Mass Effect: Seraphim Post

Ashton was shocked at the scene of ultraviolence in front of him, ultraviolence much different from the movies and extranet streaming series he had watched. He blinked once, he blinked twice, and then Flame broke the silence by saying, "You another one of our 'allies', I presume?"

A release of breath; a suppression of nausea, as Ashton forced himself to get used to the realities of conflict. He then looked at Laurence and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. "If you're an ally, my alias is Aegis. As you mentioned 'Saris' while busing a hole through our wall, you must be connected with our mysterious employer. If so, it seems he's put himself in danger as well; how curious."

Flame looked at Ashton, saying, "Can you not act all cool in front of the heavily-armed merc who's just beaten someone to death in front of us? And yes, I know what a coping mechanism is." He then looked at Laurence and said, "My alias... Well, I have no alias; I'm just Flame Brooks, former slave, escaped back to Systems Alliance Space, got screwed over by the system, and then went back to 'lawless space' where I belong."

It was Ashton's turn to remark, "Flame, I think you're the one who's acting cool in front of the merc. I mean, does he look like he wants to talk about angsty backstories? No offense."

Flame snarked, "Well, if he's an enemy, I can buy time for you and Lokea to escape. If he's an ally, Saris can dock his pay if he kicks the metaphorical puppies."

The response from Ashton was, "That might not be enough of a threat. Now, before we provoke him further, I'll go continue hacking the enemy Mechs in pairs while you and Lokea watch out for their Aerial Support; I'm sure their aircraft ought to arrive right about..."

Enemy gunships were sighted making their way to the control tower, escorted by flying drones. With a few taps of his keyboard and swipes of his mousepad, he opened up the communications of each individual pilot as well. Now the aerial forces of the Blue Suns were open to them.

@Vulkan@AWACS@Senhara

As Lokea ate her snacks, she listened to Ashton, looking to him. She listened to his case, before leaning back. "You read my mind, kid." She popped in another cracker, levitating it into her mouth before putting the package back into her duffel bag. "I hope Saris did his research on everyone, if he got someone like me I'm pretty sure he at least did some searching." She sighed. "But yeah, I feel like this party isn't gonna stand together if he plans on making this a permanent thing. A whole lot of people here don't seem like team players. I'm sure the three of us and a few others will do just fine, but I don't know. I just hope the pay is-"

Lokea couldn't even finish her sentence as a merc smashed through a nearby wall into their fortified area, causing the asari to immediately raise her rifle and take aim at the source, seeing the merc fall through the ground. And then a huge hulking figure stepped on through, wearing some thick ass armor. She watched as the hulking figure stomped on the man's neck about four times until it snapped. She winced at that, not even wishing that upon mercs. Fuck.

Flame broke the silence, and Lokea kept her rifle trained on Laurence. She immediately gestured for Ashton to remain behind her against the barrier wall while she kept her rifle trained on him, enabling her biotic abilities, her energy pulsing as she created subtle barriers around them. She simply spoke to Laurence. "Are you here for Saris Fen?" She asked Laurence, aiming at his head, before turning to the kids. "And will you two cut the chatter please?" Lokea asked, as more pressing matters were standing right in front of the three.

She remained with the kids until she heard that there were gunships inbound with drones. She took a quick look at her omni-tool before speaking into the comms. "Lokea to team, we have enemy aerial forces inbound. Gunships and drones. I suggest you all find a cozy place to hold out at, and arm anti-air weapons hot." She said before looking to Laurence. "Name's Lokea Zhu of the Nos Astra Freedom Battalion. If you're here with us, I suggest you give us a hand with the defense effort. The less fire they can concentrate the better." Using her biotics, she tossed the dead merc out of the window into the hangar. She kept herself interposed between the two boys and Laurence as much as possible, though.

“We appreciate the compliment, Creator Mercenary.” the Geth addressed the Alya’s comment. The name White Glint sent the electrons running. The Eclipse was known for fighting smart and keeping tabs on everyone and everything they came into contact with, and they’ve been kind enough to load its drives with information on potential threats it could encounter while doing their wetwork. And based on this information, the Geth had a hard time reaching consensus whether White Glint should be observed carefully or shot as soon as the platform had a clear line at her.

But seeing an opportunity to score some good karma with the group, it racked its memory for everything it knew about this White Glint and sent it to everyone it was in contact with, excluding White Glint herself of course! ”Identification: White Glint. Name: Unknown. Age: Unknown, estimated mid-twenties. Background: unknown. Suspected ties to Cerberus - confirmed severed as of 2192. Confirmation follows: “>I'm White Glint, the ex-Cerberus master sniper.” Eclipse summary: White Glint is to be eliminated on sight. Dangerous at both long and short range. Engage at medium range. Helmet contains advanced sensors and targeting aids. Full capabilities of armor unknown. Recover armor for in-depth examination if possible. Elimination is a priority over equipment recovery. Additional data available. Log playback, date 21-09-2191: ”>Who’s this White Glint, anyway? >Another Archangel wannabe arsebastard dressin’ up as her childhood hero. Kids these days… Can’t they just sell red sand or somethin’? >Rumor has it she was behind Novikov’s death. >That fat fuck? Any idiot with a targetin’ VI can shoot a target the size of a small moon at 1800 meters. If she was a proper threat, we’d be sendin’ this here bucket after her. ‘Sides, she’s on Omega. The fuck do I care if some fat Russian weasel halfway across Terminus from here dies? Salvaged military tech suppliers are ten a credit these days.” Log ends.”

