Clean up was easier than Vellios expected. From the last known location of the thugs were finished off or had abruptly vanished, the scarred, black Turian seemed to materialized among the aftermath and walked casually toward the group. He paused long enough to wipe his blade across his leg, smearing the Batarian red blood across his armored thigh. Not fazed by the gruesome display, he quickly flipped it about and insert it into his holster at his hip. Immediately his hand reached to check his medi gel supply then noted he was lower than he would've liked after healing Haze. Choosing now to fix that, he decide to restock by exchanging with one of the mercs in charge of returning the Asari starship back. Thankfully they were willing to take a fair deposit of what meager credit supply he had for additional supplies.

It reminded him he had to seek another way, independent, way to gain credits later.

Vellios leaned against the rig, the one hijacked during the operation, as his eyes studied the Krogan taking lead. He wasn’t one for being highly involved when it came to the final choices so he held back to the background, listening to the conversation. Many would be surprised why he was alive and not some bullet riddled corpse left on a long past battle field since the silent followers were often led to slaughter. Some would assume it was his Turian nature, born and bred to follow orders until the end. Little did they know, any military loyalty never took root in his DNA. Not since the Haides. So any loyalty he did have was usually by his own will and not because of his background, cautiously given. Settling into the metal hull he rested against, he felt the sensation of eyes above him. Curious to the source, he tilted his head to note someone on top.

Tanya.

His lips curled in amusement and delight, her figure perched near the turret ring and overseeing the whole scene. Like a hawk spying her prey or fledglings. Resting his crest against the hull, he let the cool sensation spread along his arching neck. At least until it made it cold then he straightened up. At this point, Tonka’s voice boomed out for everyone to hear.

“Okay, from the files Dex and Drono lifted, we have a mineshaft here that didn’t really get a good lifespan before it was shut down. About six hundred meters down, it splits into two, so we’ll have to split the team into two.

When Tonka said that, Vellios was already considering sticking with Serena. While there were a few good individuals, like Tanya and Haze, he still required more time to be fully trusting toward them. That meant more missions where he wasn’t getting his carapace shot off. His eyes closed while Tonka droned on over the battle plan.

“I’ll take point for one, I used to be a miner so this is like stepping into a crusty ass bubble bath for me. Past that, about another 550 meters the fork ends to the right path, and it looks like there’s surface access at the end. The other side goes about 700 meters but is much more narrow at the end, like they were trying to go far, but didn’t really spread it out to look for minerals or whatever the hell they were looking for. Either way, I’ll head off that way. It sounds like that’s checkpoint central, and I’m itching to get my armour dirty.”

The Turian enjoyed the sound of guns being switched, his eyes opened in time to see the sniper rifle being put away and replaced by an Argus rifle. It rapidly extended and stiffened, clearly eager for a fight when the Krogan finished out with a question. “So, who’s with me?””

First one to speak was Tanya, drawing Vellios’ attention back upward.

“Iosif and I seem to be a package deal here, so we’ll take this here truck down and go to the right towards the wider end, rather not find out the road’s too narrow for us to get down and find another rocket sailing up our ass. We’ll do fire support, and we can probably cover a lot of ground acting like an APC of sorts.” Shouted down the mechanic while she brushed her mohawk into something neater, the messy bangs still fluffed out giving her a bed head appearance. Her figure was relaxing on her helmet and her face held a shit eating grin of satisfaction on her lips when she added. ”You know, I’m starting to like you guys. We still haven’t picked a name for our little team here. What do you say we pick it out over celebratory drinks tonight?”

“You humans drink way too much, but screw it. I’m in this to see this beautiful disaster fall apart, so the scary krogan will chaperone you idiots. Now, can we focus on the job?” Tonka grouched.

”As for drinks. None of you drunks better lick my face. It keeps happening with humans. I keep telling people there are better ways to get high.” Drono, the blue Drell, bitched then examined his gun and checking it over keenly. His hand reached for the heat sink and unclipped it, his eyes looking for cracks in the thing only to refasten it back in. It seemed it passed his inspection when he turned away, Vellios watching him vanish.

A thought, namely for the upcoming battle, occurred to him.

Walking away while the others continued to chatter over who was going where, he pushed off the rig then quietly edged toward one of the downed Batarian. It was Jelagon, the thug that Kasyra took down, causing him to pause and crouched down. His fingers pushed aside and rumbled through the cooling corpse.

He found the explosive rounds. Gripping the ammo in his fingers he then shifting them into his belt and again started salvaging for more. While he searched, a memory surfaced. One from his childhood, causing him to grind to a stop and sink back into that hell.

Vellios was covered in grime and dried blood, his talons touching the corpse of a dead Batarian. The tips skimming the surface until it reached a cease then quickly dug in. His fingers ripping off the armor with a sense of urgency, revealing the battered and chilled corpse beneath. A few chits fell from the stash in his suit but the boy wasn't interested in that. His fingers trembled harder causing him to pause, taking notice for the first time. Blood, mostly red, covered his hands. They were stained with his first official kill, the Batarian pirate before him and one of their own. The face was completely bashed in, a crumbled mess of brain bits and skull.

A sickening sensation curled into his middle. It swirled and coiled, souring the meager contents in his stomach. He was distracted when the slave collar began to itch feverishly. Both carapace and thick scars had started to heal over the wires latched into his flesh, leaving it always tender to the touch.

Vellios tried to ignore it. A mistake because it didn’t cease but instead the twitching and tingling need grew, making him raise a talon then scratched along his neck side. The collar was a crude thing, made from metal and wiring, that had a single metal band wrapped around the middle of his neck like a choker. At the back was an attached electrical generator that went from the base of his skull to his neck middle, sparking whenever he touched it. Over the years it had been removed and repaired repeatedly by ill-skilled hands until it looked like a nest of wiring was growing from his flesh. The moment he touched the itch's source, he dug in gently at first. His fingers digging in deeper with each movement until it started to relieve the itch, through his talons didn’t stop since he enjoyed the relief. Then he began to feel a warm, wet sensation dampen them.

The ten year old stopped. Fear edged into his eye as he pulled his hand away, his own blue blood trickling along his spine and anxiety reach into his core. It hugged around and started suffocating him, his breath thick and useless. His collar gave a crackling warning then-

Vellios snapped himself from the memory the moment the electrical surge would've rippled through his young figure, the lacking pain reminding him he was alive. Inhaling, his arm slowly retracted from the slaver’s dead body. He started to retreat from the corpse when he spotted it was time to go.



Vellios was assigned to Tonka’s team, his shotgun held tightly at his middle while he moved steadily beside the truck. The low rumbling echoed throughout the tunnel and for a moment, he wonder if the pirates could hear it. This time he had opted for his helmet, hoping he would have better luck, despite the slight constriction about his head and fact it made him uncomfortable. His neck was twitching while the back rubbed against the old scars causing them to flake and hurt slightly. He gritted his teeth to bare through the sensation when he finally said fuck it and jerked the helmet off, tucking it into his arm nook. Without thinking, he started to ease the tingling sensation racing up his scars with a scratch.

He still had Serena’s comm placed about his waist, an alter way to communicate in the event he couldn’t tolerate the helmet, when the woman cursed than hollered out a warning. ““Snipers up ahead! We round that corner, and we’re taking shots.”

Fortunately, he was near the back of the truck when Del exploded. Vellios ducked toward the rear of the truck for cover as Del’s frame shattered and promptly wheeled into the nearest wall, shot by the snipers at the farthest end of the tunnel. It cracked against the mine’s walls causing his ears to go deaf then ring loudly. His eyes widened, his teeth gritting and head hurting thanks to the loud sound causing him to drop his helmet. He couldn’t hear a thing for several seconds because his ears were adjusting to the high pitched results from the snipers. He rubbed his hand palm against his ear, hoping to stop the ringing, while he missed Tanya make a request about the snipers. Though he did note that Tonka drew out his rifle for target practice.

Vellios cautiously pulled to the side, making sure not to be shot when he did, upon seeing Drono approach. The alien had what looked like a sizable spitball of death, one made from improvised flammable and explosive material. Not wanting to know the details, he merely leaned down to snatch up his helmet which had been kicked in his movement then shifted back from whatever the Drell was planning. His attention was taken by what he could hear, Serena’s muffled voice.

"THOSE MOTHERFUCKING, COCKSUCKING, SHIT-EATING, PISS-DRINKING, BASTARD LOVING, KROGAN HUMPING, HANAR SPOONING, BRICK WALL HEADBUTTING, ACID SNIFFING, VOLUS RIDING, VARREN FUCKING, FOUR EYED BALLSWEAT LICKING, SONS OF BITCHES!" Serena’s words cursed letting him know one of her driods were out for the count… again. She was looking at Del’s remains from her hiding spot and cursing a storm, at least from what he could tell, drawing a smirk from him. "He's going to be all sorts of out of whack now you fuckers!"

Being distracted only helped a little when the second explosion, one much farther down the tunnel, occurred. Dust and rock from the mine ceiling hissed down after being knocked from its perch as Vellios’ hand came up to shield his eyes, not liking he would be forced to wear a helmet still. He wasn’t given much chance to dwell on it since the ringing stop and his ears picked up Serena’s voice much clearer now.

"Oh Vellios!" Serena’s sweet voice, clearly false and wanting something from him. Of course, she mentioned it immediately without hesitation or concern for his wellbeing which meant she was pissed. ”You like killing Batarian snipers don't you? The two remaining Del will cause a lovely bit of chaos, and I'll fire a couple concussive crossbow bolts down the way, and you can go kill them. Sounds like a plan?”

She barely gave him a moment to get his helmet fully on and reply when the two Del hovered quickly past him and toward the ceiling. In moments they zipping erratic patterns while darting toward the snipers. Vellios rolled his eyes then shook it, his mind debating on what to do when he spotted Serena get ready. Sighing, he moved to slip as close as he could during the chaos created by Drono. His talon pressed into his helmet comm he spoke to her confirming he was moving quickly. ”Alright, I’m going, don’t get overexcited!”

Finishing up at the terminal she jogged down the stairs. It only took one look at Drono to know he wouldn’t be able to handle carrying around an unconscious body. Any other time Dex was sure he’d be strong enough but with the beating T’Raza handed him he was worse for wear. Rejoining down the stairs she quickly packed T’Raza over her shoulder then nodded for Drono to lead the way.

A few minutes later they met with Tonka outside the building while he quickly cleared the way of enemies. Dex kept up rather well despite having an extra 75 kilos (165lbs) on her back. Her muscle and strength was primarily in her back and arms.

Thankfully the small group leaving the facility to secure their captives took one of the skycars. After doing a quick search for her bounty the Asari government was offering five thousand credits for her alive. A nice bonus for everything Drono and Dex worked for to take her down.

Saying a quick goodbye to the others Dex watched their team shrink in numbers. Sincerely hoping their crew would remain alive to see this first mission through. It would have been too embarrassing otherwise. Dex could only imagine the conversation she’d have with Gal trying to explain her reasoning behind joining this particular crew after a spectacular failure to complete their first mission.

She shuddered at the thought of talking with Gal after ignoring him all day. He was usually a calm force of leadership but when ignored for long periods of time he could unleash a temper that would level cities.



The rest of the team cleared up their respective areas then regrouped at the mine entrance. Dex was invested with planning their next steps, providing more details as she combed through the data.

Tonka went onto explain the mine’s makeup and a good plan of action while the group’s attention snapped at the sniper shot. The resounding gunshots made for a ringing in Dex’s ears. Serena’s abundant cursing assaulted her hearing next, long strings of creative insults that could probably have been heard down to the end of the mineshaft with the way her voice was carrying. She was angry. It wasn’t strange and to some degree Dex could understand, if anyone destroyed her arm or damaged it they would be met by a similar wave of fury. Though, she’d openly admit to not being able to match Serena’s creativity.

Tanya asked who was up for killing snipers then Drono jumped at the chance to deal with them. Dex skeptically watched Drono load up the cart with all the explosives he could find, jury-rigging it with what he had. A pile of glue and wires kept what he collected together.

Immediately shaking her head after he explained his idea she replied, “You can’t honestly expect with all that glue you used for any of the fuses to work. The charge can’t just be conducted-”

Watching the cart go barreling down the slope right into the midst of the snipers watching the series of explosions covering her ears hoping to stifle the ringing that had just dissipated after Serena’s drone being shot. It did little to protect her; a new wave of ringing rattled her skull.

The improvised distraction successfully smoked out the snipers blinding them from their advance.

Dex stared then sucked back in what she was about to say instead turning to the blue Drell with admiration, “Your new tag line should be surprisingly effective, Drono. Good work.” Unaware of how loud she must of sounded.

Looking around at the possible choices she could make regarding moving the mission forward she decided to go with the technical. A krogan was a soldier to be wary of but a turret mounted on an armored truck fared better for survival. She was striking out of her comfort zone, knowing she would be better help supporting the vehicle than a fire team. Finding decent cover, her voice still carried rather loudly unable to hear most of what she said.

“Sending what my scanner picks up to everyone, allow me to point you in the right direction.” Dex volunteered to help pulling up her tactical scans.

The scanner found a couple snipers within their range. Her omnitool glowed orange through the haze of smoke, a few keystrokes later and the data was sent to the entire team. While they read the information she pulled off her own respective sniper rifle plugging a few shots in the one closest to Vellios weakening the batarian’s armor considerably.

“Let’s keep pushing forward everybody.” She said then winked at Drono, “Inspiring speeches can’t keep their morale up for long.”

>//Shadow Broker Files

> // Recording of the Fayette Station Double-cross.
> // Pivotal point, vital reference to understand Dronos current position. Reference Yestins files for more information the Salarian Smugglers post event career.

The water poured down on top of the Drell and Salarians heads. Drono picked himself off the ground, wiping blood from a split lip. "What the hell is in those crates" He asked as he picked up his gun from puddle of blood and rainwater. Next to it laid a dead human. Next to the human lay a crumpled up and very dead asari. Her eyes were glassy, her face contorted in deaths mask of regret and agony. Drono bullet had torn right through her abdomen from close range. He forced himself to look away. This entire operation had gone from bad to worse. They had moved in to snatch a few crates from under the noses of two less reputable groups of black market movers. They were meant to be duking it out, leaving the stuff lightly guarded. Instead they had met with resistance after resistance. And they hadn't been some normal hired muscle either. He was pretty sure they just killed several deep cover C-Sec agents.

"You said this was an easy pick up run. These guys were ready to die for whatever is in those crates." Drono said as he huddled over to his companion who was eyeing the biggest of the crates. The Salarian was scratching his left shoulder, a sure sign he was as anxious about things as Drono.

"I think we were lied to." He said throwing a glance at the blue faced Drell.

"You were lied to. I wasn't there to call the bullshit." Drono corrected him. The ire in his voice overpowering the anxiousness. He stood straight and checked that his gun was intact. A habit that had saved his life before.

"Spare me your whining Drono" Yestin said dismissively but the tension was clear from his voice. Whatever was in the crate was likely worth a lot more than the client was asking for. The two shared a nervous glance.

"Can you get it open?" He poked the big crate with his oversized excuse of a gun.

"The Client explicitly told us not to open the crates." Yestin objected, but his heart wasn't in it. He was already booting up his omnitool.

"The Client can go fuck himself with a krogan thumper" Drono said with a sneer as he fiddled with the lock. "It's a sequence 44 Bio-Lock. Whatever is in this? Is worth hell of a lot more then what they are paying us."

"Point taken." Yesin said as he bent over to watch the lock closer before he began the process of hacking it. It would take many swearwords and panicked moments later, but he finally cracked it. The crates pressure seal hissed as they came undone and the thing opened before them. Glimmering back at them was enough Element Zero to give Drono a serious case of drooling. The look in Yesins eyes was something else entirely. They seemed cold, greedy.

"We are fucking rich." Drono said a giant grin on his face. "Scratch that. We are filthy, fucking rich." He didn't notice his partner sliding out his suppressor M11 and stepping back. It wasn't until he felt the cold steel pressed against his back that that he looked behind him.

"Yesin... Put that down." He tried to smile, but it failed him. He'd seen that business like, cold demeanor before. A chill ran up his spine.

"Sorry Drono, Business." Yestin said. His finger began to crawl toward the trigger.

