot to the head and pushed off with his legs, sliding across the floor and firing at the legs of the slaver leader and his guards through the open space under the long table in the middle of the room. His shots tore through the men’s legs, sending them to the ground in agony.

The slaver leader and his two guards were holding their ruined legs in pain when Kane approached them, his mercenary companions dealing with one of their wounded men. Kane barely listened as the men begged to be helped and let go and slid the Vindicator onto his back and drew his Hand Cannon, lining it up with one of the guard’s heads. He fired and the man’s head burst like a juicy piece of fruit. The second guard soon followed and he leveled the pistol to the slaver leader. The shot from Kane’s gun destroyed the man’s skull.

***

“I’m really glad I hired your help now,” the merc leader said to Kane outside the slaver hideout.

“Yea, yea. Glad to help,” Kane said, waving a hand dismissively. “I’d like to get paid now.”

“Right, of course,” the man said. “You charge a helluva lot of credits, you know? But, you’re worth every one.”

“I know,” Kane said with a smirk as the payment was transferred to him.

With the job done, Kane made his way back to the shuttle he had rented to get to the meeting point and took it back to the colony proper so he could head to his hotel room and get some much deserved rest.

[Barakna]

The Citadel Wards were buzzing with life, as always. Tiri was on her way to the Darkstar Lounge. The bar which had replaced Chora's Den after it's destruction during Sarens and the Geths attack on the Citadel two years ago.

Even though she was on leave, she rarely had a moments rest. A friend of hers in C-Sec had asked if she could assist him with a problem.
Some shady buisness was going on in the Wards. Several bodies had turned up in alleys and maintenance areas of the Citadel. Her friend suspected a human named Dimitri Volkov to stand behind it. He was new in the Citadel. Had only been there a few months. But reports from Elysium said he was a local crime lord back on the colony.

The murders had begun only a few days after Dimiti had settled in, in the Wards. It couldn't have been a coincidence.
Her friend had no proof of it though. And he had already revealed himself to be on the case, not deliberately though. So he had asked Tiri to help him out during her leave from Captain Varens squard.

She entered the Darkstar Lounge. It was full of life. The music was banging loudly and many were dancing. It was almost overwhelming. The sound of the musics beat and a flood of chatter. Tiri wondered how people could stay there for more than a few minutes.
She scanned the room from the entrence. She was looking for a Turian named Servius. According to his file. He should be a frequent guest in the Darkstar, and he was somehow connected to Dimitri.

Tiri spotted the Turian by one of the tables in the back. He was sitting alone. Drinking. "Perfect" Tiri thought with a sly smile.

She walked over to join Servius at his table. "Excuse me, is this seat taken?". The Turian took another gulp of his drink and looked up "Who's aski-". His eyes met with Tiris. He had a scar over his left eye. The man reeked of alchohol.
Tiri was rather attractive, for a Turian. Atleast so she'd been told. That was probably also why Servius was currently staring dumbfounded at her. "Um.. Taken? Er.. No, no! Please have a seat." he said and gestured at the seat opposite of him.

Great. Now all she had to do was lure him somewhere deserted so she could interrogate him. "Would you like something to, er.. drink?" Servius asked her. He probably wanted to get her, atleast, somewhat drunk so he'd have easier making a pass on her.
"I'd rather have you." Tiri said smiling slyly at him. The Turian started blankly at her for a few moments. Before he rose from his seat, knocking over his glass. "I.. err.. Well.. Oops! Err..". Tiri had hoped for such a reaction. Her aggressiveness had payed off. She laughed a bit, the man seemed so desperate as he was fumbling with his words and, at the same time, trying to do something about the mess he had created. "It's ok, leave it like that." Tiri was also up now and had taken his hand. "Let's go somewhere quiet" she whispered into his ear.

The Turian just gave up and let her lead him out of the Lounge.
Tiri headed down a deserted alley. "So eager huh?" Servius said as they came to a halt in the dark alley. Tiri let go of his hand. She quickly drew her handgun, which she had hidden until that point, and pointed the gun o his face.
It took him a few moments to focus on the gun, but as he did he froze. "Shit.." Now, Servius. I would like some information about your very good friend Dimitri. "I.. I'm not telling you anything!" A classical response. "Oh Servius. You don't have to talk to me. Instead-" the handgun made a feint creaking sound "Instead talk to the gun. And hope it wont talk back."

Servius was shaking a little as he was looking at he gun in front of his face. "Come on Servius. Tell the gun why Dimitri has been committing murders in the Wards." she paused, letting the words sink into his currently intoxicated brain. "Neither I, or the gun will hurt you if you do." Tiri said sweetly.
"He.. he killed them because of their connections to the other crime lords! H-he wants to take the power in the Wards." he finally blurted. This should do nicely. She had taped the conversation, now she only needed to hand this to her friend and all should be well. "Thank you sweety." she said, and pistol whipped the Turian in his face. Knocking him unconscious.

Leaving the alley and heading towards C-Sec office. "Now I can finally have my leave in peace" Tiri said to herself, whistling a small tune.

Tap, tap, tap. The sound of footsteps approaching. "I'm afraid that wont happen just yet." A voice said behind her.

[Stream]

Omega - Shipping Platform Six

"I don't have time for any of your petty insolence. I prodded you with the eezo, as well as your asinine credits fee, and you're going to provide me with every last fucking ounce of red sand you owe me." Q eyed each of the Blood Pack mercenaries deeply, barely able to keep eye contact with the revolting bat-like Vorcha. He was a very tolerant man, but there were only two things he hated in this world. Idiot bravados, and Vorcha.

The lumbering Krogan scoffed a bit at the relatively tiny Turian's orders. Compared to a Krogan, anyone was like an ant. This particular Krogan Battlemaster was the successor of Garth, whom Q had a healthy criminal relationship with. He was almost sad to hear he had been killed by a mysterious vigilante only a month earlier. Garth's new replacement had wanted to be a huge pain in the ass by randomly raising fees and cutting Q short on his red sand. Today, he only had one last chance.

"Listen, Turian," he said, forcing his log of a finger into Q's chest. "I don't care what the fuck you paid, how much eezo you got, or how much red sand you need. You talk to me with respect, or me and my Vorcha friends here are join to take turns stomping your head into the ground. You don't know who you're dealing with here, do you?"

The obviously annoyed Q kept a calm face, expertly hiding the urge to beat all three in with the back of his pistol.

"I don't really know the answer to that, Krogan. It looks like I'm dealing with a thick headed jackass with two pet bats, who think that the Blood Pack are still threatening anymore." Quintinus smiled a bit at the Krogan, his once angry facial expression turned blank.

"What I do know, is, that the people who fuck with Quintinus Caligulus usually find themselves dropped off on any one of the god-forsaken planets that inhabit the Sea of Storms, though usually none of them are ever found, at all."

With the wave of his hand, several figures skulked out from behind the gigantic shipping crates surrounding the meeting. Their black armor and white crest was unmistakably the marking of the Black Claw. The two Vorcha drew assault rifles from their back, but were immediately knocked to the ground by their Krogan leader. It would've been useless, anyways; the mercenaries Q had hired already had at least ten assault rifles trained on the trio.

"The next move is for you to make. Suffer a fate similar to that of your predecessor, or give me my fucking red sand." His voice sounded like a melody. He was the Mozart of intimidation.

The Krogan grunted, handing two large boxes to one of the Black Claw mercenaries. He, along with two other mercies, retreated to deliver the shipment back to Q's apartment overlooking the Aftlerlife.

"Fuck, I never thought a Turian would ever have it in him to stand up to a Krogan. You know, without hiding behind a genetic weapon that kills our children before they're even born. Race full of cowards." The Blood Pack leader said.

With one last smile, Q turned his pack on the trio, motioning his hand to the Black Claw mercs to leave. As he reached the door exiting the shipping platform, the two guards he bribed to "turn their backs" met him with smiles and words of gratitude. As the door shut behind him, the immediate sound of gunfire erupted, followed by the dying cries of the Krogan and the painful cackling of Vorcha.

Omega - Q's Apartment

The two boxes had been placed just inside his door, tucked away out of view under a table. The Black Claw wouldn't dare move or touch anything in his home without the looming threat of repercussion. His home was of course one of the nicer ones in Omega, but nothing too flashy. He ran away from the Citadel for that very reason; he wouldn't want to bring any more attention to himself in a haven for cretins like Omega.

A large window on the front of his apartment overlooked the Afterlife Lounge. Q had spent long nights in that place when he first arrived; building connections and relationships with anyone who looked important, along with Aria herself. He had also taken a particular liking to two of the dancers, who he would regulate bringing back to his apartment on most nights. While repulsed by human females, nearly any other alien race would do it for him.

Q began to feel tired very quickly, especially with his increasingly quick aging. While he was only 39 in human years, his aging process had sped him up to nearly seventy. He decided on one last glass of Asari liquor and a quick check of his unread message before bed. Usually everything business related would be told to him in person, but he liked to keep contact with a few of his old friends form across the galaxy, including his sister still located on Palaven.

As soon as he opened his inbox, the first subject line immediately caught his eye.

"Well well… the Council itself is in need of my services now. And here I thought I would just be selling illegal shipping licenses my whole criminal career."

[Greatak]

“Introducing turian-derived lymphocytes to natural blood sample. Expecting compatibility conflict and usual contamination reaction.” A rapid succession of keystrokes and a magnified view of the sample was projected across the wall, replacing the previous readouts of the experimental lymphocytes. Behind his visor, a satisfactory grin crossed Marlo’s face. He took pride in the cell line he’d cultured from his work in turian space.

“No rejection evident.” The cheery, yet detached ring of the Destiny’s VI reported a quite unexpected result. Quarian immune systems were quite fragile, especially after centuries of seclusion, but the generally would at least identify and reject foreign material, even if they failed miserably at the latter process.

“Are you sure?”

“Personally, I cannot draw a conclusion. Cytotoxin concentrations and general cell activity suggest that the experimental cell line is being accepted by the sample. Human rhinovirus sample is ready for introduction.”

“Introduce it.” Human pathogens seemed to provide such a plethora of diversity and methods of attack. The rhinovirus was a fairly common virus among the galaxy now, humans were sure to spread all parts of their culture to the stars, even their pathogens, and it was quite effective at infecting and destroying cells in a manner quite easy to detect. Immuno-responses should be quick to retaliate however, which should be just as apparent.

“Turian LBC line has recognized pathogen, as has the natural sample and antibody response is well within what is generally expected for naive B-cells. Collecting samples for post-introduction analysis. In the mean time, you have a visitor.”

“I’ll give you time to do that.” A short stroll down a corridor later and he found himself confronting Admiral Koris. “Keelah se’lai. What can I do for you, Admiral?”

“You can begin by telling me when you’re going to get rid of that VI, you’re making the other Admirals nervous. First, we give you charge of your own ship, filled with pathogens no less, then you outfit it with a VI and give it access to all of this ship’s functions. I’ve been a supporter of yours since you first proposed this arrangement, but you’re already the source for many a frightening children’s story. You aren’t making my job easier.”

“In all honesty, Admiral, I’m not here to make your job easier. I’m building a future for our people. Dest is a vital part of my efforts, it’s difficult to find good assistants among the Flotilla.”

“Perhaps that’s because you scare them away with the horror stories that arise from your work. Keelah, Marlo. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice supporting you. I just came to check your progress.”

“Progress is good, but slow, as I predicted, and made clear when the Board approved of my project. I’ve successfully integrated turian genetic sequences into quarian lymphocytes and rejection rates are low. There’s still a lot of research to be done however. But I offer a report to the Conclave every six cycles, what’s the real purpose of your visit?”

“Ever perceptive, you caught me. Our people are restless. We’ve amassed the largest fleet in existence and all we do is sit around and do nothing. There are murmurs of an effort to retake the homeworld. I wanted your-“ Marlo turned his head and held his hand.

“I will have no part of your political struggles. I seek to study and with any luck, enhance our immune systems. What is done with my work is not of my concern.”

“Very well, keelah sa’lai.”

“Keelah sa’lai.” Marlo left the Admiral in the antechamber, free to depart after a decontamination sequence. He retreated to his private quarters. Upon arrival, he noticed a message from beyond the Flotilla awaiting his attention, Dest hadn’t filtered it out as she did with most messages of such origin, which meant it was probably worth looking into. With a strange mixture of dread and excitement, he opened it.

[Cleopatra]

Ulyya crouched behind a large crate, swearing in quarian as the bullets went ripping through the air. She was madly tapping away at her amp, muttering numbers under her breath that she was inputting into it. Shouts and calls came from the enemy and team members, along with a large amount of curses.

Anders, a human, shouted over to her from his cover behind a pillar. “Ulyya, you need to take out those…” He was interrupted by a huge explosion not to far from her crate. She screamed and threw herself more to the side in surprise. Anders swore as well, moving from his cover to release a quick round from his gun. “We need you to take out those Goddamned rocket drones!”

“I’m working on it you moron! I cannot hack into a computer system, use my biotics on enemies, and ruin drones all at the same time!” But she dropped her attempts to hack into the mainframe from a distance and powered up her electronics before rolling out into the open. Quickly she launched one attack at the first rocket drone, causing its systems to fry which led to its explosion, and the second drone she managed to shoot down with her pistol from a distance. She had enough cover where she was able to avoid its rockets and still get a decent shot. As the remains of the drone fell to the ground, she gave a sigh of relief. And then before she could hear someone shout a warning a huge blow was landed on the back of her skull.

…

She awoke four hours later in the med bay of the ship. Her human friend Anders was sitting next to her looking concerned. “You okay, Uly?”

Ulyya winced behind her mask. “You know I hate that nickname.”

He grinned in relief. “Yeah, you’re fine.”

She sat up slowly, extra careful in case her head started swimming. “What happened?”

“An asari commando came up behind you. Wasn’t your fault, she was too damn quick for anyone to really notice. But she smashed her gun into your skull, and if it hadn’t been for Kellar she would’ve shot you on the spot.”

Ulyya smiled behind her mask. “Stubborn old krogan. Remind me to thank him later.” Anders’ smile faded and was replaced by a grim and sad look. “What’d I miss, Anders?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his red hair. “Uly… The asari had a partne”

She stopped breathing. “Oh, don’t tell me he…”

“He killed the asari attacking you, but the other one shot him.”

“He’s dead, isn’t he.” Anders was silent, but a single nod confirmed his fears. Ulyya looked down at her feet. “He was the one that got me into this group you know.”

“I know,” he said softly. “Are you gonna leave now?”

“Probably. This was my last year with you guys anyway. It’s time to move on.”

Anders nodded again. “Think you’ll head back to the fleet?”

“Not a chance. Not now anyway. I’ve still got a few years before I have to settle down and have a child.”

“Right. Well, we’ll miss you of course.”

Ulyya nodded. “Of course. And I’ll miss you all as well.”

Anders started to leave before he stopped and headed back. “Oh, I forgot to tell you. While you were out, some guy gave a call and asked to speak with you. You should still be able to open a channel and talk to him in a little bit if you feel up to it.”

Ulyya got up carefully and started heading to the door. “I’ll do it now. Thank you, Anders.”

[Gsarge]

Omega- Lowwer ghettos, Vorcha nests

Soldonus took cover behind a reinforced pillar that was supporting the bridge overhead as rounds from Vorcha weapons fire impacted with the stone-like substance that made up the pillar while many more didn’t even manage to hit the object he was hiding behind. The Turian had his sniper rifle in his hands as he peeked around seeing a Vorcha shouting orders from the rear. He smiled to himself and then touched a halo-panel on his collar and an Earthling electric guitar rift started to play from his suit.

Owari naki tabi no tochuu tachidomarisou na toki
fukai tameiki kobosu bokura wa
tsukamikakete wa mata hanareteitta
demo ima wa mou nanimo wasureru koto wa nai…

He stepped out from behind the pillar leveling his rifle, sighting the target and firing. The Vorcha that had been giving order was now making its last noises as he was back behind cover and ejecting his thermal-clip before the body even hit the ground and the second verse to the human song was starting up. Damn he loved his job, Vorcha clearing was the easiest credits he could make and still get to kill something all the time.

okoro tsunagu tsuyoi kizuna wa
keshite hodokewashinai sa
sagashitsuzukete tadoritsuita
kono basho de priodo ni…

He peeked around and spotted his next targets, those Vorcha with flamethrowers were so going next. He rounded the pillar again and fired off his rifle ejected the clip and fired off his second shot and going back around the pillar and ejecting the second clip as he had put a slug through a head and a heart. Of course with the kind of force this rifle was putting out, he could be scoring body shots and these vermin would be dropping. Before the instrumental break was over, he had switched to his assault rifle laying out quick one-second bursts right into the center mass of the nearest Vorcha he spotted not in cover as he, a lone Turian, was advancing on them, a pack of Vorcha.

Ai ni michita nukumori
karadajuu kakemeguru
nidoto kieru koto nai kioku ga…

Four more Vorcha had come into range and were trying to rush him two with assault rifles going full automatic as Soldonus made a dash for a median and ducked down. Perfect, he had a killing field now. The music’s tempo was starting to really pick up just like the fight.

