[color=39b54a]“Listen up, gather around. Look what I found in the captain’s quarters.”[/color] Tonka said, setting down a device that was hooked up to a holoprojector in the middle of the hanger, where the team in various states of readiness looked on as a monochromatic blue popped up. The krogan hit a few more keys, explaining. [color=39b54a]“Some of you might recognize this equipment, it’s a recorder that can be used from anything from recording audio journals to displaying data, like so.”[/color] The hologram shifted to a pair of floating dossiers with batarian faces rotating on top of one another. The lower one was missing his upper-right eye and looked like he had burn scars on that side of his face. [color=39b54a]“Luzami probably kept this around to aid in his briefings and to keep his own thoughts in order, there’s a few different files I found on here two of which are contracts on Omega.” [/color]

Another key was struck, and a distinctly salarian voice filled the air, projecting from the recorder. 

[I]”The job is worth 17,000 credits to the Systems Alliance, and it should be a good place for the crew to cut their teeth, to borrow a rather delightful human saying. The Twin Star was identified during the Skyllian Blitz during the worst of the fighting on Elysium, being immediately noticeable for being an asari military vessel on the side of the batarian invaders. 

How they came across the frigate remains unknown, but things trade hands in the black market all the time. It would be worth investigating if the ship is worth anything to the asari government and if they’d pay for its return, but that may prove to be a tall order to seize and deliver since we’ll be kicking over a hornet’s nest. We know that the main target, Kapan Nasa’kor is the captain of the Twin Star and is the mastermind behind the attacks, and his right hand man is only known by his alias “3-Eyed Zallak”. Both men are wanted by Elysium authorities to stand trial, and that is absolutely a priority. The rest of their crew is considered expendable, and we are uncertain of if Nasa’kor has a strong network of associates or even friends; so far there’s no indication that anyone would be particularly upset if his simply disappeared, and without any known connections to other pirate or slaving syndicates, Nasa’kor is easy credits, assuming the crew is competent enough to fight against violent and ruthless slavers who have combat experience. 

With the dossiers I assembled from the interested parties, I don’t anticipate many issues. Go in, capture or kill Nasa’kor and Zallak, and bring them to Elysium. There’s a 5,000 credit bonus if we do it alive.”[/I]

The hologram changed to a schematic of what appeared to be an old fenced in work facility.

[I]”The crew of the Twin Star is known to frequent a dive of an old worker camp from the earliest days of mining operations on Omega, and it’s been out of use for centuries. A three-story worker housing structure dominates the compound, the ground floor contains the foreman’s office, the cafeteria, a bar and restaurant, and a communal living area with the two upper floors containing 40 rooms a floor.  Given the reported size of the Twin Star’s crew, most of those rooms are likely vacant, but expect at least somebody to be occupying them. 

Next to the mine’s entrance is the operations center where the old mining operations were directed, including dispatching, administration, mobilization, and so on. It’s likely been converted to the officer’s quarters and office, so there might be some interesting intelligence and possibly our targets to be found in there. 

The last of the outdoor structures is a large warehouse and workshop where the mining equipment and raw material was kept and serviced. It likely is being used to store whatever goods the Twin Star crew has obtained from their operations, and the handful of transports they use to get around the station and down the mineshaft are usually kept in here. This is also the building where power and utilities come into the compound, so it may be worthwhile sabotaging that to create confusion.

And finally, what they have been doing with the mine is a tightly guarded secret, and no amount of snooping can ascertain what they’re doing with the space, but it may or may not be worth investigating if we can obtain our targets and get out. Mines are not great places to find yourself if the enemy is expecting you, and ambushes are often fatal. 

I will recommend the team split off and prioritize targets based on intel we gather. The Twin Star crew has boxed themselves into an area where the only escape can be cut off, and no one will be coming to their aid. It will be good to see if my finances are paying for anyone worthwhile, because I need to know I can trust these people when it comes time to do the real job.[/I]

[color=39b54a]“And that’s all there was.”[/color] Tonka said, standing tall and cracking his neck by applying pressure with his fist. “I say we keep this thing up in the cockpit where it can be kept secure and if anybody screws with it, there’s several sets of eyes who will know. As for the mission, easy enough. Slavers and pirates are used to picking fights with people who can’t defend themselves, so it puts their quads in a vice when someone with a bad attitude comes their way. Since we’re doing names,” he said, glaring at Duuka and Vellios before turning to the rest of the crew. 

