[IC] Mass Effect: Underworld

[Rtron]

Dave

“I like you John, I really do.” Dave said amicably as he sat down in front of the other pirate. The human glared at him from the chair he was restrained in. The chair was bolted to the floor, and John was strapped to it by his wrists and ankles. The room itself was bare except for the two chairs, and a table next to them. Dave smiled cheerfully at his captive, pulling out his revolver and putting a box of ammunition for it on the table. “And I mean it when I say that. Attacking and attempting to board the flag ship of your enemy with you slapped together freighter was brave. Completely and utterly stupid, but brave. Of course, being a leader, you can’t afford to be stupid, otherwise you’ll end up in the position you now are in. All of your crew dead, your ship being looted and stripped as we speak, and you are about to be interrogated for any and all information you have on what we both seek. But, I didn’t come here to speak of your failures.” He hefted the empty revolver. “I’m sure you’re wondering what this is. This is a revolver. A sort of pistol that only fired six shots a thousand or so years ago.” John continued to stare mutely and hatefully, no doubt thinking of all the ways he would be killing Dave right now. “ The reason I have this extinct and utterly useless gun is for one simple reason. Russian Roulette.”

John blinked. “What the hell is that?” Dave sighed, loading one bullet into his revolver and then spinning the chamber. “The ignorance of youth. Russian Roulette is where I load one bullet into the gun, spin the chamber, and then fire the weapon at you. If this wasn’t an interrogation, we’d be taking turns aiming the gun at our own heads and pulling the trigger for thrills and money. As it is, I’m going to aim it at your knee cap. If you’re unlucky, you’ll get the one bullet to the knee. But first, a question.” Resting the muzzle of the gun on John’s knee, Dave asked, “What do you know about the artifact? Aside from what everyone knows. You know, Prothean, it’s general location, how it’s worth so many credits that whoever has it can probably live and die like a king, stuff like that. Anything new to shed on the subject?” Slightly wide eyed, John shook his head. “No idea. I was just trying to get rid of competition.” Dave sighed. “Alright then. Let’s see if you’re unlucky or not.” John began to beg.

“No pleas-“ Click. John interrupted himself with small scream and a tensing in preparation for the bullet and the pain that never came. He let out a sigh of relief. Dave shrugged. “On to two bullets in the chamber then. Same question.” John began to try and persuade the pirate captain. “I’m telling you, I don’t know anything. If I did, why would I have bothered attacking you? I would have just simply went straight to the artifact.” Dave nodded, spinning the chamber with two bullets in it this time. “Perhaps. Or, you may be lying to me, trying to get me to stop before you break. Either way, I’m going to ask the same question. Then, if you give the same answer, I’m going to pull the trigger again.” He grinned at the captive man. “I may not even have to harm you once. I’ll just let your fear and your mind break you for me. Admittedly, there are other, more sophisticated ways to do such a thing, but none quite as…interesting, as this.”

John’s luck lasted until there were three bullets in the chamber. Then one tore through his kneecap. His scream echoed only faintly outside of the room. And after that, John’s luck took a turn for the worse. Every pull of the trigger was a bullet. Every bullet went through a new joint. To give him credit though, John never changed his story. It was that, as much as the fact that it was clear that he was getting nowhere, that made Dave finally put a bullet through John’s skull. Stepping out of the room, ineffectually brushing at the blood spots on his clothing, he walked briskly back to the CIC. His second in command asked, “Find out anything useful?” Dave shook his head. “Nope. Kid was just what he appeared to be, brave, stupid, and now, dead.”

[Rare]

"Doctor… Listen....I am fine, they just got me in the face and the arm. Mostly my face, but I am such that it will heal in time." said the Turian woman, but the Salarian doctor put his hand in his face and sighed. "Your arm is nearly broken and your face is damaged. It will cost a lot to get these issues solve, but it will be worth it." said the doctor as he put his notepad near the woman and the woman grabbed it with her right arm and said, "Oh fuck. It costs that much to get them fixed."Afraid so, but It will be worth the credits. After all, I don't want the boss to shot me between the eyes." said the doctor as he pointed at the spot between his eyes. “Anyways, why can not just tell me about what happened?” said the doctor as he grabbed the notepad back and the woman said, “I am not telling you shit until my boss knows. Besides, you will hear it anyways.” Footsteps echoed the hallways as both of them heard them and then the doctor said, “Well, I'm going to found out then.” and rushed towards the hallway; the woman shook her head and grinned. Druslius was walking the hallway when the doctor stopped him and Druslius said, “Why are you stopping me this time, doctor?” The doctor handled Druslius the notepad, which he had in his hands and said, “I already have accepted the offer and these things will get there soon. Also, I tried to talk to her about what happened, but she refuses to talk to him, only wants to talk to you, sir.”