Kanarazu yakusoku hatashite kimi wo tsurete kiyou
hagureru (yume wo) negai (daite) subete uta ni nosete...

The slugs from the assault rifles died and Soldonus was up the poor pair of Vorcha trying to flank him with shotguns only to be stopped by a dozen slugs impacting with their skulls.

Genjitsu kara me wo sorasazu ni
tachimukau yuuki wo
Kanashimi ikari chikara ni kaete
unmei wa sugu soba ni.…

He noticed the area the other two Vorcha were in and threw one of his tech grenades as it exploded between them their weapons’ thermal clips fused to the ejector and burnt out as they threw them down and made break for it only to be gunned down from behind by Soldonus.

Mukau saki wa sora
kirameku sekai…

It was eerie; he knew there still had to be more as he made his way to another set of cover in the form of a shipping crate and that when the slugs started flying at him. His shields were totally drained and he had even taken a few slugs off the shoulders as he spirited and slid into cover. Wow that was smart, that’s not good, but then again, it would only make him better if he survived.

Boku wo furuwasu kono kansei wo
uragiru koto wa shinai sa
tomo ni ikiteiku mirai no tame ni
kono basho de periodo ni…

He had hit himself with a little medigel and was back up and ready standing up as he sent a techgrenade at the last Vorcha it’s machinegun disabled as it roared out and charged at him as Soldonus narrowly sidestepped the rusty bayonet fixed to the end and retorted to his charge with a left hook to the Vorcha’s face sending it reeling back and onto the floor as he stood over it putting a slug burst into the back of it’s head right as the last verse of the human song in some language called Japanesse played.

Shinjitsu wo yubisaki ni.

It wasn’t a bad take, eight downed Vorcha in roughly 3 and one-half Earth minutes. He touched the halo-panel on the suit to stop the next song from playing. What would his friends have thought of him now? Listening to remakes of human pop music in a language he didn’t understand. It’s not like he had any honor to lose, which really worked just fine for him. He collected parts off the Vorcha and any good loot as he made his way to the Batarian he was to report to for the bounty.

“Soldonus…I see you’re still hunting freelance, I’m telling ya, there’s money in Blue Sun, you really should consider joining us rather than taking this freelance shit. “ Soldonus didn’t say anything as he handed him the bits of skin with barcodes on them he’d peeled off the Vorcha. The Batarian took them and scanned them in with his omni-tool. “Hmm let’s see, 5,000 credits, not bad work, Soldonus. The offer really is open for a bit of blue armor if you want it.” The Turian shook his head.

“I’m fine without the blue Bokus, I like the freedom I get to keep with only doing ‘this freelance shit’. Interested in a bit scrap? I’ll sell it to you guys cheaper than you can get it from any salvage shop here?” He set the two flamethrowers down as Bokus smiled. “3,000 for both sound reasonable?”

“Yea you go it, Soldonus, 3,000 works cuz I like ya. So don’t go around mopin’ like nobody likes ya in the whole of Omega.” Bokus handed him his full 8k chit as Soldonus took it and then shook hands with him a smile on his face.

“Yea, yea, I know.” Soldonus let his hand go and turned walking away part of him ever ready to have a draw his rifle in case good ole’ Bokus decided he’d gotten tired of him always rejecting his offer to join him in Blue Sun. Next thing on his mind were thoughts of a little r and r in Afterlife.

That was just where he had gone, sitting at a booth by himself with a few rounds of drinks in front of him as he downed one after another. He'd fallen pretty low, but then what would be expected of a young Turian that had been dishonorably discharged from the military? He was drinking to forget, to forget the friends that would never look for him the look of shame on his parents face. It was only in the times of calm that these memories would haunt him. Sure he was free, but the cost had been very high.

[spirits breath]

Krypt pushed off of the wall his large mass heaving forwards. With him, and his rifle gripped in his hand. He clicked it closed into it's compact state and attaches it to his hip. As he looks down to the mixed group of tourians, salarians, and a pair of humans, his manager approched slowely. The man smacked Krypt on the wrist, motioning for him to lean over for a quick word.
"Krogan, you see the salarian with the black vest?" He flicked his head back to indicate direction. Krypt nodded, giving a quick grunt of approval. "That slarian owes me a good amount of credits, been keeping it on a tab. Now What I need you to do is to follow him home... make sure I get my money." He jabbed at the krogans chest. He turned and walked away going back to the bar where he soon resumed serving drinks.

Krypt looked at the salarian, keeping his focus on him. He muttered quietly. "That human is going to soon need more than credits to stop me from pummeling him into that bar."

Another Krogan looked over at Krypt. "Least you get to rough someone up. I am stuck here guarding against a drunk who can barely even walk."

The salarian downed the last portion of his fancy drink, pushing off of the stool and turned around to face to door. He walked normaly out into the large clearing of the citadel, a few quick transport vehicles went back and forth. He walked, possibly heading home or to the market.

Krypt went out of the bar, walking slowely to keep the slarian in his sights, but not attract attention. Course the gun at his side didn't help his cause any more than shouting come here to the man. He walked normally, minding some other pedestrians. That is until the salarian looked back and started to pick up pace until at a running speed. "Why do they even try?" Krypt started running, his bulk giving a lot pf physical momentum over any other walkers as they were batted out of the way.

The slarian turned, hopping over a small crate, then up over a small fence. Kyrpy jumped over the crate, and turned slightly closing his eyes as he tackled the small fence. The fence itself shattered, flying open quickly as the large reptillian alien bore after the salarian. He turned, seeing the salarian within a few feet of himself. "Might as well stop now, otherwise it'll hurt ya more than it will me." The attempt to stop this salarian was feeble, and they both picked up pace, Krypt more than the man.

The krogan jumped, pulling the slarian down by the legs. Krypt dug into the hard surface, completely over the salarian. "So, wheres the credits you owe?"

The salarian gave a nervous yelp, grabbing a small tazer at his side. He jabbed it into the krpgan above him.

Krypt's side tingled a bit. "You are going to need a lot more than that to stun me. And think again about this. Do you really want me falling on you? So once again, where is the credits you owe?"

The salarian pushed his hand out to point at a small house. "It is in my house, I swear."
Krypt stood up, lifting the salarian behind him. He kept a firm grip on the shoulder. "Then lets go get it then. Lets hope you have it all. Otherwise you may be needing a visit with the med ward."

He was lead inside by a shaking salarian. The salarian rummaged through a few cabinets, before pulling out a wallet. He handed the thing over to the Krogan. His voice shook and quivered. "Here. Take these, and tell him the tab is payed off. Now please go."

Krypt took the wallet, looked in to see a large amount of credits, and then left. After aleaving the home, he began to head back towards the bar to resume his station. Behind him, he heard a gunshot. It was safe to assume what had happened.

After a long walk, and finally stumbling into the bar once again, he made himself look casual. He locked eyes with the manager, and tossed the wallet of credits. The manager looked into the bag, scanning over the amounts, and then proceded by walking up to Krypt. With an arm slung onto the krogans shoulder, he talked quietly. "Some guy came by, saying something about you and the red x's. Said to come by and meet up with the leader or something. Thought to let you know. You can go now, your shift is done."

Krypt pushed the mans arm off, and began to walk outside. "indeed I will." He moved over to the rapid transport, chosing a location by the wards. The ride itself was fairly short, the rapid part holding up well. He stepped off and went down an alleyway, then walked into a larger building. As he went in, several familiar faces were about, then he went into the area where the boss was. He himself had a small group of guards posted by the doorway.

When he walked in, he saw Zach, and the leader himself. He then went through a small ordeal. A man in a dressy military suit approached him, "Krypt, as I have said to your fellow comrad. "I have an assignment for you. Would you be interested?"

Krypt looked at this man, looking at the several medals. "I think it would be something to get out of this dump. You bet your hide I am in."

[katosu]

First Unidentified Planet
Late Afternoon
The planet was green. It seemed habital, seemed friendly... maybe a new world the humans could colonize? That was why they were sent out here, after all, to explore the possibilities. It seemed very similar to Earth in its design – blue oceans, green grass, mountains. But those looks had proven to be deceiving in the past. She was here to make sure such mistakes didn't occur.

Sozia activated her Omni-Tool on her arm. Her hand quickly ran over the keys.

“Atmosphere is suitable...”

Her helmet was still on, even as she said this. Anything could be found in the air at this point, and she wasn't the type to risk calculation on first-site guesses. She continued to enter numbers, looking through all the facts.

“Oxygen wouldn't be lethal, but is similar to high-altitude mountains...”

She turned around, and walked back towards the research camp site. Within it, they had erected a massive electronic device to sample the soil. That was another issue that had come up with this concept – the earth.

She looked towards one of the men manning the observational unit – a lieutenant Arzen. He sighed deeply as he turned around.

“Report?” Sozia asked, putting her omni-tool away. The man rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head.

“The soil here is worst than we anticipated. Though it grows plants and vegetation, there's no guarantee it would be fit for human consumption.” He said, as he closed the console and turned around.

“That would explain why the native animals are highly toxic, as well.” Sozia said, though she was unsurprised. She had already figured this much out from many of the initial samples, but they had to come planet-side to be sure. “The gases in the crust are too permanent for us to fix, and even with our scans, there's no guarantee there isn't a residual poison left in the air, as well.” She reopened her omni-tool as she started taking down the information, then turned around and started to walk away.

“We will leave tonight. For now, we will put this planet on hold. Maybe with more investigation, we could find a way.” She walked away from the camp, not so much annoyed as depressed at the bad news she had to give. “I'm sorry.” She said before she had completely left him. She knew his story – how this was for more than just him. This man wanted to find a good, new home for his brothers and sisters, for mankind, and for himself. He always spoke of how one day he wanted to settle down on one of these planets and start a family.


Second Unidentified Planet
Early Morning

It had been a few weeks since the last planet. This time, they were dropping off on a different planet. It was primarily a plains planet, large expanses, grass, lush vegetation and forests, temperate climates, good summer and winter cycles and a time line very similar to the humans earth. It would be ideal, but once again they put their helmets on. As they touched down planet side, the crew unloaded, bringing with it a mobile station. They erected a contained field to protect themselves. The crew seemed to almost set themselves up with military proficiency as they quickly and effectively got everything set up.

Sozia held her gun in hand as she had looked around. Those initial results were promising. Even from space, you'd usually detect some type of anomaly. With the last planet, it had been that gas in the crust. But this planet was different. It seemed pure – almost perfect. She hesitated as she looked across the expansive plains. A smile crossed her face as the almost scenic picture of the green earth offset by the blue horizon seemed to meld together perfectly.

She walked back to the camp, approaching the commanding officer this time.

“Good work.” She said, watching as the crew set up. The man smiled, clearly visible through the glass plate on the front of his suit. “They go this fast because they're not watching over their shoulder.” He replied gladly. Yes, they had become more like a family. They knew that anyone with a gun here would give their lives protecting them, after all. This was all for the good of mankind.

“I'm just glad to be a part of it.” She said, moving away to help one of the scientist set up a particularly heavy-looking metal piece. She raised a hand, not lifting it physically, but instead using her biotics to lift the object. She gently moved it into place as the man released it, relieved to be out from the tremendous weight of the object.

That Night

Everyone rested peacefully in the small, make-shift houses. Those that weren't needed topside were in the ship right now, resting peacefully in orbit and keeping an eye on the situation. The rest of them – particularly, the researches – were down planet side, already comfortable in their new home-away-from-home.

Sozia couldn't rest. She sat outside the encampment. As she restlessly stared out at the planet, she picked up a signal.

“Come in, Sozia, this is the Trident. Do you read me?”

“I read you, what do you need?” She was surprised to get the message. It wasn't normal at all. For one, it was very rare for the ship to contact them outside of standard communication devices, not personally like this. And for two, it was the middle of the night.

“We need you back on ship. You've got an important message...”

“A message?” She couldn't help but ask, but she didn't have time to question it. She got back to her feet. As she rose, she looked back at the camp. She had the lingering feeling she wouldn't be back anytime soon. “... I'm ready for pickup right now.” She said, as she walked away towards the pickup spot. She had to get the message as fast as possible.

[Barakna]

GM Post



"It doesn't matter what the job it" - "And that is why I'm here" the voice came from somewhere behind him. Zach turned around to see a tall turian. Standing just behind him.

"Zach Smith." the turian exclaimed. He started walking around the human. "Born in a human colony. Was the top of class during education. Joined Alliance military." He paused for a moment, his avian eyes looking into Zachs. "Left the military a year after the geth invasion. Joined a mercenary group." The turian stopped in front of Zach. "And that leaves us here." he made a with gesture with his hand. Zach was staring at the turian, alert. How did he know so much about him?

"I am guessing you want some answers." The turian had turned his back to Zach, and now turned around to face him. "I am General Castor Kilik of the turian fleet. And I am here. To recruit you." Castor turned and started walking away. "It is a mission of great importance. Meet me and the others at a warehouse on the Citadel, five days from now" he tossed the man a PDA he had pulled out from his suit.
Before the turian reached a corner, one of the other chosen individuals walked into the room. A Krogan named Krypt Alandmir.

"Krypt Alandmir, as I have said to your fellow comrade. I have an assignment for you. Would you be interested?"
Castor liked dealing with Krogans. When it came to profitable assignments they would usually just agree to it without further questions.

"Excelent. Zach Smith have the needed information. You can get it from him. well then gentlemen. Till we meet again." The turian turned around the corner and disappeared from their view.



Standing before Nathaniel, was the image of a turian.
The turian was staring at Nathaniel, as if he wanted to evaluate him. "Greetings Commander." the turian said formally. "I am General Castor Kilik of turian military." the hologram proclaimed. A short pause followed.
"You are probably wondering what a turian general wants with a human officer I take it." Castor paused for a moment as someone, outside the holographic field, spoke to him. He gave the person a short nod and returned his attention back to Nathaniel.

"I apologize for thatCommander. Now, back to business. We need your assistance on a high priority mission. You are requested to meet me and the others at a warehouse on the Citadel, five days from now. I have sent you the location on a PDA. That is all Commander." Castor stepped away and the transmission ended.



Kane had arrived at his hotel. Eager to get some rest after todays job. Upon entering his apartment. He noticed someone there. He pulled out his handgun and crept towards the living room. He turned the corner and pointed his gun in the direction.. og a turian.
The turian was sitting calmy in one of the chairs. "Kane Gauss" the alien said. "You can lower the gun now. I have no interest in harming you." the intruder pulled out a PDA and looked at it. As if the gun wasn't pointed directly at him. "Good military career. Most body parts changed into cybernetics. Currently. A soldier-for-hire." the turian concluded. He looked up from tha PDA and gazed Kane in the eyes. "I am General Castor Kilik of turian military. And I am here, to hire you. For more information-" Castor took another PDA out from his suit and tossed it to Kane. "Meet me at this warehouse on the Citadel in four days." The turian rose from his seat and walked past Kane. He disappeared around the corner as he left the apartment.



Tiri turned around, glowing faintly as she readied herself to fire off a biotic attack, should it be needed. Another turian stood before her. Calmly with his hands placed behind his back. "You can power down now miss Zindel." he said.
She wasn't sure who he was, but she lowered her guard a little. Afterall, the man somehow knew her name. "Looks you've done well in Captain Varens squard." He said looking at her with some interest.
"Time to introduce myself. I am General Castor Kilik of turian military. And I need you, Tiri Zindel, for a very special mission." He said, pointing at Tiri with one of his talons. His avian eyes were locked with hers. "Meet me and the others at a warehouse here on the Citadel. This PDA will show you the location." he handed it to her. She accepted it and glanced down to see it's content. As she looked up, Castor was nowhere to be seen.



*Unknown Sender*

Greetings Quintinus Caligulus.

Your assistance is required for a certain profitable mission. You are to meet up at a warehouse on the Citadel. Three days from now.
Information regarding it's location should arrive in your inbox shortly after this message.

Once you arrive at the warehouse you will be further briefed.

Till we meet.
~Kilik



*Unknown Sender*

Keelah sa’lai Marlo'Xen vas Destiny's Shadow

Impressive VI you have Marlo'Xen.
It wasn't easy to get this message through the system.

Anyhow your field of expertise has a certain interest to us. We request your assistance on a particular mission.
If you would be interested. Then meet up at a warehouse on the Citadel. Four days from now. The location is attached to this message.

Till we meet.
~Kilik



Ulyya opened the previous channel. Starting up the conversation with whomerver had called.

There was some static.

"Keelah sa’lai Ulyya’nah vas Temara." The voice sounded in the other end. The individuals' voice indicated it was a turian, male.

"I am General Castor Kilik of the turian military."

"I have contacted you due to a certain request." the turian said. "We-" he trailed off for a moment. Someone else was also present. A moment later he returned. "I apologise for the interruption. Now, for the matter at hand. We are curently preparing for a very special mission. And your knowledge of engineering and machinery would be a large asset to the mission." he paused for a moment, letting his words sink in. "If you are interested. Meet me and the other in a warehouse on the Citadel. The location should have arrive in your inbox now. The meeting is three days from now."
There was a faint beep indicating the arrival of a message.

