[IC] The Depths of Deception

[Lightbox]

August quickly strode through the corridor heading to the briefing room. He had completed his last contract a couple of weeks ago and it was rather odd for the UN to contact him again with another assignment so soon, especially one which they would only give him the details in person. Normally he'd be messaged his contract or meet with an informant somewhere, he'd never before been instructed to go directly to a United Nations briefing room. The strangeness and seeming secrecy of this new contract unnerved him, he didn't feel comfortable not knowing anything about it but he as he approached the towering doors he put these thoughts out of his mind as two armed guards opened the doors for him and he entered the room.

Standing inside the room was a tall man with grey hair and dark skin, he was dressed in a very smart looking suit and on the large table behind him lay a small package, august presumed that package would have his orders in it.

"Ahh Mr Augustin, a pleasure to finally meet you" the man said, his voice held authority but also a calming kindness to it which could easily put most people off guard.

"Please just call me August" August replied with a smile, even though he wanted to do anything but smile right now.

"Well 'August' my name is Mr Blue. And I'm sure you're wondering why i called you in here today" The man then paused before picking up the package "We have a special mission for you, and i must warn you that we do not wish for this mission to become public knowledge for now. You of course are fully aware and used to missions with this ruleset. Now as for the actual mission you have been selected to take part in a cross species team created by the Assembly on pax"

"Cross species team? Why is the Assembly making this and why am i the selected one? I'm not even part of you guys"

"No you are not, but you are used to being in the public eye and good at dealing with press. This makes you good in a diplomatic role for if the team should go public or the media finds them doing something rather... controversial. And of course i'll be blunt with you because i'm sure you've worked it out, if we send a famous hero to the Assembly's team then it will help improve relations with them as it allows us to show we are fully backing this project"

"Ahh of course... you want me as your prize pig to show off to everyone and lend to the Assembly to make them like you" august looked away and paused for a moment thinking before looking back at Mr Blue "Fine... I'll take the job but not because i want the UN to look good, I'll take it because i'm curious to see what the assembly wants a cross species team for."

"Excellent, just one more thing before you go. You won't be going alone, we... wish to send you a bodyguard"

"With all due repsect Mr Blue I don't need a bodyguard"

"No, no of course you don't. The thing is the 'bodyguard' is more a cover, we have a mercenary who has taken some jobs from us and he is well, how to put it. A loose cannon, we want you to 'take him under your wing' so to speak. He's good at his job and is trustworthy enough to complete any contract but he has a horrendous attitude problem, we're hoping if you take him along with you it might get him to mature a bit but it will at least keep him from making any more messes. We don't want the media to find out he works with us and for us to get any bad press from it, if worse comes to worse then the assembly themselves should sort him out. If anyone questions just say he's your bodyguard, your fame should give you enough sway to convince the team to keep him."

"I'm not a baby sitter... I'd rather not take him along"

"Let me make one thing clear August, the terms of this mission are not up for discussion. I'm not asking you, I am telling you. You will take this mercenary with you and you will keep him out of trouble, if you have any complaints we can easily terminate any further dealings with you"

August glared at the man, the UN was often more trying to convince him to take jobs for them not trying to blackmail him. He didn't like it but something about how calmly Mr Blue spoke sent a shiver down his spine and before he started getting contracts with the UN being a bounty hunter was never nearly as lucrative and he did need the UN's sway in case authorities got involved. "Fine... I'll take him along" August said reluctantly as he took the package from the man

---

A couple of hours later and August had just boarded a ship to take him to pax. The UN had set up a private ship for him which from the outside looked like a normal civilian transporter but it had clearance to be able to 'jump the queues' so to speak once they got into pax airspace. The package contained all the information August needed to know about the mission and about his new companion whom he would meet on pax. Unfortunately not much information was given on the rest of the team only that he would be dealing with almost every other race on the team, he wasn't sure how to feel about working the sovereignty as he had been born into that war and his parents had only narrowly escaped losing their lives on their planet before managing to get to earth but that was in the past and had never truly affected him but he had grown up around a fair bit of racism and hatred towards the sovereignty but he would make his own judgements upon meeting them.

[EliteCommander]

Rareth groaned and stretched out her muscles as she awoke. Having Telmeck awaken her was nothing new to her. It happened quite a few times over the past year since he had been placed on leave on Rothia. Rareth had worked with him on the last mission he was on, the one that attracted the attention of his new superiors, the Rahn'Masser. They had grown...quite close to each other since that mission, so Telmeck was a regular visitor in her home.

"I cannot comment on what I may or may not have done last night and all that. You know the drill. Thavrin, make us some breakfast, and no, I don't care what it is. Surprise me." She said to her apartment's computer, which promptly carried out her instructions. She smiled and nuzzled her snout against his for a moment before standing to her feet and stretching out her muscles some more. "I do wish I could tell you more, as well as being able to give you a bit more warning when I'm going somewhere. Sorry for cancelling our plans last night, but this last task was dropped on my shoulders pretty unexpectedly. Ghirn has a habit of picking up assignments for me at the last minute, then giving me even less time to prepare."

