[IC] The Depths of Deception

[EliteCommander]

Before Ashley could respond, Rareth suddenly found herself quite surrounded, with several people talking to her at once. The hallway had become rather crowded, and honestly, it would probably be best to move their conversations elsewhere. She glanced back and forth between the people talking to her, then held up both of her hands. "Hold on, I cannot really talk to everyone at once."

Walking over to the door to the middle suite, which the Dirophyd had chosen, she looked back to the group and spoke up to get everyone's attention. "I don't mean to interrupt, but I think it would be best to get out of the hall. How about we all head to this suite for the moment. It should be at a somewhat reasonable temperature. We can get our living situation figured out and introduce ourselves properly."

With a touch of her hand, Rareth opened the door and entered the suite. The Dirophyd was on the couch in the living room and did not appear to be doing much of anything interesting. The suite was made for four, but there was enough furniture in the living room for everyone to be seated with only a little crowding. The aesthetics were as ugly as ever, but it was starting to get to the point where she could ignore it. She took a seat on the couch opposite the Dirophyd and watched the group entering through the main door. "So where were we? I believe someone was asking me if I am part of the Rahn'Masser? That is correct...though anything further is classified and must remain undisclosed." She said with a chuckle.

[Muttonhawk]

Shiva snapped her large fingers in frustration and emitted a sound that roughly translated to "Shit!" She let out an exasperated breath and responded, "I thought knew how to tell the sex of any human just by looking at them. It makes it really easy with all your gender-specific honourifics, you know? I guess it's my turn to apologise." She reverted her expression back to a more casual one. "Heh, sorry."

Before Shiva could explain her skills, the Rothian, Rareth'Jharn, who seemed to be quite popular all of a sudden, beckoned them all into the last remaining suite. Shiva decided to explain while they all filed in. "As for me, I'm not a great shot, but apparently enough people think I'm the best medic in the Sovereignty that they shipped me this far out, so I must be doing something right." She looked down at her palm, "It also helps that I was born with a knack for stitching people back together with neutrium."

Shiva found another seat and, despite her bulk as a masulu, held her legs together and her hand on her lap, allowing as much space as possible for other people. She was glad to hear that the Rothian's definition of a reasonable temperature was not one necessarily comfortable for her, else Shiva might have needed to grab an ice pack from the fridge. "Well, if we are going to sort out who is going to be in each others rooms, I'll point out that each bedroom has its own thermostat, so I would be fine with keeping the rest of the suite livable for anyone else."

[Balmung1100]

Bit lightly chuckled at the human's awkwardness.He didn't really have any issues with humans, but he never really found them to be interesting. Though, he was quite interested in the whole 'doctor. for guns.' thought.

"I'm Bitheroi, or Bit for short." He began. "And I like explosives. I'm also not too shabby with the standard engineering shtick."

He mentally facepalmed as he continued the awkward trend.

"So...a doctor for guns?" He asked to, if nothing else, continue the conversation.

[cqbexpt]

Shuo wasn't terribly surprised when Rareth suggested leaving the hallway. As everyone filled into the living room through the door he noticed the suit again. It bothered him that he appeared to need the suit to live. There were really only one other group he knew of that was like that. Regardless he went and sat down on one of the Masulu sized chairs. He wasen't that concerned about Shiva finding one as she was rather....short. One thing though he noticed as he looked over the group was the lack of proper human military. The only one he actually knew was "coin" as she called herself. The mercenaries were very disheartening considering what a poor state the human military must be in if most of their best fighters have left them. He seriously began to wonder if they could handle another war.

When Shuo heard talk of temperature though he was slightly amused. He knew that being in the temperature that they liked would either make him pass out quickly or kill him. He found it funny however that the reverse was also true." I figure there are about 12 rooms between us all. So unless we all decide we're afraid of the dark we should have plenty of room." He said leaning back into the chair.

[Kyelin]

"Why? Why this mission? What did they have planned?