"I hope we will meet there. Keelah sa’lai" The message ended.



A turian sat down besides Soldonus. He was wearing some dark armor with red stripes along the sides. Soldonus was about to ask wether or not this newcomoner had something on his mind, but he didn't get the chance to ask.
"Soldonus Tarn. Discharged from turian military for assaulting an officer." He said calmly. Then he removed Soldonus' glass so he wouldn't suffer from further intoxcation.

He moved a bit closer. "I am General Castor Kilik of the turian military." he said in a low voice. "I am here to recuit you, for a very special mission. You will be highly rewared once the mission is done. Hell, even your little incident with the officer could be removed from the records." Castor gave him a sly smile.
"If you are interested, meet me at this location." He handed him a PDA containing the location of the warehouse on the Citadel. He rose from hise seat "You have four days." Castor left Soldonus and disappeared in the crowd.



Sozia arrived on the ship, she walked quickly to her private terminal so she could view her message.

*Unknown Sender*

Greetings Sozia

I am requesting your assistance regarding a very delicate mission. I cannot stress how important this task is on an open network such as this.
Therefore I request of you to meet me and the other in a warehouse on the Citadel. Four days from now. The location of the warehouse is written in a meesage you should have recieved shortly after this one.

Your scientific expertise, aswell as your biotics, would become a very valuable asset on this mission.

Till we meet.
~Kilik

[Gsarge]

Soldonus had half expected the Turian that sat down next to him to just being making fun of him. Most of the others around here did, or just stayed away from him. Then for a moment he thought his suspicions were about to validated as he heard his past being spoken to him like someone reading off a rap sheet about his lost Turian honor. Then his glass was taken out of his hand and he looked up to the guy he was about ready to give a few punches. Until he noticed he had moved in closer to him and he listened to the general’s introduction of himself.

Why did a Turian general of all people need him for anything? Of course then there was the prize, yea sure, he wanted his honor back, that’s what any normal Turian would want, would dream about after losing it. Well Soldonus was more interested in what kind of job would be so important that a general would come to this hole of a space station, just to find him. Could be some combat involved, maybe even a lot, could be fun.

Everything was way simpler on the battle field. Maybe he’d even die and be rid of all this nonsense for good. Nope this Turian had done too much but he was free, free from expectations, free from family, free from another 5 years of kissing ass and the ‘yes sir’/’no sir.’ He gripped the pad hard in his hand making sure this was all real and gave a full smile back to the general. The Citadel, he’d never even been there before when he was in the good grace of his people, now he has being asked to meet a general there. Well this just had to be big. Four days…Shit he’d have to be on his way right now.

Soldonus picked himself up and set about getting himself passage on a passenger freighter to the Citadel. It would be a few hours, fine for him. He swung be tenement picking up his vids, mostly war histories and fiction a lot of it either human, Turian, or Korgan. He cleared himself out of the place and clearing his account with the tenement managers.

Once he settled himself down into a seat, he set up his vid console starting up a vid made nearly 200 Earth years ago. A bit of a human war, drama called Gundam 8th MS Team. He’d been lucky enough to find it in human English and so he could understand what the actors were saying. He liked the giant robots replacing tanks idea and wondered why no one had ever thought about doing that? No matter it was violence and it helped him push his other thoughts to the back of his head even better than the drinks had.

[Ushima]

Zach watched the Turian leave before turning to Major Ramirez. "Do you have a ride for us?"

"Of course. I'll prep it, we'll leave when the two of you are ready." The Major left the three Red X members in the office.

"Smith, Krypt. Please don't do anything to smudge our organization's name." Tank shot them a glare. "I know what happens when you two work together. More than the necessary amount of people end up dead."

"Hey! It's not my fault Krypt screwed up the countdown sequence." Zach raised his hands in defense.

"Actually the timer was correct. You gave the order to early. So in the end it was your fault." Krypt smacked Zach on the head.

"Fuck." Zach cursed. He turned to leave. "I'll meet you at the ship." Leaving the office he went to his storage locker. Grabbing his weapons and armor and stored them in a crate. "Take these to that ship, The King."

"Yes sir." The new recruits complied with his orders. Zach grabbed his elepiece monocle. Putting it on the red screen covered his right eye. He looked over the PDA some more as he made his way to The King."

[StormWolf]

The Commander's faintly glowing eyes bored into the holographic projection of the turian general. Nathan wasn't one to trust the alien species, Citadel or no. It was the damned Council that caused hundreds of his brother and sisters in arms to die by Sovereign's guns. The human Commander's scarred face remained calm, cold, and aloof as the general spoke.

Even when the hologram transmission ended, Nathan stood there with his hands clasped behind his back, deep in thought as his eyebrows drew together in a deep frown. It doesn't matter if you like it or not, Nathan. You don't matter. You are expendable. You are the means to an end. If the Citadel is calling on you, it is your duty to answer... You owe them a debt.

With a sigh, Commander Wolfe went into his cabin and removed his armor and packed it into a duffle bag with his weapons and other bare essentials. He clothed himself in the standard no-action uniform of an Alliance soldier, dark blue-grey digital camo cargo pants and top. Nathan went to his superiors and told them that he was summoned to the Citadel on classified business by the Council, not even he knew what his assignment was. The brass just nodded, if not unhappily.

The Commander got to the Citadel via Mass Transit cruiser, getting to the ungodly large space station on the fifth day. He walked down the departure ramp and into the terminal, stopping and reading a holo-map projected off of a wall. This place had changed since he was last here. The security was tighter, but still flawed. He checked his PDA, clicking on the file that turian general had given him and cross-referenced the location. He frowned, looking at the time....

***
Nathaniel walked out of the Dark Star Lounge finishing off the last sip of some Ice Brandy before disposing of the cup and heading to the warehouse. Catching a taxi, Wolfe made it to the Warehouse, darkness and dust surrounded him. The bulky man remained tense, his eyes glowing red in the darkness, his scars faintly glowing.

"I'm giving you 'till the count of five to show yourself before I walk out...."
"One...." Nathan balled his hands into fists, his brow furrowed in concentration.

[Greatak]

"Dest, link us up with the central library and Citadel Archives. Track this guy down." Marlo leaned back in his chair to think. A cryptic message, with no identification, asking him to abandon his post for some mission that was not explained in the slightest. Did this Kilik honestly think that his invitation was going to be anything more than a curiosity?

"I still have the results from today's tests to process."

"Barrow some processors for the data crunching, I want local assets devoted to this." Dest aquiesed, the other ships he was stealing processing power from wouldn't mind, it's not like they were using it. "Put anything relevant on my monitor." A few windows flashed open. A turian general, Castor Kilik, seemed the most likely candidate. Dropped off the face of the galaxy about a decade ago, personal records seemed non-existent and any probing of Hierarchy databases just presented an overwhelming amount of classification notices. "Great... Dest, could you-"

"Already requested estimates from several information brokers, the cost seems quite high." A step ahead of him, Dest really was a remarkable VI, highly optimized learning processes and a superb dissection slab manner. Just about anything Marlo could ask for in an assistant. It was also what terrified most others in the Flotilla.

"Seems like this guy really doesn't want to be found. Let's find him. You still have the STG extranet probes?" Marlo flexed his fingers and beneath his helmet, a grin crossed his face.

"Affirmative. Establishing secure distributed network, sourcing on Cerberus commspace."

"Capital, make sure the Flotilla cannot be traced, us if need be, but leave no doubt the Flotilla is not involved. Let's find us a general." Marlo began working in concert with Dest. Over the next few days and a few careful banking transactions, he had his answer. Needless to say, Marlo was intrigued, this general had certainly taken great steps to mask his actions, but from what he'd seen about what he'd been charged with doing, it seemed justified. But he had a history with turians, and it wasn't a good one.

A simple message, bounced through countless servers, well ghosted, landed in the view of this General Kilik.

//From: A Curious Bystander

//Subject: What were you hiding?

// Well, that was quite the effort to find you. I expect about this time you're wondering if I planned on attending your meeting, as the hour specified draws near. But I must decline, my work is of the utmost importance and I will not be departing on the simple word of a turian general who seems to not exist, even less without knowing what the mission entails. Bravo on your attempts to hide, but as you said, my VI is quite talented.

//Keelah sa'lai.

[spirits breath]

Krypt followed Zach into the large storage area for each member of the red x's. His locker wasn't too far off from Zack's, but it was enough for some privacy of each lockers contents. In his locker was a couple of data disks, something that reminded him of what he was made out to be, with his missions and fallen comrades.

He reached down, grabbing a small pistol, and his shotgun. He placed them on a small bench beside him. "So Zack, whats on that PDA that you got? I would be like a frozen racknai trying to thaw in the middle of a snowstorm with those. Unneeded if you ask me, you know how it is." He turned aside, and put on his battle armor. It felt snug, and even moreso when the shields filled. The helmet he always hated, but he took it with him in case. A mission long ago left him holding his breath long enough he felt like he could inhale enough dust to fill his lungs.

The suit went on a bit faster than it would seem like it would, but after using armor that large for so long it became second nature. With all of his holsters, he placed his three guns along his armor. He brought three of the cryo grenades he had with him, along with his dead one which he placed on the opposite side of the others. His little good luck charm.

He kept looking at his own locker, not wanting to look at Zack at the time. He felt like he wanted to make it seem more dramatic while not doing much at all. "So, we need any special equipment for this mission? I am not going to lug around a pair of mines or some large thing if I don't need too. Would rather have an extra few clips over an extra light maker any day...or night. You understand what I am getting at don't you?"

He turned around, looking at a few new members of the red x's bringing crates into a ship. Well, harassing the new guys already begins. Wonder if I should tell them to just tell Zack to fuck off? Too late now I assume, they are already about done.

[Atrum Daemon]

Kane neatly caught the PDA and looked it over as the turian left. He wasn’t surprised at the alien’s knowledge of him since anyone who could get access to Alliance records through the Council would easily find his public military service record. The warehouse was on the Citadel near the Dark Star Lounge. Kane knew the area as he had done several jobs on the Citadel.

“Four days, huh,” Kane mused to himself. “It’s about a three day journey from his planet to the nearest Mass Relay. I better get an express shuttle booked now.”

Kane had a seat reserved on a shuttle going on a non-stop trip form the colony to the Citadel. Lucky for Kane, he was not a big spender and charged a large amount for his services. He detached the Vindicator and the Widow from his back and placed them in their respective cases in collapsed form. The two cases were then placed into a heavy duty travel bag. Kane took one last look around the hotel room before leaving to catch his ship to the Citadel.

***

The three day trip had been a usual spaceship ride for Kane. There had been no interruptions by pirates or raiders or any kind of malicious force to keep the ship from making it’s deadline. Having a free day, Kane had spent it looking around the Citadel, mainly looking for any kind of upgrades he could use for his weapons.

On the fourth day, Kane headed out of his room with his travel bag slung over one shoulder. The only weapon he had on him was his pistol as he did not feel like carrying around his full arsenal for a stroll through the wards to the warehouse. He arrived at the warehouse to find another man talking to the empty room, threatening someone Kane could not see. He assumed that the man was at the warehouse for the same reason he was.

“Is that really intelligent?” Kane asked, stepping further into the warehouse, his prosthetic eye adjusting to the lack of light. “I doubt whoever’s brought us here will respond to simple threats like that.”

[Cleopatra]

Ulyya walked slowly into the warehouse looking around cautiously for any sort of trap. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but chances were if it wasn’t a job offer, it was a trap. She’d made a few enemies over the years, especially when she’d saved that damned Matriarch Ogmallia. Nothing but trouble ever since. She held her trusted pistol tightly in her hand, expecting someone to jump out at her any second and shoot at her. She wore her black and red armor, and was prepared to throw a biotic attack at the first thing that moved, as she had become accustomed to doing while in a strange environment.

“I am gone from the Fleet for a few months and have become an anti-social.” She shook her head and put her pistol away. Then Ulyya pulled it out again when she heard voices. She walked a little closer thinking maybe it was the employer, but it was someone else instead. She kept her voice friendly as she walked towards the figure. “Excuse me. May I assume that you’ve been hired for a job as well?” She glanced around and sighed. “You’d think he’d already be here. Lateness is a pet peeve of mine.”

[Barakna]

A day had passed since Tiri had been recruited by General Kilik.
She had been thinking about her assignment. She didn't see much of a choice, wether to accept it or not. She was still in the turian military. So she couldn't really refuse the order of a general. Atleast not without facing some consequences. Like military discharge for instance.

There was also something fishy about this so called 'mission'. She knew a little about General Castor Kilik. She had overheard a conversation between Captain Varen and another officer, about Kilik. 'Whenever he was around, something big was about to happen' they had said.
Not only had the general come to her in person, to recruit her. He also mentioned others. It sounded like he was talking about someone outside the turian military when he said it.

Even more suspicious.

Tiri was currently sitting in the Darkstar Lounge. Ironically, in the same spot as she had met Servius the day before yesterday.
She had loitered around the wards all morning. There was still some time before she had to meet at the warehouse.

She wasn't at the Darkstar to enjoy their various assortments of beverages. She just found herself more at ease with the pounding of the music and the sound of chatter. Even though she almost couldn't hear her own thoughts, she still found it strangely comforting.

One of Tiri's pockets started vibrating a little. It was time to go to the warehouse. She left the Lounge and headed in the direction.

Tiri walked up to the warehouse. She checked the PDA to be absolute certain that it was the right one.

It was.

As she walked near the entrence she heard some chatter. "This must be the so-called others the General was talking about." she tought, moving closer.
She overheard a Quarian, whom had just arrived she assumed. "If what I know about the general is true. Then he is already here, observing us. Waiting for the rest to come." Tiri said as she revealed herself to the others.

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

General Castor Kilik (GM)

The General was currently sitting in an office. Laughing.
He had recieved the rejection from the Quarian scientist Marlo'Xen. He had found it very amusing. Marlo'Xen had not only found out how to reply to the General, but he had also managed to find out some information about him.

He knew Marlo would be a valuable asset to the team. His ability to find out this information and also his expertise with biology and physics would prove invaluable for the mission.

Castor had to persuade him to join their cause. And he might just know how.

Later, at the warehouse in the Wards.

Not all had arrived yet. But Castor felt like he could show himself now. He only needed one more piece to show up before he could start his plans for persuading Marlo to join.

And it wouldn't be good if those currently present lost interest.

He had been sitting in a dark corner of the warehouse, concealed by the various stacks of crates and barrels. He stepped out from his hiding and crept over to the group of 'recruits'.

"Indeed I have Miss Zindel." He said as he was standing besides the group, hands behind his back. "And I'm still waiting for the rest, though there has been an unforseen event. I'll tell you more once the final piece has arrived.". He told them.

[Stream]

The audacity of the sender was almost laughable; he surely had to be either an amateur or a prankster to actually think Quintinus would come to a secluded warehouse - in the Citadel no less, to take up a "very profitable" offer. His private terminal was very good at weeding out the mountains of junk mail he received every day, but every once in a while an obvious sting like this would pass through.

Still, Quintinus would glance back and forth between his boxes of red sand and the italic "profitable". If there was any way to sway him, it was through money and alcohol.

"I'll be in the Citadel anyways to meet with the Eclipse, and they're right in the same area. Surely nothing bad would happen if these people knew who they're dealing with. Icould always tip off a few of my old C-Sec friends as well…" the turian pondered for a moment, sipping the bubbling blue liquid from his glass. It didn't seem like it could hurt to check it out, after all.

Tossing the contents of his glass into a plant pot near his door, Q gathered up his shipment of red sand and made his way towards Afterlife. His apartment block led directly to the underbelly of the nightclub, through a guarded and exclusive tunnel. It was a well-kept secret among the few who travelled it, though Aria herself preferred the more glamorous entry through the main tunnel. Elcor and Krogans made snickering noises as Q walked past. All of them new exactly what he was carrying, and exactly where he was going. He'd become a regular with them, so much so that the bouncers would already have the way cleared for him before he reacher the door.

Immediately the relative silence and solitude from the outside was shattered by the pulsing beats of Afterlife. Several asari dancers moved seductively along the upper portion of the central bar, their graceful movements able to send nearly any man into a trance if they were to stare long enough. With the healthy mix of alcohol, drugs, and sex to be offered here, usually such attachments never ended well.

Q sat down next to a light skinned turian clad in dark blue armor, his visor covering nearly half his face. His neckguard had been scarred beyond repair, and a large metal plate covered the right portion of his jaw. He slid the boxes towards the pitiful looking turian under the bar.

"I was planning on giving these to you tomorrow and having them sent to you personally, but something's come up. I won't be able to offload our sand myself while I'm at the Citadel. I've got C-Sec on my ass, apparently," the turian lied, lowering his head a bit in the process, never making eye-contact. "and I just can't risk getting nay more notorious."

The two laughed for a moment, before the other spoke.

"Right. I'm sure it's something very important. Important enough to break a prior deal with me over. What is it, asari consort craving setting in?"

Quintinus smiled a bit before standing from his seat, turning his back on the younger turian.