Rareth sat back down and looked at Telmeck with a smile before putting her arm around him. "Don't worry though. The mission is over, and now, I have all the time in the world."

Seemingly seconds after Rareth finished speaking, Thavrin's voice appeared once more with an alert. "Master Rareth, you have an incoming call from Agent Ghirn'Lors, marked urgent."

Rareth lowered her head and sighed in resignation. "You know, I got overconfident. I deserved that. I need to take this in the other room." She said, giving Telmeck a pat on the back before walking upstairs to her bedroom. As soon as Thavrin closed the door behind her, it activated a holographic display that followed her around the room. Once, Thavrin accepted the video call, Ghirn, a green scaled Rothian with yellow markings on his face and neck, appeared on the screen.

"Good morning, Agent Rareth. I believe congratulations are in order." Ghirn commented.

Rareth chuckled. "You can congratulate me when you send me on an actual difficult mission. The one last night was almost depressingly easy."

"Well, you're in luck, then. Because that is exactly what I have for you right now. You know those talks between the Assembly and the Rahn'Saki that I have been telling you about, they're finally coming to fruition. The joint species team was approved, and you're being assigned to it." He explained.

Normally, Rareth would have been surprised, but as a Datius, she was privy to a good deal more information about the Rothian government than the average citizen. Since this matter applied directly to her, Ghirn had been keeping her in the loop. "Hmm, assigning a Datius to a join-species team. I suppose the Rahn'Saki are taking this very seriously, though I shouldn't be surprised about what happened with our last mission. By the way, those names I forwarded to you, the ones that were involved in last year's mission near the border of Sovereignty space, did the Assembly consider them?"

Ghirn nodded. "Yes, in fact, a few are being assigned to this as well. Ashley Munroy, Telmeck'Rorta, there will be a few friendly faces there. You should leave as soon as possible for the city of Concord on Pax. I'll send you the exact details of the meeting in a moment."

"Understood, sir. I will leave immediately...though I have to say, I do hope to get back under your command soon enough." Rareth responded.

Ghirn opened up another display next to him and typed away on it for a few moments before turning his attention back to Rareth. "Indeed. I will leave you to it, agent. Oh, and I am sending a message to Telmeck telling him to report to you for his next assignment. Or should I say Agent Telmeck? I am also giving him an official promotion to Agent of the Rahn'Masser. I would expect to see him soon." Ghirn said before ending the call.

"Sooner than you think."

Rareth gave a light chuckle and mused on the assignment for a few moments. Telmeck's involvement in the mission, as well as his promotion, was something she had been aware of over the past few months, but she had been unable to mention it to him. Now that he was officially a member of the Rahn'Masser, she could be a bit more open with him on classified matters, though it was still preferred that she keep her identity as a Datius a secret. Although, with a few centuries worth of work, it would possible he could one day attain that title as well. He certainly had the skill.

Stepping out of her bedroom and going back downstairs, Rareth heard the beeping of Telmeck's own device as she approached, indicating he had received a message. "I have a new assignment...and so do you, Agent Telmeck."

[cqbexpt]

"Desrick you son of biaoz!" Xiask said as he held out his arm towards the new Masulu. The other one reciprocated and grabbed from the bottom the others hand. They then brought each other together into a sort of half embrace. They then both backed up for a second."It's real good to see you it's been what 10 years?"

They both were now completley apart now. "Has been that long damn. Makes you wish the war never ended!" The one named Desrick said breaking into a bit of a laugh while Xiask joined in. The laugh then died down as fas as it had started. "Oh we should introduce them properly. My name is Desrick and that's Xiash both of us are tenth, also served in the war together." Xiask then motioned over to Shuo which he took as a sign to introduce himself.

Dropping both of his duffel bags to either side of him he pulled up a salute towards the officers and the other arrival. "Shuo Yuyun, 5th echelon, ArmSpecWar. I have been instructed that I will be spearheading this operation once we get underway." He then said dropping the salute. That was when he noticed the marking on her forehead. .she was a traitor. Shuo's eye twitched and for a split he thought about reaching into his bag for a gun. But then again why else would they have brought a marked one. He decided to put his hands behind his back and adopt a wide stance while waiting to be introduced.

[Muttonhawk]

Shiva raised an eyebrow to the officers as they greeted each other, but it was only a moment before her attention stayed on the 5th echelon across from her. Sizing him up, he didn't seem to give up much in his expression, as was often the case. There was one thing though. The twitch of his eye as it read her tattoo meant that the prospects weren't good of this one being reasonable. Well, so much for getting her hopes up.

She dropped her bag and straightened into a similar salute. "Shkitliktuit Tasthagk, 1st echelon, Sovereignty Medical Corps. Call me 'Shiva' if that's a mouthful, sir." She remained standing to attention for as long as required, but after dropping her salute, she hoped to get on to whatever briefing was to be had in this new squad. If she was going to be working under an ArmSpecWar 5th, she wanted to know why as soon as feasible.