Upon hearing Lokea’s suggestion, the Geth tasked a dozen of its programs to search the extranet for references to the name, coming to the same conclusion as Lokea. “We acknowledge this as an appropriate metaphor. You may call us ‘Gideon’.” At the same time, anyone in contact with it would see the contact ID change from ‘Platform BT-7274’ to ‘Gideon’. It used the brief pause in Blue Suns attacks to relocate, intentionally walking over to its new position at a casual pace to see how the group would react to it outside of combat. Having reverted the platform’s external lights to the friendlier blue color, it took Lokea up on her offer and set up just outside the offices, giving the kids a casual wave as it entered. “Greetings, Lokea Zhu. Weapons and platform systems are functioning properly. Thermal clip capacity is within acceptable tolerances.”

It paid no mind to the hole in the wall, the merc on the ground or the one responsible for it all. Violence didn’t faze a synthetic, and it itself entered combat in a similar manner earlier. It did, however, note the name ‘Saris Fen’ and executed another extranet search subroutine, but didn’t say anything. The mention of the name be several people gave it some information, as now it knew for certain these people were not here by accident. It loaded a fresh thermal clip into its Black Widow and braced the rifle against an overturned office desk. “Standing by to provide support fire. Recommend spreading out to complicate hostile air support targeting.” The last thing it needed now was to have several people get killed by one missile or autocannon burst.

Elijah

Firing a few more rounds at the retreating blue suns infantry. Once they had cleared the field albeit temporarily, Elijah took off his helmet and and sat down for a few moments of rest. Opening one of the pouches on his armor, he pulled out a small box of cigarettes and took the last one out. Crushing the empty box, he tossed it out the window he was shooting out of earlier. Putting his hand once more into his pouch he pulled out a small box of matches. Striking one; he lit his cigarette. Taking a few puffs of it. He let the nicotine relax him. "Gonna need to remember to buy some more after this. Hearing that some of the others were doing introductions again, Elijah figured he'd reintroduce himself again. Opening up the comms chat again. "Since we are introducing ourselves once more. Figured I'd jump in. Names Elijah Messner and I'm with the mercenary group named White Company, I'm the one with the white surcoat and the cybernetic eye. Uh yeah that's all I wanted to say." Elijah finished off.

Taking the few drags of his cigarette he tossed it and put his helmet back on. Just in time too since the blue sun airship had just arrived. Grabbing his rifle, Elijah ducked back into cover. "If anyone has heavy weapons now is the time to use them. I'm gonna draw the drones attention to me, that should allow for a clearer shot on the gunships." He said. Aiming towards the drones, Elijah fired on one that got too close to comfort. Which brought the attention of the other drones to him. Firing off a incinerate and overload at the two nearest drones. Ducking back into cover now that he was fully suppressed by the drones. Elijah could only hope that the gunship didn't turn their attention to him.

---

"Taria, why didn't you tell me you had biotics?" Galm exclaimed over the sounds of the firefight "Isn't that impossible?"

"I thought it was, until I started knocking over furniture by thinking about it," Taria said, snapping to another Blue Sun and shredding through his armor with a well-placed burst before flinging him off the balcony with a biotic shove. "Got diagnosed around the same time you went on that ship. Certainly made the C-Sec training interesting." Spotting another Blue Sun approaching from Galm's blind spot, she warped over and reappeared next to the offending mercenary, knocking him out with a skull-cracking blow.

"Did you know the Hierarchy hides biotic Turians in secret military units so we don't scare anyone?" Taria remarked lightly, like she was having a nice lunch with her Turian bestie instead of gunning down mercenaries, punctuating the question by ejecting her gun's heat clip and snapping a new one into place. "Imagine if C-Sec didn't work out, I'd be wasting away in some hidden bunker halfway across the galaxy by now." Taria suppressed a few of the remaining Blue Suns engaging the gang down below as the assault wave petered out. She glanced up at the now ruined skylights, pondering.

"Suns aren't done yet, they're probably sending in the heavier weapons," Taria remarked, jogging back to the equipment stash and digging through it one last time. "Got just the thing for that," she continued, pulling out a sinister looking black weapon-sized carrying case. "You'll want to get down from here soon, anyone standing up here is going to be easy targets if they bring in air support."

Hearing a commotion downstairs, she instantly brought her rifle to firing position, but lowered it again as she spotted the heavy armored figure bursting through a wall and brutalizing a handful of Blue Sun mercs, capitalizing his small rampage by stepping on one of their necks. He must be the type of meathead mercenary that Venok warned her about, the kind that did stupid shit to look scary and badass that her new employer felt was useful. Cute.