"You should be thanking me for even telling you about this. I was just planning on letting you find out naturally a month or so from now, while I enjoyed the fruitful company of asari consorts. I must be going now, Callin, I have a subtle to catch to the Citadel and much more important matter than you to attend to."

[katosu]

After delivery of the message - Research Ship Trident

Sozia read the message over a few times. Yes, he had explained his intentions very clearly. It was something important – something that couldn't be handled by most people. He made it sound very life-or-death. As she read with a bit of cautious cynicism, she slowly found her way to the second lines of text.

There were keywords in the rest of the text she found herself passing over. Even though he had tried to downplay it, the focus somehow seemed to fall on Biotics. Maybe he knew she had a growing discontent for using it in a fight. Or maybe she was just reading too much into it – she had a bad habit of following every possible aspect. Either way, he spoke on her two fields as if she had already agreed.

She turned from the console, looking out the window. The planet below – still a prospective planet. It would take a lot of analyzing and setting up to actually get it ready to a point where she would be needed. She wasn't contracted by the humans, either – she was here by her own accord. She had even brought her own ship, though they allowed her to stay docked in theirs.

She heard a brief noise – an indication of a new message, which was the follow-up message. All it included was more accurate directions and a time. Yes, that made sense. He had already expressed that he couldn't speak of it, so she wasn't surprised at all as she closed it out. She let out a sigh, discontent with the aspect. She didn't like the way this looked at all.


Final Day – Research Ship Trident

Sozia had to leave soon, but she still hesitated. She was restless. She had spent the last few days researching the planet from the station – sending reports with the ground team while she sorted out her feelings. In the end, she wanted to reply to the man that she wouldn't be coming – her work here was important, not just to her – but also to the future inhabitants. They had to make sure everything would be suitable.

But there was lingering doubt. What if fighting for this guy could also help them? She couldn't necessarily turn him down without hearing his reasons. She resigned herself, sighing as she downloaded the information to her Omni-tool. She began to walk to the bridge to inform her captain.

It didn't take long to get up to the bridge. The captain stood at attention, studying the map. He seemed to be researching where they would go next – what planet they could attempt next. His name was Commander Sean.

“Commander.” Sozia said, addressing him formally and standing at attention. She gave a quick salute – she had learned a lot of the human customs while on board their ship. She practiced them to make the humans feel more comfortable, rather than causing a fuss over being there.

“Sozia, how goes the research?” The captain said, turning with a smile. He was a simple man. Though he wore the full outfit of his command, his face did not suggest any jaded pride from his position. He spoke gently, with a light smile as he turned around. Sozia relaxed, “Everything is along a normal timetable, but now we need to do some deeper studies – see what minerals we can find, what sort of crops the environment supports, the time-consuming research about the planet's history and its ecological system...”

The commander raised an eyebrow. He seemed to catch where the conversation was going. He gave a light smirk, “If you need some time off to go reply to that letter, you have my full support. Just, make sure you come back to us, alright? You've become an invaluable member of our crew.”

Sozia smiled. It wasn't easy, asking to go, but it had to be done. “Thank you so much.” She said, bowing slightly. She turned to leave.

As she started to head back to where she had come from, there was a startling shaking. The entire ship shook beneath her feet as she struggled to keep her footing. A few of the crew members toppled over each other, but no severe damage. The ship went dark.

“Status report!” Sean yelled out, turning to everyone. “We've lost all power – mass drive systems are down, sir!” One of the mechanics yelled back “What's causing it?” Sean questioned back, his voice changed from earlier. It now had the voice of authority – of a man showing his experience. “The force is unknown, sir, something is forcing our systems off line. I can't access the main terminal.”

There was only the noise of controlled panic. All the crew trying to work together to the solve the problem, but their efforts were cut off. The sound of slicing steel – the sound of running footsteps... and then, the sound of screams and gunfire. The captain turned, giving a declaration as he started to run.

“We're being attacked! All troops, grab a weapon. Focus on getting everyone off the ship!” Sozia ran alongside Sean as he made the command to get ready. They both knew it was coming, but maybe there was an ounce of hope.

“Captain, you focus on getting a distress beacon off.” Sozia said, stopping off at her room. This is where her combat armor was – it'd be useful to get a hold of it before going on the offensive.

“What do you intend to do, Sozia?” Sean asked. Even if he already knew the answer, he didn't like it.

“If you go there as-is, the enemy will overrun you... I'll go intercept them and change their focus on the ship.” It was... wreckless, but required. The enemy would work on isolating them as much as possible. This boarding crew – whatever they were here for, they knew how to disable most of their primary systems and had some sort of agenda for boarding the ship. It'd be risky for both of them. They went their separate ways. Sozia would only have to go a short distance before reaching her destination, and the enemy would most likely have to pass through her to get to the captain.


Sozia

Sozia had managed to fight her way to a large cargo room. It wasn't a simple task – but she had made great strides to make as much noise as possible and to try to draw the enemies away from the captain. It wasn't an easy task, as on multiple occassions she had lost her shields. Still, a few medi-gels and she was just fine.

She had taken cover behind a few heavy crates. The enemies began laying heavy fire on her. “Teams continue to the beacon. Everyone else, continue attacking the Biotic and securing the crew.” Sozia could hear it – if only barely. She began to take pot shots wherever she could. Easy shots to disrupt them. But they had her covered in crossfire. While one group shot, the other ejected their thermal clips. She began to become worried.


Captain Sean – Trident Distress Beacon Launch

It was a long hallway that ended at a terminal in the back of the ship. Launching the beacon now might give them a fighting chance. The captain hastily ran his hands over the keys, activating the beacon, he began to record his message.

“This is the Trident. We are under attack by an unknown enemy. Requesting immediate aid, I repeat, this is the Trid---” The sound of pistols being fired in the background. A grunt of pain, and the sound of a body hitting the floor complete the message. His hand drags down across the keys, launching the distress signal. The enemy closed in on his position. A small, three-man squad kicked his body as they try to turn off the beacon. However, one final act of desperation from Captain Sean - the console had a trap in it that caused it to explode right in their face. His corpse almost seemed to have a smile as it now lied accompanied by his three killers.

[spirits breath]

Krypt and Zach, after each getting ready went over to their ship. not the best size for the two, but it couldn't be that bad. They were doing missions together before and preactically used eachothers shielding just to stay alive before. What an experience that was. Seeing a Krogan try to hid behind a human as shields flicked on and off. Though it was mainly Krypt leading with his barrier to help give him the needed cover to actually survive the various bullets hitting him.

The ride seemed longer than it should have, moving at a fast speed but being able to reach out and grab a weapon of the other soldier. Krypt looked over at Zack. "So ever wonder what happened to that Sheperd guy?"

Zack looked at the Krogan, the scaly face looking back at him. "No, I haven't. you ever hear about how many Krogan he killed just to get to that turian spectre?"

Krypt grunted into his next statement. "You know, one day you and me gotta meet that guy. Teach him a lesson. I bet a Krogan spectre could have out matched any human spectre there is, would have killed that turian before he could do anything."

Zack gave a punch to the Krogans shoulder. Metal clinking together, vibration fading at the wrist. "But then why didn't they do it? But he also did have his own ship, we might be... you know we as in the other people the citadel has summoned for this mission. They should be able to hold there ground while we pave the way, showing them why the red x's are a force to be reckoned with!" Zack and Krypt cupped their hands together, then did it with there other hands, forming a large x-like figure, and butting heads lightly. They then separated, giving a short battle cry.

Krypt sat back, giving a toothy grin. "I have always wondered what outhers would think if they saw about twenty of us do that at once. They would probobly leave a wet trail to their homes." He laughed lightly, fading away after a few seconds.

Zack smacked the krogans knee hard. "Dibs on the first kill out of us! Oh and we are here." As the ship stopped, the doors opened up. Zack got out easily, bringing his stuff behind him. Krypt ont he other had to scoot out, gripping the two sides of the door to pull himself out. He looked back at the door, then forwards. He grabbed the rest of his things and headed into the wards, weapons ready, Zack and Krypt went into the warehouse. Scanning around for signs of life, as well as the mlilitary officer that summoned them.

[MidKnight]

Jax was in the club, acting as a bouncer for tonight, the original bouncer was sick for the day, something wrong about his stomach, says something about vomiting on the floor and in disposal trash cans.

"Hey Jax." A young girl called for him, looking over his shoulder, Jax kept his arms crossed and leaning against a wall. Jax has this face that no one can't seem to understand, either he was curious of whats up, or he knows somebody is going to ask a question.

"Yeah?" He says with a grumpy voice, the girl doesn't laugh or give a weird expression. "There are a couple of drunks up in the casino room, they're banging the machines and yelling at them saying how the machine are stealing their money." Jax sighs.

"Alright what you want me to do about it? Rough them up and kick them out." Unfolding his arms and looking up where the gambling machines are, he looks back at the girl, she nods her head. 'This would be fun.' he thought for a moment, he walks up the stairs to where the two peace disturbers are.

He sees the two guys with cup of glass in their hands, knowing the way it looks, these guys were far drunk. He looks back where their seats where, another waitress was filling up a trey of glass cups, as he thought, far drunk. He sighs as he walks towards these two stupidity's. "Hey guys, either get out or seat down."

The two drunks look at the Krogan, both reek in the smell of alcohol. "Well what you gonna do about it you giant lizard?" they begin to harass the Krogan. Taking the harsh words and name calling. The Krogan smiles at both of them, "These giant lizard is going to kick your ass."

The two girls down at the bar were talking for a moment, then they heard a loud commotion from the upstairs game room. All of a sudden they saw a body being thrown down in the stairs, and saw a Krogan dragging another body behind him, the other tried to get up, but Jax kicks the drunk in the chest and grabs him by the arm.

Dragging one drunk and pulling a arm of another was the only fun thing Jax could do around here. First he throws the one he grabbed by the arm out of the club, and the other by simply throwing him like a rag doll. Wiping his hands together, says "a job well done." to the owner, but to him, it was saying, "Bring it on."

Guarding the door again, Jax saw a neatly fitted military officer, he was looking at Jax. Jax didn't like how the officer was staring at him with those big eyes. "I'm guessing your Jax right?" Not making a sound, Jax says "What do you want?" very rudely, the officer was a little intimidated by how Jax was behaving.

"There is something I like to talk to you about, mind if we have a drink?" Jax scoffs and looks back in the bar, "As long your buying, I'll listen to whatever you have to blabber." Walking over to a table, he signals one of the waitress for a special drink. Jax sits down and the officer sits across from him, "So we would like to know something, what was the recent assignment you had recently?"

Jax chuckles quietly, "You mean military assignment? well you could say I was hired by the military to take care of a small problem, thought the military specifically said not to talk about it." The officer sits up straight and stares at Jax, "We know about it. There's this special group we like for you to join, its highly classified and yet we seem to have need of another Krogan on board."

Jax looks at the officer with a quick glance, "Another Krogan? why you need one more? One Krogan is like 1,000 soldiers. But two?" he chuckles, the waitress come by the table and places a drink in front of Jax and another in front of the officer. Jax takes the drink and slams it down. "Well, all I have to say is "I'm in" but where is these special group?" The officer takes the drink, but before he drinks it, he gives directions to where the meeting is being held.

Then the officer drinks the small beverage, then he coughs real bad, "What the hell is that?" he says while coughing, "A Krogan special, only Krogans drink this stuff, it's really powerful stuff, can't believe an idiot like you drink something like this." He chuckles quietly, he remained seated until the officer left. There he pondered for a moment, thinking that this would be fun.

[Atrum Daemon]

Kane’s immediate reaction to the voice of the turian was to reach for his pistol which was concealed beneath his coat. When he recognized the turian as Castor Kilik, Kane’s hand withdrew from his coat, fingers unwrapping from the pistol’s handle. By Kilik’s words it sounded like they would all be waiting for some time still. Kane just sighed lightly and set his bag on the floor and leaned against a large, nearby metal crate.

He wanted to discuss the matter of his fee with Kilik, but thought that would something best left for when the turian fully explained what the job was. After all, Kane charged differently depending on what kind of job he was being hired to do. Something about the whole situation felt a little odd to the man and Kilik’s mentioning of an “unforeseen event” did not help that. However, all that seemed to mean was that one of the other’s tagged for the job was held up.

The other thing that got Kane thinking was the presence of the Alliance soldier among them. That made him wonder even more what kind of job would be important enough to tag someone from the Alliance. He just shook his head and pushed the unpleasant wonderings from his head.

[Gsarge]

Soldonus walked onto the landing platform as he took another look at his pad he’d been given by the general. The rest of his personal effects were in the large bag slung over his shoulder along with his currently inactive weapons and clothing. It had been nice of that krogan to warn him about C-Sec’s crackdown on active weaponry being taken into the wards. Even after taking the time to make sure his weapons couldn’t be used right away, he’d been held up by C-Sec officers because of his background check flagging him for his dishonorable discharge.

It had been so long since he’d last been in council space and he was starting to remember why you didn’t like being in it while stuck in an interrogation room. Damn this red tape and smug officers were pissing him off. Hopefully whatever job he was going to be doing for the good general would be outside the council controlled areas of space.

After finally getting his leave from the C-Sec checkpoint he made his way to one of the rapid transit terminals getting himself a shuttle to the location of the warehouse as he slowly made his way down and saw all the people there as he put his hand in the air and gave a wave to the general as he moved in closer to the group. Making note of all the different people present as he seemed a bit on edge for a moment.

“Sorry about the hold up. C-Sec was giving me all kinds of hell.” He looked over the people present and moved to be able to give himself a good vantage point where he could watch the other’s easily enough along with have a good clear route he could use if he had to make a break for it. “Hope I wasn’t holding you guys up on learning anything important. If not, can I get an idea of the mission specs from one of you guys that did hear it?”

Soldonus might have had a better idea of how bad this mission was going to be for their health than most of the other members. The kind of rewards he was being offered, they might be doing something as or even more crazy than what Shepard did fighting the geth and the rouge specter.

[MidKnight]

Carrying only what he has on him, Jax had a shotgun, which was attacked behind him on his lower back. Walking down a corridor, he stopped for a moment, he takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. He remembered seeing someone named Shepard, how he took down a ship called Sovereign, killed a lot of Geth, and saved the galaxy. But he also heard there was one Krogan that helped him. He wanted to know who this Krogan was.

Walking around, looking for the warehouse where he could meet the others, he saw several Krogans wearing the identical armor and helmets. Jax knows they were mercenaries, guns for hired. One of the Krogan mercenaries saw him staring at them, they both thought he was looking for trouble.

They walked up to Jax, but he couldn't tell if they were looking at him, although the way the helmets stared, made it obvious. Stopping in front of Jax, one on the left asked him a question, "What the hell was you staring at buddy?" the other stood there, waiting for Jax to answer. "Two dead mercenaries to get the hell away from me, but if you don't get away from me, I'll make sure that happens." Reaching for the shotgun attached to his lower back, the mercenaries both stared at each other. "Hey now, we already got one job, we can't mess this up." the mercenaries walked away.

Scoffing at their so called "aggression" Jax walked away from them as well. Finally finding the warehouse, Jax saw there was others, and one of them made a statement of how C-sec was giving him hell, walking up behind him, he scolded at what he said and laughed, "I made all kinds of hell for C-sec, but apparently too afraid to arrest me. I think they know I'll demolish their, "Cell holds" and the rest of their precise office." walking away and leans on one of the cargo boxes. "So whats so damn important about this job? I heard they were giving out good credits, I guess you guys are sure desperate to hire mercs."

[Greatak]

"Keelah se'lai. I'm sure you've already intercepted the distress signal we picked up. We're invoking control of your ship to investigate." The flickering image of Admiral Koris made Marlo wonder why they bothered with visual communications, it's not like they could get any additional body language.

"May I ask why, Admiral?" He thought for a moment to decide which distress call the Admiral was referring to, he made a habit of intercepting any that reached his comm array.

"We're keeping our options open, and that system contained a potential world for colonization."

"That ship was a human exploration vessel, they were investigating their own colonization efforts, and that call didn't sound like a mechanical malfunction."

"Exactly why we're sending you. It's a remote interest, so we're not risking any of our naval vessels, and your ship is, by far, the least densely populated. You're more than armed enough to handle yourself and we're stationing a handful of marines aboard. Remember your agreement with us. Details have already been forwarded to you." Marlo acknowledged the arrival of his military escort and terminated the connection.

A short stroll later and Marlo found himself being introduced to his new passengers, all standing at attention for presentation to their new Captain. "Keelah se'lai. Dest can lead you to your chambers, I ask only that you avoid too much wandering, there are several ongoing experiments and I can't be held responsible for any lost productivity, on either of our parts."

"We'll do our best to stay out of your hair. Here's hoping our presence is a nuisance." The marine saluted smartly as his new Captain turned to leave. "Keelah se'lai."

"Dest, plot a course for us, and invite the Sergeant to the bridge for arrival. Put us on the edge of the system and favor shields to gravity. Close the shutters and let's hope these guns work, stay on your toes." He stopped talking briefly before he saw what Dest would reply with. "You understand that it's an idiom, don't start."