[cqbexpt]

Shuo was about to ask about the mark when Xiask cut him off."Also Shiva is it? I should tell you that you are getting bumped in clearance for this mission. Seeing as how the team you will be joining will be handling some "sensitive" matters. Who knows do a good job and it might stick." Shuo again was baffled by the informalness of this all so far. The 10th's had the authority to do these things certainly but it had been awhile since he had seen this kind of laid back attitude. Just then Xiask turned on his heel quickly and said "The 4 of us should get moving to a more private area. Follow me." Xiask said as he started towards the elevator door with Dersick matching his pace. Shuo quickly picked up his duffel bags and along with Shiva followed them to the elevator. Once they got in Xiask put his palm on the touch pad and they shot downwards suddenly. They passed by more docked hangers and a few docked frigates on their way down.

The ride was rather short and mostly silent except for the two officers catching up. Once the doors opened it revealed hallway with one door at the end and two on either side. Dersick motioned for them to follow him. They walked down all the way to the end of the hallway and keyed a number into the touch pad. The door slid to the right and revealed a room rectangulaur in shape and a table in the center to watch the the shape of the room. But the wall opposite of them was a giant glass wall. They all piled into the room which was rather spacious. The window overlooked a hanger bay which was a buzz with workers running back and forth with robots and power armor to help them lift material. Both officers looked out the window for a brief second and then turned around. "What's going to happen in the next 24 hours is rather simple and at the same time highly important to the Sovereignty at large. Both of you will be reperesenting our government and peoples on a joint species team. This is the result of a rather long process of us lobbying for more power over prosecuting citizens of alien governments. Whoever our efforts have been stalled in allowing us to rid our space of terrorist xeno's and this was the compromise that was reached. While our efforts will continue for now you two are going to cooperate with the assembly as much as possible. One thing you will remember however is that both of you are Sovereign citizens. Your loyalty is to your people and not to these capitalists, remember this above everything." Xiask said in a much more serious tone than what they had experienced the whole way here.

"Like I said before Shiva you are the best field medic in all of our armed forces, while Shuo your loyalty has never been questioned and you're one of our finest soldiers. During this mission both of you will sign non disclosure agreements pertaining to the other races. We ask that you use extreme discression if you choose to reveal anything to the others. To finish this up do either of you have questions?" Dersick said in the same rather serious tone as Xiask said his piece.

Shuo thought for a moment. "Say we we're asked to commit a crime against the Sovereignty. At that point what becomes the plan?" Shuo said, knowing what the answer might be but he needed to hear it.

Dersick responded "We would say that at that point the NDA and the deal are off. At that point both of you would make it your priority to come into contact with either us or someone else on the chain of command who could do something with it. Protect yourselves and our peoples." Dersick said with a nod. "Well anything Shiva?"

[Kyelin]

With a sudden rush, Opus was hit by that all too familiar feeling of vertigo, when a ship goes out of warp. Regardless of whether it's a fighter or a battle cruiser, all ships seem to knock your senses out of you for a split second, at least according to him. After composing himself and swallowing back down the tiniest dribble of bile, Opus finally learnt of his destination: Pax, a wonderfully vibrant city world where nearly every space faring species in the known galaxy got together to buy the latest fashions and pointless mining rights squabbles. A large station, ornate and pristine was illuminated by the rising sun, hanging gracefully above the planet tethered by a thin, long tube to the surface. What must of been at least a thousand ships, of all shapes and sizes, hovered to and fro, warping in nearly as fast as others warped out. It was quite a breathtaking site, one that would get the attention of even the most jaded warrior.

Suddenly, Opus was snapped back to attention as he heard a transmission come through the ship's communicator, and a large holo of a human flight control officer was projected along the cockpit's windshield. "Halt! Your ship is not on the inbound arrival list. Please report to the nearest security -" There was a pause, and the officer flicked through some files. "Sorry for the Intrusion, Agent. You are cleared to land on deck 72, hangar 112. Have a pleasant day, sir." The holo vanished, and Opus manually flew his ship in, wondering how much more red tape would be attempted to be thrown at him. If there was one thing he could do, it was tear through security like no one's business. Hopefully, this new team he was joining would have similar advantages.

---

Security had been tight, but Opus had managed to get through it with minimal resistance. Perks of being SpecOps, that most other government agencies simply lacked. It wasn't long before he was out walking through the corridors of the hangar, eager to get down to the surface and get underway. WHile he worked methodically and made others wait for him, Opus didn't like the same treatment directed at him. He boarded the elevator transport with several others that would take him to the surface, and took a seat casually, ignoring the stares he got from the civvies. Lazily watching the ships and lobbies that passed by them, he turned his attention to the slowly approaching surface of the planet, and sighed comfortably. Been too long since he had sat down in an actual chair.

[Muttonhawk]

Shiva looked to something moving on the other side of the window for a moment, then back to Desrick's face. She wasn't sure what to think about this whole thing. It just seemed to be another case of the nations showing friendliness and cooperation with one half of their face, while the other side constantly scowled with scrutiny. On thought, she felt out of place. She had hoped to stay around the less politically ambiguous side of the military given her rank.

She wasn't going to say so, but Shiva honestly could care less about their whole 'loyalty to the people' crap. She understood the game, she didn't need to be indoctrinated all over again. Her questions went to more practical matters. "What kind of ops are we expecting to go on, sir?"