"I am so looking forward to this," Taria remarked aloud to herself, vaulting over the railing and warping in midair to a container crate near the assembled mercenaries and their "new friend".

"Evening gentle...men?" Taria greeted the group, faltering slightly at the sight of the two shorter, almost childlike humans. Maybe they were a lot older then the looked? "Hope you're not too relaxed, if I know Blue Suns they're sending more waves at us, probably some mechs and gunships too, depending on how much they don't like us. I have something to take care of the gunships, luckily." Taria set the black case up and started to unlock it. "Unless of course Stompy here wants to climb up and kick them."

---

Well, at least Lokea was somewhat competent.

"Oh you're going to love what I cobbled together." Cinnis chimed up as Lokea finished filling her in on the situation. "This is a fun little adventure into a sordid, exciting past of black operations."

"Oh do regale me with your ever so pleasant tones." Alexis couldn't help but to roll her eyes as she gave a sarcastic reply.

"A genetically modified sniper, abducted at a young age." Cinnis droned, but a loud noise from the offices caused Alexis to turn her attention back to the offices, reloading her guns in the process.

"Hey! I heard something that sounded like a Krogan playing whack-a-volus with a Vorcha." She shouted over the comms, being too far away to really check on the situation herself. Looked like there was another human there? He didn't seem hostile, but one couldn't be too careful. Seemed awfully aggressive. How fun. "Tell the new guy to spend less time breaking walls and more time breaking the face of the Blue Suns. What else you got, Cinnis?" Alexis voice crackled off over the comms.

"She was one of the best snipers Cerberus ever had, barring yours truly of course - no one beats my precision aim." Cinnis' normally dry voice was punctuated by a brief high pitched tone of self praise. "Information was silenced when she was picked up by the alliance. real name unknown, and after an incident she came to Omega to redeem herself it seemed. Very Anti-Cerberus. You two should get along lovely. Some pretty advanced cybernetics too."

"Advanced cybernetics, huh?"

"Oh dear. Note to self. Refrain from mentioning cybernetics in people." Cinnis groaned. "I'll tell you more later. We have incoming."

"Hey, I think we can trust White Glint." Alexis shouted over the comms. "She's been on Omega awhile and been cleaning up some gangs around here for a few years now, besides, we got incoming!" Gunships and drones, hah! They were making this too easy.

"I got the airships! Just try and keep the drones off me while I line up a shot! I only got a few shots, so lets make every one count, heh!" Alexis holstered her Hornet, quickly pulling the Hydra from its holster, lining it up and aiming.

Laurence stared at the people talking, not quite realizing the mess on the floor around him. Letting the comments and peculiar nicknames wash over him, he even barely reacted when a random Turian biotically charged and landed in the room with them, adding another name to him. "Stompy". That was a new one. He didn't even usually kill people by stomping on them. Didn't they hear the gunfire from earlier?

The one exception to his suddenly stoic demeanor was hearing what unit the diseased Asari was from. Even then, he couldn't help a small chuckle sound from underneath his helmet.

After all the excitement, he suddenly noticed something. A small line, at the bottom of his vision, too dark to be natural. Laurence sighed. His targeting array was damaged. He realized his shields hadn't stopped every shot fired at him today. In his fit of violence, he hadn't even noticed being shot in the face. In a moment of annoyance, he finally spoke.

"I'll still get paid more than you, former slave."

He felt a sense of pride in his armor, and undid the clamps attaching his helmet to his armor, before pulling it off in a hiss of escaped air. He activated his omni tool, and began to repair it. For a moment, he realized he wasn't wearing anything to cover his missing eye and the damage to said side of his face.

In the next moment, he realized he didn't care, and continued with his repairs.

Mass Effect: Seraphim Post

"Oh, wow, you're hot," Ashton was gazing at Laurence's blond hair and intact eye, as well as the finely-formed facial shape of the remaining unbroken parts of the mercenary's face. Then, realizing Flame was just beside him, the boy clapped his hands on his mouth, before looking at the redhead, scared that he might have offended his prospective boyfriend.

"Never knew you got off on missing eyes and burn scars, Ashton," Flame said archly, highly displeased. "But yes, 'Stompy' does have some good looks." He looked at Ashton, the frown fading away to be replaced with a smile. "I'm hotter and you know it."

Ashton brushed Flame's hair with his right hand. "That you are, Flame, that you are. Now I need to make sure that the remaining enemy Mecha stay hacked, as well as take control of the ones still being used by the enemy."

He then turned to where the battle was still raging, only to find that most of the Mechs - Enemy and Forced Ally - had been destroyed, even as a slightly larger enemy gunship was headed towards the control tower, covering its advance with shots of railgun fire. Ashton instinctively turned towards Lokea, even as Flame put up his own biotic barrier. It seemed that the enemy was directly coming for them...