Druslius nearly dropped the notepad and said, “Is she in your office? Meet me there.” and ran towards the room. He stopped at the doorway and saw the woman; she smiled and said, “There you're boss. I have been waiting to talk to you.” and Druslius shouted, “How in the fuck did you manage to get hurt?! You were sent to collect the taxes on the business and you came back with a broken arm and your face is damage! How did you get those things?!” She sighed and with a flown said, “You really don't care about me, huh? Just care about the bill, due to my issues...” she got up and grabbed a glass of water and drunk it and kept going, “...Yeah, you sent me to collect the taxes. But, I got ambushed outside one of your 'businesses' and they beaten me hard, but I shot one before another left and questioned the guy.” Druslius grew interested of her as she told the story and moved his hand in a circle to tell her to keep going and said, “Well, the guy said something that might get your interested. He said that fucking Richardo sent them to 'hit' me'.”. Druslius eyes opened and his tone got mad and said, “Richardo? Richardo Manders? Fucking Richardo Manders?! That fucker!” and she shooked her head and said, “Afraid so.” All of the suddenly the doctor looked at them with the confused look and said, “Sorry to be rude and all, but who is Richardo Manders?”

Druslius looked at him with anger, but then realized that he wasn't around in the old days. He turned around and said, “Doctor, Richardo Manders isn't your normal human, he is a pain in the ass, but the pain that stings from a long time.” The doctor still gave Druslius the confused looked and he sighed and said, “Another human saying, sorry. Anyways, Manders fought in the First Contact War and hates anything that isn't human. So, he formed a gang, which was to terrorize the 'non-humans' to leave Omega. When I first met him, he punched me in the face and then we got in a fight. I won of course, but he got me good and I never saw him. I always through that he was dead or moved to a different planet, but since this happened...I guess I have to do this job again and this time, I will kill him for such.” The woman said, “Good. I am coming as well.” Druslius turned to her and said, “No, you're not coming. You're staying here to get your wounds heal.” and the woman said, “I can take care of myself and the wounds will heal no matter what.” He walked towards her and said, “Please stay. Just this once.” and then she said, “Fine. Go without me then. Leave me alone with the doctor.” Druslius sighed and walked out of the room and passed by the doctor, the Salarian walked towards the woman and he said, “Are you going to be fine with his decision?” and she said:

“I might regret my decision.”

[Sundered Echo]

Nos Parnello

Arleya T’kana was on cleanup duty today. One of the many affiliates that regularly sold information to Mr. Zhar had decided to cut him out of this particular sale. Neither Zhar or Arleya knew why, but it didn’t matter. A point had to be made. This time it was her turn to pay the man a visit, and so she now found herself walking up to an obscure little bar in the deserted streets of one of the few still reasonably pleasant areas of Nos Parnello. She had a heavy pistol in hand, but this wasn’t really a combat operation so she had only worn a fairly unassuming outfit that she didn’t mind getting blood on.

Pushing the door open, it took only a moment to take stock of the room. The bar was almost empty - only her target and his two bodyguards were present, all human as well as a lonesome salarian bartender. With one hand she raised her pistol, and with the other made a lifting motion - the somatic trigger for one of her Biotic abilities. With a surge of blue light and the sound of the laws of physics being broken, the three humans were lifted from the air to float helplessly. Smoothly tracking the rising forms with her pistol, she fired one quick shot into each of the bodyguards chests even as she kept advancing. The gun was loaded with expensive Proton rounds that rendered most lighter shielding irrelevant while still providing sufficient force to kill.

From the corner of her eye she noticed the bartender had retrieved a gun from under the bar and was beginning to aim it. Another smooth re-aiming of her own weapon, with only a glance to check the target, and two rounds had passed through his unarmoured chest and splattered green blood all over the wall behind. Her target, a human by the name of Wilson, was clawing at the air in a vain attempt to escape her biotic field and flee. She found the sight rather amusing and would’ve laughed at his misfortune if she wasn’t so eager to get back to Nos Astra. Instead she just raised the pistol and shot him in the knee before releasing the biotic field to let him fall heavily to the ground. He screamed in pain, but she ignored it. She wasn’t about to waste good medi-gel on this man. She holstered the gun and dragged the poor man up onto a seat and tying his hands behind him before taking one herself. One thing she and Zhar had in common was their preference for civility wherever possible.