Desrick responded without so much as blinking, "That will be at the discretion of the Assembly to disclose."

As usual, they don't know, Shiva thought, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Instead, she took on a veneer of fatigue for a moment as she slowly took another breath. She wasn't likely to be told who the rest of the squadmates were, so for now all there was to do was wait. "I have no more questions, sir." She said finally, her eyes flitting in the direction of Yuyun for an instant. She wondered what exactly would be happening next.

[Balmung1100]

Bit had fallen asleep after activating his ship's autopilot. Even with an FTL drive the trip took several hours, hours that Bit used to catch up on some lost rest.

"Welcome to Pax." An automated message played over his ship's internal commlink.

"Oh, so this is Concord." Bit said with a yawn as his ship landed in the small Dirophyd hangar. To pass the time as the customs officers came to his ship, he estimated the magnitude of the explosives he would need to topple some of the buildings...not that he would do it unless he had to...nor did he have the explosives he would need to destroy more than one.

"Captain Bitheroi I presume?" Asked a voice behind him.

"Ah, I forgot that most officers have the override codes to the doors in these old fighters." Bit said spinning his chair to face the voice. "I'm guessing this is the part that somebody fills me as to what this whole task force thing is all about."

[EliteCommander]

With their next assignment now official, Rareth and Telmeck spent the next few hours preparing. They gathered their weapons and armor into Rareth's dropship, prepared their residences for an extended leave of absence, and took care of any other last minute planning before they left. Once ready, they took Rareth's dropship into orbit, then requisitioned an FTL carrier in which to dock the dropship to take them to Pax, as ships the size of a dropship could not be equipped with an FTL drive and be fully effective in combat at the same time, due to the space required for said drive.

Even at faster than light speeds, space travel could take a considerable amount of time, depending on the destination. With the territories of the Rothians, Humans, and Sovereignty taken into account, the settled portion of the galaxy had a radius of about five thousand light years around Pax in any direction. A few ships and probes had been to other parts of the galaxy, but there was really no reason to settle any farther away when there were still countless unexplored worlds within the known regions of the galaxy. To get from the farthest end of the settled region of space to the other would take about two months of travel, though the trip from Rothia to Pax was about two weeks. Contacting any sort of external network was impossible in FTL, but there was enough saved on to the ship's computer to keep the pair entertained for the duration of the journey.

Rareth and Telmeck awoke to an alarm indicating they were about to drop out of FTL. The autopilot would handle the approach all the way up to the point where they would need to contact docking control, but nevertheless, Rareth brought herself out of bed to get in the pilot's seat. With the level of clearance she had as a Datius, she was able to bypass most security checks and get to Concord rather quickly. All the docking authorities had to do was to tag her dropship with a device that signaled it was authorized to fly in civilian airspace, as armed vessels were not normally allowed in atmosphere.

Once they were cleared, Rareth proceeded to fly them straight to the building in Concord that they were set to meet the Assembly representatives charged with overseeing this joint team. Different departments and branches of the Assembly had their own buildings across the city; this one in particular was dedicated to the Bureau of Joint Intelligence. She was able to obtain a landing pad in a kind of external "hanger" on the building itself, so it was easy enough for them to take an elevator down to the lobby and record their arrival in the Bureau's systems. Since the meeting was not scheduled for two more days, they were instructed by the automated system to wait in the lobby for a representative to speak to them.

Rareth sat down on one of the chairs that was appropriately sized for a Rothian and took a look around at the lobby. Some of the buildings on Pax always struck her as rather odd. It was made with a mix of architectural and design styles from all races. This one in particular had Rothian materials, Sovereignty structural design, and Human aesthetics. It was meant to make all races feel more comfortable, but mostly, it just made all races feel slightly uncomfortable. Most of the buildings on the planet were not like this, of course. They were built with only a single style; it was only the government buildings that had such a wierd amalgamation of cultural designs.

[cqbexpt]

Shuo Looked at Shiva as she seemed to be irritated with this mission already. Personally Shuo didn't feel anything either way, it had been a long time since he had felt anything at all. He was sligthly interested in what missions they would be running for the purpose of research. But it wouldn't matter anyways, he was used to being given orders three days or even one before an operation. Suddenly Desrick's eyes began moving rather rapidly side to side as if he was reading something. "Sir's, I have no further questions." Shuo said blinking and looking at Desrick.

"Well then grab your gear. We'll be sending you guys back the way you came. Your going to the Joint Intel Bureau on a drop ship, from there you will be given your assignments and any weapons or armor you may need will be transferred along with you. Do what both of you have been trained to do and we should have a smooth experience. Shen's aid to you both." Both Desrick and Xiask gave a salute in a rather sudden union. Shuo returned the salute and with Shiva picked up their gear and left the room heading back to the elevator. They took it back up to the hanger rather quietly. When the doors open a Tempu dressed in a pilots uniform was motioning to them from the ramp of a dropship.

When they reached the ramp the pilot said. "You guys heading to the JIG?" She said with a rather excited tone. Before Shuo was able to respond the ships engines began spooling up.