The second round of introductions allowed Gideon to assign proper names to the biometric profiles and Omni-tool contacts of the individual freelancers it did not know yet. “The monthly cost of cigarettes alone can exceed twenty percent of minimum Systems Alliance wage on Omega, not counting eventual lung and trachea surgery and the obvious danger presented by local medical care.” it warned Elijah.

Noting two of the female mercenaries claiming they had something that would take care of the Blue Suns air support, it turned its sights to the drones accompanying the gunships. Having gotten too close to use a high magnification scope effectively, Gideon rotated the rifle 45 degrees left and started picking the drones out of the sky using the edge of the scope casing as improvised backup sights. It continued firing until a gunship sprayed its position with a generous amount of autocannon fire. One round grazed the side of its chassis, sending sparks flying and the platform onto the ground. It rolled back to its feet and pulled itself into cover behind a support pillar, seemingly unperturbed by the gash in its armor plating. Once it verified all internal systems and its shields recharged with the help of an energy drain used on one of the drones, it took to taking potshots at the closest gunship, more to draw the pilot’s attention to itself rather than damage it.

When one of the gunships started dropping infantry, Gideon prepared to launch its grenades. A few calculations of time and trajectory later, it launched the payload, landing it straight in the troop bay of the gunship, annihilating most of the troops and giving the pilot something to think about before changing position under cloak to escape retaliatory fire.

As Lokea was preparing the defenses, she looked back to the Geth unit and gave it a little smile. "The pleasure is mine, Gideon." Lokea nodded softly to the synthetic. The asari still didn't trust the thing, given her implanted memories of the ones that opened fire on innocents at Feros, but this one doesn't seem all that bad. Yet, at least. She turned back to Laurence, hearing his rather... cold demeanor. She didn't really know what he meant by 'former slave', and assumed it wasn't directed at her, so she ignored it. Looking towards Laurence, she raised what resembled an eyebrow, or at least a part of her face above her eye. "You're a real people person, huh?" She sighed. "I look forward to working with you." She said sardonically, turning her attention towards the window, bringing her assault rifle up as she eyed the incoming targets. There seemed to be some gunships, aided by small swarms of drones. "Gideon's right, you need to spread apart. Stay away from the windows too if you don't want a direct hit from one of their missiles. My biotic barriers could only defend against so much." She then moved some of the desks and crates up to the windows, to better protect against missiles, and give them a smaller opening to attack through.

Lokea looked to Taria once she arrived. "Hey, welcome to the clubhouse. Lokea Zhu at your service." Having herself resting behind a cubicle for cover, and aiming through one of the smaller openings that she created, she let off a two round burst at one of the drones. Shields down, and one well-placed shot... the drone was down. She could barely see what was happening outside, but considering that quite a few drones were focused on one area, maybe Elijah's plan was a little too effective. She spoke into the radio to Elijah. "Lokea to Elijah, I'll try my best to keep the pressure off of you. No need going in alone." She said before scoping out and designating some of the drones, shooting one down with a well-aimed burst of fire. She turned back to Taria. "Sorry for the small openings, I wanted to make it harder for them to shoot missiles at us. You might get a decent firing arc from that angle though." She said, letting off a small burst of fire again, downing another drone. "Good to have a biotic with us though. The more barriers the better!"

Having heard Alexis in the comms, Lokea replied in the shortband. "Copy that. I'll give 'em the one-two. Come back to the offices once you've had your fill." Lokea said before bringing her rifle to shoulder once again. Having lightened the load for Elijah a bit, she decided to lighten the load for Alexis too, trying to shoot down the drones that would threaten one of the few RPGs they had on the front line. A few bursts of fire downed a few drones, and with some longer bursts of suppressing fire to let them sustain damage, Lokea tried her best to provide covering fire for her teammates. It was the least she could do at this point, other than provide the barriers that protected the non-combatants in their crew. The vague bubble of force that protected them remained there for the time being while Lokea shot out from it, downing one drone at a time.

However, there seemed to be a problem. While Lokea hadn't been paying attention to the kids' strange chatter this entire time, instead having focused entirely on the mission at hand, she saw the gunship that came for them. Are you really going to try it? Lokea thought as she saw the gunship. Son of a cunt, he's really going to try it. While having the small opening to prevent missile fire was a nice preventative bonus against explosives... it wasn't necessarily effective against autocannons. Instinctively, Lokea lowered her assault rifle and concentrated hard on her existing biotic barrier, allowing the kids and other non-combatants some time to take cover while the bullets sprayed past them, many of the bullets slowing down in the force of the barrier and falling to the floor. "I can't hold this for too long! Someone please take that cunt out!" Lokea shouted as she kept the barrier up as strong as she could, as long as she could.

---

Damn, these guys were really starting to get on her already frayed nerves. The gunships were giving her a hell of a time, but thankfully Lokea was giving her some decent covering fire while she lined up the shot. She wasn't used to having backup when she got rarely got herself into these situations - but there was just a tiny problem, some jackass in a gunship was going for Lokea and the others.