She casually used her biotics to pull a bottle of Volus alcohol from the shelf behind the bar and into her hand. While Wilson was still groaning with pain, she poured a glass and sipped it. It was terrible. She grimaced as she swallowed it and quickly put the cup down. The sound of the glass on the table must’ve pulled Wilson to his senses, as he managed a pained “I haven’t done anything!” Typical Wilson. He may be good at acquiring information but he was always a bit of a coward. “Yes mister Wilson, this visit is all about what you haven’t done.” Arleya said condescendingly, leaning back in her chair. He put on a bewildered look. “What you haven’t done, is sell Mr. Zhar the information he asked for.” His face took on, somehow, an even greater degree of terror than before. “I was going to I swear!” He managed through gritted teeth. “Perhaps, but you’re missing the point. You were seen trying to sell the information to someone else first. The patron of the Lonely Spacer wasn’t it? Thought you might make a stop on the way and get a bit of extra cash? Not your smartest move Wilson.” He remained silent and shook his head. She didn’t bother speaking more. Instead she picked up the glass and poured the terrible alcohol onto the mans wounded knee. Another half scream, half groan of pain escaped him.

“I certainly hope this is a good piece of information Wilson. It’d really be a shame to have wasted my time.” She said to encourage a response. “Alright alright!” he finally gave in. “I’ll tell what I know!” Arleya just looked at him with an expectant expression. “The major groups after the artifact are Riptide, The Red Phoenix and The Legion… Jason Daxx has taken an interest too… There were a few smaller ones like Bretin’s raiders, but they didn’t make it. Please… Thats all I know…”

Arleya was rather disappointed that she had made the trip for such a paltry piece of intel. Also disappointed that Wilson had given it up so easy and then proceeded to beg. “Are we done?” He said pathetically. Arleya stood up from her chair and said “Yes, we’re done.” He seemed to relax then, believing himself out of danger. Evidently his idea of ‘being done’ was different to hers. His loss. She quickly raised her gun again and shot him four times in the chest before promptly turning on her heel and leaving the bar.

---

Zhar Tower, several hours later…

Khel Zhar was standing before a large holo-projected screen on which all the current information about the Prothean Artifact and the factions hunting it was displayed. He was presently deciding who to provide support for in the opening moves of the grand game. The Alliance with Halios was a long term play, they were a far more passive force than some of the factions that had become involved. They’d come in use once the more militant groups had exhausted themselves against each other.right now though, Zhar planned to back one of those groups, just enough to give them the edge. He would feed them with intel that might make them more predictable, though with the groups involved, predictability would be an unfortunately rather rare commodity.

Riptide was a respectable organisation, with just the right mix of morals and effectiveness. Unfortunately, they were also his rivals. Not to mention two out of three of their governing trio were short lived and unpredictable, not versed in the subtleties of the game. They might be a viable ally if things got bad, and he’d try to avoid making them an enemy as Nadene, in his opinion was a skilled leader and had the potential to become a truly dangerous threat to him.

The Legion seemed fairly solid in modern times, and its leader was a respectable Asari. The only problem with them was that Tevura had a tendency to hold grudges and end them only with extremely drastic action. Zhar was leaning towards choosing to help them, though he would have to be careful to avoid irritating Tevura until he had some solid blackmail against her.

The Red Phoenix was never really an option for Zhar. They were too concerned with territory in his opinion, not to mention he just plain didn’t like either of the people that lead the group.

From there he went on to the other major concern.

“The council won’t be leaving this alone. They will send a Spectre, the only question is who…” Zhar gazed at the very short list of known Spectres for a moment or two. “It almost certainly won’t be Saren… Best Spectre he may be, but collateral damage is not on the agenda here I think. Tela might get involved, but she still doesn’t fit this task perfectly…” From behind him Arleya’s voice joined in the speculation. “Seyena T’rana, the newest Asari Spectre, might be a choice. She is quite in favour right now from what I hear.” Zhar touched her name in the list, bringing up what little intel they had managed to gather on her. “Possibly, but her fondness of law and rules might get in the way so far into the Terminus. No matter, I’m sure we will find out soon enough. In the mean time, I need you to set our agents in motion to find out as much as you can about Tevura. I shall be busy negotiating with her.”

[Sundered Echo]

Jaelan nervously boarded the massive mining transport on which his precious artifact was now loaded. He had the artifact for now, but he was increasingly worried that he would be unable to make it through the Rosetta Nebula Relay, much less all the way to Council space. The artifact was his! No one else deserved to be in its presence!