"Of course. Breaking formation and notifying the crew. Estimated time to arrival, 20 hours. In all likelihood, we will be the first responders." The core revved up and there was a sudden lurch as the ship flung itself to the stars.

[StormWolf]

Nathan stood at attention as the Turian general presented himself, though he didn't salute the officer. As far as Commander Wolfe was concerned, he was Alliance military, so he didn't see why he had to salute someone from a different racial military force. Still, Nathan stood straight as an arrow, his eyes glowing faintly in the dark room, his real eyes behind those false lenses.

"Forgive my not wanting to follow your orders blindly, sir." Nathan said in that slightly mechanical voice of his, his scars faintly glowing from within. "I am going to need a whole lot mare than a name and a few diplomatic words to convince me not to drop you.... or anyone else in here." Nathan turned, glowing red mechanical eyes scanning the others. His gaze lingered on the Quarian, a voice in his head muttering something about complications that somehow drifted over in to admiring her shape.

"It is my assumption that you expect us to do something not entirely legal. That is why you called us here instead of the Presidium, with all of it's eager ears and watchful eyes." Wolfe walked up to the Turian, looking him in the eyes. Not challengingly, but defiantly.

"I have no grounds to trust you on, and I have no reason to trust anyone else here. You been treating yourself to too much Serrice Ice Brandy, or are you that delusional?"

[Barakna]

An older turian stepped out from the shadows. Castor Kilik. The man who had summoned everyone present, and a few more it seemed.

Tiri gave a short salute in the presence of a higher ranking officer. This might be some highly secret mission, but she was still a soldier.
He spoke of unforseen events though wouldn't elaborate any further. He just stood there, looking passive.

Some minutes passed before yet another one showed up. Another turian. Not only that, he was an outcast. His face paint didn't match any known turian settlement, which mean he had suffered the dishonorably discharge. Tiri looked at him with some contempt.
"We have yet to be briefed." She said to him, not hiding her discontent.

She was just about to add soldier to the sentence, but was cut off as a Krogan interrupted. Bragging about how he also had trouble with C-Sec. Though they didn't dare do anything against him.

As much as she would like to comment on that, one of the human spoke out. Towards the general that is.
He wanted to know why they were summoned. Once his words had left his mouth, Tiri saw the others tense up a bit. All were eager to hear why they had been called. Tiri had to admit, she was curious herself. But under all circumstances, she would follow orders. As any good soldier would.

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

General Castor Kilik (GM)

More arrived. Excelent. Almost everyone had shown up.

The next to arrive was the turian Soldonus. Tiri spoke out to him, it was clear that she wasn't fond of the fact that a turian who had been dishonorably discharged was going to be a part of this mission. There might be trouble between those two, but Castor was certain Tiri wouldn't do anything to jeopardise the mission. He wasn't too sure about Soldonus though.

He was shortly followed by a Krogan named Jax. A prime example of the Krogan race. As tough as a tank and about as powerful.

He saw a few others approach in the distance, the two mercenaries Smith and Krypt, and the turian Quintinus.

"Good, good. Almost all of the pieces are present no-" Castor's thoughts were cut off as Commander Wolfe was about to lose his patience.

"Do not worry Commander. All will soo-" Cut off again. But this time, it was a beeping sound comming from his right ear. Castor sensed bad news.
Lifting his right hand to his ear, he pressed the small earplug and heard the message sent from one of his men.

"A radical change of plans everyone. Looks like he briefing will be short." He said, beckoning everyone to follow. He spoke as he was walking away from the warehouse. "There has been troubling events in the Terminus Systems. Entire human colonies has been disappearing without a trace. Not only that but several other colonies with turians, salarians, asari, and so on. Have been brutally slaughtered." His pace was quickening. "The Council have no jurisdiction in the Terminus, and it would be looked upon as an act of war if they entered Terminus space with a fleet. That is why you are here. You are all individuals with particular skills, military, medically, technically, biotic- you are some of the best the galaxy has to offer. The Council needs to know what is causing all this trouble."

Castor, and the group was nearing one of the landing platforms near the warehouse. He stopped up and turned to face them all. "The mission will be dangerous. The mission will hold rewards both in honor and in profit. Now stands your choice. Will you help the Council, or leave." Castor looked at Wolfe. "Commander Wolfe, if you agree to this mission. I am asigning you as the commanding officer of the Omaha She will be your method of transportation. She is made by the most brilliant minds of every race in Citadel space."
Castor paused for one moment. Letting all his words unfold in their minds. And giving them some time to dertermine wether they would, or would not, accept the mission. "Oh, and the reason we are in such a hurry is- One of the individuals I had called for, has been attacked. She is currently analysing various planets for the sake of colonization. And we're going to save her and the crew." Castor finished. He turned around and walked briskly up a ramp and disappeared into the Omaha. Leaving the rest behind, to decide wether they would follow, or not.

If they followed, they would immediately head out to rescue the Asari and the crew.

[Atrum Daemon]

Wordlessly, Kane picked up his bag and followed Kilik onto the ship. The mention of profit had been enough of an incentive for the mercenary to go along with the mission. The little bit of information the turian had given suggested the job was something Kane would have to charge more than his standard fee for. Quickly, Kane caught up with Kilik and spoke to the turian: “You and I will need to get into more detail about just how much I’ll be charging for this job. Not right away, of course. Oh and can you point me in the direction of whatever quartering the ship has? I’d like to get my effects in order pretty quick seeing as we’re heading out directly into action.”

He admitted to himself that he was excited about the job. It sounded like it would prove a legitimate challenge, especially since it involved vanishing and slaughtered colony worlds. If Kane were a few years younger, he would probably be visibly excited rather than wearing the lightly interested half-smile that he did as he spoke to Kilik.

[StormWolf]

"Commander Wolfe, if you agree to this mission. I am asigning you as the commanding officer of the Omaha...."

Nathan's eyes bugged a bit as they stood on the landing platform, eyes like fire surrounded by ice. His brow knitted together in a shallow frown, his face otherwise might as well have been carved from rock. He didn't exactly know how to respond, but his mind races for words. The Commander ended up saluting, if not begrudgingly. Why was he saluting a non-human, of all things? Still, human colonies were disappearing, and that was more than reason enough for the Commander to sigh on, rewards or no.

"I will take command of the Omaha proudly, General. I'll find whatever is responcible for these attacks and make hell seem like heaven when I am done with them." Wolfe said in his slightly mechanical voice. He snapped the salute to an end before boarding the waiting Omaha. He could marvel at the sights later, now, he had a mission that needed doing, a crew member that needed saving.

"Alone or with a crew, it doesn't matter, I am going to complete this mission." he called down the ramp, determination and cold fury burned bright in those eyes of his.

[Cleopatra]

Ulyya listened to the Turian frowning behind her mask. Colonies were disappearing- she wasn’t sure if she should really care, let alone worry about it. Humans, turians, salarian, and asari numbers were in the billions. There were only seventeen million quarians. One half of her mind asked why she was considering doing it at all. The other half of her mind said that if those colonies were disappearing, it was only a matter of time until the quarians were attacked afterwards. Still it seemed somewhat sketchy.

Not that the crew didn’t seem capable. Hell, every one of them seemed very battle hardened and Ulyya was certain that she’d be able to depend on them to do their jobs just by looking at them. The one human, the one called Wolfe, who was supposed to be in command… she wasn’t certain what exactly she felt about that. He seemed capable, but he was also ruthless, she could tell. He was going to be one of those people who lived by the “my way or the high way” standard. She didn’t mind that so long as he made good choices.

What really bothered her was the way he looked her over when he was examining everyone. Ulyya saw how his eyes roamed over her, albeit quickly. She wasn’t certain if she should be flattered or worried. Not that she had anything against humans, but she wasn’t sure if she was exactly happy with the prospect of… What was she thinking? The quarian shook her head and murmured to herself softly “Over thinking, over thinking again.”

She flirted with the thought of saying “No” right then, but she had nothing better to do. Besides, it was a good opportunity to see the world before she resigned herself to life on the Flotilla. Ulyya was nothing if not an opportunist. So she grabbed her bag of belongings and followed the others. She glanced over at the female turian, and decided it was as good a time as any to start getting acquainted. She walked closer to her murmuring softly “Well, this will be fun, don’t you agree?” She picked up the pace grumbling a little to herself at her luck with jobs.

[spirits breath]

((sorry I haven't been dong much lately, procrastinating always comes in))

Krypt had been relatively absent minded on the way to meeting Kilik, but words of war and slaughter rose the inner nature he had. What Krogan wouldn't love those two words placed next to eachother? "Yea yea, the councel. They always have trouble going with them."

He clicked his assult rifle against his armor by lifting it a little and pushing it against him quickly. "How had can it be? Go in kill...whatever, and bring her back. But why is she so important all of a sudden? The councel wouldn't send a task force out to save a human or even a krogan. I would have to hold the detonator to the giant key shaped thing that helps with traveling light speed. Then the councel would give a thought to come after me."

Krypt grunted audibly, and looked down at the ramp. His head rose slightly as he began to walk up the ramp. He grumbled nonsense to himself, ranting about the mission and who he had to save.

((sorry for the length, just a bit tired right now and unsure how to bring me walking up the ramp into anything larger than this.))

[MidKnight]

Jax gave a quick thought for a moment, but when they said profit, he chuckles. Jax was all about the credits, he didn't care about ranks or pretty uniforms. "This is going to be the easiest job I ever took." It was simple enough for Jax, even for an old Krogan. When he heard another Krogan made a remark of the mission, he chuckles, "Yeah tell me about it, I got hired to protect a Salarian, only problem was, I wasn't going to take a missile shot for him."

Walking up the ramp, he looks towards the Turian, "You got good timing Turian, I was getting bored on this station anyhow, this should spice things up a bit, and if not, I might charge you a large ransom, but that will depend on the action that we might see, if they're aren't any worthy foes to fight, then I'm coming after you."

After making that little threat, Jax walks inside the small shuttle and stands in a corner by himself.

[Barakna]

Castor had beckoned everyone to follow, and so they did. Tiri was walking behind most of the present people. She had been asigned to watch her teams back countless times during service under captain Varen. So her position was more out of habbit than of need.
She wasn't the only one to walk in the back it seemed. The quarian in the group walked up to her.

“Well, this will be fun, don’t you agree?” she said softly.

Tiri eyed her for a moment, admiring the details of the quarians suit. She had always thought them rather exotic. Especially compared to the fact that quarians are looked down upon by most of the races.
"Not exactly sure how fun it will be." she let out softly. "What I've heard about the general discomforts me. I don't really trust him, but I will follow orders." Tiri said with an ounce of military pride as she was staring at the back of Castor. He was ranting on about the reason for their mission.

Tiri had to admit, it sounded very disturbing. She actually wanted to join in on the mission now, rather than just follow orders. Looking back at the quarian, she noticed something. "I haven't introduced myself, I am Tiri Zindel of turian military- A pleasure" she added, giving the other female a short salute.

They had reached their ship. A marvel of several races working together to create an incrediable vessel. The Omaha.
General Castor had given command to the human named Wolfe. Tiri was skeptical at the prospect of serving under a human commander. But he seemed to be the only one experianced with leading a group. That and if Castor had given him command, he wouldn't do it without reason.

The human agreed to the mission. Said he would proudly take command over the vessel. There Tiri noticed a feint glow in his eyes, and the sound of his voice.
She hadn't noticed before, but the man had clearly been fixed up with synthetic parts. Probably injuries caused by serving in the Alliance military. This somehow, increased her respect for the man a little. To continue service even after being turned into part machine. Says something about his character. She thought as she boarded the Omaha.

[StormWolf]

And so it begins... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTsD2FjmLsw)

The Commander stood straight as an arrow on the pulpit that overlooked the Galaxy Map, those eyes of the coldest ice and the most furious fire watched as his crew gathered around. He saw that he was the one of the few humans on the Aspects, which made him slightly uncomfortable. He wasn’t comfortable being on a crew with individuals whose cultures or religions he was not familiar with. Too much could go awry. It was a potential powder keg, one giant complication.

His face was in a perpetual frown, a face that meant all business. In the dim lighting, the false lenses of his eyes were transparent, the glowing red mechanical eyes clearly visible, glowing like coals in his skull. The scars emitted their own light as well. Pressing a button on the pulpit, Commander Wolfe activated the ship-wide communications. He had a few rules to lay out before the ship took flight.

“All right, Omaha, I am only going to say this once. I would highly advice the shutting of your mouths and the opening of your ears.” Nathan stood atop the pulpit, hands folded at the small of his back. His gaze traversing all of the faces that looked up at him, Wolfe’s voice boomed over the intercom as he gave his dictations.

“Like it or not, I am your commanding officer. The name is Commander Nathaniel Wolfe of the Alliance Military. If you have any pre-conceived notions of me spun in your head, discard them immediately.” The human’s voice was stern and harsh, each word cutting hard enough to draw blood. If he was to gain respect, he had to be hard. He had to be strong, for all of them.

“I am a reasonable man, but I am not a kind man. The mission always comes first. Get that stuck in your head this moment. I am your commander on this ship, challenge my position as such and I will beat you with the chain of command so hard, you won’t know up from down.” Nathan stepped down from the raised pulpit, walking among the Aspects, looking each on in the eye, those burning red synthetic eyes glaring so strong it could probably singe skin if he lingered too long.

“After the mission comes the crew. Every one of you matters, despite everyone’s personal opinions. We all have a reason to be here, and I intend to bring you all back home. Know now that I will never abandon you, I will never send you in to the lion’s den without diving in head first before you. However, if you become a problem and endanger the crew and the mission, I will end you. I will not do so smiling, but I will put you down if you are not worth the problems you cause.” Nathan stood before them all, a leader with a determination harder than any Krogan warlord and a self-worth smaller than the Quarian girl’s hand.

“If bad comes to worse and I am not on the ship, you are to wait exactly eight minutes. If I do not make radio contact or send an SOS signal, you are to leave me behind and continue the mission. I am not Commander Sheperd, I am not important, but God knows I am here to make a difference. Am I understood?” Wolfe yelled the last few lines of his speech, driving the point in like a nail.

He did not stand still long enough for the crew to protest his address or ask questions. He went to the Galaxy Map and entered the coordinates provided by the Turian General, the asari they were supposed to save.

“Pilot, I want us at these coordinates before I have enough time to finish putting on my armor, is that understood?” The pilot shot his affirmative back and the ship began disembarking from the Citadel.

“If anyone has any urgent matters they wish to discuss with me, I will be in my quarters.” The Commander picked up his duffle bag and vanished inside the elevator, taking him up to his cabin. Once there, he set his armor down and stumbled to the sink. His heart was affecting him again. Having another fit in his chest. He felt sick to his stomach; as though it would return everything he ever ate to the sink. He had been fighting that one episode the entire speech.

“Pull it together, Nate….” He muttered in that metallic voice, filling his hands with water and splashing it over his face. This was the first mission he had been on since…. Since he was what he was now. He wished he was normal again. It would be hard for the crew to trust a man who was almost just like Saren in compound: Half organic, half synthetic. Would they trust him? Would they follow his lead or would they band against him? God, he was going to have wings of grey at his temples by the time he was forty if he kept this train of thought going.

Wolfe removed his jacket, only briefly looking at the scars on his muscle-ripped arms before he started donning his armor. “’Duty is heavier than a mountain; Death is light as a feather…’” he muttered. That was what his father had told him since he was a boy. It was kind of his mantra. It always kept him cautious and focused on the mission. Nathan flexed his right arm, sure it looked and felt real, but it packed enough wallop to give a Krogan a bruise; his organic arm just as much, thanks to the genetic engineering. Was he even human, himself? God, he wished he had his old body back. This…. Thing…. It scared him a little. He could end up hurting or killing one of his crewmates on accident. Nathan frowned deeply on that thought, slamming his fist in to the wall next to his closet, warping the wall and scraping off some of the paint. With a sigh and a run of his fingers through his short hair, he donned his Titan armor without much haste. This was his duty. He had to lead by example, as he always did. He had to lead this crew of non-humans to save human colonies from extinction. Those wide and muscular shoulders sagged a bit, as if the pressure of the mission was actually pressing him down. Nathan frowned, that stubborn and defiant spirit of his flaring, that fire in his belly with it.

“We have a job to do, so see it through to completion, get your people home safe. Nothing else matters.” Wolfe said to his reflection in the viewport.

[Greatak]

"Destination reached, landed near outer rim gas giant, discharging drive. Long range scanners have pinpointed the world in question as well as what seems to be approximately two vessels in orbit. One of them matches the signature of the Trident. The other one has no descriptive emissions, but is sized like a large cruiser. Probably pirate in origin. There's several hours of lag, but their behavior does not imply they have left." Dest finished her report as the low hum started as the capacitors drained.

"Bosh'tet. We can't compete with that." Sergeant let his thoughts escape upon the appraisal of the situation. "Apologies, Captain. It's your call, but is this ship even armed?"