Now why would they ignore the girl with the bigass rocket launcher? She hadn't a clue.

Swiftly, Alexis moved to a new position some distance away from the gunships while the others dealt with the drones and kept the mercs off her. The cool thing about a Hydra, was that she really didn't need to aim. All she had to do was fire and let the heat seeking missiles do their work, but what she could do was make sure they all found different targets.

"Finding targeting solution..."

"HEY JACKASS!" Alexis hefted the Hydra over her shoulder as Cinnis began running the calculations.

"Beginning firing sequence..."

"PRO DATING ADVICE! BEING IGNORED PISSES ME OFF!"

There was a dull thunk noise as the charges left the barrel of the Hydra. Eight shots, each designed to work in pairs, destroy both shields and biotic barriers, and then blow whatever was left to smithereens. Four decided to target the ship harassing Lokea. They latched onto the ship, and seconds later a series of explosions ripped into its hull, ripping its shields to shreds. Two more found themselves latched onto the side of another gunship, and the last two somehow got a little off target, planting themselves on the ground right in front of a few mercs - making short work of them.

"Man, exploding things never gets old-ah shit."

The second gunship had decided to conveniently careen right towards her as it slammed into the hangar floor.

"I suggest moving before we both explode as well."

"No shit!" Alexis booked it back to the offices, vaulting over the now destroyed windows and landing right inside, taking cover just as the remains of the gunship slammed into the wall, and proceeded to catch on fire. Standing up and rubbing the back of her neck, Alexis casually tossed the Hydra to the side.

"Hey, anyone want some free cover?" She stretched her arm. "Thanks for the assist. Man, it amazes me how much shooting things makes me feel so much better. About how many more of these waste of flesh we got?"

---

"Hey, welcome to the clubhouse. Lokea Zhu at your service."

"Taria Lucimus," Taria announced tersely but with a friendly air to it. Pausing a moment to look at the damage to "Stompy's" face, she hoisted her beloved M-95 out of its casing at last, loading a shell into the breech and snapping it into place with the ever familiar pump-action. As much as she wanted to pause to acquaint herself with her favorite tool of the trade, she was still in a combat zone and acted as such, dropping the launcher down in one hand and drawing her sidearm as the drones closed in. A few well-placed if hasty shots scrapped one drone, and the burst gave her the time to dive into cover near the unusually green Asari named Lokea.

"Sorry for the small openings, I wanted to make it harder for them to shoot missiles at us."

"I'm not complaining, hard to shoot back if you're getting blown up by a missile," Taria shouted, flinching as a burst of drone fire came within inches of her face. She responded with another burst of pistol fire and the drone crashed to the ground in another fireball.

"You might get a decent firing arc from that angle though." the Asari said, blasting down more drones as Taria loaded a new clip. "Good to have a biotic with us though. The more barriers the better!"

"Likewise," Taria said, smiling as she let her biotic shields glow a bit more visibly. "Though I'm not much of a barriers user, my biotics are a bit more..."

Taria glanced upward as a drone suddenly swooped in from the side. Thinking quickly, she grabbed onto it with her biotics and pulled it in, sending the helpless drone speeding towards her before she smashed it to pieces with a biotic-powered punch.

"...aggressive." Taria said, shaking the debris off her hand. Turning her focus to one of the gunships dropping off more mercs, the turian holstered her pistol and took aim with the M-95, drawing a bead on the craft and scanning for an opening. She cracked a slight smile as she pulled the trigger, the launcher giving an audible thunk as the payload sailed across the warehouse and impacted one of the engines of the gunship with a metal 'clank'. A couple seconds later the engine exploded, the gunship quickly losing control and careening towards the far end of the warehouse, away from the action. "Scratch one," Taria announced, popping open the breach and depositing another explosive in the M-95. "How are we fairing against the-FUCK!!!"

Taria only just managed to bioticly dodge out of the way as a burning gunship careened towards her, shaking the ground as it impacted the ground and tore a deep gash through the floor of the hanger.

"Hey, anyone want some free cover?" someone shouted once the smashing died down.

"An outfit full of comedians, huh?" Taria mused, opening fire at some more drones rushing in, shaking off the rust of prison years and feeling that old excitement of a tactical operation coming back. She couldn't help but crack a smile. She missed Csec of course, and this was probably never going to give her the same kind of feeling that SRD did, but this team already had one thing going for it over the admittedly stuffy and militarily precise Csec.

They knew how to have fun!

Saris, unlike his more action oriented enforcer, had remained at his terminal, watching the action through cameras and watching Perry the Pyjak on a nearby vid screen. Not that he had been idle of course. Remotely opening and closing doors to annoy the blue suns passing through them. Two smart blue suns had managed to avoid Laurence's rampage and got into the control room. Two corpses piled outside and a worn phalanx pistol on the desk told how that little endeavor ended. Watching the screen again, he noticed many mercs making their way away from the people he hired and towards the exits. It didnt take a genius to figure out what was going on. Blue Suns had taken too many losses and decided to withdraw. He briefly wondered if anyone had taken out the blue sun commander. His money was on Laurence or that Krogan.