Until now, Opus had not really revisited the circumstances that had led to his assignment here. Now, alone... It worried him. If they'd wanted to kill him, they would have there and then. So, it was necessary to keep him alive. Next, why here? What did this have to do with anything?

It was then that the agent heard his door open, and his head quickly snapped up to see all the other members piling in to the dorm. So much for the lock, then... Opus couldn't remember actually locking it when he entered, he'd been in a rush to get away from the others. So, this was his doing. At least, he could forget his current (and most likely precarious) situation, at least for now. And he didn't know anything about them, so now was the chance to learn as much as he could.

Sitting up straight and forcing his previous thoughts out of his mind, he listened intently to the Rothian in charge, at least giving the illusion of partaking in the conversation. Maybe he could get some answers here.

[baskets]

Bit. Okay. His name was Bit and he liked explosives. Coin could work with that. She was always more comfortable when she was working on guns or talking about guns. Explosives and guns were close enough. Right?

Coin nodded in response to Bit. "Yeah. The UN sent me to school for like, a decade, just to study guns, really. I mean, I studied other things, who studies guns for ten years? I mean, I did. I mean-" Coin paused. She was about to start the third sentence in a row with 'I mean.' Poor form, girl. She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. Guns. She loved guns. Coin could talk guns all day. She restarted, "I've been building guns since I was a kid. It was pretty weak shit back then, but the UN decided I must be good for something, so they sent me to school and I got degrees in weapons design and mechanical engineering, among other things. So, I spent the past six years doing anything from cleaning guns in an armory to building guns in a lab, and here I am. Someone decided my handiwork with all those guns could help somebody here." Coin smiled inside. She had pulled that off cleanly; no stutters, no hesitation. Talking about the one thing she loved more than anything bolstered her confidence.

"So yeah. I'm Doctor Coin, specializing in building really kickass guns. Some people say I might be some kind of genius, but I'm not so sure," Coin smiled, her posture notably reflecting her newfound confidence. Somehow, she seemed to have gained a couple inches in height.

[Balmung1100]

"Kickass guns you say?" Bit asked noticing the human's confidence. Bit smiled widely, this human could be interesting. At first, he thought she may just be a timid being that would likely shy away from a fight, but now he could tell that this definitely was not the case."I myself can make some 'kickass' bombs. I think we'll get along well."

Bit checked his bag, remembering that his weapons had been confiscated when he had entered. "Granted, I have no degrees or real credentials aside from my rank of captain. Would be a bit higher, but I tend to go a bit over the top when it comes to sabotage and demolitions." Bit said, now grinning.

"If only I could show you some of my 'fireworks'. Too bad, though I'm sure we could probably build one hell of a grenade launcher."

[baskets]

Coin smirked. A gunsmith and a demolitions expert. That was a hell of a pair, right there.

"The thing about grenade launchers is that it places too much faith in the user. You have to hope they know how to angle their shots right in order to get that perfect arc to the target. See, if my guns need an explosive solution, I use one of these." Coin pulled a datapad from her lab coat and brought a schematic for explosive rounds onto the screen. She handed the datapad to Bit. "High explosive rounds don't quite pack the same amount of punch as a grenade launcher, but they're much more likely to score a hit, and when you can get a fully automatic weapon firing HE's at a target, accuracy overcomes firepower and the differences balance each other out," Coin explained, folding her arms. "Of course, then I have to modify the weapon itself to compensate for the extra kick, but that's usually no big deal. The user just has to deal with the added weight from whatever I decide to use to stabilize the extra energy. But I'm rambling," Coin chuckled.

She got to thinking about what purpose she'd be serving for this 'team.' A lot of these people looked pretty deadly already, and they probably had firepower of their own. Would she just be an in-house gunsmith? If so, hopefully she'd get a nice workshop. Or a lab. The facilities she'd grown used to on UN ships were pretty high-end, but Coin could only imagine what kind of resources the Assembly could pull. Coin began to twiddle her thumbs in anticipation. She couldn't wait to get to work on whatever it was that the Assembly had lying in wait.

