“Hey, wasn’t meant as a job. Half the people on this team are semi-perpetually shitfaced. You’d blend right in.” Tanya said with a smirk, eyes scanning over the terminal as she worked through the omni-tool’s software diagnostics. Mark’s story wasn’t that uncommon amongst former marines, Tanya included; most people who left felt like they were undervalued or that it was time to move on. She could certainly relate, after Mindoir her superiors saw fit to keep her in rear echelons in maintenance divisions, well away from potential action and what was left of her friends. It took her a few months before she too got fed up and decided that her talents, and her life, was best dedicated elsewhere. Mark’s listless, aimless wandering wasn’t all that uncommon either. People had it pretty easy this day and age to disappear from one place and appear in another, looking for [I]something[/I] that spoke to them. The years were evident on the man’s face, as was the ever present weariness Tanya had seen far too many times. The man wasn’t stupid, that much was sure. He took far too much initiative for himself to be your usual dumb-as-fuck gun for hire. Maybe he would fit in, after all. 

The engineer eyed the cigarette warily before reaching under her work bench to pick out an old ration can and dumping a few assorted bolts before placing the can without a word in front of Mark. She wasn’t a smoker, but she didn’t particularly care if people did it, even if she hated the smell of it. The fact that she was occasionally covered in some kind of flammable liquid probably was a strong reason for that. “Yeah, I get that. Credits only go so far before it all just seems hollow.” She replied to Mark lamenting his past. “It’s part of the reason I feel lucky I stumbled into these guys in some seedy Citadel bar and got talking half drunkenly about saying fuck it, screw feeling sorry for ourselves and let’s do something stupid and make a mercenary company. After the Alliance, I’ve basically been my own boss, calling the shots with the other. Isn’t perfect, and some people can be pretty fucking daft, but what can I say, it’s like family.” She paused, drumming her fingers on the work bench, as if in thought. “And turns out I needed people like them.”

Tanya’s grey eyes looked up to Mark. “Wait. You got hired on with both the Blue Suns and Eclipse? How the fuck did you manage that? Those wankers hate each other.” She said with a grin and a slight shake of the head. “I’d have an easier time believing you if you said you were shagging that Veronica Preston chick, you know that big actress that you can’t go see a movie without her being in it? I used to make fun of people like her for being vapid dipshits until I realized they were making a lot more credits than I was for half the effort. Eh, fuck it. I still make fun of them. We usually make Thursday night movie night in the longue, just brush off responsibility for a few hours and pretend we’re one botched job from not being able to afford fuel and food for half a month. It’s good. You should make a point to stop by, get people used to seeing you.” She suggested, stepping away to open a locker where her armour and weapons were hung in various compartments and slots. She pulled out the body suit, stepping behind a screen for privacy while she got out of her tank top, boots, and coveralls to fit into the combat gear. 

“And fucking tell me about it with the ship! I swear, I’m the only person other than Kygg,” she paused, realizing Mark probably didn’t know who anyone on the team other than Roland, Marianna, and Tzvi were. “The vorcha, who came back from that not being miserable as fuck. I mean, sure, we almost all died because that stupid fucking Luek bastard decided killing himself and everyone aboard was better than losing his fucking information, but he’s dead, we’re not, and we’ve got a steady source of income, assuming Kosso knows what the hell he’s doing with the shit we grabbed. I can’t say I’ve ever fought on a sinking ship like that before, it was actually one of the only times in my life I’d been on an ocean-worthy ship. It’s nice that a hull breach isn’t an instant-death sentence like in space.”

She stepped out from behind the screen, zipping up the body-hugging suit and grabbing the various outer components of the armour. “You’ll have to run by me what exactly you and the others did after the ship started fucking capsizing after we get back from the distress call.” She nodded towards the gun on Mark’s back. “We picked that thing up after one of our earlier missions; we kind of made it a priority to loot the guys we killed for gear when we were starting off. That rifle’s one of the weapons we picked up but had no use for. I was intending to use it as a target rifle to work on my aim, but never had time. If you’re killing with it, it’s better than it collecting dust. If you want, I can probably rig some modifications in there. It’s the same base as the Argus and the Harrier, so it’s really not hard to find parts to put a select fire mode in there.”