"You can't be serious." Drono was starting to panic. He didn't want to die. He could not die. Not here. Not like this. He was so close to making it big. To prove everyone back home that he was in the right to leave. That the Hanar had made a mistake to pass him by.

"You will never be able to sell this. I am however. I know the kind of people who buys this in bulk. They don't take kindly to loose ends." He kicked motioned for Drono to rise to his feet. "Get up."[/color] He jabbed the gun in his back and stood back, away from Drono. Gun still trained at him. "You are the walking definition of a loose end. I can't trust to you to keep your mouth shut about anything."

"Is this over the Illium run?" Drono prodded, hands over his head. "Don't shoot me in the back of the head. I don't want an exit wound for face when my parents pick up the body." Drono said, shoulder slumping a bit. "But Make sure I am dead. Because we Drell never forget anything. And i will hunt you down"

"It is over a great many things Drono. You are unreliable and almost cost us our lives several times. You are to sentimental, not being able to do what needs to be done. You are inefficient and never listen to what I say...” Yesin stopped and tilted his head. "You talk far too much. And I think you might be slightly insane. You threaten the man with the gun, trying to assure I kill you proper. You never were the sharpest knife Drono, but that is just suicidal." Yesin barked a laugh. And then the gun fired. Searing pain travelled up and down Dronos spine. He fell forward onto the crate only to slowly slide off it. A trail of blood was smeared across the surface.

"There. Your face is safe." Yestin said as he kicked Drono to the side. "You just lay here. Lazy shit that you are." He closed the crate and lugged it onto onto a mechanized trolley.

A gurgling noise came from Drono. "Not... dead... yet... asshole." Yestin froze as he he turned around. He half expected Drono to be standing, holding a gun. To end him for his betrayal like some sort of supernatural spectre. But no, the Drell was lying on the ground, trying to push himself up.

"Tell you what." Yestin said as he strolled back to the dying smuggler. He knelt in front of him. "You remember Illium. Remember when I told you I didn't torture that nice boy to get the location of the batch you missplaced and got stolen?"[/color] The salarian produced a bottle of blue liquid. "I lied. I have been cleaning up after you every goddamn time you slipped up."[/color] He reached over and poured the blue stuff into the wound. "I fashioned this myself. It’s meant to keep a wound from coagulate properly, and it fries the nerve slowly but surely if left unattended. I dose my knife in it all the time."[/color]

"You... shit..." Drono gasped through the pain now threatening to overpower him. But at the same time, the poison had given him more adrenaline from the shock, and he felt his arms and legs respond again.

"What? No more quips Drono? No more smart mouthed excuses for your failures?" Yestin taunted. He stayed for a while longer, watching Drono scream and twist in pain. Then he simply turned around and got on the automatic trolley, driving towards his shuttle with his ill-gotten gains. Had he looked back, he would have seen Drono drag himself up to his feet in the rain.

But arrogance had always been Yestins biggest flaw. He simply cackled as he thought of the new life he would lead now. Meanwhile, half dragging him, half walking, Drono began moving towards a clinic he had spotted earlier.

>//End Recording

>Files indicate the subject possess an extraordinary will to live and a great deal of clarity even in near death situations. Approaching subject might be difficult, he likely to mistrust any criminal elements more so then before.

---

“Ten Seconds.” Kasyra replied to Khoshins query, watching the capacitor for her shield refill while keeping an eye on the tactical display. The downside of having such a strong shield was that if it did drop, it was not quick to restore, and her shield boost only helped strengthen it while it was already raised. Unlike some of the wannabe tough guys here, she would not risk getting shot without her shields. While she was certainly better at taking a bullet than most Quarians, that really wasn’t saying much. Most Quarians panicked when they got shot and ended up with a dozen horrible infections. Kasyra still got nasty infections, but she had learnt to at least apply a cobbled together concoction of medigel and much stronger anti-infection agents in a timely manner. All the same, she preferred simply not getting shot. Especially since her armor was meant more as a mounting point for shields and tech dampening mesh than actually stopping bullets.

As the seconds ticked by, she stuck just the barrel of the gun over the edge of the crate and squeezed off a couple of blind shots so the remaining four eyes wouldn’t get any ideas.

Two… One… The familiar sound of her shields raising again filled Kasyra’s ears as her armor capacitors stabilised their charge and the multiple shield generator nodes began projecting the invisible shell of the kinetic barrier that kept her safe. As soon as the shield was fully online, she stood to her full height, gun raised in one hand and omni tool glowing brightly over the other and unleashed a barrage upon the last remaining Batarians position. Several shots from the powerful Carnifex struck around his cover, followed by an overload blast. None of the attacks directly struck, Lonato squeezing down behind his cover as much as he could under the assault. But that was exactly what Kasyra wanted, it gave her time to vault over her own cover and cover the ground between them at a sprint.

She leapt up onto the crate Lonato was hidden behind, and as he rose from his crouch to try and react, delivered a swift kick to his jaw. He was sent sprawling backwards, landing on his back awkwardly. Kasy hopped down, extending her Cryo blade to stab him while he was down. To his credit, he saw the impending threat and rolled away far faster than she was expecting. She moved to close the distance, but just like that he was on his feet again. Lonato extended his own omni blade and balled his other hand into a fist. He wasted no time committing to a stab at her face.

He was quick. She would give him that. Still, she was quicker. She sidestepped the attack, placing a checking hand on his elbow to ensure he didn’t come back around with a slash, simultaneously stepping in and jabbing the barrel of her heavy pistol into his ribs under his arm. He might’ve crumpled if he had time to react before she pulled the trigger.

At point blank range his weak under-arm armor provided virtually no protection, and the shot tore through his torso. Destroying all manner of internal organs as it went, his now dying form fell to the ground with a thud. To make sure he was finished, she placed the edge of her foot on his neck and pressed down, choking him quickly.

He had been the last Batarian (excluding Khoshin) in the warehouse. His death meant that they had well and truly secured three eyes, meaning half of their payment was essentially guaranteed. Now it was time to move on and secure the other half.

A quick collab staring Johnny Dervington and Ross Zombie (so we don't get sued by Rob)

"Hey Tanya, don't your drones have those miniature rockets? A couple of those on those sniper positions and we can move up. Maybe use the truck as cover." Haze called over the comms, trying to troubleshoot how not to get their heads blown off from a high-velocity round. She pondered on the idea, but Iosif beat her to the punch and responded back with obvious concern.

"Tanya, remind Haze that this ride's a technical - not armour. We draw too much fire, we're not going to move anytime soon, so try not to use us as a shield for too long and try to keep those snipers and any A-A off our back." Iosif grunted through the comms, having to take the truck rather sharply around a chunk of rock jutting up from the ground. "And sit tight, things might get bumpy." Indeed, the shaft was only slightly more open from the right - at least the krogan had been right about that. Not to mention, what fire the technical had drawn had already done a bit of a number on its frame. It was only by the crudely grafted plating, the pirates' poor sense of engineering and sheer luck that they hadn't taken a shot through the engine, else they'd be dead in the water like a Mako trapped on its back.

Tanya was bracing in position so she could keep the gun level while Iosif took advantage of Drono's fucking insane distraction, that against all reason, was working. She keyed the comms to reply to Hazan. "Really tight quarters and a giant glowing orange drone is pretty much impossible to miss for target practice. Shithead would be out of range, and only really useful for a distraction. I can keep microfabricating it with my omni-tool, but other shit to worry about. If I pop Shithead, and he takes the shot, everyone better be moving quick to suppress the bastards. Oh, and Iosif says hi and wants to remind you this piece of shit technical is holding together with hopes and dreams and he doesn't feel like getting shot out through the window today."

She got the omni-tool ready. "Okay, Iosif, as soon as Shithead acts as our holy martyr, lets get moving and we'll try to catch them by surprise between shots... and I know, I know. I'm risking ventilating my fucking forehead as much as you are on the chance our team isn't completely mentally challenged. But we're marines, yeah? It's our job to get shot at and show the other wankers how it's done." Tanya said, trying her damnest to be encouraging. Truth was, she was scared shitless of rounding the corner. Way too much was counting on what-ifs.

That made a thin smile form across the Slav's face as Tanya projected herself with what came across to him as an encouraging confidence, deciding that he'd banked right when making a guess on which of the team had seemed reliable. "Right."

With a few flicks of her fingers, Shithead materialized just above the truck deck, illuminating the caves in an impossible to miss orange glow, like the world's most gentle fire was rolling through. "Hey, Shithead. Four hostiles just around the corner. Go make them... wait." she said, a devilish grin crossing her face. "Shithead, activate music player. Maximum volume. Play track, Death Throes of the Vorcha Warlord. Delay until you round the corner. Go."

As the combat drone fluttered off to its undignified demise, Tanya yelled out to the team, "Everyone, get your helmets on, because this is going to louder than Drono's Fornax collection! Don't think I didn't hear you last night, you cheeky bugger."

Suddenly, the bowels of hell ripped open and the mine shaft became an auditorium of pain as the heavy guitar riffs and drums were accompanied by what could only be a vorcha screaming to the tune.

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

"I almost lost my virginity to this song." Tanya chipped in cheerfully over the comms, her tone not giving an indication if she was telling the truth. "Alright, Iosif, tally ho, or some shit. I don't know what you Slavs respond to for motivation. Everyone else, covering fire!"

It certainly inspired something in Iosif - for a moment, he felt a certain horror at the amplified screaming of the vorcha, enough that he completely blanked on Tanya's informative comment and nearly took the truck over a gaping pothole in the road until he noticed it and adjusted with a sharp twist of the steering wheel.

"That'll work, even if my ears don't!" Iosif sarcastically retorted, yelling back to Tanya with an amused snort before shifting the truck in-line with her spot atop the turret. With some luck, those four-eyed bastards would be too busy being as frightened as he was by the vorcha warlord's raving and the team's covering fire that they wouldn't realise until it was too late that their makeshift "APC" was on their asses, meat tenderizer and all.

"Hope you've got a playlist of that screaming." He grunted yet again, just as the truck's engine came to a roar.

As Iosif finished his remark, a barely audible gunshot filled the caverns once more and Shithead exploded in a shower of sparks. Tanya was able to see from the exit hole in the combat drone the trajectory where the sniper had come from and traversed the turret in that direction, letting loose with several bursts of fire that tore into the rock face, chipping away at the well-worn stone. She couldn't see the damage being done or if she even hit the bastard through the smoke, but it was certainly going to be enough to keep someone's head down.

Little did Tanya know, the sniper she had indirectly targeted was clipped in the arm, forcing him to take cover behind a stalagmite. The other sniper, who had set up near him, called him on the comms and told him it was time to fall back to the next line of defense. The smoke screen, after all, could work both ways. When there was a break in the fire, the wounded batarian tried to make a break for it and was hit in the leg, forcing out a pained scream as he collapsed, sliding onto the road, wounded. He tried to shoot his rifle at the attackers with one good arm supporting the weight of the rifle, inaccurately trying to hit something. His partner left him behind as he made his break for it.

The other snipers, however, didn't budge.

Another shot filled the air, the heavy thunk of a Kishock, and suddenly Tanya found her gun explode with a long, deadly looking harpoon piecing through it, inches from her wrist. She screamed as she was knocked back, her shielding absorbing the majority of the blast, which knocked her shielding down to 12%. Panting and fearful, she dropped down, eyes locked on the harpoon that had very nearly ended her life.

"Oh god, Lewis..." She said, voice high and cracking from stress as she slipped further down into cover, breathing quickly and unevenly. "No, no, no..."

It took Iosif one glance over the shoulder to see that his gunner was in trouble, then another to see that one of the batarians had put one of those damned harpoons through the turret. "Shit, you okay?! Stick-" was all he could grunt out before his voice was blotted out by a thunderous crack and another slug slammed through the driver's compartment, puncturing through a thin gap between the crude armour plates that were grafted over the front of the technical. In the tight, claustrophobic confines of the space, it was almost deafening when the relativistic projectile nearly scraped through the controls, leaving a visible crack in the interface.

Heart pounding faster than ever, Iosif almost froze up, yet another familiar voice spoke from within - three simple words, echoed from his old flight instructor, "Don't lock up." And like that, his hands moved at what almost felt like a redshift and his boot weighted against the accelerator once he'd shifted the truck into a reverse. Within a few seconds, the weight of the vehicle shifted forwards and Iosif brought it around another mound of rock which offered better a somewhat better degree of shelter than the exposed pathway they'd been trapped on before.

The glow of his omni-tool quickly illuminated the dimly lit driver's compartment as he brought up a solution of omni-gel to fortify his armour, reinforcing it where he could in a hasty effort to ensure that any other shots wouldn't automatically give him a tracheotomy. Once that was done, he realised he'd not heard from his gunner for a while and shouted up towards Tanya in a straightforward pidgin, "How's things up there?! You injured?"

The words were faint, like they were trying to pierce through a wall, or a dream. They didn't register at first with Tanya, who was locked up and shaking in the back, reliving a horror she buried deeply within herself, gritting her teeth. Iosif's voice repeated, breaking through, shaking Tanya from her fear. Her breathing slowed, and she shook her head, smashing her fist into her helmet to ground herself, releasing a frustrated growl. "You've a job to do, you useless bitch." she snarled to herself, pushing her demons back into their bottle, struggling to keep the cork in place so it didn't spill out again. "These guys are depending on you, fucking do your job." she was calmer now, face a hard mask of determination. She would not fail, she could not afford to. She produced the rifle from her back, banging her fist against the rear window to let Iosif know she was there. "I'm here! I'm here. Fucking sniper took out the gun, scared the shit out of me. I'm alright!" she said, her head dropping back, helmet ringing against the cab. "Everything alright down there? I'm pinned down."

"Still in one piece! Fucking batarians!" Iosif seethed at the status report on the turret, realising that it had probably been the source of the noise coming from that damned Kishock. From what he'd seen of those harpoons, it was by sheer luck that Tanya hadn't been skewered - but it was still bad news. Clearing his throat and sucking down another breath, he shouted back up rather hoarsely, "I bought us some cover but I don't know how long it'll last, those bastards got a lucky shot between the plates! We could use support from the others, this thing isn't a damned Mako." The mound had afforded them some degree of shelter, yet if those snipers changed position... Iosif didn't want to consider how that could leave them in a shitshow if they were still stationary and his hands were shaking badly enough as they were.

"If I get us on the move again, can you return fire? If we get some suppressive on them again we'll be golden!

Tanya chuckled weakly. "Oh, can we please buy a Mako? I promise I'll take good care of it!" she joked, not feeling quite there for confidence. Her legs felt like noodles. She shook her head, trying to move a body that wasn't cooprating. "I don't think I can move myself to a good firing position, my fucking legs are crapping out. That shot shook me up pretty bad." she said, looking through the window at Iosif. "I just need a couple minutes. Where the hell are the others?" she asked.

POTENTIAL EMPLOYMENT CANDIDATE
DEXURET NORATUS
STATUS: ON-GOING INVESTIGATION

NOTES: This report covers an early job taken on by Noratus while employed by Lorthan. While Noratus has displayed the ability to detach herself from her work, the nature of the work often being that of moral ambiguity. This example shows Noratus has limits. Any previous attempts at drafting her into assassination have been dismissed. She lacks the stomach for it.

>FILE TRANSFER
>DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE



Statement In the matter of: The death of the Tervius family, Octarn Tervius, Falera Tervius, Arina Tervius. 17 NOVEMBER 2170 CE

PLACE: ZAKERA WARD C-SEC STATION

DATE: 18 NOVEMBER 2170 CE



NAME: Dexuret Noratus
ADDRESS: N/A
OCCUPATION: Information Broker Informant

1. This statement is made by me; I am fully prepared to present this statement in court if deemed necessary. The statement I provide is true to the best of my knowledge and belief. I understand that if tendered in evidence I am liable to prosecution if I have willfully stated anything I knew to be false or do not believe to be true.

2. I am 30 CE years of age.

3. I am an informant for an information broker by the name of Galentos Lorthan. I have been under his employment for 1 year.

4. I was sent to the Tervius home to investigate and garner evidence in regards to the Tervius family on behest of Kiyanis T’Laque, Kanira’s mother. T'Laque contacted Lorthan 11 NOVEMBER 2170 CE to hire me to collect evidence of possible domestic abuse. When T'Laque detailed the job she was under the impression of physical abuse, telling us she saw visible bruising on Octarn. Noting also it was difficult at first to discern it as bruising, T'Laque being generally unaware of turian physiology.