The ship he had the artifact secured on was a behemoth - a Turian made heavy duty mining barge. It was the only ship available to Jaelan that had sufficient cargo space to move the artifact, though extensive modification had had to be made before the artifact could be loaded. The ship was heavily shielded and rugged, designed to operate for extended periods in dense asteroid fields for extended periods. It was never fast to begin with, but once his engineers had finished altering the cargo hold to support the artifact, they had drawn sixty percent of the power the reactor usually supplied to the engines, which made the craft exceedingly slow, although it would take almost total destruction of the ship before the artifact would be in any danger. It was almost unarmed, possessing only a very modest GARDIAN system. Jaelan truly dreaded the idea of trying to run a blockade in it.

The only consolation available to Jaelan was that it wasn’t the only ship he would have. A second barge of identical appearance would by flying alongside him, carrying his lone squadron of six fighters - cheap Volus knock-offs of the the real thing, but capable nonetheless. Two Kowloon class freighters would also be with them, though they were running on skeleton crews and their use would be limited to blocking shots or, at their most desperate, kamikaze rams.

It was with great trepidation that this small flotilla departed the safety of the mining complex on Parnassus several hours later. It would take a few days to reach the Mass Relay, and during that time, Jaelan had nothing to do but wait.

---

“Long standing experimental medical research firm Halios Consortium has released details of their latest revolutionary project today. First receivers of the treatment to bring Elcor speeds closer to the fast paced speed of the galaxy are claiming it has changed their lives. Council specialists are likely to verify the safety and success rates within days, sure to be good news for Elcor across the galaxy! For any Elcor that just can't wait, the treatment is already being provided by Illium medical facilities. If you’re an Elcor and you’re an Elcor and you’re sick of Salarians running circles around you, Illium medical services, a sponsor of Halios Consortium, can help you today!”

Brought to you by Illium News agency, keeping you up to date and the latest and best news the galaxy has to offer.

News

The Artifact is on the move! Anyone who knows the location of Jaelan’s base has a last chance to ambush the convoy before it goes to FTL. If no-one does that, people are welcome to attack it as it tries to go through the Mass Relay. An Attack on it should resolved as a combat against me.
Halios Consortium will not get any proceeds from their latest innovation until the next news, as Elcor are slow to adopt new things.
Red Phoenix’s slow, haphazard response has allowed the territory they lost to be fortified by its new owners. no further attacks on Red Phoenix.

[Rtron]

Dave

As they arrived at the Rosetta Nebula Relay, Dave gave a low whistle as he stared through the front window, and at the sensors, of his ship The Romany Star. “I suppose it was too much to hope that we were the only ones who had heard this little tidbit of information, wasn’t it?” He commented to no one in particular. There were ships of every shape and size, waiting at the relay. Freighters, shuttles, fighters, etc. Dave noted that there were very few actual military ships. That was something to be thankful for. He had the biggest guns in this little showdown. “Contact the other ships, tell them to get a good distance away from this mess. When the relic finally does arrive, let’s let them tear each other apart first. After all, why waste ammunition when we can just let them do the shooting for us?” He ordered as he turned to leave and check to make sure his ship was ready. Couldn’t have her underperforming, now could he? Before he could, however, his second in command came up to him. “Tevura is waiting for you in the conference room.” Dave nodded. “Oh good. I wanted to see how good my lying skills are anyways.” He winked at his second in command and then sauntered off towards the meeting with Tevura.

Before he could even say anything as he walked in, Tevura spoke first. “Try not to get yourself killed.” Dave stopped and blinked. “Well, I’m touched by your concern, but we’re not doing anything overly danger-“ “Don’t lie to me Dave.” Tevura interrupted, holding up a hand to stop him from continuing further. “I know you. Which means I know you’ve gone to the Rosetta Nebula Relay. Which means I know that you’re going for the relic. Which means, lucky for you, that I won’t take offense to this foolishness, and I’ll ask only that you don’t die. We’d miss your cockiness, and most of our pilots and fleet would leave with your death.” She glanced over her shoulder, presumably at her sister. “Well,” she corrected,” I would miss your cockiness. Rebekha would only just care about all the fleet and the crew that would leave with you.” Dave smirked. “Good to know that I’m so loved by your sister.” Tevura shrugged. “What can I say? She’s not a very trusting person. With good reason.” Dave nodded as he spoke, “I know. Regardless, you have my most solemn vow that I’ll do my best not to get killed and preserve your fleet.” Before she cut communications, the Asari rolled her eyes. “Oh yes. The vow of a pirate lord. Truly I can rest easy now.”

As Dave turned around to inspect his ship before the coming battle, he grinned to himself. This was going to be fun. Who knew if he might dance with death again?