[Balmung1100]

Bit laughed a bit. Coin wasn't really wrong, at least about standard grenade launchers as compared to HE rounds.

"Well, normally I'd agree with you. So long as I load regular grenades, HE rounds would probably prove more effective at least seventy percent of the time. Luckily for me though, I believe in a bit of variety. I'm a bit more than a standard grenadier."

Bit brought out his own datapad out to bring up a diagram of his personal favorite, the magnet bomb. He handed it to Coin.

"This little gem is a multipurpose adhesive with an incredibly powerful remotely activated magnet within, you never know how inconvenient metal armor is until you have a high powered magnet forcing your leg through your own face." Bit said wistfully. "It also helps for guiding some of the less predictable projectiles. I really like the weapons that have multiple applications in almost every situation."

[Hailfire]

Ashley opened her mouth to reply to Ra'reth but found that almost immediately after her friend was swarmed by a number of more individuals. When Ashley heard Shiva's question, the one relating to her possible employment at the UN, she chuckled and replied "I was... Once upon a time." Before smiling saddly and breaking off from the group to sit herself down in a seat way too big for any human. It was probably meant for masalu and as a result the cushioning was rock hard to her lightweight body but nonetheless Ashley liked it as it meant she could slump herself in as casually as she wanted and, this time, bring her knees up to her chest in contemplation.

Sylar had been unable to say much about the mission they were about to go on, perhaps because the operatives sent to gain his help were reluctant to put classified operation details into the hands of a known kingpin in the criminal network but he'd been able to tell her enough that she knew if she took on a role here it would likely be more permanent than any of her jobs since the UN postions. Ashley's code of "honour" had for a long time prevented her taking on such employment. Many of the missions she had taken on whilst she was with the UN had been heroic for the human race and Ashley had no regrets relating to those however many missions had been blacker than black with results Ashley would rather forget. Argueaby many of Ashley's moral choices since leaving the UN were not brilliant however at least they were her own mistakes and she could take and act on lessons from those. Joining another organisation and taking orders once more raised concerns that worried Ashley significantly. Would she be forced into more missions she'd have to carry as a burden? Then again the life of a mercenary was a lonely one and some companionship would be welcomed again. Looking up at the noteably diverse gathering Ashley decided to quit moping and introduce herself. Hearing a pair talking tech Ashley forced a smile on her face, stood up and headed over. Being able to possess technology she was able to natter about it all day if she wanted.

"Hi." She said to the dirophyd and the human woman, offering out a hand for a handshake as she did so. "The names Ashley Munroy. Paid mercenary specialising in tech manipulation, computer modification and piloting. Nice to meet you."

[EliteCommander]

"I suppose that is true. It would be nice to keep the entire suite at a nice temperature, but I suppose the rooms will be enough. I think I will take you up on your offer, Shiva. I'll pick a room in your suite," Rareth responded to Shuo and Shiva. They would have to keep the majority of the suite at some moderate temperature, but she supposed it would be worth it. She found Shiva rather curious in that she was a Sovereignty soldier who was quite friendly. Rareth had of course spoken with Masulu and Tempu before outside of professional settings, but it was mostly small talk with civilians. Overall, the Sovereignty was a powerful, controlling entity that was frightening to many in the galaxy. That had, after all, started a war that caused countless deaths while destroying entire worlds, and the Sovereignty leadership seemed none too apologetic. To speak to someone in that government, especially one who seemed like she actually wanted to talk to her, was a perspective Rareth was not used to hearing.

"So Shiva, I believe I remember you saying you are trained as a medic. How much knowledge do you have of alien physiology? I imagine it must be a good deal if your superiors sent you to join a mixed species team." Rareth asked curiously. It was probably no accident that the Sovereignty would send someone willing to get along with other races to represent them in this team, she just wondered for what purpose the other Masulu, Shuo, was selected.