5. Octarn Tervius had no family to speak of and T'Laque has previous relationship knowledge of Kanira's abusive tendencies enough to give her suspicions it was happening again with her current marriage.

5. Upon arrival 17 NOVEMBER 2170 CE 21:15 I entered Tervius’ home ready to capture photo or video evidence of the domestic abuse against Octarn and his children. Following the noise of arguments I recorded the ensuing conflict hidden by my tactical cloak and using a wall as cover.

6. The conflict escalated quickly from shouting to Kanira pulling a pistol from her waistband then waving it around. She called down for the children while Octarn begged for them to stay away. Reluctantly the children came down from their bedrooms at the call of their mother despite Octarn’s warnings. They gathered by their father while together they faced Kanira. She shouted, “I’m doing this for you!” I wasn’t sure what she was referring to within context of what they were arguing about.

7. They argued over some chores not being done, something that I feel is a typical dispute within family units. Regardless the tension in the room seemed to grow when she said those words. I could hear Octarn's fear in his sub vocals.

8. I had taken several photos of Kanira pointing a gun at Octarn ready to bring them to our client. After a significant pause Kanira pulled the trigger and shot her family several times. I counted three shots for Octarn, two for each of the children. The final shots for each of them were headshots.

9. Why didn’t I stop it? I was shocked, frozen in place. I didn’t expect her to actually shoot. Abusive partners have control when their victims are alive. Seeing the dead family forced me to move. I fired my own pistol twice, once for the pistol then a second to disable her hand. She raised her other hand while it glowed with biotic energy then I knocked her out with a punch to her face.

10. At 22:17 I called the authorities while tying an unconscious Kanira to a wall post. In a separate report I submitted the video I had to the authorities, C-SEC.

WITNESS SIGNATURE: DEXURET NORTAUS

---

Notes: This is the phone call Noratus made after submitting her report. In her own words she solidifies her inability to be an impartial bystander in regards to murder. Clarifying a stipulation in Lorthan's objectivity policy.

>FILE TRANSFER
>DATA TRANSFER COMPLETE

******ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION: AUDIO FILE******

N: Submitted the report, you can return T'Laque's credits now.
L: You completed the job, we keep the credits despite how it turned out.
N: I didn't complete anything, I was in there to get evidence of abuse not murder.
L: Unexpected, but you delivered and saved T'Laque reporting it herself.
N: [Her voice straining] Just give her the money back, Galentos. She's going to be burying her son-in-law and her grandchildren.
L: No, Dex. T'Laque signed a contract with us and acknowledged whatever evidence we gather is what she paid for.
N: [Her voice growing more distraught] This isn't some petty affair filled with drama and tears. This is murder. Children died while I could have stopped this!
L: ... So that's what this is about. Your guilt is holding you responsible for their lives.
N: Of course it is! How can you be calm? How is this oka-...... Y-you've seen this happen before.
L: [audible sounds of keystrokes, Lorthan remains silent]
N: Gal...
L: Credits have been returned. Congratulations Dex, you have a conscience. We certainly advertise and try our best to remain objective. In these cases, we all have a choice. Next time this happens and it will happen again, you stop it. We're spies, we are not assassins.
N: Thank you... Gal.
L: Meet me at the safehouse, we need to talk in person.
N: Why? What are you doing on the Citadel?
L: I wanted to meet with you after this job. Now it's because you just witnessed a murder and I hardly think now is the time to be alone.
N: Do you invest this same time with all your employees?
L: No, I'll see you soon.

******END OF ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION: AUDIO FILE******

“Sending what my scanner picks up to everyone, allow me to point you in the right direction.” Vellios heard Dex utter into his helmet, his lips curled into a smirk and his mind immediately latched onto it. It was the only thing distracting him from the growing numbness in his mind. Memories, thoughts and unsavory emotions tried to surface only to be pushed down the moment the female Turian spoke against the silence. For that, thought she might never realise it, he was grateful for.

When the hub revealed the data in his visor, his eyes flickered across the digital readout and it revealed about four snipers on the right fork of the tunnel. Those were his target as the droids took the exactly same detour he did, his figure quickly vanishing into the foggy scene. It was hellish breathing in. Drono’s experiment had long since stopped rumbling down the narrow path but the heat still remained, the floor still faint with the heat at where it rolled downward. He was starting to understand why the damn thing flew down so fast as his feet skirted along the pebbled trail, digging in to keep him from falling on his carapace covered ass along the way.

It was fortunate he was wearing the headgear since it covered his face, filtering the air enough for him to breath and fed him directions along the blinding cover. He also swear he heard Vorcha death metal music echoing through the cavern somewhere. His shotgun was held close to his chest, waiting and ready for a shot, when he noted the sniper’s location. They were on an overhanging ledge a few feet above the ground and perfect position to take cheap pot shot at him. He was about a quarter of the way there with no way to duck in time into the nearest steel grinder.

Rather than waste the time hiding, his arms raised and talons pulled the trigger with aim at the second sniper. His gun had explosive rounds which made quite a bang when it hit. This was a fact the Batarian discovered when Vellios’ shot hit his shields, dropping them instantly followed up by two sounds. One was Serena’s concussion arrow slamming into his body and spilling his blood across the backdrop. His shoulder had a neat, large chunk taken out of it when it hit causing the sniper to crumble back behind the ledge with his pals. Another had an additional three to four shots ring at the Batarian nearest, the sniper’s shields literally dropped immediately from Dex’s sniping. His eyes widened from above Vellios as he caught the Turian’s smile when his arms lifted, his feet darting to the side to avoid getting hit when he laid down a round of fire. The explosive rounds making it rather hard for anyone to risk standing up against.

Vellios’ shoulder slammed into the rocky wall of the tunnel, his shield still up and his frame made as small as possible against the retaliation. Six or several shots rang out, vibrating against the cavern and keeping Vellios pinned. Once more, Dex’s voice echoed over his helmet radio after she fired her shoots.

“Let’s keep pushing forward everybody. Inspiring speeches can’t keep their morale up for long.”

“Little hard when I’m a bit pinned, Dex. Through nice job shooting off your load into the Batarian. I like a Turian gal who can handle her gun well. Now, can you or the Mr. One Shot please suppress these assholes while I get closer. I might have a Cain Mine with their name on it if I get close enough...”

Khosin, before the timeskip.

Khosin looked as Kasyra rose from her cover, firing several rounds from her Carnifex before she sent an Overload blast in the direction of Lonato. He looked as the Quarian vaulted over her cover and sprinted towards the crates that Lonato was using as cover, engaging the slaver in a brief melee fight before she ended the confrontation by shooting at Lonato in point blank range with her heavy pistol.

With Lonato dead, Khosin picked the unconcious body of Three Eyed Zallak and threw him over his shoulder "Alright, let's go and rendezvous with the others. The sooner we have Three Eyed secure the better." Said Khosin as he began making his way towards the entrance of the mineshaft, letting out a small hiss of pain as his wound flared under the strain of carrying Zallak.

---

Dex watched the snipers move through her scans as the deafening noise from Tanya's drone rumbled against the walls and forcing Dex to cover her ears with both hands. Hissing in pain her hearing just suffered through with little to help stop it. When she removed her hands the ringing was insistent with no signs of slowing down. She tested her own voice the feedback was absimal, quieter than a whisper.

Fuck

Quickly dispensing some omnigel she fashioned some crude earplugs, covering both sides with only her communicator to hear what the others said. She would have to visit a doctor after the mission to get her hearing checked out. Cursing her terrible judgement not to wear a stupid helmet. She hated wearing one it always messed with her spatial awareness.

She dashed to some new cover with the noise distracting the snipers and tried in her lowest voice she thought she was managing, she yelled into the communicatior.

"I lost most of my hearing, guys! Use the communicator!" She shouted keying up sabatoge when the horrifying sound of the kishock shot ricocheted near her head.

Vellios' joke came through on her communicator while she scrambled to make herself smaller against her cover. She couldn't help but chuckle at the awful joke spotting him over her scanner. "Back up coming your way, Vellios. You had to go for the low hanging fruit with guns and loads huh? Here I thought you could do better than that." Clearly amused by his banter, she didn't need the distraction from the gunfire but it was nice all the same.

She checked her tactical scans again see now there were only two snipers left to deal with. Both of them were focusing on Vellios. Dex planned to change that quickly.

Khosin gritted his teeth as Tanya's drone began blaring some sort of awful music which was, mercifully, muffled by his helmet. Taking advantage of the temporary distraction, he darted for cover from the sniper's rounds as the drone exploded under a hail of gunfire from one of the snipers. He heard Dex talking through the communicator and was about to reply when he heard the familiar sound of a kishock round being fired, the familiar sound bringing memories from his life before he had joined the rag-tag crew of the Borealis.

Yet the sound brought more than just memories of the past to the front of Khosin's mind, for it also reminded him of his own Kishock. Putting his mattock on it's holster, he pulled the deadly sniper rifle; peeking past the cover he tried to identify the position where the sniper nests were and once he had found a target, he pulled the trigger of the harpoon gun. Yet instead of firing it instantly, Khosin held the trigger for a few seconds -waiting for the gun to charge slightly- before he released it, the harpoon missing it's intended target and impaling itself on the wall behind the sniper.

Cursing at having missed his mark, Khosin turned on the communciator on his helmet "Dex, Khosin here, I have a Kishock gun with me, but I'll need you to provide me with some suppressive fire so I can pick where the sniper nests are, alright?" He said to the Turian, taking the chance to reload the weapon as he waited for a reply.

Dex heart rate speeding up with every shot from the Kishooks when one went off behind her the sound permeated the ear plugs snapping her head to attention. "Khosin! Good timing." Seeing Khosin register on her tactical scanner across the other side of the mineshaft.

"You got it, suppressing fire coming up." Dex folded her Viper back on her back then pulled her Predator pistol off her hip then taking careful aim and started taking shots specifically at the sniper's cover hoping to at least tag an arm or leg. Unfortunately for Dex the sniper had tucked himself in safe and sound.

They had set up their bottle neck expertly meaning to weaken them as a whole, a few harpoons to a leg or shoulder would slow anyone down. These pirates knew they only had one choice in the matter of survival, against unknown mercenaries they didn't seem to stand a chance. Too many unknowns and only so little to work off of.

"I've got them pinned whatever you're planning, now is the time to do it!" She let the pistol cool while throwing off a nasty sabotage attack trying to peg the rifle to scrample it's electronics.

"Alright, thanks Dex." Said Khosin as he finished loading a harpoon into the Kishock. He scanned the position at the same time that Dex began shooting at the sniper's cover with her predator, pulling the trigger in the meanwhile and letting the gun to charge up. "Target found, thanks for the covering fire Dex." He said once she had thrown the sabotage attack.

The sabatoge caught the sniper's rifle when Dex paused in her suppressive fire, sparks dimmly lighting up the area of his cover forcing him to drop his weapon while he scrambled for his pistol. Unfortunately for him he wasn't so neatly tucked into his cover any longer.

While Khosin lined up his shot Dex peaked out again in time to see the sniper fire something horrible of his own, an overload lit up the area it passed through then tagged her left shoulder. Her shields disappeared the second it made contact throwing her against the wall of the mineshaft. A mangeld gasp escaped her with little to hold back the pain. Her prosthetic twitched with strain the overload spiking through it's surge safeguards. Pushing herself back up to tuck behind her cover again her shield warnings flashing at her in red. Anger hummed through her subvocals for lack of anything better to say beyond cursing. Her shield capacity dropped from 65% down to a measely 45% barely enough to absorb gunfire. The overload did her no favours.

He waited a few more seconds, a savage grin spreading across his face as one of the snipers rose from his cover in an effort to line up a shot. He never had a chance for the second that he had done that, Khosin had taken his finger off the trigger, letting the harpoon fly towards it's intended target.

The projectile hit the sniper in the ribs, the full force of the fully-charged shot propelling his body a few meters before the point of the harpoon impaled itself in a nearby pillar. Hiding once more behind cover. Khosin was surprised to hear Dex gasping in obvious pain, "What happened Dex?"

"Sniper hit me with an overload directly. My shields are looking worse than before." She replied honestly, resetting the systems in her arm to cool down then testing her fine motor controls by making a fist.

"Hmmm, I see." Said Khosin when Dex mentioned that one of the snipers had hit her with an overload directly. He looked as she resetted the system on her arm, a look of worry briefly settling on his face "Is your arm working properly?" He asked worriedly. He never had had much of experience with bionic arms, so wasn't sure how much damage the overload had done.

She nodded testing it more concentrating on her talon's sluggish movement, "My arm has suffered through worse before. It can handle the odd overload or two, it was built to last." She said reassuringly. "I'm worried more about my shields at the moment. Just give me some cover fire against that last sniper and I can join you."

"Alright Dex, give me a second, I'll draw attention away from you." Said Khosin as he exchanged his Kishock for his Mattock, firing blindly into the sniper's nest to draw attention away from his Turian cormade. He heard alarms blaring as his Tech Armor began to falter under the hail of gunfire, finally falling completly once he was hit by a round from one of the Kishocks. As luck would have it, the harpoon didn't pierce his armor, but it did take a chunk out of it as it grazed one of his arms, rolling into cover he fired wildly a few more times before hiding once again.

Dex initated her tactical cloak then forced herself down to her belly crawling across the mineshaft underneath the smoke cover. Crossing successfully she slid up beside him.

"Hope this damn mission is over soon." Khosin hissed, blood trickling down from his arm to the ground as he picked the Mattock with his good arm and fired blindly at the snipers, only stopping when he finally noticed Dex was next to him.

Dex's eyes widened at the sight of the hit Khosin took in the barrage of fire.

"You either have complete confidence in your tech or you're incredibly stupid, Khosin." She noted drily taking his arm in her left hand examining it under the light of her omnitool to take a closer look. "Please put a little medigel on that, disinfect it. I wouldn't be surprised if the pirates coated their weapons with something nasty."

Khosin chuckled drily at Dex's comment "Hmm, a bit of option a and a bit of option b I'd say." He replied, chuckling softly, as he waited for her to finish examining his arm. He shook his head when she said that it wouldn't surprise her if the pirates had coated the harpoons with something, "Nah, they didn't have time or didn't care to do so, if it had been coated with any sort of toxin I can assure you, I'd be dead already." He replied before cursing inwardly for his stupidty at having said that, hoping that Dex would be too distracted to wonder how he knew that.

Once she dropped his arm, he applied medigel to the wound, hissing slightly as the wound sealed itself as the medigel tightly gripped the flesh around the wound.

"Speaking of tech... what are you doing with a Kishock? Spirits, I'm sure the humans have enough reasons to not like you, but with a weapon like that they'll be jumping to conclusions. Is it a military grade weapon or a pirate thing?" She asked nodding to the rifle on his back now. I can only assume why a Batarian joined a group of mercs hunting jobs after the Skyllian Blitz. Raises a few questions." Dex said pointedly surverying Khosin with an even eye. She held no real reservations against Batarians, between Turians and Batarians they shared a common resentment as a race against humanity. It had been years since she had seen propaganda against the newest race to join council space. Since then she had worked with humans and had grown used to their presense in the galaxy. Though had no real gauge for how Khosin felt. He seemed more timid in regards to being around humans.

Listening in silence as she continued to talk but felt himself freeze when she asked him what he was doing with a Kishock. He was silent for a few seconds as she asked him if it was military grade or a pirate thing, causing him to let out an involuntary chuckle. "Military, I served a couple of years in the Hegemony's military." He said simply, "Kept the Kishock afterwards since it's a reliable weapon." Explained Khosin as they walked.

He chuckled once more at her comment on his presence rising a few questions after the events of the Blitz. "Well, mainly I was tired of working solo, figured that I could earn more credits with a group of mercs than alone." He said, Dex's gaze not going unnoticed by Khosin. He couldn't blame her, it was strange seeing a Batarian that wasn't either a slaver, a pirate, -if not both things at the same time- or a Blue Sun. "What about you Dex?" He asked her curiously.