He got out of his chair and strolled to the intercom.

"Excellent work everyone!" he beamed. "The blue suns are falling back, and i dont think we have lost... [Hhhkk...]...anyone! Everyone meet in the main hangar and i can get to meet you all. Oh, and dont mind the corpses, i know a... [Hhhkk...]...cleaning company that doesnt ask questions."

_____

In another room, Laurence heard his words. Seething with rage, he stormed away from the group and headed to the control room to escort Saris to the hangar, pausing only to shoot dead a wounded merc just outside the room with the diseased Asari and also-probably diseased children.

Mass Effect: Seraphim Post

It was then that Ashton's still-activated laptop beeped. Bringing up his inbox, the young man saw a message from one of his online contacts on the 'dark extranet'. Upon reading, the young man froze. Turning to Flame, the boy said, "Remember the Batarian dissident I told you about, Rigger? Apparently, he's dead." A pause. "Dead but not without his secrets; I've suspected that he carried some sensitive information on the Hegemony when he vanished and that's been confirmed."

Flame nodded at that, then said, "If it had been any other kid saying this, I'd be suspecting them. But right now, I believe you're right. Shall we go to the Main Hangar now?"

A swift nod as Ashton packed up his personal computer and omni-tool, carefully erasing all traces of his use of the local computer grid as he did so. The boy then gave a slight bow to Lokea and said, "Thank you."

He and Flame then walked down the control tower and went to meet with this 'Saris Fen'; Ashton assumed the name was Volus. Once they got there, Flame looked around, saying, "We seem to be an intact group. Can't say the same for these Blue Suns."

Ashton looked at where Laurence was and whispered back, "Well, it seems that Mr. Constantly Angry got here first. Anyway, I'll be introducing myself to this 'Saris' guy; he seems like the sort of person who'd tolerate some sass."

Flame's palm met his face as he said in a low voice, "Are you sure you want to anger an employer who's shady enough to hire kids?" A pause. "Oh, well, guess it's your coffin."

They waited for the Volus to arrive, and when he did, Ashton went a few steps forward. He then gave a slight bow and apologized for his forwardness, "Please forgive me for asking first, Mr. Fen, but having left a middle-class life on Earth - It is my companion who was a former slave, not me - to pursue the will of a now-dead friend," Ashton carefully avoided revealing that said friend was a Batarian, "I must ask what exactly you are planning to do with us as your 'employees'."

A purse of his lips, "And by that, why are you looking for a ragtag bunch of talented misfits? Especially misfits with a sense of morality. I presume it's for an idealistic mission, right?" Another pause. "Because if so, I'd like to see terms of employment; the promise of credits is great, but I want to know if I'd be able to do some freelance security work as long as I don't reveal anything and send messages to my parents assuring them I am all right as long as I also don't reveal anything."

With the Blue Suns in full retreat, Gideon left its cover, still not exactly sure how to approach this situation. It holstered its weapons and stayed slightly away from the others, still in sight and earshot. How would they react? It had modified its chassis to appear less threatening shortly after breaking away from the Eclipse, and it was helpful during the fight, but how would they treat it now that there wasn’t a common enemy to prioritize over it?

Gideon figured it would let the thing sit for a few seconds, and while it was still listening to the conversation, it took a walk around the hangar, salvaging thermal clips, medigel, grenades and anything else the mercenaries had that could be of use to it. As it did, it took one last good look at the individuals making up this odd group, sizing them up. It should be able to escape if things went bad, though the biotic turian with a grenade launcher caused considerable amount of concern.

One of the humans correctly noted the group, even the krogan, seemed to be intact. In fact, it appeared it was the only non-Blue Suns combatant that suffered damage. If it had emotions, it may have even been embarrassed. With the search routine on Saris Fen complete and no more noteworthy gear to scavange, Gideon decided to approach the group that was now joined by the volus and try to act friendly. The consensus was the Geth wished they’d spent more time observing organics to learn how to properly integrate into such groups instead of hunting the more morally bankrupt ones down. “We have only suffered minor damage. This platform is currently operating at 98.97 percent capacity. Low repair priority.” it stated in response to Flame and turned its head to Ashton, giving him a jerky thumb up. One of the few mannerisms it observed from organics over its short life. “Impressive work, for a human of your apparent age.” Then it finally turned to Saris. “The human raises a good question. Empirical evidence shows 87 percent hired mercenary work on Omega concerns murder, slavery, smuggling, shakedown and acquisition or distribution of narcotics or illicit goods. 96 percent of the stated pool includes a combination of two or more of the stated infractions”

Lokea relaxed once she saw the gunship come crashing down. She lowered her barrier strength to passive defense and brought her rifle back up to shoulder. She panted a bit, tired and winded from expending a bit of her biotic energy to create a powerful shield around herself and her comrades. She smiled a little before speaking into the comms. "Lokea to Alexis, kill confirmed. Good hit." She said softly, panting a little before letting go of the 'talk' button. She then noticed the gunship crashing down towards friendlies, and before she can call out to them, it smashed into the ground far in front of her... though her allies were able to get away safely. She sighed in relief, and then resumed her covering fire, blasting what remains of the drones out of the sky with her accurately placed bursts of fire. Well, relatively accurate, she had to re-center her targeting system and scope after the whole ordeal with the gunship. Once Alexis entered the offices, the asari looked to her and gave her a gentle salute. "You have my thanks." Lokea said with a relieved and thankful smile. "Remind me to get you a drink when this is all done."