It took Shuo a second to realize she was talking about the Joint Intel building. "Yes we are." Shuo said over the whine of the engines.

"Good. Love flying millitary hardware on Pax. Something about having power and not using it. You guys can stow your bags under the seats." She said as she retreated back into the cockpit. On the way there she said something about not being aggressive. He just assumed she was talking to the ships AI which had started the engines. Shuo walked up the ramp with a heavy forward tilt and picked a seat right next to the ramp. It had been habit since he got shot down one time. He stowed his gear underneath the seat like she had said and sat down. He then looked to Shiva as the drop ship began lifting off. He had to know if he was going to be working with her.

"Let's get this out of the way now. How did you get that mark?" Shuo said.

[Kyelin]

Humming loudly and moving at what most would consider an obscene speed, the mag rail transport whizzed by the various buildings of the dock ports, where most people's first port of call can be found when they first arrive on Pax via the elevator. Despite moving at over two hundred kilometers an hour without fail, the ride was still a ten minute grueling commute, surrounded by various civilians and their screaming children, not to mention a short discussion with the on board security as to what possible sanction allowed him to get on the monorail with charged and loaded weapons. On the plus side, it had a nice view.

When Opus finally disembarked and left the station, he took in the sight of the main Concord building, which seemed to have been copied and pasted together with other buildings from all over the galaxy. It was quite tall too, and had automated defense drones flying it's perimeter, one of which came up and scanned him to assess his identity. Even on Pax, you couldn't be too careful, and they looked quite imposing in all honesty. It was a quick walk into the main entrance, where the weapon detectors suddenly pinged an alarm, and several armed personnel trotted towards him. The agent casually crossed his arms, as the other officers aimed their weapons at him and approached slowly.

"It's ok, he's been cleared to enter. Though I must ask you surrender your weapons into our custody. Protocol, and what not." The young female team leader waved her hand, and the others complied, going into a standby stance as the alarm was switched off. Opus simply nodded in affirmation, raspy breathing apparent, and calmly handed over his sword and pistol to the Masulu beside her. "I'm Security Chief Bursley, and you must be Opus. Sorry for the scare, we don't get many SpecOps around here, and, frankly, you shouldn't have wandered in here with your guns. Gives the wrong idea, you know?"

"I apolgize. I assure you, I meant no harm..."

"Well, try to stay out of trouble, alright?" Bursley turned about, and escorted Opus to a main lift, where they rode up the floors for sometime in silence. After exiting the lift, they strode down a hallway, and entered what appeared to be a small waiting room, overlooking the city. "Now, preparations are still being made for the briefing, and the others haven't arrived here yet. Just wait in here, and we'll let you know when we're ready to see you. If you need anything, just give a buzz over the intercom on the table. Enjoy the rest of your day, Agent."

She left the room, and the door shut behind her with a slight hiss. Opus took the chair nearest to the window, and hunched forward, his hands held together as he watched the hustle and bustle taking place before him outside.

[Muttonhawk]

After stowing her bag and weapon under her own seat, opposite and one seat to the right of Shuo, Shiva looked across to the cockpit. Having power and not using it, what was that supposed to mean? Does she secretly want to shoot up the city? Shiva crossed her arms, but didn't get any more time to think about it before Shuo ever so pointedly asked about her tattoo.

Shiva looked back at him with a serious face, her arms still crossed. Unfortunately, Shuo was higher ranking, so it wouldn't be in her interest to give a snarky answer. She just shared the same information that she normally did with her COs when they asked. Her tone was professional and to the point, but had an annoyed undertone that would prefer Shuo to mind his own business, "Rebellious treason, destruction of sovereign property, physical assault of sovereign law enforcement, assisting conspirators against the sovereignty, and littering. Two years jail time, twenty years of military service, and twenty-eight years left on my sentence. Not that the mark will disappear by year fifty. Did you require any further details, sir?"

[Lightbox]

August stared out the reinforced windows as the ship he was on descended into pax's orbit, the planet was truly a marvel in itself with its sleek and interesting designed way different from the cities on earth looked. As the ship entered into conchord he marvelled at the beauty of the city looking like a utopia compared to most of the space stations factories and slum like places he was used to visiting. The ship slowly landed down onto the designated landing pad and august disembarked letting the cool breeze run through his hair and breathing in the clean air for a few seconds. He then walked to the edge of the landing pad and leant on the railing, the landing pad itself was on a raised bit of ground with stairs leading down to a large walkway floor which had taxi services to take people to the main areas of conchord.

August sighed as he stared out at the views of conchords horizon. He continued to take in the sights as he waited for dante to arrive, he had been told that this was where he was supposed to meet him but it seemed August had been the first to arrive.

[cqbexpt]

"I have no further questions. As long as you stay straight with me we should be fine. Also since I'm your CO now don't be afraid to talk back. Being forced to double think something is what keeps me sane." Shuo said leaning back into the bulkhead. He knew only people who had committed the real crimes got executed in rebellions. Her's obviously were not those seeing as how young she would have been during that rebellion. Atleast she was good at her job considering that she had actually been moved to this team. But he would have to wait till they got into a situation to figure out how she fared.