"What about me?" She shrugged. "I used to spy but now I'm back to my roots. Piloting is what I'm best at. Besides it's not just me wondering why a Batarian would sign up for hunting down contracts against his government. It's no secret the Hegemony and the Systems Alliance are at eachother's throats." Dex said keeping steady eye contact trying to see a flinch in resolve, a clue to tell her how he felt. "The Kishock is a horrible weapon, cruel in every aspect. Makes you wonder if it reflects the Batarian that uses it."

Khosin listened as Dex spoke in silence, not sayign much, but when she mentioend that she wasn't the only one wondering why a Batarian would sing up for hunting down contracts against his goverment each of his four eyes frowned as he stared at her. He let her finish before he decided to speak "Yes, of course, because every Batarian outside of Kite's Nest is, in one way or another, furthering the cause of the Hegemony." He replied acidly "Just like every Krogan out of Tuchanka is a part of the Blood Pack, yes?" Questioned Khosin, crossing his arms.

"Let me make something perfectly clear, I am here of my own volition. I am not some sort of Hegemony sleeper agent, I don't have any secret agency or plan under my sleeve. I am a mercenary, just like you, earning my credits." He said, crossing his arms. "As for your question on if my chocie of the Kishock reflects the kind of person that uses it...let me make you a counter question." He said coldly, each of his four eyes focused intently on Dex "Does the use of the Genophage on the Krogans reflects on the Turian and Salarian races?" Said Khosin, slowly walking towards Dex "Does the whole Shanxi fiasco reflects the Turian race?" He said in an even voice "Does the existence of things such as polonium rounds, shredder rounds, flamethrowers, biological weapons, nuclear weapons, reflects its creators?" Said the Batarian, his voice rising ever so slightly "Does the fact that the Hanar train Drell's as assassins reflects on them as a species Dexuret?" He asked coldly "Well, tell me." Said Khosin, falling silent as he waited for Dex to answer.

Listening to Khosin tearing into her every question with vigor and logic, she pushed every button he had and it showed to her where his convictions lie. Khosin was pissed that much was clear but it showed her that he had no real allegiances to the Hegemony, the same way she held no regard to the Hiearchy.

Her eyes surveyed him then quickly hit the stop button on her recorder. "Thanks Khosin, this'll go a long ways to proving you're a half-decent man. I hope the others believe what you've said as much as I have. I'd love to debate the shitty things our races have done but to hold you responsible for any of it would be as dumb as holding any single Turian responsible for the Relay 314 Incident or the fucking genophage. Spirits, aliens love to rub that in my face for no reason." She winked at that hoping to diffuse his anger a bit, "I'll send you the audio byte, I'd rather keep it in case some of the other crew go pushing the same buttons I just did."

"Khosin, I'm sure you're aware that other crew members will be assuming much worse about you. I hope you're prepared." Placing her pistol back on her hip and pulling off the Viper again setting her disruptor ammo. "To believe any single individual in a species fully supports and works for the governmet is ridiculous. I've got my fair share of reservations against the Hierarchy, years of conditioning and separatisim does that to you. I can't bring myself to believe that every Batarian supports the Hegemony just because you were a solider once doesn't make or break you. Yeah?"

She nodded at him hoping her point was clear, this wasn't a matter of what he said but how he said it. To her the feud between the Alliance and the Hegemony didn't matter, at least not anymore. He was apart of a crew that would only clash with his roots and other soliders and marines wouldn't hesitate to try and rip them away.

"And please don't ever call me Dexuret again. Only my Mother refers to me by my full name." She said drily.

"Good, glad that we can understand eachother Dex." Said Khosin when Dex thanked him, although was a bit surprised by her own small tirade on how she agreed with him, chuckling a little at the genophage joke "Well, look on the bright side, I am sure no one will be rubbign the genophage in your face when there's the resident batarian to pick on." He joked, laughing a little at her mention of sending him the audio byte "Hmm, thanks, will keep that in mind." He said with a light chuckle.

He let out a sigh of resignation when she mentioned that other crew members would be assuming much worse things about him "Can't blame them, we Batarians often don't have the best reputation and with good reason." He admitted as Dex as she replaced her pistol with her Viper.

He nodded in agreement when she mentioend that not every Batarian supports the Hegemony "Yes, that'd be correct." He said, turning to face away slightly as he said that. Too many memories in such a statement for him to look at her in the face "You'd be surprised how many Batarian's despise the Hegemony, not that you'll see many of them." He said softly but laughed a little when Dex told him to not to call her by her full name again.

"Noted Ma'am." He said drily, giving a mock salute before laughing slightly.

Dex nodded then addressed the rest of the crew, "One more sniper has been taken care of. Vellios, Iosif, and Tanya tread carefully the last one will bound to be much more desperate now that he is on his own." The last of the four hadn't moved from his cover, yet.

Now that she had time to see past the blinding rage, advancing cautiously as she was, Serena paused to consider whether or not the Batarians actually deserved to be set upon by Vellios. The chances of him being killed or injured by these slavers were negligible at best. She had, after all, seen him face far worse and come out on top albeit more worse for wear than when he had started the fight. So she wasn't worried about what they were going to do to him. She was more concerned what he was going to do to them. Just for killing my drone, the fuckers, no. However, given that they are in fact slavers and are scum of the earth, they should be utterly destroyed and sadistically broken. We're running out of time, so I imagine they'll be granted a quick death. Serena thought as she moved forward.

Her prediction was proven to be true, as three of the snipers were dispatched in short order, in quick and sometimes rather spectacularly bloody ways. She couldn't suppress a shudder at the sound and sight of the harpoon punching through a Sniper's armor and body. One was left, not daring to expose himself to the enemies, and that made him a rather easy target for the two Dels. Finally dropping down from the ceiling, they wasted no time firing into the back of the Batarian Slaver. His shields dissolved in seconds, and he died right after. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you keep two or three drones armed with very fast firing weapons." She muttered to herself before speaking on their comm system. "Last sniper is dead. Everything should be all clear here. No idea what to do once we go deeper into the shaft. I suspect we'll have a welcoming party there too. Preferably, we'll have less destruction of my drones this time!"

She sincerely hoped that no more of Del was destroyed. It was already going to be a pain in the ass to mess with her major project, but rebuilding the shattered remains of Del? That would take time and resources away from Barat. Serena sighed as she glanced back at the ruins of her drone. She would have to get it later. Right now she had a mission that was proving a tad bit more difficult than any of them would have liked. "Lets get on this ship, I said. It'll be no big deal, I said. Easy money, I said. I'm an idiot, stomping through slaver filled caves, just waiting to get shot at."

”They grow up so fast” Drono said as he hunkered behind cover. He was nowhere prepared to handle snipers now that his little deathball was gone. ”It's like It was yesterday I cobbled her together. And now she has bloomed into a gorgeous ball of death and fire.” He watched the other move in the cover of smoke and tactical, suppressing bursts of gunfire. He was, of course, saying all this over the comradio. The idea of radio discipline was tossed out the window he had sent his insane contraption down the tunnel. Not that the concept had ever really appealed to him. What was a brawl without some braggadocio. He moved, always making sure to keep another team mate between him and the snipers. He had done his part and then some as far as he was concerned.

”If we survive this. I am signing us all up for therapy.” He continued his ramblings as he saw another sniper fall. [color=palegreen]”Becouse I am pretty sure we are all gonna have claustrophobia after today little mining expedition” He moved, ducking low and ducked behind a rock outcrop just in time to avoid being shot by the lone remaining sniper.

”FOUND THE SNIPE-.” He began only for the last sniper to fall. "Never mind then..."
He said noticably relieved at not being shot at anymore. He got up and dusted off. "I vote we take a mission on a nice, dry, desert planet next. One where the inhabitants are friendly and less likely tear wear heavy shields and more likely to wear... Well nothing at all really."

“I’ll go with Tonka” Kasyra said after the Krogan briefed them on the tunnel layout. She far preferred the idea of narrow, confined spaces to open areas. It was far easier to close and fight at point blank range where she excelled in cramped environments. “Fighting in a mine can't be that different to a boarding action after all.” Boarding actions were one of the two things Migrant Marines trained for most, and she had no small amount of experience fighting in cramped ship corridors.

When the snipers were discovered, Kasyra was slow to act. Being already out of their line of fire, she did not need to scramble to safety, but at the same time, she was a short range combatant. She could do little to aid the situation immediately, and so she waited to see what the others would do. She knew of several anti-sniper techniques used by her comrades in the past - the Blue Suns would either deploy their own snipers to counter-snipe the enemy or use large scale Omni-shields and advance in a defensive formation. The Migrant marines rarely had to deal with such situations, but when they did, they used a combination of suppressive fire from their marksmen and various tech attacks to overwhelm the enemy.

Kasyra had always been second line in such situations.

When the Drell rolled forward his cobbled together ball of explosives, she couldn’t help but shake her head in despair. If this was the best tactic they could come up with, she felt her chances of long term survival plummeting. She watched in mild shock as he pushed it down the tunnel glad that she could turn down the incoming volume from outside. She could scarcely imagine how loud it must be for those not wearing helmets. Tonka was also readying his sniper to counter the enemy, but she doubted he would be very successful with the amount of smoke the explosive-ball was throwing up. On the other hand, the smoke would provide excellent cover for an advance. She made her way slowly forward, largely avoiding fire as the snipers targeted the more scary looking members of the squad first.

Nonetheless, her cautious approach and short effective range meant that by the time she was ready to attack, the vast firepower of the rest of the squad had positively shredded the quartet of snipers.

She was quite pleased with this outcome - it meant she avoided getting shot at by Kishoks. She’d seen those weapons in action enough times to know that Quarians virtually never survived a direct hit past the shields.

“Thanks for the show boys.” She said acidly, though with a hint of thankfulness and possibly even admiration in her voice. When she spoke again it was with dripping sarcasm and punishingly criticizing.“Well done on not getting killed. I'm sure you'd love a desert planet full of naked Asari for enemies Drono, but some of us actually enjoy fighting in tunnels. Besides, your disappointment at the lack of naked women will be an excellent weapon on its own.”

Left Tunnel: Vellios and Tonka ft. DJ Kasy G

_{@Dervish & @Fallenreaper & @Sundered Echo}

"Back up coming your way, Vellios. You had to go for the low hanging fruit with guns and loads huh? Here I thought you could do better than that."

”Thanks. It’s not my fault they like to tease and hold it just out of reach. That is just asking to be shot. Though, I’m sure you know a lot about low hanging fruit yourself Dex.” Vellios teased lightly.

The gunfire, risk and damp stank filling his nostrils was all too familiar. To Vellios it was a reminiscence of a time he would always find hard to forget as he huddled into the wall side, his body edged out only for a moment. Abruptly he then jerked back when several fires rang out. One failed to nail him into the shoulder when it shot past and into the wall beside him, scattering a few pebbles into his side harmlessly making him curse quietly. His teeth pressed into each other while he started to debate on what to do. The helmet was still itching and scratching at his neck, his staying becoming a misery in the end as he fought the impulse to rip it off and risk going deaf. However, he managed not to. Too many sounds without warning and going deaf wasn’t an ideal situation for him, it was almost fatal in the field since he used the banter to keep him centered.

Vellio’s talon gripped a mine and almost set it off when Serena saved him the trouble. Her drones dropped down behind the remaining sniper then fired, spraying his back with bullet holes and his corpse slouched back into the cover. Seeing he wasn’t going to get shot, the Turian crept out of his hiding place and into the open where he heard Serena speak over the comm.

"Last sniper is dead. Everything should be all clear here. No idea what to do once we go deeper into the shaft. I suspect we'll have a welcoming party there too. Preferably, we'll have less destruction of my drones this time!"

[color=Rosybrown] “At least they get a taste of what’s it’s like when they explode,”[color] Vellios chuckled, then started to navigate down the wounding tunnel.

Tonka walked alongside Vellios, Argus in hand. He was begrudgingly impressed with the team for locating, disorienting, and disposing of the snipers before the sightlines had properly cleared. He had patiently waited for a shot, but held fire until he knew for sure he had a shot. When sniping, you didn't often get a second chance if you messed up. In cases like this, where snipers were actively searching for each other, it could be a matter of a slight movement, glimmer of a targetting optic, or even a shift in the environment that could be the difference between killing your quarry and finding a round between your eyes. A missed shot might as well be a ringing dinner bell for a sniper.

As the group used the now mobilized truck for cover. Tonka reached over, tapping Dex on the shoulder, having caught the tail end of the conversation she was having with Khosin. "Hey, Dexuret. I personally hold you accountable for the genophage. I demand you buy me dinner as reparation." he said, chuckling to himself as he returned to his place in the formation. "So, the kids can handle themselves, it looks like. You going to join me down the left tunnel? I figure you're a tough guy who doesn't mind getting shot a couple times. It could be fun."

Carefully, Vellios kept close to the truck while they moved down the tunnel. His helmet head, the itched there despite its presence, rotated from one fork to the other with appreciation. There was two ways to go and neither were particularly ideal to them. His mind was debating when he heard Tonka tease Dex, his eyes turned to the Krogan then let a wicked smile cross his face. Not that the Krogan could tell really through the visor. His talons gripping his weapon and holding it close, he replied for Dex instead. “I bet you say that to all the Turians when you want a free meal, Tonka. Sadly, if any Turian actually believed you, I imagine you would’ve been much fatter.”

When asked to join the Krogan to head down the left fork with him, Vellios nodded. “Shot, stabbed, and worse so a few bullet holes aren’t going to be much of an issue. Though, if you’re the one shooting my ass than I’ll return the favor with a Cain Mine up yours.”

"Darn, you saw through my ruse. Whatever shall I do?" Tonka replied with a chuckle, wishing he could crack his neck, but the limited side-to-side mobility of his helmet plus the thick armour made that an impossibility. He often wondered what it was like lunking around the heavy armour a lot of his kin preferred; he opted out of it, mainly because it made it impossible to scratch your ass in dire situations. Comfort over protection wasn't a trade off, it was a way of life.

"And we krogan don't get fat. It all goes to our humps, drives the females crazy. No female can turn down a male with a big hump. I don't know how the rest of you aliens do it, but for krogan, it's practically a neon billboard advocating mating potential. Feel free to be jealous." he looked over at Vellios, although the narrow lenses of his full plated helmet made it impossible to convey the bemused expression he was offering the turian. "Shooting you in the ass? What ass? That narrow, tiny thing can probably unlock keyholes if you pinched out the sticks you carry up there. And I'm a pretty damn good shot, but a target that small is testing even my skill. Trust me, if we have a problem, I'll say it to your face. Probably after headbutting you, but that's just me being friendly and sporting."

"I'm at least less of a target compared to that big o' hump of yours. For it being a female magnet, it will clearly get the sniper's attention for sure and I might be able to use it for cover at least" Vellios stated, enjoying the tone and conversation. Most Krogans would've tried to bash his crest in from behind him or gotten aggressive, their pride injured by the fact he was baiting them to determine their aggression level. Tonka, much like himself, rolled with it. "Headbutting, I can handle. It's how I sorted a few things back in the day as a kid and still use it time to time. It gets the point across in the best ways."

His hand checked his rounds and debated, a moment, on switching them as he reviewed his options. He pulled out his pistol then replaced them with disruptor rounds, giving him a secondary weapon for shields compared to having only one type. His shotgun still held the explosive rounds since they packed the most punch and would cause almost anyone, at least not stupid enough to ignore that fact, from risk getting hit with them. Nothing more fun than covering a sniper's failed attempt with their rifle with a much more dangerous one.

"Sure you weren't a krogan, or at least your father? Usually tiny guys like you tend to complain about headbutting, like it's big and mean. That or you're trying to forget something, like math. You're missing a nice big crest. Anyways," Tonka suddenly shimmered and vanished, only a faint outline of his movement was visible as he activated his tactical cloak. It said more than words could about just how easy of a target he would be.

"Trust me, my father wasn't a Krogan. Though the choice would've been preferred in the end. As for being mean, that's not mean. That's putting a point through someone's thick skull." Vellios stated, his eyes noted the Krogan abruptly vanish and possibly headed down the left fork. "As humans say, it's not how big it is but how you put it to use. Considering my sex life, I'm clearly using it well enough."