Beneath his mask, a grin spread itself over Marlo's face. "Sergeant, have you ever heard of the Kzinti lesson?" He got no response from the quarian in front of him. "The Admiralty clearly cares about this planet, and there's some folks in need over there. The good of the Fleet applies to more than just migrant ones you know. Dest, the drive discharged?" A voice chimed in affirmative. "I advise you strap in for this jump. Inertial dampeners are only so effective." Marlo took his seat in the helmsman's chair and the display lit up before him. The sergeant's posture slouched as he practically fell into a seat, having no idea what was about to happen. Similar notices were reported to the crew throughout the ship.

A few minutes later, the cruiser was bombarded with some x-ray radiation as a small ship ripped across its nose. Kinetic barriers flared as what appeared to be a reckless pilot just about hit them. Not at all expecting the new arrival's destination to be anywhere near them, they didn't bother spinning up point defenses to track it, so when it dropped out of FTL it caught them off guard.

"Dest, you located their drive core yet?" The ship chimed in affirmative and the tiny research vessel did an about face. "Project rarefaction cone over the thrusters and pulse." The ship again chimed in affirmative along with some rapid tapping of holokeys under Marlo's fingers. "Here we go!"

The pirate vessel by now had anti-missile defenses trained on the much smaller vessel, though they held their fire, utterly perplexed at what was going on. This was supposed to be an isolated target, on the fringes of occupied space, what was this ship doing there? But then the ship turned around, presumably to leave, realizing it had the wrong planet. An engineer somewhere opened his mouth to mention something about proximity but he was cut short by a massive tremor that shook the ship and numerous alarms about outgassing and hull breaches. The research vessel has just demonstrated the military efficacy of civilian drive systems, at ranges too close for kinetic barriers to do anything. A fusion engine pulse through a mass-effect field to push it past light speed, then passing outside of the field and shunting it back under light speed, releasing all of the excess power as Cherenkov radiation that bombarded the much larger vessel as the thrust plume of the smaller ship sliced through the hull of it's much superior counterpart. By the time their guns started firing at where the attacker was, it had disengaged, leaving the completely unprepared ship with a gaping hole in its side and significant damage to their drive core, preventing them from simply jumping away as well.

"What the hell did you just do?" The sergeant struggled to keep his voice from betraying his shock.

"Don't you keep up on your history? The opening salvo of the First Contact War was against unprepared scouting vessels. They managed to do some damage by pointing their thrusters at the enemy as they attempted to flee. We may have crippled their drive core, but this isn't over." Marlo prepared to make another strike, bringing the ship around and choosing his next target.

[Cleopatra]

Ulyya smiled behind her mask at the turian’s response of “Not sure how fun it will be.” She had to remind herself to put more emotion in her voice next time. She was still fighting the habit of not doing that. On the Flotilla they occasionally took their masks off since it was a typically stable environment, so they could grow accustomed to what kind of tone they used with sarcasm and joking tones. She always had to remember to bring emotion back into her voice when not on the Flotilla, especially around tuirans. But when the female said that she didn’t trust the Commander, the quarian nodded her agreement. She knew exactly what she meant. “I am Ulyya’nah vas Temara.” She did not salute back, as she was technically not affiliated with any military group.

The ship itself was a wonder, built for one purpose. It was like a patchwork of technology and design. Some of it she recognized as Tuiran, there were some traces of Asari, certainly Salarian, and defiantly human. Nothing Quarian of course. Ulyya could spot at least five improvements she could make just by looking around. Quarian innovations were one of her specialties, and she loved tinkering and fixing things up. That was not her purpose of course, but it was somewhat fun to think of all the things she could fix up and improve.

It was driven from her mind when the Commander started to speak however. It was… not a motivational speech by any means. She felt that although the Commander said that they should put any pre-conceived notions of him away, she was correct in her assumption that he was going to be a “My Way Or the High Way” leader. There was nothing in his speech to suggest otherwise, although he said he was reasonable. She tried to concentrate seriously on his speech, but Ulyya kept finding her eyes wandering to Wolfe’s many prosthetics. The eye in particular was somewhat interesting. Once again she thanked the ancestors for the mask that kept her face hidden. If she hadn’t had it, he certainly would have noticed her looking all the circuitry over. The other members of the crew were a mixed lot to be sure. Humans, Turians, a couple Krogan… certainly a mixed basket. She was glad of the Krogen though. It was odd, but she found them to be the more fun of all the species. In past missions with them, she had upgraded their weapons the most to keep them happy, and in return they watched her back, so to speak. It tended to turn into brother-sister relationships almost, although she knew she absolutely shouldn’t expect it of these Krogen.

Mind focused, Ulyya’nah, mind focused… As soon as the Commander left, she gathered her bag and began scouring for a place for her to stay. She found suitable accommodations that were nicely situated between the armory, and the engine room. Since she would be spending most of her time in those places, it was a good spot for her. Besides, the room had a window. She liked that. Soon she had set the room up to her liking, with her things put neatly away, and her gadgets and tools in various places. After that was all done, she went to the mess hall to eat.

As soon as the food was on her tray she returned to her room to eat. There was no way she could eat in the mess hall, since she hadn’t properly cleaned it to suit herself. And since her room was really the only room she could really clean to her liking, she would have to spend most of her free time in there. “If anyone urgent matters they wish to discuss with me, I will be in my quarters,” she muttered laughingly to herself as she went into her room, remembering the commander’s speech. “Like that'll happen. We just get called.”

[Atrum Daemon]

Kane rolled his eye and walked away as Wolfe gave his speech. The part that got him to walk away was when Wolfe fully admitted to being an Alliance officer. Kane had heard plenty of Alliance officer speeches before and he wasn’t about to sit through another when he could be getting his things in order. As he stepped out of the elevator and headed to his quarters, Kane could not help but wonder at just how long Wolfe had been using those synthetic eyes. That led him to wonder how much more of the commander’s body was machine. He shook his head to discard the needless thoughts and focused on getting his gear in order as the door to his room slid open, then slid closed behind him.

He set his pistol down set to the two weapon cases he pulled from his bag. From within the bag, he also pulled the customized body armor he normally wore under his protective coat and set the armor on the desk. With a light sigh he removed the beret that once bore the seal of the Alliance Special Forces from his head and tossed it on the desk as well before removing the normal eye patch he had been wearing and pulled on the specialize eye patch that also functioned as his synthetic right eye.

He opened the two cases and set the Widow and Vindicator on the bed after the weapons unfolded. He went to work inspecting the three weapons before the mission. It was an old habit of his that he would not soon discard.

[Gsarge]

Soldonus start walking onto the ship with a sigh gently giving the Turian female a light tap on the shoulder with his fist as he was walking next to her. He shot her a smile and gave one to the Quarian and then hung back as he made sure everyone else that was coming was in the ship as the doors closed up becoming airtight. He could feel it, everyone that knew what his face paint really stood for didn’t trust him. Well sucks for them because he was going to do his damnedest to keep all of them alive so they could get to see the end of this mission. Whether that meant a well timed application of medigel or pulling the trigger that sent a bullet speeding into another sniper’s skull.

While their new commander gave his speech about taking the lead of the vessel and that he wasn’t Shepherd. Not like that really mattered to Soldonus, he sure as Hell wasn’t Garius. He kept his eyes trained right on Wolfe the whole time noticing the sheer amount of inorganic parts that had been used to repair his body. Damn half the crew would end up thinking of Siren every time they would look at him. Well, he was calling the shots for this mission so he was the boss. As long as he didn’t give orders like his last CO had. It was all going to work out fine. Surely the mission wouldn’t have need for killing unarmed civs or children not even of fighting age that just happened to have a weapon. The speech was wrapping up. Maybe it was a good idea to give Wolfe a heads up about him just so he knew. Really from what the guy had to say about himself, he liked him. It wasn’t about honor or glory it was about saving lives and getting the mission done with the fewest causalities that could be managed on their side. He really could get behind a mission like that.

He managed to quickly find the captain’s quarters as the door opened up for him. Whoa open door policy was no joke among humans. He walked in seeing Wolfe getting on his armor. He was a bit surprised by just how much cybernetics was in the commander. He had seen more on some of his COs before but humans not so much. He was hoping to be able to get a better understanding of just what parts of him he could still patch up in the commander.

“Mind an extra pair of hands sir? Soldonus Tarn. I was hoping I could speak with you before deployment. Figure I might as well be useful while I do. “ He moved in slowly making sure Wolfe could see he was just making sure everything was in place on his armor. “Look Commander, I know you might not understand Turian face paint but well mine’s the way it is because I’m no longer allowed to wear my home insignia. I just figured you should know you had a crewmember on deck that was discharged from the Turian military for assaulting an officer. Course I don’t have any real problems with authority, Sir. It’s just well…I shot the pistol out of my CO’s hand because he was getting ready to shoot this boy that was so scared he could hardly hold the pistol he had pointed at my officer straight. My CO was yelling at him, it was gonna get bad. Two shots, one for the kid’s and other for my CO’s. Kid ran off and my CO got so mad he stormed over and started swinging at me right there.”

He tapped Wolfe’s shoulder with the side of his fist as it looked like everything he figured the commander would be comfortable him reaching at was secured and ready. “Good to go, Sir. Anyway, shouldn’t be an issue, Don’t think our mission will have you pointing guns at anyone without the sense enough to know that if they draw it their life is in their hands. Oh and rifle butt trumps fist it would seem.” He chuckled and stood at attention awaiting any comments or to be told to get off the ship after this sortie.

[MidKnight]

Jax walks down a couple of corridors and into a cargo bay. He liked how big the space was, he could see and hear everything. Feeling comfortable about how roomy it was, Jax relaxed himself by leaning on one of the containers.

Staying there by himself, he heard a couple of crewmen coming down and checking on supplies. Jax sighs and walks over on the other side, taking his weapon and placing it on a small box, Jax sits on a smaller box, there he was thinking to himself.

He heard the two crewmen talking to each other, then they seen the Krogan, one of them said something and the other laughs. They were making jokes of Jax, how big his hump was, things they called him, which of course he had never heard of them, like "The Hunchback of Notre Dam"

The first crewmen looks over and makes another joke, this angered Jax. "You got something to say?" He said aloud so they could hear him, the both crewmen looked at each other then at Jax, "I was thinking why you are called "Krogan" when you should be called "Camels." said one crewmen, the other laughed, "Because you look like an animal."

Jax was furious, he rushed towards the first crewmen who made the joke, pushing him against one of the containers, Jax placed his arm under the crewmen's chin, choking the man, the other tried to get the Krogan off, Jax hits him with his other arm. Jax lift his arm up, the man begin to suffocate. "Human, my face is going to be the last thing you'll ever look at."

[StormWolf]

Wolfe tensed momentarily as someone entered his cabin. Hands balled into fists and his pulse hightenened in anticipation. When the Turian raised his hands, Nathan relaxed a little. Still remaining there with his military stiffness, putting on his gauntlets.

He listened intently to Soldonis as he told his story while helping put on the advanced Titan IV armor. The Commander remained quiet during the entire thing, strapping on his off-hand ammo backs and grenade belt. When Soldonis finished, Nathan turned to face him.

"Well, Soldonis, I must say, I admire that leap of action you took. I would have given you a metal." Wolfe said dryly, but sincerely. Folding his hands behind his back, he stared Soldonis is the eyes.

"So, while on this topic, I have an order for you, one that you must fulfill if the need arises. If I ever pull a gun on a child, ever," Nathan pulled his pistol from his hip, the Hand Cannon unpacking and tapping the barrel against his temple. "I want you to take your gun, and empty it into my face. Can you do that? Hopefully you won't have to..."

*Sir! One of the Krogan are assaulting a crew member!*

The Commander growled to himself. "Carry on, Soldonus. Report to your station. I need to go fix this problem." Nathan then stalked off, going down to the cargo hold.

***

"JAX!" The Commander roared, his pistol in hand and obviously loaded. "drop the Ensign or I drop you!" Nathan aimed the heavy pistol at the Krogan, cocking the weapon.

"You are already causing problems, and we are not even through the Mass Relay. This isn't your shit-hole of a rockpile, Jax. We have rules that have to be followed andorders that need to be obeyed. If your brain can't manage that then you have no place on this crew!"

[MidKnight]

Jax heard the Commander, he looks over his shoulder, then back at the Ensign, then back at the Commander, feeling rather disappointed about not killing the pathetic human. He lowers his arm, then he picks him up by the collar of his neck and throws him next to the Commander's feet.

"If you say your men are strong, then they are not compared to what I fought back on Tuchanka, where we fought with honor, disciplined, and strength. Back on my homeworld, there are certain things that really mattered. Back on my home world, I had to survive on my own, I had to eat Pyjaks that keep stealing what supplies I had left, I fought others who were a disgrace to my race." Jax started to pace back and forth.

"If you want me to kill for you, then give me a damn target, I've been getting edgy lately, I wanted to kill with my own hands, I wanted to smother something and crush it with my feet. I feel like I have to go through my Rite once more, but no."

Shaking his head, he turns around and heads back to where he stood, looking back his shoulder, he glares at the Commander, "You want me to kill, then tell your men to keep their distance, I might end up killing that pathetic human, and it won't be pretty."

The Ensign coughed and held his throat. "Sir, I'm sorry sir."

[StormWolf]

"Dismissed, Ensign." Wolfe barked at the coughing crewmember, who started at the Commander's harsh tone and retreated. Nathan glared at the pacing Krogan, a displeased sneer twisting his face.

"I don't give a good god damn about what happened on Tuchanka, Jax!" Nathan spoke just short of yelling, the subtle mechanical drone beneath his voice easily audible. "Even if you said you ripped a Reaper apart with your bare hands, I don't don't give a flying fuck. You are not alone on your homeworld. You are on my ship. I don't give a shit about your itchy trigger finger until you start scratching, then I'll just cut off your hands." The Commander strode up to the Krogan, staring him in the eyes, their faces inches apart.

"You will get to kill under my command, but you will kill what I tell you to kill, when I tell you to kill. I need that to be perfectly clear. And if you want less contact with my crew, pick a different spot on the ship. I would prefer you just bit your tongue, kept those claws of your at your sides and stopped pacing like a god damn animal. Too much is at stake here for your insecure temper to cause problems. That is all." Turning on his heel, Nathan withdrew from the cargo hold. Let Jax stew for a while. If he stepped out of line again, his quarters would be moved to the airlock.


Commander Wolfe stepped into the mess hall, getting his tray of rations and taking a seat at an abandoned table. The grub was quite good for being packaged protien and vitamin suppliments. Probably doused in salt. Not that it mattered. It got the job done. He would have preferred a brew or a glass of scotch with his meal, rather than water, but Nathan wouldn't complain.

[Barakna]

As Tiri and Ulyya walked up the ramp, Tiri felt a soft tap on her shoulder. She turned her head and was now face to face with Soldonus.
The other turian gave her and Ulyya a smile as he walked past them. She sneered at him as he entered the ship.

"The nerve." she mumbled. Her voice vile with contempt. She wasn't looking forward to this at all. Every time she felt for the mission, Soldonus would pop in her head with his damned custom face paint.

She was still grumpy as she entered the ship along with Ulyya. As the doors closed behind them, Tiri heard the familiar sound of the air locks closing and the lights from the contamination scanner. Once the mandetory scan had completed, the doors slid open with a soft swoosh sound. And the two females could enter.
The Omaha looked as extraordinary on the inside as on the outside. Eveything was on the ship was cutting edge technology. Tiri had never been much interested in ships, they were just means of transportation or combat. As long as they worked she was happy. But the Omaha. Now here was a ship worthy of attention. Tiri had served on many ships, most recently the one asigned to Captain Varen. And none of them could be compared to this one.

Tiri's admiration of the ship came to a hold as the human Commander. Wolfe. Demanded their attention. As the man stood there, looking down on everyone assembled, giving his inspirational speach to all the crew members. Tiri felt her whole body tingle. His voice demanded discipline, the sound of his authority was further intensified by his slightly synthetic voice.

What doubt Tiri had previously felt for the commander had vanished. She now knew why the General had appointed this human as the commanding officer of the Omaha. "The General" - Tiri looked around, she had seen Kilik board the ship, but where was he now? He could be anywhere on the ship, hell. He could even have slipped out as they were boarding the ship.

Wolfe ended his speach. Tiri saluted him subconsciously, out of habit, as he walked away, to the captains quarters. She was still thinking about Kilik. "Where could he be?" - No matter, where ever he was. He certainly wouldn't be found unless he wanted to be. Tiri decided to go look for somewhere to place her things, rather than chasing an evasive old turian general.

Tiri asked one of the staff members, a very thin and tall human, of the Omaha, where she could put her things. The man pointed at an elevator further back which could take her to the top deck where the bunk rooms were located.

She found a suitable bunk to place her things, the top bunk in a corner suited her just fine. Using her biotics, she generated a mass effect field and let her few belongings fly over to her chosen bunk, and at the same time, removed her handcannon from the bag along with her light armor.
It only took her a few min to equip it and ready herself for their rescue mission. She would like to get something to eat before they reached destination. So she set out to find the mess hall, or someone to point her in the right direction.