The ride into atmosphere was rather short but once they got into concord airspace it slowed down. Shuo imagined the airspace around the city was rather crowded. He felt the ship pitch and begin to slow down. It finally stopped all forward motion and began dropping altitude. Just then the ramp began lowering letting the harsh light of day into the cabin. As it continued to open and they continued to get closer to the ground Shuo was able to see multitudes of flying cars whizzing by back and forth between buildings and of the narrow sight the hanger they were in provided. It wasn't a terribly unfamiliar sight to Shuo as The Glorious Conquest had within the last several years transitioned to sky cars like the ones he was seeing now. However it was still fairly new tech to the Sovereignty so it was not nearly as heavily used outside of the station.

Just before they touched down the inter com system in the cabin flicked on." I've been told to wait for you guys until you know where you are going. I would recommend leaving your items here till then, should be safe. Plus I know they arn't very fond of weapons in the building." The pilot said flicking the intercom off again. Shuo pulled his hand back from underneath the chair where he was about to grab his gear. Last thing he felt like doing right now was causing a diplomatic shit storm before the mission began.

Shuo stood up from his chair and got up. He put his hands into the pockets of his dress uniform and began walking down the ramp."Well let's go see what they dragged us out here to do." Shifting his head back to Shiva. Just as he put his boot on the ground a flying little drone came down from somewhere above the aircraft and pointing a gun at him. It scanned him up and down once then a light flashed green on the drone.It then flew back the way it came.

As they entered the building Shuo saw how ugly the building was. He rarely had opinions on buildings but this one looked rather atrocious from the inside. Harsh corners lead into curved arches and square door. It was a rather odd amalgamation of all the races and he wondered for a moment if the designer had been shot after they finished it. They both stepped into an elevator and rode it down to the lobby. It finally stopped and opened into a large room with several chairs and couches all varying sizes to account for the species heights and bodies. He saw two Rothains off to the side sitting down. He walked over to the kiosk and logged his arrival into the system. Then it told him to wait in the lobby for a representative. Also it informed him that three others had arrived before him for the same thing. He did a quick look around and saw no one else but the Rothians. He guessed it was talking about them. He went over and found a couch that was a good size for him and of clear Sovereign design, which just so happened to be near the two. After sitting down in the rather comfy couch he looked over at the Rothians and said. "I assume you two are here for the same reason we are?"

[EliteCommander]

The temperature in the lobby was on the low side for what Rothians were used to, but Rareth felt comfortable. She was wearing a white suit with read markings on the shoulders, arms, and thighs. The formalwear was indeed quite nice, but aesthetics was not its only function. The synthetic materials it was made of, which had an almost metallic shine to them, were design to trap in heat in order to help Rothians be comfortable on other, non-Rothian worlds. It worked well enough for Pax, as well as Human settlements, but given the low temperatures the Masulu were accustomed to, a Rothian would need a more specialized set of clothing to be close to comfortable. The same was true in reverse for the Masulu, while the Humans were used to a climate that was at a sort of uncomfortable medium between the two.

After a while, another individual, a Dirophyd, silently took a seat in the lobby. Shortly afterwards, two more individuals, both Masulu in military dress uniforms. This time, one of them decided to strike up a conversation, though the topic of which Rareth did not precisely believe that to be a good idea to talk about in the building's lobby. There were not many people in the room yet, but she knew nothing about the Dirophyd in the corner. "If we are here for the same purpose, it would perhaps not be best to discuss it in a public setting. The meeting I am here to attend is scheduled in two days, is it the same for you?"

[Balmung1100]

Bit finished his briefing and quickly made his way to the building that his orders had defined as 'unique'. Once he saw the abomination of architecture he reached in his satchel to take inventory of what he had to level the monstrosity only to remember that it was a government building. With a sigh he resealed his bag and walked through the entrance. Noticing the other Dirophyd in the room, he quickly began walking that way. He stopped himself however when he came upon a pair of Rothians speaking to a pair of Masulu.

"Not interrupting anything am I?" He asked simply, suspecting that these were the ones he was to work with in this joint task force idea.

[cqbexpt]

"Yes it is the same for us, though I would barely call this public. Considering that us and the suit over there are here for the same thing." Shuo said motioning behind him with his head. Now that he thought about it he was curious as to why the lobby was so empty. He guessed that there would atleast be some random staff members around or something. Immediately apon finishing that thought a Dirophyd walked in and asked if he was interrupting. "I suppose not." Shuo said leaning back into the couch. At this point he realized that it was kind of hot in the room. Not hot enough for him to start sweating but enough to make him aware of the heat. He forgot that humans liked a really weird temperature, which had been adopted in most Assembly buildings. Cold for Rothians and warm for Masulu, really was the only way to deal with it he supposed.