[color=39b54a]“Ravanor Tonka. Miner turned starship engineer turned mercenary. I know my way around an omni-tool and a sniper rifle, there isn’t much alive that I haven’t killed at some point because hunting people and the fauna’s about the same to me. I was also a scout for my clan, so I’m used to getting in and out of messes without causing a ruckus. I figure my best course of action is to start off on over watch, make sure nobody gets the drop on us, as well as keep an eye out for our targets. Easier to pick out fine details of a face through a scope. Once the outside’s secure, I volunteer to head down the mine and see if anything’s interesting in there. Probably worth checking out that administration building and see if it has some clues. Maybe they’re hording gold that’s protected by a thresher maw.”[/color] The krogan said dryly, crossing his arms and looking around at the assembled crowd. 

Tanya caught Vellios leering at her in the undersuit for her armour, to which she replied with a rude gesture. The meeting took place in the middle of her gear preparation, which was a pain in the ass. [color=cyan]“I’m Tanya, I fix shit that breaks and makes it better. Give me a few weeks, and I’ll have our vehicles and most of this ship fucking flawless. So, to answer Wheelie’s earlier sass, I’m one of the ones who knows what the fuck a wrench is. I know a limited amount of VI programming, just mainly modifying combat drones and turrets, so Serena seems to be the chief in the department of if we want the ship to start telling us how much we want to put it out of its misery.

“Likewise, Wheelie probably knows a hell of a lot more than I do about hacking and communications, so don’t ask me about networks, I’m mainly able to break into the more common systems if I can get localized and about to link in by hand. If someone doesn’t have top of the line encryption, you can bet I can and will flood their security feeds with a shitload of really bad porn. 

“I’m an Alliance trained combat engineer, so if we need to break into somewhere or fix something in a hurry, I’m your girl. I’m also handy in a fight, so I can keep the nasty cunts off our backs if need be. Shithead’s been modified for rockets and flamethrowers and mood music, so we have some extra firepower in a pinch… I can also hotwire pretty much any form of personal transportation. That I learned back when I was one of the only trained mechanics back in Scott. You would not believe the number of assholes who misplace their keys.”[/color] She said, looking around at the group and feeling slightly better about the affairs of things. This was the first step of them actually coming together as a team, and the fact everyone involved seemed to know what the hell they were doing made it seem plausible they weren’t all about to walk into a death trap. 

After everyone had finished introducing themselves and their skill sets, the crew finished individual preparations and began spreading off into their respective teams. It was agreed that the team would set out at the top of the hour, and their first order of business would be to secure transport to the site, which was about 7 kilometers and three sections away. Tanya volunteered to clear out the administration building in case there were encrypted files that needed to be lifted and to tap Mirage into the security systems. As Tanya began to fasten the last of her armour plating, she opened a channel to Mirage on her omni-tool. [color=cyan]“Hey, Wheelie, see what you can find for a ride we can beg, borrow, or steal, because it’s going to be a hell of a long walk. What else do you need me to take care of when the show starts?”[/color] She asked.

Tonka was already armoured up and was busy slotting an omni-blade to the underbarrel mount of the M-55 Argus rifle that was his preferred go-to weapon for close-quarters encounters, which was going to be the order of the day if he had to head under into the mines. Designed for security and law enforcement, the M-55 kicked like a truck even in burst fire, but considering the close quarters of ship combat, it was an ideal weapon for repelling pirates and became almost as comfortable for the krogan as the Volkov sniper rifle he’d acquired after human smugglers brought crates of weapons to Tuchanka after breaking into the krogan DMZ. It was a battered thing, the finish well-worn and several hard gashes across the body gave it a harsh and aged profile. He imagined both would be well-used before the day was out. Satisfied with his preparation, he headed to the still-active holographic map and continued to study it, committing the various paths, structures, and potential flashpoints to memory.