As she reached the mess hall she went over to a Salarian, handing out food trays to various people.
"Greetings turian, I'm Saelem the chef, welcome aboard, how can I help you?" he said speaking fast. Salarians always spoke fast. "Some food would be appriciated." Tiri kinda liked the salarians. She liked getting to the point, and that was always swifty accomplished when speaking with one of these hamsters on coffee.
"Here you go, one turian meal, fit for a king dare I say?" he said handing her the tray. Upon expecting the meal, she recognized some of it, turian cuisine. Always nice knowing that the chef is capable of preparing meals for turians and quarians.

As she was looking for a seat, Tiri passed Wolfe. "Sir!" she said, saluting him as she went by.
She continued over to a nearby table, sat down and began eating her meal. Tiri was eager for their arrival to their destination. And it shouldn't be long now.

[Atrum Daemon]

Kane had found his way to the mess hall after getting his gear squared away. The food was about what he expected it to be, but found it adequate nonetheless. After eating, he fished around in his coat pockets and produced a square, metal case and a metal lighter from one of the inside pockets. He flipped the case open and chose a cigarillo from within and snapped it shut. He screwed the cigarillo between his lips and lit it with the lighter. He had made sure to choose an out of the way seat in the mess hall to minimize any complaints about his habit.

Kane also pulled out his personal data pad and started making back ups of the most recent information he put on the data pad onto several disks that would then be put onto his Omni-tool later. The information was mostly his updated account balance and most recently added contacts and removed contacts that had screwed him or tried to screw him.

[Ushima]

Zach was meditating in the armory. He preferred to be out fighting but he knew it couldn't always be that way. It was his friend Krypt who told him to meditate and it really has helped with deal with his anger problem. "I still prefer combat." Zach said as he stood up. Checking his equipment locker and confirming everything was in order he left.

He decided to familiarize himself with the ship. He went to the bridge, talked to some of the crew there. It went well in his opinion. Some of them even had heard of him before, from when he served in the military. Needless to say the fed his ego a little bit.

It was the loud growl that caught his attention. "When was the last time you ate?" Someone said passing him as he stood in the hall. "That was loud as hell." They said again over their shoulder.

Sighing he made his way to the mess hall. "Is any of thhis stuff good?"

"The best I guarrantee." The chef, Saelem said.

"Great. I'm starved and I believe you can help me solve this problem." Zach grabbed a tray. "Whatever you recommend." A large meal was placed in front of him.

"Enjoy!" Saelem smiled at him.

"Oh this looks good. Can't wait." Zach sat the closest table he could find and began eating. "Note to self, remember to eat regularly now." He said between bites of food.

[MidKnight]

Jax glared behind the commander's back, "When this is over, I might kill you in the end." He says aloud before the commander left. Jax tended back to where he mostly stands around. Leaning against one of the containers again, he lowered his head and gave a big grin. "This should be interesting." He chuckles.

He heard a loud cling, he looks up, a human, another crewmen, this time however: female. She dropped a large wrench on the ground, by accident of course. "I thought I told your damn commander to leave me alone!" He yells at the young girl. "H-hey! I'm sorry alright, but right now I have to keep up with Maintenance around here, and if I don't keep up with my job, my ass is on the line and I might just give you hell for it."

Jax glares at her threat, then the young girl looks away, "I mean, um I didn't mean it like that." she tries to explain her statement, but Jax sighs and looks down, "Ha, what is your name human?" he asked, the young girl looked confused for a moment, "Sarah, Sarah Wiltson." Jax stands up straight, "Well, Wiltson, you got a little fire in you, not big, but its good enough." Sarah rubs the back of her head, "Thanks, now if you excuse me, I have to work now." Jax lowers his head, not saying another word.

But Sarah notices something before she turned away, Jax didn't introduce himself, turning back to him, she looks curious. "You didn't tell me your name." She says quietly, Jax gives another sigh, "My name? it's Jax."

"Well Jax nice to meet you." Sarah walks away, Jax watches her, then looks back down on the floor.

[spirits breath]

Krypt got up from his normal position against a wall. He could swear that the armor was flattened a bit but he couldn't see it, nor plans to inspect it or it would bother the heck out of him. guess it is time to check out where I am staying on this ship. Might need to find Zach's as well. He hits me again and I am hitting him back. May have too bring his ass back to bed then. A toothy grin rose on his lips. He walked heavily down the open passageway, looking at the small lables on the doors. He saw a few unrecognisable names, Zachs and then a few more unrecognizable names. Then he found his. Alwas fun to sit in front of a door, figuring out how to open it only to have to his a small button next to it and it opened for him. "already the ship seems to hate me. Hopefully there isn't an AI unit that i find out is messing with me."

Krypt threw his bags on the ground, removing his weapons to be place don a weapon rack. Obviously the owner of this ship knew a krogan would enjoy that sight. As the weapons were lined up for easy reach and retreival, he grunted happily like an artist finishing a masterpeice.

The exiting of the room was simple, he just had to walk by the door and it opened. Too bad it didn't go both ways. Two krogan, how hard would it be to make these just open up as a large mass went in front of it and pushed down a pressure plate or something.

He turned, and examined a sign of the ships interior. His large hand traced it to the mess hall. "Heh heh. grub time! And knowing Zach he is eating right now. Swear for a human, he would be accepted by my family back home. Well not for a while, but give him some of what I eat for a while and if he likes it. Take him home." will need to stick with him or he will end up killed at my feet.

He walked casually down the halls, examining his path as he went so he would remember it. "Well, guess this is somewhat close to home." He walked into the mess hall, sniffing the air. "Smells good in here, hopefully it doesn't reach my room or I may never leave."

[StormWolf]

The Commander had long since finished his rather bland meal, bland compared to what the other crew members got. Nathan preferred it that way, he didn't really have the stomach for richer foods; too many years of eating slave gruel once a week.He now just moved the crumbs around on his tray, spacing.

You are worthless! A worthless, hairless rat! You only exist to do what I tell you to do. You only live as long as you are useful. You gonna cry? Baby gonna cry? You make me sick, you worthless piece of shit!

Nathan could hear a fat batarian yell inside his head. His first owner, all those years ago. The fat bastard left a lengthy resumé of his cruelty on Nathan's back in the form of scars. It was the batarian that drilled that sense of worthlessness into Nathan's head. He was so young, then. Very impressionable. They told him that he was worthless, and if he thought otherwise, he would be lashed and beaten. Being worthless wasn't so bad, comparably.

He's right, you know. You may not belong to someone anymore, but you are still a slave. You have one purpose, Nathan. You need to keep all of your crew alive, complete the mission. If you die in the process, it won't matter. You have no family, no next of kin to mourn you. It will be like you never existed.

The Commander sighed and put his fork down on his tray and returned it to the chef. "Thanks for the eats, Salem." he said flatly to the salarian, not staying long enough to hear what the fast-talking alien had to say. Just when the Commander was on his way back to his quarters, an alarm started blaring around the Omaha. The voice of the pilot came over the PA system

*Attention all hands, prep for jump.*

Commander Wolf turned on his heel and made his way to the armory, swiping his ID through the scanner on his weapons locker, Wolfe pulled his M-76 Revenant (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/5/59/Revenant.jpg) light machine gun from the rack and placed in on his back. He already had his M-6 Carnifex hand cannon on his thigh, so he pulled his M-300 Claymore shotgun, M-97 Viper Rifle, and M-490 Blackstorm singularity launcher from the rack.

While on his way to the bridge, members of the crew made an obvious attempt to avoid the Commander. They tried to avoid the man anyways, but now that he was in full battle-dress, he had a bubble of empty space around him. Going up to the cockpit, Commander Wolfe stood behind the pilot, holding on tight as the Omaha neared the Mass Relay. Pressing a button on the intercom console, the Commander spoke into the receiver with his usual cold, hard, cutting tone.

"All Aspects, prepare to go in hot. In the hangar, double time!" Wolfe patted the pilot on the shoulder, telling him to initiate the jump. The Omaha passed by the Mass Relay, a bolt of pure energy arching towards the ship and creating a powerful mass effect field around it, launching the ship like a mighty bullet through the black of space. Wolfe held on tight, the ship, all matter felt like it was distorting around him. He felt weightless and crushingly heavy at the same time.

Just as soon as the ride started, it was over. The Omaha dropped out of its jump just in time to see a large ship fire a salvo at the pirate vessel attacking their ally's ship.

"Shit. Someone beat us to our own party." Wolfe growled as he broke into a run, getting to the hangar bay to prepare for boarding.

"Aspects, load on to the shuttle. We are going in and getting our Asari. Move, move move!" he ushered his Aspects into the shuttle, getting in last before it disembarked from the Omaha and made its way towards the Asari's vessel. The shuttle was small enough to avoid radar detection, especially during a firefight. This mysterious ship that was firing on the pirate vessel just complicated things a little more. Wolfe looked out the viewport, pressing the comm bud in his ear.

"Omaha, do not fire on the unidentified ship unless fired upon. Concentrate on the pirate vessels and keep the skies clear for our return. I don't expect this to take longer than a few minutes." The Commander released the bud in his ear, turning to the Aspects in the shuttle.

"ETA five minutes, Aspects. Look sharp and watch what you shoot at"


The shuttle brought itself into the Asari vessel's hangar bay, a kinetic barrier was still up, allowing the shuttle to enter and still keep the air contained. Once the shuttle touched down and opened its doors, Nathan pulled his Revenant light machine gun from his back, the weapon unpacking in his hands. He peeked his head out of the shuttle, scanning the hanger with those synthetic eyes of his. There were obvious signs of s fight, the bodies being the most obvious.

Commander Wolfe stepped out of the shuttle in a slightly crouched position, a standard Commando's stance when in the combat zone. Going to a knee, he scanned the hangar bay again. He raised his hand, flashing a hand signal to the Aspects.

Clear. Form up on me.

[Cleopatra]

Ulyya sighed as she picked up her shotgun and slung it to her back. “Oh, boy. Time to kill.” She strode to the hanger double-checking her mental list of what she brought. Explosive rounds, cryo rounds, scopes, med-gel, a meditation prayer in case she started to lose her head… yes, it was all there.

She hated moving right after a jump though. For some reason, she was always a little queasy after they’d been through one, although she’d never heard of it ever affecting anyone else. But it didn’t matter anyway; she’d fight with an upset stomach just the same. Besides, it wasn’t like it was going to get any better what with the chances of seeing a liberal amount of dead bodies everywhere when they landed.

Quickly jumping into the shuttle after the commander, she grabbed a seat and prepared to go into battle. The Quarian nervously brushed a hair off the leg of her black and red battle-suit, the colors and designs standing out in the dim light of the shuttle. From the window next to her, she could see the ship they were approaching, as well as the pirate vessel and another ship that… she must be seeing things, but it looked like…

“A yacht?” Ulyya’s disbelief was obvious to everyone that heard her. “What is a yacht doing here? And why is it fighting with a bunch of pirates?” Not expecting an answer, she sighed and shook her head. “Better not mean more civilians to protect. They make my job so much harder.”

Memories of a particularly bad incident ran through her mind. She’d been trying to save a man who refused to go with the Quarian, saying that she was probably in on the attack so she could scavenge around afterwards. It may have been a bad thing, but Ulyya couldn’t really feel bad when a shotgun from the enemy she’d been trying to save him from shot the man through the head.

A little grin came on her face at the memory. She believed that incident was a sign from the Ancestors that they didn’t particularly care for uppity people either. But she couldn’t dwell on amusing thoughts for long.

They reached the hanger of the ship quickly, and the commander jumped out first, surveying the area. He motioned for them to form up around him with his hand, and Ulyya pulled her shotgun out, holding it securely, tensing up for any sort of ambush. She couldn’t suppress the small excited thrill that ran through her. This is what she left the Flotilla for. This is what made her feel alive.

“Nothing like the possibility of dying in gruesome, agonizing battle to get the blood flowing,” she muttered to herself, scanning the area.

[Ushima]

"Oh hell yeah." Zach slammed his hands on the table as he stood up. "Nothing like a fight after a delicious meal. I could get used to this." He quickly ran to get his gear. The solid black and dull red a heavy contrast to the white numbers running down his right legt. But this armor has saved his life on multiple ocassions. Removing his eye piece, he threw it into his locker and slammed it shut.

This is what he lived for. Fighting. The only thing he could truly enjoy, truly feel alive. His fingers were twitching in anticipation of action. "I've gone to long without killing anything." He put his weapons on his back and sides and sheathed his knives.

Putting on his helmet he went over his checklist. Gernades, shotgun, flamethrower, pistols, knives, medi-gel. all check. He chuckled as he left the room and made his way quickly to the shuttle. "Ready to roll and kick ass sir!" He strapped himself in and the shuttle took off.

Zach watched the Commander check outside the shuttle. If it was up to him he'd just step out and deal with whatever is out there. Though he knows he isn't the only one on board and there are other lives on the line other than his so he isn't really complaining. Stepping off the ship he looked around, taking obvious note of the corpses. "Who wants to live forever right?" Taking his shotgun he knelt to Caommander Wolfe's right. "Looks like we missed the fun here sir."

[Greatak]

The sergeant remained silent for a moment as Marlo continued rapidly tapping away on the console before him, plotting their next target and calculating all the necessary jumps they’d need to pull it off. The sergeant was a military man, and always eager to enhance his ability to fight effectively and Marlo’s tactics while certainly unorthodox, did provide them a means to combat this far larger ship. He wasn’t about to complain, they’d initiated combat and questioning his captain wasn’t going to make it any easier to get home alive.

“If I may, the engines are a good target, limit their ability to maneuver and while their main gun is likely inoperable along with their drive core, better safe than dead in wanting to prevent them from aiming it.” The sergeant kept his mouth shut, doubting what Marlo thought his end game would be, assuming he had a plan.

“Excellent thinking. That was the plan, though this time we’ll have flyswatters to deal with. I’m going to cut the drive before we reach a safe velocity and try to burn out their sensors with the resulting Cherenkov radiation.” The sergeant said nothing, but insubordinate thoughts swam through his mind, surely this man was insane. Cutting the core like that was just as likely to cook them as it was to blind their foe. Almost as if he could read the Sergeant’s mind, Marlo opened his mouth again. “I’ve upgraded this ship with considerable radiation shields and other environmental protections, helps in my work with fragile organisms. It’ll get warm, but you’ll be fine genetically.”

Inertial dampeners attempted to compensate as the ship turned sharply, still at FTL velocities, throwing all sorts of obscure ghosts around as the vector changed. The Destiny Shadow retracted its sensors just before dropping out of FTL and a bright flash of light illuminated the world, bringing the night side of the planet to a sort of twilight with its intensity. The ploy worked, and indeed blinded the GUARDIAN lasers, not that it mattered, as there were none directed in the direction of the thrusters.

“Arrogant bosh’tet. Nothing on this side? Did they think no one would ever get around them? Oh well, cost-cutting, I won’t complain.” Marlo mumbled to himself as he continued keying in commands, tuning the thrusters for another blast. The ship lurched forward again as he vectored thrust and let open the throttle. It cut through the hull once more, gouging a hole through the wing-like array of thrusters, hitting a fuel tank somewhere inside it and detonating, ripping the wing off the ship.

“FTL signature detected. Approximately a half hour out.” Dest chimed in as they disengaged once again. “No heat signature.”

“What? Error? Ripples from our maneuvers?” Marlo rambled on with speculation before Dest interrupted him.

“Signature was quite large, too large for our core. Economic considerations in drive design for every known starship manufacturer would suggest that the ship’s native mass is somewhere between traditional cruiser and dreadnought. A ship of that size would be incredibly difficult to hide and should be emitting heat well over cosmic background.”

The Sergeant wondered how Marlo could be multitasking as he was, but interjected nonetheless. “The Alliance introduced a line of stealth frigates about a year ago, we launched an investigation to figure out what we might need to deal with. We didn’t find much, but a disproportionally large drive core was one thing common to them.”

“Stealth? Impossible. Heat emissions are impossible to mask against cosmic background.”

“Alliance records do mention that. It is possible that a stealth frigate has been alerted to this situation, though why is another question entirely. In the meantime, the pirate vessel’s systems have been compromised and you now have administrative access to all of their critical systems. Shall I begin a download of their databases?”

“All systems? Have they no sense for security at all? Commence download, and cut life support. Just shut down scrubbers, don’t vent atmosphere. Hail the pirate vessel and demand surrender and send out a general hail to the new arrival to establish contact.”

“I just detected a shuttle from an unclear source that docked with the Trident, probably our friends who would like to remain hidden. Pirate vessel reactor safeties were just disengaged.”

“Belay the general hail, see if you can’t reach someone through that shuttle.” Readouts on the screen alerted him that there was a connection active with the shuttle. “Attention unidentified boarding party. This is Captain Marlo’Xen. I recommend you complete whatever you’re attempting to accomplish quickly, as there’s an imminent reactor overload that very likely kill anyone left on board that ship.”