[baskets]

The shuttle rattled and hummed as it came to a halt and slowly brought itself to ground. The doors slid open, and Coin stepped out, with her duffel bag and rifle case in hand. Her sidearm was holstered to her waist; for once, she was in military fatigues instead of a lab coat. The fatigues were customary for Coin every time she received a new assignment; she didn’t want to give off any wrong impressions. It had happened once during a reassignment. Coin had arrived at her new ship in her lab coat and the captain had screamed at her asking “what the fuck a fucking nerd is doing on his fucking ship” for about twenty minutes before someone alerted him to who she was. That was an unpleasant experience.

In any case, the fatigues were comforting. Coin was, by rights, just a Petty Officer in rank. However, her unique career choices meant Coin had, in a way, fallen out of traditional military progression. As a formality, Coin was given the rank of Commander. As such, she still served on ships and answered to a ship’s captain, but there weren’t too many people that she really had to report to. Of course, if you wanted to get technical, Coin operated almost entirely outside of a typical command structure.

Coin was welcomed by a tall Asian man in full dress; from the looks of it, an admiral. Coin smirked. Ooh, I’m important, she thought, setting her bags down saluting the admiral.

“At ease, Doctor. First things first, my name is Admiral Lin. I’ll be your point of contact in the human military during this assignment.” The admiral extended a hand, which Coin met apprehensively. She was still getting her bearings, and here was Admiral Lin who seemed about ready to slam her with information. He did not disappoint.

“Second thing you need to know is that you have been selected to join an inter-species initiative. To keep it simple, this team is going to be under Assembly jurisdiction and your primary objective, to my knowledge, will be to maintain galactic stability.” Coin nodded. She had figured as much.

“Last thing is that you are the only member of humanity coming from our military, and even that’s a stretch. You and I both know that you’re not exactly a standard example of a human soldier. Regardless, do your best to place our military in a positive light. That shouldn’t be a problem for you” The admiral paused, letting Coin wrap her head around the information. “Any questions, Doctor?”

Coin folded her arms. That last bit caught her by surprise. She hadn’t really expected to be the only representative of humanity’s military, nor did she consider herself to be the best representative. To start, she could be lazy, didn’t really have much respect for a command structure, and had little tolerance for stupid people that couldn’t do their jobs properly. But, the admiral hadn’t said that she was the only human on the team, so at least she wasn’t representing all of humanity by herself. That was reassuring.

Ultimately, Coin shook her head no. “No questions, sir. Where do I report?”

The admiral motioned to another shuttle waiting about a hundred feet away from them. “Take that shuttle to the Bureau of Joint Intelligence. Leave your bags in the shuttle; we’ll take care of it. There’s going to be a meeting in two days; until then get comfortable and we’ll fill you in as you go.” Coin took the hint; the admiral didn’t know what the hell was going to happen beyond that. She nodded, picking up her bags from the ground. As she turned to go, the admiral spoke up again. “And, Doctor?” Coin stopped, turning to face him once more. “Lose the fatigues and wear a lab coat. You don’t need to worry about giving off the wrong impression.” The admiral grinned, and walked off towards the hangar’s exit.

“Yes, sir,” Coin smirked, heading to the shuttle.

--

When Coin disembarked from the shuttle the second time around, she was in her typical lab outfit; white lab coat, white tank top, and cargo pants. She took a moment to straighten herself out, clean her glasses, and fix her hair before entering the Bureau’s lobby.

The first thing Coin took note of was the bizarre architectural design. Most buildings adopted the cultural stylings of whatever race the building belonged to, but the Bureau seemed to try to take the best of each race and mesh it into one combined style. It wasn’t pretty.

The second thing she noticed was that she was not the first one to arrive. Two Rothians, two Masulu, and two Dirophyds. She overheard one of the Rothians ask about the meeting. Well, at least she was in the right place.

Coin couldn’t help but feel out of her element. She was on an unknown world, surrounded by people - hell, species - that she didn’t know, on an assignment that was more or less ‘play nice with the aliens.’ Sure, she had studied all these cultures pretty rigorously in college, but reading a book and listening to a college professor drone on about aliens couldn’t hold a candle to firsthand experience with aliens.

Coin inched towards the small group that was forming in the center of the room, eyeing the Dirophyd in the corner in her peripheral vision. She leaned in slightly, folding her hands behind her back. “I’m guessing this is where the party’s starting? I think we’re all here for the same thing, right? I’m Natalia. You can call me Coin,” she smiled warmly, tossing a small wave to the group. The nerves were killing her, and she hoped it wasn’t showing.

[Fatal Error 1337]

The door slid open as Srath approached, revealing the bridge of the frigate. The oval room was filled with consoles and chairs that flowed from the shining walls and floor and the Rothians manning them. The captain sat in a chair in the center of the room, watching a large screen at the front of the room that showed the facility on the surface of the moon below. He turned his chair at the sound of the door opening to face Srath.

Srath snapped to attention "Sir."

"At ease." Srath relaxed his stance. "There's an encoded message for you along with the orders for your transfer, the terminal in the briefing room has clearance to open it." he said, gesturing to a door to the side of the bridge.

"Thank you sir." Srath snapped off a salute before making his way into the briefing room. The room itself was rather plain, an oblong table with a holo-projector in the center and the dozen chairs took up most of the room. As Srath took a seat in the nearest chair the table directly in front of him lit up with touch controls for the holo-display.