However, after that, it started to get a little quiet. What remained of the Blue Suns had fallen back, and just as Saris just said on the intercom, they have made a full retreat. Lokea had lost count of how many were just killed in action, but it didn't matter... there was a _whole_ lot. The bounty must've been quite high for them to make a near suicidal wave attack like that. Oh well, since there was zero casualties on the friendly's side, Lokea felt very confident in the team's ability. She looked to Taria, Ashton, Flame and Alexis, panting a little, speaking into the comms the others can hear her too. "Did you all hear that? Zero casualties. I don't know about you but I'd consider that a flawless victory. Good job, team. We kicked ass." Lokea said with a smile before jumping at the sound of a gunshot. She raised her rifle at the source, seeing Lawrence outside executing a wounded merc. She's already not starting to like the guy... normally she took prisoners where she came from. She gave him the stinkeye for a moment before looking back to the kids, ensuring that they were okay. Hearing Ashton's thanks, she pats him on the back. "No problem, kiddo. Just glad you're okay." She said, before looking to the others, gesturing over to the hangar before walking there herself.

Once she made it out into the hangar, she looked at the volus (should he arrive), and simply listened to the others as they asked their questions. Once there was a quiet moment Lokea could speak, she would turn to Gideon and give him a smile. "Hey, thanks for the fire support. You did good." She said quietly to him before turning back to Saris. After everyone had their questions, and if any was asked of the group, she would clear her throat and ask Saris "If you don't mind me asking, what's our paygrade?" While she wasn't out to get rich, the medicine to help treat her condition of clone degeneration wasn't cheap. Saris would most likely know her reasons, though as far was Lokea was concerned, she responded to a resume reply.

In the meantime, she would send a private omni-tool message to Taria and Alexis. Lokea to (names), full disclosure, you girls kicked a lot of ass. I doubt that this group is made up entirely of trustworthy individuals, but both of you pulled through in my hour of need and done more to help me protect the kids. I feel our chances of survival may rise if we stick together, but it's just a friendly suggestion. - Lokea

As the group spoke of their victory over blue Sun, outside in the hanger, the sounds of a Sniper Rifle was heard before a bullet flew past and connected with head of a retreating Blue Sun member. She had only a moment to grunt in pain before she hit the ground dead. A flash would come from in front of the group, though it happen closest to Lokea as a female appeared from what seemed like thin air and walked up to the dead member.

She ignored the group at the moment and instead reached down and ripe off the blue sun chest armour before tugging a necklace off. "Thought as much, well that's another name of my book and at least I know my mother will be happy I got her necklace back" The woman said to herself as she put her sniper rifle away. She then pulled out her book crossing a name out using her victim blood. "Another pays the price for my parents death, all that leave is two more grunts and 2 commanders once their all dead, I would have avenged my parents death" she once again said to herself.

When she turned round, she finally acknowledged the group. But instead of greetings, she said "So which one of you is Saris? You said, you had need of a mercenary or Assassin or whatever the fuck it is". She looked at all the people there and her tone changed to a flirty tone as she said "Though to be honest; with this many sexy creatures around, I won't mind having some fun". She looked at Lokea. "I think, your the sexest Asari, I've come across my beautiful nature skinned friend" She winked at the girl.

Saris tapped his gloved hands together in amusement as he was bombarded with questions, before climbing on top of a nearby crate to put him at eye level with most of the group. Thankfully, none of them had asked about the blue sun attack yet. It was best that way, he didnt intend for them to find that out until a few missions were under their belt, and they had gotten a taste of the money he was paying them. He turned and looked to the relatively small humans.

"A wonderful question, young... [Hhhkk...]...man! Morality, as you may have guessed by now, is somewhat flexible. But i do wish to help the people of the... [Hhhkk...]...Terminus Systems. But i dont think i can explain it all here. If you would check... [Hhhkk...]... your omni tools, i have sent the binding section of your contract. You are welcome to... [Hhhkk...]... view the other fifty-nine sections as you so wish. Oh, your point." He took a deep breath.

"You are welcome to send messages to your family however you wish. However... [Hhhkk...]...you will not be able to give our location, or mention any of the inner workings of this... [Hhhkk...]...group." He sighed. "If you do any of this, i will be forced to terminate your contract."

A few meters away, Laurence couldn't hide a smirk. He hadn't bothered to put his helmet back on.