[Muttonhawk]

"Heh, well, your call, Rareth'Jharn." Shiva said. If she were open and honest about the affair, Shiva would probably have preferred to reside in the direct company of the humans or the dirophyds. It was born more out of discomfort rather than hate. Shiva didn't harbour particular hate for them like other masulu did, the same was the case for humans, but she still lived in a culture and environment that deplored them. Besides, Rothians were generally very formal with just about everything and the years of life experience they had made them rather intimidating. Oh well, Shiva figured she would have to engage with them eventually anyway.

Shiva didn't get much of a chance to dwell on it even if she wanted to. Rareth'Jharn seemed eager to start conversation. Shiva, now with a more familiar topic, spoke more confidently. "That's right. At first, studying alien physiology was a hobby, not something I had much time for, but as criminal bands became more integrated with other races, I was given more resources to study. There are a few subtleties here and there that I am still unaware of, apart from in masulu and tempu bodies. Still, I could name all the stages of your digestive system," Shiva motioned with her hand to the others in the room, "Or anyone else's for that matter. I... remember the workings of your metabolic processes, Rothians in particular are..." Shiva tried to find the right word, "... very different in that regard." Shiva wrapped up quickly, "I can probably remember the names for all of your muscles and tendons. More importantly though, I know how to fix them if you should ever discover that there is a wound on you."

Shiva felt surprisingly welcome. It had been a long time since she could talk casually with strangers without receiving death stares. Maybe none of them knew how to read masulu prisoner IDs.

[baskets]

Coin examined the magnet bomb, nodding approvingly. "I like your style, Bit. Versatility is good, but I prefer building my guns to excel in certain areas. If I had my rifle, I could explain more. To each their own, though," she grinned, handing Bit's datapad back.

Turning to face the woman that had approached them, Coin smiled warmly. "I'm Natalia Ricard. But most people call me Coin." She returned the handshake, simultaneously giving Ashley an once over. "Tech manipulation, huh? What does that mean, exactly?" Coin inquired, her curiosity getting the best of her. The term sounded exotic, and Coin wondered exactly what tech manipulation entailed.

Coin felt a small wave of relief come over her. It was nice meeting another human on the team. Call it xenophobia, but Coin was slightly unnerved by the prospect of being on a team with so many different species. It was a new experience, and not one that she could say she was totally comfortable with. Though, Ashley was a merc, and Coin was military, and Coin wasn't entirely sure if that would impede in any way. She hoped not.

[EliteCommander]

Rareth listened closely to Shiva's explanation of her skills. She seemed confident in her medical skills, and hopefully, that was because they were. "I was privy to some of the information about this joint-species initiative, so I know skills were a consideration when our various governments were selecting the candidates. It is good to hear they selected a well-trained medic. If you value your life, it is perhaps one of the most important roles in any squad. For myself, I am experienced in infiltration, sabotage, diplomacy, and anything else that requires a more...subtle touch. I was very young when I was accepted into the ranks of the Rahn'Masser, only around fifty. I have been serving them ever since. I am afraid the tale of my joining is not terribly interesting. I was just well trained by my parents and tutors by the time I was of age to apply. When it comes to combat itself, I specialize in melee combat augmented by magic."

Overall, it was good to see that everyone seemed to be getting along, or at least not fighting with each other. Many were finding something to talk about, while some were just staying quiet and listening. As long as they didn't create any fractures in the group in their first meeting, she guessed they would be fine on their first mission. Even she did not know what that mission would be, but if what she heard about this team was true, it was designed to be able to handle a wide variety of situations. She wondered how the team would be structured and who exactly they would be reporting to, but those were questions that would not be answered for another two days.

"So what about you? How did you go about entering the Sovereignty military? From what I have learned about your people, the military holds a special importance to you. All of your leaders have a military background. Did that play a role in your joining?" Rareth asked, continuing the conversation.

[Hailfire]

Ashley, noting Coin was giving her the once over returned the gesture and decided that her overall impression was that the woman was both courteous and professional, something Ashley probably lacked with her overly relaxed and perhaps slightly blunt albeit friendly demeanour and overly casual attire. She'd also noted the woman wasn't unattractive in the slightest but quickly pushed such thoughts to the back of her mind. This wasn't the time to be admiring someones body and she had questions to be answering.