"No, that's just plain rude, the skull-piercing I mean. And you seem to be going out of your way to reassure me you know how to 'use it,'" Tonka said, making quotation fingers with his free hand."Don't be ashamed if you're, well, packing a corvette instead of a dreadnaught. We can't all be titans. But don't worry about me, I've got ways to not get shot. I'm not fooling anybody by hiding behind something, unless they mistake me for a rock. I should try that sometime." he said, scanning ahead for threats. The jackasses must have been digging in further back. Mineshafts, one of life's great mysteries and most unfortunate places to die in.

"Sure.not my fault if you can't accept the truth." Vellios retorted, dropping the matter when the truck grinded to a halt.

Soon, they were at the crossroads, and Tanya scurried to the back of the truck, peeling her helmet off to see everyone better. "So far, so good, boys and girls. This is where we split off, we're taking the truck right as per the plan. A couple pairs of hands would be nice. As for the rest of you guys, try not to get chewed up in a choke point. I'm going to declare if any of you die, I reserve the right to rifle through your personal shit. Okay, have fun! Don't die." she said cheerfully, scrambling to the back of the cab to post up, rifle at the ready. It was hard not to miss the spike sticking through the machine-gun in the turret ring. It wasn't much of a mystery why she suddenly stopped shooting.

As the truck veered off to the right, Tonka stood, looking down the left.

"So, ten credits says they have a machine-gun down this way. Any takers?"

Vellios watched the truck a moment longer, noting who was going with it, and started to come up beside Tonka when he said his comment. "Likely, but you only live once right?"

Without another word, Vellios stepped forward and cautiously drew out a smoke grenade into his talons. He switched out his shotgun for his pistol, holding it in one hand and edged into the tunnel into the growing darkness. Small, miner lamps hung over head where they creaked and squeaked high above him, casting the tunnel in shadows to increase its eerie feel. It started to taper off, becoming narrower with each step which increased Vellios' alertness as he considered drawing his shotgun again. His black carapace was the ideal cover in the shadows making him blend surprisingly well with the sides while he left his life's faith in the Krogan's hands.

Tonka's tactical cloak allowed him to take point with confidence, knowing whatever was ahead wouldn't likely get the jump on him. It wasn't long until they came up on what looked like a set of hastily erected positions, and after stopping his advance, Tonka noticed movement from behind the barracades. After observing for a few moments longer, and his tactical cloak fading to charge, Tonka opened a comm channel with Vellios and the others taking the left flank. "Contacts, I count three. Suppressing fire on my move; I'm going to get up close and personal. Ready?"

Vellios' eyes shifted to the direction where the Krogan materialized into sight, his large frame blotting out a good chunk of the narrow tunnel. Upon hearing the raspy, heavy voiced Tonka, the Turian was debating on what was possible while stopped dead in the middle of his approach. "Well, where exactly are they? I have a smoke grenade ready and it might give you a bit of time to pull in close and get a first shot in before they start shooting. Though if you rather risk me firing, I'll just use the shotgun with the explosive rounds. It will at least keep their attention much easier than a charging Krogan."

Kasyra had been following along, smirking while she listened to the the two men exchange barbs and other banter. She almost replied to one of Vellios' comments about his insistence on his ability to 'use it well' but thought better of it. She didn't want to get attached to these people too much until she knew they wouldn't die on her. She worldlessly prepared her heavy pistol to provide cover fire at Tonka's request. She had never fought alongside a Krogan before, and was quite curious to see him in action from the perspective of being on his side instead of trying to kill him.

"Smoke grenades might be a bit of a pain in my ass. I plan on activating my cloak, which should keep me out of their sight since they'll be focusing on the gunshots. Just keep firing on each of those barracades, there's two on the right, one on the left. Explosive rounds will probably do a nice job keeping heads down with the holes you'll be punching. I'll start shooting when I'm on top of them. By then, it's too late for them." the krogan said, checking to see the blue status light on the Argus was still solid.

Vellios shrugged. "Alright, start counting down from five."

As Tonka started to count down, Vellios clipped his grenade to his waist and switched out his pistol out for his Scimitar. The shotgun much heavier in his hands than the pistol as he adjusted his aim, bring the unaware Batarians into his sights at the far right. Carefully taking aim, he then fired the moment that Tonka counted down to zero and released a shot into first one. The bullet moved forward and exploded into the nearest slaver causing him to reel backwards, his shield unprepared while his pal got the aftermath. Not hit, but still damaged, the Batarian ducked down into cover screaming about someone being in the tunnel.

Careful not to draw attention to himself, Vellios' movements were careful and slow. Adrenaline racing through his viens and his heart was jerking in his chest causing his eyes to sharpen in focus and hearing heighten suddenly, absorbing in the chaos erupting. Aready they released fire into his direction as he shifted to the left, the bullets narrowly clipping his shield when he adjusted his position.

Cloak activated, Tonka charged at the count of 5, barreling towards the batarian position in a hard sprint, his blood boiling as he felt the berzerker-like rage building with anticipation of the kill. As refined and generally thoughtful and patient as Tonka was, there were some things about his species that could not be ignored, and countless generations of warfare and struggling to survive came with some added baggage, some of which was actually useful.

For instance, taking out an improvised position of batarian pirates with a surprise attack.

Demonstrating surprising agility for someone of Tonka's substantial stature, the krogan vaulted the cover, feet first, and into the chest of one of the batarians, landing on top of him while training his weapon, one handed, at his friend who was so close the end of the gun barrel was almost too far. The heavy burst fire tore into and through the batarian's chest plate with heavy, almost shotgun-like, firepower. It didn't take long before pieces of armour were flung down range, along with a substantial amount of the pirate's innards.

Kasyra's gun also barked fire towards the Batarians as Tonka charged, though she was more interested in seeing just how effective a cloaked Krogan charge was. It turned out to be excessively brutal. Next to what she could've done, she thought a few of his movements were a little on the slow side, though still fast for a Krogan. But then it was hardly fair to compare him to her when she was so focused on speed. She began to move up to support him in the melee, but it was clear he had it covered already.

Vellios' heart thumped in his chest, his mind melting into sounds vibrating around him. The darkness was all too familar and he could almost hear the dripping sounds echoing in his mind. For a brief moment, the image of some electric blue liquid dripped from a FTL drive and metal tunnels filled his memory causing him to tense up. By this time the Krogan had vaulted over the barracade and landed into one of the slavers, another crumbed into a heap filled with bullet holes as the sound caused Vellios to snap back to focus. His eyes fixed on the threat at least, though it was hard to tell if he was fully there.

The Turian's hand reached for the knife before his mind even came to the gun that was still active and ready in his other hand, his blade whipped back then shot forward with a quick strike. It was a clearly a practiced move based on instinct rather than actual thought.The Batarian didn't know what hit him. One moment the alien was racing to his feet to fire upon where Tonka had vanished then...Thump! A fleshy sound echoed through the tunnel. The Batarian slumped to his knees with a knife sticking of the side of his head. Red blood dribbled slightly down the face side, his gun clattered to the ground and shields down while his figure then laid flat upon his side.

Vellios didn't move. His eyes, slightly off in their focus, merely staring at what he had done with an uncharacterist statue stillness to it. His chest was slowly heaving up and down, intaking deep breathes while trying to shift between what was real and what wasn't. He barely acknowedged his knife throw being anything beyond dream like, questioning himself actually using it at all.

"Nice throw." Tonka said approvingly, pretending not to notice the batarian squirming underfoot. "If you were going for a stealthy approach, a near-miss." Pulling the Shuriken pistol from his hip with a free hand, Tonka leveled it at the batarian's head underfoot and pulled the trigger. The tiny machine pistol roared in the narrow cavern, its high rate of fire spewing dozens of rounds blank range into the pirate's head, and by the time the weapon overheated, there wasn't much of a head left to identify. "Right, let's get going. You alright, space cadet? You look like you can't remember if you left the stove on." Tonka asked Vellios, noting that the turian seemed to be locking up from the bantering trooper from only a few minutes prior.

Vellios had been standing there, staring at the Krogan merely make a mess of bone, brain and muscle where the Batarian's head use to be. It wasn't until Tonka's voice spoke directly to him that the Turian snapped into the present, his crested head shook the memories away and breathing turned back. He focused on answering on commenting the earlier statement first before moving onto the next. [color=rosy] "It was more of a reaction than intended."[/color]

His eyes turned to stare at the Krogan, his mind placing the merc finally, and continued. "Just memories were all. Nothing important that needs remembered. As for that stove comment... even if I did leave it on, it really can't make that heap we call a ship any worse. Can it?"

"It certainly cant. Hull breaches would probably actually improve its ability to move. It's barely worth the time it'd take to scrap it for parts."

"Have you seen the Borealis? I count it as a win any time I wake up on that thing alive. For all we know, the right-most knob might activate a self-destruction sequence. I've served on some pretty shitty ships, but our little wonder is definitely the worst."

"I don't think the little tugboat could survive a self-descruction button being put in, that would be considered a mercy killing and one someone clearly didn't consider for it. At least it isn't infested with pests." Vellios stated, edging over to retrieve his knife. Or what was left of it as he bent at his waist then inserted his foot into the Batarian's stained chest and tugged it out of the rat's nest that served as the new face.

"It may not have been, but now that you've said that while we're docked at Omega, we're probably going to find a family of Varren in the hold when we get back and all manner of nasty critters crawling through the ducts. Thanks for that Vellios. The ship may have just transcended the laws of physics and got even worse." She checked her gun was cooling then added "Tonka, how is that you're the only Krogan charging under cloak? Are the rest of your race really so stupid they haven't figured out how effective that is?"

Vellios chuckled then replied, his talon flipping up his knife idly as he thought about Haides. A wicked and cold glint stirred in his eyes that faded shortly after. "Trust me, Kasyra, if there is any Varren in that ship... I will have me some new gloves and boots."

He listened as the Krogan's voice started.

"Work smarter, not harder." Tonka answered, non-commitally. "Most other krogan are too busy trying to complain about how big their quads are so they just like to show off, full of bravado. They want to be seen. It's a cultural thing. All I cared about was food, and not getting shot in my own quad by somebody who owns more guns than I did. So far, so good. As for our little pest problem... you mean that Tanya creature doesn't count? I shudder to think of what happens when she figures out how to get into the vents."

"If she doesn't, then her music drone certainly does. Keelah, its atrocious. If I ever don't answer you on the ship, its because I forgot to turn off my helmets mute feature after visiting the hold."

"Wild beasts do like the mark their territory. You can tell her I said that."

"I might, but I've got a wonderful plan to get back at her. You'll see soon enough." Kasyra spoke in an uncharacteristically sly fashion with a wink of one of her glowing eyes.

"Such a tease. Anyways, we have a little bit to go, it's rude to keep them waiting. Ladies first." Tonka said, gesturing further down the tunnel with his rifle as he mounted his machine-pistol to his leg. "And Vellios? More guns, less pointy objects. Nobody likes a show off."

"No promises, though try not to get too green over it." Vellios smirked then returned his knife into its holster and followed.

Tonka waved a hand over his armour. "A bit late on the green thing."

It's alright if you boys want to hide behind the Quarian. I know exactly why... It's because I'm soooo scary." Kasyra replied with increasingly extreme sarcasm, beginning to move forward.

"Well, with a view like that... I'm not going to argue. Just smile and nod." Vellios commented, his eyes carefully noting Kasyra's would be reaction to tell him either to rein it in or push a little while he followed in behind. Naturally, his head tilted a bit to enjoy the sway of the Qaurian's hips.

Kasyra swayed her hips a little more for a few steps before returning to her normal gait. "Alright boys, thats enough ogling. We have batarians to kill up ahead."

"Great. I always wondered what it looked like when a quarian gets a suit rupture." Tonka said, checking his rifle and following his companions to final mop up duty.

Right Path: Iosif and Tanya's Technical Ride

_{@Dervish & @Zombiedude101}

"Appreciated!" The simultaneous voices of Dex and Serena announcing that the snipers had come to end was music to Iosif's ears. With an amused grunt, he glanced back towards his gunner and shouted up to her, "Tanya, are you good to go?"

Okay, Tanya, you've got this. Breathe. 5, 4, 3, 2...

"I'm ready. Let's keep the momentum going, yeah?" Tanya called back towards Iosif, rifle now in hands. She'd have to use the Vindicator now her turret was disabled. She stood, hesitantly at first, half-expecting death to come swiftly. To her pleasant surprise, it never came, and Drono's contraption's smoke was starting to dissipate a bit. "Move us forward slow enough for the others to keep pace, we have to keep acting as a shield, in case there's some more surprises."

"Sounds like a plan, just keep your eyes out for any more vehicular counterpoints, I'd rather not lose the other arm." Iosif flashed her the thumbs-up, before shifting the truck forwards yet again, this time moving at a comfortably steady pace to give the others a little cover.

"You sure? With two robot arms, you could make Dex super jealous. She might take off both of her legs to try to one-up you. Tanya replied with a laugh, looking over the gun sights for movement. The remaining distance closed rapidly before the road forked off to the right. Tanya drove a knee into the cab window. "Stop here, Iosif."

The engineer turned from her post to the back of the truck, where she looked down at the squad. "So far, so good, boys and girls. This is where we split off, we're taking the truck right as per the plan. A couple pairs of hands would be nice. As for the rest of you guys, try not to get chewed up in a choke point. I'm going to declare if any of you die, I reserve the right to rifle through your personal shit. Okay, have fun! Don't die." she said with forced cheerfulness before resuming her post with a sigh. "I fucking hate batarians. I was hoping to not be doing this shit again." she said to Iosif.

"You're not the only one. Four-eyed scum have taken a lot from me." Iosif was glad to know that he and Tanya had some firm common ground on the matter of that race of pirates and slavers. "Just make sure we free any captives we find along the way. I'm no charity, but I know there's some things worse than dying out there."

"Is it bad that I kind of hope we don't find any captives? That's something I really don't want to have to face again. You know what these bastards did to people... Fuck it, it can wait. After the mission, let's go get something as bad as mess grub and share scars, but we need to keep our heads in the game." Tanya replied, her tone soft with melancholy.

"Good point, alright." Iosif nodded, not wanting to let the conversation distract either of them from the mission.

It didn't take long before a distraction was present in the form of Utan's team. Suddenly, the technical was under a heavy barrage of fire by a pair of Revenant light machine-guns, planted on what appeared to be a pair of sandbags. The heavy automatic fire shattered the silence and began to chew through the front of the vehicle. Tanya returned fire to the best of her ability, but it was unclear if her shots were even landing near their expected targets, given the blinding muzzle flash of the pair of guns and their combined suppression effect. Her shields took a few hits, and were knocked down an alarming percentage. Tanya slid down the back of the truck, deploying Shithead out the rear, where it would be protected. Before she could issue commands, explosions began to rock the cavern, and it became clear the other two batarians were beginning to toss grenades like they had an expiration date. "Okay, Shithead, as soon as you break cover, just keep firing microrockets as fast as you can produce them, don't even fucking bother locking on a target, respond to the hostile IFF gunfire. Go!" she shouted to be heard over the chaos. Suddenly, Tanya was thrown forward, hard into the bed of the truck, as a grenade went under the front passenger side tire and lifted it up several meters before it crashed down hard. From her position, she couldn't tell if the tire was shredded, but she was willing to put money on it.

Shithead, on the other hand, seemed to be performing admirably as it began to launch rockets every 3 seconds towards the enemy position, small explosions shaking the enemy positions and adding much needed interruptions in the gunfire. Tanya scrambled back to the cab window. "Oi! Iosif! You okay?"

For a couple of seconds, she was met with silence - before Iosif's voice crackled up once again as he scrabbled for his senses in the wake of their sudden stop. "... Head's rattled and... ah, shit! The truck won't hold out much longer, wheel's almost gone!" At this point, the truck may as well have been a few steps away from mobile scrap; true to Tanya's word, the front passenger side's tire had been shredded whilst the explosion had also managed to do a number on the wheel itself, along with giving him a concussion from rattling his head against the interior.

If they weren't actively being pinned down and chewed out from those damned LMGs, he'd have been able to bail and maybe even issue a temporary patch-job to the wheel with some omni-gel, but all hopes of that were circling the drain as of now. "Need support, we're getting pinned by MG fire right now!" His voice soon became further exasperated as another relativistic projectile pinged off against the plating, just a few inches overhead.