As he brought up the message and it began decoding he couldn't help but wonder at the reasons for a transfer. He'd finally got a position on the world he'd been born to after being transferred all over the sector during the war. He'd been bounced from assignment to assignment for over a decade when the war ended, assisting local forces in routing out combatants from their entrenched positions. Finally the file had been decoded and the loading screen was replaced with several pages of orders.

"Pax?" He wondered aloud as he continued to read the orders. "Part of an inter-species team... Valued experience... Assignment to begin immediately?" He was surprised and a little annoyed at the sudden change. Normally they would give notice about a month in advance about transfers, maybe that was the cause of his unease but it could just be his annoyance clouding his thoughts. "To arrive at co-ordinates... Board transport and travel to Pax..."

'How the hell am I going to get to the transport?' He wondered.

The message ended with orders to delete the message upon completion of its reading, doing that Srath walked from the room back onto the bridge. The captain was standing waiting for him to exit.

"I've been ordered to give you access to one of our shuttles." The captain said, a hint of annoyance slipping through. "It will be ready for you in 15 minutes, you have that long to assemble your belongings."

"Yes sir." Srath saluted the captain who returned one of his own before returning to his seat. As Srath made his way from the bridge his unease increased over the circumstances of the transfer. Frigates were not large ship and the loss of even one shuttle was not insignificant. Entering his room he quickly gathered his belongings before sending a call to the armory to have his armor and weapons sent to the hangar before heading there himself. The 5 person craft was waiting for him when he arrived, the deck officer told him his cargo from the armory had already been stowed. Thanking him he entered the ship.
-----------------------------------------------
Srath stepped from the small craft that had been sent to the spaceport he'd arrived at not 10 minutes ago. The human driver had assured him all his belongings would be cared for and go where they were needed, carrying only the clothes he'd worn during the trip in a small bag and his large side-arm that rested heavily in its holster. In front of him was quite possibly the ugliest building he'd ever laid eyes upon. It looked as if some deranged architect had cut and paste designs from Rothian, Human and Sovereign architecture together.

Once inside Srath was doing his best to hide his agitation at the horrendous design. He'd developed an interest in architecture on Anskaria, seeing the different designs of all the races the called the oceanic planet home. It seemed that the designers had taken all the worst or most obvious traits of the many races designs and smashed them together.

He briefly considered tracking down the architect and hitting before entering one of the nearby elevators and taking it to the floor he'd been told to go to. Stepping out he saw more of the abysmal design along with a group that had gathered, composed of a couple of Rothians, Masulu, Dirophyds and a single human.

'This must be my new team.' he thought before walking over to find a seat that could accommodate him.

[Muttonhawk]

Shuo's response to Shiva's criminal record was surprisingly neutral. If fact, with how he replied, perhaps he was one of the few officers Shiva would serve under that could remove the stick up their arse if they needed to. Shiva considered for a moment, looking at Shuo with her head angled forward, then replied with a nonchalant "Yes sir," before looking off to one side again.

Before long, the dropship reached its landing point, letting in rays of sunlight and a blast of hot air as the ramp lowered. Shiva was in two minds about leaving her belongings on the craft, but it was the only sensible choice by the sound of it.

Despite Shuo's comment as they disembarked, Shiva was distracted by the metropolis of Concord. She looked up at all the buildings and vehicles whizzing between them. She didn't even notice the security drone giving her a quick inspection right next to them. Having been in the military service or the hospitality of the government most of her life, she didn't get to see much of any cities often, and this one was particularly impressive. Too bad the climate was rather barmy.

Their destination building seemed to be three different buildings trying to disguise as one. Shiva imagined a situation where architects from all three nations of the assembly were locked in a room and literally wrestled over the design controls, eventually coming up with the incoherent mess before them. Well, at least it served its purpose.

The quick walk to their briefing was silent. It eventually reached a waiting room with a couple of rothians seated next to each other, gaudy clothing and all, and an unnerving looking dirophyd by a window. Shuo saw fit to seat himself down on a couch opposite the rothians. Seeing as there was plenty of room for both Shiva and Shuo on the couch, and it looked like the most comfortable Masulu seating in the lobby, Shiva followed his lead and took a seat as well.

Shiva held her hands in her lap and looked over the rothians with an slightly unsure face as Shuo interacted with one of them. Rothians on the battlefield were one thing, but Shiva never really go to meet many up close. She could never read their alien faces, and the experience that came with their age was always slightly intimidating. By the sound of it, it was possible that the rothians would be part of the inter-species team, same with the dirophyd.

As though their arrival times had been sequenced due to a grand higher plan, it was barely a minute before a different dirophyd entered and approached the group, followed by a human and another rothian. At least the human shared her name, and even had the courtesy to provide a more pronounceable nickname. Shiva waved to them all in greeting. Every single time she encountered alien species, she was thankful for the standard issue translation implant that she, as well as probably everyone present, had. But still, sometimes subtle communication was just enough. Besides, she still wasn't quite sure which boundaries to push with her new CO. Everyone here was probably a rather high rank in their own jurisdictions, and Shiva didn't know the social metagame.