[spirits breath]

Krypt grumbled to himself, going without eating for a while. Doable, not like he had to go longer without anything to eat or drink, brought Zach with him. Made him wonder exactly if that was the reason Zach would eat so much at some meals. Possibly he wasn't made to go as long without food. Always fun to see, the time when they experamented with some plants. Lets just say, after that Krypt would rather starve than eat some bad mushrooms and leaves again. Least the pay was good, and the drinks were free.

He turned slowely, his body seeming to cause the metal below him to have a loud clinging sound. "Guess it is time to ready up." He turned, following the path he just took, going back to his room. The walk wasn't all that long, short but a tedious task when just coming from there. Only this time that changed, he knew how to open the door on the first try, and left with his weapons out.

He grabbed his assult rifle, hand cannon, three grenades, and a few of his cryo rounds. Then without hesitation, grabbed his lucky grenade and strapped it to his side. "Guess someone is going to die today. Certainly isn't going to be me, least I hope it isn't. Haven't been able to spend my credits yet." A deep laugh rebounded in his throat.

He brought all the thermal clips he could and placed them in separated pouches on his armor. His helmet was at his side between his arm. Seemed to smell of some old herbs, a little bit of blood. Who knows what it smelled like, not a new helmet scent in general. "Lets hope I don't need this thing on this mission."

As he left his room, he wondered exactly what would end up happening to him during the mission. Thoughts of how he would die always happened, course the large scale battle before and then a bomb. Zach miss telling him when to detonate. Hooray for metaphores when it came to that guy and explosives.

As he left the room, and began the journey outside, he seemed to check around with his weapons. Cheacking to have the saftey off, and a clip loaded. His suit had sheilds, he was safe if there was a accidental fire. Which brought up another memory, someone trying to intimidate him with a gun, when he had his armor on and she had nothing but the clothes on her. She failed to intimidate horribly, least she is in a nice cell now.

Krypt stepped off of the ship, his feet sinking into the grouind below him. He walked forwards towards the captain of the operation. "So go in, they fire a bullet at us and kill them all. Got it. But otherwise don't shoot. Which is about the only time I have had to say those two words next to each other." He looked around, the air seemed pretty clean. better than going to a swamp and even better than going by someone who puked on themselves after drinking too much.

[Gsarge]

Soldonus walked out of Wolfe’s room and made his way to a room and sat down on a lower bunk as he began to rebuild his guns quickly and quietly by himself. Soon he had his sniper rifle back together on the bale in front of him as he was then working on his assault rifle. All the parts were cleaned and perfectly fitted together. While the others had been eating, he was filling the omi-gel canisters on his wrists so that he could use his tech grenades for the combat. He folded his weapons back up and put them on his back and stepped out of his room making his way to the med bay. He walked over to the medi-gel dispenser. He smiled lightly to himself as he began filling up his containers giving a wave to the chief medical officer while he did so.

“Boy isn’t this awkward.” He spoke to no one in general as he pulled away once he’d topped off his medi-gel and stopped as the announcement about getting into the shuttle came up over the ship’s intercom system. “Well, here’s hoping we all come back in one piece, eh?” He walked out into the corridor and made his way to the shuttle bay and boarded giving a wink to Tiri and taking a seat on the bench with a smile on his face. He gave a soft chuckle. “Hehe, I’m sure everyone is trying to keep in some kind of dower mood for the mission but I just had a recollection of the stupidest one-liner I’ve ever remembered from a human movie from their late 20th century. I think it goes ‘I’m here to kick ass and chew bubblegum and I’m all out of gum.’ Human humor is so strange in its use of irony, but I like it.”

The shuttle lifted off and Soldonus looked around at the other Aspects before he sighed lightly. After a few minutes of what was a very unpleasant ride, the shuttle landed in the other vessel’s docking bay. He waited for Wolfe to go out following close behind him his own assault rifle out and taking cover by a container close by. This was the kind of stuff he was use to; this was the place where he hoped that everyone at least trusted him to watch their backs while they advanced.

[Atrum Daemon]

When the preparation order came over the intercom, Kane quickly put out the cigarillo and headed out of the mess hall back to his quarters. When the door slid shut, Kane quickly shrugged his coat off and strapped on his armor. He decided to leave the coat as it was more suited for longer missions rather than simple in and out rescue ops like the one they were heading to. He strapped his heavy pistol to his waist and his Vindicator and Widow to his back. He was figuring on using the Widow more than the assault rifle if a combat situation arose.

He ended up being one of the last to board the shuttle, not looking at or speaking to any of his fellow Aspects. At the moment, he saw no need to get to know any of them and had to resist the urge to be vocal at Soldonus’ idiotic comment. He remained focused during the entire shuttle ride, touching each of the fingers of his right hand to his thumb. It was a little tick he had before missions that showed his anticipation. Plus, the simple, repeating pattern help keep his mind in one place.

Kane exited the shuttle cautiously, looking around in almost the same way Wolfe had. The Widow unfolded in his hands as he took it from his back and readied it. He stayed near the back of the group in order to provide the best firing position for him if enemies came from the front. Having his pistol close at hand combined with his cybernetic reflexes also ensured that Kane would be able to quickly make a switch if enemies came from behind as well.

The voice that came on over the intercom did little to fill Kane with any new confidence for the mission. He hoped Wolfe would take the message as a sign that this was not a time to be screwing about with cautious movement and was time to get a move on and grab the target and get out before the reactor exploded.

[Greatak]

“Sergeant, is your team ready? We need to get in there and stop that reactor from overloading.” Marlo stood as the console evaporated before him and patted a few pouches on his suit.

“Keelah se’lai. Plan of action?” The sergeant stood at attention, glad to have the chance to be of some use.

Less than a quarian handful of minutes later, Marlo, the sergeant and 3 other marines were gathered in the port airlock. Equipped with an extended air supply, the doors slid open without a sound, the vastness of space open before them. Marlo kicked out of the airlock and drifted away from the Destiny Shadow, followed closely by his marine escort. All of them wielded assault rifles they fired back towards the Destiny for thrust and course corrections. Their tech specialist landed on the Trident first, hacking into the airlock controls and bypassing the outer door. Once in the airlock, boarders in control of the ship locked down the doors, so a moment later an explosion rocked the ship as they blew the inner door open.

“Stay tight, and check your corners.” The sergeant took the lead, low in a staggered stance, he advanced down the corridor, rifle on a swivel, another marine stayed in step with him, with the other two watching their rear with Marlo in the center of the formation. “This is your op, rules of engagement?”

“If they shoot, shoot back. Your priority is getting the reactor stable, don’t let anything get in the way of that goal.” The marines acknowledged and turned the corner, into the face of a pair of armed men who immediately opened fire. Falling back against bulkheads, the marines quickly retaliated, punched through the kinetic barriers and dropped the two men without a second thought. As they moved on, Marlo noted that their jumpsuits bore the insignia of the Trident, must’ve thought they were pirates.

“Hear that? We’ve got company incoming. Double time!” The sergeant made a hand gesture and the team broke into a light jog down the corridor as a group of pirates rounded the corner behind them and opened fire. The marines peppered them in retaliation, but kept pressing forward.

Thankfully, the Trident wasn’t a large ship, and the reactor was surprisingly devoid of guards. The two that were there paid no attention and a swift burst as the team cleared the room neutralized the threat. Locking down the door behind them, Marlo set to work calibrating the reactor controls. The marines busied themselves setting up cover for the inevitable attack once the boarders got their act together.

[StormWolf]

Nathan listened intently on the voice that transmitted to his ear bud. The Commander's frown only deepened and a sneer cracked that otherwise stony face of his.

"Alright Aspects, we are officially Oscar-Mike. We need to get to our objective double time." Wolfe turned to his squad, his glowing red synthetic eyes darting over the members quickly. He studied their posture, their weapons, their faces, measuring and weighing them.

"Let's move out." Wolfe barked crisply, loading an Inferno ammo block into his machine gun before taking point. His stance was that of a hardened military man, someone who had spent a majority of their time and their life doing things like this. Knees slightly bent, stance low and wound like a spring. Wolfe pressed the 'open' button on the door that lead from the hangar into the cargo hold. He pressed himself against the wall, giving the hand signal to stack upon both sides of the door. Taking two breaths, Nathan spun and brought his weapon up. There was a helmeted target in armor without any distinct markings. That was good enough for him. Wolfe charged, adrenaline surging in his veins as he brought the butt of his MG into the pirate's helmet. Once the pirate was down, Nathan went to a knee and made sure the bastard's neck was broken. He peeked around a crate. None of the others seemed to notice.

"Move up." Wolfe said into his throat mic, entering the cargo bay and taking cover against a stack of crates. "Kane, you and Tiri take Krypt and Zach and flank to the left. Soldonis, Ulyya, and Jax, you are with me." With that, Wolfe started to move with his Commando swiftness and efficiency. Wolfe's fire team moved in syncronus with Kane's. The pirates were gathered in a cluster, most of them sitting on crates or rummaging through them. Many had their helmets off so they could drink from their canteens or smoke a cigarette. Bringing up his rifle from his position on the right side of the cargo bay, Nathan spoke into his throat mic again.

"Kane, Soldonis; snipers. Zach, Tiri; ready biotics. Everyone else, line up a shot. Fire on my mark." The Commander trained his crosshairs on a batarian pirate, his finger steadily tightening on the trigger.

"3...2...1...Mark." Wolfe said cooly into his mic as he squeezed the trigger on his machine gun. The inferno rounds tore the batarian apart. He quickly trained on another target, firing his Revenant again, ripping open the pirate's chest cavity.

[MidKnight]

Grabbing several thermal clips and a weapon upgrade "Armor shredder" he loves this upgrade, not only it can tear through organic flesh, but also armor, loading his shotgun, Jax takes a hand cannon gun as well, though he never bothers using the small thing. Placing the shotgun behind his back waist, he also grabs a few concussion grenade shots. Turns around and leaves the cargo bay.

Boarding the small shuttle, Jax wondered how it can hold so many at once, even with weight, but it doesn't really matter to him, he saw the commander kneeling down as he was trained to do this everyday. But Jax got on the small shuttle, he heard a few comments from a Turian, "Hey you either watch my back or I'll tear yours." he snaps at him. Jax has no hate for turians or any of the aliens he is surrounded by. But this coming fight excited Jax, who was filled with so much joy and excitement.

After a few moments, Jax finds himself in another cargo bay area, though this was a little smaller than Omaha's. He heard body landed on the ground, he looked over, it was a corpse of a dead pirate, Jax chuckles when he noticed that the commander took him out. "You always go crazy commando commander?" Jax humored of the situation.

When Commander Wolfe gave out teams and orders, and when he told Ulyya and Jax to follow him, Jax pulls out his shotgun and used the special upgrade, "Just point where you want me to shoot." he says as he cocks the shotgun.

He follows the commander from behind, though trying to hide his large hump, Jax didn't bother if he was spotted or not, he wanted blood, he wanted a fight. When he heard other pirates looking through the cargo, salvaging of what they could find, Jax heard Wolfes' orders. And when he counted down, it excited Jax.

After commander wolfe made his first move, Jax got up and started firing at several human pirates, forcing them to take cover. He walks over to large pillar, same size as he was, he looks over to the other side, a plasma shot whizzed by his head, "Dammit." Jax shouts as he takes cover, "Commander, sniper, watch your ass."

[Cleopatra]

Ulyya cocked her shotgun as she was given orders to follow Wolfe. She would have preferred to work quietly, by picking off the pirates one at a time rather than just burst in and cause a gunfight, but of course she was working with men. Men liked fighting a lot, it seemed to be, and with Krogan in the group, there was no way they were going to have a quiet take-over. No, there would be lots of bloodshed.

The Quarian ran behind a support column, moving from cover only to shoot at people. Because the rest of the team was slowly moving the opposite direction away from her, and thus drawing away the enemy’s attention, she was able to carefully sneak around and kill the enemy snipers before they had time to take out any teammates. It was risky, of course, and she had just crept off without the Commander noticing, but Ulyya knew what she was doing, and she could handle herself. She used her tech abilities to wreak havoc with the enemy weapons, and she and the others used that time to shoot them down.

However, she was too preoccupied with trying to ‘smoke’ a shooter out of his hiding spot to notice an asari creep up behind her and crash the butt of her rifle into Ulyya’s skull. She fell to the floor with a grunt of pain, but she wasn’t as incapacitated as the asari thought, as she quickly rolled to her back and shot the asari in the head before the pirate had time to cock her own gun.

The Quarian stood up slowly, using the canister beside her as support. The room was swimming a little, and so she took corner behind some more canisters and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the world to stop spinning. Still, she mused to herself, it was a good run. Five, no, six down now. She realized with a sinking feeling in her stomach, that she wasn’t with a mercenary group now. Commander Wolfe was going to chew her up and spit her out for breaking rank or whatever the orders had been. The blow to her head must have done a little more damage than suspected, since his orders seemed a little fuzzy now.

“Some medicine for head pains and a good rest will clear that up,” Ulyya murmured to herself. There was no sense in trying to fight for a few minutes, since she was disoriented. She began to use the meditation prayer to keep herself calm and collected while she waited until she knew she wouldn’t vomit if she stood up.

[katosu]

Research Ship Trident – A short time before Marlo entered the reactor

Sozia had since been forced to relocate multiple times. The first time was to meet up with her two new companions, Leeat and Dar, two of the best soldiers on the ship who had been fighting similar battles so far. Together, the three now held a door leading to many of the other civilians in the back of the ship. They were fortified in their position, having brought the crates around the door and bunkering down now. The rest of the room was nearly empty, save a few crates on the opposite side the enemy used for cover. However, once they left that cover, the three had created a kill-zone for any enemy attempting to push.

“Sozia!” Leeat cried out, moving along behind the cover to beside her. He had long, sinuous arms and legs, granting him a great height. Even still, he was very slim, and seemed quite frail compared to his two companion. Sozia leaned over, looking at the Omni-tools screen he brought up before her. “One of the groups have headed for the reactor. Another is making a push for our location.” Leeat seemed excited as he spoke. Dar stayed silent, taking another shot at a fresh wave of enemies that emerged from the door on the opposite side of the room. Dar himself was the opposite of Leeat. Burly, large, and short – he was like a miniature tank in many regards. However, what he lacked in stature, he made up for with an impressive array of weapons hanging from his back.

“Is this really the time?” Dar said, ejecting his thermal clip as he switched over to his submachine gun. “We're low on Thermal Clips, and we have no guarantee that either group is friendly. We're strained just holding this damn position.”

Leeat gave an accusatory glare over towards Dar, but his words were true. “There's only one choice, then.” Sozia said, bringing up her own omni-tool. She transferred some information over to Leeat, who seemed surprised at what he saw. “This is all the information on the trident. Overrides for built-in security, blueprints, access codes... Everything.”

Sozia's eyes held confidence as she said this. She gave a reaffirming look to Leeat. “We're all dead if that reactor overheats.”

“How will I get to them?” Leeat asked. Their position was fortified only because they were at the end of the ship. Sozia motioned with her head for the side of the room – a ladder leading down into the vents. Leeat nodded, as did Dar. The three ejected thermal clips at once, getting ready for a strong push.


The Push

Sozia jumped cover first. The enemies instantly popped from cover, unleashing a furry of shots. She erected a biotic barrier just in front of her, doing her best to deflect any shots that came their way. Occasionally, the stray shot made it through and singed her suite, but it was holding together. They moved quickly towards the vent.

Dar had also popped out from behind his cover and was unloading a persistent stream of bullets. The moment his handgun ran out of ammo, he dropped it and switched to his SMG. When that ran out, he switched to his assault rifle. He even used a sniper rifle to try and buy a few extra shots for Sozia and Leeat.

As soon as they made it to the vent, Leeat left Sozia's protection. He quickly opened the hatch, and jumped into the vent. He looked up at Sozia one last time before she slammed the hatch shut on him. She could feel fatigue as she tried to make her way back to her originally position, but the barrier fell before she could make it to the wall. As she jumped, a single shot grazed her right-side. She fell behind the cover, holding the wound.

“Damn it!” Dar said, popping back out and taking a few more shots. Sozia leaned against the crates, a hand over the bleeding. They didn't have any Medi-Gels left, and she had already had multiple other wounds, but she couldn't stop quite yet. She readied the pistol again – she had been relying on it in this extended fight instead of her biotics, but even then she had to use her skills accordingly. The fatigue was showing both on her body and her breathing.

[Atrum Daemon]

Kane picked his targets carefully, the Widow kicking hard into his shoulder with every squeeze of the trigger. Pirate snipers had never been the smartest or efficient sharpshooters, which made them easy for someone as well trained as Kane to pick out their hiding spots and remove the content from their skulls with a well-placed shot from his anti-material rifle.

A strange sensation overtook Kane’s body anytime he was in heavy fire combat similar to the current scenario. The adrenaline, both natural and artificial, coursing through him made it so that everything seemed to slow down to half normal speed. How long it lasted varied from scenario to scenario. Sometimes it lasted a few seconds or minutes and sometimes it only ended when the fight was over. This time, it only lasted a few moments, but it was long enough to efficiently take down part of the immediate sniper threat.