Right Fork - Drono and Dex

@Hellis & @DearTrickster

Dex pulled a face at Tonka's comment then about to reply Vellios cut in to respond instead.

“I bet you say that to all the Turians when you want a free meal, Tonka. Sadly, if any Turian actually believed you, I imagine you would’ve been much fatter.”

She snorted out a laugh Tonka took his comment in such stride that it impressed Dex. A comment like that would of resulted in any other Krogan turning Vellios into paste. They sounded like a pair of smartasses the way they carried on.

Watching their backs disappear down the left side of the fork. She glanced at Khosin nodding at the truck, "I'm heading with the truck. See you on the otherside."

Jogging through the smoke to catch up with the truck as it had already begun to move on. The com chatter carried on but Iosif's thank you made her feel a little better in regards to taking that shot of Overload.

The truck came under another wave of heavy fire this time from a pair of machine guns further down the tunnel just out of range of Tanya's rifle shots. Dex spied through her scope to see where their targets had holed up. Her talon automatically twitching to take a shot but immediately she knew of a better way to deal with them.

Watching Tanya deploy her drone, Shithead, creating a new level of distraction that could give her an edge to sneaking past. Noting the lighting was dimmed and musty through the dissipating smoke.

Thinking to herself, Two machine gunners... if my shields weren't in such shit shape I could do it...

Her eyes flicked back to see Drono still looking pretty satisfied with his explosive contribution. Her talon pressed her ear communicator, "Drono, I need your help. We need to do things the smooth way."

Drono had watched as his group came under heavy fire once more. Part of him wanted to throw up his hands and go home. That part of him was the reasonable, logical part of Drono. So of course, he didn't listen to it. "Right there with you Dex" Drono responded as he made his way to establish visual contact with her. He had liberated a few grenades that hadn't ended up in the ball of death earlier. And his mind was practically begging for them to be used. A spray of bullets pinged of the side of the car.

"I won't say I told you so about having to hit them hard and fast and not let them dig in. But I told you so."

"Do you want to hear my plan or not?" Poking her prosthetic elbow in his ribcage. "Listen up."

Drono let out a little "oof" from having a metal elbow shoved into his ribs."You have a plan? We do plans now? Nobody told us we were doing plans." Drono quipped back in mock horror. The smugness oozed off him at this point. But he remained quiet as she told him to listen up.

"They have muscle on the left side while we have our tech." Pressing her back up against Drono's avoiding another stray bullet. Talking over her shoulder raising her voice to be heard over the gunfire, "We sneak in dodging between the light and shadows off to the sides of the tunnel while they're distracted firing at Shithead and the truck. We spring an attack taking out the gunners first and then turning on them."

"Your plan boils down to. 'Lets hope they are too busy to notice us' ? Somewhere, Sun Tzu is crying in his grave. And before you ask, he is some ancient human tactician. I once got drunk with some human mercenaries. They would not shut up about the guy."

"Throw enough Turians together and they'll start waxing poetic about war heroes and great tacticians without the liquor." She laughed. "Anyway, yes that's the plan. These assholes are focused on the others surrounding the truck thinking that's where everyone will be. We don't need to waste thoughtful planning to take care of them."

Activating her tactical cloak shimmering away from sight. She peaked out from the left side of the truck waiting for a pause in gunfire before taking a running dash to the side of the tunnel to make her approach. The lights strung along the top of the tunnel were dimmed with age, casting long shadows for Dex and Drono to take advantage of. The gunfire carried on without following her steps. She hoped Drono followed her lead.

The fire was steady and consistent while over the comms Iosif called out for help, "Need support, we're getting pinned by MG fire right now!"

It made Dex want to run at full speed but she forced herself to be patient, getting caught now would only tear her apart. The truck could hold out for an extra minute while the pair of shadows stalked forward.

Drono was like a shadow, only a step behind Dex. He to felt the urge to just run at what was certein death. But like Dex, he maintained his calm. He overtook Dex as they got close enough to be in range. He unhooked one of his newly liberated grenades, weighed in his hand then lobbed in a wide arch above his head. It landed right infront of the gunners position. Then there was fire. An awful lot of fire.

Shielding her eyes from the explosion she nodded at Drono, "Did that do the trick?"

She crept up still under the cover of her tactical cloak training her pistol. Slowly rising from a crouching position the fire crackling along the sack's fabric. The bursts of sandbags were evident while the two bodies of the gunners had lay nearby.

Of course, nothing was ever that easy. From the smoke, gunfire sounded and Drono dragged Dex down into cover on pure, adrenaline fueled reflex. "DOWN!"

"Oof!"

Drono yanked the back of her cowl down to the ground with enough force to send her reeling. The angry remaining Twin Star's crew were taking shots at them in a rage only fueled by the surprise grenade.

Hacklan was pissed. He had been so tunnel visioned on the truck, he had allowed two assholes to sneak up on him. But no more, he would turn them and their buddies into so much pulp it would never be scrubbed clean from the walls. Utan failed, as was Utan's way, to realize he was tunnelvisioning again.

"THINK YOU CAN MESS WITH HACKLAN DO YOU?! DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK I AM!?"

Drono never heard of the guy, but he was sure as hell not going to tell the crazy creature that. He lay beneath the outer edge of the sandbags and shouted into the com.

"Your turn guys! Before we get turned into mince meat!"

"I'm not waiting to pick bullets out of my ass!" Dex shouted over the gunfire then switched weapons to her shotgun waiting for a break in fire. Her heart sped with adrenaline. Years spent training in the military prepared her for combat, her muscles didn't lose resolve even after all this time. Dex knew how to handle herself and it reflected in her quick decisions and steady hand. Listening for her opportunity (as much as she could with her hearing damage) she popped up over the sandbags surprising the Batarians again with sprays of deadly shotgun blasts. Taking them out while her meagre shield capacity held against the stray bullets. The short range perfect for quickly dispatching the last pair.

Her tactical cloak shimmered away, her eyes alert for anymore movement. The dust cleared and she counted in total of four dead Batarians.

"All clear. We took care of the gunner and two other pirates." She said through her comms eyes flicking to Drono. Standing back up she examined the MG's noting they were destroyed beyond repair from the grenade.

"I'm going to keep moving and aim to sabatoge their defenses. I'll feed you information as I go." Speaking again into the general team comms.

"Uh,,,, Dex took care of it. Yeah. No need to start shooting our way just yet." He spoke as he kicked one of the dead Bartarians. "We'll keep scouting ahead.:"

Serena headed quickly towards the right tunnel, leaving Vellios, the Quarian, and Tonka to deal with that mess. The two Dels following her. They would provide, the evidently much needed, firepower for their group. Right said group robably needed her help repairing the vehicle, given how much gun fire and shouting she had heard over the comms. As she left, she called out to Vellios. "Thank you for your assistance, don't get shot up on our first mission with these people, it'll give them a bad impression and probably ruin your budding romance with Tonka!" With that and a small smirk, she headed down the right tunnel, fortunately learning that she wasn't about to rush into a hellstorm of bullets and harpoons. She'd already done that once today, she was in no mood to repeat it twice in the span of a minute. Jogging down the tunnel she gave a low whistle at the sight of the truck. It was, to put it lightly, in terrible shape. Tire exploded, bullet hole ridden, a massive hole from what could only be a harpoon.

"Well. Going through this tunnel seemed like a very bad idea. Shall we start repairing this piece of bullet ridden garbage, or shall we just keep going and hope there's no more heavy weaponry? I have my two drones backing us up so perhaps we'll be shot at a little less with the two of them, Dex, Drono, and Shithead helping us clear the way. Believe or not I actually know how to work on a vehicle too, though not as good as others." She waved her omni-tool helpfully in their direction. "I can even shoot explosive bolts if it comes down to it.

Right Fork - Drono and Dex

@Hellis & @DearTrickster

---

Dex and Drono kept creeping forward. This was the term Drono had designated thier new duty. Recon felt so stuffy, so military. He was as far removed from military a man with guns and grenades could be. So creeping it was. As they scouted ahead, he switched to a private frequency.

"So. Whatever brought you away from the Turian Heiarchy? Someone with your skills would be top dog within C-Sec no problem."

They had left the gunner's position while making their way towards whatever else the Twin Star crew had in store for them. Kapan was putting up a decent fight buying himself more time. Drono was by her side his own cloak bending the minimal light.

Her manidbles twitched at the question, innocent as it was Drono was curious to know why reasonably. Dex thought she might have been oversharing with her mentions of her time in the military. She thought quickly of a few different simple answers to skirt the subject without opening up any more cans, that would inevitably lead to more personal topics.

"I know we've only met today but if you knew me any better you'd realize how hilarious that is." She said with a snort. "I haven't been with the military for years now. I have absolutely no interest in C-SEC, bunch of homeworld assholes sucking on silver spoons."

"Why, Dex. I didn't know you spoke Drono-Speak." Drono shot back. "What disease causes you to become a bad shot?" He asked with a smirk.

She gave him a crooked smile then asked, "What disease?"

"C-Sickness. Geddit?" Drono mused as they came upon a bend. He heard voices up ahead.

Dex shook her head hiding a laugh behind her hand, "That was awful." She couldn't hear the voices but noticed Drono was listening.

"You're going to have to be the ears here. Mine are shot. What do you hear?"

"Everyone's a critic." He waved her off dismissively. As he leaned in to listen. The voices were male, from the distortion at least one was Batarian. There were human sounding voices to. Some were distressed and clearly not pirate ones.

"Get them moving already." Said a gruff voice. "They are holding us up."

"Should we pop em and leave them?" Asked one of the human voices.

"And risk the Captain flaying us for fucking up what is left of our cargo? Don't fucking think so." Another responded. "Get them into the truck, we are leaving in Five." The gruff voice spoke. His body was covered in heavy, military grade armor and Drono suddenly felt a lot less enthusiastic.

He turned to Dex. "Slaves." He said quietly. "Appears they were holding them up a bit. But they are getting ready to leave now..."

"Let's move a bit closer to get a good look." She beckoned moving to her belly to crawl forward using the scope of her Viper to get a good look. On the back of a truck similar to the one they had hijacked, it was loaded up with a variety of slaves with steel collars linked with chains. They were dressed in ragged clothing looking miserable and terrified. While surrounding the truck was just a little over a dozen pirates packing the truck and trying to secure the slaves.

"That's quite a few. With non-hostile targets right in the middle." Drono narrowed his eyes. "Gonna be tricky. No grenades or we blow up a bunch of innocent people."

Dex nodded agreeing with Drono. It wasn't an option to hurt some innocent people.

"We'll need to be careful. Get some more information before we make an approach with the others." She said thinking out loud, "There's no safety net for these people. Some of them might get shot."

"Fuck... This is why I refuse to even go near the slave trade. I am many things, but even I'm not that much of an asshole." Drono said with a noticeable edge to his voice. "We're gonna have to go with the others. We are good, but there is a dozen of them. And I only got my SMG and Executioner."

Drumming her talons against her Viper she shook her head, "Slavery is nothing new in the Terminus Systems. The line blurs between good and bad asshole..." Then looked to Drono conceding, "Myself included.

"Let's do a head count." She suggested.

"Quite a few of them. Look, they are directing people our way to. They know we are gonna come this way now that the gunfire stopped. These are no chumps like the guys topside were." Drono drawled as he got on the public com. "Guy in the armor looks like a heavy hitter. I won't dent him unless I pop him with the executioner close range. And I can't get that close. They got sentries that are gonna turn my fine Drell ass into a cargo net with those guns. I feel they might be overcompensating." He drawled, not a little testily.

Dex nodded then folded her Viper onto her back. At the mention of his ass Dex couldn't stop herself to sneak a peek. It was nice. Shaking her head and scolding herself, Focus, there will be time after.

"It's not Kapan so he must be a squad leader. He's got a Striker and you're right Drono, he's heavily armoured shields and all. Which means Kapan must be elsewhere probably saying a friendly hello off to the left." She said sarcastically through the comms. "I'm counting a total of 14 pirates give or take one behind the driver's seat in the cab of the truck. Various species of slaves. Turian, asari, salarian, human... wow even a couple batarian. They're chained together with steel links and collars."

One of the pirates, holding a small SMG spoke nervously as they walked down toward the mineshaft heading unknowingly for the pair of invisible aliens, "I'm not hearing shit, do you think those assholes got the gunners?"

"I don't know." Shrugged the other pirate holding a katana shotgun. "If they're dead they bought us some time to get the hell out of here."

"I don't know man. What kind of crazy outfit would mess with Blue Sun affiliates like that?" One of them shot back. "Spectres?"

"Shit, I hope not." Another chimed in. They were spreading out, far enough to avoid getting caught by a single grenade or rocket, but close enough to cover each other's angles.

They were on the alert and Drono found that he could not circle down as he had intended. He was now hiding as close as he could possibly get away with. He had a clear shot on the two closest, but after that it'd be hail marys and praying to his Drell ancestors.

"Ready." Drono hissed into the com.

Khosin laughed a little at Tonka’s words, guessing that the Krogan had heard the tail end of their conversation, his laughter only increasing at the banter between Vellios and Tonka. He forced his laughter to stop and to calm himself down as Tanya began speaking. He had to agree on some of the points that she made, particularly the one on how things were proceeding rather well up to that point. “Guess we do work rather well together.” He thought with a certain amount of amusement, after all the group continued to amaze him in it’s diversity; even if it sometimes brought uncomfortable situations, such as finding that Iosif was a former slave at Aratoht.

He listened as Tanya said that they would split up between, with the Technical going along the right fork as it was piloted by her and Iosif. He thought for a few seconds on what to do but quickly decided to follow the vehicle down the right fork “Wait, going down the right fork as well.” He told to Dex as she nodded towards the truck, following behind her as she jogged after the truck.

He tensed when he heard the sound of two machine guns firing into the vehicle “Damnit, that vehicle won’t last too long under that kind of fire.” He thought and was about to ask the rest what they should do when he noticed that both Dex and Drono were gone, barely catching a glimpse of the shimmer that their tactical cloaks gave as they walked towards the emplaced MGs “Well, good luck with that.” He muttered under his breath, hoping that whatever they were planning succeeded. He was pleasantly surprised when the Machine guns stopped firing but felt himself tensing up slightly as he started picking up the sounds of an all too brief confrontation.

Seconds seemed to stretch into minutes when he heard Dex speaking into the group's general comms, followed by Drono shortly after that, but felt himself shifting uncomfortably as Dex mentioned going behind enemy lines. They would only find whatever slaves that Three-Eyed Zallack’s group kept captive and would probably have little to no chance of doing any damage, at least not without hurting or killing a few slaves, but Khosin thought best of mentioning that.

He took in the air of the cramped tunnel, shivering slightly as old memories threatened to surface in his mind. The place in which they were was all too familiar to Khosin and, sometimes, he felt like past and present blurred together, having to shake his head more than once to keep his focus on the mission. “There will be item for regrets latter, not now.” He admonished himself, turning his attention as Serena -the human that had come with Vellios- voiced the question on whether or not they should continue to go down the right tunnel, mentioning her capabilities afterwards.

“I too have a drone and could help with doing some repair to the truck I guess, though I am no expert by any means.” Said Khosin, clearing his throat slightly to bring attention to himself “Otherwise I could keep watch or help by drawing fire away from the vehicle in case we ran into any more enemies.”

Left Tunnel: Vellios and Tonka ft. DJ Kasy G

_{@Dervish & @Fallenreaper, @Sundered Echo & @DJAtomika}

"That's far enough!" A shout came from up ahead. Before Tonka, Vellios, Kasyra, and Hazan stood Kapan Nasa'dor, wielding a Locust submachine-gun that was hanging loosely at his side while the six men beside him stood, all in heavy armour, two armed with shotguns and three with assault rifles, and the final man with a submachine-gun, all trained on the mercenaries who came into view. Behind the batarians were stacks of explosive charges, wired together in an impressive and terrifying cluster; the dozens of blinking lights would have looked almost festive in the right circumstances.