"Well..." Ashley began, raising her hand to run it back through her tomboyish hair as she thought about her reply. "Put simply I use magic to near completely immerse my consciousness in a device and use it. I can also use the ability to modify code and such but I mostly use it for piloting. Used to be that I was just really good at working things but the ability kinda evolved and hey presto here I am... What about yourself? I heard you guys talking about tech. It's kinda why I came across. Birds of a feather flock together and all that." She finished feeling lame for even having thought let alone said that phrase. Nonetheless she smiled confidently, perhaps a little cockily, it had been a while since she'd had a casual conversation and Ashley was enjoying herself.

[baskets]

Coin chuckled lightly. "That's really interesting. I wonder if we could work that into weaponry. It'd probably end up being totally exclusive to you as the user, though,..." Coin trailed off, before blushing. "Not that I want to use you as a lab rat or anything! That's just an intriguing ability and not something I've really come across before," Coin added quickly, raising a hand up in defense.

"Yeah, I'm a bit of a tech nerd, I guess. I'm really into weapons development and stuff. Before this I was filling contracts that the UN told me to handle as well as dealing with any weapons mods the boys on the ground asked for. Spent ten years in school learning how to do all this shit and it finally paid off," Coin smiled warmly, feeling much more relaxed by this point. "Bit and I were just comparing our explosive solutions of choice. I'm more of an HE round kind of girl, while Bit has these fancy magnet bombs over here," Coin prodded lightly. "Anyways, if you ever feel like you need a little extra something out of a gun, I'm the girl to go to," she shrugged nonchalantly.

[Hailfire]

Ashley grinned as Coin extended some generous offers then very endearingly blushed as though she might have caused some offence by offering to work with Ashleys ability. Quite to the contrary Ashley was flattered that Coin would even offer to develop something for her and chuckled right back at Coin before responding jovially.

"That's quite the resumé Coin. The trouble when it comes to working out weapons for my abilities is that I can't actually move voluntarily whilst using them. It makes possessing conventional guns problematic in any kinda frontline firefight. My standard gear though is a Seburo lightweight setup. I use the Compact-Xploder handgun and, if I need something extra I take a MN EP-1 Carbine. Not great for heavy firefighting I know but it's what I can manage... Supposed I lied in respect to the C-X pistol being especially lightweight too. It's heavy to wield as handguns go but I love it."

[Balmung1100]

"I just stick to the Meeko machine pistol." Bit shrugged. "It doesn't pack much of a punch against anything that isn't organic, but I have explosives to deal with those other situations."

Reaching towards his now empty holsters, Bit grunted in disapproval.

"I don't imagine that I'm the only one dreading being unarmed?" He asked with a sigh.

[baskets]

Coin considered Ashley's loadout selection. "The Seburo line is good. The carbine comes in the bullpup configuration, so it's beautiful in CQC, but unless you throw on a longer barrel it's not the greatest at range. And the C-X, well, that gun's reputation speaks for itself," Coin said, folding her arms. "And I haven't really had the chance to get gritty with a Meeko, but I hear they're pretty reliable.

"As for me, I'm using a heavily modified version of the standard issue rifle and sidearm. I've essentially turned an AR into a DMR, and the pistol is closer to a small hand cannon at this point," Coin grinned. "I miss my babies, but I'm a lab girl at heart. UN never really sent me off into combat zones since they considered me much more valuable off the front lines. A sidearm would be nice to have, though. You'd think that the Assembly would trust us enough to at least arm ourselves with those, considering the circumstances under which we're here." Her grin quickly fell to a sour frown. Coin held no love for politicians, and was infamously quick to connect rules she disagreed with to politics.

[Lightbox]

August decided to approach the two humans and dirophyd talking about guns "Compact x-ploder eh? Man I've come across a couple of those in my time, they hurt like hell" he said chuckling "Don't see them often. Ahh sorry I'm being rude and interrupting aren't i? I'm August by the way" he said to bit and coin offering a handshake out to them