Saris turned to the Geth, who he couldn't actually remember inviting.
"I hope that also answers your question...[Hhhkk...]...Sir?" He let the sentence trail off a bit before continuing,

Finally, he turned to the Asari that Laurence seemed to think had a STD of some kind. Ridiculous of course, but Saris had close calls before. He took a slight step back.
"I assure you my dear, the pay is... [Hhhkk...]...Substantial. Enough to retire on, in fact. I'm very rich, you see." He chuckled.

"Well then, everyone!" He shouted cheerfully. "Soon we can take the shuttle to our new HQ, and you can see this job for yourselves. I do so ... [Hhhkk...]...sincerely hope you like it."

He then turned to the other Asari.
"...yes my dear, i am in need a mercenary or assassin, or ... [Hhhkk...]..whatever the fuck it is."

Laurence, on the other hand, looked up when she flirted with the entire group at once.
"Hm. You wouldn't happen to be affiliated with Eclipse, would you?" He said, with mild venom in his voice. "I do so sincerely hope you arent still affiliated with them...

Mass Effect: Seraphim Post

Ashton grasped the implication that he'd be killed if he revealed anything about the operation, a prospect that caused him to tense, although the young man quickly relaxed when Flame went up to him and touched his shoulder.

"It's okay," said the redhead, "It's usually how these things go." He then turned to Saris and said, "All right, it seems we're in. We just have to wait for the shuttle, correct?" A thin smile, "Now, let me and Ashton review our contracts in the little time we have before transport arrives."

And Flame proceeded to do just that, while Ashton decided to multi-task, simulteanously searching for Saris Fen's publically available business info using another 'tab'.

"Amazing," Ashton said to his benefactor, "Mr. Fen, you're probably one of the richest people in the Galaxy at this point in time. For you to show interest in this lawless region of space - somewhat benign interest at that... I think that such a line of thinking is laudable. As Flame said, I am in."

A glance around their motley group; the boy had noticed that many were silent. Not just that, but knowing the pattern of such endaevors, it was clear that the adventures of this 'outfit' Mr. Fen was forming was going to follow a pattern similar to 'Archangel's'; initial success, a zenith as their enemies were thrown into disarray... Then a 'darkest hour' as their enemies regrouped and struck back.

He reviewed the last of his independently-acquired finances; Ashton will have to expand this money into a 'nest egg' through various freelance security jobs - It seemed he had acquired Saris' implied permission for such. This nest egg would go to saving the group's asses out of the fire once the darkest hour struck. Looking at Elijah, Ashton briefly thought about the White Company, his group; they might play a role in his plans for the future. But, considering Eli's present silence, that may not be such a good idea after all; said silence might be a signal of skepticism or even enmity.

Take a deep breath, Ashton, he thought. Take a deep breath.

He would also have to buy a safehouse - using independent funds, not Saris' payments - as part of the contingency. It was quite clear that no matter how well-hidden or well-defended the current HQ was, it would be found eventually. Just like Archangel was eventually cornered. But how best to acquite said safehouse without stoking Saris' suspicions? Ashton blinked and thought, I'll just be honest if confronted about it; it's technically not forbidden by the contract, and does not qualify as treason against the group, after all..

Continuing to wait for the shuttle, Ashton although thought that the safehouse needed to be able to fit five or so people, and have accomodations for Saris himself; should the darkest hour arrive, he planned to rescue his employer.

“You are welcome.” It replied to Lokea. It was about to say something else when an armored humanoid, an asari judging by the language she spoke, appeared out of thin air. The flaps surrounding Gideon’s ‘face’ rose up in a surprised expression. If it were human, it’s eyebrows would’ve met its hairline. It made no effort to hide the fact it was curiously observing the new arrival as she moved around, looting the dead body and muttering something. “Caution: this individual’s operating system appears unstable.” it summarised when the display finished.

It deemed Saris’ answer satisfactory, but as an organic might have said, talk is cheap. Fortunately, it was a machine. What was a sixty section contract? It was done reading through the thing before Saris finished responding to the two asari. “Based on available information, your intentions appear to be identical to ours, Saris Fen. We oppose terminus criminal elements. You oppose terminus criminal elements. Cooperation seems to further mutual goals. We believe we would be a useful addition to the effort if you’ll have us. To paraphrase Shepard-commander ‘It helps to have tireless, merciless machines on your side.’ Furthermore, we do not require payment, though acquiring additional runtimes would be appreciated. not to mention it would further improve our capabilities.” Its current mobile platform was designed to run up to two thousand units simultaneously, leaving Gideon with a little over 25 percent of the platform’s processing power still unused.

When the scarfaced mercenary that already seemed to be acquainted with Saris mentioned the Eclipse, Gideon raised an ‘eyebrow’. Consensus: Avoid mentioning our past until more information regarding this individual and his relation to the Eclipse is obtained. They’d rather not test Laurence’s reaction to learning some of Gideon’s runtimes have been killing for the Eclipse for nearly six years. Even the Geth were a little wary of Laurence based on their limited observations of him.