Vellios, naturally, was standing beside Tonka when the voice caused him to stop abruptly. His scarred brow turned to the explosives first and mentally estimated the fire power, though he was a bit rusty in his calculations. Part of him wished, briefly, that Serena was here so she could easily guess if those key clusters actually functioned correctly but he quickly pushed the thought out of his focus and to return it back to the Batarian speaking.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Kapan said, shaking the detonator tauntingly at those assembled before him. "I press this switch, and," the batarian expanded his two forefingers and his thumb while mimicking an explosion sound before gripping the device tightly. "We all get a little crispier. Hey, Jek, remind these idiots what the yield of one of those charges is."

"100 tonnes."

"100 tonnes! There's fucking 37 of them, you do the math. One of the boys you killed up top was in school to be a geologist, you know that? He figured out that a concentrated enough blast in such a confined space, right underneath a subdivision under the Blue Sun's, well I wouldn't call it protection, more like a fucking extortion racket, goes up in hellfire and know what else is in that subdivision? A damn ammunition depot! I gotta hand it to the Suns, they're ballsy using civilians as a human shield, but since when have we cared about that?" Kapan grinned.

'Impressive, the pirate actually knows beyond basic mathematics. At least one of his crew did... too bad he wasn't smart enough to get out of the slaver business.' Vellios thought, his expression unchanged on the surface and surprisingly calm. Not because he wasn't considering about the fact one small fuck up and they were going to become small colored smears on the rocky cavern walls, but the fact the the guy hadn't pulled the trigger and wanted to be a little spontaneous.

Kasyra was conflicted as the slaver scum spoke. On the one hand, she wanted nothing more than to bring him in for the wonderful paycheck on offer, and back up what was turning out to be quite the competent band of mercs. But Kapan happened to hold in his hand the means to strike a blow against the Blue Suns. Sure, civilians would die. But not any Civilians she cared about, and this was Omega. People died here on a regular basis. Behind her mask, her face took on an expression of uncertainty.

"So, here's how this shit is going to play out. Since you cunts dismantled my operations here, I'm left with one course of action; you let us go with our merchandise and we don't kill everyone above this fucking mineshaft and you idiots along with us. We get our ship, and have a nice leisurely flight from Omega, and you can tell your employer, whoever the hell they are, that we're dead. Remember, these bombs go off, it's on you. What do you say? Feeling like a bunch of heroes?"

Tonka's rifle was trained on the batarian's wrist, behind the detonator. "Tempting as that may be, you're worth a lot of money. You do this the right way and I bring you in with most of your limbs intact." the krogan said, voice level but with an unmistakable menace. "Now, your men listen to me. You turn on this pyjak, and the three of you get to go home to your ass-ugly four headed whores of wives like this was all a bad dream. You don't want me to hurt you. Trust me. I'm very good at that."

Despite Tonka's rifle being trained on the Batarian's wrist, Vellios wasn't as confident the Krogan would both hit the massive detonator and that Kapan didn't have a backup ability to set the thing off. As much as Vellios enjoyed being a risk taker, if he wanted to off himself without a chance, even a slim one, of surviving to see tomorrow then he would've drowned himself in a dextrose based alcohol ages ago. It was much more peaceful and fun way to go compared to being blasted to bits.

Gradually and with careful movements, his hand reached backwards toward his holstered blade in his waist. His eyes tilted toward Kasyra to see what she was about to do.

Hazan froze. The explosives wired behind the slaver crew scared him slightly. But only just. He knew the Borealis crew were better than these two bit thugs who only knew force and nothing else.

With Scimitar raised, he casually took to observing the crowd. Spread out, of course, to maximise coverage. But Kapan was their priority. He had the bomb trigger. Everyone else was secondary to that.

They needed a plan.

As slowly as he could, his trigger hand inched forward on the shotgun and tapped his left. The omni tool he'd heisted from a dead slaver began to glow but he shut that down immediately. He knew that the omni blades were readying themselves in the device. They'd be handy. Maybe later.

Hazan returned his gun hand to the grip and shifted his posture. His eyes darted left and right, looking for direction from someone. Anyone. He caught sight of Vellios reaching for his knife, and Tonka aiming dead at the bomb trigger. As he slowly pointed his shotgun at Kapan, he whispered into his comms.

"Anyone have any bright ideas? I'm ready for anything, except dying by being blown into space dust."

Kasyra looked at the Slaver, then back at her companions. She could tell they were not considering his deal, but anyone who saw her eyes flicker would see how uncertain she was. She wanted that bomb to go off. Preferably when she was not nearby, but if things went too badly for her, it wouldn't matter.

"I can possibly try to defuse the bomb but no promises. I'm not my wonderful little mess of a mechanic and I doubt I would be fast enough. That aside, we need to either jam that device where it can't activate the bomb or get it away from him before all hell breaks loose." Vellios whispered back, his helmet covering his face from sight as he quickly debated on his options. "Kasy might be able to delay it if she snap freezes it and I can try to disarm it or get the detonator away."

"I'll grab the detonator as soon as you shoot off his hand Tonka. My shields can take the fire." Kasyra said through the comm. Her voice was devoid of emotion as she spoke. She was mostly confidant in her shields ability to absorb the inevitable fire that would come her way when she made the dash. But at this point it didn't matter, she wasn't thinking about avoiding getting shot. Just getting her hands on that detonator.

"I think..." She began after switching to external speakers. "That everyone just needs to cool off!" She near shrieked as she raised her omni tools and blasted the Batarians with super-cooled particles. With their shields still up it wouldn't freeze them, but it'd certainly slow them down.

That idiot.

What kind of braindead pyjak screamed a catchphrase before they attacked, let alone when there was an asshole threatening to blow them, and a whole lot of other people, sky high? Tonka didn't wait to see what happened and as soon as Kasyra's shrieking raised in pitch, he pulled the trigger in a double-tap, the heavy burst-firing weapons' recoil managed well under the krogan's weight and strength. Both bursts, six shots, largely landed on target within the few inch group in Kapan's wrist, although the batarian's pained reflex as a round penetrated through his shielding and tore through tendons and muscles. A round struck into the stack behind everyone and Tonka's entire body clenched as he prepared for the worst.

Everything happened fast. In less than a second, the scene became shit in a handbasket before Vellios got any real plan formed in his head. Not that he minded but considering one one wrong move put them in a risky situation to become smears, it wasn't the best option to suddenly go charging in. However, that's almost exactly what Kasyra did. Her voice rising to a shriek like a harpy, her raised her arms only to bring the ice upon the thugs. Just moments before, Tonka's gun went off and shot into the Batarian's arm causing them all to freeze. They all expected the worse.

No explosion. The world didn't turn into a blinding fireball before the eternal nothingness that followed. The krogan almost sighed in relief as he realized the explosives were likely a plastic explosive compound; completely stable and inert unless a blasting cap was applied. That gave him enough confidence to charge at Kapan with a roar as he fumbled to hold onto the detonator. The batarian raised his submachine-gun and opened fire at the krogan, eating through Tonka's shields, nearly depleting them as the krogan drove hard into the batarian, smashing him into the crates and grabbing the batarian's wrist, smashing the wounded appendage against the explosives to finally dislodge the mechanism from his hand. As it fell, Tonka yelled out, "CATCH THAT!"

Vellios' arm reflexed and ripped, blade handle in grip. In the same well practice movement, his arm threw it forward at the Batarian who broke the fear induced silence. His voice ran over his helmet comm as he barked an order to Haze, his instincts based on survival by using everything or one available. "Haze, move and play distraction. NOW!"

"Got it!"

Hazan took that as his cue to move.

He willed his aching body to move and immediately dashed forward as Tonka grappled with Kapan. The slender Turian wove past a stumbling slaver and emptied a shotgun blast into the shield of another as he approached. The batarian he'd shot recoiled away as Tonka slammed Kapan's wrist against the wall. Hazan copped a burst of rounds to the side and hissed, his shields absorbing most of the brunt.

But the pop and fizzle of them dissipating made him hurry.

His words ended when the slaver's shoulder snapped back from the impact. His bullets aiming for Kasyra and redirected it toward Vellios' direction, the Turian already moving out of the way. His pistol came out to return fire while the bullets sparked across his defense matrix, activated the moment he reached for his gun, entering into stage one. He fired off a few shots to draw at least some of the fire from his allies, his helmet seeming to choke him under its weight and his breathe increased in an uneven pace.

Fire began to strike Kasyra's shield even before the snap freeze occurred. As the freezing particles affected the batarians there was a brief reprieve, but they recovered quickly, pouring more fire into her shield. She saw Tonka charging forward, having already shot Kapan's wrist, and she moved to follow him, activating her shield boost as she did.

She was already in position when the Krogan slammed into Kapan, reaching out to grab the detonator before it hit the ground. Though she caught it successfully, the fire of many of the remaining batarians was trained on her and she had no cover. Fire washed over her shield as she sprinted to the nearest piece of rock big enough to hide her...

And then her shields failed, finally giving out under the strain. A shot struck her lightly armored arm and bit deep into the flesh. She shrieked once again, this time in pain, all but falling into cover. "I've got it." She said through gritted teeth, pain evident in her voice as she squeezed behind the rock, trying to be as small as possible.

Once he reached Kasyra's side, he diverted left and dove downwards, avoiding a spray of fire meant for him. As Hazan hit the floor, he pointed his shotgun at the group's legs and squeezed. The blast blew out more shields, knocking the slavers on his right to the floor from the force.

"Sounds like you're hit Kasyra, I'm going to provide a little cover fire and draw their attention then get close enough to tear them up. ." Vellios stated calmly, his body jerked against a metal beam holding up the tunnel as another bullet darted off the side of the metal. Nearly nicking him.

"Amazing powers of observation Vellios!" Kasyra fought to keep a note of hysteria out of her voice. It wasn't the first time she'd been shot but every time was still bad. She quickly switched back to comms instead of external speakers. "I'm out for a few minutes at least, but at least we won't explode." She triggered her suits medigel feature while she waited for her shields to recharge and tried not to think about how much her right arm hurt.

"Don't get testy, sweetheart. At least if you stop, I know you're out cold without ever asking you." Vellios stated, her loud outburst not bothering him much as his arm jerked about to fire upon the the slavers which Haze had thankfully knocked out their shields. It allowed him a clear shot.

The bullet clipped the first one in the neck as he gurgled with shock filling his eyes, his free hand clutched his throat front where the bullet had torn right through. Red stained the Batarian's front but Vellios only felt a sliver of pity for the asshole. A matter that faded quickly when he edged from his hiding place. He shot another, aiming for the Batarian's shoulder. However, the slaver spotted him causing the alien to quickly roll to the side, narrowingly avoiding Vellios's hit. His gun raised quickly firing at him with rapid burst of fire.

"Not so fast!"

With a swift movement, Haze pointed his left arm at the offending baddie threatening Vellios and tapped his omnitool. The charge of ballistic blades tore through the air and shredded the Batarian from behind, while knocking the Turian back down onto the ground from the recoil.

"SHIT!" Vellios had barely enough time to curse as he pushed his body against the wall, the burst of unused blades breezing by his back. One clipped him but only took a small chunk from his shields, the rest dead center on the mook ahead of him causing the slaver to wrench up in surprise. Then he collapsed.

His mandibles pushed down in a slight frown as his comm came back to life. his tone surprisingly calm after his slight heart attack causing experience. "Haze... do me a favor."

"And what might that be, Vel?!" Hazan snapped back as he rolled out of the way of a slaver's wild swing, still trying to get back onto his feet as the Batarian took a step after him to smack his face in with his rifle butt.

Vellios shoved off the wall then shot with his gun at the Batarian trying to bash in Haze's face, the brute paused then skirted to the side. He wasn't dead but the black carapace Turian had stopped him in his tracks. "A little warning before you shoot off your load! That ballistic blades feature has a hell of a wide range and you nearly got a piece of me. If I knew you wanted some action, maybe you should've followed Dex's cute little tail instead of mine."

He quickly flipped to his shotgun, dropping to one knee and rolling to the side when another slaver tried to shoot him.

"And miss your ass? No way!"

Hazan got his feet under him and sprung up as the Batarian he was fighting with suddenly stopped, a hole blew through his midsection. The Turian whipped his head to the side to see Vellios' pistol, smoke still rising from the barrel.

Haze grinned and stuffed his shotgun under the Batarian's chin and pulled the trigger. The four-eyed alien's brain splattered all over the floor as his corpse spasmed, then fell downward. As he ducked downward to vent his shotgun's heat sink, another slaver rushed forward towards Vellios, assault rifle spattering the older Turian's cover.

"I like my ass very much intact, thank you. I also recall you mentioning you don't swing that way-." Vellios teased, pretending to be ignorant of what Haze meant, then cut off when the Batarian charged him. His shields decreased massively with the onslaught as he jerked to the side, then fired three shots before his heat sink needed to cool. the Batarian hit the floor before he reached Vellios causing the Turian to breathe in relief.

He had just lowered his gun, his head trying to mentally count when another loud blast echoed. A shotgun blast hit Vellios square in the chest sending him backward, his feet jerked out from under him as his shields went down. The Batarian snared then turned his weapon on Haze, his gun raised to fire when he noted Vellios didn't move. The Turian just laid there. His suit too stiff for anyone to spot if he was breathing, his face pushed downward at an angle and gun crumbled underneath his body.

"VELLIOS!"

Out of the corner of his eye, Haze saw the last Batarian unleash a shotgun blast into his teammate's chest. As the alien turned to face him, he was greeted with a roar of rage. The Turian charged straight at him, all pretense of professional attitude gone. He ducked and caught the Batarian with his shoulder, and used the momentum of the charge to knock him right down.

Hazan laid into him with fury, unleashing several punches at the four-eyes' unprotected face. The alien beneath him returned the strikes, fists meeting the unshielded Turian's face. Driven by fury, he ignored the strikes despite the blood it drew from his cheeks and face, bright blue spattering against the Batarian's chest.

Eventually his hand drew his combat knife. The blade met its enemy multiple times, driven into his face over and over again as Hazan swore and swore again and again. Not noticing that his friend, though down, wasn't bleeding.

"Get off of me!" Kapan growled at Tonka, dropping his submachine-gun to the dirt, the weapon useless as the krogan pressed against him. Spikes protruded from Kapan's armour, piercing Tonka's shielding and through the weaker section of his armour. Retaliating, Tonka tried to smash Kapan's head with a forceful headbutt, but the batarian was fast, slipping enough to the side to avoid the point of impact. His free hand balled into a fist, and his omnitool began to form a gauntlet around his wrist. Tonka was an impossible target to miss.

The Enforcer gauntlet smashed into the krogan like a vehicle, the force knocking Tonka over, his armour plating bent and cracked from the brutal impact, digging hard into his flesh. Kapan moved to deal a finishing blow, his eyes crazed with hatred and bloodlust. "You're going to regret that, you dumb fuck." The glowing orange gauntlet raised up, and was brought down like a hammer towards an anvil. Tonka managed to roll out of the way of the impact, but found himself surprised as he was lifted several inches from the cracked rock being cracked free from the floor that made him roll further than he intended. Tonka grabbed the Shuriken from his thigh and leveled it at Kapan, pulling the trigger, a lot of the rounds sinking into the batarian, but not halting his advance.

Kapan roared in fury and made for a second blow, but Tonka was prepared this time, sweeping the batarian's leg with his own and forcing the bastard to the ground hard. Moving to hands and knees, he rushed to grab the batarian by the leg before he could right himself, and he pulled Kapan off balance. Kapan made to punch Tonka again from the prone position, but the krogan was quicker, forcing one hand hard down on the batarian's thigh and the other to pull of brutally on the back of Kapan's ankle. The leg bent backwards at a disgusting angle with a loud crack, and the Twin Star leader screamed out in agony. Tonka knew the feeling; he had sharp pieces of ceramic and metal composite currently digging into his ribcage.

Vellios had trouble breathing, his chest heaved in and out, his lungs not seeming to understand the importance of air to live. Instead of use it, it merely settled there useless and heavy against his bruised torso. His armor was cracked from the shotgun shot that had scattered across his chest. Feeling the pain swell, but no damage outside his armor, within his torso, he turned over onto his back with a strained movement.

The turian inhaled deeply, his body finally listening to him. His lungs inhaled and exhaled, taking in glorious air as he tried to clear his aching head. Opening his eyes, he raised himself up gingerly and jerked off his helmet, turning his crested head to see Tonka struggling with the bastard of a Batarian.

By the time Kasyra's shields had regenerated and the pain in her arm had died down enough for her to rise up from cover, the fight was essentially over. The floor was strewn with dead Batarians, lit in a rather eery way by the still blinking lights of the bomb. Kapan was still screaming in pain from what Tonka had done to his leg, and it looked like Haze was the only one lucky enough to not suffer some kind of severe hit. "That went better than expected..." Kasyra said, genuine surprise in her voice. "Shall I put him on ice?" she asked, beginning to calibrate her cryo blast for a non lethal level, awkwardly trying not to move her injured arm while she did it. He'll live long enough to get him back to the ship, but we'll have to warm him up when we get back." She was careful not to mention the detonator for the bomb she still held in her hand. She fully intended to set it off once they were safely leaving the mine. She just couldn't pass up such a good chance to hit the Blue Suns, civilians be damned.

Hazan pulled his knife from the mangled Batarian corpse beneath him, its head barely recognisable. His talons soaked in blood. A slow trickle of blue dripping from his left mandible and from his mouth.

As Vellios rose ahead of him, he stopped.

Why'd he thought that a shotgun blast would've taken him out?

Sheepishly, he shrugged and wiped his knife on the corpse's shirt.

"Oh hey Vel. Thought you were dead. So I carved this guy up."

He stood and wiped down his night black armour. The mission's aches and pains were catching up to him, and he noticed that his right leg was significantly more painful than everything else. Unsure of what it was, he limped over to Vellios and held a hand out.

"C'mon pal, get up. Fight's not over until every last one of these scumbags, except our bounty, is dead."

Vellios' talon raised to gripped Haze's, pulling himself upward and leaning against his fellow turian for a moment. He couldn't help but note he wasn't the in the best shape, much like himself, as he released his grip to stand upright on his own. His chest burned from the impact causing him to rub his chest when he heard Kasyra speak. Since no one was going to address the damn elephant in the room...errr, cavern, he was going to have to.

While Haze checked to make sure no one else was going to blow their ass out of their brains, the black carapace Turian approached the Quarian. His arm wrapped about his middle as he eyed the detonator in her three fingered hand. as well as her current state. She wasn't good that much was clear. His instincts were tingling about the way Kasyra didn't mention the trigger or fact she still had it, something deep down gave him reason to believe she might actually use it.

"Agreed, though I think it might be best to defuse the bomb before we all completely exit. We don't want any Quarians, or other races, accidently killed should it go off. I think your people need all they can get, right?" Vellios' words were carefully chosen to gage how Kasyra would react, his attempt more to get her to release the damn thing into his custody or at least spare others. Something his father would outright chuckle at then smack his face about for his stupidity.

The rest of the slavers in the room were dead, and Tonka had Kapan in custody. Well, almost in custody. The screaming Batarian was getting on his nerves.

"Could someone knock him out? I don't think the rest of the guys would appreciate our cargo making that much noise on retrieval."

"This will shut him up." Kasyra replied to Haze first, pointedly ignoring Vellios' question for a moment. She reached out to the Batarian with her good arm, Omni tool active, and activated the minimal power cryo-blast. A slow stream of somewhat less supercooled than usual particles enveloped the Batarian, covering his form in a thin layer of frost that quickly evaporated. His movement slowed and his voice lowered to a whimper.

Then she turned and looked at Vellios for a long moment. Choosing her words before speaking in a cold tone to the Turian. "Any of my people stuck on this hell hole are most likely going to die here anyway. That bomb is in a prime position to hurt the Blue Suns. What's more, they have no way of knowing it was not the Twin Star crew that set it off. Omega is a cruel place, anyone living here knows that any day may be there final day. 'Civilian' casualties here are commonplace. Blue Suns casualties are not. I believe it's worth setting the bomb off once we're clear."

Vellios didn't flinch or react, his figure unfazed on the outside. However, his ears caught her words well and hated she was right. Above anyone here, he had the most idea how she likely felt and what was driving her. Hell, the same thing drove him for years until he realize how many innocent lives were finally ended by his actions. Seeing the aftermath... it changes things strangely enough.

Kasyra's stare was a harsh one, there could be no mistaking her intent. Yet before anyone else could reply, she continued. "But if you lot are really so squeamish that you can't stomach it... I'll let you have the damn detonator."

He let her finish ranting at him as he didn't shrink under her gaze, giving the others a chance to reply.

"Well, for what it's worth, I give absolutely no shits if you wanna blow up the Suns or not. All I care about is the job, and that's what you guys should be doing too."

Hazan hobbled to one of the nearby walls and leaned against it. The pain in his leg was growing. Probably something splintered in it. He hissed as another lance of agony shot through his thigh.

"If you guys want to blow up the Suns, hurt 'em or don't, I don't care. All I ask is that if you do wanna send 'em sky high, at least wait until we're out of this fucking cave."

Tonka decided he'd heard enough and stormed towards Kasyra, shoving her by the chest into the nearby wall. "You pull shit like that again and put any of us in danger because you're a petulant bitch, I will personally see to it your visor is shattered along with your legs so you can enjoy a slow painful death by infection. You endangered our mission, nearly got us all killed, and for what, because the Blue Suns hurt your widdle feelings? No wonder you're an exile. Quarians probably figured you weren't worth whatever meager scraps they use to keep from going extinct." Releasing her but giving her a hard lingering stare.

Vellios immediately shifted to the side, his position just within Kasyra's area, not wanting to be caught in between the two. Namely if they came down to pounding the shit out of each other. His eyes shifted from one to the other, listening to Tonka chew the Quarian out over her earlier risk and near fatal attempt to wrangle the detonator from Kapan. Now the goon was in their possession with his second in command, as well as a Blue Suns bitch, well on their way to their employers' contacts, there was little reason to create more tension than was needed.

Though, secretly, Vellios was relieved that at someone had some sense besides the mission when he listened to Tonka's next words.

"Try it you bosh'tet. I'll rip your quad off." Kasyra could see now that this Krogan was not to be respected. Like all his race, he was a self interested brute. Her voice was low and sinister, not hysterical like before. "Don't think I can't. I've killed plenty of krogan up close before, and everyone one of them always had this wonderful shocked expression on their ugly mugs as they died. And don't you dare presume to know me. I still hold my ship names, I am no exile. I'll bet you aren't too welcome on Tuchanka though, your people think snipers and infiltrators are cowards."

"Cute, the vermin barks. Remind me to be terrified later. Not of you killing me or anything, just of whatever communicable disease you might pass on by accident. As for Tuchanka, anyone who had a problem with how I did things isn't around to speak up about it on account of being too stupid to live. They're dead or worthlessly doing nothing of importance, I did the respectable thing and took up a job offer that paid enough that I should probably wear a suit or something. So, yeah, keep telling yourself you're scary under that mask, and I'll keep pretending what a suit rat thinks about me."

Tonka stepped away from the quarian and reached to grab the armour plating dug into his flesh. With a grunt, he pried it outwards, his hands covered in blood.

The moment Tonka's hand was off her, Kasyra sprung into action. Stepping inside his reach her fist went straight towards his jaw. Whether it connected or not, she would step past him and aim to kick his knee in from behind.

Vellios sighed, his figure quicker than expected as he bolted toward the two. His body rounded about Kasyra's back and pushed his advantage, her eyes distracted by Tonka. His right arm shot forward across her shoulder and jerked to the side, wrapping about her neck to lock her in place. Meanwhile his other jerked up to create a choker hold. His body lifted her briefly to twist her away from facing Tonka while his back was exposed to the Krogan, either to take the blow exchange should she had pissed him off or prevent her from looking at Tonka. His voice was trying to be calm and soothing, though he fully expected her to beat the shit out of him.

"Easy Kasyra, the pain in your hand isn't worth it. Trust me, his skull is harder than it looks." His hand was clasping her, preventing her thumb from shifting over and blowing them sky high.

Although the krogan would never admit it, the quarian did have a not inconsiderable amount of force in the blow that if he'd not been wearing his helmet probably would have injured his jaw and neck substantially. His head had recoiled with the blow, the metal-on-metal clang ringing like a heavy pan. By the time his head had reacquired the quarian, Tonka was impressed to see Vellios already manhandling her like a total team player. He snorted a suppressed laugh. "He's not wrong. Krogan headbutt each other all the time. A punch like that is basically flirting." he said, not moving in, but keeping an eye on the detonator. Vellios had to keep his authority maintained, and the last thing Tonka wanted to do was escalate the situation while Kasyra still had the ability to spitefully murder them all.

Tonka resumed his checks over his armour for the puncture points, and finding none, grunted in both irritation and relief.

"Been awhile since I've had to do that. It's going to take hours to get the blood out of my armour." he muttered, largely to himself. Turning to Vellios and Hazan, he said. "Are you two good to keep going, or should we focus on extracting Nasa'dor? Either way, we're dragging his sorry ass with us." he nodded towards the bombs. "Probably shouldn't leave this lying around. Because Kasyra loves the Blue Suns so much, I'm thinking we call them and tell them about this bullshit. Probably make a few extra credits for being such good neighbours."

"Really think so? Mainly because I might want to point out two things: One, we pretty much blew up their goods within the warehouse. Two, one of their own is already on her way to likely a C-Sec prison cell. Forgiving us might make them look weak with the Eclipse and Bood Pack, a fact that could create issues despite our good will. Besides, we were hired to go after the slavers,but they might be concern someone will hire us to go after them." Vellios pointed out, his predatory eyes lingered on Haze after his comment. There was clear displeasure over the Haze's casual discard of those civilians upon Omega as he moved.

Vellios was still holding her as he spoke. She could've escaped him the moment he touched her, but it would've taken time and by then the Krogan had recovered enough to see her coming. It wasn't worth it, and she wasn't going to say so, but her hand did hurt. As she let him grasp her, she felt his hand prying the detonator from hers. It wouldn't be hard for him, her grip in that hand was weakened by the injury further up her arm.

As soon as she felt his grip loosen, she broke free in a flurry of movement and replied to the conversation.

She waited for Vellios to give his reasoned answer for why calling the Blue Suns was a bad idea, before replying with her own, sarcastic, biting remark. "Sure. Call the Blue Suns. I'm in the mood for a last stand now, and you can be absolutely sure that that's what it'll become if you tell them where I am. So go ahead, kill us all."

When she finished speaking, she turned and stormed back up the tunnel, leaving the three men to deal with Kapan without her.

"I'll likely need some medi-gel later for that burn." Vellios stated, then examined the detonator a moment before shoving it into his belt carefully. Let's see about this bomb now and what we can do with it."

His figure approached the bomb and hunched over, his eyes giving it a close look over while inwardly debating over what to do. A talon gently gripped a wiring then continued. "I think Serena and I can disarm this to where it is just a harmless, little display piece then bury it deep. I'm not too keen on giving them any intel if I can help it and rather just get our supplies, and move on. None of us are saints after all."

"Fine with me. I guess if you and Serena are gonna disarm this shit, I'll stand guard. Can't take point, not with my leg in this condition."

Hazan pushed his omnitool against his leg and dispensed his last medigel, hissing a little as whatever pain there slowly dissipated. He'd have to get the leg stable soon, but for now he'd be fine.

"Point taken. The Blue Suns are a bunch of cunts, anyways. I mainly wanted to irritate the quarian shaped rash off my right flank, but if you think you can get rid of this festive bonfire waiting to happen without atomizing the lot of us, I'm all for it. Besides, I literally could not work a single day in the next three hundred years and still have money to spare." Tonka shrugged. "Frugal spending habits and having my food and housing provided for the last few decades will do that. I'm not a part of this merry outfit for the credits, just throwing that out there."

"Naturally, you're in it for the adventure." Velios stated with clear amusement and teasing, almost mocking. "Then again, it's better than my reason and that's being a suicidal bastard."

"That or I'm saving up for a really good prostitute. Haven't decided which. Now our quarian's got that out of her system, let's wrap this up. I'm usually pretty hungry after breaking some pyjak's leg and suffering from puncture wounds." he pointed towards the departing Kasyra. "So, do you think she's into me, or what?"

"Only if you enjoy your guts being eviscerated from your body at FTL speeds, then by all means she's into you." He said sarcastically, then smirked at Tonka.

" Beside your attempt to flirt the Krogan way, I think you and Haze should take our Frosty popsicle prize back to the ship before he dies. I'll take care of the bomb here, with aid from Serena, then meet you back at the ship. Sound good to you?" Vellios asked, still examining the bomb.

DATE: 02/08/2349
SUBJECT: Galateus Feeds
FEED TOTAL TIME RECOVERED: 01:15
SEGMENT PLAYING: 1 OF 5

Mother had told him to hide.

When the alarms blared, Vellios was abruptly shoved into the galley’s food cabinet and left there while she investigated the source. She was only suppose to be gone for a bit. However, with anxiety building in his chest the boy counted as the moments turned into minutes and finally hours, causing him to shift within his cramped spot. His ears picked up voices outside his hiding spot. Curious as to why they hadn’t opened the door and gotten him out, Vellios’ talon cautiously edged open the sliding door then peered in. His eyes caught three shapes passing by. Panicked, he jerked back and blinked, shocked by the sudden movement for a moment. Shaking off his tension, he bite back his fear then once more edged toward the slotted opening.

Light barred across his eye while it flickered to absorb the scene unfold in front of him. The sounds were louder, more violent while things were ripped from cabinets and the strangers began to rummage within the food stocks. There was three culprits, a Krogan and two Turians, each seeming to be wary of each other during the search. It was only going to be a matter of time before they discovered him there. Terrified of what might happened, Vellios’ talon examined his hiding place and its contents with a wandering hand, coming to rest upon the sealed canister. He picked up to examine then an idea filled his mind.

Carefully opening the sliding door more, he then tossed the canister across the room and farthest from his. It smacked into the Krogan’s back leg just when Vellios jerked his hand back inside on seeing one of the pirates note it. The Turian, distracted by his action, didn’t notice the Krogan’s irritated figure draw dangerous conclusions at the source of the canister. His fingers tighten on the gun then pointed it at the Turian’s back, Vellios able to spy it over the male’s shoulder while the pirate bent down and observed him with a wicked delight in his eyes. Vellios froze. The Turian’s long arm reached out to nab him when suddenly he was jerked backwards by the leg. The Krogan shoved him to the side, the victim’s side smacked into the ship’s wall as Vellios took his chance and bolted out of his hiding spot. The two pirated, distracted by one another, didn’t even see the boy dart down the corridor toward the bridge. His figure vanished like the shadows on the ship before either knew it.

----

Quietly and carefully, Vellios darted down the corridor. His talons tapped along the empty hallways and past the blue smears decorating the walls, bodies hauled away to where his wildest imaginations lurked. Wide eyes scanned the evidence of struggle left over while he made his way to the bridge, the last known location of his mother and cautiously his anxiety grew with each step. There shouts and gunfire in the background caused him to pause for a moment, inwardly debating to either check it out or continue onward. The ability to chose didn’t last long when his ears caught footsteps approaching. Immediately his head jerked to the side and noted someone coming, an asari pirate. Her crest and left side was scarred down to her neck, her slender figure covered in blood splatters while she gracefully swaying into view, taking her time going down the corridor. The pirate’s head was down and checking her worn gun, noting the sink was overheated from recent fire. It sizzled for a moment causing her to tsk in irritation then look up.

Vellios was gone.

At the last moment, and in sheer panic, he darted into the nearest quarters. There he shoved against the door frame, his thin body pressed tightly against the cold steel stiffening his spine. His breath seized within his chest where it rattled and became thick, nearly suffocating him as he counted down the seconds. The Asari’s steps drew closer and closer causing the panic to edge in to his core. Vellios’ head turned, seeking a fast hiding spot for the worse case scenario: being discovered. Through he knew very little of the pirates onboard, he had a gut feeling if they found him then he wasn’t enjoy what was about to happen.

When the steps hit their climax, Vellios braced for the worse. His eyes shut and breathing swallowed in preparation for the gun to sound off near his face, ready to shoot it off the moment the trigger was pulled. Or worse. Pop! Pop! Pop! Three shots went off down the way he came, his figure jerking in fear from what he assumed was his life ending. It took a moment for his mind to realize he was still alive. Abruptly the asari’s footsteps started to fade when they turned off down another corridor, her feet picking up speed toward the gun fire with a slightly mad look in her face. Carefully, he edged out then bolted toward the bridge.